And she swallows! Wow…
She climbed off him, turned, and curled up next to him, drowsy, sated, and feeling genuinely happy for the first time in she couldn’t remember how long. She loved the way he played with her hair, twining it around his fingers.
“How was that?” he asked.
She happily sighed. “That was amazing.”
“I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I’m going to have to leave in a little bit.”
She looked up at him. “Why can’t you stay here tonight?”
He smiled and kissed her. “Because I don’t want to have to have a conversation at nearly midnight with my mom that I’m not coming home because I’m in bed with my boss, that’s why.”
“You don’t have to call her.”
“Um, yeah, I do. If I don’t, she’ll be worried. If I told her I wasn’t coming home to start with, that would have been different.”
She rolled on top of him and kissed his chest. “When can we move you in here?”
He shrugged. “It’s your house. That should be your call.”
“I’d say tomorrow, but I’m sure you’d have a perfectly logical reason why that wouldn’t be a good idea.”
He stroked her hair again. “We have a bunch of meetings.” He scrunched up his face. “Dammit. You don’t have a way to get to work tomorrow if I’m not here.”
She kissed him. “Come pick me up.”
“You don’t mind people seeing you ride in with me?”
“Why not?” She kissed him again. She couldn’t seem to stop doing it. “I promise I’ll behave myself in front of others.”
“Like you did tonight?”
“That was different. That was—”
“Crazy?” He smiled playfully.
“I was going to say impulsive, but crazy works, too. I never claimed to be perfectly sane.”
“So she was a gold-digging hussy, huh? I was just guessing about that.”
“Good guess.”
“Easy guess from the looks of her and knowing your father even as little as I do.” He looked into her eyes. “He doesn’t tolerate fakes or fools. And neither do you.”
“I am my father’s daughter.” She settled in more comfortably, wishing he didn’t have to leave but not begrudging him for it. She respected him for caring about his family as much as he did. As much as she loved Gorden and Olivia, she missed having a mother of her own growing up.
“Your family is very lucky to have you,” she added.
“I do need to leave soon,” he softly said.
“I know.” Snuggling with him felt perfect. His body nestled hers as if that stupid cliché was meant for them, that they fit like a couple of spoons.
“You don’t want to let me up, do you?” She heard the smile in his voice.
“Not really.” She yawned and slowly sat up so he could move. “But I guess I have to.”
He leaned in and kissed her again, slowly, gently.
Tenderly.
“What time do you want me to pick you up in the morning?”
“Seven thirty, please.”
“Okay.” He planted one more kiss on her forehead, which was so sweet it nearly made her cry. He started hunting for and found his clothes. She grabbed a robe and walked downstairs with him and helped him locate his shoes and socks.
“Lock the door behind me,” he chastised before giving her one final good-night kiss and stepping outside.
“I will. Drive safely.”
“I will.”
“Text me when you get home.”
He smiled. “I will. Good night.”
“Night.” She closed and locked the door but watched through the window until his taillights disappeared down the street. Then she reset the security system, found her phone, and wandered upstairs to bed with a happy smile on her face.
After receiving his text that he’d made it home, she drifted to sleep with their evening replaying in her mind. She couldn’t decide if this was one of the best or worst decisions in her life.
Chapter Fourteen
Doug knocked on her door promptly at seven thirty the next morning. She was ready, and he looked yummy. He gave her a broad, beaming smile when she opened the door.
“Good morning,” he said.
She stood on her toes and kissed him. “Good morning.”
“How did you sleep?”
She set the alarm and locked the door behind her. “I had some very pleasant dreams.”
“So did I.”
He opened her car door for her. She loved that about him. She’d never had to ask him to do it and didn’t know if it was something Gorden prompted him on or not, and she didn’t care.
He was a gentleman.
They rode in comfortable silence until an accident on the interstate slowed them to a crawl. “I stopped by the drugstore on my way home last night,” he said.
She caught the pleased smile on his face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She laid her hand on his thigh and felt a warm thrill course through her when he laced his fingers through hers. “Good. Maybe we can try again tonight.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’d like that very much.”
“So would I. How about I cook you dinner? I don’t get many chances to cook for anyone other than my dad.”
“I’d like that.” He glanced at her when he had to stop for more traffic. “I brought an overnight bag. And told Mom I probably wouldn’t be home tonight.”
She grinned. “Hot damn.”
At the office, she wasn’t behind her desk more than three minutes before Gorden walked in, shut and locked the door behind him, and turned on her, his arms crossed over his chest
Oh, crap. Here we go. “Yes?”
“I had an interesting call last night from the head of security who wanted to know if you’d meant to leave your car in the garage all night, or if there was something wrong.”
Crap. “You what? And why would security call you?”
“Because your father has left explicit instructions over the years to pay close attention to your comings and goings around here in case something ever happened.”
“What? He’s spying on me?”
“No, but if your car is still in the parking garage and you’re lying unconscious on your office floor in a diabetic coma, it’d be nice if someone found you before you died.”
She had no idea her father had done that. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d left security those orders?”
“Because you’d be as pissed off then as you are now.”
Dammit, she hated when he was right.
“Well?” he asked.
“Well, what?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that crap. Where were you all night?”
“I was at home.”
He glared at her. “And who was with you?”
“Don’t you start with me.”
“You weren’t the one getting calls all night, and three so far this morning, wanting to know if I’d heard what happened at the business card exchange. Including one from your father!”
She should have known the gossip network would cast its reach over Gorden, too. “Daddy called me last night before we even left there. Why would he call you, too? He knew I was fine.”
“To ask me if I knew anything about Doug being your boyfriend.”
“Yeah, well, what did you tell him?”
“I told him I keep my nose out of your private business. And no, I didn’t rat you out. But what’s going on?”
“Julia started it, Doug finished it, and…” Her face heated. He was like a father to her, and she wasn’t comfortable discussing her sex life with him. “Let’s just say Doug and I genuinely are close now. I didn’t intend it to happen like this, but it did. Neither of us are complaining about it, either. By the way, he’ll be spending the night at my house again tonight. So can we just drop the subject?”