“Why didn’t you tell me?” Devin asked as he leaned back against the wall, watching her.
“At first, there was no reason to tell you anything. You were my boss and I wasn’t even sure that I was going to be able to get this thing off the ground. It wouldn’t have made sense to tell you that I might be quitting in a year if it didn’t work out. I wanted to make sure that I did this right, but I was going to tell you, Devin. I wasn’t just going to abandon Bradford Creations,” she promised him.
He glanced away for a moment as she stood there, trying to think of something else to tell him that would make this okay when he took her by surprise and asked, “Do you love me, Charlie?”
“Why would you ask me that?” she asked, frowning as she moved closer to him.
“Because you’ve never said it,” Devin said, shaking his head with a sigh as he looked back at her. When she didn’t say anything, he said, “Forget it,” as he pushed away from the wall and-
“You make me nervous.”
“What?” he asked as he slowly turned around.
“You make me nervous,” Charlie said, nodding solemnly as she reached over and grabbed hold of his shirt.
“I make you nervous?” he asked, throwing her a questioning look as he allowed her to pull him closer.
“Mmmhmm, very nervous,” Charlie said as she reached up and wrapped her arms around him.
“Is that good or bad?” Devin asked, wrapping his arms around her.
“Oh, it’s definitely good,” she promised him, nodding as she took a step back, pulling him into the shower.
“So, you’re saying that you love me?” Devin asked, reaching back to pull his phone out of his pocket so that it wouldn’t get wet and tossed it onto the bathmat on the floor behind him.
“Maybe,” she said, leaning up so that she could kiss his chin as she felt his hands slide down her back.
“Maybe?” he murmured, his lips pulling up into one of those devastating smiles that she loved as she reached for his belt.
“Well, it depends,” Charlie said, pulling his belt loose before she set to work on his jeans.
“On what?” Devin asked, ducking his head so that he could kiss the side of her neck as she reached inside his pants and wrapped her hand around him.
“On just how thoroughly you worship me in the next thirty minutes,” she said, deciding that everything else could wait so that she could give the man that she loved a chance to work for the three little words that didn’t come close to explaining just how much he meant to her.
*-*-*-*
“Charlie, we’re here,” Devin said, reaching over to wake her up and-
“I love you!” she shouted, instantly coming awake as she pushed back until her back was pressed up against the truck door, shooting him a panicked look.
“Aw, thank you, baby,” Devin said, smiling which earned a whimper from the woman hugging the bakery bag filled with jelly donuts against her chest as she sat there, staring at him in horror while he sat there, unable to help but smile.
She fucking loved him.
Granted, he would have preferred to hear her profess her undying love for him over a romantic dinner, but she’d set down a challenge that he’d been unable to ignore. It had taken him ten minutes to get her to scream those three magical words and that should have been enough, but…
He’d wanted to hear it again.
So, he’d done what was required of him to hear those words again and again until the woman currently cowering against the door, watching his every move pointed out somewhat hysterically that they really needed to go to work. He considered talking her into skipping work and spending the rest of the day in bed with him, but…
He wanted her to see the surprise that he’d been busting his ass setting up for her. The twins were going to be pissed that he didn’t wait for them, but he wanted to ensure that he got the first hug and he knew damn well that if the twins were here for this that the woman watching his every move would shower them with kisses and hugs that were rightfully his.
“You ready?” Devin asked, reaching over to touch her only to re-think that decision when she mumbled, “My poor vagina,” making his lips twitch.
Chuckling, he jumped out of his truck and turned around, gesturing for her to come closer. Licking her lips nervously, Charlie shook her head as she pressed herself more firmly against the door.
Sighing, he said, “I have to show you something.”
Shaking her head, she whispered, “I’ve already seen your penis,” making him chuckle as he reached over and-
“I love you! Oh, my god! I love you!” Charlie mumbled, somewhat hysterically as he grabbed her by her ankles and pulled her closer.
“Aw, I love you too, baby,” Devin said, sighing with satisfaction as he pulled her out of the truck, set her on her feet and promptly dragged her around the side of the old firehouse.
“Why exactly are you dragging me?” the woman that was really starting to ruin this for him, asked.
“I’m showing you something,” he said, pulling her around the front and-
“Oh, my god…” Charlie whispered hollowly as she stood there taking in the large sign beneath Bradford Creations.
“You did this?” Charlie asked with a watery smile as she glanced back at him.
“Of course, I did,” Devin said, moving closer so that he could wrap his arms around her as she looked back up at Dabbi Digital Marketing’s sign.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you,” she said, unable to take her eyes away from the sign that he’d called in a few favors to make while the question that had been nagging him for the past two days had him asking, “What does Dabbi mean?”
“Dustin and Abbi,” Charlie said, confirming his suspicions and giving his kids another fucking reason to gloat.
For the past two days they’d been bragging that she loved them more because she’d named her company after them and now, he’d never hear the fucking end of it. Unless…
“You know, Bradford Marketing has a pretty nice ring to it, too,” he mentioned casually as he leaned down so that he could kiss her cheek.
“There’s something that I still don’t understand. How did you find out about this?” Charlie asked, glancing back at him.
“I went to pay for your hotel room, but the front desk said that the room was registered under Dabbi Digital Marketing. I didn’t think much of it until I went into work and your favorite customer service representative presented me with her resume, hoping that I’d give her the job.”
There was a heavy sigh and then, “I’m an idiot.”
Chapter 37
“What’s going on?” Devin asked as Charlie quickly made her way into their office, telling herself that she was wrong, but…
“Remember a couple of months ago when someone was trying to hack into Bradford Creations’ social media accounts? Well, before that, someone was creating fake accounts and trashing Bradford Creations. I wasn’t too worried about it because that kind of thing happens, but then I started to get locked out of Bradford Creations’ accounts after too many failed attempts to break into the accounts. It kept happening every day, sometimes a few times a day until I got sick of it,” Charlie explained as she stepped over Bradford, who was happily curled up with one of the kids’ teddy bears and headed for her desk.
“So, I changed the login information from my Bradford Creations’ email to the one I created for Dabbi Digital Marketing to make it impossible for whoever was doing it since no one knew about that email. I also created a new Gmail account for you so that you had access to the account for the same reason. For the past couple of months, I haven’t had any problems, but then last night everything went to hell.”
“What happened last night?” Devin asked as Charlie reached for her keyboard, only to frown when a stack of mail on her desk caught her attention.
“All the social media accounts were locked after too many failed attempts, which meant that they’d figured out that I’d used my Dabbi Digit
al Marketing email to secure the accounts. They also managed to get hold of Bradford Creations’ web hosting information and got me locked out, changed the password, and tried to get the site deleted. It took me over an hour this morning to convince them that I was who I said I was. Thankfully, whoever did it had no clue what they were doing, so I was able to get Bradford Creations’ website back up and running,” she absently explained as she frowned down at the envelopes addressed to Dabbi Digital Marketing. “Where did you get these?”
“They were sent here,” Devin explained as Charlie shook her head.
“I didn’t use this address for anything. There’s no reason why any of this junk mail was sent here, Devin,” she explained as she focused her attention back on her computer and pulled up Dabbi Digital Marketing’s website and-