“And you usually like me in control. But this is a special occasion. Besides, I don’t think it’ll be too much of a hardship.”
“Are you certain you won’t get cold feet?”
He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, dark promise in his heated gaze. “Try me, baby.”
Chloe’s pussy flooded with liquid warmth.
Chapter Four
Merrick shifted in his seat as he watched the hotel Chloe had run off to. He’d been watching over her since they’d left Sal’s. His instinct was to charge in there. He could easily rip the door off its hinges, toss her over his shoulder and bring her ass home. That would be the easy thing to do. The barbaric thing. Instead, he gave her the space she needed and silently kept watch, making sure she stayed safe. Hell, it wasn’t like he was going to get any sleep without her anyway. He might as well stand guard.
In the restaurant, she’d looked so pretty sitting at the table with her long, dark hair hanging past her shoulders in soft waves. The pink blouse she’d worn hadn’t been able to hide her full, round breasts, either. Chloe’s curvy body never failed to stir his libido, but the sadness in her eyes had stopped him cold. He wanted that look gone.
His cell beeped, dragging him away from thoughts of Chloe alone in a cold hotel bed. Merrick grabbed it off the middle console and flipped it open. “Yeah,” he grumbled.
“You’re not still there. Tell me you’re at home.”
It was the third time Blade had called to check up on him, as if he were a snot nosed kid. “I can’t leave her alone,” he explained yet again, barely holding onto his temper. “She’s never been alone. Even before we met she had a roommate.”
“It’s a nice hotel, bro. Hell, she’s not staying in some fleabag in the south end. She’ll be fine. You need to get some sleep.”
“Not without Chloe,” he reaffirmed. “I’m not getting back into that bed without my wife tucked in beside me.”
He heard Blade sigh, then mumble something, probably to Candice. “We’ll come and take over guard duty,” he announced, as if it were a done deal. “Candice is worried and it’s pissing me off. You need to go home and get some rest, and I want my wife to stop worrying, damn it.”
He hated this. At three in the morning, Blade and Candice should be sound asleep. Instead they were awake and stressing over his dumb ass. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn’t sleep anyway. I’m fine, okay?”
“Tell that to Candy,” he snarled.
Merrick heard what sounded like sheets ruffling around, then Candice’s soft voice filled his ear. “Merrick, I wish you would try and get some rest. Blade and I don’t mind coming over to watch out for Chloe. Really.”
Merrick pushed a hand through his hair, wishing like hell he’d never let his life get so twisted up. “Candice, I love you for offering. I just can’t leave her. If sitting in this car, watching her window is all I can have of my wife right now, then I’m going to take it. Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does,” she said softly. “If you need us for anything, please don’t hesitate to call.”
God, he had a great family. He didn’t know if he deserved them, but he was damn lucky to have their love and support. “Thanks, hon. Get some rest now, or else Blade’s going to kick my ass.”
Candice laughed. “He wouldn’t dare. He’s much too gentle.”
Merrick nearly choked. “Gentle?”
“You heard the woman. I’m as gentle as a lamb.”
“Right, you and Genghis Khan.”
“Damn straight. Anyway, like Candy girl said, you need us, call.”
“Will do. Thanks, Blade.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Merrick moved the seat back and stretched out. In his mind, he kept hearing the dejection in Chloe’s voice as she told him she was tired of playing second fiddle to his work. The company didn’t mean more to him than she did, but he couldn’t really blame her for coming to that conclusion.
Changing the situation wouldn’t be easy. He didn’t just work at Vaughn’s Business Solutions, he owned the damn place. He did work fourteen-hour days and he had been spending his weekends at the office just as Chloe claimed. The insane schedule had become routine. The only way to fix it would be to delegate some of the responsibility. He needed to lessen his load so he could spend more time being a husband. He would work it out, no matter what. Chloe was his world.
Damn, it was going to be a long night.
t
It’d taken three days to wrap up everything at the office and rearrange his and Chloe’s schedules. In her capacity as his Administrative Assistant, Chloe saw to it that his meetings were either rescheduled or handled by Jackson. At the end of the third day, Candice had ushered them both out of the office with orders to have fun and relax. Merrick had made the plane reservations and called the hotel to reserve a suite. Their bags were packed. The only thing left was the drive to the airport.