“Right. Well, Henley agreed. Time to make our next move,” he said.
I nodded. “Yeah, I saw that. Maybe we shouldn’t do the usual.” We usually started everything off in a hotel, nothing too personal. But Henley was different.
Maverick’s eyes drifted past me in thought. “Yeah. Maybe dinner at the house. Invite her that way,” he suggested.
“That’s perfect. We could lay everything out for her. You know, make sure she knows all the details.”
“I’ll have it set up,” Maverick said and started clicking on his phone, fussing with that calendar of his where he kept everything scheduled. But for once, it didn’t annoy me.
Nothing annoyed me because I knew that I would be seeing Henley again soon.
9
Maverick
Having a chef prepare an in-home meal was nothing new, but it felt different this time. Jude and I never had company in our estate because it was our private home, but Henley would be arriving soon, and she would be the first to ever see it.
I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for her and that she felt as comfortable as possible. I wasn’t sure how far things would go, but I was pining for them to go pretty damned far. She’d been in my head all day, especially since she’d sent me that message agreeing to our offer. She had even answered the dinner invite immediately, and accepted my driver picking her up from her apartment.
I didn’t have words for how excited I was to see her.
Once the clock hit seven, I began eagerly awaiting for that knock on on our heavy wooden door; we didn’t have a doorbell since we rarely had company.
When I heard the knock, I could hardly contain myself. Jude had agreed to wait in the dining room with the contract and wine so that she wouldn’t be overwhelmed with both of us right from the start. The last thing we wanted was for her to change her mind and retreat in fear.
I opened the door and was graced with her presence. Henley looked stunning in a form-fitting dress that hugged every curve of her body, all the way down to her calves and black heels. I looked back up to her face, which was lightly specked with makeup and gloss that made her lips appear even more plump and luscious. Her long red hair flowed down in waves, framing the soft curves of her face.
“Good evening, Henley.” I took her soft hand in mine and kissed it. Her cheeks flushed, and I envisioned the way she would flush at other things…
“Hi.” She bit her full bottom lip softly and stepped inside.
I shut the door behind her and allowed my eyes to graze over her again. Her soft lilac scent drifted to my nose. “You look beyond beautiful tonight, Henley,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said. She innocently batted her eyelashes, nearly driving me to the edge.
How could she be so perfectly innocent and alluring at the same time?
I smiled and offered her the crook of my elbow. I had decided to dress more casually, losing the suit in favor of khakis and a starched white dress shirt that I’d left untucked and rolled up to my elbows.
I led Henley to the dining room, where Jude poured her a glass of wine.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking at the thin pile of paper in front of her. A silver pen sat to the side of it.
“The NDA. We supposed you would like to go over everything that should be disclosed before we begin,” I said.
She gave me an odd look and I felt Jude even ridiculing my word choice.
“Okay,” Henley said and took a seat after I pulled a chair out for her.
Jude and I took seats across from her, watching as she began to read.
“It’s pretty straight forward. Nothing that happens between us shall be disclosed verbally or otherwise without a party in the room present—which means all three of us,” Jude explained. “Your private information will be protected, and most importantly, you can opt out at any time you start to feel uncomfortable.”
“I can?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said. “We aren’t taking your free will here, Henley. Only your pleasure.” I grinned as she blushed further. She was so beautiful. I prayed she would just sign the paper and let me have my way with her. “There’s also a clause in there about your position as a mentee, if you would still like that,” I added.
She nodded, flipping the paper over. “And…what kind of things will we be doing. I mean, is there anything off limits?”