“You might be right.” I roll her to her back, gingerly avoiding my sore knee. “So now what?”
Her expression turns serious. “We need to talk.”
I thought we just did. “About what?”
“Really?” Then she does her best Cartman imitation. “When a chick says we need to talk, you might as well start punching yourself in the balls, dude.”
I let out a hearty laugh, and she giggles in my arms. “I think I love you, Savannah Blythe.”
“It may sound crazy, but I think I love you, too.”
This night just keeps getting better and better. “So what comes next for us?”
“I owe you an explanation, too,” she admits. “My parents…”
“The ones you don’t discuss with anyone?”
“Except people I trust.”
“And you’re trusting me now?”
She nods. “Don’t make me regret it.”
“Never.”
Savannah sighs as if she’s looking for strength. “My mom was born in India, in the same village in which her mother was raised. My grandfather was British, I’m told, there on some research trip. He and my grandmother had a brief relationship, which didn’t work out. Afterward, he went back to London, so my mom never met him.”
“Did you?”
She shakes her head. “He never wanted to know us, so I never sought him. But my mother’s birth was a stain on our family, and she’s carried the guilt all her life. She did everything to please my grandmother, but daadee ma always treated my mom as if the out-of-wedlock affair was her fault, so it’s no surprise my mother escaped to America the first chance she had.”
“I would have, too. What happened?”
“To make a long story short? My mother fell in love and got pregnant before she realized he was married. He denied fathering me until a DNA test proved otherwise. By then I was five, but he still wanted nothing to do with me. So we’ve never been close.”
“Why would you be?”
She nods. “When I was eight, my daadee ma fell ill. My mom raced back to India to care for her, leaving me with my paternal grandmother, Lienna.”
“The one who loved you?”
“Totally. But I helped her, too. She moved here from China as an adult, and she still wasn’t steady with the language. I taught her to read and write.”
“I’m sure she appreciated that. What about your mom? She left for India and…”
“It was temporary, she said. She was coming back, of course. But she never did. It took daadee ma two years to die. There were always reasons she couldn’t return to the States.” Savannah draws in an unsettled breath. “I found out a few years later that she never moved back because daadee ma talked her into an arranged marriage and she’s had more children. To this day, she’s never told her husband about me.”
I gather Savannah in my arms. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. You deserve people in your life who are here for you.”
“I can take care of myself, and Renee has always been in my corner.”
“You can, and I’m sure she has. But I’d like you to make room for me, too.”
She gives me a sharp-eyed stare. “How is that going to play out? If I’m working for you, and we’re not strictly professional—”
“People will talk no matter what. Hell, there have been all kinds of rumors that I fooled around with my last half-dozen assistants. None of that is true.”
Savannah looks alarmed. “Half-dozen? How often do you hire a new one?”
“Every few months. Each time I do, they start up a betting pool in Accounting. It should be no surprise that I demand dedication to the job, and that comes with a lot of hours. It’s not for everyone. But I’ve never crossed the line from professional to sexual with any of them, and most everyone else in the organization was happy to see them go because none of them could keep up. I know you’ll be different. You’ll make a name for yourself. And it will have nothing to do with any relationship you have with me.”
“You sound awfully sure of that.”
“Because I’m sure of you.” I brush a kiss across her lips because I can’t stop myself. “I’ll call my VP of HR tomorrow and get you an offer…but we have hours until then. I wouldn’t want to waste them.”
Her smile is somehow joyous and coy at the same time, reaching her eyes to fill them with happiness. “The Asian markets are still open, and we could always study the Dow futures.”
“True.” I nod as if I’m actually considering her suggestion. “Or I could just spend the next couple of hours with my tongue on your pussy, wringing one orgasm after another from you.”
“I like your idea way better.”
“I thought you might. But don’t count on making it back to your bed tonight.”
“Oh? I don’t mind.”
“I hope not, because now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t see you making it to your own bed anytime in the near future.”