“Nope. Arranged for a few video conferences so I can work from here.” He undid her bun. “You should wear your hair down more.”
“I didn’t have time to straighten it this morning.”
He caressed her hair with his hands, sending tingles along her scalp.
“It’s beautiful just like this.” His hands slid lower and he embraced her. “What time do you need to leave for work?”
Oh, right. She did have that pesky place to go to tonight. “In about forty-five minutes. I still need to get ready.”
Gray slipped his hands into her back pockets and pulled her tighter against him. “Definitely not enough time for what I have in mind.”
“I think we can manage a quickie to hold us both over.”
“Anything for you, love.”
Gray lounged on the bed and watched Kiera dry off. He should have stayed downstairs while she’d showered, that way all the blood in his body wouldn’t currently be residing south of his waistline. Already the next several hours looked to be torturous and she hadn’t even left yet.
“I spoke to my dad on the way over here.” Gray watched Kiera slip on panties, a pair of candy apple red ones. “He invited us over for lunch or dinner this weekend.”
She slipped on the matching bra and Gray swallowed. She looked so good in red.
“I told him I had to check with you first.”
She grabbed her uniform from the bed. “You’re staying that long?”
“Longer if I can manage it.” He leaned forward and kissed her stomach just above her navel, which, today, sported a ring with a smiley face rather than the butterfly she’d worn the previous weekend.
“I agreed to work Saturday afternoon for Robin. It’s his daughter’s birthday party. We could go over later that night or Sunday.” She pulled on a gray tank top that hugged her breasts like he wanted to.
Gray clasped his hands, willing them to stay put when all they wanted to do was pull Kiera down onto the bed with him.
“I’ll call and let him know later.”
Kiera moved away, putting her tempting self out of his reach. “There’s left over pasta from lunch in the refrigerator if you get hungry.” She stood before the mirror, putting her hair back up, and he wanted to march over and pull it back down. “Help yourself.” When she finished, she turned back around. “I need to go.”
He’d only seen her dressed in her uniform a handful of times. It was perhaps the least sexy set of clothes he’d ever seen; yet she made it look good.
“I’ll be here when you get home, love.”
Chapter 11
A week later, Kiera passed the magazine display in the coffee shop, then stopped and took a few steps back. Every time she shopped in the mall, she grabbed a vanilla spice latte and walked by the magazine display inside the shop, but never bothered with it because copies of her favorite magazines arrived in her mailbox the beginning of each month; she didn’t need to shop for them. Today’s display was another story.
The Star Report sat front and center and right there, smack dab on the front cover, was a picture of Gray, with the headline: Prodigal Party Boy Gray Sherbrooke Heats Things Up With Pretty French Chef. A small picture of the two of them as they walked out of The Garden after the basketball game filled the bottom right-hand corner.
Gray had warned her that more pictures would show up. She’d thought she was prepared for it. Now, seeing herself staring back at her, she realized she wasn’t.
Kiera picked up a copy, and then grabbed the magazine next to it. The cover of Celebrity Today featured Anderson Brady, but a smaller picture of her and Gray sitting at the basketball game filled the top right corner.
She carried both everything to the counter. “Large vanilla spice latte and these.”
The barista wrote the order on a cup and handed it to her co-worker, then reached for the magazines. “You look just like her.” The barista pointed to the picture. “Is that you? The article said the woman lived in Rhode Island.”
Kiera shook her head. She’d rather not draw any extra attention her way. “Nope, but I wish it was.”
“I know, right?” The barista laughed. “I’d settle for that one, too.” She pointed to Anderson Brady’s picture. “But I read he’s taken, too.”
The other employee behind the counter handed Kiera her drink.