8
Morning wasn’t awkward in the least. That was odd because Charles never hung around long enough to wake entangled with his lover. Then again, there was a good reason for that. Once the sex was over, there was nothing left. That’s not at all how he felt with Rosslyn.
Not that he was looking forward to meeting her parents, but he was excited to be spending the day with her.
When she came out of the washroom, she looked refreshed. “That was fast.”
“Only because I wouldn’t let you shower with me. Otherwise we’d never get downstairs for breakfast.”
“Eating is overrated,” Charles said.
“You say that now. Wait till you taste her homemade sticky buns.”
Nothing is going to taste as good as you.“Then I better shower and get dressed.”
“I’m going to call my parents and let them know we’ll be stopping by shortly, if that is okay.”
“Sounds good,” Charles said as he headed into the washroom to take a quick shower.
There was a lot on his mind that hadn’t been there before. When he’d suggested this trip, never had he envisioned how it would unfold.
He hadn’t been concerned about meeting her parents. He was a friend who’d given her a ride, that’s all. Or at least that’s all it had been. Now he was the guy who’d ridden their daughter all night long, making her cry out his name over and over again.
It wouldn’t be so bad, but hell, she looked well-loved too. She almost glowed. A guy could hide it, but Rosslyn’s demeanor almost screamed it. Charles couldn’t tell her not to look so happy. Actually he loved that look in her eyes. He’d fulfilled his promise and both were spent and couldn’t think after round three. If it wasn’t for exhaustion, there might have been round four.
As he dressed he could hear his cell phone ringing in the bedroom. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone this morning. He was trying to stay focused on not saying anything stupid to her parents. But whoever was calling really wanted to get in touch with him.
There was a knock on the door and Rosslyn said, “Do you want your phone?”
Not really.“Sure.” He opened the door with just a towel wrapped around his waist. She looked at him with hunger in her eyes as she handed it to him.
“You better shut that door or I might have to call my parents back,” Rosslyn said.
He chuckled and did as she suggested. Looking at the caller ID he saw it was Gareth. Charles didn’t want to return his call, but for Gareth to keep ringing his phone, it had to be important.
Dialing the number, he was ready to remind him he wasn’t working this weekend. Gareth didn’t give him a chance.
“What the fuck, Charles. I’ve called three times.”
“I was in the shower,” Charles said flatly. Not that he wanted there to be something wrong, but there better be something urgent.
“Well I have something to tell you that might just blow your fucking mind.”
He couldn’t imagine what was so important about Maxwell that it couldn’t wait. But since they were already on the phone, he might as well hear Gareth out. He turned down the phone just in case. The last thing he wanted was for Rosslyn to hear Maxwell’s name. Although things were good between them, he knew she wouldn’t be happy to learn he was out to take down her employer.
“Can’t it wait till Monday?”
“No,” Gareth said firmly. “Actually, I don’t know where you are, but you might want to get your ass back to New York.”
No matter what Gareth had uncovered, it was only going to add to the already long list. Any one of those things was enough; together, they ensured Maxwell was done for good. So why the hell was Gareth acting as though this was the one they needed. Probably because I’ve been pushing his ass to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Figures that the one brother he thought was the screw-off was the one keeping Charles in line, or at least trying.
“I told you, consider me off the grid. This also isn’t the ideal time to talk business.”
“Not alone?” Gareth asked.
“No.”
“Dammit, Charles. Why the hell did you take my advice now and decide to get a fucking life. This is important. Like major important.”