“Thank you. And thank you...for the other things.”
“Other things?”
“You breezed in here, fed me and took my stress away.”
“Yeah, but I was just—”
He kissed her gently, enjoying when she went pliant beneath him. He’d had a hell of a week and having her support meant a lot to him. Even if it was hard to admit he needed it. “I appreciate it. More than you know. That’s what I’m trying to say.”
He was in undiscovered territory. Having someone to rely on, to trust, had been absent from his personal life for a long time. Taylor made him feel more capable, not less. Having her in his corner was an idea he was already used to.
As long as he kept work first and wasn’t distracted, he didn’t see the harm. ThomKnox was his number one focus. There wasn’t room for much more.
“This feels like an abuse of power.” Taylor bit her lip and stared at the curtly worded email on the screen.
“Why?”
She narrowed her eyelids. “You know why. Lowell Olsen is a huge distributor and you’re willing to ruin the relationship because I don’t like him?”
“No one likes him. Plus, he’s bullying you. We don’t negotiate with bullies. We’ll find a better store.”
She hesitated over her laptop keyboard. “But—”
His finger on top of hers, he pressed a button and the “we’re no longer interested in placing ThomKnox merchandise in your store” email was sent.
“Oh my gosh. You didn’t!” She was elated and shocked and almost—fine, she’d admit it—drunk with power.
“I did. And now it’s done.”
As romantic gestures went, this wasn’t hearts and flowers, or chocolates and a puppy wearing a big red bow. But Royce’s love language was work. Roughly translated, his ending negotiations with Lowell Olsen felt romantic to her.
She supposed that was expected from a woman in love.
Yep. She’d done it. She’d fallen head over heels for Royce Knox. Of course, she knew better than to share that with him. He’d been buried up to his eyeballs since he’d been appointed CEO and was only now treading water and breathing at the same time. A profession of true love on top of that might send him over the edge.
He took the laptop from her and set it on a pile of papers, mail and folders on the coffee table. “Guess what?”
You love me, too?
“What?”
“Time for dessert.”
“Dessert?” They’d shared a very unsexy dinner of pizza and more pizza. It might’ve been goat cheese and pear with smoked, caramelized onion sauce, but it was still pizza and she’d eaten a ton of it. “How could you be hungry for anything after...” She trailed off as he reached for the waistband of her leggings and began tugging them from her legs. “Royce.”
“Dessert,”he insisted. “You’ve worked very hard this weekend and you deserve a reward.”
How could she argue with that? She couldn’t. Not when he urged her to her back and peeled those pants the rest of the way off. Or when he kissed her belly button, down her thighs and then up to her—oh.
His tongue should be bronzed. He was that good.
The skills he had in the boardroom were supersized in the bedroom—or the living room. In any room. She’d been sleeping with him for a little over a month and he’d never failed to render her a boneless mass, her blood sizzling and popping like oil in a hot pan. The man was sex, and she couldn’t reconcile how well he’d kept the friskier part of himself hidden from her—from the world. Who knew this was lurking beneath the veneer of a serious, sometimes-bespectacled number cruncher.
“Yes, there,” she encouraged, her mind blanking as he tasted her.
“How about here?”
She liked to think she’d coaxed out his inner sexy beast. After all, he’d brought out the animal in her. Could she be his secret superpower? Was Royce hers? He knew what she needed physically and had never failed to deliver. She’d been exactly who he needed whether at work or at home. Helping him hadn’t been charity; it’d come naturally. The way a couple in love prioritized being there for each other.