My eyes are closed with the stretch when I hear, “This is quite the greeting.” I pull my arms down and look to the doorway where Jane is leaning against it, smiling a secretive smile at me. Her long hair is hanging down her back, she’s wearing a very casual college T-shirt and jeans and she’s never looked so fucking good to me.
“You’re here,” I state dumbly. I move toward her, my hands already reaching for her, she reaches back, bringing her hands to my shoulders. I kiss her deeply, missing the connection we’d recently formed.
She’s been having dinners and business meetings late every night, and even though some of those nights I’ve happily waited at her place, it wasn’t the same as her being here in my own space. Away from work, away from secrets, away from anything that made us feel like… not us.
“How are you here?” I ask when I finally pull my face away from her, I cup the sides of her head and just look at her.
This amazing woman who is all mine.
“April.” Jane grins at me. “She’s invited me to countless game nights and I usually have to skip.”
“I’m glad you didn’t skip but I thought you had other plans.”
Jane tilts her head to the side. “Well… I may have fibbed a little so I could surprise you.”
“Best surprise ever,” I mumble and pull her into me again. “But I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off of you tonight.”
Jane shrugs. “Your friends seem nice. Especially Derek.”
I hang my head and sigh. “You already met him?”
She lets out a breathy laugh. “Yes, he called me ‘Warren’s Lady,’ so I’m pretty sure they know we’re together.”
I move my hands to her waist and then down around the small of her back, squeezing her to me tightly. For a moment, or several, we just stand there and hold each other. And if my idiot friends didn’t start making barn animal sounds—the clear call to game night for whatever reason—I would have been perfectly content to hold her there all night.
As we walk out into the living room, Jane explains her meeting with another board member, Molly something, and getting more involved in the charities they support. I listen, giving her my full attention until we get to the living room and get distracted.
Everyone but Graham and his girl are here tonight, which we expected, given that he’s too far away for a normal game night. But there’s a guy I’ve never seen before loitering in the edges of the room.
I catch Derek’s eye and he makes his way to us, beers in hand. He hands one to Jane and she smiles brightly at him. “Thank you so much.”
He dips his head, almost in a shy way, and I smirk. I like watching Derek trying to make a good impression on someone important to me, but it’s also a little fun to see him work for something.
“Oh and by the way, if you need the restroom, you have to hold the handle down and count to three, then you jiggle it two times—don’t do more than that or it will overflow. Oh, and never use more than four plies of toilet paper or all of that hard work will be lost.”
I groan and Jane just blinks before nodding her head, “Good to know.”
Derek gives this speech to every single new person that enters the loft, he now has it memorized.
Handing me a beer, he discreetly gestures to the unknown. “That’s Mike. April’s friend.”
“Oh, cool.”
“She dated him briefly and thought he was so nice that she invited him for game night.”
I arch a brow. “She dated him? When?”
“Right before she and Chris got together.”
Jane chuckles. “Oh right. He was the zoo guy.”
I look at her. “It’s so weird that you know more than me.”
She winks and says, “Keep up, Note Guy.” And then she walks over to April, hugging her and chatting. Fitting seamlessly into the group of friends.
Derek turns and gives me a shit-eating grin. “Man, she completely has your number.”
Yeah, she really, really does.