When she left here, she was swaying her hips and giving me a look like she wanted me to fuck her into next week.
My concern takes over any other thoughts, and I cut the conversation with Jeremy short and make my way to her office door. I knock twice but she doesn’t answer, and even without an invitation, I open the door and let myself in.
She looks up at me with wide eyes, but when she registers it’s me, she slumps into her chair with an audible sigh of relief.
“What’s happened?” I say, feeling an overwhelming need to deal with whatever it is that has her looking like she’s had the shock of her life.
“Sit down,” she says gently, and I make my way to her desk, choosing to sit on the edge of it, right beside her, and then I put my hands on the arms of her chair and move her, so she’s between my legs. I cup her face and tilt her head.
“Tell me,” I say as I search her face.
“You’re not gonna like it.”
“I don’t care. Just tell me.”
She sighs and takes my hands from her face, holding them in hers. “I feel like this is just going to mess up whatever we’ve got going on here,” she says, a sadness creeping into her eyes.
“Nothing is going to mess up the fact that you’re mine,” I tell her firmly. Because she is mine. End of.
“I wish you could promise me that,” she whispers.
“I can.”
“You make it all sound so easy,” she says with a little scoff at the end.
“That’s because we’re meant to be. We always were, and it’s my own stupidity that fucked that up in the first place.”
“And then there’s Danny,” she says, addressing the elephant that will always be in the room.
“I know that part won’t be easy but…” And then it hits me. The pale face. The wobbly legs. The sudden change in her. “You’ve seen him.”
She nods her head. “He’s been following me and came into the café when I went for lunch,” she confirms, and my jaw clenches. “He seemed to think I was just ‘playing hard to get’, as he put it, and that we were still together. I put him straight, left the café, and then he pulled me into the alleyway at the side of the building.” My hands squeeze hers a little harder as I try to rein in my rage. She squeezes back gently, reminding me not to squeeze too hard and crush her hands.
“He said it was weird I was working with you, seeing as you’re his dad, but the short version is that I made him see sense, I think, and he left.”
My mind is all over the fucking place. If this had been any other guy, I’d be going after them and telling them to back the fuck off, but that wouldn’t work here, and it would just throw up more questions for Danny to throw my way, and I don’t think he’d be ready to hear the truth right now.
“It’s fine, Caleb,” I hear her say, and I bring my focus back to her. “I’m okay, and Danny’s gone. He has no idea that anything is going on with us, and I think we should keep things hush hush for a while.”
“What?” I ask, shocked, because I was thinking about how I was going to break the news to him—not to mention, I’d quite like the whole world to know that she’s mine.
“Not forever, just for now,” she reiterates. “I think he needs to get himself straight before he’s landed with this bombshell.” She gestures between us, as if I didn’t already know that we are the bombshell.
“Surely that will just make everything worse,” I say.
“It might do, yes, but he’s not in a place to listen right now.” Jesus Christ, she knows him better than I do, and that causes an ache inside of me. “Or, if it’ll be easier for you, we can just—”
I cut her off by jerking her chair forward and leaning down until we’re eye level, pinning her with my gaze. “Do not finish that sentence,” I warn, and I see her gulp, but not in a frightened way—thank fuck. “I told you, no going back.”
Despite the situation, I feel heat creeping over me.
“We’ll talk more later, but don’t you dare doubt what we have between us. It started three years ago, and it’s always been there, simmering underneath the surface,” I say as I drag my nose along her cheek before hovering my lips in front of hers. “Too much and not enough once before, but never again.” I place my lips on hers and kiss her deeply. She moans as my tongue meets hers, and it takes everything in me to pull away from her, because we’re still at work and this needs to be put on pause until I get her to my place later, where I plan to feast on her as well as the food I’ll cook us.
“Are we clear?” I ask her as her lust filled eyes meet mine.
“Crystal,” she whispers, and I smirk.
“Good.” I’m too fucking long in the tooth for pissing around. We’ll cross every bridge we need to, when the time comes, but for now, we’ll just have some time that’s ours and no one else’s. “Now, when you get those contracts back from the new clients, make sure to print them and put them on my desk.”