Page 18 of Earned Husband

“Am I calling too early?” she asked, sounding amused.

“Uh, no.” I adjusted my grip on the clubs, my fingers tightening around the strap. “I was actually just on my way out the door.”

I was also so surprised to hear her voice that I could barely remember my own name, but that wasn’t something she needed to know about. Especially because she seemed perfectly composed.

“Where are you off to so early?”

“Oh, uh, just to play golf,” I said intelligently. “I belong to a club in a suburb a little outside of town, so I’m usually up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays to make it out there in time.”

“Ah. Well, I’m glad I didn’t wake you,” she said. “Do you think I could come with?”

I nearly dropped my clubs. “You want to play golf?”

“I’d love to.”

“Then you can absolutely come.”

Deja laughed, the sound quiet but genuinely amused. “Excellent. Pick me up from Gabrielle’s?”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “How long do you need?”

“I’m ready now,” she said, once again surprising the crap out of me. “I’m not much for sleeping in either. My body clock rarely allows it.”

“Okay, then,” I said, dragging out the words since I was trying to push past the shock of this entire exchange. “I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon,” she said happily, then disconnected the call and left me to spend the next twenty minutes trying to find my brain enough to be able to drive and remember the address of the house Khaled owned, but his mother-in-law lived in.

Eventually, I’d recovered enough that I was pulling up outside the house to find her already waiting for me on the front porch. She hadn’t been kidding about being ready either. In linen slacks, sneakers, and a bright orange, fancy-looking sweater, she’d pulled her thick black hair up and even donned a cap.

The sight of her threatened to take my breath away and, if I was being completely honest, it turned me on too. Inconvenient but true. The woman was strikingly beautiful with curves in all the right places and an almost constant slight smirk on her full lips—and she was waiting forme. To play golf.

That was double hot.

“Good morning,” she said as I climbed out and walked around to open the passenger door for her. “Thanks for coming to pick me up.”

“Morning,” I managed without sounding like a complete idiot. “I’m happy to do it. I just didn’t know you golfed or I would’ve invited you before.”

“Oh, I don’t,” she said lightly, pumping her eyebrows at me before sliding into the seat and buckling up.

I stared at her for a beat, finally realizing that might explain why she didn’t have any clubs or really any baggage at all except for a small purse. “Why did you want to come golfing with me if you don’t golf?”

She smiled up at me, sunglasses already in her hand, but she didn’t put them on just yet, choosing instead to slay me with those golden eyes for a long moment. “It felt like a good day to learn.”

My eyebrows jumped up, but then I laughed and shook my head. I shut the door and walked back around to the driver’s side.A good day to learn. Right. This is either going to be awesome or a complete disaster.

Since my preferred club was a little outside the city, the drive took nearly forty-five minutes. We stopped for coffee and breakfast sandwiches along the way, and Deja seemed genuinely interested in everything from the sandwich to the industrial parks and stretches of open space we passed once we got out of the suburbs.

As we munched on our breakfast sandwiches, I pointed toward one of the factories rising up on a massive section of land visible from the highway. “That’s one of Thayer’s manufacturing facilities. It’s a steel processing plant.”

Her head immediately turned and she leaned slightly toward the window. “That’s really yours? It’s enormous.”

“It’s one of ours,” I said, feeling strangely smug about it. “That’s not even close to the biggest one, though.”

As soon as the words were out, she turned to face me with both eyebrows sweeping up, and I realized I’d just sounded like an insufferable bragger. Deja laughed when I let out a soft groan. “You’re incredibly proud of that, aren’t you?”

“I’m not usually, but it’s also been a while since anyone has been impressed by anything having to do with a Thayer,” I said dryly. “Other than our association to the Westwoods, of course. People are constantly impressed by that.”

“Well, I’m impressed. That’s quite the facility. It’s no wonder Khaled is so eager to get into business with you.”