“I didn’t mean to bring her up.” She popped her head up, looking thoroughly flustered as she stumbled over her words. “I mean, bring it up. Like the plane crash. I don’t like to talk about it, either.” She let out a groan. “That’s not true. I’ve actually found it really therapeutic to talk to Aaron about it. And if you ever want to talk about it, I’m happy to listen. I just don’t want to force you or anything if you aren’t comfortable.” She paused and stared at me. “I’m going to stop talking now.” Then she pulled an imaginary zipper across her pouty lips.
Chuckling, I stood up and moved around the table. I caught her legs, turned her, and slid her to the edge. I did not delay in stepping into the open space between her thighs. “Relax.” With my thumb and my index finger, I unzipped her imaginary safeguard. The light pass over her mouth caused her lids to flutter. “You didn’t say anything wrong. One day, we’ll have to talk about the plane crash. It’s a part of both of us. But it doesn’t need to be tonight.”
She nodded. “Since I’ve kinda already opened the door, can I ask you something before we shut it again?”
My palms slid over the curve of her hips, drawing her even closer. “Of course.”
“How do you know you’re ready to move on? From her.”
My hands stilled and the muscles in my back strained. Son of a bitch. After such a good night, this was about to fucking suck. “I don’t.”
It was her turn to stiffen, but her fingers wandered up my forearms to my biceps. “Thank you for being honest.”
My gut wrenched. “What I do know is that today, tonight, has been incredible. You have been incredible, and I’ve loved every minute of being here with you. You deserve a better answer than what I just gave you. But if you’re willing to give me a little time, I’m going to work so damn hard to get my head straight and figure it out.”
“Okay,” she whispered, looping her arms around my neck. “That’s fair.”
I shook my head adamantly. “No. It is absolutely not fair to you, but it’s all I have right now, Remi.”
She smiled, gliding her fingertips up the back of my neck into my hair. “Then that’s enough.”
I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to lay her out on the table and lose myself, make the world cease to exist outside that conference room. I wanted to give her everything I had, but not like this. She deserved the entire fucking world, not half a man who was drowning in the past.
“We should finish organizing this stuff before it gets too late.”
“Yeah. That is definitely the best use of our time right now,” she replied breathlessly.
It probably made me an ass, but her disappointment was seriously sexy.
Remi
It was past nine when Bowen walked me to the door. His conference room was a wreck of my father’s papers, and I felt guilty for abandoning the mess, but he’d called it controlled chaos and told me to leave it until he had the chance to log everything the next day. It was a much bigger project than I had ever imagined. Certainly bigger than a free consult. The smirk he was wearing when I asked him to send me a bill for his time told me not to hold my breath. But I was persistent. The fact that the man who had rejected me thrice now had his pinky hooked with mine as he held the door open for me was proof.
“Thank you,” I said when we got outside. I needed to go home. I had a meeting with a new client at eight the next morning, a date night outfit to shop for as soon as the mall opened, and then a full afternoon of showing houses to an out-of-town couple.
I didn’t want to leave though.
My body had definitely been on to something when it reacted to Bowen at the courthouse. Above and beyond the fact that I could have stared at the sexy man all damn night, he was seriously amazing in every other way as well. Kind and funny. Witty and smart.
Trust me. It was hard to find a man who could keep up with my sarcasm. But he did, and it was an even bigger turn-on than the whole rolling-up-the-sleeves thing. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that the flexing had been driving me crazy all damn night. I wanted in those arms.
Luckily, his handkerchief hadn’t made another appearance, so I’d been able to keep myself in check—for the most part.
“No, thank you,” he replied as the door swung shut. “I’m glad I was able to convince you to hang out with me tonight.”
I looked down at our tangled fingers. “I don’t know how much convincing it took, but I’m glad you did too.” The parking lot was empty except for my SUV and a new, silver extended-cab Chevy in the corner. A grin broke across my face. “So the truck is real.”
