“That was amazing,” she murmurs as she slips out of my grasp and leaves our bed.
“What are you doing?” I ask with a frown. “It’s barely seven.”
She walks toward the bathroom. “I know. Time to get ready for work. We’re already late.”
“Come back to bed.” I stretch. “I still have two more weeks off.”
“Well, thenyoucan stay home. I’m going in to the office,” she says over a shoulder.
“Wait.” I sit up. “There’s no point to my vacation if you’re going to work!”
“But I thought you were exhausted.” She’s all innocence.
“I’m not exhausted. I took a month off to be with you.” Everyone at the office looked at me like I’d lost my head when I announced my month-long vacation. I’ve never taken so much personal time.
“You mean to hover over me. Don’t think I don’t know.” She slips into the bathroom. I follow, and she starts brushing her teeth.
“I’m not hovering.” I wrap my arms around her from behind and bury my face in her neck. Her scent is stronger in the morning, all sweet and alluring. “How about we stay home and have sex? We can go through every position inKama Sutra.”
“Nope. I can’t even open the fridge without you acting like I’m about to break my arm.”
“Because you were hurt.” I start to brush my teeth too, since I want to kiss her properly.
“I’m not spending the next two weeks doing nothing but having sex.”
“We’ll eat and sleep too, in between sex.”
Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head, although her mouth twitches with a suppressed laugh. “I’m not made of porcelain. I’m making a speedy recovery. Even Dr. Hamilton was shocked.”
I cast around for some excuse to get her to change her mind. “We haven’t had a honeymoon.”
“Seriously? You just want to spend the next two weeks at home, having sex, and call it a honeymoon?” She presses a hand over her chest. “Be still, my heart.”
That shuts me up.She’s right, damn it.Never argue with your wife without caffeine.
She rinses her mouth. “Let’s compromise. We’ll both go to work, and I’ll stop by your office for a nice lunch. How about that?”
I rinse mine as well. “How about we bothdon’tgo to work, enjoy lots of morning orgasms and then have brunch around eleven? I know a great place.”
Turning toward me, she grows serious. “Huxley, a routine is good for me. Plus, I like my job. It gives me happiness and fulfillment. I don’t think it’s good for me to sit at home all day until the due date. Okay?”
It’s unfair, but when my wife flutters her lashes so prettily, I can’t say no. “Okay. But we are going to have lunch together.”
She beams. “Deal. I’ll pick you up myself.”
* * *
Everyone at work looks at me like a deer in the headlights when I stride out of the elevator.
“Is everything okay? Aren’t you out until the end of the month?” Claude says.
“Yes, but plans change. I have a lunch date, so adjust my schedule accordingly.”
He follows me into my office with the day’s agenda of meetings, marking the ones I should consider attending.
“Make sure the creative meeting at ten is finished by eleven thirty,” I tell him. Then I send a bouquet of pink roses to my wife’s office, the flowers she wanted to have at our wedding but couldn’t because of Madison.
My former secretary still hasn’t found a new job, based on gossip I’ve overheard in the staff breakroom. There are questions as to why she was fired so suddenly. Although I haven’t said a word, everyone suspects it must’ve been something awful, since people know how much I depended on and trusted her. I purposely keep my mouth shut about it, even when headhunters and other executives ask. Whatever they imagine is going to be far worse than the truth. That’s why most of the campaigns we do aren’t overt. They are designed to engage the imagination, lead people’s minds where we want them to go. It’s harder, but much more effective.
