“I’ll take your views into consideration,” I comment simply.
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an actual coffee machine in my office.”
When he walks away, the pondering begins, and it sticks with me all day.
After my shower,I walk down the hall, tightening the tie on my satin robe as I peek inside Lola’s room to see her sleeping peacefully. Hayes will be back tonight, and as much as I want to wait for him, I already feel my tiredness kick in. But then I hear noise from the living room.As much as this would be the moment in the movie that I grab a baseball bat in fear, it’s the complete opposite. I’m staying in a fortress,and the faint sound of hockey on the television informs me that it could be only one person.
Most of all, I feel him around because my heart is already palpating.
I don’t deny that there is an angelic smile forming on my mouth because I’m delighted by this early surprise, and even more when I see him standing by the floor-to-ceiling window looking across the city. His suit jacket gone, his sleeves rolled revealing his silver watch, and it’s an image that is always sexy. He’s eating from a plate with the game on in the background.
I don’t announce my entry, nor am I sure that he sees my reflection in the window.
Except… “I thought you were in the shower,” he says without looking my way. Maybe he heard me or saw me, or simply the sixth sense that we’ve grown for one another makes it pointless to announce my arrival.
“You’re back early.”I walk to him, then lean against the window next to him, causing his heated gaze to draw a line straight to me.
“I had the opportunity to take an earlier flight. Grabbed the chance, as I wanted to see my girls.”
Swoon.
My girls.
That brings a different type of pattern to my heart. It’s saccharine yet clenches my chest.
“I was in the shower. Lola is asleep already, has been for a while.”
He pops a piece of food into his mouth. “I know. I did a quick check and thought I would let you enjoy your shower,” he mumbles through chewing.
My eyes narrow in on his plate, and I began to laugh. “Are you eating dino nuggets?”
Hayes has a boyish grin as he swallows. “These things are the best. I threw some in the air fryer while I was waiting.”
I cover my mouth to control my giggle. “Is this why the freezer was packed with an absurd amount of nuggets?”
“Completely.” He takes a step and reaches to set the plate on the table then spins back to snake his arms around me and pull me close.
“There is something kind of hot about seeing a grown man after a day’s work in a suit and eating his daughter’s dino nuggets.”
He smirks right before he kisses me. “Missed me?”
“A little. Your bed smells of you, but it isn’t the same. Although, I think I might have actually slept more than with you in it.”
I interlace our hands, and I notice he gives a little space between us while his eyes run up and down me before he gives a tug on my belt for my robe to fall open, revealing my matching nightie with thin straps, stopping mid-thigh.
“Arriving back early has its payoffs,” he says huskily. “MILF appeal, and you’re still getting carded at bars.”
Instantly my mouth gapes open from his humor, and I prod his chest with my finger. “I’m 27, don’t ever use MILF in a sentence again!”
He chuckles. “Sorry. The joke popped into my mind, and I had to let it out.”
“Ha-ha,” I mock.
“Reminding me that you’re younger doesn’t help tame me. You are also the mother to my kid, and I have every intention of fucking you tonight.”
My thighs tighten together because I’m not sure how long we will last before we begin to rip off fabric from one another.
But he surprises me when he takes my hand and tows mealong toward the couch, and in the process he picks up the remote and turns the TV off. “Before I have my way with you, tell me how it has been here this week?”
