His fingers brushed lightly against my hip. “That’s because I’m a real man who knows how to take care of his woman.” His hand slipped to the back of my neck. “But you can still show me a few things.”
Before I could think of a good comeback, his mouth was on mine. The kiss was slow and lazy. There was no rush. No urgency. Just two people who wanted to shut out the world and get lost in the moment. Our tongues tangled together in satisfied strokes while our hearts beat in sync. I melted into his warm, solid chest, feeling safe and content, wishing we could stay here a little bit longer and block out the rest of the world.
Nate’s hands slid from my face to my shoulders, and then down my arms. He pulled back to meet my eyes. “I wish I didn’t have to leave.”
“Me too.” I brushed my fingers against his jaw.
Eventually, he walked over and grabbed the white hoodie that he had tossed over my chair when he showed up last night.
He pulled something out of the pocket and held it up.
I laughed at the ridiculous keychain I bought as a joke, thinking he would never use it.
“I can’t believe you kept that.” I busted out laughing.
“Kept it?” He held up the silly little woodpecker keychain. “It’s my lucky charm.”
“You made fun of it.”
“I make fun of a lot of things.” He spun it around his fingers. “I guess it’s grown on me.”
I couldn’t believe that not only did he keep it, but he carried it around where anyone could see it. All because it came from me.
He grabbed his duffel bag beside the door. “Practice runs until six. Are you sure you don’t mind picking Callie up from the airport?”
“I already told you I don’t mind.”
Callie was flying in for the game this weekend. The timing couldn’t be worse, but she bought her plane ticket weeks ago, and Nate was looking forward to seeing her.
I walked over to the door to kiss him goodbye. The kiss was slow and sleepy, and my condo was going to feel way too quiet and empty when he left.
“I’ll see you tonight.” He pressed one last kiss to my forehead. “And don’t forget to pick up my sister.”
I shut the door behind him and leaned against it. Now that I had time to reset my brain, it was time to get back to work.
I walked back into the kitchen to refill my coffee mug and brought my laptop over to my desk.
The second my eyes started poring over my notes, the warmth from earlier started to fade. I grabbed my phone and pulled up Stephanie Willows’ contact. She was the first reporterI reached out to. When I told her I was looking into some past interactions with Brian, she didn’t sound surprised. In fact, she sounded relieved.
I stared at the phone for a minute before clicking on her number.
She picked up almost immediately. “Hey, Becca.”
“Hi, Stephanie.” I tucked my feet underneath my chair. “Thanks for agreeing to talk to me.”
“Of course,” she said slowly, like she was trying to ease herself into this conversation. “You mentioned that you were doing an investigative piece on Brian Sullivan. What exactly are you looking for?”
I took a sip of my coffee. “Right now, I’m just gathering information.”
She exhaled. “I know we agreed to this conversation, and I’m not backing out. I just don’t want this to blow up and then have it come back on me. He has connections and represents some big names. It would be his word against mine. And technically, he didn’t do anything other than make me uncomfortable.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to think of a way to make her feel comfortable enough to talk to me. “I understand your position completely. I promise, I’m not going to twist any of your words around. I just need to know what happened last February and show there’s a pattern with Brian’s behavior. So, start whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay. I wasn’t planning on making a big deal out of it, but the more I thought it over, I realized if some of the other rumors about him were true, then I couldn’t stay silent for much longer.”
Right, because we were told to look the other way and not make a fuss. Remain professional and never encourage inappropriate behavior.
“I understand. No one wants to be that person, but it’s never okay for someone to shame us for that or brush our concerns aside.”
