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When she didn’t move, he added, “Hurry.”
He stood near the door, a Titan who helped rule the world, as she shined the table. When she finished, he placed all the electronic equipment back where it belonged.
Her pussy was still damp, her ass a bit tender. He’d read her well. She was going to go to dinner with him and allow him to spank her ass for coming without permission. Then, like Cinderella, at midnight, she’d return to her regular life.
After she’d put away the cleaning materials, she led the way to the reception area. He went into the bathroom to wash his hands. Since he’d left the door open, she watched him refasten his tie and straighten the knot.
He flicked his glance to the side, and in the mirror, their gazes met.
Desire arced through her. It was as if he was reminding her of what they’d done and what he intended later in that night.
By the time he had finished up and joined her, she was dressed.
She excused herself to shut down her computer and turn off the office lights. In the distance, he made reservations, the deep tones of his voice reverberating through her.
After grabbing her bag from her bottom desk drawer, she made a call of her own, to her next-door neighbor. “I know this is a lot to ask. I need you to feed the Colonel.”
“Girlfriend, you can’t pay me enough to take care of that hell-spawn.”
Hope sighed. The last time Caroline had looked after the Colonel, the cat had escaped. By the time the hissing, shrieking feline had been corralled, Caroline had an armful of scratches, a bite mark, and emotional wounds. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have to.”
“I still have PTSD.”
“There’s a bottle of your favorite wine in the refrigerator.”
Caroline was silent for a moment. “Is it leftover from the other night?”
“No. This is a new one that I’ve been saving.” Silence echoed over the line, but Caroline hadn’t hung up. Waiting for the deal to be sweetened? “There’s a cheesecake in the freezer. It’s topped with chocolate.” Hope had ordered it for Skyler’s upcoming birthday. With luck there was time to replace it.
“I’ll need a Starbucks gift card too. Chocolate goes with coffee.”
“Done.” She didn’t even ask how much. “Thank you. Seven o’clock, sharp.” Or all the building’s residents would know that the Colonel had missed her can of tuna.
“You owe me!”
“Anything,” she swore, ending the call before Caroline could change her mind.
“The Colonel?” Rafe inquired when she met him at the door.
“My mom’s cat. Well, mine now. I inherited her.”
“The Colonel is a she?”
If he wanted to go to her house, he needed to know her deepest secret. “She’s a Somali. Long-haired, a tail like a fox. My mother took her in when the woman who owned her deployed to Afghanistan. When the woman returned, she made a hundred excuses about why she couldn’t take the cat back. The truth was, the Colonel is a tyrant.”
He grinned.
“You laugh now, but you haven’t met her. Her original name was Samantha, but because she’s so bossy and wants everything her way, my mom nicknamed her the Colonel.” Which had been much better than Tyrant. “It stuck.”
“So how did you end up with her?”
“No one else would take her, and I didn’t have the heart to take her to the pound. I doubt she would have found a new home.”
“Did something happen to your mother?”
Emotion clawed through her. “Yes.” She reached for the doorknob. “Shall we?”
He curled his hand over hers. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“She was involved in a one-car accident after she’d worked a double shift at the hospital. The investigators said it appeared she fell asleep at the wheel.” As horrible as it was, that news hadn’t surprised her. Once Hope had left home, her mother hated the loneliness. She’d taken extra shifts all the time, even the overnight ones. In her remaining free time, she had volunteered at a veterans’ charity. “It was almost two years ago.” A knot of pain lodged in her throat. “I keep waiting for it to get easier.”
