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She shifted, sliding one leg over his. “Well, I thought I should try to explain why we had round one.”
He ran his hand over her thigh and smiled when she shivered. Wes didn’t want her thinking too much about any of this. Better that they simply accept what happened and build on it. Why ask too many questions? The answers might not be what either of them wanted to hear.
“Oh, no explanation necessary.” He winked and said, “I understand completely. You couldn’t fight off your desire for me any longer, and in a rush of lust, you surrendered to the urge to fling yourself into my manly arms.”
She blinked at him, then smiled, then laughed as she shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“That’s been said before,” he told her and moved, taking her wineglass and setting it on the table beside his. He wanted her off balance with no time to think, to consider, to second-guess the decision she’d already made. Because there was more that he wanted and now that he’d made this much headway, he didn’t want to backslide.
He cupped her face in his palm, stared into her eyes and said, “I have to go back to Texas, Belle. Tomorrow. The day after, at the latest.”
Surprise flickered in her eyes. She covered his hand with hers. “You’re leaving?”
“I have to get back.” That was true. His company was trying to fight its way out of a scandal. He had to try to save that merger. And they were getting ready for the big toy launch. And that was just dealing with TTG. He had any number of other companies he had to check on. “There are things I have to be on-site to handle. I’ve already stayed longer than I should have—not that I’m sorry about that. But I’ve got to get back.”
Her eyes mirrored what she was thinking. They always had. That’s why he had known five years ago that she was falling for him. Why he’d let her go. And why right now, he knew she didn’t want him to leave.
“Caro will miss you.”
He kissed her. “Only Caro?”
She sighed. “I will, too, damn it.”
He laughed, enjoying the irritation on her face. “I can fix that. Come with me.”
She blinked at him. “To Texas?”
“Why not?”
“How many reasons do you need?” She inched away from him, scooted higher on the pillows and pushed her hair back from her face again.
“Come for a week, Belle.” He talked fast, knowing he had to drive his point home and make it count. “Come home with me. Let me show Caroline where I live, let her see some of Texas.”
“I can’t just pick up and go, Wes.”
She wasn’t saying no outright, so that gave him some wiggle room. He’d take it. “Give me a reason why not. One good one. We’ll start there.”
“Caro’s school.”
He almost laughed. “Pre-K, Belle,” he said, shaking his head at the sad attempt at an excuse. “It’s not like she’s in med school. You could pull her out for a week. Call it an extended field trip.”
She scowled at him, clearly realizing that she hadn’t offered much of a reason. A second later, she tried again. “Fine. Then there’s my work. I have donations to line up, plans to finalize...”
He was prepared for that argument, too. Wes had been thinking about this for a few days now, and tonight had sealed it all in his mind. He had to go back home, and he wasn’t going to leave alone.
“And in Texas, you can visit the company, meet with the PR team, and they’ll help you come up with ways to drum up more donations.”
“I don’t need help—”
“And,” he interrupted, “you can go through the toy catalog at the company and choose which toys of ours you want to add to your project.”
“I hate when you interrupt me.”
“I know. Maybe that’s why I do it.” He gave her another smile and she rolled her eyes.
Then she bit her lip and her gaze slid from his as if she didn’t want him to see what she was thinking. He knew she was considering it, and he also knew enough to let his adversary work through everything without another interruption. Adversary. That word stuck in his brain until he mentally erased it. She wasn’t an enemy. She was—hell, he wasn’t completely sure what Belle was to him. He only knew that he wasn’t ready to be without her.
“Say we do go with you. Then what?” she finally asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
