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Whether there are any pictures of family scattered around the place like I can imagine.
“Hey.”
I turn to see Sean watching me from the bedroom doorway, his mouth curved into an easy smile. He’s only bothered to put on his underwear, and my eyes can’t help traveling over his abs and the rest of his perfect body before returning to his face.
“Morning,” I say, smiling. “I was trying not to wake you.”
“You didn’t,” he says. “Although, I was a little disappointed when I saw you were gone. I thought you might have disappeared on me.”
“Never,” I say fervently, then blush a little at the fierceness of my own words. I don’t want to come off as desperate. I turn away slightly, pretending to look at the furniture again.
“Do you like it here?” Sean asks, coming up behind me. His hands resting on my stomach, his head ducking in close to my ear.
“I do,” I say. “Who wouldn’t? But…”
“But what?”
I swallow my nerves and put the thoughts I’d been having into words. “I would prefer to see your real home.”
Sean chuckles lightly. “My real home… I don’t know if I really have one.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. I still look forward, as if I’m really examining the decorative bookcase set up by whoever staged the room. It just feels so comfortable to stand here with his arms around me.
“I travel so much, I’m at home less than I am away from it,” he says. I might be imagining it, but it seems like there’s a tone of regret in his voice. “As a result, it’s not really somewhere that I’ve had time to… I don’t know. Personalize. It’s just a building with rooms, just like any other hotel. Somewhere for me to store my belongings when I can’t take them on the road with me.”
“What about…” I swallow again. “Sharing it with other people?”
“You mean you?”
“No,” I say, half-laughing. Although, yes, but maybe it’s a little early to start that conversation, right? “I mean, like… family.”
Sean kisses my neck lightly. “I don’t have any family.”
“What?” I turn around to look at him. “What do you mean? No family at all?”
His expression is soft, slightly regretful. Like he’s talking about an old pain that no longer hurts so much. “My parents both died within the last ten years, and I never had siblings.”
“And there’s never been anyone else?” I ask, unable to stop myself. “No… wife, or…”
Sean’s mouth twists in a rueful smile. “No wife or children,” he says. “There’s never been, anyone. I’ve been waiting for the right person for a long time, I suppose.”
He bends to kiss me lightly, then turns to walk back to the bedroom. I dimly realize he’s going to get dressed, but my mind is racing too much to think about it properly. I can barely even move. All I can think about is what he said.
No family. Waiting for the right person.
Could he mean…
No. No, I must be imagining it. I shouldn’t be so.. egocentric.
He can’t mean… me, can he?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sean
The last few days we spend in Melbourne blend into one long day, no longer divided by the normal things like a working schedule or responsibilities. We wake when we want, eat when we want, sleep when we want.
As it turns out, what we want to do most of all is make love, and so I start to forget what day it is while we’re locked inside my hotel room. As much as I want to take Candace out and treat her to all the VIP rooms and fancy restaurants I can think of, we never quite seem to make it past the bed and room service.
Which is fine by me, because I think I could quite happily stay here in this bubble for the rest of my life, and never miss a damn thing.
I stop paying attention to my phone, knowing that I can just trust my team to deal with any urgent queries without me. They have all the documents from the latest deal, and it’s not like I’m the only talented businessman in the world. I might be one of the best, but our firm employs a lot of the best. I can trust them to take care of things without my oversight.
It’s the first time I’ve ever done it because normally I keep such a tight rein on things. But I know that I don’t have anything to worry about. And more than that – I don’t care. I’m having such a good time with Candace, thinking about anything outside of this room seems to just be superfluous.
“What do you want to do today?” I ask toweling off my head. Candace is just settling down in front of the mirror, ready to turn the hairdryer on her own locks. She’s wrapped in only a towel, just like the one around my waist. We’ve had to let room service in a couple of times just to get the towels replaced, with the number of times we’ve showered only to get hot and sweaty all over again.
