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Goddamn, it’s torture not being able to grab onto her right now, with all these civilized people around. I want to let out the beast inside of me.
“He wanted to go to college, but life got in the way. He’d take me all around the city, to the most beautiful buildings, pointing out how magnificently they were decorated. It was funny. He was sort of embarrassed by it. Maybe he didn’t think it was very manly. I don’t know. But I wasn’t. I loved it, and then I was hooked.”
“Both our chosen careers come from our parents then,” I say, nodding.
Her face lights up. She doesn’t have any idea how gorgeous she is. All I want to do is flip the table and stampede through the restaurant, roaring at any bastard who dared to look sideways at her when we entered.
“Yes, yes, exactly,” she murmurs.
After a mouthful of steak, I ask, “So where do you want to take it?”
A jolt moves through her.
“What is it?” I lean forward. “Is something wrong?”
She giggles, shaking her head. “No, nothing like that. It’s just it’s so crazy we’re even having this discussion. A few days ago I rarely let myself think about my dreams. I was too consumed with, you know, the business of living, of the day-by-day ongoings.”
“Give it some thought,” I tell her seriously. “You never have to live like that anymore, Callie. You’re mine now. That means I’m going to take care of you.”
She blinks, tears threatening to glisten in her eyes, but then she visibly pushes them away. “That means so much to me, Conrad. Honestly. I haven’t had somebody looking out for me for a little while. I mean, of course, I have Mom, but…”
“She seems to be doing a lot better,” I say.
Callie laughs in a strange way, low and tangled. “Yeah, yeah, she is.”
“What?”
“She’s done this before. She’ll come out of her shell for a while, sometimes a day. Heck, sometimes a minute. Sometimes it’s even a week. But then she’ll always withdraw back into herself.”
“But now she can get counseling, the best money can buy.”
Callie takes a bite of her burger and then dabs at the corner of her mouth with her napkin. It’s so damn adorable, the look that comes across her face – half embarrassment and half sassiness and some pleasure thrown into the mix to make her sparkle.
“Why do I feel like you want to ask me something, eh?” I smirk. “And don’t even think about lying. You’re too easy to read, now that I’ve broken through whatever barrier was between us. At least for me. And only me.”
“Okay.” She grips the edge of the table, as though she’s struggling with getting the question out. “But I don’t want to be rude.”
I look closely at her. “Ah, I get it. You want to know why I’ve got so much money.”
She giggles, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I’m shaking my head. The answer’s yes, yes I want to know. But you don’t have to tell me.”
“It’s no mystery,” I tell her. “I’ve worked as one of the best surgeons in the city for two decades. In my early twenties, I started buying real estate, and now I own close to thirty properties all over the city, all self-sufficient through a management company. I barely have to acknowledge they exist, except to check in from time to time.
“And I’ve saved,” I go on. “I’ve saved a lot. My old man sometimes jokes I’m scared to spend my money. But that’s not it at all. I think I was waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you,” I say passionately. “I always knew – hoped – that I’d find the woman who’d make me feel, who’d ignite something inside of me. Now that I have, I’m ready to spend a little, to treat you how you deserve to be treated. And that extends to your mother. Whenever you’re ready, you can talk to her about therapy.”
“Thank you,” she whispers. “I guess I’ve been sort of nervous about it. About asking her. Just in case it sets her back.”
“I understand,” I tell her. “You have to do it in your own time. But you still owe me an answer.”
“Huh?”
I smirk. “Where do you want to take your interior design dreams?”
“Oh.”
A glorious smile spreads across her face, making me think about our radiant future, about little footsteps running through our house, about laughter heard through the walls, about warm meals and hope and happiness.
And that causes my mind to spiral into how we’re going to get all of that – into grabbing onto her thick hips and dragging her into my lap. Then sliding my hands up her thighs, squeezing onto one as I push her panties aside and rub my fingers up and down her pussy, over her slit and clit.
