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I nodded. I remembered everything. “But Joe—”
“Joe will do what he has to do,” she said. “I doubt he’s keeping this from the most important person in his life, but even if he is, I won’t say a thing to him. I swear it, Bryce. You can trust me. Love isn’t anything without trust.”
I smiled. She was wonderful. Truly wonderful. I kissed her again, this time harder and with tongue. When my cock reacted, I broke the kiss. “We need to get out of here. Somewhere with a bed, or I’ll be doing you right here in the moonlight.”
“Anything wrong with that?” she teased.
“Only that it’s winter.”
“It’s a beautiful night. We’ll keep each other warm.”
“Hold that thought for when it warms up,” I said. “I have to get home, and so do you. I have an early day tomorrow, and I want to get up even earlier to spend time with Henry before he leaves with my mom.”
“I understand.” She touched my cheek, sending a shiver through me. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For trusting me.”
“No thanks needed.”
“And for loving me.”
“Really, no thanks needed. I should be thanking you for loving an empty shell like me.”
“You’re not so empty,” she said. “If you were, there wouldn’t be anything for me to love.”
I moved my head and kissed the satiny palm of her hand. “Your love will fill me. I only hope I can do the same for you.”
“You already have.”
We kissed again, a soft kiss with a promise of things to come.
A kiss under the moonlight, a kiss for all time.
My time in the morning with Henry was too short. He dealt with the separation much better than I did. When the car came to pick up him and my mother for the airport, I didn’t want to let him go. After he gave me several sloppy kisses, I finally gave him up to my mother’s arms.
“Do a good job for the Steels,” my mother said.
“I will.”
“I know.” She smiled. “We’ll miss you.”
Then she was in the car with my son, driving away.
His absence left an emptiness in me, but I couldn’t dwell on it. I needed to get my head in the game. Work started today. I already had a good idea of what I’d be doing, thanks to my previous meetings with Joe and his brothers. More good news… I didn’t have to wear a suit. It was strictly casual in the office building, so jeans and a button-down it would be.
I took a few more sips of my coffee, grabbed my briefcase and laptop, and headed for the car to drive to the office building. Everything was on Steel property, but the ranch was huge. It was nearly a half-hour drive from the guesthouse to the office building, which was located between the cattle ranch and the orchard. Ryan’s vineyards were farther east, on the actual slopes of the Rockies.
Joe was waiting for me outside the building.
“Hey,” I said. “I didn’t expect an escort.”
“Unfortunately, this isn’t business. I need to talk to you.”
My heart fell. This couldn’t be good. I already felt like a shithead for telling Marj our secret. Why had I burdened her with it? She certainly didn’t deserve that, and Joe didn’t deserve having his trust broken.
Then again, he had some explaining to do. I’d found encrypted emails in the trash bin of our account with the Spider. I’d been on my way to confront him when I’d been waylaid by Marjorie.
