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Chapter nineteen
Ben
I press soft kisses against Mikaela’s lips as she stretches beneath the sheets and I lean over her. Her eyes flicker open, a small smile ghosting the corner of her mouth, when she reaches out to me and bunches my t-shirt in her fingers.
“Morning.” Her voice is thick with sleep as she pulls me in to her again.
“Morning, beautiful.” I linger against her lips, my fingers splaying over her side. “I’m just leaving. I didn’t want to go without telling you.”
Mikaela pouts slightly as she closes her eyes again, her fingers still holding on to me as I try to straighten up.
“Stay.” Her demand is undercut by the smirk she’s wearing.
“Wish I could, but we both have to be in the office in two hours.” I laugh when her fingers drop from my shirt and she tries to push herself up to glance at the clock on the wall.
“Ben. It’s five thirty.” She grunts as she throws herself back against the pillow. “You said six.”
I chuckle as I feel her palm against my chest, half-heartedly pushing me away from her.“I said I need to leave by six.”
“Then leave,” she grumbles, rolling away from me. “I’ll see you at work.”
I push myself to my feet where I’m kneeling beside her bed, and grin as she bats me away.
“I’ll have coffee ready when you get there.”
She’s already half asleep when she responds. “I knew there was a reason to keep you around, Haston.”
I let myself out with a smile I can’t shake.
Mikaela
I rummage through the drawers for what I want: a cherry red, square cut dress with a pencil skirt to my knees that Max insisted I bought. When I’d tried it on I felt ridiculous - far too done up for work - but he’d insisted it looked corporate enough for the office and good enough to ensnare any man’s heart. It’s the second part I focus on as I pull it from the dresser.
Telling Max I’d finished things with Josh was easy. He’d been relieved, proud even, when I said I didn’t want to feel the way he made me feel, but it left Max with a mission and it’s one I don’t need him to play in: finding me someone good.
As I slip the material over the white lace bra and panties he’d also insisted I needed, his name flashes over the phone on the bed. I grab it quickly as I move to the mirror, putting him on speaker, before reaching for my zipper.
“Mikaela Wilcox.” Max’s voice is about an octave higher than usual and I find my blood thumping with excitement almost instantly. I love that he does that.
“What?” I grin as I push my hair back and bend down to fish my black heels from under the bed. “What’s happened?”
“You’re coming to mine tonight, so bring pyjamas to work.”
I can hear the clatter of pans and the noise of someone else in the background.
“Why? Who’s with you right now?” I can’t stop the grin that crosses my lips as I hear a semi-familiar voice whispering about the heat being too high.
“Never you mind right now, Miss Wilcox.” Max is definitely ginning too. “I’ll fill you in on everything tonight. My sister’s in town for once and I want you to meet her.”
Benissittingatmy desk with a lazy grin and a coffee in hand as the elevator doors sweep open and I feel a warm blush creeping up my chest as his eyes rove over my body. His gaze lingers on my chest for a moment too long as I move towards him and place my bag of clothes at the edge of my desk. I push his feet off of the glass surface and he places his free hand on my waist immediately, pulling me over to him and into his lap.
“Ben,” I chastise, laughing as he nuzzles his face into my neck and inhales. “Anyone could walk in and see us.”
“Nope.” He’s grinning as he presses a kiss into the skin at the base of my throat. “Friday is staff meeting morning, remember. No one makes it in until nine on the dot on meeting mornings.” He pulls back to look at me. “I like your hair like this.”
I’m pretty sure my face matches the color of my dress as he catches a lock of my hair between his fingers and tugs it gently. I’d stood in front of my mirror for a full forty minutes pulling the straightening iron through the knots of curls that I usually let hang wild and free, until every kink and inch of frizz was smooth and straight. It had taken longer than I thought it would, but seeing the way his eyes run over me now, it was worth it.
“Thank you.” I lean in and kiss him quickly before glancing back to the elevator. “I’ll do it more often.”
