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Sixteen
Three and a half hours into a four-hour-long car ride and Addi was still buzzing from last night. Not only had Bran assured her she had a place in his family’s heart, but he’d implied she had a place in his. And after he’d promised her she wasn’t alone, he’d taken her to bed and made the most tender love to her. He’d been present and focused solely on her needs. She knew it was dangerous to project, but she could swear what he couldn’t put into words he’d said with his body. She hadn’t imagined their conversation afterward, as they lay snuggling and cozy in bed, talking.
“If I have kids, I’m having more than one,” she’d told him. “I’d love to have a sibling or two.”
“I always thought three was a good number,” he’d said, tickling her forearm with his fingertips and sending chills down her body. “Royce and Gia and I have always been close. If one of us is acting like an idiot, at least there are two other honest opinions and no possibility of a tie.”
She’d laughed at that, as she did at most of their conversation. Even though he hadn’t outright admitted he wanted to have three children himself, that’s what she heard. Her mind had offered up a vision of a small child on her hip, another’s hand in hers, and a third one chasing Bran along the ocean’s shoreline.
A fantasy, surely.
But what came next seemed to confirm it.
“I have a proposition for you,” he said now, from the driver’s seat.
“Sounds important. Let me prepare myself.” She smoothed her hair—down since they’d left the windows up—and straightened her spine. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Honestly, when did you become such a smart-ass? I ruined you this weekend.”
He so did, but not in the way he meant. He’d successfully thwarted her plan not to fall for him. She’d tried to keep her heart out of the bedroom but how could she when he’d been all heart?
“Which brings me to my question.” One hand on the wheel, he spared her a quick glance before looking out the windshield again. “How would you feel about spending more nights together once we return home?”
Delighted. Thrilled. Sign me up!
“I’m having fun. You seem to be having fun.” He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Why not?”
Not the profession of love she was hoping for, but that wasn’t going to happen—not so soon. She might’ve been in love with him for a year, but he’d recently been through the wringer. He was stoic about how Royce and Taylor and the role of CEO had affected him, she knew Bran—she knew he was still feeling his way forward.
She wanted to be more than his soft space to land. What they needed was more time to uncover what they could mean to each other. Exactly what he was offering. But. There was a real world to consider outside of this car.
“What about your family? What about work?”
“We can keep it to ourselves. Not because I’m worried about backlash, but who needs the pressure, you know? Who needs outside opinion on what we’re doing when we know what works for us?”
Coming from anyone else, she might consider it a blow off, but this was Bran. She knew Bran. And she wanted Bran. So much she’d be willing to do almost anything he asked.
Almost.
“And this won’t affect my working with you?” she asked.
“Not on my end. It might lead to a couple of very interesting private meetings—” his mouth quirked “—but I don’t want you to worry that anything that happens between us will affect your job. I meant it when I said I needed you at ThomKnox, Ad. I do.”
She needed him, too, but wouldn’t dare mention it.
“I appreciate the transparency. I’m not ready to shut this down, either.” She clucked her tongue and offered up a sarcastic, “Poor Tammie, though, what will you tell her?”
He chuckled. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Probably not.”
He reached for her hand and lifted it to his mouth. “A small price to pay.”
A few minutes later, he swiftly pulled over several lanes of traffic and angled for an exit she knew well.
“Pestle & Pepper,” he said in explanation.
“My home away from home.”
