AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He forced himself to smile and rolled them both to the side before getting up from the sofa. “I need to get rid of this.”
As he stood in the bathroom, he pulled himself together. He’d gotten caught up in the moment. That had to be the reason, the only explanation. He’d let his imagination get carried away. Now, it was time to reel it back in.
Chapter Nine
Alyssa’s eyes popped open and, this time, she was immediately aware of where she was. She was snuggled up against Bentley’s side. His arm lay heavy across her waist, and their legs were tangled together. Her head rested against his shoulder, and she smiled when he pressed a kiss into her hair.
“Good morning.”
“It is a good morning, isn’t it? I like this.” She curled her arm around his middle and snuggled closer to him.
He drew her closer, and she loved the feel of his bare skin against hers. She couldn’t resist trailing her fingers over his chest. She’d never been with a guy who had muscles like that before.
She stopped when she heard him chuckle. “That feels good.”
She smiled up at him. “I’m glad; it feels good to me, too.”
“Unfortunately, since we didn’t put together a game plan last night, I think we need to get serious this morning, don’t you?”
She nodded sadly. “As much as I would like to spend whatever time we have left doing more creative things, you’re right. If we’re meeting them for breakfast, we should probably get our stories straight now.”
Her heart felt heavy in her chest when he cupped his hand around the back of her neck and pressed a kiss to her forehead before rolling out of bed.
“Coffee?”
“Yeah.” It felt like she was going to need it.
A little while later, they both settled onto the sofa on the balcony with their second cup of coffee. Bentley’s hair was still slightly damp from the shower, and she couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it.
He turned to her with a smile. “It’s going to feel strange to not be able to do that later.”
“It is.” It would be strange to not be able to touch him, not be able to hold his hand or kiss him for the rest of the day while they were with their parents. Things being strange for the day was bad enough, what was worse was the dread that had settled in her stomach that they would never be able to do any of that again. That their time was drawing to an end.
His leg rested against hers as they sat side-by-side, and even through his jeans, she could feel the warmth of him. It seemed to seep inside her; he was the kind of guy who she just knew could keep her warm and safe in every way. It was just her luck that that wasn’t going to happen.
He took hold of her hand and gave her a rueful smile. “I know we said we were going to talk about the possibility of you doing an audit for the company, and I know that was just to keep our folks happy. But what if we really discuss it?”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”
He hesitated, taking a sip of his coffee, and staring out at the lake before he turned back to her. “What I mean is that I don’t want to say goodbye to you when we leave here today.”
All her breath caught in her chest. She was thrilled, but she hadn’t been expecting it.
Hesitation clouded his eyes. “Of course, I will. I can be the dutiful stepbrother, if that’s what you want me to be.” His hand came up and he brushed his fingers over her lips. “Although, Ihave to tell you, those family gatherings? I don’t think I’ll be able to bring myself to be friendly with your husband.”
A rush of warmth spread through her chest. “I can’t believe I said that. If we’re being honest here …” What the hell, she might as well tell him. “I’ll try to behave myself, but I can’t promise that I won’t try to scratch your wife’s eyes out.”
His eyes widened in surprise, and she realized that she might’ve put it a little too strongly. She wasn’t exactly given to violence. She was relieved when he laughed. “Good to know. I’ll bear that in mind. But I think we’ll have plenty of time before we need to worry about that scenario.” He checked his watch. “But we don’t have much time to figure out what we’re going to tell the folks, and what we’re going to do from here.”
“And you’re saying that you’d seriously want me to come in and do an audit?” That would be quite a job, both in terms of scope and prestige. She’d done well for herself since she struck out on her own. She’d worked with some medium-sized businesses in the Bay Area, and her last few jobs had come from word-of-mouth referrals from previous clients. If she had DuPont Wineries as a satisfied customer on her resume, that would only boost her reputation and prospects.
“I am,” said Bentley. “It’s something that Willow I talked about, something that we intend to get to soon.”
“But how do you even know if I’m any good? How do you …?”
He put a finger to her lips. “I just know, and I trust you. If you didn’t think you were up to the job, you’d say so, wouldn’t you?”
She nodded. “I would. I know I can do it. But I also know that I wouldn’t be the first person you’d choose … You wouldn’t give me the contract over one of the bigger, more well-established firms if it wasn’t for … You know, if we didn’t know eachother.” She rolled her eyes at him. “And I’m only talking about nepotism, I’m not saying that I slept my way into the job.”
