AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I like listening to you talk.”
And he did. He liked her bravado, her honesty, her spunky fire.
“I’m really good at holding myself back. A skill you pick up pretty quickly when you get bounced from home to home. But on the subway...” She smiled. “Everyone’s doing their own thing, but they also show all these pieces of themselves, little vignettes of their lives. It makes me feel connected.”
“Do you want to feel connected?”
The frown returned. “I didn’t used to.” She shrugged. “Maybe I’m just getting older.”
This time he laughed. “How old are you again?”
“Twenty-five.”
He groaned. “God save me from women in their twenties who think they’re old.”
When she laughed again, tossing her head back with carefree abandon, the sound rippling across his skin, he took a chance and leaped.
“What would you think about extending our arrangement?”
She fell silent almost immediately, her eyes widening. “What?”
“I’d like to see you again.”
“As in...?”
“Not a relationship per se. That’s not what either of us is looking for. But I’d like to see you again, spend time with you...” His eyes drifted down to her legs, and he shot her a wicked smile. “Both in and out of bed.”
She swallowed hard. “For how long?”
He paused. The part of him that was enjoying her didn’t want to say. But it would be in both their interests to put an end date to whatever relationship they carried on. Something that kept things fun and light.
“Through the duration of your contract with Bradford Global.” Just a little over a month. Enough to enjoy, but not long enough to get attached.
The seconds dragged out. Then, at last, she smiled.
“I’d like that.”
Relief swept through him. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.
“Good. Did you have anything on your schedule for today?”
“I need to practice later, but that’s it.”
“Perfect.”
He plucked the fork from her fingers, picked her up around the waist and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her inside as she laughingly protested. The protests died on her lips as he laid her down on his bed, pulled the shirt over her head and lost himself in the pleasures of her body.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DAMONSTAREDAThis computer. He’d read the latest report from the manufacturing plant in Texas at least three times, and he still had no idea what was in it. In the last two weeks, his legendary focus had slipped. He still showed up to work early, accomplished his tasks, oversaw meetings and swiftly put out fires, from budgeting issues to a disagreement between two of his engineers.
But in the back of his mind, always, was Evolet.
It had been two weeks since she’d spent the weekend with him. During the day, they maintained a professional rapport. No stolen kisses, no frantic embraces behind closed doors. He was already straining his personal sense of ethics by indulging in an affair with someone on the Bradford Global payroll. Evolet understood. That she did, and respected his stance, just made him like her more.
And that was a problem. He didn’t want to like her. He didn’t want to reach for her when he woke up or think about her on the nights she spent at her apartment.
He was getting in too deep. Too deep, but he couldn’t bring himself to end it. Not when they had such a short amount of time left.
