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I make it back to the penthouse and have a quick listen for movement as I go to my study, hearing nothing. Once I’ve retrieved the key from its hiding place and opened the safe, I place the two boxes inside before locking it back up. Heading back to the bathroom, I turn off the taps and test the water, then take off my watch and boxers and sink into the bath, without the energy I need to now shave.
I close my eyes and breathe, taking the unexpected time to recharge and give my poor, overused muscles a break from moving. But I won’t go to sleep. I can’t drift off.Don’t go to sleep.Not alone in the tub.
I see long, dirty-blond hair on the sweetest, most angelic face. Chubby little hands and legs. Green eyes that match mine and Jake’s. I don’t think anything in this life will sound as good as the wordsDaddycoming from her little mouth. Will I get that again?
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
I inhale sharply and open my eyes. The water is tepid. Probably about the right temperature for Rosie. My heart clenches, and I scrub my wet hands down my face, sighing as I turn on the hot tap and let it warm up the water. The cycle isn’t letting up. It’s as if the universe deems it necessary and appropriate to ramp up the torture, maybe push me to the brink of despair, forcing some confessions out of me. It’s me against my past. My past is creeping ahead.
I reach for my watch, leaning out of the bath, stretching. “Jesus Christ.” Two hours have passed. I rest back as I hear a door close in the distance. “Finally,” I say to my darkness, washing the remnants of foam off my face. She appears, a glorious, flustered beauty. She gets out of her dress and lacy underwear, and I sink farther down into the water on a sigh. And then she’s naked, except for her perfectly painted nails.
“Where have you been?” I pout, my eyes following her to the tub, my hands twitching to get hold of her as she steps in and sits between my legs, lying against me.
“I was waiting for my nails to dry.”
I curl my body around her and squeeze. “That’s two hours I’ve lost with you that I’m not going to get back. No more painting nails and hunting down scarce whiskey.”
She chuckles, clinging to my arms, stroking across the hair. “Okay,” she says easily, and I smile. “Clive gave me some post for you this morning. I shoved it in my bag and forgot about it. Sorry.”
“No problem.” I tighten my hold, nuzzling deeper into her neck, relishing the heat and our wet skin rubbing. “I love, love, love you wet and sliding all over me.” I lay a hand over each breast and softly meld the small, perfect mounds. “Tomorrow,” I say hoarsely, sucking at the flesh of her neck, “we stay in bed all day long.” I amnotleaving this penthouse, be sure of that.
Ava doesn’t protest, so I’m going to assume that’s a straight agreement from her. Then I feel her chest rise on an inhale, and I brace myself for that protest. Or a question. She’s held back on those since last night when we had a little heart-to-heart about a few things. Was it a step in the right direction? Or a leap the wrong way?
“What was the first thing you thought when you saw me?” she asks quietly, making me pause with the attention I’m paying to her neck.
I smile and latch on to her ear. “Mine.”
Water splashes when she jerks on a laugh. “You didn’t.”
“I fucking did.” Among other things.Like get on my desk so I can fuck you now while I’m sober and will remember every second.“And now you are.” Putting a finger under her chin, I encourage her head to the side and direct her mouth to mine, pressing my lips to hers. “I love you.” I think I loved her then too. Right there in my office, dizzy with uncontrollable reactions, I think I fell in love on the spot.
Ava sighs, indulging my mouth. “I know you do. Did it ever occur to you to ask me to dinner instead of stalking me, asking inappropriate questions, and cornering me in one of your torture chambers?”
I pout, remembering that fateful day, not needing to relive those moments or feelings, because I feel them every day. Between the heart attacks and meltdowns. “No,” I reply quietly. “It didn’t.” I could hardly think at all. “I wasn’t thinking straight. You made me crazy confused.”
“Confused about what?”
“I don’t know. You triggered something in me. It was very disturbing.” I look up at the ceiling of the beautiful bathroom that Ava designed, thinking back to those days when she resisted me. It seems laughable now. Look at us. So in love. I was right not to give up, and I’m so thankful I didn’t, because fuck knows where I would be now.
Drunk.
Fucking.
Hiding.
Okay, I’m facing some challenges. Terrified of losing again. But, and it’s fucked up on so many levels, at least I have something to lose. Which means I’m really quite passionate about keeping it.
“You gave me a flower,” she muses.
“Yeah.” That was step one of the plan that failed miserably. “I was trying to be a gentleman.”
“So the next time you saw me, you asked me how loud I would scream when you fuck me?”
I grin like a dick, but wince at the same time. That should have been game over. Speaks volumes that it wasn’t, doesn’t it? “Mouth, Ava.” I laugh. “I didn’t know what to do. I only usually have to smile to get what I want.”
“You should have tried to be less arrogant.”
“Maybe.” Now let’s get the nitty-gritty details of Ava’s experience that day. I know she was in awe.Looks. I know she was curious.Age. I know she couldn’t string a sentence together without a few deep breaths.Chemistry.“Tell me what you thought.” I wait, sensing her smiling. “Tell me.”
