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“I’m rarely too busy for you. What are you up to? How’d it go today?”
She switched to speakerphone and sopped up the spilled tea. “Would you mind making a slight amendment to our agreement? Everyone at the research institute’s asking about you, and I believe they’re beginning to think I lied about our collaboration. I know we agreed to three months—”
“But that’s changed, hasn’t it?” He yawned again. “I’m certain we’ve already established that we’ve decided to grow old together.”
“Have we?”
“Yes, we have.”
“What if I lose all my hair, my teeth, and I sag in places where I anatomically shouldn’t be able to?”
“I’m eleven years older than you,” he said. “I’ll still be chasing you down for a taste.”
She laughed harder, the muscles in her stomach clenching. “Thank you, Lucas. I needed that laugh.”
“You’re welcome, babe. Did something happen today?”
“I have to ask my father for money.”
“Rai, he’ll give it to you.”
“That’s the problem. How many people in my position wouldn’t have such an easy way out? How can I say I’ve worked hard for what I’ve accomplished if I run to my father whenever there’s a problem?”
A car door closed, and then she heard him mumble something to someone who replied in a youthful, masculine voice several levels above his.
“You’re not asking your father to repay your gambling debts,” he said. “You’re asking him to fund vital research. Research that could influence everything from health economics to health equity. Think of it that way. What can you accomplish because of everything he’s accomplished? I would gladly redo everything I’ve done and all the obstacles I’ve overcome if I knew it would make things a little easier for my children. Everything doesn’t have to be a climb, Rai, especially if you’ll be at the top of the hill throwing down ropes and equipment to help others get up there with you.”
She tossed the wet paper towels in the trash, poured a second cup of tea, and leaned against the kitchen counter, staring into the mug as the leaves steeped.
Salaries and livelihoods were at stake. Plus, her father had repeatedly told her, O.B., Delilah, and even Carson and Miguel that he was a resource. To come to him. He wanted to invest in them because he raised them to care about others, to care about the future.
Before him, his family had known only poverty. As far as O.B. Daniels Sr. was concerned, those generations of poverty would end with him.
“I never knew all this was hidden underneath that arrogant doctor,” she teased.
“I knew it was there once upon a time,” he said. “I was afraid that it might have been lost forever.”
“I understand why you approached me the way you did. I would have fallen in love if you’d left me cute notes or talked me through my feelings early on.”
“What about now? Could it still work? I wouldn’t mind you falling in love.”
A notification popped up on her phone from the doorbell, and she squinted at the screen, positive she was seeing incorrectly.
“Lucas? Where are you?”
“Outside.”
“Outside our place in Baltimore?”
“No, ma’am.”
She unlocked the door from her phone.
The door handle turned, and then he appeared in her entryway, bags in hand, dressed in a coat, sweater, jeans, and boots, all black from head to toe.
“I know you said I’d greet you on my knees, but…” She ran over to him, leaped into his arms, and planted kisses all over his face before settling on his mouth, thrusting her tongue between his lips.
She directed him to her bedroom, where she dragged him out of his clothes, and he tugged her out of hers. Then she coaxed him onto his back, kissed her way down his body, and wrapped her lips around his stiff erection.
