Sitting down on the edge of the bath, his hands went to the top of the prosthetic as he lifted his hooded eyes to mine. “I’d better get in first.”
I moved to him, only coming to a standstill when I was between his legs. I bent down to give him another kiss. When I lifted my mouth away from his, I smiled and gestured to the giant tub. “After you.”
Expertly taking off the prosthetic in what had to be record time, he swung around and lowered himself into the water. Once his back was resting against the side, he beckoned to me. “Well, you coming?”
“Hopefully soon.” I grinned and climbed in. The water was still running, but there was enough of it in the bath to cover my ass. It was warm, but not too hot.
I’d barely sat down when Joseph leaned forward and wrapped his arms around my waist, bringing me with him when he leaned back again. I let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a squeak, laughing when I landed straddling his lap.
“How do you manage to manhandle me like I don’t weigh anything?”
“It’s way easier than you seem to think.” He chuckled, but at the same time bought his lips to my neck and started kissing me there. His lips were hot and firm and before I knew it, I was grinding my hips against him and had forgotten all about talking.
“Sit up on your knees,” he murmured as his lips brushed against my ear. I felt his arm move as he reached out to shut off the water.
A shiver traveled through me as my head tilted for him. My brain was swimming around in hormones, apparently affecting my ability to understand what I heard. “What?”
“Put your knees on either side of my thighs and then lift that gorgeous ass out of the water,” he said. “I want to taste you.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head, but I recognized the tone he used. It was that low, commanding one that I’d been daydreaming about him using to say dirty things to me. And now it’s actually happening.
I did as he asked. It was a tight squeeze getting my legs in on either side of his, but his oversized tub made it possible. As soon as I was up, he bent forward and used his thumbs to spread me apart.
A satisfied sound tore from the back of his throat. “Such a pretty pussy. God, I’ve been dreaming about this.”
“You wha—” He didn’t give me a chance to finish my question before his mouth was on me, his fingers teasing at my opening.
It had been a long time since I’d received this kind of attention, and it showed. With his fingers pumping in and out of me, touching me just right, and his tongue doing all kinds of wicked things to my clit, I exploded in a ball of white-hot pleasure minutes later.
He didn’t give me time to recover.
As soon as I opened my eyes and blinked them lazily back into focus, he gritted out his next command. “It’s going to be easier for you to reach my wallet. There’s a condom in there. Get it. Back pocket.”
Once again, my body jumped into action before my brain had caught up. He was right, though. It was easy for me to reach his pants and get to the condom. I pulled out the package and handed it over.
Tearing it open with his teeth, he lifted his hips slightly higher to roll it on. When it was in place, he reached for me again. Straddling him as I had before, I positioned myself over his broad head and slowly started sinking down on him.
Our eyes caught and held, somehow staying that way as he stretched me out and filled me over and over again. Two more mind-breaking, mind-numbing and mind-rattling orgasms later, he finally found his own release.
It was only once I finally started coming back down to earth that I realized we hadn’t only maintained eye contact, but one of his hands had found mine on his shoulder and he’d been holding it all along too.
Chapter 25
Joseph
I did it again. I groaned as I rolled over and slammed my hand down on my alarm clock to shut the thing up. Fuck.
There was no moment of reprieve for me between sleep and wakefulness this morning. It all came rushing back to me the second I started regaining consciousness. I could still taste her on my tongue, still hear her quiet moans and feel the muscles inside her gripping my cock as she rode out her orgasm.
It had been a stupid, stupid fucking thing to do. I knew that, but it had also been comforting and pretty much the only thing I had for her aside from money so I didn’t regret it. But fuck, I really hoped she didn’t either.
The fact that sex with her in a bathtub was the most romantic and intense thing I’d ever done, well, she didn’t need to know that. Getting past us having sex once had been easier than I had thought it would be; getting past it twice probably wouldn’t be. Getting past it if she knew the truth about the experience for me? Pretty much impossible.
It would be much easier to pretend it had been nothing more than sex. Technically, it hadn’t been anything more than that. There was no way that she could know what it had really been for me, and I planned on keeping it that way.
All I had to do was to keep things from becoming awkward between us. Again.
When I eventually got over my mental self-flagellation, I rolled out of bed. I was still naked, having headed straight to bed after our bath. I walked into my bathroom without bothering to open my curtains.
The aftermath of last night was still there, from the small puddles on the tiles where the water had sloshed out to the bottles of stuff that we’d knocked off the edge of the bath lying on the floor.
Lilac had taken her clothes with her afterward, but mine were still there. I closed my eyes, trying to curb the wave of lust that crashed into me from simply being back in here. No doubt my morning routine was going to be significantly harder—no pun intended—for the next couple of weeks.
After taking a shower, during which I did not take matters into my own hands, thank you very much, I went to the kitchen to get started on coffee and breakfast. Since the guest room was literally on my way there, I stopped to check in on Lincoln and Lilac. The door was open, so it wasn’t like I was invading their privacy or being a total creeper. Me? No. Never.
They were on the bed together, her body curled around his much smaller one and her arm draped over his waist. Neither of them stirred, both of them sleeping peacefully as she held on to him.
It was such a sweet sight that I felt my heart trip over itself several times. My eyes stretched wide open when I felt it. I stepped out of the door and just about ran to the kitchen, unsure what to do about this. What the fuck is wrong with me?
The answer wasn’t rocket science, but admitting something monumental to myself this early in this morning wasn’t going to happen. I ignored the alien emotion in my chest and decided to focus on the practical stuff about what had to happen today.
Ollie was the king of practical, so I called him once I had a cup of coffee in hand. I was walking over to the window when he answered. “Hey boss. You’re up and at ‘em early today. What’s going on?”
“Lilac and I might not be in today. I’m not sure.” I sipped my coffee and watched as workers started arriving at the Pier, the place slowly but surely starting to come to life.
“How’s Lincoln doing?” Ollie asked, immediately guessing at the reason for our possible absence.
The fact that he asked coupled with the fact that he hadn’t asked any unnecessary questions about meetings or what he was supposed to do without us there gave me the sudden urge to give him a bonus. He was a great assistant and a pretty good human being. He definitely deserves a bonus.
“He’s okay, but he’ll probably be quiet today so we might avoid daycare. Both of them had quite a scare yesterday. It might be best to just stay home today.”
Ollie didn’t comment about how I was making plans for a kid who wasn’t mine or for that matter, for a woman who wasn’t either. I appreciated that.
I was still trying to sort this all out in my head. The last thing I wanted was to be questioned about it right now.
“I’ll take care of everything here. You just make sure that they’re okay. Tell th
e little man to get better soon, I’m rooting for him.”
“Thank you.” Having an assistant like Ollie was a fucking blessing. I briefly wondered what he’d say if I told him what was going on with me right now, but the only person I really talked to about that kind of stuff was Grant. “Let us know if there’s anything urgent that requires our attention.”
“Will do. Good luck today.” He hung up the phone after that, leaving me alone with only the strange feelings in my heart and the turmoil of thoughts in my head.
Deciding to do something to make myself useful instead of just standing there considering what to do about my issues, I walked over to the coffee maker and got that ready. I busied myself with menial tasks until Lilac woke up, then I did my best to act natural. Never thought that would be a problem for me.
She walked into the kitchen with her hair still mussed from sleep. There wasn’t a lick of makeup on her face and she had on rumpled pajamas that had a dinosaur print. Nothing about that picture should have been beautiful or sexy, but it was. It really, really was.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, but she lacked the confidence I’d become used to from her. Whether it was because she was still worried about Lincoln or because of what had happened between us, I didn’t know.
“Good morning.” Going back to the coffee maker, I filled the mug I’d already gotten out for her. “I made some coffee. Thought I’d whip us up some breakfast too. Sound good?”
She reached for the coffee, her eyes fluttering closed as she sipped it. I’d come to learn that Lilac was serious about her coffee. It was something of a ritual for her. I gave her a minute to take her first few sips and when she opened her eyes again, I grinned.
“What?” she asked, but then she shrugged and took another sip. “It’s not my fault you buy the best coffee in the world.”
“It’s not the best in the world,” I argued, but I couldn’t quite stop smiling at her. Or staring at her. “But it is pretty good.”
She rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth tilted upwards. “Of course you’ve probably had the coffee that really is classified as the best in the world.”
“I didn’t say that, but I have actually. Just once, and a lot of people still argue that it’s not really the best, but it was amazing.” I made a mental note to pay the exorbitant price to import a bag for her. Maybe just as a friend doing a nice thing for another. Move along, nothing special to see here.
“So, breakfast huh? What are you offering?” She held her coffee with both hands, her eyes on mine above the rim.
“I thought we could have French toast. I used to love the stuff when I was a kid.”
A soft smile spread on her face when I made the offer, but I didn’t ask about it. I didn’t figure it out until Lincoln came out of the bedroom while Lilac and I chatted as I cooked.
He was hugging that stuffed dinosaur again and his face lit up when he saw the pile of French toast on a plate next to the stove. “French toast during the week? Awesome.”
“French toast is good any day of the week,” I said, turning over the last piece and smiling at Lincoln as I jerked my head toward the plates on the counter. “Come and get it while it’s still hot.”
Lilac handed over a plate, her gaze flicking from me to Lincoln and back again. She had a strange expression on her face, but it wasn’t an unhappy one. If anything, she looked genuinely happy and content.
Lincoln couldn’t stop smiling as I dished up his breakfast. It was another domestic scene that did unfamiliar things to me.
My heart did those weird fucking flips again, but I pushed it aside and stopped trying to fight it.
For a man who had been perfectly happy on my own, I sure was falling for this small family stupidly fast.
Chapter 26
Lilac
“Are you done with that, sweetheart? You can have another piece if you want,” I said to Lincoln as he pushed his breakfast plate away. There were still a few bites of his French toast leftover, which was not something that usually happened.
He hadn’t eaten nearly as much as normal, but I knew the asthma attack had taken a lot out of him. Shaking his head as his blue eyes met mine, he got up. “No thank you, Mommy. Thank you for making me French toast, Joseph.”
“You’re welcome.” Joseph grinned, but I saw my own worry reflected in his eyes. It was really sweet how concerned he was about my son.
Sweet wasn’t really a word I’d previously have used to describe the man, but I’d seen such a different side to him that I was having trouble remembering how much of a dick he could be. Not that it mattered really; this was his home and not the office. I understood why he acted differently there than he did here.
And speaking of the office… “We should go get ready or we’re going to be late.”
“Actually.” Joseph cleared his throat and flashed me an uncharacteristically sheepish smile. “We’re not going in today. I’ve already talked to Ollie and arranged that we’d be working from home.”
Relief so intense it made me want to hug him and never let him go flooded my senses. I was about to thank him again when I remembered that he’d told me to stop. “You won’t hear me arguing about that.”
“Good.” Satisfaction crept into his eyes as he watched me smile and heard Lincoln’s ‘whoop.’ I needed to figure out what was going on here, with him. With us.
We were pretending to be in a relationship, and he’d offered us refuge in his home, but what was happening felt like something else entirely. For starters, it didn’t feel like he was just doing us a favor. It felt like he genuinely wanted us here.
Also, there was the fact that we’d had sex for the second time last night. The first time I might have been able to write it off as a drunken mistake, but this time it sure as hell hadn’t been anything like that.
Thinking about how and when might be best to bring up the subject with him, I finished my breakfast and stood up. “You’re on French toast duty from now on. That was awesome.”
“It was,” Lincoln agreed. “Better than Mom’s.”
I laughed, reaching out to yank Lincoln into my arms and tickling his tummy. “Better than Mom’s? Really, buddy?”
“Really, Mommy,” he managed to gasp out between giggles as he writhed around and tried to escape my grip.
Joseph watched us, another weird yet interesting expression on his handsome features. It was almost like he liked watching me goof off with Lincoln. This from a man who only a few weeks ago had scowled at me for wanting to go home in time to tuck my son into bed. He’s an enigma, all right.
Telling myself I’d figure him out later, I held my hand out to Lincoln. “Let’s go get you settled, then we’ve got to get to work.”
“Can I watch cartoons on the big TV again?” If he had more energy, I was pretty sure the prospect would have had him bouncing up and down. “Pretty please.”
“Sure,” Joseph said. “I’ll go get it going, you guys grab what you need and I’ll meet you at the TV.”
He strode out without another word. The guy was seriously baffling me today. I shook my head, took Lincoln’s hand and went to fetch a blanket and my laptop before setting him up on the couch with his dinosaur, the blanket and some cartoons.
Joseph was already in his office. I could hear his computer keyboard clacking and was tempted to go join him there, but then decided to work at the dining room table instead. I’d already invaded enough of his personal space. I didn’t need to move into his office too.
I kept an eye on Lincoln all morning while I sent out reports and kept up with Ollie at the office. In between getting our work done, we chatted about Lincoln and how he was doing. I snapped a picture of my son in seventh heaven, lying on the couch all comfortable with his dinosaur while he watched cartoons.
The inter-office messaging system alerted me to a new message from Ollie just after I sent the picture.
Ollie: I’m so jealous. I’d still be doing that all day if I had half the chance.
&
nbsp; Me: Same here. He’s also decided that he wants fruit for lunch, so I’ve got to run out to the store soon. Think we’re all out here.
Ollie: Weird that you know what’s going on in the boss’s fridge.
He added a winking face emoji, which made me roll my eyes at him.
Me: Well, at least we know for sure now that he does eat. Must be human.
Ollie: Good to know we’re not actually working for an advanced robot. Now stop bothering me, woman. I have work to do.
I laughed out loud, feeling a twinge of guilt about continuing with the joke about how Joseph didn’t always seem one hundred percent human. I knew, probably better than anyone else in his life right now, how very human he was. How sweet and gentle he could be, how much he really cared.
Seeing as how he could also be a total dick though, I decided not to feel too bad about it.
Besides, if I stopped joking around with Ollie about it now, he’d know for sure that something was up. Since I didn’t really know what that was myself yet, it didn’t seem wise to let anyone else in on it.
Especially not Ollie. I trusted him and I was really starting to think of him as a friend, but we worked together. Even if whatever was going on between Joseph and me was more than a fake relationship/refugee thing, I didn’t know how he’d feel about anyone at the office finding out about it. I’ll add it to my list of things to talk to him about.
Sighing as I realized how much it was going to suck to initiate the conversation we needed to have, I got back to work instead. Way easier than trying to come up with a way to talk to my boss about us being in a romantic relationship of some kind.
When the doorbell rang about an hour later, I was so surprised that I jumped a little in my chair. Joseph didn’t get any unexpected visitors, or at least he hadn’t in the time we’d been here.
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