“Buttons.”
“Buttons,” I repeated, studying the pure white fluff ball. “Babe. Buttons doesn’t have marks anywhere on that lily white fur.”
“I know. When I found her out by my studio, she had three black circles in a line down her chest. When I cleaned her up, the black spots were gone. But I’d already named her.”
“Dogs are better than cats.”
She sighed. “But I can’t just cut her loose. She has been my cat for two years.”
“I wasn’t suggesting you eighty-six her. I was just saying if I had to choose, I’d pick dogs.”
“You could have dogs,” she pointed out. “You have room for them.”
But I wanted family dogs and that wasn’t something I’d ever admit out loud. “Someday.”
“Are you hungry? I could make clam linguine.”
That sounded awful. “I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Mastered the art of the little white lie, have you?”
“Fine. I don’t like clams. Not crazy about linguine either. Why don’t we just order a pizza?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I ate enough pizza in college that if I never have it again it’ll be too soon.”
“That sucks. I love pizza.”
“You’re a bachelor. You probably only like pizza because someone makes it, drops it off at your door and all you have to do is open the box.”
Partially true. I wasn’t about to argue with a woman who didn’t like chicken wings or bar food either. I sipped my beer.
She sipped hers.
Fuck it. I’d just go there, since it’s where we’d end up anyway. “So is your bedroom all black?”
That startled her. “Why would you ask that?”
“It seems if you need blank space here, then you’d want a different atmosphere in the place where you sleep. The exact opposite. Light and dark.”
Trinity blinked at me.
“Am I wrong?”
“No. My bedroom is completely black. But no one understands why. They just think I’m morose.”
“No one meaning … other men who’ve been in your bed?”
Her eyes narrowed again until she was nearly cross-eyed. “Are we doing the jealousy thing? Because I can give it right back to you by asking how many women have swum in your pool.”
I loved that she didn’t back down. And hated that she had a point. “I fucking hate thinking about other guys having their hands on you, Trinity. I know it’s in the past and it won’t be a thing between us, but you oughta know that I’ll probably act like a caveman when I see guys eyeballing you. And if one touches you? He’ll be picking his broken teeth up off the floor.”
She said nothing. But her cheeks were flushed. With anger?
“What?”
“That makes me hot, imagining you going all primal and possessive over me.”
“It does?”
“Crazy hot.” She drained her beer. “Want to see my bedroom?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
Trinity rushed past me; I chased her.
I slammed the door shut and we fell into a dark void where we were nothing but sighs and moans, heated skin and frantic movements.
It was exactly what we both needed—and way better than clam linguine or pizza.
—
Afterward, we settled with her head on my chest, our bodies twisted together between her satiny sheets, still completely in the dark. I finally felt completely reset and heaved a huge sigh.
She said, “Bad day?”
“Might say that.”
“Can you talk about it without getting all tensed up again?”
“You sure you wanna hear it?”
“I love lying on your chest and listening to you talk. And with the added bonus that I get to smell you, it’s like a drug.”
Shit. I hadn’t showered after a long day spent outside in the dirt. Was she hinting that I reeked?
“I love all the different scents that make up Walker Lund. Earth and spice and mint and that yummy cologne, and some citrusy one I can’t place. You’re intoxicating.”
I smiled even though she couldn’t see my face in the dark.
“Talk to me. This is what couples do after the lovin’.”
So I told her about my frustration with the Smith Brothers’ project and how I was ready to cut them loose and Jase wasn’t, which put us at odds. Then we had supply delays, and employees with Monday-itis, leaving us shorthanded. I hated when Mondays were a shitshow because it usually meant the rest of the week would follow along those lines.
Trinity just listened. I didn’t know how much I’d needed that. I kissed the top of her head. “Who were you yelling at on the phone?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
“Esther came to look at the piece today and suggested minor changes, which is no big deal. She’s telling me about the country club where she’s having the party and I ask specifics about how the piece will be displayed because it’s heavy. She had no idea about display costs or temporary and permanent installation costs. So I’m imagining this work crumpled up on the floor of a garage someplace. We get a plan figured out and I call my usual display and installation guy—who incidentally is a good friend of Ramon’s—and he declines to help me.”
“Jesus. He’s taking sides?”
“I should’ve expected that. I call another guy. Same answer. I’m thinking I have this gorgeous piece and no way to transport it to the event, so I call my friend Nicolai, who I haven’t talked to in over a year. He and Ramon had a crash-and-burn moment, so Nicolai can’t wait to share the gossip that Ramon went into rehab this weekend.”
I stopped my hand in the middle of her back. “What?”
“Remember I told you about Ramon having a personality change? And Gen always making cracks about him being high? I guess it’d gotten really bad. He was pulled over in his food truck for driving under the influence. There’s some snag with quantifiable limits when you’re stoned, but after he was released on bond, he checked into Hazelden.”
I tilted her head back, but in the pitch black I couldn’t see her eyes. “Don’t feel guilty, sweetheart. He made his choices. The breakdown of your friendship didn’t send him down the path to self-destruction; he was already on it.”
“I still feel bad for him, though. And I do feel guilty that maybe if I’d been a better friend—”
My mouth found hers in the dark. The sweet taste of her was my drug. I fed off her until we both needed to break apart to breathe.
She snuggled into me, burying her nose in my chest with a contented sigh.
“After Nicolai finished gossiping, did he get you the names of installation guys?”
“Nope. That’s why I was yelling and pacing. But I’m not thinking about it tonight.”
“I’ll be your installation guy.”
She lifted her head. “What?”
“You need a strong guy, I’m your man. You need a strong guy who knows other strong guys, I’m your man. If you need equipment to load the piece, I’m your man. If you need transportation, I’m your man. Get where I’m going with this?”
“You’re sure? Because I’m a completely different person when I’m coordinating an installation.”
“I’ve watched you kill yourself during this process and if I can take some of the burden off, let me help you.”
When she kissed me, I felt her smile on my lips. “Okay. But you can’t forget I’m in charge. You can’t second-guess me or argue with me—”
I flipped her on her back. “I get it. I’m still the man for the job. But there is one thing.”
“What?”
“I won’t hide the fact I’m sleeping with the boss.”
“I’m good with that. Now be a little worker bee and get busy.”
—
Something awakened me and I opened my eyes, but in the pitch black of Trinity’s room, they may as well have been shut. I blin
ked a few times and lifted my head, trying not to wake the snoring woman sprawled across my chest. I let my hand follow the outline of her body. I liked sleeping with her and I didn’t remember ever feeling so comfortable with a woman beside me in bed. Trinity curled into me and conked out immediately. Like she trusted me to keep her safe even in sleep.
I saw movement across the room.
A white lump sat on the dresser, staring at me.
Buttons, you spooky bastard. How did you get in here?
The only thing that moved was the long white tail, twitching back and forth with irritation.
I leveled my meanest look on Buttons because I knew she could see me perfectly well in the dark. I swear she chuffed out a noise that sounded like a cat sneer.
“Watch it,” I whispered. “Or when she moves in with me I’ll replace you with a dog.”
Trinity shifted and muttered, “We can have a cat and a dog.”
I wasn’t sure she was awake, so I said, “A cat and two dogs.”
“Okay. But a guard dog for safety and a fluffy little one for the kids to drag around and dress up.” She sighed. “I always wanted that. And a bunch of kids.”
Talking about pets and living together and kids … when we’d been together just a few weeks? My balls should’ve been sweating. At the very least I should’ve been staring at the ceiling unable to sleep for the rest of the night.
But I couldn’t stop smiling as I drifted off.
Seventeen
TRINITY
It was six days until I’d deliver the Stephens commission.
I’d taken the day off to laze around with my man. But lying in the sun without purpose always sent my brain into overdrive.
“What are the odds?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not exactly a statistician.”
I adjusted my sunglasses. “Or maybe it’s just a rich-person thing?”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning all you rich people hang out at the same places.”
No comment from Richie Rich. He took my ribbing about our financial disparities in stride.
Once again, I tried to empty my mind and listen to the trill of different birds in the maple trees, or the steady buzz of the cicadas, but my brain was wound up. “Does this happen often?”
“What? You chattering away while I’m trying to take a nap? It’s happening more than I’d like it to, babe.”
“I’m the one who deserves a nap.” I’d finished the Stephens piece with time to spare—only a few days, but ahead of deadline was ahead of deadline. But ever since I’d deemed it done, I hadn’t allowed myself to relax. My brain started asking me what was next. And I didn’t have a clue.
Like that’s new.
Walker snagged my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I’m sorry. I’m just wiped out. Keeping up with your sexual demands could be a full-time job.”
I smirked. “First you complain we don’t see each other enough. Now you complain it’s too much.”
“I will never complain about that. I should’ve taken a rain check last night when you wanted to play grab-ass because I’m dragging ass after my early morning.”
Walker invoked the eight o’clock rule whenever we stayed the night together; I had to be up and ready to spend time with him by eight a.m. That meant he couldn’t use our limited hours together to work out, so he hauled his fine ass out of bed at six a.m. to be done by eight. And last night, we’d messed around until two a.m. I kept waiting for the need between us to cool, but it hadn’t. “Who did you work out with this morning?”
“Myself. Why? You wanna come tomorrow?”
I snorted. Like that’d happen. “I thought you had a workout schedule with your brothers and cousins?”
“We used to. They’re busy doing their own things, so I do mine.”
I’d heard that excuse a lot. It hurt my heart to think the close connection Walker felt with his family wasn’t reciprocated.
“Since you’re determined to keep me up and involved in your circular thought processes, let me remind you that the client who commissioned you to do the project has money. And yes, money people stick together. So the fact your client is hosting her husband’s surprise birthday party at the Minneapolis Club isn’t unusual. Club members have to spend X number of dollars there every month, so the private rooms are almost always booked.”
“Does Lund Industries have events at the Minneapolis Club frequently?”
“Often enough. Especially for the smaller stuff.”
“So the party they’re holding the same night as the Stephens party? It’s not a major corporate thing that every Lund board member has to attend?”
A shadow loomed over me. My sunglasses disappeared. Then I was gazing into the beautiful face of the man who rocked my world and filled my soul with happiness.
“Trinity. I’ll be there with you. I promise. No one at LI will miss me. But you. You …” He waited for me to fill in the blanks.
“I need you.”
“In case something goes wrong with the installation?” he pressed.
I touched his face. “In case something goes wrong with me.”
“Not.” Kiss. “Gonna.” Kiss. “Happen.” Kiss. “Everything will go perfectly; you’ll have people lined up with their checkbooks out to commission an original Trinity Amelia piece of art. And curator dude will demand a piece for all the galleries he reps.”
“How can you be so confident?”
“How can you look at all the beautiful stuff you create and not be cocky about it?”
“Because I’m neurotic.”
Walker kissed me again. “I know. I don’t get it, but it’s part of what makes you … you, so I figured it’d be easier to accept it than to question it. Kind of like how I accept that Buttons is an asshole, but she’s your asshole cat and part of the package.”
I grinned. “She’s growing on you.”
“Yeah. The scratches on my calves are signs of her affection.” He smirked. “I guess that could be true since the scratches down my back are signs of yours.”
He scooted away before I swatted him.
“You want something to drink?” he called from the patio.
“No. I’m good.”
I watched as Walker raised the bottle of water to his mouth. His T-shirt rode up, exposing the blond happy trail vanishing into the waistband of his board shorts. I knew that section of his abdomen would be warm from him sitting in the sun. I knew how hard his muscles and how soft that strip of hair would feel against my lips. I knew he’d taste of salt and sweat and man.
It still shocked me, that immediate rush of need when I caught his musky, masculine scent. The knowledge that I could have this man anytime I wanted just made me greedier.
He crouched beside me. “You wanna stop staring at my junk and licking your lips so we can finish this conversation?”
“Not really.” I reached out and pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. The heat in his eyes wasn’t solely from the scorching temperatures on the patio. “You were complaining about me talking. So I assumed you’d rather I used my mouth for something else.”
“Jesus, Trin.”
I set my hand on his cheek, tracing the bow of his bottom lip with my thumb. “We both know if you got it in your head that you wanted a taste of me as we’re lazing in the sun, you’d just do it and wouldn’t ask permission.”
His nostrils flared.
“So I’m not asking, Walker. Stretch out on this blanket with me.”
He stood, stripped off his shirt and sat behind me. Snugging his groin to my backside, he bent his knees so I could rest my back to his chest as he braced his hands behind him. His lips brushed the top of my ear. “Happy now?”
“Very.” My heart sighed. You make me happier than anyone I’ve ever met. When I’m with you, for the first time in my life I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
As much as my heart wanted to whisper that confession to see how his heart responded, my mouth remain
ed uncooperative for a change.
I felt the tension in every inch of Walker’s body. He was such a complicated man, used to being in charge in his work, so I suspected that sometimes he wanted me to take control. He needed my focus one hundred percent on him.
Setting my palms on his knees, I ran my hands down the outside of his legs. For being so fair-haired everywhere else, the darker hair on his calves and thighs intrigued me. My fingertips mapped the bulging muscles of his calves and the delineated lines of his quads. They quivered at my touch. He took great care of his body. Not in an obsessive way, but I assumed competition with his family played a big part in why he remained fit.
I rolled forward onto my knees and turned around to face him. “Look at you. All stretched out like some kind of Norse god ready to be worshipped.”
He didn’t speak. He just watched me and waited with coiled energy.
His body was so much longer and broader than mine that we were mismatched when I tried to hang above him. He started to shift to accommodate me, but I shook my head. “Let me.”
As much as I wanted to slowly lick the beads of sweat from his skin, starting at the top and working my way down his magnificent body, teasing him until he moaned and begged, we were outside on a Sunday afternoon in a neighborhood teeming with kids. I didn’t want to leave it to chance I’d only get the job half done.
I paused at his nipples, taking one thorough swipe with my tongue and a tiny nip with my teeth on each side.
His only response was a quick hiss of a breath.
I tapped his butt and said, “Lift.” I eased his baggy board shorts down past his erection.
A few loose tendrils of my hair teased his skin as I started my southward journey. His belly bunched and flexed as I zigzagged my lips down the golden trail bisecting his abdomen. When I reached his hips, I ran my tongue down the ridge of his flexor muscle. And back up the matching one on the other side.
I looked up at him as I lowered my head and licked the plump tip.
“Trinity.”
“Let go and let me make you feel good.” I wrapped my fingers around his shaft at the base and moved my hand up as I slid my mouth down.
He pretty much went incoherent after that.
Just What I Needed (The Need You Series) Page 24