“I’d say you made it just in time for an epic finale. You’re like a closer.”
He laughed. “I’ll happily play that position.”
“Hey,” she said, as she now trailed her fingertip along his neck. He raised his eyes to look at her. “I told you I’m going to London soon, right? To meet with Sofia’s, one of our retailer partners. ”
“You mentioned it. You’re going to an auction too.”
Her eyes lit up, sparkling like a starry sky. “Good memory,” she said.
“To buy a kiss. From Miller Valentina,” he added, hoping to impress her with the real estate he’d reserved in his brain for remembering details of her.
“Now, you’re just showing off,” she said playfully. “So I was wondering—is there any chance you have a hotel in London?” There was a look of mischief now in her eyes.
He laughed. “You know I do. You angling for a free room, Miss Casey?”
“Maybe,” she said, taking her time with that word, lingering on it suggestively. “But I was also thinking a roommate might be nice. Do you happen to have any business in London you need to do?”
His heart sped up. “Are you inviting yourself to my hotel?”
She nodded. “I am inviting myself. I told you I was known for being direct. It bothers some men. But right now, I don’t care. I’m going to be direct and say what I want.”
He held up a hand like a stop sign. “I told you I’m not most men. I like your direct side and I like your . . . how shall we say, newly submissive one too.”
She flashed him a sweet, innocent smile that nailed him in the heart. He ran his finger across her lips, watching her draw a quick breath.
“What would you think about going with me? Because now that I’ve had you, I want more of you, and we still have a lot of ground to cover. You haven’t tied me up yet or spanked me for that matter,” she said, counting off his omissions on her fingers. “Or used handcuffs.”
“Damn,” he said, with a low whistle. “I’m falling down on the job.”
“I’ll let you make it up to me across the pond.”
“Though, let the record reflect, I have not engaged in any orgasm denial either. Per your request.”
“And I thank you very much for that.”
“Do you want me to have a spreader bar specially installed in one of the rooms for your trip?” he asked in as matter-of-fact a tone as he could muster.
Her eyes widened in shock and she shook her head vigorously. “No,” she said, forming an O with her lips to emphasize her complete lack of interest in that particular BDSM activity. Then she raised her fingers to his face, tracing a line down his jaw. “You’re very sexy when you don’t shave,” she whispered, and heat pulsed in his veins from the out-of-the-blue, unexpected compliment. It gave him hope that this thing between them was more than simply a means to an end for her.
But then, he shouldn’t feel any sort of hope. Hope was risky, and led to things he didn’t believe in. He didn’t possess any hope himself, so it made no sense why he’d want her to think in bigger terms that went beyond the here and now.
“Thank you,” he said, trying to ignore the way his heart beat more furiously as she continued to trace soft lines along his jaw.
“And Nate?”
“Yes?”
“Because you don’t mind it when I speak my mind, I want you to know that I’m really enjoying our lessons. In and of themselves. Sometimes, I don’t think about where they might lead. Actually, most of the time I don’t think about where they’ll lead. I just think about how amazing it all feels with you,” she said, finishing her sweet ode with an even sweeter kiss on his lips that sent his heart racing and his mind galloping. This was supposed to be neat and clean, a tidy little deal that was mutually beneficial below the belt for the both of them.
But now, it had become something that turned those clear-cut lines into a wild chaos of zigs and zags. He couldn’t sort any of this out. All he knew with any kind of certainty was that he was going to London with her in a week, and somehow his goal had changed. When she’d first proposed their unconventional arrangement, he gave a yes borne from years of lust and desire for her.
Now he was saying yes for other reasons. Reasons that weren’t entirely clear in his head—reasons that came from a different place inside him.
A place he tried hard to deny even existed.
* * *
Nate had once thought that his job was pretty damn exhausting, but running a multinational hotel conglomerate was nothing compared to entertaining two newly walking, hardly talking, very busy one-year-old twin girls. Thank the Lord, Casey had handled the diaper changes. The woman needed a medal for that. The rest of the time though, they had been a team, and hell, did his nieces require a team.
After their evening bath, which resulted in his T-shirt becoming completely soaked when they splashed virtually the entire contents of the tub onto him, Casey and Nate dressed the girls in their pajamas.
“So let me get this straight. You yanked Bryan out of the luxury suite and that’s why we’re babysitting your nieces a few hours on a Sunday night before we fly to London?” Casey asked him for probably the twentieth time as she nudged him with an elbow.
“Hey, I had very important business to attend to at Yankee Stadium and I don’t regret it whatsoever.”
“Nor do I,” she said with a wink as she tugged a short-sleeved shirt on Cara. “And I certainly don’t regret spending time with these adorable little chunks of love,” she said, cooing at the baby.