Taking Care of Business (29 page)

'Come on then. I'll put clothes on. We can order some Chinese food and have a beer. I've worked way more hours than I wanted to this week and today is the first day I've been home before eight at night.'

He looked at her bed. 'You don't have to get dressed you know. I mean, since I'll have to undress you all over again to fuck you.'

'Don't get ahead of yourself, Charles.'

Captivated, he couldn't look away as she slid her stockings down, one by one, and took them off. The tiny little dress she put on didn't actually cover much more but it wasn't as if he planned to complain.

'Your message light is blinking,' he said as he slid himself on to her couch. Very nice.

'I'm sure. I'm a popular girl.' She passed the machine and dug out a menu. 'So any preferences for dinner?'

'I like it hot.' He grinned and she laughed.

While she ordered the food he set his phone to ring only for the girls' numbers and put it on a nearby table. No interruptions for them tonight.

She pushed an ice-cold beer towards him before sitting.

Her scent teased him. 'How long until dinner arrives?'

'It'll be about twenty minutes. They're pretty close.'

He took several swallows of the beer and dropped to his knees before her. 'Enough time to make you come then.'

'We have a lot to talk about before we have sex, Dix.' But she hadn't moved. Instead she leaned quite comfortably back into the cushions and watched him, her head slightly cocked to the side. His hand lay against her thigh where the muscles remained loose. She was warm against his palm, familiar.

'We do. We will talk. I promise. But why get started only to be interrupted by the food?' As he spoke, he slid his fingers up under the dress and reversed, bringing her panties down and off her legs.

Her eyes seemed to burn as she watched him and he couldn't break his gaze even as he bent to kiss her knee and then up her thigh.

Her lips parted into a soft gasp when he slid his thumbs up through the furls of her cunt, spreading her juices around her clit.

'Wet already.' He loved that, it made him feel invincible that he affected her so much.

'It's the commute; it makes me hot. Oh God . . .' Her head dropped back and his mouth met the place where his thumbs slid back and forth.

Her taste, Christ, her taste was so good. The flesh of her sex was salty sweet against the rasp of his tongue. He closed his eyes against it, the sharpness of his need for her, and simply let himself feel like he'd come home in her.

Slowly, slowly, he took long soft licks through her, meaning to take every moment of those twenty minutes.

It was more than a blow job. Dix's mouth worshipped her, paid homage to her body. Every movement of his hands, tongue and the slight scrape of teeth was reverent.

She wanted to arch, to get more, but he held her in place. His warning growl rumbled through her sex. She held a hand to his head, revelling in his hair between her fingers. Her other hand slid into the bodice of her dress and found a nipple.

The sharp pleasure of her fingertips tugging brought a moan from her and then from him. She dragged her eyes open to find him watching her, even as his mouth still worked against her sex.

He lapped at her like a cat and then flicked the tip of his tongue against her cit rapidly until her entire body began to vibrate.

God, it was too much. One of his thumbs played at her entrance, teasing in and out while the other played over her rear passage. All she could do was pant and moan while orgasm began to take over her body.

She came, with a hoarse gasp, her fingers tightening in his hair and on her nipple. Her gasp built into a moan so loud she was pretty sure her neighbours knew she was up to something naked.

On and on it went and he never backed off as climax reverberated through her body. She finally shoved at him because she couldn't take another second of it.

He pulled back and kissed her inner thigh. 'You're so gorgeous when you come,' he murmured, petting her mound gently as she slowly came back to herself.

The buzzer sounded and the doorman let her know the delivery guy was on his way up.

Dix stood and rearranged her dress. 'Sit here a second. I'll handle the door.'

She didn't argue.

Dix watched for a while as she ate and drank her beer before saying anything.

'How are you settling in? I like this place. It's a good building. The manly man in me is pleased the security is so good.'

She laughed. 'So good you and my parents got in.'

'Believe it or not, when I approached and started to ring you, one of your neighbours saw me and recognised me.

He's one of the referees in the soccer league Adrienne plays for. He let me in. I didn't say who I was here to see, by the way. Not that I wanted to hide it, but I didn't know how you'd feel just yet.'

'Well, that's good. After someone in the building let my parents in, I sort of read the doorman the Riot Act about being extra vigilant with my visitors.'

'I take it you weren't happy to see them?'

'I was in Harrisburg at the time so I lucked out and wasn't here. We're, um, not close. Or rather they think we are, but I know we aren't. Sadly, they just live in Bala Cynwyd, so near enough to menace me on a whim. Anyway, my job is good, surprisingly so. My stuff arrived from Seattle and nothing was broken. How's things with you?'

'You're so easygoing right now I'm nervous.'

She laughed and popped the last of an egg roll into her mouth. 'Oh, come on, just say it already. I'm all mellow and full of serotonin and Chinese food. Add the beer and it's all good. What do you have to be nervous about anyway?'

'You're not worried?'

She snorted in a very unladylike fashion and it made him smile. 'Well, I'm not worried you fucked your ex at the lake house or that you've found an assistant who does her roots.

I have concerns but you know what they are.'

'You can be very vicious.'

'What? Did I bring up pickle jars even once?'

He laughed. 'Man, you are! I didn't mean the pickle-jar incident, although I'll give you fifty bucks to never mention it again. I meant the roots comment.'

'Dix, darling, if you think that was vicious you don't know nearly as much as you think about women. There's so much I didn't say –to you anyway –about that bitch-faced cow you have no idea. Anyway, you're skirting the subject again.'

'Fine. The girls are good. We're finishing up with getting the new confidentiality and non-compete agreements signed company-wide and you were right.'

'Glad to hear it. Good. And, duh, I'm frequently right. Learn it now and save us both a lot of headache. What do you mean specifically?'

He put her plate to the side and took her hands in his.

'You were right about the situation with Eve. I did a lot of thinking that night as I drove to the hospital and while I was awake all night long. By the time Eve told me I still loved her and that's why I'd never committed to anyone in the years since we'd divorced, well, that was pretty much a big underlined "Kate was right."'

Kate's jaw tightened and her brows rose before a light came into her eyes just briefly. 'So you had a talk with her about this?'

'Is that hope I see in your face? Trust?'

'I told you already, Charles, I trust you. If I didn't, you wouldn't be here right now. Do
you
have trust issues?'

He sighed and drew her to the couch, snuggling her into his body. 'It's never been an issue because I've never had anyone in my life I felt a sort of possession over. I do with you. I want you and I want you to want me as much. But I don't feel as if you'd betray what we're building.'

Wow, he was so freaking self-actualised it sort of scared her. 'You know, I thought men were supposed to be all silent and broody and women had to pull teeth to get them to share. I am so turned on by the way you open yourself up. God, I'm such a freak.' She laughed and he kissed the top of her head.

'I'm forty-two. I've lived long enough to know what I want and to say so.'

'OK. So, in kind, it was hope you saw on my face. I, well, you know my concerns about your ex. I just don't want a third person in this relationship. Unless it's Gerard Butler, in which case, I'm on board. I'm not worried you'll want her back, I'm worried you never left. Not really. And I know without a doubt I cannot tolerate that. It's emotional infidelity. I can deal with stuff to do with your kids, but the pickle-jar stuff has to end. At this point I can't even go back to fucking you casually and not caring about pickle jars. I care about you too much to not be bothered by another woman having such sway over your concerns.'

He took a deep breath and she heard it through the wall of his chest along with the steady thump of his heart. 'I did leave, damn it! People keep saying how it was unclear but, fuck, I divorced her seven years ago! I haven't made a single romantic or amorous move towards her in longer than that. I've dated more women than I can count.' He paused when she pinched his side. 'Ouch. OK, so that was a dumb thing to say but, shit, I don't know why everyone is making it my fault.'

'I'm not making it your fault, Dix. But everyone thinks you're unclear because, despite divorcing her, you go on vacations with her, you open her fucking pickle jars, you mend things around her house and you treat her like she's still your wife. That's confusing enough to me and, well, Eve doesn't strike me as a super-modern woman.' Which came out way nicer than her mental dialogue about the woman.

'I'm guessing she just figured you'd fuck your way around town but as long as you checked her tyre pressure and changed her windshield wipers you were still her husband. And, you know, to be fair to her, that's what husbands do.'

'I'm a nice guy! How am I the bad guy for being nice? By changing those wiper blades my kids are safe.'

She pulled away to face him and rolled her eyes. 'Stop it! Stop making this about your daughters. Because, hello, when my car needs new blades, guess who changes them? Not my dad. Not my ex-boyfriends. I do. Because it's not that complicated. She's not a moron. She has all her fingers, right? You said her consultant business makes good money so if she's too stupid or simply doesn't want to change them she can afford to go down to the lube and tune or whatever and pay the twenty bucks. Like other parents do. This isn't about your kids at all. The point is, you never really left your caretaking role with her. Divorce or not.'

'So what is and isn't a problem with you? I mean, do I need to run everything past you now?'

'You're a tool.' She curled her lip. 'I know you're feeling attacked and defensive but don't insult me. I've said several times I expect you to care for your kids. But if your ex-wife thinks you're coming back to her after seven years of divorce, it's not an issue of my expectations. I've told you what I have a problem with, butthead.'

The anger on his face softened into amusement. 'Point taken.'

'What does she think? Did you tell her about me? About us?'

In that moment Dix saw Kate's vulnerability, saw what she'd been trying to hide. He kissed her just because he could. 'I did. She knew actually, heard my call and asked who you were. That's new and she picked up on it, I suppose. I explained you were different and also that there was no coming back for me. I'm not sure why divorce and seven years of me living away from her didn't seem clear enough, but you were right. It's partially my fault for not simply letting her stand on her own feet. I suppose she became one of my children, or maybe she has been since day one.'

This relationship thing was hard work. The woman he sat with and poured his guts out for would expect nothing less but everything and it felt right that she'd have high expectations. Like he was worth it. Funny that.

He took a deep breath and watched her as she simply, calmly took him in before nodding.

'OK then. So, um, are we, like, dating?'

'More than that, Kate. We're together. I did tell the girls I was seeing you. I told them I was in love with you and I hoped you felt the same. I'd like you to meet them before school starts. They're curious about you, I expect you are about them too. Or I hope you are.'

'You love me?'

'I'm usually smoother with the ladies, you know. But you've been unexpected in every sense. Got in under the radar and, before I realised it, yeah, I was in love with you.'

She furrowed her brow for a moment. 'I told my mother about you this week when she called to harangue me about . . . whatever it was she complained of. I can't remember, it's all white noise. Anyway, she doesn't approve of you being divorced and you having kids means I'll die childless and alone and they'll steal from me if you actually do marry me and kick off. Just so you know.'

He paused and then began to laugh. 'OK, so I can see why you aren't close.'

'And you're too old and likely to become impotent and then you'll use Viagra and become a deviant. I should be so lucky that you'd just become impotent and won't want sex at all.' She snickered. 'I'm sure you can't wait to meet them now. My dad said nothing except when I asked if he took Viagra and became a deviant. Then he sputtered. It's about all you get from him. He likes to sputter. I just think full disclosure is good. I don't open their pickle jars and I'm going to tell you up front, I now expect you to change my wiper blades because, while it's not hard, I always break nails and it sucks. But I can open my own jars and if something breaks I can call a handyman.'