>> Having fun?
His phone beeped back a half a minute later and he exhaled in relief. At least she was still talking to him.
>> Sure. Are you?
No. He missed the hell out of her. Tonight had been anything but fun.
>> Victoria left right after you did.
Pause.
>> Oh. Sorry if I ruined your plans for tonight.
He let out a frustrated breath.
>> It’s not what you think. I haven’t slept with her in years.
Her reply was instant.
>> How do you know what I think?
Replaying the look in her eyes as she’d left the house, he texted back.
>> You seemed upset.
The sound of musical chirping coming from outside his room led him out to the hallway, where Abby was standing at the top of the stairwell with her phone. “Damn right I was upset.”
“I told you—”
“Not over you and Victoria,” she snapped. “If you want to date other women that’s your prerogative. What I
am
pissed about is being reduced to a peon in the presence of two oh-so-great lawyers. Call me a relative stranger, call me the girl you’re banging, I don’t care—but don’t ever make me out to be anything less than I am again! I’ve worked hard to achieve the goals in my life. I’m not some young college kid bumming on your couch. How would you feel if I’d referred to you in that way during your last year of law school?!”
God, she was magnificent when she was angry. “I see your point. I’m sorry.” He got within arm’s reach of her but kept his hands in his pockets. Barely. “If it helps, you did a good job getting me back. I’ve been going out of my mind wondering if you really were out dancing up on a bunch of guys while I was sitting here all alone. Jealous.”
She jutted her chin out at him. “Good. Serves you right.”
Taking extra measures not to touch him, she cleared a wide path around him and headed for her room. “I’m not sleeping with you tonight, Connor.”
Huh, he didn’t think she was the type to hold sex hostage.
When she turned back to face him, a touch of vulnerability marred her features. “I’m not being a shrew. I just…don’t want to be sloppy seconds to Victoria.”
“I swear I didn’t lay a finger on her.”
“That may be but you still had your lips on another woman tonight. Right in front of me.”
“
She
kissed me. And I backed away as soon as I could.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m sure you wouldn’t care about this sort of thing if the positions were reversed, but I do.”
“Hell, if the positions were reversed, I’d make damn sure to kiss you silly until I wiped every last trace of any other man’s kiss from your memory completely,” he growled.
That familiar Abby light returned to her eyes. “I can see how that’d be…ah, effective.”
Seeing her gaze travel down to his lips and then shoot back up again, he took a cautious step forward, teasing lightly, “Want to try that tactic with me?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t reward the puppy that misbehaves. It tends to confuse the poor thing.”
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms. “God, I missed you tonight.” He brought her close and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. She always smelled so good. “You didn’t go clubbing tonight, did you?”
“No. I went to the library and then met up with a friend for coffee and dessert.”
He none-so-subtly corralled her back to his room. “A male friend?”
“Her name’s Megan.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said gruffly. Gazing at her in his arms, outlined by the moonlight, he could still see the lingering traces of hurt in her eyes. “I’m sorry your feelings were hurt today.” Brushing a light kiss on her lips, he asked, “If I promise not to ravage you, will you at least come to bed with me? I find I sleep…better with you here.” It was true. With her tucked in his arms, perfectly fitted against him, he experienced a bone-deep comfort he never had before in his life.
After studying him warily for a beat, she nodded and headed for the other side of the bed. “Fair warning, I have to get up really early in the morning to meet with some teachers at one of my research schools on res. It’s my first and only chance to talk with them all together at once.”
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that? What I think I heard you say was that it’s a
good thing
you stayed here instead of going back to California.”
She smothered a grin and volleyed back, “So about that kiss…”
Ouch. “Early in the morning, research on the reservation. Got it. So I guess we better hit the hay.”
Her chuckling smile turned into a wary look as he climbed under the covers. “You swear you’ll keep your hands to yourself tonight?”
“Scout’s honor,” he promised.
She giggled. “You’re supposed to hold up three fingers, not two.”
“No, this is right. I never made it past the cub scouts.”
She burst out laughing.
With his two finger salute he vowed, “I swear on my slightly tarnished honor that I will try my best to keep my hands away from any of your good parts tonight…or
bad
parts, rather, since every part of you is pretty spectacular.”
Shaking her head, she stated simply, “You’re incorrigible.” Releasing her hair from its ponytail, she added, “And unlucky for you,
so am I
.”
With just that one warning, his beautiful Abby proceeded to remove every stich of clothing she was wearing, before sliding into bed next to him.
He gave a heartfelt groan. “You’re a mean, mean lady.”
“Goodnight, pup.”
He loved hearing the humor back in her voice.
She turned over and parked her curvy backside up against his front side. But not in a lewd manner.
Shame.
He reached out and pulled her back into him fully, making sure he kept his hand on her belly—no higher or lower—as he snuggled her in. She stilled for a second and then relaxed against him.
“Good night, Abby.”
“’Night Connor,” she sighed in a voice already half asleep. “I missed you tonight, too.”
The smile on his face stayed put, long after he began drifting off to sleep as well.
“
Y
OU REALLY WANT
to read my dissertation?” Abby was floored by Connor’s request.
“Only if you’re comfortable. I look over legal briefs and fifty-page contracts every day. You never know, I could help to see if there are any holes in your argument, or maybe find ways you could improve your write-up.”
Who could pass up an offer like that? She grabbed the latest draft of her last three chapters and held it out. Then yanked it back again. “Wait. You’re busy with that huge cyber-company case. You don’t have the time.”
“Actually, there isn’t anything more I can do on that deal right now. Their decision on our latest proposal should be coming through either today or tomorrow.” He snatched the folder out of her hands. “I’ll read this while I’m eating lunch today.”
Did he realize how many pages it was? “It’s pretty long.”
He shrugged and downed the last of his morning coffee. “I took speed reading seminars during law school.” Flipping through the pages, he estimated, “This should probably only take me a half hour. We can discuss it over dinner tonight.”
That sounded so domestic, Abby warmed at the thought. Before sobering back up. There would be a Connor shaped hole in the door if he knew she was thinking of him in the happily-ever-after sense.
So that was why, when he leaned down to give her a quick kiss goodbye—in a very have-a-good-day-dear kind of way—she turned the heat up a nondomestic bit, playfully slipping her tongue past his lips. Then right back out.
The response was almost disproportionate.
His arms came barreling down around her, caging her against the breakfast bar. A primitive sound rumbled in his chest as his tongue started a search and destroy mission for any and all non-sex-related thoughts in her brain. Mission quickly accomplished.
“Don’t start something if you’re not going to follow through, sweetheart,” he warned, placing a warm kiss on the side of her throat. “Because it’s been nearly thirty-one hours since I’ve had you last. If I need to miss a court hearing in exchange for a chance to be inside you right now, I’m taking it.”
How did this turn around on her?
With his forearms just barely touching either side of her ribs, and his warm, freshly shaven jaw under her lips, she was supremely tempted to strip him bare and have her wicked way with him.
But the shrill appointment reminder alarm from her phone tossed that possibility out the window.
“I can’t. I have to meet with my committee advisor today,” she replied, not recognizing the untamed embers in her voice. “Rain check?”
He nudged his hard arousal against the inside of her thighs, close, but not quite high enough to break her resolve. “You’re going to owe me…” And then he did nudge higher. “…with interest.” A kiss and a nibble, and then a soft, “Have a good meeting today,” in her ear was his politely monogramed acceptance of said rain check before he stepped back to straighten his suit.
She almost fell off the stool.
What meeting was she going to again?
Pulling up to her driveway, Abby couldn’t believe how tiny her cottage looked now, after just over a week staying at the Mini McMansion. Careful not to step on any industrial power cords or knock into any ladders, she slipped around back to where the builders were making steady progress on the extension. “Hey Tom,” she called out to the foreman.
“Abby, hi.” A worried look flashed over his expression. “We’re not behind schedule are we? I could’ve sworn you were coming back next—”
“No, no. Don’t worry. I’m just here to pick some books I left behind.”
Connor would collapse in laughter over that one
, she thought to herself.
Tom raised an eyebrow. “Tell me what kind of books make you smile like that and I’ll go to the bookstore right now and get a set for my wife.”
She blushed. “They’re just research books.”
“If you’re looking for a more
hands-on research
, I’ll volunteer!” called out the journeyman passing by carrying sheets of drywall.
Her face would never return to their normal color at this rate.
Slinging a dusty arm around her shoulders, Tom led her away from all the whistling and howling echoing from his crew. “You’re too easy to tease.”
She walked with him into the kitchen and offered him a bottled water, taking one to cool off her cheeks. “You guys are horrible,” she pouted, chuckling despite herself.
“Hey, I meant to ask, are you staying over at Connor Sullivan’s place?”
Abby looked over at him warily.
“Don’t worry, I’m not following you or anything. It’s just I pass his home on my way over here and I could’ve sworn I saw your car parked in his driveway—the duct tape on the bumper is pretty distinctive.”
Oh. The tension quickly left her shoulders. “He’s my best friend’s brother. When he heard I needed a place to stay for a few weeks, he offered me one of his guestrooms.”
Tom nodded. “Yeah, sounds like him. He’s a really great guy.”
Surprised at the familiar tone, she asked nosily, “How do you know him?”
“He helped me and my brother out big time when we thought our business was done for.”
That didn’t make any sense. To her knowledge, Connor only did legal work for huge corporations—small construction businesses like Tom’s weren’t his normal clientele base.
At her puzzled expression, Tom explained, “It must’ve been five, six years ago, I think. Back when we’d just started the business. We’d been up and running for two years, making a name for ourselves by word of mouth referrals all over. The money was good, but not great. Mostly since there were long pockets of down time between projects. During one really slow month, my brilliant brother decided he wanted to try his hand at flipping houses. You know, like they do on TV? I wasn’t so sure, but he’d made it sound so easy, especially since we’d be doing all the work. So, I got on board. At first, he was right. We’d flipped five houses in half a year; made way more money than we would’ve made just picking up reno jobs here and there.” He shook his head in the big brotherly way. “But then he wanted to go for a bigger fish—a foreclosed mansion in Scottsdale.”
Tom nodded when she winced. “Yup. It was waaay too big a fish. We had to start taking money out of all our accounts to just barely cover the expenses; the house was just so frickin’ huge. The finish fixtures alone bled us dry since up until then, we hadn’t gotten all those high end fixtures. Our real estate person told us that if we went with the more standard stuff, the house just wouldn’t sell. So, we cleared out all our savings to cover is because at that point, we couldn’t even afford to stop.”
Abby couldn’t believe how angry he looked. Since meeting him a few months ago, she’d never once even seen the guy frown. He was just the jolliest man.
Right now, he looked downright scary.