Her eyes glistened, a touch of water pooling along the edges. They were bloodshot and raw, likely from staying up almost all night last night finishing up the presentation. She wore my gray joggers, her loose shirt tucked in and her cardigan hanging limply around her, one sleeve-covered hand covering her mouth and nose, her long auburn waves hanging wildly around her shoulders.
“Where have you been?” Noah griped, his arms wrapping around my neck as he squeezed me.
“I told you he was at work, squirt,” Liv chuckled, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her cardigan.
“You should have been home hours ago,” Noah said.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Liv spoke for me. “Noah,” she started, putting a hand on his back. “Your dad did something really, really brave today. But that meant that he had to stay at work a little longer. Maybe we should be proud of him instead of upset with him, yeah?”
God, I wanted to fucking kiss her.
“You were brave?” Noah asked, rearing back as if that was the wildest thing he’d ever heard in his life. I snorted.
“I was,” I laughed. “Is that a surprise to you?”
He tapped his finger against his chin, pondering the question, before shaking his head.
“Good. Glad I’m not a massive disappointment,” I chuckled. “Are you all packed for your weekend at Aunt Carolines?”
Noah nodded. “Olivia helped.”
“Perfect.” I lowered him to the ground despite his protests. “Why don’t you go get your pajamas on so we can start bedtime?”
He pouted and Liv laughed, but within a second he was racing back up the stairs, too much energy in such a small body. Something told me he wasn’t going to fall asleep quickly tonight.
The moment he was out of eyeshot, I grabbed her.
With my arms around her waist and hers around my neck, I kissed her. I kissed her as if she were my wife, I kissed her as if it was the one thing in the world that I wanted at that moment, I kissed her as if no one was watching and I could have every bit of her. And all of it was true.
“They haven’t kicked you out as CEO, right?” she asked, her words practically absorbed by my mouth.
“Not yet,” I laughed. “I still have the majority of shares so they’d be damned if they fucking tried.”
“Okay so we’re not mourning your business, then,” she grinned, pulling back just an inch so she could look me in the eyes.
I shook my head. “The opposite,” I said. “We’re fucking celebrating. With Noah taken care of for the weekend, I figured we could make the most of some alone time.”
One brow raised as she eyed me with suspicion, and all I could do was beam back at her.
“You should pack a bag, too.”
Chapter 23
Olivia
Tucked away in the forest of the Olympic National Park just outside of Seattle, Washington, a massive log cabin covered in solar panels and bits of moss stood tall amongst the western red cedars. A thick fog hung in the tops of the trees, and from the sounds of it, there wasn’t anyone or anything else around for miles. I still wasn’t used to being charted around on a private jet, but I felt like I’d been thrust from one weird thing to the next with the sight in front of me.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, staring in awe at the home, taking in every last detail from the carved wood balconies to the circular hot tub up on the second floor.
Gravel crunched behind me and Damien’s arms wrapped around my body. “Why are you surprised? You’re acting like I never mentioned my vacation house.”
I twisted in his arms, shooting a glare up at him. “Because you didn’t.”
“Ah,” he grinned. “My bad.”
“We should have brought Noah. He’d love this.”
“Noah is far too preoccupied with celebrating his cousin’s birthday,” Damien laughed, releasing me and ushering me forward toward the cabin. “Is it so bad that I wanted to get away with you while we can?”