Page 35 of Sweet and Salty

They have a quick chat before her father has to hurry off to another meeting, and I hear the click of Zoe’s heels before she rounds the corner and stops at my workstation, gaping down at me.

“Takingverygood care of me?” she asks, laughter in her tone.

“What?” I ask, pushing away from my desk and standing in front of her. “Am I not?”

She shakes her head up at me, but there’s a smile shaping her lips. Her hands find their place against my chest again. “You are,” she says. “But I'm not sure what he’d say if he found out just howwellyou're taking care of me.”

“It doesn't matter if he fired me, Kitten,” I say. “I'd still take care of you. I’d still protect you. Regardless of a contract or a paycheck.”

It’s the truth. Honestly, it feels a little unsavory to be accepting her father's money, but he'd paid me up front, before I even knew who my client was. I'd already been calculating ways to get it back to him without being too obvious, but figured we had time.

“I have no idea what good karmic energy I put out in the universe to deserve someone like you in my life,” she says, drawing up on her tiptoes, bringing her lips a mere breath away from mine. “But I’m sure as hell grateful for it.”

“That's my line, Kitten,” I say, folding my arms around her.

She looks like she wants to say more, something serious fluttering in those rich brown eyes of hers. She blinks it away and presses her lips against mine, bringing us both back to the common ground we love to dance on.

Our mouths crash together in a slow and possessive kiss that has fire licking through my veins, and a growl rumbling in my chest. I know we have minutes before her next client, definitely not enough time for me to do much, but I can't get enough of her. Her laugh, her smile, her words, her mind, her kiss, her body…I want to drown myself in all thingsher.

“Speaking of taking care of me,” she says as she draws her mouth away from mine, her lips slightly swollen from my kiss. “Every year I have a conference I run for therapists around the country. I host tons of guest speakers who run panels with the latest research and techniques, and there are dinners and dances in between. I speak at the end of it too. It’s in two weeks. It'll probably be boring to you, but if you want to be my plus one, it's at one of the nicest hotels in Charleston.”

I smooth my hand over the line of her jaw, my thumb just grazing her bottom lip. “Like you could keep me away,” I say.

She smiles up at me, looking at me like I’m the damn answer to all her problems.

I can't deny the way it makes my heart thud against my chest that much harder. I'm about to lean down and kiss her when the bell sounds again, and she blows out a breath.

“That'll be my three o’clock,” she says, backing away from me. “After this hour is up, I'm done for the day. We'll make sure to feed Gregory early, and then maybe you and I can go for tacos?”

“Sounds like perfection,” I say before she heads toward her client, ushering them into her office before closing the door behind them.

Perfection.

Everything with her feels like something close to it.

CHAPTER 12

Zoe

My phone buzzes on the counter as I clean up the simple dinner Owen and I just finished. He’s washing the dishes as I dry, but I furrow my brow as I look down at my screen.

A slew of texts come in, one right after the other. Each time it vibrates I flinch a little.

“What is it?” Owen asks, noticing the shift in me.

I swallow hard, panic snapping through me as I swipe open my phone.

Unknown: How can you do this to me?

Unknown: Blocking my numbers isn’t cute. I’m all for hard to get but you’re being ridiculous, Zoe.

Unknown: You belong with me.

Unknown: Not the meathead who’s attached to your side.

Unknown: How can you do this to me? Haven’t you read my letters? My devotion to you? We’re perfect for each other.

Unknown: How can you fuck him every single night when you know how deeply that hurts me?

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