Page 25 of Moore to Love

“Awfully awesome? Sure.” She nodded, popping the chip into her mouth.

Although I wasn’t about to admit it out loud when she was already patting herself on the back enough for all of us, Meghan was awesome. And I was glad that I’d gotten the chance to get to know her. I’d been missing this kind of camaraderie in my life for too long, but no more. “Remember how you mentioned that you’d like for our kids to meet? We should set up a playdate sometime soon.”

“Absolutely,” she agreed. “I bet Tony, Benjamin, and Madison will be thick as thieves in no time at all.”

If her son was anything like their mom, my children would be lucky to call him their friend.

13

FINN

Ellie tried to call me on Saturday, but I had still been on the Thompson’s farm, and cell reception was spotty out there so I’d missed it. Then when I called her back, she was out running her errands and didn’t hear the phone ring. We went back and forth playing phone tag like that all weekend, and I started to worry that I’d let things get too far out of hand in the exam room, and she was having second thoughts.

I hadn’t meant to do anything more than kiss her, but my fierce need for her had quickly spiraled out of control. My only saving grace was that I’d managed to give to her without taking. Although, seeing her come for me and tasting her wetness had been fucking amazing.

But we’d barely been able to talk since then, and my biggest fear was that Ellie had been freaking out even though she’d seemed fine when she left with Meghan.

Any chance I had of checking in with her flew out the window when her children came home on Sunday evening, and she sent me a text to let me know she couldn’t talk until she came into the office today. That worried me even more, except her follow-up message a few minutes later explained that the transition back home tended to be rough, which made sense with everything Benjamin and Madison had gone through because of their dad.

I loved how determined she was to smooth things over for her children as much as she could, but I hated that her ex had put her in a position where she had to. And I missed her more than I thought possible after knowing her for such a short time. Which was why I bribed Meghan with a gift card to one of her favorite restaurants if she headed out for lunch today.

With Joshua at his study group, I had Ellie all to myself. And I fully intended to make good use of the hour I’d arranged for us to have.

“C’mon.” I tugged her to her feet. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Where did Meghan go?” Ellie asked as I led her into my office. “She never leaves for lunch.”

“I may have lured her to a lunch spot she loves so we could have a little privacy.” When she just blinked up at me without saying anything, I added, “I hope that’s okay. I didn’t do it because I expect something like what happened on Saturday morning. I just wanted to spend some time with you without any distractions. And since that’s hard to come by with both of our hectic schedules, I thought this was a simple solution.”

“It’s more than okay.” She beamed a smile at me. “I really appreciate that you’re not afraid to show how much you want to spend time with me. It’s easy to say things, but putting a plan into motion means so much more.”

I got her settled in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “Quality time and acts of service tend to be my love languages, so you can count on a lot more of this.”

“Why do I feel as though there’s a story behind you knowing the five love languages?” She peered up at me, quirking a brow.

“Probably because there is.” I pointed at the brown paper bags on my desk. “But let’s get started on our lunch before I start telling it, so the food doesn’t get cold.”

“You brought me lunch, too?”

Her surprise hit me in the chest. Getting food for us was such a small gesture, and she should’ve been used to stuff like it. Knowing she wasn’t just made me more determined to do more for her. “You mentioned last week that you love the pasta Bolognese at Trattoria, so I ordered from there.”

“I…you…” She shook her head, a stunned expression on her pretty face. “I can’t believe you went to all this trouble just because of a random chat I had with Meghan about our favorite food.”

“All it took was a phone call.” I pulled the containers out of the bags and spread them out on the top of the desk, flipping them open to figure out which dish was hers. “And that conversation came in handy in more ways than one. I never would’ve known Meghan’s weakness for brisket sandwiches if I hadn’t walked by while you two were having lunch that day.”

“Is that where she’s at now?”

I nodded. “Yup.”

“I bet that counts as an act of service too.”

I pointed at the to-go container I set on the desk in front of her. “Eat, then we can talk.”

“With my favorite dish in front of me, you don’t have to tell me twice.”

I’d never thought that watching a woman eat could be a major turn-on, but the sounds Ellie made as she dug into her pasta made me rock hard. Dropping onto the chair next to her, I opened my lasagna and started to eat too. When we were about halfway done, she leaned back in her chair and patted her belly. “I’m not sure I could eat another bite. I used to get the lunch portion even when I went for dinner because their servings are so generous.”

“I wanted you to have some leftovers.” Getting up, I circled my desk and lifted another bag off my chair. “I figured you could enjoy your time with the kids tonight a little more if you didn’t have to worry about making dinner at the end of a long day.”

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