Page 110 of Forbidden Desire

She’s messing with me. I like it. This past week I have gotten the rare pleasure of seeing her wit every so often. Since I’ve been spending every evening here, it feels like she’s growing morecomfortable with me. And I feel more comfortable with her. I came to get to know Josie, but I leave each night with so much more.

“Europe doesn’t quite cut it either,” I say with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes before throwing a pillow at me from across the couch.

“Hey!” I say loudly, dodging it and being careful not to spill red wine on her cream couch.

She giggles and holds her finger up to her mouth, checking the monitor on the coffee table. I put my hand to my mouth, forgetting we have to be quiet so not to disturb Josie, who went down an hour ago.

“She’s still out like a light,” says Erica relieved.

“Good,” I say.

“Yeah, she’s a pretty heavy sleeper. She snores, too. Just like you.” She shoots me an amused look.

“Ido not snore,” I say defensively.

Erica laughs and takes another sip of wine. Even though I think of our nights together often, I seem to forget that besides the great sex, she also slept over. Something I don’t let women do ever.

“At least I don’t think so,” I say thoughtfully. “No one’s ever slept over but you. At least not for years…”

Erica looks surprised as her eyes find mine. I’m not sure if she’s surprised by my admission or that I’ve brought up our past, which is something we tiptoe around, even though evidence of it is sleeping just in the other room. She looks like she might say something, but thinks better of it, her perfect mouth closing and locking her thoughts inside.

“So, what are you doing in Canada?” she asks, changing the subject.

“I’m meeting with an independent paper in Toronto. I want to branch out to a new market. A new country.”

Ever since I met Josie, it’s lit a new fire within me to go after more. To expand. To build something she can be proud of. All of what I do now is for her. I want to leave my legacy for her, and with her mother’s love of newspapers, I want that to be a big part of it.

“How do you do it all?” she asks curiously.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I’ve always been this way. Plus, I have an entire team behind me that makes this ship run.”

“Still, it’s pretty impressive.”

I fight back the urge to smile at her compliment.

“And look at you. Working and being a hands-on mom. You do it all on your own. You remind me of my mother.”

“She was a single mother?” asks Erica in surprise.

“Not technically, but may as well have been with how absent my father was,” I say with a shake of my head.

“I’m sorry,” says Erica softly.

I wave her off and finish the rest of my wine. “Old news. Really.”

Even though he just haunted me in my drunken stupor recently. I don’t normally talk about him, but it’s easy with Erica. Even just saying the little bit I have, it’s more than I’ve done with anyone.

“I should go,” I say, checking the time on my watch. “Early flight.”

“Right. Of course.”

Erica uncurls her legs from beneath her and stands to walk me out. I like seeing her like this. Comfortable in a pair of sweats and her hair piled on her head in a messy bun. I feel like each time I’ve been over, she’s removed another layer of armor. The first night, she was still in her work clothes. The next, in a dress. Then jeans. Then sweats. I feel like little by little I’m undressing her, and I don’t mean physically. Little by little, she’s letting me in.

I follow her to the door, even though the last thing I want to do is leave. She opens the door and before I step through it, she looks up at me. I wait for her to say something, as I try my hardest not to kiss her. It’s been something I’ve physically had to stop myself from doing the past few nights when our eye contact lasts a little longer and her lips slowly part as if they’re asking for mine.

“Thank you,” she says finally. “It’s been…nice. Having the help with Josie.”

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