Page 72 of Bad for Business
All I care about is kissing her the way I’ve been thinking about since the moment I left her room weeks ago. Fuck, I’ve been thinking about kissing her far longer than that. From the moment I found my bed empty that New Year’s Day, I’ve thought about kissing her again.
Now that I have the chance, I never want to stop.
THIRTY-SIX
CAMILLE
“How didI know I’d find you out here?”
I smile, turning around to find Ryker walking toward me. It’s been three days since he found me curled up in bed, sicker than I’ve ever felt in my life, and I can’t deny how happy I’ve been over the last three days.
No matter how badly I’ve treated him or how many times I’ve tried pushing him away, he stayed and took care of me when I needed him. It’s something I can’t move past. I know we should talk about what’s happening between us, but neither of us has been brave enough to say anything.
We’ve been in a bubble. A bubble where he kisses me, holds my hand, and the only thing we fight about is what to watch on TV. There’s been a shift, but I’m too terrified to think about what that actually means.
I’m trying to be cautious. I’m trying to tell myself that nothing can really happen for many different reasons. The biggest being how furious my dad would be if he found out I was spending every night with my client. But locked in a bubble with Ryker, I can’t seem to care what my dad thinks.
“You knew you’d find me here because you’ve locked me away for days. Where else would I be?”
Ryker chuckles, his eyes scanning the backyard for a moment. The backyard of his family’s Hampton home has become my favorite place. And since Ryker hasn’t let me leave, as he swears I’m still recovering from being sick, I’ve been spending even more time out here than normal.
“If you really wanted to leave, I would’ve let you,” he notes, taking a seat next to me on the edge of the concrete. He pulls one shoe off and then the other, setting them next to him before copying me and dipping his toes in the pool. “But you work too much. It’s probably the reason you ended up so sick. Your body needed to rest.”
He wraps an arm around me and pulls me into his side, placing a kiss to the top of my hair. He does it cautiously, as if he’s not sure this is something I’ll let him do. His body is stiff as he pulls me into him, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s afraid that this might be the time I push him away.
Is he expecting me to?
Should I?
It’s probably better for us both in the end if I did push him away right now.But I don’t. Ican’t.
“How did lunch with your dad go?” I ask, letting my body fully relax against his.
After I got rid of the brain fog from being sick, I spent at least an hour making him share every detail about his meeting in Manhattan. It turns out we’ve done a better job at making him look good to the board than I thought. Most of them are already on board with Ryker taking over Davenport Media at the end of the summer. I’m curious to know if he got any more information from his dad at lunch today.
Ryker’s fingers trace circles on my bare shoulder as he thinks about my question. He’s been doing that a lot in the time since I was sick. It’s like he’s always having to touch me. I can’t help butwonder if he’s taking any chance he can to feel the connection of our skin, wondering if one of the times will be the last.
“It went really well, actually. It feels good to have him look at me and his gaze not be full of disappointment anymore. He believes I’ll get board approval.”
This makes me smile. “I believe that too.”
With his free hand, Ryker places his fingers underneath my chin and tilts my face up to look at him. “I know I’ve been a dick, and I fought you every chance I got, but thank you for helping me with this. Really. You helped pull my head out of my ass, and no matter how much I thought I could do this on my own, I don’t think I could’ve done it without you. Definitely not this quickly.”
“I’ve been telling you from day one you needed me to get the job done. Glad you’re finally accepting it.”
“It’s all because of the binder,” he teases, leaning in close so our lips almost touch.
This makes me laugh. I’ve found myself laughing more in the last three days than I ever have before. Now that he isn’t trying to get on my nerves all the time, I realize why everyone else loves him. He’s got a personality that makes it hard not to smile around him. I like that I’m starting to see the real him and not the one who was putting up a front to protect himself from me.
And I’m terrified of the feelings I’m developing now that I see who he is.
I give him a playful smack against his stomach. “Stop hating on the binder. You’ve charmed so many of your board members because of the information in that binder.”
He laughs before pressing a kiss to my lips. Why does even the slightest press of his lips against mine give me butterflies?
“You’re right. Your research let me know that if I talked to Harrison O’Neill about his prized Pomeranians, I’d quickly get into his good graces.”
I nod, kicking my feet in the water as I think about Harrison’s obsession with his dogs. From my research, I think he might love those dogs more than he loves his own children, but that’s purely speculation. “And once you got into his good graces…”
