Page 70 of Second Time Around
“If you’d like, but just as company. You’re tired.”
“We’ll see what comes up.” She grinned at him.
He groaned. “Frat house humor.”
As she relaxed into him, exhaustion swept over her in a wave and she yawned. “I think you’ll need to be in the Jacuzzi to keep me from falling asleep and drowning.”
His arm tightened. “Before you fall asleep, I want to ask you something. Farr is visiting the Carver Center tomorrow, and I had planned to come with him. However, I don’t want to cause you any discomfort.”
She lifted her hand to touch his cheek. “You’re sweet to ask instead of just showing up. Our director, Emily, knows that I see you, um,socially. So as long as you don’t ravish me on the kitchen counter, it will be okay.”
“I’ll save that for my own kitchen counter.” He dropped a kiss on top of her head.
She closed her eyes, rocked into drowsiness by the motion of the limousine.
“One more thing,” Will said, his voice rumbling in her ear where it was pressed against his chest. “I was talking to my COO, Greg Ebersole, about your limited-ingredient fresh dog food. He thought that might be something Ceres could expand into. He wants to discuss it with you, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Kyra’s eyes flew open and she sat up. “He doesn’t need to talk with me. I just Googled it. There’s no secret recipe or anything.”
“He sees some strong marketing opportunities by tying it in with the K-9 Angelz project. There could be some real money in it for the Carver Center.”
“Wow! That would be great.” Emily wanted to expand the program and had her eye on another building and adjacent lot farther north in Harlem where the prices were still reasonable. A corporate tie-in could generate the kind of cash that would make it possible to buy the properties. “But he should really talk to Emily about that sort of thing. I’m just the cook.”
“You’re the creator of the dog food.”
“Well, sure, I’ll be happy to tell him everything I know. That should take about ten minutes, tops.”
“Don’t undersell yourself.”
He sounded annoyed. Maybe he’d talked her up to his colleague and didn’t want her to undermine his glowing description. “Don’t mind me. I’m just tired.”
He stroked her hair. “I wouldn’t have brought it up except that Greg is gung ho about the idea.”
She didn’t want to think about dog food right now. She nestled her head on his shoulder, yawned until her jaw creaked, and slid down into sleep.
Will felt her relax and pulled her closer against him to hold her steady as they bounced through potholes and swayed around corners. Her body felt small and trusting, almost like a child, in his arms. Strange how the tough, independent Kyra stirred his protective instincts in such a powerful way.
So powerful that he’d hired a private investigator to look into her debt load. Now he understood why she had given up the idea of going back to school, because the amount had surprised him. Frustration made his jaw clench. He could wipe out the debt in a millisecond using only his personal checking account—and had even considered doing so anonymously—but she would know he was behind the payment. And she would not be happy about it. In fact, she might be offended enough to end their relationship.
The prospect of not seeing her again made his chest go hollow. She stirred and muttered something. He eased the grip that he had unconsciously tightened on her.
He already had to battle her perception that there was some great abyss between them because of his money and background. Ironic that the self-reliance he admired so much about her made him want to shake her at the same time. He could tell from her response that the conversation with Greg was not going to accomplish what he had hoped. Kyra would either see right through it or decide that she wasn’t qualified for the job.
Now he had to come up with an alternative strategy because he wanted her to make more money and he hated her job at Stratus. Bartending kept her away from him until late at night, when he couldn’tstop himself from making love to her. Guilt ate at him that he was driving her to exhaustion, especially since she had fallen asleep at eight o’clock.
Not to mention that even at a high-end bar, he knew how male customers were looking at her and calculating the odds of taking her to bed with them. Her sex appeal was part of her success at her job. But it made him crazy to imagine other men ogling the opulent curves of her breasts in the V of her vest or the flash of smooth stomach between her jeans and her top. Those were his private property now.
Yet he couldn’t ask her to make changes in her life just to accommodate him. Their relationship was too new, too undefined. Which bothered him. He found himself looking into the future and wanting her there with him.
She made him understand that he wasn’t being true to himself. But he didn’t know whatwastrue, so he needed her to help him. She saw things—including him—so clearly and honestly.
He stroked his palm lightly down her back, and she snuggled into him. A strange fear tightened his throat. The things he could offer her were things she’d made clear that she didn’t need. He was at the mercy of whatever she felt for him.
And he wasn’t at all confident about what that might be.
