Page 2 of Boundless Love
“Keep that up, and I won’t be munching or doing anything with my mouth for this entire trip,” she retorted.
The thought made me recoil in horror that wasn’t completely faked.“Sorry, sorry, I take it back.”
She laughed softly before sighing and resting her head again.“I’ll catch up on sleep this weekend.”
“You know what you need?An afternoon at the spa.I can book one for you right now.”Seeing her like this tore at my chest, where my heart ached at the sound and sight of her fatigue.She had been burning the candle at both ends for months, something every successful business person dealt with if they were lucky.Word traveled fast in a town like Hollywood, and Rowan had developed a reputation for her no-nonsense manner.Starlets flocked to her, while studios kept her firm on retainer to make sure their asses were covered and everybody was happy, productive, and not being exploited.She took her work seriously, and it was paying off.But at what expense?
“If anything, I’m looking forward to a nap,” she murmured sleepily as the jet began its descent.
“Oh?”I arched an eyebrow, intrigued.“Tell me more about this nap.Will there be clothes involved?Is it a strictly solo activity, or can other people participate?”
“It doesn’t matter where you are,” my wife announced, shaking her head as her eyes opened to find me grinning down at her.“It takes nothing to get you thinking with your dick.”
“I do my best thinking with my dick,” I reminded her as we shared another lingering kiss that promised alone time this weekend.
Something we both needed.
* * *
“I rememberwhen a trip to Vegas looked a lot different.”I had been observing our dinner table for many long, silent minutes as everyone talked, laughed, and showed off pictures of their kids over drinks once the plates were cleared.It seemed like somebody should say out loud what had been running through my mind.
Lex Landry smirked, sitting back and draping an arm around the shoulders of his fiancée, Summer Strawbridge.“Speak for yourself.Some of us don’t have kids weighing us down, remember?”
“Weighing you down?Ouch.”Clay Manning winced, shaking his head, as his wife, Mira, rolled her eyes.“We’ll see if you get a comped suite at one of my hotels ever again.”
“Not that there’s anything wrong with having kids,” Lex quickly insisted as Summer elbowed him.
“Thank you very much for the suite,” she added, smiling at Clay.“And when Lex and I get back up there, I’ll remind him that having kids at home isn’t the only reason for a man to avoid a wild Vegas party.Like having a fiancée, for starters.”She narrowed her eyes, wiggling her left hand with the diamond ring on it, when the rest of us laughed.
“Yeah, I think you told on yourself, bro,” Travis Knight teased.
“And for what it’s worth…” his fiancée, Penny, added, “… you can still have plenty of fun once there are kids in the picture.We have two, and it takes creativity, but it works.”No doubt it took a ton of creativity, with Travis constantly jetting back and forth across the country to oversee his shipping business while Penny stayed home with their daughters, Sofia and baby Olive.
“How much did he pay you to say that?”Dante West asked as the entire table burst out laughing again.It was his wedding that had brought us to town this weekend.Now that we had all arrived and settled into our suites in two of the hotels he and Dante had renovated on the strip over the past year, we’d gotten together for a group dinner before the wedding festivities kicked off tomorrow morning.The women planned on shopping and having lunch while I headed out to play a few holes of golf with the guys.
Dante’s friends and investors out here in Vegas would join us.We’d met up a few times, and they were a good group, a lot like ours, but they were still in their single days.
I couldn’t pretend to miss it any more than I could take offense over how Lex busted our balls.It was something we’d been doing to each other for years for any reason we could find.
“Oh, look.”Rowan’s face glowed when she held out her phone so I could look at the pictures Hannah had sent.She and her grandparents had done one of those sightseeing tours, riding around town in an open bus and admiring stars’ homes.
“I can’t believe how big she’s getting,” Penny mused, leaning across the table.“How is it possible she’s a teenager already?”
“Don’t remind me,” Rowan begged with shaky laughter.“I’m pretty sure I found a gray hair this morning.”
“Please.”Mira waved a hand, then tucked her dark curls behind her ears.“You look like you just graduated college yesterday.”
“I’ve always liked you, Mira.”Rowan chuckled, lifting her water glass in Mira’s direction.
Leaning close, I murmured, “Are you feeling all right?”Usually, if she had a headache, she would avoid drinking since it only made things worse.
“Oh, I was afraid wine would make me too sleepy,” she explained.“I didn’t want to fall asleep at the table.”
“I really need to get you back to the suite.”When she arched an eyebrow and pursed her lips in a disapproving expression, I chuckled.“To rest.After all, you didn’t get any when you were taking work calls after we arrived.”
“Says the man who wakes up at five in the morning so he can get a head start on his day,” she countered lovingly.“You act like I live to work all the time.”
“You’re telling me you don’t?”
