Page 100 of A Ticking Time Boss

“I could talk to you forever,” I admit. “Never met anyone I wanted to talk to from sunrise to sundown.”

“How odd,” he murmurs, lowering his face to mine. “Because I feel the same.”

The kiss is soft and sweet, and laced with emotions that make my chest ache. Maybe this little argument was for the best… made us stronger. I wrap my arms around his neck. “I missed you,” I say.

His hands settle on my hips. “Kid, every day this week has been torture.”

“You’re right, by the way.”

“Mmm. Thanks.” He kisses along my jaw, slow, teasing touches. “About what?”

“My place is a shithole.”

He pauses at my neck, quiet laughter rocking through him. “Wow. Are you sure you’re in your right mind?”

“Fully,” I say. I can’t stop smiling. “It’s awful. But it’s mine, and it’s what I can afford right now.”

“Please let me help you look for something else.”

“We can look, yeah. But I’d very much like to cook something at yours this weekend. Maybe we can watch another movie?”

“Stay at mine tonight,” he says. “I’m not above begging, you know.”

“I didn’t pack anything today. I don’t have my toothbrush, or clean underwear, or—”

“So we’ll stop by a supermarket on our way. Come on, let’s go.”

“I have to get this article done!”

“It’s good enough.”

I laugh and lean back, out of reach from his roving lips. “As the owner of this newspaper, you should crave perfection.”

“Perfection is the enemy of efficiency,” he counters. “If what I craved was perfection, I’d have gone into a different field.”

“You have an answer to everything, don’t you?”

“Most things,” he says, grinning wide. “But not all. Audrey Ford, light of my life, will you please come home with me tonight?”

I roll my eyes, but I’m chuckling. “Yes, I will. But only if you help me finish this article.”

“I’ve never been more committed to anything,” he says.

TWENTY-ONE

Audrey: I think I found a winner. Look at this one.

I click the apartment link she’s sent me. It’s a fourteen-room penthouse on the Upper East Side with a price tag in the hundreds of millions. It’s also godawful, decorated with all-gold furniture and the tackiest of fountains in the hallway. I zoom in. Yes, that’s a cherub in the center.

Great views, though.

Carter: Please tell me you’re considering buying it furnished.

Audrey: Oh, of course. I wouldn’t change a thing. I can see you lounging on the seashell-shaped sofa.

Carter: Naked, right?

Audrey: When I picture you it’s always nude.

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