Page 49 of Loving You

“Point is, I get it. And I’ll talk to her.”

In truth, we’d already talked about some of this. Not all of it, but she’d made no secret of wanting me. If she hadn’t been so exhausted last night after talking to her friends and working a long day, we probably would’ve at least fooled around again. But all of this was more than just physical, and I probably needed to make sure it wasn’t solely that for her.

At least, I needed to know whether it was or not, then decide what to do from there.

“Well you’ll have to talk to her quickly, because we’ve got to get on the road.” Jake stood and made for the door.

“Say what?” I grabbed my folio and turned to the calendar page. Nothing but the chamber meeting occupied the little square for the day.

Jake opened the door as Will stepped aside. “I told you a few days ago. We’ve got to run up to Carver’s Creek to talk with the bottling guys that are going to build us out. You knew this.”

His furrowed brow sent disappointment through me. Ihadknown about it, but I’d completely forgotten in the midst of worrying about April and researching how the hell to get that asshole Cliff off her back.

Guess I’d need to wait a few more days before we got to move in any direction, and I had a feeling I’d spend those days wondering which way we’d go.

* * *

April tapped on her phone’s screen, then looked up at me with expectant eyes.

“Correct. Good. Are you sure you don’t want to run through it one more time?” I asked, worry burrowing into my gut.

I only had a few more minutes before I needed to leave, and I couldn’t stop the compulsion to make sure she knew every scenario and how to handle it.

She huffed. “No. Thank you. It’s straightforward, and now that we’ve reviewed how to handle every possible notification from your security systemthree times,I think I’m good.”

“Do you want Ellie to come stay with you? I’m sure she would.”

The thought of her being alone for the next two nights had me seriously losing my shit. After leaving work, my drive home was filled with all the horrible things that could happen while I was gone. By the time I’d walked in the door, I’d gone straight to her and scooped her up into a hug.

Thank god she hadn’t been upset by that, or by the news that I’d be gone. Somewhere, I should probably have felt disappointed that she wasn’t more let down, but I couldn’t be anything but thankful that she felt safe enough here not to worry.

“No, Eric. I’m going to be fine, and you’re going to go talk to the guys in Carver-something about…” Her eyes searched mine, a little wrinkle between her brows so fucking charming I had to pull her to me and kiss her temple.

“Carver’s Creek, and we’ll talk about the bottling warehouse setup. They’re starting the outfit of the warehouse we bought in the industrial complex in July, and we have to basically walk through the entire setup they have for another brewery and talk through how it’s going to be similar to ours, the differences, and then we’ll also be interviewing the brewery about their operations.”

Her big blue eyes blinked at me. “Okay. So, you’re going to go do that, and I’ll be here working my cute little ass off while you’re gone. And then…” That gaze brightened, and one side of her mouth pulled up.

“And then?” I asked, heat coiling low in my gut, and I ignored the buzz of my phone.

Probably my brother telling me he was ready to go whenever I wanted to come get him.Hold your damned horses, Jake!

She bit her lip, then leaned close. Her warm breath on the shell of my ear sent a shiver through me as she said, “And then you’ll come home to me, and you can tell me what to do.”

I swallowed convulsively as lust shot straight to my cock. I pulled her shirt to the side and kissed the place where her neck and shoulder met. God, I loved her skin, her scent, her warmth.

“You think you’ll like that?” I asked, my voice gruff and so overtly filled with need she sucked in a breath.

She tilted her head to one side as I kissed along the line of her neck, narrowly resisting the urge to pull her shirt down and take her nipple in my mouth.

But when she spoke, I knew I had to move or I’d tell Jake to leave without me and I’d see him in a few days.

A week maybe.

Sometime before his wedding was all I could promise, because then she said, “I already know I do. But when you come back to me, you can make me prove it.”

15

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