Chapter Fourteen
“Thanks for staying late, Hannah,” Alyssa said to her assistant as she closed her laptop lid. “I can’t believe how many clients we’ve gotten since I came back. I’m swamped. At this rate, I’m going to need to hire another designer before the end of the year.”
Tall, with legs for miles and sleek auburn hair that kissed her shoulders, Hannah inclined her head and smirked.
“What?” Lyss asked. “You’re dying to say something. I can see it, so spit it out.”
Hannah laughed. “You don’t see it. That’s the thing. You’ve never seen it.”
“Huh? Never seen what?”
“How freakin’ talented you are at what you do. And how in demand you were before you closed up shop. Girl, there are people who have been waiting on you to come back for almost two years. People who put their own plans on hold to wait you out. Your designs were in high demand back then and people are ecstatic that you’re back in action.”
Her jaw dropped. “Clients waited this whole time? You’re kidding.”
“Nope,” Hannah said, curling in her lips so the P popped out. “Not kidding at all. And yes, I’ve had no less than five phone calls from people who’ve wanted to remodel their homes and held off because they wanted the best designer. People who live in Potomac no less, so...cha-ching.”
Pride filled her. “Wow. Well, if this isn’t just a fluke, maybe I should look into adding another designer. I’d hate to have to turn business away because it’s more than I can handle myself.”
Hannah crossed her long legs and nodded. “I’ll get working on a help wanted ad. As soon as it’s done, I’ll run it by you.” Her five-foot-ten-inch assistant-turned-friend wore three inch heels every day.
Alyssa love it. Of course, that meant she got a crick in her neck looking at her, but she was used to staring up at a giant of a man, so…
Ugh. Thoughts of Derek threatened to destroy the I’m-not-a-total-mess mask she’d donned early that morning and managed to keep in place throughout the day. She couldn’t obsess over what could be going through her husband’s mind and focus on work at the same time.
“Remember how it was in the beginning?” Hannah asked.
Thank God for that distraction to pull her out of thoughts that just might have her blubbering all over her desk.
The memories Hannah brought up had her smiling. “Sure do. I literally built this company with a baby on my hip. We had some seriously understanding clients back in those days.” Slowly but surely, she was beginning to think of the wonderful memories she had of her daughter. She’d never get over Katie’s death. How could a mother ever get over something so crushing? But the happy memories were accompanied by a tinge of sadness now as opposed to the suffocating despair that came whenever she’d thought of Katie at first.
“Aw,” said Hannah, who’d been with her from the beginning. She kicked off her heels and rotated her ankles with a small sigh as she leaned back against one of the oversized chairs in Alyssa’s office. “I think clients liked it. Especially female clients. They loved that having a child didn’t keep you from pursuing your dreams and that pursuing those dreams didn’t keep you from being an amazing mother. Not one person complained when you showed up to a job site or for a consultation with Katie strapped to your chest.”
Man, she missed her baby with everything she had. Alyssa’s eyes prickled with impending tears remembering those early days. “Thanks, Hannah. That means a lot to me.”
Those were some good memories. She’d worked her tail off building her business. Supportive wasn’t strong enough a word to describe Derek. He’d encouraged her every step of the way. More than once, she’d been ready to throw in the towel, convinced she just wasn’t cut out to be an entrepreneur. Especially as a new mom who was so torn between dual dreams: spending as much time as possible with Katie, and developing a thriving business. But he’d dried her tears, rubbed her tired feet, and reminded her that beneath her exhausted exterior lay a badass fighting spirit, as he’d put it.
So, she’d strapped on a pair of lady balls, one of Roxie’s favorite expressions, and found a way to make it all work.
Hannah shot her a sympathetic smile. She knew how difficult it was for Alyssa to speak about anything Katie related. At thirty, Hannah was still single and claimed she’d be that way forever for some unknown reason. She was quite vocal about not needing a man in her life. But Alyssa never bought it and was convinced Hannah would fall and fall hard one day. Regardless, she was one of the sweetest and most compassionate people Alyssa had ever met. Not to mention one of the most organized and hard working.
She glanced at her watch. “Geez, I didn’t realize it was so late. Go on and get out of here. You can work on the ad on Monday.”
“And what about you? You getting ready to leave?” Hannah asked as she rose and slipped back into her nude pumps.
“You bet. I’m five minutes behind you.” That was a lie. She planned on working until her eyelids drooped and she was so tired she’d be guaranteed to sleep. Otherwise, she’d just lie in her empty bed and fixate on everything that happened at the therapy appointment. Just as she’d done the prior night.
“Okay. I’ll see you Monday.” Hannah strode out of the office with all the confidence of someone who knew they looked good. And she did. Always.
“Close the door behind you if you don’t mind,” Alyssa called out. “And have a good weekend.”
When the door clicked shut, she leaned back in her chair and rolled her neck along her shoulders. She allowed the facade of happiness to fall away as thoughts of yesterday creeped in. After Derek left the therapy appointment, Alyssa had broken down and shed enough tears to fill a bucket.
Poor Maggie.
She’d acted like she wasn’t bothered in the least and talked Alyssa off the ledge. Then, she told her that Derek’s abrupt departure was actually a good thing. He was finally feeling. Finally trying to process Katie’s death and his own emotional turmoil. She’d advised Alyssa to be patient and was confident he’d come around.
Patience had never been her strong suit.
A knock at the door made her jolt. “I thought I told you to go home, Han. One of us needs to have a social li—Derek!” she said on a gasp as the door swung open revealing the doorway-filling silhouette of her husband.
She shot to her feet on trembling legs. “W-what are you doing here, Derek?”
A large brown paper bag dangled from one hand and a bottle of wine from the other. He looked so unbelievably tempting in dark-wash jeans and a Trident Ink T-shirt stretched across his broad chest. At some point since yesterday, he’d trimmed his beard. It was now cropped close to his jaw, her favorite look on him.
Man, how she wanted to vault over the desk and into his arms, but she wasn’t confident enough to do it in that moment. And that was a terrible feeling.
He flashed her a crooked grin. The sexy one. The one that made her knees wobbly, her panties wet, and her lacy bra insufficient at hiding her pebbled nipples. A fact that was not lost on him, if the direction of his gaze was any indication.
He stepped into the room and deposited the items on her desk. With only the desk separating them, he was now close enough to smell. The scent of him was so masculine, so sexy, so familiar.
And so damn arousing.
Instant wet panties.
“Derek? Sorry, gorgeous,” he said. “You must have me confused with someone else. The name’s Tyler. We met—”
“The other day.” Her brows drew down. They were only supposed to do this twice. While the thought of continuing the sexy game had her blood heating, it also meant another encounter where they weren’t themselves. Where they were still playing a game instead of being real and dealing with their issues.
For a fraction of a second she considered telling him to drop the act and just be Derek. But he’d been struggling. And he was here, with her. She’d take him however she could get him. Her lips quirked and her sex throbbed. He wanted to play. She could play and save reality for later. “Yes, Tyler, I remember you now. It was the day I had trouble with my hotel room key.” They could talk about their issues later. After playtime.
“Really?” he said as he backed up and took the spot on the couch Hannah had vacated. “I suppose it was that day. I like to remember it as the day I ate the sweetest pussy I’ve ever tasted.”
Her knees went from wobbly to complete Jell-O and she gripped the edge of the desk to keep from dropping to the floor. “I remember that too.” Her voice was breathy. She needed him so bad.
He quirked a brow and stretched both arms out along the back of the couch. “Seems as though I remember the score being uneven.”
Alyssa chuckled. She’d wanted him in her mouth last time, but he hadn’t given her the opportunity. This wasn’t the time to bring up that the score was uneven because he charged out of the room like his ass was on fire. This was him continuing the game. Showing her he was still in. This was the time to make him as crazy as he’d made her in that hotel room.
“Well,” she said, trailing her hand along the top of the desk as she walked around to the front. She perched her bottom on the edge of the desk and crossed her legs at the ankle. “We can’t have that, now can we?”
“Get over here,” Tyler growled.
White-hot desire shot through her. She sauntered forward, swaying her hips until she was about a foot in front of him. “Stand up.”
He stared up at her as the seconds ticked by. Ninety percent of the time, Derek was in charge in the bedroom. He liked control, and she liked to give it up to him. But there was no way in hell he was able to hold on to that control while his cock was in her mouth. Alyssa had the power in those moments. And she loved every second of it.
As he rose to his feet, she dropped to her knees between his legs and wasted no time flicking open the button on his jeans and drawing the zipper down. With her eyes locked on his, Alyssa eased the denim down over his hips. Once they cleared his muscular ass, the material pooled on the floor.
The sight of her husband, clad in only a T-shirt and charcoal gray boxer briefs had her closing her eyes and swallowing past a lump in her throat. It had been so long since she had this pleasure.
“Baby,” he whispered, his voice rough, needy.
She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. “You are the most amazing man I’ve ever known,” she said.
Something flashed in his eyes. Something that took him out of the intimate moment. Guilt.
Unacceptable.
It wasn’t the time for guilt or sorrow. It was time for connection. She drew his boxer briefs down and licked her lips as his long, stiff cock sprang free.
“Jesus, baby,” Derek said. “You haven’t even touched me and I’m ready to shoot off.”
A laugh bubbled up. “Well, think unsexy thoughts or you’ll miss the best part.”
He grunted. “There isn’t a thought in the world unsexy enough to hold me back when you’re down on your knees for me.”
“Then I guess this is gonna be pretty quick.”
He laughed, and her heart surged. Their easy banter and teasing was another of the many things she’d missed. Having it back was a precious gift.
She grasped the back of his calves then slid her hands up slowly, making sure to drag her nails along his skin. He shivered under her touch. When she reached the back of his thighs, she paused and gave her attention to the large tattoo on his right thigh. The day he got it was one she’d never forget.
The ink was a different style than every other piece he wore. Where much of his skin was covered in a mixture of tribal tats, military tats, and colorful ink, this was sketch style. It looked like an artist’s rough, somewhat unfinished, pencil sketch. It was a man and a woman locked in a sexual embrace. The man was standing with his hands on the woman’s nude ass. Her legs wrapped around his waist, head tilted back in obvious ecstasy. And his face was buried in her breasts. The only way to describe it was erotic.
He’d gotten it the night they got engaged. A tribute to her and their relationship in image form, since he wasn’t one for inking names on his skin. The incomplete look of the sketch style represented them as well. Their life together, like the sketch, was unfinished. Never to be completed.
She’d been bowled over when he showed her the design. No one ever saw it but her. Okay, maybe his physician, but it was something special just for them.
That night might as well have been yesterday instead of years ago, the memory was so strong. As she’d watched the tattoo artist ink him, she’d gotten so turned on she almost made herself come just by crossing her legs. Derek had been aware of exactly how affected she’d been by the emerging image. Unfortunately, they couldn’t act out the scene with the soreness of fresh ink, but they’d managed to get each other off just the same.
She’d ended up on her knees much as she was now, and he’d come down her throat before lying on his back, dragging her up to his face, and eating her until she’d screamed.
Still one of the best nights of her life.
“That night was hot as fuck,” he said as she ran her fingers over the tattoo.
She couldn’t speak as the combined barrage of memories and desire brought a surge of emotions to the surface. Tears threatened, but she held them back. Instead, she fisted his cock in her hand and pumped twice before drawing the tip to her mouth. She tongued the slit, then sucked the head into her mouth.
“Fuck,” he said on a groan the moment her lips closed around him.
A salty flavor of precum hit her senses, making her moan. She gripped his ass with one hand and cupped his balls with the other as she worked her mouth down his length. It had been a while, but she hadn’t forgotten what he liked, so she took him to the back of her throat, hollowed out her cheeks and slid her lips back up to the tip. Then, she repeated the process.
He shoved both hands into her hair, gathering up the strands, and keeping a firm hold on her head. She still set the pace, but he could take over at any time, and the small loss of the upper hand made her pussy clench with need. “Fuck, fuck,” he whispered as though talking to himself.
It was hard to keep her lips from curling into a smile, but she managed to keep them locked around his shaft. This time, when he hit the back of her throat, she swallowed.
“Christ, that mouth. You have any idea how beautiful you look right now, baby?”
Pleasure hit her hard. Derek never failed to make her feel like the most gorgeous woman on the planet. She’d been pretty innocent when they’d met, and he’d been on the more experienced end of the spectrum, but from the first time her lips touched him, he’d told her he’d never had better.
That wasn’t entirely accurate. He didn’t just tell her he’d never had better. He’d made her believe it with every fiber of her being.
And that pretty much made her want him every chance she got.