Three weeks later, I know it’s not going to work. Half-in, half-out like this. The more time I spend with her, the more it’s just clear.

I’m in the back of the limo on the way to the office. Lucy is still in bed back at my place. She’s spending more nights at my place now than her own apartment. But even though it’s great, I’m not getting much sleep. Not just because I can’t keep my hands off her longer than an hour. I don’t think she can tell, but when we aren’t tangled up, all I do is stare at the ceiling.

Just after dawn on Saturday and I can’t stay in bed. Lucy’s head is tucked into my chest when I ease out from under her and pull on some clothes. I don’t want to wake her, so I scribble a note and duck out.

Lucy got word that a new job will be hers the moment she wants it. The news didn’t bring the relief I was expecting. Having her as my assistant is distracting in the extreme, but the idea of not having her with me every day anymore just makes me hate life.

She seems happy though. Which bugs me even more.

All my doubts about Lucy are almost gone. No matter how much I thought I cared about Nicole, the truth is it never felt with her the way I feel with Lucy. If I’m honest, it hurt more to lose Jake as a friend than the slow death of that rocky relationship.

But things with Lucy? Calm. Right. I want to take her places, try things with her. The boardrooms and the negotiations and all the work of Breson Company still make me happy, but there’s a part of me that knows I haven’t really lived in years. Everything I wanted to do, I’ve done. Everything I wanted to prove, put to rest. But Lucy had me pegged at dinner all those weeks ago: I play golf, I travel for work, I go to the gym every day. I haven’t done anything else—haven’t wanted to—until the day Lucy Warner spilled coffee all over my desk and then proceeded to turn the rest of my life upside down.

And now she’s leaving.

I’m so lost in thought when my cell phone rings, I don’t realize I’m squeezing the thing like I’m trying to break it. I answer without looking at the screen. It must be Lucy.

“I didn’t think you’d be up this early.”

“People my age are always up early, Dominic,” the voice bellows into the phone.

“Mrs. Talbot?”

“Don’t you Mrs. Talbot me, young man.” She’s shouting over the sound of ocean surf in the background. “You have quite a bit of explaining to do.”

My heart lifts to hear her voice, whatever the reason she’s calling.

“Don’t you have better things to do in retirement than call to chastise me? What have I done this time?”

“Not what. Who,” she says, archly. The line clears of all the background noise, and I hear what sounds like a sliding door closing. “Just how long did you think you’d get away with romancing my niece before I found out about it?”

“Your… I’m sorry, but what are you talking about?”

“Lucy. My niece, Lucy! Don’t you pretend innocence with me. I told you to be nice to her, not to make her the talk of the office.”

“Wait a minute. You’re Aunt Cece?”

* * *

It takes an entire morning of phone calls–and another emergency chat with Roberta–before all the arrangements are made. I have the packages sent ahead, and then I call Lucy to ask her to be ready and waiting downstairs when I finally get back to my apartment.

The car pulls up to my building, and then there she is, her cheeks pink and glowing in the chilly November air. She falls into my arms the moment she climbs in, nuzzling against me to warm up. Things get quite a few degrees hotter, before she pulls back and asks where we’re going for lunch.

“It’s a surprise,” I say, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“Mmm, a fun surprise?” she asks, tugging at the front of my belt.

“Yes. But you might not want it.”

Her eyes glitter. “Not likely.” She tries to lean in and kiss me again, but this time I hold her off.

“No, no, we have something to talk about first.”

The car slips out of the city and onto the freeway. Lucy looks out the window, then back to me, the mystery finally getting to her. “OK. What are we talking about?”

“Nepotism. I got a call from Aunt Cece today.”

I’ll always be able to read Lucy Warner by her blushes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Lucy winces and pulls back. She looks embarrassed and guilty. “I don’t know. At first it didn’t occur to me that she didn’t tell you herself. Then, later, when I thought you didn’t like me and I was sure you were going to fire me, I didn’t want you to think I was using my aunt as a way to hang on.”

She’s right, of course. Aunt Cece, aside from being indignant this morning, said as much.

I can feel Lucy’s eyes on me, imploring. “She really did look at dozens of candidates for you. She trusted me to step in when she left, to help you.”

I take Lucy’s hand in mine. “She knew you were perfect for me.”

Lucy rolls her eyes. “For the job, sure. I don’t think she was matchmaking.”

“No, you’re wrong.” I reach into my coat pocket and pull out an envelope. Out the window, I can see signs for where we’re going, and Tom is changing lanes for the highway off-ramp.

“Your Aunt Cece was all huffy about it when I pointed out she probably isn’t innocent of a little setup when it comes to us, but in this—as in most things—I think she had it right.” I hand the envelope over to Lucy.

Before she can open it, I take her face in my hands. “You are perfect for me. Everything between us, everything you are and what we are together—all of it is perfect. For me. And now I just want it to be perfect for you, too.”

I kiss her and then let go.

Lucy presses her lips together and then looks down at the envelope. When she opens it, the airline ticket cards fall out in her lap. Lucy holds them up.

“These are ticket to…” Lucy reads the destination, then her eyes fly wide. “…to Paris?”

“For today, Lucy. For us.”

Instead of happy, Lucy look distressed. “But, Dominic, your schedule. Work. And what about the job I just—“

I pull her close, pressing my mouth to hers. I talk against her lips while I feel the car start to slow as we get closer to the airport.

“Listen to me. Everything in my life for the last few years has been empty. It’s what I wanted, I’m not sorry. But I never intended to get sucked into my work so deep I don’t even know how to live anymore. But now I don’t have to. You know what Breson Company means to me. But you don’t know what you mean to me.”

Lucy pulls back, tears in her eyes. “Dominic, you don’t have to do this for me. I don’t want you to think I—“

“I don’t. But it’s not just about me. It’s you. You can’t work for me, but the job, all that other business, can wait. I can’t stand the idea I won’t see you every day. I want you in my life. I want to be in yours. Let me show you Paris, that place you’ve been dreaming about ever since you were a little girl. And then when we get back, I want you to move in with me.”

Before she can answer, before she can think, I kiss her. Deeper, harder and with all the hope and fear that’s kept me up the last few nights.

I let her pull back for air, but that’s it. My hands roam. I kiss her cheek, the sensitive crook of her neck. This is cheating—I know what happens to Lucy’s body when I touch her—but I can’t help but press every advantage.

Lucy’s eyes are closed, a smile playing on her lips. “The tickets are for today?”

“Today. Now.”

“But…what about luggage?”

I trail my lips down her neck to the swell of her cleavage. I tug at the fabric of her button blouse with my teeth. “Bags are waiting inside. I had Roberta put everything together and send it ahead. Anything else we need, we’ll get there.” I press her breasts together and rain kisses down. I can feel her hard, sensitive nipples through her clothes.

I can also feel the car slowing as Tom pulls the limo to the departures curb.

I bring my mouth back to hers and dip my tongue in once, twice. Lucy is pressed so close into me, every part of her responding, opening. I’m tempted to take her right here.

But we have a plane to catch.

The car pulls to a stop and we straighten up. The partition is closed, but I can see Tom step out of the driver’s seat and walk back to open the door for us. When he does, I step out and turn to Lucy, offering my hand.

“What will it be, Miss Warner?”

Lucy hesitates. It’s only for a second, but that moment, I look into her eyes and my heart feels like it might stop.

And then Lucy smiles. That radiant, beautiful smile that lit up my life when I saw it the first time.

And just as she takes my hand, she bites her lip.