Hadley
Luckily for me, everyone seemed to be out of the office when I arrived, so I didn’t have to withstand the looks I would inevitably get from Amy or the questions that would come from Tim.
Justin stood by my desk while I pulled up the file on my computer that had the blank contract inside.
“This will only take a minute. I just have to fill in your mom’s information, the dates, and the figures. Five minutes. Tops.”
After a few quiet seconds Justin asked, “Is this like a co-op space?”
“Yeah,” I replied while still tapping away on my keyboard. “We’re all self-employed but need an office outside the home.”
“Interesting.”
He said nothing more while I worked, and I appreciated the quiet. There were enough thoughts running through my mind to make up for the silence. When the contract was complete I sent two copies to the printer, then signed both and put them in an envelope.
“Tell your mother to keep one for her records, then sign the other. Oh, damn,” I said. At the same time, I turned back to my desk and picked up my phone. “I forgot to ask your mom how she wanted to get it back to me. I can have someone pick it up later today. Or she can leave it at the house and I can grab it while I’m there tomorrow…” I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth as my words trailed off and my fingers started moving over the screen of my phone. “I’ll call her and ask.”
“I’ll bring it back to you tonight. It’s not a big deal.”
“Tonight?” My mind started ticking through my calendar and I couldn’t remember making plans with him for later.
“Yeah. I’ll swing by your place.”
I could almost physically feel the weight on my shoulders, pressing me down. They fell a little, even if there wasn’t anything really holding them down.
“Justin, space.”
“I won’t stay long. Just drop the contract off. You need it, right?”
“I do this all the time without you, you know.”
“I get the feeling you’re going to be saying that a lot.”
“I guess that depends on how often you step in and try to interfere.”
“It’s not interfering, Hadley. It’s helping.”
“Ta-may-to, ta-mah-to.”
He narrowed his gaze at me. Then he reached a hand out and brushed a wisp of hair back behind my ear. “Maybe I also just want to see you and tell you good night. Having you in my bed last night was a dream come true. If I can’t have you there all the time, I at least want to be able to kiss you good night.”
My hip cocked out to the side and my hand automatically went there, resting on the curve of my waist.
“You’re going to come to my house every night to kiss me good night?” I asked, my tone disbelieving. “That sounds incredibly inconvenient for you.”
“No,” he replied, tucking both his hands inside the pockets of his suit pants. “I won’t be driving to your house every night to kiss you good night.”
I tried to hide the disappointment I didn’t realize I’d feel at his words. “No?” I asked, blinking, confused by all the warring emotions running through me.
“You’ll be back in my bed soon.” His words were so confident, so assured, it was impossible not to believe him. He plucked the envelope from my hands and left a quick, chaste kiss on my lips, then strolled out of the office, leaving me blinking with my emotions scrambled all over the place.
I was pretty sure he was right, though—it would only be so long before he had me back in his bed.
The rest of my day was packed and as it neared nightfall I cursed myself for taking the morning off. It had been necessary, but it was still an added stressor. I’d spent the afternoon at my storage facility, picking and choosing the pieces I needed for the Justin’s mom’s house the next day. Luckily my preferred last-minute moving crew had a few hours open in the morning. I’d found Martine and Martine the year before and would always use them if they were available. I’d been surprised to find that Martine and Martine weren’t related since I’d assumed them to be a father and son team. But after a few jobs and talking with the younger Martine, I came to learn they weren’t related at all, just happened to have the same name.
The older Martine didn’t speak much English, but he always gave me the sweetest smiles and both the men worked hard and earned every penny I paid them. I used them so often, in fact, they’d given me a small discount after a few months. I was grateful, of course, so I always tried to give them my business.
It was almost seven before I finished organizing everything, and was about ready to order an Uber to take me home, when a text came in from Justin.
**Against my better judgement, I’ve left you alone all day. I’ve got your signed contract. Can I bring it by?**
I smiled at his restraint.
**I’m not home yet, just leaving my storage unit. Should be home in thirty minutes.**
**You need me to come get you?**
**Nope. I’m fine. I’ll see you at my place?**
**I’ll meet you there. Dinner?**
**I’m starving. If you bring me food, you’ll definitely jump a few spots up on my Favorite People List.**
**Food is the way into your heart?**
**It’s the way into something.**
**Chinese, Thai, or pizza?**
**Oh, Thai, please.**
**You got it. See you soon.**
An unfamiliar thrill went through me at the thought of Justin being at my apartment. I’d asked him for space, to move slowly, and I still needed that, but I couldn’t help the way my heart rate spiked at the thought of seeing him again.
I ordered my Uber and went to work closing up my storage unit.
An hour later I heard a knock at my door and went to open it. Nerves and excitement roared through me equally, but it was a smile that pushed through when I thought of Justin being on the other side of my door.
I pulled it open and watched as his eyes moved from my feet and slowly up my body, taking everything in, only stopping when his gaze met mine. I was frozen in place, suddenly unsure of how to greet him. Luckily, he was the first one to move, and he took the question away by stepping forward, his hand coming to my waist and his mouth coming to mine.
The kiss was chaste, but soft and slow. While his lips moved slowly over mine, his arm wound tighter around my waist and he pulled me close to him.
“Hey,” he said softly when his lips disappeared from mine.
“Hey,” I replied, breathless.
He lifted his free hand—the one that wasn’t still holding me tight to him. “Dinner.”
“Perfect.” My hands were still resting against him, my front pressed against his chest, and I made no move to pull away. All day he’d been on my mind, my brain a crazy storm of worry, doubt, and anxiety. But my thoughts were quiet in his arms. The only thought, the only emotion, was relief. Could it be, after so many years of trying to prove I was my own safe space, it would turn out that Justin could be safe too?
“Miss me?” he asked, a smug grin making his lips turn up. It was disarmingly sexy, but I didn’t want him to know that.
“Hardly,” I said, still not pulling away. “I’m just hungry.”
His eyes went dark at my words and damn it if my thighs didn’t press together.
“If you let me in, I’ll feed you.” His hand moved slowly down from my waist to cup my ass, squeezed me there, effectively pulling me even closer. The movement made me think that if I let him in, food wasn’t the first thing on his mind.
I stepped back even though it wasn’t my first choice, and let him in, closing the door with a soft click. I watched as he assessed my apartment.
His eyes swept the room, taking it all in, and I wondered what he saw, what he thought about the place I called home. Did he think I was a nerd because of all the books? Would he look at my mismatched furniture and wonder why an interior designer couldn’t pull a room together?
When he turned around he was still wearing the sexy smirk.
“Before I forget,” he said as he reached into the pocket inside his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope, holding it out to me. “My mom signed it and she put a key in there too so you can let yourself in tomorrow.”
“Perfect,” I said as I took it. I walked over to my hall tree and put the envelope in my work purse. “Did you have a good lunch with your mom?”
“I did. She didn’t even ask about us being together.”
Guilt washed over me because the first thing I felt was relief.
“Well, that’s good, right? I mean, are you really looking forward to telling your mom you got married in Vegas?”
He set the bag with our Thai food on the counter and shrugged. “Kind of.”
“Soon,” I promised, even though it made me nervous.
“Dinner,” was his response.
I moved around him and grabbed plates and glasses, offering him beer or wine. He accepted a beer and I poured myself a glass of white wine. After our plates were made we sat at the dining table and an awkward silence fell over the room.
Justin asked, “How’d the rest of your day go?” in the exact moment I said, “This is really delicious.”
We both laughed awkwardly and reached for our drinks, which only made us laugh more.
“Is this weird? Having dinner with your husband?”
“I mean, kind of? It’s so domestic. Are you going to watch sports on TV after this? ’Cause, I’m just warning you, I’m not the kind of woman who enjoys doing dishes and vacuuming. I have a cleaning lady who comes once a week and I let her do her thang.”
“I don’t usually watch sports on TV,” he replied. “I look all that stuff up on my phone.”
“Ah, the husband of the electronic era.”
He laughed. “Something like that.” He took another pull from his beer. “What do you usually do after dinner?”
“I work if I need to, but try not to. If I have free time I usually read or watch something to turn off my brain.”
“What’s your favorite show?”
“I don’t watch anything regularly. I’m too busy to be on my couch at a certain time with any kind of reliability. But usually if I have time I’ll watch taped episodes of Shark Tank.”
“You like Shark Tank?” he asked as his eyebrows jumped.
“You like Shark Tank?”
“It’s one of my favorite shows. I mean, I don’t watch a lot of TV either, but that one is great.”
“Right?” I said with new enthusiasm. “I love how you can watch any episode, at any time, and you don’t have to worry about a story line.”
“I never thought about it like that, but you’re right. I just like watching people’s dreams come true.”
I tilted my head to the side and studied him with narrowed eyes.
“You’re not the jock playboy you want everyone to think you are, Justin Hunter.”
He shrugged with one shoulder and leaned back in his chair, one side of his mouth tipping up into a smile. “Maybe you’re just the first person I’ve wanted to show my true colors to.”
“Maybe I like your colors.”
“I’m pretty sure you like them.”
I couldn’t help but smile in response to his blatant confidence that bordered on arrogance. It was stupid how attractive I found his ego. “Any other surprising personality traits you want to tell me about?”
“You’ll just have to stick around and find out.”