ABBY
FAT FLAKES SWIRL through the chilly January air, rushing past the windshield as I drive home after school. It hasn’t been cool enough for the snow to stick until about a half an hour ago, so the roads are wet and just starting to freeze over. I would have been white-knuckling the wheel if I were driving, but tucked in the back of the SUV with Dan, Hank’s security guy, behind the wheel, I’m cozy and comfortable.
Hank’s ringtone sounds and I grin like the love-struck fool I am.
“Hey, handsome, how’s Germany?”
“I’m sure it’s gorgeous. But I haven’t been outside for two days, so I can’t be certain.”
“Poor baby. Such a workaholic and no one to blame but yourself.”
He laughs, sounding tired. “That’s the worst of it, isn’t it?” The car turns down my street and he asks, “You still play Scrabble?”
“Every chance I get.” Then, after a thought, “Though I should qualify that statement to say, not quite like we used to.”
His laugh rumbles through the phone, followed by a sigh it’s too easy to read too many things into.
“Check your phone. I sent a link to download an app.”
“Words with Friends? I already have it, but what’s your username?”
“Not Words with Friends, but similar in principle.” The muffled sound of his throat clearing hits my ears and I can practically see him looking away before returning to the phone and I wonder where he is—it has to be midnight there. “It’s customized.”
That last word has me forgetting about his unrelenting schedule and has the wheels of memory turning and taking me back to Hank’s basement. To the cool breeze blowing in through the basement window we kept open to hear if his parents came home early.
I can practically feel the cut-pile carpet against my knees as we sat on the floor, the game board between us and our tiles lined up across two trays apiece. The nervous anticipation and excitement over where the game would lead. Automatic triple points for sexy words. But only if we used it in a sentence. Last time we played, the game ended when I laid down SODDEN… the state of my panties when Hank flexes his big brain.
I remember the way Hank had swallowed hard, eyes locked on my lap as he swept the game aside and pulled me beneath him.
“Customized?” I ask as I download the app.
“For my rules.”
“Hank,” I whisper, wishing he wasn’t so far away.
I open the game and, sure enough, there are fourteen tiles displayed, and a spot to enter my sentence. “You… you made this?”
He laughs again. “I actually made it back in college. I was thinking about selling it, but then I realized I’d just been using it as an excuse to hold on to something from you.”
My heart hurts hearing him explain, but I love that those memories meant as much to him as they do to me.
“Anyway, when I saw you still had the Scrabble board at your place, I started thinking about it and decided to update the code to make it compatible with the latest operating systems.”
“How big is your brain?” I laugh, awed and delighted.
“Big enough to get one of the interns to make the changes.”
“I love it,” I say quietly.
“So you want to play?”
Biting my lip, I scan the tiles in my rack and then smile.
ACHING.
Definition: I’m aching for you to come back so I can show you just exactly what your big brain does to me.
“Abby? You there— Oh sweet, you played!” He sounds like a kid with a new toy, and then he groans and it’s all man. “Yeah, I’m aching myself. Can’t wait to get back tomorrow night.”
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Alex Zimmons stopped by my room at lunch. He was beaming, Hank. Ninety-seven percent on the retake for his chemistry test.”
“He texted me earlier.” I can hear the grin in his words. “Got me busted doing a fist pump in the middle of a presentation I was supposed to be listening to.”
The mental image is too much. “I can’t believe a tenth grader has your direct line. Novak doesn’t even have it.”
Almost nobody does.
“Yeah, well. I like that kid.”
Alex had started showing up on the afternoons when Hank came in, volunteering to help him with setting up the lab. He worked his butt off and finally admitted to Hank that he was trying to show him that he could be a valuable member of the team… even though his grades didn’t make him look too smart.
Hank had been telling me about this boy for weeks by then, talking about how sharp he was. What a good thinker. And once he realized Alex was struggling, he sat down and started helping him try to catch up in some of his classes.
The man works more hours than anyone I’ve ever met. He didn’t have time… but he made some, and now I’m listening to him laugh about how jacked Alex was when he left the presentation to call him back and it’s making my heart do all the things I keep begging it not to.
I’m in too deep. And all the reasons I know are still there for me to try and get out, to put a little more distance between us… I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m finally ready to let them go.
HANK
I’M PRETTY SURE there isn’t one damn thing better than coming home to Abby Mitchel waiting for me in my apartment. Her arms are tight around my neck, her heels kicked up as I carry her back through the doorway she just leapt out of. I’ve got her with one arm as I shrug off my bag and walk us straight to the wall, leaning into the soft give of her body.
She moans, pressing back against me with her hips and breasts.
I’ve only been gone a couple days but it feels like it’s been forever since I had my arms around her. Since I’ve tasted her kiss.
Christ, I’m like a man possessed and she’s coming at me just as hard.
“You want it like this?” I ask, working her skirt up to her hips so I can get my hands on her ass. So I can reach between her legs and feel how wet she is.
I’m pretty sure my zipper ripping open accompanied by Abby moaning as she bites my bottom lip means she does. She’s got my cock in her hands, and as incredibly good as it feels, it’s not what I need.
“Please,” she says in the voice that tells me it’s not what either of us need.
My fingers twist in the sides of her panties and her breath catches.
Yeah, I told her what I was going to do the next time I got near her.
The delicate fabric rips within my grasp and falls.
Her eyes meet mine and hold as I bend my knees and find that slick, warm spot where her body gives for me. We stopped using condoms since she’s on the pill, so I’m right there, nothing between us. It’s so damn good and I haven’t even made it inside her yet.
I thrust.
“Hank!”
I’m buried deep, then rocking deeper, watching the pleasure play through her eyes as I pin her to my wall with my hips.
“I missed you,” she says, clutching at my chest.
“You too, baby.” So fucking much.
I’m lost in the pulsing grip of her body, the slick friction as I shaft into her, slow and hard. Our hips grind on every thrust, and the way she’s looking at me—Christ, I can see it in her eyes. I can feel it moving between us.
She’s not ready for the words.
But it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
An hour later, we’re stretched out along the couch together. I’m reading takeout menus to her while she traces designs across my chest. It’s a quiet, perfect moment that ends too soon with someone hammering at my door.
“Jack?” Abby asks, climbing off the couch after me.
“Doubt it. Pretty sure he’s in London this week.” I know he is, because I asked him to stop in and see Abby a couple of times while I was going to be gone and he couldn’t.
But based on the force and urgency of that knock, I’m pretty sure I know who I’m going to find when I open the door. Just like I’m guessing when I un-silence my phone I’m going to find half a dozen calls from the same person.
“Aside from you and my parents, there are only two people who can get into this building without security contacting me. Sheila and Nate. And Sheila doesn’t knock.”
She presses a kiss against the bottom of my jaw and pulls the sides of my shirt closed around her. “Go see what he wants and I’m going to take a shower.”
I nod. “Whatever it is, it won’t take long.”
It better not, because now I’m thinking about her in the shower and I’m getting some ideas about washing her back… her front… any hard-to-reach places.
On the way to the door, I sweep up my jacket and pull my phone from the pocket. Sure enough, eleven calls from Nate. I swing the door open, ready to lay into him for interrupting me when I’ve barely gotten home, but he’s already talking.
“Thank God you’re here. You’re not going to believe it. SpaceWalk sent the contracts over. It’s happening, Hank.”
For the next twenty-five minutes, Nate fills me in on the details. I’m speechless. After all the back-and-forth bullshit with Walker, I thought the deal was dead. We already started talks with a competitor, but while they had an impressive vision and unique approach, they weren’t as far along as Walker’s group.
“The documents have already been forwarded to your drive, and all the heads have been notified about the meeting at seven tomorrow,” he says, something as close to a genuine smile as I’ve ever seen on his face. “Congratulations, Hank.”
Electricity is coursing through my veins. I’m so hyped that I can barely contain myself and all I want to do is share my good news with Abby. When I get back to the master bath, she’s just finished blowing her hair dry and smiles at our reflection in the mirror as I wrap my arms around her from behind.
“Everything okay?” She snuggles into my hold, her arms weaving together with mine.
“Remember when we were kids and I told you I was going to give you the stars?”
Her brow rises, and she turns in my arms, wrapping hers around my neck. “I remember when I told you all I wanted was you.”
I laugh into the top of her hair and then tip her head back so she’s looking up at me and I can see her eyes when I tell her. “I’m going to make good on that promise, Abby. The SpaceWalk deal is going through.”