Sarah: Tell him we say thank you!
I didn’t respond. I wanted to race over to River’s apartment and show him appreciation with my mouth; his lips were not the only thing I wanted to be acquainted with. I was genuine when I said I wanted to take my time getting to know him before I had him. I knew if I went back over there now, I wouldn’t be able to keep my resolve. It was hard enough already. I feared the sex would be too good, and I wouldn’t see any warning signs.
I knew I couldn’t endure another heartbreak like the last one. I was putting myself out there again, and if this falls apart, I doubt I would try again. For now, I would take my time and get to know the guy I was becoming infatuated with. I called Matt. As my assistant, he was used to doing odd things for me. I knew my next request wouldn’t even faze him.
“Your tux is ready for Friday, though I have nothing on the calendar for you. I need you for half the day tomorrow if you can swing it.” He sounded apologetic.
“Friday is personal. You have me until about 4:30 tomorrow evening. Do you want to come to the house, or should I come to the office?”
“Personal?” His voice rose about three octaves like it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever said.
“Yes. It’s something personal.”
“Dude… I didn’t even know you knew that word. I’m in shock here.”
“Okay, smart ass, you know it’s not very professional to get sassy with your boss.”
“Yeah. It’s not good to be sassy with your husband either, according to Dustin, but that doesn’t stop me.” He chuckled. “We can meet at the house tomorrow. I like walking around the vineyard on lunch break.” My garden was much larger than I needed. My family was always welcome to come and take whatever they wanted.
“Sounds good to me. Call Dominic. Have him come over and make us something for lunch. I will need enough for six people. Four of those will be to go.” I figured I would take servings to Sarah, Rodney, Gary, and River. “Now I have something else I need you to do for me. I want to make up something like a gift thing for someone to be messengered over tonight.”
“A gift thing? Like a basket?”
“Yes. It's exactly like a basket but not a basket. Can it be a crate or a box or something?”
“I’m sure it can be anything you want it to be. What do you want in this gift container?”
I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, so I thought about the few things I knew about River. “Can you get two boxes of every kind of toaster pastry? Try a couple of stores so there are plenty of choices. A six-pack of blue box macaroni and cheese? Get two bottles of the Sun Harvest reserve stock wine.” I thought about River and the kinds of things he would like. I knew he ate like a kid and wore sexy pajama pants. I knew he had Charlie and could kiss like nobody I had ever been with.
Some more ideas came to mind. “Include one of each of our swag from Gentry Construction. Get a couple of pairs of those nice cotton pajama pants, but they must have cute things on them like puppies or otters.” I realized I wanted to include Charlie. “Get one flavor of each of those freeze-dried treats Daisy likes. Is that too much? Not enough? What do you think?”
“Well, since I have no idea who this is for nor why you are sending it, I won’t be much help here. It’s a very eclectic group of items, though.”
I wasn’t going to explain that it was a thank you for being kind to me and my family, for making me come so hard I saw stars just by kissing me, for reminding me that I could feel desire again, and for making me brave enough to let someone know me. “Maybe I should send something else. Flowers? Cookies? Fruit? Do they make a bouquet with all those things? Send one of those, too.” I told him the building they were going to and that it was in the penthouse.
He whistled. “Those are some fancy apartments. I remember when you built that building. Do you want to include a note with the delivery?”
“It’s personal.” I assumed River would know it was from me. He gave me every indication he hadn’t dated or even hooked up in a few years; plus, the dragon treats and wine would give it away. “When do you think we can have it over at his house?”
“His?” Matt sounded interested. “Well, shit. If you keep this up, you might send me to the hospital. Give me an hour, and it will be packaged and sent to the address you gave me. He.” Drawing out the word so it sounded like a gasp. “Should have it by 8 p.m.”
I looked at my watch. It was 5:30 p.m. “Okay, sounds good. Let me know when he gets the delivery.”
“Got it. I’ll drop you a text. See you in the morning around 9:00 a.m.” I thanked him and hung up.
Chapter fifteen
River
I was lying on my back, sulking. I knew there was no other way to describe my behavior. I was a grown-ass man, behaving like a grounded teenager. I realized too late that I didn’t have Aaron’s phone number.
After he left, I checked with Cecelia. Then, I called clients and confirmed some meetings. I was unfocused since I could only think about searing kisses and warm hands. I still felt where he touched my hip and ran his palms over my abdominal muscles.
I needed to burn off some energy since I couldn’t go to the gym until we had gone over how to travel with Charlie, and I didn’t want to leave him home alone. I decided to use my living room to get endorphins flowing. Even though I had bruises, I could work through the soreness. Getting on the floor, I started doing sit-ups. Charlie perched on my knees and watched me. When I did crunches, he sat on my shins and rode them back and forth. Finally, I did push-ups where he sat on my back. I did about one hundred and fifty of each with my scaly spotter. It felt good to have tired muscles even though my injuries were not amused.
I stood in the shower, letting the hot water pour over me. I was thinking about Aaron, his mountains of muscle, strong and masculinein the traditional sense. Everything about him was my type. I always found myself more interested in hockey and football players. All I knew was that Aaron revved me physically.
Thinking about his body and all the skin to explore made me thick. I ran my hand over my length, thinking about how his hands would feel on me. There was so much temptation to relive our encounter this afternoon. So much about him filled me with lust, but it also filled me with longing.
