Malcolm stood and stared at me, his mouth gaping like a fish.
“What—what did you say?”
I chuckled, rounding his desk and entering his personal space. Those emerald eyes shot wide at my proximity. “What’s the matter, gorgeous? Can’t imagine spending the rest of your life with me?”
He huffed. “You’re insufferable.”
“Ah, darling, you don’t really think that.” I brushed my knuckles down his cheek, causing him to jolt away from me.
“How the hell am I supposed to explain this? You just sat through that meeting. It’s a conflict of interest, David. I’m in charge of your account. They already want to take me off it. What do you think will happen when I tell them I’m dragging you along for Thanksgiving?”
I rolled my shoulders. He had a point, but I would do my best to set his mind at ease. “It’s work-related. You wanted to see your family, but knew we needed to finalize things. I’m away from my family this year, so it’s a win for both of us.”
Malcolm scrubbed at his jaw before he looked at me, his eyes filled with so much worry. The potential danger to his job must have panicked him, although I would allow nothing to happen to it. My earlier move fucked things up. People did shit like that all the time. It didn’t mean I was unhappy about his performance. I could have just been excited about getting things started. Mr. Thomas would have known that had he only talked to me instead of assuming anything.
“I’m just—I’m not sure. David, my parents are nice people, and they’ve already had their hearts broken enough for one lifetime. I can’t be bringing someone home and filling them with false promises.”
I cleared my throat and looked off to the side, rubbing at my neck. That hadn’t been my intention when telling them I would come with him. The Fisher family had suffered a significant loss when Malcolm’s brother had died, and the last thing I wanted to do was make them more upset. Though it felt as if they made Malcolm feel guilty enough from time to time. It wasn’t as if he’d asked to survive while his brother had perished.
Something softened, and I checked to make sure the door to his office was closed before approaching him and wrapping himin a hug. He tensed at first, but then gave in to my hold, melting against me.
“I’m sorry. If you need me to back out, I can. I…” The words died on my tongue because I wanted to be a part of his life. It was so strange how just a few encounters with him had me wanting things I’d never dreamed I’d crave.
The second his arms wrapped around me and I felt the warm press of his lips against my neck, I forgot about my worries. This was what I’d been craving. That I hadn’t fucked everything up with that phone call.
“Don’t you dare. We’ll make this work. I’ll tell Mom I’m bringing someone, and she’ll be thrilled. If that doesn’t work, I’ll say you’re just a client. There’s nothing between us.”
That stung a little more than I thought it would.
“What if…”
Malcolm pulled back a little to glare at me. “No what ifs. It’s how things need to be.”
The day had arrived. While things were moving a little more smoothly over the last few weeks, there had been no more sleeping together. As much as I’d tried to breach that barrier again, Malcolm had made his intentions clear. I wasn’t the type of person to pressure people. Maybe when we got to his parents’ place, things would be a little different.
A shiny black Escalade pulled up outside the hotel, as I had yet to find a place to stay. It was still at the top of my priority list, but everything I looked at… something was missing. I knew what it was missing. It was missing a five-foot-ten man with messy brown hair and emerald-green eyes. Speaking of that man… heclimbed out of the front seat of the car and met me on the sidewalk to help me load my suitcase into the back.
“We’re driving?”
He shrugged. “Is that a problem? It’s about two hours from here. I know Chicago has two seasons, construction and winter, but this car does pretty well with the drive.”
I looked over the vehicle. “It’s flashier than what I expected you to drive.”
That earned me another shrug. “I don’t know. It’s one of those things. A status symbol, maybe? I worked hard to earn my position, and it felt pretty cool that I could afford it, so I bought it.”
That was something I could understand. Not everything had to have a logical reason.
I climbed into the passenger seat just as Malcolm crawled behind the wheel. He hit a few buttons and the next thing I knew, my ass was getting warm.
“Cheek warmers?”
He chuckled. “It’s such a small thing, but it’s something I always wanted. There’s nothing quite like a warm seat.”
He wasn’t wrong, but it also meant that I’d get too comfortable during the drive. I wanted to talk, and the more my seat heated, the more tired I felt. It would be easy to nod off and forget the drive entirely.
And maybe that was Malcolm’s aim, because that was exactly what happened. The next thing I knew, we were pulling up outside a two-story colonial home, my face pressed against the window, drool streaking down my cheek.
It was a cute house. The residence had off-white paint, a large oak door in the center, and wide windows on either side. There was a spacious porch that took up the entire front of the building, with sizable pillars interspersed. I admired all the trees covering the yard, providing tons of shade. What had it been liketo grow up in such a place, if this was even the residence that Malcolm had grown up in?
