Letting Go (Surrender Trilogy #1)(32)

Her pulse leapt, jumping at the pulse point of her neck. “I don’t want you to,” she said huskily.

“Good. Now why don’t we go over to your house so you can pack a few things. You don’t have to get everything today. Just what you need for the next few days. We can always go back for more later.”

Left unsaid was his concern that once she was here, once they embarked on their sexual odyssey, she would run and run hard. Go back to her home and shut him out forever. He hoped to hell she was as strong as she put off and that she truly did want all she’d said.

He had no doubt he could give her everything she could possibly want or need and so much more. The question was whether she knew exactly what it was she truly wanted.

“I’ll need to let Chessy and Kylie know,” she said. “They’ll worry. They know about you. I mean they know about us. But still, it’ll shock them that we’re moving so quickly. I’ll endure a lecture from Kylie.”

“And not Chessy?” he asked in amusement.

Joss smiled and shook her head. “No, Chessy was supportive of my decision to go after what I wanted. She was concerned, don’t get me wrong. But she understood it and encouraged me to go through with it. Kylie? Well, she thought I’d lost my damn mind, and she’s scared to death of what I’m getting into.”

“Then it should make her feel better to know you aren’t hooking up with some random stranger who doesn’t give a f**k about you.”

“It upset her that you had feelings for me while I was married to Carson,” Joss said quietly. “I think she felt like you betrayed Carson.”

Dash scowled. “I never betrayed him. He knew. He damn well knew and we were still friends. He trusted me. He knew I’d never act on that attraction. He was my friend.”

“I know that,” Joss said gently. “Kylie is just very black-and-white. She has a narrow view of the world. It surprised her and she doesn’t deal with surprise very well.”

Dash grimaced, knowing that Jensen replacing Carson would come as another big surprise to Kylie. An unwelcome one at that.

“Why are you frowning?” Joss asked. “Are you angry that Kylie was upset?”

Dash shook his head. “No. I was just thinking about what else I wanted to discuss with you. And with Kylie.”

She looked worried and he hastened to soothe her, not wanting anything to disrupt the mood between them. Not when things were so . . . good.

“You may or may not know that before Carson died, we had talked about taking on another partner. I wasn’t sure how much Carson shared with you regarding business. I know he was determined that you never have to work or worry about money coming in.”

Joss’s expression immediately became worried. “Is it money, Dash? Is the business not doing as well? I can go back to work, you know. Even though I quit a year after Carson and I married—at his insistence—I’ve kept up my certifications and I’ve taken the necessary classes so I could keep my nursing license. I can go back to work. I don’t want to be a financial burden on you. Do what you must to keep the business going. It’s what Carson would have wanted.”

He put his finger to her lips, loving her more than ever. She was so selfless and generous. Most women would be horrified at the mere thought of their financial security diminishing. But not her. She was prepared to go back to work. In fact, he remembered it had taken Carson an entire year to talk her into quitting. No, they hadn’t needed her salary, not by a long shot, but Joss hadn’t wanted to quit. She hadn’t wanted to be dependent on Carson. He admired her for that.

“There’s nothing wrong with the business, honey, and the truth is, what Carson would have wanted is not for you to go back to work. You have to know that. Carson only wanted you safe and happy and provided for. And he ensured that by leaving you a percentage of the business. You don’t have to worry. I plan for the business to expand and become more profitable than even before. It’s a fact that things faltered a bit after Carson died. My head and heart weren’t in it and it suffered the first year. But I pulled it together. What I wanted to tell you and Kylie both is that I’m taking on a partner. Carson and I had planned to expand before he died. Those plans got put on hold as I focused on making sure the business remained solvent. But now is the perfect time to take on someone else. I can’t do it all myself. I don’t have the desire to. There are other things that I’d rather focus on now. You. And I can’t do that if I’m tied to the desk and traveling all the time.”

Joss blinked in surprise. “You’re replacing Carson?”

He winced because while he knew Kylie would draw that same conclusion, he’d hoped that Joss wouldn’t see it that way.

As if reading his mind, Joss leaned forward, her expression earnest, her eyes soft with understanding. “I don’t mean it that way, Dash. I’m not upset that you’re ‘replacing’ Carson. I suppose I just didn’t realize how demanding the business was. Oh, I know how much time Carson put into it. But what I didn’t know at the time was that you stepped up and shouldered far more responsibility so that Carson would be free to spend more time with me. Thank you for that, Dash. I know you made a lot of sacrifices, but I’ll forever be grateful that you gave that to him. To us. That I got to spend as much time with him as I did before he died. I’ll always treasure those memories. The trips. The days at home just spending time together.”