When You're Back (Rosemary Beach #12)(30)

I did have a cell phone, but I wasn’t sure that having him text me was a good idea. I just stared up at him silently.

He sighed and raised his eyebrows while giving me that exasperated look. “Would you rather I text you or visit you every time I need you to make phone calls?”

I quickly gave him my number, which made him chuckle.

“I’ll be here on Monday to go over some other things I need filed and categorized separately.”

I nodded. Could he leave now?

Captain gave me a smirk, then turned to go. “Enjoyed lunch with you,” he said, just before he walked out of the office. He always got the last word. It was annoying.

Mase

“Friday night. Come on, man. Reese will enjoy a good honky-tonk. You haven’t been with me in ages. Let’s drink up, play some pool, and dance. It’ll be fun.” Major badgered me as he sat on the fence post while I worked on one of my new quarter horses, Bingo.

I was more than positive that Reese would not enjoy a honky-tonk. I ignored Major’s suggestion for the fifth time in a row. “Don’t you have a job to do?” I asked, annoyed that he’d decided to come bug me.

“I go in after two. Hey, let’s go bowling. I can whup both your asses.”

I shot him a glare. I wasn’t going f*cking bowling. “Are you lonely? Is that what this is? You done with Cordelia already?”

He frowned like he wasn’t sure what I was talking about. “Cordelia? Hell, man, I haven’t seen her in a month or more. It wasn’t like I wanted to put a ring on it. She was just a good f*ck.”

Rolling my eyes, I went back to work. He was impossible to talk to sometimes.

“You’re gonna miss me when I’m in Florida. You know you will. Might as well get all the Major you can while I’m here.”

“I get enough of you as it is. You’re always in my momma’s kitchen stuffing your face.”

“Awww, are you jealous because she loves me more?”

“No . . . but are you sleeping with your dad’s new girlfriend yet?” I retorted, thinking that would piss him off. He’d contributed to the end of his dad’s last marriage by sleeping with his stepmother.

He just laughed. “Not yet.” If I didn’t know him so well, I would think he was joking. Sadly, he was probably very serious. “How’s Reese liking the job?” he asked, jumping down from the fence. Maybe that meant he was about to leave me in peace.

“She loves it. Piper’s been good to her.”

“Good to know I won’t have to kick anyone’s ass, then,” he said with a smirk.

I didn’t even acknowledge him. He loved to try to make me mad. “Go to work,” I told him.

“Not time yet,” he replied.

“Go in early.”

I was going to buy a ring tomorrow, or at least look for one that I wanted to see on Reese’s hand. I couldn’t picture what that would be, exactly, but it had to be perfect. It had to be Reese.

While I worked all day, I thought of different ways to propose. I wanted to make it something special that she’d never forget and that she could share over and over again. She deserved the best. I was going to give that to her. For the rest of my life.

Those thoughts got me through the day and kept me from missing her too much. I looked forward to picking her up every day. I checked the clock as it got closer to five, growing more anxious with every minute.

When I opened her office door, her bottom was up in the air as she bent down over a low drawer of a file cabinet. The jeans she wore fit like a second skin.

“Don’t move,” I said, walking up behind her and sliding my hands over her plump bottom.

She tilted her head to the side and looked up at me with a giggle. “Well, hello to you, too.”

“My girl has a fine ass,” I replied, caressing it while she remained bent over for me.

“Thank you, but if I stay in this position, I’m going to get a cramp.”

I took my hands off her bottom and stepped back reluctantly. When she stood up, I reached for her hips and pulled her backside up against my front. “Mmmm,” I murmured in her ear. “Missed you.”

She melted back into me. “Missed you, too.”

I slid my hands up the front of her shirt and cupped both of her breasts, letting their heaviness fill my hands.

She laid her head back against my chest and made a soft moaning sound that only encouraged me more. With a tug, I pulled down the lace cups of her bra and rolled each nipple between my fingers. “Feels so good,” I whispered in her ear before kissing her temple.

“I couldn’t agree more,” she said breathlessly.

Having her go all butter-soft and willing on me was hard on my self-control. I was already imagining bending her over the desk and taking us both to a happy place. I started to slide my hands down, but she grabbed them and held them there.

“Don’t,” she said, pressing her chest further into my hands. “I need this job.”

I needed her, but this could be done in my truck if we couldn’t make it home.

“I want to pull off these tight jeans and sink inside you, baby. We need to leave. Now.”

Her hands went to her waist, and she started unbuttoning her jeans. What the hell? Reese liked having sex, but she was never one to initiate it in a public place like this, where someone could walk in. Including her boss.