Crash Into Me(87)

He sat quietly as I attempted to ease the stress from his body. I loved these moments when it was so clear I made him as happy as he made me. After a few minutes, he spoke up, as if he'd been thinking about my last words. "We can meet at the penthouse so you wouldn't have to take that ride in and out of the city."




I kissed him on the cheek. "No, I'd rather come back here, if it's all the same."

Tristan turned his head to look at me, his eyebrows raised. "You mean you'd rather come back to this out of the way house in the middle of nowhere?"

Leveling my gaze at him, I stopped my hands' work and grinned. Rogers had obviously mentioned my comment from that night we'd chatted outside. "Yes. If you must know, I've grown to appreciate this house, even though it's a bit secluded. I like to think of it as our home."

He took my hands from his shoulders and brought them to his lips for a kiss. "I can't tell you how happy that makes me, Nina."

The unspoken reality that my six-month contract was almost up hung in the air like a heaviness that pressed down on us. I hadn't mentioned it because I feared what he might say. Even now, after all we'd shared together, he was still a mystery to me in many ways. I'd expected him to say something about it ending soon, but as each day passed, he was silent on the matter, as if he'd forgotten.

I'd just as soon have had him forget, to be honest. What if he was able to let me go as easily as firing any other employee? In my heart, I knew he loved me and no longer thought of me as merely someone who worked for him, but in the past few weeks I'd sensed something between us holding him back from me. I wanted to believe it was whatever he was dealing with at work, but a tiny fear sat in the back of my mind whispering that no matter what we'd been to one another, when the six months was up, so was our time together.

Pushing that out of my head, I said, "So it's settled. I'll visit Jordan and then be back so we can have dinner. Maybe tomorrow night can be pizza night?"

"Tony's?" he asked with a smile in his voice.

I stroked the hair near his nape, loving its softness. Bowing my head, I ran my lips over it and whispered, "I like that."

"Okay. Tony's at six. It's a date."

"A date," I said as I kissed along his neck to just below his left ear. "I'll be there."





Chapter Eighteen

The next day went by quickly as I proudly showed off my choices for the Miami hotel, which Tristan vetoed as I suspected he would, saying he liked the artist but not that particular circle piece. So I continued my search. It was more difficult than I'd anticipated, but when I contacted the artist's representative and told her I was looking to purchase one of Delgado's purple and gold series for the Richmont hotel in Miami, she was far nicer than I'd expected, even offering to have him sign the piece we chose.

The old saying really was true. Money did talk.

By mid-afternoon, I was feeling triumphant about my new acquisition and couldn't wait to tell Tristan about it at dinner, even if it meant breaking the "no work after five" rule. It was a breezy early October afternoon, so I dressed in a dark red dress that fell to right above my knees and black pumps, a celebration outfit of sorts and one I was sure Tristan would love for our date. As I looked at myself in the mirror in our bedroom, a decadent idea popped into my mind. Sexy stockings and a garter belt would be even better.

I slipped them on and attached them to the garter, loving the feel of their silkiness against my skin. I'd love it more when they drove him mad with desire as he tried to concentrate on the road in just a few hours.