“Yeah.”
“But at some point, if there is a forever us, she’ll need to know.”
“Agreed.” Yet the thought of telling Emily, potentially seeing her tears and knowing he’d been a party to her pain, would eat at him. He knew himself, and Reggie could get carried away by guilt.Just like your mother,he could almost hear his father saying.
Maggie plucked the neckline of his T-shirt, looking up into his eyes. “Look, I have two child-free weeks to take advantage of, and you have some time off. Let’s spend the time getting to know and enjoy each other and stop all the worrying about maybes.”
“You’re being quite reasonable about all this.”
She raised a brow.
“I mean, you’re a woman.”
Her tone grew frosty. “And?”
“Who knew women could be rational?” He smirked.
“For that, you will pay.” Her hand slid down his chest to his belly and lower.
His body responded on cue, tightening all over. Then he ruined the moment by yawning, the food and the shower orgasm doing him in.
“You poor thing. Why don’t you go nap?” She started to step away.
He grabbed her by the hand. “Will you sleep with me? And I mean sleep. Holding you that night… I haven’t slept so well in ages.”
“Hmm. Sleeping during the daytime with a sexy man? How can I refuse?”
When Reggie next woke, he saw he’d gotten four hours of shut-eye. Just what he needed. He hadn’t lied before about being up and ready to start his day by one. The clock read twelve fifty-five.
Unfortunately, Maggie was no longer in bed.
He stretched, hurriedly brushed his teeth with the toothbrush from his overnight bag, anticipating some more kissing, and looked for Maggie.
The apartment remained empty. Hmm.
He noticed a note tacked to the fridge.Back soon. Needed next door.
He wondered if he should go over and join them, then figured to stay right where he was. A perfect time to learn more about Maggie by snooping. And he didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for it either.
Nothing in the living room he hadn’t already seen before. He looked in her pantry, taking note of what she and the little dictator liked to eat. He saw an extremely—bordering on obsessive—level of organization in her refrigerator and kitchen cabinets and fell a little more in love. It was like being in his house, where everything had its place.
A perusal of Emily’s room showed a girl well-loved, but nothing out of the ordinary. And then he noticed a hand-drawn picture taped to her wall. A stick figure with a big, old arm and brown hair held hands with a little girl wearing a crown. By her side stood Frank. That or an evil monkey, but Reggie was betting the creature was the puppy.
And then, to his surprise, he saw himself. A brown man with a line of black hair, looking like a giant in navy-blue pants and a shirt, holding hands with the little girl. The man had two eyes and a large smile.
He absolutely loved the picture, amazed Emily would draw him as part of her world.
He struggled with how to feel about that and spotted a photograph on her dresser of Emily sitting on a man’s shoulders. The guy had to be Stephen. Emily and the man wore identical expressions of delight, a beach and ocean behind them.
And damn, but the guy was handsome. He had blue eyes, sandy hair, and from what Maggie had said, was some type of brainy business type. The complete opposite of Reggie, who would rather gnaw off his own arm than sit behind a computer all day.
“I could take him,” he muttered, knowing he could easily out-brawn the dude.
He put the picture back and left for Maggie’s bedroom. A glance around showed she had a passion for the color blue, with hints of purple thrown in. Casual clothes and teacher clothes—dresses, blouses, and skirts—filled her closet.
Not too many stilettos, he thought with humor, thinking about how he’d havelovedto have Maggie teaching him back in high school, especially in no bra or panties. Maybe they could roleplay later on. The naughty teacher disciplining her horned-up student.
Then it hit him that they had yet to do it missionary style, where he could lie on top of her and kiss her breasts, watch her while he entered her or kiss her without having to contort while they fucked.
