“No,” she admits. “It feels like it’s about us.”
“Then that’s what it is.”
She settles back against my chest, and I feel her breathing even out. For someone who just had world-altering sex in my office, she seems remarkably calm.
Too calm, maybe.
“What are you thinking?” I ask.
“That this is insane.” She laughs softly. “That I came here with your son and now I’m lying naked with his father. That I should probably feel guilty or confused or something.”
“But you don’t.”
“I do. Just not as much as I should.” She traces a finger along one of my tattoos. “What about you? Any regrets?”
“None.”
And I mean it. I’ve spent four days watching this woman exist in my space, fitting into my life with an ease that should bother me. She’s smart, beautiful, damaged in ways that make me want to fix things I have no business fixing.
But lying here with her, feeling her warmth against me, I can’t find it in myself to regret a single second.
“You should go,” I say eventually. “Before the staff starts evening rounds.”
“Kicking me out already?” But she’s smiling.
“Protecting your reputation.” I help her sit up. “We do this again, it won’t be quick and hidden.”
“Oh?” She starts dressing up. “You planning to do this again?”
“Are you saying you’re not?”
She doesn’t answer, just finishes dressing and heads for the door. But when she reaches it, she looks back at me. “Grant?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. For listening. And for…” She gestures vaguely at the couch.
“Anytime.”
She slips out, and I’m left alone in my office, half-dressed and trying to process what just happened.
I slept with my son’s ex-girlfriend.
I should feel guilty and worried about how Donovan and Kai will react.
Instead, I’m already planning when I can have her alone again.
9
KAI
Dad’s different at breakfast.
Not obvious. He’s still reading the financial section, still drinking his coffee black, still giving Donovan half his attention while reviewing reports. But there’s an energy shift I can’t quite pin down.
Then Samantha walks in, and Dad’s eyes track her movement across the room before he catches himself.
There it is.
