“I’d rather be making love to you than working.”
She bites her lip with a smile, and I grab her face between my hands, pressing a lingering kiss to her mouth.
“I love you, Hallie.”
“I love you too,” she hums happily. “Now go do some work, and if you’re done before we land…” She kisses me again.
“If I’m done?” I counter.
“If you’re done,” she murmurs, “then wake me up any way you like.”
If that isn’t an incentive to get my work done as fast as I can, then I don’t know what is.
“You know my favorite way to wake you up is with my head between these gorgeous thighs?” I say, sliding my hand up one and squeezing a handful of soft flesh.
“I know,” she teases, nipping my lower lip. “So go get your work done.”
“And you get yourself to sleep, Baby girl. And leave your panties off for me.”
Her eyes light up, and I chuckle as I tear myself away.
Hallie’s palm twitches inside mine as we stand on the doorstep of her parents’ house. The front garden is immaculate. It’s a quiet area. We’ve only seen a couple of dog walkers and a mom pushing a stroller since we arrived. I imagine Hallie here growing up, coming in and out through the front door that’s got a stained-glass window of a sunrise on it.
“They love this house,” she says. “They’re always saying how many memories are here.”
“I’m sure.” I give her a reassuring smile as she chews on her lower lip.
“Don’t be concerned about meeting them. They’re lovely, and they’ll like you, I know they will. Just… don’t be surprised if they are bothered by the age thing to start with. They’re ten years older than you, and they’re bound to ask your age. I know them. And my dad, he says what he’s thinking. It’s if he gets quiet that you need to worry.”
“Okay.”
She reaches for the doorbell, then stops.
“I’ll tell them about us first. Then Vegas. Otherwise they’ll be wondering why you’re here with me. They still think you’re my client.”
She lifts her hand toward the doorbell again.
And stops.
“Now I know that Rory was responsible, I…” She shakes her head. “It doesn’t make this easier. They’ll be more upset that I didn’t tell them than how it happened.”
She looks at me with worried eyes and my chest tightens. When I told her that Denver found footage from that night and that Rory had been spiking her drinks, she sat on the couch with her head in her hands for the longest time. I held her as relief flowed through her body. She’s finally starting to see that it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t let Jenny down. And she doesn’t need to carry around the guilt with her anymore.
But the tension is back in her stiff shoulders now.
“They’re your parents, Hallie. They’ll forgive you.”
She nods, then takes a deep breath and lifts her hand to the doorbell again.
And pauses. Again.
“And maybe let me?—”
I pull her into my arms and kiss her.
“It’ll be okay,” I soothe, holding her face in my hands.
“It’ll be okay,” she repeats. Her eyes soften. “I love you so much.”
