She drew a gasping breath.
Santino moved his head to her shoulder. “Goddamn, beautiful. That was so perfect, you pulled me right over with you. I was trying to hold out.”
A breathless laugh escaped her and Reiko softened her hold on his hair. “You really are a monster,” she teased.
He choked on a laugh and finally pushed to his elbows, enough for their eyes to meet. “All around.” He dipped down and caught her lips in a sloppy kiss. “How about we go for a nice long soak and break in my overpriced tub?”
She let her legs relax, sliding them over his butt and down to the bed. “Are you determined to get me pregnant today?”
That wicked grin stretched across his face. “It’s crossed my mind.”
Reiko teased his jaw with her nails, letting herself touch him more indulgently, and finally said, “I think I’ll need a break after the next round.”
He pressed a kiss to her nose and pulled them both upright. “That can be arranged. We have plenty to talk about.”
She smiled, and determinedly ignored the fluttering of her heart as he scooped her up instead of allowing her to walk for herself. It was absolutely, utterly foolish to think she could possibly be in love with a man she’d only really met a handful of days prior. But she was, irredeemably, in some seriouslike.
Reiko talked him into spending a few hours at the office on Friday, which he capitulated on largely so he could arrange a few things as a surprise for her and also to appease her obvious guilt over the literal days he’d missed.
Skipped, as Irene had said.
Santino didn’t really care about the distinction. The business mostly ran itself as long as the people in charge of the departments did their jobs properly. Which, he supposed, was the biggest issue at present. He had sort of whacked one at the start of the week. So, while he was in-office, he dutifully poured over the list of eligible in-house candidates Irene had put together for promotion to the vacant position. Charles’ seatwould be hired fresh, or promoted up from too small a position for him to be bothered with.
It was an obnoxious way to spend forty minutes, regardless.
His phone chimed at five minutes to noon, indicative of a text message, so he leaned away from the computer for a moment to see what had come in. He glanced over the unfamiliar number, but in his line of work, unfamiliar numbers weren’t exactly uncommon. So, he tapped the message.
His not-tired-enough dick processed Reiko’s beautiful face and exposed collar with just a tease of cleavage before his brain did, jumping to attention in his slacks despite the hours they’d spent rolling around together the previous day. That was what he got for living a life of mild restraint when it came to sex, he supposed. Now that he’d found the woman he wanted, he seemed to be inexhaustible.
It took him a full thirty seconds to realize there was a written message attached to the entirely decent bit of porn she’d sent.
My new phone is here! Hopefully you get the picture. I’m not the greatest at selfies. The purple is beautiful, actually, thank you.
His lips lifted in a smile and he chuckled to himself, thumbs already moving.
Not the greatest? Tell that to my dick. Are you flashing that collarbone to the entire staff?
Glad you like the color. Miss you.
He could have added that he’d see her in under an hour, but that would spoil the surprise.
He had about enough time to set his phone back down and turn his eyes back to the computer monitor before she messagedagain, and as childish as it felt, he couldn’t not smile at that. There would be days when he’d need to make her messages wait a few minutes. This was not one of them, so he promptly reversed his focus.
This is what I was wearing when you left. You’re terrible. And I miss you, too.
Santino grinned wider and made himself get back to work. He at least needed to finish up one more project or Irene might get so flustered she quit on him, and then he really would be in a bind.
His phone went off again thirty minutes later, but it wasn’t Reiko. It was a text from his mother. Guilt slammed into him before he’d read a word. He hadn’t told her about his fiancée. She was going to either burst into tears or strangle him. Possibly both. Unable to process any of that, Santino left the message unread until he closed down his computer, then leaned back in his chair and pulled it up.
Armando knew his schedule and would have called to have the car coming around, but he could spare a text.
Make sure you show up to family dinner this weekend. It’ll look suspicious if you don’t.
Santino scowled at his defenseless phone. As if he didn’t know that. As if he was the one who needed to worry about looking suspicious.
No, he just needed to worry about everything else that would blow up at the next family dinner he attended. Because best-case scenario, only relatives he could trust were there, and it was only awkward and involved a bunch of loud, yelling Italians. Which Reiko would not like. But the worst-case scenario was much, much worse and none of them would like how that option went.
Santino blew out a breath, tucked his phone away, and scooped up the folders he’d worked on earlier as he strode from his office.
