“What is it you’re not saying?” he asks, his voice low in my ear as his lips brush over my cheek.
“Oh, that’s cheating!” I say as a shiver runs down my spine.
He grips me tighter, laughing lightly into my neck.
“And besides, it’s way too soon for that,” I tell him.
He kisses my neck. “Who gets to say what ‘too soon’ is?”
His arms loosen around me as I twist to face him and drop to my waist as my palms rest on his chest.
“I guess we do,” I say.
His fingers run through my hair, the sunset giving his face a warm glow. “If you really want to know, I was going to use this time in New York to start making some plans,” he says. “I want to get Sana set up so that she can run things from Manhattan. I want to figure out what to do with my apartment when I’m not there, with an eye toward selling it in a year or so. I wanted to start looking into setting up a satellite office closer to here.”
I raise my eyebrows, the questions I had had in my head melting away when I see how much furtherhe’sgotten.
“I just didn’t want to spook you by telling you all of that just yet. None of it is set in stone and nothing changes our day-to-day right now, aside from me actually having to go to New York once in a while, which likely won’t change anytime soon. I just want to know my options when I inevitably do end up here for good.”
I swallow, my eyes dropping to my hands on his chest. “That’s what you think is going to happen?”
He shrugs. “If things keep going the way things are going, yeah.”
“You think this is inevitable? That…we’reinevitable?”
He grins, his hands cupping my face and pulling my gaze up to meet his again. “Does that spook you?”
I shake my head. “No. Like you said, nothing is set in stone. I don’t get spooked that easily.” I bite my lip. “I guess I just wanted confirmation that you’re planning on coming back. That tonight isn’t, like, one last romp with the farm girl before you go back to the real world.”
“I mean, that’s not a bad way to describe it. I’m just hoping I get to live out the rest of my days in my farm girl fantasy rather than having to deal with the real world.”
I roll my eyes, pushing away from him, and start the water for the bath. “Well, just so you know, I will not be going naked underneath my overalls or fucking you on a bale of hay.”
He snorts. “Does the water wheel count?”
I narrow my eyes. “Thatis not farm-y. It’s historical.”
“Call it what you want. It was hot.”
I turn, pulling at the top of my zipper. “Can you help?”
“I knew talk of hay bales would turn you on,” he says, brushing my hair out of the way to kiss my neck as he tugs the zipper down.
My dress falls to the ground, and the expression on his face is everything I hoped it would be.
“Well fuck, you might not go naked under your overalls, but I’d take you naked under that dress any day. Damn, Evie. I can’t believe you let me sit there eating dinner like an idiot while you had this little surprise up your sleeve.”
“It’s not like I’m wearing lingerie or something,” I say, grabbing at the hem of his shirt and pulling it up over his head.
His hands on my hips, he tugs me close. I kiss the skin of his collarbone, his chest.
“This is way better than lingerie, if I have to be honest,”he says, curling around me so he can grab my ass. He weaves a hand into my hair, holding me steady as he kisses me.
I take the opportunity to unbutton his jeans, pushing them down over his hips, and he steps easily out of them as his tongue slips into my mouth.
I rub him through his underwear and he groans, shivering into me. When I push them down to free him, he pulls away from me, kissing my cheek and gesturing toward the tub.
“Get in,” he says.
