I set the phone down and smiled at the ceiling.Oh, I fully plan to.
Callum emerged from the bathroom in a towel, hair damp, and I watched him cross to the closet with the shameless appreciation of a woman who'd earned the viewing rights.
"Stop staring," he said without turning around.
"Can't. It's a free country and you're walking around half-naked."
"In my own bedroom."
"Details." I propped myself up on one elbow. "Hey. What are you doing today?"
"Working. The Riverside sustainability report is overdue. Graham's been sending passive-aggressiveemails about the material samples." He selected a shirt—white, crisp, indistinguishable from the fourteen other white shirts hanging in neat formation. "Why?"
"It's Saturday."
His hand paused on the hanger. "Is it?"
"Callum. It's Saturday."
"I work Saturdays."
"You work every day. That’s bad for your health.” I sat up, pulling the sheet around me—a gesture of modesty that was absurd given what we'd done in this bed approximately nine hours ago. "Take the day off."
"I can't just?—"
"You can. You're a founding partner. You set the rules. Declare a personal holiday. Callum Hayes Day. I'll make a banner."
"The report?—"
"Will still be overdue tomorrow. The material samples aren't going to decompose overnight." I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. "Spend the day with me."
He turned, shirt in hand, and looked at me with a calculation I recognized—the mental arithmetic of a man weighing obligation against desire, running the numbers on whether he could afford to be irresponsible.
"Doing what?" he asked.
“For starters? Me." I stood, gathered his discarded t-shirt from the floor, pulled it over my head. “But after that? A date. A real one. With youractualgirlfriend, who is asking you an actual question and would appreciate an actual answer."
Actual girlfriend. The phrase dropped between us—new, untested, carrying a charge.
His mouth curved. "You're very demanding."
"You knew that when you signed up."
"I didn't sign up for this. I signed up for a business arrangement."
"Contracts evolve. Consider this an addendum." I padded to him, bare feet on his heated floors, lifting on my toes to plant a kiss on his delicious lips. “Yes or no?”
I felt his energy change, that primal shift that curled my toes and made me feel like I was about to get destroyed in the best way.
“That sounds suspiciously manipulative."
"I learned from the best." I patted his chest. “Now,” I pulled his towel free, exposing his hard shaft springing from a nest of dark hair. I grinned at the discovery. “Oh! I think that’s a pretty solid answer to my plan, wouldn’t you say?”
I had exactly two seconds before Callum scooped me up and carried me to the bed.
I squealed with laughter as Callum proceeded to knock the first task off the list.
God, I loved a man with awork ethic.
