He glanced up at me. “I’m not sure. Why?”
I leaned forward slowly, resting my hands on the desk and bringing my head a little closer to his. His eyes narrowed slightly when I got so close that my lips were only inches from his mouth.
“Kate, what are you doing?”
“I’m dying to go back to the lake house again,” I whispered. “Just walk around naked all day.”
His expression changed instantly, like a switch inside had been flipped. That calm, composed CEO demeanor vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by something much hotter. I tilted my head slightly and flashed him a coy smile. “Doesn’t that sound nice?”
He stared at me for exactly one second before, very evenly, he suddenly said, “Close the blinds and lock the door.”
I smiled, pushing off the desk to do exactly that. I lowered the blinds one by one until the bright afternoon light was completely blocked out. I locked the door with a soft click. When I turned back around, he was watching me.
I crossed the room slowly, like I had all the time in the world. He started forward to meet me halfway, and I laughed. As soon as I was in reaching distance, his hands settled at my waist and my arms looped around his neck.
Without hesitating, he brought his lips to mine and kissed me, hot and hungry in a way that told me he wasn’t going to be getting back to work anytime soon. I smiled against his lips. “I might’ve missed a few pills with everything that was going on.”
The effect of those words was immediate, the heat in his eyes went completely off the charts, so sharp and focused that it made my stomach flip. “Are you sure?”
I laughed softly. “Of course, I’m sure. It’s been a stressful few weeks.”
For just a moment, he looked at me like he was mentally trying to calculate something—and failing completely. But he grinned when he refocused on me. “You know what? I think I’ll take my chances.”
I laughed again, leaning into him as I stroked my fingers through his hair. “Yeah, I think you should too.”
CHAPTER 49
NATE
Afew weeks after that visit from Colin, I was still wondering if Kate had been right and he’d been serious, but life had been so busy that I hadn’t had a chance to ask him yet. I stood in front of the windows in our apartment, looking out at the glittering city lights, and desperately missed my wife.
She and I had settled into my apartment for now, but honestly, I was looking for something bigger. Possibly lower to the ground. A place for the two of us that we could make our own. I glanced back at my laptop sitting on the bed, the screen glowing in the dark room with the real estate listings I’d been going through before I’d gotten up to refill my whiskey.
So far, I hadn’t seen anything that seemed right. It was frustrating as hell. I’d hoped to have a few places lined up for us to look at by the time she got back, but I was striking out spectacularly.
Releasing a deep sigh, I ran my fingers through my hair and took a sip of my drink. At least I’d finally bought her a car. That was one more step in the right direction—toward getting her settled in Chicago for good.
If she ever wanted to move back to New York, I was going with her. I just had no idea how that could work logistically,given my role at W&S, but for now, she seemed happy here and I was intent on keeping it that way.
I just worried it was becoming a losing battle. That was why I was still nursing my whiskey, unable to sleep as I mulled it over.
Kate was one of those people who had to be insanely busy, and with Alex back at work now that Jane was up and moving, Kate had been working from home. Mostly for her dad’s firm. She had an office at W&S, but apparently, she didn’t want to work there when she was dealing with Vanderhaul and Marksmith business.
Her old clients were happy to have her back, at least, but she was also starting to get restless. I had a feeling that these last couple months, she’d gotten used to whole a new level of busy. Since she would be taking over the Hinds Global account when the time came, her dad hadn’t assigned her any new clients and those that had been reassigned when she’d come here were still gone too.
The sale was coming through, thank God, but it was happening at a snail’s pace. Like they normally did. In the meantime, all the fine-tuning was taking place for a smooth transition, but Kate had been left with only three hedge fund clients for Pete and nothing else to do.
Although she hadn’t said anything, I could tell it’d been bothering her. The restlessness. The waiting. The vast amounts of nothing she sometimes had to fill her time with after running at full speed for so many months.
The cat had helped a little.Asshole.
She’d been sad to say goodbye to her orange tabby friend when we’d discovered he belonged to the couple a floor below us. They were in their fifties and not only in the process of moving out, but they’d also received some complaints about him being allowed to roam freely, so they’d let her say goodbye to Tim Tam—named after the cookie—but he wasn’t visiting anymore.
They did send her pictures of him and updates on occasion, but that wasn’t enough. I knew it, which was another reason why I’d been hoping to line up some places for us to look at.
Going back to bed, I climbed in and settled with my back against the headboard, whiskey in one hand and raking the laptop closer with the other. Right now, Kate’s was visiting her parents in New York.
With things finally settled here, she’d also gone to pack up her apartment and put it on the market. I’d gone with her, helping her box up the stuff she’d wanted to send here and donate the rest, but I’d had to come back early for work.
