He chuckled softly and gently kissed her temple. “Of course.” God, he didn’t have the slightest doubt that she would not only achieve her goal, but do so two years ahead of schedule. “I think it’s a brilliant idea.”
“Thank you,” she replied softly.
“I’m just wondering: why now?”
“Well…” She frowned. “I guess it’s your fault.”
“And I thought the days of blaming me for everything were over,” he said with a theatrical sigh.
She laughed. “It’sgoodguilt this time. It was way too much effort to make time for sex with you and a husband and kids would demand even more.”
He’d like to demand more.
No.Moreprobably wasn’t enough.Everythingsounded like a good idea.
He swallowed and closed his eyes. Fuck, he had a big problem. Cian had told him to figure out what he wanted and Gareth felt he had. Only his goals were too damn big, and he couldn’t fool himself into thinking he could achieve them like he had last time with Hazel. He couldn’t go through a breakup with her again. He may have been an arrogant idiot, but even he didn’t dare do that!
“Have you ever considered backing down?” Hazel wanted to know. “I mean, you wanted to marry that opera singer. Didn’t she want kids? Wouldn’t you have worked less then?”
No, he wouldn’t have.
He sighed softly and rubbed his forehead. God, he was an idiot. He didn’t even know if Lacey had wanted kids. He had wanted to marry her, but he hadn’t been willing to change anything about his life for her. That made him an ignorant asshole. “I…haven’t given much thought to a family and kids in a long time,” he muttered. It was the truth.
He hadn't thought about it for seven years.
“You wanted kids when you were younger.”
“True.”But only with you.
He saw Hazel open her mouth, perhaps to press the issue, but at that moment, her cell phone rang on the other side of the bed.
Sighing, she wriggled out of his arm to look at the screen.
“Hey! What about 'no work'?” he complained.
She grimaced. “Shit, it’s Devreaux. Okay, five minutes of work! You wanted to check your email anyway.”
Gareth laughed softly but nodded before Hazel reached for her glasses on the nightstand and then her phone.
“Hello?” she answered. Standing, she pulled on his shirt and descended the stairs to the vast living space. She probably wanted some privacy. He understood. They should separatework and sex a bit more than they were now, but it was too much damn fun.
Sighing, he rolled over and pulled out his smartphone. He’d received an email and was about to simply ignore it – if something was important, they called – when he saw the sender. It was from his dad.
Great.
Annoyed, he opened it, only to see that he was only CC’d. The actual email went to Penny.
This is too expensive! Much too expensive. Gareth has no idea what he’s doing. He is letting Hazel Barrow manipulate him. The Devreaux sum is ridiculous! Please make him come to his senses.
Dad
Gareth stared at the lines, a sinking feeling filling his chest. This email wasn’t meant for him. He’d only ended up in the CC line because his father had replied to an email from him — which Penny had forwarded to their father.
Here are the numbers Gareth and I are currently discussing regarding Devreaux.
Best regards
Penny
