“I’m saying I don’t want to say goodbye. I want to be someone you can call when you’ve had a shit day. Someone who’s allowed to check in on you now and again, remind you to take a break. I want to be the person you can vent to about Stuart or laugh with about whatever the hell you found funny during the day. And if you didn’t find anything funny, I want to give you that laughter, because, trust me, between working in a restaurant and being dad to an eight-year-old, I’ve got a vast supply of dumb anecdotes.” He paused, wondering if any of this was getting through to her. “What do you say, Livvy? Will you be my phone friend?”
He held his breath, heart pounding, everything inside him tense.
“God, Connor, you always were impossible to say no to.”
“Yet you continue to try,” he countered, feeling his shoulders come down from his ears, his heart begin to slow. “Tell me about Tabby. How cute is she?”
She made a little sound like a sigh of pleasure. “Impossibly cute. She’s got Jessica’s eyes, Nick’s cheeky smile.” Her voice changed, became sad. “Work has been so full on, though, I’ve not seen as much of her as I’d like.”
It was the first time he’d heard her regret working so much. “Why is this promotion so important to you?”
“I’ll be the first female CIO my company has ever had.”
“I said why is it so important toyou?”
Silence. Then: “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question,” she said finally.
He wondered if she’d ever asked it of herself. “You’re devoting an awful lot of your life to it. Makes sense to know why.”
“I told you what drives me: I don’t ever want to be in the position Mum was, stuck at home, playing housemaid to Dad, afraid to go and get a job, do something forherself.”
“That explains why you work, why you want a career, but not why you want to keep going upward.”
“I... I love what I do. I’m aware I’m making sacrifices, but if I get the promotion, I’ll have something to show for it. The sacrifices will mean something.”
“It will be one hell of an achievement,” he agreed. He wanted to tell her it would also mean more sacrifice, more stress. Less time toenjoyherself. But whereas in Nantucket he could have said that, now he had to carve out a new relationship with her. “Tell me about Stuart.”
She groaned. “He’s good at his job. Sharp, confident, bordering on arrogant, but in the finance world, that works. Investors want to believe the people who handle their money know what they’re doing. He’s better at playing the game than me, knows how to talk to the right people, get them on his side.”
“From what you said, all that takes is a dick.”
Her soft laughter echoed back at him. “That certainly helps, but he can be charming when he puts his mind to it.”
A flash of something hot and twisty burned through his gut. “Have the pair of you got history?”
There was a heavily pregnant pause. “We’ve never dated.”
His heart faltered. “But?”
“He asked, and I turned him down. It hasn’t helped our working relationship.”
Connor gave a silent fist-pump. “No, but it helps me. Means I can hear you mention his name and not have the urge to punch a hole through the wall.” At her sharp intake of breath, he cursed. “Sorry, should have kept that to myself.”
“It’s late, Connor.”
He’d screwed this up. Time to go back to where he was more sure-footed. “I wish I were there with you. In your bed. Your head on my chest, your hair tickling me.”
“You never said it tickled.”
“Because I loved it. Loved everything about having your naked body pressed against mine.” As he remembered, his dick began to swell. “Are you naked now?”
She let out a strangled laugh. “No.”
He groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re wearing those little black silky shorts? The strappy vest top?”
“Yes.”
Lust scorched through him and he gave his dick a rough pull. “Would you take them off for me?”
