“I'm happy to help in whatever way I can, Tate. My schedule is fairly open for the next six months, and today that means helping you complete this branding kit. Where are you most comfortable when you're thinking through something?”
Her eyes soften as she tilts her head. “You’re really the best. Do you know that?”
I lift a modest shoulder.
“Either lying on the bed or sitting in one of the lounge chairs on your patio, looking out over the bay,” she says, answering my question.
“Okay.” I nod. “Your choice.”
She glances at the bed and then back at me. She shakes her head a little. “Too dangerous.”
I chuckle as I follow her out to the terrace after I unplug her laptop and carry it with me. She settles onto one of the lounge chairs, and once I’m beside her, I read the first question to her.
“What words do you want your brand to evoke in a potential client?”
She stares out over the bay as she thinks for a second, and then she fires off a few words. “Luxury, exclusive, forever.”
I type the words as she says them. “What colors do you associate with those words?”
“Black and pale pink,” she says, without missing a beat.
I wonder why not white—a color typically associated with weddings—but I don’t question her. I just type.
I ask the next question and the next and the next. And while it's absolutely a lot, it's allowing her to start shaping the vision that she sees for her own company without the little blank boxes staring back at her.
We finish shortly before dinner, and I fire it off to Everleigh before Tatum can second-guess a single answer.
“That was incredible,” she says. “I sat staring at that screen all morning, trying to come up with a single answer, and you managed to help me plow through it in a few hours.”
“I told you, Tate. I'm here to help however I can, whether it's helping you figure out the answers that you're looking for or just helping you find a spot where you're comfortable enough to think.”
“If only you could work some magic on my inbox,” she says, with a bit of regret in her voice. “It's a freaking zoo right now. I open it up and get completely overwhelmed, so I shut down and don'tdo anything.”
“Allow me to be the first to point out that not doing anything is probably costing you business. It may take some time to get you the kind of assistant you're looking for, but until that time comes, consider me here at your service.”
“And allow me to thank you for your services by giving you a little service of my own.” She wiggles her eyebrows even as her eyes heat over. She gets down on her knees and looks up at me with the salacious look in her eyes that I am an absolute sucker for.
She reaches into the waistband of my shorts and pulls my cock out. She sucks it into her mouth with a voracity that has shudders running down my back.
I slide my hand down to cup around her neck. “Jesus,” I grunt. “You're so fucking gorgeous when you're down on your knees for me.”
Her mouth moves up and down my shaft before she lets go of me to lick around the crown of my cock. A bead of precum leaks out, and she greedily laps it up with her tongue.
This. Her. Her on her knees like this.
Her beside me, walking through life with me.
This is all I've ever wanted, and somehow, some way…it's mine.
Until a text comes through from my Chicago realtor the next morning.
I’m sitting on the terrace with a cup of coffee by myself.
I glance at my phone purely to check the time, but I see a text from Sonny, my realtor back in Chicago.
Sonny:Got an offer on the mansion. Full asking price, cash offer. I just need your green light.
I stare at the text, my chest tightening as I think about what this could mean.
