My voice is low and trembling when I murmur, “Ford, what is this?”
“It’s the mansion. It’s yours. Well, ours. For the bargain price of one million dollars so I can pay Liam back his portion of the bail money.”
“Oh my God,” I murmur, my eyes wide as my heart pounds.
“I’d like to direct your attention to the part where the paperwork says we’ll be joint grantees splitting the property fifty-fifty,” he says.
“Yeah?”
“That’s my belief in you, Tatum.” His voice is low and raspy. Sexy. “I’m covering the rest of the sale and splitting the proceeds evenly between my siblings. Not my father. Seven of us split fourteen million pretty easily. Then together you and I will own the mansion without my father’s money hanging over us, and it’s another joint venture. I don’t know how you deduced from our fight that I don’t believe in you. I went in on Winston Manor with you because of my belief in you, and I want to keep investing in properties with you because I know you have the tools to bring your vision to life. I want you to be a part of this family in more than just name and convenience, but in every way that matters. I want you to use VanBrad for construction. I want you to use Everleigh for branding. And I want to be the man standing beside you, helping you leap forward toward each and every risky, daring, huge dream your beautiful mind can possibly dare to dream.”
My breath catches in my throat as his words settle over me. “Is this for real?” I ask cautiously.
“It’s for real,” he murmurs.
I stare at him another moment, and then I rush into his arms again. I slam into him hard enough to force a littleoofout of him, but he’s so solid that he doesn’t move from where his feet are planted as he laces his arms around me.
I move to my tiptoes, and our mouths collide in a sweet and sentimental kiss that’s about to turn indecent right here in this office building.
He drops his head down and brushes his lips against my neck as he buries his face there, and I draw in a deep breath, one deeper than I’ve drawn in days, as if a part of me couldn’t physically breathe without him by my side.
“I’m sorry,” he says again.
“So am I. I love you so much,” I say, and I tighten my hold around his torso as I hope that we’re over the worst of it and I’ll never have to let go again.
CHAPTER 50: Ford Bradley
Feels Like Forever
“I love you, too,” I murmur, and my mouth finds hers again. Our kiss turns urgent in a matter of mere seconds, my tongue delving into her mouth and claiming what’s mine, what’s been missing for far too long even though it’s only been a week since we were last together.
I need her. I crave her. I want her right here, right now.
Her office is a disaster. Folders are all over the floor. I counted six cups on her desk.
But there’s a door, and it has a lock, and we’re going to make up right now. I walk her backward into her office, and we’re both standing on something. A pile of papers, maybe. She doesn’t seem overly concerned, and she doesn’t stop kissing me as she reaches around me to push the door shut.
She pulls back. “Sorry about the mess. I’m cleaning out my office.”
“I see that. Can I help?” I’m trying to be gentlemanly here. Cleaning out an office at this moment intime is about the lowest priority on my list. Getting Tatum naked and filling her cunt with my cock ranks somewhere around priority one.
“Later,” she says, and she pulls out her desk chair, pushes me down onto it, and straddles my lap. “I need you to fuck me now.”
Fuck.
“I’d love nothing more than to fuck you now.”
We’re both in jeans. There are too many clothes in the way, but she just asked for it.
I want to kiss her, too. I want to revel in the feel of her soft skin as she cups my jaw in her hands and kisses me in that soft, sweet way she does that’s still somehow lined with this carnal need that we both ignored for far too long because it wasn’t our time.
But it’s our time now.
I shift my hips up, and she moans as she gyrates over me.
She must feel how hard I am for her because she moves all the way off me. She grabs her phone and hits play on her playlist, and she flips the lock on her door. She looks across the small space at me, and I think for a split second she might give me the sort of dance that will live on in my dreams.
Instead, she reaches for the hem of her shirt, pulls it over her head, unhooks her bra, and tosses it to the floor. She shimmies out of her jeans and panties, kicking her shoes off as she slides her clothes down her legs, and then she’s back in front of me, but this time completely naked.
