Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
Jace
“Jean-Michel knows something’s up,” she says, nose wrinkled adorably.
It’s been several weeks since Marie came to my office that night and all Agent Phillips has told her and me is that the FBI is working on putting the pieces together.
Seriously.
I may call her Attie, just to spur her into motion.
And in the meantime, we’re supposed to continue as usual.
Not the easiest thing in the world for the two control freaks currently occupying the bed in her condo deal with, and I know that Marie is struggling with the same itchy, powerless feelings as me.
But there’s nothing to be done and work has been insane for both of us—me trying hard to get the endometriosis treatment back on the calendar. It’s not looking promising, as we’re still fighting the patent shenanigans which is forcing us to jockey projects around on the schedule to make certain we have all our ducks in a row. Add in needing to hire another security company, one who can work to make the campus safe for my employees without tipping off the Duarte subsidiary…and then, theoretically the other, more powerful players Agent Phillips is working to take down, and I’ve barely had time to spend with Marie.
Thankfully, my woman had an in with a man named Pascal and connected us.
His company will be covering Genen-core until we can move forward with his recommendation for a corporate security firm.
And Marie has been just as busy on her end, though it has less to do with scheduling and security and the FBI, and more to do with Jean-Michel.
Because he’s been busy taking care of the woman he loves.
And she’s been taking on more responsibilities than normal.
Even still, the man is too smart to miss that something’s changed with his righthand woman, even if she keeps putting him off.
“We talked about this, cookie,” I say. “He won’t miss what’s happening between us for long.”
“I know,” she murmurs. “I just…I want him to enjoy this pause, to enjoy being with Tiff, and not worry about me.”
Sassy and stubborn and sweet.
“I get that, cookie. But eventually he’s going to come out of his love haze.”
“Is he, though?”
I tug a curl. “Yes, gorgeous,” I say, but soften it with a smile. “Still, it’s your choice and”—I cup her jaw, hold her eyes with my own—“if there are other things at play here, things that make you feel like you want to take this slower, then I’m doubly okay with that.”
She frowns. “If I want to take this slower?”
“Things have been pretty intense between us since that night at my office. If the reason that you don’t want to go public with us is because it’s been too fast?—”
“No.” She clambers on top of me, hands coming to my cheeks, eyes filled with an intensity that soothes the ache inside me, the worry I hadn’t really acknowledged was starting to eat at me. “ No ,” she says then snags her phone from the nightstand. “I’ll call him right now, handsome. I’ll tell him every detail—well, not every detail—but enough that he knows exactly how strongly I feel about you so he won’t stage a corporate takeover and reduce Genen-core to its requisite parts.”
I grin, take her phone from her hand, and toss it on the nightstand. “How is it that you talking about a corporate takeover is the height of romance?”
Pink cheeks. “I didn’t?—”
“Cookie,” I say, drawing her down on top of me. “You just said that you like me, really like me. You can’t take that back now.”
“Jace—”
“Nope,” I tease. “I have it on record now.” Her nose wrinkles and it’s so fucking cute that I can’t stop my next words. “Don’t worry, gorgeous, I like you, really like you too.”
Her inhale is sharp. “Jace.”
Big emotions. Big fears. Baby steps.
But I know for sure that she’s worried about Jean-Michel because she cares about this, about us. So, I can be patient. Can go slowly. Can enjoy the fact that even though I don’t have her out in the real world, I have her here. In my bed or hers, falling asleep beside her, waking up with her in my arms.
The rest will come.
“When is your flight tomorrow?” I ask when she sighs and settles against me.
“Early,” she says on a yawn, that nose wrinkling again. “But that means we’ll beat the time change by getting into NYC so we have a full day with the team.”
“You’ll wake me before you go?”
“Handsome,” she begins, pushing up, “you have a long day tomorrow.” She’s not wrong about that. I’m meeting with the board in the evening and that’s going to take a full day of prep on top of my normal responsibilities. “I’ll call you when we land and it’s a reasonable hour here.”
I study her face, wanting to argue.
Then decide that’s a battle I’m not going to win, not tonight anyway.
And pressing this is just going to cut further into her sleep.
I slide my hand into her hair, gently coax her back down onto my chest. “Okay, gorgeous. You win.”
She kisses my chest. “Victory is mine.”
Laughing, I ask her more about her day, answer when she asks me about mine, and when the yawns start coming with ever-growing frequency, I say, “Want to hear how Brooks and I first met?”
“Oh, my God, yes!”
So clearly, that interest has the opposite effect of what I intended—to soothe her into sleep—because as I relate how Brooks and I were college roommates and my first meeting with him involved him naked…though not because he was with a woman she’s amused.
Then outraged.
“Those jerks!”
“Yeah,” I agree. “The other guys on the floor were complete dicks. He’d just wanted a shower and they stole his clothes and towel, locked him out of our room.” I chuckle because it’s funny now. “He was covered up—but in the, no pun intended, barest sense of the word. Because the only thing he had was a loofa and it wasn’t covering much.”
“Poor guy.”
“I’d agree with you if we weren’t in a coed dorm and that little stunt meant that he never spent a night alone unless he wanted too.”
“My poor handsome guy,” she says softly, though her eyes dance. “Were you jealous?”
“Nah. He was a good wingman.”
She pops me lightly on the chest. “Rude.”
I kiss the tip of her nose. “No, what was rude was me not having a solid night’s sleep until we moved to an off-campus apartment our junior year and I got my own room.”
She asks a hundred questions about Brooks, about my college years, wants a thousand details I never even thought about, even shares a few of her own that I soak up like the gems they are. But eventually my plan begins to work.
Her yawns come with more regularity.
Her body relaxes fully against mine.
Her breaths even out.
She falls asleep on top of me.
And I hold her close like the precious gift she is.