Chapter 7 Did We Have Sex?
DID WE HAVE SEX?
Declan
“Mr. Noble.” She nodded once.
Bloody hell, no. Mr. Noble on her lips sounded kinky now that she was in my condo. In my head, anyway. “Declan. Just Declan. Please.”
“Okay.” She swallowed, and her cheeks turned bright pink. “Declan. You can call me Isla.” Her gaze dropped to my bare chest.
When the doorbell rang, I was so happy for reinforcements, I didn’t think about putting on clothes.
All I had managed was pajama bottoms for me and a diaper for Joseph.
The little guy was a menace without it. Seeing Isla’s expression, I felt an explanation was needed.
Though I had to admit, I fucking loved the way she was looking at me.
I hadn’t forgotten her words—sure, they were the words of a drunk—but the fact remained.
She thought I was lickable. What I would give to see those lips on my body.
Fuck me. I raked a hand through my hair to wipe all the dirty images my mind had already conjured, most of which featured Isla’s beauty mark on her butt cheek.
“The blowout continued after we hung up. A shower was the only way to get clean.” I cleared my throat, pointing at Joseph as evidence.
After the shower, he had really calmed down. Now that Isla was here, he was even happy and bouncy. I wasn’t sure if he was picking up my vibe or if he just simply liked her energy. She beamed at him, and he wiggled toward her.
“Hi, Joey.” She reached for him and waited for him to go to her.
“Joey?”
“Joseph is too grown-up. Too serious.”
“It’s a strong name. I like it.”
“He’s a baby. Come on.” She spoke softly to him, and he practically leaped into her arms.
You and me both, buddy.
“He likes you.” I let him go as soon as her hand brushed my chest.
Jeez. This wasn’t going to be as easy as I first thought. But desperate times called for desperate measures. A baby showing up at my door out of thin air most definitely qualified as desperate times. She looked good with my son in her arms. My son? This was like living in an alternate reality.
“I have a lot of cousins. That means a lot of babies.” She adjusted his weight around her hip.
“Right then. So let me give you the tour.” I gestured for her to come in. “One sec.” I padded over to my suite to grab a T-shirt. All the while, I felt her gaze searing the skin on my back—or maybe that was just wishful thinking.
I pulled a Henley from the closet. While I got dressed, I gave myself a quick pep talk.
Isla was certainly not the first gorgeous woman to visit this flat.
I was a grown-ass man; I could handle her being here.
I had to. If I made the wrong move and she took off, I’d be in deep shit at work.
Joey was a handful. In the two hours he’d been here, my entire time and headspace had been devoted to him.
I hadn’t even had a second to think about the design I wanted to finalize tonight.
When I was decent again, I met them in the living room. Isla had already found some clothes for Joey and was in the process of getting him dressed. “I see you found the nappy bag.”
“The what?”
“For the nappies.” I pointed at the sack on the couch.
“Oh, you mean the diaper bag. We call them diapers.” She laughed. A sweet sound that made my chest tighten.
“I’ll remember that.” I nodded once. I had spent enough time in the States to remember most American words for mundane things. But anything baby related was new territory for me. “So you’ve seen the living room. Kitchen.” I pointed at the opposite end of the flat, stepping closer to her.
She shuffled away from me to face the city lights. For a split second, I wanted her to rest her cheek on my chest the way she had done last night. I rubbed the back of my neck and continued talking while she walked the length of the condo.
I had managed to land the corner unit in the building, which meant tall windows all around us that framed the city perfectly.
The place was modern with sleek appliances and shiny floors.
In short, a bachelor pad. She raised both eyebrows as she took in the view and the gray and beige furnishings. I liked that she seemed impressed.
“You don’t remember being here, do you?”
A quick image of her butt naked on my couch flashed in my mind. Was that just last night? It felt like she had been here months ago. It felt like she’d been on my mind for a long while.
“I do. I was so flustered when I woke up; I didn’t take the time to really look around.” She sat and placed Joey on her lap. “Not my proudest moment.”
“I can say the same about me. I was unfair earlier today. It shouldn’t matter to me how you spend your time outside work.”
And that was the truth. I chose not to tell her that the only reason I had fired her was because I couldn’t stop thinking about how she felt in my arms when I carried her down the hall, how smooth her skin was, and how intoxicating I found her scent.
A part of me hated that she didn’t remember any of it.
“Why did you call me?”
“It was Casey’s idea. She was quite pissed when I told her I had fired you.”
“Joey is adorable. And you’re lucky I’m good with kids.” She swiped the side of her leg where goosebumps had spread up into her short shorts. “So, is he like your son, or…?”
“It would appear so.” I sat across from her on the oversized leather chair and braced my elbows on my knees.
God, I felt mentally drained. This baby was a huge deal. My lifestyle wasn’t made for caring for another human being. The fact that the woman who was passed out on my couch last night was now his temporary nanny said it all.
“Oh, I thought he might be.”
“Everything seems to indicate he’s mine.
Mostly because he was left at my door and his middle name is Winston, like me.
I don’t even know who his mom is. I mean, I do.
” I just couldn’t place her face. “Her name is Harper Sokol. I met her on one of my trips to the city. We…um…spent some time together.”
I thought about how earlier today I tried to convince myself that I fired Isla because of her sex club escapade and how that was a bad look for Nicolas’s company. Jesus, I was the biggest hypocrite. The smirk on Isla’s face told me she thought so, too.
“Did you meet her at the Crucible?” She had to rub it in.
“As a matter of fact, I did.” I gave her what I’d been told was a charming smile just to see her squirm away from me again. “Same as you.”
“Irrelevant.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re talking about your baby momma.”
I chuckled, and suddenly this tragedy didn’t seem so daunting. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of her. And I have no idea why she left him here—no note, no text, or a call. Makes no sense.”
“That’s crazy. Did she even know you were in town? You just got here.”
“She checked with Frank, the doorman. She knew I was here. I need to find her. If he’s really mine…” I reached out to touch his hand and his chubby fingers wrapped around my thumb. “I’ll take care of him, of course. But my life is in London. There’s a lot to work out.”
I beamed at her, and she scooted away from me. She was right about that. The farther we stayed away from each other the better. I pressed my hands to my thighs and rose. “Let me show you your bedroom. I already installed his pushchair in there. I think he can sleep there tonight.”
“I can take him shopping tomorrow.”
“I’ll give you my credit card. That is, if you’re not too proud to take my money,” I teased. But really, I wanted to know why she had refused the severance pay I offered her.
“This is different. It’s not for me. It’s for your son.”
“And before?”
“I hadn’t earned the money.” She shrugged.
“Right. So, guest bathroom is at the end of the hall there. And I’m here.” I pointed at the ajar door next to hers.
“Okay.” She shifted her weight and glanced at Joey instead.
“If you need anything, let me know. I have to get some work done. I already lost a lot of time with this one.” I reached for Joey’s chubby hand again.
He was a happy little guy. He didn’t seem concerned at all to be surrounded by strangers.
I stepped closer to kiss his head. Isla’s quiet sigh stirred an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach—like longing mixed with regret.
But how could that be? I wasn’t the marrying type, or the fatherly type for that matter.
I had chosen the bachelor-slash-CEO life.
Though standing here in the middle of the hallway with Isla looking at me with doe eyes, holding my baby, I couldn’t remember why.
I shook my head to clear it. “Work.” I waved toward the kitchen.
“You gotta work. We’ll be over here.” She went into her room and slowly shut the door.
I stood there for a few more seconds, inhaling her sweet perfume. After a few beats, the spell wore off, and my mind switched gears toward something more tangible and familiar—the new network design for Nicolas’s company.
By the time I had reached the bar cart, I was already in full engineering mode.
I spread out my designs on the dining table like I did every night after work.
I sipped on my gin and tonic and re-read my notes.
This part of my day was my favorite. When I could sit and just get shit done.
In the office, it was hard to concentrate on a single task with so many interruptions and fucking meetings.
An hour later, I glanced up at the clock on my screen as I reached for my mobile.
Clockwork.
My entire nighttime routine was clockwork—come home, fix myself a drink, work for several hours, order in, work some more, drink some more, then bedtime. But tonight, I didn’t feel like eating out of a takeaway container.
Before I could figure out the details or why this would be a bad idea, I was standing in front of Isla’s room, lightly rapping at her door.
“Hi.” She popped her head out.
“Hello. How’s everything going in there?”
“Great.” She lowered her voice. “He had one of the bottles from the diaper bag, and then, went back to sleep.”
“You’re some sort of baby whisperer.” I leaned on the threshold, smiling at her. “Are you hungry? I was getting ready to make some dinner.”
“It’s like ten at night.”
“I make a mean ahi tuna.” I cocked an eyebrow. “And I have a bottle of ridiculously expensive wine that came in my welcome package from Windsor Financial Holdings.”
“I am hungry. I didn’t have time to eat before.” Her smile faded.
I got the feeling she had had a rough day. Of course, I played a big role in that.
“How can I help?” She stepped out wearing what I assumed were her bed clothes—a pair of cotton shorts in navy blue and a matching top that barely contained her breasts.
My gaze zeroed in on her beauty mark. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. No, of course it was. I fired her earlier. The least I could do was feed her a proper meal. “Can you toss a salad?”
“I think I can manage.” Her bare feet padded across the hardwood floors as she made her way to the kitchen.
When she saw the print outs on the dining table, she made a beeline toward them.
I figured she was still on the team, so it was okay for her to take a look.
And yeah, a part of me wanted to impress her with my mad skills.
Most women found my wealth appealing but didn’t much care how I made the money.
They thought computer stuff was boring. In their defense, no one ever went to the Crucible to geek out over network designs.
And that was exactly what Isla was doing. I headed to the fridge and took out the ahi steak that had shown up with my grocery order yesterday. Mrs. Ross, the older lady who cleaned my flat every day, insisted on keeping my fridge and pantry stocked. She thought I ate out too much. She wasn’t wrong.
“You have it all figured out.” Isla joined me.
“Not even close.” I turned to face her, then realized she meant the design. “Oh, that. Yes, I decided it would be better to start from scratch. His security is shit.”
“How did he survive this long?”
“He was flying under the radar before. But all the acquisitions he’s done lately put a target on his company. Everyone wants a piece of the pie.” I showed her the steaks. “What do you think?”
“Do you really know how to cook that? I don’t want to get food poisoning,” she teased.
“I have more than one talent, Ms. Vendetti.” I winked at her.
Why was I flirting?
Wanting her is a bad idea.
I got to work on the ahi tuna while Isla scoured the fridge for spring greens and other stuff to throw in our salad. In twenty minutes flat, we had our fairly decent meals in front of us—seared ahi tuna on a bed of spring mix, complete with a bottle of pinot noir.
Isla plopped herself on the barstool and crossed her long legs, so they were facing mine. This was certainly much better than my usual meal for one. She took her first bite and made a sound that had my cock stand at attention.
“Of course, the great Declan Winston Noble can cook.” She rolled her eyes.
“My name sounds really long when you say it like that.” I laughed. “You think I’m great?”
“The tabloids do.”
“Don’t believe everything you read on social media. Trust me.” I cut into the fish and took a forkful, followed by a swig of my wine. “You’re lucky we weren’t caught last night. If we had been in the UK, you’d be tabloid fodder right about now. It’s cruel, really.”
“I never thanked you, by the way.” She swallowed her food, though I could tell the effort was more to contain the tears.
“For helping me outside the club. Like I said, not one of my proudest moments. It’s been a rough couple of days.
” She rubbed the inside of her wrists for a beat, then glanced up at me. “Did we have sex last night?”
“What?” I coughed and spilled my wine all over her legs. For crying aloud.
I leaned forward to wipe the liquid off her thigh.
In the same beat, she jumped off her seat and practically landed in my lap.
Her body, her smooth skin, and that scent—I was too distracted to even think to push her away.
When her lips pressed to mine, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to kiss her back.