Chapter 28 Roman
TWENTY-EIGHT
ROMAN
“Ican’t go right now,” I told Monica, after she explained the reason for her impromptu home visit.
“What do you mean, you can’t go? You’ve been working on this deal for the last year. Now’s the time.”
“Fuck, you’re right,” fell from my lips. “How much time do I have?”
She looked at her watch. “An hour, tops.”
“Go to the office and stall. I’ll go change and race over,” I told her, hating that I had to leave Sasha even though we were in the middle of something. We obviously didn’t have time to finish what we’d started anyway, but we needed to figure some shit out, and talk about things like two adults.
Monica nodded. “Hurry. Don’t get distracted and stop for fucking coffee or something,” she said, marching toward the door.
I was only a foot behind her. “Do you think I’m that stupid? Just go. I’m on my way.”
In the hallway, we went in separate directions.
She headed for the door, and I went to my room to change quickly.
I nearly ripped off my pajamas and jumped into a suit as quickly as possible.
Even though I was in a hurry to get to this meeting, I couldn’t just run off and leave Sasha not knowing what’s going on, not after the way we’d spent the night before, so I dipped into her room to tell her goodbye.
Her room was empty, but I could hear the sound of the shower running through the closed bathroom door. I stepped up to it and knocked.
“Yeah?”
“It’s me,” I called out.
“Oh, um, come in?” It sounded more like a question, but what didn’t with us after the recent turn of events?
I opened the door and stepped into her bathroom.
I leaned against the sink with my hands in my pockets, watching her through the glass doors as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair.
“I have to go to work. Something’s come up. I just didn’t want to run off without telling you. I didn’t want you to think that I was running from you, or us, or something like that.”
She turned to look at me through the glass door. She offered a nervous smile. “You sure you don’t want to get in?”
I chuckled. “Don’t tempt me.”
“So… we’ll talk later?”
I nodded.
“We’ll talk later,” I agreed.
“And by later, you mean later today, right? As in, you will come back after work?”
I nodded and walked over to the shower door. I pulled it open. “I will be home for dinner,” I promised her, drinking in her sexy as fuck wet body. Fuck, she was gorgeous.
“OK.”
“Come here,” I whispered, leaning in slightly.
She leaned toward me, and our mouths met in the open doorway of the shower. My hand cupped her wet cheek, and water soaked into my shirt sleeve, but I didn’t care. I memorized the taste of her mouth before pulling away.
Not another word was said as I closed the door and left the bathroom.
I made it to the office in record time, and Monica did an excellent job of stalling Mr. Zhao, who was already in the conference room when I arrived.
I walked in with my hand held out to shake. “Mr. Zhao, thank you for waiting on me. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
He waved his hand through the air, dismissing my worries as he stood to greet me. “No need to apologize. This wasn’t planned,” he said in his heavy Chinese accent, shaking my hand.
I motioned toward his chair. “Please, have a seat and fill me in on what we’re doing here today.”
“You want to buy my company, I want to sell my company.”
I nodded. “I’ve been trying to buy for a year. Why are you suddenly ready to sell now?”
“It’s time to move on. I’m getting older and don’t need to have my hands in everything. Time to focus on the things that matter most.”
I breathed out. “Let’s get some lawyers in here.”
An hour later, I was several million dollars poorer, but I owned another company. We’d signed the dotted line, shaken hands, and gone our separate ways as our lawyers worked everything else out.
In my office, I took my seat behind my desk.
The red light on my phone was flashing, signaling I had a stack of voicemails waiting to be listened to.
I probably had a mountain of emails to wade through, but I couldn’t do any of it.
All I could do was sit and think about the morning, about the night before, about her.
I wondered what she was doing, what she was thinking. She seemed to be more sure than I was, yet I still worried that she might change her mind. And I prayed that she would change her mind, and that she wouldn’t.
The thing was, I didn’t want to want her, but I did.
I had to have her, no matter how many times I told myself that it was wrong.
She was a constant game of tug-of-war with myself.
I never knew which side would win: the side that wanted her and didn’t care if it was wrong, or the side of me that wanted her but tried to play by the rules.
There wasn’t a side of me that didn’t want her, and that was the biggest problem of all. It didn’t matter how old she was. It didn’t matter that she was technically my employee. It didn’t matter that she was the sister of my dead wife.
All that mattered was the hunger I had for her. It wasn’t the kind of hunger that could be quieted by throwing something else at it. This was a particular kind of hunger, a craving that wouldn’t let up until I gave myself what I wanted.
The day passed slowly, but I managed to get some work done.
All I could do was relive every moment I’d spent with her, from the very first kiss up until that morning when she was naked in the shower.
Every minute I spent with her on my mind only made my cock get harder.
By the time I got home that evening, my balls were aching and in desperate need of relief.
I couldn’t approach her the way I would anyone else, though.
I thought about bending her over and fucking her senseless the moment I walked in, but I had to push those thoughts away.
Maybe one day I could do that, but it wouldn’t be any time soon.
She needed her first time to be perfect, not some cheap fuck just to get off.
I wanted to show her all the things I could do for her.
She and Sophia were in the kitchen, preparing dinner when I arrived.
“Daddy!” Sophia yelled when I entered the kitchen. She jumped down from her chair, ran across the room, and wrapped her arms around my legs.
I bent down and picked her up, carrying her to the island where Sasha was chopping vegetables. It occurred to me that it was the first time I’d picked my daughter up in a long time. The guilt of how I’d let her down hit me hard, nearly making me double over.
“Are you helping cook dinner?” I asked, looking down at her cutting board and plastic butter knife.
“Yep,” she said.
Sasha chuckled. “She tried talking me into giving her a real knife, but I thought we’d better wait a little longer.”
Sophia frowned, making us both chuckle.
“Why don’t you go wash your hands, Soph. Then you can show Daddy the picture you drew for him today.”
She squealed, her eyes lighting up.
“OK!” She wiggled until I put her down, and then she ran out of the room.
I watched her until she rounded the corner. When I turned back, Sasha was standing at the sink, her back to me. I stepped up behind her, pressing my groin against her ass as I placed my lips at her ear. She was so much smaller than I was. Hell, she was even smaller than Chloe had been.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all day.” I kissed the spot just below her earlobe.
She smiled and shut off the water, tilting her head to the side so I could press kisses to her neck. “I haven’t either.”
My hands found her hips as I kissed over the warm vein in her throat. “I was thinking that maybe we could have a date night? Unless you have plans, of course.”
She turned to face me. “I would love a date, but how can we do that?” She wrapped her arms around my neck. “If I’m not here to watch Sophia, you have to be. And if you can’t, you’ll have to ask Monica why we’re going out together. What are we going to tell her?”
She had a point, and until we knew what we were doing, I didn’t want anyone to know. “We’ll have a date night in. Get Sophia put to bed and then we’ll start our date.” I dipped my head forward, kissing her softly. “How’s that sound?”
She smiled as her eyes locked with mine. “I like the sound of that,” she agreed.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Sophia yelled, making me pull away quickly. I turned toward the door and watched as she ran into the kitchen with a piece of paper in her hand.
I knelt and took the drawing, looking it over. “Who’s this?”
“It’s me,” she said, pointing to the smallest person on the page.
“You,” she pointed to the tallest. “And it’s Sasha.
” She pointed at the medium-sized one with the long, dark hair.
There was a yellow sun in the sky and green grass beneath our feet.
There was a tree, a swing set, and birds against a puffy, lopsided cloud.
“I love it. Thank you, princess.”
She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me.
“In fact, I think this one deserves its own place on the fridge.” I stood and put the drawing on the fridge, holding it against the door with a magnet. When I turned to look back at her, she was smiling widely, clearly proud of herself.
Several hours later, Sophia was sound asleep in bed, leaving Sasha and me to our little date night. I wasn’t sure what our date would consist of. It had been a long time since I’d been on a date.
I thought back on the dates I’d been on before. They always consisted of dinner or going somewhere, but we couldn’t leave the house, and we’d already had dinner with Sophia. Instead of opening up and talking over dinner, we could do it over dessert.
While Sasha was bathing Sophia and tucking her into bed, I took the opportunity to find a dessert recipe and watch a video to learn how to make it.
Then I moved into the kitchen and gathered the ingredients.
The kitchen was fully stocked, so it was almost like I had my own grocery store—mostly thanks to having a professional chef on staff before Sasha came along.
I sprinkled some flour and started rolling out the puff pastry.
Sasha walked in and froze when she saw me holding a rolling pin. “Whoa, what’s going on here?”
I kept rolling. “We can’t go out to a movie or a concert. We’ve already had dinner, so I had to get creative.”
Her brows lifted. “Oh, you’re making this for our date?”
“I’m going to try.”
She started around the island, toward the sink. “Alright, let me wash my hands, and I’ll help.”
I smiled, my heart fluttering.
After rolling out the pastry, I cut it into squares. “What kind of pastry do you want?”
She walked into the pantry and came out a moment later, holding a can of apple pie filling. “Apple?”
“Sounds great.”
She opened the can and spooned some onto the squares of dough. Then we folded them into triangles and placed slices across the top before baking them in the oven. Leaning against the counter across from me, she crossed her arms over her chest.
“So, what’s all this about?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, tossing the towel onto the counter behind me.
“I didn’t take you as the sweet, let’s make dessert together type.”
I leaned against the island, facing her.
“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing,” I confessed, rubbing my eyes.
I let my hands fall back to my sides. “You deserve to have things done right. You’re young.
You deserve all the effort any guy from school would put in to win you over.
I don’t want you settling for less.” I shrugged.
“But with our situation… It’s not like I can take you out for expensive dinners or weekend trips.
But I still don’t want you to miss out on that side of a relationship.
” I paused. “This is stupid,” I breathed, sliding down until I was sitting on the floor with the island against my back. I lifted my hands to rub my temples.
“No, it’s not.”
I looked up at her. “You don’t think this is stupid? That this isn’t the worst first date you’ve ever been on?”
She smiled and shook her head. “No.” She moved to sit in my lap, straddling me.
Her hands moved to cup my face, and her eyes met mine.
“I appreciate that you’re putting effort into this.
But the thing is, we can’t do things like a normal couple because we’re not a normal couple.
When it comes to us, we don’t get a rule book or guidelines to follow.
We’re just going to have to figure it out one day at a time. And I’m okay with that.”
“I’m okay with that too,” I agreed, leaning in and pressing my mouth to hers.
When my tongue swept across her lip, she opened wider, allowing me inside.
I melted beneath her as I deepened our kiss and pulled her closer.
Her chest was against mine, and her weight was pressing in all the areas that were dying for her attention.
I reminded myself to be patient with her.
I didn’t want her to think that the only thing I wanted was her body.
I slowed the kiss and broke it off completely. “We should probably check on the turnovers.”
“Not yet.” She laced her fingers into my hair and pulled me back in. The moment her tongue swept through my mouth, she rolled her hips to grind against me. I felt my body become hot rapidly, but it was just my need for her.
She was making it harder and harder for me to control myself, but I managed to break our kiss once again by turning my head to the side.
“Sasha,” I breathed out. “Baby…”
Instead of pulling away, she pushed forward, kissing my jaw and my neck while fisting my hair. My eyes rolled back as every touch felt like a bolt of lightning shooting through my body.
“Fuck,” I whispered, my hands squeezing her hips as I rocked her against me again. She let out a moan that made my balls draw up in excitement.
“You’d better stop before I do something you might regret later.”
She pulled back until she could look me in the eye. With a smirk on her face, she said two words.
“Try me.”