56. Trevor
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
TREVOR
September
“ U h-oh!” Bryant calls when I get off the elevator. “Here comes Mr. Reed Award.”
Head shaking, I chuckle as I pass his office. Across the hallway, Jared shouts from his desk, “You’ve only been back for a month, and bam ! The most coveted award in the technology sector.”
“We are not worthy!” Bryant chants.
“Oh, mighty Trevor. Teach us your ways!” Jared bows his head.
Bryant and Jared set their offices up in a way that they can see and talk to each other without having to do more than lean back in their chairs.
I swing my head back and forth, trapped between their good-natured taunting.
“For starters, you have to actually do your job…” I say, choosing to stop at Jared’s door.
“Sounds fake,” Jared scoffs, while Bryant boos at me.
“It’s clearly rigged. Good looks can get you anywhere these days,” Bryant jokes.
Chase and I got word about receiving the Innovations in Tech Sales Award right around the time my paternity leave ended a month ago.
It turns out the automated reporting system we developed as a last-ditch effort to help our new associates wasn’t as simplistic as we thought.
The chief information officer had summoned us to her office, where we found out she’d sent our work to the board at the Edward Reed Technology Foundation.
They created an entirely new category just to give us this award.
Honored doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel.
Chase and I were featured in yesterday’s newsletter from corporate, and as soon as the congratulations died down, Bryant and Jared laid it on thick.
This is just the tip of the iceberg with these two.
“The Office Slacker Award nominations were already full,” I say, tapping Jared’s doorframe with my palm and turning to look at Bryant over my shoulder. “Nice pictures, by the way.”
Bryant laces his fingers behind his head, leaning back in his chair with a hearty laugh. “Oh, he’s got jokes ?”
“Nah, but I do have work to do.” I give a head nod and stroll down to my office.
“Come on, Trev. It’s Friday,” Jared calls after me. “Live on the wild side!”
Laughing, I flip on the light and drop my phone and laptop bag on my desk.
I settle into my chair while my computer boots up, and my phone vibrates with a “good morning” picture of my Lyla Belle.
Her sleepy smile, complete with a singular dimple in her left cheek, is offset by her copper-colored curls sticking straight up like they do on most mornings.
I don’t know how it’s possible, but my heart bursts every time I see her deep brown doe eyes.
Lyla Isabelle Willis-Jones is the perfect mix of Willa and me.
Willa
Morning Daddy!
Me
There’s my sweet pea Now where’s her beautiful mama ?
Willa sends back a picture of her rolling her eyes.
She’s getting back to her old self more and more every day, and all it does is make me fall deeper in love.
This is the Willa who had me crushing for years, only now I’m living the best of both worlds.
I get to kiss and hold her. Tell her exactly how I feel.
She only gives me a little bit of a hard time about it now.
No sex though. At least, not yet, anyway.
She hasn’t felt ready. With all the changes her body has endured over the last year, I want to give her the time she needs.
But it’s getting hard to hide how much I miss our physical connection.
Her body was incredibly sexy before—curvy and full in all the right places—but now, it’s a goddamn masterpiece.
A shrine that was the lifeblood of my most precious treasure, and I’m near frothing at the mouth to fall to my knees and worship every single inch.
Me:
So sexy.
Willa
Flattery will get you everywhere right now. Lyla just puked in my hair.
Me
My sweet pea would never…
Willa
You two probably conspired against me before you left this morning.
Me
It was all her idea, Gem. Love you.
Willa
You better.
Me
Miles felt so bad about that Salt Lake trip, he’s keeping me on local flex for several months so I can be close to home.
I told him it wasn’t necessary, water under the bridge and all that, but he insisted.
Who am I to refuse that gift? Coming home to my girls every night is the best thing I’ve ever experienced.
Exhaustion and all, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Willa’s slumped against the kitchen counter, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead, when I drop my bags by the door.
She doesn’t look up, instead closing her eyes as her head falls back, stretching out her shoulders.
I take a few steps through the living room and wrap my arms around her, hugging her from behind.
She melts into me when I nudge her hair off her shoulder and kiss her neck.
“Hi, Gem.” I press kisses along her skin, and she lets out the lightest moan. “Rough day?”
Leaning her head back into my chest, she nods but doesn’t say anything.
I walk her to the couch, keeping my arms wrapped around her waist, and pull her into my lap facing me, waiting for her to let me in.
“Lyla’s teething, for sure. Soaked through five bibs.
The good ones with the waterproof layer in the middle.
And she was ornery as hell. She just now went down for a nap. ”
“Come here.” I sweep her twists behind her and anchor her head in my hands, pulling her forward until our lips meet.
She pulls back abruptly and shakes her head. “I still have puke in my hair. I haven’t had time?—”
“I don’t fucking care,” I mumble, crashing into her lips.
As I try to keep the heat out of my kiss, she returns it like she’s been thinking about it all day too.
And when she shifts to straddle my lap, I’m done for.
My hands grip hard on her waist, sliding slowly down to her hips to bracket her over the bulge growing in my pants.
She scratches my scalp with her fingernails as she urges me closer, my hips bucking in response.
Willa stills, and I want to smack myself in the head.
“I’m not… I don’t think I’m ready.” She looks into my eyes, and I track the vulnerability as it slides onto her face.
Am I disappointed? Hell yes, but I don’t want her to feel bad about it. “It’s okay. Take the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
She kisses me again, just as feverishly as before, with an added roll of her hips. Fuck . “You keep grinding into me like that though, and I’m gonna need to excuse myself.”
Willa sits back with a sigh. “I know. I’m sorr?—”
“Nope. You’re not apologizing for this. You don’t owe me a thing. I’ll be ready whenever you are.”
Lyla’s cry crackles through the baby monitor next to us, and frustration slumps through Willa’s body.
She drops her head against my chest and groans.
“How can I ever be ready when she won’t fucking sleep?
I love her. Really, I do, but I’m about to send that baby monitor right out the window.
I look like garbage. Smell like puke. And every time she cries, this intense demand to fix it twists in my stomach.
I just…”She finally takes a breath, and I give her a small smile.
“I’ll get Lyla. You jump in the shower.” I give her a quick peck on her forehead, but she doesn’t move from my lap. “Unless you want help in the shower…?”
Willa’s laugh makes me smile, and I smooth my hands over her back as she leans into me. “I don’t think I’m ready for that either,” she says, even with the slightest movement of her hips.
I lean forward, and she shudders at my whispered breath in her ear. “I know you can feel what you’re doing to me right now. You’re gonna have to walk away first. There’s no way in hell I’m leaving this spot while you’re grinding all over me. I want you too much.”
She takes another deep breath, bites her lip like she’s contemplating taking it all back, and slowly rolls off my lap. If my dick could talk, the protest would be louder than a jet engine .
I take a few deep breaths before heading into the baby’s room, not bothering to turn the light on.
Hearing her cry breaks my heart too, so I quickly scoop her in my arms. As soon as I do, her whining turns to happy babbling, and all is calm inside.
I shift her in my arms to grab the pink Las Vegas giraffe from her crib before heading back to the living room.