108. Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter one hundred eight
Carrie
Ispend an hour with Cat and Reese at the apartment. Once I’m at the office, I deal with one call from a client after another. The minute I walk into West Enterprises Sallie was, of course, in my office with me. “Oh my God. I cannot believe what’s happening! Where’s Reid? How are you?”
“I’m fine,” I say, settling my things on my desk and pressing my hands to my hips to smooth out the pink dress I’m wearing. I feel like a mess all over the place, rushing around and worried about Reid. “I just need to get any trouble here handled before the noon press conference at Maxwell,” I say. “And that’s happening at the Maxwell offices, which means I don’t have long to deal with problems here. Has the merger leaked?”
“Whispers all over the office. What do you want to do?”
“Get everyone in one place. Let me just speak to them and be done with this.”
“Will do. What else do you need?”
Reid, I think. I need to be with him, in his head, understanding what he’s doing. But he needs me to trust him to do what’s right. I sensed that in him and I know him. He’s always been a good man. Acting like an asshole was part of being a good man in his mind. He wanted to protect people from him. He’s always protecting everyone. He’ll do the right thing and if he’s vicious, it’s because he has to be. He’s tried to sidestep going after Elijah.
“Carrie?”
I blink Sallie back into view. “Coffee. I’ll buy you coffee and give you a bonus if you can find a way to get me a white mocha despite that press mess downstairs.”
“I don’t need the bonus,” she says. “I’ll get you the coffee.” Her voice softens. “He’s strong. He can handle this. I’ll be right back.”
She disappears and I don’t have to wonder how she knew I was worried about Reid. She knows me. I just need to remember that I know him. He needs to know that I know him.
My cellphone rings with Gabe’s number. “Hey,” I say. “How are things where you are?”
“They’re fat cats over here and big Reid supporters. We’re fine. I gave everyone a heads up about the merger and sour grapes from a competitor. What about there?”
“I’m about to do the same and then head over there. Have you talked to Reid?”
“Not since he left your building,” he says. “You?”
“No. Where was he going?”
He’s silent a beat. “Carrie. My brother is tough. When he gets kicked, he takes the hit and homes in on a solution. He’s actually better when he’s bruised.”
“He went to see Elijah.”
“Yes,” he says. “Of course he went to see Elijah. Go do what you have to do and get your ass over here.”
We disconnect and I get to work. I need to be at Maxwell right now. That gets me closer to the moment Reid will be back by my side. My phone buzzes and I start taking client calls, explaining everything, even the merger. Fifteen minutes later, I have my coffee, and Reid sends me a text about Grayson Bennett. That he’s texting me calms my nerves more than the news about Grayson’s business being intact. We can survive this. We can survive anything.
An hour later, I’ve announced the merger to a packed room. “The rest of this craziness about Reid using a woman as a shield is a brutal attack by an enemy meant to hurt him and that means you. His girlfriend died. He has suffered that loss every day since and would have traded himself in a moment. He needs your support. We need your support.”
Cheers erupt and soon I’m done here and headed to the Maxwell offices with time to spare. I’m in the back of an SUV with Walker Security behind the wheel when I receive another text from Reid and this one is a picture of a golden retriever: Her name is Nikki. She’s two. Her owner died in a car accident. She’s an orphan like Kesha.
I want to ask him a million questions, but I focus on the dog and type: When can we see her?
Tonight, he replies. We can pick her up while we talk about our wedding date.
Relief washes over me. This is his way of telling me he feels like we’re moving past this. I reply with, I can’t wait, but didn’t you want a boy?
I want you, he says. Naked and on my desk, making all those sexy little sounds you make. Today. Right before the press conference.
I laugh and type: It’s going to take a lot for me to get naked before that press conference.
I’m up to the challenge, he answers. See you soon, baby.
My lips curve and I stick my phone back inside my purse. This is over. I don’t know how. I don’t know the details, but it’s over.
A few minutes later, we arrive in a whirlwind of press and Walker Security and Connie greets me at the elevators. “All is well here. How are you?”
“I’ll be better once Reid is here and the press is gone.”
“I hear you, honey. Reid is waiting for you in his office.”
“Reid’s here?”
“He is.” She glances over at me. “You’re worried about him?”
“Yes. That press release was brutal.”
She laughs. “So is he. He’s fine. He actually seems better than fine.”
Hearing this is good, but I just want to know firsthand that my future husband really is great. I step up my pace, hurrying through the offices and all but run for Reid’s door. The minute I open it and step inside, he’s there, pulling me to him, his hand on the back of my head, his mouth closing down over mine. I moan with the lick of his tongue and there’s no time to even ask questions. He wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted me naked and on his desk. Only he doesn’t actually get me naked.
Before I can barely think, he’s yanking my skirt up and I’m pressed against the door with my leg at his hip and he’s pressing inside me. “Oh God,” I pant out, as he drives into me in a fast, hard thrust of his seriously hard cock. I forget where we are.
There is just this burning, ripe need between us and it doesn’t take long to sate. He pumps and I arch and we’re one big ball of angsty need that this door isn’t solving. He lifts me and carries me to his desk and then I’m on top of it, and he’s on top of me. A few long, hard pumps from there and we’re both shuddering into release, collapsing on top of his desk.
Reid’s intercom buzzes about the moment we come back to the present, and he calls out, “What?”
I laugh and Connie snaps, “Stop being cranky. Cranky gets you nowhere. Gabe wants to come in. Can I let him in?”
“Yeah,” Gabe says. “Gabe wants to come in.”
My eyes go wide with panic and Reid lifts me off the desk. “Give us a minute, Gabe. Jesus.”
I scramble to put myself together and once I’m reasonably presentable, I turn to Reid. “What happened?”
He pulls me to him and kisses me. “We fucked on the desk. I thought that was pretty obvious.”
“Reid!”
He laughs, and the deep rumble of masculine perfection is a balm to my soul. “Elijah is refocusing on Tabitha and Mick. We’re all good. I’ll explain everything to you and Gabe at the same time.” He walks across the room and opens the door.
Gabe enters the office and looks between us. “Jesus is right. Both of you need to get the lipstick back on her lips before the press conference. It’s all over both of your faces and for the record, Reid, I need more than a minute to finish.” He looks at me. “Sorry, Carrie. He’ll get better I’m sure.”
It’s in that moment that Cat walks in the door. “Reid, damn it. Why can’t you answer your phone?”
Reid, Gabe, and I all look at each other and burst into laughter, and I don’t know all that Reid will share with us all now but I know this: These people are now family, the family I’ve always wanted.