“I’m digesting,” I told her. “I spent a lot of time wondering if a child was in the future for me and wondering if I even wanted that. This drama with Sienna has showed me that I do want it, but not with her. With someone else.”
Janie’s cheeks turned an even brighter shade of pink. “Really?”
I reached up, cupped her cheek, and ran my thumb along her cheekbone. “Really.”
Janie leaned forward and kissed me.
The kiss lifted some of the weight that sat on my chest after learning there was no baby. It served no purpose for Janie to think I was disappointed. Like Holly had said, Janie had gone to war for me, and without her intervening, there was no telling how much longer I would have gone on believing Sienna’s lies. She’d freed me from that. My disappointment would be a slap in the face to Janie.
Besides, I could work through it. Especially since I had Janie in my corner now, or rather, just in the office beside mine at work.
Disappointment would pass. I could replace it with something else. New intentions.
Intentions like how I planned to move forward with the woman I loved and had loved for quite some time now.
Janie clung to the front of my shirt as the kiss deepened. I could smell her shampoo, coconut and something citrus, and her lips tasted like grapefruit.
Holly cleared her throat in the front seat.
Janie and I broke apart.
My sister chuckled as we came to a red light. “Don’t stop on my account. I’ve been waiting for this reunion for almost a year. It’s about damn time you two pulled your heads out of your asses and just went for it.”
Janie giggled and wiped at her eyes. I hadn’t noticed that she was crying.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” she whispered.
“Just kiss her again, Max,” Holly said. “I’ll keep my eyes on the road this time.”
I pressed a finger under Janie’s chin and lifted her face to mine. Her eyes, glassy and wet from the tears, slid back and forth between mine, and neither of us moved for a second. I stared into those perfect eyes of hers and lifted a thumb to trace her lower lip. She closed her eyes. A tear escaped and ran down her cheek. I wiped it away before leaning in for another sweet kiss that, like the first, made the pain of losing the idea of a baby melt away.
Chapter 21
Janie
Max slid his hands into his pants pockets and leaned against the wall in the elevator. We stood side by side about six inches apart, and I mimicked his posture by tucking my hands into the pockets of my high-waisted A-line skirt. It was too hot outside today for any constricting business skirts or long pants. I couldn’t imagine how Max endured the heat in his three-piece suit, but it really didn’t seem to bother him.
He cast a glance in my direction. “You’re unusually quiet.”
It was our first time arriving at the office together. Ever since my encounter at the pool with Sienna on Saturday, we’d been inseparable. I’d spent the night at his place on Saturday and again last night, and a lazy morning in his bed this morning meant I didn’t have time to go home and get a change of clothes.
Another reason why I was wearing the flowing skirt today.
“I’m tired is all,” I said. “Someone didn’t let me get much sleep last night.”
Max rested his head against the elevator wall as we closed in on our floor. “As I remember it, you were the one who wouldn’t get off of me.”
He wasn’t wrong.
His lap had been my seat all night long. My inner thighs hurt. My hips hurt. My pussy hurt.
But not enough for me not to want to do it again when we got home from work later today.
I shot him a wry grin as the elevator door opened with a soft chime and unveiled our office. We stepped off, nearly shoulder to shoulder, and walked into the office.
I’d been paranoid the whole drive over that people would start talking about us if we showed up together. Max held fast to his belief that none of our colleagues would care. They’d all be too busy running around with their tasks for the day. The only people thinking about us were, well, us.
He was right.
Nobody shot us any looks. Nobody turned to a co-worker to whisper something about us behind our backs. Nobody giggled behind their hand.
I held my chin up a little higher as we went to our office doors about twenty feet apart. Max opened his and looked over at me with a lopsided smile. “Have a good day, pretty girl.”
“You too, stud.”
He snorted, shook his head at my lack of professionalism, and stepped into his office, where Shawn, quick as a bunny, popped up out of nowhere and followed Max inside before the door fell closed behind him.
Smiling to myself, I went into my own office. I set my purse down on the floor by my desk and made myself a cup of fancy coffee with frothed milk in the espresso machine Max had put in the office for me. I sipped the foam off the top and opened my blinds before settling into my chair and turning on my computer.
I swiveled around in my chair while I waited for the computer to boot up.
Even though my confrontation with Sienna at the pool had only been two days ago, it felt like an eternity had passed since then. All the anguish, confusion, and frustration that Max had experienced vanished overnight. He was back to his usual self. The walls he’d tried to put up between us while he sorted things out with Sienna had been torn down kiss by kiss. It was a task I’d thoroughly enjoyed.
Now everything was beginning to feel normal. The mundane routine of getting up in the morning and getting ready for work together had been nothing short of wondrous. We smiled at each other’s reflections in the bathroom mirror while we brushed our teeth. We bickered about who got to get in the shower first and compromised by showering together.
I had avocado toast for breakfast while Max stuck his nose up at it and claimed there was something wrong with me for wanting to start my day out like that. He ate eggs and a smoothie that was dark green and smelled like spinach and dirt. We wasted precious time as we got dressed and stole each other’s personal items. He hid my panties and chased me around the bedroom as I tried to find them. I put his tie on and told him he could only have it back if he gave me my panties.
Hence why we were half an hour late for work.
I signed into my computer and started with the most boring of my office manager task: checking my email. I spent a good hour sorting through all the emails I’d missed over the weekend and crafting professional replies.
I was about to get up and treat myself to a second fancy cup of coffee when I glanced up from my computer screen and caught Max watching me from his office.
Shawn was still in there, pacing back and forth in front of Max’s desk with his nose buried in his agenda. He was talking and most likely saying something important, but most of Max’s attention was on me.
I blushed.
Max smiled and straightened his suit jacket.
He had no right to look as good as he did in the office. His smile and sharp blue eyes were enough to make any girl weak in the knees. But the sharpness of his jaw and the way his suit fit him? It was criminal.
Not to mention how he looked at me.
I pinched my knees together and dared myself to keep my composure. I was the office manager when I was here. Back at his house, I could be the nympho I wanted to be right now.