He immediately touched my waist from behind, kissing the side of my neck.
“I was proving my point.”
I moaned, still wanting to tease him, but I forgot what his point was. I opened my mouth to ask him when his phone rang. Groaning, he pulled back, taking the phone out of his pocket.
“It’s Ian. Do you mind if I put him on speakerphone?”
“It’s fine by me.”
Nodding, he answered the phone. “Ian, you’re on speakerphone, and Mel is with me listening.”
“Does that mean I have to behave?”
I laughed at his tongue-in-cheek answer as both Dylan and I went to the couch. I sat down at one end, and he was straight in the middle, next to what looked like a huge stack of towels.
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try,” Ian said. “Listen, I think one of us needs to go to D.C. Horton is becoming impatient, thinks we’d do better at troubleshooting if we were in his office. He needs babysitting.”
“I get what you mean,” Dylan said. “I’ve been his main contact point since we started working together, so I should go.”
“I was going to suggest that too. I don’t think you’ll need to be there for more than two weeks. I think this will be better for you. While you’re there, focus on Horton and the submission for project Z, and I’ll handle the hassle in the office here.”
“Are you sure?” Dylan asked. “Because that would be awesome.”
“I know. I’m amazing, right? We have a plan, then. That’s all. I don’t want to keep you two from whatever it is couples do. And that was a rhetorical question. No need to answer.”
Dylan laughed. The corners of my mouth twitched. I loved the dynamic between these two—the way they seemed to know what to say or do intuitively. They complemented each other almost as if they were twins; they had that kind of brotherly connection.
My chest tightened realizing Dylan was going to be away for two weeks. What would happen to us? I wasn’t ready to let him go.
“When are you leaving?” I asked him as soon as the call disconnected.
“Not sure. Probably next week. I’ll decide after I to talk to Horton.”
“Okay. Want me to give you some privacy with him?”
Dylan cocked a brow. “You seriously don’t think I’m gonna waste the evening talking to a client, do you?”
Pulling my ankle, he prompted me to move closer to him. I readily obliged, climbing in his lap.
I touched his lower lip with my fingers. “I think we have some unfinished business.”
“I can’t seem to remember.” A sly grin spread on his face. “Want to remind me?”
“Gladly.”
I shimmied in his lap, straight over his cock, groaning when I realized he was semihard already. His eyes flashed. He buried a hand in my hair at the back of my head, bringing me close enough that our foreheads were touching. I rolled my hips back and forth. A groan erupted from deep inside him, filling me with pride. Then he gripped one hip, keeping it in place. It was impossible to move.
“I remember where we were. I was telling you that I care. I meant it, Mel.” His eyes were serious all of a sudden.
I licked my lips, sighing. “Why do you have to say something so swoon-worthy? I have no idea what to say back.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know.”
“Well, I—” I waved my left hand out, accidentally knocking the stack of towels to the floor. “Oh, crap.”
Scrambling down from Dylan’s lap, I picked them up from the floor.
“New towels?” I asked.
“Yes. I ordered you a robe and huge towels.”
I blinked, looking at the stack. “You ordered them for me? Really?”
“Yeah. Even though I like seeing you walk around half naked.”
“What are you talking about? I found a way to cover myself up.”
“Babe. Half your ass was always showing. Sometimes the crack. I thought you were doing it on purpose.”
I blushed. “Nope. I thought I was doing a great job.”
“I can always send the towels back.”
“No, no.” I pressed the stack to my chest, grinning like a kid on Christmas day.
He’d gotten me towels. I was sure that was breaking another unspoken rule, and I was over the moon even though I was also a bit scared. I wasn’t sure my poor heart could recover if I fell for Dylan.
I folded the towels carefully, unable to contain my smile. I made a mental note to still flash him my nakedness, to tease him. And this time, it would be on purpose.
“What’s that smile?” he asked.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I’m not telling you.”
The next thing I knew, he pulled me down in his lap, teasing my thigh with his fingers like in the cab before skimming his hand up my dress. His mouth was on my neck again, slowly descending to my chest.
“I thought we wanted to watch something,” I murmured.
“Fuck the movie,” he said on a growl.
“I agree.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Dylan
I went to work at the crack of dawn the day before leaving for D.C. for two weeks. I’d had back-to-back meetings, and I was already spaced out after lunch when Ian came to my office to discuss the agenda for the afternoon. We were supposed to have a meeting where we went through what would be done here while I was in D.C. Even though the client requested local support weeks ago, we decided to start only after the first of August.
"I want a rain check on the meeting," I said.
Ian jerked his head back, eyes wide. "Did hell freeze over? You want to skip a planning meeting?"
"I do. I need time off. Can you take care of it?"
"Only if you tell me why."
"I made plans for this evening with Mel, but I want to spend the afternoon with her too." I was already missing her, and I wasn't even in D.C.
My brother flashed me a shit-eating grin. "I'm happy for you, brother," he said.
My eyes bulged.
"Wait, you're congratulating me? What happened to giving me shit about not being a bachelor anymore? You always seemed to like that I was finally on your team."
"I am happy like this, not being tied down to a woman, being free to do whatever I want, but you've always been different. I'm glad you're embracing it." He fist-pumped in the air. "Don't worry. I'll hold the fort down here while you're in D.C, and you're not needed at the meeting tonight. It was more to please your OCD tendencies."
I cocked a brow at him. "I just like to know what's going on."
"Yeah, I know. We all do, but we'll keep you informed. I also want a thorough report of D.C."
It was my turn to laugh. "Who's the one with OCD now?"
Ian shrugged. "We are related, after all. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and all that."
That was true. Our parents were like that too.
I stood up.
"Thanks. I’ll let you know how things go in D.C. Talk to you tomorrow."
"Have a great trip."
I left my office and headed straight to Mel's apartment. I was supposed to pick her up later, but I couldn’t wait. She was on her balcony sipping what looked to be orange juice from a glass. She had her earbuds in. I was betting she was listening to one of her steamy audiobooks. I didn't want to go up the stairs and ring the bell because she might not hear me. Walking around, I found some cones from a fir tree and threw one on her balcony. She was startled, looking around, in the wrong direction, up in the air. I threw another one. It landed right next to her. She lowered her gaze and smiled brightly.