Linc stepped behind me, wrapping me in his arms. “Maybe you can have a bath. You used to love soaking in the tub.”
“I still do,” I replied quietly, feeling overwhelmed as I looked around.
He spun me in his arms. “Hey, what is it?”
I shook my head, but he refused to let me go, tipping up my chin to make me look him in the eye. “What?” he demanded. “Tell me.”
“I’m embarrassed,” I admitted. “Having you stay at that little apartment. You seeing my place—compared to this, it’s a hovel,” I admitted.
“Stop it,” he growled. “I love the little apartment, and your place is not a hovel. It’s yours—it’s you. The fact that you’re in it makes it special.” He indicated the room. “They’re just walls, Sunny. It’s a place I sleep, eat, and work. It’s always just been a house.” He bent down and kissed me. “With you standing in it, it feels like a home now.”
He always said the right thing. His words were like a soothing balm over my heart. I stared up at him, his blue eyes sincere and warm, darkening with intensity as he met my gaze. His hands, resting on my hips, tightened, and the air around us bubbled with heat. My breathing picked up, and before I could stop myself, I flung my arms around his neck and kissed him.
If I shocked him, he recovered fast, yanking me close and taking control of the kiss. His mouth dominated mine, his tongue pressing in, stroking over mine with long, sensuous passes. I gasped as he wrapped his large hands around my thighs, lifting me to the counter, stepping between my legs as he continued to work my mouth. I whimpered as he tugged me close, and I felt his erection trapped between us. He slid his hands under my shirt, gliding them up my back, spreading his fingers wide, his touch warm and sure. He dragged his lips down my neck, across my cheek to my ear, his voice raspy.
“Fuck, Sunny. I want you.”
I wrapped my legs around his waist.
He hissed and cursed. “Baby, I have a meeting.”
“Okay.” But I offered him my mouth again, and he took it.
He devoured me, trailing his fingers up and down my back, sliding them under the fabric of my camisole, feathering them over the sides of my breasts. My nipples hardened, and I felt the pulse of desire grow in my core. “Linc,” I whimpered.
“Jesus,” he panted. “I want to spend hours with you, Sunny. Kissing you. Holding you. Making love to you,” he added with a low growl. “Not fuck you in the bathroom and leave you alone right away.” He rested his head on my shoulder, then raised his chin and met my eyes. His were dark with desire. “You are too beautiful. I can’t resist you.”
I cupped his face in my hands and kissed his mouth. Then his cheeks, nose, and finally his forehead, peppering light kisses on his skin. “Then go and do what you have to do. I’ll be here when you get back.”
He stared at me, a wondrous look on his face. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make me feel…adored,” he breathed out, his voice incredulous.
“You are.”
Our eyes locked, a moment of clarity and silent conversation happening between us. He nodded as if answering a question, then scooped me into his arms and carried me into his bedroom. He set me on the bed gently as if I was the most delicate of sculptures. He kissed my forehead. “Sleep while I’m gone. It’s Mrs. Ellis’s day off, so you won’t be disturbed.”
“I’m not sure I can sleep. I’m not used to morning naps.”
He grinned so widely his eyes crinkled. “Then have a bath. Snoop around, Sunny-girl. Open my drawers and find a shirt you like and wear it. Dig through my closet. Bake some biscuits. Whatever you want. Just relax.”
I understood what he was telling me. His life was an open book, and I was to make myself comfortable in it.
I snuggled into the cradling mattress with a contented sigh. Turning my head, I inhaled the scent of Linc on his pillow. Suddenly, I felt exhausted.
“Maybe just a few moments,” I murmured, shutting my eyes.
Linc pressed his lips to my forehead again, and I felt a soft blanket being drawn over me. I burrowed back under the warmth, the pull of sleep hitting me.
“I’ll be back soon,” Linc promised.
“M’kay,” I mumbled.
I heard the sound of his camera phone, then his footsteps as he walked away. He paused at the door, his breathing the only sound in the room.
“What a beautiful sight,” he muttered.
I was asleep before he reached the main floor.
18
Linc
Sunny was on my mind all morning. I kept glancing at the photo I took of her in my bed. Curled under the ivory blanket, her hair spilling across my pillow—a bright ribbon of color against the pale hue of the sheets. For the first time in years, my concentration was muddled. It wasn’t on the business in front of me. I wanted to be back at the house with Sunny. Lying beside her, feeling her soft skin on mine. I wanted to feel her under me, hear her calling my name as we rediscovered each other.
Not sitting in an office listening as a bunch of power-hungry men tried to outdo one another.
I cleared my throat. “Gentlemen, as much as I appreciate that you all have an opinion on this matter, the bottom line is, it is my decision. I thank you for your input, and I’ll send my determinations to you soon.” I glanced at my watch. “I have another meeting to attend, so excuse me. My assistant is off today, so you can show yourself out.”
I strode from the boardroom straight into my office, shutting the door. At my desk, I watched as they filed from the office, all muttering and angry. I didn’t care. They wanted my financial backing; they could play by my rules.
I picked up the phone and called Milo. He had sent a couple of messages while I was in the meeting, and unlike the men I dismissed, I was eager to hear what he had to say. He wasn’t the same sort of lawyer as Ned. He leaned more toward the darker side of the law and had a lot of contacts that came in handy on the rare occasion such as this. We had met at Toblacove and had stayed in touch once we both got out.
“Linc,” he drawled by way of greeting me.
“Milo. Tell me you have good news.”
He chuckled, the sound low and dark. “It worked. I had him tailed to a bar, so he was already breaking parole. He was all over a young-looking girl in about five seconds. How the police got tipped to him violating his parole restrictions, I have no idea. Add in the drugs in his pocket? He’s back in jail, and he ain’t getting out for a long time.”
“How did you get an underage girl into a bar?”
“I never said she was underage. I said she was young-looking—the way he likes. She was twenty-one. And one hell of an actress. Everyone in the bar heard her telling him off and knew he was getting handsy without permission. She almost screamed the place down.”
“So they have enough to hold him?”
“His parole restrictions were no bars, no alcohol or drugs, and he was to keep a fifty-foot radius from women under the age of twenty-five. He broke all the rules in one fell swoop.”
I tried not to laugh and failed. A gift of a bottle of rye delivered to Carl in the afternoon had ensured his bad decision-making. He liked the hard stuff, and being in jail would have made him thirsty for the taste. I had hoped it would set him back on the path to destruction, and I was pleased it had happened so quickly.