Nick grinned. “Wasn’t that nice of her? That’s the kind of person you should be working with, not those egotistical suits who don’t care about you and are obsessed with money.”
“Did you pay her to do that?”
Nick chuckled. “No. Never met her before in my life. This was meant to be.” He held out his hand. “Shall we?”
I stared at his hand for a moment and then placed my hand in his.
He led me to the dance floor and spun me around.
We danced to the last minute and a half of the booty-shaking song.
It felt good to be with Nick.
No, it felt great.
I could feel my shoulders relax.
Just like that, I forgot about work again.
“Okay, last chance to dance!” the DJ said. “One more song before we say goodnight.”
Nick glanced toward the DJ and crossed his fingers. “Please be a slow one.”
I want it to be slow, too.
And it was.
The song was “Heaven” by Bryan Adams.
“Yes!” Nick pumped his fist in the air and pulled me in close.
I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder, enjoying being in his arms again.
We swayed to the music, a smile on my face, as I listened to the lyrics that really hit home, talking about meeting someone who turned your life around.
That’s what it felt like Nick was doing for me.
“This is our song,” I let slip out before I could stop it.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Nick caressed the side of my face. “I’ve seen glimpses of the real you, an amazing person that I’m addicted to. You’re playful. You’re sweet. You’re funny. And when you’re in that blissful state, with no work on your mind, that makes you even more beautiful than you already are. So beautiful my heart can barely handle it.”
“You do that to me, Nicky.”
He kissed me again.
I melted a little more.
Looking into his eyes, I was curious about what Steve had told me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why did you not charge me enough when you submitted the bid to work on my backyard?”
He studied my face for a moment. “What makes you think I didn’t charge you enough?”
“Nicky?”
He chuckled. “Fine.” He sighed, thinking about it. “Honestly, I don’t really need the money.”
Wow.
Steve was right.
“And if you don’t need money, why do you work?”
I was pretty sure I knew the answer but wanted to hear from him.
Nick shrugged. “I love working outside and getting my hands dirty, you know that. I love helping people and I want to stay active. I enjoy creating magical places for people to unwind. Continuing to do what I love accomplishes all those things. I charge enough money to pay Brandon’s salary, plus have a little extra to pay for a sushi meal here and there.” He grinned. “Okay, more than a few sushi meals, but you know what I mean.”
“Nicky . . . that is just so sweet and—” I kissed him on the lips.
He pulled away from the kiss, grinning, his eyes still on me. “If I asked you a question, will you tell me the truth?”
I smirked. “You can’t spell truth without Ruth.”
He chuckled. “I can’t believe you’re that corny.”
“But you love it, don’t you?”
He chuckled. “I do.” He hesitated, staring into my eyes. “My question is . . . what do you think about us?”
“Wow, this is getting deep, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
We continued to sway back and forth as Bryan Adams sang about being in heaven.
I was in heaven.
“Ruth?”
I laughed. “Sorry. I was listening to the lyrics of this song.” I thought about his question. “What do I think about us? Well, things can happen a lot faster at our age, because we have the experience to know exactly what we want and what we don’t want.”
“Uh-huh. I can appreciate that. And what do you want?”
I was known for having the confidence to say what was on my mind at any given time without fear of what people thought, but my heart rate picked up speed as I anticipated the words that were about to come out of my mouth. “I want you.”
Nick grinned. “What a coincidence.”
And his lips were on mine again, this time with more passion, more feeling.
He pulled me closer, tighter.
I felt my legs getting weak and—
“Okay!” the DJ said on the microphone, causing me to jump and bump teeth with Nick’s. “That’s the end of the night for us. Thank you for coming. Good night!”
I pushed back a little from Nick’s arms. “Do you want to go back to my place?”
“I think I have to go back to your place since I drove you here, remember?”
I squeezed his arm. “You know what I mean . . . do you want to go back to my place and come inside?”
Nick nodded. “There’s nothing more I would rather do.” This time, Nick grabbed my hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
We thanked the woman for inviting us to dance with her and walked out of the banquet room toward the front of the hotel.
“Ruth,” Gary said. “There you are.”
Crap. Talk about bad timing.
I stopped and flipped back around. “Hey, Gary. What’s up?”
“I’ve been looking all over for you for the last ten minutes.” He glanced back at the banquet room. “What were you doing in there?”
I decided to tell him the truth. “Dancing.”
“Oh . . .” He studied me, glanced at Nick, and then got his eyes back on me. “Were you leaving?”
This time I decided to lie. “No, just going out to the car to get something.”
He nodded, looking skeptical. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Of course.” I turned to Nick. “Excuse us for just a minute.”
“Not a problem.” Nick pointed to the set of chairs over by the front door in the lobby. “I’ll wait for you over there.”
“Sounds good.”
Gary waited for Nick to leave before speaking. “I wanted to give you the rundown on what was happening tomorrow. Remember I mentioned in the board meeting that we needed to come up with some fresh ideas on new revenue streams for the company?”
I nodded. “I remember.”
“Well, that is our number one priority moving forward and that’s why we’re having an emergency staff meeting tomorrow. Nobody is satisfied with income predictions for the next two quarters. We really need to dig deep and come up with new ideas that are going to wow them. I admit it feels a little odd to even think of growing the company when I’m about to retire, but I’ll still be a shareholder. And I have a fiduciary responsibility to the other shareholders and investors. I’m counting on you to grab the bull by the horns and take the lead. I need something huge.”
“Okay . . .”
“And you have tonight to come up with it. You can present it at the meeting tomorrow morning.” He pointed toward the lobby. “I know you said you weren’t leaving, but you may actually want to head home now since you’ll most likely be pulling an all-nighter.” He patted me on the shoulder. “No rest for the weary, but this is your time to shine and show everyone why you’re going to be the new managing partner. See you in the morning.”