A weird sounding chime goes off from the smart device on the nightstand. Even our dog, Mr. Tibbs, raises and tilts his head in question of the odd ring. I suspect it’s some sort of alarm Elizabeth has set to wake herself up from her impromptu nap.
I try turning it off quickly, but it’s too late as she reluctantly stirs from her sleep. I brush a finger down the side of her face, adjusting some stray curls behind her ear.
“Why don’t you sleep another twenty,” I whisper.
“I can’t,” she responds groggily. “I shouldn’t even be asleep now.”
“Why?”
She notices Knox is missing from the bed.
“The baby!”
“I put him in the crib. Don’t worry, I’ve got him today.”
“My meeting—”
“What meeting? It’s Saturday, Duchess.”
She must be delirious with sleep. Her days seem to be seamlessly blending into each other.
“It was the only day he could talk.”
She tries inching the sheet and quilt down with her feet to wake herself up. The central air is on high and keeps our room cool enough for her to sleep under layers. I yank them back up to her neck. Pissed that she’s actually attempting to work on a Saturday when she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months.
“He who?”
“The new president of Cabot University. He’s considering working exclusively with us. He would promote the use of the app through official university communications, potentially exposing us to thousands of students.”
“Where’s Cabot University?”
“It’s a small school upstate, but they’re connected to the University of Pennsylvania network.”
“That’s big news, baby. I can’t believe you’re just telling me about it.”
“I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“You know I don’t believe in all of that superstitious BS.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been let down so many times before from deals that almost happened. I just wanted to wait to tell you until I was at least close to securing the deal.”
I sit on the edge of our bed and slide my hand underneath the covers near the apex of Elizabeth’s thighs.
“If you would just let me help you secure a few paid clients, you would never need to feel disappointed again. In fact, helping you would be my pleasure.”
The heat emanating from my fiancée’s crotch as I knead the inside of her thigh makes me feel stiff in my own. I want inside of my woman in the worst way.
“It won’t mean the same if you just buy me business relationships, Roman.”
Elizabeth abruptly rolls over toward the nightstand and reaches for her cell phone once she hears it ding, immediately ending the physical contact between my hand and her thigh.
Now I’m just fucking annoyed.
“Why won’t it mean the same? Do you actually believe that all the millionaires in this country earn their money with hard work and honest deals?” I scoff.
“I don’t need to be a millionaire like some people. I just want to help students find scholarships for college and make a decent living while I do it.”
Elizabeth picks up her phone and starts scrolling through her text messages as if this conversation is boring her. It’s been a minute since I tied her pretty ass up to the headboard and fucked her sideways. I think she’s overdue.
“You know what I mean, Elizabeth, and put the phone down.”
“I’m sending my friend Patty some money. Wait, a second.”
I can’t help but notice the confirmation screen on her phone and it surprises me. She just sent this Patty person a thousand dollars and even though we live comfortably, that’s still a lot of money to just give someone, especially a woman I’ve never heard of.
“Who’s Patty?”
“An old friend from school. Her creepy landlord is giving her some problems so the money will help her pay the security deposit for a new place. Maybe you can go down there and talk to him until she finds something else?”
Lately, my Duchess worries about everything and everyone besides the one thing she should be, herself.
“Are you finished?” I ask impatiently because I’m sick and tired of competing with every device in this house.
She places the phone on her lap and slowly rolls her head up to glare at me. This woman I adore has developed a serious attitude problem which I attribute to a sleep deprivation and a lack of some good dick in her life.
“Fine, you want to talk about my business? Well, I think it’s perfectly okay for us to have different approaches toward how we accomplish our goals. You have your way of doing things and I have mine.”
“Yeah, but it’s my approach that actually works.”
“You’re so arrogant.”
“Is it I’m arrogant or that I’m right?”
“It sounds like you’re throwing up in my face you pay all the bills around here?”
Damn, she must be sleep deprived. I totally wasn’t saying that shit.
“No, Duchess, not at all. I’m just saying that all the strategies I’ve learned over the years like buying favors, arranging backdoor deals, and leveraging influence over people to get what I need is what works.”
“I think you’re comparing oranges to apples. The two of us are in very different lines of work, and that’s not the way I’m going to build School Bucks into a brand that every college student in the world can use. I’m going to do it my way. No skipping the line.”
I grunt to myself, which is the equivalent of me rolling my eyes. While I’ve never attended an ivy league university like Elizabeth and her friends, I’ve learned everything I need to know on the streets, specifically under the tutelage of my father, Joseph. One thing he’s always impressed upon me is that nobody gets brownie points for doing shit the hard way.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth and I have had this conversation more times than I can count and it always ends up the same way. Me pissed that she won’t permit me to help her grow her business in the way that I know how and her apologizing for making me angry by wrapping her pretty lips around my dick. That is definitely the easiest solution to shutting me up, but sadly that’s not the way this conversation is going to end because Knox just started waking from his nap. I can hear the echo of his raspy baby babble through the five gazillion monitors Elizabeth has placed all over the damn house.
“Ah, there he is,” she says, sounding almost relieved that she has an excuse to end our conversation.
When she rises from the bed, I place my palm firmly against her chest, getting a quick feel of her right tit for good measure. Her nipple pebbles from my brief touch and a petty part of me dies inside. Elizabeth’s breasts are round and full from breastfeeding and look amazing, it’s a fucking shame neither one of them have been in my mouth for days.
“I said I’ve got him.”
“Okay,” she reluctantly agrees.
When I enter the nursery, my little bruiser is on his feet, hands wrapped around the railing, with a huge grin on his face. I can’t help but give him one in return. He has his mother’s smile and my deep-set eyes. Other than Elizabeth, I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone or anything more in my life. You can’t help but adore this little bundle of baby brute force. He’s already got the great makings of a Masterson man—he’s irresistible and unstoppable. Nobody can say no to him.