“Women can do most anything a man can, but we focus on our team’s strengths. The female foreman we have is more talented in the design intricacies of a job. We send her in to work her magic. Then her team will either do the job or we’ll pass it off to one of the other teams. It all depends on what’s needed. The job determines the workers, if that makes sense.”
I followed behind Luca as he spoke, and Jonah trailed us without interrupting.
“Actually, it makes perfect sense. You want to employ the right people in the right roles. That way, you’ll get the best outcome.”
“Spoken like a true business manager in training,” Luca teased, and my heart started to pound. When Luca faced forward, I turned around and gave a thumbs up to Jonah who shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Can you believe your dad hired me on the spot!” I spun around in a circle once Jonah led me through the hotel room door, tossing my bag into the chair in the corner. After I twirled, I went over to the bed and plopped backward, letting myself fall to the king-sized bed. The room was beautiful but not ostentatious. Hugging each side of the bed were black lacquered end tables with shiny silver handles. A squat, silver-based lamp sat on each side of the bed.
I watched as Jonah went to one lamp and turned it on, then repeated the process on the next.
Across from the bed were two huge windows. In between them was a matching black dresser with a flat screen TV hanging on the wall above it. To the left of the bed was a door that was already open, which I could tell led to a rather large bathroom, complete with an awesome tub that I figured two people could easily fit in. Imagining me and Jonah in the tub had me shivering with excitement to get on with tonight’s activities.
I popped up and went over to the chair where my bag was, shimmying as I did so.
Jonah sat on the edge of the bed and chuckled. “You’re really happy, baby.”
I grinned and spun around. “So happy! You don’t know what this means. He told me what the base salary is and it’s more than all my jobs put together! Do you know what this means? I’ll be able to finish my coursework, find a place of my own, buy some furniture, and live without fear about where my next dollar is going to come from.” I clutched the pretty kimono-style satin robe I pulled from my bag and held it up to my chest. “And I’m going to have medical benefits! I haven’t had any medical coverage since I lived at Kerrighan House and was under the government care plans. This. Is. Huge!”
Jonah patted the bed next to him. “Come here.”
I dropped the kimono on my bag and practically skip-walked to his side. Instead of sitting next to him, I put my hands to his shoulders and sat across his lap, my knees beside each of his hips.
“It seems like since the day you crashed into my life, everything is changing for the better.” I dipped my head and rubbed my nose against his. “Thank you, Jonah.”
He moved his hands from where they’d been curled around the fleshy parts of my hips and slid them up my ribcage and around my back. “This smile on your face right now, it makes all the shit I’ve had to go through worth it. You light up my life, Simone. Make me see things differently. I’m now looking forward to the future.”
I ran my fingers through his hair, and he tilted his head back. “Are you sure you’re okay with me working for your dad and your brother?”
He inhaled so deeply I could feel his chest move with his intake of air where we were pressed together. “Wasn’t it you who told me I couldn’t let my past color my future?”
I grinned. “Not in those words exactly, but yeah. We can’t take any of the past back and do it over again. We just have to move forward and make the best choices we can toward finding our happy.”
“Which also means I can’t convict you for the sins of my ex-wife,” he murmured.
I scratched at the back of his head, allowing my nails to grate across the tension I felt there. “It wasn’t all bad was it? With Helen.”
He closed his eyes and I rested my forehead to his.
“You don’t have to talk about it. Especially since this is supposed to be our night, but honey, you just lost her all over again in a way that’s very permanent. I don’t want you putting on a strong face for me, or not sharing your grief. You had a life before me, and I’m okay with you sharing all of it. I just want to know you’re okay and I’m supporting you the best way I can.”
Jonah smiled softly and opened his eyes. “I’m okay and dealing with a lot of it internally. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt that she left this world the way she did, but that’s not on me, you, or anyone other than the bastard who took her life.” He tightened his hold on me. “Would it be wrong to ask you to go to the funeral with me?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. She was an important part of your life. And you know, it’s okay to let go of all the nastiness that was between you two in the end and just grieve for the woman you loved and married all those years ago.”
He sighed and I felt his warm breath caress my cheek. “You’re an amazing woman, Simone. I hope you know that.”
I grinned, cupped his cheeks, and tilted his head to look at me. “As long as my man believes it, that’s all that matters,” I said and took his mouth in a slow, deep kiss. Before long he fell back, palmed my ass with both his large hands, and let me take charge.
When I ran my hands down his chest in search of the button on his jeans, he encircled my wrists and sat back up abruptly. “Nope. No going further. We’re having a dinner date here in the room and I am eager to see what you plan on putting under that pretty satin robe you just had in your hands.”
I laughed and bit into my bottom lip. He cupped my cheek. “I’m going to have to start praying again,” he said randomly.
His statement had me frowning. “Uh, okay. Why?”
He grinned. “Because you’re such an anomaly. I’d never met a woman like you. One who seems so perfectly matched with me. Comfortable in her own skin. Takes life as it comes.”
“Mmm hmm, butter me up some more, baby. I like it!” I teased. “But you know I’m a sure thing, right? I’m pretty confident that I want to jump your bones more than you want to jump mine.” I ran my thumb across his plump bottom lip.
Jonah laughed out loud and for a very long time after I made my claim. “Not even close, Simone. You forget, it’s been over a year since I’ve been with a woman. I’m certain my desire to fuck your brains out far surpasses anything you’ve cooked up in that wild imagination of yours.” He kissed me hard and fast, tugging on my bottom lip and letting it go with a snap.
I licked the heated flesh and my eyes went half-lidded, lust coiling at the base of my spine and lower. “Care to skip dinner?”
He chuckled, stood up, and let me drag down his muscular form. I whimpered like a wanton hussy but worse, I felt like one. I was one hundred percent ready to throw any plans he had out the window and just mount him right then and there.
“Cool it, baby. I’m going to order room service.”
I sighed and took a deep breath, my arms still looped around his waist. “Okay, one more melt-my-panties kiss and then I’ll go take a shower and leave you to order our food. Deal?”