made peace with what happened. But moving on, opening up, dating is different. It’s harder. I’m scared, and I’m not even sure why. Losing someone leaves deep marks...”
I took her face in my hands, shifting closer. “Baby, we’ll go at your pace. We’ll just take everything as it comes.”
She smiled, biting her lip. “That sounds good. I can do that.”
Just then, the waiter came with breakfast, interrupting us, laying six small plates of food on the table. Laney dug into the food with the same excitement as in Rome. I couldn’t even fathom that this person who was so positive and optimistic had experienced such a loss. The server kept bringing new plates as soon as we cleared the ones in front of us. We devoured the enormous amount of food relatively quickly.
“So, I believe you promised pampering today. Proper pampering.” She laughed, her eyes happy again.
“I’m a man of my word. I’m going to follow through.”
She batted her eyelashes, smiling. “Care to share what happens after breakfast?”
“See, that’s the thing. I have to change the plan.”
“Why?”
I shifted closer to her again, touching her jaw, moving up to her cheek. “Because it involved taking you home, giving you a foot rub.”
Her pupils dilated. “Go on.”
“Wanted to extend that offer to a full-body treatment.”
“Perfect. When can we start?”
“Laney...”
She pouted. “I don’t like that tone. I feel like I’m about to be refused a bone after you dangled it in front of me.”
“I just don’t want things to... get out of hand.”
“Oooh.” She instantly blushed, licking her lower lip. I couldn’t hold back and claimed her mouth, exploring her deeply. I threaded my fingers in her hair, devouring every sigh she gave me. With every lash of my tongue, Laney’s breath became shorter, faster. She tasted like honey and strawberries, and I couldn’t get enough. But I paused the kiss.
“I know what you mean about things getting out of hand,” Laney said.
“You’re tired.” I remembered how guarded she’d been in Rome.
“And corruptible.” Her eyes were warm. “You really are looking out for me.”
“Yes. I want you to be sure, to trust me completely.” I wanted to touch and explore her, but first, I wanted to make sure she was ready for all that.
I twined a strand of her hair in my fingers, speaking against her cheek. “You taste like honey. I love it. I can’t stop fantasizing about spreading honey all over you, licking you everywhere.”
She shuddered against me. I barely kept from claiming her mouth again.
“Cole! That’s your idea of taking it slow?”
“No. Sorry. Got way ahead of myself. Want to stay here? I’m sure we can find other interesting things on the menu. I can start on that foot rub.”
“And I can’t even fall asleep on you because we’re in a public place. You’re a genius.” I caught her smile before she hid her face in my chest. “I like you, charmer. A lot.”
“I haven’t even started charming you.”
I was used to always doing things at my own pace. I was used to the world accommodating me—at least when it came to business—not the other way round. But now, it was all about her. I wanted to give her exactly what she needed.
Chapter Thirteen
Cole
“Everyone, if we push through, we’ll have everything ready by the submission deadline.”
That statement earned me skeptical glances from my team. Since deciding that we were going forward with the Centenarian submission, everyone was under a lot of additional stress.
“I’m right here with you for every step of the way. Anything you have doubts about, forward it to me immediately. We need to move fast. I’m always reachable, even when I’m not in the office.”
I liked leading by example. When we were on a tight schedule, I burned the midnight oil just like everyone else—but sometimes I did it from my loft, because spending too many hours in the same room drove me mad.
They nodded, grudgingly, and left my office. I went to Hunter’s. I stopped in the doorway, knocking at the open door.
“Spoke with the team. They’re going to work until late tonight.”
“Gave them one of your motivational speeches?”
“Not one of my best, but it worked anyway.”
“You’re good at them. Better than I am.”
Hunter and I had different leadership styles. We also had different motivations. He wanted to clear his dad’s name. He’d run a real estate business decades ago that went bankrupt. It was one of the reasons why we also did projects that weren’t very profitable, like the Centenarian. I respected that. My motivation