The Rivals - Vi Keeland Page 0,83

fill the hours between me kissing you goodbye and kissing you hello, and I’ll listen enough to know when to nod. I want to disagree with you, argue loudly, and then fuck the pissed-off right out of both of us. I want you to go be the badass businesswoman you are during the day, where you’re in charge, and then let me be in charge in the bedroom after. I want to watch you from a distance when you buy your morning coffee and daydream about leaving marks all over your beautiful skin. And I want to read boring Shakespeare so I can poke fun at it, just to hear you laugh.”

I hadn’t blinked the entire time he spoke.

Weston searched my eyes. “How’s that? Did I elaborate enough to make my feelings clear?”

“Wow…yeah…clear.” I shook my head. “I thought you said you weren’t good at this?”

Weston’s lips twitched. “I’m not. This is all new to me. But then again, I’m good at everything.”

I rolled my eyes. “So full of yourself.”

Weston pulled me into his lap. He put one hand on my shoulder and used his thumb to caress my collarbone as he spoke. “Tell me what you want.”

I had so many questions. Where would I live? Where would he live? How would we separate business and our personal life when we were essentially competitors? What would our families say? Was it too soon for me to jump into something new? But the one question I knew the answer to was the one he’d just asked.

“You,” I said. “I want you.”

Weston smiled. “Well, that’s easy. You had me from the very start.”

***

The next morning, we both slept in. Well, if you can call sleeping past six o’clock sleeping in. The sound of a cell phone ringing woke us.

I turned and reached over to my nightstand, only to realize it wasn’t my phone buzzing. It was Weston’s. I gave him a soft nudge. “Hey. That’s yours. It’s pretty early, so it might be important.”

He grumbled something unintelligible and patted over the nightstand without looking. As he found his cell, I could see Missed Call on the screen. He peeked one eye open to type in his password.

“Seriously?” I chuckled. “Your code is 6969? How old are you?”

“What’s yours? Uptight spelled out in numbers?”

I smacked him in the face with my pillow as he hit Call Back. But this was what I loved about us. Last night, he’d been sweet and caring. He’d made love to me in a way that made my eyes prickle with tears, and now this morning he was back to his normal, grumpy self. Weston Lockwood was a walking dichotomy, and I enjoyed the friction just as much as I enjoyed the smooth.

“This better be important,” he barked into the phone.

He listened for a moment and then sat up in bed. “Fuck. I’m on my way.”

The phone was barely swiped off, and he was climbing out of bed.

“What happened?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

“There’s a flood.” He grabbed his pants from the floor and yanked them on. “In the damn construction area—on the one night we didn’t have a crew working around the clock because the wood floors were being finished.”

“Oh, shit.” I climbed out of bed and scrambled for my clothes. Weston was already tugging on his shirt by the time I located anything of mine.

He walked over and kissed the top of my head. “Take your time. I’ll run up and start damage control.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Fifteen minutes later, I joined Weston in the ballroom. Sam Bolton was already there, and it looked like he’d come straight from bed, too. All of the overhead lights were off, and both men were using their phone flashlights. I could see their faces but not really the extent of the damage—though the sloshing sound the water made as I walked gave me a hint that things weren’t good.

“Hey,” I said. “What happened?”

Sam shook his head and pointed to the ceiling. “Water main busted. It must’ve happened right after we left based on the amount of water all over the place. Floor refinishers put the topcoat of sealant on last night, which needed to dry for at least twelve hours, so the place had been empty since five o’clock. Can’t step on the floors while they’re wet. So we locked the door and told security to skip checking in on their normal rounds.”

“I thought we replaced the rusty pipes.”

“We did. Not sure what happened, but you can be damn sure I’ll be