His face shuttered, closed up like a steel trap even though nothing else about him gave away any tension. I got a tingle at the back of my neck, a prickling warning that something had shifted.
“Don’t like the idea?” I prodded, abruptly reminded of a redhead from his past—Dr. Anne Lucas.
“I like you just the way you are. That said, if you want a change, I won’t object. It’s your body, your right. But don’t do it just because of them.”
“Would you still want me?”
The tightness around his mouth eased, the inflexibility on his face fading away nearly as swiftly as it had appeared. “Would you still want me if I had red hair?”
“Hmm.” I tapped my chin with my finger, pretending to contemplate the change. “Maybe we should stick with what we’ve got.”
Gideon kissed my forehead. “That’s what I signed up for.”
“You also signed up for letting me have my way with you tonight.”
“Name the time and place.”
“Eight o’clock? Your apartment on the Upper West Side?”
“Our apartment.” He kissed me softly. “I’ll be there.”
13
“BY THE WAY, congratulations on your engagement.”
My gaze shifted from the project engineer’s face on my monitor to the photo of Eva blowing kisses. “Thank you.”
I would much rather look at my wife. For an instant, I pictured Eva as she’d been the night before, those plush lips wrapped around my cock. I had given her carte blanche with my body and all she’d wanted was to suck me off. Again and again. And again. Christ. I had been thinking about the night we’d had all day long.
“I’ll keep you posted on the impact of the storm,” he said, bringing my attention back to work. “I appreciate you calling personally to check on us. The weather conditions may set us back a week or two, depending, but we’ll open on time.”
“We have a cushion. Take care of yourself and your crew first.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
I closed the chat window and checked my schedule, needing to know exactly how much time I had to prepare for my next meeting with the lead R and D team at PosIT.
Scott’s voice projected from my phone’s speaker. “Christopher Vidal Sr. is on line one. It’s his third call today. I’ve already told him you’ll get back to him when you can, but he’s insistent. How do you want me to handle?”
Calls from my stepfather never boded well, which meant delaying them ate into the time I had to fix whatever problem he needed to impose on me. “I’ll take it.”
I hit the speaker button. “Chris, what can I do for you?”
“Gideon. Listen, I’m sorry to disturb you, but you and I need to talk. Would it be possible for us to meet today?”
Prodded by the urgency in his voice, I picked up the receiver and took him off speaker. “My office or yours?”
“No, your penthouse.”
I sat back, surprised. “I won’t be home until close to nine.”
“That’s fine.”
“Is everyone all right?”
“Yes, everyone’s fine. Don’t worry about that.”
“It’s Vidal, then. We’ll take care of it.”