he called her, like he was summoning her for an urgent business meeting.
She shifted on the bed, and he was about to call her again, when she sat up. Seeing him standing in front of her, her eyebrows shot to her hairline and she tilted her head. He followed her gaze and realized he was not only naked but fully ready to take her again. Cursing himself, he grabbed a pillow and covered his betraying dick.
“We took things a bit too far last night. Maybe it was method acting.” Method acting? What excuse for a human being are you? He heard his inner voice and shook his head.
“No one can accuse you of being super tactful, can they?” Alice tossed her hair to one side, and the sheet covering her slid down her body.
Mio Dio. In broad daylight, she was even more tempting. His eyes zoomed in on the tender flesh of her neck, where he had suckled and nipped. God, she had such sensitive skin—and he, he had jumped her bones like a horny farm boy on his first roll in the hay.
With a blink, he squared his shoulders and squeezed the pillow harder against his cock. “Sorry. We never got a chance to talk things through last night, and I don’t want to distract us from the real problem. In a few weeks, I’m planning on moving to New York. And I’d love for you to come with us. As our nanny.”
She pulled up the sheets. “I told you I can’t go. Is that why you screwed me last night? Do you think that would have changed my mind?”
“God, no,” he said in a rush. “I told you, I was dying to have sex with you. Trust me on this. I just don’t want it to change things between us. Look, by moving to New York I will cut down my travel time, thus my time away from Cara. I will be a better, more present father.”
She lifted her chin, eyes gleaming with an intensity he couldn’t understand. “Therefore you won’t need me.”
I’ll always need you. He sighed. “Of course I will. I’ll still have long work hours, partners to entertain, meetings to attend. Besides, Cara loves you, and she needs to have someone, a woman, to talk to. She will be a teenager in a few years. She’ll need a female figure more than ever.” His daughter always raved about how Alice talked to her about everything. Well—a flash of Alice’s clit jewel flashed through his mind—he hoped not everything.
She took a deep breath. “Have you ever considered remarrying?”
Never. He would have to be a fool to want that kind of madness again. When he had married Kristin, he had no idea the bitter, selfish fraud she would end up being. He followed his emotions and paid a price for them. “That’s not an option.”
“Moving to New York makes you a better dad. I get that, and I applaud you. But going with you and leaving my family behind makes me—”
“Leaving them behind? What is this, the fifties? You have the right to live your own life. If it matters so much, why don’t they move, too?” he said, clearly not thinking straight.
“Well, sure. I will move my mom and bipolar sister who can’t deal with changing routines, and six-year-old Brenda all the way to New York with its astronomical cost of living, and all just to make life easier for you. Sounds perfectly reasonable.”
Damn it, she had a point there. He could write the check for her family to relocate, but the consequences would be disastrous. “Alice.”
“Darling Mr. B, Lorenzo, cockalicious man—before my father died, he asked me to take care of them. I can’t betray that promise. Don’t you see that moving away from them would do just that?”
“Shit,” he said, and as he shoved both hands in his hair, the pillow fell to the floor. Ah, screw it. They were talking, weren’t they? Maybe talk was the answer. Yes. Until now he had no idea she had made such a promise. If she trusted him, and he had enough time, they could talk things over, and he would make her see that New York was a good choice for her. “What am I going to do?”
“Not to worry. I’m sure you will find someone suitable in New York. And during this trip, I will continue to play my part of dutiful fiancée as our deal stands.”
Dutiful. The word set a rumble in his body,