piteous, Brian lifts his head, eyes flaring with anger. “Oh, stop being so damn self-righteous all the time, Jaime. We can’t all be as perfect as you.”
That felt like a slap in the face. “I never said I was perfect.”
“No, you just act like it when you try to preach at me like I’m a child.”
“Well, you act like a child.”
“What’s going on?” Laney pipes up as she enters the kitchen, her gaze moving warily between the two of us.
“Nothing,” Brian growls, tossing the dishtowel he’d been holding down on the counter. “I’m out of here.”
And he slinks back down into his basement hole.
“Fuck,” I mutter, and Laney’s eyebrows go upward. It’s not a word either of us use often. When we do, it’s for a good reason.
“Want to talk about it?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, not really. Besides, I have to get out of here. I do have a ton of work to get done before tomorrow.”
Laney leans into me with a leering smile. “Does that include working on a gorgeous man by the name of Cage?”
“I wish,” I mutter. “He’s working, too.”
“Too bad,” she commiserates.
Definitely too bad, because the truth is, I really miss him when I can’t see him. Does that mean what we have is serious?
I just don’t know.
♦
Later that evening, I’m lying in bed, reading a book. I had finished my reports, laid out my work clothes for the next day, and gave myself a mini facial. A smile comes to my face when my phone rings and I see it’s Cage. He told me he’d call tonight when he finished work, and I’d trusted he would. He’s never blown me off yet.
“Hello,” I answer softly.
He gives an exaggerated groan. “That voice… you sound all sexy and tucked into bed. Is that where you are?”
My laugh is husky. “You would be right about that.”
“Christ… I wish it weren’t so late, or I’d come over there right now and wring a few orgasms out of you.”
Damn. I wish it weren’t so late, too.
“How was work tonight?” I ask.
“Boring but productive. How was family dinner?”
“Great except Brian and I got into a fight over his lack of ambition and the fact he hasn’t paid me back yet.”
“Want me to have a talk with him?” Cage asks, his tone dead serious.
“What?” I exclaim. “No. He doesn’t even know you. That would be weird.”
“I could beat him up instead,” he suggests.
I laugh because he’s joking. At least, I think he is. “That’s all right. I can handle my brother. Also, Laney sort of dropped I was seeing a new man, and my family got all nosy. Bottom line, it transpired into my mother demanding I invite you over for Thanksgiving dinner. So, there you have it… a formal invitation if you don’t already have plans. I mean… we really haven’t discussed it.”
Cage chuckles over my stammering. “I love that she invited me. I would absolutely come, but, as it stands, I would disappoint a whole lot of folks in North Carolina if I bailed on Thanksgiving this year when I already promised I’d visit.”
Even though I’m a bit disappointed he’s leaving, it also warms me that family is as important to him as it is to me. “Good for you,” I say softly. “You should be with your family during the holidays.”
“I’m going to miss you,” he says, but before I can even express the sentiment back, he continues. “And I just found out I have some traveling coming up they kind of threw on me at the last minute. I have to go to San Francisco from North Carolina for a trade show. The following week, it’s on to a seminar in Vegas.”
“They have seminars on how to sell cars?” I ask, intrigued. Trade show, I understood. Seminar, I did not.
“You’d be surprised at the things salespeople can learn.” He chuckles. “I’ll be back in Pittsburgh for a few days in between those trips. I’m hoping we can spend them together.”
My heart squeezes, both in dismay he’ll be gone, but also with hope because he still wants to see me.
“And I hope you won’t get sick of me calling and texting,” he adds, which causes my belly to flutter.
“As long as I can call and text you as well,” I counter.
“You better,” he says, his tone a little dark. “Or else when I get back, I might have to spank you.”
Of course, our conversation turns sexual. Cage insists on FaceTiming me, where he has me do