shoulder with one hand. “What time did you ladies want to head back?”
Vicky answered for the both of us. “Actually, now would be kind of nice. As much as I’d love to hang out in a penthouse all day in my pajama pants, I got shit I need to do.”
I looked up at Damien. “Yeah. I need to get to bed early tonight if I’m going to be worth anything tomorrow at work.”
I could see by the tick in his jaw that he wasn’t happy about taking us back so soon, but he didn’t give us a hard time about it. “Okay, no problem. What time do you get up in the morning for work?”
Both of my eyebrows shot upward. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t already know the answer to that? Your PI must not be that good after all.”
I could hear Vicky snort laugh before Damien got all Damien on me. “Actually, I do already know. I was just trying to be a good, normal boyfriend and avoid pointing out my stalking tendencies.”
I rolled my eyes. “This thing between us will never be normal, so moving forward I can take just about anything other than lies. Don’t ever lie to me, and we’ll be fine.”
“Alright, I’m going to gather a few things, and then we can be on our way.” I watched after him as he headed towards his bedroom.
As soon as he was out of sight, Vicky leaned in and whispered yelled, “Fee, something’s not right with that one.”
I shot her the most incredulous look. “Ya think?”
“No, I mean, I’m serious,” she insisted. “That man looks at you like he would walk into oncoming traffic if that’s what it took to make you happy, Fiona.” Calling me Fiona always meant she was serious. “Damien looks at you look he is in love with you.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” I whispered yelled back at her.
She shook her head. “Don’t get confused, Friend. The look in that man’s eyes is not one of obsession, it’s one of love. It’s almost as if, now that he has permission to be your boyfriend, he’s letting his guard down. He’s finally free to show you his real feelings.”
Before I could reject her assumption, Damien returned carrying our travel bags along with another much larger suitcase. “What’s that?”
“It’s only an hour’s drive from Smithtown to the city. Since you get up at five to open the shop at six, I figure that’s plenty of time from me to get back here by nine.”
“It’s only an hour drive if there’s no commute traffic, Damien. It’ll take you the full three hours to make it back here in the morning. If you don’t feel like taking us home and then driving back, we can rent-”
He put his hand up to stop me. “No. I’m taking you girls back. Spending the rest of the day with you and being able to slip inside you tonight is more than worth the three-hour drive back in the morning.”
I couldn’t stop the blush that spread through my body. “Damien…”
“Fuck, that’s hot.”
I shot Vicky a side-eye.
Her eyes widened all innocent like. “What? It is.”
Damien decided to put a stop to the madness. “Okay, that’s enough. Let’s go, ladies.”
We made our way down to his private parking area in the garage below the building and, after climbing in his car, we started our journey home.
The hour drive wasn’t bad at all. I had started to wonder how we were going to approach this whole dating thing when he worked the hours he did, and we lived an hour away from each other. And that was without traffic. The morning commutes into the Bay Area was just as bad as living in Los Angeles.
Maybe the distance will be a good thing. I already felt overwhelmed by our new roles that maybe not seeing him every day will help me keep the balance I needed in my life. I had a feeling that, if I let him, Damien would take over my life and I would never be at his mercy like that.
Ever.
We dropped off Vicky and it felt such relief as Damien pulled into my driveway. There is nothing like coming home. I waited until Damien opened the car door for me before I got out. I learned quickly that he was a stickler for manners. I would never have guessed it with how he treated me as children, but the grown man before me made sure he opened my doors, carried