an end date to this, I got out of the car. I rarely drove, but I didn’t want even my driver to know where I was and with whom. If I was going along with this madness, I needed complete secrecy. The kind that was sealed between August and my lips.
I almost knocked, then remembered what he’d said about leaving the door open. The house was dark, the only light coming from the lamp in the hallway. Maybe he’d gone to bed already and decided not to wait on me. It was already after midnight.
Everything was quiet, and I felt like a burglar sneaking around. It sent a thrill through my body, and I scowled as I headed for the stairs. This had to be all kinds of wrong. It took sneaking around to the next level, but there was something in it that made my steps light and my heart giddy in my chest.
I had no idea which bedroom belonged to August since he hadn’t given me an exclusive tour of the house the last time. I tried the door to his man cave in the event he was there, but the knob wouldn’t turn. I moved on to the next two. Locked as well. Then I found the right one.
Well, it had to be. It was the only door left. I should knock, at least let him know I was here.
Not happening. I liked having the element of surprise on him.
I entered the bedroom quietly and closed the door. The curtains were drawn, and the paleness of the moonlight cast over August’s frame in the bed. The sheets were tangled around his waist, and his top half was completely bare.
Was he sleeping?
I moved closer to the bed and stared down at him in disbelief. He really was sleeping. The shadows of the room made it impossible for me to see his face clearly.
Sure, I was a little late. By a couple of hours, but had he just gone to bed like my appearance or lack of it meant nothing to him?
I knew I was irrational, but I’d wanted him to be on edge, wondering if I’d show up or not. What exactly would that solve? Nothing except stroke my ego that he was as affected by me as I was by him.
My hands itched to take up the pillow and suffocate him. Well, maybe not completely, but just enough for him to realize that Charles Moore was worth pining over, especially when I was offering him something I didn’t put out just for anyone.
Instead of grabbing the pillow, I backed out of the room. I might as well go home. There was no way I was getting laid tonight.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
At August’s voice, I turned. He was in the exact position he had been in just a few seconds ago. Had he been awake the entire time?
“I thought you were asleep.”
“I know we still need to talk about hard limits and all, but feel free to improvise in waking me up for sex anytime.”
Well, if he put it that way. “I would’ve waited until another day.”
“But you’re not a very patient man, are you, Charles?”
I really wasn’t.
“Plus, every time you leave, we start all over again in the number of days we go apart before we eventually wind up together again.” His arm stretched out, and he grasped the cover on the other side of the bed and pulled it down. “Face it, Charles, we’re kind of stuck with each other, and I think it’s kind of useless running from the inevitable, don’t you?”
“It’s not running. It’s being responsible.”
Responsible was not moving toward the bed. In fact, it was the height of irresponsibility to sit at the edge of the bed and bend to remove my shoes.
“Thought you were known for being irresponsible?”
The bed shifted under his weight as he moved. I straightened, but he crowded behind me, his lips fastening on my neck. I moaned, leaning to the side, giving him a bigger canvas to create art on with his tongue.
I lost my train of thought.
“What was the question again?”
His deep chuckle sent a shiver down my spine. He licked up my neck and bit the fleshy part of my ear. “I said I thought you were known for being irresponsible.”
“But I have to draw the line somewhere.” I shuddered at his breath in my ear. “You’re Owen’s kid. He’s married to my son, for god’s sake.”