I even said good-bye. Not my usual level of client relations,” she said with a sheepish grin.
He took out his phone. “I’ll text her and explain everything.” He read out loud as he typed. “‘Victoria left with me. She says good-bye.’” He hit send and winked at her. “Now can we go have make-up sex?”
A guy passing by them on a bicycle looked over sharply and nearly crashed into a parked car.
“Seriously,” Victoria said to Ford.
But he noticed that she climbed into his car lickety-split.
“I got a funny vibe from Nicole earlier,” Victoria said as she buckled her seatbelt. “Do you think she knew something was going on between us?”
As Ford got behind the wheel, his phone buzzed with a new message. He shook his head while reading it. “Well, at least now I know why she asked me to come tonight.”
He held out the phone so Victoria could see his sister’s reply.
You’re welcome. Now stop brooding.
* * *
IN HIS BEDROOM, as the evening summer sun filtered in through the shades on his windows, Ford kissed the back of Victoria’s neck. He slowly inched down the zipper of her dress, thinking how, a mere hour ago, he’d been going out of his mind at the thought of some other man doing exactly this. But now here they were.
And she was all his.
He pressed his mouth to the top of her shoulder as he pushed the dress down her arms and let it fall to the floor.
“Ford,” she murmured, leaning against him.
He picked her up and carried her to the bed. After setting her down, he stripped off his clothes as she kicked off her heels and took off her bra. Then he climbed onto the bed and swept his mouth over hers in a long, possessive kiss. When his hands finally moved to her underwear, she sighed. But instead of yanking them off, he pulled them down just an inch and slowly kissed his way down to her stomach.
She groaned. “You’re driving me crazy.”
He smiled wickedly against her skin. “Better get used to it, Ms. Slade. I have two weeks’ worth of driving you crazy to make up for.”
Afterward, they lay face-to-face on their sides, looking at each other as the fading sunset cast a soft orange glow around the bedroom.
She reached out and slid her hand over his.
“Don’t even think about asking me for brownies,” he growled.
She laughed. “I was just going to say that I’m really glad those assholes broke into my town house. Because that led me to you.”
He slid a hand down her back and pulled her close once again. “You slay me, Victoria. You know that, right?”
She sunk her fingers into his hair and smiled.
“I do now.”
* * *
LATER THAT NIGHT, Ford woke up to the sound of his front door creaking shut.
He sat up and saw that the other side of the bed was empty. Frowning, he quickly threw on his jeans and went out into the living room.
No Victoria.
Then he noticed a dim sliver of light filtering in through a crack between his front door and the wall, and realized that someone had left the door propped open with the deadbolt.
Seconds later, that someone tiptoed back in, bare-legged and wearing his shirt.
Victoria smiled when she saw him standing there. “Sorry. I was trying not to wake you.” She held up a skinny travel container. “Toothbrush.”
Ford’s mouth curved. Saying nothing, he walked into the kitchen and opened one of the drawers.
She rested her hip against the counter, watching him. “You are awake, right? This isn’t some creepy sleep-walking thing, is it?”
He gave her a look as he walked over. Then he set something down on the counter in front of her.
A spare key to his place.
She smiled softly, looking down at it for a moment, and then picked it up. “Well. I guess we’d better alert the cavalcade that unit 4F is officially closed for business.”
“Had to get that in, did you?” He scooped her up as she laughed, and set her on top of the counter, liking this look of her in his shirt and not much else.
She looked again at the key in her hand. “It’s been years since I’ve had an actual boyfriend.”
That made him go soft on the inside all over again. “It’s going to be even longer before you have another one.”
Her expression turned almost shy. “This happily-ever-after stuff . . . marriage, two-point-five-kids, and the minivan . . . I never thought those things were in the cards