know.”
He lifted a dark eyebrow, chuckling. “I’ve known you long enough to know that you do know, but you’re not going to admit it until you understand what’s going on.” He paused, looking at her carefully. “Am I right?”
Sloane didn’t want to admit anything to him. First of all, she didn’t understand what was…okay, he might be right there.
He smiled. “You’re trying to understand all off the possible issues to having a relationship with me, aren’t you?”
Sloane sighed, bowing her head slightly. “Yes. But…”
He wrapped his strong arms around her. “I get it, Sloane. It’s one of the reason’s you’ve been such an asset to me over the years. You need to understand the pros and cons, work through everything, and figure out ways to overcome potential problems.” He took her hands in his, allowing her to put a bit of space between them without breaking contact. “The problem with that way of approaching this kind of situation is that we’re two human beings and we can’t anticipate every problem.”
“That’s true, but shouldn’t we approach a…romantic relationship cautiously?”
His lips quirked. “I suspect that we’ve been approaching this relationship for the past several years.”
Sloane wanted to believe him, but her tender, wounded heart wouldn’t allow her to. Not after her personal history and her knowledge of men. She’d experienced her mother’s pain after she’d informed Rayne and then Pepper’s sperm donors, watched her mother fall apart when they disappeared, never to be heard from again. Sloane had helped her gentle, heartbroken mother pull herself together, encouraging and helping in any way she could. It was one of the reasons Sloane had so easily stepped into the mother-role after their mother was killed. It felt natural, probably because she’d been doing it for so long already.
Which isn’t to say that she hadn’t panicked many times during that period right after their mother’s funeral. Especially the first night after they’d been evicted from the apartment. And the next several nights. Okay, so she’d never really stopped panicking, Sloane realized.
“I’m not sure if…”
“One day at a time, Sloane,” he coaxed softly, and stood up, giving her hands a final squeeze before releasing them. “Just relax, Sloane. We’ll figure this out together.”
She liked the sound of that. But she also preferred to be in control. He knew this about her and laughed softly as he walked into his office. “You’re going to try to plan anyway, aren’t you?” he asked over his shoulder.
She didn’t reply, and instead turned to watch him walk away because…well, because watching Josh Starke at any point, coming or going, was a delight for the senses! He was so tall and confident, his shoulders broad, his stomach flat…she remembered exploring that flat stomach last night and realized that it wasn’t exactly flat. It was ridged and amazing and…!
“Stop staring at me or I’m going to come over there and we’re going to start tonight’s activities early.”
Sloane jumped, then blushed when he turned to smirk at her over his shoulder with those too-knowing eyes. “I wasn’t…!”
“You were. But that’s okay. Because I’ve been doing it to you for years,” he admitted with a wink, and walked into his office.
Huh? Had he just admitted that he watched her walk away? Surely she’d misunderstood him. But even dismissing that possibility didn’t eliminate the smile that bloomed as she returned to her computer.
It took all of Josh’s willpower to walk into his office and not coax Sloane out of the office and back to his place. He’d been so furious when he’d woken up to discover that she was gone. Not just gone from his bed, but from his penthouse. He’d imagined her in his home so many times over the years, and to wake up and want to have her there, to see her shy smile and, perhaps, make love to her again. Hell, he’d like to take the whole damn day off just to make love to her.
So when he’d discovered that she was gone, he’d been ready to punch someone. Luckily, the doorman to his building had been behind a counter, so when the poor man had wished him a good morning as Josh had walked out, he’d been too far away for violence.
But now that he’d talked to her, warned her that they weren’t finished after just one night, Josh felt better, more centered. Ready to take on the world!
Was he in a good mood because of the amazing sex? Or was it because he was going to repeat everything all