“Until we break up? And then what do I do?” She shook her head. “It’s too risky.”
“I will pay you a hundred thousand dollars a year to be a completely terrible assistant to me. And I will sign a contract stating that if we do break up, I will grant you another hundred thousand dollars as severance pay. I don’t want you to worry about money when you’re with me.”
The money made her eyes widen, but she shook her head. “I feel like you’re trying to buy my affection.”
“If that’s the only way I can get it, then that is what I’ll take.” His arms tightened around her. “Maylee, please. Come back to me.” He wagged his eyebrows in an obvious fashion. “I have an entire bag of purloined hotel soaps and shampoos with your name on them.”
She smiled, but still hesitated.
The look in his eyes became intense. “Please. I need you.”
It was those three little words that decided her. I need you. How long had she waited for him to admit such a thing? “I’ll let you hire me . . . on one condition.”
“Anything.”
“I’m only going to be your employee until I can trust you not to break my heart again.” She gave him a small, trembling smile. “When I’m comfortable with you again, I’ll quit because I know I can trust you, and I don’t want things between us to be about money.”
“Done. All done. Whatever you want, done.”
“Then I guess you have another assistant,” she breathed, and leaned in.
He kissed her so fiercely that her toes curled, and she clung to his thick woolen coat. His tongue slicked against her own in a possessive dance, and Maylee was left gasping and breathless when he released her.
“I guess I’d better tell Mama and them that I’m moving back to New York City.”
“Good,” said Griffin, just as breathless as her. His gaze devoured her. “Very good.”
***
A few hours later, Maylee had kissed her Mama, her Nana, her Pepaw and her sisters, packed her small bag, and leashed Bubba, and they were heading to New York City. Griffin had agreed to let her bring her dog, even though it was clear he wasn’t sure what to do around the animal. Maylee wondered if he’d ever had a pet, and then she thought of the queen with her big, fluffy cats, and tried to picture a grimly resolute Griffin petting one, and giggled to herself all the way to the airport.
Once they were back on his jet, Kip took Bubba’s leash and sat at the front of the plane with a drink and a magazine. “I’ll be here in case you need me,” the valet said in a dry voice. “With headphones on.”
That was an odd thing to say, Maylee thought as she held Griffin’s hand and headed to the back seats on the plane. “Why would he tell us that?”
Griffin sat in one large leather seat, and then pulled her down into his lap. “He thinks we’re going to have a make-out session in the back of the plane, I suppose.” He dragged his arms around her and pulled her closer, running his hands along her back and thigh as if he couldn’t get enough of touching her.
She pulled off his glasses and tossed them into a nearby empty seat. Then, she leaned in and took Griffin’s lower lip between her teeth, biting it lightly and enjoying the shiver she felt rock through his body. “Then I suppose we shouldn’t disappoint him?”
Griffin’s groan of response was deliciously gratifying to hear. “There is a room in the back of the plane.”
“Does it have condoms?”
He groaned again. “I hope to God that it does.”
“Let’s go check it out,” she murmured against his mouth, and then slid out of his lap. She sashayed the few feet to the back of the plane and opened the door, knowing Griffin’s eyes were on her every step of the way.
The bedroom at the back of the plane was just as she remembered it. There was a full-size bed on the one side and a mirror on the wall behind it. On the other side of the small room was a desk with a chair, and a door that led to the bathroom.
She headed for the bathroom and heard Griffin shut the door to the room and lock it behind them. Inside the bathroom, there were a number of toiletries, but the thing that interested her the most was the box of condoms under the sink. It looked like the box she’d purchased in Bellissime, and she turned and held it out to Griffin. “You kept these?”
“How could I not? The driver was giving me such dirty looks for breaking your heart that I took them as a badge of shame.” He grimaced at the thought.
She laughed again. “I’m glad you feel bad about that, because I felt worse.”