Serving the Billionaire(43)

I missed him.

Two weeks after he came to my apartment, I arrived at work just before 4 and stashed my things behind the bar, just as always. I greeted the other waitresses and the few dancers who were loitering around, just as always. And then Germaine came out of her office and said, “Regan, a word.”

I followed her in, feeling numb. Being summoned to Germaine’s office always filled me with nameless dread; I would probably never stop being convinced that she was about to fire me. But this time, instead of handing me my last paycheck, she said, “There’s a gentleman in room 4 who would like to speak with you.”

My heart leaped into my throat.

It had to be Carter. There was no one else it could be.

Still, I asked, “Can you tell me who it is?”

Germaine raised her eyebrows at me. “I think you should go see for yourself.”

Heart pounding, palms sweating, I left Germaine’s office and crossed the club to room 4.

I wasn’t sure what I was more afraid of: that it was Carter, or that it wasn’t.

The door was shut. I pushed it open without knocking.

The man inside turned—he turned toward me, and it was Carter, Carter’s hair, Carter’s blue eyes, Carter’s face looking at me from across the room.

“Regan,” he said, and my knees turned to jelly beneath me. I quickly took a seat on the nearest sofa. I didn’t trust my legs to hold me up.

Seeing him again was like having a hot fire lit in my belly. I didn’t know why I’d ever told him to stay away.

That wasn’t true. I knew exactly why. But all of my reasons seemed unimportant now.

“I’m sorry to corner you like this at work,” he said, before I could say anything. “You told me that nobody has ever told me ‘no,’ and maybe that’s true. I like getting my way. I’m not willing to let you go without a fight.”

“Oh,” I said. I was blank, numb.

“It’s true that we don’t know each other very well,” he said. “But you’ve had—some sort of pull on me, ever since the first time I saw you. I know you feel it too.” He spoke quickly, like he had rehearsed his words. “If you really don’t want to have anything to do with me, just say the word, and I’ll walk out that door and never speak to you again. But I’d really like to take you out for dinner tomorrow night.”

“To dinner,” I said. “Like a date?”

He smiled, then, and I knew what my answer would be. The last two weeks had been horrible. I never wanted to be away from him.

“Like a date,” he agreed. “We can just... talk. Get to know each other. Eat some good food. What do you say?”

I closed my eyes, feeling joy rise up within me, irresistible. It was like that moment on a diving board, right before you leap. “Yes,” I said.

“Yes what,” he said.

“Yes, I will go on a date with you,” I said. I opened my eyes and smiled at him.#p#分页标题#e#

“Christ,” he said, and crossed the room in two strides. He sunk onto the sofa beside me and gathered me against him, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my hair. “Regan.”

I clung to him, overwhelmed, burying my face against his shoulder. He smelled so familiar. I didn’t know how I had survived without him.

“I wish you would quit this job and let me take care of you, but I won’t ask you to do that,” he said, his cheek pressed against my hair. “I know you value your independence, and you’ve worked hard to get to where you are. I don’t want to take that away from you.”

“Okay,” I said. I turned my face up toward him, and he kissed me on the corner of my mouth, warm, deliberate. He kissed my cheek and the corner of my eye, and then my mouth, gently at first, soft, tender kisses that quickly became more heated. He slid one hand into my hair and tugged my head back, holding me in place as he claimed my mouth with his own.

I had missed this. I needed this. I needed him.

His hands slid down my body, skimming over my breasts and waist, and curled around my hips, drawing me close. I felt my body responding to him as it always did, eagerly, a sweet, yielding warmth spreading through me. It would be so easy to give in, to let him push me down onto the sofa and unbutton my blouse, shove my skirt up around my waist...

Reluctantly, I pushed him away. “I have to work,” I said.

He exhaled and drew one hand through his hair. “Right. That.” He grinned at me, a quick flash of white teeth. “I forgot.”

“I figured,” I said. I leaned in and kissed him, quickly, because I could do that now. I belonged to him.

We belonged to each other.