“Then what’s the plan? The contracts are signed. Did you bring in someone else to deal with the publicity and advertising?”
His back teeth scraped together. No. But he should have thought of it. Should have secured an additional investor before bringing this up with someone as savvy as Kyla.
He hadn’t because VJ deserved to have these ties severed before he slept with her again. Really, it should have happened before last night, but then he’d been sure last night would end in separate bedrooms. When it hadn’t, he’d been a little too busy to pick up the phone.
“I’m still working on the alternative plan. Do you want your car? I’ll drop it off to you today.”
“Guy’s having a thing tonight at Club 47. Bring the car by.” He did not like the crafty note creeping into her tone. “And your new friend. I’d like to meet her.”
Yeah. That was going to happen. He sank down on the couch, unsure if he’d get through this without breaking something. VJ had uncorked the fire and reclosing the lid on his soul sucked. But he had to find a balance. “We’re busy. I’ll bring the car to your mother’s around three.”
“Now you’ve got me curious. Who is she?”
“No one you’d know.”
“She must be dog ugly.”
“For Christ—” He was up and pacing before he realized it. “You’re unbelievable.”
“And you can’t still be upset about Guy. We’re just friends now.”
As he’d suspected. She and Guy had split up, and she’d had her sights set on Kris again.
“I’m not upset about Guy.”
“Come to the club. It’ll be fun. Show your new friend a good time.”
He could think of a hundred things he and VJ could do for fun besides spending the evening in a pit of vipers. “She’s not my friend.”
“Oh, my God. It’s that serious? Is she the reason you don’t want to do the engagement? You made it sound like—”
“Kyla. Stop.” Now he had to go to the party. If nothing else, to prove to Kyla he wasn’t serious about VJ. “We’ll be there to drop off the car and kill your curiosity. We won’t stay.”
His and VJ’s relationship had a short life—very short—and that wasn’t going to change regardless of what Kyla said to bait him. The engagement was incidental to his feelings about VJ. He liked her, and they had fun. It wasn’t as if he’d subconsciously sought to remove the Kyla obstacle in case this thing with VJ progressed.
This thing with VJ couldn’t progress.
He needed to back off again. The more he practiced reattaching that lid, the easier it would be to do it permanently.
He ended the call and got lost in work instead of VJ, but wondered the whole time why it bothered him. Why the ache in his chest wouldn’t ease no matter what he did.
When VJ woke—alone—she cocked an ear for the sound of the shower, but the bathroom door stood ajar and the interior was dark. She sat up and was immediately sorry. Everything hurt. But deliciously, rightly so. Last night had bordered on mythical.
She flopped back on the pillow and grinned at the ceiling. This bed still belonged to Kris even if he wasn’t in it. She’d slept sinfully late and he was a busy man, who had spent the entire day with her yesterday. He probably needed to catch up on work and if she left him alone, maybe she’d get some of his time later.
She limped into the bathroom, beamed at the marks Kris had trailed down her throat and threw on a robe. She wandered out of the bedroom. Kris sat at the table chained to his laptop. Morning light spilled through the bay window, cloaking him in an ethereal spotlight. He glanced up, hair falling in his face and that slow smile knocked her knees loose. How had he picked her out of all the other mortals available?
“Come here,” he said.
As she crossed to him, he slapped the computer closed, shoved the chair back a foot and pulled her into his lap. Then kissed her. Thoroughly.
If he did that every morning for the rest of her life, it wouldn’t be enough. “Um, wow. Good morning to you, too,” she said when his lips lifted.
Instead of responding, he slid his hands up her arms and hooked the robe’s lapels, drawing them off her shoulders to bare her breasts. He traced a lazy pattern down her neck and circled both nipples until she was nearly panting with need.
He sighed, kissed the butterfly and covered her up again. “I have to do some things today. But I’m taking you out tonight. Will you be okay on your own until about five?”
“Sure.” She swallowed and pressed her legs together until the heat subsided through sheer will alone. “I assumed you’d be working anyway. What are we doing tonight?”