by Kira Archer
Elliot watched her coming toward him, and Lena tried not to be all self-conscious about it. But that was hard when his eyes followed every move she made.
“Is he asleep?”
She nodded. “Out cold. He played hard today. He fell asleep before I could get him into the tub. And he was so excited about it, too. He’s never been in a tub that could double as a mini-pool before. I had him taking showers as soon as he was old enough to stand by himself.”
Elliot laughed. “I don’t know where he gets all that energy from. Don’t worry about the tub. I’ll drain it later.”
“Thank you for today. For playing with him. And…for the beach, helping me in the water.”
He took her hand, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles. “It was absolutely my pleasure. Thank you for tonight.”
She tilted her head to the side, like she was trying to bring him into better focus. “You mean for invading your room, forcing you to watch kid movies, and play video games all night?”
He laughed again. “Yes. I’ll deny this if you ever repeat it, but I think it was one of the best times I’ve ever had. It was a blast watching Tyler have fun. Maybe I’m not as bad with kids as I thought I was.”
It was her turn to laugh. “You’re not. You’re great with him. But I know you’re pulling my leg about tonight being one of your best times. I’ve heard stories about you and the epic parties you’ve gone to. No way did a night of Ninja Turtles and Mario Brothers top any of that.”
Elliot sat back like he was shocked. “First of all, nothing is better than Ninja Turtles, just so we have that clear. They are turtles who are ninjas. ’Nough said. And Mario Brothers is a classic. Tyler’s pretty good, too. Just don’t tell anyone he beat my ass.”
Lena laughed. “Ha! Yeah, that was a pretty great moment. Glad I got to see it.”
“So am I. But I wasn’t lying. I really did have a great time tonight.”
“You sound surprised,” she said, still amused.
He laughed a little. “I guess I am a little. I knew I’d have fun with you guys, but… I don’t know…”
“No, I totally get it. When I first had Tyler, I thought I’d really miss the whole club scene. Going out and partying with my friends and not having to worry about anything else. And I still do sometimes. The cutting loose and doing whatever. I thought that staying home and hanging out with my kid would be boring or depressing or lonely. And it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I love a little adult conversation at the end of the day. But getting to hang out with him and have fun… It might be a totally different kind of fun than I was used to, but it’s a lot more satisfying somehow. Does that sound totally cheesy?”
Elliot shook his head. “No, I get it. I’ve been to hundreds of parties. And I couldn’t tell you what happened at any of them. They are all the same. I’m not saying I didn’t have a blast when I was there, because I did,” he said with a wicked little grin. “But still, they all blur together after a while. But I don’t think I’ll forget the look on Tyler’s face when he saw the Ninja Turtles for the first time come across the screen. Or how happy he was when he kicked my butt at Mario Brothers. That smile… That really gets you, doesn’t it?”
Lena nodded, too choked up to answer for a second. He squeezed her hand and pulled her a little closer.
“Yeah,” she said finally, “it does.”
He drew her in for a kiss. Lena’s heart thumped, sending her blood shooting through her veins so every inch of her tingled. He’d barely touched her, and she was finding it hard to breathe normally. She put her hand against his chest like she would stop him. He hesitated and she knew she should obey that first impulse, back away. But looking up into those sweet brown eyes of his, the smile playing on his lips, she couldn’t resist.
She slid her hand up around his neck, and he bent down to meet her lips. He pulled her close, and she moaned and wrapped both arms around him, pressing as much of herself against him as she could. They slid onto the floor. He leaned her against the couch until her head tilted back to lie on the cushions. His mouth moved over her lips, his tongue dancing with hers until she was so lightheaded she couldn’t have lifted her head if she wanted to.
Elliot pulled away first, shaking his head like he was having the same problem she was.
“I thought we were supposed to be working tonight,” he said, though his amused tone indicated he was very happy with the little detour.
She didn’t trust her head in an upright position, so she stayed back against the cushions and lifted a finger to point at him.
“Don’t blame me. You started it.”
He laughed, low and deep. “Very true. My bad.”
Lena shook her head. “Uh-uh. You’re good. Very, very good.”
That surprised another laugh out of him. He leaned in again, but this time Lena did stop him.
“If you want to get any work at all done tonight, it might be better if we sit on opposite sides of the coffee table.”
Elliot leaned into her until his lips hovered over hers. “Well then, I guess we’ll just have to work really hard so we can get everything done fast.”
Lena was pretty sure she knew the answer to her question, but she asked anyway. “Why?”
“So we can go back to playing.”
She sucked in a breath and tried to close the distance between their mouths, but Elliot pulled away, winking at her as he went to his side of the table.
She pouted a little, but a shiver of anticipation ran through her. It was her rule, after all, so she couldn’t be upset with him for following it. Or trying to get a little payback by teasing her. It did, however, motivate her to get the job done.
Forty-five minutes later, they had drawn up a solid plan for Elliot to present to his parents, complete with marketing and fundraising ideas and detailed to-do lists for getting everything in motion. They only thing they needed was the okay from the people who held the purse strings.
Elliot rubbed a hand down his face and looked at the papers spread around them. “Well, thanks to you, I think this foundation is going to be amazing.”
“I’m happy to help, but it’s not thanks to me. This,” she said, gesturing at the table strewn with papers, “this is all you. I just pitched in an idea or two.”
“You did more than that,” he insisted. “And if we can get my parents to go for it, I think it will be a huge success.”
“Then it’s going to be a huge success. Because I have no doubt your parents will be eating out of your hands by the time you’re done.”
Those smiling eyes of his burned into hers. It was the kind of look that made her want to vault the table and jump him so she could do dirty, dirty things to him.
“A few days ago this seemed impossible. Thank you for your help.”
He gave her that look again, and the parts of her she’d been trying to ignore for the better part of the night roared back to life.
He gathered up one of the sheets from her idea file—notes detailing the gift basket company she’d wanted to start once upon a time. “You know, this is a really good idea. It’s low overhead with the potential of making really good money. And there’s a huge market for this kind of thing. Especially, if you’ve got somebody who can help spread the word among his well-connected contacts.”
Lena tried to keep her face neutral while she processed all that. What he said was true. Not only true, but a good idea. And she knew her irritation was completely illogical. But…
“What are you thinking, Lena?”
She met his gaze, startled. “What? Nothing.”
He leaned forward and traced the line of her frown. “That’s not nothing. What did I say that you didn’t like?”
She sighed. “It really is nothing. I’m being completely stupid. It’s… Well, I’ve always tried to make it on my own. Nobody ever thought I’d amount to anything. I’m the ditz with all the weird ideas that never pan out.” She looked down at the papers in front of her, knowing she was being unreasonable and ungratef
ul. “I just want to succeed on my own.”
Elliot gave her that same exasperated look Lena had seen countless teachers give their students who couldn’t get a concept through their heads. “Lena, no one succeeds on their own. Everyone needs a little help sometimes. And just because someone along the line pitches in an idea, or a referral, or even some start-up money—”
Her mouth dropped open to argue but he held up a finger to keep her from protesting and continued speaking.
“That doesn’t mean that you didn’t do it on your own. The work is yours, the business is yours, hell, most of these ideas are yours,” he said, gesturing to all the papers in front of them. “Trust me, it’s coming from your brain. You’ll be the one doing 99 percent of the work… The success will be yours.”
She took a deep breath. He was right. He was totally right. She’d been trying to do it on her own for years and had never been able to get too far. Accepting help didn’t mean she couldn’t hack it. It meant she was smart enough to utilize a good asset when it came along.
Lena gave him the grateful smile he deserved. “You’re right. And I’m grateful for your help. Do you really think I could make this one work?” she asked, picking up her gift basket file.
“Are you kidding? Gift baskets make amazing gifts. People are always buying them, and not only for holidays. They are great for employees and clients.”
“True.”
“I think it’s something that could really take off. Especially if you let me help.”
Excitement sparked through her. “You’d want to help with my business?”
“What I really want is for us to be partners with both companies. These ideas are more yours than mine, anyway. I just have a little extra background to help get them off the ground.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” he said, leaning toward her, “that I want us to partner up. We merge all these ideas we’ve been tossing around. You help me get this foundation off the ground. And I help you get your gift basket business going. We team up, work together, and make both these dreams come true.”
Lena let out a long, slow breath.
“You think about it for a minute,” he said, his tone reassuring like he knew how badly he’d just freaked her out.
She leaned back against the couch and watched while he straightened up their paperwork, making piles to go back into their folders and a smaller stack to take to the media center in the morning to get some graphs printed out. It took Lena a minute to identify the feeling coursing through her, since it wasn’t one that she felt often.
Contentment. Relaxing, happy, contentment.
Sitting here in the living room, quietly working on projects she was passionate about with a man she was definitely passionate about, with her son sleeping happily in the next room… It was the future she’d always dreamed of. That thought terrified her. Because for the first time, the dream felt like something that could become a reality. And not sometime in the distant future.
Their business plans were similar. She would love to be a part of his foundation, and he was interested in her ideas. They were enough alike that they could work together easily. Agreeing to merge their business ideas would tie them together in some ways even more firmly than a personal relationship. Personal relationships could end. Someone could always walk away. It wasn’t so easy when it came to business.
But what if? What if she could have the whole package? She could have her own business, finally be successful enough to get her own place, support her own child without Oz’s help. Spend her days with the amazing and incredibly gorgeous man in front of her, working on their dream businesses by day and spending their nights…well…doing whatever the hell they wanted to each other.
Her heart rate kicked up a notch. The day she’d spent with him was a great example of how the future with Elliot could be. And she liked it. A lot.
“Okay,” she said, glad that her voice came out strong and sure. “Let’s do it. Let’s get your foundation built and maybe toss in some gift baskets while we’re at it.”
The smile that lit Elliot’s face warmed her entire being. He stood and stepped around the coffee table, then dropped back to his knees beside her.
“We’re a team?” he asked.
Lena nodded, her blood racing so furiously through her body she could hear her pulse in her ears.
He cupped her face in both hands and gently drew her up onto her knees. “You,” he kissed one side of her mouth, “and me?” He kissed the other, and she trembled in his arms.
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes fluttering closed.
He gently pressed a kiss to her mouth and then sat back. Her eyes popped open in surprise to find him smiling down at her.
“Sealed with a kiss?” she asked.
He shook his head. “That was just the preliminaries. This is how you seal something with a kiss.”
He pulled her to him, devouring her, his mouth moving over hers like he was trying to memorize every minute curve of her lips. His tongue darted between her lips, and he wrapped his arms around her tight enough to squeeze a gasp out of her.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“Don’t be,” she answered, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and holding on just as hard.
She climbed onto his lap, straddling his waist until the full, hard length of him nestled against her. The sensation, with all her nerves already on high alert, had her throwing her head back with a moan.
“Shh,” Elliot said, quietly laughing.
Lena slapped her hand over her mouth, initially to keep her laugh from erupting, but when Elliot shifted, rocking against her again, she was glad of the barrier to keep another moan from escaping. She put a hand on his chest to keep him from doing it again.
“Hang on,” she said, her breath ragged.
She climbed off Elliot and tiptoed toward the bedroom door. She peeked inside. Tyler was still sound asleep, curled up around one of the pillows.
The heat at her back let her know Elliot had come up behind her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and peered in over her head.
“Cute when they’re asleep, aren’t they?”
Lena leaned back against him so she could tilt her head up and see him.
“I mean, he’s cute when he’s awake, too,” he added.
Lena decided to give him a break, though it was tempting to let him sweat that one out for a minute.
“Yeah, he’s cute when he’s awake, but when he’s asleep…” She turned back to look at her son. “When he’s asleep, I can still see the baby he used to be.” She shook her head. “He’s growing up so fast.”
Elliot wrapped his other arm around her waist and drew her more firmly to him, resting his cheek on her hair. Standing there, looking at her sleeping son with Elliot’s arms wrapped around her, made Lena’s heart skip a few beats. But having him so close made her remember a few other things, too.
He wasn’t quite as happy in certain areas as he’d been a few moments before. But that was something she could fix. She quietly closed the door and then turned and took Elliot’s hand. She tried to draw him back to the living room, but instead he led her into the bathroom.
“What are we doing in here?” she asked, her voice suspicious the closer they got to the tub.
“It’s a shame to let all that water go to waste,” Elliot said. Lena had never seen such a large tub in a hotel room before. It could easily fit several people.
She shook her head, panic starting to eat its way through her gut. “It’ll be cold now.”
Elliot dipped a hand in it. “Still lukewarm, which will feel good with how humid it is right now. Like taking a dip in the cool ocean.”
“Elliot,” she said, her voice trembling.
“You want to get over your fear of water, right?”
She stared at the full tub, her heart starting to pound so hard she was sure he’d hear it. But she nodded.
“If you can stand in the ocean, you can do this.�
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She shook her head at that. “That was just my legs getting wet. This is…everything, my whole body under the water.”
“You can do this,” he said, putting a hand under her chin to draw her attention back to him. “You’re starting slow. A very small body of water. With something to distract you from the fact that you’ll be in it.”
“Distract me? Like what?”
He yanked off his shirt, and her mouth dropped open with a gasp. His shorts were next, giving her hardly any time to process all the deliciousness in front of her before he was suddenly very, very nude.
“Oh,” she said faintly.
He climbed into the tub. “Ooo,” he said with a little shiver. “It’s a little colder than I thought.”
She could tell. The moment he’d slid into the water, his nipples had pebbled. She licked her lips, wanting it to be his body she was tasting.
He pulled the plug and let some of the water drain while he started running the hot water again. “Better,” he said, scooping up a handful of water and splashing it down his chest.
Lena’s eyes stayed glued to the dripping wet god kneeling in the tub before her. She barely even noticed the water he was in. Then again, that was because she wasn’t in it. Yet. She shivered, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the thought of getting into the water or the thought of running her hands along every hard inch of Elliot. She glanced down and saw just how hard every inch of him was.
He held his hand out to her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She stared at that hand and wanted to take it. She wanted to strip down and join him, rub her body over every bit of his wet nakedness. The water wasn’t that deep. She knew nothing would happen to her, especially with Elliot there. But her fear wasn’t logical. She was caught in a weird loop of terror and desire. One more glance at Elliot and she knew desire would win. But it wasn’t going to be an easy battle.
“One step at a time, Len,” he said. “Take off your shirt.”
