Page 93

Instead, she would politely shake her head and point to me.

Or wrap my arms around her, as if she needed me to shield unwanted suitors away.

I was more than fucking happy to oblige.

Because when it came down to it, I didn’t want to dance with anyone else either. Not a man or woman in this establishment caught my eye the way that Jacqueline did. I hadn’t been with anyone since I moved here and started working at Sun Steer, and I understood why now.

Watching her spin in and out of my hold, throwing me wide smiles with joy filling her expression, I realized something.

I wanted everything that Jacqueline Williams was willing to give me.

Because no one else would do for me anymore.

She was who I wanted to run home to after work.

She was the one I wanted to take to secret pop-up raves in the middle of nowhere.

She was the one I wanted to sink into every night.

She was the one I wanted to wake up to every morning.

Jacqueline had once confessed that looking at me made her want, a sentiment I had come to fully understand.

I wanted her.

I wantedallof her.

In every sense of the word.

ChapterTwenty

JACQUELINE

“They finally foundsomeone to take over Zaid’s position!” Signe cheered as she plopped into her seat at the table.

I raised my brows, because I hadn’t received any information about that. I thought that Zaid or Brandon would email me a list of candidates they wanted me to reach out to. Not that they would handle that process themselves.

“Who?” I asked. I was glad Zaid was finally moving in the direction he preferred.

“Leo Turner,” Mary announced, in the most flawless British accent I had ever heard.

My stomach dropped.

* * *

Leoand I still hadn’t had sex again the next week while I waited for my meeting with Brandon. As far as I was concerned, sex was the only thing we had going for us. It was the foundation our relationship was based on, and I had assumed that since I was currently closed for business, Leo wouldn’t be as communicative.

It wasn’t like we got along before we started having sex.

I assumed that after he took me to the rave, Leo would wait around, doing his own thing, until I was ready to be intimate with him again.

But no, Leo was still texting me. He still came over to watch TV with me, bringing us “takeaway” to eat together on the couch. We would snuggle up together, (like we’re doing now) under a favorite throw blanket of mine. It was as if we were in a relationship but without the label of a relationship.

It didn’t feel like he was just waiting for me to give the green light for sex, either.

He seemed like he was enjoying himself, which was good because I was, too.

The episode ended, and while the credits rolled, I stretched my arms out, arching my back. Leo adjusted next to me so I had room to do so.