Page 45 of Mr. Red

He moves behind me in two strides, grabs my waist with one arm wrapped around me. I’m bent over a bit while his other hand is looming over one of my ass cheeks. It’s not intimidating me, though. My lips turn up with excitement.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but I can do whatever I want with my eyeballs,” I respond.

“We’ll see, won’t we,” he says with a slap to my ass. His voice seems to vibrate every speck of my body. It just makes me want to be in “trouble” with him more often. Then he starts kissing my neck, and if I don’t put a stop to this, we’re going to have a cold breakfast.

“Ready for your amazing breakfast?” I shuffle away from him and lift the two plates.

He grabs his plate, then sits back down at the bar top. I sit next to him, then we start eating together.

“I was thinking.” He pauses.

“Does anything good come from that?”

He smirks. “I want to take you on a trip. Have you all to myself.”

“What kind of a trip?” My leg starts fidgeting.

“You know like a week or two together. Do some fun activities. Have you ever traveled?”

“I don’t know if it’s the best timing to leave right now.” I keep my eyes on my plate as my stomach twists.

“Why?” He frowns.

“I just bought a gym with my friends. We close in about twenty days, but there’s a lot of work and planning to do.”

“I know. That’s why I was thinking you should get away sooner than later.”

“That leaves no time for me to put a plan in place for when we do take over, though. I need to make sure everything will run smoothly.”

“You aren’t going to be able to do much until you close. Perfect timing to get awaynow.”

“I don’t know, there’s a lot of work we have to do. We have to paint, I have to order new mats, replace some equipment, and start interviews with trainers. I can’t leave all of that to my partners. I’d have to talk with them about it. Don’t you have work you have to do here?”

“I’m waiting for my deal to go through as well. The waiting stage. I can do my other work anywhere.”

“Ah.”

“We’ll go for a week. It won’t be too far away, if it makes you feel better.”

“Anywhere would be cool. I haven’t been out of the state. I’m just not sure on the timing. Where would we be going?”

“Okay, talk to your partners. Make sure you get the time off.”

Is this open for discussion? He didn’t ask it like it was a question.

“Yeah, it’d be cool to go. I’ll talk to them and see how far we get with planning. I’m not making any promises. In the meantime I can get our itinerary all set up for the trip. When and where were you thinking?” I say, pulling out my phone ready to research, research, research.

“I’ve got it covered.”

“I’m sure you do, but I could help plan. I’m pretty great at it.” My leg continues twitching, itching to get started on reservations and activities.

“This is more of a surprise for you.”

I look up from my phone. “I’m not big on surprises.”

“Mine are really good.”

“That doesn’t help me with liking surprises.” I pause. “I don’t think I can go.”