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“It’s a sleep mask,” he said. “I keep enough clothing and supplies on hand in this room to pack for a weeklong business trip in case I need to go somewhere on short notice.”
“You haven’t done that since I met you,” she said, testing her bonds.
“No, I’ve cut back.”
A pang went through her. “Because of me.”
He was afraid of leaving her alone because of her health issues.
“Hey. No need to make that face,” he said, smoothing the linebetween her brows with his fingers. “The kind of traveling I’m talking about is not the soothing vacation kind. They’re more like a marathon—two or three days of back-to-back meetings. The only nice thing about it was getting to try new restaurants. Or at least that’s what I would tell myself afterward, so I wouldn’t dwell on the fact I saw nothing of the cities I was in. Just the inside of various boardrooms. And trust me, after a while, all of those look distressingly the same.”
Emma tugged her hands out of the soft ropes Garrett had so diligently tied.
She grinned at the look on his face. “I don’t know where you learned to tie knots, but babe, you suck.”
He groaned and buried his face in her neck, his muffled laughter sending puffs of hot air into her hair.
She put her hands on either side of his face, nudging until he raised his head. They shifted until they were lying side by side.
“I don’t want to hold you back.”
His eyes flared and he inched closer. “That’s what you think?”
“If you need to leave town for work, you should go. I don’t want to be the reason you miss out on some big deal or negotiation.”
“I won’t because all the big negotiations are done for the time being.”
“Really?” she asked, her lower lip jutting out. The urge to bite it was irresistible so he promptly did.
“I do mean it,” he said when he’d released the luscious treat. “There’s still work to do, of course, that requires travel but nothing so sensitive that I need to handle it in person. I always planned on delegating the busy work to my employees. I’ve started doing just that.”
He shifted closer, stroking the down on the side of her cheek. “However, this does bring up a good point. How would you feel about taking trips here and there—once you’re feeling up to it? If your doctor clears it.”
“That would be nice…” She trailed off, an idea occurring to her.
He stroked her hair. “What is it?”
“I was thinking, maybe we could invite my family tojoin us somewhere the way you do with your aunt?” she suggested. “Not at the same time, of course.”
“No, never at the same time,” he agreed with a widening of his eyes. “But of course, we can invite them somewhere nice. Hell, they can come here. I can charter a jet for them. They could be here tomorrow.”
She hugged him. “You are the sweetest man in the world, you know that, right? But Stella’s starting kindergarten soon and probably shouldn’t skip if we can help it.”
“I had no idea she was that big.”
Garrett had caught quick glimpses of her sister a few times when he’d come into the room as she video-chatted with her baby sister, but Emma hadn’t had them speak to each other yet.
She should introduce them soon. Especially as it appeared they were going to be staying married.
“Yes, she’s growing up so fast.” Downcast, she folded her hands.
“Don’t kids usually turn five before the start of kindergarten?” he asked.
“Colorado has a later cutoff date than California—it’s October there. She’s growing up too fast for me. I’m sorry I’m missing so much of it. But coming here was a chance to start over without all the accident baggage. I felt bad leaving Stella, of course, but I could only help so much with her. If I tried to babysit and got a headache… well, I didn’t want her to take care of me, you know.”
Because that had happened more than once, and it had beenawful.
“You had to focus on your health first. I’m sure your mother understands that.”