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I don’t stop touching her. Buried this deep, I can feel every tremor of her muscles. “I’m changing careers… yes, exactly. Yes. I’ve spoken about it with Valmont. Thank you… oh!… yes. Thank you.”

I kiss her warm neck. She’s doing so well.

“You too. Bye.” She clicks off the phone and immediately gasps. “Shit. West…”

“That’s my girl. How did that feel?”

“Good. Great. Don’t stop.” She’s breathing hard, and I don’t stop. I start moving my hips instead, fucking her slowly while I touch her. It doesn’t take long. She was on the edge before, and now her orgasm barrels through her.

She braces her hands on the counter and moans my name. Lightning strikes down my spine, and I come with a groan, one hand on her pulsing clit and the other holding her hip tight.

Afterward I hold her tight, still locked inside her, and tell her how proud I am of her. I run my hands over her body, soothing, loving. Smooth the globes of her ass. When I pull out of her, we both realize that the whole no-panties thing has another downside.

I watch the mark I’ve left between her legs while I dig into the pocket of my pants for a tissue. I sent her the paperwork for my clean bill of health the day after we had sex for the first time.

“I’m never going to tire of that,” I tell her, and bend to gently wipe at her swollen pussy. “Never knew it was my thing, but with you, sweetheart…”

She runs a hand over my hair. “You like coming inside me?”

At her saying those words… “Like it? No. That’s too small a word.” I kiss her thigh and reluctantly pull her skirt back down. “I adore it. I love it almost as much as I love you. I want to?—”

The sound of the doorbell rings out. It’s loud enough to echo through the bottom floor, connected to the front door of Fairhaven. Few people use it. Most people who move around the house have keys.

“What’s that?”

Ernest will handle the delivery. It was meant to arrive while we were out, a surprise for when we got back. But now that it’s here, and we’re already delayed…

“Come. Let’s go see.”

There’s a large box in the hallway of Fairhaven. Nora releases my hand and approaches it cautiously. “What is it?”

“Open it,” I tell her.

She looks at me with a small smile. Her hair is wild now, and there’s beautiful color in her cheeks. “You’re making me nervous.” But she opens the box and reaches inside.

Then she pauses.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“You bid on it?”

“I did,” I say. “Your evening was ruined. But I still wanted you to have it.”

She lifts up the green dress she so admired at the Fashion Institute. It’s wrapped in protective plastic. “Oh my god. This must have cost a fortune.”

“It’s a good thing I have one, then.”

A smile spreads across Nora’s face. “I can’t believe this. This… West… I…”

“The upstairs atelier? That’s your workspace now. Permanently.” I shove my hands into my pockets and feel the velvet box. The ring I bought while drowning in guilt wasn’t right. This one is. “If you need more space, I have enough rooms. Have more. Have all of them.”

She clutches the dress to her chest. There’s something glittering in her eyes. Is she…?

I take a step closer. “Nora?”

She swallows hard. “I don’t know what to say.”