Page 50 of Crazy In Love (Love & War #2)

Sauntering around the table and stopping only when my shoulder touches her ribs, she looks down into my eyes and grins her approval when I inch my chair back to make room.

Pleased, she lowers onto my lap and trails her fingertips over my jaw. “You’re always a little stressed. Your stress makes me worry about you. But tonight, you’ve surprised me.”

I search her eyes, studying the pair and praying for a simple answer that’ll make us both happy. I want to keep her, but I don’t want to destroy her soul or tie her to a town that’ll send her crazy.

“You mention a date.” She leans closer and presses a feather-soft kiss to the edge of my jaw.

“I assumed it was code for sex. You brought me to dinner under the stars, under the stars, by the lake, instead. You cooked a delicious meal, but you sat across from me with white knuckles and worry in your eyes, making it impossible for me to relax. I’m kinda terrified you’re about to drop bad news on my lap. ”

“I have no bad news for you.” I lay my palm over her pounding chest, her heart thundering against the tips of my fingers.

And when I can’t hold out for a moment longer, I extend my neck and take her lips with mine.

“I promise. We’re eating a meal, just like we’ve done a few times already.

I live by the lake, and I know you kinda like it out here, so I wanted to give you that instead of the bland four walls of the apartment. ”

“Sweet of you.” She side-saddles my lap, crossing one leg over the other so her ass sits squarely on my cock. And because I’m a toxic motherfucker, I still manage to summon a hard dick, even with a broken heart. “It’s really pretty out here. You’re very fortunate to call this view yours .”

“My view?” You are my view, and I’m terrified I’m fourteen days away from losing it. “Very pretty.” I nibble on her bottom lip and gently pull it between my teeth. “What are you most looking forward to when you get back to New York?”

“Oh, geez.” She pulls back, her eyes burning brighter at the mere mention of the home she loves.

It’s not a conscious thing she does. Not a taunting response or something she has to think about.

New York makes her happy. “I’m excited to see my apartment again.

To see if my hamster, Harold, has survived without me. ”

“What?”

“Six weeks is a long time without food or water, but he’s pretty self-sufficient, ya know?”

“Fox! Your hamster is dead.”

“I’m kidding.” She walks her fingers over the top of my ear, tucking the longer strands of hair back. “I don’t have a hamster. Whacky is the closest thing I have to a pet, and he’s a total asshole.”

I glance to the lawn and watch that ugly fucking chicken limp across the grass, pecking every few steps in search of a juicy grub. “Such an asshole.”

“I travel too often to have a pet.” She brings my face back around, smiling when our eyes meet. “And paying someone to come over twice a day to check in on a neglected, lonely little thing is not my idea of a life well spent. Animals deserve owners who spend time with them.”

“Not Whacky, though. He deserves an oven and a little seasoning.”

Her eyes dance with laughter, even if the sound remains trapped in her chest. “I’m looking forward to sleeping in my bed again. Although,” she inches back. “I’ve considered stealing the sheets you bought for the bookstore apartment.”

“You want to steal them?”

“They’re so soft,” she sighs. “It’s not even about the price. I have expensive sheets. I don’t mind spending the money. But it’s like you sourced these sheets from the fanciest silkworm on the planet, and if you don’t tell me his name, I might cry.”

“Why would I do that, all so your next boyfriend can enjoy them?” Jesus, Chris. Shut the fuck up. “No chance.”

She snickers. “So I’ll steal the ones at the bookstore, and I’ll come back just often enough to loot your home and take more.”

Sheets are the price of ensuring she returns to Plainview? Sold.

“I’m looking forward to returning to work. My boss, Booker, hinted at something exciting coming up. He said we’d get dinner and discuss it once I’m back.”

“Oh yeah?” Fuck Booker! Fuck his dinner. Fuck what I know is leading to, ‘ Six weeks apart proved I can’t breathe without you. Marry me and never leave again .’

Or maybe that’s just me, spinning into absolute fuckery.

“What do you think he wants to discuss?”

“I think… maybe…” She chews on the inside of her lip. “I don’t know if I want to jinx it.” But she giggles and slides her thumb across my too-tense jaw. “It’s possible I’ll shift over to marketing soon.”

“I thought you loved your position as chief clown car organizer?”

Unimpressed, a thick line digs between her brows. But she’s cute as fuck, and bickering is at the bedrock of who we are .

“You’re the one who has been praising that job since you got here. Now you’re telling me you’re excited at the prospect of changing it?”

“I do love my job. A lot. But I also love marketing, and he knows that. So I wonder if he’s readying to give me experience in both.”

“Double the workload, one salary. Sounds like corporate New York to me.”

Frustrated, she flicks my earlobe. “Double the experience, the same forty-hour work week, smarty pants. It’ll mean juggling both of the things I love and expanding my resume.

Meeting new people and stretching my brain in an exciting new direction, all while losing none of the benefits I already enjoy. ”

I splay my hand over her chest, studying her collarbones with my fingertips and enjoying the constant thrum of her heart. “I was kidding. It’s obvious you have a knack for making people happy, considering I was out here buying chair cushions and stringing up fairy lights.”

“It made you happy to do those things?”

“The idea that they’d make you happy made me happy. Being around you makes me happy, even when you take my fork or screw up a game of chess on purpose. Your soul is happy, I think. And because your soul is happy, being near you means I get to feel that happy, too.”

Her brows crinkle, furrowing over emotional eyes. “Damn, Christian.” She sniffles. “That might’ve been the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Well, you know me. I have a reputation for poetry.”

“Sure.” She laughs. “I’ve heard that about you.

And because you were so generous with your poetic words, I figure I’d like to show you my appreciation.

” She peeks down at my shirt, undoing the top button with an easy flick of her fingers.

“I enjoy talking about New York. And I love the idea of my professional dreams coming true. But we’re on a deadline, don’t you think? ”

Another button.

“From six weeks down to two. A beautiful evening in your home, though we can’t ignore the very real risk that Alana could see us out here on the porch.”

Another button.

“Maybe we should go inside,” she murmurs seductively. “Play a game of chess.”

Stunned, I place my hand over hers and stop her progress. “I’m not saying no, but I have to admit, not once in my entire life have I considered chess a prelude to mind-bending sex. ”

Grinning, she pushes off my lap and drags me up by my shirt.

“I guess you haven’t been playing chess with the right people, then.

” She moves onto her toes, buying herself just another inch, before tugging me down and rewarding me with her tongue sliding against mine.

“Strip chess, perhaps? I take one of your pieces, you lose an item of clothing.”

“Sounds like I’m gonna be sitting in there, fully dressed, while you’re naked and panting.”

“Arrogant.” She lowers to flat feet and turns on her heels.

And like the obedient mutt I am, I follow.

“Though we can’t dismiss how hot that would be.

You, fully dressed and winning. Me, naked and vulnerable.

” She leans over the table and gently kills the candle flames with an exhaled breath, then straightening again, she releases my shirt, but takes my hand and places it on her hip.

“Maybe I’ll lose on purpose because I want that outcome. ”

“I hear you trying to be sexy right now.” I follow her all the way to the door, but before she can swing it open and pass through, I spin her around and pin her to the frame. “But I need you to know that playing it wrong is not sexy at all. It’ll annoy the shit out of me.”

She barks out a loud laugh, her cheeks turning a beautiful pink. Pushing me back, she turns and pulls the door open. And because I can’t bear the thought of letting her go, I rush through after her, draping my arm over her shoulders and steering her left when her body angles right.

“This way, silly.”

“Well, of course you have an actual chess board room and not, say, a little travel set you could bring to the bedroom.”

“I have one of those, too. But since we’re in my home and this was my date night idea, I say we go this way.

” I lead her through my living room, as bland as it is, with a long black leather couch and a TV hung on the wall, then I walk her into the hall and past the spare bedroom.

Then another. I have a half dozen of them, useless to me, so I keep the doors closed.

Stopping at the room right beside mine, I nudge the door open, flip the lights on, and lead her into my office. And because I know it’s kinda special in here, I stand back and enjoy her intake of air. Her gasp of surprise and the hand she places over her heart.