Page 106 of Forbidden Kisses

Duncan kept his promise and picked me up every evening. I knew he couldn't keep it up forever because his mom had to come stay with Jeremy whenever he went out, but I was going to enjoy it while it lasted. Then he brought me home.

On Friday evening, I finally felt like I could breathe again. Duncan was coming to pick me up, and we were spending the evening at his condo. Jeremy was sleeping at his grandmother's tonight, and we’d pick him up tomorrow to go camping again.

Duncan was waiting for me about a block away from the entrance to the office building, mostly because it was the only place where he could park. I was smiling from ear to ear and nearly lost my composure on the walk to him.

Stopping right in front of him, I put my arms around his neck, and he laced his around my waist. I didn’t care if anyone saw me. This was my free time.

I groaned. "I can't believe this week is over."

"It is, and I'm going to make sure that you are spoiled rotten the entire weekend."

He’d suggested that I sleep at the condo the past few nights, but we hadn't outright spoken with Jeremy about us. I figured it would be confusing as hell for him to see me there in the morning, so we'd decided to wait and then tell him everything this weekend when we went camping.

"I'm all yours to do whatever you want with," I said before we got in the car. I chatted his ear off on the way. "On Sunday evening, my team wants to meet for drinks.”

"That's very smart for the newbies."

I nodded. "Line managers will be there too."

"That's great. It’ll be good for networking."

"It just means that we'll have to come back a bit earlier from our trip."

"No problem."

We were only going half an hour away this time, so I figured it wouldn’t cut into our weekend too much.

I was so tired that I toed off my shoes. Some of my colleagues were always changing into flat shoes when they sat at their desk. I'd been judging them for about three days, but on the fourth one, I understood why. It was extremely uncomfortable to even sit with high heels on all day. I could see myself adopting the same strategy at some point.

When we arrived at the condo, I felt myself relax from the second I stepped in. It helped that it smelled amazing. I sniffed the air. "What's this?"

"I've got something in the slow cooker," he said. "I figured you'd prefer to have dinner and wine at home."

"You thought right," I said. I was absolutely not in the mood to go out to eat.

I threw my shoes in the corner as we came in, then made a beeline to the kitchen, peering into the slow cooker. He'd made turkey chili. My heart fluttered. His arms came around my belly, and he pulled me back against his chest.

"You spoke to my sister?" I asked.

"No. Actually, I spoke to your mom."

I gasped, turning around. "What? How?"

"I first called Paula to ask her. She admitted that she had no idea what your comfort food was as a kid."

I laughed. "That's not a surprise. She's much younger than me."

"Anyway, then she gave me your mom's number. She’s excited that you’re visiting her next weekend.”

“Oh my God, that’s right. I forgot to tell you. Paula and I are going to see her. I promised myself a long time ago that I’d spoilboth of them with a spa trip with my first real paycheck, and I’m going to deliver.”

“That’ll make her happy.”

I grinned from ear to ear. "I haven't eaten this in a long, long time."

"It's the first time I’ve made it, but I did follow her recipe, so let's see if it tastes as good as you remember."

My eyes widened. "You not only asked what my favorite was but you even followed her recipe? I think you might be my favorite person ever."