Page 19 of James (Big Northwest #6)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

JAMES

“ W HY ARE YOU awake so early?” James reached for Phillip as he tried to sneakily move across the mattress. The man was warm and snuggly and his bed was a freaking cloud fallen from the sky. She wanted to stay in it with him all day and the jerk was escaping before dawn. “Go back to sleep.”

“Can’t go back to sleep.” Phillip stood, stretching with a groan. “And you can’t go back to sleep either if you want to go to the office with me.”

She scowled. “You know I want to go to the office with you.”

“Then you have to get up and get dressed.” Phillip strode to the closet, walking inside. “Just be glad I didn’t wake up extra early to work out.”

He woke up even earlier than this to work out? That explained a lot. Like his abs and occasional bad attitude. “Gross.” She sat up, yawning. “I think I’m starting to figure out why you’re single.”

Phillip chuckled from where he still stood in the closet that might be just as big as her first apartment. “Careful. Now that you’re not dancing all your energy out, you might need a new way to burn it all off.” Phillip came out wearing a pair of dark slacks that fit his chiseled body perfectly. “It’s pretty nice to get your blood pumping right out of the gate.”

She wiggled her brows at him. “I’ll get your blood pumping right out of the gate.”

Bouncing around on Phillip’s cloud bed sounded way more fun than running on a treadmill or whatever awful thing he normally did. Plus, he had to have condoms here, right?

Then she could bounce around on more than just his bed.

After discovering how talented Phillip was at all the other parts of sex, she was eager to see if he was just as giving once the rest came into play. Because the thought of Phillip’s hips wedged between her thighs, abs flexing as he fucked her into oblivion, was starting to rule her brain.

Yes, he claimed they should keep things from going too far, but he didn’t seriously think they were gonna sleep together in bed every night without his wiener accidentally ending up inside her, did he?

Cause if he did, he was in total denial. Or an idiot.

Maybe both.

Phillip went still, staring at where she sat in the middle of his bed. “Don’t tempt me.” He stepped toward her, bringing the white T-shirt over his head as he walked. “We have too much to do today.”

That wasn’t a no so much as a not right now, which was progress, but still not what she wanted to hear. “Fine.” Tossing off the covers, she rolled across the plush softness of the king-size mattress. “You’re so annoying sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?” Phillip watched her with an amused smirk as she stumbled toward the bathroom. “Guess I’ll have to try harder.”

“I’ll kill you.” She stepped into the bathroom but popped her head back out the open door. “And you know I’m capable of it.”

Phillip laughed in the face of her threat as he collected a shirt from the closet. “Then I guess I’m lucky you like my house and don’t want to mess it up.”

She did like his house. Who wouldn’t? As a little girl, discovering a place like this existed would have made her brain blow up.

It still kinda made her brain blow up.

The bathroom was freaking insane. It had not only a shower, but also a separate giant tub surrounded by a ledge that would be perfect for perching candles. There was not one, but two sinks. And the toilet was in a whole separate little room.

That was where she went first, doing her morning business before coming out to brush her teeth and arrange the waves of her hair into some sort of reasonable pile. She hadn’t bought any makeup when they went shopping—it didn’t seem important at that point—so there wasn’t much left she could do to make herself look office ready.

Her wardrobe also left a little to be desired, putting her squarely into the business extremely casual category. The only dress she had was rumpled and stale from their nearly thirteen-hour drive yesterday, reducing her options to shorts and T-shirts. So that’s what she went with, pulling on a pair of denim cutoffs and a simple black V-neck.

“I think I need to go shopping again.” She frowned down at her two shoe options, picking the flip flops she wore with the dress over her scuffed-up sneakers. “I’ve got a bunch of cash in the safety deposit box with my driver’s license so I can pay you back.” She deflated. “Eventually.”

Good God she’d made a mess of things. Trying to fly under the radar and her hurried escape had left her without access to any of her money. Or her cell phone. Or her driver’s license. If it wasn’t for Phillip, she’d be screwed.

“That’s on the list of things we’re taking care of today.” Phillip laced on a tie and grabbed a pair of shoes from his closet, carrying them as he went into the hall. “It’s probably a good thing you’re coming with me. It would be difficult for me to accomplish some of this shit on my own.”

She perked up a little, the sense of defeat from earlier dissipating. “I can help with whatever you need.”

Going into work at a legit office was actually kind of exciting, even if it was just a once-off. For at least a little while, she could pretend things were different. That her life wasn’t so fucking limiting.

She’d gone into dancing for a lot of reasons. The one she admitted the least had to do with her lack of skills to do anything else. Mehir fucked her over in more ways than she could count, and that was a big one. She and her sisters were basically raised by wolves, and it showed. They had zero life skills and even fewer people skills.

Probably why there were ten names on that damn list.

That was another thing she hoped to accomplish by going into Phillip’s office with him. Figuring out why in the hell they were so sure it was Enzo who was after her. She’d put his name at the bottom for a reason. He was literally the last man she would have pointed the finger at.

“Good, because I’m going to need it.” Phillip led her down the two flights of stairs between his bedroom and the main floor, taking her into the kitchen where he went to work making coffee.

If she was going to be helpful, might as well start now.

“Do you eat breakfast?’ Going to the fridge, she opened the door and scanned the contents. “I can make us something.”

She’d sworn on her life never to cook or clean for a man, but Phillip sort of ripped that rug out from under her feet last night when he did it for her. Knowing he didn’t put those expectations on her shoulders changed things a little. Took away some of the bitterness she had about the expectations she was brought up with.

“I’m not a man to turn down food.” He popped a metallic pod into the weird looking machine and set a mug in place. “How much coffee do you need in the mornings?”

“I worked nights in a club. I’m not particularly acquainted with mornings.” She pulled out a carton of eggs, a package of cheese, and a small container of cream. “So you probably don’t have enough.”

Phillip pressed a button and the machine started to whir. He turned to face her, lips pressed into a frown. “I didn’t even think about that.” His eyes drifted over her as she went to work cracking eggs into a bowl she’d pulled from the cabinet. “I’ll try to get through everything as fast as I can today so we can come home and you can rest.”

She focused on the eggs, scrambling them with a fork as her insides did funny things. The number of people who genuinely worried over her was limited to her sisters. Maybe a couple of friends she’d made over the years.

That was it.

And she’d been stupid enough to walk away from her sisters thinking she needed more from her life. That left her on her own. Looking out for herself with no one else to rely on. No one else watching her back or making sure she was okay.

Until Phillip showed up.

“I think I’ll be okay.” She tipped a little cream into the eggs, working through the oddness inside. “I have to get used to this schedule sometime, right?” It’s not like she could go back to dancing. That was clearly not in her wheelhouse. She couldn’t trust herself to act right. That left her with no other option but to go back to the life she’d left behind in Shadow Pine. And she was an awful person, because that didn’t hold as much appeal as she wanted it to.

“It’s going to be okay, James.” Phillip moved in close, reaching up to push a little of her hair behind one ear. “I know everything feels like it’s never going to straighten out, but I promise it will.”

She’d been promised many things by many men. Always took them with a grain of salt. But Phillip sounded so confident. So sure of himself. So capable of following through.

“I might hold you to that.” She gave him a little smile, peeking up from the eggs she was still mixing even though they were more than ready for a skillet.

“You should.” Phillip turned away, but only for a second. When he moved back in at her side, he had a cup of frothy coffee in his hand. “Milk?”

She scoffed. “Maybe for your healthy ass.” She passed over the carton of cream. “I like to enjoy my coffee.”

He splashed a little in, gave it a stir, then handed it off. “Drink. I’ll finish breakfast.”

Again, he was happily performing a task she’d been trained to believe was her God given duty. And the man looked happy doing it.

Phillip added some salt and pepper to the eggs before pouring them into a pan lined with melted butter. After topping it with a lid, he went to the fridge and pulled out a couple more items, adding chives and thinly sliced ham to the counter.

He started mincing up the ham, the sleeves of his shirt rolled to his elbows and his tie slung over one shoulder as he worked.

Crap on a cracker the man was hot. Sexy and giving and smart and successful and thoughtful and caring and… sometimes bossy, but so was she.

“Why aren’t you in a relationship?” She kept her tone soft so he didn’t think she was teasing or judging. “Seriously.” If this man could win her over—and he had—regular women should be flocking to his doorstep. Salivating when he passed by. Throwing themselves at him right and left.

Phillip pulled in a deep breath, wiping his hands on a towel before tossing it over the same shoulder as his tie. “Because I want it too much.”

The answer sounded honest, but it didn’t make any sense. “How is that keeping you from getting a girlfriend?”

“I don’t want a girlfriend.” His eyes went back to the food, avoiding hers as he explained, “I want a wife. Kids. A family.”

It still didn’t make sense. “Isn’t that what most women want too?”

“It is, but…” He lifted the lid on the pan and added a layer of cheese, then ham, followed by a sprinkling of chives and another layer of cheese. “I’ve struggled to find a woman who can keep my attention.”

She rubbed her lips together, belly growling as her brain chewed on the new information Phillip had offered up. “What do you mean, keep your attention?” Was he fickle? The kind of guy whose interest waned after a few weeks so he moved onto someone newer and more exciting?

Because that would for sure make it difficult to have a wife and kids.

“I mean I’ve never found someone I clicked with. Someone I could see spending my life with.” He replaced the lid on their omelet and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I was trying to find someone sweet and agreeable and laid back and?—”

“Boring.” The word jumped out all on its own, and the pitch of it didn’t hide her disdain. “Not that boring is a bad thing.” She tried to backtrack a little. “Sometimes I wish my life was a little more boring.”

But if it was, she wouldn’t be sitting here now in Chicago, wearing clothes she bought on the fly, drinking Phillip’s fancy coffee as they prepared to go into his office and figure out how to keep her from being abducted by the organized crime lord she’d sort of considered a friend.

She’d be back in Shadow Pine with her sisters and their kids. Living in the mountains, hiding away from the rest of the world.

It didn’t sound as great as it should.

“Be careful what you wish for.” Phillip pulled out two plates. “It’s not as much fun as it sounds.”

He set the lid of the pan to one side, folded the cooked omelet, cut it in half and slid one side onto each plate. He set one in front of her along with a fork. “Eat.”

She took a bite without arguing because she was hungry. And because their conversation had her feeling a little conflicted. She’d been living day to day for what felt like forever now. Getting through as best she could, hoping to eventually figure out a way to get back to her sisters. She hadn’t really thought about what would happen next. And as much as she loved her family, spending the rest of her life stuck in the same mountains where she grew up held little to no appeal.

Phillip practically inhaled the food on his plate and then went to work cleaning up. By the time she was finished, he had the dishwasher loaded and the counters wiped down.

“I’ve never seen a man clean up before,” she admitted when he took her plate. “It’s weird.”

“It shouldn’t be.” Phillip set the appliance to run then flipped his tie into place and pulled on his jacket. “I live here. I should clean it.”

She tipped her head. “I guess that’s not why you want a wife. So you’ll have someone to take care of you?”

Phillip snorted. “No. That’s not why I want a wife.”

“Why do you want a wife then?” It was a genuine question. One she was interested in hearing him answer.

Phillip smoothed one hand down his front, running his palm over the clean lines of his suit. “Because I don’t want to spend my life alone.” His eyes moved over her face. “I want what my father never had. Someone to be my partner. Someone to take care of. Someone to keep me entertained.”

She snorted. “I don’t see that happening when you keep going out with women you find boring.”

Phillip’s eyes darkened as they held hers. “I know.”