Counting On You (Counting the Billions 2)

Daniel laughed and tugged me closer into the circle of his arms. “Glad to hear it,” he said as I pillowed my head on his chest.

Chapter 23

Daniel

I FELT LIKE I HAD BARELY caught my breath before Abby was stirring restlessly again. She rolled onto her stomach, her arms and chin resting against my chest as she looked down at me. “You know, this place isn’t nearly as nice as that hotel you brought me to, but I guess it’ll do. It does have a shower if you wanted to, you know, pick up where we left off yesterday morning?”

I groaned and gave her a little push. “You’re insatiable,” I said, even though I didn’t really mind hearing that she wanted me again, so quickly. I must have done something right. Not that there was any question in my mind about it; I had seen the way she gave herself over to me. I was still in awe of the woman, I had to admit. She was just so open, so easy to pleasure, so willing to show me what she was feeling. Incredible. Really.

I looked around the place from the vantage point of the bed. “It might not be the hotel, but I like your place. It’s cozy.” And it was true. I liked that she had photos hanging on the wall; I liked that it felt lived-in. Not that it was messy, even. It just felt like Abby lived there, I guess. It had that sense of home that my place had always lacked.

Abby laughed. “You mean it’s small,” she said, flopping on her back next to me and looking around as well.

I shrugged. “A smaller house can be nice. There’s less emptiness. But that’s not really what I meant. It just feels like it suits you, I guess.” I stopped short of telling her that it felt like a home. I didn’t know if that would make things awkward between us, at such an early stage in our relationship. Even though it felt like Abby and I had known each other for ages now, even though it felt like we fit so perfectly together, I didn’t want her to feel like I was rushing things, like already talking about having a home together with her.

Not that I wasn’t thinking along those lines, albeit vaguely. Just watching her with her niece and nephew the previous day, it had sparked a little thought about her and me and a family. It was

something I had never really thought about before, busy as I’d been with my career, but it was nice to think about. Even with Ivy, I’d just thought about the marriage step and nothing really beyond that.

I was starting to wonder if maybe I hadn’t been in love with her as I had let myself believe. If maybe I’d just been so “in love” with her because she showed so much interest in me.

“What are you thinking about?” Abby asked, and I could see the serious look back in her eyes. I had sensed a slight hesitation before we’d had sex, something that went beyond the question of me paying off her brother’s medical bills. I had a feeling she was having the same sorts of thoughts I was, about what this really was. Could we have a relationship if I was so much in the public eye and she wanted so much to stay out of that spotlight?

I had counseled myself that I was already in over my head, so surely we could put off those questions for a little while longer. Especially since Abby had such an emotional weekend already with everything with her brother. But if she was having the same thoughts as I was, the same worries and doubts, then maybe it was time to get them out in the open, before they ate us both up.

So... “Our relationship,” I admitted to Abby. “I’m thinking about us.”

“What about us?” she asked suspiciously, but I could hear the resigned note to the way she sighed. She flopped back against the bed. I reached over and tangled my fingers with hers, not quite daring to pull her into my arms, knowing I needed to keep my head and think about things logically and with my brain, not with other parts of my anatomy. But I didn’t want any space between us, either. I wanted to make sure she knew how much I wanted her.

“I’ve really enjoyed these last couple weeks together,” I said quietly.

“Uh-oh,” Abby said, and suddenly, she was sitting up, looking worriedly down at me. “Are you breaking up with me right now?”

“Of course not,” I said, sitting up as well. “Or at least, not unless you’re breaking up with me.” I sighed and turned away from her, unable to keep the unhappiness from my face.

But Abby beat me to the punch.

She took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot this weekend,” she said. “And about us. And I know I told you before that I didn’t want to be in the media spotlight, and that’s still the case. But I also am not sure that I want to keep this relationship a secret.”

I stared at her, hoping beyond hope she was saying what I thought she was saying.

She glanced quickly up at me and then stared back down at her hands as though there was something fascinating about them. Slowly, she continued. “You’ve been so good to me, keeping us out of the public eye and all. But I want to date you for real. This weekend at the hotel would have been great, but I don’t want us to exist only behind closed doors or in private suites.” She grinned. “Or in rooftop pools where no one else can see us.”

I smiled back at her, but she wasn’t done yet.

“I’m not saying that I want our personal life to be everyone’s business,” she said. “Because I definitely don’t. And there are certain types of stories I just don’t even want to put myself in the position of being in. Like, I’m not going to go out to the latest clubs and stuff with you. I have a young niece and nephew, as you know, and I don’t want them to know about that side of me. Ever.”

“That’s fair,” I said.

She took a deep breath. “But I’m proud to be with you. You’re a really great guy, and you’ve really been there for me this weekend. And I know that it’s not fair to you to keep things a secret, but it’s not even really all about that. I just want everyone to know about our relationship, if I’m being honest.”

I grinned. “What, you afraid that some bimbo is going to fling herself at me otherwise? Please tell me this isn’t all in response to that stupid interview I did on Friday. Austin already read me some of the more salient headlines.”

Abby snickered. “Okay, to be honest, that’s part of it. They were showing bits of your interview in the waiting room this morning, and just watching that woman flirt with you bothered me. Not to mention watching everyone around the waiting room watching the interview.”

“Any cuties?” I asked teasingly. “Besides yourself, of course.” I had to admit, her easy admittance of the jealousy that she felt watching the interviewer flirt with me kind of stirred something inside of me. Not that I would ever intentionally do something to make Abby jealous, but it was yet another sign that she cared about me.

Really, all I could feel right now was relief at the fact that she had apparently been giving this relationship just as much thought as I had, and she had come to a lot of the same conclusions as me. I had just never dared to dream that she might be okay with being in the public spotlight, even if we were careful about how we were seen out in public. I thought she was so against all of it that she would eventually end up breaking things off with me again.