He wasn’t sure if he should smile or run from the bed screaming. This wasn’t how a man should feel after a one night stand. It certainly wasn’t what he was expecting, though she was amazing. Beautiful, sexy, fearless, funny, and sweet.
He felt like a thesaurus, yet it didn’t faze him. There weren’t enough words in the English language to adequately describe the woman sleeping next to him. And he’d only known her for a few hours. The idea of spending more time with her actually excited him. She was different than the usual heiresses and aristocrats that he usually dated.
If she wasn’t so damn cute sleeping, he’d wake her up, ask her for her phone number, and plan a second date right now. He was already planning on pulling out the helicopter and taking her to the best seafood restaurant in the state. She’d love it.
He knew he had a phone call to make. He dialed a number. It didn’t even ring once before his secretary picked up. “Sir?”
“Cancel my meetings for tomorrow,” he said, keeping his voice only a whisper so that he wouldn’t wake Kat.
“Is there a prob
lem?” she asked.
He grimaced. He had never quite cleared the slate like this, but he didn’t want to let this opportunity pass him up. “There’s no problem, really. I appreciate you checking, but please just do as I ask. Thank you.” He hung up without waiting for a response.
That left him with more free time than he had in the past ten years. A full day off. He grinned at the idea of watching her eyes widen in surprise at the elaborate date he was planning. He’d wow her and have her back in his bed tomorrow. In fact, hopefully he’d be able to have her every night this week. She was exactly the distraction that he needed right now.
AJ leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair as he took a deep breath. She’d managed to make him forget his problems for the night. The moment he touched her, his shoulders relaxed and his blood pressure had dropped. He’d even managed to not think about work for over three hours.
Which, given the scandal and issues going on, basically made her magic. It had been weeks since anyone had managed to make him smile like she did. Until they started dancing, he had been pretty sure that he had lost the ability to smile completely, let alone feel actual joy.
She sighed softly and snuggled into her pillow. Something deep in the pit of his chest warmed and he resisted the urge to wrap her up in his arms and kiss her, lest he wake her.
He had needed this. He had needed a night of fun, and the fact that Kat was so amazing only made it better. He certainly hadn’t been expecting anything in coming to this wedding. His original plan was to just go to the ceremony, and then to the reception long enough to have a drink and smile for a picture. That was more than enough time for all the guests to hound him and ask him questions about his business that he didn’t want to, and couldn’t legally, answer. An appearance at an employee’s wedding, to hopefully restore some public good will, was all he had intended.
Instead, he met her, and this was possibly the best wedding he’d ever attended.
She murmured, frowning in her sleep, and he realized he had tensed up, thinking about his business. She was responding in her sleep to him, and that fact alone endeared her further to him. How was it she was so perfect?
“Go back to sleep,” he murmured, leaning over and kissing her brow. Her dark hair spilled across the pillow as she relaxed under his touch. He liked that she apparently responded to him as much as he did to her.
He watched her sleep, trying to find the same tranquility and failing. Now that his mind was on it, he couldn’t shake the tension of his business. The lawyers. The fighting. The media and the drama. It was all just a swirling dark cloud that he couldn’t seem to escape.
The scandal revolving around his business partner, Paul, was out of control. Every news station was running something about it. The board of directors, the investors, and his designers were all looking to him to solve this.
AJ was ready to strangle Paul. A murder would probably be easier to deal with at this point. Either way, Paul’s secretary was going to be a very, very wealthy woman because Paul couldn’t keep his hands or his ego to himself.
So were the mail girl, the coffee clerk, and at least two other female employees. Very, very wealthy.
The worst part was that none of it was AJ’s fault. None of it was the company’s fault. There was nothing about what Paul did that actually tied back to Shoesy, Inc. It was all Paul, yet AJ and his company were the ones suffering for it. The sex scandal was becoming synonymous with the Shoesy brand, and that was the last thing AJ wanted.
Share prices were falling and the board was looking to AJ to fix it.
Kat mumbled in her sleep, her brow furrowing again. He was tensing again. He forced himself to take a deep breath and relax.
Kat didn’t have anything to do with his company. She was just friends with the bride. It was pure luck that he was the bride’s employer. Good luck. Fantastic luck.
He could date her. He could have a moment of peace and happiness, because Kat was in no way related to the business scandal taking over his life. A girl who wasn’t related to his company was exactly what he needed.
This was better than anything he could have hoped for.
He reached over and smoothed the lines on her brow with his hand. She leaned into his touch and smiled in her sleep.
Definitely better than anything he could have hoped for tonight.
8
Fun Kat