Dirtiest Little Secret

“Okay, okay.” Katie put her hands up. “Go for it if that’s what you want. Far be it from me to trample your awesome sexuality. God knows I’ve tried to liberate you for years. If this is how you want to do it, Godspeed.” She stood and slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “I really need a drink. You coming?”

Ava was too wound up to go out. She needed to take this step. Get the hard part out of the way so she could look forward. “You go without me. I’m going to talk with Matthew while it’s quiet.”

“Let me know how that conversation goes.” With a finger wave, Katie breezed out of the office, leaving Ava alone with her brochure and her doubts.

She blew out a breath and splayed her hands over the folder. Her engagement

ring sparkled and glinted. Marriage was about give and take. Compromises. Communication. Cooperation. It was about knowing the other person inside and out. That wouldn’t happen unless she opened up to Matthew. Maybe even to herself.

She flipped the folder open and scanned the brochure again. The stunning pictures and tantalizing descriptions set off a spark deep in her body. The kind that had never materialized for her in the bedroom. She wanted it. Wanted to bridge this gap between what she was comfortable with and what Matthew wanted. Sure, she was apprehensive. But that was what growth was about—feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Eighty percent of what the resort offered, Ava would never participate in. But where sex was concerned, she’d admit to being curious enough to taste-test a few flavors beyond vanilla.

She took a deep breath to quell the nerves. Yes, she was going to stretch herself. Matthew was going to be thrilled with this news. And it would be really good for both of them. They deserved a white-sand-beaches-and-sparkling-Pacific-waters break.

As her father neared retirement, Ava had been working her ever-loving ass off to pull everything together into a nice, neat bow—partially to show him she could handle the job of COO, but also to give her father peace of mind moving on.

Before she could twist all her thoughts the opposite direction, Ava exited her office and crossed the sea of cubicles filling the ninth floor at Jennings Steel on the way to Matthew. Outside, night pressed against the glass. The jitter in Ava’s stomach told her she was outside her comfort zone, but she had to admit, she was ready for a hotter spark in the bedroom as well—especially when she thought of spending forever with that one man.

File folder clutched between her fingers, Ava turned the last corner toward Matthew’s office and ran right into her father. She gasped and put a hand out at the same time her father caught her arms.

“Oh, Dad. You scared me.”

“Sorry about that.” He released her and stepped back. “You’re here late.”

When his gaze dropped to the file folder in her hands, Ava’s face burned with the mere knowledge of what lay inside. If Matthew jumped at this opportunity the way she expected him to, they would have to lie to her parents about where they were taking their honeymoon.

“You’re flushed,” her father said. “Are you getting sick?”

“I’m fine.”

“If you’re sick, don’t bring it to the office. Work from home.”

Ava’s shoulders dropped. It would have been nice to hear concern for her, not the rest of the employees. “I’m not sick, Dad.”

He nodded. “Your mother and I are having dinner at the Oasis with the Wilkinsons. You’re welcome to join us.”

And talk shop all night? No thank you. “Maybe another time. I’m pretty tired.”

“I know Matthew’s been keeping crazy hours to get caught up before you two tie the knot and leave for the honeymoon.”

Matthew? Hardly. This was the first night he’d stayed late in months. He was usually passed out in bed by the time Ava got home.

“I’m just going to leave this report on the Cutters Island project with him and head home.”

He nodded. “Get some rest, and if you’re sick—”

“Don’t bring it to the office. I heard you.” She continued through the open and empty cubicle area, rolling her eyes at her father’s all-business attitude. If she were honest, she was looking forward to his retirement. Her brothers could be bullheaded, but they weren’t as dry as their dad.

Ava paused five feet from Matthew’s closed office door and opened the file. A sexual playground for their honeymoon. Once she showed interest in this, there would be no going back. The thought both thrilled and scared her. But she wanted to make Matthew happy, and she wanted a good marriage. She also really wanted to come out of her shell a little and recognized she needed help doing it.

Matthew’s familiar muffled voice touched her ear from behind the door, and she smiled with anticipation of his excitement over the idea.

She took a breath, knocked softly, then opened the door. She walked in with a ready smile, expecting to find him on the phone. But he was sitting behind his desk, leaning back in his chair. His gaze zeroed in on her with a mixture of surprise and frustration. His tie sat in a neat roll on the side of his desk, the top button of his shirt unfastened.

“Ava.” He sat forward, resting his forearms on his blotter. “I thought you left hours ago.”

“I was going to. Then I got caught up. You know how time flies around here.” A quick scan of his office revealed he was alone. But his face was flushed, his breathing ragged, his pupils dilated. A mix of concern and unease niggled in her gut. “Are you talking to yourself again?”