Your Forever Love (The Bennett Family 3)

Afterward, we shower together and head to the living room. There is coffee, croissants, cookies, and waffles on the table.

“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you only buy sweet stuff?” I inquire while wolfing down a waffle.

“It’s comfort food.”

“I know, but how do you know that?”

“Julie,” he answers simply. “Wait, why are you laughing?”

I bite my lip, evidently unable to hold back my smile.

“Do your workers have any idea the shark is a softie with his daughter?”

“If you ever repeat that in front of my employees…,” he says in a faux menacing tone.

“You’ll do what?” I challenge, holding my chin high.

He doesn’t hesitate. “Tickle you.”

Damn.

We finish breakfast in companionable silence, sitting across from each other. Our feet touch the entire time, and our hands occasionally too, across the table. He can’t stop touching me, and the feeling is mutual.

Midway through breakfast, his phone vibrates. Eric glances at the screen, groaning.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Problems in Boston. I’ll have to have a conference call with the office there when I get to work.”

My throat clogs at the mention of Boston, which is silly. I know the deal.

“How do you like the work you do here?”

Eric sips from his coffee, furrowing his brow. “I like it more than I thought I would. Things in Boston run like a well-oiled machine. There are occasional hiccups, but nothing major.”

“You don’t feel challenged enough.”

“Exactly. Setting things up here is different, more dynamic. I like it.”

I fidget with my fingers in my lap, a question burning on my lips. “Why don’t you move here?”

Eric doesn’t answer, and my heart shrinks to the size of a pebble.

“Forget I asked,” I murmur.

He leans his arm across the table, opening up his palm and gesturing me to place my hand there. I do that, startling when my skin touches his because it feels like I’m placing a piece of my heart in his palm.

“If it were just me, I’d consider it,” he says in a soft voice. “But Julie’s whole life is there. She’s changed four schools in the last five years because she had trouble adjusting. Kids bullied her because of her leg and the inhaler, and things only settled down at her last school. I can’t make her start fresh again.”

“I didn’t know that,” I whisper. “Who would bully her? She’s such a great girl.”

“Yeah, but kids can be downright mean. Also, my mother is there. We’re not very close to her, but Julie needs more family than me. I can’t uproot her.”

Retracting my hand, I lower my gaze to my plate. “Of course. I understand. Family is important.”

He nudges my feet under the table. “Hey. Let’s not think about Boston, okay?”

Nodding, I force myself to smile.