Briggs (Carolina Reapers 7)

Guess that’s your answer. My entire body went numb and my heartbeat stuttered. “No,” I said quietly, dropping my hands to my sides. “I haven’t signed anything.”

“Oh, thank God.” The relief in her eyes nearly broke me all over again. Her forehead thunked against my chest as she leaned forward, taking in a deep breath.

“You don’t want me in New York.” My voice came out as flat as I felt. I’d been wrong earlier—I wasn’t the overturned eighteen-wheeler. I was the roadkill, flattened and left for dead.

“No!” Her shoulders shook slightly as she laughed, tilting her head back toward mine. How could she look so happy when I was crumbling? “I want you here.”

“Got it.” I stepped back, and it was the most painful twelve-inch journey of my entire fucking life.

“Wait, what?” Her brow puckered, and she closed the distance between us again.

“I understand. You want me to stay here.” I took another two steps.

“Well, yeah, of course I do.” She followed.

“Great.” My back hit the brick wall. There was nowhere else to retreat.

She braced one hand on my chest and slid the other one up the back of my neck. “Cormac. I want you here because that’s where I’ll be.”

That didn’t compute. “I’m sorry?”

A slow, captivating smile spread across her face. “If you trade to New York, then we’ll just be right back in the long-distance nightmare. I didn’t ask you if you liked the space just because we’re meeting here. I bought the building with the last of my trust fund. You’re standing in the North American headquarters for Lusso.”

My head jerked up, seeing the space with new eyes, noting the staircase that led up to what had to be about four or five other floors from what I’d observed when I’d parked on the curb. “This is your new headquarters?”

She nodded, her nails raking lightly down my spine and waking up every nerve ending in my body. My cock swelled behind my jeans, and I wasn’t even apologizing for it. Bristol came near, I got hard. It was just a law of the universe.

“What about New York?” Shit, there was that hopeful feeling blazing through my ribcage again.

She grinned and shrugged. “Turns out I don’t need to be in the city to run a company that’s based out of London. So as long as you don’t consider long distance to mean me having to travel across the pond every month or so, or the trips for Fashion Week in New York or Paris, then I’ve already jumped our biggest hurdle.”

I stared at her in open-mouthed shock. “You bought this building.”

“Yep.” She rose up on her tiptoes, bringing her mouth inches from mine.

“You’re moving to Charleston? I need that point to be clear, because you and I have a history of misunderstandings.” My hands bracketed the curves of her waist.

“I. Have. Already. Moved. To. Charleston.” She punctuated each word with a kiss, starting at the base of my throat and working her way up to my jaw. “I got here this morning. In fact, all my stuff is on its way in a moving truck, just waiting to hear if I decide on an apartment or….”

“Me. You live with me,” I blurted. If this was real, and she had packed up her entire life, then I didn’t just want to date her. I wanted every single second I could get with her, awake or asleep.

“Okay,” she whispered, nipping my jaw.

“What about your staff?” Holy shit. The implications of what she’d risked stacked higher and higher.

“They had the option of transferring here, to London, or getting a glowing letter of recommendation to whatever company they chose next.” Her lips grazed my chin. “Turns out the operating costs down here are way lower, too, so both my CFO and the board of directors are pleased with my…what did they call it?” She rubbed her lips over mine, softer than a butterfly’s kiss. “Economy. That’s right. It was a sound economic decision since the orders for the new line have already put us back in the black.”

“And you don’t mind?” I pushed her back slightly, just enough to look into her phenomenal eyes. They were pure hazel today, showing off every possible color. “Bristol, you’re giving up New York City.”

“And I’m getting you in return.” She wound her arms around my neck. “At least I hope I’m getting you. I can design anywhere, Cormac. Work remotely from anywhere. I can create anywhere, and my biggest inspiration is right here in Charleston. I love you. I want you. Nothing else matters if I don’t have you.”

“I love you, too.” There was no stopping the smile that overtook me. “So damned much.”

“Then why aren’t you kissing me?” she whispered.

I turned us so her back was against the wall, and then I kissed every single one of my feelings into her. I made love to her mouth with my lips and tongue and worshipped the lines of her body with my hands. When she grazed her teeth along my lower lip, I angled her head and took her deeper, only pulling away to see that we were out of sight of the windows, then delving back into her.