CEO Daddy (Crescent Cove 6.50)

At least we were both equally crazy.

“What are you doing down here in the dark?” I asked.

His smile faded. Dammit, I couldn’t just let it be us sitting here enjoying a treat. Nope.

“Couldn’t sleep.” He scraped off another spoonful for me.

“Me neither.” I took it and the cool sweetness melted on my tongue.

“Why?”

I shrugged. “Restless. Hot. Bored. Take your pick.”

“D, all of the above?”

Another spoonful and an ice cream headache would be heading my way. When I shook my head, he ate the next one.

“What about you?”

“I have some decisions to make that I’m not all that happy about.”

“Is that why you’ve been so grumpy?”

He gave me a mercurial half-smile. “Some of it.”

“And the rest?”

His dark eyes shined in the semi-darkness. Sometimes the hazel edged toward the deepest brown shade. “Takes a lot of work to stop myself from crossing the hall every night and slipping into your bed.”

“Oh.” My heart hammered as I twisted my fingers under the table.

“I know I don’t deserve that privilege.”

I didn’t know how to react to that confessional. Not when I had a similar problem following me around. “We never had a problem with the bedroom, Asher.”

“No, we sure didn’t.”

I wasn’t exactly sure how to avoid that landmine. If we talked about naked time, there would be ice cream pooling on the table. Probably under my butt when he put me up on the table. You know, for instance.

Lord, I didn’t need to be thinking about that. I was already hot and bothered with his oh-so-male scent in the air between us. Especially mixed with my favorite ice cream of late.

“What decisions do you need to make?” I asked instead of going that road.

“Just going to ignore the hallway thing?”

“Right now? Yes.”

His stupidly long lashes swept over his cheeks, and the shadows of

the moonlight carved his angular face into even more fascinating lines. All of it mixed together to draw me closer to him—and not just for his sweet treats. His salty ones were just as alluring.

And that line of thinking was definitely going to melt the ice cream.

Instinct pushed me to take a chance. I stood and nudged him over on his side of the table. I pushed the ice cream away and took his hand. “What’s weighing on you so much?”

He swallowed but didn’t say anything.

I cupped his cheek. “Saying things in the dark makes it easier. That’s how my sisters would tell me the scariest problems they ever faced. Then again, theirs were more about how to break up with a boy.”