Another

“Then, I’ll be there.”

The hurt marring his face vanished and back was the man who was slowly claiming my heart, one easy smile at a time. Jarred by that thought, I stepped back and collected my bag, heading to the door.

Before I opened the door, I turned, finding him right behind me. “But you need to come to my Thanksgiving for lunch.”

“Deal,” he agreed, kissing my nose. “And maybe I can eat you for dessert,” he muttered into my ear. “I’ve never had pussy for Thanksgiving.”

I cocked a brow and gave a dubious stare. “You’ve never spent Thanksgiving with another woman?”

“Nope. Not in any of my thirty-three years.”

He held up the Girl Scout pledge hand sign and had me laughing, the joy of knowing I’d be the first to meet his other family flooding me.

“What am I going to do with you?”

“You could always have dick for dessert? Like a sixty-nine treat.”

His finger stroked my cheek, where I knew I was blushing. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Now, don’t go falling in love with anyone today. If you have any daddy fantasies, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Such a noble volunteer.”

“I aim to please.”

Looking up into his slate eyes and warm smile, I hesitated to leave. Our relationship was still new—only a few days old, and I hated to walk away just yet. “How busy are you this afternoon?”

“Umm, not very. A few phone calls and contracts to look over.”

“Would you want to play hooky and come to Voyeur with me?”

His eyes lit up. “Hell, yes.”

“They’re not open for performances right now,” I said, bursting his bubble. “But you can check it out.”

“I guess.” He heaved an overdramatic sigh but quickly perked up and pecked my lips. “Let me grab my stuff.”

As soon as I opened the door his eyes flicked beyond my shoulder. “Oh, hey, Hanna.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt.”

“Nothing to interrupt now,” Jared said, flipping through papers by Laura’s desk. “Now if you would have come ten minutes before when Ian was trying and failing at having quiet office sex, then you would have been interrupting something.”

My eyes almost bugged out of my head, and heat consumed me. Ian, on the other hand, had no shame. He bobbed his eyebrows at me and flipped Jared off at the same time.

“You’re just jealous.”

Jared laughed and disappeared in his office again, leaving Hanna still standing beside me, her red cheeks rivaling mine.

“Ignore him,” Ian said. “What’s up?”

Hanna swung a depressed look my way before visibly pulling back her shoulders. It was a move I was very familiar with. She was hurt but trying to hide it. I had a moment of feeling bad for Hanna. I always felt a connection to a woman in a male-dominated office, and to have a crush on one of your bosses didn’t make it any easier. I liked Hanna. She was quiet at times, but funny if not a little socially awkward.

However, the fact that she was crushing on my boyfriend dimmed the empathy for her situation.

“I was just coming up to run some numbers by you.”

Ian winced. “Can we do it tomorrow? I was going to leave the office early.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Are you feeling okay?”

“In perfect health,” he answered, puffing his chest up like a goof. “I’m just skipping out to spend some time with my girl.”

“Oh, yeah. Of course. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Have fun.” With a forced smile, she left, heading to Erik’s office.

“Ready?” I asked.

“For a sex club? As I’ll ever be.”

We drove together to Voyeur and pulled into an overly full lot. “They must be doing some training. Usually, there aren’t as many people during the day.”

“Hopefully they don’t mind you brought me along.”

“I’m not worried. Daniel and Kent are pretty relaxed.”

When we walked in, the club was quiet, and I checked my phone to make sure I didn’t get the time wrong.

“Maybe they’re all back in Daniel’s office?” Usually, for the meetings, they moved all the club chairs into a circle and conducted them there.

I’d taken two more steps into the dim interior when all the lights flashed on and a crowd of people popped up from behind the bar.

“Surprise!” they shouted in unison.

Adrenaline flooded my veins, leaving tingles in its wake. “Holy shit,” I gasped, my hand to my chest. “What the hell?”

“It’s a surprise baby shower,” Jake explained.

I blinked a few times taking in the group of people behind the bar, including Jake and Jackson. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

“Well, hello to you too,” Jackson joked.

“You know what I mean. Why aren’t you on your honeymoon?”

“Flights are cheaper on Wednesdays,” Jackson answered as Jake rolled his eyes beside him.

“We never got to throw you a shower before the baby, so we figured better late than never,” Kent explained, stepping out behind the bar.

Warm goo filled my chest as everyone came over to give hugs. Kent and Daniel co-owned the club together, and I helped them set up their bar. Kent was also one of my first independent clients who I was helping set up multiple hotels.