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My fingers danced through his hair as he held me. “You have to go.” It was a statement, not a question.
He sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to. I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’m sure Lucy is ready to see you.”
Wesley pushed his face into my hair, breathing deeply. “Soon neither one of us will have to leave.”
My heart fluttered. Sooner than later, our lives would completely intersect. Lucy would know about our relationship, I’d probably move in. It would only make sense. My head danced with thought of our inevitable, beautiful future.
Wesley rested his chin on my head. “Can I lay with you just a bit longer?”
“Of course.”
He left shortly before midnight. It was a difficult goodbye even though we would see each other the next morning.
The moment I was alone, however, reality hit me.
I had abandoned my parents to risk it all on a man I’d only known a few short weeks.
And whether it went incredibly right or incredibly wrong, one thing was for sure.
It was incrediblycrazy.
Chapter26
Wesley
“Yeesh. That’s rough.”
I grimaced. “Tell me about it.”
“They really gave her an ultimatum like that?”
“Yep.”
“They hate you that much?”
I glared at Jenson across my desk. I gave him an update on the horror story from the night before. Since I had asked Cara out, trying to do things the old-fashioned way, I’d confided in Jenson about our relationship.
“I knew it!” he had shouted. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist a pretty young woman.”
I had to give him credit. Jenson had been my close friend for years. He knew me better than almost anyone.
Naturally, I’d told him about going to meet Cara’s parents. He’d been incredibly supportive in the days leading up to it. “They’ll love you. You’ve a great dad, and you’re a freaking billionaire — what’s not to love?”
Turned out, there was quite a bit about me that the Smiths found unlovable.
First thing in the morning, Jenson had marched into my office demanding a recap. I’d been dreading it, mostly because all in all, the night had been memorable and beautiful. There was something growing between Cara and me. A deep, wonderful thing I could almost call love.
Of course, I wasn’t going to tell Jenson all of that. So I gave him the details I had been avoiding replaying in my own brain. Linda and Stan’s immediate coolness to me, the interrogation at the dinner table, the way they’d told Cara what she could and could not do with her life, despite her being a grown woman.
“Well, I guess she is pretty young.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Jenson shrugged. “What I mean is, you’d be worried too, right? So would I.”
“It’s not just worry, Jenson. It’s control. They think they can tell Cara what to do. She doesn’t even live under their roof anymore. She’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions.” I was feeling defensive since her parents had attacked me for trying to manipulate her. Though I was clear on my intentions, there was an inherent power dynamic due to our age difference. I’d lived quite a bit more life than she had. I had more money. I was her employer — hopefully not for much longer, if our relationship kept going in the right direction. We could repeat the old adage “age is just a number” over and over. That didn’t mean it was true.
