AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Duh."
I rest a palm on her thigh, skating it up to her hip. "I can ease that tension and make you very relaxed."
"Um… Thanks, but I need to focus on my job search right now. I can't keep living here past next month unless I find work. You'd be better off hunting for a financially solvent American girl."
"Don't care about money." I move my hand to her inner thigh. "I'm bankrupt, remember? We have more in common than I knew."
"Oh great. Two broke people." She clasps a hand at her nape, almost wincing. "Listen, can this stay off the MacTaggart grapevine for the time being?"
"I won't tell. You can trust me."
"You know I do."
I lean in, my face near hers, close enough that I could kiss her with the slightest movement. "My offer to distract you is an open one. Take me up on it anytime."
"Maybe later."
"Aye, later. I'm always ready for you."
"Likewise."
I trace a fingertip down her jaw. "Feel free to sneak into my room in the dead of night."
"Since you've been sleeping in my bed, that's pretty much a certainty."
"Tonight, I'll sleep in the guest room." I skim a fingertip across her lips. "Just so you can sneak in and crawl under the sheets with me. We've never made love in the dark."
Her breasts rise and fall as she begins to breathe more heavily, and her lips turn a deeper shade of rose.
"You like the idea," I say.
She sinks into her chair. "Oh yeah, I really do."
"Then I'll be waiting for you tonight." I skate my lips over hers and straighten. "I'm having a shower. Care to join me?"
She squirms in her chair. "Not this time."
"My sister's coming tomorrow, so this may be our last chance to rattle the house."
"As much as I'd love that, I can't. Gotta continue the fruitless job search."
"You'll find something, eventually." I kiss the top of her head. "I believe in you."
"Thanks."
I head for the bathroom. Just as I shut the door behind me, I hear the doorbell ring in the living room. Maybe it's another extravagant gift from Lachlan, delivered by someone he lavished with money to make sure they would bring the whatever-it-is right away.
While I shower, I think about Calli—but not in an erotic way. I think about her reaction when I said I believe in her. She'd seemed surprised and almost embarrassed. I gather no one gives her compliments like that, certainly not the men she's known. Since she's trapped in a marriage she doesn't want, I wonder if she's dated anyone in the past five years.
She gave her virginity to me. That must mean something. And she called this a relationship.
Aye, she just might be falling for me the way I've done for her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
After my shower, I intend to head back into the living room. But the second I open the bathroom door, two furry wee bodies fly at me. I kneel to babble nonsense to them, ruffle their hair, and let them lick my face. It's hard to stop these two from licking every inch of visible skin or shoving their noses into my erse—when I'm wearing clothes. Even I'm not daft enough to let a dog do that when I'm naked. I don't mind their enthusiasm. They're sweet pups, though not as sweet as their mistress.
I bet Lachlan and Rory would never let puppies jam their noses into their erses. Can't picture Rory letting a dog lick his face either, or even his hand. Not that he hates animals. He just isn't the sort to get within licking distance of a puppy. Maybe he was different as a laddie, but considering our eleven-year age difference, we weren't exactly best mates—and he was out of the house and at university before I turned eight.
