Page 28 of Wait For You

I forced myself to push my phone away, chuckling as I leaned back in my desk chair.

Dude, she’s a grown-ass woman and a mother. She’s not sitting around, staring at her phone screen.

I had been reduced to this, with thoughts circling in my brain while I waited in my office at night. I forced my focus back to my computer screen, where I was reviewing reports from our new renewable resources division. We were winding down fossil fuel projects and shifting to renewable energy development. As the CFO, any new projects meant I constantly checked numbers.

When my phone vibrated a few minutes later, I practically lunged for it.

Tessa: Having dinner with friends. Your sister, me, Haven, Rosie, and sometimes Fiona do this at least once a month. It’s at my house tonight. What are you doing?

Me: Working late.

I hesitated for a beat, but then I decided to put myself out there.

Me: I know we said we would keep this quiet, and I will. But I want to see you again. So how do we do that?

Chapter Eighteen

Tessa

“Be right back. Bathroom break,” I said to the room at large.

I hurried from the kitchen into the bathroom. As soon as I closed the door, I leaned against it and took several deep breaths, trying to slow the beat of my rampaging pulse.

I slipped my phone from the pocket of my jeans and glanced at the screen again. Adam wanted to know how we were going to see each other again. Oh. My. God.

I had no idea. We’d had a brief conversation about it after our unexpected, shockingly intimate, and intensely pleasurable night together.

I pushed away from the door and put the phone back in my pocket, turning on the cold water at the sink. I splashed water on my face to cool the heat blazing in my cheeks.

After dabbing my face dry, I studied myself in the mirror. With my slightly wavy hair and big eyes, I looked a touch weary. I hadn’t really looked at myself in a while. Maybe it was being a mom, or perhaps it was being in an abusive relationship for too long. No matter the reason, I had simply stopped even thinking about myself as a sexual being.

Yet after one night with a man who’d been in my life for so many years, I felt bracingly alive like a blast of wind had lifted me and dropped me in a new place. Just thinking about the heat contained in Adam’s eyes after we kissed sent another wash of heat through me. My mind spun to when he fucked me against the wall in the shower after dryly pointing out that shower sex wasn’t all that great unless you stayed out of the water. I was burning up inside.

I slid my phone out of my pocket again and typed a quick reply.

Me: I don’t know.

I sat on the closed toilet even though I didn’t even have to go to the bathroom. Adam’s reply came quickly.

Adam: I can come to you any night. Just tell me what works for you. I promise I’ll be quiet.

A disbelieving laugh slipped out, and I leaned my head back as I took a slow breath.

Quiet? Ha! We’d been anything but the other night.

“What’s taking you so long?” A voice came from outside the door. “I have to pee,” Haven added.

Heat flashed into my cheeks as if my friend somehow knew I was texting my secret new friends-with-benefits guy. I stood, flushed the toilet for good measure, and washed my hands again.

Me: I’ll text you later.

Haven waited outside the bathroom, dancing on her feet. “Sorry. My bladder hasn’t recovered from having a baby.”

“No worries.”

I slipped across the hallway to check on Eric. He was situated happily in front of his TV, playing one of his video games. There were so many things to keep track of as a mom, one of them was monitoring your child’s online gaming behaviors. I was beyond grateful that Eric was comfortable with me checking on things and liked to read as much as he liked to play video games. McKenna had helped me set up a monitoring program, which Eric didn’t care about. I wasn’t worried about him. I was worried about other people.

“Hey, Mom,” he said without looking away from the screen as his thumbs moved rapidly on the controller.