Page 81 of Wild Heart

The coiling and twisting I’d felt in my gut slowly unfurled. At least I had that promise from her. Anything else, I was confident we’d be able to work through.

I lifted my hand to the side of her face and cupped her cheek, my thumb stroking along the skin there.

Just as I was about to speak, the door to the conference room opened and Wyatt stepped inside. “Oh, shit, I?—”

“Forgot how to knock,” I said, cutting him off and wrapping my arms around Ava to spin the both of us around, shielding her body from view with mine. Ava nestled herself closer to me.

“I didn’t realize I’d need to knock to come into the conference room that anyone else could have walked into,” Wyatt goaded me, an edge of happiness in his tone. “You know, you should begrateful it was me and not Mom or Dad. Maybe you should be thanking me.”

“Walk away, Wyatt,” I warned him, twisting my neck to look in his direction.

“Fine, I’m going. I’ll use the other conference room.” He started to back out of the room but stopped and said, “Hi, Ava. It’s good to see you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks,” she called back, her lips smiling against my chest.

I growled, and Wyatt started laughing as he finally stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Without delay, I reached for Ava’s T-shirt and held it out to her. “I don’t think he was trying to see anything. He’s married, and he adores Rhea.”

“Yeah, but this is all mine, and I’m not interested in anyone knowing what you look like after two orgasms.”

She cocked a brow. “What if you only give me one in the future? Would it be okay for someone to see me then?”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t insult me. I’d never just give you one.”

Ava pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh. Then she pulled her shirt over her head while I tugged on my shirt.

Minutes later, I was escorting her out of the conference room and toward the parking lot for lunch.

I didn’t think twice about any of the work that was on my plate for the rest of the week. Today, the only thing that mattered was her.

21

AVA

This day hadn’t goneanything like I had imagined it would, and I still had plenty of time left before it would be over.

But just because it was turning out differently than I expected didn’t mean it was a bad thing.

In fact, I couldn’t have asked for something better than this. Everything seemed to finally be heading in the right direction.

Tate and I had come out for lunch and were currently waiting for our orders to arrive. We’d spent the last several minutes sending each other silly grins while being unable to look away from one another. We were seated at a smaller square table, and instead of sitting directly across from me, Tate dragged his seat around the side so he could sit closer and touch me.

After what he’d made me promise in the conference room—that I wasn’t meeting up with a realtor because I was planning to move away—I decided I’d let him be as close to me now as he wanted. It was obvious just how much me being away had impacted him.

And of course, we had a lot to discuss, but Tate was right. It could wait until later tonight. After all that we’d been through, we deserved to have just a bit more time to soak up the good vibes we both seemed to be experiencing now.

Although I was completely content to sit in the silence with Tate—I’d always loved just being around him—I didn’t want our entire lunch time to pass us by without talking about anything at all. So, I thought I’d break the ice with something a bit more lighthearted.

“I have a question,” I told him.

My hand closest to him was being held protectively and possessively in both of his, one on top, the other on the bottom. “Sure. What’s on your mind?”

A grin played at my lips as I recalled what had happened. “Do you think Wyatt is going to tell everyone else about what happened in the conference room?”

“Wyatt doesn’t know what happened in the conference room,” he reasoned.

I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Fair enough. Maybe he doesn’t knowexactlywhat happened, but I get the feeling he’s not in his position at Westwood’s, ready to take over as CEO when your dad starts to transition into retirement, because he’s a moron. Wyatt is smart enough to put it together, and he was a bit confident this afternoon. I’m pretty sure he can speculate and get very close to being accurate about what happened.”