Our second day in Palm Springs went as smoothly as the first. Collin did an incredible job with his presentation. Jim expounded upon what Collin had to say by speaking again, standing there in a dark suit with a new glow on his face. The crease in his forehead and his brilliant smile captivated the group, and it wasn’t long before the people were responding with lively excitement. All-in-all, Jim and Collin had enchanted the room, making everyone seem to enjoy this day and the reason they were here even more.
I was on Jim’s arm most of the time, and it was euphoric in its own way. No nasty looks from people I understood were in the upper class of elites. There were only casual conversations and a lot of fun.
I would have thought that Collin—the gorgeous neurosurgeon—would’ve been far too young for his position, and the same went for Jake. By the looks of them, you’d think they were young and naïve doctors, but the men were brilliant. Captivatingly intelligent. Thank God for that too, apparently, because if they weren’t, this conference would have been a waste of time.
The night we flew home was as mesmerizing as the helicopter flight in. This time, however, Jim surprised me with burgers, fries, and a shake. He said he believed I would appreciate that more than roses or jewelry in gratitude for joining him to Palm Springs, and he wasn’t wrong. He knew the way to my heart was through my stomach, and that was enough for me.
By the time we got to his place, and after our commitment of love declarations to each other the first night in Palm Springs, I thought Jim and I reached a mutual understanding that he didn’t have to thank me for anything. I loved being with him, and now I was having to pull it together while getting ready on Monday morning for work, knowing we’d both be going our separate ways.
This was going to be my last morning here at his home. I had to think about Addison in all of this. I had to make sure Jim and I were solid like he said we were. We needed much more time together before I made any dramatic changes with Addison.
A lot of this stemmed from my own trust issues, not of Jim, but myself. Derek seemed to be great in the beginning too. I was blinded by a lot of things when I thought I was in love with him. The way I felt about Jim was more than anything I’d ever felt for Derek, though. That was a fact. Maybe that had me a little frightened too. I don’t know. I just had a gut feeling we needed to try our hardest to take our relationship slow.
I was single—but a single mom. If I was hurt, Addison did feel it. No matter how hard I tried to hide it from her. She was already dealing with a fuck-up for a dad, and the last thing she needed was her mom prancing around, acting spontaneous and free-spirited. Stability and security didn’t come free in my experience, and that was for fucking sure. I hated feeling this way because all I wanted was to be with Jim, but I had to be cautious. I knew how the world worked, and it didn’t change overnight just because I did.
“Yeah,” Jim said as soon as I finished sliding my lipstick over my lips, “your new position is in my office.” He smirked. I had no idea how long he’d been leaning in the door frame, looking handsome in his three-piece suit.
“Firing your personal assistant?” I teased.
Jim stood up straight from leaning against the doorway. “You wouldn’t be half wrong about that, but Summer had nothing to with dropping nearly the entire event in my lap last minute. It’ll be my events planning team who will hate the hell out of me today when I’m done with them. Them and the two PAs who have been assigned to this for months.”
“Jesus Christ. I’m not going anywhere near your office today.” I laughed, packing up my makeup. “I didn’t think anything was wrong.” I shrugged as I cleaned off his bathroom countertop from any makeup residue I may have left behind. “It was all badass.”
“The reason I couldn’t even introduce you to Joe and Clay, and the reasons for another company not showing up at all yesterday, was all their responsibility. Apparently, they were having cocktails by the pool while my goddamn phone was being blown up.”
I walked up to the tall man whose face was hardened now, pissed for reasons he hid well from me. “Shall we fuck before you head to work?” I thought I’d tease him and knock the look off his face with my proposal.
It worked. I was taken by one of Jim’s arms, that lighthearted expression was back, and his lips were on mine. He pulled away and brought my free hand to his hard cock. “That gets to stay with me while I wait it out all week until we’re together again.” His eyes were pleading, “There’s no way—”
“Jim.” I smiled, scooting past him and trying to get to my bags I’d packed up. “We discussed going to the beach with everyone this weekend. Addison hasn’t even seen the new car that her friend Mitch bought her. Let’s start with that. Sleepovers, however.” I started laughing as he grabbed me from behind, and I spun around in his arms. I put my palm up against his hard chest and arched an eyebrow at his beautiful expression. “They have to wait.”
“Then I have to have you now. Perhaps during your lunch?”
“You are one very naughty CEO,” I said, walking into the room and zipping my makeup bag into my duffle. “You have to wait.”
“After you get off work, then?”
I smirked at him. “With those cameras in your office? Yeah, I’ll pass.”
“Shit.” He chuckled. “I can’t win, can I?”
“I take lunch out in the courtyard garden area at noon with Alyssa and Amir. If you’d like to join us, you can.”
“I have a meeting then,” he said. “It’s one that I can’t move.”
“And I’m on the clock. I have a set schedule,” I said, putting my hands on his waist. “This is going to suck, isn’t it?”
Jim took me in his arms. “More than anything. It won’t be as bad as losing you in England, but after the weekend we’ve shared, yes. You have no idea how much I’m dreading coming home to an empty house. I want to see you and watch Addy play in that pool or something.”
“I know.” I stood on my toes and kissed his lips. “Addy deserves you and me having more time together as we did in Palm Springs. I might need to start farting or something. We have to get more familiar for her sake.”
Jim’s face tightened in humor. “If you love to fart so much,” he kissed my forehead, “then you and Collin will be the best of friends.”
I laughed. “He does have a fun and witty side for a neurosurgeon, doesn’t he? Not that I know many neurosurgeons, but he’s a one-eighty of what I’d expect from one.”
“You have no idea with that man. Put him and my brother in the same room with a few beers, and the comedy show rages on all night.”
“A night like that sounds like fun.”
“We’ll do that on Saturday night, after the day on the beach. You and Addy are still going on vacation and staying at my beach house, correct?”
“Yes,” I conceded. “The first sleepover.”
“Okay.” He sighed, then his phone beeped, he checked it, and smiled at me. “Someone’s new ride is here. Let’s go handle the pink slips, or we’re both going to be late for work.”
When I walked out to Jim’s driveway, I was looking for a regular car, not this badass, four-door, black Aston Martin. I quietly followed everything the man and Jim were saying. The damn thing was at the top of its game after Aston Martin decided to make a four-door vehicle that would sweep the market in luxury sports cars. I glanced back a few times to see how it matched Jim’s car, what he said Addy’d referred to as the roller coaster car.
I signed the dotted line, my hand shaking at the fact that Jim was gifting me this car. I was utterly speechless. I’d never had a pink slip to my name—ever. Now, here I was, standing in front of a car that I didn’t quite match. Shit, this thing was going to get ripped off at my apartment complex. Maybe Jim and I would have to move in together. We pretty much adopted a child with this thing, and I instantly didn’t want a scratch on it or anyone fucking with it. Mostly because it was a beautiful gift from Jim.
While Jim finished up with the man, I peered into the car. I smiled, seeing a custom car seat for Addy in the back. Jesus Christ, this was too much.
“Thank you, Mr. Mitchell,” I heard the man say.
“Have a good day,” Jim said, and the man was gone in a dealership car that’d followed him to Jim’s place.
“Think Addy will be impressed?” he asked, while I looked at him in awe. “And perhaps you could try it out while giving me a ride to work?”
“How is it that you think of everything?” I asked with a smile. “How in the living hell did you manage to get a car that matched yours?”
“Alex is my car guy, the go-to man, so to speak,” he said with a broad grin. “He mentioned it after I asked if there was anything out there like my Aston Martin. It turns out there was.”
“Well, partner,” I was holding back tears of gratitude and overwhelming joy, although my cracking voice was giving that away, “this is quite a step up from the car I had. Tell Alex I said thank you, and you?” I shook my head and swallowed back more tears. “God, thank you.” I hugged him and was molded into his body, smelling his delicious cologne. “Thank you, Jim, so very much for this. For taking care of us.”
He pulled away, and his lips brushed gently over mine. “Always. I’m just hoping that you don’t kill this one,” he teased, easing me out of the explosive ugly cry of gratitude.
“I’m not a crappy driver. You saw me driving in England. Big difference.”
“Well, my darling,” he said, walking to the passenger side with his briefcase and putting my duffle bag in the backseat as the garage closed, “let’s see if you’re a lead foot out here the same as you were in England.”
He kissed my cheek as I sat in the most luxurious leather seat—more like a cockpit. The steering wheel even felt glorious.
I took a deep breath and looked at him. “I don’t think I can handle this kind of extravagance.” I started laughing. “What if Addy spills something in it?”
“Or gets French fry grease on the seats?” He smirked, adjusting the seat back to fit his long legs. “Then it will be the perfect family car, I would say. Right now, it’s new and needs something spilled in it.”
“My ass.” I eased the car back and then turned the beautiful baby to purr down the road. “This car begs you to floor it. Listen to this motor,” I said, hearing the throaty growl of the sports car.
“If you fucking kill yourself in this because of that lead foot of yours.”
“Chill out,” I said, easing through his driveway and wishing we were near an open highway. “At least this will be comfortable in traffic,” I said, wiggling my body in the comfortable seat.
“We’re taking back roads, gorgeous,” he said, pulling up the business address on the GPS. “I’m never on the freeway unless I have to be.”
“Through the hills, then?” I smirked at him.
“Just keep us on the road, please.”
“Hey, if we bite it because I let the car get away from me, the workers you’re going to rip into today will be that much happier,” I teased.
“Fuck,” Jim gasped when I stepped on it, finally letting the car loose. “Avery, swear to God if you—”
“Quiet, darling,” I said, using our fake marriage pet names from England. “I’m trying to focus. I don’t need your bickering nonsense as a distraction.”
Jim laughed. “We need to do something—like a new driving test or what the fuck ever. You like speed way too much for comfort.”
“I love fast things.” I glanced over at his serious yet humored expression. “And huge cocks.”
Jim closed his eyes and smiled. “Drive the damn car, darling,” he said, pulling out his phone after it started ringing. “Just get us there alive.”
