Chapter 23: Forever With The CEO: Chapter 23

By the time we drove home, it was way past the twins’ bedtime. It was already eight o’clock.

Allison kept glancing into the backseat at them. “I bet they’ll wake up and stay up for hours once we’re home.”

“Allison, tomorrow is Sunday. Even if we stay up late, we’ll sleep in tomorrow.”

“That’s right,” she said, then added, “husband.”

For most of my life, I’d been certain that I would never want anyone to call me that. I wasn’t even sure when I decided, but it was probably around the time I found out that my dad had another family. Or maybe after, when I saw the disaster he’d left in his wake. No clue. But I didn’t mind Allison calling me husband at all. Maybe because I knew it wasn’t real.

When we arrived at the house, we were both silent for a few moments, neither of us making a move to get out of the car. Finally, Allison whispered, “I can’t believe we’ve gone through with this.”

“I’m feeling exactly the same. But we’ve come this far. Let’s do this.”

She quickly got out of the car. Damn, the woman was fast. I always liked opening doors for her, but she wasn’t giving me the opportunity.

Allison’s prediction turned out to be wrong. The twins didn’t even wake up when we took them from the car seats and brought them inside. We carried them upstairs and lowered each one into bed.

“Let’s just get their shoes off and that’s it. Don’t take their clothes off. I don’t want to bother their sleep,” Allison said.

As I took off Jack’s shoes, I had a flash of a memory of Mom bringing the three of us home after a birthday party and telling us that we had to be in bed by eight. We were a bit older than the twins were, but not by much. I remembered Mom reading us bedtime stories… and virtually nothing like that with Dad.

The idea that Jack and Annie wouldn’t know their parents saddened me. But they were going to have Allison and, at some point, her real husband.

Hell no!

The thought of her calling someone else husband didn’t sit well with me at all. I had no idea why I had so much trouble processing it or making peace with the fact that this was a temporary thing.

We left the room, and something shifted between us.

Allison stepped away. “Leo left your suitcases downstairs. We could make space for your stuff in my dresser. And we can take your empty suitcases to the garage once you’ve unpacked.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Let’s not deal with any of that tonight. There’s no hurry. I’ll just take what I need and do everything else tomorrow. Is there enough space in your bedroom to put a second dresser for my things?”

“We could do that,” she replied. “I’m going to change into something more comfortable and then bring linens downstairs.”

“Thanks. I’ll open the pull-out.”

“Perfect.”

She dashed into her room faster than I’d hoped. I didn’t want this day to be over yet. But after a few seconds of listening to her walk around her room and the unmistakable sound of a zipper being lowered, I decided it was better if I went downstairs. Otherwise, I was liable to bust into her room and have a real wedding night.

I headed straight for the couch, which had an easy system. It wasn’t terribly big, but the mattress seemed half decent.

“This is the best I have. I hope they fit,” Allison said from behind me a few moments later, her voice low so as not to wake the twins.

I straightened up and turned to look at her. Fuck me. She was wearing a very short dress, or was it a nightgown? No, I was sure it was a dress. Her hair was still styled, but she’d changed it, loosened it somehow. She was even sexier than she’d looked in the wedding dress.

“You can use my shower if you want to,” she offered.

“Great. I’ll be quick.”

“And I’ll make the bed now.”

“It’s fine, Allison. You’ve had a long day. I’ll do it.”

“Hey, we both had a long day.”

“I’m taking care of this. If you want to do something, sit in that armchair and keep me company.”

“You’re bossing me around in my own living room?” she asked.

I tilted closer. “I thought you liked it.”

She gasped. “Nick. I thought we were going to ignore that.”

I took in a deep breath. I’d been alone with this woman for a hot minute and was already crossing boundaries. “You’re right. We are going to ignore it. Forget what I said.”

“Like that’s easy,” she said, walking backward to the armchair. As she sat down, she ran a hand through her hair. She then pulled her legs up as well, and for a split second, I thought I was having visions. As she twisted to put her legs under her, I caught a glimpse of her pussy. She wasn’t wearing panties.

Come on, Nick. Think of things you hate, like cilantro. It tastes like fucking soap.

It wasn’t working.

“Nick? What’s wrong?” Allison asked.

I glanced down at the floor, trying to get myself under control. It was having the opposite effect. “I’ll go shower.”

“What happened? You just sort of went blank.” She rose from the armchair, repeating the same motion. I groaned, and she covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh my God. I flashed you, right?”

“Yes. Twice.”

“What? I didn’t hear you.”

I cleared my throat. “You flashed me twice.”

She wasn’t just covering her mouth now but her whole face with both hands. “I’ll be wearing panties from now on when I’m in the house.”

Hearing her actually say that she wasn’t wearing anything had the most bizarre effect on me. It was turning me on. Then again, I couldn’t think of a single thing she could do right now that wouldn’t turn me on.

I wanted to reassure her, but if I touched her—hell, even went near her—I was going to have her right there in that armchair, and it was only our first night together.

“I’ll go take that shower now.”

“Yeah, good thinking. Do you need me to show you up?”

“No, I’ll find my way,” I said before going up the stairs, taking two steps at once.

As I walked into her bedroom, I looked around. It was big. Nowhere near as big as mine, but as far as master bedrooms went, it was decent. So was the bathroom.

I took off my suit and dropped it to the floor, not caring that it was going to get crumpled. I wasn’t going to wear a groom’s suit again anytime soon. I turned the water ice-cold. It was brutal. My entire body felt as if someone had cut off my circulation.

It was exactly what I needed.

I’d brought my toiletry bag with me and found my shower gel, rubbing it over my body. After the initial cold shower, I turned the water to warm. Clearly this was going to be more difficult than I’d anticipated. I’d postponed thinking about logistics because it seemed like a waste of time, but maybe I’d been wrong. Then again, I hadn’t expected to maul her in my dressing room either. This was all uncharted territory for me.

After I finished the shower, I put on slacks and a T-shirt and headed downstairs. Allison had changed into long pants and a T-shirt, and I exhaled in relief. Thank fuck. If she’d been wearing that same short dress, I wasn’t sure I’d let her go upstairs without being properly kissed—or fucked.

“I had to go upstairs and swap linens because those were far too big for the couch, but these fit better.”

I hadn’t even realized she’d done that.

“Thanks, Allison.”

“It’s the least I can do after flashing you not once but twice.”

She was smiling, but I knew her mannerisms well enough by now to realize that she was nervous. She stood by the kitchen counter, leaning against it, fiddling her thumbs. I walked straight to her.

“Allison, we’ll get used to this,” I said.

“Will we?”

I had no idea.

She sucked in a deep breath. “Nick.”

Damn it. How had I ended up in her space? I glanced down, which turned out to be a big mistake because I looked straight into her cleavage. I took a step back with great difficulty and rolled my shoulders.

“It has to get easier.”

She nodded. “Do you want me to make some tea or anything?” I shook my head, and she blew out a heavy breath. “I don’t know how to navigate this. I mean, I know this is your space now in the evening. Are you sure you don’t want to take my bedroom instead? I can camp out here.”

“Allison, I’m fine on the couch, really. I’d never let you sleep there.”

“But here’s the thing. I’m actually a pretty bad sleeper, so sometimes during the night I get restless.”

“And what do you usually do then?”

“Come down here and drink some water, eat some ice cream. Sometimes I even go out in the yard.”

“You can do all of those things anyway. I sleep very deeply.”

She tilted her head. “Opening doors wouldn’t wake you up?”

“No, and if it does, I’ll join you.”

“How do you even know I’d want company?” she teased.

“Oh, so your midnight activities are secret?”

She licked her lips, and I swallowed hard. We were slipping right back into dangerous territory.

She seemed to realize that, because she said, “I’m going to go upstairs. It’s been a long day. I’ll try not to wake you tomorrow morning.”

“As I said, all good.”

“But the kids might be harder to keep quiet.”

I looked her in the eye, holding her gaze. “Allison, it’s all good. Promise.”

She nodded once. “Okay. Good night, Nick.”

I watched her retreat upstairs, and even in her long pants, my dick found her ass attractive. Oh well. We’d have to manage this somehow.

Usually, I was a late sleeper on the weekends, but honestly, adjusting to an earlier sleep schedule was going to be the least of my problems now. Resisting the urge to seduce this gorgeous woman, be it the middle of the day or the night—that was another story altogether.