Chapter 27: Forever With The CEO: Chapter 27

In the morning, I woke up to the sound of the hairdryer. I’d enjoyed last night more than I could have imagined, and I was ready for another fantastic day at Allison’s side. I was getting used to this, and I didn’t mind.

I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. She startled when I came in, then turned off the dryer.

“Let me just put the hairdryer away. I hate using it, but I don’t want to go out with wet hair today.”

“Don’t stop on my account. I’m happy just stand here and watch you. Now that I don’t have to do it when you’re not looking.”

She looked at me in the mirror, then glanced over her shoulder as if she needed actual eye-to-eye contact. “Good morning to you too. I see you woke up on your flirty side.”

“Allison, a word of warning,” I said, stepping up behind her. She turned her head forward so we were once again looking at each other in the mirror. “Any day I wake up naked in your bed, I won’t be able to keep my hands or eyes off you.”

“Duly noted.”

I kissed her shoulder, putting a hand on her belly. If I could, I’d keep this woman just like this.

“What are you thinking? You have that sort of caveman expression.”

“That I’d like to keep you indoors and naked all the time.”

She laughed. “That’s going to be a bit hard. I have to go to work from time to time.”

“Here’s an idea.” I moved to her other shoulder, kissing it too. “You can come work with me. I’m always looking for a good CFO.”

“What about your current one?”

“I’ll just find him another place in Whitley Industries. I can insist on you sharing an office with me.”

“And let me guess. You’d keep me naked all the time?”

“Fuck yes!” I tugged at her earlobe.

“Did you come up with this just now?”

“Yes. The idea is fully formed in my mind. I’m ready to put it into action whenever you are. Josh won’t care.” My CFO was great and probably wouldn’t be too keen on the idea, but a guy had to keep his options open for his woman.

She flashed me a grin. “You know what? Next time some client or my boss gives me a hard time, that’s all I’ll think about: ‘I could be naked in Nick’s office right now.’”

“Exactly. Do keep that in mind.”

She yawned as she started to brush her hair.

“Do you have plans for today?” she asked.

“Are you kidding? I knew I had a whole day with you.”

“You’re full of plans, aren’t you, husband?”

“You have no idea.”

Her skin sprouted goose bumps at my words. I kissed her shoulder again before taking a step back.

“Let’s have a strong coffee, and then I’ll tell you all about the rest of my plan.”

“I think I know what it is,” she whispered before starting the hairdryer again.

“Well, not exactly.”

She’d probably guessed parts of it, but it was more elaborate than that.

I showered and changed into fresh clothes before going downstairs. On the way, I checked my messages. I had one from Leo, informing me that my penthouse still had zero interest, which was what I’d intended, of course. He’d thought my idea was crazy when I first told him that I wanted to charge an astronomical rent for it so no one would bite, but he agreed to help. So far, the plan was working.

By the time Allison joined me, I was already on my second coffee. I held out a freshly made one for her.

“So… what are we doing today?” she asked as she took the mug.

“How about going on a cruise?”

Her eyes bulged. “Wow. When you said plan…”

“You just thought I meant taking you to bed, huh?” I smirked.

“Uh, yes,” she admitted, hiding her sheepish smile behind the coffee cup.

“Don’t worry. That is definitely on the agenda,” I replied with as much seriousness as I could muster.

“Don’t we need to buy tickets or something?”

“That’s already taken care of,” I assured her.

She lowered her cup. “Nick, that’s very thoughtful. I was going to suggest we eat breakfast at home, but now I’m too excited. When’s the cruise?”

“We still have time. It starts at ten.” It was only nine o’clock. Funny enough, after waking up at six thirty every morning for the twins, my internal clock had already shifted.

“I’m sure we can find something to eat on the ship or maybe in the harbor. Am I dressed appropriately for that?”

She turned around once. Her yellow dress was short, and it flounced around her.

“Your dress might get caught by the wind.”

“You’re afraid someone might see my sexy parts.”

I growled. “No one can see those. They’re all for me. Just for me.”

Allison pressed her lips together as her pupils dilated a bit. “Only yours, Nick.”

“I’ll just cover you with my body if there’s wind.”

She laughed. “That won’t attract attention at all.”

***

Allison

I’d never been to this part of the harbor. Then again, there were lots of parts of Boston that I hadn’t been to.

“Your smile is amazing,” Nick remarked as we stood in line.

I put one hand over my mouth to hide it. “I think it’s a bit too obvious.”

“What do you mean, obvious?”

I made a come-here motion, and he lowered his ear to my mouth. “That it says I got laid last night, and it was amazing.” Nick burst out laughing. I hadn’t seen that coming. “Well, now that will give us away.”

I started to sip from my smoothie we’d bought from the nearby cart. Nick had just gotten a bagel, and he’d already devoured it. His laughter made me laugh too.

“Nick, people are starting to look at us,” I admonished.

He cleared his throat, but it took several tries for him to stop. “Let them watch us, then. What’s wrong with us being happy?”

Nothing, I realized. Absolutely nothing.

His eyes were playful. God, was this really happening? Last night, I had so many worries, and now I had zero. I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Things were as confusing as ever, but I was looking forward to spending this “marriage with benefits” with Nick. Why hadn’t we thought about it from the beginning? It made so much more sense.

“How long is the cruise?” I asked.

“Just an hour.”

“That’s not so bad. That means we’ll still make it in time to pick up the twins.”

Nick took my free hand in his. “I’ve timed everything. I don’t want you to worry about anything. I’m picking up all the slack today.”

“That, husband, is one of the sexiest things you’ve said to me.”

He jerked his head back in surprise.

“Okay, maybe not, but it’s right there in the top five or something.”

“Fuck me,” he said. The lady next to us actually jumped. “Sorry, ma’am,” Nick apologized before focusing on me. On a whisper, he added, “I must do better, then.”

“No, trust me. This is a good thing. You being… I don’t know. Forget it.”

At the office, I didn’t have issues stating my ideas, but when it came to Nick, I found myself at a loss for words far too often.

When our ferry finally arrived, I was absolutely giddy to get on. The line moved slowly, as the person taking the tickets was very thorough about all the details. Were there people faking tickets to get onto a ferry? That seemed strange, but you’d sure think so the way she was scrutinizing them.

A few minutes later, we were inside and found comfortable seats on a bench in the middle. I would have preferred to sit in the front, but this would do. The seats were comfy, and there was a menu pinned to the backrest of the bench in front of us. I immediately inspected it. They didn’t have much, so it was good I had a smoothie.

As the boat moved out of the harbor, I looked around with a huge grin on my face. I hadn’t been so happy in months. I turned to tell Nick this and found him looking at me.

“What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face? Smoothie?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

“You’re looking at me so intently.”

“I want to memorize everything about you today.”

“It’s just that…” I bit my lip once again, at a loss as to how to explain myself. “I haven’t been this happy in a long while. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been this happy. Especially not on a date.”

He grinned. “I like that.”

“The thing is that losing Nora sort of split my life into before and after.” My voice shook. “I never thought I could feel fully happy again. Or at least not without also feeling guilty because my sister isn’t here anymore.”

Nick moved a strand of hair behind my ear. He seemed to like doing that a lot.

“But today, I feel completely happy and not guilty at all.” I glanced at him. “Is that a good thing?”

“Yes, it is. Allison, I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“I can’t help it,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. I know we agreed not to talk about sad things.”

He shook his head. “I want you to always tell me what’s on your mind. There’s no reason to keep things from me.”

Well, well, my fake husband was turning out to be the best boyfriend I’d ever had.

“Mourning those we love is a way of showing them affection after they’re gone. But don’t feel guilty for feeling happy. Nora loved you deeply, and I’m sure that all she would have wanted was for you to be happy.”

“I know that. My sister was a gentle soul. But, Nick, there’s something else. Something in me shifted since last night.”

That made him grin again. “I always like claiming credit, so I’ll add that to my list of wins.”

“Yes, please do.” It was as if he’d unlocked something inside me. Nick had set free my ability to feel joy again. I could feel myself getting back to being the old me. Or maybe this was simply the new version of me. I’d been trying all along to get back to who I was before, but maybe that shouldn’t have been the goal in the first place.

“You’re lost in thought,” he whispered.

“I was just thinking that all these months, I felt stuck. And I think it’s because I always assumed that things had to get back to normal. That I should be my old self: single, no kids, no big responsibilities except the mortgage and my job. I figured that once enough time had passed, I’d find my groove again and be able to see my friends more often, do things the way we used to. Now I realize that’s not what this is about. I’m accepting my new normal. I don’t want to call myself a mom, because that would feel disrespectful to my sister, but I am an aunt and guardian.”

Nick brought his mouth to my ear. “Don’t forget that you’re also an amazing fake wife.”

I grinned. “That too. I should probably add it to my résumé, improve my street cred and all that.”

Nick laughed in my ear. It tickled me, so I started to giggle, which earned us stares from the rest of the passengers.

Whoops. I realized then that there had been a tour guide audio going on all this time. The voice was telling us what we were seeing along the edge of the water. I hadn’t paid attention to even one word, but I couldn’t care less. It was still part of the experience, watching Boston from the water.

“Allison, for all intents and purposes, you are the twins’ mother.”

His words wrapped around my heart tightly. I had no idea why it meant so much to me.

“You’re not dishonoring your sister’s memory. It’s what she’d hope you’d do. I just wanted to get that out of the way.”

“You’re very good with words,” I whispered. “But now I think we should be silent, or everyone will throw us overboard.”

We weren’t loud, but a few passengers were giving us the evil eye. I didn’t want to be that annoying person who talked during an entire tour. Well… I didn’t want to be that person anymore. Clearly I’d been exactly that until now.

Nick seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because he didn’t say anything else either, just leaned back against the wooden bench and put an arm around my shoulders.

I leaned against him, then decided I wanted a bit more contact, so I shifted so that half my back was plastered against his chest. Then I became greedy and put a hand on his thigh. There was no way I could feel up his abs without making a spectacle of us, but this was very under the radar. Then I moved so one ass cheek was basically resting against his thigh. Nick groaned, and I felt hot air against my ear.

“Allison, if you keep moving like that, I’m going to take you in the back of the ferry. And I really don’t want to have you in some dingy toilet.”

Holy shit. Maybe the others didn’t get wind of what I was doing, but obviously poor Nick had felt all of that.

I moved so I could glance up at him. “Sorry, I wasn’t doing it on purpose.”

“Yes, you were.” He was smiling.

I smiled right back. “Okay, maybe I was. I just didn’t think it would have this effect.”

He kissed me then, exploring me with his tongue. It was a very slow kiss, and I loved it immensely. It reminded me of the one at city hall. He interlaced our hands, too, and squeezed my fingers tightly with his. This moment felt more intimate than what we’d experienced at the house yesterday or back in his closet. I had no idea how long we kissed, but I didn’t want it to end.

When we finally paused to breathe, he was looking at me with a smile, and his eyelids were hooded. Good to know that I wasn’t the only one who was turned on. How was I always in this state around Nick? Would that change over time? I didn’t think so. In fact, I suspected that the more of Nick I got, the more I’d want. Which was dangerous because this had an expiration date.

Then an even more horrifying thought came to mind: what if the custody battle went on forever, and eventually Nick and I just didn’t work together anymore? I couldn’t imagine anything more horrendous than living with someone who didn’t want me. I’d done it once in college. I was stupid enough to give up my dorm room to move in with my then-boyfriend. When we split up, I was in the unfortunate position of having to live with him while I was apartment hunting.

But this was completely different. I knew Nick would be decent about it. Would it still suck? Sure, especially for the twins.

Oh God, the twins. I hadn’t even thought about how all this would affect them.

All the worries I’d pushed out of my mind this morning were slamming back in. But then Nick pulled me closer to him, and all my worries melted away—placing those dirty thoughts in my head again.

Mental note: being close and feeling his muscles definitely drove all the rational thoughts from my mind.

We were silent for the rest of the cruise, simply taking in our surroundings and listening to the guide. I didn’t end up ordering anything; I was surprisingly full from my smoothie.

Once we stepped off the boat, I checked the clock. “We should probably go pick up the twins.”

Nick nodded. “I’ll text Spencer so he knows we’re coming.”

When we reached the car, he opened the door for me. He’d insisted on putting two car seats in his own car as well so we’d always be able to have the kids with us.

It didn’t take long for us to arrive at his brother’s house. The second I got out, I heard laughter. I recognized Annie’s voice immediately, which meant they were outside.

There was no way to get into the yard from the front, though, so we rang the bell anyway. The door swung open the next second. To my surprise, I came face-to-face with Jeannie Whitley.

“Gran!” Nick exclaimed. Her eyes fell on the arm he had around my shoulders. “I didn’t know you’d be here. Spencer didn’t say.”

“Abe and I dropped by this morning. We wanted the chance to see the little ones again.”

My heart was so happy right now. They were truly taking their grandparenting’ role to a whole new level.

“Come on in,” she said. “Everyone’s out in the back.”

We followed Jeannie through the house. It was madness outside. Spencer and Penny were both chasing the kids around, and they were all running in different directions. Three kids, two adults—they were totally outnumbered.

The second the twins noticed us, they stopped running. Instead, they came barreling toward us, but they didn’t jump into my arms. They jumped into Nick’s! My sexy, strong man was getting all the love.

“Will you look at that?” I teased. “You’re becoming their favorite.”

Jeannie was staring at Nick with a triumphant smile. Then she and Penny exchanged a glance.

Nick had been right about everything; I could feel it in my bones. These two had a matchmaking thing going on.

“How were they?” I asked Penny.

“Perfect. They had a lot of fun. They went to bed on time with no fuss.”

“Then we found them playing an hour later,” Spencer said.

I laughed. “They do that sometimes at home as well.”

“But they slept through the night.”

“Thanks so much for having them. Ben, you’re welcome at our place anytime, okay?”

Ben jumped up and down. “Yes, yes, yes! I have new friends. I like having new friends. When can I go, Dad?” he asked Spencer, who mussed up his son’s hair. They looked a lot alike.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Jeannie, we should ask everyone over to our house,” Abe suggested. “We haven’t had a get-together at our place in some time.”

Spencer cocked a brow. “We were there like—”

“Two months ago,” Jeannie replied in a tone that made it clear she’d counted exactly.

“Gran, we can all meet somewhere else. You don’t have to go through all the trouble,” Nick said.

“Oh, nonsense, you boys. I’d like to have all of you at the house.” She looked at me too. “Especially the children.”

Even though she was well past ninety, she crouched easily, putting her knees on the grass, and held her arms out. Ben gave her a hug.

“You two come here,” she told the twins.

They immediately asked Nick to put them down and ran to Jeannie. Lately, they were very accepting of other people. I wondered if they would get used to living with Bob and Sophie if it came to that.

“Would you like to come to my house?” Jeannie asked them.

“Yes!” all three said in unison, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Clearly Ben was leading the small group.

Then Jeannie let them go and quickly rose to her feet. My parents couldn’t do that even though they were in their late sixties. The woman was truly fit. She beamed at us again. She was mischievous. Or possibly knowing. Maybe a mix of the two.

“How was your evening?” Penny asked. Spencer cleared his throat, giving her what I could only describe as a warning look, and she shrugged. I realized Jeannie was hanging on to Nick’s every word.

“Just had dinner at home,” Nick said.

“Both of you?” Penny raised a brow. Spencer cleared his throat.

“Yes.”

“I thought you were meeting your friend,” Jeannie added.

This was fascinating. I wasn’t mad in the slightest. It was unusual but fun.

“No, I postponed that. I was tired,” Nick replied.

“I bet it was nice having the house to yourself for once,” Jeannie said. “By the way, I’m very happy to have the twins as well as Ben at the house anytime for a sleepover.”

“Three kids, Gran?” Spencer asked. “We’ll see.”

After a bit more chatting, I gently nudged Nick. “We should get going,” I said.

After saying our goodbyes, we headed to the car. By the time Nick and I secured the twins in their car seats, they were already asleep.

He closed the doors quietly and then was by my side, hand on the handle.

“What was that back there?” I asked.

“You picked up on it?”

“That Penny and Gran are plotting?”

“Strong word, but sure, why not?”

I giggled. “They seemed to be up to something. You think they suspect anything?”

“As a general rule, everyone’s constantly under suspicion in my family.”

“Oh, that sounds ominous.”

He nodded. “It can be, but there’s one thing I can tell you for sure.”

“What?” I inquired.

“Whenever Gran asks us to her house, they’ll do their very best to figure us out.”