Unbreak My Heart (36 page)

“I’ve never had sex in this office.”

He groaned. “Don’t
tell
me that.”

“I assumed you knew.”

“I assumed that every fucking man in this office building had the fantasy of doing you in your ivory tower. I just didn’t realize none of them had the balls to give it a try. Not that I’m unhappy I’ll be the first and only dude you’ll bend over for in here.”

I laughed. “Such a way with words, West.” I turned around so we were chest to chest and wreathed my arms around his neck. My gaze roamed over his face.

“What?”

“Sometimes when I look at this gorgeous face I’ve only seen in my dreams the past few years, I can’t believe you’re really here.”

His sexy growl sent a curl of heat through me.

He framed my face in his hands, giving me tender kisses. “Can you play hooky the rest of the day?”

“What would we do? Spend it in bed?”

“Yes. After I fucked you in the living room. Maybe the kitchen. Definitely the pool. And the shower.
Then
we’d hit the bed.” His slumberous gaze rolled over me. “I kinda like having sex with you, McKay.”

I forced my eyes wide. “Really? Because I was starting to worry you didn’t. I mean you only had your wicked way with me twice yesterday and once this morning.”

His eyes clouded.

“Boone. I was joking.”

“Promise me it’ll always be like this between us.”

“Hot and sexy and all the damn time?”

“No.” He paused and whispered, “Real.”

My heart and my lungs and my ovaries pretty much exploded right then.

That’s when I noticed he wasn’t in civilian clothes. I eyed his scrubs, wondering if he had them custom-made to allow for those bulging biceps. “Where’s your stethoscope?”

“I leave it in my locker.”

Beneath his name on his nametag was a bunch of letters. I ran my fingertip across his chest below the white rectangle. “What do these mean?”

“They’re the medical areas I’m certified in.”

“That’s a lot.”

“They’re army courses. The designation doesn’t mean anything to anyone but me.”

“If they weren’t important they wouldn’t be listed, would they?”

“Probably not.”

I glanced up at him. All traces of teasing Boone were gone. “Something else going on? Did you hear from Oakley? Or your dad?” I knew he worried his dad would flake on him.

“I talked to Oakley earlier. She says the electricity is back on, Rock is home and Mom has been…decent.”

“That’s all good to hear, but something has put a wrinkle in your brow.”

Boone retreated and rubbed his hand across the top of his head. “Me’n Raj were called into the hospital early today and were told all of our shifts this week had been cancelled. No explanation. Our preceptor doesn’t know what’s going on either. And our liaison on base is out of the office for two weeks.”

“Has this happened before?”

“No.” Boone started to pace. “But it’s not like I can poke around and ask questions of anyone else in that department. We’re in a tight spot. Me’n Raj working with a civilian medical program while we’re still on active duty…it’s so far out of the norm that there is no precedent.”

“I’m confused.”

He muttered, “Welcome to the club. There’s some funky stuff going on with our transfer papers or whatever they’re calling it today. Christ. Red tape is no joke.”

My stomach plunged. “Something funky like…they might demand you return to Fort Hood?”

I appreciated that he looked me in the eye when he said, “I’m not sure.”

I wanted to yell,
I just got you back! You can’t leave again.
But he could be yanked away from me at any moment.

Clearly that was a real possibility if he was worried enough to mention it to me.

I wandered over to the window. I’d intended to talk to him about the PCE offer tonight. After my discussion with Mrs. Nash, I realized that perceptions were always skewed. Everyone had a different way of looking at things, so maybe I needed Boone’s take on this opportunity. But he had more than enough on his mind with the military stuff that was his career. So it appeared I’d continue to wrestle with the biggest decision of my adult life on my own.

Boone moved in behind me. “You okay?”

“I’ve been better, to be honest.”

“What can I do?”

“This. Keep me wrapped up in you.”

Several long moments passed. We stayed like that, me resting against him as we both gazed out the window.

Finally I said, “My mom called today.”

“Did she apologize?”

“Sort of. My dad and I call it an ‘Ellen apology’—along the lines of ‘I’m sorry you made me yell at you.’ She asked if I was still mad or if I planned to attend the wedding. And if I had a ‘plus one’ she needed to know your name so the wedding coordinator could add you to the seating chart.”

“Jesus. What’d you say?”

“I hadn’t decided if I was coming. I’d have my assistant call her wedding coordinator when I solidified my plan. The bratty kid in me wanted to say,
Neener neener
!
Suck on that
!”

He chuckled.

I turned my head and kissed his jaw before I stepped aside. “You have an entire week off?”

“Looks like. I won’t know what to do with myself. Since Raj is in the same boat we’ll figure something out.”

“Just make sure you don’t—”

Before I finished, the door banged open.

Greg stormed in, Nikki hot on his heels, silently apologizing with her eyes.

“You want to explain this memo from personnel? Which is total bullshit. But I expected no less from you.” Greg’s sneer became a leer when he saw Boone. “I see your secretary covers for you when you want to play grab-ass—”

“Watch it,” Boone said in that don’t-fuck-with-me tone.

Of course Greg cowered. He also shut his mouth, which was the real bonus.

“Nikki is my assistant, not my secretary. In the future, if my door is closed? Do not barge in. That’s a violation of privacy, which is spelled out in the employee handbook. Since we have a meeting in ten minutes to discuss that memo, I’ll ask Frannie from personnel to bring a handbook for you so you can brush up on protocol.”

Greg acted like he wanted to argue, but for once, he did the smart thing and left.

“That’s the little fucking weasel giving you grief?”

“Yes.”

“Want me to beat him up for you?”

I laughed. “I’d love that. But I have to fight my own battles.”

“My money is on you. And you are smoking hot when you go all ‘I’m in charge, get the fuck out’ badass businesswoman.” He kissed me. “See you at home, McKay.”

W
ednesday night I
arrived home from work, hoping for the peace and quiet that used to exist in my house.

But rap music booming from the stereo system greeted me as I passed through the laundry room into the kitchen. I paused in the doorway.

Raj sat on the counter, his upper body bouncing to the beat. Boone stood at the stove with his back to me as if he was cooking.

I snickered at that crazy thought.

Beer bottles were scattered here and there. As were bags of groceries. Dishes remained piled in the sink—dishes that had been there since Monday. The door to the dishwasher was open, the full rack of clean dishes pulled out. I knew they were clean because I’d done a load Sunday night and apparently I was the only one who knew how to run such a complicated machine.

Snarky much, McKay?

Now Boone’s voice was chastising me inside my own head.

For the past four days I’d tried to roll with it, chill out, be cool, adopt the “it’s all good” mindset, but it was becoming increasingly harder to do. Logically I understood by inviting Boone to live with me that I’d essentially told him my house was his house. We’d both expected adjustments to sharing the same space. We’d even joked about it. But I guess my man thought I’d been joking when I told him to pick up after himself and return whatever space he’d used to the way he’d found it. Meaning…clean and clutter free.

I’m a neat freak. I wasn’t always this way, especially as a teen. But by age seventeen, I’d tired of living in constant chaos and had a Mr. Clean epiphany. Lu accepted my need for neatness as a house rule—and didn’t pass it off as one of my personality quirks. She kept the common areas in the house up to my standards. I didn’t give a damn if her bedroom, bathroom and the extra room she used as a study were a mess. Those were her personal spaces. Plus she could just shut the doors; out of sight meant I didn’t mind.

But Boone…totally a dude. Used to living with another dude. Evidently Raj was as messy as Boone. No wonder they were such compatible roommates. I shuddered thinking about all the empty pizza boxes, carryout containers, wadded up paper products, bottles and cans that cluttered available horizontal space in their apartment. I had no problem imagining it because my house had started to look like a bachelor soldier’s flophouse.

And this was one area. I hadn’t even been in the great room since I’d cleaned up Sunday night. Boone had invited the McKay-kateers, Mase and Raj to watch the football game. It seemed Sunday nights were becoming a family night. I was cool with that; Boone needed a connection in Phoenix besides with me and Raj. Him having family and friends over? Not the issue. The issue was his “let’s deal with this mess later” attitude. Because as soon as we were alone, he had us both naked, sweaty and fucking—like my pussy had an expiration date.

Not that I was complaining. The newness of being red-hot lovers hadn’t worn off. In fact, he’d ramped it up even more the past four days. As much as I loved his single-minded focus, as if I were the sun and he needed to bask in me, as if I were an adrenaline rush he craved, as if giving me multiple orgasms was his sole purpose in life…I had the teeniest suspicion the extra body-pounding encounters were because he didn’t have anything better to do.

You’d rather Boone had done the dishes this morning instead of doing you?

Well, no, but that wasn’t the point.

I shifted backward and my heel caught on a mountain of laundry. An avalanche of Boone’s clothes nearly covered the laundry room floor.

That
was the point.

What the hell had he been doing all day that he couldn’t toss in a few loads of clothes during the nine hours since I’d seen him last? It wasn’t like he was trying to juggle his job, his schoolwork, his training and his soldier stuff. His worries about the schedule change earlier in the week ended up being unfounded. It’d just been normal civilian personnel issues. So he had a week off. Basically a vacation! He should’ve been doing what needs done.

Reminder: Boone is not your employee. He’s a grown man who does not need you micromanaging his daily schedule or his life.

Right then, Boone turned around. The way those beautiful brown eyes lit up and the enormous grin that bloomed across his face when he saw me? Total fucking swoon moment.

He strode toward me. Before he uttered a word, he snaked his arm around my lower back, yanking my body against his. A tiny growl escaped and then his mouth landed on mine. His kiss was soft and searching. Sweet. Not the macho mouth fucking I expected.

I sighed and swayed into him fully.

Boone, being Boone, immediately made adjustments to better accommodate me.

Maybe you should try that.

I barked at the snark generator in my head to shut it and lost myself in my man’s welcome home kiss.

Against my lips, Boone murmured, “I fucking love you, McKay.”

I smiled. “I fucking love you too, West.”

“Come on.” He took my hand. “I gotta show you this.”

I said, “Hi, Raj,” as Boone towed me past the breakfast bar.

We stopped in front of the island.

Don’t look at the mess on the counters.

“I made dinner!” Boone announced with pride.

It appeared that he’d used every pan I owned. “What did you make?”

“Hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. It’s ready to dish up anytime you are.”

“Boone. That is awesome.” I pressed my lips to his in a lingering smooch. “Thank you.”

“I want to learn how to cook so you don’t end up doing it all. That’s not fair to you.”

I felt a little weepy…and sort of like an asshole for my previous bitchy thoughts.

Then Boone smacked my ass. “Go shed the skin of the corporate exec. We’ll eat when you’re done.”

“Sounds good.” I looked at Raj. “Are you staying for dinner?”

“Yes ma’am. Lucinda Grace is studying at the library tonight. I’m not used to bein’ alone. So here I am, hanging with B.”

“Me’n Raj finally hooked up the PS4. We’re testing it out tonight.”

“Cool,” I said offhandedly. “I’ll change, clear my head and be back in ten.”

I kicked off my heels and sighed when my toes sank into the plush carpeting. The door to my bedroom—our bedroom—was shut. I pushed it open and flipped on the light.

So much for my few moments of serenity. I’d made the bed before I left. I didn’t care it looked rumpled, but I did care about the gym bag and the huge duffel. I eyed the stuff spilling over the middle to my side of the bed. My first thought? His shit wasn’t supposed to be in here for this very reason.