Irresistible Nights by Kaylee Monroe
Chapter Fourteen
Denton
The gentle pinging of my cell phone alarm roused me from a sound sleep, and like I did every morning since I started seeing Marcie, I lay in the warm cocoon of our shared bed and savored the press of her warm curves against me. I was tempted to slide under the sheets and wake her up with my tongue on her clit, but the dark circles under her eyes, visible even under the thick fan of her sooty lashes, stopped me from indulging.
Marcie was exhausted. Concern needled at me as she frowned in her sleep and rolled away.
I sighed. I loved having her around all the time, but if I had a choice, I would have wanted to start our life together another way. With happiness and excitement, not the lingering stress of our fractured relationship with Clive and the fatigue that rode her each day as she worked herself to the bone at the store.
With a quick, soft kiss to her naked shoulder, I slid out of bed and grabbed a pair of flannel pajama pants, then padded into the kitchen to make some coffee and breakfast.
Marcie had lost weight in the last couple of weeks. I noticed it the night before while I drove into her tight pussy from behind. My fingers slid over her silky skin and the loss of flesh was obvious when I gripped her more slender hips. She was beautiful no matter what, but her pain and stress was taking an obvious toll.
I decided to make sure she had decent meals available all the time, try to eat lunch with her when I could, and if this continued for much longer, I would ask her to visit her doctor. And I would continue doing whatever I needed to do for her to be happy and healthy again.
The coffee gurgled in the pot and butter sizzled in a pan on the stove as I chopped vegetables. Next to the cutting board, my phone buzzed with a message. I leaned over, afraid to admit that I hoped it was an olive branch from Clive.
It was a text from his male assistant, Dinesh.
Everything went through Dinesh during the last couple of weeks. Clive hadn’t terminated our agreement—not yet, anyway—but he hadn’t reached out directly for work at all. Not once.
“This isn’t sustainable,” I grumbled to myself as I picked up my phone and shot a quick text back to Dinesh.
Not for the first time, I considered calling Clive to rip him a new asshole for the way he iced out his daughter. For what he put our employees through as they tiptoed around our personal shit. I just wasn’t right.
If he would accept my resignation and move on, I would gladly offer it. But the building renovation in Seattle would suffer without my involvement. Other peoples’ jobs were on the line, and as the bosses, Clive and I were responsible.
It sucked. All of it. And if Clive didn’t get his head out of his ass, I might have to walk, whether I wanted to or not. Regardless of the people who had money riding on the success of our project.
I had just slid the neatly folded omelet on a plate when a soft yawn drew my attention behind me. I spun around and smiled when I saw Marcie, just wearing panties and one of my old sweatshirts, her wavy hair mussed and eyes still half-closed. She shuffled closer to me and pulled me down for a warm, sleepy kiss, and I couldn’t resist the urge to wrap my arms around her and pull her tight against my bare chest.
“Something smells good,” she murmured as I dropped another kiss on her smiling lips.
“I made you an omelet.” I released her and reached over to grab a freshly poured cup of coffee. “And here’s this.”
“Bless you,” she said, sipping the hot black brew and humming with pleasure. “You always buy the good stuff.”
I grabbed a fork out of a drawer and slid her plate across the counter as she settled onto a stool. She cut a small bite of the omelet and groaned with pleasure, wrenching a grin from me as I ate a big forkful of my own breakfast while sitting next to her.
“How’d you sleep?” I asked carefully. I crunched on a piece of toast and watched as she used her fork to toy with a stray piece of bell pepper.
“Not too badly.” She shrugged as she took a sip of her coffee. “I’m run down from work and stress. The store is so busy and we’re waiting to hear back from Keisha still. No matter how well I sleep, I still don’t feel rested when I wake up.”
She scooched her stool closer and laid her head on my shoulder. Her shoulders felt slimmer through the thick material of my sweatshirt as I laid an arm around her to drag her in close.
“I love you,” I said, and pressed a kiss to her hair. “This will get better.”
She turned to me and buried her face against my chest. “I love you, too. I know it will. It has to.”
She tilted her head up and I couldn’t resist leaning down to drop a soft, leisurely kiss against her smiling lips. But the smile couldn’t erase her obvious fatigue or the sadness written in her eyes.
And I worried that until we made peace with Clive, nothing would.
* * *
“Clive’s in a meeting,” Dinesh repeated for the fiftieth fucking time.
I adjusted the buds in my ear, barely suppressing my irritation. “I understand, Dinesh, but surely you have better things to do than deliver messages back and forth. Can you just tell him to give me a call?”
On the other end of the line, Dinesh sighed wearily. “Look, I’ve tried. It’s a pain in my ass, too. But I’m his assistant, and this is how he wants me to…assist right now.”
I flopped back wearily into the little chair at my flimsy desk. A couple of contractors wandered around me, doing some last-minute checks before the real work began. Demolition was scheduled to begin in just a few days, and every day after that was serious money.
“All right,” I said, rubbing my fingers across my forehead. “I’ll send those numbers over to you, then. I’ve double-checked all of it and the bank has it, too, so the wire transfer should go through first thing in the morning. The purchase orders for the electrical and plumbing work should be finished by tomorrow.”
“Got it.” Dinesh took a deep breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was hesitant. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on and don’t intend to ask, but he’s been a huge dick lately. It’s not like him. He’s a good guy—a great guy, honestly. I’m worried about him.”
I stifled a laugh. “No argument about the dick thing, but don’t let it worry you too much. We’ll get it straightened out. Just keep working hard. I really appreciate your help, and I know Clive does too.”
I finished the call with Dinesh and sighed heavily as I dropped my phone to the flimsy tabletop.
Fuck.
Behind me, the blueprints for our planned multi-use retail and residential building lay spread out on a big, makeshift table made of sawhorses and a large sheet of plywood. I was so excited about this project—the most challenging and satisfying of my career, and if it worked out like I hoped, it meant big things for my business reputation, and Clive’s.
And for my life and future with Marcie.
On my desk, my phone buzzed again. I spun around and peered down at the screen to see Marcie’s name. Odd. She rarely called me during store hours. Both of us were usually too busy, and we always caught up after we got home.
“Hey baby,” I said automatically when I raised my phone to my ear. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Denton.” It wasn’t Marcie’s sweet voice—instead Frankie’s mellow alto greeted me on the other end of the line. “Is this a bad time?”
“Of course not.” One of the contractors ambled closer and I moved a few paces away with a friendly wave. “Is everything okay?”
Frankie took a deep breath. “It’s Marcie,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. “We’re at the hospital. Can you come?”