“Coffee,” is all he says.
“Is that a demand?”
“I require coffee every single morning.”
I finish with the foundation and grab his arm, moving his shirt so it exposes the watch on his wrist. I tap the face lightly. “Seven thirty. There’s still four and a half hours of the morning left. Your requirement can wait a little longer.”
He stands behind me as I finish applying my makeup. He grabs my brush and runs it through my hair, and I meet his eyes in the mirror.
“How do you do it?”
“How do I do what?” he responds.
“Make it seem so normal. There’s this huge cloud hanging over us ready to piss all over us and you’re just…normal.”
He smiles. “Haven’t you learned anything? Great love makes the bad stuff disappear, if only for a second, and you and I? We have the greatest love I’ve ever felt. Don’t think I’m not thinking about it, because I am. I’m merely choosing to focus on the good things, and right now, that’s you. It’s always you.”
Aaron sets the brush on the side and grabs our toothbrushes from the holder. He runs them under the sink and squeezes some toothpaste on them. I take mine and we stand, side by side, brushing our teeth, looking like a real couple.
And it’s this, the little mundane things you really do skip over, that make a difference. I never thought brushing my teeth next to someone could make such a difference, but it does.
This, right now, makes me want to fight.
And if all f**ks up, if Mia Lopez is exposed and my life is thrust into the public eye, I’ll fight then, too.
I’ll fight like hell for the man standing next to me.
Even if he has missed a button on his shirt.
I put my brush back and turn to him, finding that missed button and fixing it. Aaron grins down at me, toothpaste around his mouth, and moves me to the side so he can spit it out. I shake my head with a smile.
He’s right.
Great love makes the bad shit disappear.
I leave him in the bathroom and make my way to the coffee machine to provide Mr. Stone with his latest requirement. He’s definitely getting a little requirement-happy, regardless of how many of them I like.
The coffee one? It should definitely be a two-way requirement. I need it too, ya know.
“Oh, she’s learning,” he quips, taking the mug from me.
I turn the sugar-heaped spoon in his direction. “Watch it, Mr. Stone, or I might decide you need some sweetening.” He laughs, and I stir the sugar into my own mug. “Why am I coming to work with you?”
“Because I don’t trust Naomi. If she knows you live here, when no mutual acquaintances of ours do, she’s definitely keeping tabs on you. She is coldhearted and ruthless, and leaving you here alone is putting you at risk. That’s something I can’t comprehend. The idea of putting you in harm’s way makes me sick to my stomach, Dayton. If that means I have to glue you to my side and take you everywhere with me until this is figured out, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
“I can’t help but think it’s a little over the top. Isn’t that what she’ll be expecting?”
“She’s expecting me not to know. And regardless of what she’s expecting, protecting you is my number-one priority.” His eyes crash into mine. “I would kill a man to protect you, Dayton. Don’t ever doubt my need to keep you safe or the lengths I would go to in order to do that.”
I walk to him and wrap my arms around his waist. His words should shock me. I should coil back, reel in shock, but I’m not. I know it. I know it because I feel it too. When you love someone so intensely that it knocks your whole world off-kilter but still somehow keeps it spinning, there are no barriers to what you’ll do to protect them.
“I love you,” I say into his chest. “Okay? I love you.”
“I know, sweetheart. I know.” He envelopes me with his arms and breathes me in. “And I you. I love you so fiercely that I’m afraid it might consume me one day. So please, humor me right now.”
“No need to. There’s nothing funny about this.”
Aaron kisses the top of my head and releases me. He downs his coffee and grabs his jacket from the bedroom. “Are you ready to go?”
I nod and drop my cell in my purse. “I’m ready.”
He links his fingers through mine and takes me downstairs to the car waiting to take him to the office. I stay by his side through the journey, his arm wrapped around me securely. He waves the security guard off when we arrive at Stone HQ Seattle, and the elevator clears when we step inside.
That must be a thing. Very Devil Wears Prada.
We step out onto his floor, and Dottie, his assistant, is sitting behind her desk. She’s in early. I know she doesn’t start until nine, and it’s just after eight.
“Dottie.” Aaron waves at her over his shoulder, and she grabs some paper and a pen and follows us into his office. He sits me in the chair behind his desk. “Dottie, this is Dayton, my girlfriend. Dayton, my assistant and the woman who keeps my business in order, Dottie.”
“It’s lovely to meet you properly, Dayton,” Dottie says, offering a tentative smile.
Oh yes. The last time I met her, I was an angry mess of a woman. Oopsie.
“And you, Dottie. I’m sorry last time I was less than desirable.”
Aaron pokes me in the back. “Okay, enough chitchat. You two have plenty of time for that. Dottie, we have a situation, and I need you to help me.”
I swallow. Oh, god. No.
“Anything I can do, I will.” She sits up straight and clicks her pen. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to get someone to find out where my ex-wife is staying.”
Dottie’s eyes widen, and I’m sure my expression mirrors hers.
“Mr. Stone—”
“She’s taken it upon herself to blackmail Dayton, and as you can imagine, I’m less than happy about it. We know she holds some important details about Dayton’s life that could impact both her and the business, and it’s in everyone’s best interests if this story doesn’t make it past the printers into the public eye.”
“You want me to send out some feelers and see who, if anyone, has this information.”
“And this is why I pay you.” Aaron smiles and leans forward on his desk. “How soon can you find out?”
Dottie clicks her tongue and rocks her head from side to side. “Around noon, give or take an hour or two. I happen to have a couple of reporter friends, and one works at a local tabloid. If there’s anything to reveal, she’ll have the scoop. And I can ask my boyfriend to see what he can find out. Is there anything else I need to know?”