Swinging his office door open, he places his hand on my lower back and ushers me out into the reception area and down the hallway. My eyes briefly fall on little Miss Uppity, her expression cold as usual but I don’t linger. I laugh under my breath and Reese looks down at me. “Something funny?” He stops in front of the conference room door and turns to me.

“Your receptionist is kind of a bitch.”

He chuckles. “Ignore her.” Pulling me in for a lasting kiss, the door opens but I don’t register it until after he has broken our contact. I wobble. This man can make me weak in the knees if I even cared about having knees anymore. The sound of a throat clearing causes us both to look into the room at the table full of men, Ian standing at the door and wearing his biggest smile. “Caught ya. Come on, man, we need to get started.” I feel my face flush as Reese straightens his tie quickly and grabs the back of my head, pulling me into him for a quick kiss in my hair.

“Bye, love,” he whispers.

“Bye, handsome. Go crunch some numbers or audit something or whatever the fuck it is you do.” He shakes against me with laughter and pulls back, winking before he walks into the room. My eyes quickly scan the table for my empty bakery boxes when I stop on a familiar smirk that is plastered on the face of the man who had picked up the tarts for his father last week. His eyes rake over my body, slow and sleazy like and I suddenly feel dirty as Ian clears his throat, earning my attention.

“Bye, Dylan,” he says and I wave awkwardly, turning on my heels and hearing the sound of the doors close behind me.

What the fuck was that guy doing here? And why the hell did he stare at me like that? I ride the elevators down and march purposely through the lobby as my mind races. I find Joey outside in the van talking on his phone as I hop in the driver’s seat and start it up.

“Okay, baby. I love you too. Bye.” He ends his call and lays his head back dramatically onto the seat. “I’m in deep, cupcake.”

“I can tell,” I reply playfully. “You are not going to believe who I just saw sitting in the meeting.” After waiting a minute for effect, Joey motions with his hands for me to hurry the fuck up with my information as I drive down the street. “That guy that gave me his card the other day in the shop. The cocky one who picked up the tarts.”

I hear his sharp breath intake. “Are you serious? What the hell was he doing there? Does he work there? Holy shit, are him and Reese coworkers?”

These are the same questions that are running through my mind. “I don’t know, I didn’t get to ask. I really hope not though. Asshole stared at me like he wanted to eat me.” I feel a chill run through me at the memory of it.

“That’s probably because he does. He wasn’t shy about wanting you last week and I’m sure seeing you again with Reese’s dick in your mouth didn’t help.”

I scowl at him. “Christ almighty, Joey, he just saw me kiss him.” In fact, everyone saw me kiss him. “Okay so you’re kind of an expert at the whole casual sex stuff right? Have you ever seen a guy that you are just fucking more than once in the same day? I mean, do you space out the times you spend together or do you just say fuck it and see him whenever you both feel like it?”

Joey chuckles before he answers. “Honestly, when I’ve done the just sex stuff before, we saw each other often because we wanted to fuck often. I think as long as you both can keep yourselves from getting too wrapped up in it, there shouldn’t be that many rules.” He slips his phone out of his pocket and begins messing with it, ending our discussion.

I contemplate Joey’s explanation to me as we drive to the shop. There shouldn’t be too many rules? I felt like rules were extremely necessary, at least for me to be able to do this successfully. There are certain things that just can’t happen between Reese and me. Like sleepovers and meeting each other’s families and doing anything too romantic or intimate. Keeping myself from getting too wrapped up in him is the biggest struggle of my life but immensely worth it. I want to do this with him more than anything because I love being with him. The alternative, ending this because it’s too hard for me sent a pain through my body at the very idea of it. If anyone is going to fuck this up between us, it’s going to be me. He isn’t going to interpret things the way they aren’t meant to be interpreted and he isn’t going to get too attached so neither should I. He’s used to not doing serious, and even though I’m not, I can keep up. I’m determined to make this work and I will. I just need to stop acting like a stupid girl about it.

I closed up the shop on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m, saying goodnight to Joey after he helped me put any uneaten goodies away. My mind had been on Reese all afternoon and I was aching to be with him, and not just for sex. I wanted to talk to him and play with him. I just wanted to see him. And he wanted to see me. I had originally planned on spending my night watching television or taking a long bath, but neither one of those options sounded appealing anymore. I stopped fighting it and quickly made up my mind. Slipping off my apron and grabbing my purse and keys, I locked up the shop behind me and strolled towards Sam.

Driving to Reese’s building was an easy route from the bakery. He lived in Printer’s Row which was just south of downtown Chicago, a mere five minutes away. I was very familiar with the area, having catered to several businesses in the trendy upscale neighborhood. I liked this part of the city, and told myself that I really should come down here more often as I park Sam down the street a bit and lock him up, beginning the short walk to the front of the condos.

I practically sprint off the elevator and down the hallway, stopping sharply in front of Reese’s door and looking down at my flustered state. You would think by the way my skin is tingling that it has been days since I last saw him. Slipping my phone out of my pocket, I smile and quickly type a message.

Me: I really want to see you tonight. Is there any way you could stop whatever it is you’re doing and come to my place?

I wait patiently and then a thought hits me that makes me feel like a complete jerk off. What if he isn’t home? What if he’s at his office or out somewhere and is going to leave to go to the bakery and I’m not there? Shit. But just as my blood pressure starts elevating to a crazy height, his door swings open and I smile at the sight of him typing on his phone with one hand, his keys in the other. My phone beeps and he quickly glances up, his lips parting and a sharp breath escaping at the sight of me. I’m still in my pink dress from earlier, but now my hair is down and it frames my face in soft waves. As his eyes take me in it hits me. Reese had stopped whatever it was that he was doing to come to me and I knew that I would have done the same if he had asked. And I am done trying to convince myself otherwise.

Twelve

“Dylan, hi. I didn’t, I thought…”

I lift up my hand to stop him. “Hold on, I just got a text from this crazy hot guy. It might be important.” He leans against the door and beams at me as I swipe across my screen and fail miserably at holding back my ridiculous smile.

Reese: I’ll always stop whatever it is I’m doing to come to you.

Oh man. I tilt my head and step towards him, kissing him briefly on the lips before I turn away from him. “Got my fix. See ya.” I say and yelp as his hands grip me around my waist and lift me up, pulling me back against him as he carries me through his doorway. “Put me down you barbarian.” I laugh and he shifts me so that I am now hanging over his shoulder, my face in his perfect ass. I smack it loudly and feel his hand pinch mine as he walks me through his condo which I am now getting my first real look at, of course it’s all upside down at the moment. Stopping finally, he slides me down his body and places my feet on the floor.