After he left, Roz walked toward the couch. She could tell Mick was a little pissed with her because he didn’t get up and welcome her back home with open arms. He agreed to let her stay in New York to finish her teaching gig, and she’d been doing just that these past three weeks. Although he was busy as hell, and although she was the one who wanted to complete the term, he was the one who did the lion’s share of visiting. He managed to visit her two, sometimes three times per week since she’d been gone, but that didn’t mean he liked the idea. He even told her, during his last visit earlier in the week, that he wasn’t going to rest until the semester was over, and she was back in Philly where she belonged. But something else, she could tell, was bothering him today.
“Hey,” he said, as she leaned down toward him. Her plan was to give him a peck of a kiss and sit beside him, since he appeared to be in the middle of a meeting, but Mick opened his legs and pulled her onto his lap. He also gave her a considerably longer kiss than a peck. Then he introduced her.
“Flo, this is Rosalind Graham. My lady.”
Flo smiled. “Hello, Rosalind,” she said, and extended her hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Roz responded, as they shook hands.
“Flo and her husband used to work for me. She owns her own company now.”
“A company I can really use his expertise in.”
“She’s also Shane’s mother.”
Shane, Roz remembered, was the small boy Mick looked out for. “Oh, how nice,” Roz said. “I hear you have an excellent young son.”
“Oh, I do. And thank you for saying so. Mick has been a great source of help and strength too, after my husband died.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Roz looked from Flo to Mick.
“No, you’re fine,” Flo said, as she stood up. “He promised me ten minutes. I’ve already chewed up thirty.” She grabbed her big purse as she stood. “Call me, Mick, if you change your mind,” she said. “And I hope to see you again, Rosalind.”
“You too,” Roz said with a smile.
When she left, Roz looked at Mick. “Change your mind about what?”
“A partnership. Investing in her business.”
“Everybody needs you,” Roz said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “But I need you more. I missed you terribly, Michello.”
He kissed her again, and kept his hand around her waist. “Did you have a pleasant trip?”
“I did.”
Mick continued to look at her.
She smiled. “What is it?”
“You didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“Oh that! Yes, well, I thought I’d surprise you for a change. You always pop up without telling me, and I love that feeling of being surprised. I thought I’d return the favor.”
But Mick didn’t see it that way. “My lady driving six hours, and driving those hours alone, isn’t a surprise I want. Especially when I’m thinking she’s in New York teaching her class.”
“I was in New York teaching my class. But only a couple students showed up, and they weren’t feeling it either, so I dismissed class early. I gave them the rest of the day off.”
“You gave Deuce the entire weekend off.”
Roz hesitated. What didn’t this man know about her life? “I did that too, yes,” she said.
Mick continued to stare at her. She was right. He was royally pissed. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said to him. “All I did was drive down to see my boyfriend. What’s the big deal?” Then she smiled. “It’s not as if you didn’t know my every single solitary move anyway.”
Mick couldn’t help but smile too. “How would you know what I know?”
“Oh, I know,” Roz said. “I don’t see your little spies, but I’m certain they are everywhere I go.”
Then she smiled. “I also know, if you didn’t want me to make that drive, you would have phoned me personally and told me to turn my ass around now.”
Mick laughed.
“Am I right?”
“You’re wrong.”
Roz was surprised to hear him say that. “How so?”
“As soon as my men would have told me that you were renting that car to make your journey, I would have phoned and told you to take it back.”
Roz smiled. “Before I even got on the road, right?”
“Right,” Mick said, smiling too. Then he pulled her closer against him. He missed her more than she would ever know. He missed her wonderful scent. He missed her wonderful smile. He missed the fact that she wasn’t in his bed each and every night. He missed her. Sometimes it astounded him just how much.
“At least you saved me a trip,” he said, rubbing her neck.
“You were coming up tonight?”
“Tomorrow,” he said. “But honestly, I don’t think my body could take another trip.”
Roz considered him. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m feeling okay.”
“But still working yourself to death?”
Mick didn’t respond to that.
“And I’m not helping by staying in New York to finish the semester,” Roz added.
But Mick would have none of that. “You’re doing the right thing,” he said. “We only have another month to go. Then you will have fulfilled all of your obligations and will be mine, all mine, for the rest of your life.”
“That’s right,” Roz agreed joyfully, and leaned against him.
And for several minutes more they just sat there. Mick rubbed her hip as he held her. He wanted to fuck her. He wanted to lock his office door and take her right where they sat. But he didn’t. He knew he’d have her tonight. Besides, something else was on his mind.
He leaned his thick head of hair against her thick head of hair. “I’ve been thinking about what you said,” he said.
Roz tried to remember what it was she had said. “And what was that?” she asked.