I laughed and pulled the Defender up in front of the hotel. “Won’t be one sec.” I braced for the deluge of rain, though it had eased up a little. It was more wind now. I raced for the front doors of the hotel and ordered two bottles of the same wine Lawson had brought home the other night. When I got back into the Defender, he had his phone pressed to his ear and his smile was gone.
“I am advising of my find, not to gloat, but out of professional courtesy. I most certainly will not be sending photographs until Professor Tillman has confirmed what we both suspect is a new species.”
Okay then. Someone was having their arse handed to them. I had to admit. Lawson was sexy as hell when he was pissed. I hated that some jerk had ruined his mood, though. It was a monumental day by anyone’s standards, and some dickhead was trying to bring him down.
“I’m technically on leave until Monday, so you can do whatever it is you see fit… By all means, please do. You can also tell him to expect a full report from me, which I’m certain he’ll love. I’ll make a point of dedicating an entire subsection to you and how you’ve just requested to go against protocol… That’s fine, Professor Asterly, but after all the years we’ve worked together can you tell me what I am?”
Lawson tilted his head as he listened. “Yes, well. That too. But more than being a pain in your arse, I am unbiased to the facts, and I won’t be manipulated. It’s unfortunate that your emotional reaction is to be hurt, but I can’t be responsible for how you feel, Professor… No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll be in contact with him directly. He can let you know when I will return.”
I was almost home by the time he got off the phone. Lawson growled in frustration. “That man is an ignoramus.”
“Your boss, I take it?”
“Yes. Ugh. I shouldn’t have called. I only did so as a gesture of goodwill, and he seems to think himself invited to come down here. No doubt to have his name associated in some way.”
I drove into my driveway and turned off the engine. “Lawson, forget about him. Until he gets here, if he gets here. Enjoy tonight, get all your data on file, send it to Professor Tillman, then tomorrow we can go back and you can get all the data you need.” I just wanted to see him smile again. “Wanna go in and upload the photos? Get a closer look?”
It worked because his lips twitched until he smiled. “Yes, please.” He leaned forward and looked up at the low, grey sky. “That looks like it’s set in.”
“I can check the meteorology site. See if you can get back up there tomorrow.” From the look he gave me, I was pretty sure he was going anyway, rain or not. “Come on.” I opened the door and got out into the wind and rain. I unharnessed Rosemary while Lawson made a run for the door with his laptop.
Inside, we dried off with towels. It wasn’t exactly cold, but the temperature had dropped some with the storm. “You warm enough?” I asked.
He nodded, but it wasn’t convincing. “I might get changed, is that okay?”
“Sure. I’ll see what I can organise for dinner.”
When he came out, he was wearing his chequered sleep pants and a T-shirt. He looked completely comfortable and at home. It took the breath from my lungs.
He looked down at himself. “This okay?”
I nodded stupidly. “More than okay.”
He looked into the pantry where I stood with the door open. I picked up a packet of couscous. “Well, I can do a Greek lamb and couscous thing, or―”
“Tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches,” he said, reaching in and taking a can of tomato soup.
I chuckled. “You’re a man after my own heart.” I took the can from him and kissed his cheek. “You go start on your photos. I’ll fix dinner.”
He stood in my kitchen, looking all kinds of adorable. “I will cook for you one day.”
I barked out a laugh. “Yes. Yes, you will.”
*
So he busied himself in the lounge room while I got changed into my PJ’s too, heated the soup, and made some toasted sandwiches. The wind howled outside, splashes of inconsistent rain hit the roof, thunder and lightning boomed through the sky. But inside was warm and dry and peacefully, blissfully quiet.
When I walked out with his soup and sandwich, I found him sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, laptop on his legs, and his eyes trained on the screen with Rosemary asleep against his leg.
It stopped me where I stood. My heart squeezed and my mouth went dry.
Such a simple thing, really. A truly domestic sight that sent a pang of longing through to my core. I never realised it was what I wanted. It never occurred to me that I should yearn for something so basic. Sure, I’d had times of loneliness, but I never thought to myself, gee, I wish I had someone who would sit on my floor in his pyjamas and do his work with my dog curled up at his side… well, until I saw it. Now I’m pretty sure I wanted nothing else.
Lawson looked up at me expectantly, oblivious to the profound realisation I’d just had.
I held up his plate. “Dinner’s ready. Want it down there or at the table?”
He smiled and my breath caught. Man, I was in trouble. “Down here, if that’s okay.”
We ate in the lounge room, he on the floor, me on the sofa behind him. The soup was a perfect dinner, homely and all comfort as the weather made a fuss outside. Lawson did what he needed to do while I sat and watched him work. I also played with the hair at the nape of his neck, relishing the wake of goosebumps that followed each trail of my finger. When he declared he’d done all he could do, he pounced on me.
He straddled my hips, resting his arse on my legs, and he planted both hands on either side of my face and kissed me.
And holy hell, it was some kind of kiss.
He rocked his hips back and forth seeking friction. “Jack.” He breathed the word into my mouth. “Take me to bed.”
I was going to pick him up―I could have easily―so he could wrap his legs around me, but he climbed off and stood in front of me. And waited.
I stood up to my full height, so close our chests touched, and I slid one hand around his jaw and crushed my mouth to his. I could feel his erection poking into my thigh, and he slid both hands over my arse and pulled our hips together. He broke the kiss. “Jack. Bed.”
He was getting impatient. And I had to admit, I really liked a bossy bottom. It turned me on to be with a man who wasn’t afraid to tell me what he wanted.
I took his hand and led him down the hall to my room. I left the lights off, I could see him just fine. I pulled his shirt over his head and kissed down his shoulder. “You want me inside you?”
He moaned quietly. “Yes.” He craned his neck as I kissed back up to his jaw. “God, yes.”
I slid my fingertips under the elastic of his sleep pants and pushed them over his arse and whispered in his ear, “I want to taste your arse first.”
“Oh god,” he breathed.
I gripped his erection and gave him a few languid strokes. “Get on the bed, Lawson. Face down.”