Egomaniac

Practice what you preach.

That was a tall order when Drew Jagger stared at you, waiting for an answer. He wanted to know what would happen if the man I’d been crazy about for the last few years, the man I’d moved to New York to take a chance on, suddenly decided he wanted to be with me. It was a question I’d been asking myself since both men left me alone with my thoughts last night.

I owed it to Drew to be honest. Heck, I owed it to myself.

“I’ve had feelings for Baldwin for so long, I don’t remember what it feels like to not have them.”

Drew leaned on the edge of my desk, his legs spread in a stance that was so inherently male and dominant—something so simple, yet it reminded me that what I was about to say was true.

“But whatever I’ve felt for Baldwin is very different than whatever is going on between us.”

Drew’s eyes flashed, and I had to squeeze my thighs to stop myself from getting excited about him growing angry. There was no doubt that pissing each other off was some kind of screwed-up foreplay for us, but this wasn’t the time for that.

“Baldwin is smart and courteous. We share a passion for psychology and sociology. He doesn’t use foul language, he takes me to fancy restaurants, and he’s never once raised his voice to me.”

Drew was brooding. “There better be a fucking but coming soon.”

My lip twitched. I needed to get through the hard part before I gave him his but. “There is. But I want to be completely honest.”

The look in his eyes told me to get to the point. He nodded for me to continue.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have feelings for Baldwin. But then there’s you. You confuse the hell out of me, and I have no idea where whatever is going on between us is going to land, but there’s one thing I’m sure of.”

“What’s that?”

“When I look at you, it makes me realize why it would have never worked out with him.”

His eyes softened. “I suck at trust.”

“I know.”

“I’m still gonna yell, and I use fuck as a noun, adjective, and verb.”

I smirked. “I’ve learned there are times when your language really works for me.”

Drew reached out and ran two fingers over my chin, down my neck, and along my collarbone before moving them into my cleavage. “Oh yeah?”

That was all it took. The deep rasp of his oh yeah and a simple touch. I couldn’t explain why I felt things for Drew any more than I could explain the taste of water. Yet somehow, he had become a necessity for me, and I was in no way ready to take on a drought.

I whispered, “Where’s Beck?”

Drew’s eyes followed his fingers as they dipped into my sweater. “School. Don’t have to pick him up for another hour.”

My body prickled at the thought of how we could spend that hour. “Any clients before then?”

He began to unbutton the small pearl buttons that ran down the front of my sweater. “Nope. You?”

I shook my head.

Whatever patience Drew had been practicing went out the window after that. In the next minute, he lifted me from my chair, tore off my panties, and propped me atop my desk, facing the chair with my skirt bunched up around my waist. All while being careful of my air-casted leg.

Then he sat in the chair, facing my exposed pussy, and loosened his tie.

“What are you doing?”

“Showing you I’m sorry. Spread wider.”

Oh my.

I opened my legs for him and shivered at the way he looked at me down there. When he licked his lips, pulled his chair closer, and tugged until my ass was at the edge of the desk, I was already halfway to orgasm, and he hadn’t even laid a finger on me yet.

“I might not like to eat at fancy restaurants, but you’ll always be fed, and I’ll eat you until you’re the one screaming obscenities.”

That totally worked for me.

Things were different after our talk this morning. There was an intimacy, a bond of some sort, that hadn’t been there before. Drew picked up Beck from school and brought back lunch for all of us before the two of them left for the library then ice skating again. I loved that Drew made his afternoons with his son part work and part play for both of them. Beck did story time on the children’s rug while Drew worked on a case in the adjoining room. When they were done, Beck read books to Drew, and then the reward was ice skating.

I had an afternoon full of patients, and even at almost six-thirty in the evening, I felt a renewed hopefulness that there was a solution for every couple’s problems. My optimism had spilled over into my sessions in a good way.

I was packing up my laptop when I heard the front door open and then little feet flying toward my office.

“We got all the stuff for movie night!” Beck yelled. His chubby cheeks were red from the cold, and he was bundled like a little snowman.

“Oh, really? What are you planning on watching?

Beck held up two fingers. “We got two movies. One is for dinner food and the other is for dessert.”

I didn’t quite understand what he meant, but his excitement was contagious. “That sounds great. Which movie will you watch first?”

Drew appeared behind his son. “He made me drop him off at the curb instead of going under to the parking garage so he could run in and tell you first.”

Beck smiled so wide, I could almost count his tiny little teeth. He held up a CD jewel case. “For dinner, we got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” Then he pointed up to his dad, who held up a takeout bag.

“Mamma Theresa’s makes the best meatballs in the city.”

Beck nodded fast, then held up a second jewel case. “And for dessert we got Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Beck pointed up to his father. It was like they were doing a little skit.

Drew held up another bag. “Gooseberry pie from The French Pastry.”

I smiled. “What is gooseberry pie anyway?”

Drew shrugged. “Hell if I know. But we had to go to three bakeries to find it, and the thing cost twenty-six bucks, so it better taste good.”

Beck added, “I’m going to have mine with vanilla ice cream. That’s not part of your movie party though.”

“My movie party?”

“Dad said you liked movie theme parties. Can you come?”

Another little piece of the wall I’d built around my heart because I was afraid to fall for this man chipped off.

Drew watched me, assessing my reaction. I couldn’t have hidden it if I wanted to.

My hand went to my chest. “You are the sweetest. I can’t believe you made a movie theme night for me. I’d love to come.”

Anxious to get started, Beck took off yelling down the hall, “I’ll get the elevator.”

“Don’t get in it until I’m there,” Drew warned.

I finished packing up my stuff and went to the doorway. Pushing up on my tippy toes, I gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “Thank you.”

He winked. “You got it.”

Drew scooped me up—because I apparently wasn’t allowed to walk until this air cast was off—and walked toward the elevator.

Lowering his voice, he said, “Think I’m gonna like this dinner and a movie theme thing—finally put my porn collection to good use.”