“You don’t think I would benefit from having your expertise?” I try to tamp the frustration. I don’t want to close doors with him before I’ve even managed to pick the lock.

“You will always have my expertise. I’ll oversee all aspects of the projects you work on. But you need a good year of getting your feet wet and learning the company ropes. I want you to be comfortable with all the top-level employees.”

“When does ground break for the project in Germany?”

“Late fall, if things go smoothly. There will be other projects I’ll want you to have a hand in, as well. The hotels in California need attention and there’s property in Costa Rica that we’re interested in.”

He’s talking more travel, like I knew he would. I don’t want more travel. Except more travel would mean I’d need someone to stay and take care of Tiny and Francesca. It’s an excuse to have Ruby stick around longer or at least stay at my place periodically. If she still wants to. As soon as this meeting is over I need to talk to her. Hopefully she’s awake now.

“What about the New York renovations?”

He’s already looking at his phone, pretending to check emails. It’s what he does when he’s either done with the discussion or he wants to avoid a topic. Unfortunately, I’m his son, and I’m a lot like he is in many regards, so I refuse to take the hint for what it is.

“Aren’t there plans to start those in the new year? Isn’t Griffin working on the renovation project for the Times Square location? Now that I’m on board he and I could work together. The project would move faster then, wouldn’t it? We could start right after New Year’s, that way we won’t miss out on prime summer tourism and we’ll still get the holiday business.”

My father stops typing an email to regard me. “You’ve been thinking about this?”

“Of course. New York has so much opportunity for growth. I’d love to be involved in that project.” I bite my tongue before I can say I want to make this my hub.

“It’s a ways off. We can talk about it later.”

It’s not a no. I’ll take it.

* * *

I’d like to say I see Ruby when I get home. I don’t. I send her a message asking how she’s doing, then I fall asleep on the couch and drag my ass to my bedroom around one in the morning.

I don’t have a response when I wake up the next morning. I debate knocking on her door, but I have no idea what time she got in, and since she hasn’t responded to my message I leave it alone, although I don’t want to.

My morning is full of meetings again, discussions about the projects in the UK and abroad, and I’m fully immersed in the building, project management side of the company. I understand what my father is doing. He doesn’t want me to settle in one area of the business yet, because there are so many sides to it, and if I’m going to run it jointly with my brothers eventually, I need to understand all aspects. And I need to be able to work with both of them, no matter how challenging it is.

By noon I still haven’t heard from Ruby. I either need a drink or to punch someone out. Or to talk to Ruby. The latter would be my preference.

I have a decent reason to contact her that will inevitably get a response: Francesca’s feeding schedule.

Now that I’m home we need to communicate about that kind of thing so we don’t overfeed her. I had a routine, but I’m guessing with Ruby’s odd hours it’s changed significantly over the past month.

I make sure the first message I send is convoluted enough that she would require an explanation to understand exactly what I was taking about.

It works. Her response comes a few minutes later in the form of several question marks.

I close my office door, turn the lock, and hit the video call button. Ruby answers on the third ring.

“Hey.” Her voice is gravelly and low.

I’m not looking at her, though, I’m looking at the ceiling of her bedroom. “Did I wake you?”

“Yeah, but I needed to get up. What’s up? That text was worse than your handwriting. It made no sense.”

“Sorry about that. I realized with me being back Francesca’s feeding schedule might be a little out of whack. I thought it would be easier to talk about it.”

I hear a drawer open. It’s a little squeaky. “I never thought of that. I’ve just been feeding her like usual. Should I not? Do you want to be the one to do it?”

“Why don’t we keep it the way it is until we have a chance to sit down together?”

“Okay. I can do that.”

I’m still looking at the ceiling and I can hear the patter of feet and a rustle. “What’re you doing?”

“Getting dressed.”

“Did you answer the phone naked?”

There’s motion and suddenly I’m looking at Ruby’s arched brow. “You’re really asking me that?”

I fight the grin that’s trying to spread across my face. “It’s a legitimate question.”

She’s propped the phone up on the dresser, based on my view of the room. “You know, you can just call me without the video component now, like normal people do.”

“It’s a habit. I like seeing you.” And feeling you, like I did in my bed the other night, but I’m getting to that.

“I’m so attractive when I’m half asleep.”

And she’s given me the perfect segue. “Speaking of being half-asleep, do you want to talk about what happened the other night?”

Her gaze shifts away and she busies herself with something outside of my line of view, so I’m only looking at her chin. “I’m sorry, the other night?” Her voice is surprisingly even.

“Are we pretending it didn’t happen?”

“Pretending what didn’t happen?” She’s still not making eye contact.

“You. In my bed.”

Her brow furrows. “You mean while you were away? I told you I fell asleep in there a couple of times. I changed the sheets before you came home. If it was a big deal you should’ve said something.”

“I’m talking about you in my bed with me in it.”

She blinks a couple of times. She’s giving away nothing. A sly smile spreads across her face and her voice drops to a sultry whisper. She drags a finger down the side of her neck. I follow the movement, hoping she’ll go lower, to the breast I cupped not that long ago. “Have you been dreaming about me, Bane?