Page 107 of The Work Wife

He rubbed his forehead and looked out at the view. From here he could see the beach where they’d made love the night before. He hadn’t been prepared for her to give up so easily.

He swallowed and looked her in the eye, hoping she would agree to his insane idea. “When we get back to Boston, you’re going to move in with me. And we’re going to see where this goes.”

“That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Really? It’s worse than wanting to marry your friend to get a free vacation?” He called her on her stupidity, and his own for going along with it. “It’s too late to go back to being friends, James. We either forge ahead or we break it off and cut our losses. What will it be?”

She held up her hand and stepped away to the edge of the water. It only took her a moment to come back, her eyes fierce. “I can’t just walk away from you. I can’t and I won’t.”

“So . . .”

“So we’re forging ahead.” The corner of her mouth pulled up at her admission while a satisfied grin took over his face.

“How bad could it be?”

* * * *

Ben was certain he would be in one of the stages of regret by now. It had been four days since he’d had sex with his assistant on his desk. He hadn’t even remembered to lock the door. Anyone could have walked in on them.

He was a cliché, but he couldn’t help the smile that lifted his lips at the thought of her.

While they both agreed they wouldn’t sneak around at work anymore, they’d been together every night. Tonight he was looking forward to watching her play with her band, as Bellz, before he took her home to spend the night with his Annabelle.

Filling in for Richard was not as difficult as he’d expected. It turned out Annabelle was right when she’d told him he already handled the biggest parts of the business.

He hadn’t realized it until it was all officially on his plate.

However, there was one part he wasn’t qualified to handle. Ben held a degree in business, not architecture, engineering, or art design. It meant he was useless when it came to deciding which projects to assign to which team.

He didn’t know who was better suited for a job, because he couldn’t tell what the job would entail. This was where his brother would come in handy.

Looking at his phone, he realized his brother should be home from his trip.

He called, ready to force Wes into a decision, despite him still having until the early April deadline they’d agreed upon.

“Hello?”

“Hello. How’s married life?”

“Why does everyone ask that? I don’t get it. It’s the same as regular life, but now I live with my wife.”

Ben sighed and shook his head. It sounded like a pretty big step to him. Maybe Wes didn’t notice anything different because he’d been with Jamie for so long.

Would things eventually get that way with Annabelle? Would they form a bond because they spent so much time together? He had insinuated they would be together for the rest of their lives.

“I need your help,” he asked, making it sound casual.

“Sure. What do you need?”

“I need you to come work here.”

Wes laughed. “I haven’t decided. I still have a week.”

“Uncle Rich had a heart attack—”

“When? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Relax. He’s fine. It was mild, but he has to take off of a few months until the doc releases him back to work. My guess is, he won’t be coming back. He’s going to use this to step back and move into retirement. I don’t know who to assign what project to.”