Page 150 of Not Safe For Work

“So were you.” I paused, laughing softly. “Now that I think about it, though, it’s probably just as well it took us this long to find each other.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because we had a lot of years to get the stupid out of our systems and figure out what doesn’t work.”

“That’s a good point.” He caressed my face with an unsteady hand. “I’m still not sure if I have all the bugs worked out, but I do know that all I want is for you to be happy. Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“I have you. I am happy.”

“What about…”

“Hmm?”

He hesitated. “What about your job?”

“Well, it sounds like they aren’t going to fire me.”

“But are you going to stay?”

“I’m not sure how much choice I have.”

“Jon.” He touched my cheek. “We both know you’re miserable in that place. You were miserable even before they started ordering you to sleep with me.”

I winced. “I know. But what do I do if I quit? I’m the last of a dying breed around here.”

He held my gaze. “You… Well, here’s the thing. I think we both know that if we were to ever move in together, you’d still insist on working full-time because you’re not the type to depend on anybody else.”

“You think?”

Rick chuckled. “Call it a hunch.” Sobering, he took my hand. “Listen, I would never try to talk you out of that because I know it’s who you are.” He held my gaze, brow pinching slightly. “But there’s something I want to do for you. And yes, it’s financial, but if you’ll accept it—and I’ll understand if you won’t—I think it’ll take some stress off you, whether you stay with the firm or not.”

I drew back, eyeing him uncertainly.

He swallowed. “Will you accept it at face value? That I want to do this for you and not because I’m trying to buy you or anything like that?”

The thought of taking money from him didn’t sit well with my pride, but I couldn’t help being moved by the sentiment of the gesture. I cleared my throat. “Okay. Yeah. I can accept that.” I chewed my lip. “What exactly am I accepting?”

He ran his thumb along the back of mine. “I want to pay off your kids’ college.”

I blinked. “Come again?”

“Tuition. Books. Housing.” He waved his free hand. “Whatever they need. That way they can focus on their studies without sweating over money, and you don’t have to work yourself into the ground either.”

My pride wanted me to jump up and refuse his offer, but I just stared at him, disbelieving. Not that he was willing to part with some money—God knew it would be a drop in the bucket for him—but that he cared enough about my kids and me to do that.

“I don’t… I have no idea what to say.”

“Just say yes or no,” he whispered. “I haven’t met them, but I know they’re your world, and they’re a huge part of why you’re killing yourself for Mitchell & Forsythe. It’s not a judgment of your ability to take care of them and provide for them. I know damn well you can and will pay their way, whatever it takes. This is a gift from me to you. Because I love you.”

“I love you too, and I…” I shook my head. “My God, Rick. I just can’t believe you’d…”

“Jon.” He kissed me gently. “I don’t just want to make you happy in the bedroom. And I’ve seen how much of a toll it’s taken on you to finance their education. What kind of partner would I be if I stood back and let that keep eating away at you and them when I could do something about it?”

I searched his eyes. “Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely.”

If it had been anything else—paying off my mortgage, buying me a car, putting a Rolex on my wrist—I’d have balked, but this went so far above any kind of gift he ever could have given me. There was nothing more important to me than my children, and he was willing to give them their education. He was willing to make sure they didn’t graduate college with the heavy burden of student loans.

“Thank you,” I whispered, drawing him in for another kiss. “I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for that.”

“You already have.”

I pressed my lips to his, and then I pulled him even closer.

As we wound each other up again and turned each other on, hands running all over skin and cocks hardening between us, our conversation was never far from my mind. Even as he melted away my ability to form a coherent thought, one last thing remained in my mind, clear as day:

That I’d been the stupidest man alive to let him go for anything, and I was the luckiest man alive to have him back.