Working with Elliot when he’d been incessantly intolerable had been a challenge, but working for this version of him—smooth, sweet, dominant—was going to be even harder.
Davida and Raymond could have reminded me that this was a terrible idea—and I knew it was—but when he kissed me breathless, called me sweetheart, and looked at me like I was an epiphany, all my common sense turned against me, whispering that this would be worth the inevitable disaster.
Chapter Twenty-five
Elliot
The trouble with having access to Catherine nearly one hundred percent of the day was I couldn’t actually have her any time I wanted. She was there, right outside my office, but I couldn’t do what I wanted. And once we got home, it wasn’t better. In fact, it might have been worse since she spent stretches of the evening cluster feeding Jo.
Call me a sick fuck, but there would be no circumstance in which I saw Catherine’s breasts and wouldn’t get hard. They were so perfectly round, and her nipples were always crimson and ripe. I’d never even imagined what breast milk tasted like, but seeing the drops on the tips of her beaded peaks had awakened something inside me. Something primal and ravenous. And she’d been so addictively sweet on my tongue last night, I wanted more.
After dinner, I needed some space to get myself under control. This overwhelming sense of want was entirely unfamiliar to me. I stayed steady by being the master of my environment, but that had become impossible with Catherine dismantling my carefully constructed world without even trying.
“I’m going to read for a while. Come find me when she’s sleeping,” I told her, kissing her forehead when I wanted to suck her tongue and bite her neck.
I looked at Josephine and had a far different kind of urge. I wanted to watch her, protect her, keep her safe. Always.
I dragged a knuckle over her cheek. “Be good, little girl.”
Catherine appeared at my door a couple hours later. I patted the space beside me on the bed, and she walked in, tugging on the hem of her shirt and nibbling on her bottom lip.
She was a sight. Her hair was down, spilling over her shoulders, curled at the ends. She’d changed into pajamas I hadn’t seen before—a black, silky camisole and matching shorts. It gratified me to know this was for me—that she’d taken some time to put on something special and let down her hair before she came in here for my gaze.
My cock stirred with interest as I watched her climb onto my bed, giving me a view of the lacy bralette she had on under the camisole. Catherine in lace was a heady combination.
She settled beside me with a sigh, her back against the pillows, legs stretched out in front of her.
“What a strange day,” she said.
I picked up a piece of her hair, rubbing it between my fingers. “How so?”
“I wasn’t walking around in an exhausted fog.” She breathed a little laugh. “And I’m not very tired now. That’s an unfamiliar feeling.”
“It doesn’t have to be unfamiliar. I had a great time with Josephine this morning. When I unwrapped her from her swaddle, her little arms popped straight up, and she did this great big stretch that looked like it felt so fucking amazing.”
She nodded, grinning at me. “Isn’t it cute? I wish my stretches were that good.”
“I was jealous, and I told her so.” I curled Catherine’s hair around my finger. “She wasn’t even alarmed to see me instead of you this morning.”
“Well, she knows you. We talk about you all the time.”
I winged a brow. “Do you? Care to share?”
“No. I’m sure you’ll overhear in your eavesdropping sessions.”
“It’s not eavesdropping if I happen to walk into the room while you’re spilling secrets to your baby.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Sure, Elliot. If that helps you sleep at night.”
“I’m more concerned about your sleeping. Will you let me wake up with Joey a few times a week?”
“I don’t know if that will help,” she hedged.
“It’s worth a shot. I need you to be cheerful and chipper at work.”
She snorted. “I’ve never been chipper. Find Leafy-Daniel for that.”
“I’m using myself as the baseline.”
That made her laugh harder, gratifying me even more than her pretty little jammies. Catherine’s laughter was as light and easy as she was, filling my chest and head like a helium balloon.
“Then I suppose I’m the most cheerful person on the planet.”