Page 17 of Just One More Moment

She let out an unexpected chuckle. “You know what I mean. Anyway, since we obviously both want each other—”

Understatement of the year, he thought. “Yes?”

“Well, I agree, you’re not Emily and you can take care of yourself… and me. And now that you know about Lance, you’re not going to let me run.”

Damn right. He tightened his arm around her waist.

“So I thought we could have an arrangement.”

“Such as?”

“I’ve seen you in occasional relationships through the years… well, not relationships exactly, but you tend to have flings.”

He winced because she had a point. Until Raven, he’d never considered something serious.

“So I figured, we could be… you know, friends with benefits. At the bar, you’re my boss, and there are boundaries, but other times when we’re alone… we’d have the benefits. Would that be good for you?”

Fuck no, he thought. He wanted so much more. But that was the caveman in him talking. The rational, understanding human inside him knew he couldn’t have all of Raven without slowly winning her trust. Which meant giving her what she needed. Time. Space.

He placed his finger on her moist lower lip, running the pad over her flesh. “If that works for you, it does for me,” he said in a gruff voice.

Her shoulders sagged in what must have been relief and his heart squeezed as he realized what it must take for her to hold herself together. She was wound so tight and pressed down so much fear. Something had to give. He wanted to be her safe place.

“So we’re good?” she asked.

Meanwhile, as she sighed and wriggled on his lap, his dick grew hard and he gritted his teeth against the desire he wouldn’t be acting on.

“We’re good,” he assured her.

She hugged him, placing her head on his shoulder and her chest against his, as she breathed against his neck. “Thank you, Remy. I feel safe with you.”

And those words both solidified his decision to go slow and caused a warm feeling in his chest, and his heart beat in time with hers.

When she decided to go home anyway, he understood, and let her go.

Chapter Seven

Sterling family gatheringswere large and loud, and where they were located was decided on the spur of the moment. That was Remy’s family. No planning, just an agreement to get together. Sometimes it was to catch up because it had been a while and others it was to celebrate.

Today was the latter. Aiden, their traveling journalist brother, had come home from the dangerous war zones he reported from. Whether it was for good or not was anyone’s guess. In all probability, Aiden wasn’t sure either.

Where Remy dove into the police force and now dealt in missing people to assuage his guilt over not being home when their mother was killed, Aiden ran away from his regret for being asleep upstairs during the murder. It didn’t matter that logic dictated neither were to blame. Self-recrimination was hard to let go of.

Remy’s family sat around a long table. The gathering included their father, Alex, and housekeeper, Elizabeth Snyder, though they called her Lizzie. She was an attractive woman, slightly younger than his dad. Lizzie came with the house when Alex had purchased the property in Old Brookville. A widow, she resided in the gatehouse on the property when the original residents owned the place and her staying was part of the sales agreement.

Her daughter, Brooklyn, grew up in the gatehouse and was best friends with his sister, Fallon. The women couldn’t be more different. Fallon was a Bohemian artist and owned a gallery. Brooklyn was a corporate type who dressed much more formally. Since graduating, she’d worked at the Sterling family business with Jared, who was the CFO under their dad. But the women couldn’t be closer.

The rest of his siblings were already seated too, as they waited for Aiden. While the joking and laughter went on around him, Remy kept an eye and ear on Raven, who sat with a laptop behind the bar. Whether she was absorbed in bar business or avoiding catching his gaze, he didn’t know.

“She won’t disappear if you take your eyes off of her, you know,” Dex said.

Remy glared at his brother. “It’s not like you’d know what it was like to settle on one woman,” he muttered.

Dex chuckled, not the least bit insulted. He loved his bachelor lifestyle in a way Remy never had, especially after being married. Once he and Sadie had divorced because she couldn’t live with hisdangerousjob as a detective, being alone in the large house felt… odd.

Sadie hadn’t wanted anything from him except a small lump sum to get back on her feet, leaving Remy with the house he’d bought, which he sold almost immediately after their separation. Getting back into the dating game sucked. He didn’t like it the way Dex did but Remy had his share of women.

Maybe it Dex’s years of playing star quarterback and being idolized by women all over the state of Florida. Who knew?

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