Page 64 of Reclaiming Izabel

He reminded me of my pantiless state. Damn him. He touched the tip of my nose fondly, winked at me, and turned to head back to the elevators.

“Ohmigod.” Cindy fanned herself. “That was hot.”

I cupped one side of my burning cheek in embarrassment. “Were we loud?”

“You were.” My assistant laughed and waggled her brows. “You look thoroughly fucked.”

“Drake can be such a Neanderthal.”

“I was Team Kyle, but woman, I’m Team Drake now. Your husband is fine.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “He is.”

“Do I have to call the cleaning department to sanitize your office?”

“Get back to work, Lake.”

Cindy’s hearty laugh followed me back into the office.

chapter

sixteen

Izabel

“Drake’s here.”

Cindy’s voice came over the intercom just as he strode into my office. It had been over a week since I returned to work. So far, despite the intrusiveness of the press and the Solace project in full throttle, we managed to spend quality time together working on our marriage. We had our joint session with Gina the night before and, today, Drake was taking me out for lunch…just because.

“Ready?”

“Give me one sec.” I reviewed the email to the Solace Foundation chairperson and when I determined it looked okay, clicked send.

I pushed back my rolling chair and got up. Tossing my glasses on the table, I smiled at my husband.

“You look a bit frazzled,” Drake murmured after giving me a lingering kiss.

“Tired,” I quipped. “Someone kept me awake all night.”

His hand settled possessively at the small of my back. “Can’t get enough of you, baby.”

Drake admitted to Doc G that since his return, he had trouble keeping away from me, which explained our frequent lunch dates. One day, he even showed up at my Solace project site and Marcus had to warn him about interfering in our work.

But I felt the same. The hours away from Drake were difficult. If it weren’t for my responsibility for this new development, I’d be all for an idyllic getaway, a place where it’d be just the two of us, reconnecting and making up for lost time. It’d be one hell of a long vacation.

Cindy wasn’t at her desk when we exited my office.

“The press seems to have thinned out.” There was no reporter in sight when we left the building. Drake clasped my hand and we walked side-by-side on the sidewalk. Bittersweet memories stabbed my mind. Of the times I’d seen sweet couples walking down the street like this and thinking I wouldn’t ever get to do that with my husband again.

Because it was missing those small and seemingly mundane moments that hurt the most when you lose them. Like waking up to an empty side of the bed. Falling asleep while watching TV and waking up still on the couch when Drake would have always carried me to bed. The pile of laundry cut in half because it was missing his dirty clothes. It took me a year before I was able to put his clothes in a box. It was only because I had a panic attack and my therapist traced it to my unhealthy habit of sniffing Drake’s clothes and realizing his scent was fading.

The universe might have played a cruel joke on us, but it gave us a second chance.

“They’re always after the next new story.” Drake’s glib answer yanked me back from my bittersweet memories.

“Admit it, pal. You glared down at another reporter or threatened them with bodily harm.”

“Me?” Drake chuckled. “Now, where did you get that idea?”

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