Page 28 of Four Money (Ever and Always 1)

“You think I’m good in bed?” She pretended to focus on his drawings, but he could tell she was more interested in his opinion than she cared to let on.

“I’ve never come so hard in my life as I have the past few times we’ve been together.” And that was no lie. It kind of blew his mind that he’d enjoyed sex with her as much as he had considering Lorenzo and Owen hadn’t gotten involved. Of course, he wondered how much better he could make it for her if they went down that path.

He shifted her so she would be less likely to feel him getting hard thinking about it.

“Because of us…together…or because I let Lorenzo and Owen sneak a peek of us having sex?” Her voice got wispy, as if she was remembering, like he was. Or maybe because she was still shy about what she’d obviously gotten off on. Just like he had even though it was only a taste of what he usually preferred.

“Both,” he answered honestly. “And if you ever want them to do more than watch, or if you want to see what’s up between you without me, that’s fine too. You’re free to do whatever you want as far as I’m concerned.”

“Right. Because we’re not really married.” Holly cursed under her breath. “It would be best if neither of us forgot that this little experiment will be over soon.”

As usual, she was right. And he wasn’t about to make things worse by talking about it more.

“Okay. But until then…will you help me?” he wondered.

Holly nodded. She highlighted the area that had been bugging him. “You need to adjust the wiring harness here to avoid long-term chafe that will shorten the life of each panel and cause you warranty issues. You can do that by changing this cross member to a piece of U-shaped aluminum and adding a conduit to run the wire through that protected area.”

“Damn it!” Yes, that’s exactly what he hadn’t been able to figure out. She’d taken one glance and spotted it immediately. “You’re right. That’s especially important because my goal is to make these so low cost to produce that for every solar panel we sell domestically, we can donate one to a developing nation. It would be my dream to really make a difference instead of pumping up my bank account like my father did his whole life. There has to be something more than that, right?”

Holly relaxed against him. She pivoted, hugging him tight as she smiled warmly up at him. “Yeah, that’s an amazing goal. I want to help. Have you built a prototype yet?”

“Sort of, but I bet you can make it better.” He wasn’t sure why it made him sheepish to admit his nerdy habits, maybe because he knew she was into the frat boy she thought of him as. “Tinkering with electronics is my hobby, but I was dumb and didn’t take many classes that are actually helpful with that side of things. My father insisted I be a business major and if I’d argued, he would have refused to pay my tuition.”

“At least you’ll know how to bring this to market.” Holly perked up. “Didn’t Owen mention something about a corresponding battery technology to store the power you generate?”

“Yeah, that’s phase two of the project. I’m still tinkering with getting that as ready for production as the panels are. I have a workshop out in the garage. Want to see?”

“Hell, yes.” She bolted off his lap so fast he’d have been disappointed if it wasn’t for the opportunity to geek out on his hobby with her. Lorenzo and Owen patiently listened to him ramble about his inventions, but they didn’t have any real interest or understanding in the shit he spent every hour he wasn’t gambling or sleeping on.

Holly did.Damn.

Trent grinned as he took her hand and led her to his laboratory as eagerly as he’d guided her to bed the night before. Moose trotted along behind them. And with that, they were off down the rabbit hole of his creations and how, together, they could make the world a better place for a lot of people while also making a shit ton of money.

Win. Win. Win. And win some more, especially if Holly ever decided to take him up on his offer to explore with Owen and Lorenzo.

12

Trent looked up from working on the new battery module that would be the ideal companion to the solar panels he and Holly had damn near perfected, and realized time was flying by. Days filled with finally progressing on his project were only surpassed by nights in bed with her. He could get used to this. Hell, he already had.

“Hey, Hol, guess what?”

“Hmm?” She nudged her adorably thick black reading glasses up her nose and blinked at him, as entrenched in their tinkering as he had been a moment ago.

“It’s our one-week anniversary.” Trent smiled at her.

She didn’t mirror his expression. Instead, she frowned. “Time is going so fast. The three months will be up before you know it.”

Rather than brood on that fact, which had the power to ruin his good mood, Trent asked, “How hungry are you?”

“Getting there.” She rubbed her softly rounded stomach, reminding him of how amazing it felt to lie on top of her while he surrounded himself with her heat and slickness.

And now he was craving more than dinner.

“I can order a meal for us. Something fancy, if you want to celebrate.” It felt odd to have extra cash to spend on stuff like that after he’d been so damn careful for so long, hoarding every penny to reach his aspirations. “Or…”

“What’s behind door number two?” she asked with a cute grin that made him want to impress her.

“If you can wait a little longer, I’ll order ingredients from the market and cook for you myself.”

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