1
Carson
I woke up the next morning feeling the heat from the sunlight on my face. Last night, the window showed the thriving city outside, lights glimmering like beacons, but now it was a brilliant day and the lights from the buildings had dimmed. I arched my back and stretched my arms above my head, sighing as my body enjoyed the comfortable mattress and the high-end sheets that cuddled me all night long. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept so well, woke up in the morning and felt like I could do anything. Was it just the bedding? Or was it the man beside me?
I opened my eyes and looked at Dax. He was on his back with his head slightly tilted my way, his eyes closed and his jaw relaxed. With every breath he took, his chest rose slightly, his flat stomach chiseled even when he was unconscious. The sheets were loose around his waist as if he got hot during the night and pushed them away, and a bit of his happy trail was visible far below. Veins covered his tanned skin on his muscular arms and the abs below his belly button. Awake or not awake, this man was beautiful.
Yeah, it definitely wasn’t the bedding that made me sleep so long.
It was the man.
I shifted closer to him and pressed a kiss to his shoulder, my tongue taking a gentle swipe so I could taste him. Seeing his face first thing in the morning was more exhilarating than the view from his penthouse. His scruff was even thicker than it had been the night before, and I loved that masculine look.
My eyes glanced down to the sheets over his waist and noticed the distinct outline of his bulging cock.
Damn, I could get used to this.
I crawled over him and pulled back the sheets slightly so I could press a gentle kiss to the top of his dick.
He didn’t wake up, but an almost inaudible moan emerged from his closed lips.
I got out of bed and helped myself to his discarded shirt on the floor. I got a better look at his bedroom, the seventy-inch TV mounted on the wall, the high-end furniture, the armchair outside his closet where he sat to put shoes on every morning.
His bedroom was almost as big as my apartment.
I left the bedroom and walked down the hallway, seeing a whole other hallway emerge at an intersection in the corridor. I had no idea where it led, and I wasn’t nosy enough to find out. I kept going and headed to the main room where the kitchen was located.
Floor-to-ceiling windows took up the entire back wall, and it was an open room, with the dining table, kitchen, and living room all in the same area. It was perfect for entertaining, even though I wasn’t sure how much he hosted events.
Just this space alone was bigger than a single floor in my apartment building. That must mean every unit took up an entire floor of the building.
How could one person need this much space?
I walked into the kitchen and looked for the coffeepot. Of course, he didn’t have something basic. It was a big, shiny device that looked like it belonged on the counter of a coffee shop. It took some time to figure out how to work the stupid thing and make myself a cup of joe.
His wealth didn’t intimidate me, and it didn’t make me think higher of him either. It was just a part of who he was, and I’d have to get used to it. When he said I would’ve thought of him differently if I’d known he was a billionaire the night we met, he was right. I would’ve made unfair assumptions about who he was instead of seeing the man behind the wallet. I would have assumed he was arrogant, snobbish, egotistical…entitled. But he wasn’t a jerk like the other rich people I had to deal with, so I actually was grateful he’d deceived me.
Otherwise, this might never have happened.
I wouldn’t have found the man I was supposed to be with.
I took a seat at the dining table that was next to the window and drank my coffee as I looked at my emails on my phone.
A text message popped up from Charlie. So…you never came home last night.
I grinned. Nope.
Are you going to come home tonight?
Double nope.
Did you get that D?
Only all night…
Finally. Is Kat okay?
The mention of her immediately brought down my mood. She’s pretty down, honestly. But she’ll come around.
Charlie didn’t text me back.
The sound of footfalls came to my ears as Dax entered the kitchen. Barefoot and just in his sweatpants, he stood at the coffeemaker and made himself a cup before he took a drink and joined me at the dining table. “Morning, sweetheart.” He set his coffee mug on the table then leaned down to kiss me.
I tilted my head back and took his lips, exchanging a slow and seductive kiss that made me want to go straight back to the bedroom.
When he pulled away slightly, he gave me an affectionate look before he pulled out the chair and took a seat beside me. His eyes were heavy-lidded and sleepy, and his hair was messy from all the times I’d fisted it through the night. He gripped the mug by the handle and brought it to his lips for another drink.
I saw him sitting there shirtless with those broad shoulders and strong chest, and I knew I could stare at him like that every single day. The deep, emotional attachment was still there, but the physical lust had turned on as if a button had been pressed. I wanted this man—every chance I got.
He watched me stare at him, relaxing in the chair with slight affection in his gaze. “Did you tell Charlie?”
“He texted me a couple minutes ago. And yes, he was very happy that his best friend got laid.”
He chuckled. “Good. He’s gonna be happy pretty often, then.”
My eyes glanced over his body, giving him a seductive stare that showed how much I wanted him. “Hell yeah…”
He gave a slight smile before he sipped his coffee again.
“I told him I wouldn’t be home until tomorrow morning. If that’s okay…” I wanted to be in Dax’s arms every night. I never wanted to sleep in a bed alone when there was such a better alternative. Why be alone when I could have this perfect, gorgeous, wonderful man hold me through the night?
“You could move in, and I would say that’s okay.”
I chuckled before I grabbed my coffee and took a drink, not taking his words seriously.
But he just looked at me…like he was dead serious.
When he’d said those three little words last night, I hadn’t expected to hear them. And I also hadn’t expected my own reaction, to say them back, to hear the sincerity in my voice as well as feel it in my heart. It was natural, and for the first time, I didn’t overthink my actions. I just lived in the moment—with him.
With his fingers wrapped around the handle of his mug, he stared at me, like he was thinking about the same moment.
I didn’t have any regrets. It was the happiest I’d been in a really long time. Well, not that long, but it felt that way.
Now I was glad Evan had been in the bar that night just so Dax would kiss me. Who knew something so good could come out of that?
Steam rose from his cup, the black liquid frothy at the top from the way the beans were ground up in the machine. “What did you want to do today?”
“Oh, come on.” I released an uncontrollable snort at the stupid question.
“What?” He drank from his coffee.
“Don’t what me. You know exactly what I want to do. And I want to do it all day and all night…”
His eyes shifted away slightly, a handsome grin coming onto his lips like my desire was flattering to him. Women wanted to jump his bones all the time, but somehow my enthusiasm was special. “What about food?”