He raised his eyebrow. “What the hell is this?”

“This is what I had the engineer build for me last week, after you interrupted a very important meeting with your distracting sex and cost me two hours’ worth of design time.”

“You think I’m a distraction?”

“You are a distraction. And you have your own company to run—one worth billions last time I checked, so I would appreciate it if—”

“You had this built to keep me from coming behind the counter?” He pressed his hand against the glass. “To keep me out of your office?”

“Clearly. And it seems to be working.”

“It’s very cute.” He nodded. “You always amaze me with your sense of creativity.” He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a key. Then he slid that key into the panel’s hole and pushed the door open.

What the...

“You are aware that I run a background check on any man that comes near you, right?”

I blinked.

“The second you told me you were having more construction done,” he said as he pushed the door shut and walked over to me. “I made sure the company and the engineer knew exactly who they were dealing with. And I demanded to have extra keys to any locks you might attempt to install.”

“Why do you always do this?”

“How long is your secretary’s break?” He pushed me against the wall.

“Jonathan...” I tried to ignore the look in his eyes. “I really need to get some work done. You can’t show up every day...”

“I don’t show up every day.” He pressed his lips against mine. “I only show up when you don’t answer my calls. And I’m beginning to think you do that on purpose because you know exactly what’ll happen if you don’t.”

“I was busy.”

“How long is her break?”

“An hour...” I moaned as he kissed my neck, as he squeezed my ass and lifted my leg around his waist. “I’ll make this up to you tonight.”

“You said that yesterday.”

“I...” I gasped as he ran his fingers against the back of my bra. “I promise.”

“You’re going to lose this argument, Claire. Give up,” he whispered. Then he laughed. “I didn’t come here to have sex today.”

I gave him a blank stare.

“I didn’t.” He kissed me again and stepped back. “I just wanted to remind you about this weekend, wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.”

I didn’t forget. He’d made that impossible.

Even though I’d moved into his house and we’d traveled to amazing places with the girls, he and I still hadn’t had an entire weekend alone. For him, there was always some major business deal that couldn’t wait until Monday. And for me, it was always some project that I couldn’t step away from.

“I didn’t forget.” I smiled. “Is it a surprise location?”

“Isn’t it always?”

I blushed. He still had a way of making me feel like it was the first time we’d met, like he was going to do anything to show me how much he cared.

“I’m working late, so Greg will pick you up from our house at nine.” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “And then we’ll be on our way... Don’t bring any work with you or I’ll make you regret it...”

“Looking forward to it, darling.”

“Darling?” He rolled his eyes and kissed me one last time before walking over to the door. Then he turned around. “If you wear a fucking pantsuit like you did on our last date, I’ll rip it off of you before you make it into the car.”

Jonathan

“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Mr. Statham.” The editor of Forbes stood up to shake my hand.

“Not a problem, Miss Evans.”

“It’s such an honor to finally meet you in person.” She bit her lip and I tried not to roll my eyes at her unwanted attention.

She’d been flirting with me the entire meeting—batting her eyes, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs. She’d even “accidentally” let a mint fall down her revealing silk shirt, terribly pretending to be “so embarrassed” because she’d “never been this clumsy before.”

She looked like she was about my age, and her hair was radiant blond with autumn colored highlights. Her eyes were a spectacular shade of blue, and in all honesty, she was quite beautiful. But she didn’t have shit on Claire. At all.

“It was nice meeting you too, Miss Evans. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”

Her eyes lit up and she bit her lip again.  “Would it be too much to ask for a tour?”

“Not at all.” I picked up my phone and called Hayley. “Hayley? Would you mind giving Miss Evans a tour of corporate this afternoon? Okay...Great. Thank you.” I hung up and walked her over to the door. “Hayley will meet you in front of the elevators. Have a great afternoon, Miss Evans.”

“Thank you.” She scoffed and walked away.

I plopped down in my chair, happy that the unnecessary magazine interview was over. I opened a drawer to shut off my voice recorder and caught a glimpse of my digital photo-book. Scrolling across its screen, I smiled at the pictures Claire and I had taken of Caroline and Ashley last month.

Over the past eight months, I’d realized that I finally had everything I could possibly want—almost everything I could possibly want.

Claire and I had grown closer than ever and she’d finally learned to accept our relationship and be comfortable with it. Sure, she still frustrated the shit out of me from time to time—but not because of insecurities or being seen in public together.

It was mainly because she’d agreed to move into my house, but not before turning it into a damn renovation project that never seemed to end.

She was always finding something new to tweak, some part of the house that could be “done better.” If I didn’t love her so much, I would’ve put a stop to it a long time ago—like the time she shattered the windshield of my Bugatti while installing new lights in the garage.

“Mr. Statham?” Angela’s voice bounced off my walls.

“Yes?”

“Corey and...Miss Gracen are here to see you.”

I looked at my watch. There was no way Claire had left her company this early—surprise weekend getaway or not. I always had to personally drag her out of there at the end of the day.

“Send them in please.” I looked towards the door and watched as Corey held the door open for...Ashley.

I smiled. “Yes, Ashley?”

“Can I have fifty more dollars? I forgot to account for a few things...”

“A few things like what?” I handed her a hundred. “Is that the only reason you came by?”

“No, not really. I was wondering how long you and my mom were going to be gone this weekend...”

“Why?”

“No reason.” She put on her best poker face—something she’d definitely inherited from Claire. “I just thought I’d stop by to ask. That’s all.”

“We’ll be back on Tuesday...”

“Good to know!” She clapped. “Have a safe trip!”

“The house is under state of the art surveillance.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Only two cars are allowed through the gate within the same four hours unless I have the key, and I’ve already alerted my security team to check the property every hour to make sure no extra guests arrive while we’re gone.”

Her jaw dropped. “I thought we were friends, Jonathan.” She shook her head. “You and I have history...”

I laughed. “We do have history. I still haven’t told your mother about the last secret pool party you had on my yacht, her crashed Audi, or last weekend when you and Caroline came home at four o’ clock in the morning. Would you like me to?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you later...It was nice seeing you again, Corey.” She gave us both a hug before walking out of my office.

“How do you tell them apart again?” Corey sat down at my desk. “I could’ve sworn she was Caroline.”

“Instincts I guess. Are we all set on the CS account?”