Work had made her happy. Work was her solid, steady, constant. It had never let her down.

When Jack came over that evening to get ready for his charity event, she didn’t know how to tell him she was thinking of leaving. That she’d been offered a job that might have her flying across the ocean in two weeks time. For a woman who trafficked in words, she was floundering with the right ones to say to him. Instead, she focused on the present. She buttoned up his white shirt, tied his bow tie, and helped him slip on his jacket.

“You look so good in a tux,” she said, her heart aching because he was so damn handsome, and she’d miss seeing him every day and every night.

“I would look better if you were by my side, but I understand you’re not ready,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her in for a kiss. She wasn’t ready to be his date at the gala, not by a longshot. She wasn’t even sure when she’d be ready to have dinner again in a restaurant with him. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He understood the wound was still raw, and that it would take a long time to heal.

“Come over when you’re done,” she said when they broke the kiss. Perhaps, she could break the news then.

“I love that you invited me.”

“You’re always invited. You’re always welcome,” she said, even though always was being compressed into two more weeks.

“I’ll always want to be with you.”

“Always is a very long time.”

He looked at his watch. “I don’t have to be there for thirty minutes.”

She rolled her eyes, glad to be playful. “You just got dressed in your tux.”

“I’m a very fast dresser,” he said, taking her hand and guiding her to the couch onto his lap. He brushed her hair behind her ear, and leaned in to whisper, “Undress me.”

“Jack,” she said, as if she were chiding him.

He shook his head. “No ifs, ands, or buts. If I can’t have you by my side tonight, I want to make love to you now. And again later. And tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. We’re together now.”

“I know,” she said, swallowing back the tears that threatened her. They were together now. But what would happen to being together when she left? For now, though, for this second, she wanted the same thing. She did as he asked, stripping him, then herself, before she sank onto him.

He made the sexiest groan as he filled her, and she nearly cried because it felt so good. Because it felt beyond wonderful. She gripped his shoulders and pulled him on top of her as she lay back on the couch, wanting to take him as deep as she could.

She ran her hands along his strong back, memorizing the feel of his skin, his muscles, him.