Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Cutter~

Sitting through dinner with Merritt had been absolute torture, but doing the dishes with her had been a special kind of agony. Even though I’d done my best to keep her from helping, she had insisted, and I’d decided to pick my battles since holding her hostage had been taken off the table.

For now, at least.

At any rate, after dinner, Merritt had immediately gotten on her laptop to search for apartments. As promised, I’d done the same, searching Moore properties for anything that might be available. While we did have a few available apartments and a couple of condos, they’d been quite a distance from the offices, and the commute would be too much for the hours that Merritt worked. Yeah, I could always lighten her workload, but if I did that, then Merritt would know that I was going easy on her, and she wasn’t the type of woman to appreciate that. A break, yes. A pity-party, no.

“You know, I know that it’s supposed to be a sign of trust and love when couples combine their money, but I’m so glad that Steven and I hadn’t done that,” she announced out of nowhere. “If we’d gone all in, then I’d be stuck trying to separate our money, trying to figure out what I can realistically afford.”

“Not all couples merge their finances,” I pointed out. “With women finally making decent money for themselves these days, lots of couples split the finances evenly.”

“That’s what Steven and I did,” she said as she looked up from her laptop. “He paid the mortgage on the condo, which made sense since it was his to begin with, and I paid all the utilities.”

I tried not to wince at that. Seeing as how I was her boss, I knew exactly what Merritt made a year, plus what she could afford in the way of living expenses, and I still wouldn’t allow her to contribute to the bills if we lived together. While I was all about female independence, that had nothing to do with the fact that my brother had raised us to believe that the men paid for everything if they could, period. Sheridan’s money was her own, and as far as I knew, it was just collecting interest in her bank accounts.

“Well, since I’ve never lived with a woman before, I can’t really speak on that, except to say that whenever I do end up living with someone, she can do whatever she wants with her money, but she won’t be paying any bills with it.”

Merritt regarded me sternly. “That’s a very chauvinistic point of view, Cutter.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a man wanting to take care of the woman that he loves,” I countered. “Women should be taken care of.”

“I guess it depends on the couple,” she said, giving a little.

“It depends on the woman,” I corrected.

“Meaning?”

“Now, some women like to contribute because they genuinely believe in an equal partnership, and nowadays, most households need two incomes to survive, so that’s okay,” I explained. “However, some women insist on paying their fair share to prove a point about their independence, and I think that’s rather ridiculous. A genuinely confident woman is not intimidated by much, especially strong men, so she couldn’t care less if he pays all the bills. A strong woman isn’t afraid of other strong people. If anything, being surrounded by like minds will just motivate her to set more goals for herself. So, with nothing to prove, it’s not a problem to let the man pick up the tab because he should.”

Merritt cocked her head a bit. “I’ll have to think on that a bit.”

I smirked. “Well, let me know what you come up with after you’ve given it some thought.”

She grinned back at me as she shut her laptop. “Actually, I think it’s time for a hot shower. It’s been a long day, and if I had any pampering products with me, I’d take a hot bath instead.”

“Tell me what you need, and I’ll run out and get it for you,” I offered, continuing to ignore that line between boss and employee.

“Thanks, but I can grab some stuff tomorrow,” she replied.

“We’ll be working tomorrow,” I reminded her.

“We work every day, Mr. Moore,” she retorted. “But I’ve still managed to shop for things that I’ve needed on occasion.”

Biting my tongue, I said, “Well, if you want to retire after you’ve had your shower, then good night. If you feel like you can’t sleep, then you’ll be able to find me in my office working.”

She gave me a terse nod as she stood up. My eyes were glued to hers, and I really had to be the dumbest motherfucker on the planet to have thought that this was a good idea. I was going to lose my mind with her in my home, and I’d have no one to blame but myself.

Merritt stepped to go take a shower, but then she stopped to look back at me. “Cutter?”

“Yeah, ba…yeah?”

What the fuck?

“I just wanted to thank you for all your help today and for being so understanding about my situation,” she said. “Even though me staying here is highly unorthodox, it was still kind of you to open up your home to me.”

“Not a problem, Merritt,” I replied, glad that I stopped myself from calling her baby.

I watched her head towards her bedroom, and as soon as she was out of sight, I let out a heavy breath as I ran my hands down my face. I was usually so good at calculating risks and outcomes, but I was fucking this thing up with Merritt rather spectacularly. She was here because she needed a friend, and I had her here because I wanted her more than I wanted to take my next breath.

God, I really was an asshole.

Doing my best to forget the woman that was currently naked in one of my showers, I checked all the doors to make sure that everything was locked up for the night, then grabbed my laptop from the living room to go work in my office.

Once I was inside the room that I lived in most, I brought my laptop back to life, then also turned on my desk computer. You’d think that I was a hacker with as many computer screens as I had lit up around me on a daily basis, but it really was just the business world and everything that was Moore Industries.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been working when I heard a soft knock on the door, and when I looked up, Merritt was standing in the doorway, looking a bit wary. I noticed that her hair was also dry, so it had me wondering if she’d taken her shower yet.

“Is everything okay?” I finally asked.

She walked further into my office, and she looked a bit embarrassed. “I forgot to pack something to sleep in,” she answered. “I thought I put my pajamas in my overnight bag, but I guess not.” She grimaced, and I realized that she really was embarrassed. “I was thinking of unpacking my boxes to find something, but I wanted to ask you if that was okay first.”

I stood up from my desk, not caring about whatever it was that I’d been doing before Merritt had knocked on the door. She was so fucking beautiful that it was distracting on a good day, but having her in my home took that distraction to a whole other level.

“So, you just need something to sleep in?” I asked as I made my way towards her.

Merritt nodded. “Yeah,” she muttered. “I just…I don’t want to start unpacking everything, scaring you into thinking that I might really move in.” She let out a soft laugh to try to hide her nervousness.

When I finally found myself standing in front of her, all kinds of wild things started racing through my mind, but I welcomed them. Hitting on Merritt was all kinds of unethical, and I could very well lose her as the perfect replacement for Lucy, but I just couldn’t fucking do it anymore. For two years, I’d done my best to be a good boy, but I was done with that shit. She was finally single-and in my home-and I’d be goddamned before I squandered this chance with her.

Staring into her brilliant blue eyes, I grabbed the hem of my t-shirt, then pulled it up over my head. Merritt’s eyes widened as I reached out to hand her my shirt. “Will this work?”

I watched as her eyes slid over my shoulders, arms, chest, and torso, and not for nothing, I was in my gym four times a week, so the six-pack that she was looking at had been hard-earned. In fact, everything that she was looking at was a result of making time to work out as much as I could. I sat behind a desk a lot, so it was easy to gain weight or develop back problems because of that.

When Merritt’s blue gaze looked back up at me, her cheeks were pink, her lips were parted, and those beautiful cobalt orbs were dilated, telling me that she liked what she saw, and that was good enough for me.

“Cutter…” she whispered, still not reaching for my shirt.

“What, baby?” I whispered back, finally saying the word, the endearment feeling right and natural on my tongue.

Merritt let out a deep breath before saying, “This is a really bad idea.”

“Maybe,” I conceded, dropping my shirt on the floor before reaching for her. “But I don’t care.”

“Such a bad idea,” she muttered, but not pushing me away when my hands landed on her hips.

“Or it could be the best fucking idea that I’ve ever had,” I countered, meaning every word.

“Or the best idea that you’ve ever had,” she echoed, and that’s when I knew that I’d won.