Business and Pleasure (25 page)

“I could not be happier than I am right now,
Elizabeth. You just made my life.”

“I feel exactly the same way. I love you so
much.” I can feel the tears building again.

“I love you too. More than you will ever
know. But I can try to show you…starting right now.” He scoops me
into his arms again, but this time, he doesn’t put me down until
we’re upstairs, inside his bedroom—our bedroom—with the door closed
tightly behind us.

When I finally regain my footing, I reach
behind me to unzip my dress, but Alex beats me to it. He slowly
slides the zipper down the length of my back, and I sense he’s
relishing in every moment. He very carefully slides the gown down
over my shoulders and as the material reaches my ankles, I step out
of the circle of clothing. I turn and face him, dressed only in a
red thong and my heels. A soft growl comes from somewhere deep in
his throat as he eyes me, a look of appreciation showing clearly on
his face. He holds my gaze as he takes a step back to undress. His
jacket hits the ground, followed by his tie and shirt. He kicks off
his shoes, and then slides off his pants. Fully naked, he stands in
front of me, and I drink in the sight of him. Damn, he’s hot. And
he’s
all
mine. I reach out to touch the hair on his chest,
but he stops me by taking my hand and bringing it to his lips. He
kisses each finger, and then pulls me closer and places my hand on
his chest.

“My heart beats only for you. Forever.”

His sweet words have me crying again, and he
bends to kiss away my tears.

“Take me to bed,” I whisper.

“With pleasure.”

He guides me backward until my legs hit the
mattress, and then gently lays me back, following me down to lie on
top of me. Alex reaches up and grabs a pillow, and I lift my head
so he can place it beneath me. I lift my hips as he slips off my
thong, but the heels remain on my feet, leaving me feeling
strangely sexy. He slides back up and kisses me, softly, at first,
and then more passionately, his tongue invading my mouth. He tastes
like Dom Perignon mixed with the chocolate we had for dessert. A
divine combination. Slowly, he runs his hands up and down my body,
and our breathing grows erratic. I swear I can hear his heart
beating…or is that mine?

He leans up to look me in the eyes. “You are
exquisite, Elizabeth.”

And with those last words, he proceeds to do
exactly as he promised, and
shows
me how much he loves
me…for hours.

Chapter Fifteen

I wake the next morning feeling unbelievably
happy. Alex’s arms are wrapped around me, and I lie there content,
watching as the rising sun’s rays filter through the wall of
windows and chase the darkness from the room. I lift my hand gaze
at my new ring, a lovely, lifetime reminder of the glorious night
we had. He proposed. Alexander Preston proposed to me. The ring
could not be more perfect. The two emerald stones on each side of
the perfectly cut princess diamond is absolutely exquisite. Every
time I look at them, I’ll think of Alex’s beautiful eyes. Behind
me, Alex squirms. I consider getting up for some coffee, but the
terrifying memory of what happened the last time I did that floods
my mind. The realistic side of me realizes I’m safe, now. Bob is no
longer a threat, and no one else is lurking out there, ready to
shoot me, but I can’t help the fear that keeps me lying here,
frozen in place. I glance over at Alex to find him staring at me,
his brow wrinkled, his lips turned down in a frown.

“What are you thinking about, my love? You
seem miles away.”

There’s a look of worry in his eyes, but I
avoid telling him I was thinking about Bob.

“Nothing bad. Just basking in the warmth of
your arms, remembering how lovely last night was.”

“You made all my dreams come true.”

I smile as he pulls me closer and snuggles
up to my neck.

“When you said yes, you made me the happiest
man on Earth. I could lie here with you, just like this,
forever.”

I sigh in agreement. I have never been as
comfortable as I am this very minute. “I still have to tell
Becca.”

He pops up his head and looks at me. “Let’s
go tell her.”

Before I can respond, he jumps out of bed
and heads into the bathroom. For a minute, I stare after him. What
happened to lying here forever? The sound of the shower has me
sighing again, this time in defeat, and I climb out of bed to join
him. Might as well conserve water…

Despite his speedy exit from our bed, Alex
still distracts me from my task of getting clean, touching me every
few minutes, seemingly unable to keep his hands from exploring my
body during our shower. Not that I complain or try to stop him. In
fact, I’m an active participant in delaying our exit. I doubt I’ll
ever become bored with this new life of mine.

By the time we’re finished getting ready,
several hours have passed, and I’m certain Becca is fully awake,
most likely reading the paper while she drinks her morning
coffee.

Throughout the drive over to my old
apartment, I consider how I might best tell my little sister I’m
engaged. She’s going to be ecstatic, I’m sure, but do I come right
out and tell her, or should I build up to it? We pull into the
underground garage, and Alex parks the car. As I reach to open the
door, I’m surprised to find my palms are sweaty.

“Nervous?” Alex asks. He’s eyeing my hand,
which he’s taken to help me from the car.

I cringe and duck my head. “Yeah. A little.
Sorry about that. I have a tissue in my purse.”

Alex laughs and shakes his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, and then,
in a much lower, sexier voice, he adds, “You got me a lot sweatier
than that last night.”

My cheeks heat, but I chuckle, and my
tension eases. Thank goodness he’s so laid back. His ability to go
with the flow, to make light of a potentially uncomfortable
situation, is just one of the many things I love about him.

When we reach the apartment, I use my key to
let us in, but I also knock when we enter…just in case.

“It’s the polite thing to do,” I say in
answer to Alex’s inquiring look. “After all, I don’t live here
anymore, and God only knows what we might walk into, with the two
of them living here together. Think about how
we
spent the
first few hours at your place last night…”

“Yeah, I see your point.” Alex grins and
follows me down the hallway.

“Becca? Mark?” I call out.

“In here!”

We walk into the kitchen to find Becca
standing at the stove, and Mark sitting at the table. For a moment,
I’m speechless. I have never in my life seen Becca cook! About the
most I’ve seen her do in a kitchen—other than eat—is brew a cup of
coffee. But there she is, spatula in hand, stirring something in a
frying pan on the stovetop.

“Hey, you guys! We were just making lunch.
How are you? How do you like living together? So far, anyway…”
Becca drops the spatula onto the counter and then crosses the
kitchen to wrap me in her arms. After a brief but tight hug, she
pulls back, eyeing me closely.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her, worried by the
look on her face.

She looks me up and down. “I don’t know…you
tell me. Something’s different.”

She looks up and down again, and I know the
minute she sees the ring, because her eyes get as big as golf
balls.

“Oh, my God! You’re engaged?” She squeals
like a teenager in the presence of her favorite pop star.

So much for worrying about how to tell her.
Becca hugs me again, and then grabs my hand to hold the ring in the
light. Mark gets to his feet and joins us, leaning in close to eye
the diamond. After a moment, he looks up at Alex and releases a
long, low whistle.

“Wow. Good job,” he says.

Alex grins.

“And congratulations to you, sweetheart.”
Mark hugs me close. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Thank you,” I murmur, tears stinging my
eyes. Until this moment, I didn’t realize how important it was that
I receive his and my sister’s blessings.

“Yes, thank you, Mark, Becca.” Alex nods and
rubs his stomach. “Now, what’s for lunch? I’m starving.”

We all laugh, and a few moments later, we’ve
loaded our plates with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, chips,
and salsa. Mark and Alex stay in the kitchen to eat and talk, while
Becca and I bring our food into the living room, so she and I can
discuss my upcoming wedding.

“Honey, wait,” I say, the moment I realize
my sister expects me to make decisions right now. This isn’t
something I can do without my best friend. “I can’t do this without
Nicki.”

“Well, give her a call, then. Tell her to
come over. Oh, my God…she’s going to go
crazy
when you tell
her you’re getting married.” Becca’s more excited than I am.

I grab my cell and dial Nicki’s number.
She’s so sweet. I don’t even have to tell her why I want her to
come over; the minute I tell her I’m at Becca’s and invite her to
join us, she agrees, and says she’ll be here in a jiffy.

By the time Becca and I finish eating, Nicki
has arrived, and after I fill her in on what happened with Bob and
Becca and all the craziness—and tell her about my first day spent
living in sin (leaving out the X-rated parts, of course), we begin
planning my upcoming nuptials in earnest. By mid-afternoon, the
three of us are knee-deep in wedding plans, discussing dresses and
venues and flowers…we’ve even chosen three potential dates for the
ceremony, all of which I’ll have to run by Alex later, before
making a final decision.

The guys have wisely stayed clear of the
living room and have stayed holed-up in my old office—which Becca
and Mark have converted into an in-home theater—watching sports and
drinking beer. I have a hard time imaging Alex kicked back, beer in
hand, cheering his favorite football team, but maybe there are
sides of him I’ve yet to discover. And even if it’s not exactly his
“thing,” he seems happy enough. At least he’s got a smile on his
face every time he passes by the living room on his way back into
the kitchen to retrieve another beer. His obvious contentment with
the day’s activities brings me a sense of relief. Mark’s a regular
guy…a man’s man…and it’s important for him and Alex to get along
well when we’re all hanging out together.

“Wow, would you look at that?” I say,
nodding toward the wall of windows. “I can’t believe it’s nearly
dark. We’ve been talking for hours.”

No sooner do the words leave my mouth, than
the guys come out of the media room, blinking and rubbing their
eyes as if they’re having a tough time getting used to the bright
lights in the living room.

“Hey!” I stand and go to meet Alex. I take
his hand, and then stand on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “You look
exhausted. Are you ready to go? We’ve both got work tomorrow,
remember?”

Alex responds by covering his mouth to
stifle a yawn. As we say our goodbyes, Becca promises to email
tomorrow to get my ideas for the wedding.

I glance toward Alex, hoping to get some
idea how he feels about all this. Does he care that the topic of
our wedding has turned into such a big deal? From what I’ve heard,
most guys get cold feet at some point prior to the actual ceremony.
What if Alex gets scared off by how quickly the idea of a wedding
has gone from a fairly abstract notion we’d done nothing more than
refer to in general terms, to a very detailed, concrete
plan-in-the-making? But my new fiancé seems perfectly fine, if you
didn’t count his droopy eyelids and his seeming inability to stop
yawning. I chuckle and give him a tug toward the door.

“Come on…let’s get you home and into
bed.”

“Mmm…bed. Sounds like heaven.”

Alex drives us home, and like him, I’m so
exhausted from the day’s activities, I fall straight into bed. For
once, we’re not all over each other the moment we hit the mattress.
In fact, we cuddle up, his chest spooned against my back, and drift
off without another word.

*****

The next morning, I am determined to get
back into my normal, weekday routine—the one I developed long
before I met Alex, and one that has always worked well for me,
allowing me to greet each day on a positive note.

Except this morning, I am showering with one
hot, naked man, and although we don’t take as long as we did
yesterday, we sure as hell take longer than it ever took me to get
clean on my own. Whoever said you can conserve water by “showering
with a friend” never met Alex!

Finally dressed in my favorite designer
pantsuit and matching shoes, I’m beginning to feel like my old self
again. Saying good-bye to Alex takes several minutes, as neither
one of us is overly excited about leaving the other. In the end, we
walk out together, and while Alex drives off toward his office, I
walk down the sidewalk in the direction of mine.

Keeping with my promise to get back into my
routine, I go a little out of my way to get my latte, stopping by
the coffee shop I always go to on my way to work, before making my
way into the office. I decide to do a conference call with Neo Corp
board members later on today. As I walk through the office
hallways, everyone there greets me warmly, letting me know I’ve
been missed. God knows I’ve missed being here. There’s a gorgeous
vase of perfect white roses sitting on my desk. I pick up the card
and read it to myself.

To my beautiful fiancée, Elizabeth. Get
used to receiving these kinds of gifts; a woman as beautiful as you
deserves flowers every single day
.

A knock at my door has me quickly brushing
away my tears of happiness. I look up and smile at Natalie as she
steps into the room.

“Welcome back, Miss Hamilton.”

On impulse, I come out from behind my desk
and wrap my arms around my friend, drawing her into a big bear hug.
“How are you, Natalie?”