Carved in Stone (The Stone Series) (24 page)

             
The unyielding conviction in his words matches only that of the conviction carved in his beautifully handsome face.

             
“So what happened between you and Blake down stairs earlier? And Virginia, she said something crazy like Knight trumps Queen? What did you do Aidan?”

             
              “Ah…yes, I should have known she would want the last word,” he scoffs, his top lip curing up in disgust.

              “Well, when my father died four years ago he left me controlling interest, fifty-one percent to be exact, in his company, Stone Investments. I guess deep down he felt guilty about his part in my mother’s suicide. Virginia was left with only one percent and both Sebastian and Blake shared the rest. Two years ago, Virginia got into some financial difficulty and leveraged her one percent of Stone Investments to the CEO of another company whom she was also having an affair with and currently still is as far as I understand. Virginia was promised, for her one percent share of my fathers company she in return would receive an immediate cash bail out so she could repay a considerably large personal debt she’d racked up as well as a future small percent share in his company once they were married which apparently was scheduled for sometime later this year.”

             
And they say there are no adverse affects from having too much Botox – clearly there is because the woman is an idiot!

             
“That’s a risky proposition. How could Virginia be sure he would give her a share in his company?”

             
“Virginia is a lot of things – calculating, petty, jealous, vindictive – but business savvy she is not. She also talked Blake to heavily investing in her lovers company too – more fool him.”

             
“Okay but I don’t understand - what does that all have to do with what’s going on now tonight?”

             
“Virginia’s lover is Alexander Anderson and the company is Anderson Developments which, as of twenty-four hours ago, I in conjunction with The Norwood Hotel group and surprisingly a little assistance from Sebastian, just executed a hostile takeover and acquired the company through the Stone Corporation, effectively removing Virginia entirely and to a lesser degree Blake from the board of Stone Investments. As of now, she has not one single fucking share of the company my mother invested the majority of her fortunate to create along with my father and more importantly, Virginia has nothing more to do with any of my other companies.”

             
Wow…I want to sing ‘ding dong the witch is dead’ but I’m too in awe of Aidan’s diabolical business prowess to gloat at this point.

             
“That’s why Sebastian and Caleb were so secretive about your whereabouts earlier tonight and it explains all the strange looks they were giving one another over the past week,” I muse aloud, thinking back to the cocktail party at the Beverly Wiltshire.

             
“ Aidan, what does this mean for us? ”

             
“Gabriella,” he says quietly, leaning back against the wall with both of his hands resting in the pockets of his pants. Titling my head to study him, I note the tight creases lining his mouth, the fatigue around his eyes and the rigid set of his jaw, which all refute the casual posture he’s presenting now before me. Aidan looks tired and weary, my arms yearningly itch to hold him, to take every second of his pain away and replace it with only pure love and sweet tenderness.

             
“All through my childhood, from my parents marriage to my grandfathers, I’ve only seen the destructive repercussions of what loving another person can do to you. It’s no wonder I’ve had this fucked up value of love. But button, I’ve finally realized, that was their sins, their warped values and baggage. It doesn’t have to be mine.”

             
Swallowing, I can only nod, too afraid that if I was to say anything, to utter a single word then this moment will disappear from my grasp forever.

             
“ I love you Gabriella. I love you like I have never loved anyone in my thirty-two years of living. I’m so fucking in love with you, I can barely function when you’re not close to me baby.”

             
Tears stream freely down my cheeks as I sit frozen staring into the eyes of the man I love more than anything else in the world – the eyes of the man who just told me that he loves me more than anything else in this whole fucking world!

             
Launching myself from the couch, I pause yanking up the hem of my gown then in a flurry of motion I leap up propelling myself into Aidan’s outstretched arms, my arms bind around his neck, my legs wrapping tightly around his waist and I sob
“I love you too”
over and over again.

             
His strong arms band like steel around my body, his warm hands gripping firmly the cheeks of my ass as he burrows his face in my neck. “I love you Gabriella.”

             
I don’t know how long we stayed intimately lock in our embrace – it felt like mere seconds and yet countless hours at the same time – but I knew one thing for certain – Aidan Stone loved me.

             
Drawing back slightly, Aidan kisses my nose, wiping the tears gently from my cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “Did I mention how breathtakingly beautiful you look tonight baby,” he whispers, brushing his sensual lips across mine.

             
“No you didn’t,” I whisper back, our breaths mingling as one.

             
“Hmm,” he grins, “Then did I mention how much I love you and how I’m never letting you go.”

             
“Yes,” I nod smiling; more tears welling up at the back of my eyes. “And did I mention Mr. Stone how much I love you and how I’m never letting you go.”

             
“I’m counting on that button,” he murmurs back just as his mouth slams down on mine.

Epilogue

Six months later …

              Aidan could barely hear the music playing from over the lively sounds emanating from the small crowd of people gathered on his back patio. Shutting his laptop off, he reclined back in the seat of his leather chair behind his desk in his home office and smiled at the thought of the many treasured memories he had had over the past six months of living with Gabriella. One in particular came to mind, prompted by hearing the music playing on his sound system.

             
Waking in the middle of the night, he found the bed empty beside him and the faint glow of light spilling in from the great room. Folding out of bed naked, Aidan threw on a pair of silk black boxer shorts and walked out in search of Gabriella.

             
Sitting cross legged on the white Persian rug, the brown leather couch propping up her back, a small collection of pens and a note pad strewn all over the mahogany coffee table in front of her, Gabriella leant over reading a book.

Not just any
book but a manual, the fucking three-inch thick operational manual to his sound system and she was completely engrossed in the thing, totally unaware of him as he stood there silently watching her. It was then he remembered something about her saying that she would need a bloody degree from MIT just to operate the stereo, over dinner last night.

             
Aidan was caught between wanting to burst out in laughter at the sight of her making notes and underlining passages in the manual, and taking her hard right there on the floor of his living room. Gabriella was so fucking gorgeous, her unbelievably long thick auburn hair cascaded down over her shoulders, her flawless pale smooth skin was barely covered in the pastel pink satin slip she wore and the swell of her pert breasts and her nipples hard and visibly outlined through the silky fabric of the material. She was so goddamn beautiful he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

             
“Hey honey,” she whispered in surprise, looking up at him with a shy smile, those baby blue eyes of hers sparkling with warmth and love.

             
“I’m sorry did I wake you?”

             
Clearing his throat, Aidan shook his head. “No, you’re fine baby. What are you doing there,” he asked, gesturing with a lift of his chin.

             
“Well,” she began, closing the manual and tossing it onto the coffee table. “I figured if I read the stupid manual it might explain how the stereo operates but seriously the dumb thing might as well be written in Latin for all the sense it’s making. I bet it was a man that wrote it!”

             
At that, Aidan did burst out into laughter. After several seconds, he composed himself and held his hand out towards her. “Come on button, come back to bed, it’s late. You can obsess over it tomorrow.”

              “Aidan,” called Gabriella from the kitchen, the sound of her voice pulling him from his memory.

             
“Do you want Sebastian to start the barbeque or do you want us to wait for you?” She continued to call out to him. Why she didn’t just come in and ask him rather than shouting through the house – he didn’t know, but that was pure Gabriella – no pretense, no games, down-to-earth, carefree and entirely unfiltered.

             
Christ, now he had to go out there and socialize with his brother Sebastian, her cousin Mia and a whole bunch of other people who were over at his house, something that did not happen before Gabriella moved in with him. Now it seemed like every second goddamn weekend there was someone in his house monopolizing his girlfriend’s time when all he really wanted was to spend it alone with her – preferably in bed fucking her senseless.  Six months had passed, six glorious months of waking up in the mornings with Gabriella by his side and six months of going to bed each night, her tucked close into him and six perfect months of making love to her and he still couldn’t get enough of her, Aidan doubted he ever would.

             
“I’ll be out in a minute,” he called back to her, opening the top draw to his desk. Flipping the lid open on the small Harry Winston jewelry box, Aidan fingered the five-carat emerald-cut diamond engagement ring he brought for Gabriella. He planned on flying her up to Napa in his private jet next week for a romantic weekend alone and he intended to propose to her. Aidan couldn’t wait to make Gabriella all his legally, he just had to get through the next few hours with his house full of her family and her goddamn crazy friends.

             
Closing the door to his study, he walked down the hallway to the great room, his eyes catching on several photos displayed in various frames around the place. They were mostly candid pictures of both Gabriella and him laughing and smiling at each other, taken in different locations. There were also a couple of photos of Gabriella with her family and
shit
, there was even a photo of his brother, Sebastian that Gabriella took last month at the birthday party she and Mia had thrown for Sebastian. But the photo he secretly adored was a candid shot he took himself three weeks after she’d moved in with him. Gabriella was sitting out on the back patio, her knees drawn up and tucked under her chin, her arms wrapped around her shins. Her hair was loose, the ocean breeze gently fanning it around her beautiful face and the amber glow of sunset highlighted her stunning angelic features. Hearing Aidan approaching, she turned her head to the side and directed a dazzling smile his way. Already having his cell phone in hand as he just finished making a call, he held it up and snapped the photo while thinking that for as long as he lived, he would never see a more breathtakingly beautiful sight.

             
Gabriella had once challenged him about his house, the lack of intimate photos and other personal touches, she accused him of being aloof and detached from life in general and to a degree she was correct. Aidan had fiercely guarded his privacy and shunned any personal attachments until Gabriella came bounding into his life. She refused point blank to live her life with any shred of indifference so within a week of moving in she started placing framed photos of herself, her family and friends throughout the house and within a month she had pictures of her and Aidan everywhere, a constant reminder to him that Gabriella lived life unreservedly and loved wholeheartedly.

             
“Speak of the devil,” jested Sebastian, clapping his hand in greeting on Aidan’s shoulder. “When are you going to learn to leave work behind at the office big bro.”