Faithfully (24 page)

             
When I woke the next morning, I looked at the clock in a panic. It was already eight thirty, and Michael would be at my house in thirty minutes. I jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom to take a shower. As much as I wanted to sit under the hot stream all morning, I had to get out. I saw Alex leaning up on his elbows when I exited, wondering what in the hell I was doing.

             
“I have a meeting from nine to eleven with Michael,” I tried to explain as I riffled through drawers, looking for underwear to put on. I finally found a bra and underwear set. I then disappeared into the closet to find some clothes to put on.

             
“He’s in town?” Alex sounded surprised.

             
“He’s been in town a few days. He has stopped at the pub a few times to go over a contract and other stuff.” That reminded me of the contract. “Hey, do you think your attorney could take a look at the contract for me?”

             
“I’ll fax it over to him. It won’t be a problem.” Alex sat up in bed as I was walking out with a pair of jeans and a hoodie. “So what is this meeting about?” Alex sounded curious.

             
“Well, he said it’s a writing meeting. He was scheduling it so he knew I was writing.” I didn’t think it was a big deal.

             
“That’s what his associates are for.” Alex sounded suspicious.

             
“He told me he would have left, but he sees dollar signs or money or something with this book.” I was slipping on a pair of socks. I looked at the clock and saw that I had ten minutes to get home.

             
“Want me to go over and keep him company?” I started to laugh.

             
“No, you know I can’t write when you are around. It messes with my juju.” I walked over and kissed him. “Stop in tonight when you are done. I’ll probably be late. We need to set up for New Year’s Eve when we close.”

             
“You might see me closer to eleven.” Alex got up to throw on a pair of boxers.

             
I walked over and put my arms around his waist. “Don’t you trust me?” I said in an almost mocking voice.

             
Alex leaned down and kissed me. “I trust you tons. It’s other people who I don’t seem to trust.” I kissed him again before I headed out the door.

             
When I got to the downstairs door, I reached down to slide on my boots. “You left your underwear by the couch.” I looked up and saw Paige in the doorway to the living room. I felt embarrassed. I walked over, picked them up, and slid them into the pocket of my jeans. “You know, we haven’t really had a chance to talk.” I looked up at her as I was putting my jacket on.

             
“I have a meeting in five minutes. I’m sure we can talk another time.” I was out the door right after I said it. I know I came across bitchy, but I didn’t care. She had never been nice to me, and I was not going to be late to entertain her this morning.

             
I was just getting to the door when Michael pulled into the drive. He popped out with two cups of coffee and a bag from the bakery. “I would have thought you had a good night, but I see you aren’t wearing the same clothes from last night.” He had a big smile across his face.

             
I didn’t respond. I unlocked the door and let him into the house. I went upstairs to grab my computer and empty my pocket of the underwear from last night. Once I got downstairs and started to write, the two hours went quickly. There was something about writing that allowed me to feel calmness amongst all the chaos going on around me. When I was done, Michael had me e-mail him what was completed so he could forward it to his editor.

             
I could tell he wanted to stay around and chat after, but I needed to call my mom and check on my dad. I also needed to talk to the twins. Michael left, and I had exciting news from my mom. The doctors were releasing my dad that day and he would be home by early evening. I then scooped up my iPad and Face Timed the girls. They filled me in on the wonderful Christmas presents they got there and how they had dinner at Chuck E Cheese one night. I was happy they were having a good time, because I knew if they were home they would be shuffled all over with me trying to be at the pub.

             
I ran to the school on my way to the pub. Even though I would be taking time off, I needed to get my lesson plans started for the substitute. I managed to get the first two weeks done and thought I could pop in again and finish, but it was enough to get her started.

             
When I got to the pub, I started in the office again. I decided I wouldn’t take anything off the walls in the pub until we were officially closed. I wasn’t sure if it was for me or the customers.

There wasn’t a lot left in the office. I had basically
had it down to bare bones. When I looked around, it didn’t really even look like the same place. I printed up table tents that would be announcing that we would be officially closing on January sixth. It was a Friday, and I thought I would end it on one of our busiest nights.

             
I was placing the tents on the table when Daryl walked in. He picked up one of the tents and his mood seemed to change. He was quiet and not his normal joking self. There wasn’t much I could say, because I felt the same way. The night was quiet. The night before New Year’s Eve usually was. We ended up closing early because nobody was in the pub after eleven.

             
Alex was at the house when I got there. He was sprawled out on the couch, asleep with the TV on. I walked over and gently laid on top of him, planting kisses all over his face to wake him. He smiled but didn’t open his eyes. He grabbed me by the waist and rolled with me over to our sides.

             
“I’m going to go shower, so go wait for me up in bed. I might want to apologize again.” Alex’s eyes stayed shut, but his eyebrows rose up.

             
I pulled away and quickly showered. Alex was in bed when I walked into the room. I went to put on a shirt. “Why bother, since it’s just going to come off in thirty seconds.” I threw it back into the drawer and climbed into bed. Alex pulled me to him. I reached over and all of his clothes were already off. I let out a small laugh. “What? You said you wanted to apologize.” I laughed a little louder this time.

             
When I stopped, Alex’s mouth was on my breast and his hand was molded against the other one. He used his feet to spread my legs apart while using his free hand to rub between my legs before he used two fingers to enter me. I loved when he touched me. I never seemed to get enough. Alex moved up and down my body with his mouth. As soon as I had one orgasm, he was working on giving me another one. By the time he finally entered me and had his first climax, I was exhausted and ready to collapse. Alex tucked my body into his and trailed kisses down my neck until I fell asleep.

             
I woke a few hours later to more kisses and nipping at my skin. I reached over for Alex and was greeted by his stiff manhood in my hands. I let out a gentle moan. I rolled over to him and pushed him onto his back, kissing at his neck and working my way down until I had him in my mouth. Alex’s hands were in my hair. The more he fisted my hair, the more I moaned, because I was so turned on. Alex now had full control of the tempo and movement. He guided my mouth on him as I licked and sucked. I took all of him in when he finally came. He let out a subtle moan when he was finished.

             
I was now fully turned on and awake. Taking Alex’s hand, I guided his fingers in and out of me, moving my hips to the motion. Alex’s other hand moved back and forth between my breasts until I was almost to my peak. That’s when Alex pinched my nipple and sent me over the edge into another orgasm. When I came down from my climax, I was physically drained and fell back to sleep.

             
I woke to a knocking on the door. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was nine o’clock. I slipped on my robe and walked down the stairs. I opened the door and saw Michael standing there.

“What are you doing here?” It came out rude, but I wasn’t happy.

              He raised his hands. “I brought coffee.” I reached out, grabbed a coffee, and started sipping it. I was freezing standing in the doorway with just a thin robe on. “You got a ton done yesterday in those two hours, so I was hoping to steal a few more and continue what you started yesterday.”

             
I didn’t have time to respond, because Alex was coming down the stairs in a tee and a pair of flannel pants. I felt rude making him stand outside. I opened the door a little more, let him into the entryway, and shut the door behind him. “If you have plans, we can plan for another day. I just thought with the girls gone it was a great time to get some writing done.”

             
Alex walked over to us and shook Michael’s hand. “Long time no see. How are you doing?”

             
“Good. I’m just trying to get your girlfriend here to get writing. Her work is really good.” Michael seemed nervous around Alex and I wasn’t sure why. They had worked together before.

             
“She’s my fiancée.” Alex seemed to take pleasure in saying it, almost like he was marking his territory.

             
“I apologize, I didn’t see a ring.” I was feeling like I was stuck in the middle of something.

             
“I am faxing over the contract to my attorney today, so technically nothing is signed.” Alex was now leaning up against a wall.

             
“It’s a basic contract, just like yours. Actually, I think I took a little less from hers because I think her book will bring in more money.” I felt the need to end this before the verbal digs turned into punches.

             
“I can’t today, because I need to go see my dad and get everything ready at the pub. The girls won’t be home until late tomorrow, so how about ten tomorrow, and we can plan until one since the pub is closed on New Year’s Day.” Michael shot me a huge smile.

             
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He opened the door and was gone.

             
I turned to Alex. “I get the sense you two don’t like each other very much.”

             
“I fucking can’t stand the guy.” I was confused.

             
“Why would you work with him, or have us working together?”

             
“I liked him during my book deal. It wasn’t until after that when I found out he was a prick.” He grabbed my hand and led me into the living room. I still had my coffee from Michael. “I only sent your book to him because I knew he would get you the best offer. He likes money.” I still didn’t know why he didn’t like him, but I really didn’t care to find out. I had Alex and a cup of coffee, so I was happy. After an hour of snuggling on the couch, Alex headed back to his house and I reluctantly showered and headed over to my parent’s house. I carried in a few boxes of stuff from the office.

             
My dad was in his La-Z-Boy, watching the news while my mom was on the couch knitting something. I walked over and gave my dad a kiss.

             
“I started going through stuff and brought over a few boxes from the office.” I pointed over to the boxes. “I figured I could take down the pictures in the pub when we close.”

             
“The realtor called yesterday. He has a potential buyer, but the buyer wants to keep all the pictures on the wall and the place like it is now.” I shook my head, because those were our pictures. “He said they would throw in money and give more than the asking price if we would do that.” I couldn’t believe my dad was willing to sell our memories. I felt they were ours and only ours to keep.

             
I didn’t want to upset my dad. He was still recovering, so I didn’t say much of anything. I ended up leaving a bit later, never agreeing or disagreeing with the idea of leaving the pictures.

             
I ended up meeting Daryl at the pub and finishing the decorations. He somehow talked Emily into returning for the night so we would have a full staff. Daryl was a good worker and would be a good manager. Whoever bought this place would be lucky to have him on staff.

             
When we finally opened, it filled up quickly and stayed busy all night. The DJ started playing around eight and the dancing soon followed. We didn’t have music often, but New Year’s was one of the nights we did.

             
Alex showed up around eleven with Eric and Paige. I was excited to see him until I saw the entourage that followed him. Right before midnight, he found me and pinned me to his side. He said he was starting the New Year off right. When the New Year started, we were in a passionate kiss in the middle of the pub. When I pulled away, I saw people staring at us. I knew the locals were getting use to him, but it was still a shocker to most that we were still together. 

             
Alex stayed and helped clean up. He gave Eric and Paige the keys to the Jeep so they could leave. Once we were done cleaning up, we headed back to my house. I was exhausted and knew I had to get up in a few short hours to write with Michael.