Held Captive By Love (7 page)

  Heck, maybe she needed to forget all about beauty blogging and just become a dominatrix instead.  Now there was a thought.

  Then again, there was only one man she wanted to tease and please, and he was right in front of her.

  Slowly, she lowered her lips to Fernando's waist, intending to give him the best 'reward' he'd ever received. 

Fernando whistled as he walked out of Tiffany's.  It was a beautiful fall day.  The sun was shining, and everyone on the street seemed to be smiling or laughing.  He closed his palm over the little box that was deep in his pocket and wondered for the hundredth time if he had made the right choice.

  And not just when it came to the ring. 

  Was he making the right choice when it came to what he was about to ask Jenna?  He knew it was right for him, but she was still struggling with her commitment issues.  She was trying, he knew she was.

  So maybe this was going to be what she needed.  Maybe she would finally see just how much he loved her; how he was always going to be there for her, no matter what.

  Fernando clutched the jewelry box tighter.  God, he hoped so. 

  “It's amazing up here,” Jenna sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.  To her right, the Manhattan skyline stretched out, twinkling like a million beautiful stars in the darkness.  When Fernando had asked her if she wanted to go to a rooftop restaurant in Brooklyn for dinner, she'd been a little hesitant.  She'd spent all day long first going through several bags of makeup samples that she'd received from companies eager to get her to promote for them, then trying to find some way to incorporate the lipsticks and blushes into videos, then filming, and then- finally- editing.  It was the first time that her job as a beauty blogger had felt like hard work.  After ten hours of the madness, she was exhausted, and going all the way to Brooklyn had sounded like more of a chore than fun.

  Now, however, she was glad that she'd finally given in and said yes.  Sitting up on the rooftop, with her cashmere sweater wrapped around her shoulders and one of the most gorgeous men in all of the city seated directly across from her, Jenna felt like she was relaxing in paradise. 

  “Jenna,” Someone called.  “Jenna Smith!”

  Puzzled, she looked up to see a girl she didn't know scurrying across the dining room towards her and Fernando's table.  Huh?  Jenna tried to place the girl.  Someone from school, maybe?  Someone who lived in their building?  No.  The girl looked too young to have gone to school with Jenna.  In fact, red haired with freckles, she barely looked a day past sixteen. 

  Breathless, the girl, stopped at their table.  “Oh, my God!” She squealed.  “I am such a fan.”

  Disbelieving, Jenna turned to Fernando, who raised his eyebrows and spread his hands. 

  “I've seen all your videos,” the girl continued.  “I'm seriously your number one fan.  Look at this.”  She did a three-sixty, revealing the brown and orange feathers strung throughout her hair.  “I did the feathers myself after I saw your video on it!”

  Still shocked over the whole situation, Jenna worked to loosen her tongue.  “Wow,” She stammered.  “That's so cool...  You've seen all my videos?”

  The girl nodded enthusiastically.  “Every single one of them.”

  “That's awesome.  Thanks so much.”

  “Thank you,” the girl beamed.  “Okay, well, I gotta go.  Bye!”  She waved enthusiastically, and then spun on her heels and disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

  Jenna gaped at Fernando, who was smiling.  She felt at a complete loss for words.

  “You're a growing celebrity,” He said.  “Are you surprised?”

  “Yeah,” Jenna laughed.  “I am.”

  Fernando leaned forward to rest his arms on the table.  “You deserve it.”

  “I feel like I have way more than I could ever possibly deserve,” She said, lowering her voice.  “Including you.”

  Fernando took her hand and squeezed it.  “You deserve the best in the world.”  He paused.  “I love you so much, Jenna.  You woke me up from a deep sleep that I didn't even know I was in.”

  Jenna's eyesight blurred as tears began to collect.  “I love you too,” She whispered.  “I'm sorry about all my apprehension when it comes to commitment.  You've helped me get rid of a lot of that fear.”

  Fernando stared at her for a long moment, and Jenna just stared back.  How did she ever get so lucky to have him in her life?  She meant what she had just told him, too.  She was tired of being afraid.  Fernando was the man that she loved.  She cared for him like she had never cared for anyone, and she would do anything and work through anything in order to stay with him. 

  Fernando let go of her hand to turn and signal at the waiter.  Jenna furrowed her brows in confusion.  They had finished dinner twenty minutes ago, and they'd both already decided that they didn't want dessert.  Her wine and his brandy glass were both full, and she certainly didn't feel like she was ready to go.  What was he asking for?

  She opened her mouth to inquire when the waiter showed up with a bottle of champagne on ice.

  “Champagne?” She laughed.  “What's the occasion?”

  Fernando blinked his thick lashes and stared intently at her.  “It hasn't occurred yet, but I'm hoping that in just a minute there will be cause for celebration.”

  “What do you mean?” 

  Jenna had no clue what he was talking about.  Did this have to do with work?  Had he won that water case that had been giving his office so much grief? 

  Fernando didn't answer.  Instead, he stood from his chair and came around the side of the table to where she was seated.  Slowly, he bent down onto one knee, reaching into his pocket as he did so. 

  “Oh my God,” Jenna whispered.  No.  Way.  There was no way that what seemed to be happening was happening.  It couldn't be.  She'd never even imagined that Fernando would ask her to marry him.  A week ago, she would have been afraid of a proposal occurring.

  But today?  Now? 

  What she knew now was that she was completely and unconditionally in love with Fernando Gomez, and all the fear and commitment-phobia in the world wasn't going to be able to hold her back from being with him.  She wanted to see him every day; to taste him every night.

  And she wanted that for the rest of her life.

  Deep down she'd known that from the moment she'd first set eyes on him.  She'd fought against it, sure, but there was no fighting anymore.  Some things were just inevitable.

  “Jenna Smith,” Fernando said, pulling a small, blue velvet box out of his pocket.  “Will you marry me?  Will you be my wife?”

  He opened the tiny box and there, nestled in a white satin bed, was a pink diamond engagement ring fastened to a band of white gold.  It was the most beautiful ring Jenna had ever seen.  And he was offering it to her.

  He looked so gorgeous; so endearing there, resting on his one knee.  Jenna wanted the moment to last forever.  Or, at the very least, all night.  She wanted to soak the moment in and keep it with her forever.  She couldn't though.  He was waiting for her response.

  The whole restaurant was waiting, actually, a fact that Jenna was suddenly aware of.  The entire rooftop had grown quiet.  The waiter with the champagne bottle.  The patrons in their seats.  The bartender who'd even stopped polishing glasses.  They were all looking at her. 

  “Yes,” She whispered, then raised her voice to say it again.  “Yes, I will.”

  Fernando's grin exploded across his face, and the entire rooftop erupted in applause.  It was like something out of a cheesy romantic comedy. 

  Reaching for her hand, Fernando took the ring and slipped it onto her finger.  It was smooth and cool and fitted perfectly.  Jenna gazed at it, still amazed at everything that it represented.  She wanted to look at it forever. 

  And she would get to, she realized.  She would get to spend the rest of her life looking at the diamond, just like she would get to spend the rest of her life looking at Fernando Gomez.

  Taking both her hands, she grasped his face and pulled it towards her own.  Their lips met in warmth, passion, and love, their combined energies colliding together and swirling up into one frenzied tornado.  Together.  As one.

  Nothing could have been more right.

The End

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Look Inside

Billionaire: Chauffeur Driven Desire (Work Encounters)

A romance driven by loneliness and desire

By: Sandy Anton

Chapter 1

Teresa Corey rubbed her aching temples as she gazed out the window at the hilltop mansions flying by.  It had been a long day and every muscle in her was beyond ready to take a warm bath and fall asleep.  It was also Friday, though, and even though her body was tired she herself was feeling anxious.

What was it most twenty-seven year olds were doing on Friday nights?  Teresa sighed.  Most of the women her age in the Los Angeles area were probably currently doing their make-up in anticipation of a night of dancing with friends or a knock on the door, which would lead to being picked up by smiling men who would whisk them off to candle-lit dates.  And the ones who weren't single were maybe snuggling up on their couches with their husbands or feeding their babies and chasing their toddlers around the house.

 
What about Teresa?  She was riding back to San Bernardino after a frenzied afternoon of meetings and conference calls.  It was a busy time of year. All of the hottest fashion designers were about to unveil their fall lines, and Teresa was eager to be among the best this year.  Her clothing line was still in its infancy. It had only been two years since she'd first stitched together a few summer frocks by hand and had her casual friend Jesse put them up in the window of his Santa Monica boutique, but since then the business had been growing by leaps and bounds.

 
Teresa loved it, as stressful as it was.  The best thing about being busy was that it kept her mind off of other things.  Like the empty cottage waiting for her in San Bernardino.  She bit her lip, tears beginning to blur her vision.

It had been three years since Alexander had died, and Teresa's life had changed drastically since that day.  Her husband had left his entire inheritance to her. Not just the money, but his monolith of a wine business as well.  He had wanted to make sure she was taken care of after his death, but Teresa had never wanted to go into the world of vineyards, so instead she'd sold the business and the house in Beverly Hills, taking only what she needed to begin her fashion line and buy her simple San Bernardino home.  The rest she'd donated to charity, and that had been that.

It hadn't been an easy transition though.  It wasn't until after Alexander's funeral, when everyone suddenly seemed to disappear, that Teresa suddenly saw just how incredibly alone she was.  She had 'friends', sure, but when it came down to it, all of her friendships were incredibly superficial.  More and more, she began to see how much the people around her were just interested in her because of her social connections or her money. 

And so, always an introvert, she'd withdrawn even further from the world, almost always leaving San Bernardino only when work required it.

Life was what it was.  But was she happy? 

She wasn't sure if she could answer that, because that was something she almost never let herself ask.

Chapter 2

Andre shifted in his seat. 
Damn. 
He was going to have to stop chauffeuring Teresa Corey around, because every time he did the simple drive resulted in an almost unbearable boner.  Then again, the thought of never seeing her again was even more unbearable.  He'd rather spend the rest of his life with blue balls than forgo being able to see those beautiful

How the hell could anyone even be so beautiful anyway? 

Oh, that's right
.  She used to be a supermodel. 

For the millionth time, Andre wondered why she'd quit that glamorous world and settled down with a wine baron fifty years her senior.  He'd had money, of course, and everyone had noticed that and immediately labeled Teresa a gold digger, but she couldn't have been absolutely broke after gracing
Fitness
magazine and walking the runway for Victoria's Secret.

And after the old man had died, she'd sold nearly all their belongings and moved out of Los Angeles.

Andre knew all of this because just a few years ago, before he'd started his own limousine service, he'd been the personal chauffeur to Teresa and Alexander Conrad.  Since Teresa had made her drastic life changes, he only saw her when she needed to be driven into the city. 

Aside from her excursions into L.A., it appeared that she spent most of her time at home, whether it was working or doing something else, Andre couldn't say.  What he did know, though, was that it was odd for such an attractive and young woman to be so withdrawn from the world. 

  But she'd always been that way- even when she'd lived in the city and he'd driven her every day.  She would get nervous when going to parties or restaurants where she was likely to get recognized.  And it wasn't that she wasn't polite, she was always kind to everyone, including Andre.  She just never had much to say.

Except for when her husband had been around.  Andre would hear them through the cracked partition in the car, chattering incessantly anytime they were being driven anywhere.  Hearing their conversations had always made Andre jealous.  Mr. Conrad had been a nice man, and Andre had never meant to lust after another man's wife, but damn it if he couldn't help but want to be the one that Teresa held hands with and shared her deepest secrets with.

Andre sighed.  No, it wasn't just Teresa's body that drove him crazy.  It was everything about her.  That adorable and shy side smile she gave when she found something amusing.  The way she was never quick to judge or make rash decisions. A quality, which had probably aided her fashion business become successful so quickly.  

Lucky bastard
, He thought, and shifted in his seat again.  Had the two of them actually had sex throughout their marriage?  If so, money really did buy everything.

 
He glanced in the rear view mirror.  The partition was down, as it always was when he now drove Teresa.  She was rolling her window down and her wheat-colored locks were whipping in the breeze.  Andre swallowed hard.  He shouldn't be allowing himself to be driven so crazy.

Quickly, he looked away, but then did a double take.  Were her eyes red? As inconspicuously as he could, he spied on his passenger using the car's mirrors.  Yes.  Her eyes were definitely not only red, but also puffy.  And now a single tear was sliding down her cheek.

  Andre's, heart clenched into a knot.  He couldn't stand to see any woman cry. Any time one of his little sisters did he wanted to beat whoever had caused their pain into a pulp, but seeing Teresa cry! It was harder than he ever would have thought it would be.

He cleared his throat.  With any other client, Andre wouldn't have said anything, but he had known Teresa Corey for years.  He liked to think that they had become somewhat of causal friends.  Even if she often didn't have much to say, she always listened attentively to his stories and laughed in her light, sparkling way.

“Ms. Corey,” He said, breaking the silence.  “Is everything all right?”

Quickly, she wiped away the tear and smiled at him.  She was faking it, he knew.  Points for trying, though!

“Yes, I…” She started, but then bit her lip.  It quivered under the hold of her perfect front teeth.  “Actually, no.”

Overcome by impulse, Andre pulled the car over to the side of the road.  Cars whizzed by.  Teresa looked confused.  “Is there something wrong with the car?”  She asked.

“No,” He stated simply, turning around to look at her.  “Ms. Conrad?”  He paused.  Even though he and Teresa had known each other for years he wanted to be very careful not to cross the line of professionalism.  “Please excuse me if I'm being too forward, but would you like to talk about it?”

She stared at him, her cherry red lip still held in her mouth.  God! How he wanted to be the one, to bite those lips.  For a moment, he thought that she was going to say no.  Suddenly, though, her face fell and more tears sprang forth.  She squinted her eyes shut and nodded roughly.

Unable to keep his distance from her any longer, Andre unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door.

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