Lost Heartbeats (Alexander & Maya Book 2) (22 page)

“I was with Stephanie, so it’s safe to say seeing her helped,” I answered instead. “You wanted to tell me something about Alexander?”

Please, don’t tell me he won’t be coming. I need to tell him about the blueberry tonight.

“Oh, yes. He was worried about you and sent me to check if you were here.”

“I didn’t see any calls from him.” I reached for my bag to check my phone. “Oh,” I murmured when I saw a few missed calls. “I guess I didn’t hear it in the hospital.”

“His schedule was full today, so he’s been cooped up in his office all day, but if you are free, he wanted to see you.”

I was free all the damn time, which was starting to get on my nerves as well. I needed to work. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t think so. He has a 4 o’clock meeting,”—he glanced at his watch—“in fifteen minutes.”

“Well, we better hurry up then. God forbid something goes wrong with his schedule.”

I caught the grimace on Adam’s face, but, at that point, I didn’t even mind being summoned to his office. At least I would have a few minutes alone with him.

A few minutes later, I exited the elevator, but Adam didn’t step out with me.

“You go ahead, I need to go, er, down to the lobby,” he stammered, being all mysterious about it as if he didn’t know what he should say.

“Ookay,” I said slowly with an arched brow as the elevator doors closed on him.

I walked down the hallway that would lead me directly to Alexander’s office, stopping short when I saw his father coming out of his room and shutting the door a little too loudly. I looked behind me to see if I could turn around and just head back, but I could feel him getting closer, so I sucked it up and kept walking.

When we were close enough, I noticed his pursed lips, the way his hands were formed in fists, and of course those livid blue eyes.

Those livid eyes that were staring right at me. Studying me.

I took a deep breath, expecting him to stop me before I could safely get away, but all he did when he walked past me was an angry head shake.

I guess he didn’t find warning me away from his son again worth his time.

When I paused next to Mandy’s desk, she lifted her eyes up from the computer in front of her. Her lips tightened, and with a bored sigh, she looked down again. “You can go in, Ms. Hart.”

Damn, my eyes were just watering with all the love I was getting from the people around here.

At least it was mutual. I couldn’t care less about any of them.

I knocked on Alexander’s door once and pushed my head through the small opening.

“Is it safe?” I asked, watching Alexander slowly turn around and face me. He was standing in front of the window, looking down at the city. He didn’t look any different from his father, actually; the only difference I could see was that his hands were safely tucked away in his pant pockets, presumably to hide the clenched fists.

“Maya,” he said with a big sigh, his face softening.

“Hey,” I said, a small smile starting to bloom on my face.

The closer I got to him, the more excited I became by the idea of having his baby. By the time we came to a stop in front of each other in the middle of his office, I was beaming up at him with my heart in my throat.

Those eyes.

The possibility of our baby having his beautiful eyes.

Our little baby blue.

He cupped my face in his palms, his thumbs moving slowly across my cheeks. “I missed you, Maya,” he breathed out, his lips so close to mine. “Why does it feel like all I’m doing is missing you?”

The way he was looking at me, like I was his world…at that moment I believed everything would be okay between us. He would be happy when he heard about little baby blue. His priorities would change like Stephanie had said, and he would be by my side every step of the way—which I needed, because no matter how excited I was about it, I was still scared.

No matter how much I loved him, I still felt alone.

And I did love him, didn’t I? I’d left my home for him. My friends. I’d left the streets of the little town I grew up in. Left the piano I’d listened to my father play ever since I was a little baby. I’d left it all because I knew I was falling in love with him.

When he brushed a soft kiss on my forehead, I closed my eyes for a moment to absorb everything that was rushing through my body.

The excitement.

The love.

The hope.

When I’d asked my father about my mom and what they had felt for each other when my first boyfriend had dumped me for someone else, he had said:

“There will be boys who will break your heart, Maya. I’m really sorry, but this won’t be your last heartbreak. And there will be hearts you yourself will break. Not intentionally maybe, but you will still break them nonetheless. There will be wrong decisions you make. Wrong turns you take while you are struggling to find your way to where you want to go. It’s how life works. It’s how you’ll get stronger, how you will learn from your mistakes. As much as I would love to take every pain, every little tear away from you, only you can live your life and let your wounds heal. Only you can decide what your course will be. Where you’ll go, what you will do, who you’ll be with.”

“Was Mom the right choice for you? Having me?”

“Not only was it the right choice, it was the best choice I’d ever made in my life. But I know what you are asking. And there is no right answer I can give you my little star. When you find what you are looking for, only you can know if it’s the right choice, and even that may take some time. After that, it’s up to you what you will do with what you know. It’s up to you to decide to leave it or take it. It’s always up to you because this is your life. Never let someone else control your dreams.”

My heart overworking in my chest, I smiled up at Alexander. “I missed you my whole life.” And I’d waited for him long enough, for the possibility of us.

His eyes flared and finally our lips met.

Finally, I accepted the love I felt for him.

The love I believed we deserved to have.

When we broke apart, we were both breathless in the best possible way.

“How was your day?” I asked.

He smiled. “Much better now that you are here.”

I couldn’t hide my grimace. “Saw your father leaving. Is everything okay?”

Dragging me along with him, he sat on the edge of his desk, adjusting my body to stand between his legs.

“Did he say anything to you?” He wound his arms around my waist.

“No, I just saw him in the hallway. He looked angry, though. What’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Maybe not, but I want to know,” I insisted, knowing it was most likely about Claire or Jackson—both topics that would affect me, too, even if it was in an indirect way.

Alexander remained silent for a minute. “He is going to partner up with Claire’s father on a new project, and he thinks keeping Claire happy will be favorable for all parties involved.”

“I understand.”

“And what do you understand exactly, sweetheart?”

“Ok, so I don’t understand. What does he want exactly, you reuniting with Claire? Does he know what she did? To you, I mean.”

He jerked me toward his body and I braced my hands on his chest as he hid his face in my neck and breathed in deeply.

His nose tickling, I turned my body away from him to get away. “What are you doing?” I squeaked.

“Breathing your scent in. Calming down,” he murmured, trailing small kisses along my neck. “And to answer your question, yes, my father knows exactly what she did. And not so surprisingly, he believes I’m overreacting. As you can see for yourself, his sense of family is not what mine is.”

“Can I ask you something?” I fussed with the collar of his shirt as I avoided looking into his eyes. “Are you against abortion? Like against it completely?”

He seemed to think about it for a moment, but he sounded sure when he answered. “No. If both sides agree to it, I have nothing against abortion. I can’t decide what other people will do with their lives. With Claire that wasn’t the issue. She knew I wanted to have kids. To her credit, we weren’t exactly trying for them, but it happened, and she never once told me that she never wanted kids. If your wife or your partner goes to an abortion clinic without your knowledge, or takes pills knowing full well that it will affect her pregnancy, essentially killing the baby, wouldn’t you lose your trust?”

“No, I agree with you. I was just asking. So if you didn’t want the baby, you’d be okay with an abortion, that’s what you are saying, right?”

I knew I was being pushy, but I needed to know what he thought about the subject before I came out and said:

Surprise, you have a blueberry!

“If both sides aren’t ready for it, or don’t want it, yeah, I’m okay with abortion. There are already too many people out there who don’t deserve to be a parent.”

And wasn’t that right?

His hand slowly inched under my shirt, his hand running up and down my bare back. “Why the questions?”

“No reason. Just asking to understand your situation with Claire.”

“Forget about her. Where were you today? You never answer my calls Maya.”

I wound my hands around his neck, slowly melting under his expert touch. “I was with Stephanie,” I answered, keeping it short.

“What did you do?”

Umm, nothing. Just discussed my pregnancy before I shared it with you.

“Nothing. She had a shift, so I met her at the hospital she works at. We just sat at the cafeteria.”

“You guys seem to be getting along well.” One of his hands slipped out of my shirt and into my leggings, gently cupping my bottom and giving it a hard squeeze.

“I don’t think I can talk like this,” I breathed out as I plastered my chest against his, which made it even worse because that pushed his erection right against my stomach.

“And why is that?”

“Your hand is getting too close to places it shouldn’t go in your office.”

“Really? My hand seems to disagree.”

“Mandy is sitting just outside, Alexander. There is no way she won’t hear. And the last time we attempted it, your brother rushed in.” Glancing around him, I looked at the clock. “Also, Adam said you had a meeting at 4:00, which is just minutes away.” When he didn’t move his hand away, I had to reach back and forcibly extract his devious massaging hand.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I asked you to come up so I could ask you something.”

“Ask away. I have nothing but time to answer your questions.”

He arched his eyebrow, but didn’t ask me for an explanation. “I have a black tie event I need to attend this evening. Would you care to join me? We’ll only be there for two hours max, then you are all mine. We can do whatever you want.”

“You’ll be all mine? Promise?” There was hope in my voice as I looked into his eyes. If there was one evening I really needed it to be just us, this was it.

Tonight was it.

“Every inch of me is yours, sweetheart.”

I smiled and happily claimed his lips. His body froze only for a split second, but after that, his arms crushed me to his body and he took over the kiss.

While he straightened, he lifted me up easily and sat me down where he’d been sitting just seconds before. I was too lost in our lust to have a freak out party on the inside.

As he always did when he kissed me, he made everything feel right.

“Your four o’clock appointment arrived, and they are waiting for you at Black Pearl.”

Mandy’s voice trickled from the speaker on Alexander’s desk, and reluctantly we pulled apart.

“You are having a business meeting at Black Pearl?” I asked when I was capable of speaking.

Alexander pressed a button on his desk and answered Mandy as I tried to pull myself together before I walked out of his office looking all disheveled.

“When you own the hotel, you have plenty of options for where to conduct your business meetings.” His eyes landed on my breasts as if he was already picturing me naked and under him. My eyes, however, were watching his hands as he fixed his tie with quick fingers.

I waved my hand in front of my breasts and his eyes jumped up to mine. I cleared my throat. “After the event, can we just come back to your suite and be just the two of us? We really need to talk.”

His face crumpled in front of my eyes, his frown back in place. “I know I’ve been gone too much, but Natalie is getting better. I promise I’ll make up for everything. Trust me when I say this wasn’t what I had in mind when I asked you to come with me.”

My body stiffened. “It’s not about Natalie. Not everything is about her.”

The amount of freaking out I’d done about my unexpected pregnancy the last few days was enough to last for a lifetime. I was more than ready to talk to Alexander about what it actually meant for us. And while some people might find revealing a surprise pregnancy at a black tie event romantic, I wanted us to be alone when we talked. Because, quite frankly, we needed to talk about
a lot
.