Love Me Now (23 page)

She smiled. There was nothing more to say.

They stayed in an embrace for a long time. When she finally got up her body ached. She grimaced. “What's wrong?”

“I'm getting old. My body's stiff.”

“Come on, let's take a shower.” He got up and led the way to the bathroom. He turned on the water while she stood at the large mirror and pinned her hair up. He came up behind her and placed his hands on her hips. He looked at her reflection and smiled. “You are so beautiful.”

She smiled. “Thank you.” She stepped aside, revealing his full-frontal nudity. Looking at him was her secret pleasure. “So have you thought about it yet?” she asked as she pulled out several candles.

“Thought about what?”

“My sketching you,” she said, bending over.

“Are we back to that again?” he asked as he watched her bottom. His body hardened instantly.

“Will you trust me?” she asked, lighting the first candle.

He looked into the reflection of her eyes. She was genuine. “Okay, okay, after the shower.”

She beamed excitedly. “Yeah,” she squealed then turned and headed out the bathroom door.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, come back here,” he said quickly, grabbing her hand and pulling her back to him. “Where are you going?”

“To get ready…pencils, charcoal, pad.”

“Later,” he said seductively, arching his brow menacingly. “Right now I want to do a little artistry with your body.” She smiled and backed up. He stepped forward. She backed into the shower stall, giggled as he picked up the bar of soap and lathered her front and back.

After the hour-long shower she hurried out, dried off, put on sweats and grabbed her sketch pad. By the time Trey finished drying off she was ready for him. He walked out of the steamy bathroom with a towel over his shoulder. She smiled. The man was too exquisite.

“Oh, no,” he groaned, seeing her intention.

“Oh, yes, you promised me and Trey would never break a promise to me.”

“How about if I—”

“Nope, no bargains. It's been a long time since I had a model to draw. And I intend to take full advantage of you.”

“Really, a long time, huh?” he began. She nodded, prepping her pencils and charcoal. “So who was your last model?” he asked.

“Never mind that, get on the bed and lie down,” she ordered happily. He did. She got up, repositioned him, then draped the sheet precisely as she wanted it. “Perfect, now don't move.” She grabbed her pad, sat on the other side of the bed and began sketching.

“You know this would be a lot more fun if you were naked, too.”

“Nude,” she corrected, sketching happily.

“What's the difference?” he asked.

“Nude
is an artistic expression. It's purely aesthetic, devoid of sexuality. While on the other hand,
naked
is more like a strip club or
Playboy
magazine layout. I believe the professional term is
butt naked.”
He chuckled. “Ideally it's the same thing but a vast difference in perception. Now shh, stay still.”

“Nude, naked, I'll take you either way.” Trey laughed as he reached out to her.

“Models do not try to grab the artist. Do you think Mona Lisa grabbed Leonardo da Vinci?”

“If Leo was naked, she might have.”

Kenya laughed. “Just hush and stay still.” He reached out to her again. She blocked his hand away with her sketch pad. “Stay still.”

“How long is this gonna take? 'Cause I have a better idea of what to do nude.”

“That, sir, would be naked,” she said.

“Can't you do this in the nude also?”

“The model is nude in a drawing, not the artist. Now if you don't want this to turn out looking strange, stay still.”

He reached out to her again.

“Patience,” she muttered, focusing on the sketch.

“Are you almost done?” he asked.

“Almost. Three more minutes.” She grabbed another few pencils and began shading the drawing. A few seconds later Trey cleared his throat. “It's only been two seconds.”

“It's been three minutes. Are you almost done yet?”

Without answering, she glared at him over the sketch pad. “You have the patience of a two-year-old,” she said then refocused on the sketch. She lowered her head to define the details of the drawing. Without looking at him, she refined the edges, deepened the shadows and added the finishing touches. When she finally looked up again the sheet had been moved. He was no longer nude and he was very definitely ready for her.

After half an hour of looking at his nude body, she had to admit, she was very definitely ready for him, too. She tossed the sketch pad aside and unzipped her sweatsuit jacket. Her breasts, full and swollen, perked out instantly.

Trey smiled, enjoying the strip. “Now that's what I'm talking about, the perfect nude.”

“No, sweetheart,” she said seductively, “this is most definitely butt naked.” She hurried out of her pants and lunged at him. He caught her and within an instant they were dancing that most intimate, ancient dance of love.

T
he next few days turned out pretty well for Trey, especially since Louise Gates was back on Crescent Island. With her out of the way, he found himself able to relax a lot more. Knowing that she'd pop up at any time, at any place, was definitely distracting.

For the most part he worked from home, leaving Mrs. Thatcher, a real godsend, to care for the twins. The morning schedule was simple. Mrs. Thatcher got them washed and dressed while Trey cooked breakfast. Afterward, they all ate together, then when he went into his home office, they went about their day.

They played, mostly with learning games, at playtime. The twins adored her and she definitely took a load off Trey's mind. He was able to focus on his business deals with few interruptions, although he still found his mind wondering at times.

Kenya was the main reason for his lack of focus. She was
still away in New York. He intended to see her when she returned the same day, but was disappointed when she didn't come back right away. She called him instead. She said that she had extended her stay a few days. His first impulse was to fly to New York to be with her, but he resisted the urge. He was sure he could go a few days without seeing her. If nothing else, he'd get some much-needed sleep.

Three days and only a few hours of sleep. No wonder he wasn't himself. He sat at his desk, smiling, thinking about their last evening together. First Cirque du Soleil, then dinner and then…He stopped and smiled, shaking his head. That woman was too much and he loved every inch of her.

When he finally got home from what was technically their first date, he'd been completely exhausted. Neither one of them had slept much, if at all. Either they were making love or laughing and talking, or making love again.

He didn't even recognize himself lately. For once, he was smiling and genuinely happy. She was the reason why. She changed him. Thankfully no one else noticed because he knew it wouldn't last for long.

Enough. Just as he reached over to call her, his computer conferencing monitor beeped. He hit the open key. Joshua sat with his back turned. He was feeding papers into the fax machine and pulling something from the printer on the credenza behind his desk. He turned, then looked up at his monitor. “Hey,” Trey said.

“You called earlier,” Joshua said.

“Yeah, I e-mailed you a few prospectuses. I need you to look them over and get back to me. I think we should put them back on the front burner.”

Joshua hit a few keys on the keyboard then nodded. “Got 'em. Check your fax. You need to sign off on the agreement, but look it over first. There were unsanctioned changes made.
I'm not exactly impressed. Also check out the new proposals I included. I think they'll work to our advantage.”

Trey grabbed the papers coming out of his fax machine. He quickly looked them over as Joshua reviewed each one with him. It took about ten minutes. “I'll look them over in more detail and get them back to you.”

Joshua nodded. “I'll have a contract coming your way this evening. Regina is taking care of the formalities.”

Trey nodded. Having his sister with him was better than he imagined. She was professional and talented. Her knowledge of international finance and market strategy was exceptional. Plus her naturally bossy nature made her perfectly suited for the position as project manager. “Okay, anything else?” Trey asked.

Joshua leaned back in his chair. “New York's a bit shaky today.” Trey looked up more intently. For an instant his focus shifted. “Chances are they'll close further down than anticipated. On the flipside, London, Nikkei and Osaka closed well.”

“Yeah, I got that. See if we need to do a short-range dump to correct the forecasted numbers.”

Joshua grabbed his pen and wrote a note to himself. “Got it. One more thing, Cedric is panicking. He hasn't seen nor heard from you in five days. He wants to know where you are and what you're up to. The man actually sounds paranoid. He thinks you're gonna bail on the deal.”

“Interesting,” Trey said, tapping his pen on the desk.

“You know, Trey, I'm still having second thoughts about this deal. I did another check and everything still looks good, but the last few days he's been really shaky.”

“It's a huge deal, he should be stressing. When this goes through he'll be sitting on a nice sum of cash plus a quarter interest with TE stock.”

“Trey, again—”

“Yeah, I know, you didn't like that little incentive from the beginning. But it was my idea, not his. It's not like he planned it. He had no idea I'd put that on the table.”

“He wants to meet with you.”

“I'm not coming in today.”

“He said he'd go to wherever you are.”

Trey chuckled. “He really is stressing, huh? Please relay my apologies and inform him that I do not entertain clients at my home.”

“He'll be disappointed,” Joshua said, chuckling.

“I can't help that. Anything else?” he asked.

“Nope, we're all set. How's it going there?”

Trey looked around his home office. “Extremely quiet.”

“You're lucky,” Joshua said just as his phone rang. “Catch you later.” He pressed the key and disconnected the link.

Trey looked over the papers Joshua faxed over. He worked for about an hour, made corrections and additions, then finally signed off. He faxed them back to Joshua with additional notes to consider. Taking a break, he got up and went into the living room. There was no one around and the place was just too quiet. He continued to the dining room and then into the kitchen. He found the twins and Mrs. Thatcher out on the patio playing ball. They tossed and rolled it between them.

Trey stood at the door and watched for a few minutes. He laughed seeing Johanna try to toss the ball then see it go backward. She laughed and ran to get it. Jonathan was much better. Trey eventually opened the sliding glass door and stepped out. “Hey, there, everybody having fun?” he asked.

“We didn't disturb you, did we?” Mrs. Thatcher asked.

“No, not at all, I needed a break. This is perfect.” He picked up an extra ball, tossed it into the air and caught it. Jonathan took his ball and tried to mimic Trey's toss. He tossed it so hard that it curved behind him. He ran as it rolled away.

Johanna ran and grabbed Trey. He picked her up and gave her the ball. She hit it then tried to hold it with her little hands. As soon as she grabbed hold, she tried to toss it but it just dropped to the ground. Jonathan, with his ball, ran over and tried to pick it up. He dropped both, accidently kicking them in opposite directions. He immediately chased them.

Trey sat Johanna down inside a miniature climbing toy. Jonathan hurried over and crawled inside one of the large openings also. He found his way to the top as Johanna slid down laughing. She sat there at the bottom as Jonathan came sliding right down behind her. Trey quickly whisked her up just as Jonathan landed and jumped up laughing. Johanna laughed at being picked up and Trey laughed at them both.

“You're gonna miss them, aren't you?” Mrs. Thatcher said.

Trey nodded. “I definitely will. When my cousins dropped them off six days ago I didn't think I would survive.”

“But look at you now,” Mrs. Thatcher said, smiling. “You're turning into a professional, Mr. Mom. I think I might be out of a job soon,” she added.

“I wouldn't say all that,” he joked. “I guess I just learned that not everything stays perfect or is perfect. With toddlers, you have to loosen up.”

“Just a bit, and that's true of adults, as well,” she said. “We're not perfect and I don't know anybody who couldn't use a second chance or two. Some of us need to have a bit more patience to get where we need to be.”

“You're absolutely right,” Trey said thoughtfully. He considered her words. Six days ago, after a few hours alone with the twins, he'd all but given up. Then Kenya showed up and calmed everything down. He had never professed to be a patient man. He was used to everything running smoothly.

“Well, now, we'd better get cleaned up. We had a nice
lunch earlier and a bit of playtime. Now I believe it's time to take a nap,” Mrs. Thatcher said.

“Sounds good, and while they're doing that, I'm gonna grab something from the kitchen then get back to work,” Trey said. He grabbed Johanna before she ran for the slide again. Mrs. Thatcher took Jonathan's hand and the four of them went back into the house. Trey went into the kitchen while Mrs. Thatcher and the twins headed up to the bedroom.

He made a sandwich and grabbed a soda and took them into his office. He ate and watched the business report then afterward he opened the Caine Enterprises file on his computer and grabbed the leather folder he'd been reading over the past few days. Moments later he was deep into reviewing the files.

There was a knock. He looked up. Mrs. Thatcher stood in the office doorway. “Hi, come on in, Mrs. Thatcher. Is everything all right?”

“Oh, sure, of course. The twins are taking their afternoon nap. I just wanted to give this back to you. Johanna has been playing with it and it really isn't good for her.”

“What isn't?” Trey asked, just as Mrs. Thatcher placed a working cell phone on his desk. “A cell phone. Whose is it?”

“I don't know. It was in the playpen with the toys,” she said.

“Thank you. I'll make sure to take care of it.”

“Good. I'll be out in the yard reading. I have the monitor if the twins wake up early.”

“Okay, thanks, Mrs. Thatcher.”

She walked out and Trey picked up the cell and looked at it. It certainly wasn't his. He opened it. The screen was black. He pressed the on key but nothing happened. Assuming it belonged to Regina, he plugged it into his phone charger and went back to work.

He spent another few hours working on various projects. He had another computer conversation with Joshua and a few
other associates. He was deep in concentration when he heard another knock on the door. “Hey, you busy?”

Trey looked up and smiled. “Hey, no, come on in, grab a seat. I could use a break.” Regina walked in and sat in the chair opposite his desk. “How's it going?” he said, glad to take a break. “What time is it?” he asked as he stretched his arms wide.

“A little after six,” she said as she pulled a file out of her briefcase. “Joshua asked me to drop these off on my way home. They're the final copies of the Caine proposal.”

Trey took the files and glanced at them.

“How was the business trip?” he asked without looking up at her.

“Good, productive, I got everything accomplished. I still have to put a few things together, but you'll see all that later in the report.” He nodded. “I see you're going ahead with this merger.”

“Yes, I think it's a promising step,” Trey said.

Regina shook her head slowly. “Trey, I still don't like it. There's something not right about it.”

“Regina, we've gone through this a dozen times. Everything we know, everything detailed in the prospectus, is exactly as it should be. Cal, to his credit, was more than thorough. We couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. To walk away and pass it up would be ludicrous.”

“Trey, to have this just fall in our lap, at this point, is too fortuitous.”

“Fate, luck, fortuitousness, call it what you like. It's what success is based on. Being in the right place at the right time has always benefited those with the foresight to see the possible outcome.”

“Trey, this isn't my first picnic, I know business,” Regina said firmly.

He smiled and nodded. “I didn't mean to sound condescending.”

“Then don't. You asked for my opinion, I gave it to you. I expect you to take it under consideration.”

“I have. We did our homework thoroughly, you know that. We've checked, double-checked and triple-checked. Believe me, everything is exactly as it should be. We've noted your dissent and I have taken it under consideration. But, Regina, you yourself signed off on the original prospectus.”

“Fine,” she said, tossing her hands up in surrender. “So what are you up to these days, other than the obvious?”

“The obvious?” he questioned.

“Experimentation with facial hair,” she said, then crinkled her nose. “What's up with that?”

Trey rubbed at his three-day beard growth. “Not me, huh?” he asked.

She frowned and shook her head. “No, not particularly. Although you might want to try a platinum rinse if you just feel like you need a new look,” she joked.

“Never mind, I think I'll shave.”

“Good idea,” Regina said, standing. “Okay, gotta go.”

“Hey wait, you got a minute?” he asked.

“Just. I have a date tonight.”

“A date?” Trey questioned.

“Yes, a date. Unlike some people I don't let my drive for success overtake my private life.”