Authors: Joanne Schwehm
We arrived at my apartment, and I invited him in. We
sat on the sofa and Alex brought my hand to his lips. “How has work been?”
Maybe this was his way of getting to know me. “Actually, it’s been
good. I have a meeting tomorrow, but I’m nervous about it.” I really wasn’t
nervous since the meeting was with him.
“Why are you nervous? I’m sure you’re really good at your job. Who
is the meeting with? Maybe I know them.”
I was trying not to smile, but I’m a horrible liar, and my smile
is a definite tell. I could never get away with anything with my parents or
teachers. I couldn’t keep a straight face, so I lowered my head so he couldn’t
see my mouth. I shrugged and spoke softly, “Well, this meeting is with a man,
and he happens to be good-looking; I mean extremely good-looking, like totally
hot, and his body is . . . Well, let’s just say I hope I can concentrate.”
I looked up, and his eyes were narrowing. “So you have a meeting
tomorrow with an extremely good-looking man, and you’re nervous because he’s
good-looking? Are you attracted to him? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
Oh, this was too good. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. When I see
him, I want to rip off his clothes and run my lips all over his body.” I looked
up and bit my lip to try to prevent my smile, but it was too late; he was
totally on to me.
He threw me down on the couch and straddled me. His fingers were
all over me, and he started tickling me. We both laughed. “You are so going to
get it for that. You had me thinking I was going to have to follow you to the
meeting.” I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants. I was
kicking my legs.
“Alex, please, I call uncle!” I had tears in my eyes from
laughing. He stopped tickling me, and we were both breathing hard. I just
realized that I was under him. My hands were on his muscular chest, and his strong
arms were supporting himself at my sides. He dropped his head and kissed me. He
bent at his elbows and lowered himself and rolled us until we were on our sides,
facing each other.
He moved my hair away from my eyes with his fingers. I closed my
eyes, trying to memorize the feeling—the grazing of his fingertips and the
strands of my hair gliding across my face—I didn’t want to forget any of it. When
I opened my eyes, they met his. He lowered his head and kissed my forehead then
my cheeks, moving down to my neck. I was getting goose bumps.
“You are so beautiful, Aubrey.”
I could feel myself blush; I wasn’t used to getting compliments. I
didn’t know what to say. If I said, “Thank you,” it was as if I agreed, but I
didn’t, so I just smiled.
He began to kiss me. I lowered my eyes and felt every one of his
touches. He started at my eyelids and trailed kisses all around my face. He ran
his knuckles down my cheeks, and I felt my eyes flutter open. He slid his hand
in my hair and brought my lips to his. Our tongues twirled together and I was
lost in his touch, in his kiss, and in him. His lips on mine made my heart jump.
I wondered if he could feel it. He made the clichéd butterflies flutter in my
stomach. I almost moved my hand there to make sure I was okay. I wanted to
pinch myself to make sure this was really happening, but if it was a dream, I
didn’t want it to end.
It was weird how comfortable I felt. Alex’s position shifted, and
he was lying on his back with my head on his chest. He was running his fingers up
and down my spine. He spoke softly in my ear, “My father’s company is hosting a
fundraiser Saturday night. Will you go with me?”
I propped myself up. “Of course I’ll go. What’s the fundraiser
supporting?” My head returned to his chest.
“Education to prevent drinking and driving.” I heard his heart beat
faster.
I put my hand over his heart and just lay there. I knew this
affected him because of his Mom and sister and their deaths at the hand of a
drunk driver.
“I would be honored to be your date.” He kissed the top of my
head and thanked me. We rested together. We were content just lying there; it
was wonderful.
I heard beeping and could not imagine what it was. I moved my
head and realized I wasn’t lying on my pillow. I was still with Alex. We’d
fallen asleep. I needed to get up. The beeping was the alarm in my bedroom. When
I moved, so did Alex. I felt bad because I knew he could sleep in and it was
only six in the morning. I slipped out of his arms and went to my room. I went
into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. That was a mistake; I looked
horrid!
I quickly jumped in the shower and started to get ready for work.
I decided to wear a black shift dress and simple heels. I knew I was going to
see Alex later at our meeting, so I took extra time to make sure I looked good.
I walked into the living room, and Alex was still sleeping. Instead of waking
him, I decided to write in my journal.
Entry 4—Alex—The Romantic . . . My romantic boyfriend
An amazing and totally romantic man, he asked me to date him
and only him. I am so happy. We went to a wonderful restaurant, talked, came
home, talked, and laughed. He is still chivalrous and just makes me melt. We
are going to go to his dad’s fundraiser on Saturday night. I can’t wait to meet
his dad. I am curious because they don’t sound close at all. My guess is that he
is going because of the cause and not the host. We have a meeting today. I am
curious to see if he will act differently. Will romance enter the workplace? Is
it bad that his workplace has seen more debauchery than romance?
Just as I was closing my journal, Alex strolled in. I nervously
threw the journal in my side table drawer and stood. I felt so guilty, but at
this point my research was over. I was falling for Alex Logan, and my journal
turned into my diary. I didn’t want to forget anything that he did for me or
that we did together. How could I have fallen so fast?
He looked amazing, even for just waking up and sleeping on the
couch. “Good morning, beautiful.” He came in and kissed my lips softly. It was
so weird having him in my room. Although we were both fully clothed, I felt
naked and fully exposed.
“Good morning, yourself, I hope you slept okay. Sorry you had to
wake so early.”
“I slept perfectly. I liked having you in my arms all night.” He
smiled and started walking to the bathroom.
Sheer perfection—that’s what he was. “Alex, for the fundraiser on
Saturday night, is it a black tie affair?
He stopped and turned back to me. “Yes, it is. I hope that’s
okay. Also, Walker-Stone has purchased a table for some of its employees, but I
want you with me at my table, not with them.”
“Black tie is fine. It’ll give me an excuse to go shopping, and I
wouldn’t want to be with anyone but you.” I was smiling and headed into the kitchen
as he continued into the bathroom.
I was starting to make some coffee when I heard, “Women and their
shopping.” Alex came up behind me and put his arms around my waist so my back
was to his front. I leaned my head back so it was resting on his shoulder. I
was really falling for him. My breathing altered and my heart raced. I was
getting scared. I turned in his arms to look at him.
He kissed my forehead. “I am starting to know that look, Aubrey. What’s
wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong and that scares me. I’m not used to this.” I
motioned my hand between us.
“Just go with it, Aubrey. I feel it too and honestly never
thought I’d like this feeling, but I do.”
“Well, how do I argue with that? I have to go to work. Do you
want to hang out here?” I was silently hoping he said no. I didn’t want him
finding my journal—not that he would snoop—but it still made me nervous.
“No, I’ll head out with you. I should go get ready for work too. I
have a meeting with a hot marketing chick this morning.” He laughed and smacked
my ass.
“Yes, Julie is pretty hot.” I smiled up at him.
“Well, I don’t know about Julie, but I know that you are. I look
forward to seeing you later.” He leaned down and kissed me. Our tongues twisted
together, and I heard a moan escape my throat. I really wanted him. I was so
scared and excited at the same time that I hoped I wasn’t confusing one emotion
with another.
We broke apart smiling. He dragged his thumb under my lip to wipe
away some moisture that was there. It was a sweet and sensual gesture. Was I
falling in love with him? Is this what love felt like? It had to be too soon. He
grabbed my hand, walked me out, and hailed a cab for me.
I arrived at work early. I had time to get some work
done before we had to leave to go to the club for our meeting. I walked into
the break room to get some coffee, and Mark was sitting at a table having
coffee and staring at his phone. He didn’t look right.
“Mark? Are you okay?”
He looked up at me, and he was either very tired or upset over
something. “No, yes, I don’t know. Jessica told me that she wants to take a
break so she can concentrate on her studies. The University has a study-abroad
program in London, and she’s going. She didn’t even talk to me about it. She just
said she was going and wanted a break.”
I was shocked. I hated situations like this. I never knew what to
say or do. “Mark, I don’t know what to say.” Well, at least that was honest.
“What can you say, ya know? I didn’t get to say anything to her. I
would have been fine with her going. I’d never want to hold her back; I just
didn’t realize that she didn’t need me to move forward.”
I sat down at the table with him. “Why don’t we go out later? I’ll
ask Julie to join us. It will be low key—nothing fancy—maybe grab some pizza
and beer.”
“Thanks, Aubrey. That would be nice. I don’t know what to do with
myself. I don’t know if I’m pissed off or just in shock. No, scratch that. I’m
pissed off because she shocked the hell out of me. It’s too bad I really love
her.”
I looked at this man, who had the entire package, and my heart
ached for him. All I could do was nod and be understanding. We left and went to
our desks. I stared at my computer and thought about Alex and me.
Would this
happen to us? Was something going to come along where he was going to want a
break? Was someone else going to come along and pull him away from me? Could I
hang on to a guy like him?
The thought of not having him around depressed
me. What was worse was that I’d only known him a couple of weeks and I’d
totally fallen for him. My head spun.
Julie came bursting into my office with a wide smile on her face.
“Morning,
chica
!”
Her smile is generally infectious, but I couldn’t get out of my
own thoughts or how bad I felt for Mark. “Morning, Julie.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? I figured you would be psyched
that you’ll be seeing Alex in an hour.”
She didn’t know I’d just left him. “I am, but I just talked to
Mark.”
Julie cut me off. “Yeah, I just saw him, and he looks like shit. Is
he sick?”
“No, he isn’t sick, unless a broken heart is an illness.”
“Shit. Jessica? What happened?” Julie looked concerned and sad as
if she knew what was coming next.
“Jessica is going to London to study and decided to end things
with Mark. Well, she called it a break. The only thing that broke was his
heart. I feel awful for him, Julie. I thought we could all go out tonight for
pizza and beer. What do you think? Can you come?”
“Definitely, that is an awesome idea. Want to see if Alex and
Brett want to come?”
Did I? “No, I don’t think it would be right to bring our happy
relationships to dinner while he is nursing a broken heart. If you ask Brett
and I don’t ask Alex, the you know what will hit the fan.”
Julie nodded. “Okay, the three of us it is. Get your stuff together;
we need to be at the club in thirty minutes. I’ll meet you in the lobby in
ten.”
I collected my files, sent Mark an email telling him we were on
for tonight, and headed to the lobby.
We arrived at the club. I had an odd feeling when we walked in,
because it was completely empty, except for a couple of women vacuuming. We
heard the sound of bottles, so we went towards the bar where we spotted Tyler,
who looked as if he were conducting inventory.
He looked over and saw us. “Hi, ladies, Alex is in his office. Julie,
you know where it is, right?”
“Hi, Tyler, yes, thank you. We’ll head on up.”
Julie and I walked through the club, and I noticed the vases on
the tables in the VIP area were empty. Did he replace the orchids every day?
That had to be expensive. I didn’t even know offices were up here. We
approached a door and Julie knocked. “Come in.” That voice, it really made me
feel as if my knees were going to buckle.
Julie opened the door and I followed her in. Alex stood up and
walked around his desk. He looked fabulous. He was wearing black dress pants
and a light blue dress shirt with no tie and the sleeves rolled up revealing
his muscular forearms. I had to touch the corner of my lips. It felt as if I were
drooling. Thankfully, I wasn’t.
He shook Julie’s hand and then looked at me as though he didn’t
know what to do. How weird! Why did he just shake Julie’s hand? I guess it was
the professional thing to do, so I stuck my hand out. I had no clue what to do.
He took my hand, but instead of shaking it, he brought it to his lips and
kissed my knuckles. Mental note to self—
he is romantic toward me in a
business meeting.
“Have a seat, ladies. Would you like something to drink?” His
voice was beyond sexy.
Julie and I spoke at the same time. “No, thank you.” We looked at
each other and smiled. I love her.
“Alex, Brian said that you wanted a new marketing strategy. Was
there something wrong with the current one?” Julie looked concerned and sounded
extremely professional.
“No, Julie, I’ve loved everything that you’ve done. We want to
expand a portion of the club and add a wine room. That’s where I need Walker-Stone
to step in and create a promotion for us. We have some time because Brett and I
will be traveling to different vineyards in Europe to explore the culture and
regions of the wines we want to profile.”
He’s leaving? They’re leaving? I felt the blood drain from my
face. I immediately thought of Mark. Is this what he felt like? This sucks. What
the hell is with Europe today? What a shitty way to tell us! Julie and I looked
at each other and then back to Alex. Julie cleared her throat. “What would you
like from us, Alex?” Her tone was a little clipped and the professionalism was
starting to dissipate. I felt as if I was going to cry, and Julie didn’t look
much better, which didn’t help me because she was the strong one.
Alex looked confused. He looked at Julie and then at me, and his
expression went from confused to concern. “Let me rephrase what I just said.” Just
then Brett walked in, and Julie looked as if she wanted to slap him.
“Hey, gang, are we all on the same page? It’s great, right?” Brett
was beyond happy. He was practically bouncing on his feet. Was he excited to be
leaving Julie?
“Brett, have a seat. I was just trying to explain to the ladies
what we need to have happen. Let me try this again.” Alex cleared his throat. “Julie
and Aubrey, Brett and I would like you to accompany us to Europe. We’ll be gone
about two weeks. I’ve already spoken to Brian, he has cleared your schedules,
and I’ve assured him the new contracts will be signed. You have them for me,
right, Julie?”
What the hell?
Julie and I sat there with our mouths open.
It finally registered to Julie. “Yes, the contracts are right here.” She handed
them to Alex. “I really appreciate this opportunity, Alex.” She sounded
thrilled.
Alex smiled. “You can dispense with the formalities and the
business acumen for now and go hug Brett. Alex laughed and then turned to me. “Aubrey,
are you okay? You do want to come with us, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. I’m just a little surprised; that’s all. What
about the club? Who’s going to take care of it?” The thought of going away with
Alex made me delirious.
“Tyler will be in charge. Most of my staff has been with me for
years. This place could really run itself.” He came around to the front of his
desk where I was sitting. I stood up, he put his arms around my waist, and I
reached my hands to his shoulders. “I was dying to tell you yesterday and then
again this morning. That’s why I couldn’t wait to leave this morning. I thought
I would slip and tell you.”
“Alex, you are an amazing man.” I reached up and kissed him. I
wanted him so badly I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and feel it between my
legs. We rested our foreheads together, and our breathing became ragged. God, I
really wanted him. We finally separated, but he held on to my hand.
“Okay, now that we have all hugged, kissed, and agreed, why don’t
we go out to dinner tonight and discuss our travel plans? We’ll leave on
Monday. You both have passports, right?”
Monday? No way, that only gave us a couple of days to get
everything together. We nodded. “Great, so dinner at let’s say six?”
I shifted in my seat; he wasn’t going to like this. “We have
dinner plans. Can we go to lunch since we are already here and it’s almost
lunchtime?” I could feel Julie’s eyes on me. Had she forgotten about Mark?
Alex looked at me. Yup, I was right; he looked confused. “Uh,
sure, lunch is fine.” He sounded disappointed.
I felt as though I needed to explain, “We’re going out to dinner
with Mark, and before you get any ideas, we’re taking him out because his
girlfriend left him to go study in Europe and he is upset. We’re friends,
nothing more.”
Alex nodded. He kissed me on my temple and said, “You’re a good
person. Lunch it is.”
“You’re a great man, Alex. Thank you for understanding. You have
to know that I don’t think of Mark as any more than a friend. He’s really
hurting right now. I’d ask you to come to dinner, but I don’t want to show off
how happy I am when he is so sad.”
“You’re that happy, huh?” He had a glorious smile, the kind you
would see in toothpaste commercial.
I took his hands in mine. “I am beyond happy. What do you think
about coming over later tonight? Do you have to work all night?” I looked into
his navy eyes and ran my tongue over my lower lip in anticipation of his answer.
His eyes were following it.
“I think I can come over.” He winked and his chest rose. I could
tell his was as affected as I was.
“Good, I look forward to it. Now, I’m starving. How about that
lunch?”
Brett and Julie were getting friendly in the corner of the
office, so Alex not so gently bumped into Brett on the way out of his office to
get his attention. Julie laughed and Brett punched him in the arm.
We went to a classic 1950s-style diner around the corner from the
club. We all ordered as soon as we sat down. We had a lot to discuss and didn’t
want to waste time.
Alex started telling us about our upcoming trip. “So, this is the
plan. Our flight leaves from here to Tuscany, Italy, on Monday morning at
eleven. Then we’ll tour the wine country of Northern Italy until Thursday. We’ll
then board a plane and go to Sicily to discover the wines of the Southern
region. We’ll leave Sicily on Monday and travel to France then fly out that
Saturday to come home.”
Holy crap, we are going to France! My parents are in Paris. If
I’m there and don’t see them, my mom will freak out.
Was I ready to
introduce Alex to them? I suppose I could say he is a client. I wonder if he
remembers that my parents are there. We are spending most of our time there. He
looked at me and must have noticed my expression. Julie decided to chime in,
“Aubrey, we should go see your parents.”
Thanks, Julie. “Uh, sure . . . Okay, we can do that . . . I mean
. . . if we have time.” Shit really? My heart started to race. I was prone to
having anxiety attacks. I hoped I wasn’t about to have one, because that would
be totally embarrassing.
Alex grabbed my hand. “Would you like to do that? Brett and I
don’t have to come. We can hang back and you and Julie can visit.”
I shook my head. “No, I want you to meet my parents and for them
to meet you, unless that would be weird for you; then we don’t have to. I’ll
leave it up to you.” Yup, here it comes. I am officially rambling and feel as
if my chest were going to explode or get crushed. “Can you excuse me, please?” I
stood up to go to the restroom, but not before I bumped into the table and
almost knocked over my chair. I rushed across the diner and hurried into the
ladies’ room. I looked in the mirror and noticed I looked pale and splotchy. Great,
Alex probably thinks I am a total freak. I wet a paper towel and blotted my
face. I ran my hands under cold water and held them on the back of my neck to
try to calm down.
He must have followed me, because he was waiting for me when I
came out. He looked pale as well and very concerned.
“Are you okay? You don’t have to introduce me as your boyfriend
if you don’t want to.”
“I would like nothing more than to introduce you as my boyfriend.
I wasn’t sure how you felt about it.” And that was the God’s honest truth.
He moved toward me, reached his hand out, and held my chin
between his thumb and forefinger, tipping my head up so our eyes could meet. “I’d
love nothing more.” He placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “Come on. Let’s get
back to the table.” As we walked through the diner, I noticed the women
appreciating my boyfriend. That was something I needed to get used to.
Julie was talking on the phone. “Yes, sir, that’s correct . . . Yes,
I have them . . . We’ll be back in about an hour. Oh, okay . . . Thank you . .
. Yes, I’ll tell her.” She looked up at me. “Thank you, Brian.” She tossed her
cell in her purse. We were all looking at her. She looked around the table and
then at me. “That was Brian.”
We all laughed.
“Yes, I gathered that much.” I rolled my eyes and smirked as to
say, “Really, Julie?”
Julie just looked at me with this mischievous look in her eyes. “He
said after we drop off the contracts we can have the rest of the week off to
prepare for our trip.” She was bouncing up and down. “This totally rocks,
Aubrey. We’re going shopping.”
I remembered I needed to buy a gown for Saturday night, and I
could definitely use some new items for the trip. I thought a trip to a lingerie
store would be in order. Then I had a thought. “Alex, where are we staying when
we’re in Europe?”