37. Rose
37
ROSE
“How’s my fiancée doing this morning?” Zander’s raspy voice, half-drowsy with sleep, fills my ears.
“I’m very good,” I whisper.
“That you are, my beautiful Rose.”
My fingers tighten around the phone. Since the morning he proposed to me, Zander has taken it upon himself to call me by my name.
“What’s your plan for today?” I ask, simply because I want to hear his voice more.
“Meetings, meetings, and some more meetings.” Hearing his sigh, you’d think he hates all those meetings. “In your language, all CEO stuff .”
My lips curl up, and my heart warms when he repeats my words from the past. They are subtle reassurances of Zander’s love for me.
“How is the planning for your birthday weekend in Cherrywood progressing?”
I hear the rustling of covers as he settles onto his huge bed, where I have the pleasure of sleeping whenever I visit him in St. Peppers.
“You know Kristy. She makes a big deal of everything. ”
“She should. My girl deserves all the pampering.” His voice is soft and husky. I close my eyes and bite back a smile. I am his—his girl.
A few years ago, when Kristy, and I came to Cherrywood for a job interview, I didn’t know my life would change like this. Now, I have people who want to pamper me on my birthday, who want to celebrate a day which might not even be the actual day I was born.
“Will you be here?”
“No one could stop me. Are you honestly not going to tell me what to get you?”
I turn on my side, pulling the covers up to my neck. Zander’s words, as always, fill me with a toasty, cozy feeling. “I need nothing. I have you and I have Kristy. That’s all I need.”
He groans. “You say all these sweet and cute things, and I want to pull you into my arms, but all I have is a fucking cold and empty bed around me.”
“That’s not true. You have four pairs of my lingerie that I know of. But looking at my diminishing underwear drawer, I suspect you have more than that.”
“Maybe I’ll buy you several pairs of your favorite Victoria’s Secret panties. On your birthday, I’ll make you wear each one of them, and then we’ll spoil them, all ready for me to take back home.”
His hot and breathy voice tickles my ear, and my heartbeat accelerates at his words. I’m sure no one would believe that Zander Teager, CEO of Elixir Inc., could be such a raunchy, dirty talker.
“What do you say, babe?”
“You are nuts,” I mumble, hiding my face in the pillow, my body all hot and sweaty.
Every morning when he wakes me up with a phone call, I have no clue which Zander I’m getting. Some days, he’s sweet and cute, making me emotional. But others, like today, he makes me delirious with need. On such days, I want to crawl inside the phone and just hide in his arms—or in his king-sized bed.
“Breathe slow. You’re making me real crazy here,” he groans in a voice I’ve become well acquainted with. It’s a voice he uses when he whispers my name as he stands me in front of my big bathroom mirror and takes me from behind. It’s the same voice he uses when he mumbles or curses while I’m lying on the bed and his head is buried between my legs.
“Crab,” I murmur. My pulse quickens and his breathy groans from the other side are making me delirious. “What are you doing?”
“You know…very well.” He continues to mumble my name and some expletives before releasing a heavy breath. “You like to unman me.”
What did I do?
He’s the one who did everything, while I’m a hot mess over here.
“Do you need something, Rose?” Zander drawls with his familiar teasing lilt.
“No,” I reply fast. This crazy man.
“Are you sure?”
“I am.” I squeeze my thighs together.
He chuckles, making me smile despite my…condition. “Don’t worry, babe. You won’t be left alone when I come to you next week.”
“You are so bad,” I whisper.
“That I am.” I can hear the lightness in his voice. “As much as I want to continue this discussion with you, the business world is calling my name.”
“Go. Do all the CEO stuff .” I giggle before ending the call.
I spend some more sweaty and clammy minutes under the covers. My head and heart are light, as they always are after talking to Zander, but my mood instantly shifts when my gaze lands on the small gift box wrapped in soft pink paper sitting on my nightstand. It’s from Sophia, Kristy’s mom. She sent me my birthday gift—more than half a year in advance.
Like every year, her gift gives me bittersweet feelings. As much as it tingles my limbs with happiness, it also brings me down. It makes me realize that Sophia doesn’t remember the right day, even after I’ve corrected her multiple times in the past.
When the distress hits me, I suck in a deep breath, following my therapist’s advice. I continue to breathe heavily for a few more seconds before my gaze moves to Logan and Lucy as they chase each other. I get up from the bed and gently place my finger on the fish tank wall, where the two most beloved goldfish live.
Lucy joined Logan after my engagement.
Why? Because I wanted Logan to have a partner too.
“How are you, kiddos?” They both follow my finger as I slide it against the cold glass, and a smile pulls at my lips, my previous anxiety now forgotten.
Even unknowingly, Zander’s gifts, his words, and just the thought of him have the power to slay the demons of my insecurities.
I amble into the living room and the adjoining open kitchen to prepare my morning coffee. My eyes involuntarily squint to escape the color blast. There are vibrant clothes strewn on the breakfast barstools and countertops, and smaller fabrics lying on the stove. I’m still iffy about how I like Clementine as a roommate.
A loud shriek leaves me when I sense something moving on the floor.
“Rose! You scared me.”
My wide eyes fall to Clementine, who’s crawling on the floor. She gets up and grabs a jade-colored thread spool from the counter before settling back on the kitchen floor. On the floor .
“I-I’m sorry.” My hands clutch my pounding heart. “I didn’t…see you there.”
Why would she not sit on the couch or the recliner or the comfy ottomans?
“That’s okay,” Clem mutters, and she goes back to working on a teal fabric with a thin needle.
My legs shake a little as I reach the coffee machine. “I’m making coffee. Do you want some?” I check the water level before turning the machine on.
“I hate your coffee. What I wouldn’t give for a cinnamon latte.”
She lets out a loud sigh, but I don’t understand what she’s crying about. With just a press of a switch, I get amazing coffee, and I don’t even have to talk to anyone to get it. I don’t need to explain the size, type, or amount of milk, among other things. Plus, having coffee at home guarantees the absence of the long waiting line. I’m a huge fan of my cute red coffee machine.
“But I’ve been working on this pattern for the last four hours and can’t walk away now, so I’ll tolerate that crap you call coffee.” Clementine shakes her head, as if the thought of drinking my coffee disturbs her largely.
This is another unusual thing about living with Clem. I’m not used to people being so direct with me. I’m used to people eating or drinking whatever I give them, regardless of how they find it.
After handing the first cup to my roommate, I grab my “I’m engaged!” coffee mug from the cupboard. My lips twitch at the sight of the picture of Zander and me wrapped around the white ceramic. I know it’s cheesy, maybe even a little juvenile. Not something one would expect an almost twenty-seven-year-old woman to be in possession of, but…I love it.
I park my car in the parking lot of my office at Elixir Inc., before taking the elevator that brings me to my office floor. When I step out, my gaze lands on the picture of the Teager brothers on our company brand wall. Zander is in the middle, a small smile on his lips that creates a dimple on his left cheek.
How many times have I kissed that dimple now? I blush at my wayward thoughts.
Kristy steps out of the other elevator, carrying her coffee cup. “Why don’t you take that poster to your office? The gawking will be easier that way.”
I swiftly glance around to check if anyone heard my crazy friend. “Do you really have to say that out loud?” I mince toward my office, and Kristy follows.
“So, tell me. What are we doing for your birthday?” She flops onto a chair as I place my backpack on the table and check the water level on my bowstring hemp plant.
“What we’ve done all the previous years. Takeout and a movie.” I perch next to her.
“Rosie, this year is different. Don’t you see this?” She raises her hand, showing me her engagement ring and wedding band, and then grabs my hand. “And this?”
The elegant diamond ring with a rose flower that Zander placed on my finger six months back twinkles. It still feels like a dream. I twist and pull it off and read the inscription.
U have me. I have U. Forever.
These seven words have deep meaning for me. For the first time in my life, I have someone, and someone wants to have me. When you live with no family and no identity for as long as I have, it’s only natural to believe that no one wants you. But Zander loves me so much that he gave me a ring with this inscription.
A ring with a pink rose and white diamonds around it.
Him buying it tells me everything I need to know about the depth of his love for me .
“Have you guys picked a date?” Kristy’s voice breaks my musings.
My stomach roils, and my palms suddenly get ice cold, as they do every time someone asks me this question.
“We…want to wait.” I hate lying to my best friend, but Zander did say there’s no rush, and I’m counting on it.