Chapter 39
My Tuesday includes me sitting at the island of my kitchen writing a chapter of the book on Nelson Ward, while drinking insane amounts of coffee. The book is slow going as I type a few paragraphs here and start replaying that call with Reese on Thanksgiving, and how much he doubted me and us. He needs to know that we’re real. Me too, but I caution myself every time I start going down a rabbit hole of doubt, and decide he’s the one bailing. Distance creates insecurity.
This cycle continues until nearly two o’clock when the doorman buzzes my phone. “Your brother Gabe is here.”
Fabulous, I think. “Send him up,” I say ending the connection.
I then consider a drink and decide against it.
I might have ice cream.
I pace and I don’t know why. Oh yes. I do. He is probably going to tell me some news about the legal action against our family, which means, he will hint at what is happening with Reese. I walk to the front door and Gabe knocks. I yank it open and walk away. He follows me to the kitchen and we both sit down. “Why are you here?”
“We settled with Casey Allen. We made peace with Reese Summer. Get your book deal back.”
“When did you settle?”
“Yesterday.”
Yesterday and Reese didn’t call me. He was strange on the phone. “What does peace mean?” I ask, trying not to sound as anxious as I am right now.
“Reese got Casey Allen off with the Feds and then approached us about a truce.”
“Did he say why he would do that?”
“Because the publisher threatened to sue you and him,” Gabe says.
“Oh. Yes. I know.” It’s a lie, of course. It’s not true. I’d know if it were true.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Would you care?”
“I care Cat,” he says. “Dad cares, too. Even Reid cares. I had to pry mom’s letter from his hands. He’s slow coming around but he will. And for the record, I read it to Dad when he wouldn’t read it.”
I lose patience. “What does truce mean? Damn it, just tell me.”
“Uncle Rudolf was behind everything. Reese helped him plea out a deal with a massive fucking fine of seven hundred million dollars, but it’s done and no one goes to jail.”
“The Reese Summer thing. Are you sure I can work with him without a conflict?”
“Oh yeah. Reese made sure.”
“What does sure mean? You’re killing me here.”
“The two law firms, ours and his, signed an agreement to work together.”
I blanch. “Your firm and Reese’s firm?”
“Yes. It’s not a merger but our criminal division is weak which is why Dad pushed to get you on board. But now, on a case-by-case basis Reese will represent our clients.” His phone buzzes. “Shit. I have a client freaking out over a merger. I gotta go. Go get that book deal.” He heads out of the kitchen and I puff out a breath.
Reese aligned with my family. I don’t know what to think. Is he one of them now? No. That’s silly but he didn’t come to me last night. The ink must not be dry. That’s it. I run after Gabe and catch him at the elevator. “Have you signed the contract with Reese yet? Is it safe to contact him?”
“Not yet. We’re meeting Friday but it’s done. We all agree.”
“Right. Thanks.”
He steps into the elevator and I head back to my apartment. It’s not done. I have to talk to him. I don’t want him to do something bad for his firm and career, for me. I run up the stairs to my bedroom, and grab my purse when it hits me that I’m wearing sweats. I rush into my closet and do a quick change into that pink dress that I deemed “lucky” and thigh-highs with black high heels. I fluff my hair, and actually put on make-up.
Once I’ve inspected myself in the mirror, I figure this will do. A few minutes later I’m in an Uber and pulling up to Reese’s building. I have a momentary second thought. Is my family setting me up, looking for a relationship between me and Reese? No. I rule that out. I have a book deal with Reese worth a lot of money. Of course, I’d rush here to save it. I exit the car and walk inside the building. I have never been so nervous in my life.
Once I’m inside the elevator, I stand close to the doors, eager to get to Reese, for about a hundred reasons. Mostly, because every time I think of our phone call I think of his doubt. He has done so much to clear our path. I need to run down it and to him. I arrive on his floor and I don’t check with the receptionist. She tries to stop me when Maria appears in the lobby.
“Oh thank God,” she says. “He’s a bear without you.”
“Is he here?”
“Yes,” she says walking with me toward her desk and motioning to his closed door. “Go in. He’s alone.”
“Thanks Maria.”
I hurry to the door and pause with my hand on the knob.
“Don’t doubt that he loves you,” Maria says. “I promise. He does.”
I look over my shoulder at her. “Thank you.”
I face forward again and open the door, stepping inside and shutting it to lean against it. Reese is sitting at his desk, and he’s still gorgeous. He still consumes a room and me with it. He stands up. “Cat.”
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Neither of us take a step. “You can’t sign with my family.”
“I already did, about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Gabe said Friday.”
“Gabe was wrong.”
“You don’t do things like they do.”
“They’re reputable, Cat. They weren’t involved in this mess. Just your uncle as you told me in your column.”
“What does this do for you or to you?”
“I’m only offering aid and consultation. That’s all. But I’ve ensured your family will not lash out at me to get to you.”
“You sure you’re okay with this?”
“Yes. Are you okay with it? That’s the question and you’re not moving. You’re way over there and I’m way over here.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I need to know this doesn’t mean you’re going to align with them not me.”
“I still don’t like them. I’m tolerating them because that’s what a man does for his woman. Are you still my woman?”
“Yes. Is all of this still in play in some way? Because you’re still over there and I’m over here. Do I have to leave?”
“Why the hell would you leave? I was about to go get you.” He starts to move and I do, too, and we all but collide in the center of the room in an embrace. “I missed you,” I say. “I—”
“I missed you, too, sweetheart.” His mouth crashes down on mine and that’s all it takes. We are all over each other, so hungry for us, that we can’t get enough. I barely remember how the skirt of my dress ends up at my waist or how his pants get unzipped. Suddenly it just is and he’s sitting on the couch in the corner, with me on top of him, him pressing inside me, filling me. I sink down on his cock, and when I have all of him, we just sit there, connected. Together.
“Let’s make a pact,” Reese says, tangling fingers into my hair, and dragging my mouth to his. “We don’t ever separate again. Ever, Cat.”
“Never again,” I agree, and he kisses me and we’re wild all over again, and slow again, watching each other, just savoring each other. Neither of us wants it to end but it does. Another burning need to just feel more and more of each other, sends us over the edge, until we peak and crash into one other. We lay there a full minute before I realize where we are. “We’re half naked in your office.”
He laughs and says, “Best day I’ve had in this office.”
I press on his shoulders and sit up. “I should get off now.”
“Yes. You should. So that I can take you home. Our home, Cat.”
“I want to come home. It is home. You are home.”
Thirty minutes later, we walk into his apartment and I swear I can breathe again but just when I think I might run through the whole damn place, Reese scoops me up. “I can walk,” I say. “And I promise only to run to the bedroom.”
“It’s more romantic if I do it.”
“Romantic,” I say. “I taught you manners and romance. I love it.”
“I hope you do.”
“Now you’re talking in secret code.”
He enters the bedroom and walks to the chair, our chair, and sets me down. “I missed this chair,” I say. “Good. Don’t move and don’t look.” He walks away and I’m dying. I almost turn. I might have to turn. Okay I won’t turn because he’s now covering my eyes.
“Is that one of your ties?”
“It is. I have a surprise.” He knots the cloth at the back of my head and places my arms on the sides of the chair. “Leave them here.”
I do as he says and he adds, “Don’t move them, Cat.”
Heat rushes through me and my heart starts to race. “I’ve actually never let anyone cover my eyes.”
I feel him settle in front of me. “I plan to be the first of many things,” he says, his hands sliding up my legs, inching my skirt up my hips. “I’d undress you but I’m too impatient. Remember. Don’t move your hands.”
“I know,” I say, but he’s moving his. He catches my panties at each side and drags them down my legs, kissing random spots on my leg as he does. He untangles them from my feet and they are gone now, but his mouth is not. His lips press tiny kisses all over me: My thigh, my calf, and my knees. His tongue travels up my inner thigh and I am panting when it finds my clit. I almost come that easily.
I grip the chair and arch upward and he gives me what I want. He suckles me, licks me, touches me and release hits me with a sudden jolt. I stiffen and then tremble all over until it’s over. I melt into the chair, and I feel Reese tug my skirt down. He then sets something in my lap. “Come here, Cat.”
I lean up and he kisses me, pulling away the tie and whispering, “Marry me, Cat. I need you in my life…Look down.”
He eases back and there is a stunning diamond ring, sitting on my lap. “A ring. I mean, I know it’s a ring. I just—”
“Say yes, Cat. You’re killing me here.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course. And just so you know. That was the best way of proposing any man has ever come up with. Of course, I’ll leave certain parts out of the story but—”
He kisses me and I’m home to stay.