Chapter 10 #2
They were better off here. Amanda could actually have a life here, Callie too.
And he liked it here. What wasn’t to like?
He had buckets of money and was charting his own destiny.
He loved his new business, the people he employed and help they rendered.
Not to mention, it beat the hell out of working on behalf of the British Empire and having no choice in what was ordered.
So, once that bit of tension had passed, there had been another uptick in tension—the sexual kind.
Just being near her since he’d kissed her was difficult at best. When he’d chased her down the hall and caught her, and finally held her fully in his embrace, it was all he could do to maintain a coherent thought.
And when she’d turned and then looked up at him the way she had, all bets were off.
As the saying goes—and he loved the saying now—he’d kissed her six ways to Sunday and back again, and it still wasn’t enough.
He wanted to drag her in close, kiss the hell out of her, and bury himself so deep inside her, he wouldn’t know where she began and he ended.
He’d been on his best behavior though and was waiting for another sign from Amanda.
He was still leaning casually against the door jamb, staring at Amanda’s property, when his phone rang. “She’s on her way over, Alex,” Stephen said when he answered.
“What?” He wasn’t sure he had heard his brother correctly.
“She put the kids to bed, came downstairs, grabbed a jacket, and said, ‘I’m going to Alex’s, left or right at the bottom of the drive?’”
“She’s walking? Alone?”
“Are you kidding me?” Stephen asked, sounding insulted, then corrected, “Um, well, yeah she’s walking, but two guys have eyes on her and I’m watching with my mon-knock,” he told him, using an abbreviation for a night vision monocular—a handheld device used for surveillance.
Alexander swore, hung up the phone, and checked the app that monitored his property. And there she was, mama bear in all her glory approaching his drive.
He opened the gates with a push of a button and ran for a shirt. He was on his way downstairs when he saw, through the enormous picture window above his front doors, her pass the fountain in the courtyard.
He almost tripped in his haste to get to the front door before she did. It opened in a whoosh, and she startled. “Hi,” he said, feeling like a stupid schoolboy idiot.
“Hi.” She looked gorgeous, no surprise there, cheeks flushed from the brisk air. “I thought…”
He reached out and pulled her inside. “Come in, please.”
Her cheeks reddened more, flustered, perhaps. “Alex, I…” She laughed nervously. “Jeez…” She fanned herself then and it was all he could do to not laugh at the lightness of the moment. He was not going to miss the opportunity. He was supposed to be working on his timing anyway.
“Amanda.” He grinned as he backed her up the two steps it took to press her against the door. “Forgive me.” Her arms were around his neck by the time he’d pulled her in, leaned down, and kissed her.
His head started to spin. She felt amazing.
Tasted better. She made a sound as he nudged her with his head right where he wanted her.
Her delicate hands wound around his head; her slender fingers moved through his hair, and he kissed her from every possible angle.
Then he did it again. Though when she pushed against him a few moments later, he backed off.
“Alex, as good as we are at kissing, I didn’t come over to make out with you.” She blew a wisp of hair off her face, which was adorable.
“Sorry,” he said, still smiling like an idiot. He was so giddy, he had to stop himself from actually jumping up and down. Instead, he calmly led her to the living room, stopping short as they passed the hallway to the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”
“Why? Something living in the backyard you can hunt, clean, and cook for me?” she asked with a roll of her eyes.
He laughed, bloody hell she made him laugh. “Listen, funny girl,” he teased, “I will find something of the sort if you’d like. Otherwise, I have a refrigerator full of food since Trevor and Michael eat enough for an entire football team.”
“Weren’t you at dinner tonight?” she chided him. “Rosa prepared a feast. Again. I’m not sure who she’s trying to satisfy more, me, or you and the boys.” She shrugged. “My money’s on you and the boys.”
“There are snacks on the bar anyway,” he said.
“Snacks!” she exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Really?”
Amanda loved snacks. “Yeah,” he chuckled, “just wait.”
“I hope it’s not far.”
He was still smiling as he pulled her forward. This had to be the best night they’d had in centuries—literally.
“Ooh.” Her eyes went wide as they passed through the living room threshold and she saw the bar covered with small crystal dishes, each filled with nuts, candies, and pretzels. She went right for a bowl of chocolate-covered peanuts. He knew they were her favorite.
“Inside or out?” he asked.
She looked around his living room, which, much like hers, housed a large bistro-sized bar, two separate sitting areas, and a grand piano. “Let’s sit over there.” She pointed to a cluster of chairs and sofas situated before the large picture windows.
“Drink?”
“Just a Diet Coke if you have it, please.”
He had everything. Especially her favorite soda. After fixing hers, he topped off his. She took a corner of a sofa; he took the club chair next to her.
“Amanda.”
“Alex.” They’d spoken at the same time.
He gestured with his hand, giving her the floor. She took off her shoes and curled her legs up on the cushion next to her. He liked that she was so comfortable. A lot. “I wanted to ask you about something. I just can’t seem to reconcile it in my head. And I’d feel stupid askin—”
“Whatever question or questions you have, Amanda,” he assured, moving to the cocktail table and sitting directly in front of her, “I’m here. Ask away.”
She smiled when he moved closer. She was enjoying this, he could tell. Amanda wet her lips before speaking. They were hard not to stare at, but he forced himself to focus on her eyes. “So, when we separated—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He laughed at the mere thought of it, and that he could actually laugh at it. He leaned forward. “Let’s get this straight once and for all—we did not separate, Amanda. We were separated.”
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“You said when we separated.”
“Jeez, Montgomery.” She rolled her eyes. “Are you splitting hairs or what?”
“It’s a terribly touchy subject,” he told her, smiling at their banter.
“I’ll be more careful next time,” she whispered under her breath, rolling her eyes again. God he missed talking to her like this. She was so quick, so much fun to be with. “So, when we got separated.”
“You mean, when you let go.” He couldn’t help himself. And couldn’t believe he was able to tease her about something so serious. But here they were, together, working toward being together.
“Are you for real right now?”
He shook his head; he wasn’t sure what had gotten into him.
He felt like a teenager who couldn’t control himself.
His wife, his beautiful, famous, talented wife, was right in front of him, in his house.
He was a bit delirious. That’s what it was.
They really had been deliriously happy. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“Where were we? Callie said we were on a ledge, is that true?”
“Yes, it’s true,” he said, sobering immediately at the memory. “We were in Abersoch.”
“The cliffs?” she asked, and her eyes widened again.
“We couldn’t have been that high up, though,” she mused.
“I mean, aside from my wrist, Callie and I are both okay.” She paused, and Alexander panicked for a moment.
How to explain? But then, thank God, she continued, dismissing the point instead for, “Why didn’t you get us after? ”
He reached forward, resting his hands on the cushion on either side of her.
“Remember when you—” he corrected himself quickly “—you used to tell me all about your favorite movies—rom-coms and action flicks, you called them.” He’d watched them all.
“In Romancing the Stone, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner fall down the side of a cliff, they race past trees, get swept away by what looks like a mudslide, and land in the water relatively unhurt and okay. And from the looks of it, they started out in a completely different area and ended somewhere else entirely.”
“I remember the scene, Alex.”
“Okay, what I’m trying to say, and rather poorly, is, bloody hell, please believe me, Amanda—where I lost you and Callie, and where you landed, were two separate stratospheres.”
“So—”
“Let’s come to an understanding, okay?” He needed to keep the ground he’d gained of late. “Another truce if you will, since the last is going so well.”
“Maybe,” she hedged, eager and bright-eyed. “What did you have in mind?”
“Give it, me, more time. You’re going to remember, I know it, and once you do, everything will make sense. I swear.”
“So help me remember, Alex. Please.”
He grinned. This he could do. He stood up and extended his hand. “Come here, beautiful.”
She blushed as she stood. “Where are we going?”
“I’m going to dance with you, but first we’re going on a detour,” he told her, grabbing her hand and leading her back to the bar. “Hey, Siri, dim living room lights three, four, and five.”
He topped off his glass and Amanda laughed. “Drink a lot?” she asked.
“It’s not just for me,” he told her.
“You got a mouse in your pocket?”
He laughed. “Bloody hell, I missed you, Amanda.”
He took her hand again and led her to the other side of the room, leaning her against the side of the grand piano. He took a long pull of scotch and smiled as she plucked it from his hand and took a sip. A large sip. “I told you, funny girl.”