Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ALORA
I stare at him, shocked to my core, unsure and confused.
“You said you loved me?” He frowns. “Today in the car….”
“I do.”
He takes me into his arms and kisses me softly, his lips linger over mine.
A thousand emotions run through me all at the same time, disbelief, betrayal….
Fear.
“Why….” I frown as I step back from him. “What made you realize this now?”
“There’s no point to anything. To having everything.” He holds my face in his hands as he stares down at me. “If I don’t have you it…all means nothing. I have to try.”
My eyes search his, that doesn’t sound very convincing. “Try?”
“I can’t do this without you, nor would I want to.”
“Since when?”
“Since Switzerland,” he whispers against my lips. “And I can’t fight myself over loving you any longer.”
Oh….
Intimacy runs between us as we kiss, and holding him in my arms makes everything instantly better.
“You’ve had me since the day we met, you took my heart with you and never let me go,” he murmurs against my lips.
“It was you who kept mine.” I smile though tears as he holds me close, and I feel the tectonic plates slowly shift into place.
After the worst month in history, we can finally kiss and make up.
I take his hand and lead him up the stairs, he’s somber and quiet and I don’t know what he’s been through but he doesn’t seem to be himself.
As if finally opening up to me has broken him on some level.
We walk into my bedroom and I turn to face him. “It’s okay now.”
His eyes hold mine.
“It’s okay now, babe, talk to me.” I run my hand through his hair. “What’s wrong?”
“Last time I was here, you asked me other than orgasms and money what could I offer you?”
I nod. “I did.”
“The truth is, I don’t know.” He shrugs sadly. “When you walk into a room, you emit a light so bright, this beautiful calm aura, and I….” He swallows the lump in his throat as his eyes hold mine. “I have nothing to give you in return.”
“Edward.” My eyes well with tears, is this really how he feels? “You have everything to give me.”
“Like what?”
“Love and honesty, respect and laughter.” I smile up at him. “A family of my own and a future with the man that I love.”
He puts his head into the crook of my neck and holds me tight in his arms and it becomes apparent that the last month has been hard on him too. “It’s okay, babe,” I whisper. “We’ll work it out together.” I pull his T-shirt up over his head, it’s true that Edward and I are bad at a lot of things.
But physically, we’re perfect. Our bodies fit together like a glove as if made only for each other.
I unzip his jeans and he kicks them off and I push him back to sit on the bed and as he watches my every move, I lift my nightdress over my head and straddle him.
“Kiss me,” I breathe.
His lips take mine with reverence, and the feeling behind his kiss is heartfelt.
Deep.
“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.
He screws up his face against mine and I push him back onto the bed. I get up onto my knees and guide his body into mine, his hands grab my hip bones and he pulls me down onto him.
We both moan as his large body takes possession of mine, he pulls me down to kiss him as we lose control.
Like a tsunami of love, slowly…and tenderly…we ride the wave of pleasure and for the first time in our history, we make soft and slow love.
Three hours later I’m curled against Edward’s chest, his arms are around me and even though I’m exhausted, I don’t want to go to sleep.
Because then this wonderful night in our love bubble will be over.
It’s not often Edward lets his guard down, so I’m savoring every single second while it lasts.
I know I’m going to wake up with a different man tomorrow.
Edward’s finger circles aimlessly on the skin of my bare shoulder. “Were you with anyone while we were apart?”
“No.” I look up at him. “Why, were you?”
“No.” He kisses my temple. “Helene told me you were with a man at a beach bar. She told me you were going to fuck me out of your system.”
“Of course she did.” I smile, god I love that girl. “I did meet a man at a beach bar, but it wasn’t like that. At least not from my side.”
“Did he hit on you?”
“Yes, but I told him that I was still with another.”
He stays still as he listens.
“Even though I wasn’t with you, the thought of being with someone else made me physically sick.”
He kisses my temple again, deep in thought. “I kept having this reoccurring dream every night,” he murmurs. “More like a nightmare, actually.”
“About what?”
“You told me that you were in love with another man and then when I saw him he was bald and had no teeth.”
“This is what you dreamed about?” I smile. “Toothless men stealing me.”
“His name was Cecil.”
I giggle in surprise.
“If I ever see that guy….” He clenches his fist and holds it up.
“Nobody is going to steal me, Edward.” I kiss his chest.
“Don’t leave me again,” he murmurs.
“I won’t.”
He holds me tighter, and unable to fight it, my eyes close. Finally safe in his arms, I fall asleep.
EDWARD
I pull my suit coat over my shoulders and tie my tie. The boys brought me my clothes early this morning so I could leave for work from here.
Alora walks into the bathroom; she’s wearing a tight black pencil skirt and a cream silk blouse. My eyes drop down her body. “You look…” I grab her roughly and push her against the bathroom counter, “…fuckable.”
I’m feeling more myself today.
“Stop, I have to go to work.” She puts in her pearl earrings as she looks in the mirror.
I turn her toward me and do the top two buttons up on her blouse.
“You don’t like my buttons undone.” She undoes the top one and I do it back up.
“No, I don’t.” I brush my hands down over her hips as my eyes linger on her breasts.
Maybe ten minutes late won’t hurt…. I turn her to face away from me and I cuddle her from behind. I feel myself harden.
“Cecil lets me keep my buttons undone.” She smiles up at me in the mirror.
“Well, he’s not expected to live long, is he?”
I feel her smile against my cheek and damn it, I want to undress and get back into bed with her, if I didn’t have back-to-back meetings I would be doing just that.
“I’ll pick you up from work,” I tell her.
“We can go to your house if you want?”
“No.” I pump her with my hips. “The last two weeks at my place have traumatized me. We’ll stay here for a while.”
My phone beeps with a text.
“I have to go.” I pull out of her arms and head downstairs; I lock the door and head out to the car. Philippe is standing beside the second car and I walk over to him. “Good morning, Philippe.” I smile.
“Morning, boss.” He rocks onto his toes with a big smile.
“Stay with her all day please.”
“Of course, sir.”
I look back up to the window in her bedroom and I imagine her finishing getting ready.
“Beautiful day.” Philippe smiles as if reading my mind.
“It sure is.” I get into the back of the waiting car and smile out the window as we drive down the street. It’s been a very long time since I felt this happy.
It’s a perfect day.
10 A.M.
“You have a meeting at ten with Mr. Kennedy.”
“Uh-huh.” I go through my emails as Antoinette, my assistant, reads my day out for me from my calendar.
“And tonight you have the Biffa Gala event.”
I glance up from my computer. “Tonight?”
“Yes, sir.”
Hmm, I think for a moment. I want to see Alora alone tonight. “I’m unable to attend, please cancel on my behalf and send my apologies.”
She glances up. “I don’t know if—”
“Do it.” I cut her off.
“It’s very late notice, sir.”
“I’m taking a break from all engagements for the foreseeable future.”
She looks up again. “What do you mean?”
“I’m burnt out. I won’t be attending anything after hours at night or weekends until further notice.”
“This weekend you have the Formula One.”
“Cancel.”
“But you always go…. You host an event?”
“Antoinette.” I cut her off. “What don’t you understand with this conversation?”
“Yes, sir.” She writes something down in her calendar. “Is there….” She hesitates as if choosing her words wisely. “Is there anything the matter, sir?”
“No.” I open a new email. “I have a personal project that I’m currently working on and it requires my full attention.”
“Yes, sir.” She scribbles something down. “When will your schedule be reopening?”
“I’ll let you know.”
ALORA
If walking on sunshine were a feeling, I am the golden girl.
My feet haven’t touched the ground all day.
“Just help me put this couch by the window?” I ask.
Jonty holds one end and I lift the other as we struggle to carry the couch. “Why have you decided to move the entire shop around today?” He grimaces as we lift.
“You’ll see.” We put the couch down and I glance around the store. “Okay, now we move that coffee table in front of this couch and a lamp on the table in the corner.”
“Okay.” We lift the coffee table over and Jonty goes and finds a lamp. “How’s this one?”
“Great, turn it on and see how it looks.”
He arranges it and turns it on, a beautiful glow warms up the space. “That’s perfect.” I keep looking around. “Now we need some books and magazines and things to put on the coffee table.”
“Okay.” He takes off in search of them. The best thing about owning an antique store is that we have at least ten of every item you could ever think of. He returns with stacks of books and arranges them in piles and puts a bunch of flowers down beside them. “How’s this?”
“Looks great. Thanks for helping me.” I go out the front doors onto the street and look around, I see Philippe standing to the side against a wall.
“Philippe,” I call. “Stefan.”
They push off the wall. “Yes, Miss Sorenson.”
“Come.” I wave them over. “I made you something.”
“Excuse me?”
I usher them into the store and hold my arm out to the corner. “Ta-da.”
Philippe looks around confused. “I don’t understand.”
“This is your new couch area.”
“What?”
“If you’re going to hang out with me, which Edward is insisting on, I’m not having you stand in the street. I won’t hear of it.”
Their faces fall as they look around.