Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Addison
W hen my eyes opened, it took me a second to realize what I was looking at—the sheer curtains that were letting in hints of the morning light; the feathery, oversize white comforter that was comfier than anything I’d ever owned; decorations done in light blue and sand, off-white and gold—the colors of Malibu. And behind me—the source of the warmth, stronger than any sunrays, a tightness of arms more powerful than any shackle—was Ridge.
He’d planned a night that was dreamier than anything I could have ever conjured up. An incredible viewing of the sunset, followed by a four-course dinner of seaweed salad, steamed gyoza, ramen, and mochi. Each bite was accompanied by the flickering candles that surrounded us and the crashing waves on the beach.
A meal that was, hands down, one of the best I’d ever eaten.
By the time we got up from the table, we needed to walk off our fullness, so Ridge gave me a tour of the hotel—something I’d been begging for since the first time he’d taken me here. Even though I’d never been inside a Cole and Spade Hotel before—their room rates and restaurants were far above my budget—therefore I couldn’t compare it to their other properties, I could say without any hesitation that it was the nicest, most beautiful resort I’d ever seen. He was only halfway through the renovations, but he was still able to show me photos of the before, so I could see all the changes and the intricate designs he’d implemented—some were structural, some decor—and all had made a major impact.
I’d never questioned Ridge’s talent, immediately knowing the moment I had stepped foot in his house that he was successful, but getting to see his capabilities and hear the way he spoke about the business brought on a whole new level of admiration.
I had one sexy, skilled man on my hands.
And when we eventually made our way up to the suite, I saw that his planning hadn’t ended at dinner. Inside, candles were lit on every surface, and there was champagne waiting for us on ice. Rose petals were sprinkled on the floor and the bed and floating on top of the bubbling Jacuzzi tub. This time, he joined me in the water for a long, sensual soak, and when he had carried me to the bed, we had been covered in bubbles and bits of flowers.
I wasn’t sure how many hours ago that was or how much sleep I’d actually gotten, but as I glanced through the sheer blinds, taking in the variants of blue that shone through from the other side, every part of me felt satiated and rested.
“Are you awake?”
Ridge’s voice was only a hint above a whisper, mixed with that morning roughness. If I had still been asleep, it wouldn’t have woken me.
“ Mmm .” I loosened the grip he had on me and rolled over to look at him. “Good morning.”
“Have you been up for long?”
I folded my arm under the pillow and puffed the down under my face to prop me up a little. “A couple of minutes. So, no, not long.” I smiled. “I was just reminiscing over last night.” I placed my hand on his cheek, the coarseness of his whiskers a welcome sensation. “Which was one of the best evenings ever.”
He turned his face to kiss the inside of my hand. “There will be many more just like that one in the future.”
Not only was he sexy and skilled, but he was also the king of word porn.
“I can’t wait,” I told him.
He pushed a piece of hair out of my eye—something he did often. “Are you hungry?”
“You’re not serious? Because after that dinner, I don’t think I can even look at food until lunchtime, and even that would be a stretch.”
“That’s too bad since there will be coffee and breakfast delivered in about”—he glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the nightstand—“thirty minutes.”
I sighed. “Coffee does sound like heaven.”
“So will breakfast when you see it.”
I leaned up even more, bending my elbow to rest my face on my palm. “What are we talking? Pancakes? Waffles? French toast?”
His stare turned more intimate, and at the same time, it intensified. “I feel like this is a challenge.”
I laughed. “Well, you nailed dinner. I’m so curious what you would choose for breakfast.”
“Do you want me to tell you your favorite pancake flavor?”
“Oh, I’m dying to hear this.”
He moved onto his back, placing his crossed arms between his head and the pillow. “If you were going to order pancakes—which you wouldn’t—you’d go with blueberry. Plain pancakes would be too sweet for you. And since you gravitate toward fruit that’s tart, I’d say blueberry would suffice. Maybe even raspberry.”
He was describing me perfectly, things I couldn’t believe he’d picked up on.
“Ridge, I’m speechless right now.”
“You think I didn’t notice what you picked out of the charcuterie board when I brought it for our first beach date?” He smiled. “And how cantaloupe and melon didn’t make an appearance when I brought that salty prosciutto the last time we were here, even though that fruit mixes amazingly well with the meat.”
“Those fruits are just so”—I felt myself making a face—“bland and boring. And, yes, I noticed.” My expression turned to a smile.
“But if given a choice, pancakes, waffles, or French toast wouldn’t be your pick. Your choice would be more savory, like a breakfast burrito with a side of grilled avocado, which will be coming on the tray that gets delivered soon.”
“Stop it.”
“And crispy home fries.”
I touched my stomach, surprised by how I suddenly no longer felt so full. “I honestly can’t even with you right now.”
He cupped the side of my neck. “How’d I do?”
“You couldn’t have done any better.” I grabbed the back of his hand and nuzzled into the front of it. “It’s such a turn-on that you know me this well. That you pay attention. And that you remember even the finer details.”
“You matter to me.” His thumb stretched to my lips, pulling at the bottom one. “More than you probably even realize.”
“Oh, no, Ridge. I realize. And those feelings are reciprocated—trust me.” I finally released his fingers and ran mine over his bare chest. “What’s your plan for after breakfast?”
“We’ll pack up our things here, and I’ll take you home. Then, I’ve got to go to Jana’s and pick up Daisy. Jana flies out late this afternoon for a ten-day work trip.”
“I want to ask you something … it’s going to be a tough question.” I sat up, folding my legs in front of me.
“Ask away.”
I rubbed my hands together, linking my fingers, bending them back and forward. “I’m not trying to rush things—please know that. I’m all about taking our time and?—”
“You don’t have to sugarcoat the question, Addison. I know that’s what you’re doing. I want you to feel okay about asking me anything.”
I nodded, stalling a few moments before I said, “When do you think it’s time that I meet Daisy outside the classroom?”
“That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. But the first step is Jana. I need to have a conversation with her before Daisy meets you in a personal setting. The last thing I want is my daughter to tell her mother that Miss Lark was hanging out at her dad’s house—because Daisy will. The one thing my girl is excellent at is ratting someone out.”
I laughed, knowing just what he was talking about since I’d experienced it in class. “I understand.”
“But that doesn’t mean I’m putting it off.”
“I know.” My voice was soft. “You’re just waiting for a time that feels right.”
“On Jana’s end, meaning I need to feel her out and assess her mood and pick a time when it makes sense to tell her. It has nothing to do with me not being ready as far as you and I are concerned, and it has everything to do with making sure Jana is ready to handle your transition from teacher to girlfriend and hearing how all of that went down and how we met.” He mashed his lips together. “As for timing, things have felt right between us for a while, baby. In my opinion anyway.”
“Mine too—you know, minus the whole turtle speed thing that I’d insisted on because my morals were getting in the way.” I winked, but the lightheartedness ended as soon as I added, “Telling her how we met. That’s … mega heavy.”
“But important.”
“And just something else for me to worry about. What if it disgusts her? What if?—”
“I’m going to stop you right there because you don’t have to worry. Jana is open-minded about most things. The teacher part, I’m assuming, would bother her much more than the stripping.”
When I swallowed, my throat was so tight. “How do you know that?”
“Because I know her and because I don’t believe she’d ever knock another woman’s hustle. Not when the motivation is family, like yours was.”
I appreciated that—I did—but I still wanted to die, so I said, “That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“Listen to me …” As he stalled, he rubbed my skin in a way that was intended to make me feel better, and his expression softened. “If I didn’t believe in us and think we were in it for the long haul, I wouldn’t even be considering this. I want you to know that too. And I know we don’t have years under our belt. Shit, we don’t even have six months, but there’s something different about us, Addison. I want Jana to know that, and I want her to understand.”
“Are you saying I’m wifey material?” My grin was wide, my giggle as honest as I could be.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Ridge
Not waking up to you this morning sucked.
Me
SAME.
And I’m not kidding. I was just thinking that when my eyes opened and there weren’t any arms around me or a rock-hard, sweltering body behind me. ;)
Ridge
That was a good night at the hotel, wasn’t it?
Me
It’ll be impossible to beat.
Ridge
One day, you’re going to open your eyes to me every morning …
Me
You mean, you’d do that with Daisy home?
Ridge
Once she understands how I feel about you and she accepts that there’s someone else in my life who I care for deeply, then, yeah, I would.
Me
I understand her mind more than anyone, and I want those mornings to be a reality—let’s be real—but I don’t want to rush it either. Hangouts and day/night dates with the three of us—for sure. Her crawling into bed with us every morning? We need to take that extra slow.
Ridge
You and your turtle speed, LOL.
Me
You said it, not me. Ha-ha!
Ridge
But you’re right, and I love that you get it and you get her and what she needs.
Me
The last thing I would ever want is to come between you and your daughter. But if we go slow and get her used to the idea, it’ll make it easier on everyone.
Ridge
Fuck, you’re the best.
Me
We just finished a reading comprehension worksheet that pointed out the difference between nouns and verbs—I’m talking basic, recognizable words that revolve around food and animals and sports—and Daisy crushed it. 10 out of 10. Your daughter is a superstar!
Ridge
Proud dad moment.
Me
You’ve been working with her, haven’t you?
Ridge
I picked up some reading workbooks that you’d suggested, and we do a couple of pages each evening. She doesn’t get dessert until she finishes. That girl likes her M3
Me
Are you at work?
Ridge
Yes.
Me
Would it be inappropriate if I swung by?
Ridge
My office, you mean?
Me
Yeah.
Ridge
I’m the boss, Addison. Nothing is inappropriate. Come on over.
Me
I’ll see you in 20.
The corporate office of Cole and Spade Hotels was a building that was straight out of a movie. Even walking up to the massive high-rise made me feel important. The exterior was made of blue mirrored glass with a security guard stationed at the front, checking my credentials before allowing me in. The lobby was a mix of plants and marble, gold finishes and elaborate decor, with an incredible scent that hit me the second I came in. The background noise was the sound of a rainforest, playing at just the right decibel while I spoke to the receptionists. There were six—all parked behind a desk that was longer than my entire apartment.
One of the ladies brought me to the elevator, and while she stayed outside, she reached in and waved a fob over the button for the top floor—the level that I assumed housed the partners and the other important people of the company. That small gesture lit the button, and once she moved out of the way, the door closed, and the glass walls of the elevator showed a view of the atrium during the climb. When the door opened, I was greeted by another receptionist, who checked my name tag and then escorted me through a set of locked doors and down a long, wide hallway, eventually leaving me outside Ridge’s office.
I knocked on the wood before I opened it.
“Miss Lark,” Ridge said, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head, eyeing me down as I stepped in and shut the door. “To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?”
His office was bigger than my classroom with two chairs in front of his desk and massive windows that adorned the back, a wet bar in one corner, and what looked like a restroom in the other. There was even a section that had a couch and chairs and a coffee table. As for the artwork, it was everything that embodied my man—masculine, attractive, and extremely powerful.
He sat behind the desk, looking dapper and professional in a black suit, baby-blue tie, crisp white shirt, and a lustful expression that screamed sex.
God help me.
“We need to have a conversation.” I set my purse beside me after I took a seat in one of the chairs and clenched my fingers as I held them in my lap. “I figured it was best to have it in person.”
“Fuck, you look gorgeous.”
His eyes were locked with mine, but I felt his stare on my entire body—a skill I had no idea how he’d mastered, but he was brilliant at it.
“Stop trying to distract me.” My voice was low but sharp enough that he knew this chat could go in many different directions.
He smirked. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m pissed at you, and you know your words do things to me, and I need you to hold off while I get all my anger out.”
A smile pulled at his lips, and he rested his arms on his desk. “And you’re mad because?”
I was only trying to play mad.
What I really was, was a storm of emotions that were currently erupting in my chest, forcing tears that I was attempting to hold back. They were feelings that had started at my apartment and built during the entire drive over here.
“Every month, on this day, like clockwork, I get an email letting me know my student loan payment is due,” I said. “And every month, I log in and see a balance that’s completely overwhelming and how my payments are barely decreasing. The payoff from the club certainly helped knock some of it down, but the remainder was still extremely painful to look at.” I pushed my palm against my chest, the simmering ache almost unbearable. “There was a remainder, I should say. Now, the balance is zero.”
A day I had dreamed about since I’d started my undergraduate degree, wondering just how many years it would take to pay off, and again when I added a master’s degree to my mounting debt.
I was only at the beginning of my payment plan. I had so many more years to go.
The smile didn’t fade at all when he said, “Why are you telling me all of this, Addison?”
“Because I sorta went bananas when I looked at my account. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was positive there was a mistake, that I was seeing something that wasn’t really there, or that I’d logged in to the wrong account. So, I rushed into Leah’s bedroom, pulled her out of a Zoom, and made her confirm that what I was seeing was the truth. And by the smile on her face, I knew something wasn’t right. That there was far more to the story than what I was looking at, which took about two seconds to figure out.” I recrossed my legs and leaned forward. “I then texted you, and now, I’m here.”
“You’re here to say what?”
The tears were rimming my eyes, and I couldn’t stop them. I wiped my eyelids, trying to come up with something, anything to say, but the words I’d thought of on the way over here were no longer in my head. They’d dissolved. And anything that surfaced in my mouth didn’t feel worthy enough to speak.
“Ridge, I …”
“Come here, baby.”
He held out his arms, and that was all I needed to see to haul myself up from the chair and rush around his desk and collapse in his lap. My arms circled his neck, my face buried by his throat.
“I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“I would do anything for you.”
That wasn’t the first time he’d said that to me, and it wasn’t that I’d doubted it before, but every day that passed, he proved it more and more.
Still, paying off my debt was a level I never could have imagined. And I never would have allowed it if I’d been given a choice.
“How do I thank you? How do I even come up with something that’s strong enough to say to you or worthy enough to show you how much I appreciate you?”
“This is enough.” His voice was so calm.
I gently pounded his chest. “But this”—I swallowed, the spit thickening, my tongue feeling too large for my mouth—“is too much, Ridge. What you did is?—”
“Nothing is too much for you.”
His arms were locked around me like the mornings when I woke up next to him, every inhale full of his delicious scent.
“I wanted to do this for you, Addison. I couldn’t stand the thought of you making payments for the next however many years and having that debt hold you hostage so you could never get ahead.” As I lifted my face and gazed at him, he added, “You can look at it that way, or you can look at it as my thanks for being such a wonderful teacher to my daughter. Whatever you want, but I was happy to do it.”
I scanned his eyes. I didn’t have his talent. I could never see what he was feeling, not like he could do to me. But what I saw behind his stunning cobalt eyes with the navy flecks around the edge was a man who was so kind, attentive, giving, nurturing—and everything I would ever need.
I’d come here to discuss what he’d done, to thank him, to yell at him, but there was something else he needed to know.
Something I had to get off my chest.
Something that finally needed to hit his ears.
“I love you, Ridge.”
He slowly licked his lips. “You know, you asked me what would happen when you said those words to me, and I told you, you needed to say it before you found out.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“Addison …” He unraveled his arms and held my face. Before Ridge, that was a gesture no man had ever done to me. “I love you too.”
Hearing him say it to me, feeling that statement move through the air and penetrate my chest, was more than I could handle. All I could whisper back was, “You do?”
“Very much.” He kissed me. Slowly. Sucking in my breath and replacing it with his tongue. “Now, go lock the door.”