Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
AUGUST CURRENT DAY (TUESDAY)
“I n conclusion,” I say to a room of faces wearing varying levels of disbelief. “We can keep the consulting side of the business as is and still use it for your company at a net neutral cost because of the tax write off. It generates more revenue for the health plan side and maintains the value our company has worked hard to earn over the past years. All we have to do is set up a parent company that owns both entities and keeps them separate.”
The room is completely silent.
Is that a good or bad thing?
I look over at Warren and he’s sporting the largest grin I’ve ever seen. It makes me feel more confident.
“Any questions?” I add.
Peter stands and clears his throat. His eyes are wide as he looks at Warren. “Is this real?”
“She found the tax law and did all of the analyses.” Warren makes sure that’s clear up front and I wish I could kiss him right now for it. “But she walked me through every piece of research and all of the assumptions and calculations, and I stand behind every word spoken.”
“Well, Miss Summers.” Peter turns towards me and extends his hand. “A deal’s a deal. We will keep discussing this proposal of yours, but this is great work.”
“So, no layoffs?” I confirm.
“No layoffs.” He laughs. “But I would love to hear how you came up with this. How did you even know about this tax law?”
My eyes flash over to Warren for just a moment, and I smile. “Now that is a long story that begins about eight years ago at a local bar’s trivia night.”
Peter stares at me and blinks rapidly. Only once he’s processed what I said does he break out laughing—leaning over and using the conference table for support. “Seriously? The future of my company is based on what I assume was a drunken night out?”
“If it makes you feel better, in eight years, no one’s been able to beat the score we got that night.” My eyes lock with Warren’s and we both join Peter in laughter when my comment makes him laugh harder.
The rest of the people slowly file out of the conference room. Jason stalks out, Serge and Ben just go on with their day, and Clara squeezes my shoulder and mouths “Thank you.” It’s just Peter, Warren, and I laughing while Mac watches us all with a smile. She seems to be wherever Peter is and my suspicions of them being together only grows.
“It probably shouldn’t,” Peter says, finally calming down, “but it makes me like the proposal more.”
“Who says work and play can’t go hand in hand?” I tease, feeling comfortable around Peter already.
“You know, Miss Summers?—”
“Analise, please.” I smile.
“Analise.” Peter nods. “You have quite the reputation in this space; I wasn’t sure what to expect when we got here. I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised.”
“Reputation?” My face twists in confusion.
Warren snickers and I turn to glare at him. But when I see his face, I understand.
It was the same reputation they teased me about, that caused people to keep me off meeting invites so I wouldn’t poke holes in their presentations when important people were in the room. Yes, I was good at what I did, and everyone knew it, but that was the precise reason they didn’t want me around. I hadn’t realized that reputation followed me from Triniti.
“Oh,” I say under my breath and my face falls.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Peter continues, “you have a reputation for being the best, and quite frankly I think even that undersells what you can do. But I’m starting to think the rumors that you’re hard to work with come from narrow-minded men who couldn’t accept the fact that a woman, let alone a subordinate, was smarter than them.”
My eyes widen as I look up at him.
I never let the comments bother me. I never stopped just because people were uncomfortable, but other than with my friends, I knew it pissed people off. I’d never had someone of a higher level tell me it was welcome—no, scratch that, I’d never had a male colleague at a higher level welcome me speaking my mind who wasn’t a friend.
“I have no tolerance for people like that at my company,” he continues. “Never change, Analise.”
I smile. “You know, you’re not what I expected from a health tech CEO yourself.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” He smiles back.
“It was meant as one.”
* * *
My office door clicks shut just before I’m about to head home. Strong arms wrap around my waist and lips press to my shoulder then move up my neck. I sigh and lean back, resting against his chest.
“You are incredible,” Warren whispers against my neck, and I shiver. “And now everyone knows it.”
I turn around and place my hands on his cheeks. I just stare at him, drinking in every detail on his face until the corner of his mouth pulls up, then I kiss him, long and deep. His hands wrap around my waist and pull me closer. I keep kissing him until I have to stop, because if I kept going, I don’t think I’d ever stop.
I lean my forehead against his and soak in his presence.
“What was that for?” I can hear the smile in his words.
“That.” I take a deep breath. “Was because you are also incredible, and I’ve never thanked you.”
He pulls back. “Thanked me? For what?”
“For always standing up for me, especially when I wasn’t in the room. For not letting others take credit for the work I did. For not being intimidated by me, and always telling me my strength and my voice were my superpowers. For making sure I didn’t let their words stop me.” A tear drops down my cheek and he kisses it away. “I took for granted your unwavering support, and I don’t want to do that ever again. If I’m incredible, it’s because you helped make sure I was.”
“Analise, you shouldn’t have to thank me for doing the right thing—for treating you the way you deserve.”
I kiss his nose then his lips. “You have always been one of the good guys. I have always been so grateful to have you in my life.”
“I love you,” he says between kisses. “I will always love you.”
“Can you take me home now so we can continue this,” I mumble.
Home. Home is not a place, it’s a feeling. A feeling I’ve only ever had with him.
“I wish I could, but we have reservations tonight and I need to run by my hotel room first. I left my date night outfits there.” He smirks and I laugh.
“You brought date night outfits?”
“Just in case.” He shrugs and I shove him away, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back into a deep kiss. “I’ll be at your place as soon as possible.”
* * *
I’m just zipping up my dress after doing my hair, makeup, and taking about ten minutes to figure out how the many straps on this dress work when there’s a knock at the door. I run over and throw it open without looking before I move to the dining table to steady myself as I slip on my heels. “Hi, I’m almost ready to go.”
He doesn’t say anything, so I glance up before leaning down to buckle up my heels just in time to catch the door closing, a bouquet of blue tulips dropping onto the table, and Warren dropping to one knee before me.
I stop breathing. If the table hadn’t stopped my fall I would’ve stopped standing.
He’s not doing what I think he’s doing, is he? Because that would be absolutely insane.
Wouldn’t it?
But if it’s crazy then why has my stomach morphed into butterflies made of that liquid, sunshine gold that has his name on it? Why is my heart trying to claw its way out of my chest to land in his hands where it belongs? Why is my mouth forming the word “yes” that’s been waiting to come out since that night?
Lips press to the inside of my thigh, just above the knee, as his hands snake down to the straps on my heels. A stuttering laugh of a breath slips out as my eyes flutter closed.
“Who’s being cruel now?” My voice isn’t steady at all, nothing about me is steady right now. I was just preparing myself for him to propose, I must be going insane. And I really do start to lose it as his lips travel across my legs as he straps on my shoes.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he whispers against my thigh and my leg twitches. It’s physically impossible for my body not to react to him. I can feel his smile grow against my skin. “Is there something else I should be doing down here?”
“I can think of a few things,” I mumble, letting my head drop back until cool air replaces every place he was touching me and my head snaps back up. He’s watching me with eyes that make me feel like nothing else exists in this world but me and him. Like I’d float away if it wasn’t for this connection between us that never went away no matter how much distance or time separated us.
He shakes his head like he’s waking up from a dream. “How is the most beautiful woman in the world somehow mine?”
“Yours?” I smile, loving the way it feels to say the words that have always been true. I have always been his . . . but he once walked away from being mine. So, I snap my legs shut in front of his face.
His eyebrows pull together at the wall blocking where he was planning to go. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Oh, not at all.” I stand and with a finger under his chin guiding him, he follows. I slowly unbutton his cream-colored short-sleeved button-up. “I have always been yours. I will always be yours.”
I kiss him as my hands run down his bare chest and move to his belt and the button on his navy-blue chinos. He kisses me back without hesitation, pulling my dress up over my hips, but before he can go any further, I reach behind him and pull out a dining chair. He pauses and pulls back to look at me but with one light push on his chest, and with his pants and boxers around his ankles halting movement, he has nowhere to go but down onto the chair.
He watches me, eyes burning, as I place my legs on either side of the chair and slowly lower myself down. As I get close, I reach down to pull my underwear out of the way and position him in place so I can lower myself right onto him. He groans and drops his head back, closing his eyes and I fight to keep mine open, wanting to take in every second of this as he did when the roles were reversed. But god, he feels so fucking good.
Once I’m all the way down, I roll my hips and he curses, his hands flying to grip my hips. He tries to move but I keep him pinned down so he can’t move until I let him. I lean forward and thread my hand into his hair. After pressing my lips to his neck, I move them to his ear. “I think it’s you who needs the reminder that just as I will always be yours, you will always be mine.”
As I speak the final words, I lift up and drop back down—over and over. I don’t stop moving, not letting him make a single move or recover. I savor every little noise he makes and the way he freely gives himself to me—the way he surrenders himself to me.
I know he doesn’t give it lightly. I know it’s precious and delicate, and I know I will treasure it for as long as I live. His love. Him.
When he comes back to the current moment, he’s still breathing heavily. His hands ended up threaded in my hair and he kissed me as he fell apart with my name on his lips. He holds me like he never wants to let me go.
“Analise Summers,” he says between breaths. “There is not a single part of me that has not been yours since the moment I first laid eyes on you.” He kisses me before I can speak. “And I know I’ve been gone the past six years—I know I’m the one who walked away—but I never stopped loving you. I’ve had six years to think about everything I’d do if I ever saw you again. Six years to think about everything I wanted to do with you that I never got to.”
“I hope I haven’t seen it all already,” I tease and kiss him.
“How about we forget the reservation and I’ll show you more?” His arms wrap around my back and his lips bury into my neck. “We’ll be late by now anyway.”
“Not if we run.”
He laughs into my neck and tries to protest when I start to stand.
“How about we make the reservation, so we have the necessary energy for the rest of the night?” I smirk at him over my shoulder as I pull my dress back down after cleaning myself up, and toss him a wet washcloth to clean up with. I will never get over the way he watches me like he would be content if I was the only thing he ever saw for the rest of his life. The way he looks at me like I’m his reason for being alive.
I have to look away or we won’t make the reservation. “Besides, I’m only in this for the money, so I’d better get a free dinner out of it.”
He laughs then crosses the room and pulls me into his chest. “It would be a shame not to show you off to the rest of the world in this dress.”
He kisses me deeply before grabbing my hand and leading us, running through the streets of Hartford. And when he orders our favorite white wine for special occasions and toasts “To the most brilliant and beautiful woman in any room,” I feel cherished beyond belief.
I don’t think any two people smiled and laughed more than we did that night. As we ran hand in hand through the streets of the city where we first fell in love. As we solidified that love all over again.