Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
I unlocked the door and stepped aside. “After you, mi amor.”
Catalina smiled and walked inside. Her reaction was immediate as she stopped and took in the entire area.
I leaned softly against the doorframe, gently crossing my arms as I looked at her face, noticing her expression with quiet curiosity.
The woman who designed and created spaces like this for other people’s happiness or desires was suddenly speechless. Though her planning was on a grander scale than this, I saw what truly captivated her.
Like Nat said, she didn’t care for flashy wealth, which summed up virtually every place I owned. It was the simpler things that Cat preferred, places like this. I just didn’t have the exact confirmation of her tastes until I watched her take it all in at this very moment.
Her reaction was exactly what I’d been hoping for.
The late-afternoon sunlight poured through the windows, bathing the cottage in a warm golden glow. Exposed wood beams stretched across the vaulted ceiling, while natural stone surrounded the massive fireplace that dominated the living room.
The space wasn’t enormous, and that had been intentional. I owned enough enormous properties. What I loved about it was that this place wasn’t meant to impress anyone. It was meant to feel like home.
I watched as Catalina slowly turned in a circle, observing the oversized cream-colored sofa, the antique wooden furnishings, and the fresh flowers arranged throughout the room. She slowly moved toward the French doors, which were open to the private stone patio.
Every detail of this cottage had been designed to feel comfortable and intimate. It was as if the outside world couldn’t quite reach you here.
“This place is everything.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “And I’m learning more about the woman who holds my heart captive,” I said.
“What are you learning?” she playfully teased.
“That she’s impressed by places that take her away from the hectic world we are forced to live in.”
“The escape is a better way to put it,” she grinned. “This fireplace is beautiful.”
“Like you,” I said with a soft laugh.
Catalina embodied everything this cottage felt like… a refuge from a demanding world I had been trapped in for longer than I realized.
In fact, if I hadn’t told my brothers I was spending the entire weekend with her—living my life, for once, with her—I’d be in a board meeting. Hell, who was I kidding? I’d be in Monaco on my yacht with the rest of them, attending events every night this summer.
Instead, I was here, fully present in a cottage, feeling more fulfilled than I would be by signing another acquisition.
I trailed behind as Catalina explored the cottage, finding it much more enjoyable to discover everything with her than being there alone.
She wandered into the bedroom and immediately stopped again. The room centered around a massive four-poster bed dressed in crisp white linens. French doors overlooked a private garden, and a stone fireplace mirrored the one in the living room.
The peach Juliet rose arrangement I’d selected from a high-end floral boutique sat on the nightstand, and a bottle of champagne waited nearby, chilling next to the chocolate strawberries I’d hoped she’d approve of.
She walked quietly to the arrangement set in a stone vase.
The Juliet roses were handpicked, and their petals shifted between soft peach, champagne, and warm apricot, each bloom unfolding delicate layers that looked almost impossibly precise.
Cream-colored ranunculus nestled among them, while a handful of sweet peas drifted above the arrangement, completing the perfect arrangement for the most perfect woman.
“These are gorgeous,” she said, grabbing the card I’d written for her days earlier.
“They are,” I said, approving of the final piece the florist arranged, “but the woman standing next to them is even more spectacular.”
She smiled and opened the card, reading every word slowly. It was as though she didn’t trust herself to rush through them. As though nobody had ever written words like that for her before.
For the woman whose beauty transcends flowers, diamonds, and gold.
Every extraordinary thing I have ever done pales in comparison to the privilege of loving you.
Yours always,
—T.
I shrugged. “Hope that’s not too cheesy,” I said, smiling.
“You are truly a man I couldn’t have dreamed up if I tried,” she said, holding the card to her heart.
“How long have you been planning all this?” she asked, more out of disbelief than anything.
“Since I was overseas and realized I just needed time alone with you, with nothing to interrupt us. I wanted a few days where work wasn’t pulling either of us in different directions.”
She smiled softly. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for this. For thinking of this getaway, even though you didn’t know how much I needed it. Hell, I didn’t even know how badly I needed this escape until we drove up here and I walked through those doors.”
“I believe I felt the same way you’re feeling now the night you brought me to dinner at the fish shack and demanded that I take you to a public beach.” I smiled. “And for that, your reaction to it all is the only expression of gratitude I’ll ever need.”
“Well, once I’m done touring this place, you’ll receive a proper gesture of gratitude, kind sir,” she said with that arch of her eyebrow.
“Keep doing that, and you won’t make it through your private tour,” I winked as she turned toward the bathroom.
A few moments later, she disappeared through the doorway, and I followed, softening further in response to her reaction.
The bathroom was larger than some hotel suites, with stone flooring stretching beneath our feet and an oversized soaking tub beside tall windows overlooking a private garden.
Catalina walked directly toward it. “I might be living in this all weekend. Good thing there’s room for two,” she teased.
I stepped closer toward her, sliding my hands into the pockets of her jeans. I bent to kiss the side of her neck, “I’ll ensure we both fit if it’s your desire to soak in this bath all weekend.”
Her hand reached up behind her, snaked around my neck, pulling my chin down to rest contentedly on her shoulder.
“This place is unforgettable,” she finally said, looking out the window.
My gaze followed hers to the views beyond. Lantern-lined pathways wound through private gardens filled with roses, citrus trees, and towering oaks. The Santa Ynez Mountains rose in the distance beyond the property.
This moment of peace was priceless. Just me and her, the rest of the world forgotten.
She turned to me, and the look in her eyes stopped me before she even touched me. There was no teasing smile, no playful remark, and no attempt to hide what she was thinking.
For perhaps the first time since I’d met her, Catalina wasn’t questioning herself about me or us. She wasn’t second-guessing, and she wasn’t worrying about tomorrow. She was simply certain.
And God help me, that certainty was breathtaking. My pulse slowed as she reached for my hand and led me back toward the bedroom. Everything around us had gone quiet. The distant sounds from outside seemed to fade. The crackling fireplace. The rustle of leaves beyond the windows.
It was just the soft fragrance of roses and jasmine lingering in the room. Then everything narrowed until there was only her.
I had spent most of my life leading, making decisions—making these decisions in particular. I carried responsibility and controlled outcomes, yet with her? She controlled every outcome I seemed to be part of.
My chest tightened when she grabbed my hand and guided me back into the bedroom. I reached for her face, and her eyes closed as she leaned into my palm. I watched her beautiful eyes reopen and lock onto mine.
“You’re mine right now,” she said with a fiery look in her eye that made my thoughts scatter.
The words shouldn’t have affected me as much as they did.
I’d spent my life building and acquiring companies, hotels, aircraft, and entire developments.
None of them had ever meant as much to me what Catalina did in that moment.
Not because she’d demanded it, but because giving myself to her had become the easiest decision I’d ever made.
She gently bit down on the corner of her bottom lip as she unfastened my belt, and the next thing I knew, my pants were on the floor.
My eyes closed, allowing this woman to do with me whatever she wanted. My button-down was removed and tossed aside, and I sucked in a ragged breath as her lips moved over the center of my chest while her fingernails gently glided over my ass, removing my briefs.
As if I wasn’t already fucking ready to explode from this gentle, erotic moment, she gently stopped my lips from touching hers with just one finger.
A slow heat spread across my chest when her eyes dropped to my erection. She licked her lips and stepped back from where I stood.
I watched as she gracefully rolled her camisole off, tossed it aside, and gently unbuttoned her jeans in the most sexual way I’d ever seen a woman do. Everything was slow and precise, and now I was staring at the most beautiful woman, wearing nothing but a lace bra and panties.
“You’re going to let me properly thank you,” she said softly.
I licked my now-parched lips in response, only able to offer a smile of want in return. She freed her perfectly full breasts from her bra, tossed it aside, then stepped out of her thong. The sizzling air hissed all around us, our bodies heated with desire.
She walked toward me, gently guiding me to lie back on the bed as she crawled over me.
I went to touch the one place I had wanted all night, but she resisted me and moved both my hands over my head.
I felt her warmth and slickness slide over my abdomen as she rubbed herself against me, and she traced her tongue over my lips.