Gael stopped my stumbling. “Sweetheart?”
“Yes?”
“It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out and take it at a pace we’re comfortable with. Harris isn’t going to stop us from finding out where this can go. I don’t care what he tries. Ashlin, you make me feel the same way. You’re not alone in this. Okay?”
“Okay, good. How close are you to baggage claim?”
Gael gave a low chuckle. “I’ve been hiding in an alcove for a few minutes, hoping François doesn’t see me. But even if he did, I wouldn’t hang up until I knew we were okay.”
“We’re more than okay. I promise. You need to get to François. I’m about to head to bed. Will we be able to talk tomorrow?” The longing in my voice was evident.
“Yes, I’ll call every chance I get. I’ll have a better idea after we have our initial meeting of what my schedule will look like.”
“Night, Gael. Have fun, good luck, and learn yummy recipes to cook for me.”
He took a deep breath. “Night, Ashlin. Dream of me.”
“I promise.”
We hung up and I did as Gael had asked—dreamed of him.
PUSHING THE LIT-UP blue button on the coffee machine, I watched as my coffee magically brewed in to my cup. My robe was cinched tight as the house tried to warm up. Through the night, a cold front I hadn’t expected swept through the Savannah area. As I added my creamer, my cell rang. I saw it was Gael and a grin formed.
“Hello?” My voice cracked from lack of use this early in the day.
“Morning. Did I wake you?” Gael sounded tired, but pleased to hear my voice.
Grabbing the coffee off the counter, I turned and leaned against the cream-colored cabinets, letting the warmth of the cup seep into my hands. “No, I’m making my morning cup of java as we speak. How was your first day?”
“Exhausting. We cooked as soon as we arrived. He’s tough, but I’m learning a lot. I’m going to make you Fraisiers when I get home.”
“What’s a Fraisier?”
Talking about food always had Gael speaking with passion. “It’s strawberries and pastry cream sandwiched between two slices of Genoise cake drenched in a Kirsh simple syrup. You’re going to love it. It’s a delicate dessert.”
It sounded delicious and my mouth watered. “I think you’ve learned enough and are ready to come home.”
The happy laughter on the other end made me miss Gael’s touch. “I’m glad you’re missing me like I am you. It’s refreshing you don’t hide your feelings or try to play games.”
“I feel the same way.” A knock sounded from the front door. “Hold on, Gael. Someone is here.”
“Okay.”
Whoever it was would have to deal with the just-out-of-bed look. Undoing the chain and lock, I opened the door. Harris stood there in his black-tailored suit with a limo in the background. The driver stood on the sidewalk in front of the car.
“Harris, what in the hell are you doing here?”
“Do you have a second?” The tone he used implied he wasn’t asking, but demanding.
Oh, shit, Gael is on the other end and now knew Harris was here. This wasn’t going to end well on any account. “Now’s not a good time. Plus, we don’t have anything to say to each other except how I can get my stuff.”
“I think we do.” Harris pushed past me and entered the house. Quickly, he looked around as if he expected someone else to be here.
My voice turned impatient and uncharacteristically cold. “Harris, please leave.”
“Ashlin, we can do this here in the privacy of your home, or I can cause a scene in front of everyone in the town. The choice is yours, but I don’t want you publicly shamed. It’ll cause more work for my PR team when this is behind us.”
How dare he! How dare he come in here like this! I was fuming. Harris brought out the worst in me with his vile temperament.
As I was about to protest, he brought his hand up to show a paper he had been holding that I hadn’t noticed earlier. Taking half a step closer, I saw it was a copy of the New York Post.
I gasped when I saw the article. A picture of Harris, looking lost as he gazed out onto the city from his office, took up a quarter of the page. The title read:
“You bastard.”
Harris raised an eyebrow to me. I needed to get Gael off the phone. Putting the phone to my ear, I turned away from the man trying to control my life. “Hey, let me call you back. I need to deal with something.”
Gael’s voice sounded murderous on the other end, “Ashlin, are you okay? Don’t hang up. Let me talk to that fucker.”
“Give me a few and I’ll call you back. I promise. It’ll all be fine.” My voice broke on the last sentence. I wasn’t sure how this was going to play out.
With trembling fingers, I pushed End as I heard Gael protesting on the other end. I’d figure it out in a second. Fury consumed me as I turned back to the man that I loathed. “Harris, what the hell are you doing? This isn’t a game. We’re through.”
“Were you talking to the bastard who you’re cheating on me with? What is his name?”
I scoffed. “Are you delusional? We broke up the day of Aunt Leelyn’s funeral. That’s not cheating. We are through. We have been through—for awhile, even before I officially ended it. Why are you fighting this?”
Harris looked like he could kill someone with his looks. “Were you talking to the fucker who’s trying to take what’s mine?”
“Yes, I was. Except guess what? I’m his, Harris. I’m his—not yours.”
The words were freeing and felt right. With all that we had been through, I felt nothing for Harris.
The vein in Harris’ forehead pulsed and I knew he was seething. This look was common when things weren’t going his way. “Ashlin, I know you’re confused after losing your Aunt Leelyn. Your father did a number on you when he killed himself. You’re becoming self-destructive.”
“What?”
He threw the paper down on the table. “Well, that’s at least what the New York Post wrote. I’m trying to save our love. You should read it. It comes from a reliable source, or so I’ve been told.”
My mouth gaped open at all the lies. Harris came toward me, invading my space. I refused to take a surrendering step back as I glared at him. He continued as if he didn’t have someone looking at him, ready to gouge his eyes. “I need you to keep achieving the empire I’m building. I don’t want to start over with all that dating shit or someone who will cause me unnecessary problems. I don’t have the luxury of time with the deals I’m brokering. This article bought me some sympathy so the deals can continue until you get your head on straight.”
“I don’t care what you do to me. Harris, we are through. Done! I’ll never go back to you!” I folded my arms over my chest to emphasize my point.
His voice was lower, but it still seemed to echo through the room. “Then, think about the guy you’re seeing. I’ll ruin him, Ashlin. I won’t stop until I get my way. You’ve seen what I can do.”
This was where Harris had me pausing. The thought of Gael becoming of causality of this war was not an option. “Leave him out of this! It has nothing to do with him!”
Of course, he saw my weakness for Gael. He continued, visibly calming down with the confirmation I didn’t want Gael hurt. “I’ll crush him like a bug, Ashlin, and then I’ll still get you. You’re going to make him suffer for no reason.”
My heart physically hurt at his words. The thought of Gael being subjected to all this was more than I could bear.
“Think about what I’ve said.”
Harris turned to leave and I spit out, “Why are you doing this? You’re driving me to hate you!”
As Harris reached for the door, he took a deep breath. For a moment, when he looked at me, he seemed sad and his eyes were full of regret. “Because I know what it’s like to have all of you and I won’t let any other man have that. Even if it means you hate me, at least you’ll be with me and no one else. If the note di
dn’t get through to you, I don’t know what else will.”
Before I could respond, Harris walked out the door. I collapsed on the wood floor and sobbed. There wasn’t a name for what Harris was doing, but I never imagined he would be capable of such darkness toward me. I was going to lose Gael. It was inevitable. Sobs racked my body. Maybe I was doomed to be alone.
The phone ringing brought me out of my self-destructive thoughts. It was Gael.
“Hello.” It was obvious I was upset.
“Before you say anything, Ashlin. I heard it all. You didn’t hang up the phone. When you didn’t hear me calling your name, I hung up and called you back. I heard it all and I don’t care.”
I made an unladylike sniffle. “You can’t mean that, Gael. You heard what he said. If he knew your name, he’d already be causing you problems. I had no idea he was capable of going this far or I would have never put you at risk like this.”
“Ashlin, I’m getting on a plane and coming home.” Drawers sounded like they were opening on the other end of the line.
“Why? No, you can’t.”
The sound stopped and his voice was frantic. “Because, I’m not taking a chance on losing you. I’m going to fight for what I think we can be. I’m choosing this fight, Ashlin. And if I end up with you at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”
We needed to calm down. “Stay. Please don’t leave. This is a chance of a lifetime for you.”
“Ashlin, you’re more important.” Gael’s urgency in his voice rang through my core. He had heard Harris’ threats and was willing to deal with the storm to be with me.
I rubbed my temple with my free hand. A headache loomed behind my eye sockets. “Please stay in France. Please. You’re not losing me. But if it gets to be too much and you need to end things, I’ll understand, regardless of how bad it hurts. I could never ask you to subject yourself to Harris and his threats.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Let me worry about Harris. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I feel guilty as hell staying here.”
“I want you to stay. I would hate if you missed this opportunity. I still don’t want to announce to anyone we’re dating until you get back. This will be easier if we’re together. Maybe if things stay quiet, it’ll go away.”
Gael was silent for a minute before he responded. “I think it’s best for you not having to deal with him alone. Ashlin, I’m worried about you.”
My mind and body was still wrecked from Harris’ visit. “I’m a little shaken, but I’ll be fine. What are you doing?”
I needed a subject change.
“When we get done talking, I’ll grab some dinner, then go to sleep. We start cooking at three in the morning for breakfast. It’ll be another long day, but I’ll call as often as I can.” Gael seemed to calm down as I did.
We lapsed into easy conversation. Gael told me what France was like. And I told him about my latest projects. I knew he’d heard the comment about my dad, but he didn’t pry and I was grateful. Gael yawned.
“I’m going to let you go. You need to eat and get to bed. You have an early morning and need to be ready for François.”
He yawned again. “Okay, sweetheart. I wanted to tell you something before we hung up. The day I ran into you at Oglethorpe Park wasn’t a coincidence. You had told me the night before as I walked you to the cab. I ran that area for two hours waiting for you to show.”
“You did?” I loved hearing how much Gael had wanted to see me.
He chuckled. “I did. You need to know how much I want to see where this goes. I won’t let anyone get in the way of us. Call me if anything happens. I mean it. I’m in this with you.”
“I will. I’m all in, too. Miss you.”
“Miss you, too. Night.”
“Night.”
I hung up the phone and took a big breath while I rolled my shoulders to relieve some of the tension. Gael had been amazing. If I had been in Gael’s position, I wondered if I would stay and battle it out with the nasty ex. Seeing Gael’s face, and knowing how I felt about him, told me my answer. Yes. I would stay and fight for Gael. Some things were worth risking it all for.
It was two days until Gael came home. My body quaked with excitement with the spoken promises of being with him through our conversations. In one of our phone calls, things had become a little more heated.
I was on the couch under some blankets as Gael and I spoke about our day. The two weeks were crawling by at an almost unbearable pace.
“Only seven more days and I get to kiss you again.” Gael’s abrupt subject change had that familiar need building within me.
Pressing my lips together, I thought about if I wanted to take it a little further. I did. “I thought you were going to make me yours in seven days.”
“I’m kicking myself for not having you before I left. What the hell was I thinking, being all chivalrous? My dreams are consumed with you.” Gael’s husky voice only worsened my need. Every night I had gotten myself off trying to alleviate the overwhelming throb of my core.
Breathing more rapid, my tone betrayed my desires. “You’re not alone, Gael.”
“Next time we’re apart, I’m going to hear you come undone over the phone.”
I was tired of waiting. “Why not now?”
“Because the first time you orgasm for me, I want to be inside you, looking in your eyes. In that moment, there will be no doubt we belong to each other.”
That conversation was what I would use to send me over the edge when the ache became too great to function normally since that night.
In the last two weeks, we had spent hours talking through a free app on our phones. Our connection had grown as we got to know each other. My heart was consumed by Gael and there was no hiding how smitten I had become. Gael didn’t hide that my feelings were reciprocated.
As we talked, Gael had an ability for wringing out the most embarrassing confessions from me. I still couldn’t believe I had told him about when I was in junior high and threw up at the front of the class from nerves while giving a speech. Or when I kissed a guy for the first time and we ended up with bloody noses from not tilting our heads to the side as we came together.
Gael was equally as open with me. When he was a teen, his mom had walked in on him looking at a Playboy magazine. It had been his dad’s. Gael had tried to toss it behind him when she entered, but instead, threw it the wrong way. He hit his mom in the head. Thinking of it still caused me to laugh.
Overall, I had spent my days buried in work and had finished several projects ahead of schedule. I’d be able to keep my schedule light through the holidays.
Harris had been quiet since his bombardment into my home. I had received a few texts ranging from, are you ready to come home? Or are you still seeing that guy? I didn’t respond and changed my number. However, I had called the reporter who had published the article about the less than flattering article in The Post. Currently, he was off on assignment. The supervisor had assured me he would call me back when he returned. Right. As long as there weren’t anymore, I would let it stay as is. Stirring more drama would only bring more problems.
The only other person who knew about what Harris had done was Amelia. She was ready to castrate him, but agreed that lying low was the best route for now. She hoped to come down soon with Steven to meet Gael. I held off on giving Amelia a date until we had some actual time together.
Checking the time, I knew Gael would be calling in the next fifteen minutes. Class was postponed as Chef François had a television crew coming to his kitchen to do a show for the Food Network. To make up the time, the classes had been longer the previous three days.
I turned off all the lights, locked the door and headed to my room. As I brought the covers up, my phone rang.
“Good morning.” It was different thinking how Gael was already starting the next day.
“Evening, sweetheart. Only two more days and I get to hold you.” The longing in his voice had me internally doing somersaults.
/>
Hugging my pillow, I thought about how close we were to seeing each other. “I know. I can’t wait. Was it nice to sleep in?”
“You have no idea. I plan on sleeping for a day with you in my arms when I get back.”
Two more days. Only two more days.
I squirmed at the raw sensuality of his voice. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too much sleeping. “I like the sound of that.”
“So, I was thinking.” Gael dramatically paused. “Maybe today you could read the next section of the journal. I know you’ve been dying to see what happens to Daniel and Sophia. They really shook things up last time we read them.”
Gael and I had agreed to only go on the journey together. It had been hard not to slip and read ahead, but I loved that this was something we would always have. Could I read it aloud if they got naughty again?
Gael used his persuasive cajoling tone. “You know you want to.”
The journal sat on the dresser waiting to be opened. Taunting me to read it. Maybe they would sip tea and only talk about the weather. Yeah, right. Knowing I was going to say yes, I still stalled, mentally preparing myself for giving a sex play-by-play to someone over the phone. “You’re using that tone again.”
The low rumble of his laughter did things to me. Part of me was afraid I was going to tackle Gael with wild abandonment on the spot when he came home. Get a grip, Ashlin. Have a little self-control. That had been on constant repeat in my mind for the last twelve days. Thank goodness he didn’t have another trip like that planned.
“Is it working?”
Already up and grabbing the journal, I got back under the covers. “Yes, it is. I’ve been dying to see what happens.”
“I hope they’re really naughty.”
“Of course they’re going to be naughty.” I swallowed hard. “Okay, let me find where we left off.” I took the metal bookmark out and read.
Predestined Hearts Page 12
