by Nina Crespo
Soon, the master of ceremonies would begin the celebration with an intro about her father and the history of the company. Then, she and her parents would enter the room and walk through a sea of applauding NorthStar employees.
Her mom, the picture of elegance in a pale pink cocktail dress, frowned up at Alexa’s dad. “I can’t believe they ditched us at the last minute.”
They being Brad’s parents.
“It wasn’t last minute. Evan and I had a long talk yesterday about a lot of things. He and I are back on track, but he has things to take care of outside of the company.” Alexa’s father endured her mother brushing nonexistent lint from the lapel of his black tuxedo jacket. Again. “It’s nothing for you to get excited about. Remember what your doctor said about moderating stress?”
“I’m not stressed. I’m just making a point. If the tables were turned, we would have gotten an earful.” Her mom pursed her lips. “Remember their New Year’s party two years ago? You would have thought we jeopardized world peace because we wouldn’t drive through a snowstorm to get there.”
“It’s not the same.” Alexa’s father sighed. “They’ve got a lot to work out with Brad.”
He’d made the announcement to his parents about Karma Sunflower’s pregnancy and his intention to marry her and raise their child. Apparently, his parents hadn’t taken it well.
“I can’t believe Gemma is going to be a grandmother.” Alexa’s mom shook her head. “Now I’ll be expected to sponsor the baby shower of the year, and I’m sure Gemma will need my help to secure a spot in that preschool in Maryland everyone’s dying to get their children into.”
Alexa couldn’t hold back her surprise at her mom’s generosity. Even though she was over Brad, and her father was making progress in his partnership with Evan, she’d anticipated it would take a while longer for her mom to repair her friendship with Brad’s mom. “So you’ve decided to make up with Gemma?”
“Reconciling is the best way to end the gossip and all the drama with it, but don’t get me wrong.” Alexa’s mom held up her hand, making a clarification. “It will take some time for me to have a civil conversation with Brad and Apple Flake, but I’ll try to get there.”
Alexa refrained from correcting Karma’s name. At least her mother was embracing her compassionate side. Did her generosity have anything to do with her own similar past as an outsider marrying into a different world?
As if she’d heard her question, Alexa’s mom smiled at her. “The good thing is, we can all have a fresh start when given the chance.”
“Yes, we can.” Alexa’s father cleared his throat. “Your mother and I were talking last night. We’d like to meet Rafe. Why don’t you bring him by the house for dinner this coming weekend?”
“I can’t.” An overwhelming sadness tightened in Alexa’s chest. She adjusted the gold necklace in the V-neckline of her black party dress. “He broke up with me.”
“Oh.” Her father’s expression grew troubled. “Are you sure you two can’t work out your differences?”
“It can’t be fixed.”
“I’m not so sure of that.” Her mom smiled as if she were up to something. “I agree with your father. I think inviting him to join us for dinner would be a nice touch.”
Nope. Time to squash any clandestine plans her mom had in the works. “Mom, I’m an adult. This is my life, so please stay out of it. Breakups happen. My relationship with Rafe is over.”
“Okay.” Her mom offered up an innocent shrug. “But I think he might have something to say about that.” She focused behind Alexa.
Prickles danced over Alexa’s nape. She looked over her shoulder.
Rafe stood on the edge of the foyer, a gorgeous mirage in a black evening suit and ice blue tie. He strode over to her and her parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Cayne, I’m Rafe Dumond.” He shook hands with her mom and dad. “I know my timing is off, but may I borrow your daughter for a moment?”
I’m not dreaming. Alexa’s pounding heart echoed in her ears. Rafe had shown up. He was really there, holding her hand.
Her mom raised a brow. “I don’t know if that’s possible. She was pretty adamant about you two no lon—”
“Go right ahead.” Her father shot her mother an admonishing look. “We have a few minutes.”
Rafe gave him a brisk nod. “Thank you.” He led Alexa to a secluded corner.
She released the words stuck in her throat. “What are you doing here?”
“You have every right to send me away, but before you do, I hope you’ll listen to what I have to say.” He grasped her hands tighter. “What I told you about it being over between us. It isn’t. At least, I don’t want it to be.”
“Then why did you walk out? Why have you been avoiding me?”
His gaze dropped to their interlinked fingers, then moved back up to meet hers. “I thought you were back with Brad.”
“So instead of giving me a chance to tell you I’d never go back to him, you made it easy on yourself by shoving me out of your life?” Hurt and irritation hummed through her. “After everything he’d done to me, after what we’d shared together, why would you ever think I wanted him over you?”
Rafe visibly swallowed. “I let my past fuck with my mind. Growing up, I felt like the junk my father collected. Something he didn’t want.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Eden leaving me the way she did tapped into that. The thought of losing you hurt even more. So yeah, pushing you away seemed easier, but it’s not.”
She let him pull her close. His warmth and wonderful familiar scent tempted her to touch him, but she resisted.
“Alexa, you deserve the life of a princess, and I can’t give you that. At least, not yet.” Intensity filled his green-eyed gaze. “I love you, and no one wants to care for you, or see you happy, more than I do. Please—will you give me another chance?”
A chance. Maybe even a lifetime, if he played his cards right. Hope and happiness swelled in her chest. “What did I tell you about that princess thing? That’s not me. I don’t want things. I just want you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, too.”
“You love me?” He grinned.
“Yes, I do. Now shut up and kiss me.”
He planted his lips on hers.
Sweetness. Love. Joy. Desire. She couldn’t imagine experiencing those things with anyone but him.
The kiss ended too soon, but Rafe holding her made up for it.
Her mother and father gave each other proud, knowing smiles as if they’d orchestrated the entire happy situation.
Alexa couldn’t contain her own smile as she clasped Rafe’s hand. “Come on. It’s almost show time.” She pulled him toward her parents stationed at the closed double doors of the ballroom.
“Hold on a sec.” He tugged her back. “What’s going on?”
“The gala. At the moment, everyone is hearing about the history of the company. Once it finishes, the master of ceremonies will introduce us, the doors will open, and we’ll all walk in and take a seat at the head table.”
“You don’t want me up there.” Skepticism filled his expression. “I can sit somewhere else.”
“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. You’re next to Mom. Be prepared.”
A relenting expression took over his face. “Gee. Thanks. No pressure.”
He’d confidently taken his clothes off in front of thousands of women for over five years, and now he was nervous? On the other hand, her mom played the zillion question, find-out-all-your-business game like no one else could. Yeah, he was in trouble.
Alexa barely contained a smirk.
“Uh-oh, what’s that smile about? Should I be worried?”
She smoothed his tie, using it as an excuse to lean on his muscular chest and breathe him in. This gorgeous, wonderful man was all hers. “Maybe just a little. The good news is, you’ll get a very nice reward later on.”
“I will?” His brow raised as he rested his hands on her waist. “What kind?”
She kis
sed him, smiling against his lips. “One that involves you out of that suit and me wearing only your favorite hat.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
One year later
Rafe stuffed the cardboard box into the small recycling bin stored on the side of the brick townhome he and Alexa had purchased. The up-and-coming suburb in Virginia was newly built and occupied mainly by young professionals. Many of the neighbors were couples with small children.
After moving in nearly a month ago, Alexa had finally unpacked the last carton containing the serving bowls and blender she needed for the cookout they were hosting that afternoon. Rafe trekked across the small, fenced-in manicured lawn and climbed the two steps to his own deck. The tables with folding chairs he’d borrowed from Escapade formed an L in the corner. She had spruced them up with white tablecloths and purple, white, and yellow floral centerpieces. He checked the propane tank on the grill in the other corner, then went through the French doors.
The fresh paint smell had faded to the pleasant lemon lavender spray Alexa had used on the light-blue pillows on the cream couch and matching side chairs. Glass-topped furniture melded into the seating area situated on the light-colored tiles. Sunlight gleamed off the gold-framed photos sitting in recessed shelves next to the fireplace built into the wall. She’d even managed to get a picture of his parents holding him as a baby from his dad.
With her encouragement, months ago, he’d read one of his father’s letters instead of tossing it in the trash. In it, his father had written that he’d embraced sobriety three years ago. He’d also shared about the day he’d received the call that his wife, Rafe’s mother, was dead but that his eighteen-month-old son was still alive. His father had to sell his tools and borrow money for a plane ticket to fly to him in California. When he’d arrived at the hospital, his father had written how it had felt like an anchor to hold him in his arms. Carl hadn’t wanted to let go of him, but caring for a child had terrified him just as much as the thought of losing him.
A mix of sadness and hope filled Rafe’s chest. He’d lived believing his father had never wanted him, but he had. His father had dealt with his grief and his fears by holding a bottle close and keeping him at a distance.
After he read the letter, he contacted his father. They started talking on a regular basis, and now they were slowly building a new relationship. Forgetting what his father had done to him would never happen. Forgiving him and releasing the baggage was something he had to do if he wanted to move forward with his life. And he did…with Alexa.
Rafe couldn’t stop himself from running his hand over the lower left pocket of his cargo shorts. He traced the outline of the engagement ring he’d been carrying around for a week. Was the party the right moment to propose? Alexa was nervous about the gathering, and so was he. This was the first event they were holding in their home with his father, her parents, and their friends. Like Alexa, he just wanted everyone to get along and enjoy themselves. But it would also be one of the few times everyone they cared about would have a reason to gather in the same place.
Across the living room in the adjacent kitchen, Alexa arranged cut vegetables on a round, clear plastic tray on the black marble counter and talked on her phone. Her yellow T-shirt enhanced the slight flush of exertion in her cheeks. “Dad, please tell her that’s the convenience of buying ready-made. It’s already done. Yeah. Uh-huh. Trust me, I know. See you when you get here.” She disconnected the call and tucked the phone into the back pocket of her jean shorts.
Rafe joined her in the kitchen. He munched a celery stick and leaned back against the counter. “What’s up?”
“Dad called and asked what they could contribute to the cookout. I sent them to pick up a couple of items from the grocery store.” She covered the tray with plastic wrap then carried it to the stainless steel refrigerator near the corner. “Apparently Mom is freaking out over the concept of buying premade potato salad in a container from a grocery store.”
“You mean the one I like, made with mustard and bacon?”
“Yep.” She gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry. You may end up with the gourmet kind. She’s conferring with the chef she knows at one of the hotels downtown. At least she agreed to make the peach pie.”
“I still can’t imagine your mother with flour all over her hands. Are you sure she’s actually doing it herself?”
“Of course she is. It’s my grandmother’s recipe, and she promised. Have you talked to your dad?” As she bent down to look inside of the refrigerator, the hem of her shirt rose, revealing smooth skin.
“He’ll come over from the motel in a couple hours.”
“I don’t understand why he wouldn’t stay with us.” Her butt wiggled as she rearranged containers of chicken kabobs and steak, ready for the grill.
Rafe pushed away from the counter. “I think he didn’t want to intrude because we just moved in.”
“Okay. But make sure he knows he’s welcome anytime.”
When they’d spent the night with his father in Michigan, she hadn’t looked down on his dad or the cluttered yard and worn furniture inside the house. She’d embraced his father with genuine affection and made herself at home.
Home. That’s what Alexa was to him. After she stood and closed the refrigerator, Rafe spun her around by the waist and brought her close. “Thank you.”
She smiled. “For what?”
She was so damn beautiful, all he could do was stare at her a few seconds longer. Alexa could have any man she wanted. How had he gotten so lucky to have her? He brushed his mouth over her lips. “For doing all of this.” He kissed her again. “For being you.”
He captured her mouth fully. The feeling of her curves pressed up against him blocked out everything but desire. Control slipped, as it often did, and suddenly he was tearing at her zipper and she was tugging up his shirt.
She held him back. “No. We can’t.”
Far from ready to tamp down need, he brought her flush against him. “The food’s prepped. We’ve got at least an hour before everyone is supposed to be here.”
Alexa avoided his kiss. “I didn’t say we couldn’t indulge. Just not in the kitchen or the bedrooms. I just tidied up.”
“Oh.” An idea popped in his mind, just as her face lit up.
She blurted out what he was thinking at the same time he did. “The office.”
They rushed down the hallway and into the first room on the right. As soon as they got inside, they stripped off their clothes in front of the wood desk.
He nudged her down onto the couch. Longing for the taste of her, he widened her legs and kissed up her thighs.
She sighed out a moan as he delved his tongue inside of her. Between each successive glide, he traced a pattern around her clit, focusing on what made her belly quiver beneath his palm.
“Yes… Right there. Right there.” She lifted to meet his mouth.
He sucked the engorged bud, then fluttered over it with his tongue. She cried out her orgasm.
Rafe grasped her hips and sank home.
Her impatience mirrored his as she clamped her legs around his waist. He pumped into her. Each hard clench of her around him radiated heat into his cock. It poured off Alexa as she climaxed.
Control incinerated, and Rafe’s release slammed into him. His world exploded as he buried himself inside of her.
Minutes later, the sensation of Alexa’s legs sliding down his back prompted him to rise to his elbows. Caught by her smile and the emotional and physical connection they shared that he never wanted to end, he gave her a tender kiss. “Marry me.”
“What?” Alexa’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”
He stroked a tendril of hair from her cheek. “I love you, Alexa. Be my wife. Marry me.”
Happiness flooded her expression. “Yes!” She flung her arms around him. Her exuberance almost knocked him off the couch.
He moved away from her long enough to pull on his boxer briefs and retrieve the ring from his pocket.
&
nbsp; She snagged his shirt from the floor and scrambled into it.
Rafe knelt in front of her as she sat on the edge of the cushion. He slipped the ring onto her finger, then kissed her palm.
Her eyes grew bright as she stared at the simple solitaire.
Relief. Rightness. A coming together of his life. They swelled in his chest.
He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “Do you like it?”
“I love it.” Alexa smile softened as she laid her forehead to his. “But not as much as I love you.”
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Acknowledgments
To Life, Breath, and Inspiration. Without you this wouldn’t be possible, and thank you to my real-life hero for always having the words. A shout-out to my Saturday at the Pool sisters who help me keep the faith. You are fabulous! A big thank you to my agent Tricia Skinner for finding this series a home, and an equally big thank you to my editor Brenda Chin for seeing the potential in these characters. Last but not least, sending lots of love to my readers. I hope this story brings you joy.
About the Author
Nina Crespo lives in Florida where she indulges in her favorite passions—the beach, kickboxing, a good glass of wine, date night with her own real-life hero, and dancing. Her lifelong addiction to romance began in her teens while on a “borrowing spree” in her older sister’s bedroom where she discovered her first romance novel. Curiosity about people and places, including what’s beyond the stars, fuels her writer’s imagination. This wellspring of inspiration allows Nina to create sensual contemporary stories and steamy paranormal tales, which she hopes will feed your own addiction for love, romance, and happily ever after.
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