Paul (Members From Money Book 7)

by Katie Dowe

  “I felt the same way too,” his heartbeat had quickened at her words and he felt his body tighten as her breasts brushed against his chest. “I almost killed myself getting here. I have a feeling that my driver thinks I have gone insane.” He said with a smile.

  “Okay enough of this now,” she told him firmly easing out of his arms and returning to her place by the stove. “Whenever you start doing that dinners get ruined and we end up in the bedroom or on the floor. This time we are eating dinner, it took me a while to come up with the menu so go and take a shower and then let’s eat.”

  “Yes ma’am,” he kissed her cheek softly and then headed for the bathroom.

  They sat down to dinner as soon as he returned with his hair still damp and dressed in a gray T-shirt and sweat pants and his feet bare. He placed a neatly wrapped package on the table in front of them as soon as she started dishing out the meal.

  She looked at it for a moment afraid to touch it.

  “It’s not going to bite Lee,” he told her dryly.

  “I know that,” she exclaimed picking up the package and opening the wrapper carefully. Her eyes widened as she saw what was inside! It was a Piaget Polo watch with a broad face and a big band and she knew without even asking that it had been horribly expensive.

  She knew he was watching and waiting for her reaction and for that reason she schooled her expression into one of admiration. “It’s beautiful,” she told him quietly. “I love it.” She slid it onto her left wrist and adjusted the clasp and watched as it shone against her skin.

  “You are dying to ask me how much it costs aren’t you?” he asked her in amusement.

  “I am not!” she retorted taking her seat. “Now tell me about your trip, I am sure you knocked them dead.”

  *****

  He helped her do the dishes and she teased him about it being the first time for him to do menial jobs. “See what you have reduced me to,” he said mildly throwing the damp towel in her direction.

  “It’s good for you. It helps to build character,” she told him tongue in cheek. This felt good, both of them being together like this and she loved it.

  “There is absolutely nothing wrong with my character, thank you very much.” He had put the dish he had been drying in the dish drainer and come over to stand behind her holding her around the waist.

  All through dinner he had watched her laugh at some of the stories he had told her about his trip. Her relaxed stance and her body language told him how much she enjoyed having him around. He had watched her dark eyes light up when she smiled, the way her lips parted to reveal her perfect white teeth and the way tendrils of her hair clung to her chiseled cheeks. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted her to be his for a lifetime; he loved her so much that he ached physically not to be around her. How much time was he supposed to give her? He wondered.

  “What do you want to do now?” he asked her softly.

  She leaned back against his solid frame and closed her eyes in contentment. “Just stay like this for a long time.” She murmured.

  “That can be arranged.” He lifted her off her feet and strode with her into the living room.

  “What no bedroom?” she teased, closing her hands around his neck as he sat down on the sofa with her on his lap.

  “That’s for much later,” he whispered, bending his head to take her lips with his.*****

  He watched her as she slept. They had made quiet and slow leisurely love on the living room sofa. Afterwards he had lifted her and taken her to the bedroom where he had explored her body with his mouth until she had begged him to take her again. She had drifted off into an exhausted sleep in his arms.

  He watched her parted lips and the fan of her lashes on her cheeks. She was so beautiful. He thought. He wondered what she would look like carrying his child inside her. His gaze drifted down to her flat stomach and down to her pubic area.

  She had stopped wearing panties around him because he tended to tear them off her in his impatience, he thought ruefully. He was hooked on her and he was okay with it except now he wanted more. He wanted to see her with his ring on her finger and bearing his name and eventually his child or even his children.

  He needed her so much that at the time he found he could not function because of how much he was thinking of her. She had not let him meet her mother over the phone and he was biding his time. He had the information of where she lived in Italy with her husband Lorenzo and even their telephone numbers but he wanted her to make the first move; he did not want to push it even though he was getting impatient.

  He had wandered into stores like a teenager with his first crush looking for the perfect gift for her and had hoped and prayed that she would not object to it or worse refuse to accept it. He was glad she was not into him for his money but it frustrated him to no end that she refused to accept expensive gifts from him.

  With a quiet sigh, he pulled her closer to him and heard her small murmurings as she snuggled against his chest. They belonged together whether she admitted it or not.

  *****

  She wore the watch to work the next day and she had dressed accordingly in a red wool sweater, black skirt and boots. It was nearing November and it was icy that time of year.

  “Oh my goodness! I want me a billionaire boyfriend.” Simoniel practically screamed as soon as she saw what she was wearing on her wrist.

  She had reached work before her friend and had done so because John had to rush home to get dressed for a board meeting. “This is becoming tiresome Lee,” he had complained as he dragged his mouth away from hers at the doorway. “We need to be together.”

  Leonie held out her wrist in order for her friend to get a better look at the stunning time piece on her hand. “He thought I was going to give it back to him,” she said with a grin.

  “Girl, I love my Daniel but this man is a treasure! Literally.” Simoniel looked at the watch in admiration. “I hope he was properly compensated for this absolutely expensive and wonderful gift.”

  “Are you implying that you hope I paid him back in totally hot and mind blowing sex three times for the night?” Leonie asked arching her tapered brows. “I did.”

  “You did not need to get nasty,” Simoniel grumbled. “I am sufficiently jealous.”

  “Thanks, exactly what I was aiming for.”

  *****

  They were kept busy for the rest of the day and it was in the late afternoon that Asami surprised her with a visit.

  “Hi, you were in the neighborhood again?” Leonie asked her teasingly. The woman had always been beautiful but today she looked positively radiant. She was wearing a burgundy pants suit and a stunning white cashmere coat slung carelessly over her arm. Her long dark hair waving gently down her back, her eyes were sparkling.

  “Of course dear,” she said with a smile as she took a seat on one of the chairs in front of the desk. Her eyes caught the watch on Leonie’s wrist and her brows rose. “My son certainly has good taste.”

  Leonie opened her mouth to ask her how she knew but that would have been stupid. “He certainly does.”

  “I barely glimpsed him this morning rushing in to get changed and I assumed he was coming from your place.” Asami crossed her elegantly clad legs and settled back against the cushions. He specifically asked me not to say anything to you but being a nosy mother who happens to think that you two are made for each other, I have to ask. What is keeping you from getting married?”

  Leonie felt her euphoria evaporate and the panic started. “We are not thinking of that now Asami.” She told her politely.

  “Ah, I have overstepped my bounds,” the woman said with a shake of her dark head. “Please do not say anything to my son, he would skin me alive.”

  “I won’t,” Leonie said through suddenly stiff lips.

  “Now about my good news,” she stretched out her left hand on which a modest sized diamond sparkled on her ring finger. “We wanted you to be the first to know since it was you who actually made it
happen.”

  “You and Lucas?” Leonie stared at the diamond winking on the woman’s finger. “When?”

  “This weekend past.” Asami said with a delighted smile putting her hand back into her lap. “He popped the question as you young people would say. And I promptly said yes, of course.”

  “That’s wonderful Asami!” Leonie said in genuine delight. “So when is the big day?”

  “We have not decided yet but we are not going to be waiting for long. We just have to find out when his son and family can make it here. I have only spoken to them over the phone and I have yet to meet them. I am a little nervous, wondering if they are going to like me.”

  “I am sure they will,” Leonie assured her. “What’s not to like?”

  “Why thank you my dear.” Asami said with a beaming smile. “I say the same thing about you. You and my son fit so well together.”

  Leonie sat there lost in thought after she had left. She had a feeling she was going to have to answer some questions pretty soon.

  Chapter 10

  The trees had shed their leaves leaving them bare and stark with a forlorn look about them. Thanksgiving was a few weeks away and families were making plans for the cooking and the carving of the traditional turkey. Leonie was practically living over at John’s place and the wedding between Asami and Lucas was tentatively set for some time in December.

  “We could make it a double event,” John said to her casually.

  He had picked her up from work and took her to his place where some of her clothes held a place inside his huge closet. She had teased him in saying that he had more clothes than most women put together.

  “I am sure Asami would not appreciate the limelight being taken away from her on that special day,” she answered lightly, knowing that there was no point in pretending that she had no idea what he was talking about.

  “We could have our wedding before theirs or soon after.” He persisted, this time not willing to let it go.

  “Drop it John,” she said abruptly moving away from him off the bed and reaching for the robe, pulling it over her nakedness.

  “No,” he told her abruptly, getting up as well but not bothering to cover his nakedness. “I have been sidestepping the subject of marriage because I did not want you to get upset but no longer Leonie. I want us to get married, we are practically living together as it is so what’s the difference?”

  “The difference is I would have your ring on my finger and your name as well. The difference is I would be setting myself up to fail and knowingly going into something that is not going to last.” She cried wishing he had not mentioned it, wishing they could go all the way back.

  “That’s crap and you know it,” he came down from the steps that led to the huge king sized bed and stood before her, his nakedness magnificent in its beauty. He had the ability to make her weak even though she was getting angry. “Some marriages fail and that’s a part of life. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because the partner was wrong in the first place or maybe they did not love each other enough, but we love each other and we are going to last.”

  “And you know that because?” she hissed. “You know it because we have fabulous sex and we are good together! As soon as we get married that goes straight to hell and I am not willing to take that chance.”

  “Why?” he asked her softly, his heart splintering into tiny pieces. “You are using what your father did to you and your mother to miss out on something so wonderful that you cannot even see it.”

  “Don’t talk about my father,” she whispered achingly and he felt his heart break for her. All he wanted to do was to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. “You have no right.”

  “I have every right,” he told her moving to stand just in front of her but not touching her. “I love you and you love me and I want you to be my wife.”

  “Tough!” she sneered not looking at him but staring at his smooth muscled chest. She wanted him to hold her so badly that she could taste him.

  “I want marriage and nothing else Lee,” he told her wearily, feeling disgusted at how much he needed her, at how much he was tempted to let go of his desires and principles and just go with what she wanted. But he could not and as much as he needed her, he was not going to give in to her.

  “What are you saying?” she finally looked up at him and the expression she saw there sent a shiver of fear inside her body.

  “I am saying that I am going to give you some time to think about what you want and what I want.” He told her. “I have been bending over backwards to please you and not to mention the word marriage to you in case I get you upset but I cannot do it anymore. I need more. This is not enough.”

  “You are leaving me?” she asked him incredulously, the tears coming unbidden to her eyes.

  He sighed and reached out finally to grip her upper arms. “That was what you got from what I just said?” he tilted her chin and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip and felt her shiver. “I love you too much to accept half measures, I want it all,” he smiled grimly. “I want all of you baby and nothing less.”

  “I can’t,” her lips trembled. “I can’t do marriage. I love you! Isn’t that enough? We could live together if you want; I am willing to do that.”

  “You want to live with me but you are not willing to marry me?” he said sadly, stepping back from her, his heart feeling as if it had been replaced by lead. He could not even bear to be around her right now, he wanted to be alone with his immense grief. “I will sleep in one of the other bedrooms tonight and I will have left for the office by the time you are up.”

  She did not beg him even though she wanted to but watched him walked out of the bedroom and out of her life. She was paralyzed, unable to do or say anything. What could she do? She did not want to get married and he wanted marriage. How had it come to this? They had been so happy, at least she had been but apparently he had and now he was trying to force her hand.

  She crawled onto the bed and pulled the comforter over her. The bed had been big before but now it felt as if it was never ending without him in it. It was then she allowed the tears to come. She buried her face into the soft pillows and soaked it with her tears.

  *****

  She had every intention of leaving before he got up but she overslept because she had spent the night tossing and turning, trying to find a place on the bed that did not smell like him.

  Asami was there when she came downstairs and she met her at the bottom of the stairs. She knew how she must look. No amount of make-up could disguise her puffy eyes and her drawn face and she had not even bothered to put on lip gloss because looking at her lips reminded her of how much she enjoyed him kissing her.

  “John left instructions for the driver to take you to your apartment.” The woman said quietly. “He looks even worse than you do and I tried to get out of him what was wrong and he told me to mind my own business. I suppose you are going to tell me the same as well?”

  To her horror she burst into tears. Asami took her by the hand and led her to one of the elegant sofas in the magnificent room. She waited while the girl cried until it seemed as if her heart was breaking and she shook her head at the folly of youth.

  She handed her a number of tissues she pulled from the box on one of the side tables.

  “Thank you,” Leonie said acutely embarrassed as she dabbed at her face.

  “You are welcome.” Asami said smoothly. “I am going to hazard a guess as to why both of you are so unhappy and I would like you to confirm or deny.”

  Leonie nodded.

  “John is in love with you and he wants to get married but you don’t for some unforeseen reason.”

  Leonie nodded, not looking at her. The poor girl looked so miserable it was pitiable. Her son had looked like he had lost his best friend and everything else all rolled into one.

  “Care to tell me why an offer of marriage from the man you obviously love has driven a wedge into what appeared to be the greatest
love affair I have ever seen?”

  “My father left us when I was going to college,” Leonie forced herself to tell the story that she had not even shared with the man she loved. “I vowed that I would never get married. He left us and it tore us apart. I never want that to happen to me.”

  “Why do you think it is going to happen to you?” the woman asked her gently, feeling sorry for the young woman who had had her ideals smashed by a selfish brute.

  “It happens,” she shrugged her shoulders disconsolately. “I thought he would be satisfied with us just living together,” she said looking at the woman pleadingly as if begging her to understand her point of view.

  “He would never accept that my dear,” Asami told her with a small smile. “Firstly, because he loves you and the natural thing for him to do is to ask you to be his wife and secondly, although we were born here, we have Japanese cultures and we believe strongly in family. He allowed it to go on this way because he was adhering to your wishes but it was killing him the whole time.”

  “Oh,” Leonie looked down at her hands clasped in front of her.

  “Now you have to tell me how you come to be in the line of work you are and you do not believe in marriage.”

  “My mother started the company and when she met her second husband she went to Italy to be with him and left me the company. I was forced into it then I discovered I love doing what I do.” She said with a watery smile.

  “I see,” she looked at the exquisitely beautiful girl for a moment. “Your mother was able to move on and find love but you are still hanging on to a man who does not deserve the time of day, let alone you ruining your life for.”

  “He is still my father,” she said defensively.

  “And so he will always be.” Asami agreed. “I am going to give you some unsolicited advice and it’s up to you whether you want to take it. You are in love with my son and he is so much in love with you that he cannot see straight. You are his weakness, his Achilles heel and he would do anything for you. A lot of people do not have what you have and have traveled far and wide just to find it, so think carefully about what is important to you. You need to let that man go and open yourself and let John in. Bruce is waiting to drive you my dear. I really do hope I see you again.” With that she went back upstairs leaving Leonie staring after her.