Going up in the elevator, she felt the motion in her ears and feet—thick cotton batting that swam in her auditory canals, and the slight shudder of the floor, as if she were standing on a great big sleeping cat.
“Max has an office here?”
“We both do.”
“You’re a lawyer, too?”
“No. We co-own an investment firm. He does this in addition to running his legal office in Chicago.” He put his hands in his pockets. Although he’d been kind to her on the plane, even emotional, every minute they got closer to Max, the cooler and more distant he became. It made her sad, even as her heart exulted as the distance narrowed. That was life, after all—a balance: closer to Max, further from Hunter.
You pick one, but you have to let the other go. Choices. Irrevocable decisions, for right or for wrong, that sent you hurtling through a one-way only exit into something that was—hopefully—beautiful and new and everything you wanted.
* * *
When she saw Max, her stomach filled with butterflies and she felt cold. “Oh My God.” But when he looked up and saw her, and a smile broke out on his face, she only felt relief and joy to be with him. “Max.” Her voice cracked. “Max.”
Hunter stepped back. “Casey, go ahead.”
She bit her lip. “Max, I—”
He interrupted. “Casey? Hunter? Where are you going?”
But Hunter was already striding down the hall, and not to the elevator. He entered the stairwell without a backward glance, letting the door shut behind him, and there was a silence.
“Casey.” Max rushed forward to hug her, arrested his motion, his face a mixture of eager hope and reservation. “Are you and Hunter?” He shook his head. “Visiting? Together?”
“No. Not exactly. I’m not with Hunter.” She took a deep breath. “I gave back his picture, the Picasso. And I gave back his heart, too.” She held out her hands and gave a small laugh. “I’m shaking. I’m so scared to tell you this that I’m literally shaking.”
“Baby, it’s okay.” Max took her hands in his. “Don’t be scared of me, never. What is it?”
She met his eyes. “It turns out I don’t want Le Rêve. That was someone else’s dream, Max, someone else’s vision. I have my own dreams, and they’re about you.” She took his hand. “And I just hope it’s not too late to make them come true.”
“But Hunter is what you wanted.” His voice was tense, his hands clenched around hers.
“When I took some time to really think it through, in my heart, I realized that he’s not right for me, and I was trying to force something that wasn’t quite there. When I emptied that out, I had room in my heart again to see things. And what I saw was you, Max.” She touched his face. “I saw your face, your smile, and I realized that you’re the one. And you were there all along, from the beginning. Please tell me it’s not too late.”
“Never too late.” He pulled her into his arms. “Casey, you’re right on time. You’re perfect.”
“So you—do you want to, me, to be with, to, me, too?”
“Casey, I’ve wanted you from the minute you walked into the club, and I fell in love with you when you lied about the hamsters. And then I fell in love again when you talked to me in the restaurant, and when you let me spank you, and when we fucked. And every time we meet, no matter how big or small it is, I fall harder. Yes, I want to be with you.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to stay with you?” Her voice caught. “If you felt so much for me?”
“I thought you wanted Hunter, Casey, and I didn’t want to get in your way. It fucking killed me not to say a thing, but I wanted you to go after your dreams, not to force you into mine. I wanted to give you space to figure things out on your own.”
“Do you think people can really fall in love this fast?” Her voice caught, but his eyes steadied her.
“I don’t know about other people. All I know is us, and I love you. Let me show you how much, Casey.”
She reached up and kissed him. “This time we won’t trade our dreams. This time we have the same one. I love you, too.”
Epilogue
Casey pulled on Max’s hand. “Hold me,” she demanded, a plaintive note in her voice. “I’m nervous.”
“Baby, it’s going to be perfect,” he soothed her, pulling her into his embrace and kissing her neck. “They’re going to love you.”
“What if everyone laughs and nobody buys a single one? I’ll cry and melt into a puddle of loser-goo on the floor.”
“Then I’ll scoop up your slimy remains and mold you back into the woman I love to fuck every night,” he growled, biting where he’d kissed, making her squeal and giggle.
“Stop! Someone will hear you.”
“Good. Better to hear you cry out in passion because I spanked you in public, than to hear you whining about your potential sales.”
“You didn’t spank me in public,” she corrected, and shrieked when he landed a swift swat on her butt, making her glance up and down the street in mock alarm. The sidewalks were crowded for Gallery Art Walk Thursday, but nobody seemed to care about the two of them, leaning against his car.
“I’ll do it again,” he warned, but he kissed her lips and touched her face. “Case. Deep breath. It doesn’t matter, okay? Just go in there and be yourself. The rest will happen as it will. And you’ll be fine, no matter what happens.”
“Okay.” She smiled up at him. “When we go home, will you do that thing with your tongue again? The thing I liked the other day? In case I need to be cheered up?”
“The thing where I,” and he put his lips to her ear to continue the sentence, “licked you until you begged to come, and then I turned you over and cropped you until you begged, and then I licked you again and cropped you and made you wait? And then I did the whole thing a third time before you got to come? That thing?”
“Yes, but without the cropping and begging part,” she whispered back.
“Oh, but that’s what made it so special,” he murmured. “I’d be cruel to leave out the best part, baby.”
“You’re mean.” She pushed at his shoulder, but her gaze was tender, eager.
“I’ll make you a deal.” His voice was silky and dangerous. “You do the thing I like with your tongue and your throat, where you lie on the bed and lean your head over the edge and suck me off. And if you do it right and swallow it all, I’ll only edge you twice instead of three times. Best offer.” He raised one eyebrow.
“Deal.” She leaned up to kiss him and the rush of passion overtook her as always, and the kiss deepened into something more than just passion. She loved this man.
In the months they’d been together, he’d shown her how much fun bedroom submission could be, while respecting and celebrating her limits and enjoyments. She loved waking with him and talking in the morning, their lazy voices blending with coffee and the scent of sex on the sheets. She loved spending nights out with friends, then heading back to his home or hers. She loved it when he spanked her, and when he didn’t. She was happy.
“Casey, I think you’ll sell them all tonight.” Max pointed. “Look at how many people are already waiting.”
She looked through the window and her breath caught. Monica was there, ebullient and vivacious, chatting with clients. Blake and his husband were laughing about something. Dozens of other people walked around, gazing at her works on the walls, sipping champagne. It was surreal. She could almost imagine a ghostly Casey, sitting in her rolling chair, gazing out the window, waiting for something.
“The only thing missing from that scene,” Max pointed out, “is you. Let’s go in there and make it complete.”
Casey took his hand. “You and me,” she corrected. “That’s what will take to make it complete.” She was no longer the girl who sat there watching life go by and wishing. She was a woman who was sure of who she was, who knew what she wanted, and who got up and went after it. “Together we’ll make our dreams happen.”
The End
Stormy Nigh
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More Stormy Night Books by Alexis Alvarez
Myka and the Millionaire
Computer expert Myka Thomas is determined to start her own business, and the last thing she needs is a man bossing her around and getting in the way. But Gabriel Chevalier is not just any man, and when the dashing, dominant millionaire makes his interest in her very clear, Myka cannot resist his advances. Stripped bare, spanked soundly, and brought to one shattering climax after another, she soon finds herself both yielding ever more completely to his command of her body and even begging shamefully for more of his masterful lovemaking.
As Myka juggles two demanding jobs, she savors the time she spends in Gabriel’s palatial home. When she is in his presence, surrendering to his firm, loving control seems natural, even when that means submitting to a painful, embarrassing spanking when she has been disobedient. Before she can stop herself Myka is falling hard for Gabriel, but can she dare to risk giving her heart to a man with so many shadows in his past that there may be no room for her in his future?
Buy on Amazon
Capturing Kate
Twenty-eight-year-old journalist Kate Klein knew reporting on a powerful businessman’s disregard for the safety of the local water supply was a dangerous assignment, but she is nonetheless shocked when she is suddenly taken captive, bound, and brought to a remote cabin.
Her gruff yet undeniably handsome captor turns out to be a man named Sloan who claims he is an undercover FBI agent investigating the same organization she has been trying to expose. Kate is unsure whether Sloan can be trusted, but he makes it clear that he plans to do whatever is necessary to protect her, whether she likes it or not. If keeping her safe requires taking her over his knee for a stern punishment to ensure her obedience, then so be it.
When Kate keeps some critical information from Sloan, a long, hard spanking on her bare bottom quickly proves that his warning was not a bluff. To her surprise, however, the painful, embarrassing chastisement leaves Kate not only promising to be good but also yearning for Sloan to take her in his arms and claim her thoroughly.
Sloan’s skilled, dominant lovemaking is unlike anything Kate has ever experienced before, and she finds her desire for him growing more intense by the hour. But when something goes terribly wrong and the entire investigation is put in jeopardy, can Sloan prove to Kate that she is not just a means to an end for him?
Buy on Amazon
Alexis Alvarez Links
You can keep up with Alexis Alvarez via her Twitter account, her Facebook page, and her Goodreads profile, using the following links:
https://twitter.com/alexisalvarezwr
https://www.facebook.com/people/Alexis-Alvarez/100010018264605
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14127116.Alexis_Alvarez
Casey's Choice Page 29
