“What have you got for me?” he asked as he searched both of their faces. She could see that he was desperate to do something to save the company that his father had built and left to him.
She gave him an encouraging smile, though she had no idea where it came from. “Well, I’ve been working on this.” She passed a file to him and one to Kyle as well. He hadn’t seen any of it and had no idea what it was that she had come up with. She was saving them all, and no one was aware yet how she was doing it.
“If you look at the first page, you’ll see a timeline. That’s a list by date of everything that your father has done with and for the company from the time of his death backward six months, to the point when the two of you reconciled.” She smiled a little as she began to explain it to them.
“Alexander, your father not only headed the board, making significant business decisions that were approved by the entire board both before and after the will was changed, but he acquired another company after the will was changed, bringing it into the fold of the companies that the board manages, and the whole board approved it.
“If they accepted the acquisition of the smaller company in unanimous agreement, knowing that he was sane, they can’t come back later and say that he wasn’t sane when he changed his will. It’s one or the other, but not both.” She looked up at Alexander and saw relief all over his face. It made her feel much better about what she was doing.
“Would you be willing to impart to us, and possibly the board, the reason why you and father hadn’t spoken for so long? That could be a big help in determining your intent.” She looked at him in earnest, and he sighed and nodded.
“Yes, I guess I could explain that. You see, we argued over a woman that I had fallen in love with and wanted to marry. My father didn’t approve of her, but I was bent on marrying the woman I loved, so I went against his wishes. I gave up my inheritance and my relationship with my father to have her as my wife. We had a child, and I told my father about the baby.
“When he found out about his grandson, he decided to change his mind and accept my wife and his grandchild. We mended our broken bridges, and because it was a personal family matter, we didn’t discuss it with the board. Perhaps we should have, then maybe they wouldn’t have come after us.” He scowled in frustration.
“Oh, I think they’d have come after you anyway,” Kyle advised. “The good news is that this work that Aleisha has put together is enough to stop them. We will put together an agreement, present it to your board, and make them back off. This isn’t going to be a problem for you anymore, and we’ll be getting your company back to you right away.”
Alexander smiled widely at them as he stood up and reached to shake Aleisha’s hand first. “You’ve been incredible. You’ve saved my father’s company, and I want you to know how much that means to me. He worked hard all of his life to get where he did, and now it won’t be lost. Now, it will stay in the family, and we’ll be able to continue to make it grow. That’s all because of you. Thank you so very much.”
She nodded and shook his hand in return. “It’s absolutely my pleasure. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to make this happen for you.”
He reached for Kyle’s hand and gave it a shake. “You have a great lady here. Thank you for your work on this as well, Mr. Drake. I appreciate it.”
Kyle nodded. “Glad to help, and you’re right, she is truly a great lady.”
Aleisha felt her stomach twist into a knot, but she smiled through it, waving as Alexander left them. She gathered up her things and was just about to walk out when Kyle reached his hand out to her to stop her, closing it around her arm.
“Hey, please don’t leave yet,” he began, but she pulled her arm from his grasp and looked over her shoulder at him.
“We made a huge mistake. You and I need to keep this strictly business from here on out. Anything that happened between us before today is gone. It was one of the worst judgment calls I’ve ever made, and I’m not going to continue to make that mistake any worse than it already is. We’re done outside of the office. Otherwise, I’m your associate, and nothing more, and that’s how it’s going to be.” She turned away from him then and walked out of the room, hoping that someday she would forget the heartbroken and horribly pained look on his face at the words she had just said to him.
She hoped that her heart would heal as well, because it was no longer in her chest, and she didn’t know how she was going to move onward, but she wasn’t going to give up until she found a way.
The Final Chapter
A few days passed, and everything at the office seemed to transition to a strictly working environment. She was glad to see it happen and relieved that Kyle seemed to take her at her word. She had been serious about it, and he believed her and acted as she had asked. It was hard on them both, but she knew that it was for the best.
Aleisha was home a few nights later when there was a knock on her door, and she was utterly nonplussed to find that it was Damien knocking to get in. She opened the door and planted her hand on her hip.
“What are you doing here, Damien? I told you to leave before, and I meant it.” She frowned at him and sighed sharply.
He shook his head. “I am not giving up on you. You were the best woman I ever had, and I’m not quitting you. Now, let me in so we can talk. Please. You can’t just keep pushing me away like you did.”
She glared at him. “Actually, I can keep pushing you away like I did, because that’s what I want. I want you gone. This is my house, this is my life, these are my babies, and you decided that you didn’t want any part of it.
“Now, you think you can come waltzing back in here and just pick up where you left off and be a part of all of it; well, you can’t. It’s too late for that. We had our chance and our time, and you blew it. Now, be gone with you, and stop coming around here. There’s nothing here for you.”
Damien pushed his way in through the door and closed it behind him so that he was standing right in front of her. He looked down at her and closed his hands over her shoulders. “I don’t think you get it. I’m not losing you again. I’m not giving you up. I want us back together.”
“No, Damien, it’s becoming quite clear to me that you aren’t getting it. You can’t lose me because you don’t have me. I’m not yours. We’re not together anymore. I’m not an option for you. I’m your past, and you’re my past, and there is by god no future for us. There is no back together.” She continued to glare at him.
He grew angrier and shook his head. “That’s not good enough for me! I want you!”
“That’s too bad for you, Damien, because I don’t want you, but that’s not my problem. That’s your problem, and you’re going to have to deal with it.” She meant every word.
He gave her a little shake and raised his voice. “You don’t have to do this alone, baby. You don’t. Can’t you see that? Who you gonna have come in here and look out for you and them babies? Who you gonna have taking care of you and loving you? No one! There’s no one in your life, babe; there’s just me, and I want that job. I want that place in your life and in your home. Now, stop trying to push me away! You got nothing without me! Nothing but lonely nights and empty days. You nothing without me!”
She thought about what he’d said for a long moment as she watched him reason his position with her. She didn’t have anyone there, that much was true. She had thought that she’d had Kyle, but with Jennifer in the picture, that put her squarely out of the picture, and there was nothing for her but the kids.
He saw her thinking about it, and he looked overly confident. “Here, maybe this will remind you about how it was and why you my girl.” He pulled her toward him and nearly nailed her with a kiss on her mouth, but she turned her head at the last moment, and he wound up kissing her cheek.
“Aw, now why you go and do that? C’mon, baby. Give me some sugar. Give me some of your sweet brown sugar. C’mon.” He tried to kiss her again, and she pushed him away and reached for the d
oor handle, yanking the front door open again.
“No, there’s no sugar for you. I’m not your girl. You need to get the hell out of here, and don’t you ever even think about coming back. We’re done. Get it through your head. We are finished,” she snapped at him hotly.
He shook his head. “I’m not quitting you. You think about it. I’ll be back. I’m gonna keep coming back, ‘cause you mine. You just think about it, baby. I’ll be seeing you soon.” He turned and left then, and she slammed the door closed and locked it.
With another scowl at the door, she turned and walked over to the window behind her sofa, crossing her arms over her chest and looking out over the city, glittering like a jewel in the dark night. When she thought of all of the reasons why she didn’t want Damien, they kept turning over in her mind and becoming all of the reasons that she did want Kyle.
Groaning in frustration and annoyance, she closed her eyes and willed herself to stop thinking of Kyle. It had to stop. Someday, it had to stop. She couldn’t keep falling for him. Eventually, she would have to find a way to fall out of love with him because as much as she hated to admit it, she had fallen in love with him.
It was stupid and crazy that it had happened so fast, but she couldn’t deny it; she had fallen in love with him, and that was why it had hurt her so much. It wouldn’t have hurt if it wasn’t love, but it was, and it felt like she was dying slowly inside.
When she woke up the next morning she saw a message from Kyle that he wanted her to come to his house to work that day and that he wanted her to bring the kids with her. She was angry about it, but she knew that it was her job on the line, and she wasn’t going to be able to tell her boss no, especially since the next message was from Julie, saying that she couldn’t come in. There was no sitter, and there was no choice. Her sister and her grandmother hadn’t come back, and there was no word at all from Cara.
With a heavy heart, she loaded up the babies and drove them to Kyle’s house. He was waiting outside to help her with them and bring them into the nursery. She didn’t say hardly anything to him about it. They got the babies settled into the nursery, and he took her to the office and gave her a stack of files to work on.
She sat there angrily, going over each one and wondering where he was and what he was doing because he wasn’t working with her that morning. She finally got curious enough to put the files down, and she wandered into the little kitchen and didn’t see him, so she walked into the nursery and saw him sitting in the rocking chair with Hailey passed out asleep on his chest and Harry sleeping in his crib. He was rocking Hailey slowly and patting her back gently, his head leaning against hers.
Aleisha was livid when she saw it. It cut at her like a dagger being plunged straight into her heart. He was the perfect man; he was beautiful, he was wealthy and successful, he was an incredible lover, and he was such a good father figure, but he belonged to another woman, and she couldn’t have him.
She bit her lower lip to hold back the tears that welled up in her as she watched him get up and walk over to Hailey’s crib, laying her down gently in it and covering her with a blanket. The pain in her heart grew too much for her to bear, and she turned and went out into the hallway, leaning her back against the wall and weeping as she covered her face with her hands.
She wasn’t there for more than a minute when she felt him in front of her. His voice came to her soft and low. “Please, don’t cry… please… stop crying. I can’t stand to see you cry.” He pulled her hands from her face and wrapped his arms around her, closing her in against his chest, and though she struggled at first, she breathed in the scent of him, and she felt the solid and secure wall of his muscled chest, and all she wanted to do was melt into him.
“Let me go!” she whispered, wishing she meant it as much as she wanted to mean it.
He shook his head. “I’m not letting you go. I want you too much,” he whispered, lowering his face to hers and kissing her tenderly.
She tried to turn her face away, but he raised his hands and held her face gently in his palms, moving his lips over hers, opening her mouth, and twisting his tongue against hers. She resisted as much as she could, but she had ached for his touch and his kiss without even realizing it, and feeling it was like a healing balm on all of her wounds and her broken heart.
“Stop… please…” she whispered as his mouth moved hungrily down her throat and his hands rushed to the buttons on her blouse.
“No…” he whispered back gruffly. Then he cupped her breast in his hand and lifted it to his mouth, tasting her nipple and sucking gently at it. Everything in her body turned to flames, and she burned for him.
“Kyle… we can’t do this…” she begged quietly as she found her will evaporating with all of the heat in her.
He looked up at her then seriously, his face mere inches from hers. “If you really want me to stop, I will. But you don’t mean it. I know you don’t mean it… do you, Aleisha? Do you really want me to stop?” he asked, grasping her body firmly in his hands and pulling her close as he kissed her mouth passionately.
Her determination left her completely. “No,” she finally whispered.
“Good. Because I can’t stand this distance between us any longer. I have to have you.” He took her by the hand and pulled her upstairs to his bedroom, peeling her clothes off of her body faster than she could have imagined.
He laid her back on his bed, and in moments, she was engulfed in the warmth of his skin, the sweet scent of him, and his delicious kisses. He spread her thighs apart and thrust himself into her, gasping at the feel of her body around him.
Every ounce of resistance that she felt was gone as he began to move inside of her, and pleasure overcame her. She needed him, and she still wanted him more than any other man she had ever known. She clung tightly to him, moving with him in tandem as they made love a long while. They came together, and she was so wearied by all of her emotional upheaval that she fell asleep in his arms almost right away.
When she awoke a little while later, she moved to get out of the bed, regretful that she had succumbed to her desires and passions, but he shook his head. “I’m not done with you yet. Come back here,” he spoke quietly, drawing her back to him as he moved his mouth and his tongue all over her, driving her mad for him until she couldn’t take it any longer and he finally entered her again, making her cry out with her orgasms again and again.
He looked deeply into her eyes as they moved together, and he spoke earnestly to her. “I love you,” he said in a soft voice and then kissed her without waiting for her to respond.
She came hard and strong, wrapping herself around him, and he released himself into her then as well, and when they were finally spent, she looked back at him, and he said it again. “I meant that. I love you, Aleisha.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered sadly, “but I can’t have you. We can’t do this again. Not ever again.” She pushed herself up from the bed, and he tried to protest, but she grabbed her clothes and left him. She dressed in the hall bathroom as fast as she could, and then loaded up her babies and left.
He was a luxury that she could never afford. Not even part time on the side, no matter how good a lover he was, no matter how good a man, a boss, a father figure, and a friend. There was no way for them to be together while he was with another woman.
Her grandmother and her sister finally returned from their trip, and she visited them, so glad that they were back, wondering how she had ever made it without them. Julie still came by to watch the babies since Cara was still gone to Boston with her father.
Three days had passed since Kyle had made love with her in his bed the second time, and they were at the office. Everything in the office was as it should be, or at least it was on the surface. They still struggled with their feelings around each other, but he didn’t push her to be with him. He respected her, though they both wanted one another.
She was more than surprised when he called her in to a meeting and she saw that it was with J
ennifer Evers. She tried not to stare as she walked into the conference room and sat with them.
Jennifer and she were both annoyed that she was in for the meeting. Aleisha turned to leave, and Kyle stopped her.
“I don’t think I need to be here,” she said as she was about to walk out of the door. Kyle called out to her.
“Aleisha, you are required to be here for this meeting,” he announced loudly. She frowned and turned around and came back in, closing the glass door behind her.
“Why does she have to be here?” Jennifer gave Aleisha a frown.
“Because she’s my associate, and she’s one of the best damn attorneys at this firm. You’re lucky she’s here; now, let’s talk about this.”
Aleisha felt good about what he had said, but it still made her sick to her stomach to have to be in a room with the two of them together.
“Now, we have business to discuss. What is your decision on me becoming the attorney of record for Granger Corp?” he looked at Jennifer directly.
The Billionaire's Twin Fever (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 1) Page 15
