“Alec, as much as I hate to bring this up, you’re in my parents’ living room, and Mom is due down those stairs at any moment. She’s an early riser.”
“So am I,” he said sleepily, his hand taking mine to move it over his crotch.
“Oh, my god, Alec.”
“Almost, but not quite. Can we be alone somewhere? Maybe in your bedroom?”
“Are you serious? Mom would kill me, and then Dad would kill you. Walter is on the sofa in Dad’s study. You’re stuck with that thing between your legs until you calm it down.”
“Geeez,” he moaned as I scooted off his chest as though I was heading for the stairs. I quickly opened the front door and scooped up a handful of fresh snow. Before he could react, I scooted to the sofa and dumped the snow on his crotch.
“Oh, my god!” he yelped.
“Shhhh… you’ll wake everyone.”
“Jesus, Callie, you’ve ruined me.”
“Nah, you’ll recover. Now, be quiet. Mom won’t be up for hours. Get some more sleep.” I escaped his hand as he grabbed for me, and I quietly scampered back up the stairs, bound for the only bathroom in the house.
“Liar,” I heard him grumble behind me. I laughed.
The hot water felt good cascading over my head. I rubbed in the shampoo and gave myself a scalp massage. Tipping my head back for a rinse, I started when a hand slid over my buttock. “Ah!”
“Two can play this game, you know,” Alec said, stepping into the shower, naked and wrapping his arms around me.
“Alec, you can’t do this. Mom will be up any minute…”
“Is that what you tell all the boys?”
“What other boys?” I slapped away his hand as it crept between my legs.
“Surely there have been many; a girl as pretty as you?”
“I was a good girl.”
“Uh-huh, you are very good.”
“Alec, seriously, we’ll get caught.”
“You’re over twenty-one, and I’m certainly over twenty-one. What do we have to worry about?”
“I told you. Dad will kill you.”
“I’ll buy him a box of decent cigars and he’ll forget all about it.”
“Oh, so now I’m only worth a box of cigars?”
“That depends on how much I have to bribe your dad to leave us alone.”
“Not going to happen.”
"Oh, yes, it is," he said, turning me toward him and lifting me by the waist. He kissed me, long and wet, and then lowered me downward until he'd penetrated me. His staff was hard, and even though there was little lubrication between us, he slid in easily to my depths. I let my head roll back, and the hot water tingled my scalp as Alec slowly, but evenly, moved inside me. His mouth was open, and I saw the water bouncing off his chiseled chin, making him look like he was drooling with desire. I loved the image and wrapped my legs around his waist. He stopped moving and we stood that way a long time, the water rushing over us and him filling me with possession. "You're mine, you hear?" he rasped. "No more of this foolishness. You're moving back to the estate as soon as we get back."
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
I leaned forward and gently bit his earlobe. “Think again,” I whispered and unclenched my legs. I kissed his hardness and kneeled before him, my mouth sliding up and down until he shuddered with release. His knees seemed to wobble so I took the bar of soap and washed him tenderly as he watched me at work. His eyes were possessive, serious, and full of continued lust.
The water turned cold and I barely got the crème rinse out of my hair before we had to turn it off. I put my finger to my lips to keep him quiet as we toweled one another off and dressed. When we opened the door, Walter stood in the hallway.
“That’s better,” he muttered and pushed us aside as he entered the only bath and shut the door.
I giggled and shooed Alec down the stairs. “See you in an hour,” I whispered and went back to my bedroom. I laid on the bed, my wet hair fanned out over my pillow. There truly was, in that moment, in that house, peace on Earth.
Chapter Sixteen
Alec
“Well? Did you have a good Christmas?” Callie was straddling me as I sat in my seat on the jet. Walter had mysteriously disappeared, and I assumed he’d either jumped, or was up front with the pilot.
“I had a wonderful Christmas,” I answered. “But I still feel bad that I didn’t have gifts for anyone.”
“I got my present from you,” she teased, her hand in my lap.
“Keep that up and you’ll get it again.”
“I dare you.”
“Dare me? I’ll show you.” With one finger, I opened the buckle of my seatbelt and lifted her into my arms. I carried her to the rear of the cabin and into the only stateroom. It held a full-sized bed that was covered with a tasteful spread and a dozen pillows. I laid her down and drew the comforter downward beneath her. The next thing to slide down were her slacks, followed by her panties. “I think I owe you something,” I said, my hand sliding between her thighs.
“Alec, they’ll know,” she protested.
“Oh, as if no one in your house knew what was going on in that shower?”
My mouth followed my hand and her objections ceased. I kissed her body, peeling off layers of her clothing as I went. She reciprocated in removing my clothes, and they all formed a pile in the narrow space next to the bed. We hit an air pocket and the jet dropped suddenly in altitude. I froze in a panic.
Callie’s hand settled upon my hardness, stroking me as she whispered, “It’s okay, you’re safe. I’m here with you and I’ll never let anything happen to you. You have an excellent pilot and if he screws up anything, Walter will take over. So, just give me that and put it where it belongs, would you?”
I did as she asked, but not until I warned her. “I told you never to give away your power, Callie.”
“I’m not,” she answered. “I’m taking yours.”
I made love to her then, as I’d wanted to so many times in my mind. All the nights I’d lain awake, pretending she was the pillow next to me. The things I’d rehearsed that I would say, the compliments I planned to pay her—all these were gone now in the face of having her in my arms. With a deep, even rhythm I plunged into her depths, making her hips rise to meet me just as I’d pull out and then lower myself again. I teased her tender flesh this way until she finally wrapped those dancer’s legs around my waist and trapped me inside. Her hips began to buck and knowing she’d found her release, I allowed my own. The jet dipped again, but it didn’t faze me. She’d incorporated my worst fear into the act of making love and now I was free of fear. She’d done so much to change me in just a few, wonderful days. There was no way I could let her go.
“Marry me,” I whispered, and her eyes widened.
“Alec…”
“Hush. I’m ordering you… please… Callie, will you marry me?” I lost courage in the middle of that request and wanted to know that if she accepted, it was because she wanted to.
I looked into her eyes that were now filled with emotional tears. “Yes, I will. Thank you for asking,” she said softly, and I clutched her against my chest and pulled the comforter over us. We fell asleep then and it wasn’t until over an hour after we’d landed that we awakened to find Roman, waiting outside in the limo for us to come out.
“Where’s Walter?” I asked as we emerged from the jet.
“He’s gone to get Ms. Callie’s things back home,” Roman answered, a small smile tugging at the lips beneath his bushy mustache.
I looked to Callie, who nodded. It was the most wonderful Christmas I ever had.
Epilogue
Callie
I was happy. In fact, I was deliriously happy. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that everything I wanted, or ever dreamed that I would want, could have been in one man. Alec made me that happy.
Our trip to Cleveland had changed him. I liked to think I could take credit for that. I’d helped him conqu
er his fear and to find his shine. My reward had been that he opened his heart and pulled me in. It was something he’d never done before.
We planned a destination wedding. We chose Australia intentionally because it was so very far away. We could take a private jet, but not the one he already owned. It didn't have the capacity for that distance. Instead, he bought a new one. "In case we need to travel that far again," he told me. It seemed that Alec had developed a passion for flying and was planning all sorts of trips.
My parents came from Ohio and flew with us. We landed in Sydney and stayed at the Westin. Walter stood as Alec’s best man, and Mrs. Griggs was my matron of honor. We spent our wedding night at a private cottage on the beach, and the next day we began sightseeing.
We listened to Madame Butterfly at the Sydney Opera House, and toured the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens at its southern border. My mother wanted to take home cuttings but was politely denied. She pouted all the way home.
Alec, Dad, Walter, and I toured the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in a glass-bottomed boat. Mom begged off on that one; she tended to get seasick. Dad took pictures and couldn’t wait to show the fellows at the Elks Club back home. He carefully copied down all the facts the guide relayed, including the fact that it was one of the seven wonders of the natural world.
We had dinner at a waterside restaurant with a view of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, and flew to Melbourne for a game of cricket. Three weeks later we flew back home, exhausted, sunburned and looking forward to the peace and quiet of a cold Minnesota winter that would keep us house-bound. Mom and Dad flew on to Cleveland, and we heard the fellows at the Elks Club held an Australia night just to see the pictures.
Alec and I made love passionately, and often. By May, I discovered I was pregnant, and Alec entered a phase of his life he thought was forever closed to him.
Our son, Cameron, was born as Alec stood beside me in the delivery room. He clipped the cord and the two were seldom separated from that point on.
Winter re-visited our lives, and Cameron was sleeping through the night while his nanny watched him most of the days. Mom and Dad had just left the estate, having spent two weeks with us over Christmas and New Year’s. We’d settled into endearing boredom and surprisingly, Alec was at peace, but I was not. I still had things to prove.
“Alec?”
“Yes, honey?” He was lying on our bed; his newest passion of cricket being broadcast on the flat screen that he’d lowered from the bedroom ceiling. His arm slid out in my direction, assuming I wanted to lie next to him.
“Can we talk?”
He looked at me, his attention diverted. He flipped off the game and tossed the remote on the nightstand. “What is it? Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. More than fine. I’m bored.”
“Bored? Now that Cameron is finally sleeping through the night? I thought you’d welcome a little time to yourself by now.”
“You know I love our little one, and I’m looking forward to that night very soon when you and I can pick up where we left off. But the thing is, I still haven’t done anything, career-wise. Everything was interrupted, which was wonderful, but I’m ready to buckle down and try my hand. Cameron will be fine with the nanny and of course, Walter and Mrs. Griggs will look over her shoulder.”
“And I’ll be here.”
“Well, that’s the thing. I want my husband back. I know you’ve lost interest in most of your business ventures, but I haven’t. I was hoping you’d let me start that company now.”
He patted the space next to him and drew me close as we laid side by side, looking at the ceiling as we talked. He flipped off the light, leaving our words to occupy the room. “What did you have in mind, honey?”
“You remember how you lectured and the topic was empowerment?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I was thinking I’d like to try lecturing, but combine it with workshops, DVDs, membership websites, and summertime conferences. I’d like to entitle it ‘Empowerment for Women.’”
“My god, you don’t think you’re powerful enough?” he teased me and I reached to slap his chest in the darkness. He was nibbling my ear. “How much longer before…” he left the sentence unfinished.
“At least another week, the doctor says.”
“Damn! Okay, go on. What sort of empowerment did you have in mind?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I was thinking about how many single mothers there are who are struggling. They lack a partner to help with income, childcare, sometimes benefits and a support system. You, of all people, understand the challenges I’m referring to.”
“Yes, I certainly do.”
“I was thinking I’d like to start a foundation and name it for your mother. It would be the home base for the Empowerment for Women lectures, and so forth.”
He’d sat up, listening intently. “Callie, you never fail to amaze me. When did you come up with this idea?”
“Kind of a story, but I’ve thought several times how proud your mother would be to see how you turned out. So successful and now married and a father. It would have made her sacrifices all worth it.”
“I know,” he said softly and with emotion. “I’ve thought about that, too.”
“So, it occurred to me that we should let her shine. If we launch a foundation in her name, then all the work we do through it will be a memorial to the work she put in, raising you and making you the man you are today.”
“I think it’s an excellent idea, honey. Do you have a business plan?”
“Well, I’d like to offer services free. Things like daycare, job placement services, wardrobe and make-over clinics, education, health services—so many things to list just now. I’d like you to be the major supporter, but I think this would be a good time to call in some of those favors you’ve been cultivating over the years. You’ve contributed to fundraisers for a lot of other causes. Now it’s our turn.”
“You have my complete support, honey. Just give me my marching orders and I’ll call my attorney to set up the non-profit framework.”
I snuggled against him, content with life.
One year later we held a grand opening of the foundation. It was located in Minneapolis and there were plans for satellite offices all over the country. The fund-raising had succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. It seemed that even though it was a non-profit, being affiliated with Alec Berenson was a mark of high integrity and one that everyone wanted to cultivate. After all, everything was tax-deductible.
We had plans for a variety of buildings scattered across a green campus. There we planned to offer training and administrative help. There would be daycare, and even a pre-school so that the children of single women could get a leg up. Children found banks of new computers, rooms filled with educational toys, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, and colorful classrooms where they learned their alphabet and numbers.
Best of all, Alec had become very excited about the projects and was lending all his time, his contacts, and providing a considerable amount of the funding. We had truly become a team and traveled together as a family around the country to garner support for the satellite facilities.
Our anniversary approached, and Alec assured me he had a special surprise planned. I assumed he would fly me to some special destination; perhaps Las Vegas or Miami? It was nothing like that.
On the evening of our anniversary, Alec bundled me up in warm clothing and introduced me to his new snowmobile. He set off around the lake, me clinging to his back beneath a full moon. To my surprise, he followed the same path we’d walked that day we’d first made love. He’d taken the advanced precaution of having a few precious trees felled so our snowmobile easily traversed the forest until we came to the very same shack. This time, however, it looked quite different.
The foundation and porch had been shored up and a new coat of paint preserved the weathered boards. Alec lifted me into his arms and carried me over the threshold into what was now a wonder
fully-decorated, completely remodeled cottage. A fieldstone fireplace sent out an inviting glow and the traditional bear rug lay at its entrance. There was a small, but serviceable kitchen, stocked by Mrs. Griggs, and a four-poster cherry bed with matching wingback chairs where we could sit and drink coffee.
Alec carried me to the bed and turned down the lights. He’d had gas lighting installed, and a generator produced electricity for the sound system hidden in the rafters. It was the perfect mixture of primitive and convenience—and so private that we could toss aside our clothing and enjoy our natural bodies without fear of discovery. That, alone, was intensely sensual and led to lovemaking that continued for hours.
Karina joined her older brother, Cameron, nine months later, and both children were bundled along as we traveled in support of our foundation. Alec rocked her to sleep at night and then joined me beneath the covers where we whispered plans for the foundation and enjoyed one another.
"You've brought out the best in me, Callie," Alec said as he nibbled my earlobe. "I never imagined to be this happy. Our world is complete."
“I love you, Alec. Thank you for being my mentor, my husband, my lover and the realization of my dreams.”
“We have just one little problem,” he said in an odd voice.
“Oh? What’s wrong?”
“We’ll have to build another guesthouse, I’m afraid.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “It seems there’s a new shine in the house. Walter and Mrs. Griggs are getting hitched.”
“Really?” I laughed. “I never guessed.”
“Turn your back and that’s what happens,” he teased.
“How about if I turn my back now and see what happens?” I invited.
“It would be my pleasure!”
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