Once they arrived at the rooftop garden, Monty and Angelica walked one way, while Kendrick and Nicole walked another.
“You did good today,” Nicole said. “Especially since you had to direct outside in the cold.”
“You want to know what kept me warm?” Kendrick asked. “Seeing you in those sexy brown snow boots and knowing that you were purposely walking in a way that would keep my eyes glued to your ass.”
Her laugh echoed in the garden. “I was not taunting you with my ass.”
“Yes, you were,” Kendrick said. “And apparently, I wasn’t the only one to notice since Nick didn’t waste any time approaching you after we wrapped up today.”
Nicole smirked. “Do I sense a little jealousy, Kendrick Burrstone?”
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “Whether it’s true or not, you chose to go to dinner with me so I’m not concerned with Nick. But this brings up a good point.”
“What’s that?”
Kendrick pointed to a bench that was in the corner of the garden. Once they were both seated, he continued. “Do you remember what I said about not dating people I work with?”
Crap, does he want to end this before we even get started? “Yes, I remember.”
“Well,” he continued. “What would you say if I told you I was wrong?”
Nicole lifted an eyebrow. “Can you be a little more specific?”
“Of course.” He leaned back on the bench and draped an arm across the back. “Nicole, I did create my rule for a reason, but I was wrong... You are amazing. Talented. Beautiful. You make me laugh... I’m pretty sure I make you laugh too, given that you can’t stop laughing at me sometimes.”
On cue, she laughed again.
“If you’re interested,” he said, “I would love for us to date and see where this goes.”
Her heart beat faster. “Are you sure you’re okay with taking things a step further?”
Kendrick laughed. “I kinda thought we already had.”
Her cheeks grew warm as she thought about the gala. She scooted closer to Kendrick on the bench. “In that case, I’d have to say I’m on board with that suggestion.”
His smile brightened his entire face. “I was hoping you would say that.” When he leaned in for a kiss, she was already meeting him halfway.
* * *
It was another busy day in Lake Tahoe for the crew. All morning had been spent finishing the second part of the resort’s commercial, and now they were all gathered at a quaint cabin about fifteen minutes from the resort to film a part of the documentary.
The Gilbert Monroe Agency had teamed up with a major television network for a documentary about the true meaning of love, which would be aired and streamed online on Valentine’s Day.
All the couples featured in the documentary had submitted videos about their relationship and view on love and were chosen by a panel of judges that were comprised of Gilbert Monroe employees and employees of the television network.
Home owners of the quaint cabin, Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, served as a focal point for the documentary.
“Who wants some hot chocolate with marshmallows?” Mrs. Saunders asked the crew as she lugged in a tray of empty mugs and marshmallows with Mr. Saunders following with a pot of warm milk.
All hands immediately rose in the air. Nicole watched in admiration at how hospitable Mr. and Mrs. Saunders were, considering there were currently fifteen crew members in their small home.
After everyone had been served a cup of hot chocolate and the perfect spot was chosen to film the older couple, Nicole got to work on touching up their hair and makeup.
“I love your perfume,” Mrs. Saunders said as Nicole added a hint of color to her cheeks.
“Thank you. It’s a scent I’ve been addicted to since high school.”
“I can see why,” she said with a smile. “It smells divine.”
Nicole stopped what she was doing and pulled out a smaller bottle that she kept in her purse. “Here you go. I usually keep this on me. It’s yours if you want it.”
“I couldn’t possibly take this,” she said. “It’s your favorite.”
“Which means I can get more anytime.” Nicole placed the small bottle in Mrs. Saunders’s hand. “Please, keep it.”
Her face lit up. “Thank you. You’re such a sweetheart.”
“You’re welcome.” Nicole went back to the task at hand.
“Are you dating anyone?” Mrs. Saunders asked.
“Um.” Well, technically no? Or technically yes? Based off the conversation she’d had with Kendrick last night, she felt like the answer was yes, but since they were surrounded by coworkers, she replied no.
“That’s interesting,” Mrs. Saunders said. “I have a feeling you may be dating soon.”
“Why do you think that?” Nicole asked as she placed light shadow on the woman’s eyes.
“For starters, that young man in the corner of my living room is staring a hole through you right now.” Nicole discreetly peeked over her shoulder and found Kendrick watching her closely.
“Kendrick, the creative director,” Nicole said. “He and I are good friends.”
“I bet that’s not all you are,” Mrs. Saunders said as she raised her eyebrows intuitively. “And if not, I can tell that he wants to be more than friends.”
“How can you tell?” Nicole asked.
Mrs. Saunders glanced back over in Kendrick’s direction. “When you all walked in here, his eyes were on you when introductions were made. When you went to this part of the room to pull out your makeup case, he watched you. Observed you. As if he were trying to make sure you didn’t need anything.” Nicole’s stomach swarmed with butterflies at Mrs. Saunders’s observations.
“And take right now for example,” she said. “His mind seems cluttered by something, but he can’t keep his eyes off you. Perhaps he doesn’t know how to handle his feelings for you. Or he knows how to handle them, he’s just contemplating his next move. No matter what other things may be consuming his thoughts right now, I think it’s safe to say that you’re at the top of that list.”
Nicole shivered. “I can’t believe you saw all that in the short amount of time that we’ve been here.”
“She’s probably noticed more than that,” Mr. Saunders chimed in. “She’s been intuitive since the day I met her.” He reached over and squeezed his wife’s hand, the action melting Nicole’s heart.
“She’s right, you know,” Mr. Saunders said. “That boy’s smitten as a kitten. He can’t take his eyes off you.” Nicole was sure her face looked flushed. She hadn’t even known Mr. Saunders had been listening to the conversation.
“I’m pretty smitten with him too,” she said honestly.
Mrs. Saunders looked from her husband to Nicole. “We know, sweetie. We know.”
“Okay, everyone, let’s get started,” Nick said, interrupting her conversation with the Saunderses.
Nicole leaned toward the couple. “Thank you for sharing a piece of yourselves with me today.”
The next hour of filming went by smoothly in large part to Mr. and Mrs. Saunders’s authentic view on the true meaning of love. They even went into the history behind Valentine’s Day and how Mr. Saunders had proposed on Valentine’s Day sixty-five years ago.
“I met my wife when I sold her that very couch that still sits in our den today,” Mr. Saunders said. “Back when we were engaged, folks weren’t waiting a year or more before getting married. A month after I proposed, we were married. A year later, we’d given birth to our first of five kids. You see, we didn’t go into our marriage with any plan or guideline. We had our own parents’ marriages to look at as an example, but we also knew that no one relationship was the same. The world around us was constantly changing, forcing people to adapt in ways the generation before hadn’t had to do. The key in surviving life’s obstacles and building a
strong marriage is sacrifice. You must be willing to make sacrifices for your love. For your family. For your future. Doing anything less is not an option.”
Mrs. Saunders kissed her husband on the cheek after his speech. It must be amazing to have a love that strong. It occurred to Nicole halfway through filming with the Saunderses that she’d never had a love like theirs. She’d never dated a man who was willing to build a future with her and embark on a marriage or journey. To do this, one must realize that mistakes would be made, but as long as they were making them together and learning from them, that was the key to success.
“Anything else you want to share about your thoughts on true love?” the producer asked.
“My husband and I have learned our fair share of lessons, and even at our age, there is still more for us to learn. We’ve been married for sixty-five years. We have raised five kids, twelve grandkids and been fortunate enough to meet six great-grandkids.”
Instead of looking at her husband or the cameraman as instructed, Mrs. Saunders looked around at the people in her living room before continuing. “Love may only be a four-letter word, but it holds a power that is much stronger than the curves of its letters. When we got married all those years ago, we had no idea what journey life would take us on. That day, we made a promise to one another by exchanging the most sacred of vows, and even today, we still look at one another in that same special way we did on our wedding day. The key to building a happy life is to realize that together, you can overcome any obstacles life throws your way. As we sit before you today discussing our journey as a couple, we celebrate the people we were... The people we are... And the people we have yet to become. United, we created a beautiful life built on the foundation of our love, and that’s all that really matters.”
Mrs. Saunders turned to her husband. “Can you believe we’ve been sharing a sofa together for over sixty-five years?”
Mr. Saunders placed a kiss on his wife’s hand. “And I can’t imagine sharing my favorite cushion with anyone else.”
“And cut,” Nick said in soft voice. Minutes after he’d made the announcement, the entire room was still silent, each lost in his or her own thoughts. Nicole could barely move after listening to such a powerful testament about love. The couple’s words didn’t just resonate with her. They touched her at her core, filling her veins with hope, promise and longing. To have someone love you so much—so unconditionally—was truly one of the few things Nicole craved most in the world.
“That was beautiful,” someone finally said, breaking the silence. Similar sentiments were expressed around the room.
Mrs. Saunders caught Nicole’s eye and smiled before tilting her head to the side. Nicole followed the tilt of her head and landed her eyes on Kendrick. The look she saw in his eyes stole her breath. Hope. Promise. Longing. His eyes reflected the same emotions she felt in her heart. The same feelings that she wanted so badly to share with a person she could fall in love with.
You could fall in love with him...you know it’s true. When she’d made a promise to guard her heart, she hadn’t ever thought that she’d meet a man like Kendrick, who’d make her doubt everything she thought she knew about love between a man and woman.
He began walking toward her, a purpose in his steps that others may not have noticed, but she definitely did.
“I have a bottle of champagne in my room and was thinking about ordering room service tonight,” he said. “Is there any chance you can join me?”
She studied his eyes, her mouth growing dry from nervousness. It wasn’t that he had said or done anything that should make her nervous, but being around a man who exuded sex appeal more than any man she’d ever met was enough to make her excited and anxious all at the same time.
“Yes,” she finally said. “I’d love to join you tonight.”
He smiled in that sly way that she was beginning to get attached to. Nicole, you’re falling faster than you realize.
What had started as her trying to get to know Kendrick better was turning out to be a lot more than she’d bargained for, which begged the question... Was she falling in love or had she already fallen?
Chapter 11
Kendrick glanced around his hotel room for the tenth time. He’d never been the type to have nervous energy; however, as he waited for Nicole to knock on his door, that’s precisely what he had.
Get ahold of yourself, Burrstone. This wasn’t his first time inviting a woman back to his room. But this is the first time in a while that you’ve invited a woman into your life who you like as much as you like Nicole.
All day, he’d been thinking about her. Wanting to talk to her and continue the conversation they’d started last night. And listening to Mr. and Mrs. Saunders talk about the true meaning of love had really spoken to him. His grandparents had had a marriage like that before his grandmother had passed away, but hearing the older couple recount why they loved the other made him realize just how badly he wanted a type of love like that in his life.
Don’t forget what happened last time. Even as the thought entered his mind, he knew it wasn’t possible for him to forget what he’d been through with his ex. Even now, when he thought about her, it took more effort to remember the good times than the bad.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He took one more final glance around before he opened the door. Damn. There stood Nicole wearing a pair of high-waisted jeans that were slowly becoming his kryptonite, and a white tank. A beautiful rose quartz necklace hung from her neck, and her curls were pulled high atop her head. The sight before him was so beautiful, he didn’t even hear her speak until he noticed her mouth was moving.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
She laughed. “I asked if you were going to let me in or would you rather I stay out in the hallway.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, stepping away from the door. “Please come in.” As she walked past him, he breathed in her hypnotizing scent.
“What is the scent that you wear?” he asked.
“It may sound crazy,” she said, “but I’ve mixed together two scents that I love to make this scent. I even package it up in small bottles when I travel.”
“Doesn’t sound crazy to me,” Kendrick said as he motioned for to sit at the dining table. “Especially if doing so results in that delicious fragrance.”
Nicole smiled over her shoulder before sitting down. “Wow, dinner looks amazing.”
“They just brought it up, so it’s still hot. I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I went with some good old-fashioned steak and potatoes.”
Nicole sniffed the air. “It smells really good, and you can never go wrong with steak and potatoes.”
“How amazing was it listening to the Saunderses today,” Nicole said after they had begun to dig into their food.
“The love that they have for one another is so strong, but I think what stood out to me the most is the fact that they were willing to share their struggles and the lessons they learned along the way,” Kendrick said.
“That’s true. They didn’t care that we were filming and that thousands of people would see the documentary. They were authentically themselves, and the producers encouraged them to be themselves.”
“The rawness in their part of the documentary is going to shine through and inspire many to want to have the type of the relationship they have.” Present company included. Kendrick met Nicole’s gaze and wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was.
They ate the rest of the dinner in comfortable silence. When they’d almost finished their food, it occurred to Kendrick that he’d never been so relaxed around a woman that he didn’t even need to talk to connect.
When dinner was over, he followed her lead and walked to the couch. “You must have a suite,” Nicole said. “My room isn’t this big.”
“Yeah, it’s a suite, but to be honest, I didn’t need all this spac
e. It feels better now that you’re here.”
She playfully hit him on the shoulder. “You’re just saying that.”
“I’m being serious,” he said. “I couldn’t wait to get you alone tonight. I thought about you the entire day...even more when the Saunderses were doing their documentary.”
Her eyes widened. “You did?”
“Yeah, I did.” He slid closer to her on the couch. “I had my eyes on you all day. According to Monty, I was bordering on creepy stalker dude.”
Nicole’s laugh echoed across the walls. “You didn’t look creepy. I didn’t even notice that you were looking at me until Mrs. Saunders pointed it out.”
“I assumed you guys were talking about me when Mr. Saunders pulled me to the side after we finished shooting.”
“Really? What did he say?”
Kendrick smiled as she remembered Mr. Saunders’s words. “He said when I was old and gray, my biggest regret would be the chances I didn’t take.”
Nicole nodded in agreement. “My gran told me something similar on the phone yesterday morning. I let her words sink in during my entire flight to Lake Tahoe.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about Mr. Saunders’s words since he pulled me aside,” Kendrick said. “We only talked for a short time, but there was so much power in his words. As we left their home, I made a promise to myself right then and there.” He brought his hand to Nicole’s cheek, lifting her mouth so that it was aligned to his.
Her eyes grew dark with desire and her breathing quickened. “What did you promise yourself?”
His eyes dipped to her lips as the memory of how talented she was with those passionate weapons hit him at his core. “I promised myself that when it came to you, I was taking all the chances I could get.”
At her gasp, he covered her mouth with his and lifted her off the couch so that she was straddling him. She kissed him with the same urgency that he felt as her hands wrapped around the back of his neck, pulling him even closer to her.
His hands started on her back and slowly slid down to her butt cheeks, gripping them in his palms. When Nicole started rotating her hips, Kendrick held on, matching her thrusts even though they were still fully clothed.
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