Winter

by Michelle Love

  I’m glad he does. To tell the truth I’m afraid of just how long it’ll take to get into the groove!

  Max

  The year has flown by and the twins are in perfect health. I guess all my worrying about them was for nothing. Its odd how a person’s mind can be so consumed about what might happen that they stop wanting to live a life that’s full of people.

  I’d have it no other way now. I sit back and watch Lexi as she plays in the shallow pool that we had put in just for the babies. That girl was a mess at first. She couldn’t hardly get anything right with those babies. Then one day, out of the clear blue, she got it. She fell ass-backwards into motherhood, kinda like she fell into everything else.

  This crazy woman is planning on filling this house with children. She can’t wait to have another baby, though her doctor is making her wait one more year before we get going on that. Lexi wants to do it all over again with a newborn since she thinks she’s discovered what she calls ‘my gift’ with babies.

  She’s not quite as good as I am, but she’s getting better all the time.

  We take bets on who’s right about certain ways the babies cry. She almost always gets the wet diaper one right, but I get the hungry one right every time. We both get the cry when they’re tired, which is often.

  It’s hard to believe just how many years she and I have been together, off and on. Now it’s on and I’m never letting her go and I hope she feels the same way about me. I’m pretty sure she does too.

  “Come out here,” she shouts as she waves at me. “You won’t believe how they’re kicking like they know how to swim, the little geniuses.”

  I get up and go sit in the shallow water with my family.

  My family! Man, that took some damn time, didn’t it?

  Alexis

  Sunlight trickles into the bedroom as I watch my husband sleep, a toddler under each arm. Peaceful and quiet for now, but as soon as they wake up the whole mansion will be bathed in their laughter and the occasional screaming fight they have now and then. These two are both stubborn as mules and I have no idea where they got that from.

  Or do I? Perhaps their parents are a little bit on the stubborn side. Max more than me, obviously.

  We celebrated Zane and Zoey’s second birthday a couple of months ago. Then we got started on the next baby. When Max wakes up I have good news for him. I wonder just how happy he’ll be this time.

  I just told him yesterday that I’d not be taking a pregnancy test until I missed at least two periods, but I was two weeks late and got antsy to know for myself. So, I placed the positive pregnancy test on a tissue on the nightstand, hopefully Max will pick it up before one of the twins does.

  I sit and watch just to be positive they don’t. Everything they get a hold of goes in their mouths and that might make me toss my cookies if that went into one of theirs.

  He’s starting to move a little and I can see his eyes beginning to open. Like every morning, he starts off kissing each of the little munchkins’ heads. His eyes meet mine and he says, “Good morning, beautiful. What are you doing? Watching us sleep?”

  With a nod, I say, “I woke up and went to the bathroom and couldn’t fall back to sleep.”

  Gently he slides his arm out from under Zane’s head, then does the same with Zoey. He climbs over Zane to get out of the bed without waking them up. “I can’t imagine that. These two woke us up three times last night, the little demons.”

  I watch as he walks right by the little pink stick on the night stand and rubs his eyes. “You may want to look on the night stand, if you want to know what kept me awake.”

  His nose wrinkles and his eyebrows come together. “What? Why is that?” He turns back and looks at the nightstand and then his face brightens. He looks back at me. “Is that what I think it is?” I nod and he goes to pick it up. “You said you weren’t going to do this yet.” He picks it up and the smile on his face lets me know he’s happy.

  “Fertile Myrtle is your new nickname, Lexi.” He places the stick back on the tissue.

  “Nope,” I say, gesturing to the table. “Pick that thing up and take it to the bathroom and throw it away now that you know. I don’t want one of the twins to get it.”

  He laughs and picks it back up. “Straight into their mouths it would go, gross!”

  As he passes me, he stops and picks me up into his strong arms. “I love you, Lexi.”

  “I love you too, Big Daddy,” I say with a giggle.

  His lips touch mine and I’m lost, just like I always get when we kiss. This is it for us, marriage and family and all the ups and downs that go with that.

  And we couldn’t be happier!

  The End

  The Intern Installment

  A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

  Damon James is a thirty-year old CEO of the top Architecture firm in Boston, Elkus Manfredi Architects. He is obsessive with detail, rigid with his schedule, and a hard boss to have for his staff, as well as a tough man to have an interest in.

  He is also a Dom, and very casual with his dating life, if you could call it that at all.

  Damon is six foot two and muscular, due to his workout every morning after he jogs for five miles. He keeps himself in the best shape that he can be in, though he is already gorgeous, with dark brown, spiked hair that is never out of place and crystal blue eyes that are capable of expressing what he is feeling most of the time, much to his dismay. They can turn cold or burn hot, depending on the situation he is in and the emotions that he is feeling. Normally, he is in control of such things, and it is an intimidating factor about his looks and his personality.

  He is a hard worker, even being head of the company, and he keeps it successful and top rated in the nation. He is worth billions of dollars, in part due to his father passing away when he was ten and the trust fund that was started for him at the time by his mother. She’s remarried to the owner of the company, who decided to give Damon the reins once he retired to travel with his new wife at the age of sixty. That is where the rest of the money comes from, but he is Kenneth Matthews only child and heir, once he passes away, along with Damon’s mother.

  Damon lives alone in the top story of one of the best buildings in Boston, with no pets and just a few staff members who he pays well to run the house and keep his life private.

  Elisa Moore is twenty-one, and a junior at MIT in Boston. She is at the top of her class and was recommended for an internship at the firm, which has two openings.

  She is five foot seven and curvy, though still slender. She has pale, strawberry blonde hair and eyes the color of green grass, with a hint of shimmer. Her skin is pale and dusted with light freckles and full pink lips.

  Elisa is confident where school is concerned, but shy otherwise. She’s put her all into school, after seeing her single mother work up to three jobs to support her after her father left the family when she was eleven. Elisa got a scholarship to college, a full ride, and she’s worked every minute of every day to stay at the top of her class.

  Some would say that she’s a nerd, but Elisa thinks that it all paid off when she’s notified of the internship. Elkus Manfredi is the best, and it would look great on a resume, but it would be even better if she was hired on once she graduated from college.

  With that money, she could get her mother settled in a better part of town and not working so hard, since Mary was fifty-five now. Elisa could also get out of the tiny dorm room that she shared with three other people, and into her own place, where there would be some peace. She wasn’t a social butterfly, and the girls that she lived with drove her crazy sometimes. There were only two bedrooms and a tiny living room, and sometimes the girls acted like they owned the entire room.

  Elisa blamed that on the fact that she didn’t truly enjoy her college experience, but she was withdrawn to begin with.

  There is a panel interview for the position, and Damon is on it, along with five of his best managers. He and Elisa both feel the sparks between them, despite the
fact that it was all business, and he fights the attraction, as well as the idea of hiring her.

  His managers make him realize that she is the best candidate, and he agrees to hire her to work under one of them, somewhere on a different floor where he wouldn’t be tempted by her. She is beautiful and comes off as shy, as well as intimidated by him.

  To a controlling man like Damon, she is the perfect victim, and he needs to keep his wits about him. He’s earned a lot of money in his position, and Damon cannot afford to lose everything over a woman that is in his building. He knows plenty that would satisfy his needs.

  She is s stellar employee, and he soon cannot resist the urge to bring her in as his personal assistant. Damon has something of an obsession with Elisa and wants to see her as much as possible at the office, which eventually breaks down the walls they both have.

  They give in to their desire, and nearly have sex one late night, alone in the building, which is when Damon realizes that he has to tell her what he enjoys in life.

  Elisa is pulled into a world that is new to her while she tries to take care of herself and her mother, as well as her future. She knows that she is falling for Damon, but is he too much for her?

  Is she too much for him?

  Part 1

  Damon

  I ran one of the most successful architecture companies in the world, well-known to everyone in the business. I was involved in every aspect of the daily activities, though one of my least favorite parts was interviewing for interns every year.

  It was something that came along with the company. and it was a great learning tool for the students, so I kept the policy. I just typically left it to my managers, who were more hands-on with the teams, to decide who to hire out of all of the faces that we saw.

  I started caring more, however, the moment that Elisa walked in the door. She was everything that I didn’t look for in a woman: sweetness, innocence, and inexperience. She was guarded and intelligent, and I fought to keep her out of my company, against the wishes of everyone else at that interview.

  Elisa

  I was excited about the interview to intern at Elkus Manfredi Architecture, since it carved out a perfect future for me. I excelled at school and was recommended for the position, a condition that wasn’t easy to fulfill. I dressed the part, made the perfect resume outlining my experience, and went into the building with my head high.

  Then I saw the most gorgeous man that I’d ever seen in my life. He first caught my attention in the elevator and then in the room where I was to be interviewed.

  I knew that, regardless of whether I got the position or not, I’d never forget the way that he had made me feel. I’d never forget the way he heated me up and shook me to my very core.

  Could I handle working with him? Could I ignore the intensity between us with my future in mind?

  Damon

  It was dark and cold outside as I left my building for my morning run, nodding as the doorman told me to be careful. I loved fall in Boston and preferred it to the crowds that jogged in the summer, getting in my way and throwing off my day. I started to jog at an even pace and headed towards the crosswalk to go over to the Boston Common Park as I looked around at the empty streets, apart from cabs and early morning commuters. This was when I liked the city—when I could focus.

  It was still dark outside, and I took deep breaths of the chilled air and started through the trail that made its way through the center of the park. Everything was in shades of fall now; the leaves, yellow, orange and red as they drifted down to the ground in the early morning. It made it worthwhile to avoid this place later in the day, when everyone would gather with their cameras of various kinds and go on about the foliage.

  Yes, it was pretty enough, and I appreciated fall. I just didn’t see the need to keep talking about it. I wanted quiet and peace. I wanted to think about my day and prepare my mind for the hour-long workout that I’d be doing after this five-mile run. It was a ritual of mine, followed by a long, thorough shower before I dressed for work.

  I was the CEO of one of the most successful architecture companies in the world, Elkus Manfredi. The company was established fifty years ago, and had several locations in some of the bigger American cities and even in a few other countries. I could work wherever I chose to, though I preferred to stay in Boston. I knew the city and could find my way here without a lot of fuss, though I traveled when needed for the company. It was a welcome break from my day-to-day routine, and I enjoyed seeing what was happening in the company, feeling great pride over the growth I’d seen in the last six years.

  Home was home, though.

  I ran past the pond, where the ground was covered with leaves and the wind blew around me. I was dressed in my new jogging clothes, light enough to run in, but warm enough to keep me comfortable. I jogged steadily as I let my mind move ahead to what my day entailed.

  Every fall, we hired interns from some of the top schools in the area, depending on our current needs. This year, we would hire two to help with the teams that planned our buildings, some of which were world famous. Working with interns wasn’t something that I dealt with personally, apart from being involved in the panel interview. I wanted to make sure that they were a good fit for the company, given that most of them were close to graduating, and we did consider hiring them after graduation. I just didn’t have any part of the training and, therefore, took on a lot of responsibilities myself.

  I learned about hard work from my father. He ran a construction company, until he passed away from a heart attack when I was eleven years old. In the summers, I went into work with him, learning everything that I could. Being from a family of wealth didn’t make me lazy, and I wanted to be the one running a successful company.

  My father had nothing to do with my current job, though he’d set aside a generous trust fund for me before his death, as well as seeing that Mom was well taken care of. Apparently, at eleven, I could not take over his company, so his brother did and ruined it within three years. I always vowed to be better than that.

  My job had belonged to my stepfather of five years before he decided to travel with Mom at the ripe old age of fifty-three. Mom was five years younger than he was, and they were in great health to go all over the world on their adventures.

  I ran by the statue and toward the other side of town as I thought back to those first days. Some men were capable of taking over the company, men that had a lot of years invested as well as the talent. Kenneth saw me for what I was: sharp, intelligent, with a mind for business, and offered me the position of CEO. Some people resented me there, even hated me. I heard the whispers when I walked around, but I didn’t care. This company improved after I had started running things. I had five managers that I got on well with and could share ideas with, knowing that it stayed between us.

  Those were the men who were joining me in the panel interview in just a few hours. The interns would be working under them, making their opinion valuable, even though I wanted to be involved in any of the final decisions. They understood that, and the process generally went smoothly, giving us a handful of new employees over the years.

  I had changed a few things within the company after I had taken over, considering the internships. However, Kenneth explained the value of the program to me. It made the company look exemplary to the public, as well as offered some brilliant students who worked hard a chance for a good future, or even just experience. I’d agreed, kept it, and muddled through the interviews every time they came around. Some of the kids were still dumb as rocks, and I wondered how the fuck they did so well in school.

  After I had graduated from Phillips Academy with honors, I had tooled around a little with college. I had a degree in Business as well as a minor in Accounting, because it made sense from a business perspective. I didn’t have to struggle with finances or even worry about scholarships, living in one of the nicest apartment complexes in town as I made my way through the three years it took me to get my BA.

  I t
urned the corner once I hit the main street and headed towards the gym in my building. It suited my needs without all of the bright lights and crowds that some of the others offered. I just wanted to do my routine and get upstairs to get myself ready for work.

  I wasn’t oblivious to the looks that I got from women in the building. I was just aware that many of them weren’t what I was looking for. I was darker than most, craving control in the bedroom, and some of the younger women these days were far too feisty for my tastes. I looked for submissive women who would give in to my every need, quiet and quick to follow my orders.

  I did abdomen exercises today, since it was Wednesday. I made it hurt and stayed stoic through the pain as I listened to my guilty pleasure of old eighties rap. I ran late by five minutes and cursed the elevator as I rushed into my penthouse. I showered, quickly working through my products faster than I preferred, before spiking my dark hair to perfection and ensuring that I looked like the boss that I was in my crisp Armani suit.

  I met my car on the curb, a brand-new Bentley, driven by a trusted man, Mark Collins. I’d known him for years, and we had an understanding. He drove while I relaxed, caught up on work business, and enjoyed a hot cup of coffee.

  It was my moment of peace in a busy day, and I cherished that drive as well as the one that took me home every time I left the building.

  Elisa

  I stood in the tiny bathroom and stared at my wavy hair with despair in my eyes. I didn’t have time to straighten it and make it to Elkus Manfredi for my interview, so I reached for one of my ponytail holders and secured the strawberry blonde locks into a classic low bun, instead of leaving it down. I made sure that it was smooth on the sides before I added some black mascara to my bright green eyes and brushed a little powder over my pale skin to even it out and hopefully keep it from looking like an oil slick later in the day. I finished off with some deep plum stain on my lips, then dressed in the black pencil skirt and blazer combo with a white silk shirt underneath that my best friend Lorna had insisted that I buy when she came for a visit. It was a button up, short sleeved shirt that didn’t show too much cleavage, but also didn’t make me look like a nun.