“They're only cushions, sweetheart. My main concern is that you’re able to easily get into a bed that is perfectly comfortable for you. Now do you want me to help you out of your clothes?”
She laughed “Well you don’t mess around, do you?We’ve only just got here.”
“Ha, that wasn’t what I meant, I was talking about for your nap…. Well not that it hasn’t crossed my mind, but no…. erm….”
He really was too adorable at times, Amy thought as she reached up to kiss him, relishing the feel of his body next to hers and the shiver that ran through her as he kissed her back. Whilst they’d managed a few kisses and hugs while she’d been at the hospital this was the first time they’d really been able to kiss each other properly and while he was correct that she was just too weary for anything more at the moment she would be lying if she said that she wasn’t looking forward to being with him again.
“I’ve been waiting so long for that.” She dropped soft little butterfly kisses on his cheek and down to his neck, enjoying the sound of the hitch in his breath. “You taste divine.”
Norman groaned as he reluctantly stopped her kisses. “As much as I am loving this, I’m going to be the sensible one and suggest that we stop now until you’re feeling more rested.”
Amy nodded. “Yep, I have to admit I am feeling really tired. Besides...” She smiled mischievously, passion flashing in her eyes. “I’m sure I’ll enjoy it a lot more when I’ve got some energy.”
Norman shook his head “You are a temptress. I’m going to leave you now before I change my mind and carry you to that bed.” He kissed her again. “Rest easy my love.”
***
It was late afternoon when Amy was woken by her stomach rumbling. Pulling on some clothes and making her way downstairs she tried to find Norman or the kitchen. Whichever one she stumbled across first.
Hearing a voice coming from nearby she popped her head around a dark wooden door and found Norman. He was sat at a big mahogany desk, his mobile in hand and a frown on his face. “Well, how soon do you think you can do it?... Really? And there isn’t any chance you can start before then? No, it’s ok I understand.” Seeing Amy he smiled and quickly finished up his call.
“You’re awake! How are you feeling?”
“Good thanks, although I am a little hungry now. Do you think you could show me where the kitchen is?
“Of course.” Norman got up from his desk. “I could do with a break anyway. Let’s see what I can find us for some lunch.”
“Are you sure? It seemed like you had some important work to do.” By the look on his face when she’d walked in, it had also seemed like it wasn’t a work he was particularly enjoying. She had to wonder why he did it. When he was at the farm, of course, there were times when he’d been frustrated if something broke or he hit his thumb, but he’d always seemed to be enjoying what he was doing. And she’d always gotten the feeling that at the end of the day he was happy with what they’d achieved.
Settled at the table in the kitchen and trying once again not to be overwhelmed by all the technology and chrome, Amy decided to ask him about the work that he did and how he felt about it.
“Do you enjoy your work?”
Norman raised one eyebrow at her “Enjoy it?”
“Yes, I’ve not had the chance to see you working before, it was…interesting, seeing you on the phone.”
“You saw me working at the farm.”
“Yes, but that was different, that was more physical work. It certainly seemed like you enjoyed that.”
“But it didn’t seem like I enjoy my other work?”
Amy liked the way he referred to it as his other work, it showed that he took the work that he did at the farm seriously.
“I’m not sure, that’s why I asked.”
Norman thought about it for a minute. “To be honest, I’m not sure anymore. I used to enjoy it but now I don’t think I get the same satisfaction out of it. It doesn’t really feel like I do anything. We have offices that handle the majority of the work so Mark and I can just spend our time networking and trying to find bigger and richer clients. The only time we really get involved in the other side of things tends to be when things go wrong.” Saying it out loud made him realize just how underwhelmed he felt about it all now. When he was younger it had been exciting to find a new client, close a deal worth a million dollars and then more. It all seemed so worthless now, though.
“You know what, Amy. I think you’ve ruined me. There I was happy being a billionaire with my fancy car, spending the day golfing and my evenings at some fancy party or another. Now I much prefer spending time digging fields or fixing fences.”
“I didn’t ruin you. If I recall, you were the one who was so dissatisfied with his life he had to pretend to be someone else.” She joked and then squealed slightly as he flicked water from his glass at her. “Ok, ok I’m sorry.”
She got up and perched on his knee, kissing him. “I absolutely admit to ruining your life and I happen to think that you’re loving it.”
Norman pulled her closer to him and kissed her hard, running his hands through her hair, deepening the kiss at the same time. Enjoying the feel of her body on his, he held her tight when she tried to wiggle away. “Uh oh, not now I’ve lured you into my arms. No way am I letting you go.”
“I’m not trying to get away, I’m just trying to get comfortable.” She wiggled again, knowing that it would make him groan, which it did.
“Now, where’s that tour you were promising me?”
Norman sighed, “But I thought…”
Amy laughed and then stopped and gave Norman such a smile full of love that if he wasn’t sat down it would have brought him to his knees in reverence to her.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed Norman but we’ve been laughing a lot. Even at the hospital when the pain was almost unbearable you managed to make me laugh and ever since then as well.”
Norman had noticed and he loved it. In fact, he’d decided that it was his new aim to make Amy laugh every day for the rest of their lives together. Hearing her laugh and knowing that it was from something he’d done or said, was one of the best feelings in the world.
Having shown Amy round the rest of the house he finished with the pool where one of his staff had helpfully left out a big jug of iced juice and two glasses. Amy’s eyes had seemed to be getting bigger and bigger the more he showed her and now she saw the pool he was sure they were going to pop out of her head.
“You have a pool! A freaking massive pool!”
“Yes, do you …. Erm.. Amy, what are you doing?” He stood and watched as she started to take down her jeans, revealing her long slim legs, slightly paler now after so much time in the hospital but starting to look much stronger than they had when she’d first woken up from her coma.
“Swimming, what does it look like?”
“But, well do you need me to get you a costume or something?”
It was too late, though, as Amy slipped into the pool in just her panties and vest top.
She splashed him, soaking his jeans and t-shirt. “That’s to get you back for earlier.”
“Earlier? You mean when I flicked a tiny bit of water at you? Wow, you really go all out when it comes to revenge, don’t you?”
She splashed him again. “Really, you’re so wet now there is no point keeping those clothes on. You should just take them off and join me in the pool.”
Her face was full of innocent fun but the look in her eyes told him it was more than just splashing she had on her mind. Suddenly finding himself eager for a swim, he stripped down to his boxer shorts as fast as he could and lowered himself into the pool. Pushing himself off from the side he glided under the water and came up right next to Amy, shaking his head like a dog.
Amy instantly wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, you’re a pain, but I’ll forgive you seeing as you look really hot all glistening with water.”
In fact, Amy was reminded of when she had first met him and
how she thought he looked like Mr. Darcy, seeing him with his dark hair all wet had brought those memories flooding back. Unable to resist she kissed him, allowing herself to be completely in the moment and basking in the feeling of their wet bodies held against each other. Finally allowing the passion that had been growing between them all day to explode.
***
Amy woke some time later back in her bed. They’d moved from the pool to the bedroom and made love several times. Amy’s body felt a little stiff but Norman had remained a gentleman throughout, always making sure that she wasn’t in any pain, that they weren’t aggravating her back in any way. It felt truly wonderful to be cherished by him.
Even now while he was sleeping, he had instinctively moved and lightly stroked her. She nestled back down next to him. Drifting back off to sleep safely in the knowledge that she was well and truly loved.
Chapter 5
Sitting beside Norman in his McLaren Amy felt a little apprehensive. It had taken a few weeks to get back up to full strength but finally, the time had come to move back to her farm.
Norman had already taken Rollo and Tabatha back earlier in the morning which had taken one thing off her mind but she had to admit that she was worried. Norman had been trying to do as much as he could in between caring for her and looking after his own business but she imagined that there was still so much to do. How was she going to manage it all? She was going to have to see if she could find somebody to help her again. She turned and looked at Norman thoughtfully, she wished that it could be him but that was selfish of her.
Living with him, spending every day with him had been so perfect. Whilst she knew that they would, hopefully, still get to see each other every day it felt like it was going to be different. How were they going to manage when they both lived such different lives?
Turning into the road that led down to the farm, Amy was surprised when Norman suddenly pulled over.
“Amy, I was wondering…”
“Yes?”
“Well, the thing is, I’ve arranged a little homecoming surprise for you. So I wondered if you’d be ok with me blindfolding you?”
Intrigued, Amy agreed instantly. “Yeah, I suppose so. What kind of surprise is it? Am I dressed ok?” She looked down at her jeans and t-shirt. She really hoped he hadn’t arranged a party as she wasn’t sure she could cope with a large number of people at the moment.
“Oh yes, you look perfect, beautiful as always. You don’t need to worry about that.”
It was a strange feeling, traveling in complete darkness. She’d thought that she knew the road like the back of her hand but there seemed to be fewer bumps than she remembered. Maybe it was Norman’s car that was a little smoother than her old truck.
The car suddenly came to a standstill and Norman’s voice seemed loud in her ear. “Ok, I’m going to come over to your door and help you out. You trust me, don’t you?”
She blindly reached over until she found his hand and held it tight. “You know I do.”
Norman kissed her hand briefly and then left her sitting in the dark. It was only a few moments though before the door was opened and he was helping her out of the car and arranging her to face the way he wanted.
“Ok.” He whispered to her. “I’m going to take the blindfold off now.”
At first, all she could see was the bright sunshine as her eyes adjusted to being back in the light but slowly her beloved farm came into view. Except it wasn’t quite her farm, she looked around, trying to take in all that she was seeing. Everything was…. done. The barn had been completely rebuilt and a new roof had been put on, all the little jobs on the farmhouse had been completed and the porch had brand new boards. It had even been decorated with two of her uncle’s rocking chairs, a gorgeous table made from an old tree stump and pots of various flowers to add lots of colors.
She was turning towards Norman when something in the field caught her eye. “Are those….are those strawberry plants? Norman, what did you do? This is too much. I mean it’s perfect, everything is exactly how I wanted it to look, but how?” Unable to get her words out and overcome by shock she burst into tears. Norman’s arms were instantly around her.
“Shhh, it’s ok sweetheart. Do you like it? I wanted it to all be ready for you when you got back so I hired some workers to finish everything. I hope you don’t mind? I just wanted it to be exactly like your dream. The only thing missing is the animals but I thought you might want to choose those yourself.”
Amy continued to sob into his shoulder, unable to process the enormity of it all. How had this happened to her? How had this man just appeared in her life and then made all her dreams come true?
“Thank you, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. The hospital, the treatment, my recovery at your house, all this….” She pulled away from him so that she could look into his eyes. “I’m never going to be able to repay you for everything that you’ve done.”
“You don’t need to worry about any of that. All I need is to know that you’re happy and that makes me happy too. Besides, you’ve already given me so much. Without you and this farm, I wouldn’t have realized how unhappy I was in my life. How pretentious I found it all. Working here with you gave my life new hope and meaning. In fact, there is something else I need to tell you. I’ve been speaking to Mark and he’s agreed to buy me out of the real estate business, in fact, he already had the paperwork ready before I even mentioned it to him. Turned out he knew me better than I did.”
Taking a moment to process everything he was saying Amy laughed in delight. “Well, I guess that means you’re looking for a new job then? As it happens I’m in need of a permanent farmhand. I do have to warn you, though, the job requires long hours, lots of hard work and comes with a very long contract.”
“How long?”
“A lifetime.”
Norman bent down and kissed Amy. “That is going to be the best deal of my life.” He smiled eager to start their life together at Cahill Farm how he hoped it would continue, full of love.
THE END
Indomitable
Chapter 1
Rosie was making dinner when the news came on. She had never really been one for the depressing, constant violence that news broadcasters couldn’t seem to get enough of – she certainly got enough of it in her day job as an anger management therapist. But, about a year ago, Angelo had, for some unknown reason, decided that the evening news was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. And Rosie had never been able to say no to her son’s big brown eyes. So they’d struck a compromise: as long as it didn’t involve guns or nudity Angelo could watch the news. This meant that, for the most part, all he saw was the sports, weather, and local scandals, but the seven-year old didn’t seem to mind.
Usually, Angelo was happy enough to watch the news alone, occasionally adding his own (generally adorable) insight to the reports. Tonight, however, as Rosie was grating carrots into the salad, he began calling her name impatiently. “Mom! Mom! Look! It’s Lewis! It’s Lewis!” he shouted, pointing excitedly at the TV screen.
The name Lewis meant nothing to Rosie so she put down the grater and the carrot and came over to join her son. As soon as she saw what he was watching, however, she had to smother a disgusted sigh. It was a video clip of Lewis Maserati, a baseball star who was arguably even better known for his playboy antics and devil-may-care attitude than his, admittedly incredible, talent on the diamond. All the men she knew wanted to be him, and all the women she knew wanted to sleep with him, but, to be honest, Rosie couldn’t see the appeal of either prospect. As far as she was concerned, the man was an egotistical douche who thought his fame made him untouchable – not that she’d ever say that to Angelo, who had a poster of him above his bed.
As they watched, Rosie felt more and more justified in her appraisal of the sports star. The video had been shot on someone’s phone, and it showed Lewis drunkenly heckling a lesbian couple in an upscale Manhattan bar, offering to show the women a “real” g
ood time while grabbing his crotch. Finally, one of the women, a petite brunette, stood up and told him to get lost. She came up to his shoulder – and that was in three-inch heels. In response, the sports star made a grab for her breast and she hauled off and smacked him. Rosie cheered silently.
But, before he’d even fully recovered from the slap, Lewis had decked the woman, sending her sprawling backward, crashing into her chair and table and taking them with her as she fell. The woman’s date screamed, and the waiters, who up until that point had been trying to ignore the situation, finally came forward and restrained Lewis as he shouted abuse at the women. The date cradled the tiny brunette in her lap, crying, while another diner came over to offer her services as a doctor. As Lewis furiously fought the waiters, he caught sight of whoever was filming.
“Release that video and my lawyers will destroy you!” he screamed at the camera as the waiters hauled him away. Suddenly, the video came to an abrupt end.
Big Bad Billionaires [Volume 2] Page 63
