I take a shower, eat breakfast, and hit the ground running. It’s going on noon when I finally stop to take a break and get a bite to eat. Shawn and Joan are frantically working on the evening’s meal when I enter the kitchen. “Everything ok?” I ask. Shawn flips me off in response.
“Get out of the kitchen. We’re closed to non-kitchen staff and room service waiters today. We have too much to do,” Joan orders, pointing to the door. I walk over to her and kiss her head. She smiles and hands me a sandwich before pushing me out of the kitchen. I laugh on my way out; she always takes care of me and knows just what I need.
There’s a bag laying on my desk when I walk back in my office. Neither Jenny nor Sally are around to ask who put this it there. Opening it, there’s a note inside with a burger and fries.
Cash,
We were out before our appointments, and I knew that you would be busy. I wanted to make sure that you were able to eat. I can’t wait to see you tonight. Text me with what the plan is, am I meeting you there or in our room? I miss you. I love you. Don’t work too hard and take the time to eat.
Love, Abby
I decide to call her because I want to hear her voice. She answers on the second ring. “I guess you got your present.”
“Thank you for lunch. The kitchen is closed, and I had to sneak a sandwich from Joan. How’s your day?” I ask in between bites of the burger.
“It’s good. We just went for lunch, and now we’re laying by the pool before our massage.” I grab my burger and fries then head out to the pool. I have a few minutes to spare and want to get a kiss from Abby.
“Oh, that sounds so much better than my day. I’ve been arguing with people all morning.” I find her sitting by herself since Sarah is swimming. I walk over and bend down to kiss her. She squeals and pushes me away. “Why did you push me away?”
She smiles at me. “I didn’t realize it was you at first. I thought you were in your office.”
“I wanted a kiss while I had a few minutes to spare. I’m very jealous that you get to relax. I need you to cover up, Abby.”
“Cover up? Why?”
“I don’t like other guys looking at you,” I tell her as I lay a towel over her. She keeps pushing it away and then throws it at me.
“You’re worse than Max. I’m covered up. I can go topless if you like.” She starts to untie her top. I growl at her and sit down, and she pauses in her actions. “Stop pouting.” She comes over to my chair and sits on my lap, leaning in and kissing me softly. Someone clears their throat, interrupting us.
“I’m sorry, Cash, but we have a problem. Joan and Shawn are looking for you,” Jenny says, sending me an apologetic look.
“Jenny, you are not my favorite person right now,” I inform her through clenched teeth as Abby gets off my lap. I kiss her goodbye as she starts to chat with Jenny. “Oh, I’ll meet you at the ball. I have to be dressed at least two hours before everyone gets here.”
“Okay,” she agrees.
“I love you!” I yell from the other side of the pool area.
“I love you too!” she yells back, nothing can stop the grin from taking over my face at those words.
I round the corner and see my brother-in-law standing in front of Jenny’s desk looking nervous, “Hey man, what’s up?”
“We need to talk.” He walks into my office, and I follow, sitting down at my desk. I know why he’s here, and I don’t feel like dealing with him. “You want to buy your sister out?” He gets right to the point.
I go over my argument with Sally with him. He seems a little surprised by what I said and pointing to Jenny, who’s been standing in the doorway, I inform him that she can back up how things went down.
“Where is Sally, by the way? The staff that she’s in charge of keep coming to me instead of her.” Matt looks guilty.
“She went home didn’t she?” He nods, confirming my suspicions. Now I’m pissed me off. I need her here, and she’s nowhere to be found. “I know that she needed to leave early to get her hair done and what not, but that’s not for another couple of hours.”
“Something is off with her; I’m not sure what it is,” Matt admits. “How can I help?” “Nothing you can do, man. I got this handled, but I might have to bring on a part-time party planner to help if shit like this is going to keep happening,” I tell him as I head for the door. “I would chat more but I just can’t. I have too much to do before the party starts.”
“A part-time party planner is a good idea. I think Sally wants to take some time off to be with the kids but won’t say anything to you,” he says as we walk to the main ballroom.
“I’ve wondered about that. I wish she would talk to me instead of just blowing work off. If she wasn’t my sister, I would have fired her.”
“I can’t believe she did what she did. I didn’t think that you would offer the time off to her when you have this ball tonight.”
“If it wasn’t for Abby and her best friend Sarah helping me out, I’d be in a mental hospital with a breakdown.” I want to say more, but staff are approaching me about where things need to go. We say goodbye and go our separate ways. Time flies by, and when Jenny comes to find me, she’s already dressed in a beautiful yellow gown. Her hair and make-up on have been done, and she looks like she’s straight out of a movie. Not used to seeing her so dressed up, I let out a whistle, and she blushes.
“Oh, knock it off,” she says with a wave of her hand.
“You look amazing,” I tell her, and she blushes again. “Is your husband coming tonight?” She nods and tells me that he’ll be here later. She relieves me of my duties so that I can leave to get dressed. “Everything is about done. The guests should be arriving in about an hour, and I hope that Sally will be here before then since we need to greet them.” She assures me that she will handle things until I get back. I run up to my room to get showered since I know that Abby will be with Sarah in their room getting ready. Thirty minutes later I’m on the elevator heading back down to the party when my phone dings.
Abby: I can’t wait to see you tonight
Cash: Me too. I love you
Abby: I love you too. How was your day?
Cash: It was long and draining. Sally left before lunch, so it was just Jenny and me.
Abby: I’m so sorry babe. You should have called me, Sarah and I would have helped.
Cash: I know, and I thank you for that, but it was nothing that we couldn’t handle.
God, I missed you all day.
Abby: Me too! I will see you in about 45 minutes.
Got to go, Sarah is yelling at me to get dressed.
Cash: UGH! You were naked and texting me, so not nice.
Abby: Yep! :)
I get off the elevator with a smile on my face. I can’t wait to see her and kiss her at midnight. I hunt down Jenny and Sally.
ABBY
I slip into my pink knee length dress. Our shopping trip had been a success; we’d ended up choosing a maid of honor dresses; they’re perfect for the occasion. Mine is a strapless, flowing pink dress that had a dark pink sash around the waist. My hair turned out beautifully. The sides are pulled up and twisted, held together by bobby pins. The rest flows over my shoulders in big curls. My makeup is a lot heavier than I’m used to but when I look in the mirror, I feel beautiful and sexy.
“I’m almost done; I’ll go down with you. Want to zip me up?” Sarah asks as she turns around. Her dress is a beautiful black strapless full -length dress that hugs her body perfectly. Sarah’s hair is done up in an elegant French twist; she looks gorgeous. I zip her up, and we head down to the main ballroom.
Walking towards the ballroom doors, I hear Sarah whistle. I turn to ask her what she’s whistling at and the next thing I know; I’m being swept into Cash’s arms. “Wow. You are so breathtakingly beautiful.” He places my hand over his heart. “Do you feel that? That’s because of you. Hi, Sarah.”
“Your heart is racing because of me?” I ask him with a smile. He nods as he brushes
a kiss across my knuckles. I’m so in love with this guy.
He grabs my hand and leads me into the room. The doors have all been opened, and the three ballrooms are filled with lights, flowers, and fountains. The room is a sea of black, silver, and purple with strings coming down from the ceiling and black tablecloths accented by purple floral centerpieces. Joan is helping the staff putting the food out as the band sets up to play. The bartenders pour drinks for the few guests who arrive early. My eyes land on Cash, talking and laughing with Shawn. Sarah and I make our way over to them.
“This looks incredible. You guys outdid yourselves.” Sarah tells them as she hugs and kisses Shawn.
“Thank you. We all worked hard to get this accomplished. I just hope there aren’t any problems.” Cash worries. He keeps playing with his bowtie, and fidgeting with his watch.
“I’m sure if there are any problems, we can figure it out,” Shawn reassures him as he slaps Cash’s shoulder.
“Cash, I hate to bother you, but people are starting to arrive and want to talk to you,” Jenny says as she points to the door. He groans and kisses me.
“I’ll try to make it back to you. If I don’t, at 11:55, find me. I want to be kissing you at midnight.”
“Do you want me to stand with you?” I ask him.
“I would like that.” Cash says as he grabs my hand and walks over to the door. “Thank you for being here with me. I don’t want to be away from you.” He squeezes my hand as we talk. The first of the guests start to arrive, and he introduces me as his girlfriend to several people. While smiling and playing the role of hostess, Max, Aaron, and Rob show up in their tuxes.
“Don’t you three look handsome.”
“Wow!” Aaron exclaims, looking me over.
“Baby girl, looking sexy. Florida agrees with you.” Rob says to me as he looks at Cash and me.
“Squirt, you need more clothes on,” Max tells me as he tries to put his jacket around me.
“Max, stop!” I push his hands away. The three move into the ballroom and I resume greeting the guests with Cash.
It takes us two hours to greet everyone. Even the Mayor was in attendance. Cash finally announces that we can head inside to our table to eat. The servers are already delivering the meals to the tables. When we bought our tickets for this event, we’d had the choice of chicken, beef, or fish. Joan and Cash made a system to have the trays go table to table, so they already had what everyone had ordered. It was working well.
At our table is Sarah, Max, Aaron, Rob, Shawn, Nic, Jenny, and her husband, Michael. Nic is doing most of the talking, telling amusing stories about her kids. Jenny joins in, telling funny stories about Cash growing up, much to his dismay. The evening is perfect, and I’m so glad that we’re able to spend the time together. Jenny’s laughter fades when she spots something and motions for Cash to turn around. A woman that I didn’t recognize is headed our way, and she doesn’t look impressed. Sally, who just walked in with Matt jumps in front of this woman, “Robin, your table is over there.”
I notice that Cash is turning red then looks at me with just sad eyes. He mouths, “I’m sorry” to me and goes over to the scene. Matt is trying to get Robin to leave. She waits for Cash to get close to her. “What do you think you are doing?” He spat at her.
“I just want to see you, is that too much for you and her?”
“Robin, your fiancé, and his bosses are watching you carefully. Go back to them and leave us the fuck alone.” I’m close enough to Cash to hear the conversation and realize she’s the ex that broke his heart.
“Robin you look ridiculous. I’m asking you to leave.”
“You’re nothing but a bitter old hag who can’t stand that your brother wants me, and he can’t have me.” Robin slurs her words. I watch as Cash strides over to a man in the back. The man is about the same height as Cash, blonde hair and looking quite embarrassed. The other man whispers into Robin’s ear something that turns her face from smiling to angry. She snaps at him and turns to leave while running into the other people. She gets to the doorway then turns around to look at Cash. “You’ll regret this, Cash. No one dismisses me.”
“I have a feeling that she isn’t quite done with you.” I chuckle.
“She won’t remember this tomorrow. She’s a blackout drunk. Why aren’t you sitting at the table?” He kisses my temple after I give Sally a hug.
“My date left me. I got lonely.” I snuggle closer to him.
“Well, my apologies. Let’s get you fed so we can dance the night away.”
“Save a dance for me sis.”
The rest of the evening is followed by drinks, dancing, and laughing. The guys stand on the sidelines and the five girls dance. Cash would only come around to slow dance with me. At 11:55, Cash makes his way over to me. Sally approaches us to Cash to ask who would be doing the countdown, and he told her that she could do it.
“On behalf of Cash and myself, I would like to thank you for spending your New Year’s Eve with us here at Hawthorne’s. My mom always wanted to a have a party like this but was taken from us too soon. This year has been a crazy one for Hawthorne’s as we have grown, and remolded without its fair share of drama.” We all chuckle as we’re wiping away the tears following her comments about his parents. Cash has his arm around me, my hands around his waist. I squeeze him to reassure him that he is alone. “This year has been about learning to give control, trust and finding love. I hope next year is going to be even greater with the look on my brother’s face, I can tell that it will be.” Everyone then turned to look at us, and I couldn’t help blush. “Now turn your attention to the big screen as we get ready to countdown. The servers are coming around with champagne.”
“So what are your New Year’s Resolutions?” I ask.
“Hmm, I don’t have any. I do want to make sure that I make you happy. What about you?”
“I also want to ensure we’re happy. I want to do what I can to keep this relationship going.”
“Five, four, three, two, one…HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Cash kissed me right at the stroke of midnight. When we break apart, Max comes over to hug me and kiss me on the cheek. Sarah said something to Cash that had him making the cross my heart motion. This is what I’d wanted for the year. Laughter, good friends, a family who I loved, and the man that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It’s almost 1:00 a.m. when Aaron and Rob decide to head to bed. One by one, the couples start to leave to continue their fun in private.
Sally and Matt join us, “I’m getting tired, so we’re going to head up to our room.”
“Your room?” I question.
“My mom has the kids tonight, so we’re kid free until tomorrow afternoon.” Matt wiggles his eyebrows.
“No more kids right?” Cash snickers.
“Goodnight, Cash.” Sally rolls her eyes. “Take the next few days off and enjoy your time with Abby. Next time you’re in town, dinner at our house. Leah hasn’t stopped talking about Uncle Cash’s girlfriend.”
“I would love that. I’m sorry that we didn’t get to spend more time together this trip.”
“Happy New Year, you two.” Cash and I say goodnight to them.
We ride the elevator in silence and walk into his room. I can tell he’s tired, so I help him get undressed. I change and climb into bed with him. He pulls me close to me and kisses me.
“Will you hold me tonight? I just want to be in your arms.” He places a kiss on my shoulder, and I curl into him. We drift off to sleep content in each other’s arms.
CASH
I awake to Abby softly snoring. I look outside and notice that it’s cloudy. Staring at the gray sky, and it’s reflecting my mood. I shift my gaze to Abby, and my heart swells with love, pride, and lust. I’d never wanted what Sally, my parents, and grandparents had before, but I want it now. How am I going to let her leave in two days? Last night I’d given the staff instructions to call Jenny or Sally but not me until Monday. I need to get drunk this weekend as my girl is leaving me. I
wonder if I could keep her locked away for the next two days with me in this room. I want to make love to her tenderly and drive her wild while I fuck her.
“Penny for your thoughts?” She’s awake and smiling up at me.
“I was thinking about keeping you locked in this room forever.”
“Okay.” She agrees as she stretches. She starts getting out of bed and I pull her back to kiss her. She refuses me, and I end up kissing her cheek. “I have to brush my teeth. Morning breath kisses are just gross.” I laugh and remind her that we’ve kissed many times before brushing our teeth. I let her go and head into the bathroom with her. Our eyes meet in the mirror, and I’m concerned when I see her frown.
“What’s the matter?”
“I leave in two days.” She’s pouting now, and it’s cute.
“I know, and I don’t want to think about it.” My tone is angry, and I leave the room.
“Are you leaving?” She asks, seeing me getting dressed.
“Yeah. I’m heading to the gym. I need to blow off some steam.” I walk out the door and ride the elevator to the hotel gym. I’m all about fitness and looking good so when we remodeled the hotel, I wanted to make this gym something that people would use. I made sure to have it installed with all the state of the art equipment. Abby must have told Max where I am because he walks in fifteen minutes later. “Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About. It.” I say in between lifting the barbells.
“Good. I didn’t want you to talk. I just want you to listen. My sister is crying because you blew her off. I don’t know what happened because I stormed out when I saw the tears. I told you once already that I will kick your ass if you hurt her.” He’s now in front of me flexing his muscles. He’s a scary dude when it comes to protecting Abby.
Love Me Like You Do (Love Me Book 1) Page 19
