"It's all been ruined. I did not get the opportunity to finish all of the preparations," Kate replied, frustration filling her voice.
"Sweetheart. It's fine. Trust me. It's the thought that counts."
By the way the kitchen looked, Kate wanted to take him up on the offer to stop cooking. Things could only get worse from there. She shuffled through the drawers, finding the take out menus.
Bruce took her by the hand. "Why don't you let me handle this? You can go ahead and finish your surprise and I will have the food for us shortly."
Kate took a deep breath. "Fine. Okay."
Bruce took a bunch of the menus and walked out of the kitchen. How had he come through and made everything so calm so quickly?
She went about setting the mood. Lighting votive candles all around, turning on the soft jazz and dimming the lights. As she finished, she heard the doorbell ring. Bruce had taken care of the food. Now she needed to clean herself up a bit and get ready for dinner.
*****
Kate let her hair out of her ponytail and spruced up her makeup. A pop of a coral lipstick accented her simple outfit. She chose a pair of form fitting jeans. Her mahogany complexion was gorgeous against her cream colored shirt. Spraying a bit of vanilla scented perfume, she readied to eat dinner with Bruce,
When she walked into the living room, there he was, standing there.
"You are my knight in shining armor. Swooping in here and saving the day."
"It was nothing really. Come on. Let's eat."
Kate led them out to her balcony, where she had a table set with a floral centerpiece and a bowl with floating candles.
Bruce pulled out her chair and waited for her to take a seat. "Let me get the food."
She relaxed while he got the food ready.
"Here we go." He returned with two plates with slices of pizza.
"It's not gourmet, but it is dinner."
Laughing, she ate the pizza. "All that matters is the outcome. I was starving and what I had going on in the kitchen was not going to count as dinner."
The air outside was warm and the sounds of the street below surrounded them. Kate appreciated the fact that the two of them could sit in a comfortable silence.
"How was your conference?"
"Everything went well. I made some headway with some potential prospects."
"That is wonderful. I'm really proud of you for going back to consulting."
Bruce wiped his mouth with a napkin. His sexy grin turned her on. "Thank you. I just hate being away from you for any amount of time."
He took her hand in his. "It is like an eternity being away from you. Not waking up next to you in the morning. A man should not have to suffer like that."
"Tell me more," she purred, leaning in as if Bruce was going to tell her a secret.
Gazing at her from across the table, Bruce looked as if he was ready to pour out his heart and soul. She was ready for anything.
"Kate, over this past year, I have grown to love you more and more each day. When we met, I was not looking for love. I was not looking for anything in particular. And then you came along. Changed all of that for a man like me. My dream is to have the wife and the kids and all that life has to offer me. And I want that with you."
Words were caught in her throat. Kate was not sure how to respond as a tear came to her eye.
"Kate, I know we have these careers and these goals and all of these other things going on in our lives. But I want us to keep us first. We have to remember what made us fall for each other and keep that as our guiding force. We have to remind ourselves that we fell for one another, despite the fact that outwardly looking in, we appear to be polar opposites."
His words evoked more tears. As Bruce spoke, Kate's heart swelled with love. Bruce never hesitated to tell her how he felt.
He squeezed her hand, then bringing it to her lips, he kissed her skin. "I'm all yours tonight."
She took her other hand and wiped her tears away. "Good. I did not want you to leave."
"I won't."
He beckoned for her to stand up. She did, coming to him as he led her to the ledge. Bruce wrapped his arms around her as they looked out over the city.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" she began.
"What?" He nuzzled his face in her hair.
"How life moves so quickly. The fluidity of it all. Things change all of the time. Where you would think there would be some sort of fear in that, it is really something powerful."
"I think you are right about that, my love." He kissed the back of her neck and tightened his hold around her waist.
"You know. I was not looking for love at all either. I basically wanted to work and just focus on my career. I think partially because I am driven, and partially because I did not think anyone would fulfill my fairy tale. A huge part of me did not want to be disappointed at all if I did not find love. But Bruce, you have changed all of that for me. Made me understand that love comes from the most unexpected places and sometimes it does not look like you expect it to look. I'm so unbelievably happy."
He turned her around to face him. "What you've said is something I already know, but it warms a cowboy's heart to know that you feel as I do."
His kiss was sweet, his embrace tender. The flurry of I love you's made the moment complete. Bruce pulled her as close to him as possible, the weight of his body and the muscles on his brawny arms practically crushing her.
"So where would you like to go from here Ms. Walker?"
"That is a good question," she said, speaking partially to herself. It was a question that warranted a second to think. Kate wanted to ask Bruce the same, but one never answered a question with another question.
"I never saw relationships as the type of thing where you would have to think too hard about what would come next. It is the kind of process that moves on at its own pace, and I'm learning that pace is present whether the participants are ready or not."
Bruce raised a brow at her response, but did not speak.
"So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm prepared to let this go, let us go where it may. I'm going to just trust in love, and trust that love will guide us where we need to go."
He kissed her forehead. "Trusting in love it is."
*****
Waking up next to Bruce felt exhilarating. She loved the fact that he held her in their sleep, never letting them be too far apart. Under his protective embrace was where she felt safest. Sunlight streamed in the bedroom window. Stretching, she had no choice but to wake up when the sun filled the room.
"You are gorgeous when you wake up."
She could not help but smile. It was nice that they had settled in to a comfortable rhythm with one another. Kate was coming to know what to expect from Bruce. He would wake up next to her, dote on her, cook breakfast for the two of them, and then they would be off to start their days.
Kate rolled over, only to see a tiny box resting on the bed side dresser next to her.
"More presents?"
Bruce nodded. "Take a look."
"Promise me one thing first."
"What is that?"
"That you will not get tired of giving me so many presents and surprises."
Bruce jokingly looked around the room. "Hmm, let me think."
"Stop it," she chuckled.
Bruce nodded toward the box. "Open it."
She leaned over, taking the box in her hands. It was flat and red, tied with a soft white bow. Kate contemplated what could possibly be in the box, but she was not sure. Flinging the top off, she opened it to find two rectangular cards.
"What is this?" Her question was rhetorical.
"Plane tickets."
She examined it for closely. Two tickets to Paris, France. Kate opened her mouth to speak, but did not know what to say.
"Seriously?"
Bruce shrugged. "I thought that maybe we could go back and take the time to really enjoy ourselves. You were working so hard and all we had time to do was steal a few moments here and there. I
t would be great if we got the opportunity to go back and really see the city and spend a bit of time with one another."
"This is fantastic. I guess I have to just rearrange a few things on my schedule."
"Already done."
"What?"
Bruce kissed her on her soft, full lips. "I called Amelia and she rearranged your schedule so that you could have the week off. On top of that, Linda is going to keep the ship afloat while you are gone. Everything is in line and you don't have to worry about anything."
"I can't believe it." Kate clasped her hands in excitement.
"I can't either. You know, I fully expected you to say that you had a hectic work schedule and that we should plan this for another time."
Kate placed the top on the box and slid it in her nightstand drawer for safe keeping.
"I told you that from now on, things will be different. I know what I have in you and I don't want to lose that."
"Sounds sexy."
Kate tenderly returned the kiss, biting on Bruce's bottom lip. "You could not possibly want to stay in bed all morning since we have a flight out tonight?"
"That, my love, is exactly what I wanted to hear."
Chapter 4
For the first time, Kate happily packed and readied herself for an adventure. She had never put herself in the mindset of being in the current moment and being fully present. It was important for her moving forward to make sure that she enjoyed each and every second of her life.
After having a talk with her mother, she knew she would have to live in the now. Ms. Walker sat with her daughter over a warm cup of tea and a slice of her heavenly peach cobbler and the women discussed life and love.
Ms. Walker told her daughter that love only came across one's path once or maybe twice in a lifetime. She did not want her daughter to lose out on knowing love because she was overworking and leaning on her hectic schedule versus enjoying life.
Her precise words were, "You can't cuddle up to that job of yours at night."
Never had truer words been spoken. Although Kate loved her job and all that she had accomplished thus far in her career, she knew she needed to fall back a bit from having such intense focus on it and take part in some of what life brought her way.
Life had brought her Bruce Stanger. All of her friends wanted a good man to make them feel complete. A man that would love them, cherish them, and adore them. Bruce did all of that and so much more. He encouraged her to be her best and all that he required of her, he required of herself. Not only was he her lover, they had also developed a friendship. She could share any and everything with him and know that he would give her his honest opinion and always steer her in the right direction.
When she found Bruce, Kate hit the jackpot. Her mother reminded her that she would have to work for her relationship and that she would have to put in the time and the effort to make it all work if she really wanted it. What she really wanted to know was the secret to making a marriage last. She assumed her mother knew the answer to that question because she had been married to Kate's father for the past thirty years. Somewhere in there were some gems that she had to get a hold of.
There would be plenty of time to figure all of that out. They were not even engaged at the moment, just on the way on an impromptu getaway. Who couldn't use one of those?
There would also be plenty of time on the Transatlantic trip to discuss where exactly the relationship was going. The more she thought about it, the more marriage seemed like the next step. Kate did not want to jump the gun or force the issue, but she wanted to make sure she and Bruce were on the right path.
She could count on Bruce to move that train along. He would not let them linger too long in retrograde. He was always the catalyst to propel their relationship forward. It was a fact that Kate appreciated. One of them had to be the one to do it, thank goodness it was him. If it was left up to Kate, the relationship would progress at a much slower rate.
Bruce was the perfect compliment and he knew it. His calm nature kept her focused when she wanted to otherwise give in to her normal nature and spread herself thin all over the place.
Kate watched Bruce sleeping. The first surprise had been the plane tickets to Paris. The next was that they would pack to leave that night. On top of that, Bruce chartered a private plane for their trip. It was her first time on a private plane and it was the type of thing Kate wanted to get used to.
It was one of the first times that Bruce flexed his billionaire status. He never truly did that and lived a mostly simple life. Sure he had the money to shower her with gifts and they ate at the best restaurants, and not to mention the fact that he had a swanky condo along with the ranch that he ran for his parents.
The fact that he was a billionaire was not something he immediately disclosed when they met. She was happy he did not because Kate wanted him to know she genuinely cared for him and not because of his social and financial status.
"You're staring at me."
"What? Oh, sorry."
Bruce stretched. "No problem, my love. Did you get any rest?"
Kate shook her head. "None. At least not yet. I just got finished sending a few emails and reading two magazines."
Patting her hand, Bruce got up out of the seat. "I need to stretch my legs a bit."
She sat there waiting for him to come back. It was hard to really relax when she knew it would be such a long flight.
Bruce returned with two glasses of champagne. "Hopefully this will help you to calm down a bit."
The bubbly liquid warmed her inside and made her feel slightly more relaxed.
"Thank you."
"How long was I asleep?"
"For about an hour or so. I did not want to wake you, you were sleeping so peacefully."
"I needed the rest. And you will soon too."
"I'll be fine. Just a bit giddy with excitement. This time, I'll get to see Paris in a whole different light."
"The best thing is that we will be doing it together."
When Bruce spoke of being together, it was like music to her ears. There were so many more things she wanted to do together as a couple.
"So where do we start first? Do we need to make an itinerary?" The words flowed from Kate's lips quickly as she thought about all of the things they would do in Paris. Full of excitement, Kate clasped her hands together, smiling as she thought about what a great opportunity this was to vacation with Bruce.
Bruce sipped the rest of his champagne. "I did not exactly plan the trip out to that degree. It was more of an impromptu thing, my love. The kind of thing where we would pick up and go and not really put that much thought into what we were going to do when we got there."
"Oh." Kate considered what he was proposing. "I get it. That would actually be kind of nice. I never really considered taking a trip like that."
Bruce sat up in his seat, looking at her. "Are you serious?"
Kate shrugged.
"You mean you have never just picked up, paid for a hotel, chosen a destination, and just gone there? No expectations. No schedule. No idea where you are going and what you will do when you get there?"
Kate shook her head. "No. Whenever we went on vacations when I was a child, my mom had the entire trip planned out from start to finish. We would see everything there was to see and then go home."
Bruce frowned. "That does not sound like too much fun. I mean, not to disregard or disrespect the way your family did things."
"It's okay. I never thought of things in any other way because that was the way we always did it. I think it sounds nice to just go and enjoy yourself without putting so much thought into it. Maybe with doing too much planning, we may have missed out some things."
"Should have, could have, would have. None of that will change now. But I'm glad you are willing to see things differently today. So are you game for vacationing on a whim?"
"Most definitely."
Bruce took her by the hand. "Good. Now, I have another question for you."
; "Shoot."
"I know we have talked about it before, but I feel like things are changing between us, for the good. Where do you see the two of us in about five years?"
Kate did not want to think too long about the question. "I know that we will be together. I know I want to be with you. And I also know that it is best if I just trust the process of it all."
Bruce cocked his head to the side. "Really? What brought on this change in thought process?"
Kate sat back in her seat as the flight attendant served them a dinner. They both thanked her and then continued their conversation.
"A little talk with my mother." Kate laughed.
"Ah ha. A chat with Mom will do it to you every time." Bruce peered at her from the corner of his eye.
"What did the two of you discuss if you don't mind me asking?"
Kate cut her steak and took a bite of the medium rare meat.
"She gave me another perspective. Sometimes, it is helpful for someone to remind you of what you have right in front of you."
Bruce nodded. "I can understand that. What prompted that conversation?"
"She is not unlike every other mother. You know, she thought that maybe I would be a spinster and never get married."
"And what do you think?"
"I have to tell you, I never really was the type of girl to plan out my marriage or my wedding. You know that. We've talked about that before. So when it happens that I found someone that I love dearly, I am not exactly sure about how to push forward. The only thing I keep thinking is there should be some kind of switch that flips and says, 'Okay, now it's time for you to get married' or 'Okay, this is the proper time to have children'. And of course, this is not happening. There is no green light to say what you should or shouldn't do. Nothing to say 'Okay, Kate. This is the right time in your life for love' or 'Okay, Kate. This is the right time in your life to get married'. None of that is happening. So I kind of find it hard to figure out what to do next."
Bruce chuckled. "It is amazing to me that the woman that is a risk taker in fashion and in business will not take the same risks in her personal life."
"Wait. What do you mean?"
Kate turned all of her attention to Bruce because she wanted to hear his analysis on her life.
Make Me Whole (Brothers From Money #3) Page 17
