Mid Life Love: At Last
by Whitney G.
Published by Whitney Williams, 2013.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
MID LIFE LOVE: AT LAST
First edition. October 18, 2013.
Copyright © 2013 Whitney G..
Written by Whitney G..
Table of Contents
Notice
Dedication | For the readers who wanted more...
Author’s Note:
Mid Life Love Epilogue
Mid Life Love: At Last | Whitney G.
Friday August 15, 2014
Chapter 1
Chapter 1.5
Chapter 2
Chapter 2.5
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Monday September 1, 2014
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Thursday September 18, 2014
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
The End
Twisted Love Excerpt | Prologue:
Chapter 1
Acknowledgments
More works by Whitney Gracia Williams:
A Preview of Desperation of Love by Alice Tribue
Prologue***
Notice
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.
Cover photograph by Julia Savchenko, Getty Images
Dedication
For the readers who wanted more...
Author’s Note:
About that ‘Mid Life Love’ Epilogue...
Before you begin to read this book, let me first say THANK YOU for reading the book that came before it: Mid Life Love. As I was editing that book with my beta team, there was a collective decision to leave out the epilogue at the end.
I know a lot of you didn’t agree with the final decision, and for that reason I posted it on Two Crazy Girls with a Passion for Books blog shortly after publication.
I want you to know that I’ve included the polished, edited version of the epilogue at the beginning of this book for anyone who hasn’t read it, and I truly hope you enjoy Mid Life Love: At Last as much as you enjoyed Mid Life Love.
Thank you for being the best readers in the world,
Whit’
Mid Life Love Epilogue
Eight months later...
Claire
“I need three hundred of those granite tiles here by tomorrow afternoon. Can you make sure that happens? Oh, and could you see if those doorknobs I designed for Mulholland were approved yet? Okay. Thank you very much.” I hung up the phone and swirled around in my chair, smiling at the red and white entwined “C” letters that hung over my door.
I was sitting in my office at C & C’s Charming Designs, my own interior design company. I’d quit my job at Signature weeks after Jonathan and I got back together, after he demanded that I accept his money and start my own company.
Business was extremely slow at first—especially since he kept showing up in the middle of the day and preventing me from getting anything done. But after about four months, I started to pick up client after client, and word of my services began to spread like wildfire.
I now had a six month waiting list for design projects, and I was in the process of expanding my store to include small home furnishings.
I adjusted the picture frames that were standing proudly on my desk: Jonathan and I smiling on his favorite yacht. Him and my daughters jumping into the ocean. And the most recent one—him kissing me onstage after receiving another prestigious award.
“Miss Gracen?” My secretary buzzed my office. “I’m off to lunch, and your twelve o’ clock is upfront waiting.”
“Tell the client I’ll be right there.” I slipped into my jacket and headed down the hallway. Since I’d picked up so many clients, I was never able to get more than five minutes alone.
“Caroline?” I walked around the front desk. “I told you that you and Ashley don’t need to make appointments to see me. You could’ve just called.”
“Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “You practically live here.”
I shook my head. “What do you want?”
“I need thirty dollars.”
“Excuse me?”
“Actually, I need fifty dollars. Ashley does too, but thirty each will do.”
“Did the airport stop giving out paychecks all of a sudden? Where is your money?”
“What’s going on?” Ashley walked into the store and stood next to her, not even glancing my way. “Did she give you the money yet?”
“No.” Caroline sighed. “She still thinks we save money from our jobs...”
“How do the two of you expect to go to college this fall without knowing how to save money?” I was tired of going over this with them. “Do you think it grows on trees? Do you think it falls out of the sky whenever you need it?”
“So she’s not going to give us the money?” “I think that’s what she’s saying.” “Did you tell her it was for summer-senior-night and everyone who’s anyone is going to be there?” “No, I just asked for the money. I didn’t think I needed to explain why.”
I sighed and prepared to re-start my lecture, but Jonathan walked in with a large bouquet of bright pink roses. “Good afternoon, ladies.” He looked at me and then he looked back and forth between Ashley and Caroline.
“Good afternoon,” they said in unison.
“Can we have fifty dollars—each?” Ashley smiled at him.
“Of course.” He pulled out his wallet and handed them both a hundred dollar bill. Just like that.
“Why don’t we just do that every time?” “I don’t know...Maybe we like the challenge?” They both laughed and rushed outside.
I watched as they climbed into two separate white Range Rovers—Jonathan’s ridiculously over-the-top birthday gift to them.
“You have to stop doing that.” I took the flowers from him.
“Doing what?”
“Giving them money whenever they ask for it.”
“Why?”
“Because they don’t need it. And they’ll never learn how to save their own.”
“They make nine dollars an hour and they work fifteen hours a week. How much do you honestly expect them to save?”
“I give up.” I rolled my eyes. “Thank you for the flowers—and for the ones you sent this morning. You know, we’ve been together for a while now...You don’t have to keep sending me flowers every day. I’m sure the cost has to be adding up and I don’t want you to feel like you have to do that.”
“Shhh.” He kissed me, making me forget whatever I was going to say. “How’s your day going?”
“It’s okay. It’s been a bit busy.”
“It doesn’t look busy...” He looked around the empty store.
“It is.”
“Where’s your secretary
?”
“On break. Why?”
He smiled and pulled me closer. “No reason.”
I saw the familiar ‘I’m-about-to-pull-you-down-to-the-ground’ look in his eyes and immediately stepped back, rushing behind the counter.
He laughed and moved close to the counter’s edge—ready to join me, but I hit a button that made a clear panel drop down from the ceiling, completely blocking his way.
He raised his eyebrow. “What the hell is this?”
“This is what I had the engineer build for me last week, after you interrupted a very important meeting with your distracting sex and cost me two hours’ worth of design time.”
“You think I’m a distraction?”
“You are a distraction. And you have your own company to run—one worth billions last time I checked, so I would appreciate it if—”
“You had this built to keep me from coming behind the counter?” He pressed his hand against the glass. “To keep me out of your office?”
“Clearly. And it seems to be working.”
“It’s very cute.” He nodded. “You always amaze me with your sense of creativity.” He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a key. Then he slid that key into the panel’s hole and pushed the door open.
What the...
“You are aware that I run a background check on any man that comes near you, right?”
I blinked.
“The second you told me you were having more construction done,” he said as he pushed the door shut and walked over to me. “I made sure the company and the engineer knew exactly who they were dealing with. And I demanded to have extra keys to any locks you might attempt to install.”
“Why do you always do this?”
“How long is your secretary’s break?” He pushed me against the wall.
“Jonathan...” I tried to ignore the look in his eyes. “I really need to get some work done. You can’t show up every day...”
“I don’t show up every day.” He pressed his lips against mine. “I only show up when you don’t answer my calls. And I’m beginning to think you do that on purpose because you know exactly what’ll happen if you don’t.”
“I was busy.”
“How long is her break?”
“An hour...” I moaned as he kissed my neck, as he squeezed my ass and lifted my leg around his waist. “I’ll make this up to you tonight.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“I...” I gasped as he ran his fingers against the back of my bra. “I promise.”
“You’re going to lose this argument, Claire. Give up,” he whispered. Then he laughed. “I didn’t come here to have sex today.”
I gave him a blank stare.
“I didn’t.” He kissed me again and stepped back. “I just wanted to remind you about this weekend, wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.”
I didn’t forget. He’d made that impossible.
Even though I’d moved into his house and we’d traveled to amazing places with the girls, he and I still hadn’t had an entire weekend alone. For him, there was always some major business deal that couldn’t wait until Monday. And for me, it was always some project that I couldn’t step away from.
“I didn’t forget.” I smiled. “Is it a surprise location?”
“Isn’t it always?”
I blushed. He still had a way of making me feel like it was the first time we’d met, like he was going to do anything to show me how much he cared.
“I’m working late, so Greg will pick you up from our house at nine.” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “And then we’ll be on our way... Don’t bring any work with you or I’ll make you regret it...”
“Looking forward to it, darling.”
“Darling?” He rolled his eyes and kissed me one last time before walking over to the door. Then he turned around. “If you wear a fucking pantsuit like you did on our last date, I’ll rip it off of you before you make it into the car.”
Jonathan
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Mr. Statham.” The editor of Forbes stood up to shake my hand.
“Not a problem, Miss Evans.”
“It’s such an honor to finally meet you in person.” She bit her lip and I tried not to roll my eyes at her unwanted attention.
She’d been flirting with me the entire meeting—batting her eyes, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs. She’d even “accidentally” let a mint fall down her revealing silk shirt, terribly pretending to be “so embarrassed” because she’d “never been this clumsy before.”
She looked like she was about my age, and her hair was radiant blond with autumn colored highlights. Her eyes were a spectacular shade of blue, and in all honesty, she was quite beautiful. But she didn’t have shit on Claire. At all.
“It was nice meeting you too, Miss Evans. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”
Her eyes lit up and she bit her lip again. “Would it be too much to ask for a tour?”
“Not at all.” I picked up my phone and called Hayley. “Hayley? Would you mind giving Miss Evans a tour of corporate this afternoon? Okay...Great. Thank you.” I hung up and walked her over to the door. “Hayley will meet you in front of the elevators. Have a great afternoon, Miss Evans.”
“Thank you.” She scoffed and walked away.
I plopped down in my chair, happy that the unnecessary magazine interview was over. I opened a drawer to shut off my voice recorder and caught a glimpse of my digital photo-book. Scrolling across its screen, I smiled at the pictures Claire and I had taken of Caroline and Ashley last month.
Over the past eight months, I’d realized that I finally had everything I could possibly want—almost everything I could possibly want.
Claire and I had grown closer than ever and she’d finally learned to accept our relationship and be comfortable with it. Sure, she still frustrated the shit out of me from time to time—but not because of insecurities or being seen in public together.
It was mainly because she’d agreed to move into my house, but not before turning it into a damn renovation project that never seemed to end.
She was always finding something new to tweak, some part of the house that could be “done better.” If I didn’t love her so much, I would’ve put a stop to it a long time ago—like the time she shattered the windshield of my Bugatti while installing new lights in the garage.
“Mr. Statham?” Angela’s voice bounced off my walls.
“Yes?”
“Corey and...Miss Gracen are here to see you.”
I looked at my watch. There was no way Claire had left her company this early—surprise weekend getaway or not. I always had to personally drag her out of there at the end of the day.
“Send them in please.” I looked towards the door and watched as Corey held the door open for...Ashley.
I smiled. “Yes, Ashley?”
“Can I have fifty more dollars? I forgot to account for a few things...”
“A few things like what?” I handed her a hundred. “Is that the only reason you came by?”
“No, not really. I was wondering how long you and my mom were going to be gone this weekend...”
“Why?”
“No reason.” She put on her best poker face—something she’d definitely inherited from Claire. “I just thought I’d stop by to ask. That’s all.”
“We’ll be back on Tuesday...”
“Good to know!” She clapped. “Have a safe trip!”
“The house is under state of the art surveillance.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Only two cars are allowed through the gate within the same four hours unless I have the key, and I’ve already alerted my security team to check the property every hour to make sure no extra guests arrive while we’re gone.”
Her jaw dropped. “I thought we were friends, Jonathan.” She shook her head. “You and I have history...”
I laughed. “We do have history. I still haven’t told your m
other about the last secret pool party you had on my yacht, her crashed Audi, or last weekend when you and Caroline came home at four o’ clock in the morning. Would you like me to?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you later...It was nice seeing you again, Corey.” She gave us both a hug before walking out of my office.
“How do you tell them apart again?” Corey sat down at my desk. “I could’ve sworn she was Caroline.”
“Instincts I guess. Are we all set on the CS account?”
He nodded. “The shipment should get here within an hour. I’ll sign for it and have Greg bring it up. You made an appointment with me so I could tell you that?”
“No...” I looked at the only photo on my desk, the one of Claire and Hayley playing Scrabble. “I need you to find out who Hayley is dating.”
“What?”
“Claire slipped up and said something to me about it yesterday...She and Hayley are apparently BFFs now and they’re keeping secrets from me. I need to know who this man is so I can kill him.”
Corey blinked. “Kill him?”
“Yes.” I balled my fists. “Not literally kill him. I just want a few words.”
“Right...” Corey cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. “Well, I um...I already screened the guy.”
“Great. What’s his name?”
He sighed. “Um...”
“Mr. Statham?” Angela called over the intercom again.
“Yes?”
“Miss Gracen is on line one.”
“One second, Corey.” I picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey...” Claire’s voice was faint.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing...I just decided to leave work early today.”
“Was there a fire?”
“No...” She laughed. “I was ripped off a couple hours ago. The man I’m seeing stopped by and he just...”
“He just what?”
“He left without giving me what I wanted. And to think, I purposely avoided his phone calls all day so he would get the hint. He usually doesn’t back down so easily...”
I smiled. “You’re at home?”
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