Best of 2017

by Alexa Riley

  “It was good seeing you, Eve.” I don’t miss the way his voice cracks when he says my name.

  I smile. It’s weak and fake, but it’s the only thing I can do to not fall apart right there in the middle of the restaurant.

  My eyes meet his one final time as a single tear I can no longer hold falls.

  THREE DAYS LATER . . .

  “I saw Preston the other day, ” I say to Dr. Beckett as I lean forward hugging my knees to my chest. “He was with another woman.” She pauses what she’s writing, and looks up at me. The lines etched on her weathered face becoming more pronounced.

  “And how did that make you feel?”

  “It tore me in two. That day I arrived feeling on top of the world and ready to move forward. The ambush backfired in the cruelest of ways. It hurts to know that I lost him, but at least he looks happy and that makes me happy. The hardest part is that I have so much I need to say to him, and never had the chance. I couldn’t get past the hurt to just say it. The strength to pull him aside to talk was not there.”

  “I know it must feel hard and I’m sure you’re scared of what you will find out, but I do think you need closure. I think your next step is you reaching out to him, thanking him, and then you might be ready to move on.”

  “Okay.” My fragile heart doesn’t want to know if he’s moved on with Heather. From the looks at the diner, he has. I can’t blame him. She was perfect in every way. How could I expect him to wait for me? It was unrealistic for me to think he wouldn’t.

  So much time has passed, and my feelings have never wavered. Unfortunately, I was too late. Regardless, I do agree I need to thank him for being instrumental to me finally finding peace with my mother and with myself.

  Once back at my apartment, my eyes are glued to the blank screen in front of me. I know I have to dial. I need to find the strength, swallow my pride and stuff my emotions as far down as I can. With a shaking hand, I type the one number I’ve avoided for so long.

  “Eve?” It’s him. His voice sends my heart soaring despite my every move to suppress it.

  “Hi,” I squeak. “Listen, I know this is long overdue but I needed to speak with you.”

  Silence fills the space between. My nerves are getting the better of me, so I rattle on. “I wanted to say thank you.” Still he says nothing. At this point I have nothing to lose, so I go on. “Meeting you, loving you . . . it was my saving grace.” I sigh. “No matter what happens, I need you to know.” I prepare to hang up as it appears he has nothing to offer, but finally he speaks.

  “Meet me. I need to talk to you.” My stomach tightens in nerves.

  “I don't know if that's smart. I don't want to cause problems between you and Heather,” I whisper so that he doesn’t hear how my voice cracks.

  “Eve, we need to talk about that.” My heart hammers in my chest and I nod to myself, not that he can see me. “Is that a yes,” he says through the phone.

  “Yes.” I stutter.

  “Have you had dinner?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Okay, Paradise. Eight Thirty?” An hour and half to prepare to see him . . . Am I ready? Can I do this? Will I have the strength to hear whatever he has to say?

  I am.

  Good or bad it’s time I put this part to rest.

  “Okay.” The line goes dead.

  I’M GOING to be late. Shit. With fast steps, I move through the crowded streets and to the corner. My skirt flies up as a cab whooshes by.

  I wonder what will happen. How everything will go down. As I wait for the light to change and the cars to pass, I look into the passing traffic. It isn’t so bad for a Tuesday evening, and walking in the crisp air is invigorating. New York City isn’t usually this chilly this time of year, but it seems spring is lingering in the air. This thought reminds me that we are only nine months away from the statue of limitation running out. I shake off the thought. No need to set myself up for more disappointment.

  In a rush, I step in the door.

  A short line has formed in front of me, but when the crowd parts, I come face to face with all I was hoping for. All I’ve dreamed about. Preston. His lips part into a smile as he sees me.

  “Am I too late?” I whisper to myself. There’s no way he can hear me but the way his eyes pierce mine, I think . . . no, I believe he can. As I close the distance between us, it’s as though there is something tethering me to him, pulling me closer.

  “Am I late?” I blurt out, my heart beating erratically.

  “Nope, your timing is impeccable.” His words swallow me whole. Invade every crevice of my mind that still dares to dream.

  “I was scared I was too late.” The way he looks at me, I know he understands my meaning.

  “It’s never too late. It will never be too late.”

  “But what about—”

  “What about nothing. There was never anyone else. There is no one but you. The other day when you saw me with Heather, it meant nothing.” He extends a hand to me, his finger sweeping lightly against my jaw. “Jace was sick of me moping around, so he said I needed to date. Get out there again. Heather works in the hospital with me. She’s made her interest in me known for a long time, so I asked her out.”

  “She’s in love with you.” My head tips down to look at the floor. “I should know,” I mutter.

  “Yeah,” He takes a deep breath and my eyes snap back up. There’s so much emotion in his eyes but I can’t place it. “He said it would be good for me,” he repeats.

  “And was it?”

  “Yeah.” His voice dips low, it sends a wave of chills down my spine as I wait for him to continue. To seal my fate. “It was good because it made me realize there's no one else for me but you.”

  My mouth trembles against his fingertips as all of my pent-up emotions come pouring out in fresh tears. He reaches up and collects the wetness. “I was so scared. I knew what I had to do, and I did it. But then I had to wait for it to be okay for us to be together. It felt so long, this time without you. I was so scared you’d moved on. That you forgot about me,” I stammer out.

  “How could I ever forget about you? Don’t you know by now that I love you?” He pulls me into his arms and buries his head in my neck. “I love you,” he whispers into my skin before he moves his head back and his mouth connects with mine, showing me just how much.

  “Okay, I get it,” I laugh into his lips. He pulls away and gives me a heart-stopping smirk.

  “I’m glad you’re finally starting to catch on.” He says with a wink.

  “God, I’ve missed you. It feels as if I’ve been everywhere and nowhere. Does that make sense?”

  “More than you know. That’s how I’ve felt, too. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We only have to wait—”

  “I don’t want to wait anymore. I don’t want to waste another minute not being with you.” I say.

  “Okay, so we won’t wait. We just have to be careful until the time passes, but are you sure you’re ready? As much as it would kill me to let you go again, you have to be sure.”

  “I swear, I’ve been to hell and back. But when I lost you, I found me. God, I had so much to learn, but knowing there was a chance for us . . . I fought. I hired a new therapist, not one from your list. She’s wonderful. She’s been working with me to not need approval. She’s been helping me to forgive, and she’s been working with Mom.” His eyes widen at my words.

  “Yeah, the three of us have been meeting. Dr. Beckett has been helping her to understand that it’s not her fault Dad took his life. She’s really come a long way.” Tears fill my eyes. “Last week, she came to the office with me. She’s leaving her house again. Do you know how amazing this is?”

  “I’m so happy for you.” He smiles.

  “You saved me, Preston.”

  “No. You saved you. I only gave you some of the tools you needed.” His arms wrap around me and he holds me in his arms.

  “I used to be scared, but now I’m controlling it. I’m learnin
g new coping mechanisms and I’m building myself up one day at a time. I have more to learn, but I’m working on it. I’m not perfect, and I still have nightmares sometimes, but it’s okay, because no one’s perfect.”

  “To me, you’re perfect.” He runs his hand up my spine. “To me, you’re everything. You are beautiful inside and out.”

  I exhale the last bit of fear that still resided in my body. The fear that I had lost him.

  EPILOGUE

  EVE

  NINE MONTHS LATER . . .

  I watch out the window as the street previously blanketed in white starts to melt away. Spring is coming, breathing warm winds and change. Like a soft lullaby to my ears, each pass of the breeze against the glass pane speaks about the promise of a new beginning. A new beginning for us . . . finally.

  Warm arms slip around me and I lean back taking his embrace.

  “So now that we can finally be together, where do you want to go?”

  “It doesn’t matter, as long as I’m with you.” And that’s the truth. The last nine months we have spent every free minute we could together, maybe not in public because we couldn’t be seen together. But we learned to make do. We’ve become quit creative in fun dates to take in Preston’s brownstone. We cook. We watch movies. We even have picnics in his living room and make love as often as possible. We have fallen further in love. Into an all-consuming love, the kind of love that stories are made of.

  He leans down and places a kiss on my exposed shoulder.

  “Now that you’re stuck with me, you promise you’ll love me in five years?” I ask and he doesn’t respond but I feel his mouth hovering over my sensitive skin.

  Kiss

  “In ten years?”

  Kiss

  “Fifteen years?”

  Kiss

  With that he spins me around and places his lips on mine, robbing me of my breath. “I’ll love you until forever and a day,” he mumbles against my mouth. “Don’t you understand by now? I want to kiss you till forever. I want to love you until forever, and when forever ends, I want to start all over again.” His voice touches places within me I had almost forgotten were there. It touches the place in my heart where dreams do happen. “Because I will never have my fill of you. Even eternity won’t be enough. I want to be the reason you smile today. I want to be the reason you smile every day.” He pauses and gently opens up his closed hand revealing a beautiful solitaire diamond.

  Crystal blue eyes gaze back at me. They speak to my soul, to every facet that I am. In his eyes, I see a future. I see hope, and I see love. It doesn’t matter where we started.

  Or how many obstacles we’ll have to overcome.

  All that matters is where we’re going, and that we go there together.

  “Will you marry me? Will you give me all of your forevers?”

  “Yes,” I say through joyful tears that drip down my cheek. His arms encircle me as he sears me with his kiss.

  I have learned so much over the last two years. I’ve learned that I'm more than my past. I'm more than the nightmares that haunted me. I’m able to forgive and move forward and have a second chance.

  Life does provide a second chance.

  This is ours.

  The End

  BONUS EPILOGUE

  Lying in my bed, I can’t help but stare at the empty space next to me. God, I wish Preston was here. But he’s not, and he won’t be for a painfully long time. A strict rule issued by Sydney. Apparently, the bride and groom cannot spend the night together the day before the wedding. Seems like a ridiculous and jaded practice if you ask me. One only a single and evil friend would come up with. How can she possibly think this is a good idea?

  Preston looked so damn sexy tonight that I practically begged him to take me in the coat closet during our rehearsal dinner. But alas, there will be none of that. So instead, I close my eyes and picture how beautiful he’d look if he were standing before me. How his hands would feel if he was touching me. How his lips would feel if he was kissing me. A smile spreads over my face. Tomorrow we will finally be married and no one will ever separate us again, not even Sydney with her prehistoric traditions.

  Knock.

  A bang on the door pulls me out of my thoughts. Grabbing my robe, I walk to the door.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s me.” The sound of his husky voice is unexpected. A warm heat spreads through my body. What’s he doing here? I swing open the door—

  Preston’s lips are on mine.

  He kisses me with abandon before eventually pulling away and pacing around the room. Something is obviously bothering him. The muscles in my stomach tighten as a familiar panic weaves its way through my bloodstream.

  I close the door. “Preston, what’s going on?”

  Preston strides over to me in two steps and pulls me against him. “It’s not you, Eve. I’m just concerned about Jace.” A small line forms between his brows.

  “Do you think he’ll be okay?” I ask, knowing full well that after the sudden death of his wife, Jace might never be okay again.

  He pulls at his hair. “I hope so.”

  “Should we do something?”

  “There’s nothing we can do,” he answers, lifting my jaw with his hand. “But enough about my brother. I want to make love to my wife.”

  “Future wife.”

  “Future wife,” he agrees. “But in less than 24 hours you will be all mine.”

  “I have been all yours since the moment I met you.”

  “Well, that’s not entirely true.” He grimaces.

  “Oh God, Preston, can we just stop talking already? Sydney is going to kill me if she knows you snuck into my room before the wedding. According to her, and I quote, you aren’t supposed to see him until you walk down the aisle.” I say in my best Sydney voice. “So please, can we stop talking so you kiss me again?”

  “It’s a good thing Sydney’s not here right now. I’m not she’d approve of what I’m about to do to you.” He winks.

  I bite my lip. “Promise?” Dropping my robe, all I’m left wearing is a black silk camisole.

  “Oh I promise,” he growls. With one fast move, Preston lifts the camisole off my body, leaving me with only a pair of black lace thongs. His hand pulls at the material until it shimmies down my thighs and falls to the floor. Now fully naked, Preston guides me toward the bed, laying me down in front of him. His gaze is predatory. His pupils dilated with desire.

  Warm hands reach out and spread my legs open. He swipes his tongue against his lips like I’m a feast laid out before him. Before I can even breathe, he starts to devour me. His tongue finds me hot and ready as he licks and sucks me like a starved man until I find myself hanging on by a small thread. His pace becomes so maddening that all I can do is grip the blanket to steady myself as I fall over the edge.

  When I finally return from my orgasmic high, he places one more kiss on my sensitive skin before climbing up my body. As his hard length teases my entrance, my body trembles with anticipation, growing reckless with need. His mouth finds mine, and in perfect synchronicity, he thrusts inside me. I part my lips on a gasp, and he takes full advantage, thrusting his tongue into my mouth to meet the tempo as he fucks me.

  Stretching me…

  Teasing me…

  Owning me.

  The pattern of his movement has every nerve ending in my body coming alive. I can barely find my breath as I feel myself start to come apart. Desperate for the release, I meet his thrust.

  I’m teetering on the edge, about to come apart when Preston halts his movements. A groan escapes my trembling body. But he continues to hold still. Every breath I exhale becomes choppier. My hips try to lift but he won’t let me move. He won’t let me put out the fire burning inside me.

  When I think we both can’t take anymore, he starts the pattern all over again.

  In…

  And out.

  Still.

  In…

  And out.

  Still.

&nb
sp; In…

  A primal moan escapes my mouth as I chase and find my release. The sound fuels him as he picks up his pace, fucking me harder and faster than I ever thought possible. With one final push, he empties himself inside me. Together we cling to one another as our breaths regulate. With our bodies still connected and are limbs still entwined, he looks into my eyes, his blue iris penetrating my soul.

  “Forever . . .” he trails off, the one word speaking to every part of my being.

  “Forever.”

  When the early morning sun peeks in through the drapes, I'm all alone in the bed. Preston must have snuck out in the middle of the night. A smile pulls across my face as memories of his late night visit replay in my mind. My cheeks warm and gentle laughter escapes my mouth. Sydney would give me hell if she knew. Good thing she won’t find out.

  Stretching my arms over my head, I ring out the last bit of sleep still harboring in my body. As I move to get out of the bed, I notice a small box sitting on the side table with a little-folded note underneath it.

  My Dearest Eve,

  As I sit here next to you while you sleep, I can’t believe how lucky and blessed I am.

  I never thought I would ever love again. I never thought I would ever feel so complete. But then you came into my life, and everything changed. I still remember the first time I saw you. How beautiful and serene you were. I didn't think I would see you again, but luckily, fate had other plans. It’s been a long road to get here, but I would weather the storm over and over again just to have you by my side.

  I know I tell you this every day, but I love you. You are my heart, and you are my soul. I can't wait to make you my wife.

  All my love,

  Preston

  My vision fogs from the tears collecting in my eyes. With a swipe of my hand, I dry them and then open the box. Inside is the most beautiful pair of diamond and pearl earrings I have ever seen. I smile softly to myself while placing them in my ears. They are perfect. Now all I have to do is get up, shower and prepare for the biggest day of my life.