by Tawny Weber
So where the hell was she so he could get to the fixing?
Fingers tapping on the desk, he spent the first five minutes staring at the door.
He spent the next five pacing the office.
At the thirty-minute mark his nerves were shot, his hair a tousled mess and his stomach churning.
God, he had to get a grip. He slumped into Drucilla’s chair, dug his elbows into the desk and dropped his head to his fists. Where the hell was she?
He stared at the folders neatly arranged under his elbows. His eyes narrowed. One, the thickest one, was labeled Pownter Contract.
Confused, he straightened and pulled it open. He’d barely started to read the first page when someone cleared her throat at the door.
“Drucilla,” he said quickly, tossing the folder aside to jump up. He almost tripped over the chair as he hurried around the desk to greet her. So much for being smooth.
“I’ve been trying to reach you,” he told her, not sure if he should be angry or relieved that she was finally here.
He stared, taking in the shock etched on that gorgeous face, and settled for thrilled.
“I got your messages,” she said, looking anything but thrilled herself. Actually, she looked as if she wanted to turn tail and head right back out the door. After a couple seconds, though, she lifted her chin and stepped the rest of the way into the office, carefully shutting the door behind her.
“You got my messages?” he repeated. “But you didn’t return them. Were you ever going to talk to me again?”
She wet her lips in that way that made him desperate to nibble on her. Then she shrugged and admitted, “I honestly hadn’t planned to, no. I figured you were leaving and I was staying. What could we possibly have left to say to each other?”
He remembered the heart-wrenching words she’d thrown at him before walking out of the boardroom two days before. He’d been hoping he could breeze in here with a charming smile, a grand gesture, a pretty speech and that would fix everything. He’d figured he could sweep her off her feet again, without having to put himself too far out there.
But she deserved more than that.
They deserved more.
“Look, I screwed up,” he declared. “I totally, selfishly screwed everything up. Us, the project, possibly our future. I’m here to do whatever is necessary to fix things between us.”
“The reality hasn’t changed, though, Alex.” She said it as if she’d just confirmed a terminal prognosis. In a way, hadn’t she? Because if her expression was any indication, she considered their relationship dead and buried.
“I can fix the reality,” he insisted.
“You can’t change me, Alex.”
“Huh?” What the hell was she talking about? And he was supposed to be such a brilliant guy?
“You said you were totally into me until reality hit. Until you got to know the real me,” she said. The pain those words had caused was clear in her voice, the devastation making her lower lip tremble.
“You think that’s the reality I was talking about? That that’s what I meant?” he asked slowly. God, he was such a dick. He’d been so busy trying to run before he got hurt, he hadn’t seen the pain he was causing Drucilla.
He could see it now, though. Her beautiful indigo eyes were filled with pain. He couldn’t stop his move toward her any more than he could stop his next breath.
“I didn’t mean you,” he explained, risking her anger but not able to help himself from taking her hands and lifting them to his lips. “You, Drucilla, are perfect. You’re sweet and sexy. Smart and savvy. You’re clever, loving and loyal. The reality of you is more than my heart can hold.”
“But… I don’t understand.” She looked as if he’d just smacked her upside the head with a telescope. Wide-eyed, shocked and still a little hurt.
“I meant my reality, Drucilla,” he said quickly, needing to get that look off her face.
She sniffed, pressing her lips tight. He could see her trying to find the icy cloak she used to hide behind. But with her hands trembling in his, she couldn’t seem to.
“I don’t understand,” she repeated. She offered him a shaky smile then said in a joking tone, “Are we talking about perception or multidimensional realities here?”
“I’m the problem. You were right,” he explained. Even though he knew he had to get the words out, saying them was harder than taking a surfboard to the head. “This is my issue. I thought I had to move from place to place. That I couldn’t commit to anything. My dad was a physicist. My grandfather’s a physicist. Both of them were barely able to commit long enough to sire children, let alone anything else.”
He forced himself to push past a lifelong loyalty and, he finally admitted, just as many years of lying to himself. “My parents had a lousy marriage. They were in the process of divorcing when my dad died in a plane crash. He was never home anyway, so I barely noticed the difference.”
She gave him a long, sympathetic look as she gently slid her hands over his cheeks. Pressing a soft kiss to his lips, she leaned back and told him, “I understand. I really do. I spent most of my life thinking I was just like my father—doomed to fail.”
He smoothed his hand through her hair and pressed his own kiss to her forehead, wondering how two seemingly intelligent people could be so emotionally stupid.
“I take it you’ve realized how mistaken that thinking is,” he said with a stern look.
Her smile was hesitant, but it still felt like sunshine, warming him all the way through to his heart.
“I did,” she admitted. “Even better, I realized that the only failures I’m accountable for are my own, and the only person who can drive my success is me.”
He nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear so he could better see the clean lines of her beautiful face.
“I wasn’t trying to derail your success, or undermine your authority, Drucilla. Please keep that in mind…” He hesitated, wanting to let it go. But he’d learned his lesson before. He had to tell her right away. “But I tried to contact Charlene Pownter yesterday. I was going to offer to accept the original contract. Complete with the two-year agreement.”
“What?” She stared up at him as if he really was the rock star she always referred to him as. Awed, shocked and just a little turned on. He liked that look.
He was torn between kissing her while she stared up at him like that and hurrying on with the details. As much as he wanted her, he wanted to get on with their future together even more.
“I tried to get the deal back for you. I figured if I agreed to terms, maybe offered to do a few additional lectures or assist on any of their other projects, they might reconsider.”
“Alex—”
“No, don’t thank me or anything,” he interrupted. “I couldn’t reach Charlene so nothing’s set yet. But I will, I promise.” And he would. He’d do anything for her. “Or I’ll offer whatever you prefer. I just want this to work out, for us to work together. To be together.”
OH, GOD. It was like having a dream come true right here in her office. The only thing that kept her from pinching herself to see if she was really asleep was the fact that they were both fully clothed. Generally, all her dreams of Alex had at least one of them mostly naked.
Dru scrunched her nose, nibbling at her lower lip as she tried to figure out how to answer him without damaging his ego. Or worse, driving another wedge between them.
“Alex, I appreciate that. I really do.” She tore her gaze from his face, with those dark sexy eyes watching her so intently, and waved her hand toward her desk. “But, well, I’ve already agreed to a different contract.”
He frowned, looking at the Pownter-contract folder she’d gestured to. She winced, waiting.
“I’m not sure I understand,” he said slowly.
She had to move. But she couldn’t pace in a room that felt as if it’d shrunk in half, so she had to settle for twisting her fingers together. There had to be a good way to explain and still keep what was looking like a dream
come true.
“I really wanted the Pownter deal,” she told him. “It was, for me at least, a once-in-a-lifetime shot. I wasn’t willing to just let it go. Especially not when you…”
“When I bailed on the entire project?”
She nodded. “Right. Well, I took a chance and met with Charlene. Actually with her full board. I talked to them, convinced them to accept Trifecta under a slightly different contract than they’d originally offered.”
His proud smile warmed her through and through.
“You faced that entire board and pitched a new deal? That’s excellent. I’ll bet you were incredible. They must have been eating out of your hand.”
Her shoulders straightened just a little and she gave him an excited smile. “I wouldn’t say that, but they were definitely receptive. There are a few changes to the deal, though. I don’t know if they’re changes you’ll be okay with.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss, heated and damp, against the palm of her hand. She could feel the tingles all the way to her toes.
“I’ll do anything, Drucilla. For you. For us. And—” he grinned a little over the finger he was nibbling on “—to tell you the truth, I’d rather commit to the Pownter Institute than Blackstone.”
Dru gave him a feeble smile and searched deeper for the right words. It was hard, though, with him playing sexy sucking games with her fingers.
“Alex, I love that you were willing to try to change Trifecta’s deal for me. I love even more that you’d be willing to take on a two-year contract to prove that you’re serious about sticking around. But—”
“No,” he interrupted. “No buts.”
“But,” she insisted, “this new contract was negotiated with the idea that you were off the team. I was able to convince Charlene that I was good enough, strong enough, to lead the project. She’s willing to take a risk on me. The same deal as she originally offered Trifecta, but with me, just me—” she took a deep breath before continuing “—in charge.”
He went still. Her fingers tensed.
“I still want you on the team, if you’re willing to work with me,” she said quickly. “Your input and participation would be invaluable. Even if you weren’t, you know, the leader of record.”
“I’d be working under you?” he clarified.
She nodded, braced for his reaction.
Then he laughed. A slow chuckle at first, then a deep guffaw. She stared, baffled. How was that funny?
“Well, I do like it when you’re on top,” he told her with a wicked look in his dark eyes.
Her sigh came out as a giggle as she smiled up at him.
“I love how enthusiastic you are about the potential work,” she teased.
He stopped grinning and gave her a long, serious look, as if he was trying to find the right way to tell her something. She held her breath, staring up at him.
“You’re using the word love an awful lot today,” he commented with an inscrutable look.
“Not to scare you,” she blurted. Regretfully, she pulled her fingers from his to grip his arms in case he decided to storm out. “I wasn’t trying to…”
“I know,” he said, wrapping his now-free hands around her waist and pulling her tighter against his body. She sighed in pleasure at the wonderful feeling of him pressed against her again. “Actually, I like hearing it. It’s not a word I’m overly familiar with, though.”
What was he getting at? Dru wished desperately that she’d skipped breakfast, since the wild dance of nerves going on in her belly was making her a little queasy.
“It’s not an emotion I’m used to, either,” he admitted, confirming the direction he was heading and scaring the hell out of her. Dru was torn between running from her deepest desire and pushing him to hurry along the confession.
Push, she decided, going for broke. She wanted the confession.
With that in mind, she leaned in closer to his body and, releasing his arms, curved her palms over his cheeks. She gave him her sexiest—albeit a little shaky and nauseous—smile and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Before she could reach his lips, though, he put his hands on her shoulders to halt the forward momentum.
“So you nailed the deal on your own?” he clarified, staring at her.
Dru nodded. Weren’t they supposed to be tossing around that scary L word?
Nervous again, she folded her lips together and waited to see if his L word was strong enough, real enough, for her reality.
“And you don’t need me to advance your career?”
She shook her head so quickly, her hair whipped at both their faces.
“But I’m welcome to hang around, continue to colead the team and participate in the project?”
Dru’s stomach sank, tears welling in her eyes even though she wasn’t sure why. She gave a tiny nod and held her breath.
Alex heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back for a moment.
“This actually creates a problem,” he said after a few seconds.
“What kind of…? How…? What do you mean a problem?” she finally blurted out.
“I figured I’d swoop in here and save your career,” he told her. “That you’d be so grateful, you’d overlook my asinine behavior and welcome me back with open arms.”
She gave a relieved laugh, only tinged a bit with hysteria.
“I figured the project, and the mandatory two-year commitment, would serve as some sort of testament. But instead, you’ve eliminated my easy, waltz-in-and-be-a-hero-while-taking-minimal-responsibility commitment.”
Dru opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say. She closed it, then opened it again and offered, “I’m sorry?”
“You should be.” He pulled her into his arms so fast, she squeaked. Laughter and joy twined together, filling her with happiness. “Now you’re going to have to pay, you know.”
“How?” she asked as she wreathed her arms around his neck and snuggled closer with a happy sigh.
“By loving me,” he said against her hair. “I’m talking long-term here, Drucilla. No fantasy stuff. Just you, me and reality.”
She tilted her head back to smile up at him.
“I do,” she said. “I love you today, I’ll love you tomorrow and all the tomorrows after.”
Finally, his mouth met hers, their kiss a sweet affirmation to their professed feelings. The gentle, almost reverent glide of lips made Dru tremble inside.
She pulled away just a little and gave him a naughty look.
“But the deal is, we keep the fantasies. After all, I’m imagining you right now, naked on the desk.”
“You’re the boss,” he agreed with that sexy, beach god smile she’d fallen so hard for. Then he gave her a wink and leaned down for a kiss.
“No,” she said quietly.
Alex blinked, but he didn’t say anything.
“We’re partners,” she told him, a little giddy at the idea of being so wonderfully in love. “That means we’re both the boss.”
Epilogue
EXHILARATION SURGED through Drucilla’s body. Muscles tight, she filled her lungs with the warm evening air then gave a deep sigh of satisfaction.
There was nothing like surfing at sunset. The colors of the sky, the feel of the cooling air as it whipped around her body while she flew over the water. Incredible. Simply incredible. Much like her life.
“Are you ready?” Alex asked from his own board a few feet from hers. “You sure you want to take this on? These waves are bigger than you’re used to.”
Dru’s joyful laughter bounced off the water and she shook her head, droplets spraying around her like a halo. “Oh, yeah, I can handle it.”
She could handle anything.
The wave built, its roar filling her ears. The diamond of her wedding ring glinted in the sun as she gripped the sides of the board. Her body tensed, not in dread but in wild anticipation. This was it. Time to give herself over to the pleasure of riding the waves. Second on
ly to her favorite ride—Alex.
A ride all her own.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6571-8
RIDING THE WAVES
Copyright © 2010 by Tawny Weber.
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