“Six months it is then. I’ll have Sophie start looking at what’s available for that time frame and then we can pick a date that works for the both of us. If that’s alright with you, that is?” He raised an eyebrow, waiting expectantly for her reply.
“It’s perfect, Preston. Thank you for understanding. I also want this to be something we do together… not something we put on Sophie. I know she wants to help and she absolutely can but I want to make these decisions with you… this is the rest of our lives.” She buried her head in his chest and slid her arms around his body to pull herself in even closer to his chest. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Charlotte. I understand sweetheart, I would love to make those decisions with you. I’m sorry I failed you in that area before, I had ignorantly assumed you wanted me nowhere near the planning.” He pressed another kiss, this time to the crown of her head, and she curled in a close as she could get, enjoying the warmth of his body next to hers for the time being. This was nice. She couldn’t remember the last time the two of them took the time to just exist with each other and not have a million other things to worry about. She wanted more of this, and for the first time, she was going to do whatever she needed to do to make sure they both had it.
Chapter 10
The next morning, Preston woke up early to head into the office, though Charlotte was already long gone to open the bakery. He knew she was anxious to see how everything had gone while she was away. It was honestly the first time she’d taken any kind of significant time off since the place had opened, and it was completely understandable that she would want to make sure everything was working properly without her. Preston had complete faith that Riley and Jacob were capable enough to make sure that it all went as planned for a long weekend away and probably for longer since she was going to have to rely on the two of them to keep everything afloat while they were away on their honeymoon after the wedding.
It was thinking of their honeymoon that suddenly had him feeling insecure about the possibilities there. As it was, they’d originally planned to head off after their wedding in less than a month. Now, it was suddenly going to be pushed back to some point in the distant future that he could only think of as six months from now until the two of them worked out the details. He needed to get Sophie to contact the venue the two of them had chosen to cancel the date and contact the caterer, florist, DJ, and all the rest to make sure they knew that the date was being postponed as well...that was something Charlotte was happy to have her help with. It was far enough out that they would be able to reschedule everything without having too many issues so that at least wouldn’t be a problem. Though, the venue was most likely going to have to be changed, and the invitations were basically garbage at this point.
Preston didn’t mind the minor expense of moving the wedding back. In truth, he would have spent that money dozens of times over again if it meant that Charlotte was happy. She didn’t ask for much. He couldn’t recall a time during the months they’d been together when she had requested something of him that meant he’d be spending money on her. Even this was an indirect cost. It wasn’t as if she was asking him directly to pay for anything, and he’d volunteered to shoulder the expense of the wedding to keep it off her parents’ plates. Money was never an issue for Preston in regard to his fiancée.
However, he had this nagging feeling in his gut that he hadn’t been able to shake since waking up early this morning alone. Waking up alone wasn’t strange but waking up alone the morning after your fiancée asked to push your wedding back six months was disconcerting. He was worried, and he hadn’t been worried like this since the two of them had gotten engaged. It was nagging enough in the back of his thoughts that he was entirely distracted throughout the beginning of his work day. Sophie was going to notice. She always did. It was her attention to the details of everything that made her good at her job. Besides, she was going to ask questions when he told her to start making calls to reschedule everything, and he just wanted to make sure that he had the answers for her when she asked.
He knew what Charlotte had told him last night. She was feeling overwhelmed, and he could understand that. There was so much on her plate right now that he had been surprised she was juggling it all as well as she was, but maybe he’d been wrong about that. She was starting to crack under the pressure of everything that she was carrying at the moment. He wanted to trust that it was the only reason that things were being postponed, but he couldn’t help the doubts that kept rising in the back of his mind.
There was a part of him that was still terrified this was the first step in her walking away entirely. Maybe he had been asking too much of her and pushing her to get things on the road with the two of them too quickly. Maybe he had been reading her completely wrongly when he tried to become dominant over her. Things could have been moving too quickly. They’d talked about it some, but she’d left to go home so soon after the first couple of times that they tried anything out that some part of him told him that all of it had to be related.
Charlotte was the type of person who could hide what she really wanted if she thought it was going to be something that hurt someone else. The fact that she’d even had the courage to come and ask him to postpone the wedding was what made him feel like there must be more to this. Postponing the wedding was far less of a blow than calling it off entirely, and if she wanted to call it off, then he was absolutely going to let her. The last thing he wanted to do was try to push her into something she didn’t want to do whether that was in the bedroom or life in general.
He wasn’t sure if postponing the ceremony was her way of trying to let him down easy. Of course, he hoped not…maybe he was just being paranoid and insecure again. All the old doubts that he was too old for her, that she needed someone who was better at being a boyfriend and a future husband than he was going to ever be capable of being, or that she was going to be better off without him came roaring back to the front of his consciousness. He had to push them down when Sophie walked into the room with a file folder in hand, laying it down across his desk before she looked at him and immediately settled herself into the chair opposite him.
“Well, I walked in here to give you the file you needed on the hotel chain you were looking to acquire, but from the look on your face, you need someone to talk to more than you needed a bunch of tax forms and finance reports. So you’re just going to have to forgive me for being nosy, but what’s the matter?” She crossed her legs and looked sternly across the desk at him.
Sophie had always been perceptive, and there was no point in trying to hide this from her. He liked to think of her as a friend as well as an employee. It wouldn’t be the first time he confided in her, and in truth, there really wasn’t anyone else he could talk to. Besides, she knew Charlotte well enough that she would be able to give him some insight that he hadn’t been able to come to himself.
“Well, I suppose you were going to find out sooner rather than later. I need you to start making phone calls this morning to cancel or postpone all the wedding preparations.” Preston knotted his hands together in his lap, keeping his focus on them rather than looking across at Sophie’s expression.
“Cancel? Preston, what in the world? You and Charlotte didn’t have a fight, did you? I mean I knew she went home to her parent’s house for the weekend, but I thought she was just getting homesick for them, not cancelling the wedding.” She was worried. He could hear it in her voice without even looking up to her face. At least he could alleviate Sophie’s fears without too much effort.
“Not cancelling the wedding. We’re just postponing things for six months. At least, I hope that’s what we’re doing.” He let out a sigh before working up the courage to look up to her face and seeing exactly what he didn’t want to see. He knew his troubles were going to be clearly written across his face for someone as astute as Sophie to read.
“And can I ask why? Or is that too forward of me?” She threaded her fingers together, resting her joined hands on her kn
ees while she waited for his reply. This was her way of asking if he wanted her to be his friend of his secretary right now. If he was real with himself, he really needed his friend more than his executive assistant while he worked his way through all of this.
“It’s all too much for her. She says she’s drowning, but I’m worried…” His voice trailed off. Preston wasn’t sure what to say next, but he could trust Sophie to get straight to the heart of the issue immediately.
“You’re worried she’s going to call it all off instead.” It wasn’t a question. She’d finished his thought without much of a conversation. As usual, she had hit the nail on the head.
“Yes. I’m worried. That’s all I really know. I just have to trust that she’s being completely up front with me about everything, but I suppose it’s always possible that she’s just trying to break it to me easily that she doesn’t really want to get married at all.”
It suddenly struck him that he’d put her on the spot asking her to marry him in front of her aunt and uncle. He would have understood if she’d said no then, or if she’d told him she reconsidered her answer later on, though she’d plowed into the wedding head first once she’d gotten moved into his penthouse. He kept considering all the possible reasons she might suddenly decide that she didn’t want to marry him, and it was all starting to get more than a little overwhelming for him. It was going to be easy enough to get lost in all the ways this could go badly if someone didn’t stop him soon.
“And have you asked her?” Sophie stared him down, point blank, and he stopped in his tracks while he thought about the implications of the answer to that question.
“No.” He hadn’t. All he had done was accept what she was telling him without any discussion. He was trying to be a mind reader, and that had already gotten him in so much trouble. If he hadn’t learned that lesson by now, maybe it was something he was never going to learn.
“So let me get this straight, Charlotte came home last night, just told you she needed to push things back six months, and you didn’t ask any questions about any of it. And now, you’re sitting here letting your imagination run away with you and panicking that she is going to wind up leaving you. You do remember where that line of thinking ended up the last time you two were together right?”
Preston hated how direct and to the point Sophie could be. As usual she got to the core of the issue without playing around though to him the blunt nature felt a little like an arrow straight to the chest. She was doing a good job of at least making sure that he understood where he’d already screwed up, though it made his defenses go up a little.
“To be fair, Howard didn’t help that much, Sophie.”
She nodded, conceding the point for the moment, but the next thing that she said hit him directly in the center of his chest.
“True enough, but you didn’t talk to her then either. At least you’re talking to me this time. Maybe I can talk some sense into you before you go off and do something half-cocked like you did before and wind up ruining everything for the two of you a third time.”
As usual, she was right. Preston remembered what had been going through his thoughts back then, and that same feeling had been coming slowly over him all morning. He was going to wind up doing something rash and sabotaging everything if someone didn’t stop him. Thankfully, Sophie had walked in the room when she had. He didn’t have a reply for her at the moment. He was a little too lost in trying to work his head around what he should do next.
“Now that you’re listening instead of trying to defend yourself, why don’t you do this?” She leaned forward and rested her hands on the edge of the desk in an effort to drive her next point home. “Call the woman and talk to her, or better yet, go to her, have the talk in person. You’re not going to scare her away by showing her that you are human or that you’re just as scared as she is. You can ask for details. You can ask for the reasons behind her decisions. You wouldn’t just ask her for something without explaining it to her, and I’m sure that she doesn’t expect you to do that either. She’s probably walking around a little dazed that you accepted it all without any questions. You can blame it on shock if she wonders why it’s coming up now. She will believe you, and if she doesn’t you can send her my way, because it’s honestly been years since I’ve seen you shocked into silence enough to let me scold you without an argument.”
Sophie used her hands on the edge of the desk for leverage to push herself up into standing, then drummed her nails on the edge of his desk while he thought about everything she was saying.
Of course, she had a point. She always had a point. He was just nervous to admit it because it meant that he was going to need to go to Charlotte and have the talk that the two of them should have had last night. He also needed to talk to her about his proclivities in the bedroom. He had let Charlotte jump in with little information or reason and she must be just as scared as he is. He hadn’t wanted to push her too far. He had been scared that pushing her was the wrong thing to do. Not talking to her last night had probably been one of the worst reactions he could have had to everything that was happening.
“Why do you always insist on being so insightful? It’s really starting to get annoying, Sophie.” Preston let out a soft sigh, leaning back in his chair as she smiled and stepped away from the desk.
“I’ll start making those calls, Mr. Pierce, though I’m certain you won’t be able to get the same venue in six months, so I’ll start seeing what’s available for that time frame elsewhere and get you a list of possibilities to take to your fiancée later. In the meantime, maybe you want to take a long lunch break later and see what’s on offer at this great little bakery I know of just around the block?” She grinned, rapping her knuckles on the corner of his wooden desk before she took a step away, shaking her head.
“Just talk to her, Preston. I promise it won’t be as bad as you’re imagining it could be. She loves you. She would be asking for a lot more time if she didn’t.” With that, Sophie left him on his own in the office again, though his thoughts had a different focus this time.
He could head over to the bakery during lunch with the list of venues Sophie was promising him as an excuse to see Charlotte, at least, and she had a point. Charlotte didn’t want to cancel the wedding. She wanted to postpone it. Six months honestly wasn’t that long to ask for. A lot of engaged couples waited years to plan their ceremonies. She wanted months. It still meant that she would be Mrs. Pierce in less time than it took to negotiate the last merger he’d overseen and the two of them could start the rest of their lives together as long as he didn’t do something foolish and ruin it all in the meantime.
For now, he just needed to get his head on straight and not screw everything up by letting his thoughts get out of control. Sophie was right. This was exactly how he usually led to sabotaging his happiness, and he was going to be damned if he let that happen again.
Chapter 11
Charlotte was bent over the work table at the back of the bakery focused on decorating a batch of cookies as she heard the lunch rush going on outside in the dining room beyond the door. Riley had assured her that she had it under control and didn’t need any help so Charlotte could focus on getting this batch of cookies out. They were another special order, and each of them had a meticulous design on them that took all her concentration. Normally, she would have been here well after closing time to get them done, but Riley was bound and determined for her to get some time at home tonight away from this place, so she could focus on what she had found between her and Preston.
Now that the pressure of the wedding was lessened, she wanted to spend as much time as possible getting to know their relationship before they dived headlong into being Mr. and Mrs. Pierce instead of just Charlotte and Preston. There was so much going on. She was still wrapping her head around the fact that she enjoyed the sexual part of their relationship as much as she did, or that she was getting married to someone as successful as Preston while she was still getting her own business
off the ground. To be honest, the two of them had a lot of exploring to do, and she was absolutely looking forward to getting it done. It just meant that something here at the bakery was going to have to give.
She’d talked to her mother at length about all of it, and Margaret had been adamant that she needed to find the balance between work and her personal life that she hadn’t yet been able to find. It might mean that she needed to hire more help around the bakery, and it might mean that she just needed to let go of some things and trust the staff she already had to do their best. She fully intended to try her best at it, so she was starting by trusting Riley to make sure that everything out front went as smoothly as possible.
Charlotte was a little lost in the cookie decoration, so much so that she didn’t even realize someone else was in the room until she heard the sound of a throat clearing behind her. It was far too deep to be Riley or even Jake. It could have only been one person, and he was the last person she was expecting to see in the bakery today.
Turning around to find Preston standing behind her was a bit of a surprise although it was a welcome one. She rushed over to close the distance between them and threw herself into his arms in a hug. It was only then that she paused to look up and take in his slightly worried expression though it was warming up by the time she registered exactly how he looked.
“Is everything alright, Preston?” Charlotte knit her eyebrows together, though she refused to let go of her embrace on her fiancé. She just needed to make sure that something terrible wasn’t about to happen.
“Yes, of course, sweetheart. I just wanted to talk to you about a few things. Sophie got a list of available venues for a new wedding date, but before I gave them to you, I just wanted to make sure of one thing…” He paused and took in a breath. Charlotte could see his expression darken a little and not in the way that it had last night. He was worried about what her reply to whatever he was about to say was going to be. That much was clear. She just didn’t know what he was going to ask at all. “Are you certain that you still want to marry me?”
Indulgence: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 8
