“Oh, Stace, of course you don’t.”
“And it doesn’t mean that I am going to lose my shit if you talk about your babies with me. Your babies are an important part of my life too.” I let a few more tears slip down my cheeks, a mixture of happy and sad tears.
“And you are important to all of us.” I smile at her words and realise that I am going to be okay, and I am going to remember my lost child forever. “Did you have a name picked out?” Lydia asks me.
“Actually, Jake and I decided on a name the other day.” I smile as the memory of our conversation comes into my mind. A memory that I shall cherish forever as it gave our baby their name.
“Do you want to tell me?” Lydia asks tentatively.
“She was called Paris.”
“Oh, that is a beautiful name.”
“Yeah.” Jake and I decided on the name that I lost when I married Jake. We both thought that Paris was the perfect choice.
“Stacey?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, girl.”
“I love you too, Lyd.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jake
My wife and I stroll into Waters Industries on Monday morning, hand in hand. We make our way to my office and greet Valerie on arrival.
“Oh hello, dear,” Valerie says to Stacey with a smile.
“Morning, Valerie.”
“Valerie, as of today Stacey will be working here,” I inform her. Her eyes widen as she looks from Stacey to me.
“Oh,” she says, clearly shocked but recovering herself quickly. “Welcome to the firm, Mrs Waters.”
“It’s okay, you can still call me Stacey,” Stacey tells Valerie with a wink.
“I have a meeting today with Lance Roberts,” I say.
“Yes, it’s still scheduled for one o’clock.”
“Could you call him and let him know that I will no longer be needing to meet with him.”
“Of course,” Valerie answers. I look to Stacey and she frowns at me.
“Thank you. I will be running through things with Stacey this morning so there are to be no interruptions,” I say, not taking my eyes off of Stacey.
“Very well, Mr Waters.” At this point I lead Stacey into my office and shut the door behind us.
“Are you going to tell me why you cancelled the meeting with Lance?” Stacey asks me, her arms folded across her chest.
“I changed my mind about selling,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” I confirm.
“How come?” she asks, needing me to spell it out for her.
“I no longer need to sell, seeing as you will be helping me run this place.” Her eyes widen at my suggestion.
“Jake, I can’t run this place with you.”
“Why not?”
“Far be it from me to point out the obvious, but I have no idea what I am doing.”
“You’ll learn.” She scoffs, and I chuckle at her reaction.
“And what if at the end of the week we decide that this isn’t going to work?” She is challenging me, but I already have my answer for her.
“It’ll work,” I reply as I walk over to my desk and take a seat behind it. Stacey watches me, still flabbergasted by this turn of events. “So, are you ready to get to work, Mrs Waters?”
She shakes her head at me, but a smile starts to form on her lips. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy for you, yes.”
She laughs as she walks over and takes a seat opposite me, on the other side of my desk.
“So, I think that we should start by going over the various departments and then we can decide which ones are suited to us individually. That way, you will control the ones that you feel most comfortable with.” I turn on my laptop and pick up a few papers lying on my desk, but I stop when I feel Stacey staring at me. I look to her and see that she is still smiling.
“You have this all figured out already, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. I don’t own a multi-million-pound company for nothing, babe.”
“I guess not,” she says as she crosses her legs and settles back for her first morning of working with me. “Okay, Waters, let’s get started.”
Stacey
It only takes Jake and I until lunchtime to decide which departments I will be running. Of course my first choice was the event planning department. I smile as I knock on Martin’s office door and wait for him to answer.
“Come in,” I hear him shout through the door. I open it and can see that he is bent over his desk, concentrating on some paperwork.
“Hi, Mart,” I say as I close the door behind me. His head whips up and his face breaks into a grin as he sees me.
“Baby girl,” he says as he stands up and makes his way over to me and gives me a hug. I saw Martin on Saturday, but I didn’t mention the fact that I would be starting work here today.
“What are you doing here? Did you bring sushi?” he says as he looks to my hands to see if I have any bags.
“No, I didn’t have time to get any today.”
“Oh, well, never mind. Just don’t forget to bring it next time,” he says with a wink.
“I won’t, but I don’t think that you should be talking to your new boss in that way,” I say, teasingly. He freezes and gives me a suspicious look.
“My new boss?” he says, his eyebrows raised.
“Yep. As of this morning, I started working for Waters Industries. And as of half an hour ago, I took over the running of the event planning department.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“No,” I say, laughing. “I’m not shitting you as you so eloquently put it.”
“You’re my boss now?”
“Uh, yeah,” I say, now feeling slightly nervous that this may make things awkward. I don’t want anything to disrupt mine and Martin’s friendship. “But I can give this department back to Jake if it’s going to make things awkward,” I add quickly. Before I can say anything else, Martin throws his arms around me with a squeal.
“Oh my God, baby girl, this is going to be so much fun.”
“Really?” I ask, a little surprised seeing as I thought that he was disappointed when I first told him.
“Are you kidding me? This is fabulous. Not only do I get to have a great new boss, but I also get to see you nearly every day.” I feel the excitement coming off of him in waves and it makes my own excitement accelerate.
“Phew, for a minute there I thought that you were annoyed.”
“No way. Don’t get me wrong, Jake has been a good boss, but I have a feeling that you are going to be even better.”
“Well, what can I say, I obviously have a charm that Jake doesn’t.”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t go that far. Your husband is charm personified.” I laugh as Martin leads me to his desk and gestures for me to sit down.
“I can’t argue with you on that one.”
“I didn’t think that you would. Anyway,” Martin says with a wave of his hands, “You need to tell me how this came about, baby girl, and you need to tell me now. There are only fifty-seven minutes left of my lunch hour and I need every detail.”
“I’m sure that your new boss could stretch to a bit of a longer lunch today. Just for celebratory purposes of course,” I say with a wink.
“Well, in that case, sushi bar?” Martin asks as he jumps up from his seat.
“You read my mind.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jake
Seven years later
My wife is still the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen.
As I sit in our back garden, I watch her playing with our two daughters and I feel like the luckiest man alive. Each of their squeals of laughter pulls at my heart.
I take a sip of my beer and smile. As I watch the girls disappear inside the ridiculously big playhouse I got for them last week, Stacey saunters towards me. I am mesmerised by the sight of her, even after eight ye
ars together.
She owns me, and fuck does it feel good.
I drink in her appearance and my cock starts to twitch. She’s wearing a white vest top, denim shorts and flip flops. That’s it. Nothing dressy or fancy, but I can honestly say that she has never looked hotter. Her long dark hair hangs down in waves, framing her face. It seems to take forever for her to reach me, but when she does, she places her hands on either side of my chair and leans down so that we are eye-level. My dick reacts as her cleavage is now on display, due to her being bent over slightly.
I run my eyes back up to her face and am met with her mouth smirking at me.
“Having a good look, are we?” she asks playfully. Her eyes sparkle with mischief.
“I’m just thanking my lucky stars that my wife is so hot,” I reply giving her my heart-stopping grin that I know makes her go weak at the knees. She chuckles, and the sound is like music to my ears.
“Oh, you’re good, Waters.” She moves her face closer to mine. “Even after all this time, you still have the power to make me swoon.” Her lips cover mine before I can respond, her tongue delving into my waiting mouth. I accept her, hungrily.
I don’t think that I will ever get to the point where this woman no longer excites me.
She is the reason that I breath.
She is the one who brought meaning to my life.
She is the one who penetrated my heart.
I shuffle forwards on my seat and move my hands to her waist, so that I can pull her against me. She lets out a squeal as her body collides with mine. Her hands move to my shoulders, her moans making me want to do naughty things to her.
“Mummy, will you leave Daddy alone so that we can play tea parties?” says the little voice of Esme from behind her mother’s back. Stacey springs away from me, giggling. She steps to one side, allowing me a view of my daughter.
I laugh as Esme stands there with her hands on her hips, frowning. She looks just like a miniature version of her mother.
“What’s so funny, Daddy?” she asks me.
“Nothing, sweetheart. You just remind me of Mummy, a lot.” I catch Stacey’s eye and she is grinning at me.
“Esme!” cries Charlotte from inside the playhouse. “Esme!” Esme rolls her eyes and starts to make her way back to the playhouse. As Esme disappears from view, I look to Stacey who is watching me with interest.
“Everything okay over there?” I ask her, my brows pulling together at the look on her face. She holds my gaze for a few moments, neither of us speak, and I start to feel a bit nervous at her lack of speech.
I watch her as her gaze drifts over to the playhouse and then back to me.
Just when I think that I can’t take the suspense any longer, she speaks.
“How many kids did you think that we were going to have, Jake?” she asks, making me wonder where this line of questioning is coming from.
“I don’t know,” I answer with a shrug of my shoulders. “Before you, I had never considered having any.” She stares at me intently and I feel like she is waiting for me to say more. I rack my brains, trying to figure out what is running through that beautiful mind of hers, but I am at a loss.
“Okay,” she says slowly, her eyes holding mine firm. “And now that you have me, and the girls, would you say that’s enough?”
“Of course it is,” I say as I stand up and face her. She looks up at me and her eyes glaze over. “What’s going on, Stace? Where is all of this coming from?”
I can feel her heart pounding as I stand close to her. Actually, I am pretty sure that mine is doing the same thing. “You and the girls are all that I need. I love each of you more than you will ever know. You three are my life.” A tear slips from her eye and I wipe it away with my thumb.
“Well,” she whispers through her tears. “You better make room for one more in that heart of yours, Waters.” I freeze, holding her face in my hands as I search her eyes for confirmation of what I think she is telling me.
“Are you?” I ask, shock evident in my voice.
“Yes, Jake. I’m pregnant.” She looks a little nervous as she answers, but she has no need to be. Before she knows what is happening, I pick her up in my arms and twirl her around. She squeals with delight and there is a smile on my face that I am positive can never be erased.
I set her down a few moments later, seeing tears of joy running down her soft cheeks. I kiss her gently, conveying all of my emotions in just one kiss.
“Happy?” she asks me, when I break my lips from hers, her smile mirroring mine.
As I stare into her beautiful, heartfelt eyes, I am overcome with what this woman has done to my life. I hear the girls giggling from inside their playhouse and it makes my heart melt.
Before I found Stacey, I didn’t think that I could ever love so fiercely and unconditionally.
She came into my life and turned it upside down.
She belongs with me.
She gave me a family.
She completes me.
Not only do I get to share my life with her, but I also run my company with her.
Since she came to work at Waters Industries, business has blossomed more than I could ever have hoped for. On top of working and raising a family, she still writes and is doing extremely well from being an anonymous writer. She stuck to her word about no more book tours, and I know that she loves the secretiveness of who she is behind the pages of the books that she writes.
I am so proud of her, and I am proud of us as a whole.
I wipe her tear stained cheeks with my thumbs and place a kiss on the end of her nose.
There is only one word that I need to say to her in response.
“Perfect.”
THE END
Bonus chapter
At First Glance
Jake
As my eyes lock with hers across the dance floor, I feel my dick pulse with desire. The woman looking back at me is the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen. Long, dark brown hair frames her face, and her piercing blue eyes sparkle.
She is leaning against the bar, her hip jutting out slightly, allowing me to see the slight curve of her body. She is wearing a black dress that grazes the skin just above her knees.
Most women here are dressed with everything on display, nothing left to the imagination, but not her. She has retained her modesty whilst looking as sexy as sin. My heart speeds up a little as she licks her full lips, her tongue darting back into her mouth just as quickly as it came out. I give a slight nod of my head to acknowledge her, to which she quickly averts her eyes and turns her attention to the red-headed woman stood next to her.
As she feigns her interest in me, I can’t help but smile.
“Dude,” Paul says as he hands me a beer having just returned from the bar. I take my beer from him and take a generous swig.
“Cheers,” I reply when I have finished drinking.
“I tell you what, there are some fine-looking woman in here tonight,” Paul says, his eyes sweeping over the dance floor.
“There sure are,” I reply, but my comment is aimed at one woman, and one woman only.
My eyes go back to her as she starts to sway her hips in time to the music. I watch as she starts to attract the attention of the men around her, even if she doesn’t mean to. My jaw clenches as one guy goes up to her. This is not something that would usually annoy me, but the fact that this guy has grabbed her around the waist and is trying to bump and grind with her pisses me off.
I know that I have no right to be pissed off, but I can’t help it. She shouldn’t be treated like a piece of meat. I am fully aware that I have been appreciating her form, but at least I haven’t tried to maul her in public.
I take a few steps forward and see that she has just turned and pushed the guy away from her. She doesn’t look happy, and I can’t say that I blame her. The next thing I see is the guy holding his hands up as he backs away. He goes back to his mates with his tail between his legs, and it helps to ease some of the tension t
hat I was feeling only seconds ago. I hope to God that she doesn’t shoot me down when I try to speak to her.
I would regret it if I didn’t try and talk to her.
I don’t normally act on impulse, but for her, I am willing to do just that.
I am halfway across the dance floor when I get stopped by some woman who throws her arms around my neck and starts to gyrate on me. I politely try to tell this woman that I am not interested, but my words fall on deaf ears.
As I try to disentangle myself from her, my eyes once again lock with the beauty stood at the bar. She gives me a small smile which I presume means that she finds my predicament amusing.
It takes a few more seconds to free myself from the woman trying to hump my leg, and then she is prowling towards her next unsuspecting victim.
I breathe a sigh of relief and continue towards the bar area. I keep walking until I am stood next to the lady with the captivating blue eyes. I signal to the bar staff that I require a drink and a woman quickly makes her way over to me. I order a bottle of beer and wait. I have no idea why I don’t speak to the beauty next to me, it is what I came over her to do, but I guess I really want to see if she will speak first. I wouldn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable in any way.
The time seems to pass by in slow motion, when in reality it has only been seconds.
My drink is placed in front of me and I hand over the money for it. I take a sip and turn, so I can lean back against the bar counter. The woman is still next to me, and as I turn, my arm brushes against hers. I can feel her whole body still from the contact, which I am hoping is a good sign.
I act like nothing has happened, even though I feel the tingle race up my arm as I take another sip of my drink.
I almost break into a grin when I see, out of the corner of my eye, that the woman next to me has turned and mimicked my position, elbows resting on the bar counter, slightly bent back. Her red-headed friend seems to have disappeared for the time being.
The Complete Perfect Series Page 80
