With Alina in his arms, he was just a man—a man that felt worthy just by being himself. He felt the weight of the world fall away. And he stopped worrying about the future or looking over his shoulder at mistakes of the past. In this moment, he just wanted to savor the here and now for this one special evening in the twinkle of the Christmas lights.
They pushed aside the coffee table and then he grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch. As he spread it out over the floor, Alina tossed down the throw pillows.
And then with the lights off except those of the Christmas tree, Alina was once again back in his arms. He claimed her lips—her full, soft lips.
Santa had come early this year. Graham wasn’t sure he was worthy of such a sweet gift. He was pretty certain he wasn’t. But he was totally caught up in the moment—caught up in Alina’s addictive kiss.
And so he would unwrap this most special gift. He would savor this evening and the twinkle of desire in Alina’s blue eyes.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
OH, WHAT A NIGHT!
Alina woke up smiling, remembering how attentive and loving Graham had been during the night. Like a cat after a sunny nap, she stretched. She enjoyed the way her body still tingled all over.
But when she looked around, she didn’t see Graham anywhere. She paused and listened for sounds of the shower. There was none. He was gone?
It was then that she checked the time. It was after eight. After eight! She never slept this late. But she did have a good excuse. The best excuse.
She wrapped a blanket around her from the makeshift bed on the living room floor and jumped to her feet. She’d requested the day off from working at the Christmas Café. Everyone was meeting at the Diamond Building at nine a.m. to make the final touches on the conference room.
She still couldn’t believe she’d forgotten to set her alarm, but then again she’d been utterly distracted the night before. A smile pulled at her lips. But it soon disappeared when she realized Graham had left without saying a word to her.
What did his silent departure mean? Did he regret their night together? Her heart tumbled clear down to her frosted pink shimmery painted toes.
Unshed tears pricked the backs of her eyes. She blinked them away. Whatever his reason for disappearing, she’d have to deal with it later. Right now, she had people waiting for her. And Alina wouldn’t let them down.
She rushed to the kitchen and found the coffeemaker was filled with water and ready to go with a fresh pod already loaded. She hadn’t left it like that. It had to have been Graham being thoughtful. A smile lifted her lips. All she had to do was close the top and press the power button. And then she saw the note from Graham.
Sorry I had to go. You were so tired I didn’t want to wake you. I had an important meeting at the office with the Cortinas.
I’ll see you later, G.
She smiled. Maybe it wasn’t a love note, but he hadn’t pulled a disappearing act. For that she was grateful.
Then realizing the lateness of the hour, she ran down the hallway and hopped straight into the shower. It was the fastest shower she’d ever taken.
After she dressed and threw her damp hair up in a messy bun, she realized Prince wasn’t yelling at her for his breakfast. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere in sight. That was strange.
“Prince? Prince?” She rushed into her bedroom, looking for him.
There was no Prince in her bed or under it. She was on her way to the kitchen when she spotted Prince in the living room stretched out on the couch. Not far away was Prince’s licked-clean blue bowl with white fish ringed around it. She never fed him on the couch.
She smiled and ruffled Prince’s fur. “Seems like you and Graham have made up. Huh, boy?”
Prince squeaked as he stretched. Then he settled on his other side.
It looked like she wasn’t needed here. It was a strange feeling, sharing her cat. She’d never done it before. But she liked that the two males in her life were getting along.
She leaned over and kissed the top of Prince’s head. “Love you. I’ll be home later.”
But not for long. Tonight was the Snow Ball and she had every intention of dancing with Graham. In fact, her heart was set on it.
The pep was back in her step as she gathered her thank-you gifts and then headed for the door. She’d been worried about nothing. Things between her and Graham were the best they’d ever been.
* * *
This room was amazing.
It no longer resembled a conference room.
Graham stood in the doorway, admiring the fake snow settled around a snow people family. There was even a small snow hut made out of white foam balls. He smiled. Why had he ever worried about letting Alina run with this plan? She did amazing work. She needed to start up her own party-planning service and do it full-time.
He strolled around the room, taking in all of the artwork on the walls, from snowy mountains to quaint snowy storefronts as well as some abstract pieces. It was very impressive. He needed to thank Alina. In this case, words wouldn’t be enough. It needed to be more than helping the residents of the Stirling find appropriate housing. It needed to be something special just for her.
He thought of the prior night and a smile pulled at the corners of this mouth. No matter how long he lived, he’d never forget this time with Alina. The night had been more than he dared to imagine it would be—she had been more special than he deserved.
But with their agreement about to come to an end, he knew their paths in life would lead them in opposite directions. The thought immediately deflated his mood. Even though the company was headed in the right direction, he had other things that needed his immediate attention. He finally acknowledged running a company this size would always be demanding of his time, and there was no way he wanted to end up in an unhappy marriage like his parents had endured.
And no matter what had happened between them, Alina was going to look at him differently after the Stirling was gone. The thought caused an uneasiness in his chest.
But before all of that happened, they had tonight. And he wanted to show her how much their time together meant to him. He rushed to the bank of elevators. He had a meeting with the Cortinas and then he was slipping out to find Alina a memento to remember tonight—to remember him.
* * *
Things like this just didn’t happen to her.
And yet Alina stood in front of her bathroom mirror in a white evening gown that she’d picked up at a secondhand shop. She didn’t have the money for a fancy, new dress. It had needed a few adjustments, the torn lace mended and a stain removed. But she’d done it.
If someone didn’t know about those issues, they wouldn’t notice them, right? She turned in front of the mirror and assured herself the dress would do just fine. After all, it wasn’t like she would stand out in a crowd.
As her anxiety rose, so did her insecurities. Words from the past came roaring back in her mind. “Al, you have to accept that you just aren’t pretty.” “Al, no one will notice you.”
She pushed away the negative thoughts. It wasn’t like she was going with the intent of impressing anyone—well, maybe just one person. What would Graham think of her appearance?
She glanced at the time. There was no time for a debate. If she didn’t hurry, she was going to be late. And she didn’t want to miss a moment of Graham’s big night. She hoped it all worked out for him. She knew how much he was counting on it.
Her makeup consisted of the usual powder and mascara. But she couldn’t decide about her hair. Should she wear it up? Or down? As she lifted her hair and turned to the side, her insides shivered with nerves. Maybe down would work—
Buzz-buzz.
That was probably someone with last-minute questions about the evening’s events. As she continued to ponder her hair dilemma, she pressed the phone to her ear.
Before she
could utter a word, she heard, “Alina, you have to come quick.”
The sound of her stepmother’s voice had Alina releasing her hair. “Dorian, is that you?”
“Of course it is. Now hurry.” And with that the line went dead.
Alina frowned as she stared at the phone. What could be such an emergency? And it didn’t escape her notice that this happened the night of the ball. Could her stepmother be low enough to want to ruin it for her? Surely nobody could be that mean.
She glanced back in the mirror at her reflection. There was no time to debate. She opted to put her long hair up in a neat and formal French twist. Once it was secure with an army of bobby pins, she gave it a light mist of hair spray.
And then Alina, knowing Graham was occupied on this big night, went to investigate what was bothering her stepmother. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long. Graham was sending cars to pick up the Stirling residents and she didn’t want to miss her ride.
Knock-knock.
The door immediately flung open. Her stepmother stood there in a sparkly navy-blue dress, but it was the frown on her face that drew Alina’s attention. Her stepmother made a point of taking in Alina’s dress.
“Al, what are you wearing?”
Alina struggled not to roll her eyes. “You know perfectly well that everyone in the building was invited to the ball tonight.”
“But not you.”
“Of course I was included. I helped plan it.”
Her stepmother’s face creased with deep frown lines. “But you have a building to manage.”
“And it will be fine for one evening. Now if that’s all you wanted, I have to go finish getting ready.” Alina went to turn away.
“Not so fast,” Dorian said. “You have a mess to clean up.”
Dread churned in Alina’s empty stomach. She would not let her stepmother ruin this evening for her. She’d been looking forward to it since they’d come up with the idea. And Graham had made her promise him a dance.
“What mess?” Alina’s insides knotted up.
“Mother.” Juniper, Alina’s oldest stepsister, rushed into the room. She wore a hot-pink dress that was short on the hemline and long in the plunging neckline. “You have to do something. I can’t get ready in the bathroom.”
“Your stepsister was just about to fix the problem. Go finish getting ready in your room.” Then Dorian turned back to Alina. “You, come with me.”
Alina didn’t want to go anywhere with the woman. She knew when Dorian felt crossed or believed Alina was getting away with something, there was a price to be paid. What did she have in store for Alina this time?
As Alina entered the living room, she noticed her youngest stepsister, Gretel, sitting on the couch in a fluorescent green dress. Her red curls were pull up with a big green bow. She glanced at Alina and scowled.
“It’s in here.” Dorian pointed into the bathroom.
Alina moved to the doorway and found the toilet was overflowing. She looked at her stepmother. “You couldn’t have turned off the water?”
“That’s not my job. It’s yours.” She looked at her expectantly.
Alina inwardly seethed. This woman was going to let the bathroom flood and not care about the damage it would do to her apartment. Luckily the water pressure was low as a result of the old plumbing.
Alina gathered up her long dress, keeping it from getting wet. And then she moved slowly over the floor to the shutoff valve. It took a little bit of juggling to keep her gown safe and turn the tight valve. But at last the water was off. The crisis had been averted. And her dress had been saved. She could still make it to the ball.
She turned for the doorway. If her stepmother thought she was going to stay and clear up this mess, she had another thought coming. When Alina looked at the doorway to tell her stepmother just that, she found the woman had disappeared. It was quite fine by Alina. The less she saw of the woman, the happier she was.
Alina had just stepped into the hallway and turned for the living room when she bumped into someone. The next thing she knew hot liquid hit her chest. The liquid seeped down to her abdomen. Alina glanced down. A coffee stain spread from her chest down over her stomach and flowed onto her skirt.
“My dress!” Tears stung the backs of her eyes.
Alina blinked repeatedly. No way would she let these people see how upset she was over her dress. Her pretty dress. The dress that she’d searched for days to find. The dress she’d dipped into her savings to buy. The dress she’d worked so hard to make presentable. The dress she was going to wear to the ball where she’d hoped to dance with Graham.
Juniper sneered at her. “Look what you did. You spilled my drink.”
“You’re a jerk!” The emotionally charged words clogged in her throat. Alina pushed past her. If she didn’t get out of that apartment immediately, she would lose control of her emotions. And then her stepmother and stepsisters would get what they wanted, to see Alina upset. She simply wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. They’d already cost her enough emotional harm.
In the background, she heard Dorian calling out to her, insisting that Alina finish her work. But Alina kept her shoulders straight and her head held high as she walked through the doorway and turned toward the stairs. With all of the anger bubbling in her veins, she had plenty of energy to burn off.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IT WAS RUINED.
Alina didn’t need a mirror to know the extent of the damage to her dress. She also didn’t need an admission from her stepmother or stepsister to know that they’d done all of this intentionally. They just couldn’t stand for her to have a little bit of happiness. They had to ruin it.
This evening had meant so much to her. Someone like her didn’t get invited to big, splashy parties. She was the person in the background seeing to all of the details and helping to clean up when it was over. But at last she wasn’t going to be ugly, chubby Alina carrying around her toolbox. But in a blink, the opportunity slipped through her fingers.
She’d just reached her floor and yanked open the door when she ran into Merryweather. At first, he smiled at her but then his gaze moved to her dress. His eyes widened.
“Alina, what happened?”
“My stepmother and stepsisters.”
“But the ball. It’s time to go. I came up to escort you. The cars are waiting.”
The prickling of tears started again. She glanced away from his concerned gaze and continued walking toward her apartment. “I’m not going.”
“What? But you have to. You planned this whole night. Without you, none of us would get to go.”
She knew Merryweather was sweet, but right now she just wanted to be alone in her misery. “You’ll have to go without me. I...” Her voice crackled with emotion. She glanced down at her stained white cloth heels. A tear splashed onto her cheek. She swiped it away. “Please, just go without me.”
Merryweather quietly followed her back to her apartment. All the while he muttered, “This isn’t right. This just isn’t right.”
At her door, Alina paused and turned to him. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. You should go. Enjoy yourself.”
A determined look came over him. “Not without you.”
“But I can’t go like this.”
“You aren’t the only one with contacts. Go grab your stuff while I make a couple of phone calls.”
She’d never seen this determined side of Merryweather. She had no idea what had come over him. There was no way he was going to fix this. She glanced down at the brown stain on her dress. It was completely ruined.
But she wasn’t sure she should argue with him. This was the most animated she’d ever seen the man. Maybe it would be good to indulge him just a little. She would ride with him to the Diamond Building so he didn’t have to go alone. But she wasn’t getting out of the car—not like this. And then she’d come a
nd wallow in a heaping of self-pity.
She went into her apartment and grabbed her coat and purse. She turned off the lights, locked the door and then joined Merryweather in the hallway.
When they stepped outside the building, it was snowing. And the cars that Graham had sent were gone. Alina felt bad because she didn’t want Merryweather to miss the ball. He’d worked hard to help pull the event together. It was like his being involved in the planning had brought back his zest for life.
“I’m sorry I caused you to miss your ride to the ball,” Alina said, wondering if she could get a taxi to take him to the ball in time.
“You didn’t cause anything, my dear. Our ride will be along shortly.”
Had he called for a taxi while she was in her apartment? He must have. “Merryweather, I know you want to fix things but I’ll be fine staying home.” She was deeply disappointed, but that was her problem, not his. “But if you could go and make sure there aren’t any problems with the party, I’d be eternally grateful.”
“I’ll make sure the party runs smoothly. But you’re going, right? It’s your night to shine.”
“I don’t think so. Not dressed like this.” She wouldn’t do anything to embarrass Graham.
Just then a Rolls-Royce pulled to the curb. The unblemished white paint and polished chrome gleamed. But what was it doing here?
“Our ride has arrived.” Merryweather gestured to the car.
“What?” Alina was utterly confused. How could Merryweather, with his secondhand furniture and worn clothes, afford to hire a prestigious car like this? “You hired us a car?”
“In a matter of speaking. Now we have to hurry.”
“But I can’t go to the ball like this.” She gazed down at the stain that was beginning to dry.
“I have a plan. Trust me.” He winked at her.
And for a moment, she’d swear his eyes twinkled. What did she have to lose at this point? When he realized the stain was never going to come out of this delicate fabric, she would find her way home.
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