by Lexi Wilson
“Okay, I might have been a little quick in saying he didn’t deserve your forgiveness,” Jace said with a sidelong look at me. I could see he was trying to hide his grin, and I felt my cheeks flush. I didn’t know what to say. This was more than I ever thought I would get. I had never had anyone care enough to send me this many apologies, or these flowers. It was as though there was a field sitting on my counter, and I couldn’t believe it.
All the notes were enough to make me think about reconsidering, but that was all. I was only going to think about it. I didn’t want to be too hasty, and though I could see that he clearly wanted to prove to me how sorry he was, I wasn’t going to just brush it all aside.
“Come on, let’s get some pizza and forget about the Secret Garden that’s now on the kitchen counter,” Jace said with a laugh. I agreed, and the two of us ordered food for the night. It proved to be a quiet night in, though I couldn’t shake the thought of the flowers on the counter.
Perhaps I would give him another chance, after all. Perhaps.
I thought the flowers were enough to make an impression for an apology, but it turned out those were just the beginning. The rest of the weekend was filled with deliveries, and gift after gift showed up on my doorstep.
Bright and early Saturday morning, it was a large stuffed bear holding a card. In his other paw, he was clinging to a box of chocolates. Later that morning, another bouquet showed up, but this one was fruit in all kinds of different shapes. Then came the gourmet dog food for Bella, and she was even more thrilled with the gift than I had been.
Later in the afternoon, an expensive bottle of champagne arrived. I could hardly believe the gift. The receipt told me how much Anthony had spent, and the note that came with it once again begged me to reconsider taking him back. I didn’t know what to say. I was enjoying the lavish gifts being showered down on me, but at the same time, each one made me think a little more that I should really think about taking him back.
Jace was enjoying the treats as much as I was, and he got the chocolates to himself. I liked the fruit better, but the two of us split the bottle of champagne — and what a damn good bottle it was, too. We were both feeling rather tipsy by the end of it, and I went to bed with my head spinning.
There were so many thoughts, so many emotions rushing through my mind. It was almost impossible for me to keep up with any one of them or give any one of them the attention they deserved. I tried to push them out of my mind, only thinking about how he had dumped me for his ex-wife.
Although now, there were more thoughts running through my mind. He might have done that to me. He might have broken my heart, but I could see that he had done it out of the love he felt for his daughter. I didn’t think that he had done it to hurt me, and I was even more convinced now he had seen the mistake he had made, and he wanted to make it right.
The more we were getting these gifts, the more I was starting to think that he was serious about getting me back. The more I could see that he knew he had made a mistake, and the more I could put myself in his shoes. I could imagine that I would think about doing the same thing if it were my daughter. I couldn’t judge him for something that I would have done myself, even if I was the one who had been hurt in the process.
When we were interrupted having coffee the next morning and another bouquet of flowers arrived, even Jace started to see things from my point of view.
“You know, this has all been fun, but I think it’s time you go put that poor man out of his misery. He’s done more than enough to earn your forgiveness, and if you want him back, you’ve got to tell him. I mean, this is getting ridiculous.” We looked at the apartment together, and I nodded.
Slowly, a smile spread over my face, and I looked over at Jace, my eyes shining. He smiled once more and gave a nod of approval. It was all the encouragement I needed. I set my cup of coffee down on the table beside me and ran to the bathroom. I had to shower and get my makeup on, then head over to Anthony’s house as soon as I could.
I had to make things right.
I came back out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my body and another wrapped around my hair, but Jace stopped me from the couch. “Are you sure going over there is a good idea?”
“What do you mean?” I asked. I held my towel around my body, feeling the wave of doubt rush through my body. Throughout my entire shower, I had thought about how I was going to go rushing into his apartment and take him in my arms. Of course, I knew what was going to happen next, but I hadn’t thought about it much beyond that.
“I was just thinking about Kellie. I mean, it’s Sunday morning. Odds are she’s not with her nanny, and you don’t want to have to deal with all that shit now, do you?”
I sighed. He was right. I didn’t want to have to tell Kellie to stay in her room, and I didn’t want to go over to Anthony’s house and not fuck his brains out.
There was no way I could take him back without giving in to my lust. I had to show him that I missed him as much as he missed me, and there was no way I could do that through words alone.
“What do you think I should do then?” I asked. I knew Jace would have an answer, and we had grown to be close enough this didn’t at all seem to be a strange conversation to have with him. He sat back on the couch, not looking at me.
I didn’t care if he looked at me. I was wrapped up in my towel. But, I knew he respected me.
“Why don’t you get yourself all dolled up and make him wish for you even more tomorrow? You can make quite a show in the office — and I know how you like to make a show of things.” He winked, glancing over at me for a brief moment. Slowly, another smile spread across my face as I decided I would wait until the next morning.
I knew exactly what I would wear, and I had time to think about what I was going to say. Right now, there were too many emotions running through my brain for me to think about it. I would take the day and decide exactly what I wanted to do, and when Monday morning came, I would do it with pride.
It certainly wasn’t going to take much for him to come back into my arms, and I had a feeling when he heard the news he would want to do more than just hold me.
I also had a feeling he wouldn’t care if we left work a little early.
Chapter 37
I glanced at the clock. It was half-past seven, and Kellie was in the bathtub. She liked taking long baths on Sunday nights, often with a bath bomb in tow. I didn’t mind. I enjoyed the moment to myself, and I was glad she was unwinding. Though she was still so young, and though she hadn’t had to deal with cancer treatment for the past few weeks, she was still tired much of the time.
She had to put a lot of energy into just living, so I liked it when she got to unwind.
I glanced down at my phone. It was something I had been doing most of the day, as well as the day before. I had carefully timed the gifts I had sent to Stella to arrive throughout the entire day, and though I wasn’t sure exactly what it was I was expecting from her, silence wasn’t one of them.
I had thought, if anything, she would have at least told me to stop sending her things if she didn’t like it. She struck me as the kind of woman to send me a quick little note to let me know what she thought of them. I didn’t need the thank you, and I didn’t expect one.
In fact, I didn’t even want one with how big of a jerk I had been. But, I would have liked to hear that she had gotten them. I knew Jace well enough to know he wouldn’t throw them away or anything. I had a feeling he would just stack anything I sent in the apartment and wait for her to come home to find it. That is, if she was even out.
He had been making a point in the office to tell everyone how much fun they had been having when they had gone out to the clubs, and I had gotten the distinct impression he had done so to find her some new guy. There was a part of me that was pissed off at him for doing that, but then there was another part of me that couldn’t blame him.
Stella had that kind of effect on everyone she came into contact with. There was no doubt in my m
ind he loved her dearly, and he was going to make sure she was happy in one way or another. If she wasn’t going to be with me, then he was going to make sure she was happy with someone else. Anyone else.
But, I had to believe that he would also see that I was trying to make things better between us. He had told me when he came into my office a few days before that he thought I was being shitty to her, and I hadn’t been able to argue. At the same time, I wasn’t going to take any guff from him, either. It had nothing to do with him. Even if he was a good friend of hers, he was going to have to understand his place in the situation — and that wasn’t to tell me how he thought I should handle it.
Of course, I didn’t have to be as rude to him as I had, and I didn’t blame him for being mad at me.
He had, however, told me that he thought I should fix things with Stella if at all possible. He had insisted that I do something to prove that I was sorry, and I felt that this was the best thing I could do.
I sighed when I saw there was no message waiting for me. I had to admit; I wasn’t surprised. There hadn’t been any chime to tell me that there was a message. But, I had hoped that I had missed the sound.
I slipped my phone into the pocket of my shirt and sat back on the couch. I hoped I hadn’t done too much and made the situation worse, but that was a risk I had chosen to take. Now, I was going to have to roll with it and see what happened.
That was all there was to it.
I walked into the office the next morning with my heart heavy. I had done my best to be cheerful, sending Kellie off with Mrs. Jane after breakfast. I had given her money to take Kellie out to the movies and buy her treats, and Mrs. Jane promised she would after they had gotten through the errands she had listed.
I hated that the old woman had to take Kellie with her when she did her errands, and I had told her more than once that she could get her work done before she came to get my daughter, but the old woman insisted that she liked Kellie’s company and wanted her to go out with her. Of course, I wasn’t going to argue with her. If she could take Kellie that early in the morning, then I would get to go to work on time.
Though I knew Stella had things handled at the office, I still felt bad for how much she had to step up when Kellie was in the hospital earlier that spring, and I wanted to do what I could now to make things easier for her. For all of them. They didn’t deserve to be left with all the work, especially when it was my business they were running. I had to be there as much as I could manage, and if that meant I could get there a little earlier in the morning, then I was going to do that very thing.
I glanced around the office, not seeing Stella at first. Though I had been resigned to the fact that she hated me now, and things weren’t ever going to go back to the way they were, there was still that part of me that hoped. I still looked for her first thing when I walked into the room in the morning, and my heart sank when I didn’t see her sitting at her desk. It was unlike her to get up and wander, and I had expected her to be sitting there when I walked in.
“Morning!” Molly said cheerfully from behind the desk. I glanced over and waved to show I had heard, but I didn’t have the words to reply. There were so many thoughts rushing through my mind, and a fear that was rising in my chest.
Perhaps Stella had been offended by what I had sent to her over the weekend. Perhaps she had thought that I was coming off too strong, and she wanted to pull back entirely. Perhaps there was a message waiting for me in my office, telling me that she didn’t feel comfortable working for me any longer. I didn’t want to think about it, but I knew it was a risk I was running when I had decided to send everything to her.
If I came off too strong, she would have every right to turn me in for stalking her or to tell me that she didn’t feel comfortable coming in to work. I would be forced to back off or to let her go. Both didn’t sound like anything I would be able to do.
I walked into the middle of the room, all the emotions running through the back of my mind. I had prepared myself for the worst when suddenly, Stella came around the corner. Immediately, I noticed she wasn’t wearing one of her god-awful suits. She was dressed in the black two-piece suit she had worn before, looking sexier than ever.
I knew she was wearing those other suits as armor. She knew when she was wearing those, she didn’t have to worry about anyone bothering her. It was a line of defense that somehow worked, and I hated it. But, the sight of her in this dark two-piece was enough to make my heart skip a beat. I knew she was doing this for one reason and one reason only.
She knew how I felt about that suit. I had told her more than once that whenever she wore it, I had nothing but lust for her. I had to take her, and it was nearly impossible to control myself. She paused for a moment when she saw me, the papers held halfway up in her hands. She hesitated for a moment; then she set them down on the edge of the desk.
Without a word, she walked right up to me, looking me square in the eye as she did so. If there was one thing about Stella, it was that she wasn’t afraid to make eye contact. When she knew what she wanted, she was going to get it, no matter who she was talking to. She was one of the only women who wasn’t intimidated by me, and it showed.
“Good morning,” I said when she reached me. I said nothing else. I would put the ball in her court, and I would wait.
“Good morning,” she said simply. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, and I fought the urge to scoop her up in my arms. It was the most civil we had been to each other in as long as I could remember, and it tore me in half. There was a part of me that wanted to tell her that this was all stupid and we needed to have each other; then there was another part of me that didn’t know what to do.
I had to get her back, but I didn’t know how I was going to do that. The more she did things like this, the more doubt filled my mind. I wanted her — more than anything I wanted her — but I didn’t know how I was going to show her that any more than I already had. If she announced she didn’t want to have anything to do with me, I didn’t know what my next move would be.
I smiled, my arms down at my side and my eyebrows raised. She smiled slightly, and to my surprise, she rose to the tips of her toes. In spite of her high heels, she stood just barely shorter than myself. She put her arms on my shoulders, lacing her fingers between each other as she looked me in the eyes.
“Anthony Miller, I forgive you,” she whispered.
It was all I needed to hear. A broad smile spread across my face as I scooped her up in my arms, pressing my lips to hers. She lifted her feet, bending at the knees and kissing me back with a passion. I felt on top of the world, and in the back of my mind, I could hear the cheering of the office all around us. I smiled, my lips still pressed to hers as we spun around a couple more times.
My heart was racing in my chest, and my thoughts were spinning. This was all that I had wanted, and I hadn’t thought I was ever going to get it back. With those words alone, I knew she was coming back to me, just as willing to make this work. We were going to be together, and we were going to be the family we deserved to be from the beginning.
I didn’t deserve this second chance, but I was going to prove to her that I was more than grateful she had given it to me. Finally, I set her down, and the two of us ignored the rest of the room as we headed for the door. My heart was pounding, and she was breathing hard. I could sense she was just as excited about this as I was, and we both had the same thing on our minds.
“Kellie’s not at the apartment, and she’s not going to be for the rest of the day,” I said as we ran down the hall toward the elevator. She nodded, but there was a fierceness to her smile that told me she was just as hungry for me as I was for her.
We got to my car and sped back to my place, few words spoken between us in the meantime. There wasn’t anything that needed to be said. She had said the words that I had desperately wanted to hear, and now we were going to fix everything between us. It was really as simple as that.
I could feel the arousal already
swelling in my pants, and I hoped it was obvious. I wanted her to see the effect she had on me. She was the only one in the world who could do this to me, and I wanted to prove it to her.
We arrived at my door, and I slid the key card through the slot before shoving it open. We scarcely had stepped inside when she turned around once more, pressing her lips to mine once again. She was pressed tightly against me, and I knew she had to feel my hard dick in my pants.
Thick, powerful, and hard.
Ready for her.
Chapter 38
I was walking backward, kissing Anthony as we moved. His hands were wandering all over my body, his mouth pressed against me each step of the way. We were making out with a passion, our lust growing with each passing second. He slipped his tongue in between my lips, sucking my tongue into his mouth and massaging the inside of my mouth with his.
I let out a moan, only pulling away to unbutton the front of his shirt and pushed it off his broad shoulders, revealing his perfect body once again. I put my lips to his chest, licking him across his beautiful pec and flicking my tongue around his nipple. I gasped as he grasped my ass once more, sending more shivers through my body.
My body was yearning for him. I could feel the aching deep within my pussy, wanting to have him inside me. It was a feeling I had missed deeply since the day we had broken up, and one that I had imagined experiencing again. I had never thought I would have the chance, but here we were.
I could feel his thick cock throbbing in his pants as I was trying to undo his belt. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he was taking control of me, and I was right. He began tearing at my clothing, trying to get it off me as fast as I was trying to undress him.
Anthony carried me toward his bed, half holding me off the floor, half guiding me as I walked. I knew I was going to fall at any second, and I wanted to land on my back on the bed when I did.