by Anna Belle
The elevator beeped open and the large wooden door was in front of her. She knocked a couple of times but none answered, which meant that his housekeeper already went home and that he still wasn't back yet. She sat on the small bench in front of the door and waited for him.
Minutes passed and she waited, growing more anxious at the fact that he might never come back.
More time passed and she lost track of how long she's been sitting and waiting there. The beep of the elevator opening woke her up from her daydreaming.
"Marie? What're you doing here?" He jumped in surprise.
She hugged him without saying a word. She was so happy that he finally came that tears ran down her face. She knew that if she said anything, she would start crying, so she simply hugged him tightly, closing her arms around him.
"What's going on?" He asked while he ran his fingers through her hair. He wanted to see her face but she just pushed it into his chest. "Seems like I missed something here." He continued talking, completely at a loss for what was going on.
"This was the longest day in my life." She finally managed to get some words out. One tear streamed down her face.
"Marie, what're you talking about?" He looked her in the eyes.
"I thought that I would never see you again,"
"What do you mean?"
"I was afraid that you left."
"Where would I go without you?" He said with a smile.
Warm feelings rushed through his body. He couldn't say anything else but he didn't even know what else to tell her. He lowered his head and looked for her lips. Without stopping, he kissed her and lifted her up in his arms, carrying her through the large doors of his penthouse.
In one moment, he lost his footing and they almost fell. They both laughed at the absurdity of it all.
"We almost fell." He whispered in her ear with a giggle.
"So what?" She said as she kissed him again. "We'd fall together."
He looked at her in surprise. He wasn't sure if he heard her right. She ran ahead of him in the living room but he caught up, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her in, shoving his face in her long hair.
She turned around to face him. She took off her coat and threw it to the side, while she walked backwards, away from him.
He smiled playfully as he watched what she did. He took off his coat and threw it to the side next to hers.
She opened the buttons on her shirt with her soft fingers. Nathan did the same. They smiled as they threw their shirts to the side at the same time. When he saw how her full breasts moved with her, he couldn't take it anymore and reached her with two long steps.
He moved her hair with his fingers and kissed her neck, going lower and lower with every kiss. Her breath became more rapid as she felt his lips on her naked skin.
She wrapped herself around him as she ran her fingers through his hair and covered his face in kisses. Nathan lifted her up in his arms and easily carried her upstairs to his bedroom.
They took off the rest of their clothes quickly and threw themselves entirely in each other's warm touches and hot kisses.
They made love with animal like intensity, like they were doing it the first and last time. Marie finally experienced the sensation that she's been missing for years, making love with a man that she felt truly whole with.
A warm feeling moved from the bottom of her stomach and spread like a wave throughout her body. She felt like she could fly, like she could fly so high that she would reach the stars. While she was in his embrace, she thought that she could do anything, truly anything.
In his rough touches and soft kisses, Nathan realized what he's been missing for the past four years. Through all the pain, heart break, all the times he would try to forget her only to remember the times they've spent together, he finally got to feel her one more time.
There wasn't a place on her body that his lips didn't touch. He didn't let her catch her breath, or to stop begging for him, or to stop from touching him, digging her nails into him, or holding him close to her. He managed to take them away from the world that they were in, to a place where it was just the two of them, their own little oasis.
He was happier than ever before, he was happy because he was finally with a woman who he loved more than anything.
Chapter 28
Marie, just as she got her breath back and the waves that washed her body descended, turned to her side and looked at Nathan's calm and naked body.
"I want to tell you something." She whispered, ready to tell him everything.
"Not now, please." He brought her to his chest, afraid of what she was going to say. "Give me some time to relish the moment, just give me some hope." He pleaded with her.
"This is very important and I can't wait anymore." She brought herself up and away from his arms.
Nathan brought a pillow up to his back and looked at her.
"Ok, I'm listening."
"Bruce and ..."
"Marie, please." His face clearly showed displeasure. "We just made love and now you want to talk about your new boyfriend?" He couldn't believe it.
"Listen to me, please." She straightened out and tried again. "I talked to him today and he understood where I was coming from."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I can't deal with you leaving again." She said in a soft voice.
"Excuse me?" He moved a bit.
"I know now how much I love you and that I always loved you, just ..." She hid her face with her hands. "I didn't want to admit it to myself, or to you."
"Marie." He took her hands away from her face. His heart was beating wildly. "Do you know what you just told me?" He still couldn't believe what he heard.
"I said that I love you."
"Me? The man that you pushed away to New York!"
"You just didn't understand." She smiled and laid down next to him. "I just wanted to be with you but I had to make sure that what I felt for you was real. When I knew it was, well, then I had to make sure that you felt the same way about me."
"That's complicated."
"I guess, maybe it wasn't the best plan." She laughed lightly.
"Hey, I guess the wine at the restaurant wasn't my best idea either. I just wanted you to enjoy it and think about the times we shared it together."
"Seems like we did everything the opposite of how we wanted. I just wanted to be with you." She admitted.
"Why did you do all of the things you did then?"
"Is that really important right now?" She kissed him.
"I still can't believe that this is happening." He said as he kept smiling.
"Why don't you just tell me that you love me too?" She asked him with a soft, whisper like, voice.
"What if I say it and wake up?" He caressed her soft cheeks as he stared into her eyes.
"Try and let's see what happens." She beckoned him.
"I love you." He whispered in a voice full of love and passion.
"I love you too." She said as she smiled and kissed him again. After which she began tickling him. "This is a dream I don't want to wake up from."
"Forever and ever." He truly believed it.
"I love you." He said again smiling, happier than he'd ever been before.
"I want you to know something else." She suddenly said seriously as she moved away from his hug.
"Not now." He said quickly, afraid that she would ruin the perfect moment.
"I want you to know why I didn't get married." She pressed her fingers against his lips. "I told him about you. That same moment, he grabbed his things and left for Miami. I went to find you and tell you what happened, but you already left by then. That's why I waited for you in front of your door, I was afraid that you would leave me again."
"I didn't know." He turned pale, understanding how many opportunities they missed. "I didn't want to stay any more than I had to because I didn't want to see you get married to another man." He caressed her cheek as he gazed into her eyes.
"My lit
tle Marie." He whispered while his thoughts ran. "Instead of getting married, you were left alone and in love with a man who was no longer there."
"And when you finally came back into my life again, I didn't have the strength to admit to myself that I still loved you. That's why I did the things that I did, in the hope that I would run away from it all. I wanted to run away from the intense feelings I had when I saw you again."
"To run away? Where would you run without me?" He smiled, hugged her and brought her closer to his chest. "The things we went through." He moved his hands slowly through her hair.
He still couldn't believe that all those years passed and yet they needed so little to be happy. Maybe if he waited a bit more, if he turned around, maybe everything would be different.
"That's all in the past now, I love you and you know that now." She smiled and kissed him again.
"Do you know how much I love you?" The kiss he gave her spoke volumes more than the words that came before it.
Chapter 29
"Nathan, finally, when are you coming?" William's voice was heard on the other side of the line.
"I'm staying." He said with a long pause. "I'm getting married."
"What're you talking about?" He asked seriously, unsure if he heard the young man correctly.
"I'm staying in Texas and I'm getting married to the most beautiful woman here." He said quickly.
"Well congratulations and all but I still don't understand what's going on?" William didn't was confused at the sudden announcement.
"You'll need a man here anyway, to look after the new business."
"Yea, but ..."
"Well Will, I'm your man." He cut him off.
"I see that you thought this through." William laughed on the other side of the line. After the shock wore off a bit, he could talk business again.
"I guess I'll be blaming Marie for this." He joked.
"We miss you here."
"I miss you two as well. Especially when you're so happy."
"When will I see you again?" He asked quickly.
"About three months. I need to go back to New York and pack up my things anyway."
"I can't wait to meet her then." William joked.
"Just don't fall in love with her." Nathan joked back.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure everyone knows that the big bad Nathan has a wife now. Anyway, I'm happy for you and I'll get the papers ready to make you official over there." William said as he hung up the line.
As soon as Nathan put his cellphone down, he got up and walked over to Marie's office.
"Everything is taken care of." He said with a smile as he leaned towards her and kissed her.
"Taken care of what?" She asked.
Her green eyes looked at him, full of love and passion, and he took a moment to wonder if he should continue talking or if he should take her right then and there.
"I'm staying here." He said as a wide smile appeared on his lips. "I'll be getting a new position." He brought her out of her chair, sat down and had her sit in his lap.
"Nathan! That's amazing!" She hugged him tightly and covered his face in small kisses. "Dad is going to so happy when he hears that you're staying here. I didn't tell him anything about our plans so he'll be ecstatic when he hears." She looked him in the eyes. "What about our second plan?"
"We'll go to New York as soon as the wedding is taken care of, but in the meantime ..."
"In the meantime ..."
"We'll talk about how we can grow our family." He said with a sly smile.
"You bad boy." She said as she hid her red cheeks in his chest.
"Did I tell you how much I love you? Especially when you get all shy like this." He moved the strands of hair that were covering her face and kissed her.
"Mmm." She murmured happily.
"And how beautiful you are?"
"Mhmm."
"Seems like I talked too much then, time for me to get to work." He brought her head up again and kissed her.
Chapter 30
"Lola, what's wrong?" O'Conner asked as he walked inside the house. When he got closer, he could see that she was trying to hide her tears.
"I'm happy that you came for dinner." She said as she wiped her tears away with her apron. "The house is so empty ever since those two left."
"I miss them two." He said. "But I'm happy that Marie found someone that she truly cares about and that they're both happy." He added, remembering the day they got married.
"I should be happy that I don't have to lie for her anymore and have to listen for hours how she wasn't in love with him, but ..." She stopped herself.
"But you still miss her." He finished her sentence and smiled. "The only way to help fill this house again is to persuade them to grow this small family." He said with a smile as he waved his hands around the large house. "They can take care of the business, while we raise the little ones."
"I already know what I'd teach them." She said as she remembered all of the times Marie got in trouble when she was younger.
"Don't worry, it'll happen. Just be easy on them." He said with a smile as he went upstairs.
"Go easy on them? I went easy once and never again." She said as she went into the kitchen. Then, she smiled to herself knowing that she would never follow through with what she said.
"Of course I'll go easy on them, I just need someone here to take care of." She whispered to herself as she set out to prepare dinner.