She leaned forward and moved to touch her lips to his. In the soft, low light of the lamp on the nightstand, his eyes burned fiercely. Roxanne knew that she might not be able to keep Paul forever, but at least she could have a night of memories. With Paul so close, Roxanne admitted something to herself that she had hidden inside her heart for a long time. She loved Paul James, and had since she first set eyes on him.
Paul rained soft kisses on her neck, and behind her ears. His hand cupped her breast and his thumb played with her nipple, sending sparks of desire down her spine. Her back arched up and he dropped his hand to her mound, making delicious circles in her most sensitive places. She felt her juices gather at her opening. He pushed in closer to her and his hard length pressed throbbing into her thigh. She wanted – no, needed – him.
“Paul,” she said. “I need you.”
“I need you, too, baby,” he replied.
Paul sucked a nipple into his mouth and she cried out with the pleasure of having his tongue play with the hardened nub; the sharpness of him drawing it deeper into his mouth spiked the need in her. She could not hold back when he slid his finger inside her and her hips bucked as waves of electric fire shot through her. He held her as her breathing calmed, but then he fingered her again and her breathing sped up.
“Are you ready for me, baby?” he said.
Roxanne nodded her head. She unbuttoned his jeans and drew them down along with his silk boxers. His cock was long and hard. She placed her hand on it, reveling in the steel-in-velvet feel of its length.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“Not half as beautiful as you,” Paul replied.
She nodded, afraid of saying anything more; terrified she would utter the secret yearnings of her heart. He leaned over her and kissed her passionately, as if all the need and desire in the world was rolled into that one kiss. Slowly he guided himself to her entrance, a deep sigh escaping his lips as the tip of his length entered her inner sanctum. She gasped at how good it felt to have him in her and she thrust her hips in an effort to take more of him. He moved slowly at first and she writhed beneath him, urging him with her moans to give her more. She locked her legs around his hips as he thrust deeper and harder within her. She threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him on the wild ride. Her body climbed higher on the pleasure he gave her until she burst apart, screaming his name.
Locked into each other’s arms, Paul and Roxanne lay next to each other. Lost in each other’s eyes, they enjoyed the blanket of body heat around them. It felt like the most beautiful moment of their lives, but little did they know that it was the calm before the storm.
***
The phone rang to wake Paul from his deep, romantic sleep with Roxanne.
“Hello?” said Paul.
“Paul, we have trouble” announced an impatient sounding Randy.
“Its 7 am, Randy. It’s not a good time. Can we talk later?”
“Paul, this is urgent. This whole Roxanne thing has backfired. I’m sending the magazine over to you. Have a read. We’ll need to start some damage control soon.”
Paul hung up the phone. He had no idea what Randy was talking about. Yes, they had recorded the interview as per the deal, but what could it be? He looked at Roxanne, who was as beautiful in her sleep as she was awake, and then the doorbell rang. Paul pulled on his bathrobe and made it his to the door to find a deliveryman with a set of magazines in his hand.
“These are from Randy, Mr. James,” said the man.
“Thanks,” said Paul, as he took the magazines from him.
They were the latest issue of Shredded, Roxanne’s magazine, and on the front cover was his face with the title, Paul James – The Untold Story. He flipped the pages eagerly to find the interview and read it all.
Roxanne had woken up in the meantime and made her way to the living room to find a serious-looking Paul on the couch, with the magazines splattered around the table.
“What’s the matter, Paul? Why are these magazines everywhere?” asked Roxanne, knowing that something about the interview must not have sat well with Paul.
“Roxy, what the hell is this?”
He tossed the magazine he was holding down on the desk in front of them.
She blinked at it and then looked at him.
“What are you so mad about?” she asked.
She felt it again; the fear she had had before printing the article. The fear that had made her keep something back from Paul all this time.
“You put everything in there. The stuff about my family and my childhood made me look like a little puppy that needs sympathy,” said Paul, who had the most disappointed look on his face. “I thought we had established that stuff was private, Roxanne. It has nothing to do with my divorce.”
He had called her by her full name for the first time in a long time.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Paul, but I told you I was going to write the article the way I saw fit. You agreed. In fact, you said it would be the ‘best damn article...’” she said, crossing her arms.
Paul was looking at a very different Roxanne. It was the woman he had seen in the press conference when they first met. There was no love in her eyes anymore and no emotion in her voice. It felt like they were strangers again.
“I trusted you,” he said. “The stuff I say to you isn’t always newsworthy, and it’s definitely not magazine worthy. I need you to fix it, somehow. Make this right.”
“It’s already done Paul; I can’t believe you’re being like this,” she said.
“Me? Really? How do you do it, Roxy? How are you sweet and warm one minute and then some kind of ruthless paparazzi the next?”
“This is my job, my company…this is my life, Paul. I won’t compromise it for anyone.”
She stood there before him, her arms still crossed in defiance.
“This?” he said, pointing to the magazine. “This is your life, Roxy? See, I thought there was so much more in life that you loved than just this.”
He stared at her hard and she knew he meant him. It was not something they talked about, because of her aversion to emotion, though since the ball field things had shifted and changed between them. He had made love to her, though words of love were not spoken. He looked at her, touched her, with more love than she could have ever asked for, but she was still leery of it.
“I love you, Roxy; I’ve told you that,” he said. “I’ve been patient and understanding but, despite the fact that you won’t tell me you love me too, I feel it with you. I feel it when you curl into me at night and I feel it in how you respond to me when I touch you. Maybe I was wrong though, looking at this now.”
Her face was pale and drawn, but her lips were clenched. He knew her well enough to know she was feeling something, though she would not tell him anything about it. She was too worried; too afraid.
“You don’t do this to someone you love,” he said. “You wrote what I told you about my father and about my struggle with depression. Those are not things I needed the public to know about.”
He pushed the magazine towards her and continued.
“I’m done, Roxy. This ‘arrangement’ stopped being an arrangement a long time ago, but I won’t be second to something or someone else again. I’ll stay at a hotel for a while, until we figure the details out.”
“You don’t have to go to a hotel, Paul. If one of us has to leave, it’s me. I’ll get dressed and go.”
She made her way back towards the bedroom door.
“It’s not always your call, is it, Roxanne?”
She stopped walking but did not respond. He paused to look at her, before rising from the couch and trying again.
“You don’t get it do you, Roxy? When you’re not so afraid to love me, you know where to find me. Otherwise, all of this between us is done,” he said, as he made his way past her to the bedroom.
He felt a deep sense of loss. She had given him hope, something he had been missing for a long time. Now he was not sure if h
e could move past it again like he had in the past. He wondered if either of them would ever open themselves up to love again.
***
She slouched down in her chair, letting herself feel for the first time since he had left. Her emotion came down on her like a wave crashing into the beach and she felt it with such force she gasped out loud. He was gone.
She had not set out to fall for him, but he had charmed his way into her heart and stuck there, and now she had broken his heart. She thought about him never kissing her again and she felt a new wave of tears hit her. They fell freely down her face and she buried her face in her hands at her desk.
She had managed to move the things at his place quickly enough. She was not Lila; she certainly did not want anything from him and as she packed she was reminded of the love they had shared.
Making the trip back to her home/office seemed to be the only slight comfort she had. She had settled into her desk once more, glancing over the latest figures. The magazine was picking up, and she knew it was down to the cover story about Paul. She wanted to call him to thank him, but she knew better than that.
Weeks went by, and she watched as sales increased by 40%. It was everything she had hoped it would be and she owed him everything for it. She knew he had been hurt, but the story was a good one and showed him in a positive light, despite the information about his personal life. He was worried about people knowing too much about him, but the reality was the more they saw him as an average guy, the more likely they were to discount what his crazy ex was saying. She was thankful when Mia came by that evening to distract her.
“OK, sis. So, what gives?” said Mia, looking far more grown up than normal, stood with her arms crossed.
“I’ll need a little more information than that to answer your question, Mia,” said Roxanne, giving her a half smile and leaning back on her couch, where she had strategically placed a rather large bowl of popcorn for them to share over a movie.
“What’s the deal with you and P.J.? I know you said you had a falling out, but I’ve never seen you like this. You go nowhere, you do nothing, you look…well, awful.”
Mia arched an eyebrow at her.
“Watch it, Mia,” said Roxanne, and threw a pillow at Mia, which she ducked.
“What I mean is: you love him very much, don’t you?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter now does it?” said Roxanne, frowning and staring at the television.
“So, what’s the deal then? He doesn’t love you? I mean, he was soooo into you.”
“He loves me; he told me he does. I just can’t be what he needs,” Roxanne answered her, simply.
“What does he need, Rox? I mean, does he ask you for anything crazy? Make you do things you don’t want to do? What does he want from you?”
“It’s hard to explain, Mia.”
Roxanne frowned as she responded.
“You’re scared because of mom, right? You don’t think your love story is possible without an inevitable heartbreak in it,” said Mia, shrugging her shoulders and turning to face the television. “There is no way I’d let some woman who abandoned us ruin my relationship with such a loving man. Don’t let your past have so much power over you, Rox, or you’ll ruin your present.”
Roxanne let her gaze focus on Mia for a long moment. Mia was right; absolutely right! She was in love with Paul and had been miserable ever since he had left. She had to get him back.
“Mia, I need your help with something,” she said.
She smiled at her little sister, who grinned back.
***
It had taken a week to put together, but somehow she had managed to line everything up just as she wanted it to be. Her job in journalism gave her a few perks and one of them was a press pass with access to the dressing rooms. She pulled up to the stadium, thankful once more for the seats that she knew would always be there for her. Mia was already there waiting. Roxanne took two deep breaths, knowing that after she went through the doors, there would be no coming back.
Making her way into the pits, she did her best to blend in, hoping he would not see her. It had been weeks since she had seen him in person and she was scared. She settled into a seat near the sides, watching as the game unfolded and catching a glimpse of him only twice. As the last inning started up, she knew she had to make a dash for the back and put her plan into motion.
She winked at Paul’s teammate Garcia who had agreed to be a part of her wild plan. In the back, she slipped into the clothes she had procured, laughing at her reflection in the mirror. Tucking her hair up in the hat, her look was complete and she was ready to make her way back out. She got a smile from Garcia as she passed.
The game was almost over. Paul had scored more than half the runs, and they were ahead by 7. With only 2 minutes left of the game, she knew there was no coming back from it. She heard the sound for the next run and she stood, making her way out to the field.
If anyone paid attention, they would notice that Garcia had changed drastically. Roxanne took her place, watching intently as Paul came up to bat.
Suddenly the sirens went off and focus was on the kiss cam, a gimmick at every game that spun around the crowd to focus on unsuspecting couples, forcing them to kiss on camera. This time, after three or four couples, the camera spun around to focus on the Baker seats, where Mia was in place. It stopped there, giving everyone a chance to read the cards she held as she stood.
I didn’t tell you the truth when you asked me.
She dropped the first card. The second one read:
But I’m telling you now. I love you Paul James.
She dropped the second card:
So, if you love me still, turn around and kiss me!
Roxanne waited with baited breath as he read the cards Mia was holding. He stood there, rooted to the spot for a moment until, slowly, he turned. He scanned everyone in the front row of the crowd, looking for her. She knew it was time.
She took off her hat, letting her mass of hair fall and flow in the breeze behind her, and then he saw her. She gave him a smile and moved towards him.
Their lips met in a fiery kiss, neither of them aware of anyone or anything else. When he finally pulled away, she saw the tears in his eyes.
“It took you long enough, Roxy,” he said, holding her tight.
“Well, I had a magazine to run and all that.”
She felt him hug her tighter.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked.
“First of all you’re going to let me tell you that I love you, Paul James, and I want to be with you now and always.”
“I love you too, Roxy, but I already found a replacement fake wife, so I don’t know how to work around that?” he said, shrugging.
She squinted her eyes at him and then realized he was joking.
“You’re a funny guy. You know that, Paul?”
“I do what I can, Roxy; I do what I can.”
He smiled and pulled her in close once more, and she knew things were going to be okay between them again.
She glanced up at the stadium where Mia stood. Mia waved her arms at them with a smile and then gave them thumbs up. Roxanne knew that in the empty seat beside Mia, their father was there cheering her on as well. What more could a man like him want. His daughter owned a thriving sports magazine and had landed a star player. She knew he would have been proud. She felt a tear slip down her face.
“What’s wrong, Roxy? Don’t cry, baby,” said Paul, wiping at her tears with his hands.
“Nothing,” she replied. “For the first time in a long time, I actually think everything is just right. I love you Paul.”
He kissed her and she knew in her heart she was right!
*****
THE END
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Romance: Bad Boy Romance: The Billionaire Revenge (A Contemporary Multicultural Office Romance) Page 12