Finding The Love Back

by Adina Jan

  Christian had just heard words that were music to his ears. He had already decided that he wasn’t going to let Ava leave without her knowing how he still felt about her and if a relationship came of it, he would be even more happy. To hear her admit that she wanted him as much as he wanted her was all he wanted to hear.

  Ava knew after losing her mother at such a young age and now with her father’s health issues that life was too short not to have what you want out of it. After making love to Christian, she knew that she would not be able to return to Atlanta and just pretend that nothing happened between them.

  “I keep telling you, Ava Marie, love has a habit of showing up in unexpected places. You have to be ready for it when it shows up.”

  Chapter 13

  Ava was ever so thankful for the home help staff being in place to help when her father came home. Reginald was happy to come home to his own house and sleep in his own bed. He was even happier that his daughter was home with him to assist him.

  She fixed breakfast for the both of them and they sat at the table eating together. The stroke had damaged some of the nerves on the left side of his body so Reginald would be in a wheelchair until he could completely walk again and the home help staff would help with bathing and personal care needs to make sure he didn’t hurt himself falling and that he took his medications as prescribed.

  Ava watched her father trying to feed himself. He was determined to do it on his own with no assistance and he was doing pretty well. The nurses at the hospital said that besides flirting with every female nurse, Reginald had worked hard on making sure he could handle doing at least one skill for himself when he went home. His speech was still a bit slurred as well, but he’d have some therapists coming in to help with his speech and with his motor skills.

  “I’m happy to have you home, Princess,” Reginald said.

  “I’m glad that I could be here, Daddy.” She paused for a moment before speaking. As if Reginald could sense what she was about to say, he cut her off.

  “You don’t have to apologize, Ava Marie. We both play a part in how things happened. Water under the bridge.” It took him a moment to say what he had to say, but he managed to get the words out as best he could.

  Ava got up from her seat and kissed her father on the cheek and gave him a hug. It was nice to know that they didn’t have to rehash any old feelings. If her father was willing to move past everything, then so was she.

  As soon as they finished eating, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll get it, Daddy.”

  She could see Christian’s vehicle parked in the driveway. A smile came over her face as she opened the door.

  “Hey Gorgeous.” Christian walked in and immediately kissed Ava. It was the kiss of a man that deeply desired the woman in front of him.

  The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them. Ava and Christian turned around to see that the nurse had wheeled Reginald into the living room.

  “Oh, hey Daddy,” Ava said embarrassed.

  Reginald held his hand up to signal that he wasn’t concerned by what he just saw.

  “Christian, it’s good to see you. How are your parents?”

  Christian came over and shook Reginald’s hand. “Good to see you, Mr. Collier. Hope you’re feeling better.”

  Reginald didn’t bother to try to speak again. Instead he just nodded his head.

  “I’m taking Mr. Collier to the sunroom to do a little therapy now,” the nurse said to Ava.

  “Thanks,” Ava replied.

  She turned to Christian. “Wow, that was embarrassing having my dad walk in on us like that.”

  “Yeah, well. I’m sure he knows what it’s like to not be able to resist kissing the woman that he’s in love with.”

  Christian pecked her on the lips again. “What do you want to do today?” He loved the way that her blonde hair hung past her shoulders. She didn’t have on any makeup and he loved her natural look.

  “Well, my father is starting his therapy at home today so I want to kind of stick around for that.”

  “I understand. Maybe I can just stick around with you today,” Christian offered.

  “I’d like that very much.”

  They didn’t do much that day. After Ava did a few video calls with the office and then she and Christian watched a few movies and sat around talking with Reginald.

  Reginald was happy to just sit around and listen to his daughter and Christian laughing and talking.

  Ava was set to go back to Atlanta in another three days. She had arranged for Christian to come and stay with her at her home while he finalized his arrangements on his condo. They agreed to take things from there.

  Christian left later that evening. Ava sat in the living room drinking a cup of tea. The nurse helped her father to bed Ava had promised to come in and say good night.

  She knocked on the door and saw her father raise his hand to beckon her to come in.

  She kissed him on the cheek and asked if there was anything else that would make him more comfortable. He shook his head.

  As Ava was walking out of the bedroom, she head her father speak. “Ava Marie, life is too short. Christian is the one for you. Don’t make him chase you too long.”

  She didn’t turn back to look at him after he spoke words that she knew were the truth. “Good night, Daddy.”

  She pulled the door to and went to bed with Christian on her mind. Everything had happened so quickly, but the fear of not having Christian in her life going forward was outweighing the fear of getting hurt by him again. She felt that they were older now and that they could proceed to have a more mature relationship. She wasn’t sure what would come out of all that had transpired between them thus far, but she was willing to give things a try. Her heart was tired of being alone and her body was tired of waking up to a cold spot next to her in the morning. She was willing to give a relationship with Christian one last try.

  What did she have to lose?

  Chapter 14

  Ava was happy to return to Atlanta. Being in Conner had actually turned out to be refreshing instead of stressful like she assumed it would be. She made a promise to herself and her father that she would be back on the weekends when she didn’t have to work to check on him. The home help staff had already been in touch with her at least twice that day and it was only the early afternoon. She was happy with their work and her father seemed comfortable on his road to recovery.

  When she arrived at the office, Ava was surprised to see three bouquets of pink roses. Lisa and Lindsey had a sly smile on their faces while they waited to see if Ava would read the card in front of them.

  Ava rolled her eyes playfully as she pulled the card out of the bouquet. “You ladies are so nosey!”

  Lisa stood closer and smelled the roses. “Yes we are! I need to know how you just came back from seeing about your father and today you have three dozen roses at work. You’ve never had roses delivered at work.”

  “I know!” Ava exclaimed. The three women giggled like young teenage girls.

  “Okay, okay. Let me see what this says.” Ava pulled the card out of the envelope and read the words on the paper.

  Tomorrow is too long to wait to see you. Meet me tonight. 7pm. Wear something sexy.

  -Christian

  “Christian, huh?” Lindsey said playfully.

  Ava paused for a second before recounting the story of her time in Conner. She tried to gloss over the afternoon she spent with Christian, but the ladies sensed something juicy and wouldn’t let her.

  “Tell us all of the details and don’t skip anything,” Lindsey said.

  “Oh my goodness,” Ava said as she began to recount her sexy afternoon with Christian. Just talking about it made her hot. Her body remembered every place that Christian’s fingertips had touched and every place that his tongue had licked. The ladies listened intently as she told them about how she’d spent the afternoon with her childhood sweetheart and how they had spent their time making things right after s
o long apart.

  Lisa gushed. “I love it when two people fall passionately in love. This is wonderful. So what are you going to wear tonight?”

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t thought about it,” Ava answered.

  “You have to show a bit of thigh and of course a bunch of cleavage,” Lindsey added.

  “I’ll find something to wear tonight.”

  “Without a doubt. Let’s check the fashion closet and see what’s there. I’m sure there is something for you to wear,” Lindsey said. “I want you to look fabulous on your date. Remind him why he’s falling in love with you.”

  Ava knew that she had to pull out all of the stops this evening and she was ready.

  Ava went to work securing clothing and accessories for her clients and going over the books for the company. There was a knock at the office door.

  Around the office, they had a no knock policy. The only person left in the office along with Ava was Lisa. Lindsey had gone out to take care of a personal appointment and Ava wasn’t expecting any clients.

  “Come in.”

  “I hope you aren’t too busy.”

  Ava looked up from her work to see her handsome beau, Christian. Her heart started racing immediately. She wasn’t expecting to see him so early.

  “Christian. What are you doing here?”

  He smiled, happy that he could surprise Ava. “Well, Ms. Ava M,” he said jokingly. “I thought it would be nice to come by and see your offices and bring you a little afternoon surprise.”

  “Close the door,” she motioned for Christian to close the door to give them some privacy. As he did, Ava spoke to Lisa on the intercom. “Lisa, can you hold my calls for the next thirty minutes? I’m going to take a lunch break.”

  “Sure thing,” Lisa replied.

  Christian shrugged. “Thirty minutes? I guess I can condense what we’re about to do to thirty minutes.”

  He pulled Ava into his arms and kissed her. She was taken by surprise, but she welcomed the feel of his velvety smooth tongue on hers.

  In a fury of passion, their clothes began to come off. Ava wasted no time pulling Christian’s shirt over his head and she fumbled with his belt buckle but eventually got it undone. Kissing him, she quickly unbuttoned his pants and once they were unzipped, the pants fell to the floor.

  He picked Ava up by her waist and set her on her desk. He was happy that she was wearing a dress. The second he’d walked through the door, he was mesmerized by the metallic pink dress that hugged her waist and her curves. She had accessorized it with a chic blazer and some six inch nude colored heels.

  Ava tried to kick the heels off and Christian stopped her. “No, leave the heels on. It’s sexy.”

  She bit her lip at the thought that her heels excited Christian. He inched her dress up to her waist, revealing her smooth creamy thighs. She parted them ready to allow her lover entrance.

  “I don’t think that I’ve ever had sex while at work,” she whispered in his ear.

  “Once again we are each other’s firsts,” Christian replied.

  He slid her thongs to the side and entered her with such a sweet force that she almost screamed out in delight. Right before she did, Christian put his hand over her mouth. As he gave her love in luscious strokes, he looked her in the eye and said, “Shh.”

  Ava bit her lip as she tried to mask her pleasure. Her kitten purred as Christian’s manhood found its home inside her softness. Ava was speechless as Christian took control of their movements. She wrapped her legs around him in attempts to pull him in closer. The fact that they were in a public place making love was a turn on for both of them. Christian couldn’t believe that he was once again with the woman that he had dreamed about so often over the past several years.

  He couldn’t resist saying what was on his mind as he held his lover close. “I love you, Ava Marie.”

  Ava melted in his arms. She didn’t know why, but she had been waiting to hear those exact words. “I love you too, Christian.”

  With a few more thrusts, Christian brought both of them to climax. It was a challenge not to scream out in pleasure. Christian swallowed Ava’s cries with another kiss.

  She threw her head back and laughed at the fact that Christian had come in and caught her off guard with a mid-afternoon love making session.

  “Can I expect more of these little surprises from you?” Ava asked, totally satiated.

  Christian kissed his lover. “Ava Marie, I’m ready to give you the world.”

  One the words escaped his lips, he knew even more that he meant every word. He’d finally gotten the love of his life back and there was no way that he was letting her go.

  Chapter 15

  Christian sent a car and driver to pick Ava up in style. Lindsey and Lisa found a strapless aqua blue dress that was fitted and showed her curves for Ava to wear. She paired it with some pink heels and a pink necklace. She pulled her hair up in a stylish ponytail and made sure her makeup was exquisite.

  Ava was ready for a night out on the town. She wanted to show Christian all that there was to do in Atlanta. After a twenty minute ride, the car pulled up to an exclusive restaurant. Ava had been there before with a client and she loved the décor and the menu.

  The driver came around and helped her out of the car. She thanked him and walked up to the front door. Christian appeared and holding the door, welcomed her inside.

  “Hello Gorgeous,” he said kissing her on the cheek. He held her hand and twirled her around to admire her beauty.

  “Hello to you. You’re looking great yourself,” she remarked. Christian was clad in a light blue polo shirt and a pair of gray slacks and a pair of loafers. He looked dashing. His eyes sparkled as he looked at his lover.

  Christian whisked her into the restaurant for a romantic four course meal. The candlelight set the mood along with the soft music. Ava felt like she could gaze into Christian’s eyes forever. They laughed and had easy conversation. Everything seemed like a dream.

  When they finished eating, Christian held out his hand for Ava to stand up with him. “We have one more thing planned this evening.”

  Christian took her hand and led the way out of the restaurant. The valet brought him his car and Christian, like the gentleman he was, opened the passenger door for Ava.

  He ran around to the driver’s side and hopped in. Christian navigated the Atlanta streets like a pro. They eventually pulled up at one of the many tall glass buildings in the downtown area. Christian pulled into the garage.

  “You live here?” Ava asked.

  “Yes. I got a sweet deal. I hope you like it.”

  They took the elevator up twenty floors. The building was exquisite and Ava took it all in. She had been doing well in her business, but obviously Christian was not doing too shabby himself.

  They made their way to his place and when Ava opened the door, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There was a trail of pink rose petals trailing from the front door.

  “What is this? Christian, what did you do?” She was excited to see where the trail of roses would lead.

  Christian smiled. He looked like a parent that watched intently as their child scrambled to rip open presents on Christmas morning. He couldn’t wait to see what Ava would say about the surprise he had waiting for her.

  He shrugged his shoulders playfully. “I don’t know what this is. We should find out.”

  Ava hit him on the shoulder and picked up the pace as she followed the rose petals. They trailed through the living room and out to the balcony. On the balcony, there was a simple sampler box of chocolates and a jar full of hard candies. Ava clapped her hands in excitement.

  “You remembered!” She couldn’t believe that Christian had remembered how much she liked to indulge in a box of chocolates just because. The jar of hard candies was an ode to the candies that she always carried in her purse when she was growing up. She actually still carried the same candies in her purse to this day.

  “Christian, you are so sweet. You did
n’t have to do all of this for me. I-,” when Ava turned around, she stopped in her tracks.

  She couldn’t believe her eyes. Christian was kneeling down on one knee, holding open a jewelry box with a ring that sparkled brightly. Ava covered her mouth with her hands. Was Christian doing what she thought he was doing?

  “Ava Marie Collier, you have been the love of my life since we were kids and even into adulthood. I thought that I could get you out of my heart and my mind, but I can’t and I won’t try to anymore. I know that I hurt you once and I promise to never do it again so long as I live. You are the woman for me and I want to wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life. Ava Marie, will you do me the honor of being Mrs. Christian Carter?”