I walk out of the room and almost bump right into Jacob.
“Whoa, I have to be careful. Can’t be running into you now that you’re carrying my baby.”
“Well I think we can crash into each other, especially our lips,” I say puckering up and pointing at my lips.
He kisses me gently on my lips and suddenly I feel his hand on my ass squeezing firmly. “Hey!”
We both laugh.
“All finished with Singapore?” I ask.
“Yep! All finished with Melbourne?”
“Yep! Hmmm,” I say. “ Seems like we’ve got some time on our hands now don’t we?”
“It does certainly seem that way doesn’t it?”
“It does. I just wonder what in the world we can do to fill it?”
I feel his hands tickle my sides and I try and squirm, but it’s too late. He’s carefully scooping me up and carrying me to the bedroom.
I don’t know what I love more…that his appetite for me hasn’t wavered one bit even though I’m putting on weight and have a child inside me.
Or the fact that in addition to having the perfect family life I’m able to balance the career side of things too. I love challenging myself creatively and dealing with our clients and solving their toughest challenges. At first I had to ask Jacob for a lot of help, but the more I do it the more I’m getting the hang of it, plus I’m learning the ins and outs of each of our clients much better now and Jacob says that soon I’ll be able to predict what they need before they even know what they need. Wouldn’t that be something?
And speaking of something, Jacob is building something very, very special and completely beyond belief.
A castle.
Yes, a real castle.
He bought a plot of land in the countryside and the stones are being set as we speak. He said he wasn’t joking when we were in Bruges. I’m his queen and I’ll live in a castle, at least on the weekends when we go out there.
And it will give our kids an even bigger place to play and a bigger space means more room for even more kids.
We’re barely starting and we can’t even stop thinking of how big we want our family to be.
And speaking of big I look at his face and see he’s still carrying me like I’m as light as a feather, even though I know I’m anything but now.
Once my pregnancy got confirmed we celebrated a little too much. I guess we really haven’t stopped come to think of it. I’ve been eating everything in sight yet he hasn’t mentioned it at all, looked at me funny, or lost his appetite for me one bit.
I already know we’re going to be very active late into this pregnancy, and the next…and the next…and the next…and the…
Extended Epilogue
Jacob
Fifteen years later
“But boys don’t babysit, dad,” my son Jackson says. “That’s a girl’s job.”
“First of all it’s not just a girl’s job. You choose a babysitter based on their qualifications, trust, and how well they get along with your kids…not based on their sex. Second of all you never know who you’re going to meet babysitting. Babysitting is the reason you’re here with us today.”
“Jacob!” Mina says.
“Hey, it’s true and you know the rule. Never lie to the kids. They’re too smart and they’ll know anyways.”
“TMI dad. TMI.”
“Don’t think of it as babysitting, son. Think of it as being the king of the castle and you’re watching over your tribe.”
“My tribe?”
“Your people. Whatever you want to call it in your mind. You’re a young man, right?”
“Yeah. I play football, remember?”
“Of course! And in football you have to protect the quarterback from getting tackled or even hit, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Same thing applies. You’re going to protect the Smith kids tonight just like you would protect the quarterback on the football field.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“Well, you know what doesn’t make sense?”
“What?”
“Why you’re not dating that oldest Smith girl yet. She’s a real looker and I’m pretty sure the reason you’re going over there in the first place is because she told her parents to offer you the job.”
“She’s older than me, dad.”
“Why should that matter?”
“She won’t be there anyways. If she was there they wouldn’t need someone to watch the kids.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly came down with something at dinner and had to rush home. And when she does that knight better be protecting his castle when his queen arrives.”
“Dad!”
“I’m just saying.” I turn and see Mina with her eyes closed shaking her head but most importantly she’s smiling like she always is.
“Since when did you become Chuck Woolery Mr. Matchmaker?”
“What’s that?” I yell and point out the window.
“Where?” she says looking outside.
I grab one of the balls of cookie dough off the sheet and stuff it in my mouth.
“Must have been nothing,” I mumble.
She turns and looks at me. “Uh huh. Nothing, huh? What’s that!” she yells and pinches me on the butt. “Must be biting spiders in the house.”
“I like biting spiders,” I say and I kiss her neck carefully even though I still have a mouthful of cookie dough.
“Did you get cookie dough on my neck?”
“No and if I did you wouldn’t be able to tell?”
“And why is that?”
“Because you’re the sweetest thing in the world already.”
“What’s that!” she yells.
“What?”
“The nicest husband who I love more than anything in the world, with maybe the exception of the seven children we have together.”
I love that she always counts Mia as one of our children. How couldn’t she?
Mia was the one that brought us together when she started off as the boss’s babysitter. But now things are much, much different.
She’s not only the boss of the house but of Stone Solutions too.
Granted when we need muscle or a tough decision I step in and consult, but taking a step back and handing her the reins has been the best thing for both of us.
I built the company up on my own and it feels good to hand it over to the best business mind I know. Putting the succession plan in place way before it’s necessary was a great idea.
Not only that it gives her the sense of satisfaction she craves from still working. Surely she’ll retire early at some point, but not until we’ve groomed the kids to take over for us.
And speaking of kids my new role allows me what I value more than anything any company could ever provide me.
More time with my family.
And that includes their grandpa, Mike.
We take them fishing and play sports and all kinds of things with them in the mornings when their mom is working. Then in the afternoon I do a bit of work and mom puts on her mom hat and rushes the kids off to all their practices, recitals, sleepovers and all the other things they have going on.
And when her day runs long I’m more than happy to drive the minivan wherever the kids tell me it needs to go.
A minivan. Who would have ever thought?
Certainly not me, but then again I never thought a brave girl from the third floor would come up to my office asking for more responsibility. And fifteen years later that ‘responsibility’ would be mother to my children, head of our household and business, and woman that I love and cherish more than anything in the world.
I may have been the boss when we met, but now we’re both bosses of family inc. The most important thing we’ve ever put our minds to and luckily the easiest.
It comes naturally when you love what you do and there’s nothing I love more than her and our family.
Together. Forever.
59) VIRGIN
IN NEW YORK
VIRGIN IN NEW YORK
When I move to NYC for college I take everything with me…including my virginity.
I’m too naive for New York, and apparently I’m not the only one. My dad’s best friend and I fall victim to one of my dad’s jokes, but will dad be laughing when his younger woman daughter falls for his older man best friend?
I made a deal with myself to remain a virgin until I met the perfect guy, and I know this international art dealer is the real deal and it’s finally time for my first time here in the city that never sleeps.
Can two artists paint the perfect picture of a New York romance, or will my dad decide our big apple romance is rotten and pull me out of NYC and away from my dad’s best friend, the only man who deserves my virginity and a whole lot more…forever?
*Virgin in New York is an insta-everything standalone romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.
Chapter One
Alexa
“The vase to your left is the most expensive piece of Chinese porcelain to ever sell at auction,” the tour guide at the Gotham Gallery in Manhattan, New York says. “And to imagine that the owner didn’t know it’s value having only insured it to £800 while it sat atop a wobbly bookcase in his living room before selling it for £53 million.”
I look around the other members of our tour group at the sixteen inch vase. All I see is some flower holder with a couple of glamorized crap on it. Coy fish? Just call the darn things crap already.
But then again that’s why I’m here today.
I don’t want my family friend Alex, who I’ll be staying with this summer here in NYC, to think I’m a complete hick. I need to get some culture, and some sun after months of locking myself in my room to prepare for my stint at Parsons, before meeting up with Alex later tonight.
All I know about her is that she’s an elegant art dealer here in New York. I don’t want to embarrass my entire family with my lack of knowledge so I figured I’d spend the afternoon seeing some things at the Gotham Gallery so I could at least pretend to have something to talk about at dinner this evening.
Not to mention I can’t check-in to her apartment before seven o’clock tonight so I have to kill the time somehow. A quick tour of the gallery and then to the tourist storage locker I rented to hold my luggage and a taxi to Alex’s and I’ll finally get to take a shower to remove that airplane feeling from my body and hair. Yuck.
“And over here is an original cup used by the Romans…,” the tour group’s voice tails off as the group shifts a few feet towards the next piece.
And it’s a perfect time for me to shift gears and catch my breath. Today has been hectic and I need a quick second to chill out. I don’t think missing one thing will be the end of the world.
I look down at the railing thinking how nice it would be to lean against it for just a second to take a bit of the weight off my feet from all this walking.
But if somebody sees me I could get in trouble, not to mention it would look really unsophisticated and lazy.
But right now I don’t care how I look. I care how I feel and my feet are aching.
I look to my right and then my left. I see a hallway to the side and hear footsteps, but I can tell they’re a long ways off.
Okay, I’ve got a few seconds to pull this off. That’s all I need.
I lean to the side extending my forearm and bracing my fingers ready to grip the railing as I keep my head turned in the other direction in case the tour guide looks my way.
At about the point were my hand should find the railing I feel myself completely losing my balance as I miss the railing all together and quickly try and right myself only for my feet to get tangled and my body to contort like some kind of drunk girl on the dance floor dancing to techno music.
Or should I say ballet, because suddenly I’m spinning on one leg and I feel that stupid velvet rope that was next to the railing wrapping around my body and now I’ve really lost it.
The metal post slides and everyone’s eyes turn toward me as my eyes look for something to grab before my face finds the floor which is rapidly approaching.
I stick out my hand searching for anything and find something, but instead of grabbing it I just push it.
I feel my wrists lock and my forearms brace as I hit the floor as I try to roll over onto my side to brace the impact and save myself needing to schedule a rhinoplasty tomorrow.
I feel the tip of my nose find the cold floor but my spin works and my shoulder takes the brunt of the impact and I roll over onto my back kind of like the reverse of a turtle trying to get up off it’s back.
I look up at the ceiling expecting to see everyone laughing or maybe if I’m lucky something by Michelangelo, but instead all I see is a vase tipping back and forth from the pillar which it’s sitting on…which is also tipping.
Oh no!
I feel goosebumps cover my body and only two thoughts on my mind.
£53 Million.
And.
Don’t let it hit the ground!
The vase comes off.
Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!
I dig my heel in and push sliding my body back trying to get underneath it as I shoot out my hands over my head.
I feel the vase make contact with my fingers and my body curls like I’m doing some kind of toe touches from a calisthenics video, but all I really do is just send the vase back up into the air meaning I’ve got to catch it again.
My eyes lock in on the vase and I roll frantically to my left like I’m on fire trying to get to the place where it’s going to hit next.
I keep rolling and my eyes close hoping for the best as I bring my hands to my face readying, make that praying, that I get it this time.
And then!
Nothing.
Slowly my left eye opens followed by my right.
All I see are slick oxblood leather shoes and some navy blue slacks…
And two hands about a foot from my face moving upward securing the vase against the body of a man who is so big, so tall, and so hot I have no idea why his body doesn’t have it’s own sculptures in the other wing of the museum.
“Enjoying the tour everyone?” he says as he cradles the vase under one arm and extends his other to me.
I look at his hand not sure if he’s expecting me to fill his palm full of bills to pay for the damage I may have caused or if I should take it and get up off the cold floor where I’m making a gigantic fool of myself.
Before I can figure it out he’s grabbed my hand and he’s hoisting me up like I’m light as a feather and I feel my feet find the floor and his arm wrap around my midsection as I catch my balance.
I quickly brush myself off, but I can’t take my eyes off of him.
He’s absolutely incredible.
He gives me a wink before turning to the guide. “Everything’s all sorted. Enjoy the tour everyone,” he says.
He turns to go and in doing so his hand spins me back toward the direction of the group and the velvet rope spins right off me.
I immediately miss the strength of his hand around my waist. Those thick strong fingers and that masculine forearm.
I watch as he rounds the corner and all I hear are the sound of those same steps moving down the hall again.
This time in the opposite direction.
As in out of my life just as quickly as he came into it.
I’m not sure if I’m ecstatic that he just saved me from working ‘round the clock for the rest of my life in a futile attempt to pay off the vase I oh so nearly destroyed, or if I’m completely devastated that I’ll never see him again.
I’m completely confused. That’s for sure.
I always thought art guys weren’t the kind to know their way around a gym, but not him. Oh my.
When I declare my major at Parsons maybe I’ll change it from graphic design to sculpture.
The best artists are motivated from personal life experiences and I’ve never been so motivated to know the name of, and
find someone, in my entire life.
Him.
I have to see him again.
Chapter Two
Alexa
The next morning
I smell fresh brewed coffee and extend my arms over my head stretching in the huge bed I slept in last night.
When I arrived at Alex’s apartment building the doorman had a note that Alex was entertaining a client from Switzerland and would be home until very late. The doorman had been given instructions to let me in and when I arrived inside there was a nice note from Alex saying to enjoy the apartment to the fullest including directions to my room where I was now.
And what a room it was. I look to my left and see Central Park wondering just how successful Alex really is. I love the idea of meeting her and picking her brain. I love graphic design, but don’t know much about the business of art, or art in general if I’m honest with myself…hence my failed attempt at getting some culture yesterday at the Gotham Gallery.
I roll out of bed and stumble into the attached bathroom where I quickly brush my teeth and freshen up for a quick meet. I’ll take a shower after I say hello and thank you and give her the chocolates I bought yesterday in the city as a super small thank you gift for allowing me to stay in her flat this summer.
It’s a beautiful flat, perfectly decorated as you’d expect from an art dealer, but surprisingly there weren’t any personal pictures on the wall.
Just art.
I did see one funny magnet on the refrigerator that said #ArtIsMyFamily. That seemed to pretty much sum up my first impression of her flat as well.
I step out of my room and into the hallway with my wrapped box of chocolates.
I look down into the living room, but can’t see her due to the construction of her flat.
But I sure can smell that coffee and I know I’ll find her close by. And anyone that knows me knows I’ve always got a coffee close by to as it’s like my personal jet fuel to make it through the day.
A Man Who Knows What He Wants Box Set 5 Page 41