“Crushing? What are we, ten?”
“They’re crushing on you. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. I need more details. How young are we talking about?”
“How the heck do I know?”
Hmmm, I bet he has an idea.
“You might be a priest, but you’re not dead, yet.”
“The youngest is probably early twenties, and the oldest I’d say is early forties. Happy now?” he asks, tipping pasta into bowls.
“Not really. Are you sure you’re a priest?”
He growls.
“Okay, you really are. I was there.” I smile. “You know, until I met Sabrina I’d been celibate nearly as long as you have.”
“Yours wasn’t exactly by choice.”
“Maybe not, but never the less its fact. I can’t imagine giving sex up willingly.”
“Can we talk about something else?” he asks, shoving a bowl under my nose as he joins me at the kitchen table.
“Like what?”
He doesn’t answer and starts eating so I suggest, “Tell me why you don’t want Emelia visiting you? She’s your sister so no one is going to say anything about a priest and a young girl.”
“Now you’re giving me heartburn.” He pushes his bowl away. “Emelia is going to want to get out and visit the surrounding areas. She’s also suggested we go camping. People will talk regardless of whether or not she’s my sister, and I don’t want it to hurt her. Plus, the women who are driving me crazy might not be too friendly towards her. I think she’s lonely and could do with some friends. Visiting me isn’t the best option for her. I even suggested she head to Lexington instead and stay with Eric for a while.” He wipes his hand down his face. “She won’t listen. She wants to come and stay with me.”
There is more to this than what he’s saying—more of a reason that he doesn’t want to tell me.
“I thought you were hungry.” He glances at my bowl still filled with food.
“I’ll work you out. I like puzzles.”
“You don’t want to work it out. Please leave it.”
I watch as he gets up and starts cleaning the stove before washing the dishes.
There is a story there, but I have enough to sort out in my own life to interfere with Dante’s for now.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sabrina
Even though the fundraiser tonight is going strong without any hiccups, I’m still fighting the butterflies in my stomach. My mom thinks I’m stupid because I’m looking forward to seeing Lucien again. But I’m nervous about seeing him too. What if he only comes back to tell me we’re through, but he’ll always be there for our child? I may not know a lot about Lucien, but I do know he would never walk away from our child. I just wish I knew if he’d walk away from me because of his fears.
Because of his absence, I’ve still been unable to watch the DVD of our baby, but I’m hoping all that will change tonight. The envelope with that and the photographs is secure inside my evening purse. Now all I need is Lucien.
As I look around the ballroom I can’t help but admire all the work we’ve done to make this evening a night to remember for the city. The whole room is decorated in black and silver tablecloths, balloons, flowers and even the plates and dishes match. There are a lot of influential people in attendance with large purses, some of whom, I know have already donated large sums of money towards the opening of the hospital wing.
The men look handsome in their tuxes and the women beautiful in their evening gowns—some long and elegant, and a few short and tacky. But then there is the rare gem in the crowd, like Sylvia who is stunning with her plain black gown, blonde hair tangled up in a twist, the only sparkle is the silver necklace around her neck. Her smile gleams as she dances with Ramon and from the look on Ramon’s face, I can tell he’s noticed how amazing she looks.
“Sabrina,” Michael says my name, distracting me from the dancing, and his brother, “you look lovely.” He kisses me on the cheek.
“Thank you.”
“It looks like you ladies did an amazing job with tonight’s event.”
“That we did,” Lily adds as we hug before she’s wrapped in her husband’s arms. “I think Michael needs to escort us both so the vultures don’t descend on you. We don’t want to piss Lucien off when he finally gets here.”
Michael frowns down at Lily who grins and shakes her head at him. “Sabrina already knows Lucien is going to be here. Ruben told her.”
“He has a big mouth.”
“I agree, he also has a big heart,” Rosie adds joining us. “He should be back soon. Ruben picked Lucien up from the airfield about thirty minutes ago.”
My heart thumps in my chest.
“Will you two ladies let me talk to Sabrina for a minute?”
“We’ll go and flirt with the bartender. He’s hot,” Lily, teases Michael.
“Rosie, please keep my wife out of mischief.”
Rosie laughs as she drags Lily off with her leaving me alone with Michael.
“Let’s sit.” He directs me into the chairs to the side of us. “How do you feel about Lucien coming back specifically to talk to you?”
“Nervous.”
I’m not sure what he expects me to say, but by his surprised look I’d guess he wasn’t expecting that answer.
“I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
“Please don’t hurt him, Sabrina.”
“I—”
“Let me finish,” he interrupts.
I nod.
“I know he hurt you with his words, but he’s been hurting for a long time now and we all believe that you’re the only one who can help him. He needs you, Sabrina, so all I ask is that you listen to what he has to say and don’t rule him out because he let you go.”
I place my hands over my stomach. “I love him Michael, and I’ve missed him so much over the past two weeks. I’m not going to be hard to get because I’m his. I have been since the minute we met. Yes, he hurt me badly, and when I think about what he said it hurts all over again, but at the end of the day, I don’t want to live without him.”
“You have a good heart,” he smiles at Lily dancing with Rosie on the dance floor. “I also need to thank you for listening to Lily. She missed having you around.”
“I missed her as well.”
“Would you like to dance?” Michael stands and offers me his hand. “Or do you need to rest?”
“Michael, I’m pregnant not an invalid…besides, I may be in an evening dress, but I have my well-worn red chucks on my feet.” I grin, lifting the front of my dress to show him.
He leans close to my ear and whispers. “Don’t tell anyone, but Lily has flip flops on.”
“My lips are sealed. C’mon take me for a spin around the dance floor before Gavin catches me alone.”
He frowns as he takes me into his arm. “Gavin? I thought you liked him.”
“I do. I just wish he’d stop asking me out. I don’t want to give him hope where the isn’t any.”
“You have a loving heart Sabrina, and I’m glad you tied my brother in knots.” He grins and bends to my ear again, saying, “He’s needed a good kick in the ass for years,” louder than necessary.
Then I feel hands on my hips and freeze.
Lucien.
“I can take it from here, brother.”
Michael laughs before grabbing Lily and pulling her into his arms as Ruben does the same with Rosie.
I still haven’t moved.
He brushes up against my back. “Look at me Sabrina,” he whispers, sending shards of pleasure down my spine.
I shake my head.
“Please baby.” He nibbles on my earlobe.
As I start to turn towards him, Lucien moves around as well until we’re facing each other, his hands still on my hips. His eyes are like a caress over my face. As they travel down over my chest, I feel my nipples pucker into tight buds of arousal. His hands tighten on me slightly as his pulse quickens.
“You’r
e beautiful, Sabrina.” One of his hands slides from my hip to caress the swell of my forever, expanding belly. I feel as though I’ve jumped two sizes since I last saw him two weeks ago.
His hands on me are doing things to my body that I hope no one else can see, but him.
“Please say something,” he asks, “at least give me something that tells me you don’t hate me. I don’t deserve anything, but I need…”
I cover his mouth with mine.
His hand slides into my loose hair and cups my head.
“Sabrina,” his voice is full of hope, “I need you.”
And he kisses me.
Our tongues tangle, my hands go into his hair to pull him closer, his hands pull me flush against him, but it’s frustrating having a larger stomach because I want to feel him against my throbbing core and I can’t.
I break the kiss with frustration.
“I want to feel you,” I whisper in desperation.
“God, Sabrina.” He closes his eyes.
“Let’s dance before everyone gets more of a show.”
He starts swaying me to the music, and I sigh in relief when I finally feel his swollen penis against my stomach. I suppose I should be grateful that he’s taller than me otherwise this wouldn’t be possible.
Although the throb between my legs is growing, it’s Lucien growling when I rub against him that is making my knees week.
God, I’ve missed this man.
He still hasn’t apologized!
“When can you leave?”
I raise my head from his chest and meet his gaze.
“I want to take you somewhere.” He looks nervous. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to go anywhere with me…but please give me a chance to apologize properly. You don’t just deserve I’m sorry you deserve so much more. I want to apologize in a way that you’ll have no doubt that I’m truly sorry. I want to explain what happened six years ago…and finally, if you still want me to I’ll bare myself to you.”
He brings tears to my eyes. That wasn’t easy for him to say to me.
I rise up on my tiptoes and before I kiss him, I say, “I’ll go anywhere with you Lucien. You hurt me badly, but I missed you and never want to go through these two weeks again.”
“So you’ll come with me? No questions asked?”
I frown, wondering what he means, and where he intends to take me. I presumed it would be his apartment but maybe not.
“Yes. Why are you so nervous?”
“Because you could say no.”
A tear slips free, which he tracks with his eyes but catches with his thumb before it reaches my jaw.
“Take me with you now, Lucien. I can’t be here when we need to talk and I just need to be with you.”
He briefly rests his forehead against mine.
“Let’s go.”
He wraps an arm around me, keeping me close to his side and leads me away from the room.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Lucien
Leading Sabrina out of the ballroom, my head and body are all over the place. The relief I feel knowing I haven’t lost her is overwhelming. All I have to do is get through reliving the fire and the aftermath, and pray she’s still with me at the end now that I’ve accepted she and our unborn child hold my heart in their hands.
Opening the door and helping Sabrina outside, she shivers and this time I’m sure it’s with the fresh night air and not with my closeness. Quickly removing my dinner jacket, I drape it over her shoulders and notice her hard nipples pressing against the bodice of her dress. She’s the sexist damn woman alive, and is playing hell with my intentions.
“Are you alright,” I ask wrapping my arm around her shoulders to keep her close.
“I am now.” She snuggles more against me while we wait for the car I’d hired for tonight to be brought around.
My heart and body want to merge with her badly, but I don’t want to make love to her until I’ve apologized. And the only way I’m going to be able to give her the apology she deserves is when we get back to my home, our home, in Denver. I plan to tell her everything so that there isn’t anything between us except the future we are building.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve given a lot of thought to my life before Sabrina, and came to the conclusion that I want to fight for the life that was hinted at while I was with her. I loved waking with her in my arms every morning, and going to sleep with her in the same position.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell her how sorry I am for the words I said to her that had her walking out of my door. I never want to experience the pain of that again, which is how I came to the conclusion that I needed to get her away from Lexington so that there could be no interruptions by anyone.
The car pulls up in front of us so before the chauffeur can assist my woman into the car, I open the door and help her myself. With how I’m feeling, I don’t trust anyone else to touch her, no matter how innocent his or her touch may be.
Settling beside her, I take her hand into mine and entwine our fingers together just needing to keep the contact between us.
The swell of her stomach surprised me when I’d first walked into the room and seen her dancing with Michael. Our child has obviously had a growing spurt while I was in Denver. When I’d taken the chance of touching her, I was so tempted to slide my hands around her to rest protectively over our child.
Once we’re on the plane and up in the air, I fully intend on making her comfortable and having my hands on her body. Oh, I’m not going to make love to her, even if it kills me, but I’ve missed her and her changing shape.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks me with a slight hesitation in her voice.
I bring her hand up and after placing a gentle kiss to her, I say, “I was thinking about you and our child. How much she’s grown in the past two weeks. How much I want to have my hands on your stomach to feel our child, but most of all I’m thinking that I’m the luckiest man in the world right now, I just hope…”
“You hope what? You can tell me anything Lucien.”
I breathe deeply as I admit, “I just hope you’ll still be with me after I’ve told you everything.”
Sabrina turns in her seat, and cupping my face in her hands, brings me closer to her. “I’m intending on sleeping in your arms tonight, and when I wake up in the morning I’m hoping you’re still going to be there to feel the hockey game going on in my stomach. No matter what you tell me, or show me, I’ll still be by your side.” She gives me a quick kiss on the lips before sitting back and looking out of the window.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I’m feeling positive, and I’m going to hang on to that feeling so it doesn’t cloud over with my stupid conscience.
“The airport.” She turns to look at me. “What do you have planned, Mr. McKenzie?”
“I’m taking you home.”
“Home,” she whispers as I climb out of the car, and run around to help her out.
Well, at least she seems to be coming with me willingly, in fact she’s walking faster than I am.
“What’s the hurry?” I ask tugging on her hand.
“I want your hands on me.” She pulls me behind her, until I pull myself together and follow her up the stairs on the company jet.
Sabrina stops in the entrance with her hand covering her mouth.
I’d given instructions that the main part of the cabin had to be clear when we first arrived. The last thing I want is an audience for the romancing of my woman.
The aisle down the middle of the plane is covered with red rose petals. There are two glasses of fresh milk in champagne glasses. Ruben had told me she was drinking gallons of milk because of heartburn, and she refused to take anything from the doctor.
“Go ahead and take a seat,” I follow close behind her, and she sits in one of the plush leather seats we have on the plane, “we’ll be taking off soon.”
“I don’t know what to say. You’ve done all this for me?”
&nbs
p; Nodding, I take my jacket from around her shoulders, replacing it with a soft cream, knit blanket. “The heating will warm you up soon.”
“I can’t believe you’d go to all this trouble for me.”
“I want you to feel special. To know how special I think you are. I’ve let you down, more than once. That has to end.”
I offer her a wry smile. “I’m sorry for everything Sabrina. I’m not sorry for getting you pregnant, and don’t for one minute think that I’m only wanting you because you’re carrying my child. I would have turned up on your doorstep—later—but I’d have been there begging for you to forgive me. You scared the fuck out of me but you are special to me. The baby is an added bonus and this, from tonight, is going to be a new start for us.” I brush the hair from her forehead. “That’s all you’re getting for now. It will probably be too late when we get where I’m taking you to talk, but you’re sleeping with me and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
“I don’t know…”
“Don’t say anything about what I’ve just said. Sit back and enjoy the flight.”
I quickly check that her seatbelt is fastened securely, and my own as the engines comes to life and within minutes, we’re pulling away from the hanger.
She looks completely bewildered with everything. I’ve probably bulldozed my way back into her life and not given her time to think, but she’s not going anywhere again. I’m sick of not accepting that what I want is right in front of my face. Sick of being too scared to grab hold but that is stopping together, I’m not letting go. Within minutes we’re up in the air and at a safe height to release our seat belts. Unclipping Sabrina’s, I take her hand and help her up from the chair. With my hands now on her face, I kiss her…and kiss her some more.
She’s addictive. My passion for this woman is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before, and instead of it frightening the shit out of me now, I relish it.
The swirl of her tongue around mine has my cock so hard and ready it isn’t funny. I’m not changing my mind about the no sex until we’ve spoken. But, God, have I missed her taste, her touch, her mind and most of all, I’ve just fuckin’ missed her.
I break from the kiss and sweep her up into my arms. Cradling her against me, I carry her into the bedroom at the back of the plane while whispering to her, “I need to lie down with you in my arms. Is that okay?”
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