The rest of that night was the most intimate and beautiful one that I’d ever spent. I was no virgin and it was obvious that he wasn’t either…but what happened between us to me to much greater heights than anything that I’d ever experienced before that it was like my first time all over again…done right.
He took me home the next morning after we had breakfast together on the table the invisible housekeeper cleaned up sometime during the night or first thing in the morning…and I’m still smiling.
~
CHAPTER TWO
~
ROBYN
Christmas was on Thursday and I was off until the following Monday. Aaron was supposed to be on an Island somewhere so technically he wasn’t expected back until after New Year’s. Throughout those four days, Aaron and I spent a lot of time together. We cooked and ate our meals together and we watched movies…it was domestic and cozy and I was still really happy. My only complaint…if I had to come up with one was that he seemed cautious about going out in public with me. We’d gone to the concert, but that had been in the middle of a crowded park with ten thousand other people. We hadn’t gone out for a meal together at all and any time I mentioned us going out to a public place he seemed hesitant. He’d either come up with something else for us to do or he’d start kissing my neck and touching me in places that completely turned off my brain. I told myself that he was reserved when I met him and I couldn’t expect that to change overnight. I would just have to be patient….
I got a call from my friend Melissa on the Sunday night before I returned to work,
“Hey she’s alive!” she said when I said hello.
I laughed, “I’m sorry. I meant to call you on Christmas day. I feel so bad…I just got preoccupied….”
“Preoccupied huh? Is that what you kids are calling it these days?”
Laughing again I said, “Why Melissa, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll give it to you straight then…you had sex, I can hear it in your voice…and there are FEELINGS involved!”
She was too funny, “Okay, I admit that I’ve been spending some time with…let’s just say THE most amazing man in the entire world.”
Melissa laughed then. “I can’t wait to meet the most amazing man in the world. Are you bringing him to the party Wednesday night?”
I hadn’t asked him yet. “Yes! I can’t wait for you to meet him,” I told her. We chatted for a while about how her and Chris’s Christmas was and what some of our other friends were up to. After I hung up I thought about the night I invited him to the restaurant and how embarrassed I’d been when he hadn’t shown up….But that was different right? We’re dating now and it would be perfectly logical to think that we’d be spending New Year’s Eve together. I just had to ask him.
Monday we both went back to work. I didn’t see him all day and the flowers that I’d fantasized about never materialized at my work station. That was okay though, I knew that part was a fantasy. Monday evening he called me around seven p.m.
“Hey lady, how was your first day back to work?”
“It was good, very productive,” I told him.
“Well, as your boss I have to say I’m happy to hear that.”
I laughed and said, “How was yours? I’ll bet everyone was surprised to see you back so soon.”
“Yes, I had to explain to fifty different people why I wasn’t on an Island somewhere. “
“Hey, I wanted to ask you…my friends and I do a New Year’s party every year. This year it’s at my friend Nadine’s house. She lives in Brooklyn Heights….”
“I’m sorry, Robyn, I can’t,” he interrupted me.
“I’m sorry? You can’t? I hadn’t even finished asking.”
“I know. I’m sorry. You were going to ask me to the party though, am I right?”
“Yes. I’d really like you to go. I’d love for you to meet my friends….”
“I can’t. Now that the executives know that I’m not out of town they’re expecting me to be at the executive party we throw every year for the shareholders. I’ve missed it every year. This year I’m in town so I have no excuses.”
“Oh…” I paused there; it was a good opportunity for him to invite me to his party since he “can’t” come to mine. The invitation didn’t come. Instead he said, “What about if you and I have dinner the night before instead? I know it’s the day before New Year’s Eve, but what does it really matter when we celebrate it?”
I was thinking, “Because kissing at midnight just won’t mean the same thing,” but I didn’t say it. I was still trying to be patient with him and I was still thrilled about any and all the time I was blessed enough to be able to spend with him. So what I said was, “That sounds great.”
“Good! I’ll have Jeffrey pick you up at seven.”
“You won’t be with him?”
“I’ll meet you at the restaurant; I’ll probably be coming straight from work.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Good night, Robyn.”
“Good night.”
I hung up the phone that night not feeling as happy as I had been. I missed that euphoric feeling I had for the first few days. I wasn’t the type to mope though I decided that I was going to make the best of getting to spend pre-New Year’s Eve with him. I went into my closet and started planning what I would wear….
***
Thankfully the work day flew by on the day of our dinner. I hadn’t seen Aaron since Sunday and I felt like I was going through withdrawals by the time seven p.m. rolled around. I was dolled up in a silver and black dress I’d bought a while back and made some upgrades to and had just finished my hair when Jeffrey knocked on the door.
“Good Evening Miss Robin. You look very lovely tonight.”
“Thank you Jeffrey, so do you,” I said. That got a laugh from him. As soon as we got into the car, I tapped on the glass. He rolled the partition down and I said, “That’s better. I’ve missed you, Jeffrey, what’s new?”
“Oh you know Miss…another day.”
“Another dollar?” I said.
“More like fifty cents with inflation,” he said with a grin.
It was a nice ride to Manhattan. I really enjoyed talking to him. He told me about his life on the way to the restaurant. He said his wife was in the U.K. visiting family for Christmas. He was supposed to go but when Aaron cancelled his vacation, Jeffrey had cancelled his as well.
“He made you cancel your vacation?”
“No, quite the contrary,” Jeffrey said. “He urged me to go. I cancelled it, my service to Mr. Winters is important to me.”
“That’s very admirable of you,” I told him.
“No Miss, it’s just me doing my job. Mr. Winter’s pays me really well to do what I do for him. I feel like he needs a hundred percent of me in return.”
“Don’t you miss your wife?” I asked him.
“Desperately,” he said with a smile. I could see in his eyes that he really meant it.
Aaron hadn’t told me where we were going for dinner. I wasn’t surprised when Jeffrey parked the car and helped me out to see that the place was obviously elegant and exclusive. I was surprised when I went inside to see that it was completely empty with the exception of the staff….and Aaron. The hostess led me to our table which was situated comfortably close to the fireplace. Before we got there, Aaron stood up and pulled out my chair. Once we were seated he said,
“You look fabulous.”
Smiling I told him the same thing that I had told Jeffrey, “Thank you, so do you.” He really did, as always. He was wearing a dark blue very well-tailored suit. His hair was stylishly mussed and he had just a touch of a five o’clock shadow. He looked so good I could have eaten him with a spoon. “So why is this place so empty? Was the health inspector here?” I asked him, jokingly.
“I reserved it for us,” he said.
“You did what?”
“I reserved it.”
“The entire restaurant? Wh
y?”
“Because I wanted to spend the evening alone with you.” He picked up the bottle of wine that was chilling next to our table and he poured me a flute. He poured himself some then and held up his glass, “To us,” he said with that dazzling smile.
“To us,” I echoed. We both drank and then the waitress appeared with our food. Aaron must have pre-ordered it. That would have normally irritated me a bit…to not be allowed to order for myself…but when I looked at the plate I had to admit that he’d done a great job.
“So tell me about your day,” I said as we ate.
He sighed and said, “There seems to always be too much to do. The China group…Xiong are in a hurry to get our deal finalized. They found out that I didn’t go out of town and now they’re urging me into a meeting to finalize the merger. Then there’s a family business that I’m working on buying and then this party tomorrow night…I’m really sorry about that.” He did sound remorseful, but he still didn’t offer an invitation. I was going to try and not let it bother me. I’d have plenty of fun with my friends…
After dinner, they served us a chocolate volcano cake with vanilla ice cream. I thought I was much too full to eat it, but one taste and I was hooked. By the time I was finished I could hardly move. Once dessert was over Aaron stood up and took my hand. He led me out onto a balcony that overlooked a small man-made stream. It was decorated up with twinkling Christmas lights and the snow that had fallen a few days before still clung beautifully to the sides of it. The sky was clear again and there was soft music floating out of the speakers. There was a large, brick fire pit with a warm, glowing fire burning inside. Our shadows danced and flickered across the walls behind us as we stood looking at the stars for a while and then Aaron turned to me and said,
“May I have this dance?”
I took his hand and he led me in an amazing and romantic waltz across the smooth wooden floor of the balcony. It was below zero outside, but my blood had reached the boiling point by the time we finished. When the song came to an end he looked down into my eyes and the smoldering embers that lie dormant in the pit of my stomach when he wasn’t around ignited. Our lips met and after a few seconds of just feeling each other softly he slipped his tongue in my mouth and explored, at one point he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and licked it with his tongue. Everything he did and all the time was spent together led me one more step towards falling in love with him. I wished, wondered and hoped that he was feeling the same.
~
CHAPTER THREE
~
ROBYN
I bought the dress I was wearing for New Year’s Eve about a week before Christmas. It was a stunning jade green that featured a floor length skirt with a slit up over the calf on the left side. The bodice was encrusted with rhinestones and bared my shoulders and back while boosting my chest. I felt like a princess with my hair done up in a French twist and my make-up applied just so. I found myself again wishing that Aaron would call at the last minute and say that he’d freed himself up to go to the party with me, or at the very least that he wanted me to go to his. I waited until the very last second before I called a cab to drive me out to Brooklyn. I wanted to have a few drinks, so I wasn’t taking my own car. It was a masquerade theme party and I had bought a gorgeous gold and jade green mask that was adorned with jewels and stunning green and gold feathers. When the cab dropped me off in front of Nadine and Tom’s lovely brownstone home I slipped on the mask.
Nadine answered the door and pretended to try and guess who I was. She giggled at last and said, “It’s so good to see you, Robyn. You look amazing! I’ve missed you.”
I hugged her and said, “I love your dress and your mask! I’ve missed you too.” Nadine was wearing a dark red dress that looked elegant against her smooth chocolate skin. Her mask was red and black with black feathers. She led me in through the foyer and the living room out to the back where they had set up a large white tent for the party. Inside it was decorated with black and silver decorations and masks, they had a full bar and a disc jockey playing dance music near the small dance floor. There was a table full of delicious looking hors d'oeuvres and a bottle of champagne on each table. In the corner of the room they had hung a large clock so that the party-goer’s would all know exactly when the New Year began.
“Everything is so lovely!”
“Thank you,” she said. “Tom and I have been bickering over it all week.” She laughed and said, “We work best that way.”
“Yes you do,” I said, in awe of all they’d done to pull the party together. Melissa and Chris saw us and came over. After hugs and greetings, Melissa looked around and said,
“Where is he?”
“He had a work thing that he couldn’t get out of,” I told her. She made a face and said,
“On New Year’s Eve, really?”
“Yes, he’s an executive and they have a big party that he just couldn’t get out of. He regrets having to miss tonight.”
“Well he should,” Melissa said, “You look gorgeous.”
“Thank you, so do you,” I told her.
“So why didn’t you go with him to his party?” Nadine asked, “We would have understood.”
“I wouldn’t have missed your party for the world,” I told her. It was mostly true. I was happy to be here with my friends, but if Aaron had wanted me to go to his party I would have gone, happily, after begging off with Nadine.
“Well, if you want to leave early and join up with him before the stroke of midnight, we’ll understand,” Nadine told me, sweetly. I love my friends.
I made the rounds, talking and laughing with people that I hadn’t seen in months or in some case even years. I danced with Tom and Chris, as usual being the life of the party while feeling like a third wheel on the inside. We played a white elephant game and I ended up with a beautiful candle and flower arrangement and after that, Melissa pulled me aside and said,
“I’m sorry, but I have to ask…is he married?”
“No! Oh no! I would never do that.”
“Whew! I told Chris you wouldn’t, but he said it’s just so strange that it’s your first New Year’s Eve together and you’re not together.”
“He’s right, it is strange. I do want to be with him, it’s just….”
“Just what, honey? Go look at yourself in a mirror. Any man in his right mind would rather be with you tonight than a bunch of “business associates.” Maybe he’s feeling hurt that you’d rather be here.”
“That’s not it,” I told her, feeling the need to be honest and bounce my concerns off my best friend. “He didn’t really invite me to his party tonight.”
“Why?” I could see Melissa’s instant look of concern. I knew it was safe to voice my own concerns to her. She would never judge me.
“I don’t know, I’m afraid maybe he doesn’t want to be seen with me.”
“Don’t be silly! He’d have to be crazy. Is he crazy?”
I laughed and said, “Um, no. Not that I’ve noticed.”
“Then that can’t be the reason,” she said. “Did you tell him about this party before he told you about his?”
“Yes, but…”
“That must be it then. He probably felt like he’d be tearing you away from your friends. You’re always so positive. I hate to see you doubting yourself, honey. Do you know where his party is at?”
“Yes, I saw a purchase order for it at work. It’s at The Omni hotel in Manhattan.”
“Then go to him, Robyn. You’ll be sorely missed here, but everyone will understand. I’m sure he’ll be delighted you showed up. Go quash this silly idea you have that any man in his right mind wouldn’t be so proud to have you at his side.”
She had me thinking. Would he be delighted? He was always so serious, but I did have a way of bringing him out, making him less reserved….
“I think I’m going to do it!” I told her with a smile.
“You go girl! Call me tomorrow with all of the details.” I hugged her and told h
er I loved her and then made the rounds to say my “Thank you” and “Good-Bye’s.”
I took a cab to the hotel in Manhattan. We arrived there in about an hour; traffic was thick because of the celebrations that were taking place. It was just after eleven when I got there, plenty of time to be kissing the man I cared about at midnight. I walked through the opulent lobby decorated in three shades of champagne from light to dark. In the center of the room was a sculpted granite fountain that they had lit up from underneath the water with a silver and gold graceful arch of water coming out of the center. I wanted to stop and make a wish in the fountain, but I didn’t think this was the kind of place where that would be seen as appropriate.
The Billionaire's Romance (A Winters Love Book 2) Page 2