What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 3)

by Lauren Hawkeye

  I was enjoying our conversation; hell, I was enjoying just being in the same vicinity as him, but I hadn’t come here for small talk.

  The elevator doors opened and my heart raced. I didn’t know how to start or what to say; I just knew that something needed to be said.

  “Can we talk in your office for a minute?” I asked.

  He nodded and I followed him into his office. He shut the door behind us.

  “Listen, Julianne,” he began before I even had the chance to go first. He walked to me and took my hand in his. “I don’t know why you’re here and it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I need to talk to you. I have done a lot of thinking over the past two days. As much as what I found out hurts me, I love you so much. I know how deeply I hurt you by ending things the way I did. That is something that I can never make up to you. I know that you ran to your best friend for comfort in your time of hurt and pain. I wish that you would have told me, but I just want to move on from this. Spending time apart from you has shown me that I can’t live without you. I want to spend every single day showing you how much I love you.”

  Relief washed over me. I kissed Nick on the mouth, long and hard, and he pulled me tightly against the length of his body, his hand on the small of my back, as tears began to gently glide down my cheeks. “I thought that you were going to tell me that it’s over. I’m so sorry, Nick. I know that not telling you was wrong, and I feel terrible about it. But nothing is worse than being apart from you. This limbo we’ve been in for two days has been making me crazy. I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone, and I can’t be apart from you any longer.”

  “Sleeping without you in my arms for the last two nights and spending time away from you told me a lot about my feelings for you. I need you, Julianne. I don’t care about what happened when we were apart. I just care about what happens from here. I love you,” he said, burying his head into my hair and holding me close. “I don’t want to spend another night without you.”

  “Me either.”

  He kissed me again, and suddenly my world turned back around, right side up, and everything clicked back into place. This was where I was meant to be; in Nick’s arms, holding him as he held me tightly.

  “I’m so glad you came in today,” he murmured into my hair.

  “Me, too.”

  “I planned to talk to you this morning, to tell you how miserable I was without you. But then I got that text from you and I couldn’t interrupt your time with your family.”

  A knock at the door interrupted our reconciliation; it was Jen, ready for more training, and even the cute perky blond spending time with my man couldn’t ruin my good mood.

  I was blissful as I made my way to my desk, knowing I had some work I needed to tend to as long as I was there. As I worked, I thought about how quickly Nick’s time at McMillan was coming to an end. He only had a few days left. He would be training Jen again that day, and I didn’t like that one bit, but I had to deal with it. My phone rang around the time I normally ate lunch, and I saw that it was Nick. “Lunch?” he asked.

  “I ate at the hospital, but I’ll come with you. I’ll swing by your office in five minutes,” I said.

  I did, and who was there flirting wildly with Nick but Jen. “Jen’s coming, too,” he said.

  Great, I thought. At least this way I could monitor her behavior around Nick. We went to lunch and I really realized how much I had to change my impression of Jen. She was great. She was nice, and she was hilarious. I recognized the fact that she would be my new boss, and even though I preferred Nick, I guessed it wouldn’t be so bad.

  As we were walking back to the office, Jen cautiously asked, “I don’t mean to step on any toes, but are the two of you the item that got me this job?”

  “Yep,” Nick smiled, squeezing my hand.

  “You two are perfect together,” she smiled warmly.

  I blushed, and Nick joked, “Aren’t we?”

  Later that afternoon, I headed back to the hospital to visit my sister and the baby again, and I stayed for a few hours. My mom was still there, and she was holding baby Hadley when I walked into Jamie’s room.

  I got home a little before 7:00, and Nick met me there right at seven. I let him in and he pulled me to him. The spark was back, and that feeling of utter perfection in his arms was there as he kissed me before he even greeted me.

  He broke our kiss and said, “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  I kissed him again. “What is it?” I murmured.

  “Put on something dressy and I’ll show you,” he smiled mysteriously. “And pack a bag for the weekend. I need to head home tonight.”

  I wasn’t about to pass that one up after the ups and downs of the past week, even though I was completely exhausted after getting up before 4:00 in the morning and the emotional day I had.

  I went to my closet as instructed and chose a black and gray dress and black stilettos. I freshened my makeup and curled my hair and I was good to go. When I came out of my room, Nick was sitting on the couch, waiting patiently for me. In a way, I didn’t want to know what his surprise was. I would have preferred to rip his clothes off and have wild sex right there.

  “You look stunning,” he breathed, standing up to take me in his arms. He lightly pecked me on the lips and took my hand, bringing it to his lips.

  “Maybe we should just stay in,” he murmured, his eyes dark and gleaming.

  I grinned. “You’re sexy when you want me, do you know that?”

  “Then I must be sexy all the time, because I always want you.”

  “Good line, Nicholas.”

  “Not a line, Julianne. Just the truth.” He winked and then led me to my door.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

  “You’ll see,” he said secretively.

  He led me down to his car and opened the passenger door for me. He got in the driver’s seat and began driving. We were headed away from town, and the whole time in my head I was trying to guess where we were going. Suddenly, Nick pulled off on the side of the road. I looked out the window, trying to figure out why he would pull off and stop in a random place off the side of the road. Then he got out of the car and led me across the street to a deserted private lake where I saw a small table with a white linen tablecloth, two chairs, and a cart filled with food and drinks, the mountains serving as a gorgeous backdrop. When we arrived at the table, Nick pulled out a chair for me and motioned for me to sit. I did, and then he popped open a bottle of champagne that had been chilling over ice and poured it into two champagne flutes that were sitting on the table. Raising his glass to me, Nick said, “To us.”

  I raised mine and repeated the toast as we both took a sip. The cool, sweet bubbles moved smoothly down my throat. Then Nick placed a plate filled with steak and salmon in front of me and produced a second plate from the cart for himself.

  “Nick, this is amazing. How did you arrange all of this?” I asked.

  “I have my ways,” he smiled secretively, taking a bite of steak.

  We ate our meal, music softly playing from an iPod hidden somewhere nearby, and then Nick pulled out a chocolate cake with strawberries off of the cart. He cut us each a piece of cake and then topped off our champagne. This man was smooth and really, really sexy.

  When we were done eating, Nick took my hand and helped me up. He twirled me and took me in his arms, dancing with me to the slow, soft music. He leaned in close for a magical kiss, pulling back only once to say, “I love you, Julianne. I don’t ever want to be apart from you again.”

  “I love you too, Nick,” I murmured against his lips. “I missed you so, so much.”

  He pulled me tighter to him, and suddenly I couldn’t wait to get him home and out of that suit. I wanted him; I wanted to express my love to him.

  He led me back to his car, and we drove toward his house.

  “Thank you for a perfect, amazing night,” I said, looking over at him, his face lit by the dials in
the dashboard.

  He glanced over at me. “It was my pleasure. I love surprising you.”

  “You make me feel so special.”

  “You are special, Julianne.”

  “I know it was only two days, but I missed you so much,” I said, tears forming in my eyes at the thought of being away from him.

  “I missed you, too. More than you can imagine.”

  “What did you do for those two days?”

  “Well, the first night, I stayed late at work trying to tie up loose ends. Then I job searched all night. Work kept me pretty distracted, but you were always there on my mind. Then last night, Josh and I talked for hours about what I was doing. It was just past midnight when I realized that I needed to see you, that I had to talk to you and tell you how much I couldn’t stand to be away from you. But it was late, so I had planned to do it at work. I couldn’t wait to get into work to see you, to talk to you. And then I got that text, and I figured you’d be busy with family stuff, so I just decided to hold off. I was going to come over after work so we could talk. What did you do?”

  “Cried. I was terrified that I ruined the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

  He took my hand and brought it up to his lips. “We made it. We’re too strong to let anything break us.”

  He pulled into his driveway and parked in the garage. He came over to my door and opened it for me, taking my hand in his. He led me up the stairs directly to his bedroom, his hand never leaving mine. And then he made love to me, slow and gentle, and I felt more intimately connected to this man than I had ever felt with anyone ever before him.

  The next morning, I awoke to the obnoxious sound of a cell phone ringing. I looked at the clock: 7:38 a.m. Who the hell would be calling this early on a Saturday morning? I wondered. Then I realized in my sleepy state that it wasn’t even my phone. I shook Nick, who was sleeping peacefully. “Nick, your phone’s ringing,” I said.

  “Shit!” he exclaimed, jumping out of bed and running to his dresser, where his cell phone continued to ring.

  “Hello, this is Nick Matthews,” he answered breathlessly. I was a bit confused since I was still half asleep, and I was also wondering what the hell was going on.

  I sat up, realized I was naked, and covered myself with the sheet. I watched him, standing naked, talking on his phone. He radiated sexiness when his face crinkled as he spoke. “Yes, this afternoon at two will be perfect,” he said. “Thank you so much, Mr. Brennan. I will see you then.”

  He flipped his phone shut and rolled his eyes. “I am so sorry, Julianne. I totally forgot that this guy was going to call me this morning.”

  “It’s okay. What was it about?” I asked.

  “It’s about a job. It’s in Mesa, about twenty minutes from here. It’s actually an interview, sort of. I met with a guy from his office last week, and now the head boss wants to take me to lunch to do an informal interview.”

  “Wow, that’s great!” I exclaimed, happy that he got an interview, and knowing that Mesa was closer to his house, which would make his commute easier on him.

  “It shouldn’t take too long, if you want to do dinner tonight,” he said, crawling back into bed with me. “We can just do something casual.”

  “Sound good,” I murmured as he snuggled against me and we fell back asleep.

  Later that morning, we enjoyed each other’s company as we watched a made-for-TV movie, and all too soon, it was time for Nick to get ready for his interview. I showered as he read over some notes that he had regarding the company, and I put on some sweats while he dressed in an expensive suit. I was waiting for him on the couch in his family room when he walked in, looking just marvelous.

  “Wow,” I breathed. “Can you skip the interview so I can rip that off of you?” I joked.

  “Don’t tease me or I’ll have to carry a book in front of my crotch to hide what you do to me,” he laughed, kissing me before heading for the door.

  “Good luck!” I said.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours. Be good.”

  I headed back to the hospital to visit my sister while he was at his interview. She was doing great, as was the baby, and my parents had gone home for awhile. I decided to hold off on telling Jamie the whole sordid story for another day. I did, however, text my mom to let her know that everything was okay between Nick and me.

  I headed back to Nick’s place and got there a little before he did.

  “How did it go?” I asked, seeing excitement on his beautiful face when he walked back in just before 5:30.

  “Really, really well. He offered me the job!” he exclaimed, his face lighting up as he told me his happy news.

  I smiled, kissing him in celebration. “Tell me about it!”

  “Okay! So, it’s BKG Marketing,” he started, naming our company’s number one competitor. “Alex Brennan offered me a lot more money than I am making now. He looked over my portfolio and said that it was the most impressive work he had ever seen. And that’s not even the best part,” he paused as I looked at him in anticipation. “I’ve got my own secretary and my own marketing team! And he said that he is in the process of putting the team together, and he is optimistic that it will be ready when I start…a week from this Tuesday!”

  I hugged him tightly. “Congratulations! That is incredible. I am so happy for you!” I said, feeling true delight in his excitement. “So I take it you accepted the job?”

  “Hell yeah I did! Like I said, a lot more money! More than triple what I am making now!” he excitedly twirled me around in his arms. “Plus I get a week off between jobs, which is awesome, too!”

  I knew that he was currently making a decent salary; I guessed he made somewhere in the $75,000 range per year, and his salary would be tripling? I was shocked that BKG could afford that kind of salary.

  “I’m so excited that I can’t wait to celebrate. Me and you, tonight, dinner at Le Bordeaux,” he said, referring to the most expensive restaurant in a fifty-mile radius. I was super excited, since I had never eaten at Le Bordeaux; I had only heard about it.

  That meant that I needed to change out of my sweats. Nick called the restaurant for reservations and ran to the bathroom to fix his hair as I changed into the same outfit I had worn the night before. I pulled my hair back into an elegant updo, put on a little more makeup, and I was ready for the evening. I walked out of the bedroom, satisfied with how I looked, and down the stairs to find Nick sitting in one of his leather recliners, talking on his cell phone again. He glanced at me as I walked into the room, and then did a double take and outright stared at me. Without taking his eyes off of me, he said into the phone, “Uh, Josh, I’ve got to go. Bye,” and he hung up. Standing up, he walked over to me, took my hand, and twirled me around. “You look absolutely stunning. How did I get so lucky?” he asked, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead, and then my lips, and then my neck. I squealed as he kissed my neck, sending chills down my legs. I pulled his face to mine and kissed him passionately.

  He pulled away. “Our reservation is in thirty minutes, and we’ve got a bit of a drive from here to get there,” he said. “As much as I want to stay here and kiss you all night, we’ve got to go if we are going to make it.” His voice was hoarse and sexy.

  I reluctantly agreed, and we were on our way. Nick opened the passenger door of his BMW for me and then got in the drivers’ side.

  We arrived at the restaurant exactly on time for our reservation, and he held my hand as we walked in together. He was so handsome, and he made me feel special just standing by my side.

  “Matthews,” he said, as the hostess asked for our reservation. She smiled flirtatiously at Nick, as many women did upon meeting him, and then took us to our table. We weaved through the filled restaurant and arrived at our own table. It was a private table, a circular booth in a cozy corner. The walls were all lined with windows, and the window by our booth looked out upon the mountains. It was all very romantic.

  We chose an expensive champagne to celebrate, a
nd we ordered our entrees – me with the beef wellington, him with the bacon wrapped filet – and we spoke of jobs past, present, and future, as we waited for our food.

  “What was your first job?” he asked me.

  I thought back. “Babysitting, I guess. My first real job was at a department store in the mall. What about you?” I asked.

  “Well, my stepdad owned his own company and had a lot of money, but my mom wanted to instill in me the value of a dollar. They insisted that I start working at a young age, and around thirteen I did some work for them. Apart from that, my first job was at a Target. I worked with all my friends from school and we had a blast,” he said, smiling at the memory.

  Our food arrived, and we hungrily dug in. It was absolutely scrumptious, by far the best meal that I had ever eaten, and our wait staff was incredibly attentive. My champagne glass was never less than half full. For dessert, I ordered cheesecake, and Nick ordered a triple chocolate layer cake. The whole experience was phenomenal.

  We headed back to Nick’s place after dinner, and he took me into his arms in the kitchen and kissed me. It was the most romantic kiss that I had ever experienced. It was gentle but fiery, lusty but loving. My heart raced as I was lost in him. Nothing went through my mind except him. His familiar scent, my favorite aroma, mixed with his kiss and his touch, made me feel dizzy with delight as his warm lips encompassed mine. I couldn’t believe how perfect everything had turned out for us. He had a new job all lined up, we were back together, and life was good. We kissed that way for what seemed like mere seconds when Nick gently broke from me and looked at me a bit anxiously.

  “I love you so much,” he started. “We’ve been through a lot together in a really short period of time. We’ve moved our relationship along at lightning speed, and it’s been incredible.”

  I noticed that he sounded nervous, and it was making me nervous, too. I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but alarm bells started to go off in my head. Did he want to slow things down? Did he think we were moving too quickly? I know that I didn’t feel that way; I felt like things were perfect. But then why did he say that we were moving quickly? “Nick, it’s been great for me, too,” I interrupted.