“Tom,” I knocked quietly on the opened door to his office.
“Yes, Ava, come in. Come in,” he waved me in without looking up from the sketch he was working on. I walked into his office - palms clammy from nerves, heart beating rapidly. My body broke into a sweat as I sat in the chair across from his desk.
“Ava, are you feeling okay? You look pale,” he said finally looking up at me.
“Yep,” I lied. “I was just bringing you the Blackwood residence drawings,” I handed the roll of prints to him.
“Great. I’ll review them first thing Monday.”
I forced a smile. When I didn’t move to leave, Tom looked at me curiously, “Was there anything else, Ava?”
I looked down at my wringing hands. “Do you have a minute, Tom?” I looked back up at him. His face sunk.
“Of course. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, well…I hope so,” I paused.
“Go on, Ava,” he encouraged, even though he started to look like a nervous wreck himself.
“I’m not sure how to tell you this, Tom. But-”
“Oh, dear God! You aren’t quitting are you?” He interrupted me, his eyes wide and fearful.
“What? No! I’m worried you’re going to fire me.”
“Why on earth would I ever fire you?”
“Because I’m dating Mr. Blackwood,” I bit my lip with nervous anxiousness as soon as the words fell from my mouth.
His face washed over with relief as his body relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness!” he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
Okay…definitely not the reaction I expected.
“You’re not mad?” I asked shocked and confused.
He shook his head at me. “Ava, I’d already figured as much.”
“You did?”
“I know I’m a bit older, but I’m not blind. I could see how he looked at you from the first day we met him. I knew it was only a matter of time. He’s not the type of man to sit idle and not go after what he wants.”
I didn’t bother correcting Tom that Rhett had went after me well before Tom met him. It was easier to just let him think it was all new. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’ll be taking me off the project.”
Tom laughed at my assumption. “Ava, I think if I tried to remove you, Mr. Blackwood would not be pleased.”
I smiled, knowing that to be true. “Thank you, Tom.”
He returned my smile, dismissing my appreciation with the wave of his hand. We talked a little longer about the drawings before I left for the weekend. The conversation went so well that I even managed to get his approval for some vacation time. He was so relieved I wasn’t turning in my notice that he was more than happy to give me the time off. It also helped that I rarely took vacation in the three years that I had been there.
I texted Rhett as I stepped into the back seat of the town car.
A: Leaving the office. On my way home. x
R: Still working. Have Jim bring you to my office. x
I started to respond that I would just see him at home. I didn’t want to disturb him at work. Plus, I wanted to make him dinner. Before I could type out my response, my phone chimed with another text.
R: Don’t argue, Ava. I need to see you, beautiful. x
Well, how was I supposed to argue with that? I gave Jim instructions to head to the Blackwood Industry headquarters.
When I reached the elevator bank, I texted Rhett that I was on my way up. The office building had already been emptied out with only a few late night over achievers still remaining.
The elevator doors opened to the lobby of his office. I stepped out, recalling the last time I was here and how desperate I was to escape Rhett. It was crazy to think how much things had changed in such a short period of time.
I walked past the empty reception desk where the sweet receptionist had sat. My heels clicked on the shiny wood floors as I walked towards the office Rhett had previously held me captive.
His door was cracked opened, and I could hear his warm, deep voice as I drew closer. I pushed the door open, my steps stalling at the threshold when I realized he wasn’t alone.
My heart pounded in my chest as a wave of possessiveness and jealousy crashed through me. The pretty skinny woman, I recognized as Celeste, was standing too close for comfort as they both looked over some papers laying on his desk. It was innocent enough, but her proximity to him made the hairs on my neck stand.
She was ridiculously pretty with long, straight as a board, raven colored hair. All her features were petite, reminding me of a pixie fairy. Her arm brushed Rhett’s shoulder as she moved to point at something on the paper. Her lyrical voice was like a siren, drawing you in until she had you in her tiny clutches.
I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. They were doing nothing wrong. I had only been standing there a few seconds when I heard Rhett’s voice directed at me.
I opened my eyes to his sexy smile. He was already standing. Celeste had stepped aside, moving out of his way. I glanced past him to watch her as he walked towards me with his usual swagger. The expression on her face wasn’t jealousy or distaste. She was actually smiling brightly at me.
I turned my eyes back to Rhett who was opening his arms to pull me into him. He kissed me firmly on the lips as he hugged me, making all the dread I was feeling fade away.
He pulled back from our kiss, looking into my eyes. “Hi, beautiful.” I smiled in response, my insides liquefied as he disarmed me. He’s mine. “I want you to meet someone,” he turned, putting his arm around me as he walked me to a smiling Celeste. “Ava, this is Celeste,” he waved his hand towards her.
“Celeste, this is Ava. The love of my life.” I looked at him amazed at how forthcoming he was with an employee.
“Ava, it’s so good to finally meet you,” Celeste said genuinely, as she put her hand out to me. Damn it. She’s nice. I don’t like her. Okay, I like her, but I don’t want to.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I shook her tiny, delicate hand.
“Celeste is an old friend from Harvard,” Rhett added. That explained his forwardness. “I recruited her to come work for me last year.”
She gave him a friendly smile, “Yes, after hassling me for a year. I don’t know how you tell this man no, Ava. He’s relentless.”
Preaching to the choir. I looked at Rhett who was smiling proudly. “Celeste is the best at what she does. I needed someone in place that I could trust,” he explained to me.
“I didn’t realize you were in town Celeste. If you guys still have work to do, I can leave you to it.”
“Of course not, Ava. I actually have a flight to catch. I was only in town for a couple days. Rhett insisted I come here versus him flying to New York.”
I looked over at Rhett, who looked at me with adoring eyes, “I wasn’t leaving you again.”
“Well, thank you for making the trip Celeste…I appreciate you coming so he didn’t have to leave,” I gave her an appreciative smile.
“Don’t thank me, Ava. It’s my job,” she grinned between the two of us. “Besides, it gave me the chance to meet the woman who tamed the untamable Rhett Blackwood.”
Rhett shifted with a slight clearing of his throat. His discomfort obvious with the mention of his dating history.
“Well… I’ll give you two some privacy,” she said, realizing the sudden awkwardness she hadn’t intended to cause. “Rhett, I’ll finish going over the contracts on the plane and email you my comments,” she said retrieving her things.
“I’m glad I got to meet you, Ava. Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.”
“You too, Celeste.”
She waved her goodbye as she left his office, closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, Rhett spun me to face him, taking my face in his hands. “I missed you. How was your day, beautiful?”
“Great, actually. Yours?
“Better, now that you’re here. I have something for you.”
My brow pinched together. “What?”
&nbs
p; “Come here,” he took my hand, guiding me to the oversized leather couch in his oversized office. The place had to be at least the size of my apartment if not larger. It even had a private restroom. “Sit,” he commanded.
I took a seat on the couch, scooting backwards to rest against the backrest of the couch - my short legs no longer able to touch the floor. I felt like a small child with the sudden urge to scissor my legs up and down as my feet dangled off the edge. I refrained, kicking off my heels instead before curling my legs under me.
Rhett walked over to his desk, picking up a medium sized, fancy, black box wrapped in gold, satin ribbon.
“What’s this?” I asked as he handed it to me.
“A gift.”
“It’s not my birthday.”
“I know. Just open it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him before unraveling the ribbon. I wiggled the lid as I lifted it to open the box. Peeling the gold tissue paper away, I gasped. I lifted the black and white striped shoulder wrap that I had been eyeing at the expensive shop in Italy.
“Rhett,” I said, wanting to reprimand and kiss him at the same time. “I can’t believe you bought this. When did you buy this?”
“When we were in Italy. I had the tailor ship it with my suit. I saw you admiring it while we were there.” My head shook with astonishment. The sneaky bastard had gotten his way in the end.
“You shouldn’t have spent the money on it. I will be scared to wear it.”
“Get used to it, beautiful. I will be spoiling you as often as I like,” he sat next to me on the couch as I ran my hand along the silky, expensive fabric.
I looked at my frustrating, generous, stubborn, romantic man, “Thank you.” He moved the box from my lap, setting it aside. I climbed on top of him, straddling his hips, locking my hands around his neck.
“I have a present for you, too.”
“It’s not my birthday either,” he grinned.
“No, it’s not…but it’s something I know you really wanted. It’s not nearly as lavish or expensive as the one you got…but it did cost me my dignity,” I teased him.
His grin turned in to a full on toothy smile, “You told Tom.”
“Yes, I did.”
“And?”
“And… he was more than okay with it. It might have helped that he thought I was quitting before I even broke the news to him. I think he was worried about losing his help at work, right before the twins came. He even approved my vacation time.”
“That was a good tactic. Make him desperate to keep you before delivering the news. With those killer negotiation skills, maybe I should hire you to work for me.”
“I don’t think you need me working for you. It sounds like you already have your star pupil.”
“Are you jealous?” He eyed me suspiciously.
“No!”
He cocked his head.
“Okay, maybe I was a little….but I like her. I’m curious the stories she can tell me about the untamable Rhett Blackwood in his glory days,” I attempted to mimic her delicate voice.
“There will be no storytelling,” he warned. “And I’m glad you like her. I didn’t want to have to fire her.”
“You wouldn’t?!” My eyes widened as my mouth fell agape with incredulity.
“Depends. I’m not willing to let anything or anyone ever come between us again, Ava. I can always replace an employee. I can’t replace you.”
He was a magician, making my heart disappear from my body only to reappear in his hands where he held it captive. It would never belong to anyone but him. Not even to me. It was his forever. I was his forever. I just wished I had realized it years ago.
He cupped my face in his hands as he rubbed his thumbs across my cheeks. He placed a brief tender kiss on my lips. It wasn’t lustful or desperate. It was laced with his love. A love he gave to me only.
I slid my hands up his powerful chest, pushing his suit jacket from his shoulders. Loosening his tie, I removed it as he sat, watching me wordlessly. I took my time with the buttons of his shirt, despite the urgent need for skin to skin contact.
His shirt opened, revealing the ripples I was aching for. I traced my finger over the ridges of his muscles, dragging it slowly south, watching its path as it went. He gripped my hips tight, restraining himself. I could feel his desperation to be inside me, but he waited patiently, letting me admire him.
My finger landed on the button of his dress pants. I lifted up to my knees, making room to remove his slacks, but was hindered by the look of adoration in his stunning sapphires as I towered above him.
His hands slid steadily up my back, lifting my shirt. I raised my arms as he pulled it over my head, discarding it to the floor. His moves were slow and as deliberate as mine. He pulled my exposed belly to him, kissing my navel as he removed my bra at the same time.
I gripped his shoulders, needing my own form of restraint. He shifted below me, holding me to him as he moved to lay me back onto the couch. He stood up, removing the rest of his clothes - his intense gaze on me as he did. I followed his every move closely as he stripped. The heat settling between my legs.
He was naked in all his masculine glory, confident and unashamed -eyes hooded with passion. He was beautiful. Perfect. He kneeled back onto the couch, removing the last of my clothing, spreading my legs apart before finding his place between them.
He held himself above me. His eyes roaming over me before settling on mine. I brought my hand to his handsome, chiseled face, feeling the roughness below my palm.
“I love you, Rhett Blackwood,” I whispered softly. He kissed me as he moved slowly inside me, causing my body to clench around every inch of him greedily. We fell into a slow rhythm, taking our time, savoring every minute, fusing our souls together.
I freshened up in Rhett’s office restroom, while he returned a few calls that he had ignored while taking care of me. I turned off the faucet and heard his strained, raised voice. I cracked the door open not sure if I should walk out or give him privacy.
My curious nature won over. I stepped out of the restroom cautiously. He was listening to the person on the other end as he brood - his back to me.
“Fine. Pay him whatever he wants. I don’t care the price,” he paused, listening again. “Get it done. I want them in my hands,” he grated before abruptly hanging up the phone.
He looked out at the picturesque view of the bright lights of a late night L.A., not aware of my return or at least not acknowledging it. I closed the distance between us, moving my arms around his waist, gripping him to me as I lay my cheek on his sturdy back to comfort him. He was still shirtless with only his pants on, and the warmth of his skin on my cheek sent tingles cascading through me. His hands tightened over mine as his body started to relax with my embrace.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“It will be, soon.”
“Can I ask who that was that has you so upset?”
He twisted in my arms, so he was looking at me. His eyes were no longer filled with brightness from our earlier moment together. They had been overtaken with darkness from his phone call.
“It was Eric, head of my security team. He’s trying to obtain all the security footage from the bar that night for me to review, so we can find out who drugged you.”
My chest tightened. Shit. I knew what he would see on the footage. He would see Owen and me talking.
“Rhett, why don’t you just leave this to the police? Let them handle it.”
“I don’t trust them to prioritize it or even do anything. Finding out who did this to you is my only priority.”
“We don’t even know if it was actually meant for me. It could have been by accident.”
“That doesn’t matter, Ava. The sick fuck that did this will do it again. Whether it was meant for you or not the unlucky bastard will pay for it.”
He was pissed. My attempts to comfort him failed. Instead, it had us both stressed. I dropped my arms from around him, breaking his hold on me also. I ne
eded space to think. This wasn’t going to end well, if Rhett found out I had lied about Owen.
“Ava,” Rhett followed closely behind me, grabbing my arm to stop my retreat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let this ruin our evening.”
“It’s fine,” I assured him, knowing that had nothing to do with my own distress. I needed to tell him. I couldn’t let him find out the truth from watching the video footage.
I just had no idea how to tell him without him going after Owen. Now was not the time to tell him. He was already angry. I would tell him later. I turned towards him, hugging him to me, “I’m ready to go home.”
“Sure, beautiful. Let me just get dressed and we can go,” he kissed my forehead.
CHAPTER 15
It was like I closed my eyes, chanted “there’s no place like home,” while clicking my heels, and I was transported to New York a week into the future. I had no idea where the time went. I was so busy with work - getting Rhett’s Malibu home in for permit and out to bid - that the week flew by.
I still hadn’t found the right time to talk to Rhett about Owen. I had barely seen him all week with his demanding work schedule. The few moments we had with each other, I did not want to spend discussing Owen or the “incident” as I was calling it.
Despite Rhett’s busy schedule, he always made time to run with me every morning. In the beginning, I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea. Running had always been a time I could clear my head, reflect, have some “me time.” But after our first few runs together, I actually started to look forward to it, especially since it was the one time of the day I knew I could spend with him uninterrupted by his cell phone.
He had crazy endurance. I had a hard time keeping up with him as we ran. He pushed me past my limits, constantly encouraging me to go further, longer and faster. It also sparked some amazing, steamy, sweaty - and did I mention amazing - sex afterwards as our bodies came down from their adrenaline highs. How could I not love running with Rhett?
I was now in the restroom of Rhett’s New York penthouse getting ready. He would be here in a few minutes to pick me up. He had requested I join him for a business dinner. And by requested, I mean he told me I was joining him and not to argue. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend my evening, but if it was the only way I would have time with him tonight, then I would take it.
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