“Good. The doctor said I just need a few weeks of rest and I should be as good as new.”
Madison places her hand to her heart. “Thank goodness.” Her eyes drift to me and I stand up. “Hi, I’m Madison Jacobs.”
“Madison, this is Annabelle. She is my new marketing assistant.” Madison is stunning, and I can immediately see why Kalin hired her. I know she must be smart, but she also interacts face to face with clients. So Kalin made sure she was also beautiful. Her wealth of wavy blonde hair accentuates her azure blue eyes, and her ivory-smooth skin shades with a healthy pink flush in her cheeks. Her small chin and full lips give her a devastating combination of innocence and beauty. I can imagine that just about any man would take a double take watching her go by. Kalin knew exactly what he was doing.
“You’re Annabelle! It’s great to finally meet you. I’m Madison Jacobs. I heard Kalin hired a new marketing assistant.” She touches my elbow in a friendly gesture and gives me a small hug.
“It’s great to meet you. I’m trying to ease into it. I am pretty new at a lot of this, so be patient with me.” I smile.
“Don’t let her fool you, Madison. She’s wicked smart and dangerous as a jungle cat,” Kalin teases.
I quirk my lips at him and rub my hand on the nape of my neck. “No, it’s true. I have no idea how to do any of this yet.”
“We are here to help, Annabelle. We are all family here.” Madison places the assortment of flowers on the table and breaks out a bag of goodies. “We have homemade fudge, homemade carrot cake, homemade cookies.” She lifts her head up from the bag and smiles. “Oatmeal and raisin, and chocolate chip.”
“Are they trying to kill me?” Kalin teases.
Madison opens her mouth in exaggerated shock. “They love you, Kalin. The employees made these for you. Kim in accounting, Robin in IT, a lot of the executives’ spouses. Let’s just say they saw a lot more of their spouses when you were there. They know you cared about them, Kalin. They all want you back. We all missed you. They even saw through that bullshit in the newspaper article.” She grimaces.
“What article?” Kalin’s forehead creases.
I bite my lip. “One of the local papers said you were driving recklessly and may have been drinking. It was a hit piece. The police said they do it all the time to sell papers. I didn’t want to mention it.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you knew,” Madison groans.
“It’s such bullshit.” I glower.
“The police are right. The paper just prints what sells. I’ll tell my lawyers to make them retract it. Even better,” Kalin smiles, “They can be bought.”
“Kalin, I thought you didn’t do that.” I frown.
“Annabelle, people pay to have lies told. Sometimes you have to pay to have the truth told. It is, sadly, how the business works.”
“We know what happened, Kalin. We can send an update to all the managers in the company,” Madison says.
“Good. Also have my lawyer contact the paper and tell them if they don’t retract the story based on the evidence, we’ll make sure they are out of business.” Kalin creases his forehead in thought, and brushes his fingers against his chin. “Actually, call the reporter who wrote the story. Tell him to give up all his contacts, those who fed him this line of bullshit. I want to know who they are.”
“Kalin, why would he do that?” I ask. “He’ll protect his job and his sources.”
Kalin narrows his eyes. “These aren’t sources providing news, Annabelle. They are simply the ones who have the most to gain from spinning a news story. I want to know who they are.”
“Sure thing.” A surge of hope courses through me, and I find myself smiling again. Kalin is in his element, and I’m loving it. These bastards don’t stand a chance.
“See, Annabelle. Having money is not such a bad thing. Is it?” He grins.
I place my hand in his. “It depends on who has the money.”
My eyes dart from Kalin to Madison, who is arranging the flowers. She turns and smiles at us. “Oh, you guys are old news,” she says with a flick of her wrist. “We already know about you two.”
Kalin returns his eyes to me. “See, I only hire smart people.”
“Apparently smart and beautiful,” I simper.
Madison picks up a piece of chocolate. “I’ve noticed.”
I blush.
“Smart and beautiful. My kind of women. If you played your cards right, you could take over the world.” A crooked smile spreads over his mouth.
“Don’t give us any ideas, Kalin.” Madison bumps my arm with hers.
“Madison, I’m going to be delegating a lot of my projects to Annabelle. She will be divvying up the projects to the marketing teams. Please work with her and help her get familiar with some of them.”
“My pleasure. Are you officially back?” she asks with a gleam of hope in her eyes.
“I am unofficially back. I am going to be low-key and under the radar.”
“A coup. How exciting,” Madison teases. “Everyone’s been wanting you to come back, Kalin. Very few can stand this new management team. Not only do they not know what they’re doing, but they don’t care. It’s as if they just want to divide up the spoils and leave the company.”
“So they haven’t forgotten about me?”
“Hell, no. You are a hero around here. If you do something, rest assured you have the company behind you.” Madison walks toward us and rests her hands on Kalin’s hand. “I’m serious, Kalin. They would do anything for you. But we want you to get better first.”
“I want a list of clients who have left our agency, with a survey of why they left and what it would take to get them back.” Kalin manages like he never missed a beat.
“You got it.” Madison punches some notes into her phone.
“And Madison, help Annabelle with the production of the survey and how we gather the data. I want to see what it would take to get back our biggest clients.”
“Going straight for the big fish?” A small smile curves her full lips.
“Yeah, and I want Annabelle to see how we do it.”
“Welcome to the team, and the coup.” She bounces toward me and hugs me.
“Also, just keep the coup thing between us.” Kalin grins.
“Of course,” she says, smelling the flowers.
Madison and I stand on each side of the bed. “I know I can count on both of you. Thank you,” he says, grasping our hands.
Chapter Seventeen
I have not seen Lia since the day I left for Southampton with Kalin. She enters the room with a sunny smile, flowers, and a stuffed teddy bear. She sets the items on the table and she hugs me tight, stroking my hair and soothing my nerves.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispers.
“Thanks for coming, Lia.”
Lia has her hair pulled back in a ponytail, which magnifies her large gray eyes, now moist with emotion. She stands back and looks me over. “Thank God they didn’t mess up your pretty face. Just a small cut.”
She bounces up to Kalin and brushes his hand. “And thank God they didn’t mess up your pretty face.”
“Thank you, Miss Marzella,” Kalin quips.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Kalin Davis?”
“I feel much better. Annabelle has been taking wonderful care of me.”
Lia shoots me a grin. “She’s a nurturer, alright.” Her eyes drift to the tube and the bandage in his side. “My God, your side looks awful. How did you hurt your lung and heart?”
“The side of the vehicle crushed into my side.”
“You were driving the Porsche Cayenne?”
“Yep.” Kalin crosses his arms with a glint of amusement and waits for Lia to analyze the situation.
“Kalin, the Cayenne is reinforced with high-strength steel. There’s no way that a low impact could have done that kind of damage.”
Kalin and I chuckle. “You’re right again, Lia. That was no low impact,” Kalin says. Kalin and I glance a
t each other and laugh.
“What?” Lia asks.
“You’re such a girlie-girl, and yet you know all of this stuff about cars. It’s funny.” I snicker.
“Blame my brothers and dad.” She shrugs.
“Hopefully no uninvited guests have shown up at your apartment?” Kalin asks.
“I’m fine. I saw your security team, Kalin.” Lia gives him a sideways glance and purses her lips. “They won’t let the paperboy get near me without drawing in.”
“She doesn’t miss a beat.” Kalin chuckles.
“Lia, Kalin was just…”
“I don’t mind,” Lia interrupts. “Not after everything that’s happened. I can deal with this, just as long as these creeps are caught. You are going to find them, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I have my lawyers and their investigators on it now. We can’t trust the police to follow through on this. I frankly don’t trust anyone right now.”
Lia and I glance at him with raised eyebrows.
“Except for you two, of course,” he pleads with an adorable boyish grin.
“Kalin, what are you going to do when these guys come back for seconds? They want you dead. The police aren’t doing shit, and that bullshit story in the paper isn’t doing you any favors. You and Belle are the only ones who know the truth. What if you have another ‘accident’?” She says the word in a mock tone with her fingers curled in quote signs.
I bite my lip and glance at Kalin.
“I guess we have to find them before they come back,” he replies.
I continued to take care of Kalin, and help him follow up with his lawyer and the police. After three weeks, the damage to his lung is close to healed, his chest tube is removed, and his breathing returns to normal. His ribs and heart are still healing under close observation of the medical staff under Dr. Brandt’s guidance. I bring him lunches and dinners just about every day. In the meantime, he covertly hatches out his plan to find out who the insiders are that are trying to destroy him. The hardest part of the last three weeks is days like today.
His hungry eyes remain on me as I set the lunch on the table. “I like the way your ponytail flows down your back. You always look so beautiful. And the way you smell.” Kalin breathes me in with a husky groan. “You smell like wildflowers and cotton candy. I bet you taste even better. Do you have any idea how tough it’s been to be this close to you?” His hand moves over my lower back and to the curves of my hips. His hands slide down my hips, and he pulls me close and turns me toward him, resting his head on my stomach. “The worst part of this whole thing is not being able to touch you. God, I miss you. Do you remember when we made love on the beach?”
I thread my fingers through his hair. “Of course.”
“Why don’t we make love now?”
I chuckle at his shameless affection. “Are you crazy? We’re going to have plenty of time to have fun, Kalin. You have to focus on getting better.”
His grasp is stronger and the fiery light is back in his eyes. “You realize that sex boosts the immune response?”
I shake my head and a coy smile pulls at my lips. “Not during a lung and heart injury, Kalin.”
“I can’t stand being this close to you without having you, Annabelle.” He moves his hands up my body and kisses my side.
I exhale a laugh. His persistence is making it hard for me to stay serious, but there’s no way I’m giving in. His hand roams up my side and I give him a playful slap. “You can wait a couple of weeks, Kalin. Don’t do your enemies any favors.”
“The doctor said I can return to normal activity within four weeks. It’s been three weeks,” he growls. “Besides, if I die, this is the way I want to go. I want to be engulfed in your sweet scent, filled up with visions of your beauty.”
A naughty grin spreads across my face. I reach under the sheet covering his lower body and touch his aching shaft to find that he is rock hard for me. “You poor baby. You are suffering.”
“I told you, being this close to you is driving me crazy. I’m not kidding Annabelle.”
“You mean every time I come in here, you’re like this?” I put my hand to my mouth to stifle a giggle.
“Yes, and it gets worse and worse with each passing day. Don’t laugh, Annabelle. I am burning up over here.”
“I’m sorry. I just can’t believe you’re like this all day for me.” I wipe a tear of amusement from my eye.
Kalin leans back and shakes his head. His eyes roam over me with lust and longing.
“Come here.” He wraps his long arms around me and pulls me to him.
Lifting my shirt, he presses his mouth to my stomach with a deep groan that vibrates through me. I lean my head back, and Kalin strokes my stomach with his wet tongue. He swirls his tongue in my navel, which sends a direct line of heat between my thighs. “So sweet. So beautiful. God, how I missed you, baby.” His hands glide up my torso to find my throbbing breasts. He pushes my bra up and circles my nipples with his fingers. “So sweet and ready.” He entraps my nipples between his fingers and moves his hands down to stroke my mounds with my bra pushed off of me. Working his way down my body, his hands glide over the curves of my sides, down to my waist, kissing my skin and resting his thumbs through the belt loops on each side of my jeans.
Sliding my jeans down to expose my cotton lace bikini panties, he presses his face into me with a playful groan. His eyes shine with raw, primal passion. He exhales another deep, hot breath over my skin that is all too familiar, sending a tremor of desire over me. Pulling my panties down as if revealing a hidden, lost gem, he moans with relief and admiration. Kalin is worshipping me at this point, burying his face in me and inhaling my scent with deep, gratifying sighs, and the feeling is thrilling.
He buries his tongue in me like a parched mouth greedy for relief in the desert. The warm silk of his tongue sweeps up and down my slick folds and over my swelling clit, causing me to lurch. Quick darts of his tongue send tremors over my body, and my hands grip his shoulders to steady myself from the oncoming waves now rocking me.
My hips thrust forward, wanting more of him. My center ignites from every flick of his tongue and every one of his deep, rich moans, which rumble up my spine and fill me to the brim with pleasure. Kalin slips the tip of his tongue along the upper wall of my aroused flesh, and plunges into me. I quiver from the pulses ripping through me. My body is building a wall of desire that is about to come crashing down. His finger strokes my clit while he penetrates deeper into my wet channel with his probing tongue. I brace his shoulders and shriek. I cry out too loudly as a wave of euphoria washes over my body. “Oh, my God!” I clench around Kalin’s penetrating tongue, and he laps me up with delight. I place my hand over my mouth and blush, afraid an emergency team will come streaming into the room from my cries of ecstasy.
Kalin’s eyes are glazed over with unadulterated pleasure. “Baby, your sweet sounds make my entire day.” He leans his head back and rubs his hands over my hips. “God, I needed that so bad. You’re so fucking sexy. Your sweetness heals me. I can feel it. I miss the taste of you. I miss the smell of you. I miss the touch of you. It’s fucking magic.”
“You certainly haven’t lost your touch,” I gasp. He smells my skin, and presses the side of his face into my stomach.
“You know I can’t stand to see you suffer, Kalin.” I shake my head and smile down at him. “Just remember, you asked for this.” I shift to the side of the bed and slide my hand under the sheet to grip his strong, swelling shaft and start stroking. His erection grows stronger and fuller with each stroke. Kalin groans and sweeps his hand over his hair in a tortured expression. I circle the tip with my fingernail, and Kalin shudders. “Oh, my God. Annabelle. You’re killing me.” Kalin winces as he says the words, and he presses his hands over his face. The heart monitor is beeping rapidly.
I feel Kalin’s pulsing shaft swelling, and his cock throbs and pounds from the touch of my teasing hand. He chokes out a growl and pushes his hands onto the bed to brace hims
elf for the explosions ripping through him. His eyes close tightly and he gives off another choked growl before he explodes in one streaming jet after another under the sheets. I feel the warm liquid run down my hand, and I reach for the hand wipes on the side table.
Kalin lets out a huge breath and flops back on the bed. “Just what the doctor ordered. Have I told you that you’re my favorite nurse?”
I twist my mouth at him as I finish cleaning him up.
“Seriously, I needed that. I needed your touch. Not touching your sweet body is torment.”
“I didn’t know you were going through that much suffering.” I giggle.
“Jesus, Annabelle. You drive me crazy whenever you’re near. Even if I try to focus, my body wants you. Demands you. You’ve been torturing me ever since I met you.”
I exhale a laugh. “Getting a hard-on when I’m around is not the same as a committed relationship, Kalin.”
“It isn’t?” He feigns a serious expression.
My mouth curves into a frown.
“You know what I mean. We have something special.” He kisses my hand. “And I’m not going to lose it.”
My chest lightens with recognition at his words, because I know deep down that I respond the same way to him.
I pull up a chair and unwrap our lunches. “Organic chicken breast, baked beans, and sautéed spinach and peppers. Lots of protein,” I smile.
“Thank you for being here every day, Annabelle.” He squeezes my hand. “It means everything to me.”
I tilt my head and a slight smile traces my mouth. “I enjoy looking after you.”
“My guardian angel.” His eyes sparkle with appreciation.
I stare at my food. “I don’t want to see you hurt. It’s terrible what happened. It’s terrible what they did to you. To us.” I peek up at him. “I couldn’t lose you.” I want to say more, but I can’t. I want to tell him that I was scared of falling in love with him, and that this brought me to my senses. I was falling fast, and it terrified me. I couldn’t unload all this on him now. It wouldn’t be fair. He has to heal, and we have to find who did this to us. Instead I will show him how much I love him. How much I appreciate him in my life.
Undeniably His Page 17