From Boardroom to Wedding Bed?
Page 15
Tamera turned away, scared to look into his eyes and see what she’d longed to see from him for so long. Love, commitment.
“I just don’t know if my heart can take that chance again, Cole,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I want to. More than anything I want to be what you need, because you’re certainly what I need. But not at the risk of being broken again.”
Cole’s hand covered her shoulder. He turned her to face him, and she found herself looking up into his dark eyes. Eyes that held so much hope, the same hope that she knew was reflected in her own stare.
“I was a fool.” He ran a fingertip down her cheek. “I won’t be a fool twice, Tamera. I love you. Marry me. Let me have a lifetime to make it up to you. Let me show you how special you are to me, how much I need you in my life. I can’t function without you. I’ve tried. The monotony from day to day was meaningless. I need you to fill that void that was left so long ago. Say you’ll marry me.”
She’d heard those words from his mouth before, but now, the proposal meant so much more. Now they mended every crack, every wound of her broken heart.
“You’ll always be honest with me?” she asked.
“Always.”
Tamera wrapped her arms around Cole’s neck. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Victor was right,” he whispered in her ear.
“About?”
He urged her back into bed. “We make a great team.”
Epilogue
“When you do something, you don’t do halfway,” Zach said, pulling a beer from Cole’s office refrigerator.
Kayla poured champagne, passed out the glasses to Cole and Tamera. “They always worked well together. Now it’s just carried on into their business.”
“Speaking of that, what are you going to do, Tamera?”
Tamera looked to Cole’s twin and smiled. “You haven’t mentioned this?”
Cole nuzzled her neck. “I’ve been preoccupied completing a design and keeping a certain woman happy.”
“Someone better tell us something,” Zach piped in. “Kayla and I are getting uncomfortable in here.”
Cole straightened, addressing his siblings. “We’d like to merge the firms together since we’re merging the families.”
Tamera held her breath, awaiting the reaction of two-thirds of The Marcum Agency’s approval.
“We’d definitely monopolize the architectural world of Miami,” Zach stated, rubbing a hand over his stubbled jaw. “I think it’s a great business move. Kayla?”
Kayla beamed. “I vote yes.”
Cole grinned, winking at Tamera. “Told you it wouldn’t be a problem. We’re still simple people who know when we see a good thing.”
Zach raised his beer. “To mergers.”
Champagne flutes clinked together in the air. “To mergers,” they all agreed.
“May the next part of this project be as exciting as the design.”
Tamera laughed. “Zach, you’ll make the next stage exciting no matter what the circumstances are.”
“Don’t make it too exciting,” Cole countered. “We don’t want our wedding in a few months overshadowed by anything.”
“Trouble,” Zach said, “is like women. It just follows me.”
Cole simply shook his head, laughed and kissed Tamera. “He’s on his own. I have more important things to attend to.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6987-7
FROM BOARDROOM TO WEDDING BED?
Copyright © 2010 by Jules Bennett
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