by Amelia Wilde
Carolyn meets me in the middle of the lobby, and everything around us disappears.
She’s so close that I can smell the light, flowery perfume she wears—not every day, but sometimes, and I can see a slight quiver in her chin. All the words I’ve prepared over the last several hours fly right out of my mind.
I’m rendered speechless by her.
But I can’t be speechless. This is my moment to shine, and I’m not going to stand here tongue-tied until she makes the first move.
“Hi.”
The word comes out unbidden, and not nearly as confident as I hoped, but Carolyn sucks in a little breath like she’s surprised that I could think of something so genius.
She swallows.
“Hi, Ace.” Her eyes are dark, deep, and shining. The charge between us is palpable, running up and down the length of my arms. I want to reach out and take her into a hug and never let go again, but there’s housekeeping of infinite importance to be done first.
I can’t remember a word of all the things I wanted to say to her, but as the moment stretches on I start to think it doesn’t matter. It’s essential that I say something, anything, to break the silence and thrust us into the future.
Even if it scares the hell out of me to do that.
Something shifts inside of me. It does scare the hell out of me. I’ve never liked to admit that it terrifies me. I’ve never liked to be that kind of man. But it does. Things that are this important make my heart pound.
I take in another breath and fall into Carolyn’s eyes.
“It scares me to say this,” I start, my voice tight with emotion. “But I’m sorry. I never should have walked away from you.”
Carolyn’s hand flies to her mouth, and her eyes go bright with tears. Then she drops her hand. “No, you should have.” If I know her at all, she’s struggling mightily to keep her voice level. “It was none of my business. I was wrapped up in—” She looks away, shaking her head. “I was wrapped up….”
I can’t stop myself. I reach out and put a hand on her shoulder, soothing, and then move my hand down to her wrist, taking her hand. “Carolyn.”
The sound of her name brings her up short, and she looks up into my eyes, blinking back tears, biting her lip. “Yeah?”
“I should never have walked away from you,” I say again, emphasizing every word. “It was a huge mistake. Because I love you.”
Her smile is so brilliant, so wide, that it’s almost blinding. “Don’t break my heart, Ace Kingsley.”
“I’m trying to put it back together. Here.” I push the folder toward her.
She takes it, her eyebrows drawing together. “What is this?”
“Everything that happened in Italy. And more.”
With one swift movement, Carolyn pushes the folder back into my chest, insistent, with an expression that’s half grin, half pleading. “I don’t need it.”
“Carolyn—”
“I don’t need it, and I don’t want it.”
“You do.”
“I don’t.” She laughs, her voice high and free. “I don’t need it for me, and I don’t need it for my former website.”
“Former?”
“I shut it down,” she says, dropping the folder to the floor and taking both my hands in hers. “Rumors are bullshit!” she cries, and Arnie laughs and tries to hide it with a cough. “I’m done with rumors. I’m done with anything that could possibly take me away from you. I don’t need your folder. To hell with your folder. If you want to tell me something, you can tell me, on your own time, and—”
I take her face in my hands and muffle her words with a kiss that makes my chest hum with warmth and security and stability and the knowledge that I am never, never going to be alone again.
The meaning of it breaks over me like the dawn.
Carolyn pulls away. “I’m such an asshole.”
“You are not,” I say, going back in for another kiss.
She puts her fingers to my lips while my hands go to her waist, pulling her in. “I never answered you.”
“Answered you about what?”
“I love you, too! So much! Do you hear that, Arnie?”
Arnie guffaws behind his podium and lifts up his newspaper, and I lose myself in another kiss that’s so deep and so strong, I never want to come back to the surface.
With Carolyn by my side, I’m invincible.
“I love you,” she whispers into my ear the next time we come up for air.
It’s the beginning to the world’s most beautiful eternity.
Epilogue
Carolyn
“Wake up!”
The playful whisper is close to my ear, and I roll over and try to pull the pillow back over my head. It’s swiftly pulled out of my grasp.
“Wake up, gorgeous.” This time the tone is sultry, and a strong hand slides down over the bare, smooth skin of my stomach, toward the space between my legs.
I giggle and push the hand away. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“It’s almost dawn.”
“Why are you waking me up before dawn?”
“Because we’re leaving.”
I push myself upright in the massive bed in the center of Ace’s penthouse bedroom. “Leaving?”
“Yes. We’re going on a vacation, and we’re leaving with the sunrise. The plane is ready to go. It’s waiting on us.”
“Where are we going?” I rub the sleep from my eyes and run a hand through my hair.
“You’ll find out when we get there.”
Ace’s hand goes to the back of my head and he kisses me, lighting up my entire body with need for him. The tease blocks my hand when I reach for the front of his boxers.
“Come back to bed. We don’t have to leave yet.”
“If you want time to shower, you’ll have to get out of bed this very instant, love of mine.”
I fall dramatically back on the bed and sigh.
Ace scoops me up into his arms and carries me, laughing, to the master bathroom, where he deposits me before the shower and turns on the water. To the perfect temperature, as always.
I step into the shower and let the warm water cascade down over my skin, my heart picking up speed. A surprise vacation almost makes up for the fact that Ace has woken me up at this ungodly hour. Of course, he’d never dream of flying commercial, and his private jet is one of the best-outfitted I’ve ever seen.
Not that I’ve had many opportunities to fly on it, since we’ve been busy figuring out which of our combined properties to keep.
I finally sold my apartment, to Angie’s delight, and moved into the penthouse with him. Over the past few months, he’s shared many of his properties with me—one in Phoenix, another in Seattle, one on the Gulf Coast—and there are more. He’s far more invested in real estate than I ever have been, and he’s got the gorgeous homes to prove it.
While I shampoo my hair and soap up my body, running a razor over my legs as quickly as I can, Ace disappears from the bathroom, returning when I’ve stepped out with a complete outfit in his hands.
“You forgot panties,” I say as I towel off my hair.
“I didn’t.” He holds up a silky, yet comfortable pair.
That’s my man.
The rest of the outfit is standard travel fare—yoga pants, a tight-fitting hoodie, and a tank—only boosted several notches by the fact that Ace had it custom-made for me by his own tailor. As a result, all of it fits like a glove.
Ten minutes later, I’m dressed, my hair is dried and gathered into a loose bun on top of my head, and I’ve got traveling makeup on—which is to say, none.
When I come back into the bedroom, Ace grins at me. “Let’s go.”
“Packing?”
“Everything’s on the plane.”
“I need my phone, then—”
He holds it up with a wink, and I break into a run, jumping up and throwing my arms around his neck at the last moment. He catches me as I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling me clos
e, and kisses me hard.
When I finally bring myself to break away, he puts me gently back down on the floor and takes my hand.
“No time to waste.”
Thirty minutes later, I sink into my plush leather window seat and sigh, relishing the feeling of Ace’s arm wrapped around my shoulder.
Fifteen minutes after that, we’re soaring above New York City as day breaks over the skyscrapers.
“Gorgeous,” I whisper.
“Not half as gorgeous as you.”
I settle in.
To the seat.
To my life.
To the adventure that will never end, with Ace by my side.
Copyright Information
Cover Design: Coverlüv
Cover Model: Andrew Biernat
Photographer: Wander Aguiar Photography
© 2018 Amelia Wilde
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is exclusively available on Amazon. If you have purchased this book from any other vendor (iTunes, Barnes & Noble, etc.) you have purchased a pirated copy. Please return it.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
For more books by Amelia Wilde, visit her online at www.awilderomance.com