His Sister's Return

by Mary Goldberger

  “I will have my mother send you invitation as she is the one who is handling it,” Trystan revealed turning his attention to the others although they all declined reluctantly as they had made other plans.

  Harold noted that Trystan didn’t seem too upset at their refusal and as they got up to leave, he said quietly, “This party is a private affair, isn’t it?”

  “Only family and close friends will be invited,” Trystan told him putting his credit card back in his wallet before he replaced that in the jeans he wore. He grabbed the file and faced Harold directly as he gave him a brief smile, “You said you wanted to meet Alina, and since she has been invited also, I thought it would be an opportune time to meet her.”

  Harold gave him a shrewd look but he couldn’t read anything behind Trystan’s grey eyes that didn’t give anything away unless his guard was down.

  “Then I will wait for the invitation,” Harold said as he gathered his own things. “Will Bea be there, Trystan?”

  Trystan didn’t say anything but he nodded his head as they started out of the restaurant together, and across the restaurant Bea watched them with laughing eyes as one of her friends leaned over and said, “I heard that Mr. Tyeson’s mother was throwing together an engagement party. I wonder who the lucky woman is.”

  Bea let a triumphant smile cross her face as she said with the right tone in her voice, “Yes, I wonder who the lucky woman is” as her friends around her laughed as their server returned to their table, and Bea’s mouth tightened briefly as the bill was presented but she quickly covered it as they started arguing over who was going to pay tonight’s bill.

  Chapter 30

  Trystan let himself in his house some time later sighing in weariness and although he wanted to drive back to Tiers, and Alina, tonight a few hours of sleep was needed first.

  “Trystan,” his mother’s soft voice said, and Trystan glanced up in surprise.

  “Mom, why are you up so late?” He asked checking his watch and seeing that it was almost midnight as he had went back to the hotel and his office to finish up some paperwork before coming home.

  “Trudy told me that you would be coming back because of an urgent meeting and I was sure that you would come home before heading back to Tiers,” she told him watching him with a slight frown on her face.

  “Is there something wrong?” He asked walking over to her after he locked the door and she sighed running a hand through her hair.

  “Come in here a moment, Trystan,” she told him walking back in the living room where she was waiting and Trystan followed her as she sat down glancing at the table where lists sat.

  “Mom is the party…” he began and she waved her hand at him.

  “You know I love throwing a party and this one is special, but…” she hesitated for a second before she looked at him determination on her face. “What are you planning on doing tomorrow?”

  Not sure where his mother was going with this, Trystan told her slowly, “After I go shopping for something, I’m heading back to Tiers. I told Alina that I will be back when I finished my business.”

  He was confused when his mother relaxed and a smile suddenly lit up her face, and Trystan ran a hand through his hair. “Mom, I’m not sure what is going on here.”

  His mother laughed as she pushed across a small pouch to him and Trystan glanced at it before returning a bewildered look at her.

  “Ever since you took over the business from your father and aunt, Trystan, the only time you’ve actually walked away from business is when Marla, I, or your aunt has needed you.” She shook her head her eyes softening as she stared at her only son seeing the confusion in his grey eyes so much like his father’s and she continued. “Since Alina came into your life, you’ve allowed more than just work to dictate your life.”

  Trystan began to smile as understanding flashed in his eyes and he said in a gruff voice, “Do you like her, mom?”

  She laughed as she told him, “Absolutely because she is pretty, smart, kind, and even more than that, after everything you and your sister did to her, she is forgiving even when others wouldn’t be.”

  Trystan sat down on the chair as he admitted, “Even when I was trying to seduce her to help Marla, I knew that there was more to her but I ignored it.” He shook his head as he chuckled with humor as he said, “I almost lost her because of it and you know what, mom, I don’t want to lose her.”

  His mother looked at him and she chuckled as she stared at her son who was over thirty years old and had more women than she could count on her two hands, but for the first time, she saw something that made her heart lighter; her son had finally find the woman who was right for him.

  “You are so much like your father,” she murmured getting a shocked look from Trystan. “I know I don’t talk about him often but I loved him very much.”

  “Marla and I know,” Trystan assured her getting a smile in return although her eyes shined with tears.

  She nodded to the pouch which Trystan picked up with a question in his eyes as she told him, “Your father gave this to me on our first anniversary. He made the oddest remark about a full moon,” she shook her head not noticing the strange look that crossed her son’s face a second before he opened the pouch and tipped it as a ring fell in his hand.

  Stunned, Trystan picked up the ring noting the flower design with a small blue stone in the center and his eyes lifted to his mother’s as she stared at the ring lovingly.

  “Your father actually blushed when I told him that the stone had nothing to do with the moon as he thought,” she revealed in a soft voice. “And that’s when he admitted he bought the ring because it reminded him of the night that we admitted our feelings and the full moon had seemed to glow the color of that stone.”

  Trystan glanced down at the blue gem in the ring as his mom laughed and told him, “I checked later because I didn’t recall a full moon, but then again I hadn’t recalled anything that night except your father. There had been no full moon that night although it had been close.”

  “What did dad say when you shared it with him?” Trystan asked his voice hoarse thinking about what the woman in the shop told him.

  “He merely shrugged his shoulders and told me that it didn’t matter to him,” his mother told him. “In his eyes, it was a full moon because I agreed to marry him and that like a full moon it is a rare thing to be cherished and seen through the eyes of one who loves.”

  Trystan didn’t realize he was saying aloud what the woman had told him in the shop that day but when his mother gasped and said with a note surprise in her voice, “That’s what he said to me that night before he gave me the ring. Where did you hear it, Trystan, as I never told you and Marla that story?”

  Trystan smiled as he looked at her explaining where he learned it and how he hadn’t understood its meaning until now, and his mother’s eyes widened in astonishment before she started to giggle. “If I didn’t believe it before then I would’ve when you told me about that meeting. Now I know for sure that you have met the woman right for you.”

  She got up from the couch gathering her papers together as she told him, “I will have the party ready by this weekend. I suggest that you go upstairs to get some sleep so you can go back to Tiers and bring back my soon-to-be daughter-in-law.”

  Trystan laughed his eyes going down to the ring one last time before he placed it back in the pouch and clasped it tightly in his palm as he got to his feet.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he teased getting a glare from her. He had started out of the room when he remembered, “Oh, mom, I want to invite one more person to the party.”

  She frowned raising questioning eyes at him and he smiled giving her the information, and although she took down what he told her, he could see her mind running at the new addition.

  “He wants to meet her,” Trystan told her as he came back and kissed her on the cheek before leaving the room. “I will see you this weekend.”

  His mom came to the doorway watching him go up th
e stairs, and she smiled taking that as his letting her know she wouldn’t see him in the morning, and she chuckled as she turned off the lights heading up to her room more slowly.

  The following day late in the morning, Alina was in the garden she had started a few days after she had moved in when her doorbell rang, and although grimacing at the interruption she pulled off the gloves and headed inside to answer it.

  The grimace turned to a frown when she opened the door and saw her next store neighbor standing on her doorstep a charming smile on his face although Alina find it more disturbing.

  “Yes, may I help you?” She asked stepping out on the porch and closing the door behind her.

  “Now is that a nice way to talk to a friend,” he said scanning her with his demeaning eyes causing Alina to bite her tongue before she said something that he would regret. “A very close friend, and soon to be, intimate friend.”

  Not in this lifetime, Alina thought although she said aloud, “We are merely acquaintances, and although I appreciate the offer, I’m involved with someone at the moment.”

  “Honey,” he said with what Alina assumed was supposed to be his seductive tone, “you haven’t had any visitors since you’ve moved here. Even if you did, I’m sure that I can definitely show you a better time than any man in your life at the moment.”

  Alina’s hazel eyes snapped in fury and her mouth was opening to tell him what she thought of his offer when another voice intervened, and her heart stopped in her chest as she lifted her head to meet the grey eyes of the one she had been thinking about since he left last night.

  “Hi sweetheart, sorry I’m late,” Trystan walked past the man and wrapped his arms around Alina giving her a kiss that stole her breath. As he pulled away, Alina leaned against him and he asked giving the man who was still standing there with a stunned look on his face a cold look, “Who is this man, Alina?”

  “My neighbor,” Alina stated huskily. “He seemed to think that I was alone and needed company.”

  Trystan’s eyes narrowed, and the man laughed nervously his eyes darting behind him as he said, “I was only joking around with her. I really came over to borrow some sugar, but I think I will go to the store instead as I have to pick up a few other things too.”

  He darted away before Trystan could open his mouth and Alina bit back her laughter until they were inside the house and the door closed behind them.

  Her laughter echoed around the house as she wrapped her arms around his waist and Trystan glanced down at her a worried look in his eyes.

  “Are you okay?” He asked as her laughter calmed down.

  Alina stared up at him and nodded her head as she told him, “He was becoming annoying more than anything, but I have to admit it was good to hear your voice.”

  “Only to hear my voice,” he teased as he tightened his arms around her.

  She gave him a flirty look as she nodded her head before going up on tiptoe and kissing him on the lips. “Maybe seeing you too made my day,” she whispered a second before she slipped from his arms and giving him a sly look before she started back outside.

  Trystan growled as he went after her and before she reached the back door, he swung her around pulling her tight against his body and her eyes widened at his body’s reaction to her kiss.

  “Trystan,” she whispered getting lost in the passion flaring in his eyes and unable to help her automatic reaction, she lifted her body up so that the junction between her thighs cradle his body’s natural response.

  Trystan’s felt his body harden even farther and he groaned as he said harshly, “Don’t do that if you are not ready, Alina.”

  Her hazel eyes were dark with passion as she said huskily, “I never said I wasn’t ready, Trystan.”

  His eyes flared at her response as he lowered his head taking her lips roughly, but she met him with her own passion as she wrapped her arms around his neck her hands sliding in the hair at his nape.

  The kiss turned hot and he allowed his tongue to slide in the recesses of her mouth tasting a tartness of lemonade that she must’ve had recently as his hands pulled her t-shirt from her jeans sliding underneath to touch the smoothness of her back.

  At his touch, Alina gasped and he pulled slightly back seeing how her eyes darkened and he murmured, “Alina.”

  She answered by unwrapping one arm from around his neck and trailing it down his chest a blush covering her cheeks hinting at her inexperience even though she wasn’t a virgin. Her hand reached the end of his shirt and she glanced up at him hazel eyes meeting grey eyes and seeing the encouragement in them, her hand slipped under his shirt resting lightly on his abs feeling the muscles ripple against her palm.

  She allowed her hand to travel up fingertips tracing as they went over his abs and grazed his pectoral muscles even feeling the hardened tips of his nipples, and she frowned as she said quietly, “I thought only…”

  Trystan’s husky laugh stopped her as he leaned down and kissed her again as his own hands skimmed her back easing the shirt up as it reached the clasp of her bra and without breaking the kiss, he unhooked the bra.

  Alina moaned and jerked slightly but she didn’t break the kiss and her hand rested flat against his chest fingertips grazing the hair that covered it.

  “Bedroom,” he muttered as he lifted her up and Alina gasped as he kept one hand on the middle of her back while the other went down to the junction of her back resting fingers slipped between the small opening of her jeans and lower back. Alina swallowed as she lifted her legs wrapping them around his waist and the roguish grin he gave her let her know that he enjoyed her action as he flexed the hand on her lower back pushing her more against his pelvic region and she gasped feeling the hardness in between her thighs.

  She breathlessly gave him directions to her bedroom and as he walked, the friction had both of them gritting their teeth. As they reached her room, Trystan allowed Alina to slide down his body and he groaned at the feel of her even though they were fully clothed.

  “I don’t want to rush you,” he told her hoarsely as his hands slipped from under her shirt catching the hem and she lifted her arms giving him without words permission to take it off. The shirt came off and fell to the floor as the pretty lace bra she wore slipped down her arms as she lowered them before falling completely off and Trystan’s eyes narrowed as he took a good look at what they revealed.

  “Beautiful,” he murmured his hands coming up to cover them and at the feel of his hot callused hands surprising Alina, she arched her back and he chuckled darkly allowing his thumbs to brush over their hardening tips with male satisfaction.

  “Trystan,” Alina murmured not exactly sure what her body was telling her, but she knew that Trystan could ease it.

  “We are going to take our time, baby,” Trystan muttered as he kissed her again passionately before he trailed kisses down her neck and she let her head fall back giving him access. The kisses continued downward until they feathered across the tops of her breast and Alina became breathless as his hands began to circle around her aching flesh the tips of his thumbs rubbing gently against her nipples. She moaned again her head dropping back as one hand left her breast only to be replaced by his hot mouth and her gasp was loud in the quiet of the room as his tongue lathered the nipple before his teeth closed over it gently and tugged as he began to suckle the hardening tip. Alina’s body arched back at the sensation and Trystan wrapped an arm around her waist giving her support as he continued suckling before switching to the next breast and continuing with the same torment.

  “Trystan,” Alina moaned aloud as her hand shaking reached down and grabbed the hem of his shirt, and Trystan stopped what he was doing as he helped her pull the shirt over his head dropping it to the floor before he spun her around the back of her legs hit the bed and she fell backwards Trystan coming down on her.

  His hard chest pressed down on her breasts and he stared down at her as Alina smiled up at him her eyes shining with passion and something else that caused Trysta
n to draw in a deep breath.

  “I love you,” he told her quietly brushing back the hair from her temple and he watched as her eyes widened at the admission.

  “Trystan, you don’t…” she began shaking her head but he held it still with strong hands on either side as he leaned down and kissed her. This kiss was sweeter and gentle although Alina could still feel the passion that he was keeping in check.

  “I know,” he told her as he pulled back from the kiss resting his forehead against her own. “I love you, Alina.”

  He stared down at her eyes intense and seeing the answer in her eyes he pulled one hand away from her head, and put his hand in his pocket pulling out the pouch.

  Alina watched him her eyes shining with her own love although she was unaware of it as Trystan resting a forearm next to her head opened the pouch and tipped it into his palm. He tossed the pouch off the bed and Alina allowed her eyes to rest in the palm of his hand where a ring sat the blue gem shining brightly.

  “Trystan,” she said hesitating.

  “Will you marry me?” He asked the ring resting in the palm of his hand as he shifted his eyes to her. “I love you more than I thought possible and even though I know that I may not deserve you, I want you in my life.”

  Alina swallowed hazel eyes huge in her face staring at him her eyes catching everything on his face as Trystan closed his hand around the ring sitting them both up with a few single movements that made her envious.

  He lifted her left hand kissing the palm as his tongue came out and lightly teased the center of her palm, and her eyes darkened at the simple but seductive action.

  He didn’t say another word and Alina could only stare at him before a smile started in her eyes to drift down to her swollen lips from their heated kisses.

  “Yes,” she whispered the only word she could say in the moment as tears filled her eyes and Trystan’s own eyes shined with them as he opened the closed palm and shifted the ring to slide it on her finger the blue of the gem winking up at them.