Late Nights

by Marie Rochelle

  “Good morning, gorgeous.” Grabbing Sasha by the waist with his free hand, Sterling tugged her against his body and planted a quick kiss on her surprised mouth. Sasha tried to resist him, but slowly she gave in, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Baby, I missed you so much last night. I’m sorry I acted like a jealous jerk,” Sterling whispered against Sasha’s swollen lips. “Please forgive me and let me in.”

  “I don’t know if I should,” Sasha said, staring up into his eyes. “You were totally out of line last night at Holden’s house. At first, your jealousy was endearing but then it got a little crazy.”

  Sighing, Sterling pressed his head against Sasha’s forehead. She was right about his behavior. His attitude was all over the place and she had every single reason not want to be around him this morning.

  “Can you forgive me if I promise not to allow my jealousy to take over again?” Sterling asked as he backed Sasha into the house, closing the door behind them.

  “I guess I could, but it all depends.” Sasha took a step away from him.

  “Depends on what?” he asked, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

  “If you show me what’s behind your back that smells so good. I’m starving. I was about to fix some breakfast until an impatient but gorgeous man kept knocking at my door.”

  From the teasing tone in Sasha’s voice Sterling was beginning to think that he might be out of the dog house, but if he wasn’t this would be the first step in getting him out.

  Moving his hand from behind his back, Sterling held up a white paper bag from Sasha’s favorite bakery. He had noticed her bringing something from this shop to work numerous times.

  “How did you know I loved their freshly baked donuts?” she asked, taking the bag from him.

  Sterling watched the pleasure that crossed Sasha’s face as she opened the bag and took a whiff. “It isn’t fair at all that you brought glazed donuts over to my house for breakfast so I would forgive you.”

  Sterling couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he moved Sasha back into his arms, careful not to smash the bag in her hand.

  How did he make it so long without having her like this?

  Tomorrow was the last day of the promotion at work, and after it ended Sasha was going to be blown away by the plans he had for her. She wasn’t going to see them coming.

  “Do you want to stay and have a couple of these with me?” Sasha asked.

  As tempting as Sasha’s offer was, Sterling knew if he stayed here that he would be sampling another sweetness that didn’t involve fried dough.

  Shit! Why had he told Holden to meet him at work so they could discuss the mock flyer he had emailed him this morning? For a split second, he thought about canceling his meeting with Holden and then decided against it.

  The sooner he got finished with Holden, the quicker he could get back here to Sasha. He had so much to tell her. But he wanted to do it without any interruptions from anyone because this was going to be the best day of his life.

  “Sweetheart, I would love to stay, but I need to have a meeting with Holden about the flyers,” Sterling sighed, taking a step back from her.

  “Oh, I hate you are leaving. But I have a suggestion, how about I show up at Comforts Sleep Company later and we can spend the day together doing something fun?” Sasha suggested. “I don’t know the last time either one of us played hooky from work.”

  “Sasha, I love that idea. How about you eat breakfast and then meet me at work? I don’t think my meeting with Holden should take longer than a couple of hours at the most.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me,” Sasha grinned at him.

  Today was turning out so much better than he could have ever thought it would. Sterling knew today was going to be the day. He would ask the woman he loved more than anything in the world to become his wife. Life couldn’t get any better for him if he wished for it.

  ****

  “Thanks again for coming to see me. I wasn’t positive you would after the way I acted last night,” Sterling apologized to Holden. “I was total bastard to you.”

  “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told you on the phone. Don’t worry about it, a man in love will do a lot of crazy things. Honestly, I thought it was too funny that the great Sterling Hamilton was jealous of me flirting with his girlfriend,” Holden laughed, leaning back in his chair.

  “You know I would never do anything like that to you. Our friendship is too valuable to me. You know how I am when it comes to keeping a relationship. I’ll probably be a playboy for the rest of my life. I just hope you like the fast draft of the flyer I did for you. I moved some stuff around on the last one I did.”

  “Oh, I doubt you will be single for the rest of your life. You’re still good looking enough to get some poor woman to fall under your spell,” Sterling assured his best friend. “By the way, the mock flyers are perfect. They are just what I wanted.”

  “Wonderful. I’ll get them printed out for you and sent back over by courier. However, I’ll believe it when I see it about me falling in love so, enough about me. Have you decided what you’re going to do about Sasha? Are you going to keep her on as an employee after the campaign is over?”

  Sterling didn’t have to think about Holden’s question long before he gave his buddy a response. “No, I’m not going to keep Sasha on at Comforts Sleep Company after next week. I won’t have any more need for her here as my employee. I’ll be through with her completely. I can’t keep her here and move on to something better.”

  A soft gasp from the doorway made both Sterling and Holden’s heads quickly swing in that direction of the open doorway. Sterling’s heart dropped to his shoes when he spotted Sasha standing there.

  “You bastard, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you,” she yelled before she twirled around and raced away.

  “Sasha, wait! Let me explain,” Sterling hollered as he jumped up from his chair and went after her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  A month had passed since Sasha heard Sterling’s harsh words at his office. She hadn’t been around him since that horrible day and she wasn’t planning on allowing him back into her life. So, she hid at Luxury until he finally got the hint to stay away from her.

  Picking up the mail, she sorted through it, hoping it would get her mind off of Sterling and the mistake she made by trusting all of the lies he told her. She was still having problems getting to sleep because every time she closed her eyes she heard Sterling’s words over and over until she couldn’t take it anymore.

  Well, she didn’t give Sterling the chance to fire her because she sent him her letter of resignation the same day she overheard his conversation with Holden. Things were over between them now—if she could only get her heart to be in the same place as her head.

  “Come in,” she said without bothering to look up from the task she was working on.

  “Sasha, can I talk to you for a moment?” a male voice asked her.

  Glancing up from the mail, Sasha was stunned to find Holden looking at her. Why was Holden here to see her? They had only met once and that was when she was still dating his best friend.

  “What are you doing here? How did you know where I worked?” she asked, confused.

  “Sterling told me a while ago about Luxury. He was always talking about you any chance he got. He loved when the two of you became a couple and would tell anyone about who would listen.”

  Sasha wasn’t in the mood to listen to Holden defend Sterling. He had wasted his time even coming here.

  “Holden, if you came to tell me how much Sterling loves me than I don’t want to hear it. I have already quit my job and I’m through with him, so you can leave the same way you came in.”

  Walking further into the room, Holden came up to the desk and stared down at her long and hard before speaking. “I can’t believe you’re the same confident and strong woman that Sterling used to praise all the time.

  “He used to tell me how you would neve
r back down from a fight, not even with your equally opinionated sisters, but I guess he was wrong about you. Maybe you’re just as scared of a true commitment as him.”

  “I’m not scared of anything,” Sasha denied, jumping up out of her seat. “I heard what he told you about me. Why would I want to stay with a man who felt that way? Can you please leave so I can get back to work? Does Sterling even know that you’re here?” she asked, retaking her seat.

  “First off, you are scared. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice. I know the telltale signs from being around Sterling for so many years.”

  “Don’t you dare compare me to Sterling,” Sasha warned, glaring at Holden. God, why was he still here bothering her?

  “You’re so much like Sterling that it’s hard for either of you to see how similar you are to each other. Sterling loves you with everything he has in him. Are you telling me that you really still don’t care about him?”

  Sasha opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. She wanted to lie and say that she was no longer in love with Sterling, but she couldn’t do it. She still loved him with everything in her.

  “Yes, I still love him, but you were there. You heard what he said about me. Sterling wanted me gone so I resigned before he could fire me.”

  “Shit!” Holden mumbled. “I swear you and Sterling are going to give me my first gray hair. He doesn’t want you gone out of his life, only from Comforts Sleep Company.”

  “What is the difference?” Sasha frowned. “Aren’t they the same thing when it comes to him?”

  Sighing, Holden shook his head at her. “No, it isn’t the same. Not since you came into his life. Please stop hiding out here. Go and see him. Talk things through. Do you know that he has been working himself to death this past month trying to get over the pain of losing you?”

  “If the pain of losing me is so terrible for him, why isn’t he here instead of you?” Sasha demanded.

  “Pride,” Holden tossed back at her.

  Sasha nibbled at her bottom lip. Why should she be the one who goes to Sterling? He was the one who had done something wrong…not her.

  “I can see from the torn expression on your face that you’re having a hard time debating on rather or not if you should go to see Sterling. All I have to say is… are you going to allow a conversation you truly misunderstood keep you from the man you love?”

  “I─”

  “Think about that for a little while.” Holden gave her one last look before heading out of her office, closing the door behind him.

  Once Sasha was alone she was able to think about everything Holden had told her—this was one time that she couldn’t run to Rachelle for any help. Her decision would have to be made all by herself. If she was honest with herself, Sasha knew she didn’t need any more time to think about whether or not she wanted Sterling in her life.

  Getting up from her seat, Sasha took her purse off the back of the chair before heading out the door to deal with Sterling and their future together.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Walking around his house, Sterling called himself a thousand kinds of fools. Why didn’t he tell Sasha what he was thinking when he left her house that day? He just had wanted everything to be so perfect when he proposed and he ended up ruining everything instead.

  How could Sasha ever think that he didn’t want her in his life permanently? After Sasha rushed away from his office he had tried to stop her from leaving, but by the time he made it outside she was already driving out of the parking lot.

  He had been shoving down his feelings for Sasha because he was afraid of getting too close to her in fear of being rejected. Maybe his fear of being tossed to the side still came from his father’s treatment of him growing up.

  Just when there was a shimmer of hope that his father might pick him over his current lover, his hopes got a bucket of cold water poured over them. Ever since he could remember, some form of rejection had been in his life. He thought he might have gotten used to it, but he was able to see now how wrong he was. Sasha hadn’t even given him a chance to explain what she accidentally overheard.

  All she did was throw him to the side without a second thought. She already knew how much he loved her. So, why was she so willing to accept the worst instead of seeing right what was in front of her face?

  The sound of the doorbell drew Sterling away from his thoughts. Who in the hell could that be? He had already listened to Holden’s lecture before he kicked him out. He even tried staying at work, hoping it would get his mind off Sasha, but that didn’t work either.

  Well, he would get rid of whoever was at the door. Today, he wanted to be alone so he could figure out a way to get Sasha back. There was no way in hell he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life with her by his side.

  Storming over to the door, Sterling swung it open. “Go…” The rest of the words caught in his throat instead when his eyes landed on Sasha standing there, looking too beautiful for words. He couldn’t believe it had been a month since he had seen or touched her.

  Why was she here?

  Hadn’t she already ripped his heart out of his chest? What did she want to do, now dance on it?

  “Can I come inside for a few minutes?” Sasha asked. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Come in,” he said, stepping back giving her room to move past him.

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  He took his time closing and locking the door. “What are you doing here?” he asked, eyeing the short red dress Sasha was wearing, which showed off her toned legs to perfection.

  “I went by Comforts Sleep Company and one of the employees told me you’d already left for the day,” Sasha told him.

  “Yeah, I tried to stay but I couldn’t. Work just isn’t the same with you gone.” Sterling folded his arms across his chest so he wouldn’t pull Sasha into his arms and beg for her forgiveness. She had come to him for a reason and he would hear her out, but he was secretly hoping that Sasha was going to tell him that she would be willing to let him fix his mistake.

  “Do you know Holden came by to see me at Luxury? He told me in so many words that the both of us were too obstinate and scared to realize what we have is good.”

  Uncrossing his arms, Sterling walked towards Sasha until he was standing directly in front of her. He realized how much Sasha truly loved him for her to come to him.

  “I hate it when Holden is right. We both are stubborn sometimes, but I’m hoping that will end at least on my part after I tell you about my father.” Maybe after he got this out in the open, he would finally be able to keep his father in the past where he truly belonged.

  Taking Sasha by the hand, Sterling took her over to the couch and pulled her down next to him after he had already taken a seat. “My father never loved me. I think he might have actually hated being a father more than he despised having me as a son.”

  “Oh, Sterling that can’t be true.” Sasha gasped, placing her hand on his leg.

  For years, Sterling tried not to believe the truth, but now it was time he did. He had to accept the fact that he needed to put everything in his past behind him to have a future with Sasha.

  “Yes, sweetheart, it’s true. I know it’s horrible to hear, but my father never wanted me around. I had nannies taking care of me so much that I can’t really recall not having one around. I was a thorn in my father’s side that wouldn’t go away.

  “He didn’t want to send me to boarding school because he had an image to keep up, both professionally and personally. However, he didn’t care about the endless women that were brought into my life.”

  “What happened to your mother?” Sasha asked as her big brown eyes searched his.

  Sterling shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t know. Every time I asked my father about her, he would change the subject and tell me to stop asking him. I knew then to just leave it alone. Honestly, I think I came from one of the many women who shared his bed. I will never ever know since he’s dead now.”

/>   “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”

  The concern in Sasha’s voice touched him deeply. He pulled her further into his arms, resting his chin against the top of her head. “Don’t be. My father was a very uncaring man when it came to me. I think the final nail in the coffin of our already horrible relationship came when he kicked me out of the house after one of his girlfriends lied about me coming on to her.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Instead of listening to my side, he always stood by his newest girlfriend or lover. After that I knew there wouldn’t ever be anything between us, I guess my father’s constant rejection made me leery and very cautious of approaching you.”

  “Why? Did you think I was going to hurt you the same way your father had when you were younger by pushing you to the side without a second thought?”

  The hurt in Sasha’s voice was loud and clear to Sterling’s ears and it made him feel even worse than he already did.

  “Yes, I guess a part of me did think that,” he admitted truthfully. “Holden was the only person there through the toughest times with me. I was afraid to open up completely to anyone until I saw you. I knew what I was feeling for you was something worth fighting through my own personal demons for.”

  He moved Sasha completely back from his body so he could look directly into her eyes. Sterling wanted Sasha to see the love in his eyes when he told her this. “Baby, you have to understand what you heard at Comforts Sleep Company that day was only part of the conversation I was having with Holden.”

  “Are you saying that you weren’t going to fire me?”

  “No, I was going to fire you. You’re right about that part,” Sterling said and he held on tighter to Sasha when she tried to move away from him.

  “Let go of me,” Sasha said, struggling against him.

  “No, not until I’m finished, now be still.” Sterling waited for Sasha to calm down before he continued.

  “The night I went to the party at Rachelle’s house and talked to Cash. Every other word out of his mouth was about how much he loved your sister and the wonderful feelings she had brought into his life. I knew then I felt the same exact emotions for you.