Serenity (Inevitable Book 5)

by Janet Nissenson

  She entwined her fingers with his, resting their clasped hands on her lap. “I know that,” she replied somberly. “And I know that your relationship with me has no bearing on your marriage. But can you honestly say that other people will view the situation in the same way? That your family wouldn’t think it’s morally wrong to bring another woman into their home before your divorce is officially legal?”

  Matthew chuckled. “My family is a bunch of scientists and college professors and engineers. Everyone is very forward thinking and progressive, and not a single one of them would judge you or think of you as the other woman. On the contrary, they’d welcome you into their homes with open arms. Especially since their relationship with Lindsey has always been more than a little strained. After I started my own company and made a whole lot of money, she’d resent pretty much anything I tried to do for my family - giving them gifts, offering to buy my parents a new home, treating them to a nice vacation. Even when we all went out to dinner, she’d complain afterwards that my family was taking advantage of me by letting me pick up the bill or that my father should at least have paid the tip. The fact that we had more money than we could spend in five lifetimes never mattered to her. She’s greedy and selfish and my family actually welcomed the news that I was divorcing her. So, no. My family would be very, very happy if I were to bring you home with me to meet them.”

  His words filled Sasha with an unexpected warmth, and she beamed at him gratefully. “Thank you for saying that,” she murmured. “And I would love to meet your family at some point. But this first Christmas after you filed for divorce probably isn’t the ideal time.”

  He sighed. “Yeah, I suppose not. But mostly because it would only make Lindsey fight me even harder than she already is about having the kids for a week. She was actually shocked when I told her she wouldn’t be coming along with us this year, and needed to make other plans. Unbelievable.”

  Sasha frowned. “Doesn’t she have family of her own to spend Christmas with?”

  “Nope. Oh, she’s got a mother and a sister, but they’ve all been on the outs with each other for as long as I’ve known Lindsey. I’m not sure she even knows where they live any longer. I’ve offered to pay for her and a friend to spend the week at a very expensive resort down in Mexico, an offer she’s currently thinking about.”

  “What do the kids want to do?” asked Sasha tentatively.

  “Casey wants to go back to Wisconsin, of course. He gets along great with my family, and loves to hang out with my brother’s kids. Hayley - well, who really knows what she wants nowadays? All she seems to care about is texting with her friends, finding a good party to attend every weekend, and spending a whole lot of money. Wonder who she picked up that habit from.” He released her hand in order to downshift the Tesla Model X that he was driving this evening. “But when push comes to shove, I’m betting she’ll go with us to Wisconsin. Especially since she’d really put a cramp in Lindsey’s style if she announced she was going to Mexico with her.”

  “I’m sorry Lindsey is being so difficult,” she consoled. “Sounds to me like she could use a nice long massage to help relieve all of that tension.”

  Matthew gave a sardonic hoot of laughter. “Yeah, except that she’d insist on having the massage done by some buff guy ten to fifteen years younger than she is. Hey, maybe that idea would sell her on going to Mexico!”

  They shared a laugh over that one before he asked her quietly, “You’re sure that it’s okay for me to go to Wisconsin with the kids? You won’t feel left out or neglected?”

  She gave him a look of mock sternness. “At last count Chad and Julio had invited over fifty people for their Christmas Eve gala, and they aren’t finished yet. The place is going to be a madhouse, so much that I’ll probably be tempted to barricade myself in my room after awhile. And in spite of how much they drive me nuts, I do enjoy spending time with my parents. So I will definitely not feel either left out or neglected. And I understand, Matthew. Truly I do. You need to be with your children and your family on Christmas, and I think it’s wonderful. You’re a great father, and I’m sure you’re an amazing son and brother, too. And I realized the first time I met you that you were the best man I’ve ever known.”

  Matthew closed his eyes briefly at her heartfelt words, taking a long, deep breath before opening them again and staring at her with a sense of wonder in his eyes. “And I think the first time we met that I knew somehow you would be the one to save me,” he whispered hoarsely. “The one who would help me find myself again after being lost for a long time. Thank you, Sasha. You’re the only Christmas gift I want.”

  She reached over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, before murmuring seductively, “Well, then. I think as soon as we reach your place that you should start unwrapping your present. It’s never too early to get in the holiday spirit, you know.”

  He gulped as her hand dropped to his thigh, giving the tightly bunched muscles there a gentle massage, before stepping on the gas a little bit harder.

  New Year’s Eve

  “More champagne?”

  Sasha shook her head. “No, thanks. At least not right now. I’m already way over the amount I usually limit myself to.”

  Matthew grinned devilishly. “Ah, but it’s New Year’s Eve, after all. And if I don’t get you a little tipsy, it will be that much harder for me to have my wicked way with you later.”

  She set her champagne flute down and reached across the table to give him a long, deep kiss. “It will actually be the easiest thing you’ve ever done in your life,” she whispered teasingly.

  He made a sound deep in his throat that sounded an awful lot like a growl. “Don’t tempt me, sweetheart,” he warned. “We haven’t been together in almost ten days, so I’ve had to restrain myself all during dinner to not pick you up and toss you on my bed.”

  Her green-gold eyes sparkled at him mischievously. “Hmm, well perhaps you shouldn’t have ordered in quite so much food, then. Including three different desserts, I see. This is just a little over the top, don’t you think?”

  “Nope,” he replied cheerfully. “After all, I didn’t get to spend Christmas Eve or Day with you, so tonight’s dinner is sort of a combination of all three holidays.” He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “I missed you a whole lot, Sasha. Wished like hell the entire trip that you had come along with me. Maybe next year.”

  She tried to quell the alarm those last three words provoked, especially since she’d never really contemplated her future with Matthew. As much as she enjoyed being with him, as happy as he’d made her these past few months, she still considered their relationship to be somewhat casual, and certainly one with no commitments or promises about the future.

  But since it was the holiday season, and she knew how much trouble he’d gone to so they could have a special evening, Sasha tactfully didn’t comment further, except to smile and say, “Maybe so.”

  He had given her the choice of either dining out this evening at whatever restaurant she liked, or having food delivered in. She had chosen the latter, partly because every restaurant in the city would be packed to overflowing with holiday celebrants, and also because she’d sensed that was Matthew’s preference. He had just flown in this afternoon from Wisconsin, and had seemed both pleased and relieved at the prospect of spending New Year’s Eve in the privacy and serenity of his condo.

  “You’re sure you don’t mind staying home?” he asked somewhat anxiously. “I mean, we’ve still got plenty of time to go out and do something fun. There’s dozens of bars and clubs in town, and I’m certain most of them will be having a celebration of one kind or another.”

  “I’m very happy to be staying in this evening,” she assured him, linking their fingers together. “As you might have guessed, wild parties and big groups aren’t my favorite thing. And if I had wanted that I would have just suggested we take Chad and Julio up on their offer and attend their party. They pull out all the stops on New Year�
��s Eve, so I’m glad I had the excuse of coming here to your place.”

  Matthew looked relieved. “Okay, if you’re positive. But I definitely owe you a long weekend away someplace. Even better, a whole week. Is there some place you’ve ever wanted to go but haven’t been to? I know you’ve traveled all over Latin America and Europe, but where else would you want to go?”

  Sasha gave him a wry smile. “Just to clear up any misconceptions you might have had about my world travels, it wasn’t as glamorous or exciting as you might think. Both my father’s band and my mother’s dance troupe always seemed to operate on a shoestring budget, so there were a lot of cheap hotel rooms and bargain meals. It wasn’t like staying at a Ritz Carlton or Gregson hotel, or eating at five star restaurants. But that never mattered to me when I was young. I was just happy to be with whatever parent had charge of me at the time, and doing as much sightseeing as possible in each city.”

  “Well, now you’ve got a boyfriend who can afford to take you anywhere in the world, and stay at the best accommodations in town,” declared Matthew. “So give that idea some thought, okay? I’m hoping to schedule some time off in the spring.”

  “I think someplace warm and sunny sounds like a wonderful idea right about now,” she answered. “It’s been so cold and rainy already and we’re only a couple of weeks into winter. And I’ve never been to Hawaii or the Caribbean.”

  He grinned. “Consider it done. I’ll work on clearing a week in my schedule and then make plans for a tropical getaway. And before you ask where, it’s going to be a surprise. Speaking of which,” he added mysteriously, “I still need to give you your Christmas presents. Do you want them now or after dessert?”

  Sasha patted her belly. “After that amazing dinner I know I won’t be able to eat anything else for at least a couple of hours. And I hope you didn’t go overboard on the presents, Matthew. Like you did with the food tonight.”

  She’d been agog at the display of all the different dishes he’d ordered in from the elite catering company who handled a lot of events for MBI, a veritable smorgasbord of various cuisines - Japanese, Italian, Thai, Indian, Mexican, French, and more. Sasha couldn’t recall the last time she had eaten quite so much, and regretted that she hadn’t saved a bit more room for another helping of chile rellenos, one of her very favorite foods.

  Matthew’s grin only deepened. “Depends on what you consider going overboard. I can promise that I didn’t buy you a car. Or a twenty thousand dollar watch. Not that I wouldn’t be happy to get both of those for you, of course, but..”

  “No.” She shook her head vehemently. “And you can’t possibly be serious that some company really makes a watch that costs so much money.”

  “Twenty thousand is actually at the lower end of the scale for luxury watches,” he admitted. “One year for Valentine’s Day Lindsey requested a Cartier watch that cost eighty thousand. And that was just one of her gifts.”

  Sasha stared at him in disbelief. “Eighty thousand,” she whispered. “My God, I barely earn that much money in two years. Wow. I - I had no idea that you were quite that wealthy, Matthew.”

  “I thought you knew,” he replied soberly. “I, um, was named one of the wealthiest men in America earlier this year.”

  He told her then what his approximate net worth was, and she couldn’t even begin to think of a suitable reply. That sort of wealth - in the billions rather than simply the millions - was something she couldn’t even begin to fathom. And Matthew - with his goofy grin, easygoing personality, and endearing clumsiness at times - was certainly the most unlikely billionaire she could have imagined.

  “Well,” she told him a bit shakily, “I’ll go on record right now and tell you that the only thing I’d like for Valentine’s Day is a bouquet of flowers. And maybe some really good Mexican food for dinner.”

  He laughed heartily as he pushed back his chair and walked over to her side of the table. “Come on,” he urged. “I’ll make a note of your wish list for Valentine’s Day, but I’m afraid I’ve already gone a little overboard with your Christmas gifts.”

  Before she could protest, he was drawing her to her feet, then leading her by the hand to the room that doubled as his office and the massage room.

  “Did you buy a new massage table?” she joked. “Because I’m pretty sure the one you already have is the top of the line and - oh.”

  As he flicked on the overhead light, Sasha could only stare in wonder at the sight that greeted her - at least two dozen gifts of various shapes and sizes, all beautifully wrapped in striped satin paper and elaborately tied velvet bows. She thought in a near panic that he had probably spent more on just the wrapping paper and ribbon that she had on his entire gift.

  But she wasn’t able to resist running her palm over the gift nearest to her, enjoying the lush softness of the velvet ribbon beneath her fingers. She’d never experienced such extravagance in her life before, had never been showered with so many presents at once, or had someone like Matthew who treated her like a princess. And while she had never been deprived of anything, had always had everything she needed, neither had she ever really been indulged before. Neither of her parents had made much money during the gypsy days of her youth, and while they were both comfortably off now Sasha certainly wouldn’t call either of them wealthy. She’d counted herself lucky as a child to receive half a dozen small gifts, and had cherished each and every one of them.

  The lavish pile of presents that took up an entire corner of this room, however, was like something out of a fairy tale. She shook her head in mingled dismay and delight as she picked up a medium sized box.

  “I - I don’t know what to say,” she began haltingly. “Or where to begin.”

  Matthew grinned. “The one you’re holding in your hands is a good place to start. Here, I’ll tell you what. Take a seat in the desk chair and I’ll bring the gifts over one at a time.”

  Nearly an hour later, Sasha was down to her last gift, and felt moved nearly to tears at all of the beautiful, thoughtful things Matthew had chosen for her. He knew quite well that she wouldn’t have been impressed by expensive jewelry or designer handbags, and had instead gone out of his way to make each gift - large and small - something personal. Oh, not that some of the presents hadn’t been on the extravagant side - like the brand new laptop and top of the line cell phone he’d insisted that she accept.

  “Hey, I’m the CEO of one of the biggest software companies in the world,” he had pointed out. “If word ever got out that my girlfriend didn’t even own a computer, and that her phone was hopelessly out of date, I’d be a laughingstock. So you have to accept both of them, don’t you see? In order to save my reputation, that is.”

  But most of his gifts had been small, thoughtful items - a bag of her favorite loose leaf tea; an exquisitely soft cashmere scarf; a CD by a sitar player that she liked; a pair of copper and jade earrings that he assured her were costume and not the real thing.

  It was his final gift, though, that touched her the most - a small painting of a woodland fairy that she’d admired once in a gallery while window shopping with him after dinner one evening. She had completely forgotten about the painting, and marveled that he could be this thoughtful, this observant.

  Sasha set the painting on his desk carefully before flinging herself into his arms, pressing a tender kiss to his cheek.

  “Everything is perfect,” she whispered tearfully. “Absolutely perfect. You are the kindest, most wonderful man I’ve ever known. Even if all of this is ridiculously over the top, far, far too extravagant. You went completely overboard, Matthew.”

  He buried his face against her curls, pulling her close against his body. “Not even close, sweetheart,” he assured her. “If you could have seen some of the things I really wanted to buy you, well - you’d have set your foot down for sure.” He lifted his head then, cupping her cheek tenderly in his hand. “You are the one person in my life who never asks me for a thing, who never expects
stuff. Whether it’s Lindsey or Hayley demanding a new pair of shoes or a luxury vacation somewhere, or one of my managers needing an hour of my time to go over a proposal, it feels like every day, every hour, someone wants or needs something from me. Except you. Rather than ask me for things, you give them instead. And in these few months we’ve been together, you’ve already given me so much, Sasha. Far, far more than any present I could give you in return.”

  Tears had begun to pool in her eyes at his impassioned words, and her lips were trembling as he claimed them in a slow, sweet kiss. The kiss quickly ignited, and turned hungry, passionate, in the blink of an eye. He scooped her up into his arms, and kicked away a wadded up pile of discarded wrapping paper as he carried her out of the room.

  Once in the master bedroom, he laid her down on the bed with great care, as though she was a fragile, treasured piece of glass. With only the bright light of a nearly full moon to illuminate the room, Matthew began to undress her slowly, taking his time this evening instead of nearly tearing her clothes off with frantic lust as he so often did. She had dressed up for their special holiday dinner, in a flapper-style dress of ivory silk and lace that she’d unearthed in a vintage store. He slid the dainty spaghetti straps off her shoulders, then carefully worked the dress down past her narrow hips and off her legs.

  “My God. Look at you.”

  His voice was hoarse as he stared down at her prone body with ill-disguised desire. For once she’d chosen a push-up bra, this one of cream silk with lace insets, and it made her breasts appear fuller, more voluptuous. His hot gaze continued its downward path, past her toned abs and concave belly, to the lacy garter belt and miniscule pair of panties that matched the provocative bra. Sheer silk stockings were attached to the garters, but she had ditched her high heeled ivory pumps not long after arriving this evening, preferring as usual to walk around barefoot.