Perhaps that was why he started the Anderson Collection. Nothing made him happier than having to dress sexy, beautiful, curvy women. Women that not only challenged him.
Women that turned him on.
Women that actually worked hard for everything they owned.
He was still looking down admiringly at Trina while stroking her hair when her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him.
“Well, good morning,” he said and she sighed as she gently ran her hand on his chest.
“How long have you been up?” she asked.
“Not long.”
“Thinking about how this whole situation will work out when I go back home?” she asked and he shook his head.
“No, I was just thinking of how happy and lucky I was to have such an amazing wife,” he said.
She smiled and he gently ran his hand up and down her upper arm.
“But now that you mentioned it, I’m curious.”
Trina stifled a moan.
“Mentioned what?” she asked.
“Going back home,” he said in a soft voice and she shrugged.
“I was just here for a few days, Axel. I have to go back home,” she said, still half asleep. “Can we talk about this later? I am still a little exhausted, really.”
He parted his lips to speak but she had already rolled over and gone back to sleep. And however hard he tried to go back to sleep, Axel just couldn’t do it. He had thought of the whole damn situation but he never once thought that he would run into what he was in right now. And now that he could no longer get back to sleep, he had to wait until the morning to talk to her. Tell her what he envisioned for their future. That he was looking to have Trina as his right hand woman in the Swiss Alps.
*****
The next few hours felt like pure torture as Axel lay next to a peacefully sleeping Trina. He had half a mind to wake her up but the thought that he was just waking her up so that he could have what he thought was a not so pleasant talk was not really how he wanted to start the talk. But it was even more torturous trying to go back to sleep because he could never really seem to get his mind off the subject. Which was why he surprised himself when he woke up the following morning. He reached across to her side of the bed and opened his eyes when he felt the empty space next to him.
He stirred in his sleep when he heard the TV was on. He got out of bed and put on a bathrobe before he walked out to the living room area where Trina was seated rubbing her ankle.
“You alright?” he asked as he looked at her and she nodded.
“I am. My ankle was just a bit sore. I’m rubbing this ointment Dr. Van Dyk gave me,” she said as she looked at the tube of ointment in her other hand.
“Have you had anything to eat yet?” he asked and she shook her head.
“I was about to call for room service when my ankle started aching,” she said and he walked up to where she was. He took the tube from her and put her legs on his lap.
“Let me do that for you,” he said in a soft voice. “But first I need you to tell me what you want for breakfast.”
She took a long deep breath and shook her head.
“Crispy turkey bacon and waffles,” she said in a soft voice and he nodded.
“Alright,” he said before he picked up the phone and made the call down to room service. He then squeezed a small amount of the ointment on his finger and began rubbing her ankle. “I’m sorry…this is going to be really uncomfortable.”
“Yeah…I can tell,” she said in an uncomfortable tone. She closed her eyes tightly and leaned back in her chair as he massaged her ankle.
“You are possibly feeling this way because of taking off the cast yesterday for those sandals,” he said smiling.
“I told you yesterday, I was not about to have weird photos showing me in a leg brace and crutches,” she said. “The most important day of my life was not going to be characterized by me being portrayed as a disabled woman.”
“I think the politically correct term is physically challenged,” he said in a soft voice and she shook her head.
“You know what I mean,” she said, wincing a little when she felt him rubbing her now swollen ankle.
After what seemed like forever, he bandaged up her ankle and looked into her eyes.
“You need to keep that wrapped from now on, alright?” he said. “And you need to keep the weight off that foot too.”
Trina smiled.
“Yes doctor,” she said in a soft voice.
There was a long uncomfortable silence before he finally spoke again.
“I mentioned something last night….but you were too tired to talk,” he started. “About you staying here.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“About me staying here,” she echoed and he nodded.
“Permanently staying here,” he said, hoping that everything was clearer. “With me. At the hotel.”
She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair.
“What do you mean stay with you here at the hotel?” she asked.
“I was just thinking now that we have each other, that you would stay here with me. Be my right hand woman and help me take care of the resort,” he said. “You can be my first lady in this resort.”
Trina bit her lower lip and shrugged.
“It all sounds so good but to be quite honest Axel, I have my career back at home. I can’t just leave, you know,” she said as she looked at him. “I guess we will just have to work out how this will work with you managing this place and the Anderson Collection and me still practicing at HHM.”
“HHM?” he asked.
“Hart, Hamlin and Matthews. The law firm I work for,” she said in a soft voice.
“So what you are saying is, you are choosing to be a lawyer over staying here with your husband?” he asked and Trina shook her head.
“I want you, Axel. That is why I am here. That is why I am…and I still cannot believe this…that is why I am your wife,” she said. “And maybe we should have sorted out the whole geographical situation before we decided to make everything official but I cannot deny that I have a life back home, Axel.”
“But living here, living with me here is better than anything you have back home,” he argued.
“Oh really?” she asked. Her voice was more cynical than honest. “And how would you even know that?”
“Well, here at Ornen, as my wife you are the queen of this resort. My second in command and you would have everything you need. I can organize with accounts and you can be on the payroll. I would not even mind adding more to your monthly stipend…” his voice trailed off before he noticed a doubting look in her eyes. “You could be our legal consultant if you wanted.”
“If I wanted?” she asked, her voice still cynical.
“Well, you did mention that you are into corporate law and honestly the hotel could use a person with your kind of talent, I know I would be happy to have someone with your skills in the Ornen family.”
“Victoria is a corporate lawyer too. So, why me and not her?” she asked and he shrugged.
“You are my wife. Not her.”
“So?” she asked, angrily.
“So it is important for a man and his wife to stay together. And besides, I would be giving you so much more than what MMH is paying you.”
“HHM,” Trina corrected him.
“I will double what you get at HHM.”
Trina shook her head.
“Axel, it’s not about the money…and even if it was, I want to earn it. I have never been the kind of woman who had the world handed to her and that is not going to start now.”
Axel looked at her for a long time and sighed.
“Why does it sound like you are trying as hard as you can to come up with a reason to leave?” he asked and Trina shrugged.
“I was always going to leave. I still have a life back home,” she pointed out matter of factly.
“But you have a new life. Here. With me.”
“Am I
supposed to ignore the fact that I am my own person?” she asked. “Was that what you expected from the woman you married?”
“A marriage is supposed to be all about team work,” he said and she shook her head.
“And this team,” she said as she moved her fingers between them. “Is going to figure out how to make this work.”
“I want you here with me, Trina. Stay.” He took her hand in his. “Help me run my empire.”
She shook her head.
“Axel, I can’t…” she started but before she could finish saying what she had in mind, Axel had moved her legs from his lap and stood up. The look in his eyes said it all. He was not just irritated, he was angry. It was like he had been waiting for her to say that she would not go back to the States. But the way he was looking at her at that moment, she knew that there was so much more than simple disappointment.
She parted her lips to continue explaining what was obviously a tough situation but Axel suddenly began walking towards the door. He didn’t even care that he had a bathrobe on.
“Axel,” she called out but he didn’t look back. “Axel wait!” she called out again but in response, he walked out of the suite slamming the door behind him, leaving a very confused and hurt Trina back in the room.
She took a long deep breath and felt a tear rolling down her cheek. She was not sad. But she most definitely felt stupid for believing that Axel was different. She angrily wiped off the tear but she could not stop another one from rolling down as she struggled to get to her feet. At that moment, she had gone through all the stages of her anger, regret being the one thing she felt the strongest. All she wanted to do was to get back to her own room and pack her bags. The two extra days she was supposed to be in Ornen were no longer worth it. Newly wed or not, she knew one thing for sure. She needed to get as far away from Axel as she possibly could.
She was so messed up about the whole situation that she never once thought of calling Victoria’s room or even leaving her a note. All she wanted to do was to get to the airport and get as far away from Ornen as she possibly could. But she was singing a different tune once she was in the plane. She was in tears as she rode back in the plane regretting her decision to leave.
Regretting her decision to rush into marriage. She took longer than five minutes just deciding whether she wanted to sit down with someone for coffee let alone date or even marry them. She was also regretting the fact that she had left so fast. At the back of her mind, she kept on wishing that she did not have the pain in her leg so that she could run after Axel because despite everything that he had said and everything that had happened that morning, she knew one thing for sure. She still loved Axel more than anything in the world. Hell, she was in love with him. And she missed him.
Chapter 9
Victoria was still asleep when she heard the familiar ringing of her cell phone. Something she had not heard for a few days since she got to the Swiss Alps. She pulled herself to the edge of the bed and Matt pulled her closer to him.
“Where are you going?” he asked in a groggy voice as he pushed his erection into her ass.
“I have to answer that,” Victoria said. “Or at least check out who is calling.”
“Maybe you don’t,” Matt said as he shifted his weight and got on top of her just as the phone stopped ringing. “See? Maybe it is not all that important.”
Victoria smiled at him and ran her fingers through his hair.
“You know, I think I have spent more time naked with you in this past week than I ever did with my ex,” she said in a soft voice and he smiled.
“And is that such a bad thing?” he asked and she shook her head.
“Not in the very least,” she said as she looked at him. “But I have no idea how I am going to adjust once I go back to reality.”
“Why don’t we cross that bridge when we get to it?” he asked and she shrugged.
“We are already at that bridge, Matt. I only have another day here.”
“Then let’s make the best of it,” he said as he lowered his head. He gently brushed her lips with his and looked down at her when he pulled away.
“How about we make a plan of how this is going to work out once I get back home?” she asked. “You know I will need my dose of all this once I’m back, right? I mean, I do work in a very stressful environment you know.”
Matt gently ran his hand down her torso, gently brushing against her breast.
“So, this was not just a fling?” he asked and she bit her lower lip.
“It’s a bit soon to put any label on it but I know for a fact that I do want more of this,” she said as she gently ran her fingers down his spine. He let out a long low groan as she got closer and closer to his waist.
“You are making it really hard for me to consider my priorities, you know,” he whispered as he once again lowered his body onto hers.
It was obvious from the way he was hard and by how strategically he had positioned himself at her entrance that he was doing everything in his power not to simply take her right there and then. Her pussy was already so moist and warm. And her perky breasts were gently rubbing against his chest and even then, he was fighting against his primal instinct to just claim her.
“I want you to reconsider your priorities,” Victoria said in a soft voice just as her phone began ringing again.
“Damn that phone!” Matt said, Victoria grinning widely.
“I have to check and see who it is. For all I know one of my clients might need my help,” she said.
“Fine,” Matt said sighing loudly as he rolled off her body and lay next to her.
Victoria reached for her phone and when she looked at it, she frowned.
“Is everything okay?” Matt asked and she shook her head.
“It’s Axel,” she said.
“Maybe you should answer it,” Matt said and Victoria shrugged.
“But why is he calling my cell? Why not call the room?” she asked holding the still ringing phone in her hand.
“I might have taken the phone off the hook,” Matt said guiltily.
Victoria pulled herself to a sitting position and answered the phone.
“Axel…hi,” she said in a soft but confused voice.
“Victoria…I’m sorry to be calling you so early,” he said.
“Honestly, I didn’t even think you had my number.”
“Well, I broke every hospitality privacy rule there is and looked at your booking details,” he admitted. She could hear that he was stressed about something.
“It’s okay…my phone is off the hook anyway…long story…” she tried explaining.
“It’s fine…I just wanted to know if you have heard from Trina,” he said and Victoria shook her head as if he could see her.
“No…I haven’t. I thought I would give you guys some time alone last night being your wedding night and everything,” she said and she heard him sigh loudly.
“Well she is gone and I don’t know where she is,” he said.
Victoria climbed out of bed holding a sheet against her breasts.
“What is going on?” she asked. “Is everything alright?”
There was a long silence from Axel’s line before she spoke again.
“Axel. Is everything alright?” she asked again.
“I don’t know…I just got back to our suite and when I didn’t find her there, I thought she just needed time alone but it has been almost two hours and I can’t seem to find her. Not on the phone. Not by email.”
“The last time I saw you guys everything seemed to be going great. What changed?” she asked.
“The front desk just confirmed that she checked herself out two hours ago,” he said and Victoria sighed loudly. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked at Matt.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“The honeymoon suite,” he said. “I have been waiting here hoping that she is coming back any minute now but I don’t think anything is happening, Vickie.”
He sou
nded distraught. And Victoria, even though she had only known him for a few days, could tell that he was breaking inside. And she didn’t even know why.
“I’m coming up there,” she said before she hung up.
She sat on the edge of the bed and put the phone down next to her.
“Everything okay?” Matt asked as he held her waist and pressed his lips into her shoulder. But she shook her head.
“I don’t know,” she said in a soft voice. “I have absolutely no idea.”
*****
Saying that Axel was agitated was the understatement of the year. He was upset. He was confused. He was worried and he could not even figure out why the hell he was such as ass.
He had found the perfect woman for him. The kind of woman he had always been looking for. And he had made assumptions about their future. He had expected her to be okay with everything he suggested but he had done something wrong. He had not heard her out.
Not once.
He never even asked what she thought of the whole situation.
“Maybe all these women who were always chasing after me have ruined me for everyone else,” he thought as he sat there looking at the now cold untouched breakfast.
It was obvious that he had projected the strong personality he was forced to have with other women on the one woman who got him. The one who understood him. And he was not ready to let her go. Not just yet.
He was still spiraling when he heard a knock on the door. He got up quickly and rushed to the door. His heart was pounding as he opened the door. Probably because at the back of his mind, he was hoping to find Trina standing out there. He was a little disappointed when he found Victoria standing out there.
“Hey,” she said in a soft voice and he forced a smile.
“Hey,” he said in a whisper before he stepped aside and she walked in. “Can I get you something? Water? Juice? Soda?” he asked and she shrugged.
“Water is just fine,” she said as she walked towards the couch. “I’ll just take one of these bottles right here,” she said as she picked a bottle from the room service cart.
Axel nodded and looked at her as she sat down.
“So,” she started as she opened the bottle of water. “What happened?”
The Billionaire's Big Beautiful Bride (BWWM Romance Book 1) Page 9