Maya had her arms crossed and glared up at Andrew. “Well, go on.”
He looked down at her, hesitant, then turned to Dana. “Sorry.”
Maya smacked his arm admonishingly. Andrew cringed.
“I’m sorry for what I said, about Marcel,” he added. Andrew looked terribly uncomfortable, and Dana couldn’t blame him. Maya looked ready to burn him with her eyes.
“Maya,” Dana croaked. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Maya, I think… maybe I should speak privately with Andrew.”
“If you say so,” Maya muttered, turning away from her victim. “I guess I’ll head to work a little early. You sure?”
Dana nodded, not certain of her voice at the moment. Maya picked up her bag and put on her coat, throwing the occasional glare at Andrew. On the way out the door, she gave Dana a hug.
“The baseball bat’s right here in the hall closet if you need it,” Maya whispered when she was just next to Dana’s ear.
The mental image of her beating Andrew with a baseball bat was just too funny. Dana left out a sharp laugh, which she tried to turn into a cough. No one was fooled. Maya sighed and let herself out, and Dana found herself alone, for the third time today, with Andrew Poole.
Suddenly awkward, Dana set down her bag and crossed her arms. She didn’t know what else to do with them. It seemed a strange time to invite him to sit or ask to take his coat, so she didn’t. They ended up standing in her entryway, silent, for what felt like an hour.
“Lauren called me at the office,” Andrew told her finally.
Dana’s mind went blank. “Who?”
“Marcel’s wife.”
“Oh.” The memory of the dinner party last weekend came back, and it did not make things less awkward. “Um… what did she say?”
“She wanted to apologize to you, also.” Andrew’s hands were in his coat pockets. He seemed to have no idea what to do with his arms, either. “I guess Marcel pulls this crap all the time, and she saw you, and thought Marcel had already started something with you…”
“Does everyone think I’m a cheater?” Dana asked quietly.
“No!” Andrew replied quickly. “No, I don’t think that! I was stupid, and—and jealous.”
“Jealous? Over what?”
“Marcel got under my skin,” Andrew sighed. “He managed to make me think that you were getting bored with me.”
Dana looked at him a long time. She couldn’t help a small grin. “He made you defensive about our imaginary engagement?”
“When you say it like that, it makes less sense,” Andrew pointed out. But he’d allowed himself a tiny smile, too, and Dana could already feel the tension in her chest loosening, like a river thawing in April.
“So he made you think your fake fiancée was cheating on you,” Dana clarified. “You’re right. That doesn’t make much sense.”
“Whether it makes sense or not, I’m sorry for what I said to you.” Andrew’s smile faded. “That was a terrible thing for me to say. After all you’ve done for me, I acted ungrateful—like a teenage brat. I was trying to tell myself you weren’t mine to get jealous over, all the while being jealous over you.”
“There was no need for you to be jealous,” Dana chuckled. Realizing what she said, she added, “I mean, because… we aren’t really engaged. Nothing to get jealous over.”
“But that’s the thing, Dana. I think I want something to be jealous over. These past few days with you have been some of best I can remember.”
Dana’s heart had jumped up under her collarbones. Andrew’s handsome face had grown intense, earnest. She already knew what he was going to say. Without realizing it, she’d been saying it to herself all weekend.
“I was thinking, maybe, we could go out together sometime,” Andrew continued. “Like real couples do. And maybe we could be a real couple. I mean, Nick wanted me to ask you to marry me for real, but it’s only been a week…” Andrew trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.
Dana smiled and nodded. “Andrew, I think that would be great.”
He nodded and stood there, clearly at a loss for what to do next.
“But you know,” Dana pointed out, uncrossing her arms. She reached out and let her fingers trail the row of buttons on the chest of his coat. If she wasn’t mistaken, Andrew stopped breathing as she did so. “We have a bit of a head start. I mean, we’ve known each other for months, and we have been engaged all week.”
Dana was quite a bit shorter than Andrew, but he seemed to take the hint as she pulled him closer by the lapels and tilted her mouth up to his. For the second time, they kissed, and neither of them pulled away. In fact, Dana reached over and locked the front door, which her sister had left open.
“You don’t have anywhere to be, right?” she asked, pulling off her coat. Andrew shook his head, still kissing her, slipping out of his own coat at the same time.
They took off their shoes, and Dana led Andrew to her bedroom. Her pulse thundered. It had been a very long time since she brought a man home.
Andrew helped her unzip her dress as she helped him tear open his suit shirt. He was a little slim, but muscular and toned and once his shirt was off, Dana found she couldn’t keep her hands off him.
Their kisses had grown scalding, fiery with need. Dana was trying to catch her breath, but found that more difficult when Andrew dropped his lips to her neck and traced a line from her jaw to her shoulder. His muscles under her hands bunched, tightened, and the strength in him made her shiver. He certainly didn’t look very intimidating with his clothes on. As they came off, Dana couldn’t recall why she’d ever thought him tame.
He kissed the hollow of her throat, cupping the small of her back with both hands. Dana let Andrew lean her back onto her bed, down to just her bra and panties. She fumbled at his belt, then at the zipper holding his pants closed, all the while Andrew leaned over her and rained his lips against her chest, along the edges of her lingerie…
Dana gasped as his tongue dashed under the lace of her bra. She finally got his pants loose, and they crumpled to the floor. Andrew stepped out of them, onto the bed, over Dana.
His weight—and the hard ridge of his arousal—pressed between her legs, spinning Dana’s senses and making it impossible to think of anything more complicated than the coolness of the sheets below her, the heat of Andrew’s skin above. Her fingers ran through his short hair. It was softer than she’d guessed, and his head was in a perfect position for raking her fingers in his hair, since he was still teasing the lines around her bra, inching the straps off her shoulders.
The space between her legs was beginning to ache for him. Oh, it had been a very long time since she had a man in her bedroom. They inched up her bed until both their feet were no longer dangling over the edge, and then Andrew’s hands were tracking around her back, teasing at the hooks of her bra. Dana lifted her chest slightly so he could unsnap them, and soon it sailed to the floor with their other clothes.
Testing, his hand moved up her torso, circling her breast. Dana’s heart leapt, and she made no move to stop him as Andrew drew his thumb across her nipple, sending shocks of pleasure through her nervous system. It was hard to focus, hard to think, so she just let her fingers glide over the skin of his back, easing him closer.
By the time Dana began to tug at his boxers, sliding them down from his long legs, Andrew had settled into the space next to her, curling her close against his chest as he closed his mouth over hers again. Getting her meaning, Andrew helped her removed his last clothing, leaving him very naked, and very hard.
“You, next,” he murmured against her lips, smiling. Dana nodded and the next thing she knew, her own panties were gone, leaving nothing between her and Andrew’s pulsing erection.
One of them was going to have to be the bold one. Dana rolled on top of Andrew, enjoying his look of surprise and approval. She rested her weight just behind the part of him that was hot for her, and trailed the tips of her nails up his chest, leaning forward, resting her small breast
s against his chest…
Andrew groaned, grinning. Dana nipped his collarbone lightly, then his earlobe, and then their lips were together again and her blood fired at his touch as Andrew gripped her buttocks in his hands as if he never wanted to hold anything else ever again.
Leaning forward, Andrew’s member was now pressed against the most sensitive spot, the knot of nerves that was becoming more and more receptive to the feel of him. It wasn’t enough for him to be this close. Dana wanted him inside her.
The feeling appeared to be mutual. Questioningly, Andrew rolled his hips upward against her, and Dana felt her world tip. He seemed to have noticed, because he grinned against her mouth and did it again, slower, teasing. Dana’s fingers curled in his hair, then loosened and travelled back down, down his chest, to the pressure building at his groin.
His entire body twitched a little, and Andrew’s back arched. But Dana was impatient, and although she could have strung him out a little longer, her own eagerness for connection was growing impossible to ignore. Smoothly, she rose up and guided him into her, gliding in pumps down his shaft until he was fully sheathed.
Dana didn’t have to wonder what Andrew thought, or if he enjoyed it thus far. He actually cried out softly as he slipped into her, and his hands on her hips spasmed.
Slow at first, Dana began to move her body in waves, pulsing him in and out of her. Andrew fell into the rhythm, rocking his own hips in time to her movements, falling into a natural synch. Together, they began to gain speed. It seemed to Dana that her body began to spiral, tensing into a corkscrew centered on the place where they were joined, ready to spring off into a million directions as their pace picked up.
When they were moving at a feverish speed, Dana felt her climax building like a growing wave. Not a moment too soon. When he looked at her and realized she was at her peak, Andrew toppled over as well, gasping for breath.
Their motion tumbled apart gently, slowing. Dana let herself fall forward onto Andrew’s chest, warm and sluggish and wonderfully exhausted. His arm wrapped around her shoulders as if it were made to fit there, and Dana sighed, content.
Andrew kissed the top of her head. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but the words never came out. Eventually, Dana looked up at him with a mischievous smile.
“Does this mean we’re a real couple?”
***
Four days later, at the Annual Autumn Ball, Dana sat beside Andrew’s empty chair and listened to him give his speech, announcing the new community center, construction starting in the spring.
The hall was decorated in oranges and golds, two of Dana’s favorite colors. She’d never been to a gathering quite like this one. There were quite a few more people than the annual office Christmas party at The Current.
Dana was clad in a new dress, bought just for the occasion. It matched the décor, a glamorous body-con number in shiny gold and sultry red. Maya’s head had nearly spun as they shopped through the city for the perfect outfit. Neither of them had ever bought from anywhere classier than JC Penny, but Andrew had insisted on paying.
Andrew had invited Maya to the ball, also, but the younger Deshaun sister declined gracefully. She claimed the need to study, although her semester was five months from starting.
Sitting at the table of honor with Andrew on one side and Nick on the other, Dana felt halfway like a princess. Just two weeks ago, she’d thought her life was complete, but that was before she realized that the man riding to work beside her every day was her prince.
From up on stage, Andrew’s eyes met hers for a moment, and she smiled broadly. Yes, there were hundreds of other people here tonight. Yes, his face was pleasant for everyone—a stage face, the expression of someone excited to share himself with a crowd. But the smile was for her, only her, when their eyes met for that instant.
Dana sighed. She was so head-over-heels.
Nick nudged her gently. “Save the sighing for the bedroom, sister,” he whispered devilishly.
Dana had to stifle the sudden laugh that threatened to burst out.
Trying to distract herself, Dana’s eyes scanned the room. Unfortunately, there were far less pleasant people than Andrew to see. Lauren Marcel had spoken to Dana personally apologizing for her behavior. In secret, she’d admitted that she was speaking with a divorce lawyer about splitting from her husband, soon, with a little luck. Beside her, Louis sat glumly, trying to look enthusiastic about the ball and the speech going on.
He glanced over and caught Dana looking. With a grim smile, Dana slowly raised her middle finger in his direction. It was her left hand, the one that held the shining emerald ring that Andrew has given her. Louis Marcel looked away from her furiously.
Minutes later, applause rang through the hall and Andrew was headed back to take his seat at the table again.
“What’d you think?” he asked, stealing a kiss from Dana as he ducked into his chair.
“You’ll be up for a Nobel Prize, next,” Dana told him solemnly. Nick snorted on her other side.
Andrew chuckled. “Hey, if someone is willing to hand out a Nobel Prize for an announcement speech, I’m all for it.”
Under the table, Andrew’s hand settled in hers. Dana couldn’t help but smile. This whole situation had started off sounding like a bad idea that could only get worse, and here she was, engaged. If anything had been different—if she’d so much as taken later hours at work—she never would have met him. It sounded too far-fetched to be chance.
Dana leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He was hers, and she was his. Never in her life had Dana imagined a thing could be so simple, and yet so perfect.
Epilogue
The Maui sun was scorching, turning the beach into a bone-white barbecue pit snugged in between the green mountain behind and the infinite blue ahead. The ocean was peaceful today—not much good for the hopeful surfers who were now lounging on the beach beside their unused boards. Enjoying a nice bit of shade and sipping a cold drink was just as good as surfing when it was this hot, as far as Dana could see.
At that thought, she took another sip of the ice melting in her mostly-empty glass. She was sitting on the deck of their private bungalow, soaking in the fifth day of their two-week honeymoon. Back home in New York, New Year’s had come and gone, complete with the wild madhouse of Times Square and the ball drop. Valentine’s Day was still far ahead, and mid-January was cold as an ice cream truck in Canada. But here in Hawaii, it seemed like endless summer. If this was winter, Dana was a little afraid to know what July was like.
Her phone pinged, and Dana swiped the screen open. It was a text from Maya. Dana had gotten a whole lot of those in the last few days. Her and Andrew’s wedding had been just before Maya’s semester began—in the end, they went for the small, private ceremony Nick had made up on the spot months before. And then the Pooles had left for Hawaii, and Maya had dived head-first into medical school.
This one was succinct, compared to the others. Maya had just found out that her first medical terminology exam was just a month away, and proceeded to write half a paragraph containing several words that were nigh incomprehensible. Dana wondered if Maya knew she was speaking in another language.
Out on the ocean, something gray with fins jumped, but Dana looked too late to see what it was. She’d been keeping her eyes peeled for dolphins since they arrived. Tomorrow, they were going for a day on the boat around the island to scout out a pod.
“Here we go.” Andrew returned, carrying two glasses. Dana sat up eagerly. Something cold to drink sounded just right, about now.
When they’d first arrived, there had been a wait staff to go along with the bungalow, but Dana had a hard time getting used to the constant presence of a butler on their heels. She’d asked Andrew to dismiss the unnecessary handlers from their bungalow. It just seemed too crowded and formal with them there.
Andrew had complied, of course. As a result, they had to open their own doors and fetch their own drinks, but their honeymoon was as quiet
and private as could be, with nothing but the gentle waves and their distant neighbors to intrude on their tropical getaway.
“Blood orange lemonade,” Andrew announced politely, setting down Dana’s drink on her coaster with a flourish. “And plain lemon lemonade for me.”
He sat down in the patio chair next to Dana as she took a sip of her drink. It was a little too early in the day for alcohol. Neither Andrew nor Dana were particularly heavy drinkers, and tended to lean towards fruit drinks and the occasional soda during the day.
“You really missed your calling as a bartender,” Dana sighed comically, and took another sip.
Andrew laughed. “I know. There are nights that I sit up thinking about for hours. It’s not too late…”
Dana rolled her eyes. The blood orange lemonade was pre-made. She liked it so much she requested a pitcher be brought in every morning for her. All Andrew did was pour it and put an umbrella in the glass.
“Want to go to the luau again tonight?” Andrew asked, grinning. He’d been enjoying their time in Hawaii almost as much as Dana was. Almost.
“Sure! I could eat there every night, if my scale would only let me.”
When it came time to decide where they should go for their honeymoon, a number of places had been thrown around as possibilities. Andrew had named a list of foreign beaches and retreats. He’d even asked if she wanted to go to the hot springs in Iceland. But Dana, who’d always dreamed of going on vacation in Hawaii, had convinced him it was a good idea. He was hard to win over. It seemed like he felt cheap, taking her on an exclusive island vacation within the United States.
But Dana hadn’t regretted it once, and even Andrew was acting like a full-on tourist at some of the most beautiful mountaintops and waterfalls. When Dana asked, he told her he’d never even been to Hawaii before.
Dana’s phone dinged again, and she glanced at the screen. Laughing out loud, she handed it over to Andrew to read.
He levelled a droll stare at Dana and handed the phone back with a smirk. “Ha ha.”
Billionaire’s Missing Baby (A BWWM Romance) Page 30