Time gained wings and flew after San Diego. Learning the news about Dad was a bit too much to swallow at first, but now I understood why he’d never remarried or tried to find happiness with another woman. My mother was his one true love, and I imagine losing her brought about an unimaginable amount of grief for him.
I was grateful my dad had sought help, and I knew that allowing Mitchell and Associates to buy his company took a lot for him, but I knew exactly why—he was the most selfless and loving man anyone could meet. That giant of a man may have held himself boldly in my presence, but he had a weakness, as all humans do. My dad seemed to be a superhero—in some ways, he still was in my mind—but his heart broke when he lost Mom, and I can’t imagine the pain my father felt.
It’d been nine months since Alex told me about this in San Diego, but it still weighed on my mind. On days like yesterday, when Sammy was married and had the privilege of her father walking her down the aisle, it peeled open memories of my dad.
I took Alex’s advice and used the money from Jim’s company matching the donation to fix my finances. I was officially debt-free with too much money in the bank. After talking to Avery, knowing that she worked with women who came from abusive situations, I used her contacts and learned that we could donate to a facility in Downtown Los Angeles.
With my love for Saint John’s, after seeing the pediatric wing fall perfectly into place with my designs, I knew that was where I wanted our own treatment center. It was easily done since the cardiac wing of the hospital had been moved to the newest building at the hospital.
Through concentrated mockups, staying up late, and Alex strangely not coming over to my place or vice versa as often, I could use my evenings to nail down a beautiful renovation of Saint John’s former cardiac wing that consisted of the left tower of the place. Renovations had started two months ago, and I was thrilled that with the help of my money, it would go up quickly.
Soon, residents from this location would no longer have to travel to San Diego to live in the center, and their loved ones wouldn’t have to drive all that way to visit them. We did have centers in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, but they were nothing like the one Dad had donated all of his skill and money to. This one would be just as nice and welcoming, and it would mainly serve as a way for people to attend meetings or seek counseling shamelessly.
Even after throwing money toward that, I wanted to do more, and Alex laughed at me becoming little miss charity. With the obvious help of planners and approval from Jim and the board at Mitchell and Associates, I started the process of raising more money for another place of refuge like this to be opened in Orange County. Helping Hearts was well on its way to showing everyone that there was help for the dark and sad periods in our lives.
With my charitable heart, my debts all cleared, and finances back to where they once were, I found it a perfect opportunity to auction off the AMG-One I’d played around in. I always knew it wasn’t my style of car anyway, and we raised a shit load of money auctioning it at another event, this time in the name of Brooks and Stone Architects.
As excited as I was for Sammy and her handsome husband’s wedding day, that was the day we were to cut the ceremonial ribbon on the new facility in Orange County. Alex took my place at the event because being a bridesmaid kept my ass super busy, and if I so much as thought about leaving the city on Sammy’s big day, who knew what the beautiful bride would’ve done?
All in all, everything was moving so smoothly. I had to wonder what the hell happened to force a one-eighty shift in my life. I mean, down to the fact that Brooks and Stone had fully merged, and it ran like a well-oiled machine. A lot of that credit went to Alex, though. He was undoubtedly no bullshit in the office, and when mandatory meetings were called, the man carried himself as someone you didn’t cross with a lame-ass remark.
So, here I was, enjoying nine months of sheer bliss with a man I deeply loved, my best friend was getting married off, and now, all of this charity stuff was rolling out beautifully. I couldn’t help but have a smile plastered on my face everywhere I went. The only thing that was missing lately was the amount of time I got to see Alex. We were constantly missing each other.
Even when he invited me to dinner with all of his friends, Alex got held up at a job site, and his friends got to enjoy my company without him. It all worked, though. The men always had their conversations, and Avery, Ash, Elena, and I sat there, making silly jokes about weddings and babies in a world of our own.
The best gatherings were when we all somehow met up for a day at the beach, and Nat and Cass joined us. How strange that we blended as if we’d grown up together as tight friends. Nat, of course, kept the ladies humored, but she always had to be tamed when Addy or John were digging sandcastles around us. As fun as all of the times we’d had in the last nine months had been, I’d been missing Alex like crazy lately.
“Hey,” I said, dialing Alex from my car phone, “will you be in the office later?”
“I’m on my way out, or else I’d probably be violating your no sex at work rule the moment you stepped into my office.”
I listened to him laugh and loved the way it made my insides feel. “Jesus, how long has it been?”
“Nine fucking months,” Alex snickered. “At least that’s what it feels like to me. You went all charity on my ass, and I haven’t been alone with my woman in too fucking long.”
“You’re the one insisting on going home, saying that it would be best if I worked on my stuff at my place.”
The phone line grew quiet, and I ignored the insecure thoughts that moments like these tended to evoke when I mentioned that we were hardly at one another’s house anymore.
“What about tonight? You busy?” I asked Alex.
“Did you forget what tonight is, dimples?”
“I guess so.”
“Well, if you’re at the office, get shit handled quick. The plane takes off at seven tonight. That project you and I are pitching in Florida is at eight in the morning at Bells Place.”
“Shit,” I rubbed my forehead. “Can’t you go without me? Bring Lisa. She’s practically been my shadow while designing. She’ll have—”
“You’re fucking kidding, right?” Alex answered. “I’m not bringing Lisa. I’m bringing you. We finally have a VP running the company for us who’s more of a tight ass than even I could’ve been. Pack your shit, and I’ll pick you up at five. We’re fucking on the plane too.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“I like it even more,” he said with a smile in his voice. “All right, I’m at the site, and if Cullen fucks me on this, I’m firing his ass.”
“You say that about everyone.”
“So long as they know that, they don’t fuck up.”
“See you tonight. I’ll wear some sexy lingerie on the plane.”
“Might as well wear it to the airport. I plan to fuck you in the limousine I’m using as transportation. It’s the only reason I chose that particular shuttle to LAX.”
“I need to walk tomorrow.”
“I’ll rent a wheelchair.”
“Bye.”
After ending the call, I rushed through last-minute pressing issues and quickly left the office. I wasn’t sure what I was most excited about, finally having more than two hours alone with Alex, or that we were heading to Florida to check on this job and spending the week together to catch up.
From the second Alex picked me up until we landed in Florida, we quickly made up for lost time in each other’s arms. It felt so good to slow it all down and feel the raw power of Alex’s body, making mine feel alive inside and out again. The groans of pleasure that seemed way too long overdue were enough to send me off into my multiple-orgasm runs that reminded me why I loved this man fucking me hard and deep. Now, if only we could get our busy schedules to slow down and find more time like this when we got home.
“Fuck, baby,” Alex groaned after he pulled his face from massaging and sucking on my clit. “I love this so much.”
Alex and I had just walked in from our final meeting with the Bells Place job, and the man went primal the second we walked in the door. I was up on the table in the dining area of our suite, and before I could blink, Alex had my panties off and thrown somewhere in the hotel room. His face was instantly buried between my legs, and his mouth and tongue worked me over as they always did when he devoured my pussy like it was his favorite meal in the world.
I crossed my ankles around his back, feeling his tight muscles and knowing that when he entered me, I was getting it hard and rough—just like I wanted it. Right now, the man was working on my orgasm high while his tongue and teeth devoured my opening in ways that made me wonder how he knew what perfect pleasure was for me. Goddamn, he was good in every way.
My nails clawed into his hair as I felt my orgasm plunging to where his tongue lapped at my opening, probing in and out and then back to my swollen clit.
“Come on my fucking face, baby,” he growled. “I’m drinking your cum. It’s been way too long.”
I worked on the new technique of being able to ejaculate while I came and was still shocked that Alex loved it. Then again, I was always up for swallowing him, so it had to be the same turn-on to take your lover and swallow the orgasm physically while they came hard on you.
These orgasms, though—the ones that consisted of me forcing it down while it was already on its own electrical surge? The sensations were un-fucking-real. Just as it was happening, I followed my new way of sending my cum into Alex’s mouth and practically screamed out the orgasm when the dam of pleasure burst loose.
My hands went from nearly tearing out his always perfectly styled hair from his head to massaging it while I rode out the pleasure. My favorite part of all of this was when Alex brought his mouth to cover all of my opening, his tongue massaging my orgasm as it gushed into his mouth. His whimpers and soft moans as if he were devouring a savory steak was what created the constant ripple effect of a throbbing sensation that surged through my clit and inside of me while I came in him.
Alex kissed and licked at the inside of my thighs before I was in his arms, and we wound up using the bedroom to continue through the night. Thank God tomorrow was a beach day because I was all about laying out and dreaming up our next rounds. The addictions and cravings were back, and I seriously wondered how we managed only to have sex once a week after this perfect reunion.
I was on my stomach, ass in the air, and Alex was working over my pussy with his length when his phone alerted that Alex never put the stupid thing on silent. Over and over again, the fucking thing rang.
“Fuck me to hell,” Alex snapped.
I chuckled. “If you answer it, then Nat and I will have something in common.”
Alex flipped my ass over and buried himself deeper in me, his smile greedy. “I won’t answer the fucking phone. I’m shooting all of my cum in this pussy. You got that?”
“Now he’s ordering me around?”
“I’m about to tie your sexy body—”
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
I laughed when the phone now seemed to echo from the kitchen area of the suite, and Alex’s head dropped onto my chest. He tried to move in and out, but with one reach of my hand, I felt he was growing soft, and it was pretty much a lost cause at this point.
“Baby, answer the phone unless it normally does this when it’s on silent.”
“Never,” he said, kissing each of my hard nipples, the center of my chest, and then rising up. “Thank God we survived a nine-month relationship just in time for me to have sex interrupted by a goddamn call.”
“This is why I’m not marrying you. I can’t be married to a man who’d rather answer a phone than have hot sex with me. I feel so cheated,” I said with a dramatic tease and pout.
Alex pulled out of me, rolled off the bed, and smiled down at me. “Keep your legs open and that pussy wet. I’m not even close to finished with you.”
Alex left the room to get his phone, and it didn’t take long before I heard Alex’s loud and exasperated words. It seemed as though something was wrong with him and whoever he was talking to.
“The bastard didn’t have insurance to cover this?” Alex said. “Fine, fuck him. Give me the name of the funeral home. I’ll take care of all the arrangements.” Another pause. “Listen, Jen. He doesn’t have to know. I don’t want the son of a bitch to know. Give me the number to the place, and I’ll handle everything. The money will be wired over. Say it was donated in her name by someone who knew her father. Make sure everything is as she would’ve wanted it.”
I could practically hear Alex breathing heavily from here. After hearing what little I did, I knew this was all bad, and I had to be prepared to help in any way I could.
“Is that what mom wanted or what Paul wanted?” he snapped. “Then I’ll send over more than enough so that everything is secured, and Paul can ride behind the horse-drawn fucking hearse. I’ll see you at the wake.”
By this time, I was out of bed, wearing a robe, and walking out to Alex and watching him zipping up the slacks that he’d peeled off in our crazy sex attack when we first walked into the room.
“Jesus, Jen, is that how you feel? She was my mother as well. I want this to be as it should be regardless of what you and Paul want. This is mom’s parting wish, so this is what she gets. I’ll see you in a day or so. Fuck!”
Alex ended the call, and then his eyes were on me. “I need to go to my hometown. I’ll be gone for a few days until I ensure my mother’s funeral arrangements and burial goes as she had apparently wished they would.”
“My God, Alex,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “Your mother passed away?”
“Yeah, and now I have to deal with my goddamn family. I already dealt with this shit after her stroke, and I knew the day would come when I had to face them all again. I’m just not in the mood to deal with it.”
“Alex Grayson,” I said, more shocked by his reaction than anything. “I’m coming with you.”
“The hell you are,” he looked at me and shrugged my hand off his arm as if I were this Paul of a dad he hated. “You’re going home or enjoying the rest of Florida. I’ll see you when I get home.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped at his hardened expression. “Sure, you have a past that you want to keep buried. I get that, but I’ll be damned if you think you’re going into what seems to be a freaking lion’s den alone.”
His eyes brimmed with tears. “This is so fucked up. Please, God, stay away from this and allow me to make sure my mother is buried properly. I beg you to stay the fuck out of this.”
“How am I to ever marry a man who pushes me away when I can see on your face this is the time you may need me most?”
“Because I don’t want you to witness this side of me. I’m only going to make sure my mom is buried and say a final farewell so I can finally put that family in my past for good now that she’s gone.”
“Alex, I love you,” I said to break the ice wall he’d instantly forced between us. “Let me be there for you. If it were me, you would insist on it.”
“Would I?” he challenged.
“Yes. I think I’ve witnessed that you have that heart the Wizard of Oz gave you, and you would.”
That pulled a half-smile out of the dangerous expression Alex wore. “I’ll even play the role of your fiancé when I’m there.”
“You should be my legitimate fiancé by now,” he raised an eyebrow at me. “My bet is on the fact that Max fucked all of that shit up for me.”
“What? Where the hell would you come up with something like that?”
“Explain to me why you’ve turned me down twice now.”
I had no answer. “Time’s flown in the last nine months. We’ve hardly seen each other, and the two times you’ve proposed to me were not situations where you were thinking clearly.”
“Whatever.” He shrugged me off. “If you want to go, then go with me. This won’t be pretty. Perhaps we’ll both discover together why it’s probably a good idea for you not to marry me.” He brushed past me. “Trust me, my father will give you plenty of reasons to stay far away from me.”
“Alex!” I stormed into the room after him. “Look at me.”
He glanced back, and that’s when I saw tears slip out of his eyes. “What?” he choked out.
“I’m here for you, and I plan to always be here for you. I love you, and I guess this is the point when I do accept your proposal because I’m not leaving your side ever.” I took my hands and brushed his tears from his wet cheeks. “You’re officially stuck with me. Are you okay with that?”
He sniffed. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“Then don’t try to push me away again like you just attempted to. If you want to play let’s get married, then I suggest you allow the one you want to marry to stand at your side during this time.”
“You have a point.”
“I have a good point, and that’s why I made it.” I smiled at him. “Damn, your muscles are tense as hell,” I said after he pulled me in to embrace me, and I hugged him. “Let’s go jump in the shower, clean up, and order in food. We’ll talk about the funeral arrangements, and maybe I can help advise on things. I did have to bury my father.”
He brushed his finger over my nose. “Please don’t judge the man I am today after meeting these insane people. I wasn’t raised in that family for a reason.”
“I can see that your grandfather got you out just in time to make the perfect husband for the woman who finally said yes.”
“You’re serious?” His face finally lightened.
“Don’t ever think that Max ruined anything for you with me. There’s no comparison, and I won’t allow that dick to ride anywhere near you and me. I’m only sorry I’ve been pushing it all off. I never once thought you’d imagine it was because I had issues after my last failed marriage attempt. I can honestly say that I don’t have any hang-ups or issues revolving around that relationship.”
His face grew somber again. “Perhaps it was my insecurities, knowing I could still hurt you in the end.”
“Well, if those are your insecurities, then lose them,” I insisted. “Now, come get in the shower so I can help rub these knots out of your shoulders.”
I had no idea what to expect with Alex’s family, and I hated funerals, but there was no way I would let Alex run off and deal with this on his own. His father had started a fundraising account for his mother’s funeral, and Alex was going to cover all the expenses as an anonymous donor so no one would know? His youngest sister begged him to stay away, yet she called him for money and announced that his mother had died? What kind of lowlife would call the one family member they knew could pay for the funeral, then tell them they couldn’t attend?
I knew this might reach a heavy boiling point, but I also knew that I wasn’t allowing Alex to face this alone. This would be proof that I was going to be by his side no matter what. Why not embrace it all—good and bad—before you tie the knot, right? All I knew was that Alex seemed instantly distant, and I couldn’t blame him. I could only be there for him.
