51
Iwoke up on that Tuesday morning with a pounding headache and a woman in my bed. It would have been déjà vu, were it not for the fact that I could actually remember the night before and was happy to see this woman lying next to me. I brushed my fingers over her back, grinning, remembering what we’d gotten up to the night before. She might not have been as wild as me yet, but she was sure as hell getting there. And I was more than happy to be her guide on her path to complete debauchery.
Her eyes fluttered open, and her gaze met mine. Then, she grinned and snuggled into the sheets.
“Hey,” she greeted me, and I planted a kiss on her temple.
“Hey,” I replied. She moved toward me and cuddled into my chest, holding me tight.
“It’s so nice to wake up next to you,” she confessed as though she was sharing a dirty secret, as though the two of us hadn’t swapped “I love yous” for the first time the night before.
“It really is,” I agreed. “I mean, for you. I can’t imagine how nice it is to wake up next to me every day.”
She laughed and slapped my chest playfully and then propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at me. She was smiling.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You said you loved me.” She jabbed her finger into my chest playfully. “No take backs, right?”
“None.” I held my hands up, and she laid her head back down on my chest and that champagne hangover was all but forgotten about. It was hard to be mad about anything when she was right here with me—well, apart from the fact that I had to push her off soon enough and get to work, but I could linger a little longer, right? The best part about running the company was that I got to set my own hours, and if that meant lazing around in bed with the woman of my dreams, then I was going to indulge that.
“I should probably get ready,” she groaned reluctantly.
“Sure you can’t stay a little longer?” I asked, trailing my fingers down her back, and she shook her head.
“I really have to get going.” She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “I don’t want to be late.”
“Fine,” I sighed, unwrapping myself from her. “But I’m going to check you out while you’re getting ready.”
“Feel free.” She grinned, shooting a playful look over her shoulder as she made her way to the bathroom. In the bright sun of the morning, she looked even better than usual, every curve on her perfect body illuminated and picked out as though especially for me.
As she headed for the shower, I leaned back in bed and stared at the ceiling. That bit in my chest where I usually found myself freaking the fuck out, wondering what I had gotten myself into, it was long gone, and I had no idea why. Something about Amaya had smoothed away the scary edges of doing something like this, of falling for someone the way I had with her. Normally, I would have been searching every way I could for a way out of this situation, especially now the L-word had been dropped. Instead, I was thinking about wedding destinations and whether or not I would be able to convince my nonna to relinquish full wedding planning duties to Amaya. Amaya hadn’t officially said yes yet, but I had a feeling she was going to be just fine with how things were unfolding. She hadn’t once taken off that ring I’d given her on the night of the fundraiser, but I was going to replace it with something even more spectacular if she’d let me.
She got ready for work and kissed me goodbye, and I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed to have something to eat and head to the office. I made my way down there with a smile on my face and decided not to question the joy that permeated my soul. I had spent so long second-guessing myself and wondering when the good shit was going to be whipped away, and for now, I was just going to enjoy the fact that I had this amazing woman in my life who, for some reason, had stuck it out through the wildest bullshit and still appeared to want to be at my side.
I focused on work, but it was only really to make the day go faster so I could see her again. I went through the paperwork I had missed over the last few days, blasting through it, knowing that the sooner I finished, the sooner I got to be with her. When my secretary knocked on the door, I raised my head and blinked a couple of times to remind myself that there were still people around. I got so lost in work sometimes that it was hard to pull me out. Add some memories of Amaya to the mix and I was on a whole other planet.
“You have a visitor.” She smiled at me, and I leaned back and waved for her to let them in.
“Go ahead,” I replied, and a moment later, a very contrite-looking Cleo stepped around the corner. I wanted to shove her straight out the door, but I restrained myself.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” I demanded, and she held her hands up as I got to my feet to close the door behind her.
“I’m here to apologize,” she told me. “Really. I know I fucked up, I did, but—”
“You nearly sank this whole thing with Amaya.” I shook my head. “Do you know that? You almost ruined everything with your big mouth.”
“I know.” She lowered her gaze to the ground. It was the least sassy I had ever seen her as an adult, and it was almost a little sad—or it would have been, had I not known what she had pulled.
“You know that Nonna came to the apartment yesterday, right?” I got to my feet and planted my hands on my waist, staring down at her. “And she basically took pieces out of me until I promised her she could plan the wedding?”
“Huh?” Cleo furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about? There’s going to be a wedding?”
“Of course, there is,” I snapped, and I looked away from her, trying to cool my overheated anger. There was no point aiming all this at her after what had happened, but I felt like grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. I was just so mad. The whole thing could have gone down the tubes because of her telling our family about this. Thank God I knew well enough how to handle Nonna that I could get her in hand, but God knows what would happen when the rest of them found out.
“Do you know who knows about it?” I asked. The least she could do was give me the honest truth. I knew that was rich, coming from me, given that I’d been hiding that very same truth from her for a hell of a long time, but still. If she hadn’t gone rummaging through my drawers, we wouldn’t be in this ridiculous position, so really this was her fault.
“Nope.” She shook her head and looked down, leaning on the door. “Look, Kristo, I just came to apologize, but if you’re—”