Page 52 of Truth

“Okay.”

“Good girl. Now, I think we’ve had enough for one day. Let’s get our shower and crawl into bed. I have a feeling you might want to get back to that book you were reading, and I have some work to do.”

After folding the blanket and putting it away, we took a quick shower before getting into bed. Neither of us wore any clothes, but it didn’t feel strange. It felt natural. Normal.

Stephan leaned back against the headboard and placed his computer on his lap, while I opened my book to where I’d left off. I couldn’t help but smile at how good it felt to be with him like this. Smiling, I began reading my book, getting lost once again in Jake and Ronnie’s story, and really happy that Stephan was here beside me.

At eight thirty Wednesday morning, Stephan called on my cell phone to let me know that he’d talked to the phone company and the phones were now forwarded to his office during the day. He said I’d still be able to use the phone if I needed to, but no one would be able to call me. I released a sigh of relief knowing John wouldn’t be able to call me again like he had the day before.

Lily called on her lunch break to ask if I wanted to go shopping with her the following week since Stephan had mentioned to her that we’d be going to a concert next Friday night. It took a little persuading on her part—I didn’t like leaving the condo without Stephan—but she finally got me to agree.

I had to rush to make dinner. Before I knew it, it was almost four thirty, and I hadn’t even begun to prep anything. I’d been too caught up in my book.

When the monitor flashed, letting me know someone was in the hall, I was still putting the finishing touches on dinner. Although I didn’t think he’d get upset because things weren’t ready yet, I wasn’t sure, and I felt my anxiety level rise. The door opened. Stephan walked inside. I immediately stopped what I was doing and lowered my gaze to the floor.

The sound of his footsteps drawing closer brought with it both a sense of excitement and nervousness. I wanted to make him happy always. I never wanted to disappoint him.

He stood before me for only a moment before opening his arms. I stepped closer and hugged him.

Stephan tilted my head back and kissed me. “Dinner smells good.”

“Thank you.”

“How much longer till it’s ready?” he asked, glancing at the pot on the stove.

I looked down, embarrassed.

“Fifteen minutes?”

He rubbed his thumbs over my cheekbones before tapping my chin to regain my attention. “Is something wrong, Brianna? Did something happen today while I was gone?”

I felt even worse. I’d let time get away from me, and now he thought something bad had happened.

“No. I just... I was reading and...” My face heated. “I lost track of time.”

“Oh.”

Stephan looked toward the couch where I liked to read and then back to me. To my surprise, he chuckled. “Must be a good book.”

“You’re not mad at me?” I knew my eyes must be wide with shock. Did he really not care his food wasn’t ready when he arrived home?

“Of course not. I never told you dinner had to be done at a certain time. Why would I be upset that we have to wait fifteen minutes to start eating? It would be a longer wait if we went out.”

“I don’t know. I just thought...”

“Brianna, if you ever want to know how I feel, just ask. You know I won’t lie to you. All right?”

“Okay.”

“Good girl. Now, I’m going to go get out of this jacket and tie while you prepare dinner.” He gave me one last kiss on the lips before going to his room. I turned back to the stove to finish cooking with a smile on my face.

Stephan

The new CFO was finally in his office, trying to wade through the mountain of paperwork that had built up over the last month. It was a blessing, especially since everyone who needed something from me seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. My office started to feel as if it had a revolving door.

Lily had stopped by twice needing my approval on items for the fall gala. We’d both been extremely busy lately and hadn’t spent much time together. The foundation’s big fundraiser was only a little over three months away. Everything had to be finalized soon in order to make sure it would all arrive on time. With Logan having been away for the last week, I knew she was even more stressed as they’d not been able to play.

After Lily left my office for the second time, Gary, the marketing director, poked his head in to see if I had a minute to deal with some sort of mix-up in an ad campaign we’d launched six months ago. Thankfully it was an easy fix, but he was going to have to spend most of the afternoon on the phone with the ad agency we used to correct not only the ads currently running but also the ones that were scheduled to start next month. It wouldn’t do us any good to run the ads if the website address was wrong.

---