Page 45 of Kyle
"Okay. When?"
"Uhm, earlier today. She was the one who called. I thought about ignoring her, but she has been calling for a couple of days and leaving messages." He waited a beat for her to say something and when she just continued to stare at him, he plunged on. "Look, we had a thing. We have history and I wanted to let her know that it was really over. It is, really over. I...I...this...us, it's unexpected, but it's something I want. I've never felt this, this intense passion before and I would like you to believe me."
"Oh, I do."
"And?"
"I don't want her calling you."
"What do you want me to do?"
She smiled slightly. "I want to tell you to block her, ghost her, whatever, but that would be the petty me talking." She shrugged one shoulder. "I want us to work, Kyle. I really do."
"So do I." He said sincerely. He lifted a hand to cup her neck. "Believe me on that."
She tilted her head slightly to take him in. "It's funny. Whenever I thought of marriage in the past, I would reject the idea. The history of relationships in my family was more than a little sketchy. But now I want desperately to make this work." Her hand lifted to touch his jaw. "I want children. God!" She eased out a breath. "Look at me. The previously hard-bitten career woman, willing to carry a child or two inside me, to go through all the crap that goes with it. Is that something you can wrap your head around?"
"It is." He brought her head down, the kiss soft and sweet. It had her melting against him.
"Why don't we get started?"
*****
"What?"
"You look amazing." He murmured as he came up behind her. "This should top off the look." He draped a glittering platinum necklace around her neck, the teardrop diamond settling into the groove of her breasts. "What do you think?"
He had been giving her gifts on and off ever since they had settled in as a married couple.
"It's exquisite." Touching the diamond, she lifted her head and met his eyes through the full-length mirror. "Should I be concerned?"
"That your husband gave you a necklace?" He turned her to face him. The dress was fire engine red, a shimmering silk that dipped and enfolded her generous curves. "I think you should be." Tilting her chin up, he brushed his lips against lips coated in the exact shade of the dress. "This is going to cement the fact that we're together, together. You know that right?"
She shrugged and straightened his bow tie, the small automatic move sending emotions tumbling through him. They had officially moved into his suite and had plans to redecorate the master suite. At the office, they were their usual competitive and argumentative self, but it was starting to come across to whoever sees them together, that this was the real thing.
And she did not care. She wanted everyone to know.
"I think it's time."
"I thought we wanted the 'Rents' to suffer some more."
"That was my initial idea, but now things have changed. Ready?"
"When you are."
*****
The Dewberry affair was a grand one. Eloise Dewberry was a very wealthy patron of the arts. A widow for the third time, she was secretly called the 'black widow,' outliving yet another husband and inheriting his immense fortune.
She was also very generous with that same inheritance, creating charitable organizations that spanned everything from research into various medical conditions to sponsoring struggling artists and rescuing children from homelessness. She never had children but enthusiastically reached out to kids who had been abandoned or neglected and placed in the system.
Her house was a sprawling mausoleum that hosted the annual fundraiser of which several successful businesses, including McCreary/Ryder, were involved in.
The lights glimmered from a mile away, throwing the old property into stark relief.
"It looks like a crush." Ingrid observed as they made their way up the sweeping driveway. Valets were busy parking vehicles. The doors to the house were thrown wide open, despite the icyNovember weather with two uniformed maids on duty to take coats and usher in guests.
"Say the word and we'll leave early." Sliding out of the driver's seat, he beat the valet who came rushing forward and opened the passenger door.
