Page 58 of The High Price Of Loneliness

“I would rather kidnap you all day in bed, but I will meet you here at five, and I… will be ready!” she said, smiling at her hero in midnight blue—out to take over his next business conquest.

Each day was busy and fulfilling but at different ends of the spectrum while Angelica recharged her mind, body, and spirit in blissful spa day magic from her 90-minute massage, followed by a facial before lunch with a lovely white wine. Then after was the wind-up to prepare for the big dinner with nails and hair to perfection.

Conversely, Gray was working on the growth of his business, supercharging his balance sheet and portfolio of income streams. When growing companies, he always found the most significant challenge to be people. He motivated and inspired them to do the right things to move the mission forward. But Angelica found bonding with people to be easy. She made friends with the entire staff at the Ritz Spa. She felt royally treated and genuinely “adopted” by a few of them. Angelica hoped she would get to return there one day, just to see the people again.

The five o’clock dinner event was rapidly approaching, so she returned to the suite to give herself plenty of time to get ready without her usual rushing and stressing. Tonight was to be a huge deal.

She knew that Edward would be wearing the midnight blue suit and tie she had bought him, but she was so excited to wear the champagne gold evening gown she had purchased on her first shopping spree. It looked so gorgeous on her as it fit like a glove. It was much less revealing than the backless black sequin dress and more elegant and refined. She hoped Edward would like to see her in it and that it would be the perfect choice for Café du Parc, the fancy French restaurant. If ever there was a time and place to wear an elegant evening gown, this was it.

She turned on some of her favorite relaxing music on her iPhone, while it charged, to keep the pink bubble feeling from her spa day going. She felt amazing and wanted the blissful energy inside her to never end. First, she laid out her makeup and chose soft pink lipstick to match her French manicure and the champagne gold dress.Perfect, she thought.Not too daring. Very feminine and sophisticated. Edward would want to kiss those lips.

She selected a very sexy, cream-colored bra and panty set to wear that evening. The top was a super sheer, lacey, quarter-cup bra that left the top half of her nipples partially exposed and would be irresistible to Edward, or so she hoped when they returned to their suite after dinner. The bottoms were a matching lace pair of panties, barely covering the entrance to heaven with three straps on each hip, creating a high V-line, flattering look. Wearing this lingerie under her much more conservative-looking evening gown would be her secret weapon when she looked at Edward all evening. Every girl needs a secret superpower.

It was finally time for thepiècederésistance, the champagne gold gown. She had it hanging in its unique zippered garment bag from Saks Fifth Avenue in the closet since they arrived to let any wrinkles fall out. She removed it carefully, looking at all its elegant detail. It made her blood race just holding it in her hands. Edward had not seen this since the fashion show in his living room, but she remembered the look in his eyes at the sight of her plunging neckline. Finally, she slipped into a gown Cinderella would love to have met her prince in.

Just a touch of her favorite Dior perfume behind each ear, and she had to take one more look in the mirror before the knock came at their hotel suite. Edward opened the outer door, and his deep voice drifted into the room. “Housekeeping,” he said, smiling and pretending to be hotel staff as he entered. The French doors had been closed while she was dressing, so this was the moment for her big reveal. She walked to the center of the outward swinging doors and then pushed them both open simultaneously and voila!

Gray stood there speechless and stunned. Yes, he had seen the dress once before, but never with Angelica looking runway ready in her full hair and makeup. She looked like she belonged on the red carpet at the Academy Awards. He finally uttered, “You look devastatingly divine and devilishly delicious all at the same time!” His smile was a mixture of pride and lust looking at her radiant beauty.

Angelica played humbly and said, “Oh, this old thing?” She referenced her dress with her hands, smiling playfully. Then she added quickly, “Edward, thank you again for this amazing dress! I feel so special wearing it out for you tonight.” She wanted to ensure he knew how much she appreciated him getting her something this remarkable.

Gray took one more long flowing look down her body, poured into the champagne gold dress, and added, “Whoever designed such a stunning gown hoped, most likely dreamt, it would one day be worn by a woman as gorgeous as you, Angelica.”

She welled up inside, seeing his admiring eyes and hearing his words wash over her. The feeling she got looking into Edward’s gaze at this moment was the dream she had always waited for since she was little and to be truly cherished by a real man of the highest values like Edward. She looked away, dabbing her eyes. “Don’t make me cry, Edward,” she said as she fought back the wave of tears in her eyes and added, “I will be right back.”

Angelica disappeared momentarily to touch up her makeup and dab her still-moist eyes with soft tissues. She took one last deep breath and grabbed her tiniest clutch purse before returning. “I didn’t bring my phone. Is that ok, dear?”

Edward looked at Angelica with a glowing smile. “Everything that matters is right here with us. Of course, it is ok,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Their elevator ride to the lobby of the Ritz Carlton was joined by a younger couple, perhaps on a first date to someplace fancy. They wore nice, ordinary Friday night clothes but nothing like the elegant attire worn by Edward and Angelica. When the young couple got on the elevator, they suddenly stopped giggling and tried to behave in front of such fancy company. With a warm ice-breaking smile, Angelica looked at them, holding hands full of new “first date” energy, and said, “You two make a great-looking couple.”

Both youngsters smiled nervously, and the younger girl returned the compliment. “So do the two of you, and I just love your dress!” the girl said, smiling directly at Angelica.

Edward tapped her on the hip, secretly smiling as they remembered their elevator escapade a week ago. Angelica thanked her for the nice compliment, and the doors opened, and the fleeting elevator friendship was gone.

“That was very nice of you in the elevator. You made their night,” Edward remarked, smiling as he acknowledged her grace with people.

Angelica inched closer to Edward and whispered, “They are probably giggling and laughing about it now.” She smiled, remembering getting grown-up compliments when she was just their age. Finally, they arrived at the bar and sat next to the same bar stools where all the naughty, flirty trouble had begun the night before.

A different bartender was on duty this evening.Perhaps a bit of grace in that, Edward thought. “Two glasses of Dom Perignon champagne, please,” he ordered.

The bartender nodded and said, “Right away, sir.”

Angelica squeezed his arm and nodded to the barstools where she had tempted and tormented Gray with her eyes, words, and hands when they had just checked in. Smiling teasingly, she whispered discreetly in his ear, “Did you want me to be a good girl or a bad girl this evening?”

Edward thought about the options, seeing them play out in his mind, before responding. Turning slightly toward her, he smiled with a bit of grit in his voice and said, “Let me get back to you on that a bit later, Ms. Hart.”

Angelica took a breath and thought,How could he make me feel so flush just with the sound of his voice?

The champagne arrived, and Edward handed one of the crystal flutes to Angelica with a toast. “I would like to celebrate two evenings with one toast,” he said. “The night we met when you kept me waiting for hours, to this evening and all of them in between. So here is to you, my princess.” The chime of the beautiful crystal champagne flutes when they clinked their toast was a beautiful marker to the romantic words from Gray. Angelica thought about the night they met, how he had offered to send her and her wrongful date each a glass of champagne, and the journey from then until now as she sipped her glass of bubbly.

“May I propose a toast?” Angelica requested. Edward nodded approvingly as he listened. She raised her glass ever so slightly as she said, “I had a dream of you. You were handsome and powerful. You were brilliant but kind. You were always the one I had hoped for in men, but you never came to me until now. So here is to my dream of you, since I was five, and all the years you kept me waiting until now.” Angelica’s lips and voice shook just a bit as she got the words out, trying to smile into his gaze.

Edward looked into her eyes as she raised her glass towards his to clink once again. But instead of toasting, Edward paused a moment drinking in her words and cupped her chin to look at her. He thirsted for her, drinking her in instead of the champagne, kissing her softly once before he said, “Thank you for that.”

They finally clinked glasses to toast, thoughtfully gazing into the magic of each other’s eyes. After one more sip, Angelica excused herself to go “powder her nose,” a chance to compose herself, once again, before they left for dinner. Gray had signed the check to their room and was ready when she returned. He invited her to take his arm and said, “Our driver is waiting to take us to dinner.”

As they walked across the gold and cream-colored marble floor of the Ritz Carlton lobby, Angelica asked, “Did you say it is only a few blocks to the restaurant?”

---