Page 26 of Lavish Love: A Second Chance Romance

My parents have a floor like Tia Maria, and my siblings share the final level beneath mine. I ride the elevator up to the penthouse to talk with Alexandria. My phone rings, it's Susan. The twenty-four-hour security team I'm relocating to Santo Domingo is waiting to meet with me at the office before flying out. The crew finished the installation this morning, and I need to finalize my selections for the guards. Doesn't anyone take the holidays off anymore?

My relationships with Alexandria and my mother are equally strained, and all I wanted was a relaxing family Christmas. I thought Alexandria would love spending time with my family, and I was partially right. She and Tia Marie have been closed off in that sewing room for days. Alexandria seems to enjoy hanging out with her, but I wouldn't know because the woman has laid beside me every night and won't talk with me beyond a fucked up "yes" or a simple ass "no."

Like an idiot, my heart, my soul, and my body still want her. I lean forward using the wall for support, forcing myself to take a deep breath. Maybe it's some poor man's complex to want the thing you can't have, or some rich man's complex to think gifts, and patience, and fucking determination will get you the things that money can’t buy. Because all I want is Alexandria’s love.

And to think I considered extending an invitation to her folks. I knew Alexandria for four years, and we never spent the holidays with them as a couple. I quieted my fears about the Blackwells' dislike of me by focusing on the elephant in our relationship, finances. I was poor. She was not. I can understand how her grandfather would question that dynamic, it seemed like the apparent reason. The fact that I overcompensated by paying all the bills, and I loved Alexandria didn't mean a thing to them. But my race… Is my mother, right?

What would he say now? My mother's words cloud my thoughts, and this fucked up holiday. My parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews, and the woman I love are under one roof, yet this is not what I expected. Nothing is going as I hoped. Nothing.

Maybe Alexandria really is over our love, and what we had is a fond but distant memory.

Rage colors my sight red, and it's overshadowing the pure love I have for her. My mother's words make more sense than I want to admit. The door opens to my penthouse, and I glance inside.

I cross through my place. I've kept the team waiting long enough. I quickly shower, and the moment I step out of the bathroom, I see Alexandria waiting for me.

I stop, and a place in me softens until I remember we haven't talked since she left me alone in the shower five days ago. The women in my life are conspiring against my sanity, except Tia Marie. She's the MVP this week. She took Alexandria to visit several quilt shops, and they've worked nonstop for a couple of days.

This is supposed to be a week of family, food, and fun. Instead, it's stressful and falls short of my vision. I need to call Liam and schedule flights to send everyone home. I want my life back. The voice in my head asks, Without Alexandria? I walk past her into the closet. She’s on my heels.

“If you’re waiting for an apology, I apologize,” her voice holds a tremor.

“I don’t want anything from you.” I remove a dress shirt and reach for my favorite suit needing to feel some sort of control in my life. But I can’t stop my eyes from caressing her. She’s wearing her signature leggings, revealing every curve of her toned legs, and a Kiss Me I’m Dominican t-shirt that's covered in little bits of string. Her hair is still plaited from the other day, and there's a long white string hanging. I remove it.

"Thank you." I drop the thread in her hand, careful not to touch her.

Our eyes hold, and I realize there is something I want from her. I want to hear about her day. I want to go back to the Alexandria and Mateo we were at the engagement party. But that’s not possible.

"We're here on a transactional basis. You helped get my parents here, and now I'll help assist with Platinum Prestige."

Her head jerks back as if she were slapped, and the faint glimmer of light fades from her eyes. I step around her to find a tie because I'm done trying.

I’m done extending myself for Alexandria. I’m done begging her to talk. I’m done asking her to see things from a different perspective.

I've tried to talk to her for days. My penthouse is big enough for us to coexist without disrupting each other.

Had I not witnessed the exchanges between Alexandria and my mother, I would have thought this holiday gathering is precisely as I've always dreamed. The family has shared every meal. She's smiled and kept up her end of the agreement.

"You can accompany me to the office. I'll be ready to leave in twenty minutes." I rake my eyes over her one last time wanting to hold her. I leave the closet.

I get dressed and wait in the car for thirty minutes. I dreamed of introducing her to my mother and to watch them merely coexist leaves me with more questions than answers. Alexandria is driving me insane. My body is not my own, my mind is not my own, and she's not mine either.

Alexandria hasn't come out, and I'm not going back inside. I stare at my phone, debating whether to call her. There's a silent war being waged, and I hate losing.

Why fight the evitable? She doesn’t want to be here, she doesn’t feel comfortable here, and she obviously doesn’t want me. I might as well stop torturing us both.

“Take me to the office.”

Chapter 11

I stand at the window, watching the car leave, and I return to the closet. Tia Marie and Mateo's nieces and nephews are the only salvageable parts of this trip. I remove my phone and start calling the guys one by one. Then we managed to gather on a group call.

“Merry Christmas!!!”

I swipe at the tears, and a dull ache fills my body. I miss my guys. I miss my life in Austin. I'm not sure I can complete this assignment. Living through six months with Mateo isn't possible, not like this. They wait quietly as I try to wrangle my tears.

"Do we need to kick his ass?" Charlee jokes, and I can't laugh.

“Why’d I do this?” I hold the air in my chest. I hiccup and exhale. My body shaking violently, I hug my knees to my chest. “And his mother hates me.”

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