Romancing My Love(30)

Those powerful thoughts tried to push him out of bed, to get his legs moving so he could work the numbers over in his head a million times during his morning run. Rebecca opened her eyes and spread her hand across his stomach, then lifted her head and looked at him, her eyes reflecting the same love that had held him in place.

“Hi,” she whispered.

His stressful thoughts were no match for Rebecca. Nothing was. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “Hi, babe.”

“I’m sorry. I have you trapped.” She pushed away and he pulled her back.

“I like feeling trapped by you.” He kissed her forehead and she smiled. They didn’t have to fool around; he just wanted her close.

“Are you okay? You look stressed.” She touched his cheek, and he leaned in to her palm.

He thought he’d rid himself of the stress, but she saw right through him. “I’m fine. Just work stuff.”

“That acquisition you mentioned?” She leaned up on one elbow.

He tried to play it off as no big deal, even though it was one of the biggest deals he’d considered in a long time. “Yeah, we’ll have answers later today.” He still didn’t want to move away from her. She calmed the nagging business voice in his head that had pushed him into overdrive for so many years. She tempered it, adding a balance to his life that he hadn’t realized was missing.

“You said you had to make a decision in twenty-four hours. Why is that?”

Rebecca didn’t ask many questions about his work, and he found the questions she did ask curious. “Because they need to sell, and I’m ready to buy.”

“Self-imposed deadline, then.” Her eyes sharpened.

“Pretty much.”

“That makes sense. You like to move fast.”

“Yeah, I do.” You have no idea. It had been only a week and he was ready to move her into his house.

“I like that about you. You’re decisive, which is probably why you’re so successful. But what if you needed more time to make a decision? What if it didn’t feel right?”

He thought about it for a minute. He only made decisions that felt right, and they usually came quickly. “I don’t know. I haven’t had that happen yet.”

“Would you grant yourself time to think about it or force yourself to decide? I’m asking because in one of my business classes, that was a major topic. What drives entrepreneurs, and do their hasty decisions weaken or strengthen their efforts?”

“Your business class, huh? Well, I think if I wasn’t sure, I’d take the time until I was sure, but I’m pretty decisive.”

She nodded and her eyes grew even more serious. “I think I’m the same way. I wanted to tell you something last night, but I thought it might sound funny. I gave myself time to think about it, but it’s been bugging me, so I’m just going to say it. I’m glad you came in to get me at work. I hated feeling like I had to hide our relationship, even for just a couple days.”

He’d struggled with that decision. He knew it might backfire and make things more difficult for Rebecca, but Pierce wasn’t the kind of man to pretend, much less let the woman he was falling in love with go unclaimed in the public’s eye. She was the woman he adored, and he wanted the world to know it.

“When I saw you standing there talking with that elderly couple, I was so proud to be with you. I probably shouldn’t have kissed you in the restaurant, even if on the cheek, but I couldn’t help myself.” He lifted her gently so they were eye to eye.

“Apparently, the women have major crushes on you.” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “But they’re happy for us.”

“Major crushes, huh? Maybe I need to reconsider the dating pool.”

She cupped his privates with a wicked grin. “Oh yeah?”

“Kidding. Kidding.” He carefully lifted her hand and laughed. He shifted her onto her back and pinned her to the bed with his weight. “Do you know how much you turn me on? Just being with you? Hell, Bec, just thinking about you?”

“Well, I am pretty hot.” She flashed a mischievous smile.

He laughed again. “Yeah, you are, you little vixen.”

She giggled and then her eyes grew serious. “I want to tell you something else.”

“Uh-oh.”

“It’s nothing bad. I was thinking that we could drive in together today.” She bit her lower lip.

“What about needing to know your car is there?” He rolled to her side, giving her space to think without the added pressure of feeling how aroused he was.

She turned and faced him, so close their noses touched. “I would rather know you’re there.”

It was a small thing, something that shouldn’t make him warm all over, but this was the same woman who’d decked a man and had turned Pierce down for a drink. It was huge. He nuzzled against her neck.

“Thank you.”

“But I have to go by my old apartment after work and drop something off with the landlord, and if you want me to stay over again, then I need to pick up clothes for tomorrow from my place.”

“Baby, I’ll do those things with you. Tonight’s dinner with Treat and Max, too.”

He glanced at her bag on the floor by the closet. “Why don’t you bring a week’s worth of clothes tonight? A month’s, whatever.”

“Pierce, I’m not moving in.” She touched his cheek.

“Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for,” he admitted. He’d thought that Rebecca was in sync with him on how fast they were moving. Now he worried that maybe he was moving too quickly for her comfort.

“I’ve got my own place, even if I only stay there sometimes. It’s a good thing. You could get sick of me.”

“Not a chance.”

“You might want time alone.”

“Wrong again.” He kissed her softly, relieved that she was only worried about him not being fully committed and not something bigger, like her own feelings for him. He could assuage her worries because he’d been committed to her since the first night they met.

“You might want to go back to your old playful ways.” She traced his arm from shoulder to wrist.

He pulled her beneath him again. “The only person I want to play with is you.” He couldn’t hold in his feelings any longer, even at the risk of scaring her away. He searched her eyes and took the plunge. “I fell over the edge, Rebecca. I tried to hold it back, but I can’t. I love you.”

He could feel her heart racing. She opened her mouth to speak, and he kissed her again before she could say a word.

“You love me?” She searched his eyes.

“I do.” He kissed her again, and when she drew back, she gulped in air. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, her eyes damp with tears. “I fell, too. I was too scared to say anything, but you were right there. You caught me.”





Chapter Eighteen


PIERCE STORMED OUT of the meeting with the due diligence team, leaving twelve of his employees to stare after him. He’d known something was off with Benson. Nearly five million dollars in uncollectable accounts receivables had been left on the books instead of written off. The sneaky bastard thought he could play Pierce for a fool. Well, Pierce was nobody’s fool.

He kept his head down as he entered the executive reception area, every determined step increasing his anger.

“Treat called when you were in your meeting, and so did William Benson,” Kendra said as Pierce stormed past her.

“Thank you,” he grumbled. Benson, the snake.

She followed him into his office with a notepad in hand and stood across the desk from him with practiced grace while he paced by the windows. He had a tough decision to make about the Grand—the issues with the books didn’t change the fact that he wanted that prime piece of real estate, but the deal just became far more complex and risky. He was glad he’d be speaking with Treat. He was a great sounding board. He knew how to handle tricky deals. But Pierce was too angry to think coherently at the moment. And then there was Kendra, standing on the other side of his mahogany desk in her proper suit, pen at the ready. A major deal was about to implode, and if he had been any other person, he might lash out, take it out on everyone in his path, but Pierce wasn’t that person. He drew in a deep breath and ran his hand over his face, stifling the anger boiling inside his chest.

“Mr. Benson was returning your call from yesterday requesting a meeting. He’s in his LA office and said he’s free Monday morning. Does that work? I can book you a flight out on Sunday evening and a room at the property near the airport.”

He turned to face Kendra. Her face was a mask of professionalism, her voice steady, businesslike.

“Yes. Monday. That’s fine, but I’ll stay with Jake. I’m sure he won’t mind, and I’d like to see him.” It would be nice to have some alone time with his younger brother before he came to visit for Luke and Daisy’s party.

“I’ll have a car waiting for you at the airport. Pierce, tell me what else you need and I’ll get out of your hair.” She knew him so well.

He hadn’t seen Rebecca at lunch today, and it was thoughts of her that eased the fire in his belly. She’d told him last night that she called her doctor and had an appointment Monday to get on the pill, and he agreed to get tested, as promised, when he went home for Luke and Daisy’s engagement party. He smiled to himself, despite the frustration of his earlier meeting. There wasn’t another woman on earth he’d do that for.