Fated to be Mine (16 page)

Andrew smiles that delicious smile of his and I can’t help but smile back. “It appears my time here is open-ended until I am satisfied with all plans being made. So it seems we have nothing but time. I have faith in us that everything will go according to the fate’s plans.”

“So confident,” I say, looking down briefly. “We need to take it slow this time. I don’t want to rush into anything too soon. We need to find our way, make time for each other and learn to trust again after the damage we’ve caused.”

I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince him or me of this more. But this is something we need to do. He needs to trust that I won’t fly away and I need to believe that he’ll stay.

“There’s no damage to repair, but I will do anything for you, love. We’ll start over and just take our time if that’s what you need.”

We reach up simultaneously and press our lips together to seal our agreement. The warm familiarity of his lips moving seductively across mine bring back happy memories and I allow them to flow, thankful that I’m in a better place with Andrew now. Those memories don’t hurt like they did before. Instead, they bring on joyful emotions, along with the feeling of invincibility and forever. But that last one I shake off because if there’s to be a chance for us, forever cannot be uttered yet.

We disengage our lips with both of us sporting equally stupid grins. And just for nostalgic reasons, my stomach decides to enter the conversation, growling so loudly that several patrons next to us turn to stare. My cheeks enflame and I cover my face while suppressing a laugh. Andrew, however, is not as nice and loudly laughs at my stomach’s outburst.

“Apparently I need to feed you.”

The suppressed laugh breaks free and my hands drop to the table. “I swear it only does this when you’re around.”

“I could say something right now, but I’m going to withhold the comment. Instead, I’ll just kindly ask you to pick out your cheeseburger before your stomach starts eating the table.”

The next hour breezes by quickly. Andrew fills me in on the past week regarding the Foundation, telling me that a few of the children had been asking about me, which touched me deeply to know they remembered and were thinking of me. I just wonder if it was the little kids I read the story to or the teenage boys I played basketball with. I tell him about my promotion and my nervousness about starting a new position. Andrew gives me encouraging words and helps boost my confidence in a way only he can.

It feels good to just sit here and talk like we used to when we were first discovering each other. We laugh and talk and laugh some more until we get scathing glares from the waitress, who probably wants us to leave so she can clean up the table for some paying customers.

Being the perfect gentleman, Andrew walks me to my car with our joined hands swinging between us. The same electrical current runs through me and I smile a genuine smile, thankful to have that wonderful feeling back.

When we reach my car, Andrew closes the distance between us and presses me against the door. A rather intimate scene, but one I won’t deny from happening. My body craves him like an addict craves its next hit. The way he ignites my blood makes me almost dizzy yet it’s not enough to make me stop wanting him. His hands move along my backside, following the curves before settling on my hips. I pull him closer to me, loving the feel of his body pressed up against mine.

I’m not sure slow is in our vocabulary.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

“Which hotel are you staying at?” I ask, trying in vain to keep my underlying desire hidden from him. A lascivious gleam shines in Andrew’s bright blues as he gives me a smirk.

“Why? Are you planning on breaking the rules already by visiting me at night?”

He’s teasing me. I shove his shoulder and laugh, causing his own laughter to mix with mine. But then he presses against me again, making me stop everything I’m doing. A longing desire fills me instead, a need which can only be satiated by him. He’s tempting me and it’s not fair. His body is forbidden fruit at the moment, something to look at but not touch.

But the serpent is there, tempting me at every turn and the knowledge of knowing how juicy the fruit is, has my mouth salivating already.

“The Radisson downtown,” Andrew says, seeing the new dilemma in my eyes.

I nod and am amazed my head can even do that. But the pull I have toward him can only be ignored for so long. My chin lifts, seeking him out. Andrew reads my silent plea and dips his head down to brush our lips together. When his arms wrap around me, I can’t stop the shaking of my body. Our lips press lightly together before parting, allowing our tongues to gently dance with each other. Never pushing or taking, just casually getting to know one another again. The heat of his breath mixes with my own as my fingers dive into his hair, a place they’ve yearned to touch since he walked into the diner.

“This is going to kill me, leaving you right now.” His voice dips low as he whispers against my lips. “I’ve missed you too much to want this to stop.”

Our eyes lock together with our lips just a whisper apart. “I’ve missed you too, Andrew. I know this will be difficult, but if we’re going to give this a real try it needs to happen. We need to take it slow. Almost like we need to forget what happened in London.”

Andrew shakes his head. “Not forget. It’s impossible, even if our brains want it to be that way. The best we can hope for is temporary amnesia. Because the power between us, the gravitational pull we have is too strong for it to be completely forgotten.”

I lean back, biting my lip as I nod in agreement. “Temporary amnesia. I like that.” And really I do. It’s a perfect way to describe what needs to happen.

“Until next time sweet Tessa.” Andrew lightly kisses the back of my hand before opening my car door. Smart man, staying away from my lips because I think we both know if we had one more kiss like that, our resolve would be obsolete. “I’ll call you soon to set up our first official date.”

“I can’t wait.”

“You’re going to see how good we can be together. I promise.”

Andrew shuts my door, closing me in on my thoughts. I live in my head way too much where nothing good happens when left alone to think. As his form gets smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror, my heart grows larger and larger. He came here for me, wants to date me, and is willing to go at my pace, even though we already know how good we are for each other. Perhaps there is hope for us after all.

“I
DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD
be this hard,” I grumble, leaning over my desk with my head in my hands. Kara laughs at me and shakes her head.

“Welcome to my world, Chickie. You were an easy choice for my assistant. But now, well you definitely have your work cut out for you.”

Out of sheer frustration and her amusement of my dilemma, I toss the Post-It pad at her head. It narrowly misses her, causing her to cackle even louder.

“You are absolutely no help, you know that? Did you find my replacement yet?”

Kara shakes her head on a sigh. “No, but I have half a mind to hire some random hot guy just to get a reaction out of Chris. He’s been acting weird all week and it’s starting to piss me off. Do you know what’s going on with him?”

Trying to keep my best poker face on, I shake my head while avoiding eye contact with her because I know I’ll break if I do. The fact is I do know what’s going on with him. And if all goes according to plan she will love it. I just need to keep her in my office for a little bit longer while everything gets set up.

“Nope, not a clue. I haven’t really noticed anything different about him. Then again, I’m not sleeping with him either and I’ve been slightly busy around here doing my own thing. I’ve barely had time to do anything other than getting myself organized, setting up my new accounts and fighting the urge to eat every piece of chocolate in the city.”

Kara’s brows furrow together as she points a slender finger at me. “You know you’re a shit liar, right?”

Unable to suppress it any longer I smile and laugh. “Yeah, I know.”

Sitting on her new perch on my desk, she swings her feet, letting her heels dangle off the ends of her toes. “What’s he planning? Come on, help a sister out.”

For once in my life it’s my turn to exact some sort of revenge against my loving best friend and boss, er, coworker. For all the torment and situations she’s put me through, only to gloat at my expense when things work out in her favor, this was my time to shine. And what Chris is doing is the utmost romantic thing I have actually ever witnessed. My heart constricts as I wonder if anything like that will ever happen to me.

But to torture her more, I shake my head and pinch her leg hard.

“Ow! What in the hell was that for?” she cries, rubbing the abused spot.

“That, my dear friend, was for last Friday. You can’t tell me it’s sheer coincidence that I call you Thursday night to say Michael is bringing me to the party and then magically Andrew shows up to crash it. Especially since he wasn’t supposed to arrive until next week. Huh, I wonder who tipped him off.”

Her hands rise in defeat but still sporting her amused grin. “Okay fine, it was me. I knew you needed a push and that seemed like the best opportunity to get you two together.” I pinch her leg again and she punches me in the arm, causing us both to laugh. “Knock it off! You’re going to give me a bruise! Then I’m going to have to explain it to Chris, who will more than likely get ideas of his own and he does not need help in that department.”

Wiping a tear away, I recline back in my chair, clutching my stomach. “Oh my God, I do not need that visual.” With a heavy sigh, I lean forward again and resume my prior position. I place my head in hands and look over the applications, feeling the beginnings of a headache at my temples. “But seriously, a little help here would be appreciated. I need to make this decision.”

“You need to relax a little,” Kara says wryly. “How are things with Andrew going?”

My head slips out of my hands, landing with a thud on the hardwood desk. I have decided that Operation Take Things Slow is the hardest thing I have ever done with Andrew. Every part of my body craves him when he’s around and it’s killing me to hold back my true feelings for him. Every day this week he’s shown me something new about him, letting me dive a little deeper into his soul. A soul that is already mine, according to him.

We’ve been keeping it to lunches every day and then the occasional office visit during breaks in our schedule. We laugh and talk and laugh some more. It’s like he’s becoming a permanent figure in my life, which is exactly his plan. He told me that our relationship would seamlessly fit into my life and I can see now how possible it could be.

But a woman has needs and taking sex completely out of the equation has aided in my growing frustration of this little experiment. It’s virtually impossible to sit next to Andrew for any extended period of time and not want to rip his clothes off. It’s just not possible. All we’ve done is kiss so far, which is lovely, but it sparks a deep seeded need within me. A need he awoke from a long slumber back in London and now that he’s back, it wants to play again.

“This sucks,” I mutter into the top of my desk. “Remind me again why I said I’d take it slow instead of just continuing on with how we left off?”

Kara pats my shoulder, causing me to twist my head toward her as she leans toward my slumped over body. She pulls a Post-It off my forehead and sighs.

“It’s only been a week Tessa. You can’t make a life-changing decision after a week, remember? That was your big argument with Andrew. You are so sure that someone can’t fall in love after only a week so why are you shocked when you’re having a hard time with the pace you’ve currently selected? There isn’t some flashing neon sign somewhere giving you the answer. Things like this take time and unfortunately for you, my friend, this is one of them. Listen to your heart. It knows what it wants and won’t steer you wrong.”

With a resigned sigh, I lift my head back up, rubbing the reddening spot on my forehead where a new pain has formed. “Yeah, I know. But this whole thing of fighting my feelings for him is getting exhausting.”

”So change it up a bit. Do something different. Feed your wild side. The beast within you likes meat and Andrew’s got exactly what it’s looking for.” She walks to the window and looks out, but not before giving me an evil smirk.

My mouth hangs open briefly. “I cannot believe you just said that. You know I’ve taken sex off the menu with him. It complicates things and I don’t need more complications in my life.”

“It only complicates them because you’re in love with him and you refuse to admit it. Did you at least take my advice for the weekend?”

Kara’s plan involves me spending the entire weekend with Andrew: sleepovers, meals, the whole nine yards. And I have to admit it’s a great idea. If I want to really know him, the best way to do that is to spend as much time with him as possible.

“Yes, I took your advice and, of course, Andrew thought it was brilliant. He wants to cook dinner for me at my apartment so he’s going to pick me up after work. Then we’re going to the grocery store because you know my place isn’t well stocked for dinner type meals.”