Pulse 2 (Pulse Series) (24 page)

Because I was given a job in the building that was more appropriate for an intern, I no longer had to worry about taking my work home with me. When my job was done, I had the rest of the day all to myself. And just like it was when I was in college, my weekends were completely free.

Rafael and I set another dat
e for the following night. But it was in a different restaurant and Wesley and Travis were not there. It was the first time I’d ever been out alone with him without the pretense of business lingering over us. It was a real date.

I sat at the table and sort
ed through the messages on my phone. Danica was asking me if I wanted to go out tonight. I told her everything that happened, so she knew that I had more free time to myself because work was less demanding. I giggled as I sorted through all of my friend’s messages.

“
What’s so funny?” Rafael asked me.

“
What?” I said as I looked up at him. “It’s my friend. She… wants to go out tonight. When I told her where I was, she got upset that I didn’t invite her. I can just picture her face right now.”

“
Is she mad? Maybe you should go out with her tonight.”

“
She’ll be fine. I spend enough time with her.”

“
Still, I think it would be nice to meet her. I haven’t met any of your friends.”

“
I can say the same about you.”

“
You have met my friends. They’re the men in the boardroom. The executives in Hawaii.”

“
You
definitely
need to get out more.”

“
Well, your friend
is
offering us a chance to go out tonight?”

Rafael smiled at me and I saw that he was serious. He waited for my response. I bit the corner of my bottom lip
as I considered his proposal.

“
What do I tell her?” I asked. “What am I supposed to say to her?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I mean, when I introduce you to her. Do I say ‘hey, this is my boss’ or…”

I paused as my words trailed off. Rafael reached across the tab
le and held his hand out to me. I dropped my hand into his palm as he stared into my eyes.

“
That’s something I wanted to talk to you about, actually.”

“
Oh?” I said, my curiosity piqued.

“
Yes… I was thinking today. I was trying to figure out how to say it exactly…”

“
Rafael?”

He took his hand away from me then reached into his suit jacket. He pulled something out and placed it down in front of me. It was a small box. I looked down at it, my mouth half-open in amazement.

“What is this?” I asked him.

“
I got you something.”

“
It’s not a ring, is it?”

“
No, I don’t think we’re at that point yet, Alice,” he said as he chuckled.

“
What is it?”

It was larger than a ring box, so I knew that wasn
’t it. I held the box in my hand. Rafael looked at me with a huge grin on his face.

“
What are you doing?” he said. “Are you trying to weigh it?”

“
Yes,” I said as I laughed.

“
Oh, your hands are scales now?”

“
Yes.”

“
Just open it.”

“
All right, all right…”

I grabbed the top of the box and popped it open. I looked down at it
and my mouth dropped even lower.

“
Are… these real?”

“
One-hundred percent.”

“
How much did it cost you?”

“
That doesn’t matter. I didn’t put it on the company credit card.”

“
Right…”

He chuckled at me as I tried to recover from my astonishment. It was a brace
let lined with diamonds. Along the center of it, there were large emeralds that sparkled just as bright. The light from the chandeliers above shined off of the jewels and reflected in every direction.

“
Do you like it?” he asked.

“
It’s… a little gaudy for someone like me. People can see me from a mile away.”

“
That’s the point. I want people to see it. I want them to know that you’re… with me. Alice… I’m not the man I used to be. I’m not your boss. I don’t even have a job. But whatever it is that I am, I want you to be there with me.”

“
I want to be with you, too. You didn’t have to get something like this for me though.”

“
This is part of it. I have money. This is the life that you’re going to live. Because that’s what I want for you. If you can’t handle it…”

I
raised one of my eyebrows at him. It didn’t take me very long to consider his proposal.

“
I
guess
I can get used to this,” I said as I smirked.

“
Good.”

He reached forward and pulled the bracelet from its box. Then he held my hand as he snapped it around my
wrist. The diamonds and emeralds shined on my wrist. I’d never worn anything that stood out so much. Rafael held both of my hands and we stared at one another across the table.

“
I guess that makes it official then,” I asked.

“
That’s right. So, when you introduce me to your friend you can tell her that…”

“…
You’re my boyfriend. You’re just Rafael.”

He pulled both of my hands up and kissed me softly on my knuckles. I blushed in embarrassment as I noticed some of the other people looking at us. But I wasn
’t embarrassed enough to pull my hand away completely. I just let my hands rest in his and let another sigh escape from my lips. We sat there and a man in a suit walked up to the both of us.

“
Mr. Barnett,” he said to Rafael. “Thank you for joining us this evening.”

“
Of course. It’s always a pleasure to be here.”

“
The pleasure is mine. And who is this lovely young woman? Your wife?”

I blushed as he said it. I pulled my hands from Rafael and shook my head.

“This is my girlfriend, Alice,” Rafael said. “Alice, this is Charles. He owns this restaurant.”

“
Rafael has been coming here for a long time. I’ve never seen him in the presence of such a lovely young woman. I hope that I’ll be seeing more of you.”

“
I hope to be here,” I said to him.

“
I’ll have the waiter take care of you shortly,” Charles said. “Thank you again for coming, Mr. Barnett.”

Charles bowed his head to the both of us then excused himself. I watched the man walk away, everything he just said still lingering with me.

“Are you all right?” Rafael asked me.

“
Yes, of course. I was just thinking about what he said.”

“
What did he say?”

“
He called me your wife.”

“
He did.”

“
What do you think about that, Rafael?” I said as I turned back toward him.

We stared at one another as I waited for
his response. Rafael immediately smiled at me and softly shook his head.

“
Let’s just go real slow, Alice. Are you in a hurry?”

“
No… No, I’m not.”

“
I’m not either. Let’s just enjoy things as they are now. Let’s just… be.”

I nodded to him, half-disappointed he didn
’t want to push our relationship any further.

“
That first night I met you,” he said. “Did you think that we would ever get to this point?”

“
No, I didn’t.”

“
Me neither. But if things keep going like this, who knows where we’ll be.”

As I sat there, it felt like we were the only ones in the restaurant. I was alone with him at the dinner table. Our relationship had changed so much over the past three weeks. But there was still so much more to do and so much further to g
o. The possibilities for our future were endless. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

Author
’s Note

Thank you for taking the time to read the continuation of Alice and Rafael
’s romance in
Pulse 2
. Loved it? Hated it? Leave a review and let me know what you think! See more of my work on Amazon.com at
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