Rebound (21 page)

He had sent her a text saying, “wish you were in my bed right now.”  And when the girls had left for the night she wanted nothing more than to make a booty call, but she decided it was best to go to bed. It was late and she had enjoyed several glasses of vino. 

Plus, it wouldn’t kill him to miss me one night, now would it? 

Chapter 25

On Monday she was busy, like everyday since this assignment started. She wished she had time to sit around and day dream about the wonderful weekend she and Xander had spent together, but alas she had four reports to finish. 

Friday night they had gone to an quaint upscale steakhouse, it was delicious and romantic. Saturday, they spent in bed. They watched a few movies, talked, and ate, of course. Room service had been a godsend. She decided to go home on Saturday evening. Xander fought her on that a little.

“Just stay here. You can go home tomorrow. I’ll send a cleaning lady over.”

“My place is small, I can clean it myself. But thank you for the offer. And besides, I’m sure there are some things you need to get done, without me around.”

“The only thing I need to get
done
requires you to be present.” He grinned.

“God, Xander. Your willy is going to fall right off. You need to give that poor thing a rest.” She laughed.

“You don’t worry about my willy. It will be just fine,” he said as he stalked towards her.

So, she left a little later than she had been expecting, but she did leave, albeit reluctantly. 

On Sunday she cleaned, did some laundry and went on a much needed run. It felt good to have a moment to herself and to burn off some calories. It would have been easy to get lost in him for the remainder of the weekend, but she needed to come up for air. Xander had some work to do, so she was pretty sure he kept himself busy as well. Hopefully giving his willy some much needed down time.

“Do you have any special plans for the holiday this week?” Xander whispered as he snuck up on Katrine while she worked at her desk. This was his new routine, sneaking up on her. He loved doing it and found any excuse to do so. She should have been used to it, but he made her jump every time.

“Damn it, Xander! Will you stop doing that! What holiday?”

“The fourth of July is this week. And if you are not otherwise engaged, I would love it if you spent it with me.”

“Obviously I don’t have plans, since I didn’t even remember it was this week. When Teddy is here, I always have to plan something. But since he’s gone I guess it slipped my mind.” 

“Is that a yes?” 

“Yes it is. I would love to spend the day with you. What did you have planned?”

He grinned that grin and said, “Oh, I have a few things in mind.” 

“Do we get any days off? I didn’t even think about that.”

“Sorry just the 4th. I have two meetings on Friday, so business as usual. The final contracts are scheduled to be signed in a few weeks. But we can cut out early on the 3rd.”

Katrine felt her chest constrict. He would be gone soon and the thought made her sick. Xander put his hand under her chin and lifted her face, so that she was looking into his eyes. He knew what plagued her thoughts at that moment.

“Hey, none of that. No sad faces.” He pulled her out of her chair and into his arms. He liked to do that too. He kissed her, it was tender and slow. Her sad thoughts started to evaporate. All she focused on was the feel of his lips and the wonderful smell of his skin. He pulled away and she smiled up at him.

“Now, that’s better. I can’t have my girl feeling sad. I can’t take it when you give me the sad eyes.”

“Sad eyes? I didn’t know I was giving you any ‘eyes’.”

“Well, you do. You get this look in your eyes that makes me want to give you anything, just to make it go away. I only want to see that face you make when you eat something really delicious, or when a song you love comes on, or when you talk about Teddy, or when you look at me like you are looking at me right now,” he said, smiling his full amazing smile that showed his dimple.

Katrine gave him a quick kiss and sat back down. “Enough distractions, I have work to do... Jeeze for the guy signing my checks, you sure enjoy keeping me from doing my job.”

“So it’s a date. Why don’t you just leave with me after work tomorrow and stay for a few days. And before you go all inter-cranial on me, don’t think, just say yes.”

How could she say no to that face? He was so cute when he wanted to get his way.

“Oh, all right. You are so pushy.” And she turned her back and got back to work. 

Inside she did the backspin and her stomach was doing back flips, in a good way.  She was more than excited at the prospect of spending that much time with him. She had some shopping to do!

They left work together as planned. Katrine was feeling a little giddy. She hoped it wasn’t totally obvious, but knowing her face like she did, that was probably not likely. Xander looked over at her and grinned.

Ok, very obvious then... Oh who the hell cares, let him know I’m excited. 

Why did it matter? So she decided to quit trying to play it cool and just let herself go. What did she have to lose? A lot actually, but she could worry about that later.

“You excited?” he asked, smiling at her.

“No. Should I be?” she said in a nonchalant way.

They walked into the elevator of his hotel and when the doors closed, he lightly shoved her into the corner and pinned her with his body.

“Well, Katrine, I am very excited. I can not wait to have you all to myself,” he whispered across her ear. 

Her legs were feeling a little weak and every part of her body was tingling. They stood there pressed against each other until the doors opened. They barely made it over the threshold before articles of clothing started to fly. They didn’t make it to the bedroom this time, but the couch worked out just fine. They did manage to untangle themselves long enough to order dinner. Katrine was wearing her now favorite Yale shirt and he was just sitting in his boxers. He had on the same amount of clothes when he answered the door and signed for the food. She enjoyed watching him walk around in his underwear. He had long toned legs and a very toned upper body. Katrine must have been drooling a little because he started to chuckle. 

“Hungry?”

“Oh yes, very.”

After dinner they sat on the terrace drinking wine and listening to music. 

Katrine was glad to have iPod control tonight, so she got to make the playlist. She started with ‘England’ by The National. She found that fitting since they were talking about all of the places they had travelled to and hoped to visit one day. Xander started to tell her about the summer he spent touring Europe in his early twenties.

“The Northern coast of Spain was beyond belief. The beaches had large rocky cliffs covered in moss, then we would take these long drives up into the hills of Asturias.” 

“Oh, so that’s in Spain then? One of my favorite classical guitar pieces is called Asturias and I never knew exactly where that was. It sounds like a beautiful place.” 

“It isn’t one of the places you hear about that often for some reason. And it is beautiful. Anyway, there were sheep and cows that would walk along the foggy green slopes outside of our hotel, and you could actually hear their bells jingling in the morning.” She gave him a look. “Yes, I liked the cute farm animals and their little bells. Don’t worry, my balls descended by the time we got to Madrid. The night life in that town is something else. No one even goes out until after ten. You have these amazing late dinners that last for hours. Madrid is where I learned that the whole liquor before beer business is a bunch of bullshit. If you have six glasses of sangria before anything, you are going to toss.” He chuckled.

“I can just picture myself in a dark rustic room with candles lit at every table, listening to an amazing Spanish guitar player.” She sighed. He looked at her and there was tenderness in his eyes. She had to look down for a minute to conceal her sudden shyness. 

She could listen to him tell stories all night. He was so animated and passionate about things. She wondered how she could have ever thought him stuffy and rude. That seemed like another person, not her Xander. She looked at him and gave him a soft smile.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“Oh, I was just thinking how I love to hear you tell a story and how I can’t believe I ever thought you were an ass.” She smiled.

“That’s because I acted like a total ass, so you had every right to think that. I think a lot of women might share that opinion as well. It is just a way of keeping people at arms length. Don’t get too close, don’t get emotionally attached. Most of the time, I just don’t want to be bothered with it all. It isn’t an original tactic, but it’s worked for me for years,” he said, laughing at himself a little.

“How is that working for you now?” 

“Not very well, truth be told...”

She grinned, pushed away from the table, and curled herself into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and they sat there in a comfortable silence. When Katrine was little, she would reach towards the sky and pretend to gather starlight in her small cupped hands. Then she would make a wish. Tonight there weren’t many stars visible because of the lights from the city, but Katrine managed to find the brightest cluster.  A little wish couldn’t hurt…

The next day they stayed in bed as long as they dared. 

“Come on, we have to get showered and dressed. We have a fourth of July celebration to attend,” Xander said as he pulled her out of bed by her foot. 

“Can you please tell me what we are doing?” Katrine said, almost pleading.

“No, it’s a surprise.”

“What would you be doing if you were in New York?”

“Well, most likely I would be attending a very dull party in the Hamptons, probably getting hammered and wishing I was somewhere else...But tonight, my sweet girl, there’s no where else I would rather be.” He kissed her on the nose.

He had a way of saying things like that and making them sound totally sincere. Since she wasn’t sure what they were doing, she wasn’t sure what to wear. She decided on a short red sundress with comfortable tan sandals. Katrine thought her new outfit would be appropriate for almost anything he might have planned. And hair up, it was lava hot outside. Evening was falling and Xander told her that it was time to get going. Still oblivious as to where they were going, she just took his hand knowing all would soon be revealed. She headed for the elevator and he stopped her.

“No, not tonight. Tonight we take another way.” 

Very mysterious...

He led her to a door which led to a set of stairs, not going down, but up. They made their way up the winding stairs and Katrine soon discovered that their destination was the rooftop. Xander grabbed her hand and pulled her towards an open area on the other side of the door. She immediately noticed why they were on the roof. Beautiful classical music was streaming lazily from a set of small speakers. Directly in front of her was a small round table set for a romantic dinner. On the ground a few feet away, there was a large blanket. 

“I was told that one of the best views for the city fireworks was right here from this building. So I thought I would arrange for a private viewing. I hope you like it.”

Could he really think that she wouldn’t love this?

“This is
the
most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.” 

Definitely the good kind of romantic. She gave him a huge smile and a soft kiss on his lips. She was inches away from his face when she said, “This is going on my top ten smile list, hands down.”

“Only top ten?”

“Well I have to leave room, we do have a few more weeks.” 

She grabbed his face in her hands, “Xander honestly, this is amazing. You are amazing. Thank you.” She kissed him again, but not so soft this time.

“So what are we eating I’m…”

“I know, you‘re starving,” he interrupted laughing.

He pulled out a chair for her and she sat down, smoothing out her skirt. He went around the corner and came back with a huge basket brimming with goodies. This basket looked to be direct from the pages of
Food & Wine
magazine. It had a large baguette, cheeses, pâté, smoked salmon, summer salad, berry tarts and several bottles of wine. It was a gourmet fourth of July feast for two, and it looked divine. 

They ate and drank wine until the light from the sun started to dwindle. The bright yellow had turned to rust as it spread on the horizon. Xander suggested that they take their spots on the ground. He helped her down onto the blanket and he sat down beside her with a bottle of wine and two glasses. There were several large outdoor pillows for them to lounge upon. He had thought of everything. Katrine appreciated all of the effort he had put into this evening. It made her feel special, of the very non-fling variety.

When darkness fell, the fireworks started
.
Katrine was laying in the arch where Xander’s shoulder and arm connected. That space seemed to have been made for her head. The sky exploded with color and light. Her focus however was not on the pyrotechnic display. Her mind was on the firm body next to her and the hard lines that were hidden beneath the green shirt and soft linen pants.

She slipped her hand under his shirt and she started to run her hands up and down his stomach, almost absentmindedly. The touch of her hand on his stomach made Xander’s focus on the fireworks wane as well.
He rolled towards her slightly and started to run his hand slowly up the skin on her bare leg, eliciting some serious goose bumps. That made him chuckle. He got a kick out of the effect his touch had on Katrine. 

His hand made its way to the spot where the hem of the dress met her thigh. He put his fingers just beyond that and slid them back. The next time he went a little higher, and the next a little higher still. Katrine’s whole body was astutely aware of his hand’s climb up her thigh. A tingling heat slowly started to intensify where his hands brushed her skin, and parts a little farther north were starting to tingle as well. Xander touched her panties and played with the lace that framed the edges. She could guess his next move and her body was humming with anticipation.