Runaway Bride (Across the Stars: Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty

On Saturday, Lexie and Mark moved her things into his apartment.  The next day, she went shopping with Caitlyn who wanted to start decorating her nursery.  When she returned to her apartment, Mark hurried out of a bedroom, an excited look on his face.

“Did you have a good time with Caitlyn?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied, placing her purse on the small table by the front door.  “I never spent so much time with her before.  She’s actually fun to be with.”

“Good.” He reached her and gave her a kiss.  “I missed you.”

Pleased, she returned his kiss.  “I missed you, too.”

“I got a surprise for you.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, but you have to close your eyes.”

Smiling, she did as he requested.

He took her by the hand and led her through the living room and to the bedroom.  When he stopped, he said, “Okay.  Open them.”

She did and gasped in surprise.  There was a laptop resting on a desk and in front of it was a comfortable chair.  On the shelves lining the wall, he had all the books she owned arranged by genre.

“I don’t know how you want to decorate this room, so I’m going to leave the rest of it up to you,” he said as he led her to the chair.  “But I think you have a decent start.”

“It’s a wonderful start, Mark!”

Looking satisfied, he motioned for her to sit down and when she did, he gently pushed the chair up to the desk.  He hit the space bar on the laptop and the screen lit up.  “I took the liberty of downloading the word processing program you said you wanted.  I also transferred your music over from your other computer, so you can listen to your favorite songs while you create your novels.  Now you can write all the stories you want.” He kissed her cheek and patted her shoulders.  “I’ll be right back.”

She watched him as he hurried out of the room and chuckled.  What could he be up to?  Knowing Mark, it’d be something equally as sweet as giving her a new computer and a desk.  She turned her attention back to the laptop and saw he’d also taken the time to download all the stories she’d started but never finished.  Never in a million years did she imagine he’d do something this thoughtful when she showed him the old files on her computer.

“I have another present for you,” Mark said as he came back into the room.

She turned from her computer, her smile widening when she saw he was carrying a plate with chocolate marshmallow cookies on it.  “You’re going to spoil me.”

“You’re my wife.  If I can’t spoil you, then who can I spoil?” With a wink, he set the plate on the desk and set a glass of milk next to it.  “I can’t think of anything you need to get started with your writing, can you?”

“Yeah, I can.” She rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck.  Pulling him closer to her, she kissed him.  “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.”

He squeezed her waist affectionately.  “Get used to it.  On Pandoran, there were no women.  You can’t blame me if I want to make all your dreams come true.”

Lowering his head, he closed his eyes, ready to kiss her again.  She leaned into him and sighed in contentment as their lips met.  His kiss was always wonderful.  Soft, warm, passionate.  They were nothing like the polite ones Nick used to give her.  This only served as a reminder that running off to marry Mark was the best thing she ever did.  She could only hope her mother would eventually come around to accepting her decision.

Mark pulled back slightly away from her and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.  “Is something wrong?”

Not wishing to ruin the moment by talking about her mother, she shook her head.  “No.  Nothing’s wrong.”

Then, before he could say anything else, she cupped the back of his neck and urged him to kiss her again.  She had discovered that he was easy to distract if she turned his attention to things of a more sensual nature.  And sure enough, he forgot all about what they’d been discussing.  He cupped her face in his hands and deepened the kiss.  She parted her lips, and his tongue brushed hers, sending a shiver of delight up and down her spine.

Her pulse quickened.  Being intimate with him was still new, but she couldn’t imagine the thrill would ever get old.  When the kiss ended, she offered him a shy smile.  “So, this thing you have that makes you ejaculate every eight hours…  Does it mean you can only make love at that time?”

“No.  It just means that I won’t be able to finish until then, but I’ll ejaculate whether or not we’re together.  It’s the way men are designed on my world.”

“Right.  Until I conceive.” She brushed the back of his neck with her fingers and played with the hair touching his collar.  “It sounds like a pain.  I mean, we aren’t in bed every eight hours.  What do you do when you’re at work?”

“I go to a stall in the bathroom.  It’s not a pain so much as it’s inconveniencing.  But you’re not ready to conceive, and if I guess right, you won’t be ready to do that for at least another month.”

“I still don’t understand how you can know when I’m fertile.”

He shrugged.  “I can’t explain it.  It’s something that I’m aware of, through the bond we share.”

“What happens when I am ready to conceive?”

A sly smile spread across his face.  “It’ll be like the bonding ceremony.  You won’t have any choice but to be at my mercy.”

She giggled as he nipped at her neck.  “But what if you’re at work or I’m at the beach?”

“We’ll drop everything and find a way to be together.”

“Just like that?”

“Yep.” He nodded.  “Just like that.  Even if you’re not sensitive to the bond we share, your body will still prompt you to be with me.”

“It sounds dangerous and exciting all at once,” she teased.

He wiggled his eyebrows and slipped his hands into the back pockets of her jeans, gently pushing her against him so she could feel his erection.  “Maybe it will be.  You’ll be under my control.”

“I hope I can handle it.”

“I’ll tell you what.  Why don’t we pretend it’s time?  Then we’ll be prepared for it when it happens.”

“But you’ve never gone through it before.”

“Neither have you.” He picked her up in his arms.  “But I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t pretend.”

She laughed as he carried her to the bedroom.

***

A month later

Mark sat at his work desk.  His pencil tapped absentmindedly on the form he was filling out.  Though he was staring at it, he didn’t really see it.  With a sigh, he tried to think of something he could do to ease things between Lexie and her mother.  It seemed that neither one had the courage to approach the other.

“How long does it take you to fill out a form?”

Recognizing Chris’ voice, Mark turned in his chair and faced him.  He set his pencil down and motioned for Chris to pull up a seat.  Once Chris did, he asked, “Do you have any idea how long women go without talking to each other when they’re upset?”

Chris chuckled.  “I thought you knew more about women than I do.”

“Yeah, I did, too.” When Chris shook his head, he added, “I did a lot of research.  You know, books and seminars on relationships and women and such.  Nothing prepared me for this.  I really don’t think this is about me.  On the surface, it looks that way, but I think it’s really about them.  What do you think?”

After a moment, he shrugged.  “As long as they want a good relationship, they need to come together and talk their problems out.”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Mark leaned back in his chair.  “The question is how.”

“I don’t know.  Caitlyn is happy whenever her mom leaves her alone.  As long as no one is fixing up a family get-together, she-”

“That’s perfect.”

Chris frowned.  “What’s perfect?”

“A family get-together.  If everyone’s together, then there won’t be all that pressure on Lexie or her mom to talk.  Maybe it’ll help them relax.”

“If you want to have a family gathering, fine.  But leave me and Caitlyn out of it.”

“I can’t do that.  You two are part of the family.”

“I don’t care.  Caitlyn hates those things.”

Mark knew his mother-in-law could be overbearing, but he couldn’t believe Caitlyn couldn’t find a common ground with her.  “A family get-together is exactly what this family needs.  As long as everyone avoids each other, nothing is going to get better.”

“And Caitlyn’s just fine with that.”

“She shouldn’t be.” Mark sighed and leaned forward.  “Wouldn’t it be nice if they did get along?”

Chris groaned.  “It was because of her mom that I almost died, remember?”

“Her mom didn’t set out to kill you.  It was your fear that Caitlyn loved Randy more than you that almost did it.”

“Yeah, but her mom didn’t help.”

“Granted, that’s true,” he relented, “but this is a chance to change all that.  Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone in the family could be at the hospital when your daughter is born?  Wouldn’t it be nice if your daughter could see her grandmother without it upsetting Caitlyn?”

“Yeah, it would.  Nice of you to use the daughter angle against me.”

Mark laughed and sat back.  “I’m not using it against you.  I’m just saying that after all the time we wanted to be part of a family, this is a good chance to finally have one.”

Though he looked skyward, he nodded.  “Alright.  I see your point.  What do you want me to do?”

***

Lexie adjusted the umbrella she’d rented so the sunlight wouldn’t hit her laptop.  The beach had always been her favorite place, and now that she could write here, it was even more enjoyable.  Except for one thing.  She kept pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and dialing her mother’s number.  Each time, right before she selected the call option, she put the phone back.  It should have gotten easier to call her mom as time went on, but it didn’t.  If anything, it was harder.

What was she supposed to say?  That she was sorry she married Mark instead of Nick?  But she wasn’t sorry.  She loved Mark.  Every day that she was with him, she loved him more and more.  So no, she wouldn’t apologize for marrying him.  But she could see how not telling her mother first hadn’t been the right decision.  At the time, she hadn’t wanted her mother to talk her out of it.  Still, she could have left a note or…or…something.

“Hi, Lexie.”

Eyes wide, she looked up from where she was sitting on her fold-out chair.  “Nick?” Of all the people she expected to run into at the beach, he was the last one on the list, especially since he hadn’t been there the entire time she’d known him.

“Surprise,” he wryly stated and motioned to the towel she had rolled up next to her.  “Mind if I sit on that?”

Unsure of what he wanted to talk to her about, she nodded.  He couldn’t be happy with her.  She figured she would have to deal with her mother sooner or later, but she never imagined she’d have to see him again.  Clearing her throat as he smoothed out the towel, she closed her laptop and turned her attention to him.  “Did you get your ring back?”

He sat on the towel.  “Yes, I did.  And I got your letter.  I thought about writing but wanted to talk to you in person.  I remember you came to this beach a lot.  I’ve only been able to stop here twice, but you weren’t here before.  I’m glad I finally caught up with you.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t been by as often as I usually am.  I’ve been busy.” She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  “I didn’t intend to fall in love with Mark.  It just happened, and I-”

He held his hand up to stop her.  “You don’t owe me an explanation.  I know why you ran off with him.”

Right.  Because she’d already written it down for him with her apology.

“I don’t blame you, Lexie.”

Surprised, she shifted in her chair and studied his expression to see if he meant it.  “You don’t?”

“No.  I wasn’t an attentive boyfriend.  Sure, I went through the motions.  I took you on dates and sent gifts when appropriate, but I was never truly there for you.”

She didn’t know what to say to that.  All she could do was watch him and wait for him to continue.

“You tried to talk to me.  That day at the restaurant when you asked me why I wanted to marry you.  You remember that day?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I gave you weak answers.  Those were answers any smart woman would have run from.  I had convinced myself that how I felt about you wasn’t important.  I was only looking at the kind of woman who would impress my superiors and you fit the bill.” With a wince, he added, “Would you get upset if I admit I was relieved when you ran off to marry Mark?”

She shook her head and smiled.  “No.  In fact, I’m glad.  We can go our separate ways and be on good terms.”

“I’m happy we got the chance to clear things up.” He rose to his feet and shook out her towel before he rolled it back up.  “Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” As he turned to walk away, she called out, “Hey Nick?”

Stopping, he glanced back at her.  “Yes?”