True Love (Volume 4) (Now and Forever) (9 page)

They walked into the large ballroom hand in hand. Eve took in the sights and sounds as Alex led her to the large oak bar. He lightly frowned as he noticed the males of the entire room look at Eve as she passed them by.

“What would you like?” He asked looking into her crystal blue eyes.

She playfully licked her lips and smirked, “You.”

He laughed softly. “You will have me soon enough. What would you like to drink?”

“I will take a glass of wine.”

He nodded and ordered from the bartender. “Would you like to dance?”

She smiled, “Yes.”

Alex led her out onto the dance floor and luckily the club wasn’t packed. He found a small patch on the dance floor and pulled her close to him. He allowed the soft slow music to take over as he lightly kissed her lips. “The whole time I was outside
with Becca, I thought about you. I wanted to make sure that she had no plans to hurt you. I tried my hardest to keep her from that building.”

“You are a true gentleman, Alex.”

He smirked. “Sometimes, I am.”

Her eyes lit up as she kissed him again. He felt her body sway with his and her arms move tighter around his waist. They were molded perfectly together as he deepened the kiss and became lost.

She pulled back slightly. “I’m in trouble, Alex.”

He opened his eyes and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow my heart to be torn apart again and crushed but I find myself breaking that promise.”

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I promise you that I will do everything in my power not to hurt you. Eve, you are an amazing person.”

She kissed his neck gently. “Take me back to your place.”

Alex grinned and kissed her again. He reached for her hand and led her back to the bar to finish their drinks. As they were leaving, they ran into
his friend Paul as he entered the lobby with Brooklyn.

“Alex! How are you?” Paul asked as he reached for his hand.

“I’m doing great but we are in a hurry, man. I will call you next week and we will do dinner.”

“Wait a second, where’s the fire?” Paul asked as he looked at Eve. “How’s it going, Eve? Is Alex behaving himself?”

Eve laughed. “Yes, he’s wonderful but we are in a hurry.”

“Alright, go on. Talk next week, man.”

Alex waved as they approached the valet stand. He leaned down and kissed Eve’s lips lightly as they waited for the car. “Your hotel room is closer.”

She agreed as they
headed towards her hotel. After a long and horrible day, he couldn’t wait to unzip her cocktail dress and see every piece of her flawless skin. He moved uncomfortably in his seat as he tried to think of other things to distract him.

Eve noticed as her hand skimmed along his leg and closer to his groin.

“You are going to make me crash.”

Eve pulled back just enough
but he could still feel the heat from her hand. He pulled into the underground parking garage for her hotel and opened the door. They walked up the small staircase and into the hotel lobby.

He pulled her into his arms as they waited for the elevator to arrive.
“Tell me one thing that I don’t know about you,” he asked her.

Eve thought for a moment. “When I was seven years old, I kissed a boy in my classroom and
afterwards he cried to teacher.”

Alex couldn’t control his laughter. “That’s the cutest story I’ve ever heard.”

“I recently found out that he’s gay so it doesn’t hurt as much.”

Alex kissed her. “This is what I’m talking about. I love this playful side
of you. I need that in my life…” he paused. “You are leaving me in two days.”

The door opened and they stepped in, Eve leaned back against
the wall and looked at him. In two days, he had fallen in love with her but he knew she didn’t want anything serious. She continued to watch him as he noticed her tongue lick her bottom lip. He groaned as he moved to pin her back against the wall. He covered her lips and aggressively parted her lips. She responded back by biting his lip. “I love your playfulness but that may come back to hurt you my dear Eve.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

They heard the bell as the elevator landed on her floor. He pulled her out of the elevator and leaned against the wall as she looked for her key. Once the door was opened, they heard her cell phone ringing.

“Ignore it, Eve.”

“I should look at who is calling, Alex.”

He threw her purse onto the couch and pulled her into the bedroom. “I
want you, Eve. Right here, right now. No more distractions, just us. Here in the moment.”

He crushed his mouth to hers as his hands ran down her bare arms. They moved around
to the back of her dress and started to unzip it slowly.

He reach
ed up without breaking his kiss, slid the straps down her shoulders and the dress pooled at her feet. He moved away from her lips just enough to speak. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment.”

Eve
breathed heavily. “Thank God I wore my good panties then.”

Alex chuckled as he stepped away from her. His eyes traveled the length of her body
as he took in the sheer black matching bra and panties. As his eyes met hers again, he took a deep breath. “Oh Eve, the things I’m going to do to you.”

She moved closer to him
, removed his suit coat and started to unbutton his shirt. Her nails ran down his lightly hairy chest and stopped at his waistline. She un-tucked his shirt and slid it to the floor as her lips found his chest and kissed it lightly. “You are gorgeous, Alex. My God! How does any woman resist you?”

He smiled at her as she started to unbuckle his belt. He inhaled deeply as her fingers undid his zipper and removed the rest of his clothing. He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her deeply. “You. Are. Mine.”

He pushed her back on the bed and kissed every inch of her body. He enjoyed every noise, every whimper and felt his blood as it pulsated throughout his body. He couldn’t control himself for long but he knew he had the whole night to make her every desire come to life.

In the morning, Alex woke to the wonderful aroma of fresh brew
ed coffee. He rolled over and felt that Eve was missing. Eve. He smiled as he thought back to the previous night. Everything went perfectly, there was none of that awkward getting to know you stuff, they listened to each other and it made for one of the best nights of his life.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. I hoped that you would be up shortly. I wanted to hit the gym this morning and I thought you could join me," Eve said as she handed him a hot cup of coffee.

"I would love that but I don't have any clothes here." Alex placed his coffee on the night stand and pulled her back into bed with him. He felt her hands sliding down his bare chest.

"You are gorgeous, Alex."

He blushed as he kissed her lips. "You told me that several times last night."

Eve chuckled. "I'm still wonder how a man like you isn't taken yet."

Alex smiled as he deeply kissed her. His tongue parted her lips and he ran his fingers up into her hair and pulled her closer to him. "I hope you don't think I'm being forward, Eve but I would like to officially take myself off the market."

She smiled against his lips as she rolled him onto his back and sat on his hips. He placed his hands firmly on her hips and held her close. She leaned down and whispered. "God, I
hoped that you would say that, baby."

Alex sat up and
kissed her. "What are we going to do after today? I can't let you go, not yet."

"Come with me to
Pittsburgh. It will give us a few more days to be together and then we will go from there."

"Eve, I can't do that. I have a business to run and on top of that, I'm training a new assistant to replace that last disaster."

Eve sighed and rolled back down on the bed. "Alex, sometimes you just have to take a break. You work too much."

Alex sighed and rubbed his hands over his eyes. This was a familiar argument with all his past girlfriends. He worked too much and never gave them enough attention. He
laid back down and closed his eyes. "Eve, you are right, I know you are but it's difficult for me to relax because this was always my dream."

Eve smiled and tur
ned to face him. "I know it was but you are still young. If you don't take breaks and relax, you will burn out before you even have a chance to get started."

"You sound like my mother, Eve."

Her
beautiful laugh filled the bedroom. "I'm going to assume that your mother is beautiful and intelligent so I will take that as a compliment."

Alex laughed. "Ok, I will take a few days off and come with you to
Pittsburgh."

Eve clapped her hands and covered his lips with hers. Alex took the opportunity to pull her close and make her forget that she wanted to work out.

***************

A few hours later,
Alex headed towards the gallery to check in with Beth. He wanted to make sure that everything with Becca from the past night was taken care of and things had returned to normal.

As he walked into the main lobby, Beth walked over to him with some files. "Good
afternoon, Mr. Smith. I hoped that you would stop by before this evening. I have a few things to go over with you."

"Follow me upstairs to my office and we will run through everything."

Beth followed close behind him as they climbed the stairs. "First, Becca is still in custody. I don't believe she will be released this time."

"I'm happy to hear that, she needs all the help she can get," Alex said as he entered his office and sat down.

"Next on the list are the newspaper articles from Ms. Matthews’ show last night." Beth handed him the articles. He quickly skimmed the papers and smiled.

"It looks like she was a hit
last night."

Beth nodded. "Everyone loved her and
her pieces. Of course, they did notice that she had an escort. They have called for a comment but I said you weren't in the office."

Alex nodded. "If they call back again just tell them that we have no comment."

Beth nodded. "Lastly, Emily Mason called earlier today."

Alex looked up at her. "Did she leave a message?"

"Yes, she said to call her back when you have a chance. She wanted to discuss a possible exhibit."

Alex smiled. "Fantastic, I will call her back."

Beth stood up and headed out of his office but turned around. "My friend contacted me and your damaged portrait is fixable. I can box it up today and get it shipped over to him for repairs and for the record, I think you and Ms. Matthews make a cute couple."

Alex laughed. "Thank
you so much Beth. That means the world to me. Please have him bill me directly for the costs. And for the record, I think so too. Oh, my sister should be sending over my new assistant today or tomorrow. His name is George. Could you show him the ropes around here?”

"Of course, I will see you tonight at the show."

Alex looked at the pink piece of paper with Emily's name written across the top of it. He knew that he needed to call her back because it was good business but would Eve agree? He picked up his office phone and dialed her number. He smiled when he heard her voice on the other side.

"Emily, it's Alex returning your phone call."

"Hey Alex, how are you?"

"I'm doing great. I heard that you are ready to talk about moving your exhibits over to my gallery."

"I talked with Henry yesterday and we both agree that I need to leave some of my pieces in Buffalo and I know you would take care of them for me."

Alex took a deep breath. "And have you talked with Eric about this decision?"

"Yes, we had a long talk and he's on board. He wants to support my career just like I have supported his."

"I'm happy to hear that. When did you want to make the switch?"

"I know that your current show ends tonight. I can fly in tomorrow morning and Henry has agreed to bring my pieces over to your gallery and we can go through all the paperwork."

Alex paused. He was supposed to
head to Pittsburgh with Eve for the next few days and knew he shouldn't cancel his plans with her.

"Alex? Are you still there?" Emily asked.

"Yes sorry, I was just looking at my calendar. That's not a problem. Why don't you call me in the morning when you get into town? I will meet you at the gallery and we will go through all the information."
"Fantastic, it will be great seeing you again, Alex."

"It will be nice seeing you to
o, Emily. See you tomorrow." Alex hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He turned around to leave his office and spotted Eve as she stood in his doorway with a frown on her face.