Ethan led me to our table where Paul and Missy were sitting. Paul"s head was resting on his arms over the table and Missy was rubbing circles over his back, obviously trying to comfort him in some way. She saw us approach and whispered something to Paul. He immediately lifted his head and saw me. He stood up and came over. Ethan held me close, obviously not allowing Paul to get too close. When Paul reached us, he reached for my hand, but Ethan stepped in front of me.
"Not a good idea, Pierce," he told him.
Paul gazed at him, his eyes turning to anger. "I don"t care what you think, Baker. I need to talk to Aly."
Ethan shook his head, pushing me behind his back even more. "She"s not really up to talking with you at the moment."
Paul looked over his shoulder to me. "Aly, please. I can"t lose you."
I looked at him, feeling nothing but rage. "I can"t talk to you right now," I told him. "I know we need to discuss what just happened, and we will. Just not right now, Paul."
His eyes closed in pain and he ran his hands down his face. "Please," he whispered.
Ethan wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me tight. He knew I could break at any moment. "Paul, give her some s.p.a.ce. She"ll talk to you when she"s ready."
He looked at me as he put his hands back to his sides. "I"m not letting you go. I don"t care what Casey just said, I"m not letting you go." He turned and walked to the exit, leaving Ethan and me standing there in the crowd.
"On second thought, just take me home, Ethan," I said. He pulled me to him and nodded. He motioned to Missy to come over. She grabbed her purse and met us.
"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" she asked.
"Not now, Missy," Ethan responded. "I just need to get Aly home. I"ll drop you off at your hotel first."
"Are you okay, Aly? I gathered a little bit from Paul, but I couldn"t understand him very well. And who was that b.i.t.c.h? They fought after you ran away, then she threw her drink in Paul"s face and stormed out."
I sighed, not surprised. I didn"t even respond to her, I just let Ethan walk me to his car. I wondered where Paul had gone to, but then remembered I didn"t care.
Ethan opened my door and helped me inside. Ever the gentleman, he opened Missy"s door for her too. Once he got in he hurried and started the car, tearing out of the clubs parking lot.
Missy went on and on about the evening"s events and how she hoped I was okay. She would squeeze my shoulder off and on and I appreciated her attempt at comforting me. We pulled up to her hotel"s entrance and Ethan parked, getting out of the car to let her out.
"Aly, I"m here for you. I have to leave tomorrow, but I"m only a phone call away. I"m so sorry. Call me, okay?"
I nodded and thanked her. "I"m so sorry the night was ruined. Next time you"re in town I"ll make it up to you."
"No need. But I do plan on taking you up on getting together. Take care, girl." She gave my shoulder one last squeeze and got out of the car. She gave Ethan a hug and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and saw that she made it inside okay, and then got back in the car.
"How are you doing?" he asked me.
"I"ve been better, but I"m okay."
He started driving towards my apartment building, covering my hand with his. He didn"t say anything to me the whole ride there, knowing I just needed time to process everything.
Looking at his profile, I smiled. This beautiful man was mine and I was never letting him go. I closed my eyes the rest of the ride to my apartment, thinking about everything that had happened.
I knew that this time I would have to resign and find a new job and it ticked me off. I was losing so much because of what Paul did. There was no way I could work with him anymore, let alone work every day at the scene of the crime.
We finally got to my apartment and I collapsed on the couch when we got inside. Ethan sat down next to me, pulling me to him. "Talk to me, angel," he whispered in my hair. I relaxed and just soaked him in.
I looked in his eyes and touched my hand to his face. "I don"t deserve you," I told him.
He looked surprised to hear me say this. "Why do you say that? Of course you do, babe."
I scooted away from him so I could really look at him as we talked. "I really don"t, Ethan. I"ve put you through so much."
His face continued to look confused, but he stayed still. "Aly, this is ridiculous. Why are you saying this?"
I didn"t know. My emotions were all over the place. Everything was. .h.i.tting me. How I"d loved Paul for so long, Casey treating me like s.h.i.t, knowing Ethan loved me, but not realizing my feelings for him. It was all too much.
"Everything is. .h.i.tting me. I feel guilty for making you wait for us for so long. I wasted so much time pining for Paul. If I could go back, I"d change it all in a heartbeat."
He s.n.a.t.c.hed me into his arms, holding me close against his chest. "Shh, don"t even go there, Aly. We"re together now, and I don"t regret a single minute we"ve had together. I love you so much. Let"s just start fresh and not worry about the past."
I felt the tears again and I hugged him tight. "I love you too, so much. Thank you. I"d be even more of a wreck if you weren"t here with me."
He pushed me back so he could look me in the eye. "I"ll always be here with you, as long as you let me. I told you, you"re the only one for me. I will never love anyone else, Aly. It"s always been you."
As he leaned over and started kissing me, all thoughts of Paul, Casey, and the pregnancy left my mind. I stood from the couch and held out my hand to him. He took it and let me lead him to the place we really wanted to be.
The next morning I woke up and was. .h.i.t immediately with the previous nights events. The memory of Casey"s sneer and shocking announcement made sure I wasn"t going back to sleep anytime soon. I let out a sigh as I rolled over, smiling when I saw Ethan sleeping beside me. He was shirtless and on his back, his chest rising and falling with each breath. I reached out and ran my hand down it, reveling in the fact he was mine. I couldn"t help but chastise myself yet again for taking so long to see it. As I lay there, I was greeted with the memory of Paul"s face when he begged me to not let Casey change anything. How he could think her pregnancy wouldn"t change anything was beyond me, but I realized he was grasping at straws.
Ethan woke up and took me in his arms. I felt his hardness pressing on my leg and I smiled. "Good morning," I said, laughing.
He flipped me on my back and got on top of me. "Oh, you think that"s funny huh?" he asked as he lowered his mouth to my breast. I gasped when he took my nipple into his mouth and started swirling his tongue around the peak. After a minute, he looked up at me with a grin. "Are you going to answer my question?"
I looked at him in a daze. What question?
He burst out laughing. "Glad to see I have that affect on you."
I lightly smacked his arm, then brought his mouth back down to my breast. He groaned and happily gave me what I wanted. I doubted I"d ever stop wanting him to do that.
After we made love, Ethan told me he had to go meet his parents for brunch. They were leaving on an African safari the next day and wanted to see him before they left. I frowned yet again when he came out of my bathroom dressed and ready to leave.
"No frowns, babe. You know I"ll be back as soon as I"m done. We have the whole rest of the weekend ahead of us. I plan on keeping you in this apartment the whole time."
I smiled at that. "Oh you do, huh?"
He bent down and kissed my nose. "Yes, I do. I love you. I"ll be back as soon as I can."
I watched him walk out of my room and a second later heard my front door close. I stretched on my bed, loving the way my muscles were so relaxed. I knew who was responsible for that and I couldn"t wait for him to come back.
After eating breakfast and taking a shower, I put on some jeans and a t-shirt and decided to forgo make up. Since Ethan had told me he planned on keeping me in my apartment all weekend, I didn"t see the need to glam myself up. Just the thought of what he"d do to me when he got back made me shiver in antic.i.p.ation.
With nothing much to do, thoughts of Paul and leaving my job popped in my head. I was heartbroken to be leaving Pierce Homes, especially after we"d just secured Mr. Halliday, but I knew I had no other choice. Too much had happened to be able to work things out. I was done.
The knock at the door startled me and I jumped. I knew it wasn"t Ethan and the dread I felt told me who it was. I wasn"t surprised he"d come over, but I also didn"t want to face him at the moment. I walked to the door and my suspicion was confirmed when I saw Paul outside the peephole. He looked terrible. I took a deep breath and opened the door.
He looked at me, his eyes heavy, his expression serious. He ran a hand through his hair. "Hey," he said, "Sorry I didn"t call, but I had to see you."
I opened the door wider to let him in, not surprised he was here. He came in and stood by the couch. I shut the door and turned to face him. My palms started sweating, so I wiped them on my jeans. I felt cold inside, knowing what I had to do.
"It"s okay," I told him. "How are you?"
"I"ve already lost you, haven"t I?" he asked, ignoring my question.
He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, waiting for my answer. I shoved off of the door and went to the couch to sit down. He turned to face me, staying where he was.
"Paul, listen," I started, but he interrupted me.
"Dammit!" he yelled, shoving his hands through his hair. I sat there nervous, not daring to say anything else. He started pacing back and forth, his hands now behind his neck. He stopped and looked at me.
"I could feel it, I could feel you slipping away from me. I knew I"d lost you as soon as Casey spoke. I knew it." He walked over to me, dropping on his knee. He raised his hand to my face, brushing my cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Aly, please, listen to me. Nothing has changed. My feelings for you are just as strong, stronger. If she"s telling the truth and it is my baby, I"ll take care of the child, but I will not marry her. I cannot be with somebody I don"t love."
I knew he meant what he just said, but it didn"t matter any more. I had to let him go. It killed me more than I realized to have to do this, but the memory of what he did, and how it had created a child, gave me the courage I needed. When I reached out and brushed a chocolate strand away from his face, he closed his eyes at my touch, putting his hand over mine. He turned it over and kissed my palm. His eyes looked at me with love and fear. I hated that I was going to hurt him.
"I"m so sorry but I can"t be with you, for so many reasons. I can"t be in the way of a child"s future, Paul. I can"t." He started shaking his head, but I placed my finger on his lips, stopping him. "If we"re honest with each other, everything changed when you had s.e.x with her in your office. There"s no way to recover from that, at least not for me, and I see that now. And the fact that it created a child...there is no way I can be involved in that. Everything has always been stacked against us, Paul. It"s never been easy and I can"t live like that anymore. I can"t always be wondering what is going to happen next to break us apart."
"You don"t understand, it won"t. I won"t let it. Casey can"t ever come between us if we don"t let her, Aly. Don"t do this."
I started crying. A part of me couldn"t believe I was doing this myself. I had spent years loving him, wanting him, and now that I could have him, it was too late. I knew we weren"t meant to be. I knew whom I was meant to be with and while I was so happy, this hurt me terribly.
"You don"t understand...it"s too late. There is no way I can be a part of things right now, when you still need to figure out what you"re going to do with her. You"re going to have to have tests and see if the baby really is yours. You need to focus on that, Paul. And knowing that the baby was conceived while I was hiding in that closet is too much. I thought I was moving past it, but I"m not. I need to walk away, Paul, walk away from you."
He pressed his hands to his eyes, shaking his head. "No no no," he kept saying over and over. I resisted the urge to comfort him, to tell him it would be okay. That wasn"t my place anymore. When I thought about it, was it ever?
He lifted his head to look at me, pain slashed across his face. "I can"t believe this is happening. I felt it all night. I couldn"t sleep. The thought of losing you is killing me. I"m broken." He looked at me with the saddest eyes I"d ever seen. "Having s.e.x with Casey right after having you is something I will never forgive myself for. I"ve punished myself over and over and over for it. I will never understand why I did it, Aly, but losing you is something more painful than anything I"ve ever experienced before."
The tears finally broke and I was then the one to put my face in my hands. A part of me still loved him and if things were different I"d be the first to jump in his arms and have him whisk me away to happily ever after. But that would never happen. I no longer wanted it to happen.
I felt his fingers lightly brush my hair away then they were gone. I saw him stand up from the corner of my eye and I looked up at him. His face had become stone, all emotion wiped away. The change in him that quickly surprised me and made me nervous.
"Just tell me one thing, Aly. Are you with Baker now?"
My silence was all he needed. He swore under his breath. "Did I really ever have a chance?"
I stood and walked over to him. "Yes, Paul, you did until you did her in your office. That sealed us. It"s obvious now we were never meant to be. I"m so sorry. I will always have a place for you in my heart and a part of me will always love you, but I love Ethan and we are together now. I"m so sorry."
He sighed. "I don"t know what to say," he told me, rocking back on his heels. I stood there, my heart breaking into a million tiny pieces at hurting this man, this man who had been everything to me for so long. I knew I had to tell him one more thing, shutting the door on this chapter of my life for good.
"I don"t think it"s a good idea for us to work together anymore. It"s too much for both of us. I am resigning effective immediately. The thought of not being there to finish what we"ve started kills me inside, but you know as well as I do that we can no longer work side by side after this. It"s for the best, Paul. I"m sorry."
He just stood there, taking in what I said. His eyes flashed hurt for a brief second, then the stone set back in. He nodded his head. "I agree, it is for the best, Ms. Chase. I accept your resignation. Please come in first thing Monday morning and gather your belongings. I will find your replacement on my own, no need for your help. I"m sorry things have to be this way, but remember that this is your choice, not mine."
He turned and walked to the door and I started to cry once again. He opened the door then turned back to look at me. "We could have been good, Aly. You know that"s true. I hope you have a happy life." He shut the door behind him and walked out of my life, forever.
A distorted wail erupted in my chest as I slid down to the floor, my fist in my mouth. As I lay on the floor, crying harder than I ever have in my life, I knew that regardless of how painful this felt, I had done the right thing. I just wish the right thing didn"t hurt so much.
I spent the rest of the morning on the couch, watching cheesy romance movies. I lost count of how many times I rewound the ending of Sixteen Candles. The scene where she comes out of the church and he"s waiting for her, leaning on his car, always makes me melt. I needed Ethan so badly; I kept glancing at the clock to see how long he"d been gone.
I finally heard his key in the lock and he opened the door. I bolted off of the couch and hurtled myself into his arms.
"Whoa whoa, what"s going on, angel?" he asked, wrapping his arms tightly around me.
I just shook my head, needing him to hold me for just a minute. The memory of telling Paul flooded through me and I started to cry. Ethan ran his hand down my hair and made shushing sounds.
When he couldn"t take it anymore, he pulled back from me and looked in my eyes. "Tell me. What"s going on?"
I sighed and lead him over to the couch. "Paul came by," was all I said.
His eyes showed surprise as he let out a breath. "Okay, how did that go?"
I told him everything that happened, stopping a few times to wipe my tears. While I was still so upset with Paul and everything that had happened, I knew a part of me would always love him. Knowing I had hurt him so deeply was not easy for me.
Ethan listened without interrupting and gathered me into his arms when I was finished. "I know that was so hard for you, babe, but I"ve gotta say, I"m glad it"s over. We can finally move on and start fresh. I know leaving your job is difficult, but Aly, this is just the beginning. You have so much ahead of you, angel."
I looked into his eyes and saw so much love, so much admiration, and it took all of the pain from Paul away. Ethan had always been my savior, my confidante. Now he was mine in every way. I still couldn"t believe it.
He grabbed my hand and tipped my chin up to look at his face. "I have an idea," he told me, brushing the hair away from my face. "Listen, I"ve actually been dreaming about this for a while, but it never seemed to be the right time. I think the right time has finally arrived."
He looked at me and I had no idea what he was talking about. I motioned for him to continue.
He smiled as he leaned over to kiss my forehead. "I want to open a new home building business...with you."
He sat there, waiting for my reaction. I was stunned. I was not expecting this and had never even thought about doing something like it before. But as I thought about it, the idea became so appealing that I knew we had to do it.
"Yes! I would love that," I shouted, launching myself into his arms. He started laughing and hugged me back.
"Really? Oh, Aly, this will be so amazing. I have wanted to do my own business for a while now and the only one I"ve wanted to go in on it with is you."
I raised my head and looked at him, putting my hand on his face. "I"m so excited! I think we can do a fantastic job and with both of our experience in the field, we can"t fail. I have so many ideas already. I can"t wait to get started!" My mind was going a mile a minute and I couldn"t wait.
He smiled wide and my love for him rushed through me. While this idea was just sprung on me, I knew it was right. Everything in my life was finally falling into place. "I love you, Baker," I said.
He took my hand and kissed it. "I love you too, babe." Pulling me closer to him, he leaned his forehead on mine. "Do you realize that major changes are happening for us? You just quit your job and told Paul it was over, whatever it was. You and I just decided to start our own business and the best part of all is that we are finally a couple. I still can"t believe it when I think about it, angel. I know I"m a broken record, but you have made me the happiest man alive. I want you to know, I would have waited for you until the day I died if I knew I had any sort of chance," he said, effectively melting me to mush.
He slammed his lips to mine in a hungry and explosive kiss. I grasped his shoulders and pulled him to me, lying back on the couch. His tongue swirled in my mouth, tantalizing me to new heights. I ran my hands through his hair, pulling and gripping as he started to kiss down my jaw, down my neck. When he started sucking on my ear lobe, I gasped.
"Angel, you have no idea what you do to me. What you"ve always done to me," he said in my ear, nipping the lobe he"d just released.
Heat shot through me as he continued down my neck to the top of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He looked up at me, his eyes on fire. I pushed his head to me and he groaned, continuing to kiss me lower.
I raised myself so he could remove my shirt. He lifted it over my body, tossing it to the floor, then rubbed his hands up and down my arms, setting me back down.
"I love you so much, Aly," he said as his lips crushed mine. My hands reached for the hem of his shirt, which he helped me remove in one quick move. Our hands moved over one another like it was life or death. After a few minutes, he stopped and held himself over me, looking at my black lace bra. "h.e.l.l," he whispered, dropping his head to my chest. I gasped as he moved his mouth over me, over my bra.
He stood and lifted me in his arms as he headed to my bedroom. I leaned my head against his shoulder and sighed in pure contentment. He lowered me onto my bed and what happened next would be seared into my memory forever. It was like our first time all over again. He was so gentle and loving, treating me like I was his G.o.ddess and worshipping my body thoroughly. When he finally entered me, the feeling was like nothing I"d ever experienced before. We were perfectly made for each other. He twisted his hips as he kissed me, making the intense feelings climb higher and higher until I couldn"t take it anymore and exploded in complete ecstasy.
Ethan shouted out his release then dropped his head to my chest, panting. We stayed like this for minutes, both in a daze from what we just shared. I absently rubbed my fingers through his hair as each and every emotion coursed through me. I had never felt more complete in my life, ever.