Angel Falling (19 page)

“God, he’s such a creep! I can’t believe I ever thought I loved him. What the hell was I thinking?” I rubbed at my eyes as Nate and I headed toward the elevator.

“’Creep’ sure does fit the bill. Don’t worry though, love.” He gripped my shoulder and squeezed it. “Before long, I’ll have his arse in a sling,” he said with conviction and a wicked hot British accent.

“Oh, Nate, I believe you. If anyone can get past his bull, it will be you and Collier. How is your brother, anyway?”

His brother was also a fine specimen of the opposite sex. Good-looking, smart, very kind eyes. And he had the charming British accent that made women melt on the spot. Though as of late, it was a Southern accent that made my panties drop.

Nate walked me to my limo and opened the door. “Can I drop you anywhere?” I asked him.

“Maybe. You up or downtown?”

“Up.”

“Brilliant! I’d fancy a lift then. Thank you, love.”

Nathaniel Walker was a good guy, charming, with movie star looks. I wondered why he was still single. “Nate, you seeing anyone?”

He waggled his eyebrows and his mouth turned into a sexy grin. “Is that an invitation?” he joked.

“You know it’s not. I’m just curious. What’s a single guy, good-looking, British no less, doing without a beautiful bombshell on his arm?”

“Just because there’s not one on my arm right this moment doesn’t mean there isn’t one,” he chided.

“Oh! I’m sorry. You’re right.”

He laughed. “No, you’re dead on, love. I’m not officially seeing anyone. Just dating here and there. Pretty busy to find the right bird, as it were.”

“Bird?”

“A lady friend. We Brits often call our women birds,” he clarified.

“You Brits are strange.”

“No more strange than you Yanks! Here men call their ladies by terrible names in comparison. I hear ’my bitch’ or ‘my old lady’ constantly. Can’t fathom that a woman would rather be addressed as a bitch or old versus a lovely bird in any context.”

I rolled around his logic. “Good point. Bird it is.”

We both laughed. I leaned over and poured myself two fingers of scotch.

“Whoa, love. That’s a lot for a little thing like you.”

“Liquid courage.” I hesitated and took a sip, letting the alcohol warm my belly and calm my nerves.

“Aspen, darling, you’ve never been afraid of anything in the few years we’ve known each other. Would you care to share?”

“My significant other’s mother is coming to town for the first time.”

“Ah, I see. Say no more. My mum would interrogate any woman I brought home. Just be yourself. And if that doesn’t work, buy her a car.” He grinned wickedly.

I smacked him on the shoulder and laughed with him.

My stop was first and with the best of manners, Nate got out and helped me out of the car and gave me a hug. Then he kissed both cheeks, slid his hands down my arms to clasp my hands, squeezing them. “You’ll do great, my love.” He lightly kissed my forehead.

I smiled up at him and turned away. My nose bumped into a solid mass.
Ouch!
I could recognize that manly scent mixed with citrus anywhere. I looked into the smoldering green eyes of my cowboy. His jaw was clenched and his gaze glacial.

“Who’s your friend, Angel?”

It took me a moment to comprehend his question, so taken aback by the electricity and anger I felt sizzling off him. Nate heard the question and immediately introduced himself.

“You must be the significant other she mentioned in the car. ‘Right-hook Hank’!” Nate put out his hand and Hank’s eyebrows knit together, his eyes scrunching into tight points. “I’m Nathaniel Walker, Aspen’s friend and attorney. It’s good to meet you.”

Hank shook his hand. “Right-hook Hank? That’s a first. Hank Jensen.” He seemed to relax a little. His arm came around my shoulders and I burrowed into his side. “I wanted to be outside when you arrived so that you knew where to find our table.” His eyes softened as he looked into mine.

“Right-o, well then, mate, I best be on my way. We’ll have to get together sometime.” I nodded and Hank just hugged me tighter to his chest. “Cheers.”

***

Seeing that man’s hands on Aspen had me fit to be tied. “I don’t care for another man’s hands on my woman.” The tension was building within me and I was not capable of stopping it until I had my answers. With a hand on her waist I ushered her into the restaurant.

“Hank, don’t be silly. He’s my lawyer and an old friend. There’s nothing between us.” She tried to assure me unconvincingly. In a short time, I knew my angel well enough to know she was holding something back.

“Have you slept with him?” I had to know if that man had put his paws on my girl.

“No!” she half-whispered, half-yelled.

“Ever date him?” I don’t know why I was choosing to torture myself but he had his hands on her. He was a good-looking man and he seemed way too familiar with her. She groaned.

“Yes, two dates. Enough to realize we were never going to be anything more than friends.” She sighed and searched my eyes.

“Did he kiss you?” She stopped dead in her tracks and I knew the answer.

“Can we not do this now?”

I gripped her chin and held her gaze. “Answer the question?”

“Seriously?” She rolled her eyes. “Technically, yes we’d kissed … once! It felt like kissing my brother. Happy?”

“Not especially. Your lips are mine now. I don’t want anyone ever getting to taste the pleasure of what’s mine.” With that I cupped her face in both of my hands. “You got it?”

She stared intently, her gray-blue eyes swirling. I saw the very moment she understood. Her eyes closed and a slow breath left her lips. God, she was so beautiful. “Hank … ” she started but I stopped her with my lips. She tasted like honey and cherry lip gloss.

She sighed into my mouth and I dipped my tongue in tasting her more fully. I could feel people walking past us and I didn’t care. I kissed my angel like it was my meal ticket. Like a good, solid day’s work. She returned my kiss with a ferocity I didn’t expect. My hand went down and cradled her ass, pulling her up and against me. She moaned. Damn, she was perfect. She pulled away first, her eyes a deep blue now.

“That’s more like it, Stud.”

Damn, I loved when she called me that. It made my heart warm and my dick hard. I couldn’t wait to get her back home.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she chastised.

I smiled, “Like what?”

“Like you’re thinking of all the naughty things you’re going to do to me.”

I cupped and squeezed her ass pecking her on the lips one more time. “You know me too well, Darlin’.”

“Come on Hank, your Mom is waiting.”

Holy shit!
“I damn near forgot! Shit!” I pushed her on into the room where my mother was happily rearranging the centerpiece flowers. Her eyes jumped up and she smiled when she saw me. “Mom, this here is Aspen Reynolds.”

“Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jensen.” Aspen reached her hand out but my mother jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around her.

“Just call me Julia or Mom, everyone does!”

“Thank you, Julia. My friends call me Pen.” Aspen returned the hug and moved away.

I pulled out my mother’s seat and then Aspen’s.

We ordered drinks and stuffed mushrooms to start. I let Aspen choose the wine since she actually knew something about the stuff.

Out of nowhere the most beautiful words came out of my Angel’s mouth directed at our waiter. “
Ci piacerebbe avere vino rosso questa sera. Che cosa mi consiglia?
”

My mother and I looked on in awe as Aspen spoke to the waiter in fluent Italian ordering the wine.

“Angel? You speak Italian?” I know my smile was as infectious as my mom’s, who also couldn’t hold back her own surprise.

“I do. Spanish, French, and a touch of German, as well,” she smiled. I looked at her, completely astonished. “What?” she grinned.

“You amaze me, Angel.”

“In my line of work, I wouldn’t be able to speak to half of the models and talent if I didn’t know enough of their languages. I mean, most speak English, but it can be very hard to understand them. When I’m negotiating a contract, I want them to be fully aware of what they are signing up for.”

“You’re so smart. I bet you have a great job!” My mother gushed. “Who do you work for?”

“I do.” She answered without finishing.

“Don’t be shy, Darlin’. Tell Ma here what you do.” I was proud of my girl and wanted her to be proud of herself, too.

“Oh Hank, your mom’s really not interested in my work.” At that moment the wine arrived and she swirled it around her glass, stuck her nose in, and took a sniff. Then sipped and nodded to the waiter. He poured three glasses and she took a huge gulp. She was acting strange, knotting her fingers together in her lap and rubbing them together. Then it dawned on me. The confident, take-charge businesswoman was nervous.

“Ma, Aspen’s being shy. She’s actually a real big deal. You know she owns the very building that I’m adding to. Her account is the one I bid on and won.” I smiled wide and Aspen hung her head.

Strange behavior for her. She’d always been really confident and screamed powerful woman in a “hear me roar” way since we’d met. Especially when talking ‘bout her work. She normally was a regular stick of dynamite going off if you so much as mentioned something she was working on.

Tonight she was trying to downplay her job and I didn’t understand why.

“Wow! Such a young little thing like you, speaking all those languages and owning buildings? Amazing.” Ma placed her head in the hand leaning on the table. She smiled brightly at Aspen and it made me feel tall, bigger somehow.

“Told you, Ma. My angel is as smart as she is beautiful.”

Her eyes scanned Aspen’s face and body. “She will make pretty babies for sure!” Mom hinted and winked.

Aspen’s mouth opened and her eyes widen. “Mom! None of that talk. You’ve got two grandsons already. Don’t be greedy.” Aspen visibly relaxed. Did she not want children? I wanted kids. I didn’t expect them right away but in the future, a couple years down the road maybe. I was already thirty four. I didn’t want to wait too much longer.

Looks like we had yet another thing to add to the growing list of things to talk about later.

The meal was extremely filling and the wine had been flowing. Aspen drank more than she usually did and was starting to slur her words together. I didn’t mind, though, because when she started to drink she couldn’t keep her hands off me. She was very affectionate and loose-lipped when she drank, and I planned to take advantage of it once Ma was settled in for the night.

I took my two best girls home. Of course Aspen had her limo pick us up and my mom was thrilled to no end. She had never been in a limo before and went on and on about how exciting and fancy it was. Aspen just smiled and snuggled into my side, sneaking kisses on my neck when she thought my mom wasn’t looking. She’d had more to drink than she thought. She wasn’t inconspicuous at all, but Mom seemed to enjoy the scene. There was no reason to bring home a woman to my family when I wasn’t planning on keeping her around. Aspen I planned on keeping around for good. Every so often Mom would look over at us, a knowing look in her eye.

“You remind me of your father, Punky.”

“Ma, you say that all the time.” I shook my head and continued pulling my fingers through Aspen’s silky hair.

“I know I do, but seeing you with her reminds me of your father and I years ago when we were young and only had eyes for each other.”

I tensed and looked down but I needn’t worry about what my mother was saying. Aspen was fast asleep against my side.

“What do you think, Ma?” I whispered.

“She’s very beautiful,” she said looking at her.

“She is. And smart too,” I added.

She nodded. “And you love her,” she stated flatly. Never could get one past my mother. Growing up she always knew when Heath and I were getting’ into mischief or trying to sneak extra cookies. She’d even told Heath on his first date with Jess that he “was gonna marry that girl” and low and behold, he did. Now she was reading me like an open book. No use trying to put off the inevitable.

“I do, Ma.”

“And she doesn’t know yet?” Perceptive my Ma was.

I shook my head.

“Why haven’t you told her?” She wasn’t judging me. I could tell she was concerned.

“It hasn’t been the right time. I’ve been healin’ up. She’s been working a lot. I met her family last weekend. It was a disaster.”

“Well, she’s still here with you so it couldn’t have been that bad. Obviously that means something.” I shrugged. “Do you think she loves you, dear?”

I closed my eyes. That was the magic question of the year. Did Aspen love me? And if she did, why? I wasn’t rich. I couldn’t give her the lifestyle she was used to. Hell, I didn’t even know if I could stay in New York and not go back home. She’d never leave her company. It was too successful. So if I wanted her, I’d have to make some sacrifices. Was I prepared to do that? I didn’t know.

There was a lot still to work through. I know if she loved me, though, we could get through it all. We’d make it work, somehow.

“I don’t know,” I finally said. “I just don’t know.”

“Well, son, looks like you need to buck up and get yourself the girl then.”

“You’re right, Ma. But how?”

“We’ll figure it out, baby. Don’t you worry none. Mama’s here now.”

Somehow I knew my mother was going to get all up in my business with Aspen. It was surprising how little I cared. I could use all the help I could get. I did worry about her methods, though.

“Lord help us all,” I whispered into Aspen’s hairline. She snuggled in deeper and my mother laughed.

Chapter 12

Put in grounds. Check. Add water. Good. Press start. Okay. I can do this.

Gustav was allowed a sick day; I could handle coffee. Hopefully. If Hank hadn’t woken me after the car ride and proceeded to ravage me through the night I wouldn’t be so damned tired. The man was insatiable. I mean, sure, I went through a huge dry spell and have been pretty satisfied over the past several weeks, but a girl has got to get some sleep. Last night was something else. It’s as if he was starved and I was his first meal in weeks. Thinking back, the things he did to me could be considered illegal in some countries. The man was going to kill me.