Kissing the Tycoon (5 page)

“It’s my room.” As if that was supposed to get him out of telling her, but he could live in hope.

“Right. So why is it the only room I can’t look in?”

Nope, she wasn’t going to let him just have this. “It’s my sanctuary. It’s where I escape from everything.”

“Including me?”

“No.” He looked to heaven as if some divine being would help him out of this. “If you go in there and you leave me again, I won’t even have this room to escape to.”

A look of pain crossed her eyes, but all she did was nod and grab his hand. “Come sleep with me. I’ve missed you. I don’t know what I want, but it’s not you sleeping somewhere else without me. So either we sleep in there or in our room. Please.”

Unable to say no to her and not sure why he even tried, he let her lead him back into their bedroom. And that night he knew purgatory, both heaven and hell. Holding her, yet not knowing how long it would last.

Riley looked at the clock on the mantel. He had been late coming home tonight, and when he finally walked through the door had escaped immediately into “his” room. But she wasn’t complaining. Barret had been working hard to prevent having to fly out to China for a month. And although he had been working long hours, usually he did so on his laptop next to her. If he could just seal this deal, he promised she would have more of his attention, and unlike in the past, she believed him.

It was different this time. Everything was different. He talked to her, and every night he stopped everything to at least have dinner, and no matter where she was, he would move to that room to be with her. And for the moment that was enough.

In the last three months, he had managed to wind his way back around her heart again. Whatever defenses she thought she had against him were useless, and the idea that she could be with him and not in some sort of a relationship had proved silly. Two weeks after the first night back together, she’d asked how he felt about her moving in. After all, she hadn’t been in her own apartment for more than thirty minutes in fourteen days, and then it had been to just get clothes and water her plants.

Not one to let the grass grow beneath his feet, Barret had arranged to have her entire apartment moved into the house the next weekend. A fleet of Sherman cousins showed up in force to lend a hand. She suspected the rumors of the man cave had drawn them in as much as a need to see their dear cousin safely re-housed. However, they still weren’t completely sure about Barret again. Spencer had even growled once or twice, something usually reserved for Lucas.

Her brother Alec and cousin Trent were now regulars in the cave. They even managed to pull Barret away from the laptop for a game of pool or two. Chandler and she were mending fences. Her understanding of him and his family seemed to help. Ultimately, they both just wanted to see Barret happy and that was enough of a uniting force.

Though things were great, neither she nor Barret mentioned the taboo subject of the future, and not once had she entered his bedroom. She remained curious but never pressed him. Barret had had a few overnight trips, but he trusted her to respect his needs and his space. When he was ready, he would let her in. As he was being patient with her, she would be with him.

“Riley, can you come upstairs?”

Placing her book on the antique coffee table of the now completely finished living room, she stood and sighed. Walking into the hall, she found him leaning over the second floor railing.

“Up here…”

She smiled, bit her lip, and slowly took the stairs. Perhaps dinner would have to wait a little bit longer. When she got to the landing, he reached for her. “I sealed the deal in China.”

“Honey, that’s fantastic.” She squealed, throwing her arms around him.

Pulling away from her, he looked suddenly serious. “You love me.”

She nodded, not certain if he was stating a fact or asking her a question. Not that it mattered, she did love him. He grabbed her hand, and instead of pulling her towards their bedroom, he took her in the other direction towards his.

She held her breath as he opened the door and led her inside. Candles lit the room, giving it a warm glow. He released her hand, allowing her freedom to look over the room as she wanted. For a moment she wasn’t sure where she wanted to start. So she started at the bookshelf closest to her. She brushed the reference books with her fingers. The room was sparse, not much to fill it but a full-size bed with no headboard, a bookshelf, one end table, and a drafting table. Other than corkboard over the drafting table, there was nothing adorning the walls. Simple pull shades covered the windows to give him privacy and to darken the room. A single small-framed picture sat on the end table. It was one her brother had taken after they first met, set up by mutual friends who just knew they would hit it off.

She moved closer to the table. Barret smiled, encouraging her to look at what secrets it might hold. Two piles sat before her. She looked at the one closest to her first. Lots of sketches of the house, including the living room they had just finished and the rooms already complete. Some were dated a few months back. They indicated placement ideas for furniture and dimensions of the space. The next few pages were sketches of nature, a few of the house from outside, and then a few of her. She smiled at him then groaned. Were her hips really that wide?

The second pile she brushed her fingers over were newer. The one he was working on now lay on top. The words
“
the nursery”
blurred as tears filled her eyes. They were plans for the untouched room adjacent to the master suite. Only once had she asked him what he planned for that room, and his answer had been a mysterious “it’s too soon to know yet.”

She couldn’t help but look at the sketches of the wall designs and ideas he had. So much love went into these sketches and so much of him. Unlike the other rooms where she had helped forge the way, these were completely Barret, and she loved them as much as she loved him. She looked at each page, studying and wishing that she were pregnant now and this was about to become reality. Then the pages fell silently to the floor. Her hand shook as she looked at the last page. It was blank except for four simple words written in his perfect block script.

Will you marry me?

Turning, the words forming on her lips without thought, she found him kneeling before her with an open box. The word stuck in her throat, but it didn’t matter. She was nodding and giggling all the while crying tears of joy.

Finally, when she could speak, she said simply, “Yes,” and for the first time in years she felt completely at home. She knew nothing short of death would part them.

Four months later, in the back yard looking over the Atlantic on a cool fall day, Riley Sherman said “I do” in front of family and friends. She wore a simple off white dress, he wore his tux, and when the minister said she could, she took great joy in kissing her tycoon.

About the Author

Dominique Eastwick currently calls North Carolina home with her husband, two children, one crazy lab and one lazy cat. Dominique spent much of her early life moving from state to state as a Navy Brat, because of that traveling is one of her favorite past times. When not writing you can find Dominique doing her second love…photography. Visit Dominique on Facebook or her website:
www.DominiqueEastwick.com

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

About the Author