Alex nodded, easing both hands into his jean pockets as he studied the floor. “I guess he doesn’t know we’re not engaged?” he prodded.
Topaz’s lashes fluttered closed. “Alex, why are you here?” she whispered.
“I came to apologize.”
Topaz watched him approach the bed. Her fingers loosened around the pillow and she waited for him to continue.
“I’m sorry, Topaz. I had no right. I am so sorry I treated you that way.”
Topaz shrugged. “I guess I overstepped. As usual.”
“No. You didn’t do anything to apologize for,” he told her, closing what distance remained between himself and the bed. He stopped himself from moving farther when his gaze raked her body.
Topaz cleared her throat and clutched her pillow a bit more tightly against her chest. “Thank you. Thanks for—saying that ... will you be all right?”
Alex’s laughter was brief. “I hope so.”
“How’s the therapy coming along?” she asked.
Alex’s vibrant stare hardened momentarily, before he shook his head. “I cut down on ’em.”
Topaz looked away then. She pressed her lips together and stifled the desire to advise him to reconsider.
Alex also looked away, and then his striking eyes slowly moved back toward her. Topaz swallowed, noticing his stare focused on the pillow, which was doing a poor job of shielding her nudity. He studied her as though he were creating an image of her in his mind. Seated in the middle of the tousled bed, her lovely hair damp and clinging to her molasses skin, she was every fantasy he’d ever had.
Topaz scooted back on the bed when she saw that he was stepping closer. “Alex—”
“Topaz I ... I just need ...” He trailed away, his fingers reaching out to grasp a lock of her hair. When the tendrils slipped out of his fingers, he stroked her collarbone, shoulder, and down ...
“Alex—”
“Please don’t tell me to leave.”
She blinked, the lost tone of his words draining her resistance. When his hand curved around her breast, she rose to meet him.
Alex trailed his lips from the corner of her eye and across her high cheekbones. He suckled her earlobe as his thumbs caressed her nipples into firm jewels.
“Alex ...” she whispered, sliding her hands across the chiseled plane of his chest in search of the skin that lay beneath the opening of his shirt.
Alex’s mouth crashed down upon her own as he followed her down onto the bed. His tongue stroked the deepest recesses of her mouth and he moaned each time hers did the same. His hands began a possessive descent across the flawless expanse of her body, stroking the dip of her spine and rise of her buttocks. When his fingers probed her most sensitive possession, Topaz shuddered and arched into the caress.
“Alex?”
“Mmm-hmm ...” he soothed, cradling his face against her neck.
Topaz kissed his temple and threaded her fingers through his hair. “Please stay,” she whispered, completely unashamed.
Alex rose above her and removed the linen mocha shirt he wore. “I was planning on it,” he assured her.
Scott Woods and Cicely Grays’s wedding day finally arrived after seemingly endless months of planning. Unfortunately, the special day arrived quite cold, overcast and rainy in many instances.
The weather conditions, however, went completely unnoticed inside the mason’s lodge where the wedding and reception would take place. Damon Grays, Cicely’s father, had arranged to have his organization’s impressive facility booked for the three-day event.
The lodge was a virtual madhouse. Everywhere, guests and hired workers rushed about getting situated in reserved bedrooms. When Topaz arrived, she shamelessly used her feminine appeal to garner the assistance of a few gentlemen to herd her through the slow-moving crowd.
The would-be suitors, however, were taken aback and quite disappointed to discover the large, fierce-looking man who already occupied the quarters.
“Thank you, guys, I—Alex?” Topaz said when she stepped through the doorway.
Alex only nodded. A knowing smirk tugged at his lips as his eyes narrowed.
Topaz cleared her throat and smiled back at her assistants. “Um, guys, thank you both so much,” she said, ushering them out of the room and offering another quick thank-you before closing the door behind them. She turned back to face Alex. The two of them simply watched one another. There was no confusing what had happened. Obviously, the bride and groom had intentionally overlooked the room change after their friends informed them of the split. After a few more seconds of silence, the room was filled with their laughter.
“Hmph,” Alex said, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “I better find Scott and see if he can get me another room.”
“I’m sure we can share the room,” Topaz suggested in a tiny voice. “It’s pretty spacious,” she added when Alex looked at her.
He smiled, his expression a mixture of humor and regret. “I think you know we can’t do that.”
Topaz watched the tip of her boot as she kicked it along the claw-foot of an armchair. “I was surprised to find you gone after, um, when I woke up,” she softly stammered, referring to their night together two weeks earlier.
“Don’t think that I didn’t want to stay.”
“Alex—”
“Topaz listen, um, what happened ... let’s not discuss it to death, all right?” he urged, hiding his hands inside the front pocket of his white hoody. “No apologies. I wanted it,” he said.
