“Thanks, everyone. That means a lot more than I can say.” I went on, “I’d still like a small ceremony, and then you all can plan whatever kind of reception you have in mind. I’m open for anything.”
Pierce looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, God, Alexia, do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve given my mother permission to run the show and it’ll be nothing like you’ve ever seen.”
Susan sat there and grinned as she rubbed her palms together. Henry watched her and laughed.
“There is one thing. We have to wait until Terri can walk because she’ll be my maid of honor.”
“I’m fine with that. With the way Justin acted, he’ll be supervising her physical therapy.”
Everyone laughed, although I worried about what Terri would have to endure. I knew she was in store for some difficult times.
Later that afternoon I texted my manager to ask him if it was okay to take the next day off work. I wanted to spend the day with Terri. They were transferring her from ICU to a regular room. He texted me back that it would be fine with him.
That night Pearce and I were sitting in bed and he was going over his schedule for the week. He had Monday off, but then he had call for the next five days. He’d linked his schedule with my calendar, which gave me access to his call schedule.
“I have some errands to run in the morning. I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow night to Josette’s.” It was the most exclusive restaurant in town.
“Really?”
“Is that okay?”
“You’re kidding, right? I’ve never been there. I’d love to go.”
“Good. I made a reservation for seven. And, Alexia, wear your bracelet.” He smiled.
I instantly found myself squirming under the sheets. I looked at him and swallowed.
“What?” he asked, all innocent-like.
“Put down that damn iPad now, or you might find you’ll need to buy another one.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I was on him like a wet blanket, ready and willing. There was something about him … no, everything about him. His smoky-gray sexier-than-anything eyes, his full sensuous lips, the way he ran his tongue along them, his thick black wavy hair, his sculpted muscles and the way they rippled as he moved, his hips as he thrust into me and the sounds he made as we made love. There would never be enough Pearce for me.
“Fuck, Alexia.”
When he talked to me while we made love, his voice was deep and husky and it turned me on even more. I leaned over him and kissed his neck and then started to nip at his ear. Then he went into a sexual frenzy. He flipped me on my back and threw one leg over his shoulder as he rocked his hips. I raked my nails across his back as the sensations became intense.
And then came his words, the ones that always drove me over the edge.
“Alexia,” he groaned, “open your eyes and say those words for me.”
I did as he commanded, and the air suddenly thickened between us. I sucked in my breath at his beauty. “Ahh, yes, Pearce, I love you.” And I fell over the cliff of ecstasy. He was right behind me as he laced his fingers with mine and held my hands above my head.
Then he kissed me like a man who’d just been given water after dying of thirst.
Twenty-One
I was sitting in Terri’s room telling her what had happened two nights ago. Her memory was a blur and she barely remembered much at all. Her voice was still hoarse, but luckily, the injury to her trachea was not as bad as Pearce had originally thought.
She wasn’t very lucid as they had her on a morphine pump. It was a good thing too. I couldn’t possibly imagine the pain she was in. Every time she’d conk out, I’d head over to Justin’s room. His mood had improved over yesterday. They were going to move him out of ICU today. He was barking out orders to all the nurses. Whoever said that doctors make the worst patients, was right. Justin was rude and a pain in the ass to everyone, and I told him as much.
“You need to calm down, buddy. Your nurses are gonna put a laxative in your food or something in retaliation.”