“No, Vanessa. I am not. I can’t do this without you.”
“This?” My words were barely audible.
“Life. You are everything to me. There’s no sunrise as beautiful as your smile, no twinkle of stars able to ignite the fire within like your touch. You’re the air I breathe and in my every thought.”
“Does that mean you want to marry me?” He brushed his lips across mine and I rose onto my tiptoes, wrapping one arm around his shoulder.
“Very much so. As long as you obey.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “You know I can’t.”
“I’ll teach you. We’ll work together. What do you think?”
“As long as I’m president and CEO and you’re my lowly assistant, I think I can handle it.”
“We’ll see about that.” As he captured my mouth, I completely let go.
All the tension.
All the irritation.
All the fury that the man had driven into me went away.
Poof.
All that remained was the sweet thrill of victory.
But not of a game.
Not of pretense.
Not of business.
Of love.
The sweetest victory of all.
EPILOGUE
Nineteen months later…
Vanessa
“Can someone please turn the air conditioning down? I’m burning up!” My shout was meant for Amelia only, but I wasn’t teasing. Beads of sweat were running down both sides of my face. I could feel the dampness in my hair, between my legs, which I hadn’t seen in months, and down my back.
I was a freaking mess and it was only ten in the morning.
Grabbing a file folder, I started fanning myself, also realizing my face was likely red as a beet. This was bloody murder and I’d never go through it again. As God and the rest of Miami was my witness, never again.
“It’s sixty-four in here. I’m wearing a sweater,” Amelia said as she popped her head into the conference room.
Her voice echoed in the room, the entire office suite was so huge. We’d moved into the space only three months before toaccommodate the many, many new employees, but there was barely enough furniture for everyone. I needed to go shopping. That wasn’t going to happen. My feet were swollen to the size of cantaloupes.
“Colder. For the love of God,” I moaned. “You’ll get a raise if you turn the damn thing down.”
“I’ll get my darling wife her morning ice cream,” Christian said as he burst into the room, his grin so wide you could drive a truck through it.
He was also extremely handsome. As usual and I wanted to shove him into a closet since I looked like a beached whale.
