“I can carry my bags.”
“But you don’t have to,” I returned, handing her one of the paper cups full of coffee with a lid on it.
The bell buzzed.
“There’s the driver.”
Ten minutes later, we were on our way to the airport to head to Vegas. This dream had been years in the making, and I was happy to be sharing the moment with the woman next to me. My mother was scheduled to fly in with her date for the weekend in two days, and even Jay and Tori were coming for the weekend as well. All the people I loved most in the world were going to be sharing the weekend with me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
****
Chanel
“I want to show you something,” Xavier said low in my ear.
Goosebumps formed on my shoulders and arms due to his closeness as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. He walked me over to the huge floor-to-ceiling window that looked out over the Vegas strip. The sun was just beginning to set and Vegas’s true beauty was on display.
“I’ve always wanted this.”
“What?” I asked, angling my head to look up at him.
“The feeling of leaving my mark in a city like Vegas and having the woman I love by my side as I do it.”
I had to cover my belly to calm the fluttering.
“And to think it was almost taken away from me. I lost a lot of faith in myself after what happened with Rossi all those years ago. I doubted whether this was my calling and if I was strong enough to make it work.”
“But you’ve never been a quitter,” I stated, turning in his embrace to face him.
“Never that. I doubted myself but then picked myself up and took it as a lesson learned.”
“And you’re here, and he’s somewhere?” I questioned.
“Last my sources told me, he’s living in upstate New York with his only daughter and her family. See that building over there?” He pointed.
I turned to look out the window again.
“The red brick one, lower than all the other buildings. It’s a few blocks from the strip.”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“That was Rossi’s old office. The same one I walked into a few months ago. I own it now,” he finished with satisfaction in his voice.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Don’t know yet. I might convert it into apartment lofts, sell it, or demolish it. I don’t care, honestly. I got what I wanted.”
“Mmm,” I moaned and tilted my head, and he leaned down and kissed my neck. “I have to finish getting dressed,” I whispered when he continued to pepper kisses along my neckline.
“We can be late,” he retorted.
“No, we cannot.” Somehow, I found the mental strength to step from his grasp. I stepped back and admired him in his Tom Ford black and white tux. I wrapped my arms around his waist and looked up at him. “I’m so proud of you. You deserve every good thing that happens tonight.” I lifted on my tiptoes, and he leaned down, allowing me access to his lips.
“Thank you. Now finish getting dressed before I’m overwhelmed with the temptation to strip you down naked and take your ass on this bed...again.”
I shivered as I remembered the quickie we’d indulged in earlier that morning.
“Sure thing.” I stepped around him to retrieve the dress I was wearing for the evening from the closet and undid the zipper to step in.
