of me was nothing short of appalling.
Moving away from Chelsea, I pass Brayden back to Alexis and kiss her with a purposeful show. When I’m done, I turn back around and ask Chelsea to sit in the seat in front of my desk. She does but not before shooting Alexis a subtle scowl.
Sitting down opposite her, I steeple my hands in front of me and prepare myself to potentially lose an old friend. “Chelsea, I’m going to have to let you go,” I say neutrally.
“Let me go wher—“
“Your behaviour, especially today in this office, is unprofessional and quite frankly embarrassing. I made it exceedingly clear that we were nothing more than friends a long time ago, and honestly, I’d hoped you could work here with a proficient, friendly and skilled manner. Clearly, you can’t. And that being the case, I’m sorry to say that you’re employment with Clark Incorporated is now effectively terminated.”
Chelsea sits stunned, mouth agape, searching my eyes for some form of reprieve or indication that what I just said was some ploy. Slowly, she turns to face Alexis. “You. This is all your doing.”
I stand up and gesture that she do the same. “I can assure you that this has absolutely nothing to do with Alexis. I had every intention in giving you the benefit of the doubt today, truly believing that what I had sceptically suspected was just that; a doubtful suspicion. Unfortunately, Chelsea, you proved me wrong, and because of that and the way you feel, I can’t have you work here anymore. It’s not fair to Alexis and it’s not fair to you.”
Chelsea stands up, fury and hurt in her eyes. “And how exactly do you think I feel, Bryce?”
Seeing the hurt seep out of her is unsettling, and the last thing I want is for her to be upset, but I now realise she needs to be told bluntly and once and for all that she holds nothing more than mutual friendship with me.
“I think it’s obvious how you feel. Can you honestly stand there and tell me that you don’t have feelings for me, Chelsea. That you haven’t since we hooked up all those years ago,” I candidly request.
She looks down at her hands, her bottom lip trembling. “I can’t.”
“And that’s why you have to leave. Move on. You can’t do that here.”
She nods slowly but doesn’t look up.
“Listen, I want you to be happy like I am. Find that someone you deserve...because that someone is not me. I belong to Alexis now and I always will. We have a family and we will be married in the near future.”
She looks up at this point and finds Alexis and Brayden. I find them too, taking in Alexis’ tear streaked face.
Chelsea sucks in a breath and covers her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry, Bryce. I...I just thought that we...” She momentarily shuts her eyes and shakes her head. “You’re right, I’ve acted terribly. God, I need to leave. Shit! I’m sorry.”
She turns and heads for the door with rapid speed. I take a step forward, my intention to chase her down. I don’t want her to leave in the state she is in. Hesitating for a mere second, I pause, fearing that if I do go after her, I will give her the wrong impression.
Alexis hands me Brayden. “Here, take BB. I’ll go after her.”
I watch her run off while wiping her eyes.
Minutes later, Alexis walks back into my office. I’ve already placed Brayden down in his bassinet, and he is—as per usual—fast asleep.
Standing up from my seated position behind the desk, I make my way around to the front of it and lean my arse against the edge. “How is she?” I ask, worried about the answer.
“Devastated—“
“Shit!” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. I really didn’t want it to end this badly.
Alexis steps up to me and takes my hands in hers. “Devastated...but she’ll be okay. You gave her the wakeup-call she needed.”
Letting go of her hands and placing mine on her hips, I guide her closer and press my mouth to hers, the taste and feel of her body instantly heeling my apprehension.
“Believe it or not...,” she whispers, pulling away from my mouth—the loss of her tongue, agonising. “You did her a favour.”
I rest my forehead on hers and momentarily close my eyes. “I know. But I feel terrible.”
“That’s because you have a big heart.”
“A heart that belongs to you and only you. I wish you would realise that.”
“I do...now.”
She tilts her head up to kiss me once again, and I welcome the invitation eagerly. No one makes me feel what Alexis makes me feel. No one ever has. It’s as though we are two kindred spirits; two halves of a whole.
“Jessica told you didn’t she? You won’t confess because if you do you admit she broke patient client confidentiality, I get that.”
“No, she didn’t,” I admit sheepishly. “I heard your entire conversation through the baby monitor.”
Still secured in my arms, she leans backward and looks at the monitor then back to me. “Did you not think to switch it off?”
“I was going to, but when you started talking about being afraid of losing me because of what Rick did, I just had to listen. Hunny, I would never...EVER do what Rick did to you.”
A tear falls from her eye, slowly sliding down her cheek. I stop its decent as it reaches her jaw and place a kiss where it had been only seconds ago. It kills me to think that what Rick did shortly after Alexis gave birth to Charlotte is the result of her no longer having faith in herself.
“You, my love, are perfect in every way,” I say, kneeling down before her. I lift her top, bunching it just under her breasts. “Every. Single. Bit of you,” I reiterate in between placing kisses along her stomach.
“Even this new stretch mark here?” she asks, pointing to the pale pink scar on her tummy.
I drag my tongue along it and watch her close her eyes, not sure at this point if they are closed due to discomfort or pleasure. “Especially this one, because this one signifies what you endured to give me the most precious gift imaginable.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A few weeks after jumping Alexis’ Chelsea-hurdle, she is nearly back to her old self. I couldn’t be happier. Although, she has been hitting the gym quite hard, and as much as I don’t like seeing her treat her body so harshly, I figure it’s best to stay out of it. I don’t want to dampen her improving mood.
Standing at the window in my office, looking out onto the balcony to where she is utilising the weight machine, my dick throbs in anticipating agony. I’m almost at the point of having to go knock the top off of it just to get some relief. I desperately want to be inside her, having not made love to her for nearly four weeks due to her post birth healing.
I suck in a breath and growl like a friggin’ bear as I watch her legs open and close, her abductor muscles flexing and taunting me. Right now I wish they were closing and clenching around my head while I taste her sweet pussy, followed by them tightening and clamping around my hips as I fuck her senseless.
Adjusting my raging hard-on, I shuffle to get some relief, but my relief is short lived. She stands up then grabs her towel and bottle of water, and I watch with perverted delight as she drags the towel across her forehead, over her face and down her neck. I’ve never wanted to be a towel so much in my bloody life.
She presses her drink bottle to her lips and tilts her head back, gulping the water and quenching her thirst. A little bit of the water misses her mouth and travels down her chin to fall on her chest and down in between her breasts. Now, I want nothing more than to be that droplet of water.
Stalking her like she is prey I’m about to devour, I walk along the windows to my office, not taking my eyes
