He turned to look at me, his eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled at me. His smile fell softly as a more serious look came across his face. He reached out to smooth the hair out of my eyes. "Sweet Sarah. You are so beautiful." Butterflies fluttered everywhere. He turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow, head resting in his hand and looked at me. He hesitated before he spoke. "Did you enjoy yourself here this week?"
I turned on my side to face him and smiled. "I did. I really did."
He hesitated again before speaking and looked down at the mattress before searching my eyes. "I want to apologize for my behavior regarding Ethan. I should not have blamed you."
I was completely shocked. You're actually apologizing to me? Shock turned to appreciation as I realized what it must have taken for him to do that. "Thank you for that."
"So, did you enjoy your time with mother in the gallery?"
"I did. She is such a lovely woman Joshua, and it was so nice to meet someone who shares the same love of art that I do. Thank you for introducing me to her."
Appreciation swept across his eyes when I thanked him.
"She really likes you Sarah, and that's saying a lot. Mother has not liked one woman I've ever introduced to her. Not that I have brought home many women to meet her. But you're the only one she has liked. I knew there was something special about you the first time I saw you on the train."
I blushed at the compliment. I loved the sweet, gentle side he had.
"You and Jake seemed to get along pretty well also."
"Jake is a sweetheart. I hope he finds the love he deserves."
"You think Jake is a ‘sweetheart’ as you call him, but there is another side to Jake. He is nice to you because he likes you. You haven't hurt him in any way. But he has a different edge to him. After Lauren broke his heart, Jake built a wall of steel around his heart to protect himself from ever being hurt again. I know you have encouraged him to go find her and normally, I would tend to agree with you. But I'm not so sure it's a good idea."
I was concerned now. "Why not?"
"He might play games with her heart. You know, hurt her the way she hurt him. She is the reason he hasn't had a good relationship since they broke up. He doesn't really show it, but he's very bitter."
I gathered my thoughts for a minute before speaking. "I just have a feeling that she did what she thought was best for him at the time. I bet if they see each other things will pick up right where they left off."
"I'm not so sure about that."
I silently was a bit nervous for Jake now. I hoped I'd given him the right advice.
"We should get dressed and go back to our rooms. Mother will be looking for us at breakfast time. We should make sure we are presentable."
We got dressed and I was a little sad that we were leaving. I enjoyed feeling set apart from everyone else and spending time alone with Joshua.
"Oh, I meant to ask you. Why did we come to the guest house instead of going to one of our rooms?"
"I had planned to have some alone time with you, and being with you here is more appropriate than being together under my mother's roof, given the nature of our relationship."
The nature of our relationship? What did that mean?
"You look offended. Did I say something wrong?" He seemed genuinely concerned.
"No, no. Well, um, what do you mean by the ‘nature of our relationship’?"
"Oh, no. It's not anything bad. I just meant that if we were husband and wife we could have been together under mother’s roof. But since we're not, I think it would be disrespectful to have relations in her house."
I was relieved by the explanation and a little bit charmed. It was an old-fashioned way of thinking and I thought it was sweet. This gorgeous billionaire continues to surprise me.
"Sarah?"
"Yes?"
He hesitated and I could see the angst in his eyes.
"I've really enjoyed spending this time with you." He wouldn't hold my gaze.
My heart sank. Is this the end? Is he getting ready to tell me our arrangement is over?
"I've enjoyed this time with you as well." I was afraid to see what his eyes would tell me as sadness enveloped me.
"Can I...," he sounded extremely nervous, cleared his throat and then looked at me.
"Would you allow me to take you out on a proper date when we get back to New York?"
My eyes flew up to his, filled with tears of relief and joy. I couldn't hold back the smile that spread across my face. I gave him a big hug as I whispered my answer in his ear.
"I would love nothing more."
CHAPTER 9
10 YEARS LATER
If you would have asked me where I thought I would be in 10 years the day I started my internship at Hunter International, I would never have guessed here. Let me back up a bit.
After our trip to California, Joshua and I returned to New York and started dating exclusively. We were extremely discreet at work and the only person who knew was Jake.
I shadowed a very bright female partner at the company for six months. There was no way Joshua would have allowed me to shadow a male partner! I worked my butt off making connections and making myself available to partners who needed extra help with anything. I worked late more nights than I could remember. My reports never had errors and I never said no to anyone about work. My hard work paid off because, in nine years instead of five, I became a partner at Hunter International.
Joshua surprised me on our one year anniversary with a trip to Florence, Italy. We spent a week there and I was able to see original works of art by all of my favorite Renaissance artists. We went to the Uffizi Gallery and I was able to see works by Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto, Titian and Botticelli, among many others. It was so surreal for me to actually be where I had only dreamed of going all my life.
Joshua surprised me one night and rented a Vespa for us. We rode all around Florence and were able to see so much more than if we just walked and took taxis. One of the highlights of the trip was riding by the Pitti Palace at night. It was so beautiful. On the last night of our trip, we were standing on the Ponte Vecchio bridge looking out over the Arno River when I turned and saw that he was down on bended knee: