When they got back to Lexi’s apartment, Vincent could tell from the way she had been gnawing at her bottom lip that something was still on her mind. He asked if he could walk her to her door, which she thankfully agreed to. He wanted to find out what was wrong, and he still had a gift to give her.
Once inside, she kicked off her shoes and laid her purse on the kitchen table. Vincent led her to the couch and pulled her down beside him. She stayed nestled in his arms, still clearly distracted as her knee bobbed up and down at a furious rate.
“Talk to me,” Vincent whispered against her cheek.
She seemed scared and uncertain, so rather than push her into talking, he decided to give her the gift he had been carrying around all day, waiting for the perfect time to give it to her. He dug his hand deep into his pocket and pulled a small, wrapped box out and placed it on her leg.
“What is that?” Lexi’s entire body stiffened as she looked at the box like it might explode if she even dared to breathe.
“A present. It was from my big shopping excursion today. Open it.”
“You really didn’t have to.”
He took the box off her leg and ripped off the scrap of ribbon and paper, crushing the remains in the palm of his hand. This time, he put the unwrapped box into her hand. “Please, open it.”
With shaky hands Lexi managed to pry it open and gasped. Inside the box was an exquisite gold necklace with two interlocked hearts hanging from it, diamonds sparkling along the outer edges of the pendants. Attached to it was a note that said, “My heart is yours.”
“Oh, Vincent.” Lexi’s eyes filled with tears.
She held the case out to him, and Vincent quickly had the necklace out of the box and around her neck. The pendants dangled against her chest, the hearts forever linked.
“Thank you. It’s amazing.” Her hand kept reaching up and touching the hearts, her finger tracing their outline as she sat contentedly beside him.
When he felt her take a deep breath and heard her sigh, he knew she had finally worked up the courage to tell him what was on her mind, what the last unsettled detail between them was.
Wanting to feel closer to him, Lexi crawled into his lap and faced him, her legs straddling him on the couch. The surprised look on Vincent’s face at her bold action was just the tension breaker she needed. “Easy, Vincent. I just need to tell you something, and I want to see your face. Don’t get any ideas.”
He grinned unashamedly as his eyes raked over her body. “Too late.”
She gave his chest a playful push then became very serious. “Remember what Francesca told you today?”
Vincent’s head cocked to the side. “About women always being right? Sure.”
“Good. Keep that in mind when you hear what I have to say.” He gave her a weary nod and encouraged her to continue. “I love you. I want things to work between us, and I think we have a very good chance at having our fairy tale ending. But there are some things I need to do for myself in order to make that happen. I went from the limbo of caring for my dying father into the whirlwind of loving you again in the blink of an eye. Lexi got lost in there somewhere. It’s time for me to find out who she is before I can give myself to you. Can you understand that?”
“Of course. I won’t rush you. Anything you want, I support you.” Vincent pulled her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on top of her knuckles, then tugged her down even more and captured her lips. His kiss ignited a fire throughout Lexi’s body, his hands tracing paths over her skin that felt like they were electrically charged. Lexi’s hands dropped and snaked under his shirt. She savored the defined muscles of his chest and abdomen as she began to explore him as well. Finally, when Lexi felt like she was going to go up in flames, she pulled away. Vincent grinned with deep male satisfaction when he saw her breathless in his lap.
“I love you,” he said, his eyes reflecting the truth in his words.
“And I love you, forever.” She gave him another chaste kiss, then whispered against his lips, “I quit.”
Epilogue
…18 months later Mi ss White, I have Christina Stone holding on line one,” a perky voice rang out over the phone.
Lexi rolled her eyes and closed the laptop on her desk. “Thanks, Erica. Can you do me a favor and cut the Miss White crap? You know it drives me crazy.”
“I know, that’s what makes it so amusing,” Erica laughed. “Fine, go ahead. Suck the fun out of my day, boss lady. I’ll be out here surfing for porn if you need me.”
“Just put the call through and behave out there.”
“I will be the perfect picture of Lexi White’s advertising firm. Hell, I should be the poster child.”
There was a pause, and then Christina’s voice came over the line. “Lexi?”
“Hey, newlywed, how are you?”
Christina sighed. “Here in New York, blissfully happy, completely lame and nauseating to everyone around me. How are you? I know you talked to Julian the other day, but I haven’t talked to you in a couple weeks.”
“I’m good. Really busy.” Lexi began organizing a few loose papers on her desk and tucked them in her drawer. “I’m so glad to hear from you, what brings you to New York?”
“Hi, Lexi!” Julian hollered in the background.
“Go do something,” Christina told her new husband and then giggled. “No, not that. You’re incorrigible.”
“I like to call it animal magnetism,” she heard Julian snicker.
“Sorry, my husband is a pain. We’re in town because we just bought an apartment. Figured it was time to bite the bullet and at least have a place in New York, even though the stubborn mule refuses to move his base of operations here.”
Lexi laughed when she heard Julian protesting in the background. “I’m really happy for you guys, and me, because now I’ll get to see you more.”
“Yep,” Christina laughed. “Speaking of which, do you have any classes tonight?”
Over the last year and a half, Lexi had started taking night classes on everything from business management and advertising principles to graphic design. Running a company wasn’t as easy as it looked, and she wanted to have a solid handle on all of the business aspects, which was what had initially prompted her to take classes.
“Nope, I just finished. I have to turn in a final project for one class, but it’s done.” Lexi laughed as she glanced over at the presentation boards beside her. “It looks eerily similar to the Midnight Corporation’s upcoming summer campaign that I’ve been working my tail off on for the last three weeks. So long story short, yes, I’m free. What’s up?”