Allie Chapter 26

Allie (Chapter 26) Meetings

Chapter 26

 

            It was Allie’s first day back to school since before Thanksgiving. Her friends, all three of them, asked her why she was out of school. What could she really say? ‘Oh I was just at home having a mental breakdown because my mom’s a b***h?’ The teachers were obviously told something about it being her mental health that was the problem. It was a little obvious from the way they looked at her. Everybody seemed to be looking at her, like maybe she was out of school for a scandalous reason. Too bad she wasn’t so interesting and she’d stayed home most of those days she wasn’t in school. If she’d been gone longer the rumors would definitely be that she was pregnant. You couldn’t get pregnant if your boyfriend didn’t want to have sex with you. That was a whole other matter entirely. She didn’t care what others thought of her they weren’t important. So she held her head high and acted like the rock star she was.

            Sex wasn’t supposed to be her focus now she had to try to survive life. But the other night she wanted to sex and drinking went hand in hand for her. Though she wasn’t supposed to drink with her psych meds, it was a holiday. And there was champagne everywhere it was begging her to drink. She’d been with Tony it wasn’t like anything bad would happen. It was just champagne she was once a hard liquor kind of a girl. When she got Tony back to the hotel she expected to have sex with him. That seemed like it was where it was going but that wasn’t what happened. They messed around and when they should have been ready to have sex he didn’t want to anymore. He went to take a shower and locked her out of the bathroom and she sat in bed confused.

Tony never turned her down before; no man could ever turn her down. Since she was good at pretending she acted like it didn’t bother her but it did. Then the next day when they were finishing packing Tony gave her an engagement ring. He said that she was his and they were going to get married and be together forever. At that point she wondered if she should start slipping her meds to him. Crazy was hereditary and Marguerite could get really crazy. With 12 kids someone would pick up the crazy, she never thought it would be Tony. Maybe there was another reason, but she couldn’t figure any out.

Her mind wandered to that thing she was supposed to forget, the kiss. Was her boyfriend suddenly gay? In this family anything was possible. And wasn’t Ricky living proof that sexual orientation could be subjective? But no not Tony, she knew he’d wanted to have sex. The reason he refused for a cold shower was the problem. Just like a Laiez male he didn’t want to talk about it. Giving her the ring was obviously supposed to distract her but it didn’t. However she let him think that he distracted her while she secretly obsessed. Why wouldn’t he want to have sex with her? Nobody would have known, besides they were allowed to sleep together now. This whole thing was very frustrating and not what she needed to focus on. School was important if she wanted to graduate and go to college to be with him next year.

In all her alone time she had time to think. She thought about her life and her future and her relationship with Tony. He was so amazing about her insanity and he took care of her. And wasn’t he willing to give up his dreams and all he’d worked for her? She knew with a 100% certainty that he loved her so what was going on? They hadn’t had any problems lately everything was so perfect she felt like she was living in a dream. What did he do for her first day back to school? Walked her to every class and text her to telling her he loved her in every class. By lunch she was more confused than she had been before. It was a little hard to talk to him with everybody else around. She’d been too embarrassed to tell Sammie about it.

“Something wrong?” Tony asked, she’d made an excuse to get him to leave lunch early. But she felt bad because he looked really concerned.

“Since the other night I’ve been trying to figure out why you won’t have sex with me,” she said.

“Oh that,” he sighed looking like it was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

“Is it me? I’ve never had a guy turn me down and mean it,” she said.

“Well it is,” he said avoiding her eyes. That made her stop moving completely.

“Um can you explain that?” She asked trying to breathe and not panic. What would she do if he broke up with her?

“Do we have to talk about this? It doesn’t matter,” he said.

“Like hell it doesn’t,” she said annoyed. This only made her think of Joe more the guy that he shared his one moment in homosexuality.

“Can we at least talk about this at home?” He asked and she just stared.

“Here I was stupid thinking we have this perfect relationship and you don’t want to have sex with me anymore.”

“Allie, calm down I don’t want you getting upset.”

“That’s the reason isn’t it? I’m too crazy to have sex with.”

“You think I don’t want you? It was very hard for me to get out of that bed but I wanted to do what was best for you. Sex is just a distraction you don’t need,” he said.

“Are you out of your f*****g mind? If I’m horny and want to have sex then that has nothing to do with any deeper meaning,” she said. Oh she was angry and she didn’t know why she was this angry but she was. “Stop trying to fix me Antonio I can’t be fixed. So you know making your girlfriend feel like crap doesn’t help anything.”

“Allie,” he said but she walked away.

Inside the first bathroom she saw she tried to regain that tiny bit of sanity she’d had. The reason she was so angry was because she saw this coming. Hadn’t she known once Tony knew everything about her that he would treat her different? He was supposed to just treat her like normal; everybody else did but not him. She was a little anxious so she started smoking. Stupid silly her she’d been planning some bedroom action for his birthday in two days. Right now she felt like burning the s****y lingerie she’d bought for him. Maybe she shouldn’t have come back to school if she was crazed on the first day. School wasn’t the problem though Tony was.

He didn’t want to have sex with her because he knew too much about her. Before he couldn’t keep his hands off her now he wanted nothing to do with her sexually. It would have been better for him to just have been gay. His issue was with her even though he gave this stupid ring. Why would he want to marry her? If he was afraid to have sex with her then what was the point? Then she started thinking of how miserable her life would be if she went away with him. While he attempted to juggle school and football, he’d also be taking care of her.

She could admit she was a little crazy but not yet so bad that she needed her boyfriend to treat her like a child. It seemed that he was better at pretending than she was and she didn’t like it. The thing she loved most was his honesty. Allie called home to have someone come get her; she at least made it through half the day. Nobody expected her to last all day. Not for the reasons she couldn’t but nobody needed to know. This was one thing she would keep to herself. She stared at her ring for a long time before taking it off to put it in her bag. Marriage was not something that would occur this year. Things with Tony were not what she needed them to be and too hard for her.

 

 

Wildflower was home having lunch with Brooke, Angel and Jasmine. Though she loved Brazil it was good to be home. She hadn’t realized she’d missed this big old house until she came back. Tomorrow she had an office meeting with her husband. Wednesday was Tony’s birthday and they would most likely do dinner. That day she would be volunteering and pretty much every other day after that. This weekend she had to see her mother that was worried about her. The whole depression and leaving the country thing didn’t sit well with Marguerite. But Wildflower was determined to avoid drama, there was no point to it she had an amazing family and life.

“So why aren’t you and Ricky still together?” Jasmine asked, obviously didn’t yet get why that was a bad question.

“Because he has a girlfriend,” Angel replied emotionlessly.

“But weren’t you two having sex?” Jasmine asked in obvious confusion.

“Yes,” Angel said simply.

“It’s complicated,” Wildflower offered.

“Complicated is an understatement,” Brooke said. “Angel you shouldn’t have let him go back to her, what if he stays with her?”

“Brooke,” Wildflower said giving her a look.

“Its fine,” Angel shrugged. “I can’t be with him right now I have to get my life together for my kids. And I couldn’t force him to be tied down to me and be a father to my children. They want that from him and it’s not fair for us to make him give up his freedom. I talked to them about it and they understand.”

“I could never do what you’re doing,” Jasmine shook her head.

“Ricky loves you Angel, he knows where he’s meant to be,” Wildflower said. She didn’t want to get involved but she hadn’t seen her brother so happy in a very long time. Angel made him happy, Sydney did too sort of but it was different.

“Let’s hope so,” Angel sighed. “I did what was best for all of use, forcing him to make a choice would be wrong. If it’s meant to be then we will be together and if not then I will deal with it. My life has to be about my kids and not a man.”

“That’s good,” Wildflower nodded. She’d lost all hope that this day would ever come but it finally had. Before she could say anything else her cell phone rang. “Allie, is everything ok?” She asked into the phone.

“No, I can’t do this today can you please please please come get me?” Allie asked in a pleading tone.

“We talked about this, if you weren’t ready to go back you could have stayed home,” she replied.

“I know but please,” Allie said a little more urgently.

“Did something happen?” She asked concerned.

“Can we talk about it later? If I stay here I’m going to lose my mind,” Allie said.

“Ok, just go to the office I’m on my way,” she said.

“Thanks Mommy,” Allie said and hung up. For some reason she got the feeling that there was more to whatever was bothering her.

“What’s wrong with her now?” Brooke asked when she was off the phone.

“I don’t know, I guess I will see when I pick her up,” Wildflower sighed. It wasn’t that she minded going it was just that she’d really thought Allie was doing better.

“What is exactly wrong with her?” Jasmine asked. “Or is it rude to ask?”

“The question is what isn’t wrong with that girl,” Brooke shook her head.

“She’s doing better, that’s all that matters,” Wildflower said.

“Maybe you should really look into sending her somewhere. I love her too but if nothing is changing wouldn’t you rather she get help? You’re afraid to send her away but that could be best,” Brooke pushed.

“I’m trying ok? I don’t know what to do but I know if I did that she would never come back. Nobody attempts suicide more than once without succeeding,” she said. At that she got up and slipped her phone into her pocket.

“Brooke, trust me when I say that when you’re young and desperate you need your family,” Angel said. There was a look in her eyes, a sad look, she never really had family.

“I’ll be back,” Wildflower said and left the room.

Brooke called after her but she kept walking and left her cell phone on a table in the hallway. It was true that she had no idea what to really do about Allie but she didn’t feel the need to talk about it. Sometimes Brooke was a little intrusive and opinionated. Today wasn’t the day for this, she just wanted normal. She’d known it was possibly a bad idea to let Allie go to school today. Allie had insisted that she was ready and they did talk about it yesterday. Having a troubled 17 year old was hard and she wanted to kill Katrina for all of this. She was trying hard stay positive about this situation and not think of what could happen. Coming home she knew she would lose her peace and Zen feelings. However she didn’t think it would have happened so soon.

On the way to the school she called to let them know she was coming. She found that being alone for the few minutes it took to get to the school, she liked a lot. Maybe that was the key to personal happiness, alone time. It was rare for her to ever be alone and maybe she needed to take a trip by herself. Never in her life did she really ever consider being alone, with her family it had been impossible. Her beach house was in need of a visit. Convincing her husband and brothers and everybody else to let her go would be next to impossible. They would say that it was unsafe and especially with her being pregnant and it was far. There was no family there to watch over her, but that was the point. For as much as she loved her family she needed to be alone for more than 5 minutes. Was that really so wrong?

By the time she got to the school she was already plotting. Yes, she was pregnant but that didn’t mean she needed to be babysat. After the Owen breaking in thing and then the Mandrake insanity nobody wanted her to ever be alone. If her family wanted her to be sane and happy they needed to back off a little. Would it really be that bad? Maybe she didn’t need to leave the state but going to the hotel was not an option. Her husband own it and wouldn’t be able to stop himself from coming over. Not that he would ever approve of letting her go anywhere without him. Wasn’t this her life? Wasn’t she an adult? If she just left they would freak out and hunt her down.

“I’m sorry,” Allie told her when she came out.

“How freaked out would you think Nick would get if I left for a few days to be alone?” Wildflower asked thoughtfully.

“Oh my God, why would you want to leave? It’s because of me right? I’ll go back to school or go live with somebody else, anything,” Allie said. The girl actually looked close to tears.  “I shouldn’t have called you it was stupid.”

“Stop and take a breath, I’m not leaving him. Everything between your uncle and I is fine it’s been amazing really. He and I aren’t having problems. I just need some time to myself that he would never let me have,” she explained.

“Why do you want to be alone?” Allie asked looking confused.

“I’ve never been alone, I’m always surrounded by people and I just need to be alone. You probably wouldn’t understand since you were alone for awhile. Nick will never understand because he was lonely before we met,” she said.

“I was going out to the stables to be alone so I kind of get it. But you know he would never let you go anywhere right? Especially now and those crazy people are still out there and could hurt you. Even if he did let you go off somewhere I’m sure he would tell Ricky and they would both insist that you take someone,” Allie said.

“I know,” she sighed.

There was no way around it, adult or not they would never let it happen. And she was still compelled to listen to what Ricky said. Funny that it wasn’t that was with her husband. That was probably going to be an issue somewhere down the line. It never really occurred to her now, but it was true. When Nicolas told her to do something and she didn’t want to she wouldn’t. She wasn’t sure if he noticed it but it was just a habit she didn’t grow out of. Still she needed to figure out a way to get away without it being an issue. Maybe she could get Melissa to insist it was best for her mental health.  

“Why did you need to come home early today? If you weren’t ready I told you that it would be ok to take another week,” Wildflower said. Now she was switching to mothering mode, if there was another issue it needed to be dealt with.

“Tony and I had a fight, I was ready to go or so I thought. After fighting with him and smoking I couldn’t deal, I even avoided Sam,” Allie told her.

“What did you fight about?” She asked because it obviously upset Allie a lot.

“I know I have a lot wrong with me and I knew if I told him things everything would change. It’s just really hard everybody treats me different and I knew that would happen. But he’s afraid of me or afraid for me every second of the day. I thought it was sweet for him to text me that he loved me in class, now I don’t. The reason wasn’t because he loves me it’s that he wants to keep me under control. Why are we together if I scare him? Did he want me to come to school with him because of love or something else?” Allie was very upset and it showed.

“Talk to him about it, that’s all you can really do just talk. We both know he loves you and he is afraid of what could happen, aren’t we all? I’m willing to bet he’s mostly just afraid to lose you and he wants to help. None of us want to think of what’s the worst case scenario but we have to be realistic. Even if nobody wants to be, we don’t want to lose you,” she told her.

“Guess you were right about marriage huh? We aren’t ready for anything,” Allie said. This time the tears really came. “I know he worries and you worry and everybody worries. I worry too, the compulsions aren’t going away. When I argued with him I wanted to get back at him and hurt him. Instead of doing something stupid and unforgivable, I called you.”

“It’s hard to break out of old habits, for you it’s very hard. This is something we can work on,” she said. She was definitely spending too much time with Melissa because that was something she would say. There was a lot that needed to be worked on in this family. But as long as they were a strong supportive family everything would be fine.

 

 

Nicolas looked up and saw his wife outside his office door. The door was open and she was out talking to Gloria his assistant. Today he pretty much cleared his schedule for her, except for a meeting he couldn’t get out of. He got up to go retrieve her he was a little anxious and couldn’t wait. She was wearing a dark purple halter dress with knee high boots. Later he could tell her how she didn’t need to wear her stupid heels. Right now he was focused on getting that dress off. Or maybe he would leave it on and maybe the boots. Oh yeah that idea had a lot of promise. When he came out Gloria smiled and gave him a look like she knew what he planned.

“Gloria, why don’t you take a long lunch?” He said and her smile widened.

“I would love for you to buy me a nice expensive lunch,” Gloria replied.

“Of course whatever you want, take what’s his name with you,” he said.

“Gerard, that is his name you’ll have to learn it eventually,” she said.

“He is your assistant not mine,” he shrugged.

“Why does your assistant need an assistant?” Wildflower asked.

“Because I am the highest paid assistant in this company,” Gloria told her happily. “And I’m special, isn’t that right?”

“Yes you are,” he agreed. “More special if you leave quickly.”

“Are we keeping the meeting later?” Gloria asked.

“Yes, I will see you then,” he said. He took his wife’s hand to pull her into his office. “Make sure we aren’t disturbed we have a lot to discuss.”

“Oh I bet you do, not to worry I have everything under control,” Gloria said.

“Good,” he then pulled his wife into his office and closed the door and locked it. Immediately he was kissing her and pulling her over to the couch. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“Really? It’s only been a few hours,” Wildflower said.

“Last night you wouldn’t let me touch you,” he reminded her.

“Only because I wanted you to want me more,” she said. I was just curious

“It worked,” he said returning to kissing her.

“Nick, wait, did you ever date Gloria?” She asked, that wasn’t what he wanted to talk about.

“Nope, unlike my brothers I don’t mix business and pleasure. We just got close after my Abuelita died, Gloria was very helpful. You know I’m not that good with emotions, it was very hard and she was a good friend,” he told her.

“Just curious,” she shrugged.

“I have all I need in you, I don’t need anybody else,” he said.

“Honey I wasn’t being jealous I was just curious. You don’t seem like the type to have an office affair anyway. So wait if you would never mix business and pleasure how could I work here?” She asked, leave it to her to ask questions he was hoping to avoid.

“Because you are already my wife and my business is your pleasure,” he replied.

“Good line,” she said and got up. “I think I prefer the desk.”

“I love you,” he said following.

“I know,” she replied.

Nicolas pretty much knew and embraced the fact that she had him whipped. Not that it really mattered especially when she was sitting on the edge of his desk looking so sexy. He sat in his chair and slid up between her legs. His hands wandered up under her dress where she did not have panties on. In the past he would have thought having an office rendezvous wouldn't be something he would do. How could he ever say no to his wife? He pulled her down into his lap and kissed her hungrily. She was a drug and he was very addicted, especially after she tormented him last night.

“Nick,” she purred. “Can we talk about something?”

“You are in my lap with no panties and just this black lace bra and you want to talk? Last night your tortured me mercilessly and you want to talk?” He asked staring at her and she nodded.

“Patience is good, it builds anticipation,” she said simply.

“What is so important that you have to talk to me when I want to be inside you?”

“I want to go stay at my beach house.”

“Alright, we could go this weekend.”

“No, not we I meant me,” she said.

“What?” He asked staring at her confused.

“I know it’s a little far, but I want to spend some time by myself,” she said.

“And what brought this on? Is this a hint to something?” He asked trying to read her but he couldn’t, she was getting good at that.

“No baby I love you it’s not about us or the kids or our family, it’s about me. I have never been alone and just for a few days I would like to be alone,” she said.

“So this was a bribe to get me to let you go to another state by yourself?”

“No, I was already going to come see you before I thought of it. It is something I need to do, can you support me? If you wanted to be alone I wouldn’t freak out about it.”

“I married you so I wouldn’t have to be alone.”

“Please don’t get mad, I wanted to talk to you away from the house. For some silly reason I thought you might understand me. No, I knew you would be like this,” she shook her head.

“Well I’m just a little surprised you’ve never wanted to be alone before,” he sighed. There was no easy or good answer to this and he couldn’t let her go. “Can we compromise? If you want to be alone go stay at the hotel that way I know where you are and that you are safe. And I promise if you don’t want to see me I won’t come there.”

“Fine,” she agreed but she obviously didn’t want this.

“You know it’s just not a good idea with the baby and all,” he said. Because he was playing a little dirty he rubbed her belly to make his point.

“I know,” she whispered.

“After he’s born maybe you could take a trip alone,” he suggested. That was basically a lie there was no way he would let her do that.

“Like I’m going to leave my baby,” she said. “I know you hated being alone, but while you spent years by yourself I never have. The longest I was ever alone was when you still lived in the hotel and I spent like one night by myself. Sometimes it’s good to have me time.”

“I understand that on a logical level but you are my wife and I worry about you. And it’s not safe for obvious reasons, I couldn’t risk losing you or our son,” he told her.

“Maybe I’ll go this weekend,” she said thoughtfully. “Anyway, weren’t we in the middle of something?”

“It amazes me how quickly you change the subject sometimes.”

“A gift mi amor, and I have made you wait long enough,” she said. The way she was looking at him and biting her lip had him thoroughly distracted.

“I love you,” he told her. “And I’m happy that you talked to me about how you’re feeling. You can always talk to me.”

“Yes I know, and I love you,” she said and kissed him. Her kiss was full of love and he did his best to return it.

While they kissed she worked on undoing his belt and pants. So he picked her up and laid her on the desk. It felt like every ounce of blood in his body was in one place. The fact that he could think at all was amazing. Instinct obviously took control and he found his way inside her without thought or effort. This was the best meeting he’d ever had the pleasure of having. If this kept happening he was really going to need to see if he could discretely get a little bedroom built. Yup, he had completely lost his damn mind to a woman and sex. Just like his brothers.

 

Tony should have been happy that tomorrow was his birthday. But no, he was having another bad day. Allie wouldn’t talk to him and she’d actually drove her car to school today. That would have worried him more if Sammie hadn’t gone with her. She may not have always valued her own life but she wouldn’t hurt Sammie. This was the problem, he couldn’t stop worrying. He messed up when he didn’t have sex with her and just made it worse yesterday. And it wasn’t going to get any better he knew her it would get much worse if he didn’t fix this. Allie was from a revenge minded family getting back at people was what she was born for. If he wasn’t having sex with her she could easily find someone that would. Which meant that Aaron would be sniffing around and he was not going to lose her to Aaron.

When he was time for lunch he waited outside of her class. She saw him and started to walk away but he wouldn’t let her. With Allie you couldn’t always be gentle and coddle her. That was something he’d lost sight of, he wouldn’t make that mistake again. He had to play this just right to win her back. Yesterday when he saw her at dinner and she’d taken her ring off it pissed him off. The why of it wasn’t something he wanted to examine. Most likely somewhere deep deep inside he was very serious about marrying her. But he wasn’t looking for deep meaning in anything, he was just getting her back. He grabbed her arm and pulled her outside. Surprisingly she didn’t argue as much as he thought she would.

“What are you doing?” She asked halfway across the parking lot.

“We’re having lunch out,” he replied.

“The point to this is? You should be happy you can go off to college and f**k any girl you want. A few at a time even, live it up,” she said bitterly.

“Get in,” he ordered ignoring what she said.

“No,” she replied.

In response he pinned her up against the side of the truck with his body and kissed her. At first she resisted and tried to push him off, but he knew her. Allie gave into him and kissed back equally as passionate. She also wrapped her legs around his waist, which was a bad idea with her skirt on. Though he could have stayed there kissing her forever they still needed to talk. Or more like he had things to say and she needed to listen. With her eagerness it was hard to keep his thoughts straight. Like it had been hard to get out of bed with her that last night in Rio, it was hard to pull away. Not that he could really move with her wound around his body.

“Will you get in now? Allessandra you know I want you and I love you,” he told her. “We need to talk; you can feel me right now I’m desperate for you.”

“There is a very distinct bulge here,” she said playing with his zipper. “You want me so what? A lot of guys want me the want isn’t the issue and love isn’t either. Sex isn’t going to make any of this better.”

“I didn’t bring you out here for sex I was really going to take you to lunch so we could talk. There are things I need to say to you,” he said.

“Whatever, can we just go back in the school and get food? I’ll even consider listening to whatever you want to tell me,” she said.

“Fine, you might want to stop rubbing against me before I have to get you in the backseat,” he warned.

“I haven’t had sex since what Thanksgiving? It’s not fair that you would be this close to me and my itty bitty lace thong,” she said.

“Just remember that I tried to talk to you,” he said. There was no choice he couldn’t turn her down again if he wanted to keep her.

“Noted,” she replied before they got in the backseat.

The plan had been to just talk to her and get her to forgive him. Not to have sex with her in the backseat of his truck in the school parking lot. It happened though without him really meaning for it to. The difference was that this time he wasn’t thinking about consequences or future mental damage. All that mattered in that moment was that he loved her and they needed each other. This was almost as intense as Thanksgiving but they had limited time. When they were done there wasn’t much time left to say what he needed to.

“Why couldn’t you do that the other night?” She asked him seemingly more annoyed with him now.

“Because I was worried about what it would do to you,’ he said honestly. “It was stupid but all I do is worry about you because I love you and I can’t lose you. Even if it means you’ll hate me I want you to be ok.”

“I want to be mad at you that’s hard to do when you’re sweet like this,” she said. “Stop worrying about me, I have to try to be normal and I cant do that with you freaking out about everything.”

“Yes, I get that but Allie you have to understand that I would do anything for you. And I don’t want to leave you and if I have to then I have to know you will be ok. This is a lot and it wasn’t how I expected tings would be with us. I was just too afraid to lose you that I lost sight of who you really are. The Allie I know and love is strong and beautiful and doesn’t need me hovering over her. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course,” she nodded and he kissed her.

“We should go before you are late to class,” he said reluctantly.

“I love you Antonio and I think we should get married because even pissed at you I didn’t want anything except to be with you,” she said.

“I was thinking the same,” he nodded. “You are going to be my wife Allessandra before I leave for school.”

They kissed then the bell rang in the school but it didn’t matter. All that truly matter was that their love was more than just a high school romance. It was something bigger and he had to marry her he was never going to love anybody like he loved her. There was never a choice this was how it was meant to be.

 

 

Wildflower was sitting at her husband’s desk while he was getting ready for his meeting. She had to wait for him because Tammy dropped her off and she planned to ride home with him. Waiting wasn’t going to kill her it was fine she wanted to explore a little. For her to be the boss’ wife she rarely came here and never really got to look around. Since Isaiah worked in the building she was planning to go find him. Thursday she was probably going to visit again, this probably shouldn’t become a habit but she sort of liked it. Since he had a shower in his personal bathroom in his office it was nice to get clean. She started looking up nurseries to get an idea for Iago’s room. Just five months and her baby boy would finally be with her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go home?” Nicolas asked her.

“I don’t mind waiting besides I need to be out of the house,” she replied.

“What’s Brooke doing if you are here today?” He asked, he came over to peek over her shoulder.

“She thinks I’m mad at her for suggesting that we send Allie somewhere to get help. I’m not mad but I’m not going to do it either. Allie is fine she just had a fight with Tony yesterday and they needed a little time apart. Allie and I had a talk and there will be no more missing school because of teenage drama,” she explained.

“Sending her away would be much worse, she needs to be with family,” he agreed. “So when do you want to start on the nursery?”

“We could do it this weekend maybe, have all the guys over and I’ll direct you all,” she said.

“Of course my queen, whatever you want,” he said and kissed her cheek.

“Chris said she’d go with me to look at furniture since I know nothing about buying for a baby,” she told him.

“Ok, don’t worry about the prices, our boy deserves the absolute best,” he said. There was a knock at the door so he went to get it. His father came in the office and looked very surprised to see her.

“Hello,” Emilio said in a not too friendly way.

“Hi,” she replied. She was curled up in Nicolas’ big comfy desk chair, it was a good thing she’d put shorts on under her dress.

“Nicky, you are aware that you have a very important meeting in 5 minutes?” Emilio asked turning his attention back to his son.

“Yes I know,” Nicolas replied he seemed annoyed.

“It might be a good idea to bring your wife along,” Emilio said thoughtfully.

“We’re meeting with a Brazilian client,” Nicolas explained to her.

“What you need translations?” She asked confused as to why Emilio would want her there. He did not like her as most of the Caprianis didn’t, not that she cared anymore.

“He speaks English; my father is thinking that he would be impressed by you. And you are part Brazilian,” Nicolas said. It seemed like it wasn’t something he wanted to do. “While that might be a nice idea I will not pimp my wife out for business.”

“Why not ensure that we make this deal? Would you mind sitting in on this meeting, Wildflower?” Emilio asked.

“I wouldn’t mind but if Nick doesn’t want me to then I won’t,” she replied.

“Nicky, it’s your decision,” Emilio said.

“Fine, we’ll see you in the conference room,” he said. His father nodded and left looking triumphant.

“Nick, whatever you want I will do,” she told her husband.

“I’m not really about cheap tricks to get someone to do business with me. I’ve always found it tacky for men to parade their wives around to attract business,” he said. “Sorry, I just don’t think it’s right to use you.”

“What else am I going to do? Besides it would be nice to see you in action, I don’t mind. And I’m pregnant he’s not going to be checking me out.”

“For you to have 9 brothers you know nothing about men. Do you really think I’m the only man that would find you attractive when you’re pregnant? Sorry baby, that’s not true,” he said amused.

“Anyway what’s this meeting about anyway?” She asked while slipping her boots back on.

“Oh he needs some of our high tech security for his home and businesses. Come Mrs. Capriani so we aren’t late for your first business meeting,” he said holding out his hand.

On the way down to the conference room he explained who would be at this meeting. It would Fredrick, the genius behind the success of their security company, Judy from legal, Jose, Emilio and Gloria. Apparently it was a big deal and Gloria sat in to take notes in important meetings. Alejandro Moreno was a big important international business man. He worked in shipping or something; she really wasn’t really that into the details. And Nicolas said she probably really didn’t want to know too many details. Of course Mr. Moreno had a bad reputation, so did the Caprianis. It just seemed like people that other people thought were suspicious would work together. Going to her first important meeting was a little intimidating but she wasn’t going to let her nervousness show.

Right away she identified Alejandro. He was a very attractive man and he gave off that powerful don’t mess with me vibe. Though he had been talking to someone in his entourage his eyes locked on hers. Being with Nicolas so long she learned how to stare people down. That seemed to amuse the big scary Alejandro and he approached. Tall dark handsome and dangerous was personified in this man. Predator was the only other word she would use to describe him. He took her hand and kissed it never breaking eye contact with her. This was a man that could intimidate with just a glance, too bad for him her husband was a lot scarier.

“Hello beautiful,” he said in his heavily accented English.

“Hi,” she replied and she could feel her husband’s irritation. Now she could see why he didn’t want her to come to this meeting.

“Nicolas, is this another of you assistants?” Alejandro asked his eyes leaving her for a brief second before they returned.

“No, this is my wife Wildflower,” Nicolas replied.

“Right, I almost forgot you got married,” he nodded. “And I see you’ve been very busy with your beautiful wife.” He touched her belly like people liked to do now.

“You coming to work for us now?” Jose asked when he came into the room, he draped his arm over her shoulder. Brother-in-law was obviously the same as her other brothers because they would do the same.

“Considering it but it’s not very likely,” she replied.

“What is it you do?” Alejandro asked still watching her with the same intensity. “Wait I think I’ve seen you before, you’re a model, right?”

“Definitely not,” she laughed.

“As gorgeous as my dear sister here is, she is no model. She translates,” Jose said. At the point Nicolas had gone over and was speaking with someone else but he was keeping an eye on her.

“Minha avó ensinou-me falar português,” she said and he smiled.

“Ahh you speak my language,” he nodded and promptly switch languages. “Your husband does not?”

“No he doesn’t nobody in my family does, just me.” She replied.

“So he wouldn’t know if I was you that you are a very sexy women?”

“Not until I tell him.”

“If you get bored with him I would love to spend time with you.”

“I love my husband.”

“We aren’t talking about love we are talking about pleasure.”

“That is why I have a husband.”

“Let us get this meeting started,” Alejandro said suddenly switching back to English. Then he turned back to her. “Come sit by me beautiful.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Jose informed.

“Of course not,” Alejandro laughed. “Somebody tell me about security.” He winked at her before walking away.

“Nicky is about 3 seconds from killing the Latin lover,” Jose told her.

“I know, so I will sit with you,” she replied.

“Good choice,” he said.

He pulled out a chair for her and sat beside her like her own personal bodyguard. Obviously there was a reason she was into language and not business. Everything about Alejandro screamed danger and trouble and she didn’t know how she should feel about that. Maybe it was Fredrick’s amazing presentation that had Alejandro agreeing to do business with them. But from the way he kept looking at her, Wildflower felt like it was because of her. From the look on her husband’s face he thought so too.

Reviews

[deeps]

Full of detail and such wonderful imagery here.
I like your chapter. You characters seem wonderful as well
Very well written.