One Night Stand

“Yes.” He pursed his lips.

“Didn’t he go on a honeymoon with Joanna?”

“The honeymoon was postponed.”

“I didn’t know Gabby knew Luke.” I sat back and thought. “I mean she might have met him through Alice, but that was a while ago.”

“That’s beside the point, Liv.” He sighed. “When I met up with Gabby, she was upset because she had just found out she was pregnant and the father didn’t want to marry her and she was worried her family would be disappointed and she made a comment that she wished she had a fiancé to take home. And Henry reminded me that our granddad was holding control of the family business until I got married and well, the idea just came to me.” He shrugged.

“You’re engaged to Gabby because you felt bad for her and because you want control of your family company?”

“Basically.” He nodded.

“And you won’t end the engagement?”

“It would be stupid of me to let one night with you influence me into changing my plans, Liv. I’m not trying to be cruel, but Gabby and I have a business arrangement.” He sighed. “One that will benefit both of us.”

“What about me?” I said softly.

“I don’t know what to say, Liv.” He sighed. “I know I’ve been a jerk and I can’t change that. I can only apologize, but I don’t know what else to say.”

“I guess there is nothing else to say.” I sucked my breath in to hold back my tears of disappointment. What was the point of expressing my emotions and hurt? He would only think I was a psycho. The only one who would understand my feelings right now was Alice.

“I wanted to explain to you why Gabby and I were engaged. I didn’t want you to think that I was some sort of bastard that would be chasing you and your sister. I don’t feel anything for your sister except friendship. I don’t have that sort of chemistry with her.”

“You told me you wanted to have sex with her.” I bit my lower lip, jealousy bursting to make its way out.

“I’m not sure I said that, but maybe I intimated something about making the marriage a complete one. I was only saying that to get a rise out of you.”

“Well that’s nice.”

“I act stupid when I’m around you. I’m not myself.”

“Who are you then? ET?”

“Quite possibly.”

“That’s what I thought.” I nodded thoughtfully. “You’re an alien from outer space.”

“And you’re from inner space.”

“Something like that.” I said with a smile and then he started tickling me. I fell back on the ground giggling and tried to push him off of me, but he continued tickling me under my arms, on my stomach and by my knees. “Xander, don’t.” I gasped as we rolled around on the blanket.

“I didn’t know you were so ticklish.” He grinned down at me, his eyes light as he gazed at my face.

“Well now you do.”

“Yes, I do.” He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and then lay down on the blanket next to me, so that our shoulders were touching. “It’s not all about the money, you know.”

“What?” I said softly as I stared up at the stars in the sky.

“I don’t want the company so that I can make more money. I already have a lot of money.”

“Okay.” I said softly, hoping he would tell me why he wanted the company.

“I have a nonprofit in Africa. We help to purify water with chlorine machines and we dig wells.” His voice was soft. “Right now, I’m only able to donate a million dollars a year through the company foundation, but if I took charge of the company, I could change the rules.”

“You don’t have shareholders?”

“We’re a privately held company. We have a board, but it’s not large and I can control them.” His voice was passionate. “I want to be able to do this. My family has a lot of money. I want to be able to do some good with it. It’s really important to me.”

“I understand.” And I did. It was a worthy cause. A very worthy cause. A cause that surprised me if I was honest. I felt guilty then. I realized that I wanted this handsome, sexy man to want me, to tell me that he loved me and I didn’t know a thing about him. All I knew was that he was good with his tongue. I felt ashamed of myself. “So how long have you had the nonprofit?” I asked softly as we lay there staring up at the night sky.

“Since I was 17.” He said and I could feel him looking at the side of my face. “I started it my last year of high school with some money my dad gave me. He said I could have a car or I could use the money for something good.”

“And you turned down the car?”

“Yes.” He said, his voice low. “I had just done a science project on cholera and water borne diseases and there were all these people dying in different African countries just from drinking water.” He sighed. “I didn’t think it was right.”

“So you wanted to help?” I asked softly.

“Yes. I knew I had to help.” He said passionately. “It was actually something I could help to fix. People dying of diseases in water is preventable. It’s not like strife in the Middle East or wars. This is something tangible. This is something that can be fixed. And we know how to fix it. They know how to fix it.” He rolled over and I looked at him then. His eyes were blazing. “When I got into the family business, I made sure my father invested in some different water purification systems. We were going to use them in...” His voice trailed off. “Sorry, I’m boring you.”