We have just been seated at a quiet table toward the back of the restaurant when a woman wearing an ocean-blue wrap-around dress and obvious bedroom eyes approaches our table.

I’d like to say I’m not the jealous type, I have never been in the past, but with Alex, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when a woman looks at him like this woman does. As he said earlier, I’ve never had anyone I cared enough about to put in the effort. I guess that goes for feeling jealous, too.

“Alex, it’s been ages. How have you been?” the woman says placing her hand on his shoulder in a show of familiarity. She wants me to know she is more than a mere acquaintance. I snort to myself in my head, two can play at that game.

I go to slide my hand over Alex’s, but he beats me to it covering mine and giving it a squeeze—something that blue dress doesn’t miss.

“Working as always, Theresa,” he says flatly.

“Well, you know what they say about all work and no play, now don’t you?”

“I never said I wasn’t enjoying myself. I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Olivia. Olivia this is Theresa Lopez, she owns Fortitude. I worked with her years ago helping her get started.”

Unwilling to remove my hand from Alex’s, I nod in her direction and smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Your restaurant is beautiful.”

“Thank you. It’s all thanks to Alex. He was the mastermind behind it all, still is when I run into problems. That reminds me, I could use some legal advice on a matter. Would you be able to talk over lunch next week?”

Wow, this bitch has her claws right out in the open. I guess I can’t blame her, if someone was moving in on my territory, especially if that territory were Alex, I’d be ballsy, too.

“No, I’m sorry I won’t have any extra time for a long while. I’ve had some big changes in my personal life that require all of my undivided attention. I can recommend someone from the firm for you, though.”

Theresa’s face goes through several waves of expression within a matter of seconds. First comes shock, then disbelief, rage, and finally she makes an attempt at indifference, but she fails miserably. The muscles around her mouth twitch, and her eyes narrow when she looks back and forth between us.

She thinks he’s talking about me, and I love it. I’m not so sure I’d like to be around when she finds out Alex has a child and his ex-girlfriend is dead, though. I’ll bet ol’ Theresa will be smug as hell.

“I see, yes, thank you. I would appreciate that. I’d better get back to work, things are picking up. It was good to see you Alex. Olivia, nice to meet you.” She turns on her spiked heels, and she’s gone.

“One of the fifteen?” I say trying to hide my smile.

His semi-eye roll says I’m right. “She’s a very unhappy Latina, do you think our food is safe?”

“Absolutely, this place is her life. She wouldn’t sabotage herself that way, not even because of me.”

“I thought you said you hadn’t been with anyone since Lilly.”

“I haven’t. Theresa has a hard time letting go of the past.”

“That seems to be a common problem among your ex’s.”

“Aren’t you glad you’ll never have to experience it?” He lifts my hand and kisses the back of it.

“You’re serious about a long-term relationship, aren’t you?”

“You’re kind of slow, aren’t you?” he says with a smile and a quick wink.

“Stop it, you know what I mean.”

“I knew the second I saw you behind the counter at your bakery that you were the one.”

“The one?”

“The one for me.”

“That’s ridiculous. You couldn’t know that, you’d never met me.”

“It didn’t matter. Something in those big brown eyes of yours spoke to me. And then, when you touched me, I wanted to tell you every secret I’ve ever kept. The urge to be inside of you overwhelmed me. I knew I had to see you again as soon as possible. The dogs didn’t need to be groomed. I made that appointment to keep you in my orbit.”

In his orbit, circling him like a planet held in place circling the sun. I felt it, too, maybe not quite like that, but the connection was there, and it was powerful. I would have experienced withdrawal symptoms had he walked out that day and never came back.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to take you out tonight.” He shifts in his chair looking uncomfortable. “I need to talk to you about my mother.”

“Wait, you’re going to ruin our evening talking about your mother?” A moment ago, I was orbiting around my warm, gorgeous sun, and now I feel like I’m being sucked into a black hole.

“I told you we needed to talk about the next few days and Lilly’s funeral. I’d like to get the negative out of the way so we can enjoy the rest of the night.”

“What does your mother have to do with Lilly’s funeral?”

“Nothing yet.”

“But?”

He takes a deep breath in through his nose and blows it out before diving in. “I told you one of the reasons my mother doesn’t like me.”

“Yes, your father’s will, and her ridiculous claim that his death was somehow your fault.”

“There’s more. My mother has a best friend, and her name is Clara. Clara has a daughter named Monica. Monica is a vile creature… selfish, spoiled, self-centered, everything men despise including me. My mother and Clara tried for years to set us up. Clara because she wanted her daughter to have the best of the best, and my mother because she hated me and wanted me to be miserable with Monica.”

“Say no more. I get it. Your mom is going to be pissed that you have a child and a girlfriend who make you happy?”

“Ah, beautiful and smart as a whip, too. Yes, I’m worried she will use this situation to put my life on the front page of every trash tabloid from New York to Seattle. If she does that, you will be swept up into the supposed scandal, and I don’t want anything to scare you away.”

“You’re not giving me much credit, Alex.”

He turns his chair to face me and leans in with his elbow on the table getting all up in my space. “Olivia, I understand that you aren’t as dedicated to what we have as I am… yet. I don’t want to scare you. I see how your eyes pop when I mention a future together or love and the permanence of family. But I know in my gut that we belong together, and I cannot let my past with Lilly and my mother ruin what I want to build with you.”

And there it is, proof that I haven’t been reading into the things he says to me. He does want to be the last person I write on my list of boyfriends. He does want to trade I love you’s and put a ring on my finger and celebrate silver and gold anniversaries someday.

“What are you asking me, Alex? I’m trying here, but this is all happening so fast I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want you to say you won’t leave when the going gets tough because I sense a storm on the horizon, and I don’t want to lose you in it.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s easy to say when things are fine. Promise me that you’ll talk to me about anything that’s bothering you before making any rash decisions. In return, I will promise you that I will be open and receptive to your concerns, and I will deal with them accordingly.”

“I don’t exactly know what you mean by dealing with them accordingly, but I promise to bring you my concerns.”

“And promise not to bolt.”

“I won’t bolt, promise.” That promise makes me cringe inside. I’m a runner. Just like it’s in his nature to be bossy, it’s in mine to run away from my problems.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me. Now, one last thing, and then we can put away the heavy conversation and enjoy our night out.”

“Okay,” I say relieved.

“Lilly’s funeral is the day after tomorrow. I’m making all the arrangements since she passed away in Seattle, and her family lives elsewhere. Her mom and dad spoke of having her body flown to Paris where they live, but changed their minds when I told them of the legalities and the cost. I will attend with Faye. I want her to know she was there to say goodbye when she grows up. It’s going to be a small affair. Her parents are flying in tomorrow as well as her grandmother. A few other family members expressed an interest in coming as well as her closest friends of which there weren’t many. I’m hoping to keep the whole thing quiet, no press, no paparazzi, so if you could please not talk about it to anyone, I would appreciate it.”

“Of course, I have no one to tell anyway. Jacob already knows, and I’m sure he doesn’t have anyone he would tell.”

“Would you mind making sure of that? He is a model, and if he let it slip to the wrong person, we could end up with a circus on our hands.”

“Yes, I’ll call him tonight.”

“Good. Now, when all of this is over, and the case I’m working on is settled, I am going to take some time off to spend with you and Faye. Think of someplace you’d like to visit, anywhere in the world, and we will go.”

Anywhere? How many people get the opportunity to go on vacation anywhere of their choosing? And he offers it like it’s a simple bottle of wine, oh, by the way, pick any vacation spot anywhere in the world.

“Stop that.”

I look left and right and back at his beautiful stressed face. “Stop what?”

“Looking star struck. It’s just money.”

“Alex, only a billionaire would say it’s just money. You have no idea how much the rest of us worry about and obsess over money.”

“I am lucky, yes, but now so are you. You may as well get used to being spoiled because you’re going to be for the rest of your life, like it or not.”

“Forced spoiling, that’s a new one.”

“You’ll love it, trust me.”

“I’ll give a vacation some thought, but only if Kevin works out well.”

“He will, and if something happens to him, I have a dozen more like him, so get to vacation planning.”

I smile, and he scoots his chair back to its original spot. “Where is our waiter? We’ve been here a while.”

“I asked the hostess to have the waiter give us twenty or thirty minutes. I wanted to get this all out of the way before we eat.” Of course, he did, he’s always prepared.

“That was very forward thinking of you.” I smirk and wink the way I’ve seen him do in the past.

“You know I like to plan ahead, but if you smile and wink like that again, I will consider breaking that rule.” He lowers his hand under the table and slides it up my thigh.

“Whatever would you want to do that for?” I say batting my eyelashes at him innocently.

“To take you outside and fuck you senseless in the limo until everyone in this restaurant, including Theresa, hears you screaming my name in ecstasy.”

Holy Mother of God, I can’t even look at him. I suck my bottom lip in and bite down pressing my thighs together while I fiddle with the fork on the table. He squeezes the clenching muscle of my thigh and releases it mercifully removing his hand to open his menu.

“I know you like steak and seafood, how do you feel about authentic South American dishes?” he says cool and unaffected as if he hadn’t just proposed we escape to the limo for wild sex.

“I uh, I don’t think I’ve ever had it,” I stammer and open my menu only to fan myself with it. He looks at me over his menu and raises his eyebrows.

“Too warm?” he says with a smug grin.

I narrow my eyes at him and continue fanning myself. The rest of our dinner is pleasant. He introduces me to two of his favorite South American dishes, and we consume two bottles of wine nestled in our intimate corner.

He kisses my neck, I stroke his leg, and by the time we finish, we are both primed and more than ready for dessert. In the car, I make a pass at him expecting him to make good on his earlier offer of limo sex, but he ends the kiss and takes my hands in his for the rest of the drive.

I can’t deny I am disappointed. I’ve never had sex in a limo, and I thought it would be hot to put up the privacy glass and watch the world go by while straddling Alex. My panties are already history leaving nothing to separate us but the thin silver material of my dress.

I consider pouting, but the car pulls to a stop sooner than I’d expected it to.

“We’re home,” he says so comfortably it almost feels like it’s true. But this isn’t home for me. I already miss my apartment and Jacob, and I haven’t even spent one night at the Wolfe Estate.

He opens the door and offers me his hand to help me out. I nuzzle into the fur of my coat when a gust of wind takes my breath away. “I can’t wait for summer,” I murmur, and he pulls me against his side enveloping me in his masculinity. Everything Alex Wolfe does is purposeful and caring and sexy. Even when he’s holding his daughter, he oozes confidence and sexuality like no other man I’ve ever seen.

Inside, he removes my coat and his hanging them in a closet I haven’t noticed until now. He places his hand on the bare small of my back scorching me with his touch and guides me down a hall on the right.

“Where are we going?”

“To visit the dogs. You haven’t seen Lady for a while. She will forget who you are if you don’t spend time with her.”

Lady, I’d almost forgotten one of his first ploys to keep me orbiting around his life. I was excited to get home and peek in on Faye and head to bed with Alex, but this new plan makes me giddy with happiness. I adore animals, dogs in particular, and having one of my own is a dream come true although the timing couldn’t be worse.

“We need to separate off a section of the house for you and Faye and me and the dogs. Keeping them separated from us is going to make it impossible for all of us to bond.”

“You’re right. I’ll have someone work on that tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t have to be a big deal. We just need a few baby gates, some puppy pads, and their kennels. Huskies are incredibly intelligent, they’ll catch on to their boundaries in a few days, and I think they will appreciate the constant interaction with us.” He stops in the hall and turns me to face him.

“Olivia, I’m not home often during the week. I don’t want to give you the impression that I will be as available as I have been since we met. However, I have already started making plans to have as much of my work brought to my home office as possible. Obviously, I can’t run a law firm if I’m not there, but there are cases I can work on at home. It will take some time for everyone at the firm to adjust, but we will get there. You and Faye are my priority now. I’m doing everything I can to make this work.”

I’m struck by the desperation in his voice. His need for me is raw and honest and moving. I take his face in my hands and stretch up on my tiptoes to kiss him. It’s not a passionate kiss—there is no tongue involved—just my lips pressed against his in a show of appreciation, thanks, and damn if I can’t deny it anymore, love.

When I break the kiss and lower back to my feet his eyes are still closed when he speaks. “Olivia, I love you.”

I suck in a breath and feel my heart clench in my ribcage. How did this happen? Strangers only days ago, and now we are in love, sharing a home, caring for a child, and raising dogs in a historic mansion planning a future together. It’s like Christmas, winning the lottery, my birthday, and seeing my favorite band in concert all at once.

“I love you, too, Alex. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s true.”

His arms surround me, and his hold is so tight for so long I begin to squirm for oxygen. He releases me, and I gasp for breath. “I’m sorry. I was worried you would scream and go running out of the house if I told you. Hearing you say it back is an incredible relief.”

“You know, there are some things in life you can’t fully prepare for. I think telling someone you love them for the first time is one of those things. I’ll try to keep you from suffering through that again.”

I vow to myself to always tell him I love him every day for eternity, so he will never have to wonder.

“You have no idea how much that means to me.”

I lift one side of my mouth with a knowing smile. “I think I do.”