Six weeks later.
The grand opening of Patterson Place was only three days away.
On account of Taylor's success with the book, we could have booked every room in the place right off the bat, but Taylor was too smart and patient for that. He wanted to provide the absolute best experience for every guest, so for the first week, we were booked at ten percent capacity, the first month, we went up to twenty-five percent. For second month, we would go up to fifty percent, the third seventy-five, and then finally, we'd transition to full capacity. He knew this would give him time to adjust and properly train the staff.
Taylor had just been downstairs in a meeting with his front desk managers. Next, he would meet with the head doormen and concierge. He had meetings all week. He personally hired and trained everyone who worked for him, and they were already onsite part-time taking future bookings, learning the expectations of positions, and preparing for the grand opening.
Taylor was an amazing leader.
I was blown away at the way everybody was unified and upbeat, working as a team.
He had a short break between meetings, and he came upstairs to eat. I was in the process of making him one of my famous grilled cheese sandwiches when he came through the door.
"Hey, baby," I called, looking over my shoulder.
Taylor did not walk to me—he ran.
For someone who was wearing slacks and a button-down shirt with a tie, he was extremely nimble and agile. He kicked off his shoes, and jogged to me. He even did some fancy move where he jumped and pivoted around the arm of the couch as he turned.
I giggled at how quickly he approached me. I was breathless with surprise when he rushed up behind me. Maybe it wasn't the surprise that left me breathless… he did this to me even when he walked slowly. His masculine presence never failed to leave me shaken and giddy.
He pulled me close to him, absentmindedly moving the pan off of the burner so he wouldn't make me burn lunch. I took a second to reach down and turn off the burner since I was mostly done with it, anyway. I barely spared a glance at the stove before looking at Taylor again.
He smiled at me before kissing me right on the lips. "I love you," he said.
"I love you too."
"I miss you."
I smiled. "I'm right here."
He kissed me. "I miss you when I'm downstairs."
He held me close to his hard body, moving and wiggling so that he could mold his body to mine. He kissed me again and again—on my neck and face and mouth.
"I love you so much that I'm terrified all the seconds and minutes I'm not next to you."
I laughed at the way he continued to move and kiss me as he spoke.
"Why are you terrified?"
"Because I love you so much that I'm scared I'll lose you. I've never been like this with anything. I've never been so attached to something in my life. I'm scared of crazy things—like a big hand will come out of the sky and just pluck you out of the top of my building before I can make it up here to you. I never, ever, ever want to lose you, Blue. I want you with me forever."
I smiled at him, placing my fingertips on the side of his face. "The most gratifying love is the kind where you're scared out of your mind. It makes it better when you're so in love that it's a little bit miserable."
"That's what kind I have," Taylor said.
I smiled. "Me too."
He kissed me again, his perfect, curved mouth touching mine ever so gently.
And, just then, in the middle of all that bliss, his phone rang.
It took him a second to look at it, but I knew he would… duty calls, after all.
"Hello?"
I waited there, unable to hear what was being said on the other end.
"Yeah. Come on up."
Pause.
"No, I promise, it's no problem. I’m up here now. She'll be fine with it."
He paused and swiveled at the waist to glance in the pan.
"Don't do that. We have stuff up here. Does she eat grilled cheese? My wife makes the best grilled cheese. We eat 'em like four times a week."
I could tell by the way he smiled that the person was laughing on the other end. I could hear it a little. It sounded like a guy.
"I promise she'll be fine with it," Taylor said after a pause. "Come on up. Just use the key for the guest suite. Once you get up here, you can let yourself into our place. It's eight-o-one. I left our door open. All right. Yep. I promise. See you in a sec."
Taylor hung up his phone and set it on the counter, and then he smiled at me like nothing was the matter. I made a silly, curious facial expression that made him grin even more.
"That was our new head doorman," he said. "I have a meeting with him in just a minute, and he got in a bind and had to bring his daughter up here with him. He said his mom usually babysits, but she couldn’t do it today. They're new to town, and I guess his mom had to go take care of some things with their new place. I'm sorry to spring that on you. He asked if the girl could just sit downstairs somewhere while we had the meeting, but I told him you wouldn't mind watching her."
"Like babysitting?" I asked. "How old is she?"
In my mind's eye, I had a vision of a sassy teenager telling me off and then kicking me in the shins before storming off. In my daydream, she had a spiked-up mohawk with nose rings and black lipstick.
"Five, I think," Taylor said. "Five or six."
That made me feel a little better.
He smiled and bent to kiss me on the cheek casually as if to say you got this. I put his grilled cheese onto a plate, using the spatula and then I cut the sandwich in half from corner to corner.
Taylor kissed me on the neck about ten times while I was doing that. It felt so good that I moved slowly.
"Can I have this one?" he asked once I was done.
"It's yours," I said, not understanding why he would ask.
"I know, but I sort of gave it away just now."
I could not believe how sweet this man was. I wanted to cry. "This one's yours," I said. "I'll make the little girl another one, no problem at all."
He smiled and bit into the sandwich, eating about half of the half in one bite.
I crossed to the fridge to get the cheese and butter back out so that I could make a second sandwich.
Taylor made a sound of approval just as we heard a knock on the door.
"Come on in," Taylor called once he had mostly swallowed.
I felt a little nervous about entertaining a random kid, but I knew I'd just figure it out and be fine.
"Hello!" A man's voice came from the door, and I turned to face him with a smile.
My expression fell when I realized who I was staring at. It took me a second to figure it out. I had traveled so much that I often thought people looked familiar to people I had seen in completely different states. The man smiled and the little girl hid shyly behind his leg as they stepped into the room.
He waved at me.
I knew him instantly.
I didn't want to say his name because I thought I was surely mistaken.
But then it hit me.
It was Josh.
I didn't know why I didn't think of it when Taylor said he just moved here. Josh from Boston being the new doorman was the farthest thing on my mind, but here he was, standing right in front of me.
"Oh, my goodness, are you kidding me? Is this? Are you? Is this seriously Josh?" I turned to look at my husband with such confusion that he laughed.
"Surprise!" he said.
I walked over to hug them. "Are you working for us?" I asked, squeezing Josh.
"Yes ma'am. Your husband was kind enough to offer me the positon, and I jumped at the chance."
I stooped to smile at his little girl. She was adorable—staring at me cautiously with big brown eyes. I reached out and touched the side of her cheek with my finger. "You are such a pretty girl."
"Say 'thank you', Nikki," Josh said.
"Thank you," she said, so quietly it was barely audible.
"Did you move all the way out to California to work for us?" I asked, looking up at Josh while remaining stooped down at his daughter's level.
"Yes, ma'am. Back when Mr. Patterson first came to Boston, I had mentioned that I always wanted to live in California. I think I also told him that the doctors said it'd be better for my mom's medical condition, too. He offered me the job and paid to move us and everything. We never could have done it if your husband didn't help us with the moving and everything."
"That's just part of your package, Josh. I'm the one who should be thanking you. I'm gonna need a right hand around here if I'm ever gonna take my wife on vacation."
"It'd be an honor," Josh said, bowing with a nod. "It's a beautiful place. I'm so happy to be here."
I was overwhelmed.
I seriously felt like I wanted to cry.
I couldn't believe what my husband had done.
I distracted myself by standing up and asking Josh if he would like a sandwich.
"Thank you, but I'll grab something to eat after our meeting," he said.
I figured he was just saying that to be nice, but I didn't push him. I thought he might not like grilled cheese.
I extended my hands as if to tell the little girl I'd like to hold her. "Would you help me make your sandwich?"
She looked at Josh who nodded, giving her permission. She reached up for me. I walked into the kitchen and set her on the counter, close to the stove but not too close.
I warned her not to touch anything.
She nodded like it wasn't the first time she had in a similar positon while someone was cooking.
Taylor came up beside me, kissing me. "We won't be long," he said. "They just rolled into town last night, so I'm not gonna keep him. I just wanted to give him his paperwork and keys and everything."
"We're fine," I said. "Me and Nikki are gonna have some girl time. Are you okay with that?" I aimed a questioning glance at Nikki, and she nodded.
"Be good for Miss Stone—Miss Blue—Mrs. Patterson." Josh smiled shook his head frustrated with himself for not getting it right. "I'm sorry. I didn’t even get to congratulate you yet," he said to me reaching out from around his daughter to pat my back. "I was real excited when I heard you were getting married. I'm really happy for you two."
I smiled as I turned to stare up at my husband. He had just finished scarfing down his lunch. He tilted back the small glass of grapefruit juice that I had sitting on the counter, and I stretched up to kiss his clean-shaven cheek after he set the glass down.
"Thank you," I said, talking to Josh while still staring up at Taylor. "I’m really happy for us two, too."
Taylor smiled at me. "Me too."
The End
(till book 2)