Marie was awoken by warm breezes that blew through the thin drapes, that hung above the large windows of her room. She smiled softly as she opened her eyes. She loved the feeling of a warm spring morning. But, what she enjoyed most of all was knowing that spring had finally come.

Lazily, she turned around in her warm bed, hiding her face in her soft pillow. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and stood up from the bed. She opened the curtains from her window, opened the balcony doors and went out to feel the fresh breeze on her soft skin.

Her naked feet touched the stone of the terrace as her silk nightgown flew behind her. She moved quickly towards the golden fence that outlined the stone terrace. She sat down on the wooden chair, putting her arms on the fence and looked out at the scenery. A small smile appeared on her red lips.

She inhaled the fresh air deeply, taking in the beautiful smell of roses mixed with the smell of blooming trees and freshly cut grass.

Slowly, she stretched out her young body as she raised her arms from the fence to above her head. She grabbed her long black hair as she ran it through her fingers. It glided effortlessly through them as she pulled her hair back and dropped it behind her shoulders.

Her eyes, still foggy from her deep sleep, stopped in the distance on a field of roses. That part of land belonged to her family for close to a century. Her great - grandfather was the one who, before eighty years, planted the beautiful bed of roses on their land.

Every chance they could, the O'Conner family would buy more farm land and further expand the bed of roses that their land has been known for. Today, it was one of the biggest rose beds in Texas.

Marie moved her eyes from the roses to the rest of the land that her family owned, while her mind drifted to the work that she had to do today. She knew that she had work to do at the office, but she wished that she could just sit there all day and enjoy the sight before her.

She stretched once more, got up from her wooden chair and felt the coldness of the stone hit the bottom of her feet. She walked back to her warm room quickly and closed the terrace door behind her. At that same moment, Lola, the housemaid walked in.

"You're awake." She said breathlessly.

Lola turned fifty recently but she's still full of energy and willingness to work. She's worked for years for the O'Conner family and she's seen how Marie has grown into a beautiful young woman. Looking at her now, Lola was glad that she could have been a part of such a sweet young woman's life.

It's because of this that her and Marie have had a special type of relationship, one much different than that of a mistress and her maid. Their relationship began to blossom with the death of Marie's mother, Mrs. O'Conner. At that time, Lola became Marie's shoulder to cry on and a person she could depend on. Lola was there for her through the pain, suffering and sorrow that would take over Marie's young life.

"Good morning Lola." Marie said with a sweet and warm smile as she opened her closet.

She grabbed a simple outfit, light blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt.

"It's such a beautiful day today, isn't it?" She said with a wide smile, her bright white teeth glistening like pearls.

"Good morning." Lola replied. "It is a beautiful day. The workers have already begun to tend to the grounds when I saw what time it was. I ran into the house thinking you overslept ..." She began to explain as to why she burst into her room.

Like always, she came close to the windows and began to open them.

"I'm going to go shower, then I need to go to the office. I don't think I'll have time for breakfast." Marie said.

"Marie! Why are you barefoot again?! I swear, you're acting like a child. Let me guess, you went outside on the terrace like that as well didn't you? What am I going to do with you, child?" Lola kept murmuring as she tended Marie's bed.

Marie smiled as she walked to her bathroom and closed the door behind her. She still heard Lola's voice from her room, that is until she turned on her shower.

"How can you possibly go to work without breakfast Marie?!" she heard Lola yell out louder as she stepped into the shower.

The warm water hit the top of her head and washed down her body. She closed her eyes as all the sounds from the outside world were taken out by the sound of the warm water washing her delicate body.

After about half an hour, washed and ready, with her hair tied up in a bun, Marie left her house. She took her BMW keys out of her purse and clicked the unlock button. The familiar "beep" sound was heard as the car automatically turned on and the garage door opened, revealing, not only her car, but her father's collection of expensive exotic cars.

She sat in her car and drove it to the office. Once there, she greeted the receptionist with a warm smile and headed to the top floor. The top floor was where her father's office was, the office of the CEO and President of the O'Conner Group. She walked by his office, the door was closed, then down the hall to where her office.

"Good morning Marie." Said the new young employee, Bruce Markov, as he walked by her in the hallway.

As she looked up at him, she noticed the sly grin on his face and the quick wink he gave her as he slowed down. She noticed how he left his gaze on her face, her eyes and her lips. She wasn't completely sure, but she felt like Bruce wanted her.

"You look amazing today, very elegant." He said, his grin coming out again as he finished his sentence.

"Thank you." She said with a soft smile as she looked to the side quickly. "Anything new happening?" She asked in terms of work, but as her gaze came back to his masculine face she couldn't help but stare at his perfectly shaped jaw and dark hazel eyes.

"Same old for now, though I'm not sure if you mean about the work or about me?" He said as he smiled wider now. His shaped beard flexing with his jaw muscles as his lips parted and his white teeth shined through.

"You wanna talk about it over some tea?" He asked as he motioned back towards the elevator.

"I don't have time now." She said as she shook her head.

"Seems like you never have time for me." He said as he looked away from her.

"I will have time when you invite me to dinner, not just coffee." She said as she looked him in the eyes.

She wasn't sure if she did the right thing, but she wanted to give Bruce a chance to get closer, to see if he really wanted her as much as he seemed to show. She's been alone for a long time and she craves some attention and care, which Bruce has given her over the time that he's worked for her families company. Also, she really did enjoy his company and the care in which he handles their relationship, but still, she needs something more and perhaps Bruce could offer that to her.

Marie knew, or perhaps hoped, that the love she had for a particular man, whose name she didn't even want to say anymore, left when he left. She never wanted to feel the loneliness that she felt from that abandonment. Years passed from when he left and yet, the smallest reminder of the love that they once shared would cause her very soul to yearn for him.

Ever since Bruce came into her life, however, she seemed much happier than she was before. While she could never forget what
he
did to her, Bruce makes her feel like everything will be alright. Even moments of when she's reminded of
him
, Bruce makes her forget.

Over time, she did notice that Bruce became more and more into her. She wasn't sure if he was completely in love with her, but she knew that she wasn't in love with him. She did lust for him, how could any woman not, with the beautifully sculpted and handsome face of his, it's hard not to gawk at him any chance a woman gets. As he moves, she constantly noticed how his ripped muscles flexed through the fitted dress shirt.

She hoped that with the lust she had for him, it would eventually blossom to something more, a much stronger and more beautiful feeling. Then, perhaps, she could return the love that he shows towards her.

"Ok then, I'm inviting you to dinner." He said with a wide smile, almost not believing his luck.

"I accept your invitation." She said jokingly.

"I'll come pick you up at seven." He added in quickly, almost as if he was worried that she would change her mind.

She nodded her head in agreement as she smiled at him and turned to head towards her office.

"Marie." He said as he grabbed her hand softly. "I know you don't like to talk about it, but the company is supposed to go public soon and I'm just curious where everything is at." He said.

"My father is having talks with a company in New York. You know I'm against it, I want this company to remain private." She said almost angrily.

"I don't even want to talk to him about it all." She said as she slipped her hand softly away from his.

She couldn't deny that his touch meant a lot to her at that moment, a lot more than she believed it would. For an instant, she didn't even understand why she slipped her hand away. Perhaps it was the loneliness that she felt and every contact felt strange and exciting to her, or maybe there was something more about Bruce that made her heart race like that.

"You're still hoping that he won't go through with it," he said, almost as if he was reading her mind.

"Yea, I am, though I understand his reasoning. We need the money to expand the company and this is the only way that we'll get it." She said, admitting what she's been thinking about for a long time now.

"I have to go, I'll see you later tonight." She said as she walked away, this time not towards her office but her fathers.

"Good morning." she said as she walked into her father's office.

Her father was a workaholic and always arrived at the office earlier than anybody. She found him at his table going over some paperwork, most likely the contracts that he had to sign before he would release the shares of his company.

"Good morning sweetie. You look very pretty today." He said as he glanced up at her quickly then moved down to his paperwork again.

"Thank you, but you're not the first to notice." She replied with a smile.

"Haha, I see that you ran into Bruce again." He said as he brought his head up from the paperwork again.

"Yes I did. It wasn't too hard to guess, was it?" She said, still smiling.

"Not at all, it's hard not to notice the way that he looks at you." He replied.

"Dad, you're overreacting." She replied while secretly hoping that her hunch about Bruce being in love with her was true.

"I'm not, everyone in the office knows it's true." He said as he leaned back into his large leather chair.

"Anyways ... I have to go finish up some work." Marie said as she turned around to leave the office.

"Hold on a second, I have to talk to you about something." Her dad quickly intervened as she neared the exit.

"About what?" She replied as she looked back at him.

By the look on his face, she knew what he wanted to talk about. At the same moment, she felt the warm gut wrenching sensation in her stomach.

"We're going to be having some guests from New York soon, a man, who will represent the company that wants to buy a large share of our business." He said in one breath, wanting to get it out as quickly as he could.

"Can we talk about this later?" Marie replied, a bit agitated.

"Marie! You're acting like you're not at all interested in the future of our company." He said a bit more harshly than he expected to.

She knew that it was hard for him to take the family business public, but that doesn't mean that she agreed with it. For her father, however, it was something that he had to do. In order to save and grow the company in the current economy, he had to take it public. What really killed him was having to do it alone, without the support of the one person that was closest to him.

"Dad, I'm with you no matter what decision you make. If you think this is the only way, then I'm with you." She told him as she turned her head towards him.

"Thank you Marie, I really needed that."

"We'll talk about this later." She said as she walked out of his office quickly.

She felt the gut wrenching feeling emanating from her stomach again. She still didn't understand why it was so intense. She knew that they had no other choice, not if they want to see this company succeed.

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