Love's Second Chance (Second Chances Series) (12 page)

The need in her eyes had me mesmerized as I stared into those swirling gray pools. I would do anything for that woman lying beneath me. If she would’ve asked me to follow her back in college I’d have done it. She didn’t because she knew that was where I needed to be. Touching her face lightly she leaned into it, kissing my palm. It was an intimate and loving gesture. I was going to make love to this woman and there was no way in hell I’d let her go after this.

I entered her fully and as deep as I could. Moaning loudly in my ear, she gripped me tightly across the shoulders. Her fingernails dug into my back as I moved inside her body, in and out slowly. She was tight as hell, but oh so ready. Her legs tightened around my hips and she moved rhythmically along with my thrusts, clenching tighter the more I glided across her nub. We kissed each other feverishly, demanding, taking … claiming. She was about to let go at any moment.

“You’re so tight,” I groaned into her ear.

“Oh my God, Galen, I can’t hold off any longer.”

“I … don’t … want … you … to,” I pleaded. Her orgasm finally reached its height and milked me to the quick. Her screams began to level off just as my release exploded inside of her. I held her tight while I savored in the feel of her contracting around my cock. Sweaty and breathing heavy, I waited for the aftermath of our love making to settle before I declared the words I’d been dying to tell her.

Still melded as one, with me fully inside of her, I whispered in her ear, “I love you.” Holding her face in my hands a hot trail of tears began to slide along my fingers. I pulled back to look at her, scared I’d see horror on her face from me saying those words, but that wasn’t what I found. Only love showed back, and a smile so happy that it beamed brightly through the dark room, making it light. My light is what she was, my beacon, and my new beginning. Staring into the glow of her eyes, I decided to confess my true feelings. “I don’t think I ever stopped loving you, Korinne. You were on my mind every day, and I always wondered what it would have been like if you never left.”

“Oh, Galen.” Sighing, she paused and locked her hands around my face before saying the words I’d wanted to hear. “I love you, too,” she cried.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” I said while kissing her again, lingering on her lips an extra second longer to enjoy the feel of them.

“What does it mean?” she whispered softly.

“It means that you’re mine, and
only
mine from this day forth. Never again will I let you be anywhere else other than with me.”

“I think I can live with that.” She smiled before crushing her body to mine in another round of passionate love making.

The ride home from the mountains went extremely fast. Every minute I spent with Korinne flew by in a heartbeat. It wasn’t until she pulled into my driveway that I remembered I forgot to ask the question I was too afraid to ask before. “I need to ask you something,” I said hesitantly. Korinne put the car in park and looked questioningly at me.

“Okay,” she mumbled, drawing out the word.

“I know things have been changing for you and getting better, and we also know that your mad skills have resurfaced. So … what I want to know is if maybe … maybe you would like to work for the company?” I gritted my teeth in anticipation waiting on her answer. I knew she was ready for it, but I didn’t know if
she
knew that she was ready.

She stared at me blankly for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter. That laughter took me completely by surprise. “I’ve been waiting on you to ask me!” she beamed brightly.

“You have?” I asked, sounding shocked.

She nodded. “Of course I have. I mean, I wasn’t ready before when you skirted around it, but now …”

“So is this a yes?”

“Yes! I would love to, but isn’t there a policy against dating coworkers? Because if so, then I’m afraid we have to call it quits,” she said it seriously, but I could tell she tried to hold in her smile. She failed miserably.

I shook my head. “You have nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t be your boss anyway, because you’d be more of a freelance designer than anything. However, you would need an office at my firm. How does sharing one with me sound?” She chewed on her bottom lip, avoiding my question. It looked like she needed a little bit of persuasion. Leaning down towards her luscious lips, I captured them with my own. “Are you in?” I asked. “Just think of all the things we could do in that office together.”

“Oh yeah,” she replied huskily. “I’m in.”

I kissed her long and hard before the time came for me to leave. Grabbing my bags from the trunk, I walked around to her side of the car to tell her good-bye. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning by nine?”

“I’ll be there,” she agreed.

She waved me good-bye and drove off down the street. I unlocked the door and the phone rang as soon as I entered the house. “Hello,” I said into the phone.

“Happy Birthday, old man!”

I laughed at my brother. “You’re a day late, but it’s okay though. I’m just surprised you remembered at all.”

“I blame it all on the concussions I got playing football,” he joked, even though we both knew those concussions were not a joking matter. “I heard Korinne took you away for the weekend. How did that go?”

“It went great, as a matter of fact, but of course I’m not going to give you the details,” I pointed out.

“No worries. I didn’t really want to know about your sex life anyway.”

“That’s good to know. Hey, do you mind if I talk to Jenna? I need her to do something for me,” I added. I had an idea for something special for Korinne and also myself, but only Jenna could do it for us. It would be something we could cherish for the rest of our lives.

“Yeah, I guess so. I do a good deed in calling my brother and all he wants is to talk to my wife. I can feel the brotherly love,” he joked. “Anyway, here she is.”

“Galen, is everything okay?” Jenna asked as soon as she took the phone from Brady.

“Oh yeah, everything’s fine. I need you to paint something for me.”

“Really? What did you have in mind?” she asked, intrigued.

I explained to her what I wanted and she was more than willing to comply with my request. “This will be amazing!” she squealed. “It may turn out to be the best work I ever put out there. Give me some time and I’ll have it done. I don’t want you having to wait for it, but trust me, it’ll be worth it.”

“No rush, Jenna. I know for a fact you’ll make it perfect.” We both hung up, and I went to get everything ready for work the next day. Korinne spoiled me with her presence and now I had to spend the night alone, but at least I’d get to see her the next day and the day after that. Working with her was going to be amazing.

Chapter Eleven

“How did it go?” Jenna asked. I called her as soon as I got home from dropping Galen off.

“It was the best weekend ever!” I screamed excitedly. “It was the greatest time I’ve had in a long time.”

“Did you have sex? Please tell me you had sex?” she teased.

“Of course we did, and it was amazing, but something else happened, too.”

Jenna gasped, “What? What happened?”

“He told me he loved me,” I said softly.

“Oh my goodness! What did you say?”

“I told him I loved him, too,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Then why do you sound sad about it, Ducky?” she asked.

“I’m not sad exactly, but I can’t seem to shake the guilt I have over Carson. I haven’t told another man I loved him since him.”

“Wow.” She sighed. “Well, did you mean it when you said it to him?”

“With all my heart I meant it.”

“Then you have nothing to feel guilty over. Oh Ducky, I’m so happy for you! You need to be able to move on and it looks like things are going great for you,” she said happily.

“I know,” I agreed. “I’m also going to work for him. I start tomorrow.”

She squealed again, only louder that time. “It must have been one amazing weekend for all these things to happen!”

I laughed. “It was, but I’ll let you know how my first day on the job goes.”

“You do that. Take care, Ducky, and I’ll talk to you later,” she said, wrapping up the conversation.

“Will do, Twink! Love you!”

I finally made it home to my small, lonely condo. The getaway weekend was phenomenal. Hearing Galen say he loved me made me extremely happy, but it also scared me to death. Was I really ready to take that big leap on fully opening my heart? I wasn’t completely sure.

Riding the elevator to one of the top floors of M&M’s Architectural Design, I couldn’t stop the butterflies and nerves from going crazy in my stomach. Why was I so nervous? Failing had never been an option for me, but I was afraid I wouldn’t live up to everyone’s expectations. The elevator opened and I walked into a lobby with a huge desk in the center. A middle-aged woman was staring intently at her computer and typing away. She saw me approach and a huge smile took over her face.

“Well hello there Mrs. Anders. It’s good to see you again.” She stood up and held out her hand. I clasped it and shook it firmly earning an even bigger smile from her.

“It’s nice to see you again too, Rebecca,” I said warmly.

“I knew he could get you here. I got onto him for taking so long to ask you to work for him. You wouldn’t believe the amount of calls we get for people asking about you.” My eyes went wide, but she continued speaking and overlooked my shocked expression. “You are one hot commodity around here.”

“Oh, Rebecca, we don’t want to scare her on her first day now do we?” I jumped at the sound of Galen’s voice, and when I turned around that devilish smile of his took me away.

Rebecca waved him off and took a seat back at her desk. “I’m not scaring her,” she said looking at me, but then she shied away when she saw my shocked expression. “Uh oh, well maybe I am scaring her. Well anyway, you two lovebirds have fun working or whatever it is you young people will be doing in there behind closed doors.” She snickered after saying that and I knew my face had turned bright red in embarrassment. I stood there, frozen and speechless, until Galen walked over and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the confines of his office.

Galen’s work space was not only huge, but he had a wonderful view of downtown Charlotte. It was a good thing I wasn’t going to be spending much time in there, because if I did I wouldn’t get anything done. Galen’s drafting desk took up one whole wall while another desk took up the center. There also happened to be another desk in a private corner off to the side, which I was assuming would be mine. Model houses were on every single surface in the room, and of course I could tell they were all Galen’s designs. He had a specific brand to him, and I could spot them from a mile away.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Galen greeted me with a hug and a delicious kiss. He tasted like coffee with a splash of hazelnut. I didn’t drink coffee, but I absolutely loved tasting it on him.

“Good morning to you, too,” I replied sweetly.

“Are you ready to get started?” he asked. “Or do you need more time to adjust?”

I laughed. “No, I think I’m good. Tell me what I need to do.” I glanced at the empty desk and then back to Galen, eyebrows raised. “Were you actually serious about me sharing your office?”