Chapter 12

THAT WOULD’VE BEEN MUCH MORE enjoyable with Gray around. Kiera stepped out of the shower and dried off. At least in a few hours they’d be on a warm sunny Caribbean island. Nothing could beat that.

Kiera turned off the light and climbed into bed, her cell phone catching her attention. She had a text message.

Happy birthday. See you soon. Love you.

One o’clock in the morning and he remembered to wish her a happy birthday. A lot of guys didn’t remember those things at one in the afternoon.

Missed you in the shower. Can’t wait to see you. Kiera typed back and then put her phone down. Something told her their trip was going to be unforgettable.

Several hours later, Kiera sat working on a crossword puzzle. She’d rechecked her bag twice already and had nothing else to do until Gray arrived.

He’d spent the last four days in New York, and had said he’d be at her place by four that afternoon. She’d argued that it made more sense for them to meet at the airport, but he’d insisted that he’d pick her up. He’d said that he wanted to give her her birthday present before they left and that he couldn’t do that at the airport. Since she loved him and he’d been so insistent, she agreed. Which explained why, at almost two on a Thursday afternoon, she was in her apartment, filling in a crossword puzzle.

Kiera answered three across in her puzzle, pausing when her phone rang. Without looking, she picked it up.

Kiera pressed the talk button, expecting to hear either Joanna or Stephanie’s voice. She hadn’t heard from either yet today, and the three of them never failed to wish each other a happy birthday.

“Hello.”

“Hi, love.” Gray said.

She’d expected Gray at her front door soon, not on the phone.

“Gray. Are you almost here?”

“Unfortunately, no. I haven’t left New York yet. The project I’m working on has hit a snag. A representative from the company that owns the land is here. We’re trying to iron things out.”

Double fudge. “And that can’t wait until next week, right?” She knew the answer before she asked.

“If it could, I’d be on my way to you now.”

Kiera heard the frustration in his voice.

“As soon as I wrap things up, I’ll be on my way. Tomorrow, we’ll still be on a hot sandy beach, warming our butts and watching the waves.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll hang around home. Do you have any idea when you’ll get here?” Her heart plummeted. Once again, work forced them to change their plans. She’d lost count of how many times it had happened now.

She heard what sounded like traffic in the background before Gray answered.

“Not sure. If you want to go out, feel free. I’ll call you when my plane lands.”

“Okay.”

“Love you. See you soon.”

Kiera said goodbye and ended the call. After he insisted she get the time off, he had to work. She took in a deep breath, then blew it out slowly, hoping it would take away some of her disappointment.

Picking up her pen, she looked at the next hint. She didn’t find an afternoon sitting around exciting, but she had no particular place to go either. It looked like she had enough time to finish the rest of her crossword book and think about all the ways Gray would pleasure her while on vacation.

Kiera woke up when the mattress dipped. Then, an arm wrapped around her and lips touched her cheek.

“Sorry I’m so late. Happy birthday.”

Gray’s voice clicked her brain on all the way. Kiera rubbed her eyes as she flipped onto her back.

“What time is it?” More bored than tired, she’d turned the television off and come upstairs. Gray had a key. He could let himself in whenever he arrived. Evidently, she’d fallen asleep while she’d waited.

“Three.”

She bolted upright. She’d come up at ten. “You’re only getting here now?”

Enough light came through the window that she saw Gray cringe.

“It took much longer than I anticipated to get everything straightened out. Work won’t interfere anymore this weekend. Promise.” He pushed the hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear. “Are you ready to go?”

“Now? Shouldn’t we wait until later this morning? You look tired.”

Gray pulled the covers back. “I can’t wait to give you my present any longer. After that, we’ll go to the airport. My plane is waiting for us.”

He pointed to the single suitcase. “Is that it for luggage?”

Kiera nodded.

“You get dressed, and I’ll carry it downstairs.”

Outside, a full moon filled the sky as Gray drove along empty streets. They were headed toward Providence. Not much remained open at that time of the morning even in the city. Although, just because they were headed that way didn’t mean her gift was there. They had to come this way to reach the airport as well.

“How about one little clue?” She’d asked for hints before when all her guesses were wrong, but he kept refusing.

“You’ll see soon enough.” He used his turn signal and exited the highway.

The familiar downtown streets passed by until Gray turned into the parking lot beneath The Hillcrest, downtown Providence’s most expensive apartment building.

“Why are we at Trent’s place?”

“Don’t worry, we’re not here to see him.”

Then who were they there to see? Gray gave up none of his secrets, and she’d run out of guesses days ago.

Gray led her into the lobby and past the security guards. Unlike on their previous visit, they walked toward the main elevators rather than the private one that accessed only Trent’s penthouse.

She watched the numbers light up as the elevator carried them up. When the tenth floor lit up, it stopped, and the doors opened into a large foyer with two doors.

“Isn’t it late to be visiting anyone?”

“I never said we were here to visit anyone.” He put an arm around her as they walked toward the door with a large purple bow on it.

“Happy birthday, love.” He deposited a key in her hand.

Confused, Kiera unlocked the door. If this were a normal time of day, she would’ve expected a loud chorus of Surprise! but not at this hour. What was waiting for her on the other side anyway? She turned the handle. The door opened, revealing a dark apartment.

“Go on in.” Gray gave her a gentle push then followed her inside and switched on the lights. The entire apartment looked spotless, but empty.

“Okay, I’m confused. What are we doing in someone’s empty apartment?” She stayed put in the center of a large room and looked around.

“It’s not someone’s. It’s ours. I bought it a few weeks ago, but waited on furniture so you can pick out what you like.”

Wow. “You want me to move in with you? What about work? Your office is in New York.”

“Not anymore. I can handle my international projects from anywhere. Right after I bought this, I arranged to get my office transferred to the Sherbrooke office here in Providence.”

She had tossed around a lot of possible birthday presents. Never in a million years would she have guessed this as his big surprise.

“When we get back from Anguilla, we can start furniture shopping.”

Kiera pivoted, taking in the apartment. Although not as big as Trent’s penthouse, which occupied the top two floors, the place was several times larger than her apartment.

“You don’t like it?”

She turned toward him again. “I love it and can’t wait to move in. But I’m overwhelmed a little. We never talked about this, and I still have a year on my lease. Then there’s all my stuff.”

Gray shrugged. “I’ll pay off the lease. You can keep whatever you want and move it here. I have one more surprise for you. Let’s look around first. Then, I’ll give it to you.”

They were going to have to talk about him going overboard because he obviously had no clue. “I don’t think you can top this surprise.” She kissed him before walking with him across the room.

“We can change whatever you want. The place was recently painted, but if you don’t like it, we’ll have it redone. I thought I’d make this into a home office and use the room across the hall as a guest bedroom, but we can do something else with it if you want. Maybe another guest bedroom.” He pushed the door open into another room.

“I think one guest bedroom is enough unless you expect a lot of overnight visitors.”

“We could skip guest rooms altogether, and then no one will visit. It’ll be just us.”

They left the room behind and walked toward the kitchen.

“I like the sound of that,” Kiera said.

The kitchen looked as if it had come straight out of a magazine. Top-of-the-line appliances gleamed among the endless counter space.

“Oh, my god. I see why you left this room until the end.” She could picture herself experimenting in here while Gray sat at the island, waiting to sample what she made.

“I knew you’d like it. Have a seat.” He pulled out one of the stools at the island.

Gray retrieved a bottle from the built-in wine refrigerator. Then, he popped open the bottle and filled the two glasses which were on the counter.

Champagne was her second surprise; well at least he hadn’t gone too overboard on that one. She’d keep her lecture short later. Kiera accepted the glass he held out and waited for him to sit on the stool next to her.

He didn’t. Instead, he put down his own glass and then dropped to one knee as he reached for her hand.

“Kiera, I considered waiting until our anniversary to ask you, but I don’t have the patience. I love you more than anything and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

She looked at him, then at the ring he held near her finger. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

“What’s the matter? We can wait if you’re not ready. I know we haven’t been together that long.”

“I’ve known you all my life, and I love you. Of course, I’ll marry you.”

Gray slipped the ring on her finger. “I hope you like it.”

She set her champagne down then hugged him. “It’s beautiful.”

“You didn’t even look at it.”

She didn’t care what it looked like. He’d asked her to marry him. Nothing else mattered at the moment. “It’s perfect. So is this apartment.”

“I’m glad you think so and once we finish this champagne we’ll head out on vacation. We can share the news with everyone when we get back.”

The sunlight glistened off the rolling waves. A few early risers lounged on the beach. Every once in a while, a jogger ran along the sand, getting in some exercise before it became warmer. It looked like today would be a perfect continuation of the previous day.

Yesterday turned out great despite the delay in their plans. They spent much of their time inside their suite yesterday making love. When they hadn’t been occupied doing that, they discussed wedding dates and decorating ideas for their new place. After a late night swim they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms, which had been a perfect ending to the day.

Warm Caribbean air washed over him as he walked outside, and he inhaled. Maybe if he focused on something else he’d shake the growing dread in his stomach. It had kept him from falling back asleep and sent him out of the bedroom.

Gray stayed outside for another thirty minutes. No matter what he thought about, the unease remained pressing down on him. Perhaps he needed some exercise. Maybe he had restlessness confused with unease. A short run would get rid of some pent up energy. He’d do that before he woke Kiera up in the most pleasant way possible.

“How long have you been up?” Kiera asked when he walked into the bedroom.

He pulled a t-shirt from a drawer before he answered. “An hour or so. You don’t have to get up. It’s still early.”

Kiera sat up covering herself with the sheet. “Why don’t you come back to bed?”

My run can wait. Gray dropped his t-shirt on the floor and sat down on the bed. Then, he yanked the sheet down. “You’re so beautiful.” He kissed her lips and then her breasts. “I love you.”

“Why don’t you show me just how much you love me?”

“I can do that.” Gray took one nipple in his mouth as his hands moved down her body. Once he’d given that breast enough attention, he moved his mouth away. “How am I doing so far?”

“Keep going. I’ll let you know.”

This was much more fun than a run. “Whatever you say.” Gray gave her other nipple some attention before he kissed his way down her stomach and past her navel.

Kiera moaned when he his tongue slipped inside her. “Later, I show you just how much I love you.”

He couldn’t wait.