Alexis didn’t respond with words. She raised her dress enough to straddle the console and then his lap. Cory’s hands automatically hit the button, moving them back, and then his lips met hers. Alexis had never been that straightforward in her life, but she got her point across. Her hips grinded into him while the kiss showed the desperation.
“Any more questions, Doc?” she asked and opened his door. Alexis held down on the front of her dress and got out.
Cory muffled a, “Nuh-uh.”
Alexis nodded to the valet attendant, patiently waiting while trying not to pay attention to the show going on in the car beside him.
“I’m a lucky man,” Cory assured the young man with a smile while he watched Alexis walk away.
“Yes, sir. You sure are,” the boy agreed as he, too, watched Alexis walk away.
“Stop looking.”
“Sorry, sir.”
Cory laughed and patted him on the back with one hard slap. The boy’s feet shuffled and he had to take a rather large step for balance.
The elevator ride was PG, but that may have been because of the attendant riding with them. “We should call and check on—”
“Ah! Don’t say it. She’s fine.”
“Can I get you anything, sir?” The bellhop questioned as he stepped out on their floor. His eyes also watched Alexis walk to the double doors of their room.
“Yes, could you send up a bottle of your finest wine, please?”
“Yes, sir.”
Cory noticed the smile on Alexis’s face.
“One glass,” he stressed with a stern finger toward her nose.
“Yes, sir. Can I call Riki while we wait for it?”
“Yes, call Riki,” Cory agreed. She wasn’t going to quit until she did anyway, and he wanted her to get that off her mind.
“I did get you another present, too, well Ellen did, she forgot to give it to me,” Cory explained, loosening his tie.
“Tell me.”
“It’s a new phone. I hate when you send me pictures with that thing. How long have you had it?”
“About five years. It still works.”
“It sucks.”
Alexis took her phone from her purse and noticed all the missed calls and voicemails.
“I have four voicemails,” she said in surprise, inputting the password to retrieve them. One was from Bernie, telling her happy birthday and to call her because she was dying to hear about Chicago. One was from her parents, wishing her a happy birthday, not to worry about calling back, and to have a good time. The next one was from Travis. He was in Texas, calling to wish her a happy birthday. The last one shocked her. What the hell?
“Hey, Lexi, it's Mitch. I’m in town for the weekend. I was hoping we could get together. I stopped by your folks’ place and they told me you were out of town with your new boyfriend. Hope it’s not serious,” he said and then laughed. “Anyway, happy birthday, maybe I’ll catch you next time.”
“Who was that one from?”
“Mitch,” she replied, astounded.
“Mitch, as in the Mitch?”
“Yes, that was so weird. He just wanted to wish me happy birthday.”
“Does he always call you on your birthday?” Cory asked, not liking it at all.
“No…never, he said he was in town and stopped by my parents’. My guess is, they told him that it was my birthday. I’m sure he didn’t remember that on his own.”
“He’s in Cedar Springs?”
“Yes, for the weekend, I guess.”
“I don’t want him calling you, Alexis.”
“Cory, he doesn’t call me. I have not heard a word from him in years. Don’t let my past ruin our evening,” she straightforwardly demanded, using his words against him. He smiled just as they heard the knock on the door.
Cory took care of the wine while Alexis sat on the sofa and called Ellen.
“Hi, this is Alexis. Can I talk to Riki?”
“She’s out, honey. We had a very eventful day.”
“She had fun?”
“She had so much fun. I need to see her more.”
“You’re welcome at my house anytime.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“I want you to. Give her a kiss for me.”
“I sure will, and I will see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Ellen.”
“Goodnight, sweetie.”
“Thank you,” Alexis said. She took the glass of wine and waited for Cory to find a station with the remote. Soft piano music filled the air and she nodded, accepting the station of Cory’s choice.
“Do you want to dance?”
Alexis took two big swallows of the wine and set her glass to the table.
“Well, you might as well savor it.”
“I don’t want wine,” she said seductively as she came to her feet.
Cory reached for her with an open hand. “Come here.”
“Uh-uh, you come here,” she ordered with a finger. Cory obediently obeyed.
Alexis planted a seductive kiss to his lips and then moved around him. She slid his jacket over his shoulders, tossed it to the chair, and slowly moved back to his front. His lips devoured hers while her fingers worked the buttons on his shirt. Her lips kissed his bare chest and she unbuttoned his dress pants, freeing him to her hand. Cory moaned in her mouth, enjoyed her touch, and then stopped her before she’d made it to her knees. He’d been looking forward to this all day and he knew it wouldn’t take much. He wasn’t letting her get to him that fast. As much as he loved Alexis taking control, he needed it back.
Doing what Cory always did, he spun her to his chest. Alexis couldn’t have protested had she wanted to. He slid her dress up and continued what he had started in the elevator. Her head dropped to his chest and she moaned while her fingers gripped his wrists, working diligently to bring her to pleasure.
“Hmm, yes, right there, baby,” she moaned.
“Talk dirty to me.”
“Shhh, stop telling me what to do. Aaah, yes, Cory, yes, hmm.” That was quick, like out of the blue quick. She didn’t have time to talk dirty, all she could do was moan in relief.
Alexis wasn’t even down from her amazing high yet when she felt the zipper sliding down her back. Cory kissed her neck and just below her ear while he slid the dress over her shoulders and down her body. The dress didn’t need a bra and as soon as Alexis stepped over the blue pile, Cory turned her to face him. Left standing with heels and thigh-high pantyhose, the two of them gazed longingly at each other.
“I could explode just looking at you,” Cory said just above a whisper as he took her in, every last inch of her.
Alexis mimicked the raspy tone. “I don’t want you to just look at me.” She pulled the hairpin from the top of her head and let her hair fall to her shoulders. “Make love to me, Cory.”
The invitation was heard loud and clear. Cory took one step, closing the short distance between them and moved her toward the bed. The expressive charge between them while their bodies became one was cosmic, out of this world. Emotions rode high while the erotic moans and movements became sensual and out of control. Naked bodies worked together in every humanly possible way. No words were needed to know the many positions Alexis and Cory made love to. A sultry dampness covered them both and heavy breathing became their norm. The lovemaking session ended with Alexis riding low on his hips, slowly, up and down. Breathing regulated and heartbeats slowed while she gently rocked.
Alexis lifted her long hair from the back of her neck, held it on top of her head for cool air, and infiltrated Cory’s eyes with her own. “I love you so much, Cory Baker.”
“I love you. You’re my soul mate.”
“I am?”
“You certainly are.”
“Do you believe in all that?”
“I do. I think I fell in love with you the first time that I saw you, when you were trying to hide from Aunt Rosaline.”
Alexis smiled, appeased, but unbelieving. She
didn’t really believe in the whole soul mate thing. “Why me? I mean, the girl that we saw at the restaurant was beautiful and I’m pretty sure she was pretty fanatical with you, too.”
“She was a stress reliever, that’s it. Why me, Lex? I know you had to have guys chasing you.”
“I did, mostly thanks to Bernie always trying to fix me up with someone, but I really can’t answer that. You’re the only one that I’ve ever let get this close, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you why.”
Cory smiled, but mostly to himself while his hands held her hips and his eyes fixated on the swell in her lower abdomen. He couldn’t really answer that question, either. There was just something about her, something that made his heart want to beat. He loved her, loved the way she loved his baby girl, and loved the fact that their baby was growing by the minute. He never wanted to let her go.
Cory made love to Alexis again in the middle of the night and then again in the shower before getting ready to go to his parents’ for dinner.
“I’m nervous about meeting your parents,” Alexis admitted as they both dressed. “Do you think they’ll like me?”
Cory took her in his arms and kissed her. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I love you, and Riki loves you, and our lives are in Cedar Springs, not here.”
“Oh that’s reassuring,” Alexis replied and turned back to her makeup with a frown.
“I’m going to tell them about the baby today at dinner, if it is okay with you.”
Alexis covered her eyelid with smoky gray eye shadow and spoke through the mirror. “Should I be scared?”
“No, not at all. It doesn’t matter what they think.”
“You don’t think they’re going to be happy, do you? Is this okay to wear?” Alexis questioned.
“Yes, you look beautiful, but that’s not my favorite outfit anymore.”
Alexis smiled. She knew he’d referred to the dress she’d worn the night before. “Let’s go, I want to meet your folks.”
Cory sighed a long drawn out sigh and took her hand. “Yeah, well, we don’t really call them folks around here.”
“What should I call them? Mr. and Mrs. Baker?”
“You might want to call them more than that by the time we leave.”
“I’m sure they’re not that bad.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“Whatever, I’m sure I’ll love them.”
Cory didn’t respond with anything more than a silent grumble. Alexis was about to get the culture shock of her life, and he knew it.
Thirty minutes later, they were parked in front of the mansion of a house. Alexis still couldn’t believe Cory grew up there. The second time taking it all in was just as incredulous as the first. The first step up sent a surge of excitement through her veins. Who would have thought one day away from Riki would cause her to miss her that much? Alexis couldn’t wait to see her.
“Where is she?” Alexis whispered.
Cory mimicked the whisper. “Why are you whispering?”
“It’s so quiet in here. Where is everyone?”
“I bet Riki is in the kitchen with Ellen,” Cory directed as he led the way, hand in hand.
“Wexis!” Riki yelled as her little body slid off a barstool and straight to Alexis.
Alexis scooped her up and kissed her cheeks. “Hi, baby. I missed you so much.”
Cory held out opened palms while Ellen smiled warmly at Alexis. “What about me?” Cory questioned. Riki leaped from Alexis’s arms to Cory’s and he, too, kissed her little cheeks.
Alexis looked around, wondering where Mr. and Mrs. Baker were. She didn’t understand why they weren’t right there to greet their son, or why they didn’t have Riki with them. Didn’t they want to see her as much as possible before she left to go back home? “Where are your parents?”
“I’m sure they’re around here somewhere.”
“They’re in the library working, and your sister is on her way,” Ellen explained while she stirred something on the stove and told the younger girl to put the bread in the oven. Alexis didn’t understand that at all. They were in the same house, but not with Riki.
Cory dipped a shrimp in red sauce and plopped it to his mouth. “Did they see Riki yet?”
Ellen didn’t look at Cory, but he and Alexis both could hear the disappointment. “No, they said they would see her at dinner.”
“She’s here,” Cory’s mother announced as she gracefully strolled into the kitchen. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight bun on top of her head and her attire was business, a black pantsuit with a crisp white shirt. Her posture was stiff and matched the stuffy clothes. Dianna Baker was noticeably beautiful and she knew it. Alexis observed the way she gave Cory a weak hug with a kiss to each side of his cheeks. Not once did she acknowledge Riki.
“And you must be Alexis, the girl who has blurred my son’s vision.”
Alexis heard the distastes in her voice and read it in her eyes. Dianna’s eyebrows raised, and she scanned Alexis from her feet back to her eyes.
“Mom,” Cory addressed.
Dianna ignored the warning in his voice and continued to perceive Alexis. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she said while taking both her hands in hers.
Alexis waited for her to correct her and offer her first name. She didn’t. “Likewise, the pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Baker.”
“Shall we go into the dining room?” the woman gestured toward the door, still not recognizing Riki. Cory carried Riki into the ginormous room and sat her between him and Alexis. He slid the chair out for Alexis and then walked around to his awaiting mother.
“Cory tells me that you are a photographer.”
“Yes. I am.”
“What magazine was it that you work for?”
Alexis looked to Cory before replying. Did he really lie to his mother to make her look better?
“She doesn’t work for a magazine, Mother. She has her own studio,” Cory assured his mother with an agitated tone. Alexis placed her hand below the table and squeezed his knee. Cory needed to calm down. She could tell he was getting worked up and it was really unnecessary.
“I mostly photograph babies and families. I do the school photos in our town and some weddings, although they’re not my favorite. I don’t like those memories being in my hands. It’s not like they can just do it again if I mess it up.”
“Me have a dwank,” Riki requested as Ellen walked around and poured ice water from a crystal pitcher.
“Oh, well how charming,” Dianna replied dryly. Alexis pushed down on Cory’s bouncing knee. She didn’t care that his mother wasn’t impressed with her choice of profession, and she didn’t think he should, either. She worked hard for what she had, and the proudness that came with that was more than Dianna Baker could take away with her high-class disdain. She didn’t need Cory being defensive on her behalf.
“Me no wike a wemon.”
Rather than focusing attention on the aloofness of her unimpressive career, Alexis turned it toward Riki. “You like lemon. It’s like lemonade.”
“Me not wike it.”
The lemon was removed with one of three forks. Why on earth did they need three forks?
Cory’s father made his grand appearance by cussing at someone on his phone. Alexis was quickly learning why Cory wasn’t close to his family. What grandfather enters a room with a three-year-old using the F word? That did piss her off. For real? Wow.
“Just do what I told you to do, Phil. If I wanted you to do any more than that, I would have told you to do so.”
Ellen and the younger cook wheeled in a cart and began placing intricate dishes around the table. “Hello, son. You look good. How are you?”
“Me not wike a salad.”
“Here, you like the croutons.” Alexis picked croutons from hers and Riki’s bowl and placed them on the saucer below the salad bowl.
Small talk was exchanged while they consumed their salads. Alexis was in another world. This didn’t feel like a
family dinner at all, not at all what she was used to. It was so formal. The guy didn’t even bother to introduce himself to Alexis. Had she not already known his name was Richard, she would have never known.
“How’s the new office?”
Cory wiped his mouth with a silver cloth napkin and replied with excitement. “It’s great, nothing at all like Mercy. I love it.”
“But you’re not going anywhere there, Cory,” Dianna assured him as his sister walked in with her thumbs on her own phone. She nodded toward the three of them and sat.
“Where would you like for me to go, Mother?”
Alexis slipped her hand below the table again, right to his shaking knee.
“Well, at least here in Chicago you could be someone.”
Cory blew the comment off and turned toward his sister. “How are you, Laurel?”
“I’m well, and you?” Laurel replied with little attention. The expression on her face and the way her long red nail swiped over the screen on her phone assured Alexis that she was working. Was she the only one who found it incredibly rude?
Alexis laughed at the extremely loud crunch coming from Riki’s crouton. Of course, she was the only one who found it comical. The rest of the party looked at her like she had just done the most defiant thing. Never had she ever felt so out of place in all her life. Alexis was totally overlooked, almost as much as little Riki, their own family. It was preposterous and she couldn’t imagine her family treating anyone like they had. Alexis tried to keep Riki quiet and entertained while her hand tried to keep Cory from getting worked up. Neither one of them were cooperating. Cory’s tone was obviously agitated and Riki wouldn’t leave her shoes on.
Laurel talked about her new case with her father and he gave her advice, some big corporate lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer. Surely, Cory had been adopted. No wonder he got the hell out of there. That’s when the conversation got even better.
“Alexis is expecting. We’re due in June.” The sound of Alexis’s fork hitting the delicate salad bowl was loud, yet ignored. What the hell? Did he really just do that?