Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Gerald walked to the door and then stopped, looking back at Alex. “Tell me, what’s the most intriguing thing about her?”

Alex thought about it for a minute. “There isn’t any one thing. She’s a beautiful, sweet, innocent girl.”

Gerald considered the information. “Girl . . .” He said reflectively. “She needs you.”

Alex eyed him thoughtfully. “Maybe we need each other. She needs someone to take care of her and I need someone to take care of.”

Gerald made a face. “There are lots of women out there who meet that requirement. They’ve been chasing you for a long time. Why this one?”

Alex lifted his brows and turned his palms up to the ceiling in defeat. “Beats me.”

Gerald turned to the door. “Love,” he said as he walked out of the office. “If I live to be a thousand years old, I’ll never understand it.”

After he left, Alex picked up the picture and sat down in the plush office chair for the last time. Leaning back, he studied the picture. She was the one. He knew it the day they met, but it was impossible to say exactly why. Something about the way she smiled up at him, as though no one else existed . . . and the way she watched him when she thought he wasn’t aware she was looking. That amethyst gaze openly displayed every emotion. Browsing her face told him everything he needed to know about her thoughts. The soft voice and the little dimple that played at the corner of her mouth when she teased him . . . she was so beautiful – and so utterly unaware of her charm.

He wasn’t entirely honest with Gerald, though. He did have second thoughts about this marriage. Carmen wasn’t the only one who wanted children so badly. He had long ago accepted the fact that he would have no biological children. In fact, he had already looked into adoption. Carmen would probably eventually warm to that alternative, but she needed time to adjust to the idea. He’d have to be patient with her.

As to Carmen’s idea about him being the final decision maker, he was still skeptical. For her, it was a romantic idea. All would go well until they had conflicting ideas about how something should be done. She was naïve enough to think that wouldn’t happen. To be honest, thinking about the responsibility of making those decisions was overwhelming at times. No one made good decisions 100% of the time.