Lost in Paradise (Paradise Club #2)(66)

“Nate and Cam have hooked up too,” I add before clamping my hand over my mouth. Shit. Pierre’s eyes widen, and then he lets out a hearty chuckle. “This is between us. I mean it, Pierre … she will kill me, and so will Nate.”

“Their secret is safe with me,” he reassures. Phew. “But I’m here for it.” He nudges me.

“Hey, you two, I thought you’d like a drink,” Alex says after walking over to us. He hands Pierra and me a glass of champagne.

“You better not mess my daughter over or else.” Pierre comes right out with a warning toward Alex. In that moment, he’s my father warning the guy his daughter’s dating not to break her heart, and it makes my insides feel like marshmallows—all soft and gooey.

Alex holds his hands up and smiles. “You have my word I will not hurt Ivy,” Alex replies with a serious face to Pierre, before reaching out and pulling me into his side and placing a kiss on my temple.

“Good! Now I must mingle. My beautiful girl, always a pleasure, and Alex,” Pierre says with a nod before joining Alex’s parents.

“I don’t think Pierre has ever threatened me before.” Alex chuckles.

“Watch yourself, buddy, I now know people,” I declare while curling into his side.





“Tell me everything,” Olivia asks as I curl up into my bed on Monday night after my weekend away with Alex. I would have called her Sunday, but Alex stayed over and yeah, I wasn’t calling her then.

I tell Olivia all about Alex’s family’s beautiful home, and their dog, Buckley, who tackled me into the mud when the family thought it would be a great idea to go for a walk through the forest. I was covered head to toe in brown sticky muck, even after Buckley tried to lick the mud off my face unsuccessfully.

Alex made sure every bit of my body was clean, and that, of course, ended in orgasms, lots of them, but Liv didn’t need to know that part. I told her about surprising Pierre and how he treats me like his daughter and warned Alex to never break my heart. I also explained to her that Alex’s ex was Kevin Holdsworth’s mistress and tried to sabotage his business by selling secrets. That blew her mind, and mine, if I’m being perfectly honest. I then proceeded to tell her how Alex wanted to make things official, but I wanted to wait until after the awards night, which is after her wedding to come out publicly.

“Invite him to the wedding,” Liv says. “One of us should be happy on my wedding day.” I frown at her comment.

“No, it’s fine. The wedding is all about you,” I reply.

“Bullshit, and you know it. I haven’t planned a bloody thing for this wedding.” She moans.

“Exactly, I want to be there for you and you alone.”

“That’s what the tequila and champagne are for. You deserve the happiness, Ivy. Please invite him,” Liv says seriously.

“You sure?” I ask.

“Yes, I’m sure. And you owe me ten bucks because I know you totally shagged him while at his parents’ place,” she says, and we both burst out laughing.





25





ALEX





“This is your office?” Ivy asks, looking around the room. She’s popped in on her way out for drinks with her girlfriends. I was desperate to see her even if it was for five minutes as I hadn’t seen her in a week due to our schedules clashing.

“See, it’s bad, isn’t it?” I stare at her as she assesses my office with her critical design eye.

“Not bad, but it’s not you either,” she says diplomatically.

“It’s not me at all,” I say, agreeing with her. “I need your brilliance to bring my office into the twenty-first century.”

“What do you envision your office to look like?”

I stare at her blankly and blink a few times. I’ve never thought about it because my father’s office has always looked like this, and when I took it over, this was always what I saw when I thought of my office.

“Do you like the ‘boys’ club, cigar lounge’ feel?” she asks.

“No! But it does remind me of my father, and I guess …”

“You like the reminder,” she adds, giving me a small smile acknowledging my nostalgia, and I nod in agreement. “I can work with that quite easily.” She grins before pulling out her tablet and taking a couple of different photographs of the office before she starts tapping away.

Ten minutes later, she turns it around and shows me her idea. The office is moody, traditional, yet modern, and I see components of what my father had before me by leaving his enormous wooden desk that was his grandfather’s and handed down. I do truly love it, and the fact she’s picked up on that fact tells me she’s been listening and paying attention when we talk.

She’s chosen a dark navy for the walls, and she’s picked up the same color as the wood from the table for the cupboards. She’s created a sitting area to one side that has a cowhide rug underneath deep tan leather armchairs. The glass coffee table makes the space appear larger. Then on the other side she’s created a small bar area where I will have a coffee machine and an assortment of whiskey.

“It’s only rough but is this kind of the feel you’re going for?” she asks, nibbling her bottom lip nervously wondering if I like her ideas or not. I place the tablet down on my desk and stalk toward her. I grab her face and kiss her thankfully, but instead, as soon as my lips meet hers, I lose control and need begins to pump through my veins like it always does when I touch Ivy.