Her Forever

Rosalie

It was so warm. I hadn’t felt warm like this in a long time. I continued to snuggle into the bed; the scent of pine and cedar invaded my nose as I inhaled deeply. No thoughts of my past, no nightmares, and no pain. All I felt was comfort, solace, and for the first time, warmth. There were so many nights when I felt cold. Once Derek had drastically changed from a foster father to a malicious monster, I thought I could love and hug in a warm embrace to a man of pure evil and coldness. This warmth I never want to let go of.

As much as I love this warmth, I wanted to know where it came from, or maybe I didn’t. If I find out, would I run in fear, or would I continue my comfort and stay in the nest that I made for myself last night. Being the curious creature I always seemed to be, I fluttered my eyes open to see myself pinned up against something hard. A thin material separated me from something that felt so warm it was as if there were a space heater was on the other side.

The wall started to move, and my senses began to waken. Hearing breathing, soft breaths of inhaling and exhaling, and its feel on my neck started to pique my interest even more. It was a person, their body laid up against mine, and not one fragment of space was in between our bodies. Afraid to move my head to wake the sleeping person, I started remembering the night before.

Right. Pretty sure I fell asleep in my boss’s arms after telling him about some of my childhood. How embarrassing; I told so many people my story. What would they think of me now? Weak? A bother? Just another nuisance to this small town? They accepted Benjamin so quickly; I just hope they could do the same for me.

Hearing a soft, purr-like sound, I gently moved my head up to see the green eyes staring down at me. “Morning,” he said in his hoarse, raspy voice. It was velvety; it smoothed through his lips like butter on toast. It was the sexiest sound I ever heard.

Feeling the heat rise to my cheeks, I cleared my throat to whisper a “Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well?” His curious face looked into mine.

“Y-yes, thank you,” I stared back. We stared into each other’s eyes and didn’t move. I felt like looking in Jack’s soul with those eyes. I wanted to memorize every line and feature into my own thoughts and never let it leave. He was handsome, rugged, and held so much warmth in his eyes. A man like him, how could he not have a wife or a girlfriend and yet wanted to take me on a date? Take care of me last night? Who is he really?

“I hope it was alright, having you stay.” He reached behind his head to scratch his neck. “I didn’t want to let you go after hearing what you went through. You didn’t deserve to be alone after that. You don’t deserve to ever be alone.” Jack whispered the last part into my ear. Chills flowed through my body at the brief contact.

This man could do terribly good things to me if he really wanted.

“It’s a-alright. Thank you, really.” What am I doing? My body and mind continue to argue with themselves. “Best sleep I’ve gotten in a long time,” I smiled back at him.

“How about I bring up some breakfast? We can eat in here away from everyone for a bit?” I nodded and watched him get up. We’d both slept in our clothes from yesterday, so he continued out the door as-is. Looking around his room, I didn’t realize how massive it was. I sat on a prominent California king bed adorned with a cream comforter. He had a large white, fuzzy blanket that had us wrapped up in a giant burrito. There was a small desk in the corner with a computer and several books along with the shelving with a large bookcase of personal favorites, I’m guessing.

The window in the room was from roof to floor and covered the entire side of the wall. A small sliding door was there to get on the balcony that also had a hot tub out on it. I couldn’t help but think Jack has had some women in there with him. The thought riled me up, and I crossed my arms across my chest in a huff. Why should I care? Why do I care?

There was a knock at the door, and Jack came in with a tray full of fruits, juices, coffee, and pancakes. The smell of food made me forget about the hot tub, though, and I couldn’t help but smile. He looked so domesticated, a big CEO and leader of a small community bringing some broken girl some food.

“I brought a little bit of everything; I hope you don’t mind. I’m not sure what you like,” Jack said nervously. I laughed and nodded my head.

“I can eat anything. I’ve never said no to food!” He smiled and set the tray on the bed so we could eat together. After a few minutes of silence, I decided to break the awkwardness. “Thank you again for taking care of me last night. That isn’t something I’m used to; I mean, I’m sorry if I was a burden,” I continued looking at my food as I continued to cut a pancake. Jack quickly put his hand on mine.

“You are never a burden, and it was my honor to be able to help. I really enjoyed having you in here.” Jack continued to rub my knuckles with his thumb and smiled up at me. I think I just melted.

Clearing my throat, “I guess you could show me where I’m supposed to be working today? I need to start working on the security system for the community area and talk with your other IT personnel at your companies so I can integrate all security systems here,” I said, popping a strawberry in my mouth.

“Only if you feel up to it, you can take a few days to settle in.” He waved his hand in dismissal.

“Nonsense, that is why I am here, right?” I chuckled.

“Not the only reason,” Jack whispered under his breath. I don’t think it was meant for me to hear, but I heard it, and I felt my heart start fluttering like a lovesick puppy.

After breakfast, I left Jack and went to my office or the ‘control room’ explained to me yesterday. My desk had 3 computer monitors, while on the other side of the room held 10 large flat-screen panels that were divided 9 different ways, each mounted to the wall. A large desk laid at the bottom with computers and buttons across them. Needless to say, there were a lot of cameras up around the property.

“Good morning, Rosalie!” a new, unfamiliar, deep voice said as I walked into the room. “I’m Taylor, I’m your assistant, and these,” Taylor waved around to three people looking at the monitors, “are your patrollers.” Taylor was large, like most men here in the community. He had pale skin and bright red hair with a beard. Once his beard was shaved, he probably had a cute baby face.

“Pleasure to meet you.” I held out my hand to shake.

“Is this your first time in?” We walked together as he led me towards my desk.

“Jack showed me around; I was able to glance in here briefly.” I smiled and placed my cup of hot cocoa on the desk.

“Excellent. So here are the big screens that watch the community borders, we have the cameras up, and we just wanted you to run through the system for any bugs.”

“I’ll get on it, thanks Taylor.”

I spent the next few hours going through all the cameras’ diagnostics, making sure each camera could swivel, move, zoom in and out. The three people that sat in front of the TVs were vigilant. They never took their eyes away from any of the screens and took their jobs very seriously. The girl’s name was Nene; she was shorter than the men with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. When she spoke, her eyes never left the screens, but she was sweet to me nonetheless.

The other two men that sat with her never spoke; they were too busy clicking on different sections of the screen, zooming in at odd angles of the border area. The nods only let me know that they heard me.

The day dragged on, and I really wanted to see Jack. I kept having this tugging feeling to at least go say hello or tell him how everything was going. I’ve been known to be fast in running my own computer software but he told me only to concentrate on the security cameras today. Tapping my finger on the desk a few times, I decided to text him. He told me I could text him whenever I wanted, so why not try?

Rosalie:

Jack, all security cameras for the border are up and running. 🙂

I put my phone down, only to glance at it every few moments to see if he replied back. Back and forth, I looked. Nothing. I was stupid; why did I put a smiley face? Maybe I shouldn’t have texted at all. Now I’m overthinking; this is getting annoying.

Jack:

Great job, Kitten. That was fast. How about we celebrate? 😉

My heart jumped at his response, and his cheeky winky-face caught me off guard. Though I didn’t hesitate to reply immediately.

Rosalie:

What did you have in mind?

Jack:

Dinner with me; I’ll meet you in the foyer at 6. x

“You must be having too much fun; you shouldn’t be giggling at work.” Benjamin slapped his hand on the desk, causing me to jump.

“Benjamin!” I whined. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Well, at least you didn’t s**t yourself like you normally do. Seems like that talk about you being safe here did you some good,” Benjamin sat in the chair next to me as I continued to scroll down the computer screen. I tilted my head towards him.

“You’re right. I do feel better. First time in a while, actually,” I said, fiddling with my fingers.

“That’s because,” he wiggled his eyebrows, “you also have the strongest male in the entire place fawning over you.”

“What?” I blushed. “No, no. He is just being friendly.” I waved my hand at him.

“No? Well, I just heard him on the phone talking to his driver wanting him to be ready at 6 so he could take a special girl out.” My face felt hot, and I thought I saw stars.

“H-he’s my boss! I can’t get into a relationship with him; what would people think?” I whispered harshly.

“Trust me,” Benjamin looked around and leaned over to whisper, “people are rooting for you two. Jack’s been single for a long time.” Benjamin winked and got up from his chair. “I’ll tell Amanda to be in your room at 5 to help you get dressed.”

***

Five minutes to six, and my butterflies felt like full-blown eagles in my stomach. I swore I could almost soar out the window. Jack really liked me? A plain computer geek with a terrible past, and he still wanted to take me out on a date?

Amanda had just left, and I brushed down the black fitted dress to my knees. It had lace from neck to wrists. People might see this as plain, but I really liked it and loved how it fit. To dress it up, I picked out gold strappy heels that wrap up to mid-calf to give it a bit more s*x appeal. My strawberry blonde hair was curled and pinned to the right side of my head with slightly tousled, side-swept bangs. Picking up the small ruby solitaire necklace and putting it on, I gave one last quick glance. I felt pretty; I felt a little more confident.

After looking at the clock and seeing that it was now just one minute to 6, I headed down the stairs. Putting my hand on the railing and slowly descending, looking down at my feet so I didn’t fall, I heard a collective gasp. Down the stairs that veered off to the right, I saw Amanda, Benjamin, and the man of the evening, Jack. They kept looking at me, worried I had something on my face. I started to touch my face, look at my dress, look behind me to make sure there wasn’t any toilet paper on my shoe. Amanda continued to wave at me to come down, so I did cautiously.

Once I continued down, Jack held out his hand once I was at the last step and kissed the back of my hand. He was wearing his black Armani suit with his matching all-black shirt and tie. It was crisp, just cleaned, and hugged his muscles even with the jacket adorned on him. He looked delicious with his low, short ponytail in the back. It reminded me of Prince Adam from Beauty and the Beast, and it made me giggle. He was just a massively bulky Prince Adam.

“What’s so funny, Kitten?” his voice said hoarsely.

“You just remind me of someone,” I smirked. “Story for another time.” Giving my hand a light squeeze, he led me to the door.

“Shall we?” he said.

“We shall.”