DORIS
The limo stopped, and the chauffeur opened my door. I got out and looked around.
We were in front of the Baccarat Hotel, the most expensive, luxurious, and nicest hotel in all of New York City.
"We’re going to dinner here?" I asked.
"We are, and I rented the Executive Suite for the night. Nathan is babysitting Mia, and I am going to give you a night you’ll remember."
I reached out and held Arthur’s hand. "Every night with you is a night I’ll always remember."
Arthur's smile was tender and sweet, and so was the kiss he gave me.
"I feel the same way, little dove. Come, let’s start our date and have a wonderful meal."
Just like every moment with Arthur, the date was magical. He fed me dessert and then showed me again he was a creative and attentive lover.
He held me in his arms until sunrise.
*
Friday at lunchtime, a big bouquet of red roses arrived for me. Kate, my mentor, came
DORISSaturday, we went to the Lego Superstore/Museum. How many cities have an entire world devoted to Lego?If Mia wasn't the biggest Lego fan before, Saturday certainly converted her when she found out you could build a Lego castle fit for a princess. Of course, Arthur bought it for her, which made me wonder if she wasn’t beginning to get a little spoiled.But when he promised the three of us would build it together, I had to admit it wasn’t a terrible idea.At dinner, Mia asked me again when I was moving in with them; this time, Arthur looked at me over Mia's head. I didn’t know what to say.I’d never felt so torn. I was vulnerable. I guess I wasn’t as over Bob‘s cheating as I thought.I reminded myself that not all men were like Bob.I also remembered a proverb. I couldn’t remember which country originated from. 'The road that goes east can also go west.' I was never re
DORISSaturday morning, I was smiling when I got to the penthouse. I still hadn’t made many deals at Heritage Properties, but I was so glad to see Mia that my happiness overflowed.“I’m so glad you live here now,” Mia said, taking my hand. “Well, here in New York, it would be better if you lived here…” Mia said, letting go of my hand to point at the floor, “…at home.”“Mia…” Arthur growled a reprimand at her.“I know. Six weeks.” Mia looked at me. “Has it been six weeks yet?”I bent down so I was at her level. “Not yet, sweetheart.”“But you are going to move in then, right?”My heart lurched. I looked at Arthur over the top of Mia’s head. His eyes were pleading.I looked back to Mia. “We’ll see.”I stood up.Arthur, Mia, and I began our day. The streets were teeming with energy. We stopped at a bakery to get croissants and ate them as we walked
ARTHURAs I sat on the edge of the bed, still basking in the afterglow of our passionate connection, my phone buzzed with an incoming video call. It was Andrea, and a sinking feeling settled in my stomach. I reluctantly answered, the image of her stern face appearing on the screen.Luckily Doris was in the shower, and I fully intended to keep Doris out of video range. But I obviously looked like I’d just had an amazing night, because I had.“You are not still with that trash,” Andrea said instead of hello.I flinched. Be calm, I told myself."Andrea, can't you see that this obsession you have with Doris is wrong?"She scoffed, her voice dripping with disdain. "Arthur, you've always been weak-willed.”“What?”“It's time you learn your place and listen to your mother's advice. Fire Doris immediately."I couldn't believe the audacity of her demands.
DORISI stepped out of the subway station, inhaling the myriad of smells in the morning air. I walked quickly to where I had agreed to meet my biological father, Joe, outside a busy café. We had planned to spend some quality time together.I decided I would let myself get to know him without resenting that is missed out on him my whole life.“Hi, Doris. Long week?”“Long but mostly good.”“Tell me about it.”As we settled into our seats, a comfortable silence hung between us for a moment. Then, my father's eyes twinkled with mischief as he leaned forward, breaking the silence. "Okay, what’s up? How's life treating you these days?"I chuckled, appreciating his casual approach. “Life has its ups and downs, but I can't complain. Noah woke up for a brief moment." I didn't think I'd ever mentioned Noah to Joe before, so I told Joe all about how Noah had saved me, and I brought
ARTHURI brought Doris back to the apartment and paused, awed by what an amazing woman I had. I cradled Doris's cheeks in my hands and kissed her gently. "We'll experiment together tonight."I kissed Doris again. "Sweet Dove, how do you manage to taste like pleasure, home, summer, and sunshine?"Doris nipped my bottom lip, a quick bite as she rocked her hips against mine.I hissed out an animalistic sound because what Doris felt so freaking good.Doris ran her lips over my jaw, brushing against my chin's scruffy stubble.Like everything Doris did, the motion of her caressing lips against my skin was extraordinary.I snagged my hand through her hair, using it to bring her mouth back to mine for a searing kiss.“You, Doris," was all I managed to get out when I came up for air. “You.”I carried her to my bedroom.I sat down on my
DORISI called my client early the next morning. Hearing the ecstatic happiness in my client's voice when he heard that I got the Brooklyn land track of his historic family land that he bought returned to him made all the trouble I had to go through with it.The fact that I got to take away Andrea's plans from one of the first business deals she tried to sabotage against me was a bonus.Arthur took me out to a fancy restaurant uptown to celebrate."I don't think anyone else would've been able to pull it off," Arthur said. "I admire you.""I guess I deserve a raise," I joked."I guess you do.""I was only kidding.""A raise in a promotion," Arthur said. "With the kind of determination you showed, I think you should lead a team."For a moment, I was speechless.Maybe he was right. I had been working in this industry for years. Kate sho
DORISI was walking down the street Tuesday afternoon and saw Andrea walking towards me. My first thought was to cross the street and avoid her. Before I could, she spotted me.Why should I close the street? I hadn't done anything wrong.I noticed her pregnancy belly was showing. It was the first time I could see it."Hello, Andrea," I said.She gave me a nod and a little bit of a sneer.I was worried that her seeing me again would reignite her desire to make my life miserable, and I wanted to say something nice to her. At first, I couldn't think of anything to say."Pregnancy agrees with you. You're glowing."Andrea smiled at the compliment.Then her face transformed into an expression of complete rage.What? I thought we were over this.Before I could say anything, she pushed me out of the way violently, and I fell int
ARTHURI looked out the small plane window at the setting sun, the fluffy clouds, and the beautiful city of Paris, getting smaller and smaller. I didn't mind cutting my business trip short. I just hoped Doris was OK.We hit a lot of turbulence on my way back from France.I couldn't believe how sick Doris looked on our video call. I had tried to call her a few times as I was boarding the plane, but she didn't answer, which just made me more worried.I had a lot of work to do, and even though I opened my briefcase and stared at my files. I couldn't concentrate.With the turbulence, the flight took longer than usual. It was over a seven hour flight, but with the time difference, it was only a little after 7 o'clock when we landed.I was tired from the jetlag and the worry, but I went directly to Doris's apartment.When I knocked on her door, a strange man answered."W
DORISI sang, and every song felt effortless.I went to the ladies' room at the break right before the last set, and when I came back out, there were 400 red roses all throughout the performance area. I knew this was Arthur’s doing. How did he get so many vases of roses into the Salton room in such a short time?The entire room smelled like a florist shop and looked like Valentine’s Day had come to the performance.I smiled at Arthur from up on stage and sang every romantic song I could think of.When we finished the last song, it seemed like the applause from the audience was louder than ever. Maybe all the roses put everybody in a good mood.Just as I was about to walk off the stage, Arthur came up and stopped me.“He stood in front of me at the bottom of the stage “This woman is the most amazing woman I have ever seen.”Then he walked up on stage and stood by my side. “Doris, from the first moment I met you, I knew you were special. You captured my heart and became part of my famil
DORISArthur and I exited the elevator of the penthouse and walked across the lobby, arm and arm. We had decided to work from home that morning, and I was happy that we had gotten so much work done.We were almost to the doors of the lobby when Andrea walked in. She was wearing a big cloak that covered her whole body.She opens her cloak to reveal a little baby in a sling strapped to her chest. The boy was swaddled in a light blue blanket. He was adorable.With all that had been going on in our life, I had forgotten that Andrea had probably had her baby by now.“Congratulations," Arthur said stiffly.Andrea beamed.“What are you doing here?“ Arthur asked.“The baby looks so much like you when you were a baby," Andrea said. "It made me nostalgic for when you were a child. All those times before…“ She let the sentence trail off, and I remembered how Arthur’s father died.Arthur must’ve been thinking of the same thing because he grimaced."It was a magical time,“ Andrea said. "And I want
DORISThe good news continued to roll in the next day. Mr. Owens' assistant called and said one of the hottest new songwriting teams had two songs available for me and the band to record. We set up a time to listen to them and decided we liked the first one better.Mr. Owens had an amazing recording studio and sound engineer professional lined up for us to use. I asked if Arthur and Mia would be allowed to come, and the record executives, the sound engineer, and the rest of the band hall said of course. Arthur cleared his schedule.It was an amazing week.We recorded the song. Even though it was hard work, it still went well. I was happy with the initial results, and I was sure it would be a hit.For a moment, it was all I could think about.Arthur and I were lying in bed that night. When I looked at his face, I could tell something was still bothering him.“Arthur, what’s on your mind?”“It’s Cathy. Not only don’t I understand why she did what she did, I can’t let her get away with i
DORISThe liquor store next to the Italian restaurant had a narrow fake hallway between the two stores. Interestingly enough, there were peek holes in the wall that allowed us to see from the liquor store into the restaurant.This worked out well for us because Nathan, Arthur, and I all got to peek out and look at Nina while she had dinner with Dr. John and Jeff.Nina looked absolutely gorgeous, and Dr. John and Jeff were entranced.We could see Dr. John and Jeff's faces completely and see Nina face in profile. We could hear them clearly thanks to the wire that Nina had stuffed down her bra.She had plied Dr. John and Jeff with liquor and flirtatious comments throughout dinner, staying clear from any serious topics.I perked up when she got to the good stuff."I can get a job with Arthur's pharmaceutical company as they rebuild," Nina said, "and I bet I could find out any secrets and new formulas they have." She let that offer hang in the air. The implications were like a tempting fru
ARTHURMonday morning, I got up while Doris was still sleeping. Despite a wonderful weekend with Doris and Mia, I hadn’t slept well.It had been a month since the fire, and I hadn’t made any progress in finding out who did it.I had my driver take me out to the pharmaceutical company. I stood in front of the charred remains of the original office building, lab, and factory.I had chosen to rebuild on another part of the property, leaving the destroyed buildings as they were as a show of what could happen when I let my defenses down.The sight of the blackened buildings filled me with grief and also a vile rage. The anger was almost too violent to control. My stomach felt like a volcano had taken up residence there and was churning, ready to explode.I had worked so hard on this pharmaceutical business. It wasn’t just the money that I lost having to rebuild that angered me. It was all the people who would have to wait longer before they could get treatment.It was the fact that formula
DORISArthur got me and an assistant for Heritage Properties, who had just gotten her real estate license. She was efficient and eager, and she took over all the real estate deals I thought would close soon.Arthur recommended an entertainment lawyer, and she went over my music contract and said it was very good, so I signed it.
DORISArthur hauled me against him. He lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and plastered myself against him."I need you in our bed," Arthur growled. "Right now."He carried me. I was too busy enjoying the feel of his body against mine— a sensation I wasn't sure I'd ever feel again— to pay attention to the elevator ride.I was too busy kissing Arthur’s neck to focus on him unlocking the penthouse, carrying me over the threshold, and kicking the door shut with his foot.Arthur kissed me like I'd been gone for months, not just a day.Arthur spun us, and my back slammed up against the drywall in the entry hall with a force that made me wonder if we left a dent.Arthur pinned me against the wall with his hips. He pulled up my shirt and stared like he couldn't believe I was here with him.His growl made my blood simmer and my breath catch. For the rest of my life, I'd never forget that animalistic sound of want and approval.My nipples hardened. Need roared through me like a
ARTHUREven though I could sense that Doris wasn’t in the apartment, I immediately began to search, going from room to room.I saw two of her suitcases in the smaller bedroom, and I immediately relaxed.I whirled around and
DORISI slept better than I thought I would. I didn’t know what my next step should be. Should I quit Heritage Properties and look for another real estate job?I was jolted out of my reverie when my phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize. My first thought was that perhaps it was Arthur trying to trick me, calling from a different number.