All Chapters of ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Ace.“Mr. Boggs,” the maître d’ said, as we walked through the door.“Hello, Johnson.”The man’s eyes fell on Cyn and his smile widened. “Ms. Alistair.I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see you again.”Cyn blushed, but the pleased smile on her face hid any discomfort she might be feeling.“Thank you,” she said.The maître d’s smile widened, as he grabbed a couple of menus and led the way into the dining room, causing a few people who’d clearly been waiting for a table to groan. We were regulars here, and I’d arranged an upgrade on the security system my company provided for the restaurant, so we often were treated with preference. That sort of thing was a way of life in Los Angeles.We were seated across from each other, and Cyn studied the menu with an intensity that would have made me laugh if I hadn’t known about her memory problems. She’d done that in the past, too, but always ended up picking the same thing: chicken parmesan.It amused me, as well, how oblivious she was to

AceI walked into the house after arguing with Jonnie over the phone all the way home. She was unhappy with a new client I’d elected to take on, telling me that we should be choosier now that the company was on steadier feet. But I figured that, as long as the client had the money, we had the service. It was our clients that made our reputation. We could both use that argument until we were blue in the face and both be right. And I was the boss.But you’d think that it was Jonnie’s name in the door, the way she hammered at me over these things. And she had been in charge so much lately, what with the attention I was giving to Cyn. I was grateful to her, but I was going to take on the clients of my choosing.I just wanted to see Cyn’s face. I was so exhausted. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to this party tonight, no matter how many times I’d promised Margaret I would. But Cyn wasn’t in the sitting room. She wasn’t on the porch, either.I went through the maze of rooms at the back of the

CynShe was everything I expected her to be. Tall. Dark. Stylish. There were a lot of similarities between mother and son. Except for the dark scowl on her face when she looked at me.“What are you doing, Ace?” she hissed in a low voice. “When I heard rumors that she was in some sort of accident and that the two of you were back together…”“This really isn’t the place, Mom.”“After what she threatened to do, you’re here with her? Are you insane?”“I’m sorry, Ms. Boggs, but I don’t think”She whirled on me in an instant, prompting Ace to once again move me behind him so that his body shielded me from his mother. He whispered something to her that I couldn’t hear, then he drew me away, leading the way across the room like nothing had happened. I clung to him, suddenly aware of people staring at us.What was going on?I felt like I was always in the dark these days, always wondering why people were looking at me as they were. Why were they whispering behind their hands? I told myself bef

CynHe carried me upstairs, and we undressed each other, taking our time this time. The way he looked at me, like he was unwrapping a gift he’d waited all his life to receive, made me feel like a queen, like the most adored starlet that ever existed. I’d never enjoyed being the center of attention, never played the role of a drama queen. But I loved this, loved the way it felt to be the center of his world.I loved him. There was no doubt in my mind.We moved together on the bed, our bodies fit together like they were made for one another. When he was inside of me this time, the pleasure was muted, but still just as exciting. I could have lain there all night, my hands moving over his warm skin, my body aware of every movement of his, his aware of every movement of mine. I touched his face and tilted his head so i could see the hooded look of his eyes; I could see my own thoughts mirrored there.“I love you, Cyn,” he whispered. “I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you.”I wishe

CynIt was all a ruse.I remembered that now. I left him, told everyone it was because of his lies about Margaret, about their short-lived marriage when they were seventeen. As if something like that would convince me to walk away from the love of my life. I was angry all right. But not enough to do more than yell and scream for a while. I wanted to hurt him, I did. I wanted to hurt him the way it hurt me to find out the way I did. I mean, who wants to go to the county clerk to get their marriage license just to find out that their significant other had lied about his past?But I would have understood after he explained it to me.They were nineteen. Margaret was being pressured by her father to marry the son of a prominent businessman a client who would have brought millions into her father’s law firm. It was a business deal, and Margaret wasn’t about to be used as a pawn in her father’s games. So she went to Ace while he was attending Stanford and asked him to marry her. It was in na