A Study Of Love: A Billionaire Love Romance Read online

  After she had told him that she didn’t like coffee, he always had a new beverage for her, and despite her telling him that she didn’t need it, he continued to try to find her favorite one. He was also considerate of how late it took them sometimes to finish work and dropped her off himself. He had also shortened her name from Beverly to Bev, and that made it feel like she was special somehow. It was the little gestures which made her hyperspace of the fact that she was falling for him.

  Normally Beverly didn’t fall for guys easily. She was always reserved, save for a few forgotten unattached affairs. The attention that she was getting from James wasn’t working out great for her heart. Beverly tried to oppose it, but her heart had other ideas. Every little touch brought a rush of feeling within her, and she had to turn away from him so that he didn’t see how much he affected her.

  The only thing that she said to keep herself running was that it was only a few months and this was an attraction.

  And she could have left it at that if events didn’t transpire that made it hard to ignore it.

  It was late, and the two of them were working on writing a progress report, James was sitting beside her, their knees touching as he helped her with the information.

  “You are writing it wrong, Bev,” he said.

  “Sorry, I must be tired,” she said as an excuse.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “Let’s just get something to drink.”

  “I thought Gloria left,” she said.

  “It doesn’t mean that I don’t have my stack of drinks,” he said with a grin.

  He walked over to his table and opened a drawer to show varieties of drinks. He took out two cans and handed one to Beverly.

  “It doesn’t have any coffee?” she asked. “I thought you loved coffee.”

  “I can try something new. I had Gloria fix that if you need any drinks.”

  “Oh.”

  It was getting too overwhelming for her. She wasn’t used to so much attention, and the way he was piling it on was making her nervous. Abruptly she stood up and grabbed her bag.

  “I should go, I had something else to do,” she said.

  James looked shocked as she began to pack everything. He stood motionless up until she had her bag on her shoulder, at which time he caught her hand and said,

  “Is something wrong? Did I say something?”

  “No no, nothing is wrong,” she found herself stuttering and stumbling over her words. “I just had something else to do…”

  “You are lying,” he said. “Look at me in my eyes and tell me that.”

  Reluctantly she did, and she couldn’t go on.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

  “James, just let it go,” she whispered. “Nothing is wrong, I promise.”

  “You are lying again,” he said.

  Somehow, the two of them had gotten closer, and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. As she looked up, she had only a glimpse of his eyes before she felt the pressure of his lips on her own. It started off slow, like a gentle drizzle of rain before she dropped her bag and his arms were around her as she tried to keep herself afloat in the storm.

  Vaguely she was aware that the two had moved onto the couch and that was when she snapped out and pulled away.

  “Wait wait wait, maybe we….”

  He silenced her with his lips again. “Let’s not think.”

  She only nodded as his hands opened the buttons of her blouse, teasing them over her head. It was a series of actions, all of which she was hyperspace of. His fingers teasing her skin, his warm breath on her neck and her soft size as they moved together.

  When it was over, the only thing she could think was,

  What have I done?

  Chapter 5

  She was a coward.

  Beverly was sure of that fact from the way that she skipped the lab meetings with James over the new few days. She spent it huddled under her covers, thinking of what to do now that she had done the unspeakable.

  She had slept with James Anderson.

  How had she let that happen?

  Glossing over the fact that it had amazed, this was unprofessional, and she had probably ruined her entire project. It didn’t help that she felt the clawing need to see James as soon as possible. She had to get a grip on herself. She couldn’t let this go on further than it needed to. The first thing she had to go was to get some courage and pretend as nothing happened.

  However, a part of her was upset by the fact that he didn’t attempt to contact her. Did that mean that he didn’t think of it as anything? That stung more than she expected it to. Finally, she couldn’t take it any longer. She called him.

  Beverly was on edge as the phone continued to ring and finally, she was connected to Gloria.

  “Hello?” she heard Gloria’s voice.

  “Hi, it’s me, Beverly. I was wondering when I should come next for the research,” she said in a high-pitched voice.

  “Let me check,” Gloria’s friendly voice responded, and as she whiled away the precious minutes, Gloria came back to the phone.

  “I am sorry, there are no other sessions scheduled. Mr. Anderson told me that you were done.”

  Beverly felt everything crash around her at the sound of that. Why would he do that? But she forced a laugh and said,

  “Yes, silly me. It slipped my mind. Thanks, Gloria.”

  “You are welcome.”

  She put down the cell and felt the warm tears on her cheek. Her worst fear had been confirmed, and she couldn’t help but feel devastated. She had done something stupid, and now she was going to suffer for it.

  Regardless, exactly a week later, she was back in the labs to finish her work, and she pushed all thoughts of him from her mind. The days went on, and she lost herself in the flurry of work and heartbreak.

  Finally, it was over. Beverly had reached the end of her work, and she was due to give her report. But she didn’t feel as happy as she thought she would because James wasn’t around her anymore. He had disappeared, and she missed him with every inch of her being. She wanted to see him, to talk to him but she was scared because she didn’t know if he wanted the same or not.

  On the night before the submission of her report, she was wandering the streets. She felt a bit out of the ordinary, thinking about the ending that was going to come the next day. It didn’t feel right that she had to forget him like that and go on with her life. She had almost thought that there could be something, but the silence had been hard to ignore.

  Or so she thought as she stopped in front of her house, seeing the car that had dropped her off for so long. She walked slowly towards it and saw him standing against it. Her first reaction was to run towards him, but she controlled it and instead, walked to the entrance of her building, pretending she didn’t see him there.

  “Wait,” she heard him call out, but she didn’t turn back.

  Beverly continued to walk until she felt the grip on her wrist pulling her back towards him. She turned, and he was there, staring at her with his emerald eyes.

  “Let me go,” she said in a hard voice.

  “No, I-“ he paused and said, “I need to talk to you.”

  “You had plenty of time to talk to me,” she said. “But you didn’t. I don’t have anything against that. So can you please let me go?”

  “I can’t,” he said. “I came here to apologize.”

  Her heart skipped at the words, but she didn’t say anything.

  “For what?” she managed to get out.

  “For not calling you. For everything really,” Anderson said. “I know I don’t deserve it and I know you are mad but Bev, give me a chance.”

  “The chance for what exactly?” Beverly said, her voice rising. “So that you can avoid me again? So you can pretend I don’t exist? I don’t need that. I don’t need to see that again.”

  “No, wait,” James groaned and continued. “I was an idiot okay? I thought that it was a one-off thing and that you didn’t care or may
be I tried to make myself think that. I didn’t want this to affect your project, and I thought the best thing to do was to take a step back.”

  “And you didn’t think to tell me that?” she demanded. “Did my thoughts not matter?”

  “I told you, I was scared. I have never felt something as strong for you as I did for anyone else and it hurt me that I had to stay away, but I thought it was for the best, but today, once I learned that everything was over, I realized what kind of fool I am.”

  His grip loosened and he pulled her closer. “I am sorry Bev, just please let me prove myself.”

  “You hurt me,” she whispered.

  “I know I did,” he said. “I know I shouldn’t have but Bev, I love you. I don’t think I can let you go again. It was hell for me.”

  She made no sound. He kissed her forehead, hugging her closer. Beverly couldn’t hold out any longer, so she buried her face in his neck, breathing in his familiar scent.

  “Does this mean you have forgiven me?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered back.

  “Good,” he said and then kissed her deeply.

  Beverly smiled through the kiss, feeling herself drown in the sea of happiness. Everything had worked out in the end, and she was sure that it would work out in the future too. After all, she had completed her study of love.

  About The Author

  Welcome! My name is Amy Sanderlin and I am a Contemporary Romance author. I live in California surrounded by green hills with husband, dogs, and cats. I enjoy going for long walks.

  I favorite things in the world are ice cream, coffee, travel, and shopping for cute shoes.

  Second Chance

  Chapter 1

  I knew that it was going to be important to ‘WOW’ her again. I just knew that if I could get into her heart she would take me back.

  I wanted my ex-wife back so much that it was killing me inside. I wanted to make sure that everything was going to go as planned. I had the white cloth on the table, candles in the middle of the table just ready to be lit when she walked in through the door.

  “How is everything coming along in here?” I called out, looking at the kitchen staff.

  “Almost done, we have the salad for the first entrée and then we have the seafood platter and baked potatoes just the way she likes them, Mr. Jenson.” The chief grinned.

  I gave him a nervous smile. Rubbing my hands together I caught myself in the mirror.

  My blonde hair was combed back, my blue eyes shined as if I was getting ready for a big client that was going to change everything.

  The maids had the mansion cleaned up. Everything looked sparkling. Looking at the clock I could see that it was only four in the afternoon. I had an hour in a half to make sure that I was ready myself.

  Melinda was the only woman who I wanted, I had foolishly let her go. I let her walk right out the door when she told me that I was working too much, that I didn’t have enough time for her.

  I ran a software company, I had clients and I worked out of the home most of the time. I know that I didn’t have to work a lot, things were running great with the employees that I did have. The problem was I didn’t know how to relax. I didn’t know how to do any of that.

  If I wanted a second chance I was going to have to show her that I could. There was no answering the telephones, there was no answering my cell phone that was always on. I planned on shutting it off no matter how much it killed me to not look at it.

  “Show her that you love her. Show her that she’s the only one that matters.” I whispered to the reflection in the mirror.

  I knew that I could do this. I loved her so much that I would give everything up for her and she was willing to come have dinner. That was a start.

  I don’t know how many times I’ve tried getting her over to see me, to have dinner and something always came up. Either I had to work, there was a problem at the company or she was having her own struggles that she didn’t want to talk to me about.

  We were friends, good friends. I wanted so much more. I could see the spark in her brown eyes when we looked at one another but at the same time she was guarded, and I couldn’t blame her for that. I was the one who had made her that way.

  “Not this time Adam. Don’t you go and make her feel that way this time. Show her that you’re a changed man.” I murmured, turning away from the mirror and going back into the dining hall.

  The table was round, it was set up for just the two of us. No one was to bother us unless there was more food coming in. I knew that if any of the staff bothered us than it wasn’t going to be good. It wasn’t going to be pretty and I had already warned them.

  The time approached quickly, I had the wine in the ice bucket on the table behind where I was sitting. The wine glasses were empty sitting on the table one glass at her place and one at mine.

  I didn’t want the wine warm, but I didn’t want it too cold either. I poured the wine into the glasses five minutes before Melinda was to show up.

  I took another quick look around before I heard the doorbell. It was her! I knew it was.

  Rushing out of the dining room and going to the door I opened it how she looked took my breath away. She always did.

  Melinda had her brown hair long and curled. Something she had always done herself. She had a beautiful blue dress on, her brown eyes were shining and the smile she gave me almost dropped me to my knees.

  “Good evening.” She smiled at me.

  “You look beautiful,” I told her, clearing my throat as I stepped out-of-the-way and let her into the house.

  I closed the door behind her, seeing that the sun was not even close to setting. It was supposed to be a beautiful sunset that evening, and I planned to watch it with her.

  We went to the dining room and sat down. Our salad was already waiting for us.

  “What did you do today?” She asked, sitting down and putting her napkin on her lap like she always did.

  “Nothing, I enjoyed my day, relaxed a little and enjoyed the weather.” I grinned, seeing the shocked look on her face.

  “I am surprised you weren’t working.” She laughed, taking a few bites of her salad and chewing on it thoughtfully.

  “No, I’ve cut back some. Not all the way but I’m learning that there’s more to life than just work all the time. I think that I’m finding more things that I enjoy doing that to be a stuffy office.” I pointed out to her.

  Melinda laughed at me, I loved the way she laughed. I couldn’t help it. It was like music when she laughed filling my heart with love. Making me fall more in love with her.

  “Good, something that I always wanted you to do.” She replied, nodding her head and taking a few more bites of her salad.

  “I’m seeing where I went wrong.” I nodded, swallowing hard because I never admitted when I was in the wrong.

  Chapter 2

  Melinda took a few sips of her wine before dinner started. I could see that she was letting it set in her mouth to enjoy the flavor before she swallowed it down.

  We talked throughout dinner, I could see that she was really enjoying herself because she laughed more. She talked more as if she didn’t have to think about what she said before saying it, she was happier as the time went on and then the new maid walked in.

  “What is it?” I asked everyone knew that I didn’t want any interruptions.

  “It’s the phone. I guess they couldn’t reach you on your cell?” The maid asked, giving me a confused look.

  “There’s a reason why they can’t get me on my phone. I had it shut off for a reason. I told everyone not to interrupt me tonight.” I glared at her, using a rough tone of voice.

  “They say that it’s an emergency.” The maid shrugged her shoulders, he faces was red and she looked at Melinda as if she was going to save her.

  “Who is it?” I asked, clearing my throat and feeling my ears growing warm.

  “The office.” The maid attempted a smile as she tried walking over to me on the phone.
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br />   “Tell them I will call them back, if they can’t figure out what the matter is without me then they should think about what their spot is in my company.” I put my hands up.

  “Yes, Mr. Jenson.” She nodded her head and headed back out the door as if I was chasing her.

  “Well, Adam, I guess that’s something completely different.” Melinda’s brown eyes had gotten big.

  She was the type that had to see action. She didn’t believe in the words that had been repeated time and again, it was something that I had broken into her using my words. Now I was showing her.

  “I told you, I’m learning to push work aside from a little more. I’m not always at the office anymore or behind the desk when I’m at home.” I grinned, drinking down the wine that was in my glass.

  We had two more glasses of wine that evening and I looked out the window. I knew that the sun was going to be setting soon.

  I wiped my mouth and stood up from the chair. I didn’t want the night to end. I wanted to have more time with her, to make more plans with her without having to ask her.