Chapter 22

Ace was never one to take time off work; he never had a reason to until now. After years of putting in hours, he was now enjoying the time off. He owed it all to Rosalee, who showed him there was more to life, that he could be successful and still go out and have fun. He hadn’t told her how he had called her father the other day. The call did not go well. The moment he mentioned it was about Rosalee, the old man hung up on him, saying he no longer had a daughter. Knowing this would hurt her, he kept it to himself. After leaving the office, they stopped at home first to change their clothes.

He drove them to a nearby park. Getting out of the vehicle, they went for a hike through the woods. An hour later, they sat down on one of the benches and watched the squirrels chasing each other.

“I’m so glad we took the afternoon off,” she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“Me too. I’d forgotten how beautiful the park was this time of year. I know that Clarice told you how I was never home and always working. She was right about that, but it was because I didn’t want to be home with her.” He put his arm around her shoulder and placed his finger under her chin and turned her head to look at him. “I promise you that won’t be the case with you. I’m going to be spending more time with you than I am at work.”

She couldn’t stop the little giggle that escaped her lips.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ace, we live together and work together, so we are going to be spending a lot of time together. Maybe too much, and you’ll get tired of being around me.”

“That won’t happen. Once you start popping out all those babies we’re going to have, you won’t be able to work.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. “You really are serious about us having a family, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am, and the sooner the better.”

“Just how many babies do you expect me to pop out?” she asked with a smirk on her face.

Smiling back at her, he ran his thumb over her cheek. “I figured we’ll just keep going until you say to stop. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

When he spotted a gang of rough-looking characters, he took hold of her hand. He didn’t like the looks of them. “Let’s go,” he said, pulling her up from the bench.

“Is there a problem?” she asked when she saw the three men and the worried look on his face.

“Probably not, but I don’t like the looks of these guys, so we better just leave.” It’s not that he was afraid to fight them, but three against one was too much, and he didn’t want her getting hurt. He was thankful that they didn’t follow them, and once he got her in the car, he asked her what she wanted to do now.

“I wouldn’t mind going to get something to eat,” she said, smiling back at him.

After they were done eating, they went over to visit Eve for a couple of hours and then headed home. Once there, he had to go into his home office and fax some papers over to one of his clients. While he was doing that, someone knocked on their front door, and she went to answer it.

“I have a parcel for a Miss. Keller,” the mailman said as he handed her the parcel.

For the life of her, she couldn’t imagine who would be sending her something. For a split second, she became excited, thinking that maybe it was from her father, and he was trying to reach out. But then again, he had no idea where she was now living, so she carried the parcel into the kitchen and opened it. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in newspaper, so she unraveled it, screaming at the top of her lungs and letting the item fall onto the kitchen table.

Ace sent the fax away, and then heard the scream coming from the kitchen. He ran out of his office, and when he got there, he saw Rosalee leaning up against the counter, a look of terror in her eyes. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” he asked, placing his hands on her shoulders. When she didn’t answer and just pointed towards the table, he turned his head. His hands dropped from her shoulders when he saw what was laying on the table. It was a dead rat. Pulling her into his arms, he held the back of her head as she sobbed into his neck.

She was grateful when he led her out of the kitchen and into the living room, where he made her sit down. “Who would send me something like that, and why?”

“I don’t know,” he said after hearing how it was addressed to her. “I’m going to call the police and see if they can do something about this. Until then, I can’t remove it until they see it and examine the package.” He had a pretty good idea who sent it, but without proof, he couldn’t know for sure.

When the cops arrived and talked to both of them, they then had someone take fingerprints and all of the evidence away to get examined. But they were told there wasn’t a lot they could do to track down who sent it as it was sent through the mail, and anyone could have done it. Ace showed the two police officers out, and when he came back, Rosalee was not in the living room. He then walked into the kitchen and found her there wearing a pair of rubber gloves, a pail of water, and some detergent, and she was scrubbing the kitchen table down.

She looked up at him when he entered the kitchen with tears running down her face. “Who would do this?” she asked as she continued scrubbing.

He went over and took the scrub brush from her hand and removed the rubber gloves. “You can stop now. I think it’s clean enough.”

“I can’t. It’s still contaminated, and every time I look at this table, I’m going to remember seeing that dead rat on it.”

He placed the palms of his hands on each side of her cheek and stared into her eyes that were filled with tears, and it broke his heart seeing her this way. “I will get rid of it and replace it with a new one. Tonight, I’ll order more takeout, and we’ll eat it upstairs.”

“I’m not hungry, and I don’t think I could eat anything tonight. Let’s just go to bed.”

He waited in bed for her to come from her shower. He would have joined her but knew that she was too upset and needed a few minutes alone. When she did come out wearing her nightgown and crawled into bed, he put his arms around her. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” she said as she rested her head on his chest. “I think it was Clarice that sent that rat. She’s the only one who has a grudge against me.”

“I think it was her too, and I told the police that. But unless we have proof, they won’t be able to do anything.”

She looked up at him when a thought hit her. “You don’t think it could have been Evan or that they are in it together, do you?”

“If it was sent to me, then I would say that Evan had a hand in it. But I honestly don’t see him doing that to you. But believe me, I will definitely be talking to him about it. Since he’s hanging out with Clarice, he might just let something slip. Just get some sleep now, sweetheart, and don’t worry about anything. We will get to the bottom of this.”

The next day when they were at work and she walked into his office, he was busy looking at something on the computer. “I’m sorry if you’re busy, I can come back later.”

He looked up and smiled at her and waved her over. “No, I’m not busy, and I’m glad you’re here. I want you to take a look at these kitchen tables and pick out the one you like.”

She went over and was pulled onto his lap and sat there as he pointed out several tables and chairs.

“I hate that you have to do this, but at the same time, I’m so happy that you are, and I will pay for it myself.”

“There’s no way you’re paying for it. I haven’t redecorated since I moved in, and I think it’s time to do so. And since it is your home too, you need to have it the way you would like it.”

“I already love it, except for the kitchen table.”

“Well, it’s still time to do some changes. Now take a look at these and pick out the one you like. Make sure it’s really sturdy and can hold both of us.”

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “I hope you know it’s just for eating and not for us to sit on.”

He laughed as he gently caressed the top of her breasts. “Oh, sweetheart, we’re going to do more than eat on that table.”

She slapped his arm playfully and turned her attention to the computer. “Here, I like this one, and it will go perfectly with the decor in the kitchen,” she said, pointing to the one that caught her eye.

He nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, that’s the one I was looking at too. I’ll order it and have them deliver it today and take away the old one.” He couldn’t help himself from placing his hand on her leg and moving up between them. He could feel his member getting hard. “Oh my God, how I would love to be inside you right now,” he said as he caressed her neck with his lips.

She closed her eyes, his lips and his hand caressing her felt so good. It had been a couple of days since they made love, and she was so turned on right now. “We need to stop before this goes too far.”

“I don’t want to stop, I want to take you right here on the desk.”

“But what about our policy not to have sex in the office anymore?”

“Fuck it,” he said, removing her from his lap. He then went over and locked the door and pulled down the blinds after checking his watch. He wasn’t expecting his next client for another half an hour. Moving some things, he placed his hands on her waist and lifted her up onto the desk. His hand moved under her blouse, and he started massaging her breasts as his lips devoured hers in a passionate kiss. He felt her hands going to his pants and unbuckling them. He pulled the zipper down. This got him harder than ever. Removing his lips from hers, he placed his hand on her chest and forced her back down onto the desk. Going up under her skirt, he pulled down her panties and tossed them onto the desk. With his pants and briefs down and her legs opened for him, he grabbed a hold of himself and rubbed against her wet pussy.

She couldn’t for the life of her remember when he unbuttoned her blouse, but there she was with it open and her legs spread wide for him to enter her. His hands felt so strong and firm when he held them and started thrusting inside of her. She reached her hands up over her head and gripped the edge of the desk, knocking some papers where they landed on the floor as she quietly moaned. Oh, how she wanted to scream out his name when she found her orgasm coming. When he shot his load into her, he continued thrusting until he brought her to another orgasm. She closed her eyes when he finally stopped and felt his lips caressing her breasts over the top of her bra. “Ace, oh God how I missed you being inside me.”

Moving to her lips, he kissed her before helping her up. “Damn, that was amazing, but we really have to get cleaned up before the client gets here.”

They had just finished cleaning themselves up and the desk and fixing the papers when the client walked in and called out.

“Mr. Thatcher, are you in there? I know I’m a bit early, but the receptionist out front told me to come right in.”

Rosalee made sure she was properly dressed, and her hair was fixed before sitting down in the chair with the pen and paper before he opened the door for the client.

“Mr. Caprio, please come in. My personal assistant and I were on a business call and didn’t want to be disturbed, and that’s why the door was locked. I’m sorry for any inconvenience.”

The man smiled over at her and shook Ace’s hand. “No need to be sorry. I’m the one who is early and should apologize to you.”

“Well, why don’t we sit down and go over the details of the property that you want to sell, and my assistant Rosalee will take notes,” he said after introducing the two of them to each other.

After the client left, she got up and went to her desk and started typing out the forms for the new client to look over. Later he had to leave to look at another piece of property and gave her a kiss before leaving and said he’d be back to pick her up at quitting time. Needless to say, he left the office with a big smile on his face and a feeling of complete satisfaction. He had also made arrangements for the new kitchen outfit to be delivered, and the old one was taken away. Now that she was feeling much better, he did not want the table there to remind her of what had happened the previous night.

It was close to quitting time when she heard footsteps and looked up thinking it was Ace. But she was surprised, and her mouth dropped open when she saw who it was.