A Leap of Faith (5 page)

“Sounds good, these won’t take long to bake and they will cool quickly too. I just will finish these last couple of trays and get the colours mixed up.” The hum of my Kitchen Aid once again muffled my voice as I mixed up another batch of cupcakes.

Taylah was slowly turning those boring boxes into works of art with her meticulously classy bows in pink and blue (seeing as we didn’t know the sex of the baby we were covering all our bases) as I continued working tray after tray in the oven.

My phone buzzed silently in my pocket as I put the last of the cupcakes on to the cooling rack.

- I’m in, I can never say no to you. Are you sure about me moving in? I can find my own place. Matt xo

I couldn’t contain my elation knowing that Matt and I would be working together again. My best friend was going to be with me on this monumental journey.

- OUTSTANDING! Glad you finally realized resistance is futile! Yes of course you are living with me. I have a bottle of Vodka chilling, how’s your virtue these days :-)

- Constantly trying to see my ass! Some things never change :-)

- Like you would have it any other way ;-) Email me your date for departure and I’ll organize flights etc. I leave NYC in a couple of days but I can leave you my keys with my neighbour. Talk soon Lexi xx

- Will do.  Your
neighbours? Are these the swingers? What’s the protocol? Not sure Anna would be impressed :-)

- Yeah Yeah, you know they aren’t swingers! Tell Anna I said Hi. Got to go. L xx

- Love ya Lexi, see you soon. Matt xo

I slid my phone back in my pocket as I pulled out another bowl to mix up icing, unable to suppress my broad smile.

“Someone’s in a good mood.” Taylah raised her perfectly manicured eyebrow in question.

“My best friend Matt is coming to work with me and live here. I’ve missed him so much. It’s the perfect solution.” I explained as I tugged the foil from the top of the blue coloured gel. I felt resistance as I tried to peel it back.

“You think that’s a good idea? Subjecting him to your sex-crazed antics?” Taylah glanced over at me while I continued to struggle with the foil top.

“We’ve lived together before Tay, he’s used to me and my antics”. I grunted as with one last heave the foil came loose, blue food colouring spilling all over my fingers and into my palms.

“FUCK!!! This shit stains! I look like I jacked off a Smurf!” I huffed as I ran to the sink to try and wash off as much of the offending gel as possible.

Taylah doubled over not even attempting to quell her hysterical laughter “You certainly have a way with words Lexi... You’re one of a kind!”

I had managed to clean up both myself and my kitchen to the best of my ability. The slight blue tinge of dye still lingered on my fingers as I attempted to scrub my hands for the twentieth time.

“Ugghhh it will have to do!” I groaned loudly as I dried my hands and examined my reflection in the mirror. My hair was flowing loosely across my back and it matched the soft and feminine lines of my silk, floral Ralph Lauren wrap dress. It was not what I’d usually buy but the last thing I wanted to do was draw the attention away from Hannah on her special evening. The dress tastefully plunged, showing off a hint of cleavage and I’d teamed it with a pair of nude strappy heels.

I felt two long, strong arms encase me from behind. “It will do more than do,” Alex whispered in my ear, pressing light kisses up my neck.

“Hey baby, I didn’t hear you come in.” I turned around in his arms so that I was facing him, his amazing smell consumed me as I breathed in.

“I guess that’s part of the benefit of having a key.” Alex held the shiny chrome key aloft in his fingers. He had kept it on the cheesy New York skyline keyring I’d purchased from a street vendor. We had done the whole key exchange two weeks ago so the unannounced visits were still a little new to me.

He looked amazing in a pair of Calvin Klein charcoal dress pants and a steely blue shirt, which hugged his body lovingly. His hair slicked back in its usual fashion, light stubble playing on his strong jaw.

“Mmmmmm,” I hummed as he pushed my hair off my shoulders and continued to kiss my neck. “I like this benefit.” I looked into his clear blue eyes as he glanced down at my dress.

“This is new,” Alex observed. “I like it. It’s different from your usual pace, but you pull off the New York Socialite look impeccably.” His long fingers traced the ruffled neckline.

“I can pull off a lot of things…” A wicked grin teased my lips as I raised my eyebrow.

“Indeed you can. Lexi...” he breathed in my ear, pressing my body up against the bathroom wall. His hand moved around to my lower back before dropping to my ass where he gently squeezed.

“Yeeeesss…” I purred as my hands travelled up his toned chest, tracing the definition of his muscles through the smooth fabric of his shirt.

He hitched up my leg so that it sat on his hip, the soft flowing fabric of my wraparound dress parted in the middle and displayed my white lace and mesh “barely there” panties underneath.

“God... you are killing me here,” he growled, eyeballing me hungrily while biting his lip.

“Now, Now Alex. We have places to be. We wouldn’t want to keep our friends… waiting.” I chided, only half-heartedly pulling away from him.

“Ughhhhhh! KILLING ME!” he repeated loudly, “Who’s fucking idea was this anyway?” Alex grumbled, his eyes still flaming with lust.

“You know it was mine, asshole,” I grinned. “You’ll survive a few hours, I promise it will be worth the wait.” My fingers grazed the length of his chin, his light stubble prickling my fingertips. Mmmmmmm I loved it when he didn’t shave. I loved the way it pinched my skin, sending little waves of pleasure through me.

As if reading my mind, Alex lowered his head, his mouth twisted into a half smile.

“Who you trying to convince? Me or you?”

I shook my head as I dropped my hand from his strong jaw. “Clearly we are as bad as each other. Let’s go, I think the longer we stand here the less chance we have for actually walking out the door.”

“Ok but let the record show that I am doing so under duress. The whole evening I’m going to be thinking about what is underneath that dress and struggling with a permanent hard on.” Alex teased, smacking my ass as I turned to head out of the bathroom.

I rolled my eyes as I walked into the kitchen and scooped up the cupcakes, safely housed in their stylish noodle boxes and loaded them into a large, cardboard box.

“Wow, these look great. You made these?” Alex picked up a noodle box and stared through the clear plastic panels at the artfully whipped icing.

“Sure did. Taylah helped, the boxes are all her- I did the cakes.” I beamed as I watched Alex carefully picked up the cardboard box to carry out to the car.

“You never cease to amaze me.” Alex whispered as he kissed the top of my head.

“Well at least then I don’t have to worry about you being bored!” I whispered back.

“Not a chance,” Alex affirmed as he strode purposely through the door. I grabbed my handbag and Hannah’s present as I followed close behind.

We walked silently to the elevator, Alex’s eyes were clouded. He kept them cast down, pensively inspecting the delicate contents of the box he carried.

I wasn’t sure what the big deal was, they were just cupcakes and I’d made them from a packet (not that I would be broadcasting that fact) but it seemed that the small gesture really affected Alex.  I wanted to press him further on this but all too soon the loud DING of the elevator alerted us that we had arrived in the basement garage.

His beautiful silver Maserati came into view as we rounded the corner of the parking garage. It looked like it had been freshly washed and polished as it shone from every angle under the bright glow of the halogen lights. Mmmmmmm that car got me every time. It was the perfect car for him - sleek, sexy and powerful.  I smiled as we approached it, the gleam of the shiny chrome accentu
ating its elegant curves.

“You really have a thing for this car, don’t you?” smiled Alex as he pressed the remote, flicking the central locking open.

“Mmmmmmm it turns me on,” I chuckled as I moistened my lips with the tip of my tongue.

Alex gently placed the box on the hood of the Maserati before turning to me, his eyes clouded with lust.

“You really are trying to kill me tonight. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t just take you right here on the hood of this car?”

I ran my hands over his strong arms, his muscles tensing under my touch.

“Not now. Later I’ll let you take me any way you want.” I panted, not entirely convinced that letting him have his way right now wasn’t a good idea.

I felt him twitch beneath my hands, he closed his eyes and let a out long slow breath.  He repeated with another slow, deliberate breath before opening his eyes and moving to the side of the car and opening my door for me.

As I moved to the door, the flowing fabric of my dress blew feebly in the slight breeze of the garage. I paused to look at him, his beautiful angular jaw tensed as I sank into to the low seat of his car, the skirt of my dress blowing open to reveal almost my entire bare thigh.

A low groan emanated from his throat as he watched me fasten the complex five piece harness before I placed my handbag and beautifully wrapped box on the pristine carpeted floor in front of me.  Alex handed me the cupcake laden box for me to place on my knee before he fastidiously closed the door and walked to the driver’s side of the car and slid into his own seat.

The roar of the engine sent tiny vibrations through the seats and into my core as he fastened his own harness and turned on the lights.

I wrapped my hands around the box in my lap, trying to keep my breathing level as his intoxicating scent filled the interior. Mmmmmmm my eyes slowly closed shut as I took it in, he was in every sense of the word... breathtaking.

“Drive fast,” I moaned as I felt the heat in my body rise.

I wanted him, I knew that in the coming weeks we would be on tight time schedules, in and out of hotels and flying between different cities and countries. While we would be together, our free time would be limited and limits were not something that either of us were able to apply to each other. 

Alex pulled out into the busy Manhattan traffic. The power of the Maserati protested under the congestion of the city streets. We navigated through the busy traffic, the sights and sounds of the bustling city were slowly left behind in our rear version mirror.

All too soon we were traveling up the familiar long, drive way. James and Hannah’s stunning French Provincial mansion was tucked away behind the masses of large tress that lined the driveway. The light grey brick had been beautifully lit with exterior lighting and the long rectangular windows shimmered in the glow of the moon.

Alex parked the Maserati, turning to me before shutting off the ignition.

“Fast enough for you?”

A slow smile crossed over my lips as I leaned close to him, “If I stay any longer in this car, I’m going to have to blow you.” I breathed in his ear.

“FUCK
,” he hissed through his clenched teeth as he quickly released himself from his harness.  His lips came down on mine hard, his need evident in his desperation to touch me.

“Lexi, do you have any idea what you do to me?” He moaned as his hands expertly unfastened my harness.

“I only know what you do to me, Alex. You ignite me.” I returned his fevered kisses with my own, my hands exploring his body.

There was a loud rapping at the window,

“Can you put the window down so I can You Tube this shit? It’s pretty hot and I hear the going rate on the two of you making out is fairly high,” smirked Troy who while we had been distracted had pulled up behind us.

I flipped him off before opening my door. Alex’s grin
smouldered on his lips.

“Here help me with this box, Ass!” I pushed the box in his hands as I grabbed my handbag and picked up the gift off the floor.

Alex had already exited the car and had walked around to my door where he took my hand to help me out.

“We wouldn’t want to be giving Troy any crotch shots
,” winked Alex.

“Dude, you are NO FUN at all!” Troy playfully slapped Alex across the shoulder while he balanced the Cupcake box with the other hand.

“Such a shame, I’m wearing such nice panties too,” I smiled as I adjusted the front of my dress.

“Love ya Lex,” laughed Troy and he gave me a kiss on the check.

I loved how easy my friendship was with the boys in the band. We were one big family. It was like I had always been a part of their lives, they were so accepting - nothing like my own family.

Alex moved in beside me and put his arm around my waist. “Ready?”

“Sure am, I want to make sure everything is perfect before everyone gets here.”

The large wooden door flew open before we had a chance to ring the bell, Hannah looked stunning in
a beautiful slate grey maternity dress. It was cut just below the bust and the skirt flowed to just above the knee. Her hair had been styled elegantly and her face was beaming.

“LEXI!” Hannah screamed as I entered the hallway. “This is too much! The decorations, the food, the bartender, the wait staff! This is crazy!”

I shook my head, “Well we all know I’m crazy so there are no surprises there, however this is just enough. You are forgetting that before I was a dedicated publicist to these guys I used to also plan events.” 

We walked into the main dinning area and it had been transformed. Tables were covered with beautiful linens and the small round glass vases placed as
centrepieces were filled with delicate pink and blue flowers.  The chairs that had been added around the room were covered in white covers, finished with blue or pink organza bows.  Pushed up against the wall was a large banquet table, toped with large silver platters of food, both savoury and sweet.

The bartender had set up near the double glass and timber french doors. He was already pouring virgin margaritas and daiquiris into tall crystal glasses.

It was classy and elegant, exactly what I had envisaged.

A small redheaded woman approached me. “Ms Reed?”

“Yes, call me Lexi. Danielle?” I queried.

Danielle was the event planner I’d hired. She had come highly recommended by Taylah but I was told she did have a tendency to go overboard and she had trouble keeping to a budget. I wondered why, when with loaded this information that I had hired her, but as Taylah had put it, “She’ll give you what you want, when you want it and she has this town wired for anything! If you want an Elephant in your backyard she will not only deliver it but make sure all the dung is cleaned up after.”

I decided to take a gamble but gave her very strict guidelines.

She smiled as she nodded. “How did we do?”

“It’s perfect, exactly how I saw it in my head. You did a fantastic job” I was relieved my brief had been followed to the letter.

“Well there wasn’t a lot of room for interpretation,” Danielle laughed, “I’m not used to my clients being so specific, even down to what bows you wanted on the chairs. I basically just sourced all the materials and set it up.”

“Don’t take it personally, Lexi is a control freak.” Alex came up behind me, carefully taking the gift from my hands.

“Ummmm He- Hello Mr Stone,” Danielle bumbled, her head tilted back in a familiar fashion and a slight blush heating her checks.

Yes, take a good look. My boyfriend is ridiculously good looking. He seemed to have a similar affect on all women. They found him irresistible, his magnetic charm only adding to his appeal.

I breathed deeply as I watched her twirl her hair around her finger in a nervous tell. Giggling like a school girl when he extended his hand in greeting.