Chapter One
Alexa
Westhampton in late fall was still beautiful.
I stood at the window and looked out over the beach in front of the house. The sun was setting and from my vantage point, I could see across the ocean to the rapidly darkening horizon. The trees on the property had all turned color and fallen, so while the trees were barren of leaves, the shrubs were still green and overall, it was peaceful out on the ocean.
Luke was still in town, but he would arrive soon. I had Friday off, and so we would spend Friday and the weekend at the beach house. The house was Luke's favorite place in the entire world outside of Bora Bora, so we tried to spend as much time there as possible on the weekends. I had finished a busy week teaching my seminar and working on my latest paper. I had one full day that I could spend with Luke and not think of anything. After that, it was back to the old grind.
I loved the old grind, so I wasn't complaining. I knew I was lucky. I had Luke, I had the pregnancy and I had my scholarship. As long as those three things were going well, my life was perfect. Sure, Luke could afford to pay for my tuition and expenses if I didn't have a scholarship, but having it meant a lot to me. It meant that Columbia University thought I was a good bet, that I would go somewhere, and I would be something in the future. If they didn't feel that way, they wouldn't have funded my graduate education. So, I didn't want to lose the scholarship and worked hard to make sure my grades stayed at the absolute top of the class.
My morning sickness was still a problem, but it remained confined to the mornings. I had another four weeks to go before it was supposed to let up entirely, and was frankly impatient for that part of the experience to pass. While I had always read about morning sickness when I considered becoming a mother one day, I hadn't realized how debilitating it was. It drained my strength and my motivation. I had to rearrange my classes so that I didn't have one first thing in the morning, and most of my work was done in the afternoon or evening. I was taking a self-directed class so I could do the work completely on my own, and that helped a lot, but it was still hard. I had a new respect for pregnant mothers who had to go to work every day and weren't in as good a position as I was. I could rearrange my schedule. Most mothers couldn't and that made me appreciate my circumstances even more.
While I waited for Luke to come to the beach house, I put on some music and prepared our supper. I marinated some ribs in a nice honey garlic barbecue sauce, and washed lettuce for a salad. There was a baguette on the counter that would be heated up and we had a nice bottle of non-alcoholic beer for me and cold craft beer for Luke. I missed having my beer after class but considering I was pregnant, I wasn't going to do anything that might hurt the baby.
At around 6:30, I heard a car drive up in the driveway and glanced out the side window to see Luke in his vehicle. He had driven to Westhampton by himself without his usual escort and I intended to give him the word about that. Things have been quiet on the Blaine front for the past couple of months, but that didn't mean he couldn't show his face or make his presence known at any time. Luke was just sick of being followed everywhere he went, and I was as well, but after what happened to Candace, I didn't want to take any chances.
Luke got out of the car and walked to the front door, looking every inch the billionaire space investor, dressed in an expensive dark grey suit and crisp white shirt. He'd cut his hair now that we were back in civilization and kept his beard well-trimmed, but he was still just as handsome as ever.
I wiped my hands on my apron and went to meet him giving him a big kiss and hug when he entered the front door.
"There you are," I said, unable to keep a huge smile off my face.
"Here I am," he replied and squeezed me. "How's mama and baby? It's so good to see you. I've had a hell of a day and I need some Lexi time."
He removed his jacket and slipped off his shoes.
"I'm all yours," I said and took his hand. I led him into the kitchen and handed him a cold beer from the fridge. "Here you go, my love," I said. "This has been waiting for you but not as impatiently as I have been." I picked up my non-alcoholic beer and took off the lid and we clicked our beer bottle necks together and toasted each other.
"To us," Luke said.
"To us," I replied with a smile. "Long may we reign."
"So, my queen," Luke said and sat at the island. "How was your day?"
"Great," I replied. I told him about my seminar, and he watched while I put the ribs in the oven. They had already been precooked, so all I had to do was caramelize the barbecue sauce. Dinner would be ready in less than an hour, so we had enough time to catch up on our respective days.
"Tell me how your day went," I asked.
Luke took in a big breath and then exhaled heavily. "If you want to know the truth," he said. "It sucked the big one."
"How come?"
Luke made a face of disgust. "John and I spent the entire day trying to convince another investor to go in on project with us. For some reason, he's hesitant and I don't understand why. We have a lot of experience in startups and we have connections, but he's giving us the cold shoulder. We have another meeting tomorrow, so I hope he's more positive then, but I'm getting this strange vibe off him."
I frowned. "That's too bad," I said. "I'm sure there are a lot of others who you could connect with for funding. Besides," I said. "I thought you had enough money on your own to do something."