Maybe it was Ellen Goodman's eggnog, but the entire time it was like I was drunk on love with Blake. He was so charming, so perfect, and yet so affectionate. The whole day was perfect, and by the time we got back to my apartment we were both exhausted.

Still, before we went to bed, I wanted to exchange gifts. After all, it was Christmas! I brought out my wrapped gift box and placed it on the couch.

"I got this for you. It's not much, but Merry Christmas," I told Blake with a smile.

"Oooh, this is a nice surprise," he replied, unwrapping the present with the glee of a little kid. When he saw the box, he nodded his appreciation.

"Nice, this is awesome. Thanks, Julia," he told me, kissing me softly on the lips. "What a thoughtful gift, I love local stuff. Now I'll be right back, I got something for you too."

My heart beat with antic.i.p.ation when Blake came back with the box. I knew that no matter what he got me, nothing was worth more to me than him wanting to be with me, but as I unwrapped the paper and saw a shade of blue that I'd only ever seen on TV, my mouth dropped open.

"Is this..." I started, my voice drifting off as I realized that yes, this was a Tiffany's jewellery box. Now my heart was pounding even harder. Tom would occasionally buy me jewellery after he'd hit me, to apologize, but it had never been expensive, never from anything better than the cheap place at the mall, and I'd p.a.w.ned it all off when we'd broken up. I had virtually no jewellery of my own anymore.

I opened the box and immediately diamonds glistened at me from the most beautiful bracelet I'd ever seen. Inset in gold, they formed little waves that matched up perfectly with one another.

"Wow," I gasped, almost breathlessly, as the shimmering stones glittered up at me.

"So you like it?" Blake asked, a grin on his face.

"Like it? I love it," I replied, throwing my arms around him, but not without super carefully putting the box down first. "Thank you so much, it's way too nice for me."

"No, it's perfect for you," he replied, carefully taking the bracelet out and strapping it onto my wrist. I held it out to the light and admired the shining beauty of the stones. This was hands down the most beautiful thing I'd ever owned.

"Well, it's not nearly as nice as this bracelet, but I can think of one more gift I haven't given you," I murmured softly to Blake as I ran my hand up his chest. The diamonds of my bracelet glistened softly in the light, and I carefully took it off and placed it on the table in antic.i.p.ation of what we were about to do.

"I like the sounds of that," Blake murmured back as his hands found my hips and he pulled me on top of him.

He kissed me, pa.s.sionately, and I closed my eyes as Blake's tongue slipped into my mouth. He was claiming my body for his own, exploring it like it belonged to him, and nothing in the world made me want him more. He was a man who knew what he wanted, who took it, and I absolutely loved giving it to him.

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I pulled him even closer to me, and we made out like it was the last night on earth. I could feel his shaft starting to grow underneath me, and I knew Blake wanted this just as much as I did.

It was all starting to become too much for me. I needed him, I needed more. I needed him inside of me. Eventually I started to grab and fumble with the belt of his pants. Before I could allow him to spring free, however, Blake stopped me with a powerful hand on my wrists.

"No, no, no. Not until I say so," he told me, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I want to watch you strip for me, first."

"What, here?" I asked. After all, the lights were still on, I was in my living room. Did Blake really want me to stand off and take all my clothes off in front of him?

"Yes, here. Unless you'd rather I tell you to do it in the street," he added, and I realized there was a good chance he meant it.

"No, no, here is fine," I replied, getting up slowly off the couch. I had never done anything like this before, and I was nervous. I moved over to the light to turn it down, but I just needed one stern look from Blake to tell me that wasn't what he wanted.

Nerves running all through me, I made my way over to the centre of the room. Blake lay sprawled across the couch, his eyes on me, almost looking as though he was getting ready to spend an afternoon watching football, if it wasn't for the growing bulge under his pants.

I took a deep breath and thought that if I was going to have to do this, I wanted to do it right. I wanted to look s.e.xy.

Taking my time, I began to unb.u.t.ton my shirt. One, two, three b.u.t.tons. I'd occasionally look up and give Blake the best bedroom eyes I could, locking my eyes with his as I slipped the shirt up and over my head, letting it drop to the floor. The s.e.xy push-up lace bra I wore made my b.r.e.a.s.t.s bulge out, and as much as I was incredibly nervous about doing this in front of someone, even Blake, I was getting pretty turned on.

I closed my eyes as I reached back behind me and unclipped my bra. As soon as I dropped the fabric, my b.r.e.a.s.t.s would be exposed completely to Blake's eyes, watching me intently, with every single part of his being focused on my body. I wasn't used to being so openly looked at, but I knew I had no other choice.

Using my hands, I cupped my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, hiding them from view for just an extra instant as I let my bra fall to the floor. After all, if Blake wanted a show, I was going to give him just that. I wanted to drive him just as crazy as I felt standing up here, and going by the slight fidgeting he was doing and his deeper breathing, I knew what I was doing was working.

Slowly, tantalizingly, I let my hands drop, exposing my nipples. The cool air instantly made them go hard, and I turned around slowly, giving Blake a 360-degree view of my unclothed upper body.

I did another half turn, so my back was facing him, and undid the b.u.t.tons and zipper on my jeans. Doing my best booty shake, I slid them slowly down my legs and off, kicking them off to the side as I wore only my panties.

"Oh G.o.d you have a nice a.s.s," I heard Blake mutter as he admired it. Next came the panties. I fingered the hem of the fabric for a couple seconds, half to tease Blake, half to build up the nerve to finally do this.

Taking one long deep breath, and reminding myself that Blake had seen me naked plenty of times and this wasn't really that much more exposed than any of those times, I slipped my panties off. I did a slow twirl once more, giving Blake the perfect view of my now completely naked body.

"Nice... now come over here," Blake ordered, and I immediately did as he asked. He pulled me on top of him and kissed me hard before letting his hands roam all over my body. My skin flushed with heat as the soft velvet of his fingers roamed around my naked body. With him fully dressed and me completely naked I felt so much more exposed somehow, like he was looking deep into the depths of my soul.

Suddenly, with a single quick motion, Blake grabbed me and flipped me over so I was laying on my back on the soft cushions of the couch, looking up at him. I fumbled with his shirt while he undid his pants, and the next thing I knew, he was naked on top of me.

"You're so hot," he whispered into my ear, nibbling my ear lobes while he slipped his finger towards my s.e.x. My core clenched with antic.i.p.ation as the tips of three of his fingers found my entrance and slipped inside of me. I was so wet, his digits entered me without any problems at all. My back arched against the couch as his fingers moved in and out of me, the perfect appetizer while I waited for the main course.

Finally, when I thought I couldn't stand it anymore, Blake gave me what I wanted. What I needed. He shifted on the couch slightly, moving his torso in between my legs, then pressed his tip against my slit.

"Oh yes," I whispered breathlessly as he pressed against me, entering me with a single, swift motion. I closed my eyes to enjoy the sensations coursing through me as Blake began to slide in and out of me. It was almost more than I could handle, I hadn't realized just how turned on I was, just how close I already was to o.r.g.a.s.m.

Still, Blake was going slowly enough to stop me from reaching that final peak too fast. We moved together, as one. I wrapped my legs around his hips and helped him press deeper inside of me, with every single stroke he went in as deep as he could. I felt my walls stretching to accommodate him every time he pounded inside of me, and soon it was just too much to handle.

"Oh, I'm going to come," I muttered, clenching my eyes shut, waiting for the waves of pleasure to wash over.

"Come for me, Julia, come for me now," Blake ordered, and I did. My body erupted with pleasure as wave over wave of pure ecstasy washed over me. I could feel Blake clenching underneath me, feel his shaft pulsating inside of me, and I knew he was coming too. Our eyes locked as we came together, both of us enjoying the ultimate in pleasure together.

I wished the moment could have lasted forever, but eventually our o.r.g.a.s.ms pa.s.sed and we collapsed into a heap of limbs and body parts, together on the couch.

"Merry Christmas," I whispered happily into his ear as we rested in each other's arms, Christmas carols sounding softly from the TV in the other room.

Unfortunately, the next day Blake had to fly back to New York for business, but once again, he promised we would see each other soon. It was becoming incredibly bittersweet; I loved to see him, but every time he had to go it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest.

I was surprised to see in the local Columbus paper, a few days later, a small blurb about how billionaire tech mogul Blake Andrews had spent Christmas in the city with his new girlfriend, local nursing student Julia Marley. At least this article didn't have any embarra.s.sing photos of me falling over, but unfortunately, the press seemed to have figured out who I was.

Of course, I mentioned it in pa.s.sing to Blake, who apologized to me again. I told him not to worry about it, that the first time was a lot worse for a million reasons. Unfortunately, I had no idea how wrong that was.

It was two days after the article was published that Blake told me the bad news: a rival company was making a push to buy a company that Blake's company was also trying to buy, and so he was going to be swamped with work at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, Blake didn't think he was going to be able to make it to Columbus until at least his February business trip, and even that might have to be cancelled.

Sure, I told him it was alright, and I understood, but deep down I was crushed. There was no way around it, I was in love with Blake Andrews. But at the same time, I knew that I wasn't going to have much time either once cla.s.ses started up again. I hoped this wasn't the first step in our relationship falling apart: the first excuses, the first trip cancelled. No, it couldn't be like that. This was just going to be a one-time thing. In the future, Blake would be able to see me, and I'd be able to see him, even with my busy nursing schedule. We would be the ones to defeat the odds, we would be the ones to make it.

Right?

The New Year came and went, and with it the first week of January. Blake was right when he said he'd be busy, he was barely able to text me, and as I started getting back into my studies, trying to focus on the human anatomy and not the texts that it took him hours to reply to, I continued trying to convince myself that we were going to make it work. This was just a temporary setback. After all, these things happened when you were an important businessman worth billions. He didn't buy that penthouse by replying to texts from his girlfriend straight away, I told myself.

It was Friday, the first week of the new year was coming to a close. I had just stopped at the local market and grabbed some groceries for the weekend, I was looking forward to just eating a microwave dinner and some Ben & Jerry's while relaxing on the couch with whatever was on TV. I hadn't done that in a while, and as I entered my building, I was already mentally trying to figure out what TV shows were on Fridays. Maybe Hawaii Five-O? I would watch that show whenever I saw reruns, and now I wondered if it would remind me of Grand Cayman Island.

When I got to my floor, it didn't even register that something was wrong until I realized someone was standing in front of my door.

It had been a few years since I'd seen that blonde hair, those blue eyes, the ones that always pleaded with me to give him another chance. Except now, I wasn't going to. Not a chance. Still, fear ripped through me. What was he doing here? Tom had never made any attempt to come and see me before. How did he know where I lived?

"What are you doing here?" I asked. My voice was cold as steel. I didn't want to give him any ideas that he might be remotely welcome.

"What, no h.e.l.lo?" He flashed me the smile that seemed so charming when I was young and naive.

"No, no h.e.l.lo. What are you doing here? Get away from my apartment."

"Oh, I get it. You're too good for me now. You go off and find yourself a rich guy, and poor old Tom gets tossed aside."

"What are you talking about? We haven't been a couple in years, and we never will be. I want you gone, I want you out of my life, right now."

He took a step closer to me, and I stepped back away from him. I wondered if anyone else was home, what I should do if he came after me.

"You don't want that though, do you? You always came back to me. And I know I haven't been the perfect boyfriend. But when I read about you finding someone new in the paper after Christmas, I knew I had to do something. I couldn't let you go. You're my soul mate, Julia. You know it, I know it."

"Absolutely not. You're an abusive piece of s.h.i.t, and I want you gone. We will never be together. Got it?"

I suddenly saw the flash of anger that I'd seen in Tom's eyes so many times before. I knew I was in trouble. I dropped my bags of groceries, forgotten. I scrambled down the hall, yelling out for help, but no help came.

In an instant he was on top of me. He hit me in the face as I kicked out, screaming, desperately trying to get away. I tried to hit him with my arms, but before I got a chance he punched me in the face. His. .h.i.t landed perfectly. I heard something crack, I tasted blood and the world started to go dark.

Forcing myself to stay conscious, not knowing if I would ever wake up if I didn't, I continued to scream. I fought as hard as I could as my abusive ex hit me over and over and over. Eventually I started to cover my face with my arms, and I kicked with every ounce of strength I had. It wasn't enough. Tom had always been strong, and I had never been. He was overpowering me, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I could feel myself blacking out. I struggled, and fought, but the hits to my head were just becoming too much. Stars filled my field of vision, and just before I finally collapsed, I thought I heard a shout. Maybe not. But what I did know was my last thought was that I loved Blake.

My brain woke up before my eyes opened. I could hear the steady, rhythmic beep beep beep of a heart rate monitor. Harsh fluorescent lights shone through my closed eyelids, and a familiar smell of cleaner filled my nostrils. There was hustle and bustle a little ways away, and I immediately knew I was in a hospital. After all, I'd spent enough time here doing my studies to know exactly where I was.

My head was pounding, I had a splitting headache, but I forced my eyes to open. Blake was sitting next to me, a bandage on his forehead and his arm in a sling, but looking incredibly relieved that I'd woken up.

"What... happened?" was all I managed, and I wasn't even sure I got the words out.

"It's ok, you're safe. You're in the hospital, you've got a few cuts and bruises, but you're going to be ok."

"I remember... Tom... at my apartment."

"Yes, he was there. The police have him now, he's in their custody. Relax, Julia. Just relax. Everything's going to be fine. You need to rest, the time to go over what happened isn't now."

His soft voice, so confident, so rea.s.suring, was enough to allow me to drift back to sleep, into a dreamless sleep that seemed to last forever.

When I woke up again, I found out it had only been two hours.

"What time is it now?" I asked Blake.

"It's just after one in the morning."

"On what day?"

"Sunday."

I did some mental math in my head that took a lot longer than it would have on any other day.

"So I've been here for a day and a half?"

"Yes."

"But wait... if it's one in the morning, visiting hours are over."

"Not when you promise to make a hefty donation to the hospital, they aren't."

I managed a weak smile. "You didn't have to do that for me."

"I did. I promised when I saw you I wouldn't leave your side. Not until you woke up, not until you were better."

I drifted back in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night. Every time I woke up, Blake was there. Sometimes he was texting, sometimes he was on his laptop, both of which looked a little awkward to do with just one usable hand, and sometimes he was just watching me. But he was always there. Always caring.

On Monday morning, I finally felt well enough to try and eat some solid food, to try and piece together what had happened. I pestered Blake about it until he finally told me the story.

"I came to surprise you for the weekend. We reached an impa.s.se with the company we were trying to buy, there was a legal problem that had to be dealt with before we could move forward, and so I knew I would have a weekend free while the lawyers sorted it all out. So, I decided to come and spend it with you, since I didn't know when the next time we'd really get to see each other was."

At that point, every doubt I had about us succeeding as a couple, every nagging feeling that maybe Blake was pulling away by cancelling the trip in February dissipated completely. It was obvious now that he wasn't doing that, he was going to come and visit me on his rare weekend off! My heart fluttered with love as he continued his story.

"Maybe I should have told you, maybe none of this would have happened if I had. Who knows. What I do know is that I decided to make it a surprise. I was going to show up at your apartment on Friday night and tell you we had the whole weekend together. I remembered your address, I told the cab driver where to go. My plan had been to do the whole romantic thing and call you, tell you to get down to the front of your building and surprise you, since I didn't know the code, and I had no idea how long it would take for someone to come out of the building."

"You're right, that would have been one h.e.l.l of a surprise!" I told him. It sounded so romantic as he told the story, I wished with all my heart that was how it had happened.

"Then when I got there, I could hear you screaming inside. I knew it was you, and I knew you were in trouble. I ran back to the taxi before he could drive off, told him someone was in trouble, and got him to call 9-1-1 while I grabbed the crowbar from the trunk and pried the door to your building open."

"The landlord's not going to be happy," I replied with a bit of a smile.

"No, I got an earful about it, until I threatened to sick my lawyers on him. After all, destroying that door might have saved your life, I wasn't going to let him bully me at that point. I broke in and immediately saw that man on top of you, hitting you. I think you were already pa.s.sed out, you'd stopped screaming. He didn't see me coming at all, and the fact that I played football in high school came in handy. I tackled him off you. We fought. Eventually, I overpowered him. The cops came, arrested both of us. When the cab driver told them what had happened, they let me go with apologies, got my contact info, and then let me ride with you in the ambulance."

"What happened to your arm?" I asked, looking over at the sling. "And your forehead?"

"The forehead was actually from tackling him, I hit my head on the ground as we both crashed. The arm, well, at one point he had a good vantage point on me, and he broke it. He thought he'd gotten me then, but luckily it was my left."

"Oh my G.o.d, Blake, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that happened to you just because you knew me. It was my ex, Tom. He had been abusive when we were in a relationship, he read about us in the paper and decided he wanted to claim me back, when he realized I'd moved on."

"I know, I immediately grabbed your phone and called Anna, she told me who he was when she arrived at the hospital and saw him."

Fear suddenly caught in my throat. "Wait, he's here?"

"Handcuffed to a bed and guarded by two cops 24/7. If it makes you feel any better, it's because I gave him a worse pounding than you got."