Free Pursuit For Lucidity (Crashing Waves) by Marie Jem Page A

place,” he replied.
    “ No, Alex, don’t get excited.  Maybe if you continue your good behavior, I may extend an invitation to join me in a bath one day, from start to finish,” I said.
    He sigh ed, “Best behavior, I promise.  I do miss you.  I can’t wait until Friday, Claire.  I’m counting the seconds,” he confessed.
    The bath was so relaxing that I couldn’t stay awake another minute.  I slipped into my pajamas and crawled into bed.  I was asleep before I knew it.
    Thursday was another busy day.  Walter had asked me to book even more meetings, but this time in the afternoon, so I had more time to play.  Alex wanted to meet for lunch, since he only had one minor surgery to perform at the clinic across the street the remainder of the day.  I had to decline, since I was so busy with Walter’s meetings.
    On the way home that evening, I decided to stop by at the mall to see if I could find a new outfi t to wear the following night to Alex’s place.  I found just the perfect maxi dress.  It was an all black halter top with very mild ruffles on the top half.  It had such a classy look, yet casual.  It was not too much and not too little.
    I took the dress home, tried it on again and ironed it so that I could just rush home on Friday, slip into it and rush to his house.  I called Katherine to tell her about my new outfit and how excited I was.
    She sounded more excited than I, as usual.  “I can’t wait to talk about it on Saturday. I want to know what he cooks, what you drink, what you have for dessert,” Katherine went on and on about the endless details she must hear about.
    “ Okay, okay, Kathy, I get it.  I promise I won’t leave anything out.  Maybe we will meet up on Saturday or Sunday for some girl talk at brunch,” that sounded wonderful to me.
    “ I can’t wait.  Call me,” she replied before we hung up.
     
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    Friday morning, the texts started from Alex about how he couldn’t wait for that evening’s special dinner date.  I was starting to get anxious about his intentions.  Did he want more?  Was he planning a romantic and intimate evening?  I even wondered if I should cancel or make an excuse that I couldn’t make it, but I really wanted to see him and there was no way I was going to cancel.
    Laura wanted to go out for lunch with me , so I agreed, but decided I wanted to eat very light, since I might have a heavy dinner that evening.  I didn’t want to look like an inflated balloon in my new dress.  Walter was out of the office at an offsite meeting that day, so the workload was very light and there were no meetings to set up or take minutes in.
    I left work thirty minutes early just to get a head start, so I wouldn’t get stuck in horrible traffic.  I wanted to make a stop at the beverage store for a bottle of wine to take with me.  I chose a 2010 Merlot the salesman advised would be good for this evening.  I couldn’t wait to get home and take a very quick shower and curl my hair.  I didn’t want to look like I did every single day.  After I wore the dress with my hair curled and fresh makeup on, I was very pleased with what I saw in the mirror.  I slipped on my shoes and accessories and was headed to Malibu.

    Chapter 4
     
     
     
     
    I drove on Pacific Coast Highway, as Alex had instructed until I reached the private gate that led to his house.  I pressed the intercom button and Alex notified me that the gate would start to open within a few seconds.  A private flagstone road led up to a beautiful, extremely modern house at the top of a hill.  What a beautiful hillside on one side of the house and a view of the ocean on the other side.  The house was mostly windows and glass.  Alex was waiting in the driveway of his house as I pulled up and parked outside one of many garages. He looked amazing in his dark blue loose fit designer jeans and a tight, short sleeve grey t-shirt and flip flops on his feet.
    He opened my car door and helped me