The Billionaire’s Full Figured Desire

Not to say that she hadn’t given it a try! She’d given it a good try! But some things were just far too precious to ever be forgotten, no matter how hard you tried.

Frida, however, thought today might be easier. Of all days. Her twenty-ninth birthday, and a fine way she was spending it, too. Booted out of her own restaurant, miles backward in her career, and she hadn’t seen Terrence in weeks. She knew he didn’t have much to lose, he still had his billionaire status after the damage was done. He didn’t answer his calls, his texts. He seemed to have forgotten her. Frida had thought that impossible, but the evidence so far suggested the contrary. How he could manage to forget her almost wounded her, especially after the amazing time they had shared together. She had tried to keep an open mind about the whole thing, especially considering they had never truly spoken about what they were, but she had hoped that she had meant something to him regardless, she thought that maybe she hadn’t after all.

No one could blame her for thinking that he just couldn’t face her after everything that had happened but there was a part of her, a part that she wanted to bury so far down that the thought didn’t even cross her mind and that past was the possibility that he had had enough of her just as the news had broken out. It was a horrible thought that she didn’t want to have, but nothing else really made sense to her.

Frida was pulled right out of her internal monologue by a familiar face blocking her path on the street.

“Andrew!” she exclaimed.

Andrew grinned right back at her in a way that Frida had never seen before. She was surprised, to say the least, to see her old friend beaming like the Cheshire Cat.

“What are you doing here?” she exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you in months!”

“Nor I you.” Andrew patted her on the shoulder. “It’s not been easy, getting back into the culinary world as a professional.”

Frida nodded. “You’re telling me,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Well.” Andrew smirked. “I can tell you that it’s about to get easier.”

Frida frowned, puzzled. “What do you mean it’s about to get easier?”

“Come with me, you’ll see,” Andrew winked at her.

Frida was now 100% alarmed. Andrew? Winking? Was today even happening? It seemed as if she had missed something, and she couldn’t tell exactly what that was. Something about the way he talked and acted didn’t add up, nor was it his normal behavior.

As they walked up the high street and into town, Frida got a feeling that she knew where they were heading. And her suspicions were proven right. They were taking her old route to work before the restaurant had been closed down of course. But once they rounded the bend into the little square where L’Ultima Cena had been, Frida caught her breath. The restaurant had been closed and stripped barren of course. No more signs, no more carpeted interior, dining tables, chairs, even the antlers had been taken away.

But now? Something even grander was standing in its place. The entire building just screamed bistro. It had an elegant color scheme, it had glass windows that had been freshly cleaned and polished, and a brand new velvety banner hanging over the front, obscuring its name.

Oh, and a huge crowd of people.

As soon as Frida came into sight, the crowd burst out into raucous applause. Frida just stood there, a bemused expression on her face. What did one say to this? What even was this? This was harder to react to than the “happy birthday” song.

“There she is!” boomed a familiar voice.

Frida looked up and spotted him. Perched on the very top of a long ladder, next to the velvety banner, was Terrence Harrison. Looking as gorgeous as ever. “The woman of the hour!” Terrence cried out. He descended the ladder quickly and approached her. He looked quite abnormal wearing decorator’s overalls and a light blue t-shirt. “Well howdy-do,” he said cheekily, winking.

Frida reared back and punched him in the shoulder. “Where have you been?!” she exclaimed angrily.

“Ow!” Terrence yelped, massaging his arm. “That hurt!”

“Well?” Frida asked. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been busy!” Terrence said defensively. “Buying this place. And then refurbishing it, of course.”

“What is this place?” Frida looked up at the restaurant.

Terrence smirked. “It’s yours. If you want it, that is.”

Frida’s eyes almost bugged out. “What?”

“Well, half of it’s mine, but I want to give you the other half,” Terrence explained. “Chris! If you would!”

A man in the crowd yanked on a long rope, and the velvet banner slid away, revealing the embossed name of the bistro for all to see in all its glory. “Welcome,” Terrence said grandly. “To Carter & Harrison’s. Happy birthday, hun.”

He kissed her on the cheek, and the crowd awwed. Frida even heard one or two wolf-whistles. She was beyond ecstatic. He’d never called her hun before! But even better than that was the gift that he was trying to give her. It was beyond anything she had ever received before, she honestly had no way to compare it to anything in her entire life. Nothing had ever been handed to her, nothing had ever been given to her so easily, and the fact that Terrence had done something so profound for her made her almost wanted to cry.

“You’d make me the Head Chef here?” she asked, eyes full of wonder.

She was amazed that he would do something like that for her, and she instantly felt bad for thinking the worst of him. To be fair, anyone in her position would’ve probably thought the same.

Terrence smirked. “Head Chef and co-owner. Shareholder. Top kahuna. Whatever you want to call it. And yes, before you ask, I’ve already hired Andrew as the sous chef. So…what do you say?”

Frida looked around her. Looked at her new business. Looked at her best friend, smiling at her. Looked at the crowd of adoring people who never lost faith in Frida Carter even when she was fired. She looked around at the city that she loved, and what that city had given her. And what that city was still giving to her. And best of all, she looked at Terrence. No longer just a man she was “involved with.” He was more than that, and they both knew it. He was her lover.

It was a bond they shared, it was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Even with all the doubts she had that had started to drive her a bit crazy, she knew by the look on Terrence’s’ face that he was all hers and she also knew that she was all his. There was no way she would ever see herself without him now. It was a scary thought, but the thrill of it was all she needed.

“Terrence Harrison,” she said softly. “You may just be the perfect man.”

She looped her arms around his neck, and they shared their first public kiss while the crowd roared in approval. She savored the feeling of his lips against hers, after all, it had been two months since she had last kissed him. It was amazing, their bodies connected like they hadn’t been apart and their lips melted into each other, crushing against the others as they formed to make one whole. It was at his touch that Frida realized she would never get tired of how he felt against her and how he made her feel in the pit of her being. It was overwhelming and almost magical.

It was almost crazy to think that Terrence had left his beautiful date not so long ago to talk to Frida and soon he was building her a restaurant of her own, she didn’t think she could have ever been that lucky. Meeting him had been lucky enough, but everything after that seemed to work is a motion of ups and downs, and yet it had been possibly the greatest experiences of her life so far.

The end.