Unbreak Her Heart: A Billionaire BWWM Love Story by Lacey Legend Page B

resident of Aliyah’s bed instead and reminded her of the fun day with the girls.
    They took them to the zoo, planetarium, park, and mall. Brad wasn’t interested in the mall, but he would deal with it to see the look on Trinity’s face when they pulled up to the shoe store. Trinity had an affinity for shoes already. She would try on every pair if they let her. Aliyah joked that Julia would have to start saving now to buy Trinity’s shoes once she got into high school.
    The best times were the quiet nights when Brad and Aliyah were alone together. As Christmas approached, Aliyah’s apartment took on a festive glow with inexpensive, yet adorable decorations. She strung lights around the windows and even set up and decorated her own little tree. She was thrilled to have the energy to do it this year. Last year she had been too exhausted. The heart disease also had her worried that it could have been her last Christmas on earth. This year was like a new life and she was very grateful. When she was finished, she sat down next to her tree and enjoyed the colored lights and brightly colored ornaments. Her thoughts went again to the person whose heart lay beating beneath her breastbone. She bowed her head and said a prayer for this person who must have had a rapid and tragic death that took a perfectly healthy person out of the world before the heart could stop beating. She also prayed for loved ones who were facing their first Christmas without the owner of this heart. She was the keeper of the heart now and felt an obligation to live life to the fullest, both for herself and for the life lost.
    When Brad saw her apartment, he spun around and said, “I’ve got something for you at home. My mother gave me a star for a Christmas tree. We haven’t used it in years because it’s meant for a small tree and we always have a huge tree. The house is empty right now because the country club is having a party to celebrate a man’s 40 th year working there and he’s a good friend of my staff so I let them have the night off. Shall we go and get it? We may have to dig around in the attic ourselves since the staff is gone.” He gave her a smile that meant he couldn’t wait to give her the star for her tree.
    They left for the mansion. Aliyah had seen it briefly one other time, but she had stayed in the car because they were late for a show, and they had never spent much time there. Usually they were only there to switch cars or for Brad to grab a bag or computer. On this night, they traipsed in and headed to the attic. The size of the house was a shock to Aliyah. She knew it was a mansion, but room after room after room opened up before her. They went to the attic. She had expected a dusty, old fashioned attic with cobwebs and spooky noises. Instead she found a neatly organized and cleaned space with good lighting and carefully organized shelves and bins. This made it easy to find the star because it was in a section of bins in green and red with notes on each bin. They found the box with a year written on it from his mother’s earlier life. They opened the box and he took out the sparkling star.
    In itself, the star was not an extravagant gift, but knowing that it was from his mother; Aliyah took it very seriously. She held it to the light and thanked him for the beautiful gesture. They picked themselves up and began to wind their way back down to the lower levels of the house. They spoke softly and reaffirmed their love in quiet tones as they held hands. This intimacy caused their passions to stir. They passed a room on the third floor with the door ajar. Aliyah glimpsed a comfortable, four poster bed with thick bedding. There was also a gas fireplace, heavy sheers on the windows, and the entire room invited her to settle in. Brad was having the same thought and gently took her hand and led her inside. He turned on the fireplace with a flick of a switch and bolted the door behind them.
    Aliyah could tell that it wasn’t Brad’s