Enough
by Heather
Fast cars.
Beautiful women.
Designer clothing.
Expensive champagne.
This was the life of Nicholas Foxworth Crane. But with his short spiky hair, devilish smile, and toned tanned body, he was more like a smooth, stealthy animal than a proper little "Nicholas".
A fox.
Fox Crane, Playboy.
"Well, hey there gorgeous."
Fox spun around to see Audrey Davis as she slowly sauntered over in his direction. Fox looked her up and down, taking in every square inch of her shapely body. She was a tall leggy blonde with dark green eyes and a bank account to match.
He had known her all through boarding school. She wasn't his girlfriend. Fox Crane didn't have girlfriends. Fox Crane had.... friends with benefits. Never a girlfriend.
"Damn, she's hot." he thought, 'I can't wait to get her back to the hotel room, lay her back on the bed, and......."
His thoughts were interrupted by her newly manicured hands reaching around his tight waist as he sat at the bar. He smiled his famous cocky smile, and felt her hot breath on his neck.
"I want to thank you for my gorgeous diamond bracelet," she whispered seductively into his ear, "I just adore it! It goes so well with my sapphire necklace you bought me for my birthday. How could I ever repay you?"
Fox sat his half-empty brandy down on the smooth glass surface and spun around, grabbing her waist and pulling her body closer to his. "Oh, I could think of a few ways," He ran his calloused hand up and down the exposed skin on her back, sending goosebumps down her spine. She giggled softly, and rubbed her hand up his muscular thigh. Almost instinctively, Fox stood up and tilted his head to the side, nibbling on her ear.
"I... want you... so... bad," he groaned between the kisses he sent down her long neck.
She moaned as he began to suck gently. He laughed to himself at the affect he had on her, on most woman, actually. She turned her face toward his and he delivered a kiss on her lips. She opened her mouth, allowing him to access to her tongue. Seconds later, she pulled back, licking her swollen lips.
"Let's take this back to my place," he said, his speech labored.
"Yeah," she said breathlessly as Fox took her by the hand, leading her out into the humid September evening to the awaiting limousine.
Oh yeah, she would be enough. At least for tonight.....
Despite all the money and the women, he wasn't happy. Having a different woman in his bed every night eventually got old, even for Fox. He was bored, and he was penniless. The womanizing routine had eventually worn thin, much like his diminishing bank account.
That's when he decided to come home.
"Hello, Stepmommy. I saw your picture in the paper; it didn't do you justice."
It had been just four short months since he had first uttered those words, those words that were still very much of a playboy. This was also when he first waltzed into Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald's life, or she walked into his. He wasn't entirely sure.
In those few months, Fox had changed dramatically. It almost scared him.
Almost.
Gone was the smooth womanizer that had first tried to seduce Theresa, and from the ashes rose a kinder, gentler, caring human being.
A true man.
She had changed him, more than she could ever know. She made him want to be better. She showed him the kindness that no one else in his life had ever bothered to show him, and she saw things in him that most people hadn't looked far enough to find. For this, he would always be grateful. She was genuine; she was beautiful. When she smiled, she really smiled. Her optimism never wavered, and although she never realized it, she gave him a feeling he had never truly felt before: happiness. But more than that, she made him feel truly alive for the very first time in his life.
He was in love with her.
Honestly. Simply.
She wasn't perfect. Far from it. But he loved her because of it. He knew everything there was to know about Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, and he loved every single part of her. He accepted her completely, and she accepted him. She was his best friend, and he was hers.
But as much time as they spent laughing together, sharing secrets under the stars, Theresa spent even more time talking to Fox about her love for his half-brother, Ethan Winthrop. How he hated him. Hated him for the things that he had taken from him. Hated him for having the life that for so long, Fox had thought he wanted.
But how could he deny her the comfort she so desperately needed? How could he push her away? And on this night, she crawled into his bed and laid down beside him, just like always, tears glistening in the moonlight.
"Fox," she sobbed, "I can hear them. I can hear Ethan and Gwen and it just makes me sick. They are even playing our song. Mine and Ethan's. I just can't take it anymore. I need you. I need you to hold me. You always ease the pain."
As much as it tore him up inside to hear these words, he did as she requested. She placed her head upon his bare chest, and he felt her warm tears trickle down. She shook with her sniffles and Fox soothed her, rubbing his hands though her thick hair, then down her silky brown skin. Then, he placed a soft kiss upon her forehead.
"It's going to be okay."
He loved her.
But was that always going to be enough for him?
"I can't do this anymore."
He spoke the words softly, his breath visible in the cold night air. He sighed; he was so tired. So very tired. Tired of being the one never getting anything in return. Tired of wanting her, and her never wanting him back. She might have changed him, but he was still characteristically selfish.
He loved her, but she didn't love him. She never would. She loved Ethan. He had accepted it. And Fox hated him for it. He hated him because all his life, his brother was the heir, and he was the spare. Because he was so uptight, and only cared about himself. Because he hurt Theresa. But most of all, because he couldn't allow himself to hate the person who was really causing him this pain: Theresa.
He had to walk away from this. He couldn't do this to himself anymore.
But this was the hardest thing he had ever done. Fox chuckled to himself. The irony of it all! Here he was breaking the heart of the woman he loved, but it wasn't a laugh of joy. Running away from things used to be so easy for him; it always made the hurt stop. But now he couldn't make his feet move from Theresa's driveway. In front of him stood she stood, with those all too common tears forming puddles in her big brown eyes. Despite the anger he was feeling, he couldn't stand to see her hurting. Every muscle in him wanted to pull her close, to breath her soft scent, and tell her how much she meant to him, and to kiss her so passionately, so passionately that it took her breath away. He wanted to make her love him.
But he couldn't.
Her tears changed form, from puddles to streams as they flowed down her face. Fox looked away, his heart aching. And for the first time, he too had to hold back tears.
"Please Fox, don't do this. You can't leave me," she whispered, "Don't you know that you are my rock? How can I ever do this without you? Please. You are my best friend, and I need you. Don't leave."
He needed her, too, but he couldn't let her know that. It wouldn't matter to her anyway.
"I'm so sorry, Theresa," he managed to say, "So very sorry. That's just not enough for me anymore."
And with that, he forced his heavy feet to turn around, and walk away from the only real thing he had ever felt.
He had had enough.
She missed him.
She loved him.
Honestly. Simply.
She had never told him, and now, she never could. And it was her fault.
She had lied, she had manipulated, and she had even schemed to get Ethan into her bed. And for what? For him to leave her and run off and marry Gwen because it was the "right thing"? Dammit, how could she have been so blind? Ethan was not the man he once was. The man she thought he was. But Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald was not one to give up easily. She hung on, believing in Ethan, believing in Fate.
How foolish she was.
He didn't want her. He didn't love her. He hadn't for a long time. And she had finally accepted it. She had fallen in love with a dream, and that dream died that cold New Years' Eve.
"I have an announcement to make! I'm going to be a father!"
"This isn't your baby."
It was over.
All she had ever wanted since she was a little girl walked away from her. His usually deep blue eyes were clouded gray with confusion and hurt, and he just walked away.
So easily.
But she couldn't give it up. She just couldn't. Even when she heard them making love in the room right next to hers, even when she heard the song that she and Ethan had danced to so many times before setting the mood in the Winthrop suite, she made herself believe. Believe in the impossible.
And then she would quietly slip out of her red silk sheets, tiptoe down the dark, unfeeling hall, and slide delicately into Fox's room.
"Fox, I can hear them. I can hear Ethan and Gwen and it just makes me sick. They are even playing our song. Mine and Ethan's. I just can't take it anymore. I need you. I need you to hold me. You always ease the pain."
He would always make her feel better. Smile. Laugh. She knew that.
Now who would make her smile? Make her laugh? Certainly not Ethan. Fox's smile was always so genuine, she couldn't help but smile, even when the world was crumbling around her. His voice was so smooth, so full of reassurance. He could fix anything. She loved that feeling.
And laying on his smooth chest as it rose and fell, listening to his heartbeat, at that moment, she fell in love with him. But she knew that all along.
"Everyone in my life leaves me! First Papa, Paloma, Antonio, and now Ethan? Why? Why Fox? Am I really that horrible?" She sobbed uncontrollably with rage and hurt.
He quickly ran to her side and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.
"Shhh, it's okay, baby. I would never leave you. You can always count on me."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
But he had left her. She finally realized how much lies truly hurt a person. She knew because of her aching heart.
He was gone. She wasn't enough.
"Theresa, is that you? What are you doing here?"
Fox could barely make out her slender figure standing in the dark shadows of the bedroom, but he knew the clicking sound of her feet on the beige carpet all too well.
Theresa let a small chuckle escape her lips. She smiled, cocking up one eyebrow.
"Well, this is my house, honey. I didn't want to wake you."
Fox smiled back. She looked so beautiful in the moonlight. Every part of her. Her long black hair. Round little nose. The dimple on her cheek.
And the ring on her left hand that the moonlight seemed to hit just exactly right.
"You didn't. I just thought you would be at the working on your designs into the wee morning hours."
"Well, I'm so sorry to disappoint you," she replied, sarcasm dripping from her words.
Fox turned over quickly, flipping in the switch of the bedside lamp.
"Oh, absolutely depressing!"
Theresa's rich laughter reverberated through the room.
"Well, what are you waiting for, baby? Come here."
"I can't, Fox, I still have to...."
"Please?"
Fox pouted his lips and made his best puppy dog face. Got her everytime.
Theresa's features softened as she looked at her husband. How could she deny him? Just looking at him stilled her heart. She thanked God over and over again that she was brave enough to chase after Fox that cold night, so glad her forgave her.
And now, they were married.
"Well, okay, if I have to."
Fox's expression immediately changed to the happy one he had worn previously. Gosh, he loved her.
She slipped off her business suit, and throwing it on the tall back of the chair. She slowly slipped on the purple silk nightgown Fox loved so very much.
"Well, he better," she thought to herself, "He bought it for me."
She reached down, pulling back the soft sheets that were full of the warmth Fox had supplied to them. She leaned down, placing a sweet kiss on Fox's lips, before sliding in beside him, just like always.
He pulled her close, as she rested her head on his chest. She release a tiny "Mmmm." from her lips as he ran his hands down her bare arms. The world melted away.
She sighed. "I love you, Fox Crane."
"I think you know that I love you, Theresa Crane."
This was perfect. This was enough.
THE END