“Cara?” she asked.
“Yeah. I didn’t fight for her. Of course, now I know I let the rumors about her and Jeff spending time together when I was gone on a chartered flight eat away at me. But instead of saying something, I said nothing.”
“But you asked her to marry you?”
It was my turn to be surprised, but honesty was my best defense.
“I was grasping at straws. It was nothing but my ego wanting to win the girl. If she’d said yes, then everything everyone was saying wasn’t true.”
“From her point of view, you didn’t care. You’d moved on within days of you breaking up because, in her words, the fact that you didn’t want kids was a deal breaker.”
I choked on a laugh. “I was nineteen. Of course, I didn’t want kids. Hell, I realized after I asked her to marry me that I didn’t want that either.”
“You didn’t love her?”
“I loved her in the way that a naïve boy loves the first girl to blow his mind. But we weren’t right for each other. She’s more suited to Jeff. They’re happily married with three kids and I’m happy for them.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“What?” I asked.
“Kids? What are your thoughts about kids now?”
“Maybe someday.” I couldn’t read her expression, so I pushed forward. “I do have another proposition for you.” I waited a beat before continuing and dug up sand and released it slowly out of my hand to keep busy as to not reach for her. “The airlines are still trying to recover. Meanwhile, charter flights are booming. Even if you don’t want to work on things with me, we could use a flight attendant on staff.”
“Work on us?” she asked, astonished not by my job offer.
“Yes. I wasn’t going to ask you how you felt about me, but fuck it. Have you been seeing anyone else?”
“No. You?” she asked. I shook my head. “Are you hooking up with anyone?”
I lifted my hand. “Just me and this guy.”
Her jaw dropped. “No one, for five months?”
“There’s no one else for me.”
A tear slipped from her eye and I closed the distance between us to wipe it from her face.
“Don’t cry,” I begged.
“You don’t understand,” she sobbed.
“I understand love is when two people don’t give up but fight for each other. Are you willing to fight with me?”
“I.” She hesitated. “I love you too, but there’s something I need to tell you.”
I didn’t understand why she was getting to her feet until she stood there.
“How far along?” I asked, remaining calm as I stared at her rounded belly.
“I planned to tell you.”
“How far along?” I repeated because I didn’t trust myself from saying something stupid.
“About five months.” She spoke so quietly if the wave hadn’t broken a second before I might not have heard her.
I got to my feet, wondering if I should leave because fighting with her couldn’t be good for the baby.
“When were you going to tell me? After the baby was born, when he or she took their first steps, or maybe never?”
She raised her hands like she wanted me to calm down. Again, I thought about leaving, but dammit, I deserved answers.
“Grant.” She tried and failed to stop my tirade because I was on a fucking roll.
“When did you know? Is that why you left? Don’t you think I had a right to know what was going on with you and why you left? You said nothing.”
“You have a right to be angry.”
“You’re right. I do and I am,” I spat, trying to reconcile the woman I loved and the one who’d lied to me for months.
“Now it’s your turn to hear me,” she demanded. “I thought I might be pregnant before I left. But what was I supposed to do? Ask for a ride to the small-town pharmacy and get a test so everyone in town would know?”
“Yes,” I yelled.
“Well, I didn’t. I was confused and scared.”
“You didn’t trust me enough to be with me.”
“It’s not that. I trust you, but if it was positive, I would have had to come home and seen my doctor anyway.”
“Which I would have come with you.”
“I know,” she yelled back. “But I didn’t know what I felt, how I felt, or what the hell I was going to do. Plus, what Cara said about you not wanting kids messed with my mind. I didn’t want to force your hand. I thought I was doing us both a favor by figuring it out first.”
“Meanwhile, I missed every appointment.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to go anyway with everything that’s happening. You missed nothing,” she screamed.
I took in a deep breath because arguing wasn’t solving anything.
“Am I to assume you’re keeping it, or do I have a say?” I asked with no bite behind it.
“Of course, you have a say. And yes, I’m keeping the baby and I was going to tell you.” She fiddled with her phone, and moments later held up the screen for me to see. “I was coming this weekend to tell you. I even rented a car. I just thought that texting you or speaking to you over the phone wasn’t the way.”
Seeing the confirmed plane ticket took all the fight out of me and I sagged some before shifting my shoulder and standing straight.
“Marry me.” It wasn’t a question in my mind.
“You don’t have to do that. I would never come between you and your child.”
“I’m not giving up on you,” I declared. “You’re the one I want, and I will pursue you to the ends of the earth if that’s what you want. But make no mistake, I will walk through fire to get you to marry me one day. Or we can cut to the chase and you can be my wife now.”
“What a great proposal,” she said, smiling.
I loved the fight in her.
“You want a proposal?” I asked.
She nodded and I got on one knee, pulling a box from my pocket.
“I came prepared.”
That got the reaction all guys hoped for. The hands covering the gasp and tears, happy ones, brimming in her eyes.
“Just like I keep chains for my tires, even though we don’t always get heavy snow that warrants it, I like to be prepared. I came here to get you back by any means possible. And no, marrying you isn’t the desperate attempt the teenage boy in me did years ago. The ring was a promise to you from me that I was in this for the long haul. If you don’t believe me, keep it until you’re ready. I know now I’ve never loved anyone before because I’ve never been willing to fight. You are worth fighting for.”
I waited a second longer. “Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”
Payback was a bitch because she said nothing for a moment, stretching it into an agonizing minute, and maybe I deserved it.
“Yes. Yes, I’ll be your wife.”
Then she was in my arms and I was standing, scooping her up and twirling her around.
“I love you,” I said before kissing her hard on the mouth.
“I love you more,” she said back. Then the heat was back and not from the sun. “Now take me to bed.”
I smirked. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Thirty-One
Jolene
There was no way to understand how much I’d missed Grant until I woke up in his arms.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I said, turning in his arms.
“There’s no place I’d rather be.”
I pulled away and almost got off the bed before he caught me. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“I have a flight to catch.”
“Screw that, you’re flying back with me. I’ll cover the cost of your ticket.”
“Oh, so now you’re rich?” I teased.
“No, but you’re worth the investment.” He pulled me back into his arms and put his hand on my belly. “I’m going to be a father,” he muttered.
“And you’re really okay w
ith that?”
“Yes.” He paused and I held my breath, wondering what he’d say next. “I came here prepared to marry you and one day build a family. My timeline has moved up, but the goals remain the same.”
Tearfully, I moved to join our lips together. “Sorry, I need to brush my teeth,” I said, covering my mouth.
“You’re fine,” he said, drawing me back, using his tongue to separate my lips and take things deeper.
Then, he was stroking me between my legs, bringing me more pleasure that I’d missed while we’d been apart.
When he slipped inside me, slowly, expertly, I gave myself over to him, allowing that orgasm to build to the size of Mount Everest until finally, we came together as one.
As we lay in the afterglow, I admitted something I never thought I would.
“You know I thought you were an asshole when we first met,” I said.
He grinned. “And I thought you were a spoiled princess.”
“Is that why you called me Highness?”
“It fit,” he teased.
I playfully slapped his arm. “Jackass fit you, but I didn’t call you that.”
“Jackass isn’t a bad thing when you’re hung like one,” I joked.
She shook her head. “Your ego knows no bounds.”
“And you liked it when I called you Highness. Admit it?”
I laughed because I did miss it. “What are you going to call me now?”
There was no hesitation when he said, “Wife.”
“We’re not married yet.” I giggled. “Stop,” I said, scooting away from him because he was using his hands to distract me.
“I can’t help it. Your tits are amazing.”
I laughed and put more distance between us.
“I’m serious,” I complained with a wide grin.
“What do you want me to call you? Jolene? Jo?... Highness?”
I didn’t want him to call me Jolene. It felt too formal and he’d never called that before. Then I came to a decision.
“Mine,” I said, holding a straight face before dashing off the bed.
My belly, however, made it easy for him to catch me. We ended up in the shower with him on his knees before me making me come again.
By the time we got out of the shower, I was sure I wouldn’t have hot water for a month. I followed him back to the bed and was standing between his legs, prepared to get to my knees when his phone rang.
Grant
With my cock in Jolene’s hand, I wasn’t exactly excited to answer the phone. But when Liam’s name lit up on the screen, I had to.
“What’s up, bro?” I said, wrapping my hand around Jolene’s so she wouldn’t move it.
“Grant,” he said, though the connection was bad, and there was something in his voice that worried me.
I let go and ran a hand over my hair, unsure what I could do.
“Liam,” I said, fearing the connection had been lost.
Jolene must have sensed a change. She sat next to me and took my hand I’d balled into a fist into her own.
“I can’t talk for long,” he said. “I’m in trouble.”
The static almost covered his words.
“Where are you?”
Last we’d spoken, he’d still been in New York. He’d gotten a job as a helicopter pilot, something he’d learned from my father.
“New York. I’ve been found out. Can you come get me?”
He had a truck. So for him to ask, it had to be big. The problem was my pregnant fiancée sitting next to me.
“Liam, I wish I could,” I began, before just spitting it out. “Jolene’s pregnant. I don’t want to leave her alone.”
Jolene began to mime things next to me while shaking her head.
“What’s wrong?” I asked when he was still silent.
He said nothing.
“Liam,” I said, before pulling the phone from my ear and glancing at a blank screen.
“What’s wrong?” Jolene asked, echoing my words from moments before.
“I don’t know. We were disconnected,” I said, as I tried and failed to get him back on the phone. “He did ask me to go to New York.”
“Go,” she said.
My eyes fell to where our child grew inside her.
“We’ll be fine. I can take care of myself,” she said, with a hand on her stomach.
“I’ve missed too much. I don’t want to miss anything else,” I said, fighting both urges to stay and go.
“Then I’ll go with you,” she said. “I can visit Gran and Mom.”
I shook my head. “Your doctor is here. I don’t want you to have to look for a new doctor so close to the due date.”
“I have four months to go.”
I remained firm. “This will be our home base until our child is born.”
“What about Maryland and your dad?”
“I can fly clients from anywhere. And we can check with the doctor to see if you can go with me,” I said.
“And your cousin?”
“Liam isn’t alone in the city. Maybe it’s time I contact my cousins there and have them find out what’s going on.”
She squeezed my hand. “If you need to go, I’m okay. I don’t want you to regret not going.”
“The only thing I regret is not coming for you sooner. I will get in touch with Liam one way or another. Together we are stronger. I’m not leaving you unless I absolutely have to.”
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you more.”
Epilogue
For a moment, I just stared at the sky, enjoying the sun on my skin before taking in the guests who’d assembled at our home.
Grant had been busy over the last three years adding to our cabin because I didn’t want to move. Yet, we needed space for our growing family.
“What are you thinking about?” Stacy asked.
The sporting goods store owner and I had become fast friends. As it turned out, she and Grant had been friends and nothing more. She’d admitted there might have been a crush on her part when they were younger, but she’d gotten over it. She’d just been protective of him when we first met. She’d thought after everything he’d been through he deserved the best. Somewhere along the way, I’d made a best friend. Something I hadn’t had in boarding school as the “scholarship kid”, or so the rich kids believed me to be because no one at the time knew the owner of Skyland Airlines was my dad.
“Just enjoying the day,” I said.
“I’m enjoying the scenery,” she said mischievously. “Grant brought in all these construction guys to town, which has made things interesting.”
I laughed. “Down, girl. Aren’t all those lost rich hiker men enough?” I teased.
Stacy doubled as a ranger since our town had been building high-end cabins in the area to attract rich tourists who liked to hike or whitewater raft.
“You say that ’cause you’re married. I still need to find the one.” Her eyes trailed over to one of the guys she’d been talking about. “I’ll see you later.”
Grant had invited the crew because they didn’t have family in the area.
I was shaking my head when I heard, “Mommy.”
Clutching my leg was my heart, a cherub-faced darling who looked so much like her father it was eerie because that meant he’d be a darn good-looking woman.
“Gracie,” I said, sweeping her up in my arms.
“Grandad is trying to get me.” Her giggles were the oxygen that filled my lungs.
“There she is,” Dad said.
Yeah, Dad. That day on the beach when Grant showed up led to a night I’d never forget. In the afterglow, Grant had called me out for owning a house right on the beach, saying I was a rich girl.
When I explained that I’d had a firm budget of a few hundred thousand for a house and how I’d looked and looked, until my realtor told me a short sale was on the market in my price range and we had to move fast, Grant didn’t think that was the full story.
After checking
the value of my home online, I finally had that conversation with my father.
He admitted that when he’d found out I was looking for a house in Palm Beach, he’d decided that it was time to make up for the inequities between my half-siblings and me. Because he wasn’t sure if I’d take his money and also because he didn’t want his wife to find out, he’d bought the property and sold it to me through a broker for far less than it was worth.
That had started the healing process, and not because he’d bought me a house worth millions, but because he’d done something for me without seeking any sort of emotional gain out of the transaction. He’d been happy knowing I was happy, and would have never told me the truth if Grant hadn’t helped me figure it out.
“Dad, you made it,” I said, embracing him.
He kissed my cheek. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
Gracie reached for my father and he took her with so much love in his eyes, it nearly broke me. My life had grown so full. Besides Grant’s father treating me like a daughter, I’d ended up gaining two.
“Is Gran here?” I asked Dad.
“Yeah, she’s with your mom.”
They’d all come together. Dad’s divorce had been final for well over a year. He and Mom were apparently dating and taking things slowly. Slower than he’d liked. She didn’t want to jump into something so soon and have anyone, including his other children, think he’d been cheating on their mother with her.
Madeline hadn’t walked away with much. At the time the ink hit paper, airlines around the globe were still recovering from the losses the virus had brought.
My brothers were okay with their parents’ split. Partly because they’d seen more of the discord between their parents over the years. Sophia, on the other hand, wasn’t. I couldn’t make her like me or the situation, but I was ready to make peace whenever she wanted to.
I waved at people as I made my way over to Gran, who’d fully recovered from her ordeal.
“Gran,” I said, hugging her for all I was worth and maybe a little more for the hug I couldn’t give my mother because she wasn’t there mentally yet.
Arrogant Savior: A Hero Club Novel Page 15
