“You’re coming back, yeah?” Upton asked, the pleading in his tone bringing a smile to my face.
“Tomorrow,” I replied, flicking my eyes in Sebastian’s direction. “I’m sure you two have a bit of catching up to do.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said. “I need to kick his ass at Fortnite.”
“Dream on,” Upton scoffed.
He and Sebastian stood by the door waving us off as I followed several cars winding their way down his driveway. As soon as we steered onto the main road, Zak shifted his focus to me.
“So, do you get to keep the car, now?”
I shook my head. “You really are a class-A jerk, you know that?”
Zak laughed. “I do have a bit of news if you’re interested. Although since you seem to think I’m an idiot and all…”
He trailed off, knowing he’d piqued my curiosity enough for me to cave in. “Fine, what news?”
“I got to talking to Oliver and Elliot last night, and they want me to work with them.”
I shot him a quick glance to check if he was teasing me, then returned my attention to the road. Up here in the mountains, the roads were pretty unforgiving. “Doing what?”
“They’re looking to drive more diversity across the varying businesses under the ROGUES brand and they want me to be an ambassador, to help shape the specific needs of people with disabilities and ensure they have access to the best accessible technology.”
“Oh, Zak.” Tears sprang to my eyes. Zak’s accident hadn’t stopped his ambition or his drive, but we lived in a world where, sadly, sometimes disabilities made it harder to succeed. It wasn’t right, but that didn’t make its existence any less real. “That’s such a fantastic opportunity.”
“Yeah, it is.”
I risked another look and, as I took in the pride in his expression, I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “They’re lucky to have you.”
22
Upton
“Walk me to the door,” I said as I clasped Belle’s hand.
She tipped back her head and squinted in the bright sunshine. “Nervous?”
“A little,” I admitted.
Today was my first day back at work. True to his promise, Ryker had pushed hard for me to return almost immediately. I’d held him off for a week, but in the end, I’d capitulated to his demands. Strange how quickly you lost confidence when out of the game for a while, and given almost seventeen months had passed since I’d last entered this building as ‘The Boss’, my confidence sat at an all-time low.
See, the problem with being the person at the top of the tree was that everyone expected you to have all the answers, to stride about with self-assurance and poise, to lead from the front. I barely remembered how to put on a tie this morning, let alone head up a board of smart go-getters who’d look to me for guidance, direction, and leadership.
Antonio had agreed to stay on for a week to give me at least the beginnings of a handover, but given his tenure at the helm had lasted a lot longer than anyone had anticipated—apart from me—he had other responsibilities vying for his attention. He’d done ROGUES a favor by stepping in, but Antonio ran his own very successful company, and he needed to get back to it. How he’d managed to juggle the two for this long was testament to the man’s talent.
“It’ll be fine, you know,” Belle said as she leaned her head on my shoulder. “In a few hours it’ll feel as if you’ve never been away.”
We reached the front entrance of my building, and I drew to a halt. “Maybe. Listen, I’ve been thinking.”
“Ooh, that’s dangerous.” Her eyes twinkled with mirth.
“Ha ha. Very funny. Anyway, it’s about your contract.”
She stiffened, and her eyes filled with apprehension. “What about it?”
“Well,” I began. “The contract was to act as a companion to me, and encourage me back into the land of the living, correct?”
She hesitated, and her eyes flitted about. “Yes.”
“And… here I am. Task complete.”
Her eyes went so wide, the whites were visible the entire way around her striking green irises. “So, you’re saying I’m, what, fired?”
“Precisely,” I said.
Her jaw slackened, and then her eyes hardened. “Wonderful. Have a nice life. Hope you’ll be very happy.”
She spun around to march away, but I caught her wrist before she got very far. “Hold up, gorgeous.”
“Why should I?” she snapped. “I’m fired, you just told me that, so I can go where I damn well please. And don’t call me gorgeous.”
A laugh burst out of me. “Why not? You are. Gorgeous, that is.”
It took her a while to catch on, but eventually, her expression filled with questions instead of ire.
“What are you playing at, Upton Barrick?” she asked.
“Ooh, you’re full-naming me. I must be in trouble.” I fake shuddered. “I kinda like being the subject of your rage. It turns me on.”
She pulled out of my grip and folded her arms. “You have two seconds to tell me what’s going on, or I’ll-I’ll—”
I snagged her around the waist and pulled her flush to my body, uncaring of the throngs of people hurrying by on their way to work.
“You’ll what? What will you do, Belle?”
“Argh.” She slammed her palm into my shoulder. “Stop playing games, you annoying man.”
I bent my head and took her mouth, thoroughly kissing her right here in the middle of downtown LA. She melted against me, her body folding into mine. By the time I withdrew, her eyes were hazy and her lips swollen. She’d never looked more beautiful.
“I don’t need a companion, but I do need a girlfriend. I need you. By my side, holding me up when I stumble, acting as a sounding board when I need direct, unfiltered feedback. I need you in my life, my bed. My house.” I caught her hips and tugged her closer. “Move in with me.”
“Whoa.” Her hands came up. “Move in? With you?”
Sensing her shock, I backtracked. “When you’re ready, yes. It doesn’t have to be now. I know this is all very sudden, but I wanted to let you know my intentions. I realize you have Zak and your mom to consider, but I can help with that, too. We can move them closer to us. A purpose-built house fit for Zak’s wheelchair, maybe, or one that we can adapt. A place he can be truly independent.”
Truth be told, she appeared hellishly stunned. I guess this had come a little out of the blue, although it had been on my mind since we first slept together the night of my birthday party. We’d just fit, y’know? In every way. Physically, emotionally, sexually. I’d had enough sexual encounters over the years to know the difference between a passing fancy and a woman who might, just might, be the real deal. And I didn’t plan on letting her go. Somehow I’d gotten lucky and stumbled upon the right woman for me.
“That’s a lot to take in.” She rubbed her forehead.
“Don’t say anything now,” I rushed to say in case she jumped to a decision. The wrong decision. “Mull it over, and we can talk more later. Let’s have dinner together tonight.”
“I still need to earn money, Upton. If I’m no longer working for you, then I’ll have to start applying for jobs.”
That soft groove appeared between her eyebrows. The one I always wanted to kiss. So I did. “We’ll work it out.”
Her lips thinned as she pressed them together. “I won’t be kept, Upton. I’m not that kind of girl.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I figured that out a long time ago. Seriously, take the day. Go walk Bandit for me. I don’t want him getting some kind of separation anxiety on his first day without me at the house. Then, tonight, we’ll talk.”
She nodded, sending a flush of relief rushing through me.
“Okay.” She turned to walk away, then stopped. “What time do you want me to pick you up this evening?”
I’d asked Belle to drive me to the office. Before the accident, I had a driver, but I let him go. I really should think about rehiring him if h
e was still available, or if he wasn’t, then consider interviewing for the position. I liked using the journey to and from the office as a way to catch up on emails I’d missed overnight or during the day. No doubt I’d return to that habit in a matter of days. It wouldn’t take long to become entrenched in the day-to-day craziness of running a global organization.
“Around five-thirty?”
“I’ll be here.”
I watched her as she walked away, hips swaying. Great. Now I was hard. Fastening my jacket over the bulge in my trousers, I entered the building.
Gonna be a hell of a day.
Dropping my sunglasses in place, I scanned the street for Belle’s car. My shoulders and back ached from sitting in a chair all day, something I hadn’t done in so long that all my muscles had forgotten what it was like. I vowed that, tomorrow, I’d take regular breaks until I readjusted.
Belle had been right, though. By the time the second meeting ended, I’d settled into my groove, and when I hosted a working lunch with the mayor, it felt as if I’d never been away.
Her car drew to a halt, and the window went down. “Hey, handsome,” she called out. “Need a ride?”
“Maybe,” I said. “What’s on offer?”
She dropped her gaze to my groin and, very purposefully, licked her lips. “That’s negotiable.”
I groaned and opened the car door, then jumped in. My mouth was on hers seconds later, and when our tongues touched, my dick hardened. I clasped her wrist and placed her hand over my erection. “Is this on the menu?”
“Oh, yeah.” She squeezed. “That, and a lot more besides.”
“Then drive, woman. I’ve had a long, hard day, and I know exactly what will relax me.”
Laughing, she put the car in drive and, after checking over her shoulder, pulled into the traffic.
“So, how was it?” she asked.
“As if I’d never been away.”
“Ha,” she said. “Told you so.”
“No one likes a clever dick.” I couldn’t stop my lips from curling at the edges.
She put her hand on my groin. “I do. I love a clever dick.”
I threw back my head and laughed. Damn, this woman. I fucking loved her.
Wait…
No I didn’t.
I didn’t love her.
Did I?
Fuck, how should I know. I’d never been in love.
I should ask one of the guys what it felt like. Not Garen, though. He’d probably say something along the lines of “When all you can think about is fucking her night and day”. Ryker wouldn’t be any use either. And as for Seb… if what he felt was love, then I wanted no part of it. The man was in purgatory. I’d rather take a pass.
One thing I did know: what I felt for Belle was different to the feelings I’d had for every other woman I’d ever dated. With them, it was all about sex. But with her… I liked everything. Sharing a coffee out on the patio. Taking Bandit for a walk. Watching some cheesy movie on Netflix. Sure, sex crossed my mind often. Like every five minutes, maybe. But it wasn’t the only thing I thought about. She shared my life, and I never wanted that to change.
“Have you thought any more about what I said this morning?”
“Duh,” she said, accompanying her response with a roll of her eyes. “I’ve thought about nothing else.”
“And?”
I held my breath, expecting rejection, hoping for assent.
“Moving in, Upton, it’s such a big step. We haven’t known each other all that long.”
“I know enough,” I said.
“Can I be honest?”
“When have you ever been anything else?”
She chuckled. “True. Look, here’s the thing.”
No. Not “The Thing”. I hated “The Thing”. It always means you won’t like the next comment.
“You haven’t engaged with the world around you for such a long time, and I’m worried that you’re… on the rebound, maybe. I know that sounds crazy, but I’d feel a lot better if we had this conversation in a couple of weeks or a month. Let life in again and see what happens.”
“I won’t change my mind,” I insisted.
“I hope you don’t.”
Optimism surged through my veins. That wasn’t a straight-up no. I’d accept a ‘wait and see’.
She sighed. “In the meantime, I need to find a job.”
If it were up to me, I’d dump a whole load of cash in her bank account on a monthly basis and move her family into a house more suitable for Zak’s disability than where they currently lived. But she’d fight me all the way on it, particularly the former, so instead, I said, “Would you at least allow me to make some calls? It’s what every boyfriend would do for his girl.”
She side-eyed me and gave me a soft smile. “That’d be great.”
23
Belle
“Zak, pack it in. I’m going to be late.”
Zak grinned and held the butter out of reach, swapping it from hand to hand every time I made a move to grasp it.
I lunged again. Missed. Again. “You are such an asshole.”
“Zakhary Laker, give your sister the butter,” Mom interjected as she entered the kitchen. “The first day at a new job is hard enough without you teasing her unnecessarily.”
Zak reluctantly handed over the butter, and I stuck out my tongue. Childish, but that was the way Zak and I always rolled. We’d never really grown up when dealing with each other—and in a way, I prayed we never did.
“I hope those poor old dears know what they’re in for,” Zak said, swigging juice straight out of the carton and earning a glare from Mom for his troubles. “Imagine, you get to the ripe old age of eighty-something and then you realize your twilight years are going to be filled with Miss Bossy Boots taking care of you.”
I shot a glance at Mom, then flipped Zak the bird.
He laughed. “You’re lucky Mom’s back is turned.”
Mom glanced over her shoulder, but by then, I’d retracted said finger. I slathered butter and grape jelly over my toast and flopped into a chair at the kitchen table.
“I still don’t understand why you’ve taken this job,” Zak continued. “What’s the point in having a boyfriend who could clear California’s debt in one fell swoop, and choosing to slog your guts out at a retirement home ten hours a day.”
“Because,” I grabbed the juice before he drank the entire carton, “some of us have pride.”
I hadn’t told my family about Upton’s bolt-out-of-the-blue offer to move in as well as buy a home for Mom and Zak. I wasn’t sure what their response would be, and I needed to come to this decision on my own. I’d thought of nothing else for the past four weeks, though, but to be fair to Upton, he hadn’t brought up the subject once, leaving me to mull it over in my own time.
The question that lurked at the back of my mind, the one that prevented me from diving headlong into a future with him, was whether he felt some kind of gratitude toward me for leading him back into the world, and that was clouding his judgement. He hadn’t told me he loved me, nor had I said those words back to him, and until we faced up to our true feelings and genuinely put our pasts behind us, the idea of a permanent move was out of the question.
I did love him. At least I thought so, but everything had happened so fast, and I needed time to catch my breath. And so did Upton, no matter what he thought to the contrary.
“Pride comes before a fall that breaks your pretty little nose, sis,” Zak said.
“I’ll break your nose if you don’t shut up,” I muttered.
“Like to see you try,” Zak hit back.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, will you two give it a rest? Please.” Mom dug her fingertips into her temples. “Five minutes of peace in the mornings. That’s all I ask.”
I frowned. “Mom, are you okay?”
Mom hardly ever lost her temper. My friends at school used to be terribly jealous of her serene attitude to everything. She glided through life letting very li
ttle bother her. Considering she’d worked multiple jobs since our deadbeat father had walked out on her when we were babies, it was a testament to how lucky we were to have her as our mom.
“Yes, yes, it’s fine.” She motioned through the air with her hand. “An unexpected bill arrived in the mail yesterday, that’s all.” She smiled, but it didn’t hold. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Ask Belle’s rich boyfriend to pay,” Zak said, unashamed.
“Jesus, Zak.” I glared at him, while Mom clipped him around the ear.
“We pay our way, Zakhary Laker,” Mom said, full-naming him for the second time this morning.
“I have some savings, Mom,” I said. “Even though Upton fired me as his companion, Sebastian paid me the completion bonus anyway. Said I’d earned it.” I laughed. “He wasn’t wrong. Anyway, whatever you need, it’s yours.”
I’d have to put off buying my own car until I’d saved up again, but as Upton hadn’t mentioned taking back the car he’d loaned me, I hoped he might let me keep it for a little while longer.
Mom patted the back of my hand. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
I noticed she didn’t decline the offer which meant she truly needed the money.
God, maybe I should take Upton up on his invite to move in. That way, the pressure would reduce on Mom, too.
No, I couldn’t. She’d instilled morals and values in me, buried them so deep, there was no way of digging them out. We were a proud family. Even Zak’s suggestions were tongue-in-cheek. Not for one second did he expect me to ask Upton for money to help us out.
“Right, gotta go. Wish me luck.”
“Break a leg, sis,” Zak said. “Well, not actually, but you know what I mean.”
Mom walked me to the door, but her hand on my arm stopped me from opening it. “I hate taking your money, Belle, and I promise I’ll pay every cent back.”
“Mom, don’t be silly. You’ve done everything for me and Zak. You don’t owe me anything.” I frowned. “What was the bill for?”
She grimaced. “Zak. Seems the hospital keep finding new charges that I haven’t settled.”
Enchanted: A Billionaire Romance (The ROGUES Series Book 4) Page 15
