by J. S. Scott
I sighed as I put my head on his shoulder. I’d given up on insisting I was too heavy to sit on his lap a long time ago because he liked having me there.
Truthfully, I relished being this close to Mason, too.
Because Mason treated me like the sexiest woman on Earth, I’d lost almost every insecurity I’d ever had about my height, weight, and my body overall.
There had been plenty of hot, steamy nights when he’d made me love the way we fit together so perfectly.
“I guess I’ve never really understood the benefit of crying when you’re actually happy, but I’ll have to take your word on that,” he said, sounding as content as I’d ever heard him. “No reservations?”
“Not a single one. You’ve been a man of your word,” I teased.
“Can we set the date soon?” he asked pensively.
“Whenever you want,” I answered agreeably.
“Tomorrow,” he replied, sounding completely serious.
“Not quite that soon,” I objected. “Planning a wedding takes time. It doesn’t have to be a huge wedding. But I’d like all of your family to be there.”
“I do, too,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Are you going to invite your cousins?” I knew that Mason and Hudson had gotten closer. Mason hadn’t had much of a choice since his cousin had been persistent, and Hudson was still a good friend to me.
“That would mean I’d have to tell my siblings the truth,” he mused.
“Yes,” I agreed.
“I think I’m ready to do it now,” he said with a certainty I’d never heard from him before about this particular subject.
“No pressure,” I reminded him. “If you never feel like you want to tell them, that’s up to you.”
“I really don’t think it’s going to make a difference. You were right. I do need to see it for myself, even though I already know it won’t matter.”
My heart skittered as I said, “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I am. It’s time. They’re my siblings, and since I met you, you’ve convinced me that I’m not different. I am a Lawson, through and through. I always will be.”
Thank God!
Although I would have supported Mason in whatever decision he made, I was glad that he’d finally know for sure that his family didn’t give a damn if he only had half their DNA.
“Oh, you’re a Lawson all right,” I said with a smile. “You’re just as stubborn as your siblings.”
He grinned. “And just as obsessive about my woman as my brothers.”
Honestly, Mason was getting better. He’d been much more relaxed the last few weeks. As time passed, his anxiety decreased. Not that I believed that there would ever come a time when he didn’t take my well-being seriously, but I could handle that. I understood it. If I had seen Mason in a hospital bed badly injured, I’d be freaked about his safety for a long time, too.
Mason was silent for a few minutes before he said, “We’re only getting married once. I want you to have the wedding of your dreams.”
I stroked a hand over the nape of his neck. “I have the groom of my dreams. That’s enough for me.”
What did it matter how it happened? All I cared about was having the right man.
Mason was the one guy I thought I’d never have.
He’d been unattainable…until he wasn’t anymore.
He was the man who loved me exactly the way I was, and he’d changed my life forever with that love.
“I’m probably not the Prince Charming you were always looking for,” he said drily.
No, he wasn’t. “You’re not,” I agreed. “You’re so much more.”
His grin grew larger. “So you’d be willing to let me be your baby daddy?”
I nodded. “I’m hoping you will. I think I’d like to have our child. And if you’re willing, we could adopt from the system, too. My business is doing well, and I think I could slow it down, and take some time to just be a wife and a mother for a while.”
I held my breath as I watched Mason swallow nervously. “That means you’d have to go through pregnancy. And labor.”
I released the air I’d been holding. He wasn’t unwilling. He just didn’t want to watch me go through pregnancy and the pain of labor. “You’d be there with me. I’d be fine.”
“I’m not sure I will be,” he told me grimly. “But I won’t pretend like I wouldn’t love to see you get that child you always wanted.”
“I still want it,” I admitted. “But I don’t need it anymore.”
I had Mason, and any children we might adopt in the future. That was more than enough.
“I want it, too.”
I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. The sincerity in his expression made my heart skip a beat. “You really do?”
He nodded. “I really do.”
“I’m thirty-five now. You’ll have some work to do in the near future.”
“I think I’m up to it.”
I squirmed as I felt the proof of that statement beneath my rear end. “I know you are,” I teased.
He took my head gently between his hands, prompting me to look at him as he said, “I love you, Laura. With or without us having our own children. It’s your call, sweetheart.”
My heart contracted so hard that I could hardly breathe. How did I ever get lucky enough to have a future husband like Mason? “Even if I end my birth control, there’s no guarantee it will happen.”
He shrugged, the wicked grin on his face deliciously mischievous as he said huskily, “Then we’ll have one hell of a good time trying.”
I laughed as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I think I’d be more than happy just to leave it up to fate at this point. I don’t think I could be happier than I am right now. With you.”
Two years ago, I’d thought that all I’d wanted was to have a child.
Now, I knew better.
What I’d really needed was Mason.
“No reason we can’t start practicing right now,” Mason said in a wicked, wicked voice.
I smiled as I lowered my head to kiss the man I loved more than anything or anyone else in the world.
I wasn’t about to argue with him about honing our skills at baby-making, whether it resulted in us having a child…or not.
What I’d told him before was still true today. Maybe it was ever truer now than it had been the last time I’d thought about it.
I wanted to have our child, but I didn’t need it.
Once, I’d mistakenly believed that having a kid was everything I wanted.
I’d been so wrong.
What I’d really needed was a man who would accept me exactly the way I was, and not want to change me.
Somebody to love me unconditionally.
Somebody to make me feel special, sexy, and completely and utterly loved.
I’d found that in the man right in front of me.
“Would you be horribly disappointed if I can’t conceive?” I asked him softly.
He shook his head immediately, and put his hand behind my head, his eyes laser-focused on mine. “Hell, no. We can still adopt, and I have you, Laura. Knowing you’re mine is more than enough for me.”
I sent him a tremulous smile. Every time Mason said something like that, I realized just how lucky I was that I’d found him.
I’ll never have to kiss another frog.
Mason was, after all, my Prince Charming, and he was more than enough for me, too.
~The End~
Be sure to pre-order the next book in The Billionaire’s Obsession series, Billionaire Undercover, Hudson Montgomery’s story.
Continue reading for a sneak peek at Dearest Stalker Part 1 by my alter ego Lane Parker
Stalker
Four Years Ago…
I watched, my stare completely transfixed on the woman who was center stage, giving her valedictorian speech at the local high school graduation.
Katherine Riley.
I clenched my fists as they rested on my thighs,
willing my emotions and my dick to stop trying to rule my actions.
Kate didn’t belong to me, and she never would. But she damn well needed a protector, because everyone in her life had done a pretty shitty job of keeping her safe for the first eighteen years of her life.
People called her Katie. But in my mind, she was Kate.
The woman who was stumbling valiantly through her talk about goals, dreams, and education after graduation was way too much of an adult to ever be anything else but Kate.
Had she ever been a kid?
I expected that she hadn’t.
I did know that she was smart.
She was beautiful.
And she was so damn brave that my heart felt like it was in a vise as I watched her struggle. I was pretty sure I was more worried about her making it through the speech than she was at the moment.
Jesus! I knew what it was like to be uncomfortable in front of large crowds. Most people would probably never notice because I had become a master at hiding my discomfort, but I somehow knew this woman was going through hell.
She seemed to radiate pain and hopelessness, even as she spoke of upbeat topics to the crowd.
I could sense it.
I could feel it.
Even though I seemed to be the only one who noticed as I looked around at the crowd of smiling faces as Kate continued to speak.
She was so fucking alone, and for some reason I didn’t understand, I felt that, too. Her mother had died just months ago, and all she had was a father who had never given a damn about her.
I had to wonder what was going to happen to this smart, intrepid female once graduation was over.
Godammit! I hated the thought of her leaving Florida. She had ability and intellect, but where was her opportunity to pursue her own destiny?
Top of her class, yet she’d lived in poverty her entire life. Pretty fucking extraordinary.
I clenched my fists harder, and locked my jaw, forcing myself to control the possessive emotions that threatened to swallow me whole.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I don’t covet any woman. Never had.
And the shit I was feeling was pretty unwelcome for a guy who was known for not having any discernable emotions.
My reaction to Kate was visceral, primal, and I had no damn idea why I felt I needed to jump onto the stage, scoop her ass up, and make sure that she never experienced another day of deprivation for the rest of her life.
I’d never felt like this before.
But shockingly, the instincts were there.
And they were damn near impossible to control, but I would master them. I always did.
I can never have her. It doesn’t fucking matter how I feel. It’s impossible.
It didn’t matter that I didn’t understand my bizarre connection to her. I was never going to act on those emotions.
I could, however, make sure she was safe. I’d make sure that she would always be okay.
I couldn’t ever touch her, but I could take care of her for as long as she needed me.
I didn’t ever want her to be alone in the world now that her mother was gone.
Even though my eyes never left her, my mind started to work on exactly how I could get close to her, but not too close.
My dick was protesting because it wanted nothing more than for me to get just as damn close as possible to her so it could lose itself in Kate.
So I could lose myself in her, too.
Buried deep.
Buried hard.
Surrounded by the moist heat that I instinctively knew would send me over the goddamn edge.
Son of a bitch!
Not. Going. To. Happen.
My body was tense as I tried to figure how much of my help she’d take.
It was better if I was anonymous. I knew that.
My eyes searched her face as well as they possibly could at a distance, taking in the dark smudges under her eyes, and the defeated downward curve of her shoulders.
Nobody has ever taken care of this woman.
She was only eighteen years old, and Kate already knew all of the harsh realities of life. She’d been living them for years.
She needs a chance to get all the education she wants and deserves. Hell, she’s top of her class.
I’d scanned the program before the ceremony had started. Kate had received scholarships. Several of them. But I had no idea what her plans really were now that her mother was gone.
“Thank you for coming to see the graduating students today as we move on to the next chapter in our lives,” Kate mumbled, looking relieved that she could finally stop talking and get out of the limelight.
I watched her as she left the stage, knowing that I’d always make damn sure I knew where she was and how she was doing.
I’d always keep track of her because I knew I wouldn’t be able to help myself.
I’d been fucked since the first time I’d laid eyes on her.
In fact, I was pretty sure I’d just become her stalker.
It wasn’t just a physical attraction. There was something else, something more…
I stood with the rest of the crowd, clapping for her.
God knew she deserved the accolades she was getting. It took a lot of guts to get up in front of this many people when it was the last thing she probably wanted to do.
“You ready?” the woman beside me asked.
I nodded as I put my arm around the beautiful female, and led her out of the auditorium, my brain distracted with ideas about what I could do to help Kate Riley.
Kate
The Present…
I’m getting drunk at my own father’s funeral reception.
I might be my father’s biological daughter, his only child. But I didn’t know a single person present.
I felt more than a little awkward as I looked around the Blackwood mansion, the home of my late father, and his second wife.
I want to get out of here.
As a waiter went by, I snagged another flute of champagne, and then dumped my empty glass.
I wasn’t usually much of a drinker, but I needed something to get me through the reception.
I gulped down half of the glass in one swallow, trying not to think about how many I’d already ingested. I’d taken every single one offered to me just to get through this event.
Granted, my dad had never really been a father to me, even when he’d been married to my mom years ago. But the life he’d led after he’d divorced my mother and re-married another woman—an incredibly wealthy one—was completely foreign to me.
The Blackwood family was filthy rich, a huge contrast to the poverty I’d grown up in.
This isn’t an informal gathering for grief-stricken relatives and friends. It looks more like an enormous party. I don’t belong here.
I plucked a handful of little sandwiches from another tray as a female waitress passed by, forcing her to stop politely, and hand me a tiny plate.
Like I needed something to put the tiny sandwiches on? They be gone in less than a minute.
The second she moved on, I devoured the meat-filled bread that was missing a crust, and then discarded the delicate plate.
I slammed back the rest of the alcohol and dumped the empty flute, already wondering when I could find another waiter to get a refill.
Stop, Katie! You can’t keep eating like a person who hasn’t seen food in months!
Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I then let it out slowly, trying to calm my nerves.
I was a stress eater. I always had been. Problem was, I’d never really had all that much food to comfort myself. Here, it was an anxiety smorgasbord, and I downed every bite I could get my hands on.
But even after stuffing myself from every tray, and swilling as much alcohol as possible, I was still one big giant mess.
I have to get out of here. I don’t belong here.
All of the women were dressed in formal attire, but not necessarily the conservative, dark clothing used by mourners.
I wondered if any of the attendees had ever even known my dad, or if they’d come just because it was a Blackwood event.
Many people would kill to attend anything hosted by this prominent, billionaire family.
But I wasn’t one of them. All I wanted was to escape.
The black dress I was wearing was modest and plain, something I’d purchased cheap from a second-hand store because I hadn’t had anything appropriate for a funeral.
My deceased mother had always told me that I could look as good as a rich person if I was handy with a needle and thread. Unfortunately, I’d never been able to master the seamstress thing like she had.
Most of the men were in suits, which was probably appropriate considering the reason why we were all here. But the atmosphere was one of smooth sophistication, fake laughter, and nothing like my mother’s reception had been.
Mom hadn’t been rich, but she’d been well-loved by her friends and co-workers. When she’d died over four years ago, those people had genuinely mourned her loss with a small memorial service.
An event much different from the one I was attending now for my father.
I noticed that not a single one of the party-goers had been present at the graveside when my father was buried earlier in the day—except for my stepmother and my stepbrother, Ben.
I shuddered, and then rubbed the goosebumps on my arms. It was late winter in Southern Florida, but the temperatures were like summer compared to my current home near the university in Massachusetts. But my quivering body had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with my situation.
My father was dead.
I was officially all alone in the world.
Not that the two of us had been close, not even remotely. But my father had been paying my college tuition and expenses that hadn’t been covered by scholarships. Granted, I’d already completed my coursework for my bachelor’s in computer science, and I was formally graduating from the university in a few months. But my goal was to get my master’s in software engineering. I’d already applied to several programs, and gotten accepted by every single one of them.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to have the money to attend a master’s unless I scored a job as a programmer, and worked full-time to support myself.
