“I’ll be right back.”
She rushed out on unsteady legs to see Trenton and Lucas up in each other’s face, practically nose to nose. Trenton had taken the day off and was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and T-shirt. Lucas wore a rumpled dress shirt and slacks. He looked like he’d slept in his clothes.
“What’s going on?” Ivy asked.
They both turned in her direction. Lucas started toward her, but Trenton put a restraining hand on his shoulder. Lucas knocked it off and both men shoved each other.
“Stop it!” Ivy said. “Both of you.”
“Say the word and he’s out of here,” Trenton said. His right hand curled into a fist.
“I didn’t go to the tabloids, Ivy,” Lucas said.
“It sure is coincidental that for eight years no one has known the truth, but you come into our lives and her business is all over the news.”
Lucas’s jaw clenched, the only indication he’d heard Trenton speak. He ignored her brother and spoke directly to her. “Somebody else went to the tabloids. Not me.” He trapped her with his earnest gaze.
Ivy wanted to believe him. She’d tossed and turned all night, second-guessing herself and wondering if her brothers could have been right after all.
“How do you explain the photos?” she asked. That was the most damning evidence of all. Even if the release of the story could be deemed a coincidence, the press had photos of Katie and Lucas from the father and daughter dance. That’s how the paparazzi had been able to identify her at school.
“I don’t have an answer,” Lucas said, “but I swear to you, I didn’t give anyone pictures of me and Katie.”
Trenton snorted in disgust.
“Trenton.” Constance had entered the foyer without Ivy noticing. “Please join me in the sitting room.”
After a short hesitation, Trenton sent one last scathing look at Lucas and walked away with his mother.
“How’d you get onto the property?” Ivy asked.
“I climbed the fence. It wasn’t easy because I’m not as young as I used to be.” His smile disappeared when she didn’t smile back. “God, Ivy, you have to know I wouldn’t do this. It’s killing me that you’re looking at me with such distrust.”
She didn’t know what to think. She hadn’t thought him capable of such a betrayal, but the circumstantial evidence made him look like the guilty party. He certainly had plenty to gain from the publicity. In addition to selling the story, his book sales would probably skyrocket.
“I’ve been wrong before,” she said, “and this media circus doesn’t only affect me. It affects Katie, too. They terrified her, Lucas. She was shaking like a leaf in my arms because she thought they wanted to hurt her.”
“Do you really think I’d be capable of doing this to our daughter? To you? I would rather cut off my right arm than hurt either one of you. You and Katie mean the world to me.” He swallowed hard. “I admit I didn’t want a family at first, but I’m happier now than I’ve ever been, and it’s because of the two of you. I wouldn’t jeopardize that, and I wouldn’t risk your happiness to make a few bucks.”
He was saying all the right things.
“You have to believe me, Ivy. If I have to find out myself who did this to you—to us—I will. Don’t shut me out.”
He took one step toward her, and when she didn’t move, he took another, then another, until he was standing right in front of her and she could smell his cologne. The familiar scent weakened her. The wall she’d erected for self-preservation crumbled, and she started shaking. That’s when he pulled her into the security of his arms.
She’d had to be strong for Katie and put on a brave face for her family, but with Lucas she could just be.
“They’re saying such awful things,” she said, her voice quivering. Tears sprang to her eyes.
She’d stopped reading the headlines. They’d been too painful:
“Fourteen Years Later the Billionaire Heiress is at it Again”
“Sex, Lies, and Paternity Tests—A Day in the Life of Ivy Johnson”
“Who’s Really the Daddy?” That particular article had gone so far as to suggest Lucas get a DNA test to confirm Katie’s paternity.
“We’ll get through this, you’ll see,” Lucas said. He massaged the back of her neck with his thumb.
She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. I just…”
“It’s okay. I’m here, and we’ll be fine. Katie will be fine.” He pressed soft kisses to her eyelids. She buried her face in his neck and soaked up the comforting warmth of his embrace.
Footsteps sounded on the tile, and Ivy turned to see Trenton coming toward them with his cell phone in hand. “I just talked to Cyrus. He knows who did it.”
“Who?” Ivy asked.
“It was a woman.”
“A woman?” Lucas asked sharply. Ivy looked at him. By the tone of his voice, he sounded almost as if he’d guessed who the culprit was.
“What woman?” Ivy asked.
“Your babysitter,” Trenton answered. “Janelle sold you out.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
The press conference went better than expected. Ivy and Lucas presented a united front to the media. They confirmed that he was indeed Katie’s father and praised Winston’s role in her life. At the end they asked the reporters and paparazzi to stay away from their daughter and her school.
Josiah Somerset also spoke and admitted he didn’t understand his son’s preferences, that he himself couldn’t pretend that a lot of his friends were gay. Soft chuckles rippled through the crowd at his admission. He wrapped up by telling everyone, in a trembling voice that reflected his pain, that Winston was his only son, and his political and religious leanings didn’t mean he loved him any less.
Ivy let the attorneys deal with Nanny Services on Call, the company she’d used to vet and hire Janelle. The young woman had signed a confidentiality agreement and violated it when she sold personal information to the tabloids.
She’d liked Janelle and was devastated to learn that she’d been the one to betray them. Ivy ransacked her brain to figure out if she’d mistreated Janelle in any way, trying to find an explanation for the young woman’s actions, but she found none. The only conclusion she drew was that Janelle had been motivated by greed. Plain and simple.
****
Ivy heard Lucas enter the bedroom and looked up from a text she was writing to Trenton. “Is she okay?” she asked, referring to Katie. He’d tucked her in.
Lucas nodded. He dropped his jacket on the mattress. “Yes. Wasn’t it you who told me kids are amazingly resilient?”
She smiled. “I believe so.”
In truth, Katie had already recovered from the incident at her school. It helped having Lucas there the past few days. He showered her with attention and his presence had been a tremendous boost to her spirits.
He strolled over to the chaise lounge and sat down beside her.
Ivy finished her text and hit send. She cast a glance at him. “Are you all right?”
Could he be second-guessing getting involved with her? So much had happened. They’d spent the last few days at her mother’s house and had agreed to let Hudson send a short statement to the media outlets since they’d already had a chance to tell their side of the story. Her brothers had come around, too. They’d both apologized to him and finally accepted he meant the family no harm.
“I’m all right.” He cupped her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb.
“I hate that you were so exposed and had to have your life dissected in this way.”
He shrugged. “I was already in the public eye to some degree, though not to this extent,” he contended.
“You didn’t sign up for this.”
“Neither did you.”
“I’ve had more practice dealing with this type of media scrutiny.”
“I bet it doesn’t get any easier.” He stroked her hair back from her face. “Doesn’t matter anyway. We’re
in this together, right?”
“Yes, we are,” she agreed with a smile. “And I’m so glad you’re here.” She grasped his hand and pressed her lips to his palm.
“Me, too. I’m right where I want to be.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Then what’s wrong?”
Lucas took her hands in his. He frowned thoughtfully. “I hate being away from you and Katie. When things like this happen, I should be here.”
“We’ll work it out.”
He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. “I’m going to sell my condo. It’s in a great location in Atlanta, and if I put it on the market this spring, it should sell by summer when I’m done teaching at Mercer. Then I could move up here.”
Ivy’s mouth fell open. “You’re moving here? To Seattle?” Was this a dream?
His face lit up into one of his dazzling smiles. “Yes.”
Ivy let out an excited squeal and tackled him, knocking him on to his back on the lounge. She showered his face with kisses.
He laughed. “I take it you’re okay with that?” he asked.
She answered by cupping his face and planting a long, slow kiss on his lips.
He groaned and swelled against her hip. “Show me again how okay you are with my idea,” he murmured. “I’m not sure I understand.”
His hands slid down to her derriere and it was her turn to groan. She planted another kiss on him and traced his lips with the tip of her tongue.
“Better?” she asked.
“Better,” he whispered.
He slapped her on the behind and she moaned. Biting her bottom lip, she stared down into his beautiful eyes. “You make me so happy,” she whispered.
“You make me so happy,” he said. “I love you so much, Ivy. I never want you to doubt how I feel about you ever again.” He pulled her head down to his, burying his fingers in her hair, and tasted her mouth. His lips stroked gently across hers. “Let’s go take a shower. And then I’m going to make love to you—not necessarily in that order.”
She slid off of him, making sure to bump his hard-on as she did.
“Tease,” he groaned.
In the bathroom they leisurely soaped each other’s skin, and when they finished, Lucas ran his hands down her body, sloughing off the suds as if the water needed any help from him. Ivy lowered to her knees and slipped his erection between her lips, worshipping its length and girth with her mouth and tongue. She pulled back to the tip and hummed in the back of her throat, reveling in the fact that he had to hold onto the wall to keep from collapsing.
“You’re killing me,” he muttered.
He grabbed her hair, and his head fell back as he gave himself over to the moist suction of her mouth. But rather than let her suck him off, he pulled her to her feet. Standing behind her, he sandwiched her between his body and the wall.
With her cheek pressed against the cold tile, one large hand binding her wrists above her head and the other on her hip, he stroked into her from behind. Her breasts jostled from the impact, each thrust hard, but slow. He slid out, then back into her, inch by marvelous inch. He felt so good she didn’t want him to stop.
He pinched her nipples between this thumb and forefinger, pulling the peaks taut and using them to shake her breasts. Heat, fierce and hot, pounded through her loins. She was so close, pushing back against his groin and lifting her hips to receive him.
“I love you,” he whispered hotly in her ear. “I love you so damn much.”
With one powerful pump, he speared her with the full length of his erection. A sharp cry fled her throat, and her hands curled into fists against the Italian tile. Her muscles contracted and pulsed around him. Muttering a hoarse oath into the wet hair flattened on her back, his body emptied into hers.
****
Outside the bedroom window, the lights from the buildings glowed like stars in a far away galaxy. Lucas stroked Ivy’s silky hair and the line of her spine. Her skin was so soft, and her sweet, feminine smell filled his nostrils.
He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t stop looking at her, and his mind raced with too many thoughts and plans.
Rather than continue to lay there wide awake, he eased out of Ivy’s arms, careful not to wake her, and slipped on a pair of boxers. He lifted the phone from his pants pocket and took it with him out of the room. He walked past the media room and peeked in on Katie, and then he moved quietly down the hall to the living room where he settled on the sofa.
He dialed the number for his best friend, Roarke, who was back in Chile.
Roarke’s friendly voice came on the line. “Hey man, how’s it going?”
Lucas slouched in the chair. “Going all right. According to my publisher, The Rules of Man has a shot at hitting the New York Times Bestsellers List.”
Not exactly the way he would have wanted to make the list. The story about Katie’s paternity had garnered a lot of publicity for him. This in turn had made his blog more popular, and his book had seen a surge in sales.
Brenda had been ecstatic and wanted to book him for as many appearances as possible, but he’d asked her to cut back on the engagements. Doing all of that traveling had been tiring anyway, and now he had an even greater reason to cut back. He’d rather be here with Ivy and Katie whenever he had free days.
“New York Times?” Roarke said. “Get the hell outta here.”
Lucas chuckled. “It hasn’t happened yet. We’ll know next week.”
“I’m confident it’ll happen for you.”
“Thanks, man. Hey, I need to ask you a favor.” He lowered his voice.
“Sure, anything.”
“I want you to be my best man.”
“You’re engaged?”
Lucas laughed at the incredulity in his friend’s voice. “Not yet. But soon enough, when I ask her.”
“You sure she’s going to say yes?” Roarke asked with a laugh.
“You got jokes. Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Say the word and I’m there.”
“Thanks. I knew I could count on you.”
They talked for some time. Lucas gave him an update on what had happened over the past few days and Roarke relayed information on his work in Chile and his latest research.
“Lucas?” Ivy’s voice came from behind him. He turned around to see her wearing his shirt. One button held together both sides, and her hair spilled onto her shoulders and down her back in a glorious, tousled mess. “You coming back to bed soon?”
“Roarke, I’ve got to go.”
“Okay, I—”
Lucas hung up and tossed the phone onto the sofa.
Ivy smiled as he walked toward her. She looked like a girl from a pinup magazine, and he’d already grown hard with thoughts of what he would do to her once they went back to the bedroom.
“You missed your man?” he asked.
“Mhmm.” She squealed when he hoisted her from the floor. Her legs locked around his waist.
“You’re going to have to show me how much you missed me,” he warned.
She giggled and nibbled on his ear. The touch of her teeth sent shivers of pleasure straight to his groin.
“I’m happy to oblige,” she whispered.
That made him lengthen his strides and hurry down the hall. When they arrived in the bedroom, he laid her on the bed and brushed his lips over hers. She moaned softly and kissed him back.
He looked down into her lovely face. He had to be the luckiest man in the world. With a wicked smile, he said, “Okay princess, let me see what you’ve got.”
The End
More Stories by Delaney Diamond
Hot Latin Men series
The Arrangement
Fight for Love
Private Acts
Second Chances
Hot Latin Men: Vol. I (print anthology)
Hot Latin Men: Vol. II (print anthology)
Hawthorne Family series
The Temptation of a Good Man
A Hard Man to Love
Here Comes Trouble
>
For Better or Worse
Hawthorne Family Series: Vol. I (print anthology)
Hawthorne Family Series: Vol. II (print anthology)
Love Unexpected series
The Blind Date
The Wrong Man
Johnson Family series
Unforgettable
Perfect (fall 2014)
Just Friends (spring 2015)
Bailar series (sweet/clean romance)
Worth Waiting For
Short Stories
Subordinate Position
The Ultimate Merger
Free Stories
www.delaneydiamond.com
About the Author
Delaney Diamond is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sweet, sensual, passionate romance novels. Originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She reads romance novels, mysteries, thrillers, and a fair amount of nonfiction. When she’s not busy reading or writing, she’s in the kitchen trying out new recipes, dining at one of her favorite restaurants, or traveling to an interesting locale. She speaks fluent conversational French and can get by in Spanish.
Enjoy free reads and the first chapter of all her novels on her website. Join her e-mail mailing list to get sneak peeks, notices of sale prices, and find out about new releases.
http://delaneydiamond.com
https://www.facebook.com/DelaneyDiamond
Unforgettable Page 19
