by Riley Love
“Um. They wanted him because he buried them under expensive gifts. He paid me for sex,” I said in a whisper, “and to pretend to be his girlfriend. It’s the same thing.”
“No. It’s different. Because you’re not seeking whatever you can wring out of him. One of those girls would have been poking the holes in the condom on their own to have his baby, Kelly. But you’re spending time with him. You engage him in conversation. Christ, you enjoyed rugby.”
“Do other women not like rugby?”
“We’re a rare breed.”
My brows knit. “How did you know about me enjoying rugby with him?”
“He told me so. Blathered on for most of the morning about how great you were and how he couldn’t wait for the next game.”
“He made everything sound like a business arrangement. He even had the audacity to tell me he’d set me up for life, like I’m sort of mistress or…or concubine.” Hadn’t I wanted that? When had becoming his mistress stopped being enough?
“Business is what he knows. I’m not excusing him by any means.”
“I just know I can’t do this anymore.”
Cate nodded. “And you’re well within your right to leave. You’ve made a pretty penny, at least. Go home, sweetie. Take care of your family.”
I drained the rest of my cocktail and let the sweet mix of prosecco, peach, and raspberries fill me with sugary, liquid courage. Home was a good idea.
Even if it did feel like I was running away.
I returned to a quiet penthouse after an afternoon of last-minute destination sightings with Cate. A handsome new set of hard luggage awaited me in my bedroom, positioned between the closet and the bed.
So that was it. It was over. God, the man was sending me off with brand new luggage to carry the department store-sized wardrobe he’d bought me.
Telling myself I should be happy to return to my family, I tossed the largest case onto the bed and unzipped it.
I tossed a few things inside, starting with my favorite scarf. It smelled of Grayson, rich with the scent I’d come to know as him. Bay rum and musky vetiver cologne. I breathed it in.
Something tickled my ankle.
Screaming, I jumped onto the bed on all fours, only to glance down and see an ivory Persian kitty staring back at me.
“So you must be Petty.”
The cat meowed. She jumped onto the bed to join me, rumbled a noisy purr, and then rubbed against my arm.
If not for the fleeting glimpses, I would have doubted he had a cat at all.
“Now that I’m leaving, you’re ready to come out, huh? Figures.”
Waiting for signs of her protest, like little claws gouging me, I gathered her into my arms. When she didn’t fuss, I buried my face into her powdery white coat. She smelled like vanilla and honey.
“Well, I’m sorry we didn’t have the chance to get to know one another. Maybe you’ll have better luck with his next lady friend.”
She meowed again. Loudly.
“Oh, you’re a talker, aren’t you? My kitty at home doesn’t say much.”
I loved on her a little more. Then she wiggled free and flopped onto her side on the mattress, exposing her belly.
“Oh no. I’m on to that trick, and I like my hands without tears in them, thank you very much.”
Petty had provided a nice distraction, but a glance at the clock made me get up and start my packing. I still had too much. It came down to selecting my favorites, packing them away, and hoping Cate meant what she said about sending the rest. I’d grown attached to my new wardrobe.
With nothing better to do, I settled across my bed with a book and lost myself in a dark, suspenseful thriller I’d borrowed from Grayson’s library.
Damn. I’d have to get my own copy now.
A quiet whine drew my attention to the door. A tiny white fluffball stumbled across the threshold. Another white blur streaked across the room from beneath my bed and spat at the tiny puppy.
“Petty! Bad kitty!”
The cat disappeared again when I went to rescue the whining pup. So much for our burgeoning friendship. I scooped the trembling thing up in my arms and cuddled it to my chest.
“Where did you come from?”
Grayson moved into the doorway and leaned against the frame with his arms folded across his chest. He chuckled quietly, a forlorn smile on his unreasonably handsome face.
“He’s a gift for you. He’s twenty weeks old and the last of the litter, bred by a friend of mine. If you’d prefer not to keep him, there won’t be any hard feelings. Michael will take him back. But if you’d like him, he has all the proper papers to allow you to fly him over with you to America.”
“You bought me a puppy.”
He nodded.
If it wasn’t a living creature, I would have thrown the gift back in his face, but the little black nose and big brown eyes looking up at me were so imploring and absolutely sweet I couldn’t do anything but hug him close. “What’s his name?”
“My mate’s family called him Magnus, but you’re welcome to rename him whatever you’d like.”
“Magnus, huh?” The name sounded so royal and regal, a perfect match to my new little friend. “I’ve always wanted a dog.”
“I know.” Grayson shifted, looking uncomfortable. “I realize that I came across—”
“Like a dick?”
“Yes. Like a dick. Listen I… I didn’t mean to hurt you, Kelly. Or to demean you or cheapen you or any other way I made you feel. I’m sorry. I’m truly and honestly sorry, and now that you’re due to leave, I’d at least like it to be on good terms.”
It had to be one of the best apologies I’d ever received. “Thank you for that. And for Magnus. He’s wonderful.”
Grayson opened his mouth as if to say something else, but nothing came out. He licked his lips and glanced away. “You’re welcome. His belongings are in the living room. Harry will drive you to the airport in the morning.”
He vanished into his room and shut the door behind him.
Chapter Fifteen
Grayson
Movement from Kelly’s room woke me around four in the morning. Cate had purchased her an early, nonstop flight bound for Chicago.
Although she tiptoed around, I heard every noise she made. More than once I thought maybe I should get up and make a last-ditch effort to change her mind. Yet I lay in my bed and didn’t budge because Kelly had made her intentions abundantly clear and I was far too proud to beg.
Even Petty had abandoned me, having taken offense to the canine interloper I’d brought into the home.
I told myself it was better this way about a dozen times, and by the time my heart fervently disagreed, it was too late. Kelly had walked out of my life, and I’d never see her again.
Out of some misguided sense of masochism, I logged into DDE to see every upcoming planned trip pending cancellation and awaiting my approval. I tossed the damned phone aside because confirming the end of her services would be the final nail in the coffin of our phony relationship.
Unprepared for that, I sprawled on my back and stared at the ceiling. I could keep up the lie for a while at least, tell my mother and sister Kelly was just too damned busy to keep up the rest of our social engagements.
“Or I can be a bloody man about it and just tell them to stay out of my relationships.”
Vowing to focus on business first from now on, I drifted into an uneasy sleep until my phone buzzed with a new message. A message from Kelly glowed green at me.
Thank you again for Magnus. I love him.
You’re very welcome. I’m sorry this worked out so poorly.
Good luck with your family problems. You’ll work through it. You don’t need a business arrangement, Grayson.
I paused. A business arrangement. She’d been so much more than that, and I could have kicked my own ass for failing to tell her. She’d be halfway to Heathrow by now.
It was never business, kitten. Always pleasure with you, but I’ll miss
your smiles most of all. Take care, and if you ever need somewhere to stay in London, give me or Cate a call. I’ll miss you.
She didn’t respond. I waited five minutes, chucked the phone onto the bedside table, and fetched a bottle of whisky from the liquor cabinet in the dining room. With a couple shots warming my stomach, I returned to bed and forced myself to sleep.
I’d get over Kelly. Not because I wanted to but because I had to.
Gentle fingers stirred me from sleep. “Grayson?”
Maybe this was a cruel dream, as if life was telling me how fucked I truly was.
“Grayson, wake up.”
I blinked open my eyes, and there she was. Kelly sat at the edge of my bed.
“I thought you left.”
“Yeah, well, I thought I was leaving too,” she said. “But we have to talk first.”
“All right.” I swallowed back the thick lump in my throat and sat up. “Allow me to start with an apology. I…I had no right to ask you what I did. Even less to ask how I did.”
“What would even possess you to think it was okay to start with?”
“It sounded brilliant in my head, but once the words began, I realized how it must have sounded to you. I just thought if I made a deal good enough, an offer great enough, you’d stay here and come to love me enough to remain on your own.”
Kelly drew herself up, an adorable image of stubbornness and nerves wrapped in one beautiful package. “Here’s how it’s going to be. I’ll stay but no more payments. No more scheduled jobs through Diamond Dust Escorts. Confirm the cancellations. If you want me to stay, it better be because you actually want me here.”
“I do. I do want you here. Fuck, all I’ve wanted since yesterday was to undo that foolish shit I said. I don’t know what came over me.”
She pushed something at me. I glanced down at the slim, peach compact in my palm. Her birth control pills.
“Kelly—”
“I meant it when I said I wanted kids one day, Grayson. And I’d be happy to have your child, not for money or because you’ll take care of me but because I love you.”
Her words took the breath from my lungs. I looked from the pills back to her face and saw everything in the world that meant anything to me reflected back in her eyes.
“Kelly, I’ve loved you since the day you came to my penthouse and I knew I didn’t want you to ever leave.”
“Maybe say that next time.”
“I’ll tell you every day if it means you’ll stay.”
She pushed the mobile phone into my hand. A few clicks confirmed a cancellation of her scheduled services, and a notice informed me a refund would process from DDE’s escrow account in less than three business days.
“I would have been happy to let you keep every cent.”
Kelly leaned close and curled her fingers around the back of my neck. “I don’t want the money, silly. I want you. I want fun nights on the sofa, drinks on the terrace overlooking London, trading novels in bed, and rugby games surrounded by screaming people because it’s your favorite sport and everything about you just grew on me. I don’t need a dime of your money.”
“Then I’ll donate it. I’ll establish a fund for people like your mother in difficult medical situations.”
Kelly blinked up at him, eyes moist. “I’d like that.”
“Then there’s only one more thing we need to discuss.”
“What’s that?”
I took her by the hand and pulled her into my lap. “How soon can we get your family here for a wedding?”
Her eyes misted over with tears and a few slid down her cheeks. “Really? You mean it?”
“Of course I mean it. Marry me, Kelly. Marry me and make a family with me. Be Lady Fernsworth. We can stay here in this penthouse or buy an estate of our own. I don’t care where we go from here, as long as it’s together.”
She scrubbed her cheeks with the back of her wrist. “What do I tell my family? They think you’re my boss. What if your family finds out how poor mine is?”
After kissing away her happy tears, a quick roll brought her beneath me in the bed. “I don’t care if they know the truth. I don’t care if you don’t come from money, and neither will they.”
Kelly was so soft beneath me, and she smelled so good, I couldn’t help myself. I pulled at her clothing until I stripped her down to nothing. I hadn’t worn anything to bed but my shorts, and my dick firmed up against her already. I kicked them off too and notched my cock against her slit.
Fuck, she was already so wet and warm and inviting.
“Every inch of you belongs to me, and I want all of England to know it. Say you’ll marry me.”
“Yes. My answer is yes.”
“Good. And since I’m the idiot without a ring, we’ll just have to seal the deal as best we can for now.”
“Just fuck me already, Grayson. I’m not going anywhere, and the ring can wait. Right now all I need is you.”
I flipped Kelly onto her stomach and dragged her back by the hips. Inch by inch, I fed my cock into her tight snatch, groaning at the tight grip of her folds clinging to me. She gasped out loud and grabbed two fistfuls of the sheets.
“God, you’re beautiful.” I palmed both her ass cheeks and squeezed. “I swear, every day I’ll make you happy.”
“You already do.”
Kelly tightened down around me, a little trick she often used that made me go absolutely crazy for her. Each rhythmic squeeze teased and delighted, and I marveled at how well we fit together, always as if we were made for each other. She moaned again and rocked back against me.
“Mine.” I grabbed her hips and bucked forward hard enough to slide her against the sheets.
Kelly grabbed the bedpost and cried out a resounding, “Yes!”
She had come a long way from being my little five-million-dollar virgin, and I wouldn’t have traded the world for her. She looked back at me over her shoulder, blonde hair tousled around her flushed face, and smiled.
Her gaze never left mine as her climax took her. She squeezed down around my cock and cried my name, and I had never heard anything sweeter.
I came inside her again, loving the way her slick cunt gripped me when I filled her with cum. Soon, once the birth control was out of her system, we’d be making a baby together.
While she sighed in contentment, I pulled her close and wrapped her in my arms.
“I love you, Kelly. Thank you for being my diamond.”
Epilogue
Kelly
Christmas Eve
My parents had a brand-new home in an upscale Chicago suburb. I’d bought them the house during the early summer months, and my little brother loved his new bedroom. To celebrate our blessings, Mom had thrown a big Christmas party and invited all of our friends and extended family.
She was finally in remission, and the doctor thought the scans looked beautiful. She was glowing and warm again, her hair was growing once more, and my wonderful mama was going to spend at least one more Christmas with us.
Both my parents had cried at the wedding because for a while, neither of them thought Mom would live to see me marry anyone. On top of that, they loved Grayson. He’d charmed my dad and introduced him to rugby. Only a couple weeks ago, we had flown my family to visit us in England and taken them all to watch a game in Grayson’s private box.
And his family loved me too. Next year, we’d spend the holidays in England, giving me time to learn all of the customary British things and etiquette that accompanied dining with his people.
Maybe I was crazy, but I loved spending my first married Christmas in the city where I’d grown up. Even if Grayson had been trying to convince me for two nights to sleep with him. It just felt weird knowing my family was nearby, even though we had been married since mid-spring.
As I tried to wiggle past him from the bathroom into our bedroom to change for the party, Grayson grabbed me by the hips. He didn’t have on a stitch. “I’m absolutely positive your mother knows you’ve taste
d my knob by now. Come on.”
“Ew, do you have to make it sound so gross?”
“What?”
“I think I prefer tasteful and classy Grayson,” I teased, stroking his chest.
“Just a little?” he pleaded. “Just the tip?”
“You’ve never held back at just the tip.”
He guided my leg over his hip and leaned me back against the wall. God, he was always so hard and ready all the time, like our plans to make a baby had instilled a new sense of virility in him.
I couldn’t wait to tell him that we’d done it. That my doctor had confirmed the pregnancy three days ago, just before we’d flown to Chicago.
I swatted him again. “We’re going to be late to the party.”
He sulked like a little boy and let me go. “Fine. But I get to unwrap my present the moment this is over.”
Before he could change his mind, I shimmied into panties and pulled on a bra. He watched me the whole while with a content smile on his face. “You do, but I have one special present I want to give you first.”
His eyes lit up. “Did Cate take you shopping again before we left? Please tell me it’s a little pink number in silk. I love it when you wear pink.”
“It’s not silk, but it could be pink. Or it could be blue.”
“Forget the color of your own lingerie?”
Men. So oblivious. I chuckled to myself and decided subtle wasn’t going to work. So I took his hand and brought it to my tummy instead. “Which do you think it will be?”
He froze, and I savored every second of his transforming expression. The moment it really hit him, his eyes went wide, and his fingers shook.
“Are you—?”
“I am.”
