A Tempting Proposal

by Dara Girard

  “Oh.” He swept her into his arms, trying not to be entranced by the scent of her lotion, the heat of her body. He walked forward a few feet, closing the door with his foot and scanned the room with a small sense of relief. The elegant room didn’t look like a bordello—his brother would have liked that—or a romantic getaway with red rose petals, but instead it was just an impressive hotel room with soft carpeting and a bouquet of red, white and pink flowers on the wooden dining table.

  The lights of the darkened city of Kirkland glittered outside the large window. He walked over to it. His brother was out there somewhere, he still couldn’t understand his strange message. His voice sounded strange too. More serious than usual. Was he in trouble?

  “You can put me down now,” Ava said.

  James glanced down, startled. He’d forgotten he was still holding her, and now he was aware of nothing else. Her face was so close to his. “Sorry,” he said slowly letting her down. He had to come clean. He had to tell her the truth. He had to…

  “Don’t be,” Ava said then kissed him.

  He promised himself he wouldn’t go too far as his mouth pressed against hers. Just some kissing, a little foreplay then…then he’d take a shower. Or find some way to ruin the mood. No, there was no way he could ruin this mood. Could a broke man turn away from a million dollars? A hungry man from a buffet? He wanted to push her away but couldn’t.

  She drew away from him with a sexy, alluring smile of invitation before she slowly turned her back to him. She slipped off her shoes then reached for the zipper at her neck. He bit his lip, eager to watch her undress, hoping she’d take her time. One part of his mind telling him to stop it, stop her, another part saying, That’s right, baby. Keeping going.

  If he didn’t touch her he’d be safe. Look but don’t touch. He was a disciplined man. A principled one and sleeping with his brother’s bride wasn’t the way to go. Although technically she wasn’t.

  She sent him a look over her shoulder. “Aren’t you going to help me?”

  Okay, so he had to touch her, but he’d just unzip her dress. That was all then he’d walk away. He slowly pulled the zipper down watching as her creamy dark brown skin slowly revealed itself.

  “You’re not saying much,” Ava said.

  “What do you want me to say?” James replied, his voice deeper than usual.

  “I don’t know.”

  He’d just kiss her shoulder. That’s all. Then he’d stop. James pressed his lips against her skin, feeling the warmth of it and inhaling the scent of her lotion. Was it roses? Cherry blossoms?

  She turned to him before he could pull away and kissed him again. He swore as her hands quickly unbuttoned his shirt.

  “Did I scare you?” she said with an impish grin.

  “No.”

  “I can feel your heart racing.”

  “Yes, well—”

  “I like it.” She kissed him again, trapping his words in his throat. She pushed him towards the bed. “You know I’m a woman who likes to take charge.”

  James was tempted to let himself stumble back and fall on the bed, she wasn’t strong enough to force him no matter how powerful she thought she was, but he was tempted to pretend. He was tempted to let her think anything she wanted if he could feel the weight of her body against his.

  However, when the back of his legs hit the bed frame, he stopped himself. If he went that far there was no turning back. He held out his hands. “Ava—”

  Ava pushed his shirt off his shoulders, baring his chest, and grabbed one of his nipples between her teeth, before teasing it with her tongue. She looked up at him. “Yes?”

  James briefly closed his eyes and swallowed, she was playing dirty and he liked it. He quickly moved away and turned so that he stood facing the bed while she stood with her back to it. “I need to take a shower first.”

  “We can take a shower later.” She took off his shirt then wrapped her arms around his neck and fell back on the bed taking him with her, wrapping her legs around him. “I know you want this.”

  James hid a grin; she was really upping the stakes. Part of him wondered why, but another part didn’t care. He did want it— her. Now. Naked in his arms, warm, wet and willing. From the first moment she came into his life he’d wanted this. He’d think about the consequences later. She’d never need to know. He’d give her a night she’d never forget. He bent down to kiss her again.

  She stopped him, pressing the flat of her palm against his chest. She gazed up at him and said in a soft whisper, “I just have one question.”

  “What?”

  Her tone turned flat and cold as did the expression in her eyes. “How far are you willing to take this James?”

  Chapter 12

  He didn’t know whether he should lie or run, so he waited.

  Ava shoved him away from her. “You bastard.”

  Yes, that was true. He blinked and sat on the side of the bed as she adjusted her dress. His heart cracked a little with disappointment at a lost opportunity, his body going from hot to cold in seconds.

  “You think I wouldn’t find out?” When he didn’t respond she released an angry sound of frustration. “You’re a fraud and a liar.”

  That was true too. He rubbed his forehead, shocked by how far he’d been willing to go. For a moment he didn’t know himself. But he had to take control. She was upset and he had to tell her the right story to give himself some time. “Jackson was delayed. He wanted to be here and I didn’t want—” He shook his head, knowing no reason made sense. “I’m sorry.”

  Ava jumped to her feet and glared at him. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

  “Jackson should be here any minute.”

  A cold smile touched her mouth. “Don’t you wish.”

  James rubbed his fingers together. She looked mean and he liked it. “He will. My brother may come off shallow but family means a lot to him. This switch was just supposed to be for a couple hours.”

  “Why?”

  He picked up his shirt from off the ground and dusted it off. He didn’t remember tossing it there. It wasn’t like him to throw things on the floor. “Cold feet, but it was nothing. I was filling in and—”

  “What about last night?”

  He put on his shirt, hiding a smile as he remembered Ava had been the one to put his shirt there. “What about last night?”

  “Why did you switch then?”

  James paused and chewed the inside of his cheek. He should be paying more attention to her. She was smart. He’d forgotten how smart she was. Somehow he’d blown his cover last night. “You knew,” James said in a flat voice.

  “Of course I knew.”

  “How? Was it the kiss?”

  Ava rested a hand on her hip. “Why would I tell you that? You’d just make it harder for me to distinguish between you next time.”

  “There won’t be a next time.”

  “You’re right. How are you going to fix this? Our marriage isn’t legal. You married me under a false name.” She narrowed her eyes. “Or was that part of the plan?”

  Yes. “No.”

  “Jackson and I had a marriage agreement. The deal was that I marry into the family. For real.”

  “No one needs to know.”

  “I’m so angry I’m ready to tell the world how humiliated I am. How two brothers used me like a toy. Were you really going to sleep with me as Jackson?”

  He thought for a moment. “I-I…probably.” Definitely yes.

  Her mouth fell open and she stared at him for a moment, amazed. “Really?”

  He shrugged and sat down on the bed. “You asked.”

  “And I thought you were different.” She turned to the door.

  James leaned back against the headboard and watched her. “Where are you going?”

  “To tell your stepfather that the deal is off.”

  “No need to do that.” He clasped his hands behind his head. “I have a new proposal for you.”

  She looked
at him uncertain but curious. “What?”

  “I’ll accept my punishment. You can do whatever you want. Just wait six months.”

  She folded her arms. “Six months? Why six months?”

  He hesitated then let his hands fall to his sides. “This day meant a lot to my mother. She wanted to see one of her sons married and I was able to make that happen. I can’t see that taken away from her. I’ll pay you whatever you want and after…” He hesitated, determined not to stumble over what he had to say, “after she’s gone you can do what you want. Reveal everything.” When he’d asked Ava if his mother could be part of the wedding preparations, he’d briefly told her about his mother’s prognosis and current state of health.

  Ava tilted her head to the side, studying him. “Six months you say?”

  He nodded.

  “That’s not much of a proposal.”

  “Why not?”

  She held up her forefinger. “Because you’re forgetting one thing.”

  He leaned forward. “Enlighten me.”

  “What do I get out of this? After six months I’d still be a phony bride. I don’t know if your brother will show up to even pretend that he’s my husband, so why should I keep quiet?” She held up her hand before James could speak. “I’ll tell you why, because I’ll have what I wanted.” She pointed at him. “Fortunately, you’re taking me to Vegas.”

  He blinked, looking bored. “I am?”

  “Yes, we’re going to elope.”

  Chapter 13

  Ava reread Camy’s initial text of Jackson’s kidnapping with a smile as she sat in the plush first class airplane seat. She’d changed out of her wedding dress and wore a comfortable black pant suit with a grey colored blouse. Back to business as usual.

  She remembered her friend’s apprehension when she was able to slip away from the reception, into a quiet alcove to find out how her plan had worked. “Are you sure you have to go this far?” Camy asked her via video chat.

  “My father depends on me. You know what the Fortunes did to him.” It was also why her father was conspicuously absent. They’d decided that he couldn’t attend the wedding and give her away because Edgar or Flo might remember him.

  Camy’s boyfriend, Tommy Park, stuck his head in the frame. “You’ve got to give me some love too, eh? It’s not every day a Korean guy pretends to be a yakuza thug so convincingly.”

  Ava grinned, she’d always liked the man Camy had met in the theater department at the university. “Was he scared?”

  “Tried not to show it.”

  She blew him a kiss. “Thank you.”

  “What if he goes to the police?” Camy asked.

  “He’s not going to report this,” Ava said, certain. “I know Jackson, he’ll do what I asked and you just confirmed it.”

  “I just think this may have gone a little too far.”

  “He made the move first, I’m just finishing the game.”

  “I hope your father will appreciate this.”

  I hope so too. “He will,” she said used to defending her father against Camy’s doubts. Camy thought Ava’s father, Walter Hughes, could be overly critical and harsh, but Ava understood the reason why.

  They had met through one of Ava’s father’s girlfriends, a distant relative of Camy. The girlfriend didn’t last but a long standing friendship with Camy’s family and her aunt, a Japanese woman who lived in the neighborhood and had a sort of finishing school for young Japanese adults, did. Every summer she and Camy would help entertain a group of students when she brought them to Vancouver.

  Camy was more outgoing and friendly than Ava and was a successful makeup artist. Their friendship had managed to stay strong in spite of Ava’s constant moving and her father’s melancholy moods. Camy never seemed to be put off when Ava’s father glowered in front of the TV and told them about how much the Fortunes had ruined his life.

  Ava had grown up knowing that Edgar Fortune was a thief and a liar. He’d stolen her father’s work, taking whatever joy he’d once had in life, and turned him into a bitter man. While her father’s life crumbled, Edgar Fortune built a multi-million dollar business, leaving her father to struggle.

  He’d told her how in the early days he had tried to use lawyers to get his fair share, but Edgar had defeated him before the case even went to court. No matter what battle he tried, Edgar always came out on top and untouched.

  “You’re the only way I can get back at him,” he’d told her when she was seven. “When the law doesn’t work, you’ve got to work outside of the law.” And for the next twenty-four years he prepared her for this moment. For the moment he would finally get his revenge.

  She now had the two brothers right where she wanted them. Jackson thought he was so smart, he should have known better. She wouldn’t let the Fortune brothers get the best of her.

  She glanced over at James as he sat looking out the airplane window. Her mind roiled with anger while her body still remembered his touch.

  She still didn’t know why she’d allowed her pretence to go that far. She told herself it didn’t matter which brother she married. Either one would work to put her plan into action. But she knew marrying James was a gamble as bright as the lights of a Las Vegas casino. This was not what she had in mind, but it was the only option. She needed to return home with the guarantee and status that marriage into the Fortune family would give her.

  Six and a half hours later she was officially his wife. They’d married in a simple and elegant wedding chapel she’d chosen. She found it embarrassing enough to have to go through an elopement with a man she hardly knew than to add insult to injury by having a gaudy décor and an Elvis impersonator, so she’d made sure to select the venue.

  As she sat in the hotel room, which was decidedly, to her annoyance, even more impressive than the honeymoon suite in Kirkland, boasting floor to ceiling windows with a view of the Las Vegas Strip (she vaguely remembered James asking her on the plane whether she wanted to wake up to the sight of the strip or the mountains), and three flower vases—one on a side table in the entry way, another on the small dining table and one on the dresser. She still wondered why she was going through this.

  It was a risk, but she felt that a contract would make it easier to control him. Now that she knew how deceitful he could be she couldn’t be too cautious.

  It was official now. The prenuptials signed (once they divorced after six months she’d be left with nothing, but she didn’t care since she didn’t expect to be around long), the license real. Now she could work on slowly destroying Edgar Fortune and taking control of BioMed Solutions.

  Ava drummed her fingers on the dining table where she now sat, she heard James moving around in the washroom taking the shower he’d talked about before. She groaned. James. She’d married James. Unfortunately, James came with baggage that would complicate her mission a little. A dying mother and a brother with special needs, she could handle, but the fact that he lived in the family house was why she’d targeted Jackson instead. His mother wouldn’t be around long enough to see the devastating impact of her plan and Rudy wouldn’t understand enough to be personally hurt.

  She planned to make sure he’d be provided for so she wouldn’t feel too guilty about what needed to be done. The Fortunes had lived charmed lives long enough. But living in the family house with Edgar? That was never her plan and soured her thoughts.

  “It’s not too late to get it annulled,” James said behind her.

  Ava looked up, a cutting remark on her lips, then stopped when she saw him. James stood over her wrapped only in a white towel from the waist down, his well made body still damp from the shower.

  She jumped to her feet. “What are you doing?”

  He paused. “Talking to you.”

  She gestured to his towel. “I mean what are you doing like this?”

  He frowned.

  “Wet and half naked,” she clarified, wondering if he was being dense on purpose.

  James narrowed his eyes. “I be
t if you think really hard, you’d come up with the solution yourself.”

  Ava folded her arms. “I know you took a shower. What I mean is shouldn’t you be dressed? Don’t you feel…uncomfortable?”

  He pulled out a chair and sat. “Why would I feel uncomfortable?”

  She pointed at him. “You’re trying to seduce me.”

  He shook his head with a slight smile. “No, I’m not. I felt dirty and wanted to get clean.”

  “Oh, so marrying me made you feel dirty?”

  His smile disappeared, his eyes grew dark. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”

  “I didn’t force you to do this. Jackson did and I hope you’re not expecting me to—”

  James rested his elbow on the table, held his chin in his hand and watched her. “You’ve never been seduced before, have you?”

  “Of course I have,” she said embarrassed he could guess she hadn’t.

  “Clearly by someone young, clumsy or both.” His eyes captured hers, his silken tone deep with meaning. “When I seduce a woman she doesn’t know it.”

  She believed him, that’s what made her nervous. She swallowed hard determined not to show how much he affected her. She knew she would always have to be on guard with him.

  “Ava, relax,” he said. He freed her from his gaze by looking towards the window. “I know how you feel about me. Why do you think I reserved a room like this? I knew I would be sleeping on the couch.” He returned his gaze to hers. “Feel better now?”

  No. She felt too hot when he was fully clothed, now she felt like she’d jumped into an inferno. She glanced at his chest, her face burning as she remembered the feel of his hard nipple against her tongue. She shouldn’t have done that. She’d hoped to frighten him a little, she’d frightened herself instead. She’d been stunned by how good it felt. “Do you sleep in the nude?”

  James leaned back and casually crossed his legs. “Don’t worry, I won’t tonight.”

  Ava briefly closed her eyes not wanting to imagine him completely naked. She failed. “I mean do you normally?”

  “Does it matter?”