“Get out of here.” Brandon’s face was red with anger. “After all I’ve done for your family, you try and ruin my life.”
“You’re a liar, Brandon,” Maria hissed as she walked up the TV and turned it on again. She rewound the DVD and pressed play. I cringed as I watched Brandon on the screen moaning in ecstasy with Denise on top of him. “Look carefully, Katie.” She pointed at the screen. “For just one moment, stop thinking about your little girl pain and Brandon fucking another woman. Look at the room, Katie. What do you see?”
I tried to ignore her words, but I couldn’t. I looked at the room more carefully to see what she was talking about. And then I gasped. I stared at Brandon, angry and hurt. He had lied to me. Everything had been a lie. One great big lie.
“You lied,” I whispered, horrified and heartbroken. He stared back at me with an ashen face and I knew then that he knew he had been caught. I turned back to the screen and watched as Brandon made love to another woman with the photograph we’d taken together at the museum staring down at him from the night table next to the bed.
Chapter 6
Brandon
I stared at Katie in dread. She’d caught me in a lie. A big lie. A lie that was more harmful than the lie she’d told me. A lie that meant I’d have to reveal everything if I was to stand a chance of gaining her total trust and love again.
“Nothing to say, Brandon?” Maria’s voice was catty and delighted, and I knew that she had deliberately set this whole thing up to hurt me for ending the fake engagement.
“You need to leave. Now.” I turned toward her with murder in my eyes.
“I think someone needs to protect poor, innocent Katie. Don’t you, Brandon?” She laughed. “We wouldn’t want her thinking this was all her fault, would we?” Her eyes narrowed at me and I grabbed her arm.
“You are to leave and never come back.” I looked down at her and whispered, “If I ever see you again, I will ruin your brother’s life. I will make sure he is fired from the Wall Street Journal and is never employed by another newspaper in New York again.”
“You wouldn’t do that.” Her face paled at my words. I knew I had hit a sore spot. She loved her brother Matt more than anyone in the world.
“Don’t test me.” I pushed her toward the door. “Leave now.”
“What about Harry?” She looked at me with big eyes. “He’ll miss me.”
“You will never see him again.” I clenched my fists as I thought about all the times I’d left him alone with her. I wanted to punch myself for being so blind as to how crazy she was.
“But you love me, Brandon,” she whimpered. “You wanted to marry me.”
“Maria.” My voice rose and she ran out of the room. I followed her out and watched as she exited before slowly going back into the room. “I guess I’ll have to change the locks,” I joked as I re-entered the study, but Katie didn’t smile.
I stood there, not knowing what to say or where to start.
“I guess we should talk.” I cleared my throat and stared at her. I was surprised to see that she wasn’t crying. “I’m sorry for lying.”
“One lie begets another lie, I suppose.” Her face was expressionless, and my heart froze at the lack of emotion in her tone. I could have dealt with angry, jealousy, or hurt, but her lack of caring scared me.
“I didn’t mean to lie.” I sighed. “I really didn’t want her. I never loved her.”
“You slept with her while you were with me?” Katie looked at me curiously. “So you cheated on me?”
“Never.” I shook my head vehemently. “It was after.”
“After what?”
“We broke up.” I took a deep breath. “It was the day you gave Harry up.”
“What?” She frowned at me. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“The day you gave Harry up was the day I realized you were never coming back to me. It was the day I realized you hated me so much that you would have our child and give him up for adoption and never even tell me that I had a son.” I stared at her through bleak eyes. “I hated you so much on that day. I hated you and I hated me and I resorted to something I’m not proud of.”
“But she blackmailed you.” She looked at me with a dazed confession. “Why would you sleep with her?
“Because I hated her as much as I hated myself.” I shrugged. “I just needed a body—bodies. I just needed to be out of myself. To forget you and what we’d had. I needed to be with someone and use their body without care for their feelings.”
“You did that to me as well.” Her voice was soft.
“Never, Katie. I’ve never used you.” I shook my head. “I love you.”
“You don’t know the meaning of love.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “All these years, I’ve been berating myself for doing something so stupid, for lying and losing the love of my life, but I think I should have been congratulating myself. I wasn’t dumb. I was smart. You’re crazy. You’re self-obsessed. You only care about yourself. You’re not capable of love.”
“I love Harry, Katie. I’m a good father.” My voice was terse.
“Yes.” She nodded slowly. “You’re a good father. A very good father.”
“Can you forgive me, Katie?”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” She shrugged. “We both made mistakes. I think it’s time we moved on. I want to be in Harry’s life if you let me. I want him to know me as his mother.”
“You’re not going to run away?” I looked at her consideringly. “Now that you know everything, you’re not going to leave and never look back like you did seven years ago?”
“No.” She looked at me with clear eyes and smiled weakly. “I love my son. I won’t ever leave him again. I’m not going to back down this time. I’m not going anywhere.”
I fell back against the wall and burst into tears. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that everything was working out the way I had dreamed it would. Katie stared at me in shock, and I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms, kissing the top of her head.
“What are you doing?” She pulled away from me. “Stop it. What’s going on, Brandon?”
I walked back to the TV and turned it on again. “Look at the screen,” I told her. “Look very carefully.”
She looked at me in shock, and I pointed at the image of me.
“Look at the face. Look carefully, Katie.” She stared at the screen for a few minutes and gasped.
“That’s not you.” Her face turned ashen as she realized the truth. “What is going on? That’s not you!”
“Matt helped me put this video together.” I walked over to her and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go upstairs.” We walked upstairs to my bedroom and I took her to sit down on the bed. “Maria went crazy when I ended things with her. He called me to warn me that he thought she was going to do something crazy. We have this video because, when I refused to pay Denise a dime, she hired someone who was my lookalike to pretend he was me. She took him to my apartment when I was out of town and set up a secret camera to record it. This was going to be her proof to the world.” I shook my head. “I told you, she was crazy.”
“How did you get it?” Katie looked like she didn’t quite believe me.
“Matt got wind of it from a reporter he knows.” I shrugged. “He pretended to be an interested reporter, bought the video, and made her sign non-disclosure papers. It’s been locked up for years, but Maria found it recently and well, I guess she decided to try and use it against me.”
“That’s crazy.” Katie looked down at her lap, and I knew that now was the time that I had to let her know how I felt and what was in my heart.
"It's always been you, Katie. Don't you realize that? From the first day I met you, my heart has belonged to you. It's never gone anywhere else. I've just been waiting for you to come back to me."
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” She shook her head and sighed. “Why didn’t you try and get me back when we broke up? How could you do that to m
e?”
I grabbed her hands and stared into her eyes. "You were only eighteen, so young. I didn’t want to trap you into a relationship if you weren’t ready. I wanted it to be you who came to me. I wanted you to realize that I was the man of your dreams. The man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. I waited so patiently, Katie. Every day, I sat by the phone, waiting. I didn’t want to be the man who stole your youth if you weren’t ready. When Will told me you were pregnant, I thought, ‘This was it. This is when she’s going to come back to me. She loves me and she’s having my baby. There’s no way she’s not going to come.’ But you never did. When I heard you were giving away the baby—our baby—I hated you. I couldn't believe that you would give away a part of us. But eventually, I understood why. And I went and got him. And we've just been waiting for you to grow up and come back to us."
“I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to tell you, Brandon. I really did. I was just too young. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
"I know that now.” I took a deep breath. “You were too young and naïve and I was too old and set in my ways. I knew from the moment I met you that you were my forever love. But I didn’t know if I was yours. I needed to know I was your forever love and not just your first love. So I decided to wait. I decided to let you grow up and do your own thing. If you loved me, really loved me, I knew you would come back to me.”
“I’ve always loved you, Brandon.” She looked at me with passionate eyes. “That’s why I got a job at a company I knew you were buying.”
“The day you applied to Marathon Corporation was the day that my life turned back to color. I was so excited. I knew that this was the moment I had been waiting for. But I knew that I had to be more careful this time. I couldn’t just welcome you into my open and waiting arms. I had to test you, Katie. I didn't want to hurt you, but I couldn't let you back into our son's life without knowing that you weren't going to run again. I needed to know that you were strong enough to go through hell and still come back to me. This isn't a game, Katie. This is for real. This is for love. This is for our life. I needed to know that you were mature enough to deal with a family. A real family. You've already broken my heart once and it killed me. I can't have you breaking our son's heart as well."
“I would never do anything to break his heart.” She whispered softly.
“If you come into our lives and leave again, it would break me and it would break him. He’s already forming a bond with you.” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to push you so hard. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I had to know that you would stay, no matter how much I pushed you.”
“Oh, Brandon. I’m not going anywhere.” She leaned toward me and kissed me. “Please don’t test me anymore. I’m sorry I lied about being eighteen.”
“Katie, I want you to remember one thing.” I took her hand and held it to my heart. “It wasn’t that you lied about being eighteen. I can live with a lie. You were young and it happens. It was that you had so many opportunities to tell me the truth and you didn’t. Even to that last day, you told me you were going to a business lunch. I knew there was no business, Katie. I just wanted you to tell me the truth. I wanted you to prove to me that, despite your age, you were an adult.”
“You knew?” Her eyes widened and I nodded slowly.
“I always knew,” I whispered in her ear. “Remember when I talked about being eighteen and first loves? Remember when I told you I was going to be a guest lecturer? Remember when I told you we could get through everything if we were just honest with each other? I gave you so many opportunities to tell me the truth. I so badly wanted you to tell me so that we could live our lives. But it wasn’t to be at that time. You had to grow up.”
“I can’t believe you knew.” She shook her head and I pressed my lips against hers softly. Her fingers ran through my hair and she kissed me back passionately. We fell back onto the bed, our hands exploring each other hungrily. I ran my hands down her back and under her top so that I could feel her skin. My fingers burned as they touched her and I felt a heat rising through me as she bit down on my shoulder.
“Wait just a second.” I jumped off of the bed, ignoring the groans of my body as I walked to my closet and pulled out a small box. I walked back to the bed slowly, and Katie stared up at me with wide eyes.
“Katie.” I got down on my knees and pulled her up so that she was sitting up and not lying down.
“Oh my God.” Her hand flew to her mouth and I smiled.
“This isn’t exactly how I had this planned,” I laughed gently. “I thought we would be on a picnic somewhere and Harry would bring me the ring and stand behind me. I never wanted to do this in the bedroom or in the throes of passion. But I can’t hold back. I don’t want to hold back. I’ve never felt that a moment has been as right as this one is right now.”
“Brandon.” Her eyes glittered with unshed tears and I shook my head and smiled.
“I’m doing the talking now.” I grinned as she rolled her eyes at me. “I knew I loved you from the first moment I saw you outside of Doug’s, a place, by the way, we will never let our underage daughters go.”
“We would never have met if I hadn’t gone.” She grinned at me and I gave her a quick kiss before pulling back.
“The day you came into my life with your gorgeous smile and your trusting eyes was the best day of my life. And our relationship was perfect. You were perfect for me. I was perfect for you. We were perfect for each other. I knew that in my heart. I always knew that. But I didn’t want to capture a caterpillar in a jar and keep a butterfly hostage. I needed you to metamorphosize and come back to me. I needed to know that the beautiful butterfly had seen the world and knew that I was the one. And you came back to me, my sweet, Katie. You came back to me, and all I want to do is hold you tight and never let go. I can’t lose you again. I told you once that we were forever, that you were mine. I didn’t mean that I owned you, Katie. I meant that you owned my heart. You were mine and I was forever yours. I love you. I’ve always loved you. Being without you for seven years has aged me more that you’ll ever know. Marry me, my darling. Marry me and make me the happiest man in the world.” I opened the box and slowly took out the ring I had bought for her all those years ago. “Will you marry me, Katie?”
“Yes, oh yes. Oh, Brandon,” she gasped as I slowly slid the ring onto her finger, love emanating from my every pore. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her all over, feeling like I had finally won. Everything had finally come together and I was finally going to live the rest of my life with the woman I loved with all my heart.
“Can I make love to you?” I asked her softly, running my hands through her silky hair.
Her eyes laughed at me as she ran her fingers over my eyebrows. “Now you ask?”
“Well, I didn’t want to be rude.” I grinned back at her. “Now sit up so I can take off your top.”
“I haven’t said yes yet.” She shook her head and lifted her arms up.
“You can’t say no to me.” I unclasped her bra and through it to the ground, before staring at her breasts. They were so perfect and they fit in my hands like they were made for my palms to squeeze and caress.
“You wanna bet?” She pulled away from me and I grabbed her quickly and pushed her down.
“I wonder how big they will get when you’re pregnant again?” I murmured against her lips as my fingers gently pinched her nipples.
“What?” She gasped against my lips and I kissed her softly.
“When I get you pregnant again, I wonder how big your breasts will be.” I laughed at the look in her eyes. “You do know we’re going to have more babies right?”
“We just got engaged, Brandon.” She laughed softly and she moaned as I bent down and sucked on her nipples roughly. “Oh.” She cried out and I felt her hands running though my hair. I kissed down her belly to her pants and then quickly undid the zipper and pulled them off.
“That doesn’t matter.” I growled as my teeth attempted to pul
l her panties off. “I want more babies. In fact, let’s try now.” I licked my tongue down her inner thigh and grinned as she spread her legs for me. I took a deep breath and pushed my nose next to her sweet spot and smelled. I loved the scent of her. It turned me on almost as much as tasting her.
“Do I have a say?” Her voice was soft and I looked up at her.
“You do, of course. You get to say how many more you want?” I grinned at her as she laughed down at me.
“You’re lucky I love you.”
“Yes, I am.” I stared into her eyes and blew her a small kiss. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
“Stop talking and start making, baby.” Katie pushed my head back down and I laughed in delight. I loved that, Katie was as sexual as I was and she wasn’t afraid to share and show that side of her. I pulled her panties down quickly and we both groaned as my tongue licked her wet tip and slowly entered her. I could feel her legs and body trembling under my touch and I felt heady with power. Knowing I could make her feel this way turned me on and as her first orgasm hit, I knew that there was no one else in the world that I’d rather be with.
“Your turn now.” Katie’s voice was raspy as she pushed me back on the mattress and her fingers quickly unbuttoned my pants. I closed my eyes as her fingers found my cock. There were warm and soft and she knew just how to tease me with her slow and fast strokes. Then I felt her luscious lips and tongue on me and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to last very long. There was something about the way she sucked on me that made me feel like my whole body was on fire.
“Oh, Katie.” I groaned as she pulled away from me and kissed up my stomach. “What are you doing?”
“I want to ride you.” She grinned down at me with a sparkle in her eye.
“I don’t think I’m going to last long.” I muttered as she slowly sat down on me. “Oh shit.” I grabbed a hold of her hips as she rocked back and forth. “You are going to be the undoing of me, Katie.”
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