Just This Once

by Mira Lyn Kelly

  She hadn’t even made it to the corner when her phone rang.

  It was Sean’s lawyer, asking if Molly would be free the next morning.

  * * *

  Molly stepped off the bus twenty minutes before her appointment and stared up at the sleek new building that had only wedged itself into the Chicago skyline the year before. The cost of office space in the glass-and-steel mammoth was supposed to be through the roof, but she imagined any lawyer a Wyse retained would be more than able to cover it.

  Wide curved steps led up to an open, gleaming entry where businessmen and businesswomen streamed in and out in what seemed to be an endless supply. Slowly walking up, Molly scanned the seating areas by the fountains and potted trees for Sean, certain he would be waiting for her. They hadn’t communicated about the appointment, but there was no chance he wasn’t aware of it.

  Another five minutes passed. She tucked her coat around herself a little tighter and followed the crowd through the doors, her sense of unease growing with every step. Where was he? She knew she’d been unreasonable the last time Sean had brought up the subject of child support and figured he’d set this appointment up to ensure she understood there were laws in place to protect her and their child. They needed to come to an understanding about it. She was prepared, or at least she would be when she found Sean. The bank of elevators for Derschel, Willis & Gray was located on the second level, so she took the escalator and looked out over the airy atrium, searching again.

  She chewed her cheek and pulled out her phone. No texts. No missed calls.

  Reaching the Chicago offices of the country’s top law firm on the seventy-sixth floor, Molly was greeted by name by a man she’d never met before, offered something to drink, and then ushered into an expansive dark-wood conference room that was every kind of intimidating. A team of lawyers lined one side of the table, and an even bigger team lined the other side. Her side. Apparently, Sean had retained Derschel, Willis & Gray on her behalf, and the other guys were there to represent him. Though he would not be present.

  Molly thought about the crackers tucked in her canvas bag and wondered if she was going to need them.

  A handsome man a few years older than she was made the introductions around the table before giving her his own name. Derek Greggory. Sean’s half brother and boarding-school rival. Turned out Sean thought he’d have an extra incentive to make sure Molly’s interests were being served. Before she’d even had a chance to process that she was meeting Derek, the lawyers started to explain why she’d been asked there. The words were coming—her lawyers periodically jumping in to clarify a point regarding child support during pregnancy and after or offer an opinion—but all Molly could focus on was that Sean wasn’t there.

  She wasn’t going to see him.

  And then they handed her a document with a letter from Sean clipped to the top, and her world crumbled.

  Molly,

  You were right. I hadn’t been honest with myself about the kind of future I wanted. But I see things clearly now. I will forever be grateful to you for helping me to reevaluate my priorities before I made a mistake that might have cost us both the future we deserve.

  In light of recent events, I believe I have found a woman uniquely qualified to be my partner through life. Before she is willing to commit, she requires some assurances and security. She needs to know that I will put her and the child we will someday have above all others. To do this, I need to make a clean break.

  In time, I hope you will understand.

  Sean

  Tears spilled down her cheeks, nearly blinding her as the lawyer spelled out the terms of the one-time cash payout for the care and support of their child. The nondisclosure agreement, with penalties severe enough to ensure it would never be violated by either party.

  Sean was leaving her. She’d told him he needed a woman like Valerie, and he’d found one. He’d found one, and now he was throwing the other side of his life away?

  Because that’s what this agreement was about. Sean, her best friend in the world, the father of her child and constant in her life, was offering her a check so that he could walk away and never look back. Ever. There wouldn’t be any changing his mind after this. The penalty for Sean violating the NDA was a price greater than he would ever be able to pay. And he’d put it in a legal, binding contract and asked her to sign it.

  What had happened to the man she’d fallen in love with not once, but twice? The lonely boy who’d ached for a family capable of emotional connection so much that he’d build one for himself. He’d made her his family. He’d made Max and Brody and Jase his family. And now he was not only prepared to walk away from all of them—because that’s what this agreement meant—but also from this tiny life that was the two of them together in the most precious, incomprehensible way.

  “This isn’t real,” she sniffed, looking from one member of her legal team to the next. “You don’t know him. He would never want this.”

  Choking back a sob, she covered her face.

  Raised voices sounded from beyond the door in the back of the conference room. It opened a crack and then slammed shut as more yelling followed and then a thud that shook the walls.

  Molly stared as Derek walked over and opened the door just enough to speak through it. Nodded tightly and then walked back. “I’m sorry. Nothing to be alarmed about. Just a…scheduling dispute. It’s been sorted out.”

  Another partner slid a document in front of her. “The amount on offer is…exceptionally generous. That said, you are under no obligation to take it. We can begin working out a schedule of child support immediately.”

  Molly held up a hand. God, she didn’t want anything at all, or at least she didn’t want Sean’s money. What she wanted—to be the right woman for him—she couldn’t have. “Just wait. Please. I need a minute.”

  She pulled out her phone and called Sean, walking over to the windows overlooking Grant Park far below.

  He answered on the first ring.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered, clutching the phone tight. “This can’t be what you want.”

  The sharp pull of Sean’s breath sounded through the line, followed by a muffled exchange in the background. Then—“Molly, you don’t have to sign it,” he said, his voice raw and worn. “But I’m asking you to do it for me.”

  She closed her eyes and bowed her head. Listened to the silence stretch between them.

  Then, returning to the table where eight lawyers sat politely waiting, she picked up a pen and, half blind with tears, signed her name across from Sean’s.

  “It’s done,” she stated dully, a cold numbness creeping through her chest.

  Another rush of breath from his end, and just before he disconnected the call, he promised, “Baby, you won’t regret this.”

  Molly blinked. A stitch pulling between her brows.

  Because that didn’t sound like a man who’d just put his hotel on the line to ensure that he would never be tied to the life he’d created. It sounded like a man who had just scored the victory of his life. It sounded like—

  The back door to the conference room swung wide, and her Sean shouldered through, those deep-brown eyes locked with hers as he crossed the space with purposeful strides.

  “Those documents set?” he asked, not bothering to look at the team of lawyers scrambling from their seats.

  “Yes, Mr. Wyse.”

  “W-what are you doing here?” she stammered shakily, too broken and confused to make sense of the half-cocked smile on his face. He should be dying inside. The way she was.

  “Being honest about the future I want.” His hand slid around her waist, and then he was pulling her along with him out of the conference room. Like somehow he believed that was all the explanation she required.

  Across the hall, there was another, smaller conference room. Through the windows, she saw two repor
ters with their cameras set up behind them, and an icy chill settled in the pit of her stomach.

  No.

  Sean reached for the door and pulled her closer. “I’m showing the woman I want as my partner through life that I put her and the child we’ll be having in just over seven months above all else.”

  Molly’s throat clenched, and fresh tears flooded past her lids. “Sean, don’t. You can’t.”

  Because suddenly, she understood what this relentless, insane man had just done. What she’d driven him to do.

  His eyes went to her lips, and his mouth followed. He kissed her like she was his next breath. As if he wasn’t on the brink of tossing away the thing he loved best in this world.

  Then he was opening the door and pulling Molly along with him to the front of the room.

  Ignoring the press, she tugged at his shirt. “Sean, please.”

  But he was a man on a mission and wouldn’t be stopped.

  “Thank you for coming today. I have an introduction and a brief statement to make. First, I would like to introduce Molly Elizabeth Brandt. Ms. Brandt is the new owner of the Chicago Wyse Hotel. In addition to the Wyse, Ms. Brandt currently runs two other successful Chicago businesses and is expecting her first child—our child—early next year.

  “And if she ever agrees to do me the honor, I will make her my wife as soon as humanly possible. If she doesn’t, well, we’ll be together either way. I’m not going anywhere.” He flashed her the smile her heart couldn’t resist.

  She was shaking her head, beyond the ability to protest verbally. There had to be a catch. A loophole. Something.

  But Sean was already wrapping things up. “Any questions regarding whether I will continue to run the Chicago location should be directed to my boss, the Maybe-Future-Mrs.-Wyse. Thank you for coming.”

  The short press conference at a close, the reporters quickly cleared out, offering their thanks and congrats as they went. And then it was just the two of them.

  Sean grinned at her. “So, Moll, should I drop my résumé on your desk?”

  “How could you do this?” she asked, her voice unsteady. He’d given up everything.

  “Easy. I already owned the Chicago Wyse. It just took a few extra signatures to free it up, so I went to my parents and explained that I didn’t want their life. I want you, I want our baby, and I want their support. Apparently, I must have been fairly compelling, because it went smoothly from there.”

  Her jaw went slack. “They’re going to think I was after—”

  “They know what you were after, Molly. The right thing. Setting me free. A life where you didn’t have to feel like you did growing up. And now they have a better understanding of my priorities too.”

  She could only imagine what that had looked like.

  “Molly, I’m sorry about my mother coming to you. I’m sorry about what she said, what she assumed. And most of all, I’m sorry for not doing a better job of showing you, myself, that our life together wouldn’t be about you fitting into my world. You are my world. And whether you’re my wife or my best friend with a baby but without benefits, what matters most is that we’re together. Because you are the only thing I don’t think I could survive without.”

  Her heart was pounding, her fingers trembling. “But, Sean, this is crazy. How could you be so casual with the Wyse? You love that hotel.”

  He shook his head and smiled at her with all the confidence in the world. “I love you. I care about the Wyse deeply,” he added with a teasing wink before turning serious again. “And there was nothing casual about what I did here today. I entrusted my business to the woman I love and believe in more than anything or anyone in this world.” Taking her hand, he pulled it to his mouth for a soft kiss before pressing it to that spot she loved best above his heart. “I had to show you how important you are to me…and show you that I understand what’s important to you too. I know with the way you grew up, you didn’t feel wanted the way you should have, and you didn’t feel secure.”

  She choked out a breath, suddenly seeing what Sean had done.

  “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life, Molly. I want our baby. But even if you decide us being a family isn’t what you want, I need you to know that you and our baby are secure. Neither of you will ever want for anything…but especially not a roof over your head. You have 623 of them now. Actually more than that, because I bought your building for you too. But that’s just a present, not part of the NDA or anything.”

  Her eyes closed as fresh tears filled with too many emotions to count spilled down her cheeks.

  “Molly, say something,” he begged, his voice devoid of all teasing.

  “You’re crazy,” she whispered as her fingers caught between the buttons of his shirt and she pulled him in close.

  “And you’re stubborn,” he growled, a breath from her lips.

  She shook her head, peering up into the eyes she’d loved since she was sixteen. “I love you, Sean. I can’t believe you did this… I’m sorry I—”

  “Shh, let’s just go back to that first part, can we?” That half-cocked smile went even wider. “So you love love me?”

  She laughed, her heart so full, it hurt. “Yes, I do. Kind of desperately and hopelessly, and I’m pretty sure for the rest of my life.”

  Sean let out a slow breath, nodding once as his eyes filled with so much hope and relief and love that she wondered how she had ever doubted him.

  “Then this time, Molly, I’m begging you.”

  Stepping back, Sean bent slowly to one knee and pulled a medium-size black velvet box from his pocket. Holding it up, he opened the lid, revealing a tiny, misshapen pair of soft, knit, green baby booties with uneven stitches and a breathtaking diamond ring tucked between them. “Please, Molly, be my wife.”

  It took her three tries before she could fight past the emotion and find her voice, but when she was able, she stroked her finger over one booty and asked, “Did you knit these yourself?”

  Sean laughed and nodded. “They aren’t perfect. But I figure by the time she gets here, I’ll have mastered it.”

  She. He wanted a girl.

  “They are perfect.” Every single stitch was made with love.

  Taking Sean by the tie, Molly tugged him to his feet and stared up into his eyes.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too. So say it. Give me the happily ever after. I want the fairy tale, baby.”

  She laughed, because only Sean. “Yes! I’ll marry you.”

  Epilogue

  Brody

  The sun was setting over the ocean, casting the beach in a warm, golden glow. White sand sifted through Brody’s toes as he stood between Jase and Max, the three of them decked out in white tuxedos with their pant legs rolled up. Emily, Sarah, and Janice stood for Molly, each of them wearing a dress of their own choosing but in matching shades of cream. The girls looked gorgeous, their smiles almost as bright as the bride’s. But not a one of them could compete with the grin on Sean’s face.

  Jesus, that guy.

  Two weeks was all it had taken to coordinate the schedules and set up the sunset beach wedding of Molly’s dreams. And at least three times that Brody knew of, the guy had tried to talk Molly into flying to Vegas to elope early. Not because the planning of where to put the tiki bar or the seating chart for eight was just too much to handle—no, the guy just couldn’t fucking wait to get his ring on her finger.

  It wasn’t like Brody hadn’t seen it before. Max and Jase had been just as nuts. But watching his previously sane buddies go off the deep end never ceased to surprise him.

  Now Sean had finally made it to his day. He and Molly were exchanging rings, speaking the kind of heartfelt vows that hit Brody deep in the chest and had the couples stealing meaningful looks at each other from across the sand. The kind of vows that made him wonder what i
t would be like to love like that.

  Brody’d had his share of relationships over the years, several that had even been serious. But never like this. And now watching as Sean pulled Molly in for the kiss that finally made her his wife, Brody rubbed at that hollow-feeling spot inside his chest, bothered by it for the first time. Not that he was about to run out in search of some girl to help him fulfill his happily ever after. First, he wasn’t really built that way. And second, the only girl he’d been even remotely interested in as of late was crushing hard on someone else.

  No way was he getting near that.

  Everyone was jumping around cheering and whooping into the ocean air. Brody threw his arms around the newest Mr. and Mrs. Wyse, pulling them in to his bear hug. For now, watching two of his best friends in the world find their fairy-tale ending was everything he could ask for.

  “Congrats, guys. I love you.”

  About the Author

  Hard-core romantic, stress baker, and housekeeper non-extraordinaire, Mira Lyn Kelly is the USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen sizzly love stories with over a million readers worldwide. Growing up in the Chicago area, she earned her degree in fine arts from Loyola University and met the love of her life while studying abroad in Rome, Italy…only to discover he’d been living right around the corner from her back home. Having spent her twenties working and playing in the Windy City, she’s now settled with her husband in rural Minnesota, where their four amazing children and two ridiculous dogs provide an excess of action and entertainment. When she isn’t reading, writing, or running the kids around, she loves watching the Chicago Blackhawks and action/adventure movies, blabbing with the girls, and cooking with her husband and friends.

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