Hailey divorced Skylen and married Harvey all in the same week. Skylen sent me photographs of the wedding ceremony and another enormous slice of wedding cake. He also sent a letter apologizing for not understanding the reason I’d left him. He wrote that I must have had a good reason for leaving and that he should have been more understanding and respectful of my decision to leave him and go back home. He asked for my forgiveness, saying he knew the harshness of his words must have hurt me, and that he never intended to hurt me. I sent him a picture of myself enjoying the lemon and cream cheese flavored wedding cake along with a letter telling him that his anger at me leaving had been completely justified, even though I did indeed have an important reason for leaving him. I wrote that I was also sorry I’d hurt him and I hoped he was doing better now.
Current Weight: 201.2 pounds
I have reached my goal weight and I’m at the end of my weight gain contract with Skylen.
I sent Skylen a letter telling him that I reached my goal weight. He knows I won’t send him a picture of me weighing in this month. Instead, according to the terms of our agreement, I will complete my final weigh-in in person. Skylen deserves to have the pleasure of weighing me and confirming my final weight himself. He’s already wired me my $100,000 for completing my weight gain contract, plus $5000 extra to cover my travel expenses for my one week stay with him in San Jose. He says he trusts me to tell him the truth about my weight gain and the weigh in is merely a formality. He’s mostly bringing me out to enjoy a short California vacation with him. I’ll admit that I can’t wait to visit him in the beautiful palm treed capital of Silicon Valley again. I suspect it will be a lot like being at home in Florida, except better because there will be fewer bugs and a prettier landscape. And of course, I’ll be spending time with Skylen, the man I love.
I’ll be staying with him in the guest wing of his newly purchased and renovated San Jose home. The fact that he’s invited me into his home gives me hope that he still might want a future with me. Perhaps he can forgive me for the way I cruelly told him I didn’t love him and then left him without giving him an explanation why. I’m over the moon excited to see him in person again after us spending so many months apart. And now that we're both out of danger, I’m going to tell him so. I’m going to tell him that he’s my one true love and my destiny; he’s the perfect man for me. I can only hope he’ll give me the chance to prove that I’m the perfect woman for him.
But who knows, maybe there’s been too much hurt between us. Maybe he can’t forgive me my past mistakes. I hope he can. I hope me breaking his heart hasn’t closed him off so tight that he can no longer open himself to love. I’ll be crushed if I open my heart to him only for him to tell me it’s too late; he doesn’t…and can’t love me anymore. I hope we can still move forward together in love.
Chapter 26
Skylen
“Is this where you found her Sky?”
“Yes, that’s the spot. She was curled up in a ball on the ground in that small nook down there.”
Harvey bent over to see if he could fit his tall body inside the short space. “Man, the entry way to this nook is low. How did she ever get inside here?”
“She’s much shorter than we are, but I imagine she still had to crawl.” Skylen laughed at the way Harvey twisted and contorted his body trying to see if he could squeeze inside the tiny doorway without crawling.
Finally, Harvey gave up on his limbo routine, dropped down to his knees and crawled under the low ceiling of the nook’s entry way. “Oh, it isn’t bad in here at all once you get past the low entrance.” Harvey breathed. “The ceiling inside here is much taller than I expected it to be. I can actually sit up comfortably. Come in and sit next to me. It’s actually relaxing. It feels a lot like a cave: enclosed, safe and quiet.”
“I’ll pass. I don’t have relaxing memories of that cave. I don’t even want to remember how I found Stephanie, curled up on her side, nearly passed out on the carpet inside there. Fear gripped my chest the moment I saw her. She was in some sort of semi-conscious mental state. She was so out of it that she couldn’t even crawl out of the nook on her own. I had to drag her out while I crawled out backward on my hands and knees. If I can help it, neither Stephanie nor I will ever go inside that nook again.”
“Sorry, I mentioned it. With all the other drama of the day, I’d forgotten all about the specifics of Stephanie passing out. That was, what, eight months ago now? With my marriage to Hailey and the birth of our twins, it seems like I’ve lived an entire lifetime since then.”
“Me too. These past eight months away from Stephanie have felt like an eternity for me.”
Skylen scrunched up his nose to the sound of Harvey chuckling.
“Sorry. I don’t mean to make light of it, I know you were terrified for her, but it was such a pleasure to see some actual emotion flash across your face that day. You rarely reveal your true feelings to anyone. For years, I thought you only had three facial expressions: commander-in-chief, cocky asshole, and sexy bastard. It was good to see you drop your defenses and show your real feelings.” Harvey flashed Skylen a genuine smile. “I can still see the look of relief on your face when we arrived at the airport that day and the on-call doctor told you Stephanie was going to be okay.”
“Yeah, I was so grateful to hear the doctor say she would be alright. I was even more grateful to hear she had probably just taken too much anti-nausea medication and the pill’s sedative effects would wear off in a few hours.” Skylen brushed his open palm down his face and breathed a sigh of relief into his fingers. “And by the way, that doctor was wrong. It didn’t take her several hours to wake up. She woke up on our ten-minute drive to the hotel, full of pep and ready to review the paperwork for our business meeting. I don’t think she even realized she had passed out.”
“I don’t think so either.” Harvey laughed. “I remember that meeting. She had more energy than both of us put together.”
“Yeah, she was a powerhouse…still is I imagine.” Skylen laughed, closing his eyes for a moment, picturing his hands gliding down the smooth curves of Stephanie’s face.
Harvey used Skylen’s brief mental absence as an opportunity to reposition himself more comfortably inside the tiny cave. He turned around, placed his back against the wall and leaned his head back, his shaggy blonde mane and skull making firm contact with the wall’s surface. “Whoa!” He shouted while lifting his head and sticking one finger inside his ear, shaking it vigorously. “What the hell was that sound?” He asked, obviously confused before allowing his head to fall back against the wall. “Whoa, it’s music! It’s insanely loud music!” His head was still in contact with the wall as he screamed his surprise. “I know you don’t want to, but you’ve got to come in here. You’ve got to hear this.”
Skylen shook his head, “No.”
“C’mon,” Harvey begged, yanking his head away from the wall and waving his friend over with furious shakes of his hands.
Skylen crossed his arms over his chest in protest.
“Trust me,” Harvey pleaded. “You need to hear this.”
“Fine, move over and give me some room.”
Harvey scooted over to the back wall of the cave while Skylen dropped down to his knees and crawled inside the short passageway. “Okay, I’m in here. And I want you to know I’m not relaxed. Hurry up and point me in the direction of what you want me to hear.”
“Sit right over there and lean your head against the wall. But be careful you’re about to get the shock of your life.”
Still on his hands and knees, Skylen pushed his forehead into the wall. BOOM, B-BOOM
“Shit!” He yanked his head away from the wall and toppled back onto his ass with the explosive downbeat of rock music still shooting through his head like the roaring bang of a hunter’s rifle. “Shit Harvey! My ears are still ringing! You could have just told me that the wall transmits sounds from inside my office. You didn’t have to deafen me.” Skylen crawled back out of the cave, sto
od up and opened the door between his bedroom and his office. Harvey followed him inside the cavernous room as Skylen pressed his finger down on the screen of Harvey’s phone, silencing the music.
“That was intense. I could hear your music roaring inside my skull. It was all so loud; painfully loud.”
“You know what this means don’t you Skylen?” Harvey asked lifting his eyebrows at the taller man standing in front of him.
“Yes, I do,” Skylen said lowering his gaze to the ground and uncharacteristically biting his lip. “It means Stephanie probably heard everything we said that day. “You, Hailey and I, we revealed secrets and said some heated things to one another. Stephanie probably listened to every word.”
“Don’t kid yourself by saying she probably heard us. With the intensity of the sound passing through that wall, I would say she definitely heard us. She heard you say you loved her and she also heard you say you had plans to marry her.”
Skylen cracked his fist across his skull. “Ugh! Stephanie probably freaked out and left me because she heard Hailey say her mother had plans to destroy us. She was probably afraid that I wouldn’t be strong enough to protect her. She wanted to protect herself, so she left.”
Harvey hung his head in an exaggerated motion. “For someone who’s such a genius at business, you’re a clueless fool at love. Stephanie didn’t leave because she was afraid you couldn’t protect her. She left because she wanted to protect you. Do you understand?”
“No, Harvey. I don’t understand. Explain it to me, because I don’t understand what she did at all. I suppose I truly am a clueless fool when it comes to love because I don’t understand how Stephanie could think she was protecting me by telling me she didn’t love me and then leaving me heartbroken and alone. She destroyed me. She obliterated my heart when she left. Even now, I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from the agony of losing her. No other woman compares to her; no one.”
Harvey placed his open palm on the hard armor of Skylen’s shoulder. He spoke to his friend in gentle tones. “Stephanie left you to save you. She left so Hailey’s mother would have no reason to pursue her vendetta against you. She loved you so much she sacrificed her own happiness to keep you safe.” Skylen stumbled backward and Harvey helped him to his chair.
“She obviously knew that when she left, you would do Hailey the kindness of marrying her. Hailey would inherit her fortune and her mother’s fury would be delayed. Stephanie’s love for you saved us all. She set in motion the events that allowed me and Hailey to marry and allowed you – with the help of your amazing mother – to defeat the Savidge Dominatrix.”
Laughter rumbled in Skylen’s chest and he bent his head, stifling his snicker with his closed fist. “I thought me referring to that horror show by her tabloid name would get a chuckle out of you. But seriously, without the time Stephanie bought us by leaving you, we would never have been able to uncover the full extent of Hailey’s mother’s treachery and dispatch her to prison before she had the opportunity to completely destroy every single one of us including her own daughter.”
Skylen lifted his head and breathed in the strength of his friend’s wisdom, acknowledging its truth with a slow knowing nod.
“Stephanie still loves you.”
“How do you know that for sure?” Skylen mumbled.
“Open your eyes, Sky. She’s already shown you she still loves you in so many ways. To start with, she agreed to continue gaining weight for you. She obviously still craves contact with you or she would never have agreed to hold up her end of your agreement.”
“You don’t understand,” Skylen mumbled again. “Her gaining weight had nothing to do with love. She had no choice whether to maintain contact with me or not; the fine print in her contract required her to do it.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Harvey braced his forearms against his rock hard abs as he shouted out his laughter. “The fine print in your contract is both not legally binding and quite frankly ridiculous.”
“I disagree,” Skylen protested then held his breath without realizing it. Within seconds, he was wearing a bright red mask over his usually handsome features.
“Seriously?”
Skylen rolled his eyes and opened his mouth allowing the trapped air in his lungs to escape, but quickly shuttered his lips again declining to speak.
“She gained the weight for you exactly like she promised she would because she loves you. Period. She didn’t do it because of some silly contract.”
A low growl rumbled in Skylen’s throat.
“I’m not backing down, man. She agreed to fly out to California to meet you today. That’s got to mean something. And we both know she’s not doing it for the money. You already wired her the $100,000 for completing her contract. She doesn’t have a single reason to come to California to vacation with you, other than the fact she loves you. She still loves you. There’s no other explanation for everything she’s done.”
Harvey bent down, placed his hands on Skylen’s shoulders, gripped them and yanked the brawny man up and out of his chair. “No more sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. It’s time for you to take action. Become your best self and open your heart to the woman you love. Show her you love her. Tell her today. Yes, she could reject you again, but I bet she won’t. I bet she’ll welcome you back into her love and her bed with open arms. C’mon man, she’s your true love. We both know there’s no other woman for you. Stephanie Rain is Skylen Carlisle’s one true love.”
Chapter 27
Stephanie
“We’ll arrive at the property in the Willow Glen area in approximately twenty minutes Miss Stephanie.” The youthful melodic lilt of her driver Valerie’s voice danced inside her head and soothed her nerves with its sweet lullaby. She could tell by the fanciful way Valerie wore her sandy brown hair in an off-center braided chignon that Valerie was a girl with style and a playful sense of mischief.
The itinerary Stephanie held in her hands told her Valerie would be her personal driver for the entire duration of her stay in California. Valerie’s exuberant way of speaking lifted her spirits and the statuesque girl’s natural friendliness made her glad Skylen had chosen her to be Stephanie’s personal driver instead of some stuffy muscle-bound bodyguard type. Valerie’s presence was calming, yet lively and it drove Stephanie to want to get to know her better. Something inside Stephanie knew that she and her new personal driver could become good friends one day if given the chance.
Stephanie flipped on the switch for the intercom that allowed her to communicate with Valerie who sat driving, separated from her by a see-through partition. “Miss Valerie, can you tell me more about the Willow Glen area?” Stephanie didn’t know why, but she’d assumed that Skylen’s house was located in a more urban setting. Actually, she hadn’t pictured him living in a house at all. In her mind, he’d always lived inside a luxury apartment in the penthouse of a high-rise located somewhere downtown, urban and upscale.
Stephanie had done some internet research, trying to discover the location of Skylen’s home before hopping on the plane to California. She’d wanted to at least see his place before she arrived, so she would know what she was walking into. But she hadn’t been able to find any information on the location of his home. As far as the internet tabloids were concerned, his permanent residence was still in the west wing of Harvey’s house in the Nevada dessert. To the world at large, he had no home in California. His address here was simply a suite in a sprawling downtown hotel.
“Willow glen used to be its own little town, but now it’s one of the neighborhoods inside the city of San Jose. It’s an adorable family friendly little village, however because of its quaint size, sometimes the downtown area can grow crowded and lively on the weekends. It’s a good thing today’s Monday; the entire village should be peaceful and quiet for your arrival.”
“Thank you for the information, Miss Valerie.”
“You’re welcome, Miss Stephanie.”
Stephanie closed her eyes in
to the soothing melody of Valerie’s voice and imagined Skylen walking hand in hand with her down the streets of the quaint little village. The vision in her mind grew rose colored then cloudy white. When the white clouds parted, Stephanie saw a vision of herself walking down the same village street pushing a yellow and green stroller and wearing tight Lycra that clung to the ample curves of her hips.
Skylen was walking beside her, his head tilted back in male appreciation of the way the Lycra hugged her shapely ass. She could tell by the shape of her curves that she was the perfect size, the ideal size for her. Calm comfort rested in every ounce of her body and she finally felt at home in her own skin. As her shoes made contact with the sidewalk, and she felt her curvy fat rolls shake and jiggle she finally knew she wouldn’t need to change another thing about her body or herself. She was perfect for herself and for Skylen and for their child.
“We’ve arrived at the property Miss Stephaniee.”
Valerie’s sweet crooning voice awoke Stephanie from her waking dream. She quickly grabbed her purse, opened her car door and rushed back to the trunk of the car to collect her baggage. Valerie playfully shooed her away from the car’s trunk while handing her a set of house keys. “I’ll be parking the car in the garage and then taking your bags inside the house and up to your room. If you need me, just dial my phone. My number’s listed at the top of your personal itinerary. Now please let yourself in the front door of the house. Miss Lizbeth is already waiting for you inside.”
Taboo Desires: Dirty Forbidden Secrets Bundle (The Complete Miranda Cougar Collection) Page 54
