Make-Believe Mistress

by Katherine Garbera

  “We don’t have a problem with you and Adam dating, we just don’t want to see it in the papers again,” Malcolm said for the third time.

  “I’ve already apologized,” Adam said. “I think the article in yesterday’s Dallas Morning News more than compensated for the salaciousness of the photo and its caption.”

  “I agree,” Sue-Ellen said. “But I see Malcolm’s point. The school is at a critical stage.”

  “I’m aware of that. It won’t happen again,” Grace said. “Adam, would you please bring everyone up to speed on the plans for the celebrity basketball fundraiser?”

  As everyone’s attention shifted to Adam, she breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed listening to the low rumble of his voice. Finally she understood what Dawn had meant when she’d said she’d been carried away with passion. Adam was the only man who’d made Grace forget everything but him.

  The meeting adjourned and she hurried down the hall to her office while Adam lingered with the board. She searched her office, every single inch of it, and couldn’t find the file folder with that story in it. She’d double-check at home but knew that it wasn’t there.

  The story was definitely missing again. She wondered if the same person had taken it. What did they plan to do with it?

  She needed to let Adam know. How embarrassing, she thought. Just when they were moving on to having a real relationship, she was going to have to tell him she’d written an erotic story about the two of them.

  There was a knock on her door and she opened it. Adam stood there. She could see Bruce behind him at his desk, checking his e-mail.

  “Got a minute?” Adam asked.

  Bruce didn’t even glance up. She opened the door wider and let Adam in.

  “That went better than I expected,” she said.

  “I told you to leave everything to me.”

  “You’re taking credit for that?”

  “Yes. I was your hero, Gracie. Admit it.”

  Her heart melted at his words. “You are definitely my hero.”

  “Damn straight,” he said, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her while lifting her into his arms and carrying her to the desk. He set her on the edge of it.

  “Now that the meeting is out of the way…”

  “Yes?”

  “I need you, Grace.” He brought his face down to hers. His pupils were dilated and between her legs she felt him, hot and hard. “But this isn’t the time or place.”

  The offer to stop touched her as little in life had in a long time. But she’d never experienced a tenth of this passion with other men.

  “The world is waiting for us outside that door.”

  “I’d forgotten,” she said.

  “I’m glad.”

  She was glad, too. In ways she didn’t want to comment on. But she knew in her heart, as he held her in his arms, that she’d found the home she’d always been searching for. And that it would be taken from her if she didn’t find that fantasy she’d written.

  Twelve

  All of her nerves tightened. Everything inside her clenched and then there was the release she’d been driving toward. She shivered in the aftermath. Adam groaned her name as his own release washed over him.

  She collapsed against his chest. He held her close. “I’m falling for you, Grace. I want you to be more than my mistress.”

  She wanted to believe him, but a part of her wasn’t sure that she could ever be anything more than Adam’s mistress. But with his arms around her, his body completely surrounding her, she felt the truth in his words.

  Excerpt from “Adam’s Mistress” by Stephanie Grace

  Friday evening Adam picked up a pizza at Campisi’s and drove to Grace’s house. The Dallas-area pizzeria had rumored mob ties but Adam didn’t care. They also had the best thin-crust pizza he’d ever eaten.

  He had a bottle of prosecco in the soft-sided cooler in the back seat chilling. After the long week they’d had he thought a celebration was in order. It had also been a week since they’d made love and he wanted to commemorate that. He’d stopped by his jeweler after leaving the school this afternoon and picked up the custom bangle bracelet he’d ordered for Grace.

  In two weeks, at the start of spring break, Tremmel-Bowen would host its first basketball tournament fundraiser. Registration for the coming school year was up and the financial picture wasn’t as bleak as it had once seemed.

  All in all Adam felt very good about the way things were going in Plano. The only wrinkle was Grace. She still hadn’t said anything about the story she’d written about the two of them. He’d looked for it in her office to try to see if there were any new additions to it that he could use to make this night even more special for her, but she must have removed it.

  Probably a good idea, he thought. He parked on the street in front of her house, grabbed their dinner and went up the walk to her front door.

  She opened the door before he got there and smiled up at him. Her dark hair was down, curling around her shoulders. She wore a simple sleeveless sundress that fit her curves. She was the embodiment of every womanly fantasy he’d ever had and he couldn’t think when he saw her.

  She led him through her home and he followed her, unable to keep his eyes off her curvy body. He knew he wasn’t going to make it through a meal before he had her. He put the pizza in the oven on the way by and left the prosecco in its cooler bag as she stepped out on to the patio.

  Her doorbell rang and Adam groaned. “I’m never going to have you all to myself.”

  Grace smiled at the way he said that. He made her feel so wanted. It was a new feeling and one she planned to get used to. Though she knew it would take some time before she could really accept that he wanted her. “I’m sure it’s nothing major.”

  She walked through the house feeling well-loved with the mild rhythm of Miles Davis’ music still echoing in her mind. She was vaguely aware of Adam following her to the door.

  She glanced back at him. “Are you planning to answer my door?”

  “I have a gift for you out in my car. I forgot it.”

  “Geez, I wonder why?” she teased him. But her mind was dwelling on the fact that he had a gift for her. What was it?

  “Because you clouded my mind with sex appeal.” He dragged her to a stop and dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

  She laughed. No one would have ever suspected her of distracting any man with sex. But that was the old Grace. Prim and proper Grace, who’d never been confident enough to be herself with any man. The new Grace could seduce Adam into forgetting a gift. She was very proud of the changes in herself.

  She was shocked to see Malcolm standing on her doorstep. He wore a suit, as if he’d come from work, but the tie was gone and his hair was disheveled as if he’d been running his hands through it.

  “Good you’re both here,” he said, looking over her shoulder at Adam. But then he glanced out toward her street.

  “Why are you here?” she asked.

  “We’ve got a big problem.”

  “Another one?” She was beginning to think that Tremmel-Bowen was never going to get out of trouble. Every time they took one step forward something dragged them two steps backward.

  “Yes,” Malcolm said. “Can I come in?”

  She stepped back, holding the door open for him. The evening air was dry and cool but she saw a sheen of sweat on Malcolm’s brow. What the heck was going on?

  She led the way to the living room, but none of them sat down.

  Adam put his arm around her waist and tucked her up against his side. It made her feel so much better to have him there. Holding her, supporting her. It reminded her that she was no longer all alone.

  “We’ve been careful. We haven’t been out in public one time since that photo last week.”

  Malcolm scrutinized her before glancing up at Adam. “She hasn’t been careful.”

  Grace’s stomach fell and she dreaded what Malcolm would say next. She tried to pull away from Adam. To put some distance betwee
n them before Malcolm dropped whatever bombshell he had.

  But Adam’s grip was firm. The message in his embrace was clear—they were in this together. He wasn’t going to run and she wasn’t going to hide. But damn, it was hard to stand her ground.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, her voice a thready whisper.

  “A story called ‘Adam’s Mistress’ has surfaced. The heroine’s name is Grace and the couple resembles the two of you. The local media is all over it. I’m surprised they aren’t camping on your door.”

  “Oh, my God. I don’t know what to say.” She wanted to run into her bedroom and close the door. Never open it up. She couldn’t face Adam. Not right now.

  “Grace?” Adam’s voice was deep and concerned. She pulled away from him. She was going to feel like a big idiot when she told him what was going on.

  “Are you okay?” Malcolm asked.

  She realized she was swaying on her feet and she could see spots dancing before her eyes, but she refused to pass out. “Give me a minute.”

  She wanted to throw herself on her bed and start crying but that wouldn’t solve anything. Who had her story? And why would they release it to the media?

  “I wrote the story,” she said.

  “I figured,” Malcolm said.

  “How did it get released?” she asked, not looking at Adam. Later she’d deal with him. And telling him about her secret fantasy.

  Malcolm rubbed a hand over the top of his head and then cleared his throat. “My sources said it was Dawn. But I can’t figure out how she got a copy of it.”

  Her heart sank. She’d tried to set up some interviews for the other woman out of state. But Dawn hadn’t returned any of her calls over the past week. “I printed it out at work because my home printer was out of ink. Dawn was in my office alone for a minute—she must have taken it.”

  “This isn’t going to be easy to manage,” Malcolm said.

  “Let me get my people on it,” Adam said. “I’ll call you later and let you know what we’re doing.”

  Malcolm agreed and left a few minutes later. Grace sank further into herself, trying to figure out how to explain the story to Adam. She risked a glance up at him.

  “I bet you have a lot of questions.”

  “I do.”

  “It’s going to be hard to explain.”

  “I’m sure it won’t be that complicated. Want to go out on the patio?”

  “Yes,” she said, wondering why he was being so calm. If she’d heard he’d written a story about her, she’d demand answers.

  “Um…I don’t know where to start, except to say that I wrote an erotic story about you and me. I was going to enter it in a writing contest but then changed my mind. I mean, I’m the headmistress at a prep school, I can’t exactly publish an erotic story, even under a pseudonym.”

  He didn’t say anything. Finally she looked at him to find him watching her with a very steady and serious gaze. “I knew about the story you wrote.”

  She was totally shocked and couldn’t think at first. Then she thought too much and she realized when he must have seen it.

  “Did you read it before you decided to help me save the school?”

  “Yes.”

  Adam knew he’d made a mistake. From their first lunch he’d known that he’d crossed a barrier she’d find unforgivable. But the action had been taken and it was too late to go back and undo it.

  “I thought you said that truth was important to you,” she said, pacing away from him. But she didn’t stop and face him, she kept walking around the patio.

  “It is.” He knew that he wasn’t going to convince her with just words. He was scrambling to think of something to say or do to make this right. To fix the hurt she felt and get her to move past it. But he had no easy answers.

  “What do you call reading my story…oh, my God, that’s not all you did,” she said. She stopped pacing to stand in front of him. Her hands were on her hips and her eyes blazed at him.

  He saw her eyes widen as she recalled the first time they’d made out on his couch. She’d described something very similar in her story and he’d borrowed from it. Used her own fantasies to seduce her.

  He saw a shimmer of tears in her eyes and felt like a bastard. He never should have let it go on this long.

  “I can explain,” he said, knowing that he really couldn’t. He hadn’t planned on being around long enough for the truth to come to light. He might have thought it but he’d known from the beginning that he’d be moving on.

  “I don’t care.” She was trembling and he took a step toward her, wanting to comfort her. “Please leave.”

  “Grace…you’re hiding again. Let’s talk this out.” He took another step toward her but she held her hand out to ward him off. He stopped where he was, though every instinct he had shouted for him to take her into his arms where he could soothe the hurt he’d inflicted on her.

  “I’m not hiding. I’m furious. And if you don’t leave I’m going to do something I might regret.”

  “You have a right to be angry with me.”

  “Stop being so calm and rational, Adam. I’m not in the mood for it.”

  “I’m not leaving. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t run this time. That with you I’d stay and fight.”

  “Is a promise anything like the truth?”

  He cursed savagely under his breath.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. I think we both know that you view the truth as something that can be bent to fit your needs. I’m asking you to leave my house.”

  He didn’t want to hurt her any more than he already had. Any other woman and he’d suspect she was being melodramatic, but with Grace he knew how hard it was for her to let anyone see the real woman. And her story had been one-hundred-percent real wants and needs.

  “If I leave I’m not coming back.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Just that you’re not the only one who feels betrayed.” He didn’t add that he’d betrayed himself. He didn’t want to focus too clearly on himself. He’d known that staying in one place wasn’t a great idea and now he had the proof. The reason he’d been waiting for to move on.

  “How did I betray you?”

  She stood before him almost sanctimonious in her anger and he realized that he really did feel cheated. Cheated out of all the time when he’d never noticed her. “All those years of lusting after me. All those years of pretending to be someone you weren’t.”

  “Look what happened when I stopped pretending. This isn’t exactly happily ever after,” she said, starting to cry.

  He closed the gap between them. He really couldn’t stand to see her crying. He wrapped her in his arms, held her as close to him as he could. “It could be. You just have to forgive me for reading your fantasies.”

  “That’s not why I’m angry,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. Her arms were held limply by her sides but she wasn’t pushing him away.

  “Then why are you?”

  “Because I was falling for you. Because I believed you when you said that the truth really mattered. And I just found out that was a lie. How can I trust anything you’ve said to me?”

  He had no answer for her. No way to make this right with his words or actions. “I honestly didn’t know how to tell you I’d read your story.”

  “How did you even find it?”

  “It fell off your desk. The papers spilled out and I skimmed them to make sure it wasn’t my file. When I saw the word breast…well, I’m a guy, I had to read more.”

  She pushed out of his arms and walked away from him again. This time it felt permanent.

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  He didn’t say anything, wanting her to continue and afraid he’d screw up even further if he tried to say something now.

  “You made me believe that you noticed me as a woman because of the way I acted in the boardroom, but all the time you were interested because you thought I was some kind of repressed
spinster.”

  “I never thought that.”

  She was shaking now. “It was the truth. I hadn’t been on a date in more than five years, Adam. Until I walked into Tremmel-Bowen and saw you. Then I became obsessed with you.”

  He was kind of flattered, but knew that she’d never seen the real man when she’d been dreaming of him. “I can’t be your fantasy man.”

  “I never asked you to be.”

  “You just did. I’m sorry I disappointed you, but everyone has to deal with crap like this.”

  “Not everyone. Just those of us who don’t live charmed lives.”

  “Everyone,” he said, getting close to her. “Just because my life looks perfect on the outside doesn’t mean that it is.”

  She looked taken aback. She retreated again, this time turning to the edge of the patio. He wanted to make love to her again and again until she forgot to be sad and angry that her private story was now in the public domain.

  “I’m sorry, you’re right. I was making you into a television-perfect version of a modern Prince Charming.”

  He came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be sorry for that. I wanted to be that guy for you. But I’m only human and I screw up and make mistakes. And unlike a television sitcom, I can’t fix them in less than thirty minutes.”

  She wiped her tears away and wrapped her arms around her waist. “I’m not sure I’d want that anyway.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I don’t know. I need some time to think.”

  He could understand that. He didn’t like it but he could give her the distance she needed. He gathered his stuff together.

  He walked away, knowing it was a mistake but not knowing what else to do.

  Thirteen

  Adam knew he had this one chance to make things right for Grace. But he was scared to say what was in his heart. Scared he wouldn’t have the right words to convince her that she was the only woman in the world who made him complete.