by Joss Wood
“You should know,” Linc murmured and ignored the subtle middle finger Jaeger showed him but hid from Sage.
“Okay, let’s go.” Beck went to his door, held it open and gestured for them to leave.
Linc lifted his glass up to the light and swirled the red liquid around. “Fat chance. We’re going to stay here and drink your wine.”
Fair, Beck decided.
Twelve
Cady felt like the single girl at a wedding. Sitting alone at the table, she glared at the untouched place setting beside her. Two weeks ago she thought that she’d have a partner for this event, but looking from the crowded dance floor to the people milling at the bar, she was the only person in the room without a date.
How sad.
But even sitting here alone was better than returning to her empty, small apartment, to her cold, small bed. She hadn’t been able to sleep in her bed since she left Beck’s loft a few days ago, and the little sleep she’d managed was curled up in her chair by the window.
Cady rolled her head, trying to work out the knots her unorthodox sleeping position caused. She missed lying on Beck’s chest, craved his big arms around her, missed rubbing her silky legs against his muscular limbs. She missed his deep breathing, his propensity to hog the covers...
She missed Beck sliding into her, emotionally and physically, filling up those deep, secret places nobody else could reach.
Cady stared at her glass of water, blinking away the tears in her eyes. Would this pain ever go away? She’d thought she’d experienced heartbreak when she was younger, but this, like their passion, bit deeper, burned brighter. This time around, the pain squeezed and pummeled, was a concentrated ball of agony. Cady felt Beck had whittled a hole into her soul and that it was irreparable.
It was something she suspected she’d have to live with the rest of her life.
Despite how much she loved him, she’d made the right decision to leave while she could. While she felt like half a person, she knew that this pain was better than hanging around, waiting for the day when Beck had had enough, when he ran out again. Living with that indecision would eat away at her, would slowly erode her soul.
A cracked, battered soul was better than none at all.
Her phone buzzed and she smiled when she saw the message from her mom.
I hope you’re taking your vitamins and are getting enough sleep. Love you.
Her mother was trying and Cady couldn’t fault her for that. She didn’t know whether they would ever have a true mother-daughter relationship but she hoped so. She knew now that there were some things you couldn’t force. Her parents were her parents. And Beck was Beck. She couldn’t force any of them to give her what she needed.
Cady picked up her clutch from the table and pushed her chair back. There was no point in staying here any longer. She would go home, climb into her chair and finish the rest of that carton of chocolate ice cream. Yeah, she was going to get fat but so what? She was pregnant and eating for two.
Okay, she was also overdosing on ice cream because she was miserable but nobody needed to know that.
Cady was about to stand up when a broad hand appeared in front of her, holding a tube of glue. She instantly recognized that hand, those fingers that loved her so well, the strong wrist and forearm, the cuffs and sleeves of his button-down shirt rolled back to reveal sculpted muscles.
Cady couldn’t look up so she looked down, her eyes flying over his flat stomach and down his long legs, still wearing black suit pants.
She watched, astounded, as Beck hooked a chair with his foot and dragged it closer to her and then he was in her space, taking up her air. She lifted her gaze to his face, noticing his red eyes and heavily bearded jaw.
Beck took her clenched fist resting on her knee and gently pried her fingers open. When her palm was open he put the tube of glue in her hand.
Cady frowned, puzzled. “Glue?”
Beck nodded. “Super glue. Strong as hell.”
“I don’t get it, Beck,” she said, holding the tube out to him.
“I’ll stick, Cades. I promise.”
Her eyes bounced between his face and the tube of glue and the seconds ticked by.
“I’ll stick, Cades.” He repeated the words. “I might get scared and feel like I want to but I won’t run, I promise.”
Cady felt her heart starting to defrost. “What will you do if you don’t run?”
Beck lifted a powerful shoulder. “Talk to you, take you to bed, kick my own ass and remind myself that you are the most important person in my life. I’ll remind myself that I never want to feel the way I do now—lost, alone, a little crazy.”
She wanted to believe him, she did, but she was terrified of reaching out and taking what she so desperately needed. “Why are you doing this, Beckett?”
His hands moved to the backs of her knees to capture her legs between his, to connect them together. “I love you, babe. I loved you in Thailand, I loved you while we were apart and I’ve loved you every second since we met again. It’s always been you, Cady. Nobody else has ever made me feel the way you do.”
Cady wanted to howl with joy but she forced that treacherous emotion away. Love wasn’t enough...
“It is, Cady, if it’s you and me,” Beck said, and Cady realized that she’d spoken the words out loud. “But it’s more than love between us. It’s friendship, it’s hope. It’s trust. It’s me believing that I deserve this, that I’m allowed to be happy, and it’s you trusting me not to run and leave you behind. It’s us—” he touched her tummy with the tips of his fingers “—raising this child and our other children with heart and humor, trying not to mess them up as we do. It’s laughing together and loving together and living together.”
Beck lifted his hand to cradle her face, his thumb rubbing her lower lip. “It’s waking up and kissing this face for the rest of my life. It’s your hand I want to hold, your body I want to love, your mind I want to explore.” Beck’s thumb glided over the wet skin beneath her eye. “Don’t cry, Cades.”
She didn’t know that she was. Her heart was just so full of love it was leaking from her eyes. She curled her hand around his neck and fell into the love he was openly offering.
“Tell me that I can stick, Cady.”
“God, yes,” she murmured, touching her lips to his. “Stick to me, with me, by me, Beck.”
He groaned, his lips tenderly tasting hers. “I love you so much. I always have.”
“Me, too. Let’s not do this again, okay?”
“Deal,” Beck replied, pulling back. He looked around, looked down at his clothing and pulled a face. “You look like a million bucks. I love that dress and can’t wait to get you out of it—but I think I’m slightly underdressed. I’m not even wearing a tie.”
“I can’t tell you how little I care,” Cady told him, resting her hand on his knee.
Beck picked up her left hand to look at the bare ring finger on it. “This finger looks like it needs something on it.”
“I like your mom’s ring,” Cady said, her voice breathless. She couldn’t believe this was really happening.
“I do, too,” Beck said, his voice full of emotion. “I’d give it to you if I could.”
Cady rested her hand on his heart. His offer touched her deeply and if she had the slightest doubts about his staying power after his declaration earlier, they were now thoroughly banished.
“Ring or no ring, Beck, I’m yours. I always have been.”
Beck held her face in his big hands, kissed her gently, reverently. “Then I am the luckiest guy in the world. I love you. Let’s go home.”
Cady allowed him to pull her to her feet, to tuck her into his side. Next to him, side by side, walking through life...this was what she was meant to do.
Cady placed a hand on his arm
and Beck looked down at her, love in his eyes. When she couldn’t push her words past the emotion clogging her throat, he squeezed her hand, silently encouraging her.
“Thank you for loving me, for loving my baby.” Cady’s voice broke on the words.
“That’s so easy to do. It has always has been.” Beck laid his hand on her rounded stomach. “Our baby, Cades. Our lives, our future, our children.”
Cady nodded and felt the last vestiges of her tension drain away. How wonderful it was to feel like her life was clicking together instead of falling apart, she thought as she walked hand in hand with Beck toward her future. Their future, she corrected herself, on a huge internal smile.
She wasn’t alone anymore. She’d never be alone again.
Epilogue
Cady looked around the exquisitely decorated ballroom, her eyes jumping from the bar to the security and from famous guest to famous guest. The gems were safe, tucked away in their pressure-sensitive, unable-to-be-shattered transparent boxes; the guests were behaving themselves and everyone loved Sage’s new designs.
Ballantyne International was back, stronger than before. Talking about the Ballantynes, Cady looked across the room and smiled at the clan standing in the corner. Three brawny brothers looking rather yummy in their designer tuxes, and their black-haired, blue-eyed elf of a sister. Cady placed her hand on her stomach and felt tears prick her eyes.
They were her family now. Her baby would be raised a Ballantyne. Maybe, Cady thought on an internal smile, all her clean living as a child was paying off.
Beck caught her gaze, gave her a slow smile that heated his eyes and the fabric of the minuscule thong she wore under her American-rose ball gown. Picking up the hem of her dress, she placed her fingers on top of the box holding Beck’s mom’s engagement ring and silently thanked her for the blessing of her son, promising her that she’d love him forever.
Cady quickly moved over to the Ballantynes and Beck held out his hand, pulling her into his side. They were joined by Tate, who looked fabulous in a vintage, boho-inspired ball gown. Judging by Linc’s inability to keep his eyes off her, Linc thought so, too.
Standing with her back to Beck’s chest, his arm across her stomach, Cady watched Sage, who was scowling at a sexy guy across the room. Cady immediately understood why Sage couldn’t take her eyes off him. Nearly as tall as Beck, as broad-shouldered, he was a curious mix of Asian and European with dark, sultry eyes and a bright smile.
Cady watched, intrigued, as the man turned around, caught Sage’s eyes across the room and gave her a look that said, “I know what’s under that dress and I like it.” He lifted his tumbler of amber liquid, took a sip and watched her over the rim of the glass.
Cady nudged Sage with her elbow. “Phew! That was hot. Like volcanic.”
Sage broke their heated stare by giving him a kiss-my-ass look and when she turned her head, Cady saw the misery in Sage’s eyes.
“Yeah, hot. And I got burned.” Sage’s shoulders rose and fell, and she turned her back on the guy to take both of Cady’s hands in hers. “I am so happy that you and Beck are together. Welcome to the family, Cady.” Sage briefly touched her rounded tummy. “And I can’t wait to meet your and Beck’s baby.”
Their baby. Cady sighed and leaned into Beck. He was going to adopt her child and was going to raise him, or her, as his own. How lucky could she get?
“Thank you.” Cady tossed a smile at Beck before looking back at Sage. “By the way, I thought you promised to pay me if I took another brother off your hands.”
Sage laughed. “I did promise you that. And I always deliver. Jaeger has your payment.” Sage tossed a mischievous look at Beck, who was now tuned in to their conversation. “And it’s Cady’s present, not yours, Beckett.”
Beck stepped back but kept his hand, warm and loving, on Cady’s hip. “What is?” he asked, puzzled.
Jaeger pulled a small white paper square out of the inside pocket of his tuxedo and tossed it at Beck. He snatched the packet out of the air and Cady watched excitement build in his eyes. “You got it?” he asked Jaeger, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning.
Jaeger looked seriously pleased with himself. “I did. I worked my ass off tracking it down and I did some very hard negotiating. Bribery and coercion might’ve been involved. You owe me, brother. Big-time.”
Linc touched Beck’s shoulder with his big hand and he smiled. “I’ll send you the bill. I expect full payment right away.”
Beck raised his eyebrows, laughter in his eyes. “No discount?”
“It’s four carat, rare as hell and practically flawless,” Linc retorted and then smiled. “Okay, five percent.”
“Hey, I paid full price!” Jaeger complained, but everyone ignored him as they watched Beck open the small packet.
It’s a Ballantyne thing, Cady told herself. She’d have to get used to the world stopping when the sibs found a rare and precious gem. She sent Tate a sympathetic smile as four heads obscured her view of whatever caught their interest.
Remembering that she was still there to work, Cady pulled the cuff up on Beck’s wrist to look at his watch and thought that it was time for the dance floor to open. As she started to walk away, Beck grabbed her wrist to keep her at his side.
“Where do you think you are going?” he asked.
Cady gestured to the ballroom. “I have something to take care of.”
Beck cast his eyes over the room. “Everything is fine. I thought you might like to look at what Jaeger found.”
Cady nodded, thinking that a couple of minutes couldn’t hurt. But she couldn’t forget that they were paying the musicians by the hour and she needed to check on—
At the sight of the pink-red stone, resting on the white paper, her throat slammed closed. Oh, God, that was a red beryl, luscious, deep, sexy. It was a little smaller than the stone in his mom’s ring but just as beautiful. Cady placed her hand on her heart and looked up at Beck, biting her lip as she noticed the depth of love in his eyes.
For her, all for her.
“It’s beautiful.” Cady touched the stone with the tip of her finger.
“Yeah, it is.” Beck picked up the stone and placed it in the palm of her hand. He opened the paper it was wrapped in and held it up for her to see the ring design on the paper, beautifully rendered. It was his mom’s ring but a little more modern, a little edgier. This was Sage’s beautiful work.
“For me?” Cady whispered.
“Yeah,” Beck replied, his voice husky with emotion. “Sage will make it for us.”
“It’s beautiful,” Cady said, feeling overwhelmed. She blinked away her tears, gripping Beck’s forearm to keep her balance. “I would’ve been really happy to wear your mom’s ring. That one, over there.” She glanced to the glass case that housed the copy.
“No wife of mine is going to wear a fake ring,” Beck told her. A small smile touched his lips. “You are going to be my wife, aren’t you, Cades?”
She smiled and cradled his face. “I really am. And I love the ring. But I’ll always love you more.”
Beck leaned down to rest his forehead against hers and his smile heated her from the inside out. “Welcome to the rest of our lives, Cades.”
“Two down, one to go,” Sage stated, sounding pleased with herself. “I’m making progress.”
* * * * *
If you liked this story of billionaires in love, pick up these other novels from Joss Wood:
TAKING THE BOSS TO BED
TRAPPED WITH THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE
PREGNANT BY THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE
MARRIED TO THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE
HIS EX’S WELL-KEPT SECRET
Available now from Harlequin Desire!
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Keep reading for an excerpt from CLAIMED BY THE RANCHER by Jules Bennett.
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