by Amy Brent
I sensed Amy getting nervous as Christmas approached and her way to avoid talking about it was through sex. She seemed to work a lot of things out that way with me, even though I was falling more in love with her every day.
CHAPTER 15
Amy
Things were happening so quickly. My apartment was likely rented to someone else now, and I was living with Brett after just a few months of dating. I was moving to New York to promote and I couldn’t believe it. Everyone was excited at the office without knowing how it all came about, something I was happy to keep secret for if possible. Brett and I worked hard at keeping it quiet, staying in his apartment most of the time.
I couldn’t get enough of him. Getting to know him the way that I did opened a huge assortment of problems, it seemed, and I was willing to try each fantasy that I’d ever had with him. We made love all the time, my favorite fetishes being taken from behind while spanked as well as anything tied to the bed.
I still found it hard to talk about some things, such as the upcoming Christmas trip. I knew that he was over the situation with Larisa and just going to see his family, but I was nervous. I felt uncertain about us at times, given the speed at which we were happening and I used sex to distract myself from all the thoughts.
He cornered me in the kitchen one night after he went to the gym when I was making spaghetti one night. We’d been working some overtime and were tired, but I was craving my mom’s recipe. “What’s going on with you?” He asked, making me jump and come back to the present.
“What do you mean?” I asked in a light tone as he came up and kissed my neck.
“Something is bothering you. I know that you try to hide things and distract me, but I can see it in your eyes,” Brett whispered to me as I melted against him. “Talk to me, Amy.”
I paused and stirred the sauce. “I’m nervous to meet her.”
“Her who?” he questioned as I blushed.
“Larisa,” I whispered as his arms tightened around me. “I know it’s over, but I just can’t help but doubt myself a little bit.”
“Stop it. I love you,” Brett said for the first time as I stilled in his embrace. “I love you more than anything or anyone else in my life, and you don’t have to worry about anything.”
“I love you,” I told him as I turned to face him for a slow kiss. The words had been dancing around us since nearly the beginning, and now they were out there. I felt infinitely better, and he pushed me up on the counter as he kissed me deeply.
We ate after we’d made love, sitting on the couch with bowls of pasta on the table in front of us. I was all smiles now, and we talked about the trip and the move over the sound of his scores on television.
I’d seen pictures of both houses in New York, and they were stunning. The apartment was on the twentieth floor, something that I couldn’t even imagine. It was furnished as was the house on the water and it was going to be a much easier transition than expected since I just had to pack clothes, shoes, and a few other things. Later that night, once we were tucked in bed, I told him that I loved him over and over as we made love before falling asleep.
The plan was to visit with Cole and Larisa for a week so that Brett could catch up with his grandson and see his new granddaughter for the second time. Declan was coming up on three and Kaylee was six months old at this point. It was during Christmas, and we’d be leaving the day after New Year’s to get to New York and start our life there.
We flew in first class, holding hands for the short flight. Brett and I had only improved since spilling our feelings for one another, but I thought about Larisa during the flight. Did she harbor any feelings for Brett? She had a husband and two small children, making me assume that everything was good between her and Cole. It was just an odd situation. She was just a year or two younger than I was and there had to be similarities between us.
When we landed, I smiled at Brett as we went to get our luggage and meet Cole. He was waiting with a small boy that had his dark blonde hair and features that they both shared with Brett. Cole hugged his father and then me, tightly as he told me how many good things he’d heard about me. Brett was holding Declan as he asked him about his sister and the house, getting a long response in return to the questions.
It was clear that they were family and nothing more now. Even when we got to the house and I saw how pretty Larisa was, she was so in love with Cole and her little family as she chattered to us with the look of a tired mom. The spacious house was decorated for the holiday with stuff everywhere and a huge tree in the living room by the fireplace.
That night when we were in bed, I asked Brett if he regretted just having one son. Watching the two children interact was sweet tonight, and it made me think about my own future. It wasn’t something that we discussed before now, being so busy with our lives. “It worked out that way with his mom. We split up shortly after he was born and I didn’t think about it with anybody else.” Brett rolled over to wrap an arm around me and kissed my hair. “Do you want babies?”
“It’s always been on the back burner with me since I was career oriented. But they are so cute, and Cole is crazy about Larisa.” Brett smiled in the dim light coming from the wall, and I stared into his eyes. “How do you move past what happened?”
“Time,” Brett told me as he tugged my body against his. “Lots of time and I am sure lots of talking for them. Perhaps fighting. They had the hard part of everything since I just stepped away and quietly divorced Rayna. I had to get over it in my own way, but now it feels like it was never anything, to be honest.”
“I can see that,” I replied as he kissed me. There was just a strong love between all of them, and that was it. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Brett whispered back as we settled in bed to fall asleep.
I was in between homes with this man, but I’d never felt more secure in my life. We had a beautiful holiday with his family, and I met Rayna and her new husband, a wealthy oil man that doted on her every need. The brief nature of her marriage to Brett was evident in the way they interacted, and I could see how fast she’d moved on.
It was the morning after she left that Brett took us out to eat in town. It was a beautiful lodge style restaurant, and I helped to get Declan in his seat as Brett sat beside me and made sure that the kids were both safe. We chose an early dinner for the sake of the two children, and the sun was settling slowly out of the window as I took a long look. I’d had a chance to speak to both Cole and Larisa one-on-one and was feeling much more comfortable now.
Larisa told me that she was in love with Cole from the beginning but that they were just friends for a long time. Once she went through a rough breakup and slept with Brett, everything started happening quickly, leaving her very confused. She admitted to being in a bad place when she was involved with Brett for the second time and was so relieved that they worked through everything as well as they did. She and Cole were thrilled with their life and family, and she didn’t look back into the past at all now. In fact, she was happy that Brett had found somebody to love like he did me and excited for our future.
It was at that dinner that Brett knelt to the floor, taking me completely by surprise. We’d been together for six months at this point, and it seemed fast as he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I stared down at him, glancing at the ring in the box that shimmered in the light from the room before I stared into his eyes. Once I told him yes, Cole teased him a little about the whirlwind relationship but it was with love as we all laughed.
Brett wrapped his arm around me as Larisa looked at the beautiful band encrusted with diamonds. “I need to give this girl some babies before I’m too old. I’ve not wanted that with anyone else.” Cole and Larisa shared a look as I blushed and giggled, feeling his lips against my hair.
We finished our visit and moved on to New York, where the size of the city caught me off guard. Everything was bigger, and there were so many people on the streets. It was much more fast paced than Los Angele
s as a home and business, but I was the assistant to Daniel, and I loved working with him. He’d guessed about Brett, and I from our first meeting and the ring on my left hand was no surprise to him or the staff. Better yet, neither did anybody else because that’s how it was in New York. The company was too busy making millions, and Brett loved working from home as he watched all the locations.
We went out a lot here. There was always something open for dinner, maybe a play to see but I loved it all. We decided to get married in the Spring in The Hamptons on the beach with just some family and friends around. It was intimate and beautiful with the sun setting as we kissed for the first time as husband and wife, keeping it quiet that I was three months pregnant with our son at the time. There was a big dinner and reception outside afterward where we danced and chatted with the guests, and I was over the moon. I was so happy, and I felt complete in my life now.
Epilogue
Ten years later, I replaced my manager when he retired. Our son Nathan was now nine and his twin sisters Olivia and Avery five and Brett worked from home and cared for them. We were more in love than ever, traveling to see Cole and their family of four kids as much as possible. It wasn’t necessary to fly to California to see Mom since she was in New York as well, making herself known in the art world.
We still cherished our time together at night when the kids were sleeping, and it was blissfully quiet. We’d make love for hours on those nights, just being a little quieter than before. The girls were grumpy if they didn’t sleep enough. Brett made sure to go away with just me at least once a year as well, somewhere where we could revisit the past.
I never knew that my life would turn out this way, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I had everything I wanted and needed, feeling the love in my life every day.
The End
Best Seller: Filthy Boss
CANDICE CARLSON:
Men are douchebags! I’m sorry, but there’s just no other way to put it and they can’t deny it. They only want one thing from us, girls. Then, just as you’re about to give it to them, they dump you like a hot rock because their mommy says you’re not good enough for their little boy. Seriously, bitch? I’ll show you not good enough with my fist in your nose.
Then I get assigned to work for Tanner Wright, the bad boy billionaire CEO who thinks his money, good looks, and big bulge in his jeans can get him whatever he wants. And what he wants at the moment is to get into this girl’s pants. What he doesn’t know is, that’s a place where no man has gone before.
The guy’s a billionaire douchebag and I’m a reluctant virgin. That combination could make for a very interesting workplace, indeed.
TANNER WRIGHT
It’s a lot of pressure, living up to a reputation like mine. You just try being a billionaire bad boy CEO for a week and see how you handle things. I’ll bet you end up in the press more than I do!
When you have the looks, money, charm, and bedroom skills that I have, the world is your oyster. So many mansions to buy, exotic cars to drive, yachts to captain, and so many women to… well… you know what the ladies want from Mr. Wright.
So, when Candice Carlson is assigned to work on a project for my company, it’s only fitting that I give her a shot at the brass ring. She’s young and brilliant and beautiful. And there’s something mysterious about her that draws me to her like a moth to a flame.
She can try to resist all she wants, but when Tanner Wright wants something, you can bet the bank that he will get it; one way or another.
CHAPTER ONE: Candice Carlson
I was sitting at my desk munching on a take-out salad from the cafeteria downstairs, when the email from my boss came through. I glanced at the large computer monitor sitting to my left, but didn’t bother opening the email. I already knew what it was.
I had been expecting the email since earlier in the day when my boss told me that our company, Goldman & Stern Management Consultants, had won a ten-million-dollar management consulting contract with Wright Enterprises, and that I would be one of the management consultants on the team.
I chewed a mouthful of lettuce and leaned over to read the subject line: Confirmation of Meeting Scheduled with Tanner Wright at Wright Enterprises.
I clicked the link that would automatically add the meeting details to my electronic schedule and went back to eating my salad.
A year ago, I would have been jumping up and down at the thought of meeting with billionaire entrepreneur, Tanner Wright, and his team. Now, this would be just another in a long line of boring meetings with rich douchebags who used Goldman & Stern’s management consultants – like me -- to do their dirty work.
Wow, sometimes I was amazed at how tarnished I had become in just one short year at Goldman. I don’t remember what I expected this job would be, but this wasn’t it.
Still, it was better than slaving away at a non-profit for twenty-grand a year. That was more fulfilling, but this allowed me to buy a lot cooler stuff.
I sighed as I stabbed a cherry tomato and bit it in half with my front teeth. I had already Googled Tanner Wright in anticipation of the meeting. Not that I didn’t already know who he was. Everyone in business knew who Tanner Wright was because he was the stuff of legend.
Thirty-five years old, single, tall, dark, and handsome; with the build of an athlete and the brain of a Rhodes Scholar.
He started Wright Enterprises as a little computer fix-it service in his parents’ basement fifteen years ago, and the company did six billion in revenue last year.
Wright was in to everything now: from computing to networking to cyber-security software to fiber optics. But it took more than generating a ton of revenue for a guy to impress me these days. In my mind, I already had him pegged as just another billionaire playboy who thought he could buy the world and everyone in it.
I took a sip of the watery iced tea that came with the salad and looked out the twentieth-floor window at the hazy Chicago skyline.
“I’ll bet he’s a major douchebag,” I heard myself say.
I couldn’t help it.
Whenever I thought about men these days the word “douchebag” automatically came to mind.
In fact, the word “douchebag” was becoming synonymous with the word “man” in my mind.
Man, douchebag.
Douchebag, man.
Call me jaded, but in my mind, they were one and the same.
I took another bite of the lettuce and munched as I sighed. Why do men have to be such douchebags, I wondered. Aren’t there any good men left in the world? Surely, they’re not all gay or married.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit. Maybe not all men on planet earth are douchebags. Maybe it’s just the males of the species that I have personally met over my twenty-four years on the planet were douchebags.
They didn’t all start out that way, of course. Some of them were perfectly nice in the beginning. They seemed to evolve into douchebags after they met me. Maybe that was it. Maybe I was the common denominator. Maybe I took perfectly nice guys and turned them into total douchebags. I was patient zero!
I licked the dressing from my lips and reached for the tea. Maybe that was my special power, I thought. I had the power to turn perfectly nice guys into douchebags.
Nah. Who am I kidding.
I don’t have special powers.
Men are quite capable of becoming douchebags all on their own.
They certainly didn’t need any influence from me.
The most recent douchebag in my life was my ex-boyfriend, Scott, who dumped me after dating for five years because his mother didn’t think I was good enough for him.
He actually said those words to me.
“I’m sorry, Candice, but Mother doesn’t think you’re good enough for me.”
“I’m not marrying your mother, Scott,” I shot back. “The question is, what do you think?”
The prick didn’t hesitate. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “I think Mother is probably right.”
/> And with that, he turned and walked out the door and never looked back.
I was like, are you kidding me, mother f*cker?
I’ve dated your douchebag ass since freshman year at college, saved my virginity for our wedding night, and two months before the wedding, I’m not good enough for you?
Seriously?
F*ck you!
And f*ck your mother!!!
I felt my cheeks getting hot. Even though it’s been over a year since Scott dumped me, it still makes me fume.
Granted, I didn’t come from money like Scott’s family did. The Carlson family was lower middle class at best, but I worked my ass off to get through college and then graduate school. I graduated with an MBA from Harvard last year and was recruited by Goldman & Stern to join their management consulting group before the ink on my diploma was dry.
I have a windowed-office in a Chicago high-rise, and pulldown one-fifty a year plus bonuses. I have a killer apartment downtown, and am on the fast track to make partner within five years. And I’m not good enough for your piece of shit son?
Again, dear mother, f*ck you!
I frowned at my own thought. I never used to cuss like this. Granted, this conversation is only going on in my head, but now I have the vocabulary of a drunken sailor.
And I blame it on Scott and his mommy.
Scott said his mommy thought I was a bad person. She didn’t like the way I treated her little boy.
Fine. Whatever. Sure, I can be a little abrasive at times, and maybe I bossed Scott around a bit, but come on, the guy could barely wipe his own ass without mommy’s help.
If he didn’t have me telling him what to do he would have spent most of his days bouncing through life like a pinball.
Not good enough for your son.
F*ck you, you old bat.
Your son wasn’t good enough for me!
I chewed on a chunk of lettuce and scolded myself for even thinking about this stuff. I mean, it had been over a year since I last saw Scott. Why was this still sticking in my craw?
