Welcome to the Cameo Hotel

by K. I. Lynn

  “Having an answer is huge.”

  “Here’s the part I’m having trouble with . . . from the moment he saw me in the hospital, he has been nothing but doting to the extreme. He holds me all night, even though I know he’s burning up. He gets me whatever I want and need. He even had lunch delivered for me today.”

  “He’s trying to take care of you. He’s trying to make up, to show you how much he loves you.”

  “He does, and I love him, but how do I move on with him?” I asked. I thought I was to the point that my heart was healed enough to give it another go.

  “If you want to be with him, if you think he’s paid enough and is honestly there for you, you need to give him a fair second chance. Mistakes happen in a relationship. Harsh words get said in anger, and frustrations slip out. They’re not always meant, but they cut, and deeply. Words can’t be taken back, but they can be forgiven. Do you love him enough to forgive him?”

  Could I? Could I use all that he’d done to take care of me, all the affection, and weigh it against the pain and have it win?

  There was a good chance I could.

  “Thanks, Ava.”

  “Are you going to give him a chance?” she asked, a hopeful edge to her voice.

  “Yeah, I think I am.”

  “Good luck, then. And give me a call whenever you need. I’m here for you and I can answer all the embarrassing pregnancy and baby questions.”

  I had a feeling I would have her on speed dial. “I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done.”

  “Yes, you can,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Three words—double-date dinner.”

  A chuckle slipped out as I shook my head. “I think we can arrange that.”

  “Perfect. Just name a date and we’ll make it work.”

  “Will do! Have a good day,” I said.

  “You, too!” she called out right before I hit the end button.

  Mistakes did happen, and words were said. If I couldn’t give Gavin a second chance, I would be giving up on what I knew was the greatest love of my life.

  Around three there was another knock on the door. When I opened it, there was a man standing there with a large box.

  “What’s this?” I asked as I opened the door for yet another delivery.

  “Air conditioner. Mr. Grayson requested I set one up in the bedroom and the living room,” he said as he picked the box up and stepped in.

  “He did, did he?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I nodded and moved to my phone.

  Emma: Air conditioners?

  The delivery guy set the box down and started to cut it open.

  GG: It’s sweltering in there

  I wasn’t arguing there, but it was unnecessary. I’m used to it. Fans work fine

  GG: Until you agree to move into the house with me, I’ll continue making your apartment as comfortable as possible for you

  There was no winning against the man. I knew it and he knew it. Not that I was ungrateful.

  Emma: If I say yes right now, will you get this guy and the air conditioners out of here?

  GG: Are you saying yes?

  Was I?

  For four days I’d had a loving Gavin practically glued to my side. He’d taken care of me, ignored work, showed me he was there, committed.

  I hit the call button at the top and bit down on my bottom lip as the phone rang. My heart hammered in my chest with what I was about to say.

  “Baby?” he answered.

  “I want you and I want our house and I want to forget the two weeks where you didn’t love me,” I said all in one long breath, my stomach in knots.

  “There was never a time I didn’t love you, Emma.”

  I chewed on my thumbnail. “I know that, but to me, in that time, you hated me.”

  “I’m going to make it up to you.”

  “You can start by getting this guy out of here,” I said.

  “It’s really hot today. You need it,” he argued.

  “Fine, we’ll go to your hotel then.” Since he wasn’t moved back in with me, he still had a room at another hotel.

  There was a small pause before he spoke. “Put the guy on the phone, pack a bag, and I’ll be there in an hour.”

  I couldn’t help but giggle, and handed the phone to the delivery guy. His eyes popped wide and he nodded and agreed before putting back the Styrofoam packaging he pulled out.

  “What did you say to him?” I asked Gavin once I had my phone back.

  “That the air conditioners were now his,” he said.

  “Seriously? Couldn’t you just return them?”

  “It’s fine. One hour.”

  I smiled. “See you soon.”

  I showed the delivery driver out, who seemed ecstatic about his gift, then moved to the bedroom to pack. If I went back to work in a few days, I would need work attire. Instead of the overnight bag, I pulled my suitcase out of the closet and began loading it with a mixture of clothing.

  Making a mental list, I packed up my laptop, Amazon Fire Stick and remote, toiletries, and my pillow and blanket. I even filled up one of the paper takeout bags that had handles with drinks, snacks, and crackers.

  Seeing as I didn’t know how long I was going to be gone, I moved to my jewelry box and pulled out the bracelet and necklace Gavin had given me. I’d barely looked at them in weeks, remembering the sadness the last time I did.

  I slid the bracelet in between my clothes, and slipped the chain around my neck. It felt so right when it settled against my skin.

  The key to his heart.

  Just as I was zipping up the suitcase, Gavin stepped in.

  “You’re taking a blanket and pillow?” he asked with a small smile.

  “Yes. All part of the being comfortable theme.”

  He stopped when he saw the key around my neck, and his eyes snapped to mine. Two beautifully different-toned eyes that I loved so much stared at me.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  My fingers ran across it, and I gave him a small smile. “Let’s get moving. I used up a lot of energy with your one-hour demand.”

  “Can you handle your purse and the pillow and blanket situation?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”

  “I’ll get the rest.”

  The rest was a lot, especially for one trip—suitcase, laptop bag, and two brown bags filled with food and drinks. He managed it with relative ease as I locked the door.

  We headed into downtown while everyone else was headed out, making the trip a breeze.

  “It’ll be nice to get back to work, especially so I can make sure my car is still there.” It’d been days, and I wondered if they towed after a certain period of time.

  “It was there when I left, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  Gavin pulled up to the valet area of the hotel and called for a cart to make things easier. The bellhop followed us up to the room.

  I blew out a breath as I stood in front of the air conditioner vent.

  “Feel better?” he asked.

  “Okay, I relent, you were right.”

  “We should have come days ago,” he said.

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “But you weren’t ready.”

  I reached up and cupped his cheek, loving the way he leaned into me. “No, I wasn’t, but I’m ready to deal.”

  “Deal?” he asked with a quirked brow.

  I nodded. “You promise not to leave again, and I promise not to remove your testicles with my bare hands.”

  He swallowed hard, his gaze bouncing between my eyes.

  “I’ll agree on one condition.”

  “There’s no negotiating.”

  “One condition,” he repeated as he dropped to the floor.

  I stared at him in confusion before it sunk in. My breath hitched as I stared down at Gavin. He was down on one knee, a Tiffany blue box in his hand.

  “Gavin?” My heart thundered hard in my
chest, not believing what I was seeing.

  He tilted the top of the box, and I stared down at the large diamond ring it held.

  “Emma, you’re my sun. I love you more than I ever thought possible. In a short time, you took over my every thought. I want you as my wife. Will you marry me?”

  My eyes found his, the sincerity shining through. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment question. He had a ring. He’d planned it.

  My chest constricted as my heart fluttered wildly inside my chest. “Aren’t things moving a little fast?” After all, I had just given in.

  “You know I don’t make rash decisions. Besides, I want to be married before our baby gets here.”

  He never said “the baby.” It was always “our baby,” and I loved that. It was one of the things that made me relent. Something so small, but it showed just how committed he was to us as a family.

  “Gavin Grayson, you are a handful with dirty negotiating tactics.”

  He beamed at me. “But I’ve grown on you.”

  My face scrunched up, and a tear slipped down my cheek. “Yeah, you have.”

  “Emma, please let me make you a Grayson.”

  A Grayson. There was a blooming in my chest, spreading like wildfire down my arms and legs. It pulsed, sending tingles down my spine.

  I wanted that. I wanted to be a family.

  “Yes,” I said with a shaky breath.

  He pulled the ring out and slid it on my finger. It was a huge, round diamond flanked by pear-shaped side stones.

  My mouth dropped open as I stared at it, but I didn’t get long to look at it. Gavin stood up and took hold of my face, smashing his lips to mine.

  His kiss was the match that re-ignited my soul. The fire that ravaged my body, burned away the cold, and replaced it with an all-consuming heat.

  “Fuck, baby,” he groaned.

  I needed it, needed him inside me. Needed to feel him come in me. I was so wet for it.

  I was able to get my shorts undone, letting them and my thong slip down my legs before he pulled my top up and over my head.

  It was frantic, erratic as we stripped. Desperate for skin-on-skin contact.

  He dipped down and picked me up, only to drop me down onto the bed a few feet later. I worked on his belt while he took off his vest and tie. As I pulled his belt through the buckle, my fingers grazed his hard length. My pussy clenched in sheer anticipation.

  It had been weeks since he had been inside me, and I desperately needed to be filled with him.

  “Fuck it,” he spat in frustration as he loosened his tie and yanked it over his head.

  Each button of his suit seemed to take forever as I stroked his length, fisting it, giving the tip a light squeeze. A shudder rolled through him, his eyes heavy and dark. He stopped unbuttoning his shirt and instead tugged it up and over his head, then pushed his pants down his legs.

  No time was wasted. I had barely crawled a foot back to give him some room to get on when the head of his cock pressed inside me.

  My vision blurred, and I drew in a sharp breath when he buried most of his length in one thrust. A long, low moan left me before he pulled back, then pushed his hips forward and out again.

  “This is mine,” he growled as he slammed in. “You are mine.” Another accentuating slam. “And I’m never fucking letting you go again.”

  “Never.”

  He set up a delicious pace that wound me up more and more each time he bottomed out.

  “Fuck, Gavin!”

  “We have this big house with nothing in it.” He flexed his hips, driving him deeper. “And I want to fill it with our family.”

  A moan slipped past my lips. “Yes.”

  His pace sped up, driving me further and further into a bliss-filled madness. The tension tightened every muscle until I cracked, my walls tightening around him.

  He groaned above me, his face twisted as he slammed into me one last time, his cock twitching inside me with each jet of cum.

  Our eyes locked, both of us breathing hard. It was everything I needed to remember our connection.

  “I love you,” I said.

  His eyes softened as the back of his fingers caressed my cheek. “I will always love and be devoted to you.”

  Gavin changed everything in my life. I had a path, and he destroyed it. Then he rebuilt it, bigger and better than it was before. A path for us to walk together.

  Life doesn’t always work out like you think it will. My life was proof of fairy tales and fate.

  Gavin Grayson—world destroyer and life giver.

  The very unexpected love of my life.

  Three weeks later . . .

  When I returned to work, Gavin did the one thing he’d threatened to do the day I was hired at Cates—he sent out a company announcement. Granted, it wasn’t telling everyone we were dating, but an engagement announcement, complete with a photo taken of us from the charity event.

  “What’s being delivered today?” Gavin asked as he opened up a box of kitchen supplies.

  The weekend after our engagement, we went furniture shopping so that we could at least move into our house. Gavin had also called for all the stuff from his New York apartment to be delivered.

  “Let me check,” I replied, pulling out my phone from my back pocket. I scanned for the email. “Today is the sofas for the family room, a few sofa chairs, couple of end tables, and two bed frames.”

  I loved our home. It may have been empty, but it was ours. Not a hotel, not a cramped apartment, but a house that we’d chosen as a couple. A place for us to live and grow our family.

  It took nearly two weeks, but my iron levels finally got to a normal level and all of my symptoms were gone. The only sickness left was the morning sickness caused by our growing little peanut.

  The doorbell went off, and I jumped up. “That must be them.” I ran to the door and flipped the lock, then pulled it open.

  But what was on the other side was not a furniture delivery, but a fifty-two-year-old man with his brown hair thinning.

  “Dad?”

  He beamed at me, throwing his arms open. “Emmybear!”

  Instantly, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. My dad. My dad.

  “Omph!” He was laughing, but I could tell by the way his arms tightened that he missed me just as much.

  It’d been years, and his hug was the world.

  “Emma?”

  I turned to find my mom standing behind him.

  Tears filled my eyes. “Mom.” I wrapped my arms around her. “What are you doing here?”

  “Gavin didn’t tell you?” Dad asked.

  Gavin? What had my fiancé been doing behind my back?

  I shook my head and sniffled. “No.”

  “We’re moving back to Boston,” Mom said as she looked me over. “He invited us to stay with you while we get situated.”

  “Come on in,” I said, gesturing them inside.

  “Oh, Emma . . .” Mom trailed off as she looked around.

  “We don’t have much yet, so it looks really big with all the empty rooms.”

  “Beats the seven-hundred-square-feet your apartment had,” Gavin said with a chuckle from behind me.

  “Mom, Dad, this is my fiancé, Gavin.” I held my arms out like I was presenting him.

  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Dad said, shaking his hand a little too vigorously.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. I was obviously missing something, because my dad knew what had happened in July. I was shocked he was being so nice.

  “Turns out one of our departments was seriously lacking a key element,” Gavin began. “The manager of the department and I went through the candidates from the headhunter we use, and your dad fit the bill perfectly.” He smiled at me, which only caused me to narrow my eyes on him.

  “Gavin, what did you do?” I asked in a whisper.

  He smiled down at me and brushed my hair back. “Part of my doing everything I can to make you happy.”

/>   I stretched up and pressed my lips to his. “Thank you.”

  To have my parents near was like a dream, and would be especially when our baby arrived. A fact I still had yet to break to them. So much had been going on, I hadn’t gotten to it.

  “How about a tour?” Dad asked, his neck stretched around the doorway leading to the parlor.

  “Sure,” I said. We walked them through all of the bare living spaces, describing what we were going to do with them.

  When we got up to the bedrooms, I stopped at what was the largest, but not the master. It appeared more like a living space with its fireplace and flanking built-ins.

  “This would be a great space for you two,” I said when we walked in. “We have a queen bed in another room we can bring in here, and the frame is being delivered today.”

  “Perfect,” Mom said with a smile.

  We continued on, passing a bathroom before coming upon the smallest bedroom.

  “We’re going to use this room for the nursery,” Gavin said.

  My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe he’d just blurted it out like that. Then again, it was one way to tell them.

  “Nursery?” Mom glanced down to my stomach. “Baby, you’re pregnant?” my mom asked, her eyes wide.

  There was no hiding it in the shirt I was wearing. My stomach had just a small bump in my abdomen. Small, but noticeable compared to the flat stomach I’d had just weeks before.

  “Eleven weeks today,” I said as I ran my hand across my bump. “Due to some earlier issues, we were waiting a little longer to tell you.”

  “Earlier issues? Emma Elaine!” Mom’s eyes were wide, completely horrified. She was such a worrywart—another reason why I didn’t want to tell her about my trip to the hospital.

  “I have iron deficiency anemia. It caused issues early on, but I’m fine now. I take supplements and I’m fine.”

  My dad remained silent, still as a statue as he stared at the small room. He looked to Gavin, then to me, then back to Gavin.

  “Okay. The answer is yes.”

  The answer?

  My brow scrunched as I glanced to Gavin who held out his hand to my father.

  Dad noticed my confusion. “Gavin asked for my blessing to marry you. I told him I’d have an answer when we met face to face and I saw him with my daughter.”