The Boss's Virgin, page 14
“Does that mean she knows about the baby?” Mom almost fell against the chair when Antoine blurted out the news.
“No, Antoine. She just got here. I didn’t tell her yet.”
“Baby?” she asked and gazed at Angie’s stomach. “She’s pregnant?” She sounded breathless, like she had been running.
“Yes, Mom. You’re going to be a grandmother.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed as her hands flew to her mouth. She hurried over to us and swept us into a giant bear hug. “I can’t believe this!”
“I’m going to tell Mom,” Angie said, untangling herself. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Hawke.”
“Oh, call me Mom, too. None of that Mrs. Hawke nonsense.” She waved her off, and Angie grinned and blushed as she backed out of the room. After she had gone, Mom stepped back and clapped her hands to her cheeks. “Now, that’s news a mother wants to come home to. I can’t believe this.” She returned to the chair she had occupied earlier.
“So, does that mean you’re okay with Angie?” I quizzed, though it wouldn’t have made a difference to me. I would marry Angie anyway.
“You’re right, and I was wrong,” Mom declared, and Antoine choked.
“Say what?” he asked hastily, much to my amusement.
Mom had never admitted she was wrong before, not to our faces. “She is a lovely girl, and I can see that you really love her.” She stared off into space and clapped her hands to her cheeks again. “I’m going to be a grandmother. And… oh, I need to make some calls. There will be a wedding soon, and a baby shower…” She hurried out of the office, obviously making a mental list of her new things to do.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this,” Antoine commented. “Maybe I’ll follow in your footsteps one day.”
“Wouldn’t be such a bad thing, bro,” I replied and slapped him on the shoulder. “Wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
***
Three months later…
“So, you ready in here?” Antoine asked as he stuck his head inside the room.
“I think so,” I replied, though I was as nervous as could be.
Our wedding day had arrived, and I watched as many guests arrived. Mom had invited possibly everyone in DC and had insisted the wedding be held in the garden. The lawn was strewn with white decorations: chairs, flowers, accessories, and banners. There was an overhanging arch where I would wait for my bride, and I was anxious to get this day over with.
“I gotta say, you look good in that.” Antoine grinned and patted me on the back.
I smiled and walked to the window where I had a partial view of the garden. “I didn’t know a day like this could feel so stressful.”
Antoine laughed. “And they say you’re the smart one. It’s not today you have to worry about… It’s after.” He winked.
“What does that mean?” I chortled. “You don’t scare me.”
“You should be.”
“Where is he?” Mom called from the doorway. “Oh, there you are.” She breezed into the room and grabbed my arm. “The minister is waiting, and Angie is all set. Wait until you see her, Gerald. She is the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”
Mom had fallen in love with Angie almost as much as I did. She spent more time at the house, especially since she thought she was the only person who knew how to handle a pregnancy and that it was for ‘Angie’s sake’ that she remain until the baby was born. I was sure she would be there much longer, using whatever excuse she could find.
I received nods, eye rolls, and winks as I hurried past the guests and to the arch. My heart pounded, and I rubbed my palms together and shuffled as I waited for my bride. Antoine stood next to me and grinned as he obviously enjoyed my anxiety.
My heart felt like it flew to my throat and formed a ball there when the audience was hushed and the music began to play. My eyes were glued to the end of the walk, where she was preceded by a little girl throwing rose petals along the way, and then by her mother, who was her matron of honor. I’d never seen Sophie dressed like this before, but I easily understood where Angie got her beauty. I looked past her, and my breath stopped when Angie appeared. I couldn’t see her face clearly under the veil, but she was a picture of purity, grace, and beauty. Her gloved hands touched the small bulge on her stomach slightly, and she walked slowly towards me. My nervousness slipped away and a grin took its place as I waited for my bride.
The sermon was short and intimate, and at the end of it, the revelry began… led by Antoine, of course. I had the first dance with Angie and saw a familiar face walking toward us. “Can I borrow her?”
“Cody!” she exclaimed and jumped into his arms. “When did you get here?”
“I couldn’t miss this, Angie.” He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
“I’ll be over there,” I told her and went to mingle with some of the other guests. But I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I sipped the champagne and watched every step she made with Cody, anticipating the day when I would meet our son.
“I wouldn’t take my eyes off her, either,” I heard Dad say.
I almost choked and spun. “Dad? When did you get in town?”
He laughed. “Your mother called me. I had to come, or I wouldn’t hear the end of it. She is really beautiful,” he said and took a glass of wine from one of the servers passing.
“Yes, she is,” I replied proudly.
“Can’t tell you this is going to be an easy road, but it’ll be worth it,” Dad said. “Congrats, son.” He grabbed me and pulled me to him, and I had never felt happier.
Dad and I used to spend more time together, doing father and son stuff, until we grew up and the business took over. We spent a lot of time traveling away from home and expanding the companies. It felt good to have all of them with me on my wedding day.
“Does that mean Antoine has to get married for us to see you again?” I joked.
He burst into a fit of laughter that drew too much attention, including Antoine’s. “Dad?” he said with surprise.
Dad leaned closer to me before Antoine came to us. “I’d never see you again if that were true.”
I laughed as Antoine reached us. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, son.” Dad smiled. “Just happy to be here.”
“Yeah, right. Gerald looks suspicious,” he argued and searched our faces for what he felt we were hiding.
“Let’s go find you a date,” I grabbed him and said. “Thanks for coming, Dad.” He raised his glass and disappeared into the crowd, and I went to ditch my brother and find my bride.
ANGELINA
One year later…
I couldn’t imagine the life I had been stuck in before this one, although my new lifestyle was only a year old. I had everything I could ever want under one roof, or close enough, and I smiled as I looked at the infant who smiled and rolled around in his crib.
“He’s perfect, isn’t he?” I smiled at Gerald, who stood next to me.
“Yes, he is,” he agreed. “Want another?”
“Oh, no, no, not yet.” I laughed. “I want Jeremy to grow up before I start dividing his time.”
He kissed my forehead and hugged me. “I gotta go.”
“Okay. Have a good day.” I smiled and reached up to kiss him.
I watched, and my chest swelled with pride when he gazed admiringly into the crib. He leaned in and twisted his finger around a curl that hung above Jeremy’s forehead. The infant gurgled and looked around, not knowing what was happening around him other than the pretty sounds and pictures that reflected from his mobile.
Like every other day, since he’d gone back to work after Jeremy was born, I was left alone. Sure, Mom was always there, and so was Mrs. Hawke. But other than nursing Jeremy and entertaining him, there wasn’t much to do. I missed the days when I’d had the bed and breakfast, and I felt like my life had some greater purpose. I had ambitions to launch that single entity into several establishments in a few major cities. I had the education, and the drive, and I felt like I was on a direct path to that dream—until I met Gerald, got pregnant, and my entire world changed in the blink of an eye. Sure, I shared in his wealth, and he satisfied every fleeting request that floated into my head and some others I hadn’t thought about. He was the kindest and most loving man, and I loved our life. But I couldn’t ignore the nagging emptiness that gnawed at my insides.
The feeling remained with me for the entire day, and when Gerald got back, he suspected the change in me. “You’re pretty quiet,” he said as I pulled the covers back and prepared to go to bed.
“Just something on my mind all day, is all,” I answered.
He paused, his hands caught in the covers. “Such as?”
I sighed and crawled into bed. “It’s not important, but… I miss having something to do.”
“That’s it? Then why didn’t you say so? I know a few places you could spend your days with Jeremy. There’s this Lacrosse club, the country club, the…”
“Country club?” I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Yeah. It’s this place we subscribe to, and you can go there, meet people, play sports, exercise…whatever you want to do. And they have a play area, nannies…”
“I don’t mean that kind of thing, Gerald. I miss working.”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “You miss work?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
He sighed and placed his hands behind his head. “I guess. But what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. In Riverside, I had the bed and breakfast, and I had my dreams, and now…”
“Now, you feel like you have nothing,” he replied, disappointed.
“No, I’m not saying that. I love you, and my life here. It’s just… boring.”
He laughed and rolled me onto his stomach. “You know, half the women I know would kill to spend their days at the country club. My Angie wants to work. You are something else.”
“I’m not used to doing nothing,” I added.
“I’m sorry about the bed and breakfast.” He sighed and kissed me. He cuddled me and rubbed my back and showered me with the love I wanted, but not with the thing I needed.
I went to bed with the fire blazing in the background when the bed and breakfast burned to the ground, and I woke up to the same image. Gerald had already left, probably because he was trying to escape my complaining. I got up and went into the nursery, but Jeremy was not in his crib. Typical. My mom must have come up earlier to take him. If I allowed her, I would never see him.
I washed hurriedly, changed, and bounded downstairs in search of them. Mrs. Hawke was on a two-day trip, so I wouldn’t run into her. After months of being around her, I understood Gerald’s resentment of her overbearing ways. She meant well, but she had to make sure everyone saw it, and it got slightly irritating.
“Mom!” I called as I reached the kitchen. She wasn’t there. I went out into the garden where I found her strolling about with him.
I smiled and folded my arms. “I think it’s a little too late to play make-up.”
She turned and smiled. “I don’t think so. At least you’ll make a better mom than I did. And where you fall short, I’ll catch up. That way, Jeremy will have it all, won’t you, Jeremy?” she asked as she made baby sounds.
“You know I didn’t mean what I said during that fight last year, right?” I felt guilty and ashamed for the way I had come down on her, and I wanted to make amends.
“That’s alright, honey,” she cooed and played with Jeremy’s cheeks. “I earned some of that.” She turned her head to the side. “But I’m a grown woman. I can handle it.”
“Thanks, Mom. So, can I see him?” I laughed. Jeremy babbled like a brook, and his legs kicked from under the blanket that covered his feet. I took him, and he shoved his fist into his mouth and looked around him curiously. “He is going to be so smart. Maybe grow up to run the company like his father.”
“I’m sure he will,” Mom replied and hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. “Things turned out alright.”
“Yeah, they did,” I replied and rocked back into her as we knocked heads together like we never had before.
***
I was home, bored as usual one mid-morning, when I spotted Gerald’s car pulling into the driveway. I thought something had gone wrong because he didn’t usually return home so early. Panic gripped me as I raced down the stairs and met him in the foyer.
“What’s wrong?”
He narrowed his eyes at me and gave me a weird look. “Nothing. Why do you think something is wrong?” He held my hand and led me back inside the house.
“Because you’re home at this hour. You’re never home at this hour, so something must… Is something wrong?” I was nervous and anxious, and I gripped his arm as I waited for the bomb to drop.
“Where’s Jeremy?” he asked as he twisted his body to check the places he could see.
“With Mom. Gerald, what’s going on?” I was impatient, and my heart felt like it were pumping twice the normal amount of blood.
“I want you to come with me,” he said, and we headed back to the door.
“No!” I cried and pulled away from him. “Not until you tell me what’s going on. You’re scaring me.”
He started to laugh and cupped my face. “Does this look like a face that’s about to deliver bad news? Just come with me, sweetheart.”
I heaved an exasperated sigh. “Okay, fine. But I need to tell Mom I’m leaving.”
“You can call her from the car. There’s something I want to show you.” He refused to say anything else to me, despite how I begged. “Hey, you said you were bored. Why are you complaining?” he asked and nudged me on the arm.
“I’m not complaining,” I defended. “I just want to know what’s going on. You’ve never done this before.”
“Well, baby, I’m full of surprises.”
He grinned at me, and I knew he was up to something. I was a mixture of excitement and anxiety, and I scanned the streets as I tried to figure out where we were going. He wasn’t headed for work, nor was it dinner time, so restaurants were out of the question.
With great difficulty, I sat in the car and waited for him to arrive at the location. Eventually, the car rolled to a stop downtown outside a building I didn’t recognize. He got out, and I followed nervously.
“Where are we?” I asked again.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He clicked his tongue. “Come on.”
I held onto his arm and followed him inside. Right away, I saw that it was—or used to be—a hotel. Our steps echoed in the hallway as he led me to the elevator, and when it opened a few floors up, we were still alone.
“What’s going on? Where… Is it even open?”
“No, it hasn’t been open for some time now,” he answered as he walked down the hallway and to the window on the other side. I reached him and looked at the view of the skyline of downtown DC, and it was breathtaking.
“Beautiful,” I told him.
“It is,” he answered, and he smiled as he kept looking, but he didn’t volunteer anything else.
“Don’t tell me you brought me all the way here just to see the sights.” I laughed. “I wasn’t that bored at home.”
“No, that’s not why I brought you here.” He put his hand into his pocket and took out an envelope, which he handed to me. I opened it and took out the contents while he spoke. “I was working on a personal investment of sorts, and I wanted to know what you thought.”
He turned to me, but my eyes were glued to the sheets of paper that showed the deed to a commercial space downtown-a title that had my name on it. “What’s this?” I asked as my heart raced again, and my eyes skipped over words that didn’t register.
“I know how much you loved having your own bed and breakfast, and I don’t want you to think that because you’re married to me, your dream is ded, so…”
“You bought me a building?” I heard bells ringing in my head, and I felt woozy. “Oh my God! Gerald, you bought me a building?”
“I bought you a building,” he echoed. “So, what do you think?”
My chest tightened, and I clamped my hand across it. My mouth felt dry, and I felt faint. “I think I need to sit down.”
Gerald laughed. “Now you get to run your own show.”
“My own… So, this is all me? Mine?” I couldn’t believe any of this was happening, and I struggled to get a grip.
“You wanted your empire. That was your dream,” he said softly.
I didn’t think I could love him any more than I did at that moment, and I flew into his arms as the tears stung the corner of my eyes. “Thank you,” I sobbed against his jacket. “Thank you.”
He squeezed me closer to him, and from that angle, I saw what was going to be the view I would enjoy in the coming days.
ENEMIES-IN-BED
(An exclusive never-been-published sexy romance novella)
By
Bella Grant
Copyright (c) 2017. All Rights Reserved.
Sara
If I were honest with myself, I would admit that I took psychology to find out why my mother left. I wanted to believe it was to fill elective requirements on my way to earning my chemistry degree, but that wasn’t true. I could just as easily have taken something I was interested in, like sketching or modern film. Instead, I had chosen psychology, and I walked into every class waiting for the day I would hear something—anything—that explained my mother walking out.
There were benefits to taking psychology, though. I did find some topics fascinating, like the unit on mental disorders, and the class was easier than I’d originally anticipated. The professor also told us on the first day she only set two tests: the mid-term and the final exam. That freed me up from spending nights cramming every two weeks or so. The greatest benefit, though, was not one of academia but the presence of another classmate. Travis Wilkes and I had a long, vague history, and I learned it wasn’t finished when Professor Sorenson announced a new project.
