His Marriage Demand

by Fiona Murphy

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  HIS MARRIAGE DEMAND

  First edition. September 28, 2014.

  Copyright © 2014 Fiona Murphy.

  ISBN: 978-1498915021

  Written by Fiona Murphy.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  His Marriage Demand

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  The Gangster’s Girlfriend

  His Hostile Takeover

  His Next Chapter

  His Secretary with Benefits

  A Favor

  His Back Bay Princess

  His Marriage Demand

  For two years, Ria has longed to touch the fire in Drake Hawthorne’s eyes, but she doesn’t dare. The hotel where she works has a strict hands-off-patrons policy and if it’s found out she’s even lingered too long in his room, she’ll lose the job she’s worked so hard for. Maybe if she were more reckless and willing to step out on a ledge she would, but she isn’t and she can’t. Because it isn’t just Ria’s welfare at stake, but her little brother’s, and she’s not able to put his happiness on the line for her own. So, she’ll keep hiding behind the meaningless wedding ring and fake husband that she knows is the only thing that has kept Drake from pushing her for more. She’s seen enough rich and powerful men like Drake Hawthorne to know they didn’t care about the havoc they left behind only for the moment where they got what they wanted. Ria needs more than a moment, she wants and needs forever.

  When Drake finds out there isn’t a husband, he demands marriage, and Ria opens her mouth to say yes, until he warns her about the ending. Marriage shouldn’t come with a time limit and Ria refuses to give in. Just when it looks like forever is promised, will a threat from her past cost her the future that’s within reach with Drake?

  His Marriage Demand

  By Fiona Murphy

  Copyright © 2013 by Fiona Murphy

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Chapter One

  Employees are not allowed to fraternize with guests. Employees are not allowed to fraternize with guests. One more time, with feeling, I tell myself. I know he’s almost to the front desk, each breath is harder to take as the air thickens. I pretend I don’t know he’s there as I force my breathing to level out. Why the fuck does it always have to get so uneven when it comes to Drake Hawthorne? Just the thought of the man is enough to send it raspy, but when he’s in front of me, close enough to touch, with his piercing blue eyes staring right into me, I struggle to take in air. Making a notation that makes absolutely no sense, I allow myself to look up. I find him without looking around because his eyes are on me. He probably knows the notation I made was nonsense. I open my mouth but nothing comes out. It’s been four months since I last saw him and the sight of him again, so close, so weary, causes all the air to rush out of my lungs in a whoosh.

  Latisha chooses the moment to call out from the back room, my name is a whine. I know what she’s going to say and my stomach plummets. “Ria, come on girl. I am promising you, you will have so much fun. We need to find you a man, girl! You need a man, and the men are hot and loaded at this club. Come on!”

  She comes out from the office as she practically yells, “Come on!” in my ear. Latisha doesn’t see Drake Hawthorne and as I watch him go still at her words, I want to strangle her. Her change in demeanor at seeing him would be funny, if the moment didn’t feel so damned scary. Immediately, the whine is gone and she goes to serious and faintly flirty at the sight of him. I want to smack her for flirting, but I don’t blame her, everyone went flirty and smiling with Drake Hawthorne. “Mr. Hawthorne, I apologize for raising my voice. How are you doing this evening? I’ll be happy to check you in for the night.”

  My eyes go down to the computer screen, and I see nothing, say nothing. Praying he’ll let it go, knowing it won’t happen. I’m not surprised at his words, just very worried about what will happen next.

  “Hello, Latisha. I believe I’ve told you, call me Drake. So what club are you trying to talk Ria into going to?”

  “Thank you, Drake, I’m trying to talk her into going into the Palladine. It just opened on Rush Street. Have you been?”

  “I can’t say I have been, no. What you said is interesting, because I thought Ria was married.”

  I say nothing as I stare down at the thin fake gold band around my left finger. Sometimes I forget it’s there, it’s been on for so long. I used to forget to put it on before I came to work, so after a few months I just never took it off.

  “Really? I had no idea you thought that all this time. No, our boss, Charlie, warned Ria about working overnights. Because she’s so dang pretty, he suggested she go with the ring. He thought it would keep the passes away. Can you believe he didn’t tell me the same thing?”

  “Hmm, that’s hard to believe, as I’m sure you have more than enough passes. I’m sure he believes you can handle the attention. I could have sworn Ria actually mentioned a husband. Then again I’m always tired and it’s so late when I check in, I might have been wrong.” The words are an accusation. I can’t stop my cheeks from going red, I don’t move, just keep my eyes down.

  Latisha picks up on the unspoken and the bitch throws me at him. I want to kill her.

  “Ria, could you see Drake to his room? I would hate to miss the call from the sitter. It always happens like that, doesn’t it, Drake? You wait and wait for something and the moment you give up, it happens.”

  “I know exactly what you mean. I would appreciate you seeing me to my room, Ria. Last time there wasn’t a toothbrush, it would make things more convenient to check before I’m about to turn in.”

  The keycard for his room moves into my eyesight. I nod and take it. Allowing my eyes to meet Latisha’s they promise murder. With a few swift clicks I lock my computer and walk around the desk to follow him towards the elevator. He says nothing but he’s vibrating with an energy he didn’t have around him when he walked in.

  Fuck, is all I can think as he invites me into the elevator before him. I can’t look at him, only down. I’m waiting for him to break the silence as the numbers edge up to his room. Nothing comes and the silence is almost painful by the time the elevator opens with a ding at his floor. Walking out in front of him, I keep my eyes up but unseeing ahead of me. His room is at the end of the long hall, far from the elevators, and each step feels excruciating. I want to scream when I notice my hands tremble as they slide in the keycard and open the door. As usual, he has no luggage. Moving around the suite, I start turning on lights for him.

  Still, he says nothing, neither do I. Coming back to the door, I find him there, leaning against it. Finally, I look up to meet his gaze. Why the fuck did he have to be so beautiful? Men aren’t supposed to be perfect in real life. In centerfolds, on calendars, on billboards, not in real life. Latisha and everyone in the hotel calls him Daniel Craig behind his back. He has a passing look of Daniel Craig, especially with the blue eyes. Only Drake Hawthorne’s features are sharper, he’s taller and his hair is the color of midnight. He’s also always tanned, even in the winter. I’ve met Daniel Craig before, he’s stayed at the hotel twice. Daniel Craig is extremely handsome, he’s also nice, pleasant and a lot of other things I don’t think of when I think of Drake Hawthorn
e. Daniel Craig didn’t make my stomach tumble and my breathing short when I looked at him.

  Drake’s eyes say everything, he says nothing. Even though I swore I was going to wait for him to speak first, I give up.

  “Employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with guests. If management finds out, they’re gone, no ifs, ands, or buts. Please move, Mr. Hawthorne, I need to get back down to the front desk.”

  He doesn’t move, only shakes his head. “Two years, two years of lies from you. Where was he last time? Los Angeles, updating the systems at an oil company you said. Before he was in Atlanta, a conference. Last year he was in England.” He’s moving now, stalking me across the room.

  “Employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with guests.” I repeat haltingly, “I’m sorry, but I need this job. What you want, you can get anywhere.” I accuse.

  “Do you think I haven’t tried? Believe me, I’ve tried. Two years of cold showers and sleepless nights. Every time I left here I promised myself I’d take the first woman who looked my way. Only none of them, none of them looked at me like you do. As if I was everything they wanted but couldn’t have, with hunger making your soft brown eyes go almost black. None of them smelled like you, none of them had the soft curves that trembled when I came near. None of them made me want them the way I want you. Kissing them, I wondered what you tasted like. Holding them against me, I knew they didn’t fit me as well as you would. Two years, of apologies as my dick wouldn’t get hard because they weren’t you.”

  His words hurt, the idea of him with other women. I tried not to think of him away from the hotel. It didn’t mean I succeeded; in bed when I was alone, I thought of him. I wondered who he was with, what they looked like. Then I heard what he was really saying. I’m shaking my head, no. This can’t happen, no matter how badly I want him. He’s blunt, he’s demanding and he doesn’t care about the rules because rules didn’t pertain to men like Drake Hawthorne. He’d take what he wanted and when he had his fill, he’d move on. Then I’d be left jobless and broken-hearted. If it were just me, then maybe I would take the chance. It’s not an option though, I have Justin to think of and I can’t, I just can’t.

  I’m still shaking my head when his hands come down on my hips and he pulls me to him. I barely have time to take in the feel of him against me when his lips come down on mine. His beautiful full and thick lips are as soft as I always knew they would be. One taste, I promise myself, and open my lips to him. The velvet slide of his tongue is a welcome invasion and I’m as hungry to learn the taste of him as he is of me. In seconds, hunger becomes devouring and we both go up in flames. My arms are up around his neck and he pulls me tighter, as if he can’t get enough. I feel like my whole body has been lit on fire and only he can soothe the burn. Deeper, more, I need more. I’m fighting for air when he finally pulls away, his eyes have gone sapphire dark.

  His voice is deep and husky, “Marry me.” It’s a command, he’s not asking.

  Shock hits me, he can’t have said what I thought he said. He nods, as if I’ve spoken. “Marry me. For two years I’ve wanted no one and nothing as badly as I’ve wanted you. Every time I looked at the gold band on your finger, I wanted to yank it off and beat the hell out of the man who’d gotten to you before me. I hated this unknown man as much as I hated myself for burning and wanting another man’s wife. Crazy thoughts of wanting to know everything about him, then the next moment knowing I didn’t dare. I wouldn’t stop myself from destroying him simply for having you when I couldn’t.

  Marriage isn’t something I ever thought I would do again. Yet I’ve grown to love the idea of my ring on your finger. My ring telling all other men you’re mine and they can’t touch you. I don’t want one night with you, I want your days and everything else I can get. There will have to be a prenup, I won’t be stingy. When it ends, I’ll make sure you’ll be provided for.”

  He had me, I can’t believe I was about to open my mouth to say yes. How the fuck could I say yes to a command like that? Still, I was going to. Hearing him confess to the long nights of desperate need, I understood all too well, and it had me melting. Until he mentioned the prenup and it being over. It wasn’t the prenup, men as rich as Drake Hawthorne aren’t stupid enough to marry without a prenup, especially after how badly his last marriage ended. It was understandable he’d want one considered airtight, the second time around.

  I would have willingly signed on the dotted line to have him. Knowing he was already seeing the end before we even began is what has me pulling away and he lets me go. His smile is satisfied, he thinks he’s going to get his way. Men like him always get their way. A tiny kick of pleasure at denying someone as powerful as Drake gives me the backbone I need. I straighten and look him in the eye, “Thank you for the offer, Mr. Hawthorne, I’m going to decline. If you need anything further, please ring the desk.”

  He’s surprised, giving me the time I need to escape his room. Drake catches up to me at the elevator. His hand on my wrist is almost punishing, I flinch. He lets go when he sees it. “What the hell did you just say to me?”

  I don’t dare look at him, keeping my eyes on the progress of the elevator. “I said, no. If you need anything further, please ring the desk.”

  He yanks me around to face him. “Explain that ‘no’ after you kissed me like you wanted to fuck me for days.”

  I blush at his words, because of how graphic and how true they were. “Mr. Hawthorne, I don’t have to explain anything. You asked me a question, I said no.” The elevator arrives and I sigh with relief. “Please be a gentleman and take it with grace.”

  I step in and he follows me. Fighting to hold back tears of frustration, I berate myself. Why the hell did I allow that kiss?

  “I’ve never pretended to be a gentleman, and grace is for losers too pathetic to go after what they want. You want me, Ria, as badly as I want you. What the hell is going on inside your damned head? Tell me!”

  The doors are about to open, I say the only thing I can think of. One more lie is all I have left. “I have a son, I don’t want him anywhere near someone as crass and domineering as you are. Please leave me alone.” I plead, as I get out of the elevator. He’s shocked, so shocked he doesn’t move when the doors close.

  A guest is waiting, the questions Latisha wants to ask have to wait as she handles the irate guest, who is complaining about the bed not being comfortable. It takes long enough for me to get it together, and fend off her questions and innuendo when we’re finally alone. She’s cranky for the rest of the night. I ignore it. After three long years working together, we’re friends enough I know she’ll forgive me by tomorrow night.

  The whole night I’m tense, waiting for Drake to make another attempt. By the time I clock out, he doesn’t. I tell myself I’m glad, I’m not.

  Chapter Two

  It’s a little after six in the morning as I get off the El at my stop in Evanston. Pulling out my mace, I clutch it for my walk home. The sun hasn’t completely risen yet, weak grey light is only barely washing over the city. Although the walk isn’t far, the one morning I had left my mace in my purse I had someone following me. Thankfully, a policeman had seen the man following me and stopped him. It had been a relief and something I doubt would have happened in the city. Evanston is on the El meeting with the city of Chicago, but often it feels like another world. Once I’m home, I wash my face, patting myself down with cool water. I’m still a little puffy from crying on the way home, thankfully, Justin isn’t the most observant in the morning.

  I hear his alarm going off and make my way into the kitchen. Pulling out the eggs and bread for his breakfast, I’m beating the eggs when I hear his alarm go off again. Looking at the clock, I sigh, of course it’s going to be one of those mornings.

  Setting down the bowl, I take a deep breath. Ever since he failed the test for MIT he’d been down, almost depressed. With two more months of school, I know he’s struggling to get through them. It was a normal response to the loss of his biggest hope. I have t
o keep that in mind, it was hard for him to fail. Even if it was hard for me not to show my relief, he was only thirteen. Going off to MIT so young just didn’t seem right to me. I know the moment he’d hit the campus he’d wade into numbers and never come out again. I also hadn’t gotten the job to transfer to one of the hotels in the area. I don’t want him going out there alone. I want him to have as close to a normal teenage fun-filled life as he can have. I’d missed out on it, I didn’t want him to. Even if he isn’t normal because he’s a genius.

  Knocking on his door, I give it a minute. Then let myself in at the grunt of acknowledgement. He’s pulled up the covers over his head. “Justin, you’re going to be late.”

  No answer comes, I remember how the mornings had been like this when he was little, before he’d been tested and put into the gifted program. He would beg me not to have to go to school, and ask for a cuddle. He’d hated school, and his teachers had hated having him there. He’d been such a handful and I understood their annoyance with him. At first, I had done the physical route, getting his eyes checked, then a check-up with the doctor. The doctor had suggested having him tested. The school had been willing and the tests had come back off the charts. He’d been labeled a little genius and his boredom with the too easy curriculum as the cause of his acting out. After he’d settled into the program, his grades and attitude had changed.

  I pull up the covers and get into bed with him. Almost immediately he relaxes. He doesn’t exactly hug me back, only allows me to hug him close. At thirteen, he’s four inches taller and twenty pounds heavier than I am. Right now he’s a kid who needs to know someone is there for him. After last night, I’m feeling the need for a little reassurance myself. Justin’s happiness is worth the sacrifice of a few nights with Drake Hawthorne. I had so little to gain, so much to lose, even if it did ache. The ache would go away, it always did.