by Cynthia Dane
Alice took the box. It was heavier than a mere ring would weigh. Something else must have been inside of it.
“You seem like a good woman, Alice.” That was the first time Julia ever called her that name. It sounded almost maternal. “If it were not for these circumstances, I would be happy for you and my son. Except I feel that it is my duty to prevent another woman’s suffering, even if it means my own son’s heart breaking.”
“I understand.” It certainly gave Alice a lot to think about.
Julia opened her arms wide enough to embrace the woman before her. The woman who could one day be her daughter-in-law. Is this it? Is this a woman I’ll see at Christmas dinners one day? Alice wanted to believe that. Perhaps it wasn’t so crazy to believe… that one day there could be a happy family in one of those homes.
As she left with Dee, Alice fought back nausea. Wave after wave of nausea that filled her with more than the urge to throw up. She wanted to sit down and cry.
So that’s what she did as soon as they were in the backseat of the car. Alice couldn’t tell where these emotions were coming from. Her brain told her that it was the horrible story she heard. Even if Julia embellished or outright told lies, her conviction was true.
Yet her heart and gut told her something different. They told Alice this wasn’t only a fear for herself and sadness for Damon. This was a greater fear beyond herself. This was her tapping into those fears that she never thought she would feel.
“What if that’s me one day?” she asked Dee. “What if that’s my son I fear for?”
The bodyguard didn’t say anything. Whatever Dee thought of this situation, she did not let on.
Chapter 9
Monroe returned to the hotel room at nine-thirty. Aside from a cordial greeting, he said nothing to Alice as he immediately stole into the bathroom to take a long shower. Alice did not peek in on him. Would that be weird? She waited in the bedroom, staring at the box Julia had given her two hours ago. How would she broach this sensitive subject? “By the way, I met your mom. Is she batshit or is your dad really an abusive shitheel? Also, he’s threatening me. I think he might be an abusive shitheel.”
She sat up with a start when someone put a hand on her shoulder. It was Monroe, following up with a kiss to her cheek.
“Apologies,” he said a second later. “Didn’t know you were so lost in thought.”
“No, no… I’m sorry.” Why was Alice apologizing? He was the one who snuck up on her!
“Did you amuse yourself today?” Her boyfriend wandered by the table, dressed in nothing but a big white hotel towel. Oh. Hello. For a moment she forgot. Forgot everything… except how much she wanted to be with this man. This ridiculously handsome, devilishly sweet man she was already in way too deep with.
Alice traced the length of a prominent vein in his arm. Hair as soft as dewy petals tickled her fingertip. “It was an interesting day, to say the least.”
“Hopefully not too interesting.” He sat next to her, pouring himself a cup of hot tea from her pot. Alice gave him a small amount of cream and stirred it in for him. Monroe’s smile was a good enough reward. “Don’t want you forgetting about me already.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you all day.” That was certainly the truth. From the moment she woke up and thought of ways to take care of him, Alice’s brain was nothing but Monroe Monroe Monroe.
He took her hand. “I didn’t stop thinking about you either.”
Alice couldn’t help but shyly smile back at him.
“Tomorrow,” Monroe continued, occupying his hands with his tea more than her, “we’ll have more fun together. There’s a party in the evening I want to take you to. I plan on telling the world that you are my girlfriend.”
If it were any other billionaire – yes, even the old, wrinkly ones – Alice would be ecstatic. Your father, though. Word would quickly get back to Russell, if it hadn’t already. “Am I really, Damon?” she asked. “Your girlfriend?”
“Why would you doubt my words?”
“We’ve been moving so quickly,” Alice said in excuse. “We had sex about twenty minutes after meeting one another. Now you’ve got me in Chicago, training me to be your submissive lover and…” she faltered. “Wife?”
“It is fast. I don’t do anything unless it is earnest.” Monroe grazed her hand again. “I understand, though. Your worries are not unfounded. I suppose I am not the most trustworthy man. Yet have I given you a reason to not trust me?”
“It’s not that. I’m muddled with many thoughts right now. This isn’t dating, Damon. This is a courtship with immediate thoughts of marriage.”
“You’re right. We’re courting, not casually dating. That’s a good word for it.” His tea cooled without being further sipped. “Is that too much for you?”
“No. You’ve never been anything but clear and direct with me from the beginning. The only real surprise I’ve felt is how much I’ve enjoyed it.”
His smile grew. “We have good chemistry, you and I.”
“I suppose so.”
“So what is holding you back, my love? Don’t be too shy to voice your concerns.”
“I guess I’m worried about how I would be perceived as your… girlfriend.” Best to keep it at that level for now. “How would your father take to me?”
Monroe shrugged. “My father has his opinions. While it may be his business who I date with intention to marry, it is not his business to tell me I can’t do as I wish. Those days are behind us. I am no longer his charge.”
“You are his son,” Alice pointed out. “He is the patriarch of your fortune and legacy.”
“He may be, but he will not live forever.” Monroe said this without a shred of emotion.
Alice braved saying the one thing on her mind. “You don’t have a huge relationship with your father, do you?”
At first she thought he wouldn’t say anything, or at least tell her to mind her own business. Yet that wasn’t annoyance on his angular face. Nor was it chagrin. “My father is my father, and I am his son. That’s as far as it has to go. He’s guided me through many things in life, but love is not a matter I take him too seriously on.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s not exactly been the best at it himself. Since divorcing my mother, he’s had a few relationships. A few times I thought he might remarry, but the women always leave, whether by their own volition or his. I don’t think he’s fit for the married life.”
Alice knew this was her chance to open the dialogue she’d been itching to have all day. “What about your mother? Whatever happened to her?” Don’t let him know I know something… don’t let him know!
Monroe stared at the space before him. By now Alice knew what him being deep in thought looked like. Sometimes it unnerved her, as if the whole of the cosmos began to unwind within his mind. His eyes never glazed over. His expression never changed.
“My mother disappeared after the divorce. All I know is that she was in an unfortunate accident a while later, and that my father had full custody of me. She never tried to see me. I think she gave up custody, for whatever reason.” Monroe shrugged, his muscular shoulders moving languidly. “Since I barely remember her, I don’t feel too bad about it.”
If only you knew the truth! What if Monroe knew that his mother was in Chicago, only a few blocks away? What if he knew that she desperately wanted to see him, to get to know the man who was once her precious little boy she fought so hard to protect?
“By the way, you never told me that you had a brother.”
“What is this?” Monroe snorted. “Throwing everything you can think of at me?”
Alice looked away. “I’m sorry. I… read it online.” That sort of information was online, right? It had to be. Eddie Monroe’s death would’ve been public record. Would Russell have tried to cover it up? No way. No man was that powerful. Right?
“I was a baby when he was born and died. That’s all I know about it. I suppose it depressed my mother.�
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“I’m sorry I dragged that all up.” Alice stood, clearing away the dirty tea dishes. “It wasn’t my place.” Sort of like how it wasn’t her place here.
His arms wrapped around her midsection and brought her down into his lap. “I’ve got some time, my love,” he muttered in her ear. “Why don’t we have a chat? You’re the one who likes to get to know people so well.”
She wiggled against his hips. “All right. What are we talking about?”
While she sat in his lap and listened to his soft words, Alice was taken on a meandering journey that began with Monroe’s isolated childhood and ended with their meeting several weeks ago. Of course, he didn’t talk about everything. They only sat there for about an hour, sparing sweet kisses in between admissions about their lives. Alice frankly talked about her past relationships. The guys she never went far with. Matt. Fucking Matt. When she mentioned how he strung her along with Wait Until Marriage bullshit and then cheated on her anyway, Monroe’s arms stiffened around her.
“How callous,” he said. “That ignoramus asked you to abstain from one of life’s greatest pleasures and still couldn’t be true to you. It’s not right to always ask and never give in return. I’m sorry you wasted so much of your youth on him.”
Alice gently combed the hair that had grown on his face that day. How much testosterone does this guy have? A lot, apparently. “I’m not wasting anything on you, right?”
“I don’t allow waste in my life. I certainly wouldn’t expect it in yours.” His hand dropped to her ass and toyed with the hem of her sheath dress. “One day, when you and I have been together for as long as anyone can expect, I’ll ask you if you had wasted any part of your life with me. And you will say no. And tell the truth.”
Alice curled against his chest. He’s talking about our future. Every time this man spoke, she was enthralled. He said all the right things. Did the right things. Promised her the world and beyond. How was this possible? How had a man stolen one glance at her and decided she was his fated person?
“I love you,” Alice said, anxiety gripping her heart and extremities. Would she regret saying that? “I’ve been trying to deny it, since I couldn’t believe it could happen so quickly, but I’m pretty sure I love you, Damon.”
He was silent for more than half a minute, eyelashes slowly moving against her cheek. His big hand gripped her hip with tender affection. A far cry from the way he usually made love to her. “I love you too, Alice. You’ve become one of the most precious aspects of my life in so little time. I already hurt to think of a life without you in it.”
Alice had barely registered those words when he continued to speak.
“I ask so much of you. I want you to be the type of woman I am searching for. Are you, truly? Are you the woman I’ve been waiting to cross my path for so long?”
“I want to be, Damon. I have little to ask from you in return.”
“Such as?”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, head resting against his. “Protect me, for one. No matter what happens, I want to know that you’re always on my side and willing to do anything to protect me.”
“Precious,” he replied, stroking the small of her back. “I already do that. You will have nothing to fear as long as you are by my side. That I can promise you.”
Alice sighed. “Call me precious again.”
“Precious.”
She took a bubble bath with the bathroom door open, her heart twittering in happiness as she thought about how much Monroe loved her. He occasionally passed by the open door, glancing at her, conversing with her as she shaved her legs and already wished he would propose to her. As ridiculous as it sounded, she wanted to say yes.
When they went to bed, with his arms around her and his lips making love to the nape of her neck, Alice thought of all the ways this could go wrong… and all the ways it could go right.
“If I said it made me happy to think about having a family with you, what would you say?”
Monroe kissed the edge of her mouth. “I would say that it makes me happy to hear that. You and I, Alice… we could make some gorgeous kids, if I do say so myself.”
She laughed as he rolled her over and properly kissed her. They made slow, gentle, happy love that ended with many sighs and more than a few “I love yous.” Yet Alice knew that this was only the calm before the storm. Wherever these Monroes went, hurricanes followed.
Chapter 10
Alice continued her morning ritual the next day, but this time with enough confidence to make brusque requests of the kitchen downstairs. After all, Damon Monroe liked his eggs poached, not fried or scrambled.
Naturally, she made her curt requests as politely as possible. The only reason she was brusque was because, like her boyfriend, she valued her and everyone else’s time. There were other guests calling down to make requests, and Alice had other things she could be doing. Like sending Monroe’s clothes out to be dry cleaned and his shoes to be shined.
Ms. Sarah Clayborn was up before her boss. When she saw what Alice had done for the second day in a row, she said, “I suppose things are changing around here.”
Alice narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend’s assistant. So much for the coffee she enjoyed at the table. What is this woman’s deal, exactly? How was she related to Mr. Nigel Clayborn, a man conveniently not there and seemingly in Russell’s pockets? “Remind me how you’re related to Damon’s other assistant. Your husband?”
For the first time since meeting her, Ms. Clayborn flinched. “No. He’s my brother.”
“How does that work? You and your brother having this same job, that is.”
“We’re twins with the same résumé. Mr. Monroe wanted to hire two assistants, so we applied. We work well together. I’m sure you’ve heard what there is to be said about twins.”
“Naturally.” Alice blew on her coffee. “What if I wanted to get an assistant?” Dee walked into the apartment at that moment. “Who would I see about that?”
Ms. Clayborn opened her briefcase and rearranged its contents. “Suppose you would take that up with Mr. Monroe, ma’am.” The briefcase snapped shut. “Unfortunately I’m not available. I already have enough Monroes to take care of.”
Was that humor? “Monroes? Damon and…”
The assistant stiffened. Is she all right? “His father. Sometimes he borrows one of us.” Every word she uttered sounded so forced that Alice had to look the other way. “Excuse me.” Ms. Clayborn cleared her throat and, with one hand instinctively touching her stomach, wandered away. “I have work for Mr. Monroe to do.”
“Alice.” Ah, the man was summoning her. Alice got up from the table with an early morning smile on her face. She walked right up to her boyfriend, bedecked in yet another fine suit, and planted a kiss on his lips. “Come in here, please.”
She followed him into the bedroom, assured that she had not done something to displease him. If anything, that was the tone of undying love in his voice.
Sure enough, the moment Monroe closed the door, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, harder than before. “Good morning, my love,” he growled, pulling up her bathrobe and smacking her ass. Alice gasped and giggled at the same time, a delightful sound that made Monroe grin as well.
“Happy to please you, sir.” Alice let her fingers dance upon her collar, which hadn’t left her throat for one second over the past day. “Is there something I can do for you?”
He presented her with a discreet black box. “Today we resume your training. Open it. What’s inside will behoove you.”
“That so?” Alice lifted the lid and peered at two small golden balls attached with a string. “Uh…”
“I don’t believe I have to tell you what those are.”
“Nope. You sure don’t.” Alice picked up the Ben Wa balls and watched them twirl between her and Monroe’s heads. “Let me guess. Kegel training?”
“You clearly need it.” Monroe stepped toward her. “You’re going to put these in for me an
d use them all day.”
“All day!” Alice clasped her hands around them. What a kinky asshole. She sat on the edge of the bed, bathrobe tossing behind her to expose her thigh. The man had been inside of her every day since they arrived in Chicago, and he already wanted a peek at her pussy again? He was deceptively easy to please. “I bet that turns you on to think about me walking around Chicago with these things up your favorite place.”
“It does other things to me as well.” Monroe’s smug expression was only beat by the little thrill blooming inside of Alice every time she looked between the toys and her boyfriend’s imposing frame. “The only other thing you have to do today is get ready for tonight’s party. We’ll be having dinner there as well, so save some room. In all your appetites.”
“Mmhmm.” Alice drew her legs up on the bed, letting them slightly part as she dangled the balls between her thighs. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure I know how to use these, sir. I might need some help.”
“Aren’t you divinely obtuse this morning?”
Alice shrugged. She hoped opening the front of her robe and exposing her nudity would further entice him.
She knew perfectly well how to use these things. While she had never used them before, it was pretty straightforward. Certainly more straightforward than some of the other things Monroe had suggested thus far. But what was the fun in slowly inserting some Ben Wa balls in her body at eight in the morning… when the best man in the world was right there telling her to do it? Alice would bet the little money she had to her name that it would be ten times hotter to have him do it for her.