“I just hope, for your sake, that he doesn’t wear himself out before tonight.” Her mom wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and then laughed. “But I forget how young he is. There was a time your dad was tireless too. Now I have to be sure he conserves his energy or I’m just out of luck.”
“Mom. I do not want to hear about this.”
“Are you sure you two want us sleeping here tonight? We can get home easily enough.”
Oh, shoot. When she and Warren had talked about keeping them there overnight, it had been to keep them under control as much as possible, so they wouldn’t start blasting the story on social media until she and Warren were safely aboard Warren’s yacht in the morning. But she hadn’t even considered that her parents would be expecting them to…sleep in the same room. For that matter, so would all the staff. She felt her cheeks flush with heat. Dear heavens, what were they going to do?
At that moment, Aiden pulled away, satisfied. Her mom pounced on him. “Let me burp him.”
“Mom, he doesn’t need to be burped anymore.”
“Well, let me do it anyway since I missed out on all of that.”
Kara clenched her teeth at the dig, determined not to say anything. “Fine. Then you can change his diaper and get him dressed for the ceremony.”
Em came in at that moment, dressed in a gold cocktail dress. “I came to help you into your dress. The photographer is here.”
“Just in time,” Kara said, scooting off the bed. She took off the silk robe she’d been wearing and stepped into the gown as Em held it out for her. As she got dressed, she kept thinking that she needed to get to Warren and figure out this hiccup in their plan.
But when she got downstairs, Warren’s smile made her go brain dead.
“You look beautiful. Wow.”
He handed her a bouquet of white peonies and vibrant greenery. “Let’s take some pictures. The world needs to see this.”
For the next thirty minutes, Kara blindly followed the directions of the photographer Warren had hired as they did all the traditional poses, including pictures with her parents. But then the guy dropped his camera and said, “Okay, kiss her.”
“What?” Kara asked, startled.
But Warren turned her face gently toward him. He widened his eyes, trying to convey some cryptic message to her. “Finally,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to do that all evening.” Then his arms went around her waist, pulling her flush against him. He bent toward her. With his lips just millimeters from hers, he whispered, “Make it believable, Kara.”
Oh, yeah. They were supposed to be in love.
She realized she was as stiff as a board, so she forced herself to relax. Then she raised her chin and stood up on her tiptoes until their lips met.
And that was when her body decided to betray her.
Because his lips were soft and gentle, and he smelled amazing. His arms were so strong, and she seemed to fit into them perfectly. It was a simple, drawn-out pressing together of their lips for the sake of the picture and nothing more, but somehow it made her whole universe tilt.
“Got it,” said the photographer, completely oblivious to the devastation he’d just caused.
Warren stepped back, his jaw flexing hard. He took a deep breath and reached for her hand. “Okay, what do you say we go get married?”
Kara nodded, feeling like she was in a fog.
The whole group gathered close. Em’s husband and kids had joined them, but that was it as far as guests. So it was an intimate group that gathered under the gazebo next to the pool. The sun was setting over the valley, flooding the evening sky with brilliant color. The officiator kept the vows short and simple, and after they’d both said, “I do,” Warren and Kara kissed again. To her disappointment, this time the kiss was brief––almost perfunctory.
“Saving it for later?” Kara’s mom teased.
Kara wanted to die. And once again, she desperately tried to get Warren aside for a private moment. But there was cake to eat and toasts to make with the chilled champagne—sparkling grape juice for Kara. More pictures, and then awkward conversation between her parents and Em’s family. After an hour, Em gathered her family to leave.
She gave Kara a tight hug. “Good luck,” she murmured. “Keep me updated and let me know if I can help.”
“We will,” she promised.
With Em’s family gone, her parents looked at each other and grinned. “Well, I’m exhausted,” her mom said. “How about you, dear?”
“I can’t stand a second longer.”
“Well let’s go up to bed, then.”
Kara watched them go and then realized her mom still had Aiden. “Here, Mom. I’ll take him.”
“But surely you’re not keeping him tonight.”
“Trust me. He needs to stay with me. It’s fine.”
Her mom shook her head as if Kara was crazy but kissed Aiden on the cheek eight times and handed him over.
When they were gone, Kara turned around to face Warren, who was taking off his tie. “What are we going to do? They think we’re sleeping together.”
“That was abundantly clear. Don’t worry. I’d already figured we’d have to share a room. We probably will for a while. Don’t worry. I don’t snore. And I have an enormous bed. You won’t even know I’m there.”
“But Aiden sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night.”
Warren came to her then and dropped his hand gently on her shoulder. “Stop worrying, Kara. Mrs. Garth has probably already moved Aiden’s crib and belongings into my room so you’ll have them close. Your things can stay where they are for now, since we’re leaving in the morning anyway.”
“But…”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” And she did. That wasn’t the problem. She just wasn’t prepared to spend that much time close to him. Especially not after that kiss.
“Then come on up. I know it’s early, but I think both of us could use the extra sleep.”
Chapter Ten
Warren went to his room alone, since Kara had gone to hers to get ready for bed. Despite the way he’d played it off to her, he was very conflicted about her sharing his bed for the night, especially because he had to act like it was no big deal. Sharing space with her would never not be a huge deal for him.
This was going to be a long night.
He made it a point to be done with the bathroom quickly, before she came in, and then laid down on the bed in a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt. He usually slept in his boxers, but that was obviously not an option tonight. He stacked up three pillows and leaned back against them with his tablet to get some work done. There were a million details to get done before morning. He’d been working all day, in between wedding stuff, to get the captain and crew of his yacht filled in on the plans and coordinate with them to prepare for having Aiden on board. He had to work with his secretary to reschedule a ton of appointments and make a plan for everything he couldn’t reschedule. There was internet on the yacht of course, but working business deals over a fairly unsecured network was not his preference. And every time he thought he had something figured out, he thought of something he’d forgotten.
An incredibly soft knock on the door caught his attention. Dropping the tablet onto the bed, he got up and opened it. Kara stood there with Aiden on her hip, wearing yoga pants and a tank top. Her hair that had been curled and loose, was now wound into a bun on top of her head and her face was clean of makeup. She looked entirely too lovely.
“You’re not supposed to knock, you know. This is supposed to be your room too now.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to walk in on you if you weren’t decent.”
“Pity.” His attempt at humor just got him a flat look.
She walked past him and stood looking around while he shut the door. “Wow. No wonder you’re okay with sharing. You could sleep a whole football team in here and not even notice.”
Warren chuckled and got settled again on the bed. “Don’t w
orry. Our room on the yacht will be smaller.”
“You think we need to share a room on the yacht too?”
He nodded and kept his eyes on the screen so she wouldn’t see how keyed up he was about it. “It would probably seem weird if we were in different rooms. The staff is pretty loyal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they talked about that. Word always gets out about stuff like that. I can just see it now: Newlywed couple billionaire Warren Blake and Kara Dupree, daughter of Robert Dupree, already at outs after one day. Divorce seems imminent. But it’s up to you.”
“I guess you’re right. Is your bed on the yacht as big as this one?”
He looked up from his screen and watched her walk around the custom-built bed that was a foot wider than a king mattress. “No, it’s a bit smaller, but there will be plenty of room. Don’t worry.”
She sat down gingerly and leaned back against the pillows. She pulled her knees up and sat Aiden up on her stomach facing her. He had some kind of a toy gripped in his slobbery fists that he seemed supremely absorbed in. He was a really cute baby.
“So, why do you have a giant bed?”
She sounded so suspicious that he couldn’t help laughing. “Because I hired a fancy schmancy designer from New York who kept talking about scale. Apparently, my big room needed a big bed.”
“Right.”
Warren put his iPad down and turned on his side, facing her, with his head propped up on his elbow. “Look, I know what your ex was like. And if I didn’t, I can guess from some of what you told me. I’m not that kind of guy. You know me, Kara. Did you ever see me dating much when I was still in school?”
She turned to look at him for the first time since sitting down on the bed. “Not really.”
“Some guys need one high after the other, and they chase happiness in the wrong places. In the end, they never find it. I know too many of them to be fooled into trying that for myself.”
“What does make you happy?”
He shifted his eyes to Aiden, unable to meet her eyes. “My work makes me happy. Travel. Adventure. Exercise. But for that life-long, endlessly-satisfying kind of happiness? I’m still working on it.”
“Hmmmm…Warren Drake, the philosopher.”
The imp. He reached for a pillow and dropped it over her face. When she pushed it off, she was laughing. Her full, slightly wide lips had always fascinated him, but now he couldn’t look away. It was the moment he’d been waiting for.
“You’re smiling,” he said, only realizing how stupid it was after the words were out of his mouth.
She bit her lip like she was embarrassed. “I am, huh?”
He smiled. “I’m glad. One of the hardest things for me the last couple of days has been wondering if you’d ever find your smile again.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s been hard for you?”
This was verging dangerously on oversharing, so he just nodded.
“Well, if I lost it, you found it.”
“Then I’ll make it my job to make sure it doesn’t disappear again. Now, is there some trick to getting him to sleep so you can rest?”
“Uh, yeah. A full tummy and a clean diaper. And with this stinker, the diaper change has to come after the feeding, or I’ll just have to change it again.”
Time to give her privacy. “Do you need the light on?”
“No. It’ll be better if the lights are dim. I’ll just leave that lamp on over by the crib so I can change him. Don’t worry about me. You go to sleep.”
That so wasn’t happening, but he could pretend with the best of them. “Good night, Mrs. Drake.”
“Yeah, that’s going to take a while to get used to. Good night.”
Warren turned his back to her and turned off his lamp. He got comfortable and closed his eyes just in case his brain surprised him and shut down. But it was no good. He could hear every little noise Kara and Aiden made. Including the soft gulping sound Aiden made. After a minute, Warren found himself grinning in the dark. “Have you been starving him or something?”
Kara’s bubbling laugh filled the space between them. “He’s always like this. Sorry he’s so noisy.”
“It doesn’t bother me. It was just funny.” He was quiet again for a minute. Whether it was the fact that his brain was suffering from lack of sleep, the crazy tension he was dealing with from just having her in his bed, or the comfortable intimacy of the moment, something made his filter mal-function. “Women’s bodies are amazing.”
Kara burst out laughing so loudly that it startled Aiden, who broke off gulping and started to cry. “I’m scared to ask how you meant that,” she said, as soon as she’d calmed Aiden down again.
“Then please don’t ask. Just ignore me.”
Okay. No more talking. There was plenty of time for talking later. Because they were married. Maybe they wouldn’t be…enjoying…the same things most newlyweds did, but having her around to talk to whenever he wanted to was definitely one of the pros of this arrangement.
After a few minutes, he heard Kara get up and go across the room to the temporary nursery Mrs. Garth had set up in his room. Since he was wide awake, he turned and watched her. The soft lamplight lit her creamy complexion and made her hair gleam like firelight. Her movements were swift and efficient as she changed Aiden’s diaper, then she picked him up and held him against her shoulder. She paced back and forth in front of the window, rubbing his back with one hand and bouncing him very gently.
It struck him then how hard it must have been for her, parenting all alone. With no one to share the work or worry, it was no wonder she so often looked tired on a level that went deeper than the loss of one night’s sleep. But the tenderness and love she lavished on her son showed that she didn’t begrudge any of it. A pang shot through his chest, aching for her, triggering a fierce desire to help her on a whole new level. He knew nothing—nothing—about babies, but if he could run a multi-billion-dollar empire in the entertainment industry, surely he could figure it out.
Only when Kara laid Aiden down in his crib, turned out the lamp, and crept silently to the bed did he realize how impossible it was going to be to sleep. With Aiden there, it had been better. But now, there was nothing between them but an expanse of sheets and the nature of their relationship. He felt a tug on the covers and heard a deep sigh. He turned over and found her back to him. The curve of her white shoulder stood out against the deep shadows beyond the bed, as did the curving rise of her hip. Her red hair looked almost brunette against the white of her pillow, strands of it coming loose from the bun she still wore. He wished she had let it down.
Every part of him longed to reach out and pull her against him. Even just to hold her and feel the warmth and connection of being together.
When he was sure she was asleep, he got out of bed and went to the window.
He hadn’t shut the blinds because they would be waking up before the sunlight would disturb their sleep. He looked out now on the lights gleaming distantly in the valley where they stretched out to the horizon, dwindling until they were no more than the faintest pinpricks against the black sky.
He could do this. He would do this.
A sound behind him caught his attention. Turning, he saw that Aiden was moving, looking irritated. The baby gave a short little cry. Looking over to Kara, Warren tried to think what best to do. Deciding it was to let her sleep, he strode over to the crib. Hoping the baby would remember him from the plane, he picked him up, holding him awkwardly in front of him for a second. Remembering the way Kara had held him against her shoulder, he tried that. Using his arms to support the baby, he also jiggled him softly and patted his back. A loud belch surprised him into laughing.
He glanced quickly over at the bed. Kara shifted but didn’t wake up.
“There you go, little man. Feel better now?”
He must have, because his head soon became a dead weight on Warren’s shoulder. Even when he was sure Aiden was asleep, he continued to hold him and stare out at the night, wondering what th
e future would bring.
Chapter Eleven
Kara was awakened by a gentle shake of her shoulder.
“I think he wants you,” Warren said, handing her a red-faced, fussing Aiden.
“Oh, wow. I can’t believe I didn’t wake up. I always wake up when he cries.”
Warren smiled. “You were dead to the world, so I took him back to your room and changed him before I brought him back. Not much else I can do for him, huh?”
Kara stared at him, trying to take in the fact that Warren had changed a diaper. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Warren walked away, disappearing into his closet.
Taking advantage of the moment, she got Aiden settled into nursing and then reached for her phone. She groaned when she saw that it was only six o’clock and that her battery was almost dead. She needed to get it charging.
A silly thing really, since she rarely called or texted anyone. She’d gotten her own phone after her divorce, and besides using it to make doctor appointments or order pizza, she’d mostly just used it as a way to entertain herself through the long, lonely hours. She had a million Pinterest boards that ranged from baby and single-mom boards to recipes, decorating, and fashion—all things she wanted to do in that illusive someday she dreamed about after Aiden was older. But her favorites were her travel boards. The places she wanted to go, and the things she wanted to do. Those were both dreams and a form of self-torture. She hadn’t believed she’d ever be able to travel anytime in the near future. Yet now, here she was, about to get on a yacht and travel to Cabo. It boggled her mind.
Even though it would likely drain her battery, she went to that board and looked through those pins, smiling a little at the thought that she would soon be able to swim in those unreal, turquoise-blue waters.
Out of habit, she surfed around to see the latest news headlines and came to an abrupt halt when she saw one about her and Warren getting married, complete with pictures. Mother. “Warren, we have a problem.”
Saved by the Billionaire Page 6