My Playboy Fiance: A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance
Page 46
“What is that?” Dylan asked.
Isaac leaned over, collecting it from the floor. He read the stick. The room was still spinning, but they were mesmerized by the stick. Dylan’s hand was around my waist, steadying me.
“You’re pregnant?” Isaac’s eyes lifted to mine.
“Pregnant?” Dylan almost choked.
I nodded. “I am.”
Isaac let the bag of peas slide from his knee. He stood and walked toward me. I looked in his eyes. He knew. He knew exactly when it happened.
“It’s mine, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “How did you know?”
“The night you showed us your art. Damn it, Vanessa. I don’t know what to say. I know you probably think I fucked everything up…but…” he placed his hands on my stomach. “But I love you, and I want this baby with you.” He eyed Dylan and took a big breath. “You can say something, brother.”
Dylan’s hands circled the other side of my belly. I didn’t know if he would be jealous, or angry. I only didn’t want the baby to come between them, or us. My eyes stung with tears.
“Dylan?” I searched his face for some kind of reaction.
“You’re so damn beautiful pregnant, Vanessa.”
I choked back a sob. “You’re ok with it?”
He nodded. “We’ve been doing exactly what we wanted the past few months. And it doesn’t matter to me that this baby has Isaac’s DNA, we made this kid.”
I nodded in total agreement. “Oh my God.” My knees finally buckled and they caught me. Dylan offered to carry me to the couch while Isaac filled a tall glass with ice and water.
“I need to talk to both of you.” I sipped the water. The room felt less woozy. Vertigo was a bitch.
“Just give yourself a few minutes. We can talk later,” Isaac suggested.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s important. There’s a press conference tonight.”
“What kind?” Dylan eyed me, making sure I kept drinking the water.
“It’s to announce the new VP of the Warriors management staff.”
“Do you have to go?” Isaac asked. “You might need to take some time off. How long have you been fainting like this?”
I ignored his question. “I hired Charlie earlier in the week when she discovered our relationship status.” I might it sound practically normal. “She came up with an idea.”
I chugged the rest of the water, leaving the ice in the bottom of the glass and handed it to Dylan.
“Tonight I’m going to announce that Isaac Price is joining the Warriors as our vice president. He will be working with me exclusively. Attending meetings, conferences, sitting with me in the family box. If I’m there, he is there.”
“What?” Isaac stared at me.
“Charlie thinks this is the only option for us to be together.” I turned to Dylan. “Unless…” I couldn’t bear to say it.
Dylan shook his head. “I’m not running. Not this time. I’ve never stuck around for anyone other than Isaac. And it looks like he needs me right now too.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, because this whole plan blows up in my face if you leave now.”
Dylan looked at Isaac and then at me. His eyes darted back and forth.
“Marry me, Vanessa.”
“What?” I sat forward on the couch.
“For real. Plan the wedding. Meet me at the end of the aisle.”
“Wait a fucking minute.” Isaac leaned forward.
I closed my eyes. This is not what I had planned. My heart was about to beat out of my chest.
“I’m being serious. You and Vanessa are tied together forever. She’s having your baby. Be my wife.” He’s eyes pierced me.
“I-I…are we crazy?”
“Fucking nuts,” Dylan laughed.
Isaac rubbed the back of his head. “The world is going to think this baby is yours.”
I brushed his cheek with the back of my hand. “It’s our baby. And I belong to both of you. I don’t care what the world thinks. This baby is going to have so much love. Two amazing daddies.” I was tearing up again. Damn these pregnancy hormones.
I wiped my eyes.
Isaac nodded his head. “Only if I get a honeymoon too.”
I giggled. “I think we can come up with some king of emergency Warriors business that will require the VP to be on hand.” I winked, loving how smart Charlie’s plan was.
“Triple honeymoon. I like it.” Isaac smiled.
“We’re really going to plan a wedding?” I squealed.
“Yeah, darlin’. You’re going to be a bride.”
I looked down at my stomach. “People are going to know, aren’t they? I don’t want to be huge at our wedding. Oh, God.”
“You’re beautiful now. And you’re going to be beautiful whenever you set the date.”
I nodded. I was panicking for no reason.
“I have something else I need to tell you.”
They listened while I filled them in on the family breakfast meeting.
Isaac’s eyes hardened. “He’s not taking the team.”
“No, he’s not.” Dylan’s voice was rougher than usual.
“I have legal on it, and Charlie is already planning how to spin the family fall out if it gets to that. I don’t want this to hurt the Warriors brand. We’re a family team, and the last thing I need is my family feud destroying the legacy. It has taken all season to earn the respect of the team again, I can’t have them doubting me.”
“Let us take care of that.” Dylan squeezed my shoulder. “The guys love you for what you’ve done for them. They aren’t going to want your partying brother to take over and gamble away everything they’ve accomplished. I can handle the team.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
I sank down in the pillows. I was suddenly exhausted.
Isaac pulled a blanket from the back of the couch. “I’m going to prop my knee up over here. Why don’t you sleep?”
“I have to get ready for the press conference,” I argued.
Dylan kissed my cheek. “We’ll wake you up. Rest.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue anymore. I closed my eyes and fell asleep knowing I was the luckiest woman in the world. Isaac’s baby was growing inside me and it wouldn’t be long before I was Dylan’s wife. Maybe I should have been too excited to sleep.
43
Vanessa
It had been a week since the press conference announcing Isaac’s new position. I kept waiting for the lawsuit. I was on edge every day, expecting a team of lawyers to show up and serve the papers that would make a claim about the Warriors.
Candy wheeled in a fresh cart of juice.
I smiled. “Good morning. Thank you.” She had added pastries. I took the top croissant.
Isaac appeared in the doorway behind her. Damn, he was gorgeous.
Candy winked at him, but he didn’t even notice. It made me love him a little more.
“I have some notes to go over.” He held up a file.
“Right.” I looked at Candy.
“Holler if you need something.” She closed the door as she exited.
I walked around from my desk. “What file is that?”
He opened it, revealing a blank sheet of paper. “An excuse to come see you.”
I giggled. “You don’t need one of those. You’re the VP. You can walk in here anytime you want.”
He grabbed me by the waist, pulling me toward him. “There are so many things we could do in this office.”
“Like what?” I teased.
“You didn’t happen to pack that nurse’s uniform, did you?”
I blushed. “That doesn’t meet Warriors executive dress code, Mr. Price.”
“What if I said I read a memo from the new VP that required you to get naked right now, Miss McCade?”
My eyes shot to his. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
“Isaac.” I wasn’t very convincing with my warning.
He took
a step back, his hand twisting the lock in place. “Take off your fucking clothes now,” he groaned.
I swallowed hard, shimming out of my skirt and unbuttoning my blouse. He took a giant step toward me. His pants shucked on the floor.
“This is so wrong,” I whispered.
“What does your sex panther say?” he teased.
I hissed when his fingers slid between my legs. He pried my folds wide, massaging my clit. Everything was so sensitive, so alive.
“Damn, you’re so wet. So ready for me to fuck you, aren’t you?”
“God, yes.”
I wanted to be swept up in his arms. I wanted him to be deep inside me. He wrapped a leg around his waist and pinned me to the wall. He entered me with a slow thrust.
“Oh, Isaac,” I moaned.
“Shh, baby.”
He pumped inside me. “I want it harder,” I begged.
He groaned as he sank himself inside me. “Fucking perfect.”
He hoisted my other leg to his hip as he drove himself home. He let his passion take off as his fucked me wildly. My legs flew in the air and my tits bounced as we climbed higher and higher. I bit his shoulder to keep my screams from erupting.
I shattered on his cock, coming hard just as he exploded inside me. He tilted my lips toward his, bringing a slow kiss across them.
He carefully lowered me to the floor.
“Shit,” I breathed.
He whispered. “Dylan’s in the hall.”
My eyes flared with surprise. “What?”
“Don’t you dare put your clothes on.” He grinned, walking out of the office and switching places with Dylan.
Dylan smiled. He locked the door in place.
“I heard ownership needed special attention this morning.”
“You-you did?” I gulped for air.
He nodded.
He shrugged his pants to the floor and took a seat on my new white leather chair. “And we want to keep ownership happy.”
My heart did a somersault.
“I heard she’s happiest when things get a little dirty.”
I nodded with a smile on my face. “Mmmhmm.”
“So get on your knees,” he demanded.
I loved this. I dropped to the floor, settled between his legs. I looked to him for my next set of instructions. I felt like the guys had been gentle with me the past week. More loving. More tender. I had missed the way they commanded me in bed. But today that was back.
He grabbed the back of my head as he leaned into the cushions presenting his wide throbbing cock. I licked my lips.
“You want it?”
I nodded. I was thirsty for it.
“Please,” I begged.
“God, I love it when you beg for my cock.”
I perched on the floor, as he pushed it to my slips. I moaned, licking the head, slurping that sweet bead of dew in my mouth.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
My eyes locked on his as he began to thrust into my mouth. I couldn’t break eye contact. He had to know what he did to me. What he meant to me. We were planning our wedding. In a few short weeks I would be his wife. I opened my mouth wide so he could slide all the way to my throat.
He yanked my head toward him, so he was fully in my mouth. I cupped his balls with my palm as he began to twitch and harden.
“I’m going to fucking come. Not like this.”
He pushed me away from him and turned me around so I was facing away. His fingers raced between my legs.
“We don’t have any lube.”
“I don’t need it. Take me.” I panted.
He rubbed his finger over the ridge of muscle just as his cock sank inside my ass. I rocked forward and he pushed his fingers in my pussy.
“Ohh, Ohh, Dylan.”
“Fuck me.”
I bounced up and down, but it wasn’t long before another orgasm claimed me. He filled me with strokes so deep I felt like I was being tossed in the waves, set out to sea, only to be pulled back again by his powerful body. I crested and floated.
He climaxed, seizing my ass and groaning as his cum spilled inside me.
I laid on his chest. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?”
“For not treating me like some delicate flower. For letting me be a sex panther,” I giggled.
He helped me get cleaned up and dressed. “There’s no holding a sex panther back.” He winked. He kissed me. “I have to get down to the locker room. Team meeting with Applewhite.”
“Oh? What’s it about?”
He shrugged. “Playoffs?”
“I guess so. Will you let me know if it’s important?”
“Of course. Have you heard anything from legal?” he asked.
“No. It doesn’t make any sense.” I picked up the fresh glass of orange juice. I was starting to feel a little drained.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t like sitting on the sidelines.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t like it when other people make decisions for me. If I were you, I’d tell your brother the fight is over before it even starts. Scare him off.”
I twisted my lips together. “You think it’s that easy? He wants a billion-dollar franchise. Ghost stories aren’t going to work.”
“Ghost stories might not, but reality might.” Dylan winked. “Let me know how it goes. I’ve got to get to that meeting.”
I ran after him at the door. “Wait.”
“What is it?”
I threw my hands around his neck. “I love you.”
He laughed. “Love you too.”
As soon as Dylan was gone I looked around my office. It hadn’t been an easy journey to get here. I had cried. I had sleepless night. Nights when I was so scared I didn’t know if I could make it work the next day. I started with a fifty-year old broken desk and now I was surrounded by beautiful art. I looked at the watercolor of us.
It was the only thing that mattered in this world—my true family. I pressed my palm to my stomach. “Ok, baby. Daddy number two is right. We’re going to fight for the Warriors because this team is going to be yours one day, if you want it.” I smiled. “You don’t have to have it. I won’t force you to have it, but I’m going to fight so you can make that decision—not your crazy uncle.”
I picked up my pink leather bag and marched to the elevator.
Candy called after me. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“No.” The doors started to close. “I’ll be out for a while.”
44
Vanessa
Something felt off when I climbed the steps to my grandmother’s house. Gretchen wasn’t smiling. She had an odd look on her face.
“Hi, Gretchen.”
“They’re in the Warriors room.” She looked down and closed the door, taking two quick steps before she disappeared.
The Warriors room was what we called the room my grandfather had decorated with every piece of Warriors memorabilia collected since the team’s creation. Rugs, curtains, lamps, coasters. If they made something with the Warriors logo on it—it was in that room. As a kid, I thought it was fun. As an adult, I thought it was the height of tackiness.
I walked to the back of the house. I heard arguing. Their voices were getting louder. My grandmother was practically screeching.
“Grammy? Danny?” I looked between them.
“Nessa,” my grandmother called, trying to change the tone of her voice. I pretended I hadn’t heard them shouting two seconds ago. She scurried past the Warriors bookcase and presented her cheek for me to kiss.
“We didn’t know you were stopping by. It’s good you’re here.”
“Is it a bad time?” I asked.
I hadn’t seen them since last week. Danny’s unusual appearance in my office was the last visit.
“No, come on in, sis. Gram and I were just discussing my inheritance.”
“I’m not Gram,” she scolded. “It is Grammy and has been since you were born.”
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“Gram, Grammy. We’re adults. Why can’t I say Clementine?”
She twirled to face him. “You are my grandson. Show some respect.”
He shrugged. “Sis, want to weigh in on this topic.”
I was hesitant to walk deeper into the room. “I’m not sure if I should, but I’ve always preferred Grammy.”
He scoffed, “Not about her name.”
Grammy shook her head. “He insists that since he has depleted his inheritance that you and I should split ours and contribute to replenish his trust fund.” She pinched her lips together.
“What?”
Danny spread his arms across the couch. “I can’t be the head of the family, if I’m the poor one. It wouldn’t look good.”
I was tired of it. Tired of the damn charade. Tired of his flippant attitude. My grandmother may have created this monster, but I hadn’t forgotten what Charlie said. She was still a woman mourning her son and husband—she was just desperate to cling on to a life that was buried. She didn’t deserve to be stripped of her money in her golden years so my brother could spend it on a stripper in Thailand. She didn’t deserve his treatment. Granddad wasn’t here to stand up for her, so I had to. Someone had to.
“You aren’t the head of the family, Danny.” I stated it as calmly as I could.
“I’m the big brother. Dad’s dead. Granddad—dead. That leaves me.” He pointed at his chest with both index fingers.
“Maybe I am glad I interrupted this feud. I came over to tell you that the Warriors legal team has us on complete lockdown. You’ll never get through the iron fortress they have built. And if you try it’s going to take years. So many years, you’ll be middle-aged, Danny. And then what are you going to do with all your party money? Buy sports cars? Blond girlfriends?” I huffed. “And you do realize it will take a legal team as big as the one I have or bigger to go up against me? And you have to pay them, Danny. With money. They expect money for their work. Work that is going to take them years and years and they’ll still come up empty-handed and you’ll still owe them hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
I turned toward my grandmother. “And Grammy, I don’t want you to use your money for this battle. He’ll take it. He’ll drain you dry. He already ran through millions of dollars and he’s thirty for God’s sake.