by S Cinders
There was a polite cough in the hallway, “I see you have found your girl, Mr. Brand. I will leave you two alone now.”
Mandy glanced back at the kind doorman, “Thank you, for everything.”
“I really appreciate your help, Frank,” Elliot added.
“Sure thing, Boss,” with a wink he was off.
Elliot kicked the door closed before responding to Mandy’s inquisitive eyes. “I own this hotel, but I don’t manage it. Frank has been with us for a long time and is one of the few employees here that know. Most of them don’t look twice at me and I prefer it that way.”
Mandy nodded, trying to understand, “How many companies do you own?”
Elliot shrugged, “Over a hundred, give or take, we have nearly seven thousand employees nationwide in all of the different divisions.”
He moved closer to her again, “But I didn’t tear this town apart to talk to you about business.”
Mandy shuddered a little in his arms, “I am really sorry, Elliot. I should have told you the truth that first day during the interview. I was just scared, but I know it isn’t a valid excuse.”
Elliot smiled at her and Mandy felt the knot in her chest ease the slightest bit.
“Mandy, I should have listened to you today instead of flying off the handle. I can’t say that if I were in your shoes I would have done it any other way. Lord knows that if you had tried to claim that I had fathered your child during the interview I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Mandy moved in closer and tucked her head under his chin, “I don’t want you to resent me or the baby, Elliot. I would like you to be a part of our lives, but I have no intention of trapping you.”
Elliot stiffened, “Trapping me? Mandy, I have every intention of trapping you. So, this is a forewarning that I want you and our baby to live with me. I want to go to your appointments and be there when our child is born. But, Mandy, there is one more thing.”
Mandy felt a shiver of something race down her spine. She wasn’t sure if it was fear, excitement, or a forewarning. But before she could dissect it, Elliot laid down the law.
“My child will not come from a broken home. I want for us to get married as soon as possible.”
Mandy choked on thin air, “Married? You and me? Are you serious?”
“Look, Mandy, I grew up with a single mother and I knew of all the sacrifices that she made for me. I am damn grateful for it, but I don’t want my child to live the same way. I want for my son or daughter to have a mother and father in the same home. I am not negotiable on this, please don’t try and fight me.”
“I-I don’t know what to say,” Mandy whispered and pushed out of his arms to walk over and sit on the edge of the bed.
Elliot went over to her and bent down on one knee, “Say that you will marry me, Mandy. Tell me that we can be a family.”
What he was offering sounded so perfect to her. But there was one vital component that he was missing. Elliot hadn’t mentioned love. Did Mandy want to enter a loveless marriage? Especially when she suspected that she was head over heels in love with him, would he grow to resent her?
Elliot was worried that she hadn’t answered him. His heart was trying to escape his chest either through his throat or his stomach. He felt like he would be ill if she refused him. He couldn’t let that happen.
Elliot swept her into his arms and kissed her pouring out his passion and need in his desperate kiss. Elliot didn’t know what he would do if she wouldn’t accept him, he didn’t want to even think about the possibility. He knew that she belonged to him just as surely as he knew the sun came up in the morning.
Her scent, her taste, her presence in his life was like a drug that he needed to survive. How could he convince her of that?
The questions and fear of the day causing him to kiss her a little deeper and to hold her a little tighter.
Mandy didn’t protest when he pushed her back against the mattress. She rolled onto her side facing him and reached up to cup his whiskered cheeks. He was so damn handsome that she could hardly breathe.
“Why would you want to marry me?”
What she meant was, could he possibly find it in him to love her someday? Did they really have a chance to make this work? Would he find someone new and regret that he had impulsively asked her to marry him the day he found out he was going to be a father?
Elliot growled deep in his throat.
Mandy rushed on to try and put her thoughts into words, “Elliot, you don’t know me well enough to marry me.”
His eyes narrowed, and Mandy knew that it was now or never, she needed to get this last piece out and then if he really wanted to do this, she was in.
“I am not saying no,” she rushed on, “I am just asking that we wait a little bit. The baby isn’t due for six more weeks. There is no reason to run out tomorrow. Today has been an emotional rollercoaster for both of us. If you promise to grant me this time, I swear to you that I will marry you.”
Elliot felt his heart skip a beat, he wasn’t sure if he heard her correctly.
“You want to wait until closer to when the baby is due?” he clarified.
Mandy nodded, a bit of hope entering her eyes, “Yes, I just want us to spend these next few weeks getting to know each other as a couple. And if you still want to marry me after that, then I will.”
“Three weeks,” Elliot negotiated.
Mandy frowned, “Five weeks.”
Elliot shook his head, “Babies can come early, and I don’t want you to be stressed out. Four weeks or I haul you over to the courthouse tomorrow morning.”
Mandy laughed, “That was terribly romantic. If I wasn't already lying down, I would have most likely swooned.”
Elliot’s lips twitched, “I never took you for a swooner, Mandy.”
Her eyes danced, “There are a lot of things that you don’t know about me.”
And with that, his gaze intensified on hers as his eyes darkened, “I want to know everything about you. From what you are allergic to, to your favorite candy bar, I already know you like cheeseburgers, but I want to know it all.”
Mandy felt a lump in her throat, maybe this could work after all?
“Do we have a deal?” she asked.
Elliot leaned over and kissed her softly parted lips, “As long as I can hold you and kiss you like you are mine, we have a deal, fiancé.”
“Fiancé?” Mandy repeated in wonder. “Are you sure?”
Elliot slid a hand down her body resting it against their child, “I have never been surer of anything before in my life.”
And so, she took that leap of faith, the one that would have her questioning her sanity and his mental acuity. She said yes.
CHAPTER 37
Mandy was eating cereal three days later when she heard her name being said on TV. Almost dumping the bowl in front of her trying to get out of her seat, Mandy finally wiggled herself and that belly away from the table and raced to the television.
“You heard it here first ladies, the city’s most eligible bachelor is no longer on the market. That’s right Elliot Brand, founder, and CEO of Brand Enterprises is no longer a single man. Sources close to Brand have confirmed that he is engaged to be married.”
The female talk-show host was shaking her head as if some tragedy had occurred, “That’s right, Bryan, not only is Elliot Brand off the market, but he is about to become a father.”
“Well, that was quick, Shelley!” the male host flashed his perfectly straight teeth, “Who is this mysterious woman?”
Shelley, a cute blonde with leaned forward as if she were going to whisper the secret to the camera, “Her name is Amanda Johnson, and from what we have been able to gather she is an employee of Mr. Brands. However, we have heard reports that Johnson has only been working at Brand Enterprises for little more than a month.”
Bryan waggled his eyebrows, “It must have been love at first sight.”
Shelley winked, “There is far more to it than that. Luckily, Ms. John
son’s best friend Emma Graves was available to come on the set for a one on one interview.”
To Mandy’s horror, the two hosts stood to greet slutty Emma as she sashayed out onto the set.
Black dots began to appear in front of Mandy’s eyes. It was like a train wreck that she just couldn’t take her eyes away from. Emma sat there looking like a million dollars and spewed lies about Mandy.
She twisted things to make it sound like Mandy had set out to trap Elliot at that party all those months ago. Emma had said that she tried to warn Elliot away from Mandy.
The talk-show host’s eye glittered with what they knew would be sensational ratings. They asked if Mandy had done something like this with another wealthy businessman. Emma had the sheer balls the blush and said that she didn’t want to malign her best friend’s character, so it was best that she plead the fifth on that question.
Before Mandy could watch anymore, the television was switched off and then she was being yanked back against a massive wall that could only be Elliot’s chest.
Mandy turned in his arms and buried her face into the soft cotton of his shirt.
“How much did you hear?” he barely made out her muffled question.
Elliot’s reply was sharp, “Enough.”
Mandy pulled back to look at him, afraid that he might have believed the lies that Emma had been telling. “I never tried to trap you, Elliot. I swear it!”
Elliot’s expression softened a degree, “Sweetheart, don’t you think I know you by now?”
“What are we going to do?” she bit her lip, “There have been some strange things at the office as well. Maybe I shouldn’t go in for a few days.”
Anger colored his cheeks, “Who has been giving you problems? I already got rid of Charles and those bitches from accounting.”
Mandy’s color ebbed, “You fired them?”
Elliot scoffed, “I can’t have the head of human resources treating people the way that he did you, Mandy. It was unacceptable and intolerable. The same goes for those women. This is my company that I built up from the ground. I won’t tolerate that type of behavior in my employees.”
Mandy closed her eyes, “That must be what the talk is about then. I couldn’t get Ian to tell me yesterday what was going on. But people acted almost like there were afraid of me.”
Elliot blew out an angry breath, “Do you like working at the office?”
Mandy nodded, “I really think the child care facility will be a great benefit to your employees. The construction crew has already begun to draw up plans.”
Elliot’s eyes narrowed in on hers, “You are going to be my wife, Mandy. Our child won’t need to go there. Do you still feel the same way?”
Mandy felt her back stiffen, “Are you implying that I was only doing this for my baby? How selfish do you think I am? This was about helping to make Brand Enterprises better, not to find me a babysitter!”
Elliot grinned widely and tried to hug her close was Mandy was irritated with him and pushed away.
“Don’t be mad,” he chuckled, “I just wanted to be sure that you really wanted to go forward with this. And for the record, I completely agree with everything that you have said. I wouldn’t have scrapped the project, Mandy. But I wanted to make sure that you were doing this because you wanted to and not because you felt you had to. I don’t care if you work another day in your life. If you want to stay home with the baby, if you want to work from home, or if you want to bring our children to the office...”
Mandy gasped, “Children? There is only one baby in my womb, Elliot.”
She started to back away, somewhat flustered.
Elliot wasn’t about to let her escape, “Children, as in two or three? Maybe four if I am lucky, but I won’t press you to commit to it.”
She was confused. It sounded to her like Elliot was planning on having a large family. Secretly Mandy had always wanted a big family, but she figured that was something that wasn’t in the cards for her. It scared Mandy that she would start to believe in his vision only to have it ripped away.
She had learned a long time ago not to plan on good things happening. It was better to prepare yourself for the worst, that way if things went okay you were pleasantly surprised. But to actually hope and wish for things? That was suicidal.
“Am I going too fast?” he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Mandy, we can just take it a day at a time.”
She gulped and nodded appreciatively before asking, “What are you going to do about the story?”
The frown returned to Elliot’s face, “I will get my lawyers on it immediately of course. If Emma was offered any money for the story, she won’t be seeing a penny of it. There isn’t a whole lot they can do beyond that, but we will pursue it. I am sorry, Mandy. There are times when the news is slow, and they poke around in my life. But I will do everything in my power to protect you and our baby.”
Elliot stilled for a moment.
“What is it?” Mandy whispered looking up with concern.
He placed his hand on her belly bump and smiled so wide that Mandy couldn’t help but smile at him and covered his larger hand with her smaller one.
Elliot laughed, “Our baby! It is so strange and wonderful to be saying that. I hadn’t even realized that I wanted to be a father until you came into my life.”
Her eyes were wary, but she met him bravely, “And now that you are going to be a father? How do you feel?”
“Fucking, fantastic,” and he kissed her hard on the mouth.
Mandy had decided that there were a whole host of things that Elliot did well, but he was an expert in the art of melting her panties. She clung to him and lifted onto her toes just as Mrs. H came out of the kitchen with Elliot’s ringing cell phone.
CHAPTER 38
Week 35: Baby is the size of a papaya!
Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds. Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete.
“MRS. JOHNSON? THE DOCTOR will see you now.”
Mandy didn’t bother correcting Tina, she just followed the chubby woman into the back to get her vitals done.
Elliot was supposed to be meeting Mandy at Dr. Robert’s office. There was some trouble from the other day that he was still dealing with. It was when the news story about Mandy and Elliot had first come out. Paparazzi had surrounded their apartment building and it made coming and going difficult.
In the meantime, Elliot had hired guards to protect Mandy, but she didn’t like having them hovering over her any better than she liked those slimy reporters yelling things at her.
To make matters worse, Andrew had come into the coffee shop drunk a day or two after Christmas. He broke a few things before the police had been able to arrive and arrest him. A new restraining order was in place so that the ‘douchebag’ as Nate called him, couldn’t come back and harm Kim.
Mandy was worried about her ex-brother in law. Andrew wasn’t stable. Kim and Nate went down to the police station and filled out reports on his threats of violence as well as the information about his drug usage. Elliot had been in contact with someone he knew on the DEA. The agent had asked for a meeting with Elliot, Kim & Nate.
Mandy glanced at her watch, he was a half an hour late. But she knew that he wouldn’t miss the appointment unless it was absolutely necessary. And keeping Kim safe would always be a top priority.
“I am going to need you to strip from the waist down.”
Tina’s words permeated Mandy’s head and she frowned. Mandy hated the ‘naked’ appointments. She loathed being handed a piece of tissue paper that was supposed to be a gown and left in a room where it couldn’t be more than fifty degrees.
She grumbled a response and Tina left the roo
m for Mandy to have some privacy. For a second, Mandy contemplated making a run for it. Or in Mandy case it would be a brisk waddle, she was thirty-five weeks pregnant.
There was a sharp knock on the door and then Elliot slipped inside. He stared at her questioningly as she stood there in her panties and socks.
“Do you and Dr. Robert’s have something going on that I should know about?”
Mandy threw her jeans at him, “Go ahead and laugh it up. I have heard there is a machine that they can hook up to the husbands so that they can feel the pain of labor. There is a theory that it helps the father be more involved with the delivery. I thought that since you have missed so much, that you would want to do something like that.”
Elliot sexy grin told her that he wasn’t buying it, “What kind of idiot would strap something like that on?”
Dr. Robert’s entered the room, “How is my favorite patient?”
Elliot’s smile fell, and he growled at his friend.
Mandy had slipped her panties off and was sitting on the examination table with her tissue gown covering her legs.
“Dr. Robert’s! I am so glad you are here. Elliot and I were wondering if you might have that special machine that helps fathers to feel the pains of labor?”
Dr. Robert’s looked from his friend who was scowling at this point back to Mandy who looked happier than he had ever seen her.
“As a matter of fact, I have one here,” Dr. Robert’s patted Elliot on the back before going over to the sink to scrub up and put his gloves on. “We will give it a whirl right after we finish your exam, Mandy.”
Elliot’s color had started to ebb, “There is no need to take up your valuable time.”
Dr. Robert’s shit-eating grin told Elliot that he was well and truly fucked.
“WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?”
Robert the butler and Mrs. H leaned over the table in anticipation. Elliot was full-on pouting at the end of the table. He was the only one that was attempting to eat the dinner that Mrs. H had prepared. He for one would rather forget this entire afternoon from the moment he had walked into the OBGYN office.