“Then the detective will take you back into marital custody, I expect.”
She gets up and dances around the bedroom. “Oh, I hope so.”
Cyprian comes in with Sax in his arms. “Someone has poopie pants, Mommy.”
“Of course he does,” Catarina says as she takes her son and leaves us alone in our bedroom.
“Thanks again for all you’ve done, Cyprian,” I tell him, the way I do three or four times each day. “She’s never looked happier. Even though I do believe she needs to take a breather in the relationship department.”
“Not everyone needs the same things in life. Some wait forever between relationships and some hop right back onto that horse. Your sister seems to like the presence of a dominating man in her life. And I like the new one. He’s not a bad guy at all.”
“I’m glad to hear you recommend him,” I say as I laugh then stop as it still hurts my healing ribs to laugh.
“Have you done any of your classwork online today, baby?” he asks me as he picks up my laptop that’s sat at my desk all day without me turning it on.
“I have not. Do you care to help a poor lass?” I say as he comes to sit on the bed next to me and props the laptop on a pillow.
“I will help my lady educate herself, so she can become a mind-blowingly smart scientist.” He opens it and starts it up as I gaze at him.
“What would I ever do without you?”
“You will never find that out. I will always be here for you. Now which class would you like to tackle first?”
I point at the class on the desk top and it comes up as I touch the screen. “You know what color wedding dress Catarina said I should get?”
“No,” he says as he taps the screen to open my next assignment. “Was it awful or what?”
“It was crimson. A deep red. Like one would wear to marry the devil,” I say as I point at the magazine on the bed.
He picks it up and thumbs through it. “I still can’t believe you are so against a white wedding dress.”
“I want to stand out. Everyone wears white. I want to be different. You only get married once, right? I don’t want our wedding pictures to look just like all the others.”
Watching him look through the magazine, I find him stopping on a page and looking back and forth at me and the page. “I think you’d look amazing in this one.”
When he turns it around for me to see, I see the pale blue dress I had liked and my sister had nixed. “Great minds think alike. I had liked that one too. Catarina didn’t like it.”
“Well, this isn’t for her to like or dislike. This is for you, my sweet lady. That day is about you,” he says then runs his hand over my cheek.
“And you,” I say as I push his light brown hair back. “Us.”
“Us,” he echoes. “I still can’t believe so many years passed me by, leaving me thinking I wanted to live alone, living a decadent life with no worries, ties, or real people in it.”
“Then you decided to stop in at a little store and bother the cashier.”
“Bother?” he asks. “I wouldn’t say that word.”
“I would,” I say then kiss his cheek. “Come on, let’s get this work done then you can give your lady a sponge bath. We can discuss the honeymoon plans.”
“Bora Bora?” he asks as he’s pushing for that as a honeymoon destination.
“France,” I say as I’m pushing that destination. “And here’s the kicker, Cyprian. “I’m thinking about a destination wedding. My family would love to visit the place where my grandparents and father came from. Your father’s roots are there too. Perhaps he could delve into them a bit.”
“You’d like nothing more than to teach my parents how to be a part of a family, isn’t that right?” he asks.
“So,” I say as I push a button on the screen and select my answer to the question.
“So, you might be disappointed,” he says. “They’re set in their ways.”
“As were you,” I say and give him a smile. “Give me time. You’ll see.”
And he will too…
Book 11: The Altering
Chapter 1
CYPRIAN
“Every man needs a bachelor party, Cyprian,” my father tells me as I ride with him to enjoy a nice meal out as a single man. My father has been pushing for a real bachelor party for weeks now. I’ve insisted I don’t want one.
I’ve had enough partying to last a lifetime!
“Papa, I know you think that’s a thing I should have but I’ve told you a hundred times, I don’t want one. Let’s just enjoy a nice meal together on the last night I’ll be a single man and let that be that.”
I watch his foot begin to tap as we ride in the back of his limousine. His finger starts tapping his leg and I see sweat begin to bead on his forehead. His obvious nerves are making me nervous. I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve.
The car pulls to a stop at an old warehouse and I find my father looking more than a bit sheepish. “Here we are, son.”
The driver gets out and opens my door. A blindfold is in his hand and I turn to find my father getting out too. “Papa, what’s going on?”
“Just go with it, Cyprian,” he says as he chuckles. “It’s going to be fun. I promise.”
Taking my phone out of my pocket, I attempt to call Cami but I find my father has it in his hand and tosses it back into the car then shuts the door. “Papa!”
“Come now, Cyprian. The guests are waiting.” He takes me by the shoulders and turns me around then the driver places the blindfold over my eyes.
“Papa, I don’t like this!”
“Come now, Cyprian. Be a good sport, won’t you?” he asks as he leads me away from the car and into, what’s certain to be, a den of iniquity.
The squeaking sound of a door opening has me feeling like I should rip off the blindfold and bolt away from my father. But I can’t seem to make myself do that. Even though I know I should!
Cheers ring out and music begins to play as we walk into a cool room. Air is forced out of vents and it makes a slight breeze run over my face as we go deeper into the room.
We stop as my father directs me, “Here we have four women…”
“No, Papa!”
“Hush, Cyprian. It’s a game. That’s all,” he says. “Okay, here we have four women. You are to touch only their hands. I want you to pick the one who stirs something inside of you when you touch her.”
“There’s only one who stirs anything inside of me. She’s out with her sister and mother for her bachelorette dinner. So, I will touch them all and you will see, I’m telling the truth when I say Camilla Petit is the only woman who does anything for me.”
“Yes, yes,” he says, hurrying me along. “Come now. Here’s the first set of hands. Hold them, Cyprian. Tell us what you feel.”
I take the hands which are extended to me and hold them in a loose grip. “Nothing stirs me. Sorry.”
“Here, try the next set,” he says as he takes me and moves me over a step.
I stop myself from gasping as I take the hands and feel their shape is recognizable. But nothing inside me lights up. Running my thumbs over the palms the woman whose hands I have in mine, I find them familiar. “These hands remind me of someone’s but they’re not hers.”
“That someone being who, son?” my father asks with a slight chuckle to his deep voice.
“Cami’s. But I know it’s not her. Not only is she not here, the touch of her hands always moves me. Those hands didn’t move me at all. No offense,” I say as I nod in the direction of the woman. “They’re lovely hands.”
I hear a giggle and think I recognize it but the music is so loud it’s hard to say for sure. My father moves me over a step. “This young lady is next.”
Stepping over, I find my hands are taken quickly and I know in an instant, these hands hold no attraction for me. “I don’t feel a thing. Next,” I say.
“Last set, son,” Papa says.
“I’m sorry ladies. Onl
y one holds my heart in the palm of her hands and I can feel it there every time I hold her hands.”
Moving my hands to find the next pair of them, I find them nowhere. Then the slightest touch of a fingertip sends lightning through me. I fight the urge to pull off the blindfold as her hands take hold of mine and my cock twitches.
Please let this be Cami and not someone else!
Holding back the real question I want to ask, I say, “Hmm, there is a bit of something here.”
Her thumbs rub the tops of my hands as mine rub her palms. My cock grows as I move my hands up her arms and find spiral curls, soft as silk. I twirl one of the curls with my finger and take in her scent.
“What do you have to say about this one, Cyprian?” Papa asks me. “Is she to your liking?”
“I believe she is,” I say and pull her into my arms, certain it’s Cami I’m holding. “Care to dance?”
I feel her nod her answer and sweep her away with me to dance. Holding her close, I spin around with her to the fast music and know it’s her as our bodies are very familiar with each other.
Her taught nipples press against my chest, sending my cock into a full-on erection and my need for her is a necessity. She moves her body to grind herself on my dick and her lips press the place just behind my ear.
“Perhaps we should find somewhere private to go and take care of your little problem,” she says.
I stop and let her go. That’s not Cami’s voice!
Just as I’m about to take off the blindfold, her hands grab mine. “Don’t,” I shout.
She pulls me back to her with a whisper, “Come on. It’s your last night as a free man.”
Her voice is much too high to be Cami’s, I’ve made a mistake. “It’s been a while since I was a free man. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. It’s not right.”
Pulling away from her, I find she won’t let my hand go. “Stay.”
Shaking my head, I say, “No. You would never understand. You’re an escort, I’m sure. You don’t know what it means to love and be loved. I know I never want to be with anyone other than the woman I will marry tomorrow. It’s nothing against you. I’m sure you’re very nice.”
“You felt something when we touched,” she says with such a high voice it seems unnatural. “Admit it.”
“Cami?” I ask as I jerk my hand out of hers and pull the blindfold off.
Her sweet smile is what I find and I growl as I take her hand again and pull her off the dancefloor as she says, “You don’t seem very surprised.”
Sitting on a chair at an empty table, I pull her to sit on my lap. She strokes my cheek as I look around and see my father yapping it up with her sister and her mother. “I see what you did there. Are you quite happy with yourself?”
She nods and kisses me. “You do love me.”
“I do,” I tell her then kiss her.
Our mouths mingle, letting our tongues do the talking. When we end the kiss, we’re both panting a bit. “Tomorrow, you and I will really become one. Are you ready for that, Cyprian?”
“More than you can imagine,” I say as I scout the room for the exit. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Cyprian, your father put a great deal of work into planning this. It would be rude to leave. And I’m here with you, so all is well. Come on, let’s dance and drink and eat and live it up. It’s our very last date, you know.” Climbing off my lap, she gets up and takes me back out onto the dancefloor full of people I don’t know as my father has managed to fill a room with strangers.
“Our very own party in Paris,” I say as we dance around the floor.
“And there’s more surprises for you. You see, some of these people are your family. Distant relatives I managed to find when I looked for people in France you and your father might be related to. You’ll be discovering a family while you’re here,” she tells me with a wink.
“You managed to hide all that?” I ask. “What else do you have up your sleeve, naughty wench?”
“A lot. So, get prepared, Cyprian. Your small world is about to open up.”
Is that really a good thing…?
Chapter 2
CAMILLA
He really loves me!
I never should’ve doubted that but sometimes a woman just has to know. Cyprian has had so many women in his life I was unsure if he really felt as strongly about me as he has claimed to.
He knew the moment he touched my hand it was me. I was worried, I have to admit. He lingered on my sister’s hands longer than I thought he would. It had me thinking my idea was going to backfire on me and put me in an awful mood.
Retiring from the busy and boisterous dance-floor, I lead Cyprian to meet his never before known, great aunt and great uncle. “Here’s your surprise family, Cyprian.”
As they all share hugs and exchange hello’s, I fall back a bit and gesture to his father to come and join his son in this happy moment. I scan the room to find Cyprian’s mother and catch her eye and wave her over too.
It’s such an odd way his parents are. In no way, a couple, yet they share something that makes them a part of one another. I hope to get them to see they mean more to each other than either of them realize.
“You’re aunt and uncle, Corbin. These are your father’s siblings who moved here after a few years in America,” I tell him as he approaches us.
He blinks a few times as he looks at them, talking with his son. “How’d you find them? I knew about them. They moved long before I was born. My father told me about them.”
“You can find everything on the internet,” I tell him as I give him a gentle nudge. “Go and introduce yourself to your family.”
With a nod, he moves in to talk to a family he’d heard of but never laid eyes on. I smile as I watch them all talking so easy and free. Like they’ve always known one another.
Coco comes up to me and whispers, “Who are these people?”
“These people are related to Corbin and Cyprian. I found them and invited them here tonight and to the wedding tomorrow. I’ve found some people you might like to get reacquainted with too. I’ll bring Cyprian to you all as soon as he gets through catching up with this part of his long-lost family.” I take her hand and pull her along with me. “I know your parents passed away a good while back.”
“I was sixteen when they died in a wreck. I lived with my grandparents for only a year before going to work in a strip club. They never knew what it was I was doing. I told them I was waitressing,” she tells me.
“I heard,” I tell her, earning a surprised expression from her.
“How?”
I merely point to a small table in the back. “They told me.”
“That cannot be my grandparents,” she says with a hushed voice. “I don’t even recognize them. It’s been forever. Quite frankly, I thought they were most likely dead.”
“Nope, alive and sitting right there, waiting to see you and meet their great-grandson for the first time ever,” I tell her as I pull her along with me to meet them.
“Wait!” she says as she stops and gives me a terrified look. “Did you tell them what I really am?”
With a nod, I say, “I told them the truth. You’re a very wealthy woman, who owns an exclusive club in Los Angeles. They were more than proud to hear you’d done so well with yourself.”
“You left out the fact it’s a strip club?” she asks as she holds her hand to her throat.
“I did. I saw no reason to get too deeply into what it is you do. You own an established club. You should be proud of yourself for that accomplishment.”
“It was given to me. I didn’t,” she says before I stop her.
“You were given it by the man you gave a child too. And you managed it and made it what it is. You did that. All by yourself. Now, go and talk with the people who helped bring you into the world, Coco. Or should I call you, Delia?”
A blush covers her cheeks. “They told you?”
“They did. And they’re waiting to see you, s
o go and get reacquainted.” I give her a push to get her going and watch her go to her family. One she left behind so long ago, it seems impossible.
With Cyprian and his parents on the right track, I go to see what my family thinks about all this. Joining my mother, father, sister, and brother at a table, I ask, “So, what do you think?”
“I think your fiancé almost picked me,” Catarina says with a laugh.
“I too was afraid that was about to happen,” I agree. “I was shaking in my boots.”
Taking a seat between my brother and sister, I find my brother ogling a lovely young lady. “Do you think she’d say yes if I asked her to dance?”
“I bet she would. But just so you know, I’m sure most of these women and maybe some of the men too, are paid escorts. So, don’t go thinking you’ve really hit it off with her. She’s paid to hit it off with you if you know what I mean.”
His brows raise and he smiles. “Cool!” Then he’s up and going toward the young woman.
“Mercy, I hope he doesn’t get himself into trouble,” my mother says as she watches her baby boy slip his arm around a prostitute’s waist, ushering her out to the dancefloor.
“At least he’s a proper age to handle such things,” I say as I look around and can’t distinguish between who is paid to be here and who is not.
Mixing with Cyprian’s family has mine in a place they seem to be a bit uncomfortable in. A place I had planned to keep them out of. But as time went on and I had it in my head to make us into a real family, it became apparent, mine would have to dabble a bit into their world, as they were expected to dabble in ours.
Marriage is a delicate dance where things on both sides have to be meshed into place to form the new family that will be the new couple’s. Cyprian and I are on the cusp of making a brand new family to add to both sides of ours.
Are we really going to be able to pull this off…?
Chapter 3
CYPRIAN
The Alpha's Assistant & The Dom Next Door Page 43