Just Marry Me Already (BWWM Romance Book 1)

by Ayo Campbell

  Margaret was sitting back and watching the show, looking like she could do with some tea. The dogs – Hope and Strife, as Margaret had chosen to name them – sat beside her, and looked like they were not just used to such shenanigans, but enjoyed them.

  “You are not the only one involved in this, Hallie. I am responsible for the well-being of my child, too.”

  “Your child is currently a part of me, so hands off, billionaire boy. You might order everybody around and you might be used to that, but you don’t do it with me.”

  Margaret got up quietly, murmuring something about checking on dinner, and left them to it.

  “Part of you or not, I still have the right to take care of the two of you. And if you know what’s good for you, you will let me do that the easy way!”

  “You can be concerned without overstepping your limits. I value my independence, Aldous. I will not give it up simply because I’m gestating. I’m a strong person. You’d better get used to it.”

  Aldous took a deep breath and looked like a man trying valiantly to hold on to his temper. He didn’t think he’d been spoken to anyone like that in years. Two women who didn’t listen to him, he thought wryly, and he had to bring them together. He had a feeling he would go to regret that mightily.

  “Hallie, be reasonable.”

  He might have meant the tone to be placating, but it made Hallie see red.

  “Look, Aldous,” she started, her eyes flashing. “I assure you that I have been taking care of myself for a long time, and I’ve done it extremely well. I do not need you to take care of me. I can do it myself. I am not an imbecile, and I am far stronger than you seem to think I am.”

  Aldous glared at her for long minute. Then, to her astonishment, he turned around and stalked indoors.

  Now what she supposed to do? Go in and have dinner, like nothing had happened? Try to sneak away and go home? She really just wanted to go home.

  It had really felt like she was connecting with Aldous, she thought sourly. It had felt like he was almost becoming human. But of course, she had just been an idiot to even think that. Men like Aldous didn’t connect with people like her. She was a responsibility. That’s all she was to him.

  But then he came back outside.

  “Hallie, I can’t apologize for wanting to take care of you,” he said, his eyes intense on hers.

  “But I will try to be more considerate of your boundaries. I do understand your point of view, Hallie. If anything, I admire your independence and your strength. But I want to do everything I can, and these are things that would make your life easy for you. I can do those things easily. I can arrange for a companion who will make life easier for you. There’s just no sense in making things more difficult when I can make them easier for you. Can’t you see that?”

  Hallie took a deep breath to get her temper back under control. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to be reasonable.

  “I realize that, Aldous. But I’ve long been used to taking care of me and mine. I don’t want to end up depending on you. That… I don’t think that’s the kind of thing you can just turn off. Once the baby is adopted, I will have to go back to taking care of myself, and I don’t want to lose that independence and end up being unsure of myself then. Surely you can see that, too.”

  Aldous was silent for a while. Hallie wondered if anything she’d said had gotten through to him through that thick head of his.

  “Fine. We’ll find a compromise,” said Aldous, finally.

  Hallie looked at him, interested.

  “What kind of compromise?”

  “Well, how about if you keep that credit card, and you let me find a companion who will be there if you need them? I can pay them enough to keep them ready in case they’re needed. You can interview them, find the right person. Unless you decide you need help, you don’t have to call them.”

  Hallie’s mouth dropped open.

  “You want to pay somebody to do nothing for months?”

  “My other option was to move you into my penthouse.”

  Hallie was surprised by how much she wanted that. That desire made her agree to what was frankly a ridiculous suggestion.

  But he was acting like a worried, flustered and helpless expectant father. It was kind of cute and sweet, she thought. It made her heart soften towards him.

  “Fine. I’ll interview people and keep the number on my speed dial. But I do have friends, you know. There are people I can depend on. People I trust and can rely on.”

  Aldous moved closer to her, until his jacket nearly touched the front of her dress.

  “I wish I could be one of those people for you, Hallie. I wish I could have that trust, too.”

  The naked yearning in his eyes was masked immediately. But she had seen, it, and it had made her heart flutter again. There was something there, thought Hallie.

  If only he weren’t a billionaire, so far removed from her rather ordinary world, she thought, wistfully. If he’d been just another man, they could’ve gotten to know each other, and maybe they could’ve found each other. Maybe they could’ve found happiness together.

  Maybe they could even have been a family.

  But he was a billionaire, she reminded herself, whose life was so alien to hers that she’d had to read tabloids to try to research him. She couldn’t let herself forget that.

  They had made an accidental baby between the two of them. There was nothing more between them. Once that baby was given to a lovely and loving family that, even now, was trying hard to have a child, they would go their own ways.

  His way would be drastically different from hers. Their destinations were far too different. She couldn’t help that. There was no hoping for anything to change when there was no chance of it at all.

  Despite that look she had seen in his eyes, she knew that. Hallie would face facts. She would be practical. She was good at that.

  But for once, she wished she could live her fairy tale and have a happy ending.

  *****

  Hallie was five months pregnant, to the day. She was beginning to feel flutters of nerves about the big day. But her morning sickness had abated, and now she felt better than she had ever felt before.

  Well, except for her ankles and her backache, of course. And the fact that she could only wear her wrap dresses now. Nothing else fit her.

  She didn’t really mind that. It was pretty incredible, knowing that new life was growing inside her. A part of her, she reminded herself. And a part of Aldous.

  She had grown to cherish every moment he’d spent with her. He had gone out of his way to find that time, too. She knew that.

  But she wanted more. She couldn’t help that, either. She was beginning to respect just how much work he put into his company. She was also beginning to see that most of what she had read in the tabloids was probably wrong.

  Why, three nights ago, they’d had dinner together at a little Italian restaurant. There had definitely not been a single reporter around. The next day, she had seen reports that billionaire Aldous Banks had been spotted with an Olympics gymnast at one of the hottest clubs in the city.

  She knew that unless he had a clone or something, that was definitely not true. Now they were going to meet for dinner, again, and she wondered what she could possibly wear.

  Something classy, she thought, except that she had four wrap dresses and he had seen her in all of them.

  Ah well, thought Hallie and reached for a red one that was the newest. Red always lifted her spirit. So did meeting Aldous, to be frank.

  She was definitely showing now, but he didn’t seem to mind that. She had found herself wondering if he still found her attractive. She thought there were moments, when he held her hand, or just talked to her, when they really connected. She felt like she was getting to know the man behind the many millions.

  She knew that he loved and respected his mama, and was a bit scared of her, too. That was healthy, in her opinion. Being too confident with your mother meant you were cocky. You
were supposed to believe that your mother always knows best.

  Or perhaps she was biased now because she was going to be a mother.

  No, she was going to have a baby. She would be a mother for very little time. For the rest of her life, she would not be that baby’s mother. She would be the person who gave life, and gave her child up for a better life.

  It was for the best, she told herself again, as she’d been telling herself so often lately. But every time she placed her hand on her belly, every time she felt that flutter that meant her baby – her son – was alive and well, growing, being nourished, she loved him more.

  She loved him so much that she felt as if her heart would just burst from it.

  Some of that love was spilling over onto the father of her child, too. That was natural, she supposed.

  Lately, she had started daydreaming about being a regular couple, expecting a child, thrilled about it. She knew she was setting herself up for a huge fall, of course. But she pictured herself with Aldous, coming up with names for their baby, arguing over what crib to get, finding a home where they could raise him together.

  She had been daydreaming about being a real family.

  “Set it aside, Hallie,” she told herself sternly as she got ready.

  There was a knock on the door. It would be Jack, of course, ready to take her to the restaurant, where Aldous would meet her. He had been very secretive about what kind of place they were going to.

  She knew that Aldous was in the middle of a huge international deal, too. She knew that he’d been putting in ridiculously long hours on it. He could hire people to do all of that, she knew, but he preferred to have his own hand in all of it.

  It meant that he worked as much as about five people put together. But he seemed to enjoy it.

  She opened the door with a smile.

  “You look lovely, Hallie,” said the gentle giant as he escorted her to the car. He insisted on escorting her to the car.

  “Mr. Banks wanted to come and pick you up himself, but he got delayed,” said Jack.

  Hallie was surprised.

  “He knows he doesn’t have to come and pick me up or anything.”

  Jack gave her a mildly annoyed look, as if he were disappointed in her.

  “A lady should always be picked up by her date,” he told her, his tone decisive.

  “We’re not dating,” said Hallie, flustered.

  Jack rumbled a deep laugh.

  “What do you call it then, Hallie?” he asked, making her wonder just that.

  She had an additional problem nowadays. She had known that pregnancy would do odd things to her body. She had been prepared, sort of, for most of it. But the one thing she hadn’t been prepared for was the need for Aldous.

  She needed him – physically. She relived the night they had spent together, over and over again. She felt herself get heated and flushed every time she did so.

  She was a healthy woman with sexual needs, of course, and she was perfectly comfortable with that. But all her fantasies over the last couple of months had centered on Aldous Banks, and that was a bit of a problem.

  She could handle it, she assured herself. Of course she could handle it.

  She noticed where they were going.

  “Jack, where are we going?”

  The words ended on a panicked yelp.

  She couldn’t go back to his apartment. She couldn’t. She couldn’t go to the place where all that fantasy sex in her head had been taking place, not when she felt like this.

  “Mr. Banks will meet you at his apartment.”

  “But… He didn’t say anything about that!”

  “I assume he meant it to be a surprise,” said Jack with a grin.

  He knew when a woman was flustered about all the right reasons. He thought that Hallie and Aldous were perfect together. They were, in his humble opinion, being idiots right now. They should be together.

  Maybe now they would see what was obvious to everybody else, too.

  Chapter 8

  Hallie felt that mixture of dread and anticipation building as she rode up that elevator.

  The last time, she had barely seen the elevator. She had only seen Aldous.

  To be fair, she’d been in such a state that she had seen a couple of Aldouses unless she squinted and looked out of the side of her eyes. She had been pretty plastered.

  But now, she was completely sober, and she could still feel his presence.

  The door opened and she saw him. He moved to her and took her hands. She saw a shadow of everything she felt in his eyes, too, and couldn’t stop herself.

  She raised her face to his and whispered, “Aldous. I missed you.”

  Aldous pulled her into his arms. She felt it as if she was in a dream. She closed her eyes as she saw his face coming closer to hers. She could feel his warm breath on her skin and that made her heart flutter madly.

  He didn’t kiss her lips as she expected. He kissed her forehead, but it wasn’t just affection in the kiss. She felt the heat searing her.

  She felt his lips move to her cheeks, kissing both. She felt his fingers under her chin, raising her face to his, and her lips parted of their own volition. She felt his lips find hers, finally, pulling her into an agony of need when she felt his tongue slip out and touch her lips. She felt him taste her and she shivered, moaning his name.

  “Aldous…”

  She felt his arms around her, sliding along her waist, and didn’t feel big. She felt light, as if she were floating.

  But she wanted more than this gentleness. She wouldn’t break. She needed him to know that.

  Her hands slipped up his back and into his hair, gripping and pulling him down. Her lips opened to find his tongue, and she wasn’t gentle. She was desperate, passionate and demanding.

  She felt him respond. She felt his hands get more ardent, more fervent as they moved up and down her back. She could feel his hands move up to her breasts, cupping them. She felt her nipples, so extra sensitive now, get hard. She felt those currents running through her body. It was nothing like what she’d felt before.

  Had she thought that she knew what it was like to be touched by Aldous? She hadn’t known anything.

  She felt his fingers brush over her nipples and shuddered. Her breasts, so much fuller now, were heavy and swollen in his hands.

  A phone beeped. It barely penetrated their passionate haze. But it was persistent, and loud.

  With a moan, Aldous pulled away.

  Hallie’s eyes were large and dark, awake with passion. Her lips were parted and swollen from his kisses. She was gasping.

  Aldous looked horrified.

  “Oh God, Hallie, I’m so sorry! I didn’t meant to do that. I don’t know what I… I’m so sorry!”

  That was not what Hallie wanted to hear.

  He would’ve gone on digging himself deeper, but his phone beeped again persistently.

  “I… Just a second, I’ll take care of this quickly,” said Aldous and moved away to take the call.

  Hallie was flabbergasted. She was embarrassed.

  She had obviously built it all up in her head on the way over there. Aldous hadn’t wanted that to happen.

  She needed to leave. She couldn’t deal with this now. She had just made up her mind to leave, almost turned around to leave, when Aldous came back.

  “Hallie, you’re still standing there. I’m so sorry!”

  They walked into the living room and sat down. He had sparkling water with lemon, her current favorite drink, all ready for her.

  How could things be so awkward now when a few minutes ago, they’d been all but lapping each other up in great, greedy gulps?

  “Aldous…”

  “Hallie…”

  “No, you go first,” said Aldous.

  Hallie took a deep breath.

  “Aldous, I think we need to talk about what’s going to happen in a few months.”

  Aldous’s face fell, just a bit, before he covered it up with charm, again.
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  “Well, you’ll have our baby. Everything’s all set with the hospital. The plan is in place. Right?”

  “After that, Aldous,” said Hallie.

  But he had known that, of course.

  He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to talk about it because he wanted Hallie. Every moment he’d spent with her the last few months had been heaven and hell. It had been heaven to be with her, know that their child was in her.

  It was hell not to be able to cover her large belly with his hand, to kiss her when they felt their baby move. It was hell not to hold her close when he fell asleep. It was hell not to know everything before Jack told him.

  It was hell to know that he would be giving up both her and their child soon.

  It was unfair. He had agreed to the arrangement. It had been the arrangement he wanted. But now he wanted more. Now he wanted her.

  She probably resented him for how her life had turned upside down because he hadn’t used protection. But he couldn’t help but wonder how it would be to wake up to Hallie every morning. To know that their child was sleeping close by.

  He even wanted to change diapers. But he didn’t know how to tell her any of this. If he had to wait until their child had been adopted, and Hallie was back to standing on her own two feet again, he would. Because he wanted to be with Hallie. He hadn’t made that much time for her out of duty, or because it was the right thing to do. He had done it because he was falling for Hallie.

  He loved her spirit. He loved how she had handled something that would’ve knocked him off his stride. He loved her pragmatic nature. He loved how she stood for no nonsense from him, and tried to be as independent as possible.

  He didn’t want to give up the child.

  Maybe…

  He considered the idea. It might work.

  “I have an unconventional idea to propose, Hallie.”

  Hallie waited.

  “Would you be willing to let me raise the baby?”