by Lisa Lace
“Oh, there were.” He smiles mischievously. “But there were just as many times I wanted to kiss you.”
I let out a long, shaking breath. “We’re acting like we’re not doing anything wrong.”
He squeezes my hand, then nods toward Grace. “Does she look happy to you?”
I look across at her. She’s hopping from foot to foot in excitement, gripping onto the handles of her backpack and waiting for us to catch up. Her face is full of color and full of life.
“Yes.”
“Then this isn’t wrong. This is all about her.”
“I’m nervous.” I look up at him, my brow furrowed in fear. “I’ve never lied to anyone before.”
“It’s not a lie. It’s more like an alternate reality.”
I laugh. “Now I know you’re talking shit.”
“I design computer games. What can I say? I have a vivid imagination.”
“Another lie. You don’t have an imagination. I don’t believe it.”
“When Grace was younger, she hated her story books. If it wasn’t a story I made up, she wasn’t interested. I told a different story every night for months, funny voices and everything.”
I laugh at the thought. All of a sudden, this deception feels like the most natural thing in the world. I’m genuinely enjoying being here. I almost wish it wasn’t a lie. It feels good to be living someone else’s life for a while; to not be sleeping on a sofa, single, and useless, worrying about when the next financial blow is going to come. At the moment, I am someone’s fiancée, looking forward to an enriched family life…Who wouldn’t want to live that fantasy for a while?
Rory
My day at Deno’s with Grace and Elise is a success. I had been nervous about the whole thing, and at first, Grace was hesitant toward her. But Elise didn’t force anything, keeping a respectful distance and letting my daughter choose how their relationship would go. Slowly, I watched as Grace began to warm up to Elise. By the end of the day, they spoke to each other easily. When I suggested that Elise come to the house for dinner, Grace had even been amenable to it.
When we arrived at the house, Alice had made one of her specialties—pork chops with mashed potatoes. We had all eaten together, Alice asking Elise about herself. Meanwhile, I watched Grace sleepily eat her food, the day at the amusement park tuckering her out. After dinner, I stand up and tell Grace it’s time for bed.
“Come on, Princess. You’ve had a big day. I’ll come up and tuck you in.”
Elise stays in the living room while I go upstairs with Grace. Overall, it’s been an unexpectedly pleasant day. I thought the whole thing would feel a lot more like a charade than it did. Instead, Elise and I spent the day talking and laughing, and Elise and Grace got on like they’d known each other forever. It felt good to see Grace chattering away to Elise with a big grin on her face.
Up in Grace’s bedroom, I pull the covers over her and turn on her nightlight. “So, what do you think of Elise?” I ask her. “Do you like her?”
Grace pulls a stuffed animal toward her and scratches its head pensively as she answers. “I like her. She’s funny.”
“She is funny, isn’t she?”
“She really screamed on that rollercoaster, didn’t she?” Grace giggles. “I was the brave one, wasn’t I, Daddy? I didn’t scream at all.”
“That’s right. You’re my little trooper.” I pause, sitting on the edge of Grace’s bed. “I have a question for you, Grace.” I examine her little face for her first reaction. “How would you feel if Elise came to live with us for a while?”
“Here?”
“Yes. Daddy and Elise get on really well, and I thought it would be fun if she was here with us. What do you think?”
Grace furrows her little brow together and frowns. “What about Alice?”
“Alice isn’t going anywhere, sweetheart.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
She thinks a while longer, then nods. “Okay.”
“Okay, Elise can stay with us?”
“If she wants to. As long as Alice doesn’t have to leave.”
“Alice is our friend, Grace. I would never make her leave if she didn’t want to. Besides, Daddy doesn’t know what he’d do without her.” I lean in and lower my voice conspiringly. “I still don’t know how to use the washing machine.”
Grace giggles. “Okay.” She nestles down into her pillows and then perks up like she’s remembered something. “Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Do you love Elise?”
“Do I love her?” I pause, stroking back Grace’s hair gently. “I like her a lot. She’s helped Daddy when he needed someone. She’s very smart, too. Very determined. A little like you, my princess.”
“I’m glad you’ve got a girlfriend.”
“You are?”
“Yes. I like to see you having fun.”
I smile. “You don’t think Daddy has fun?”
“No.” She pulls a face, scrunching up her nose. “You’re always so serious.”
“And I wasn’t serious today?”
“Last time we went to Deno’s, you wouldn’t even go on the Ferris wheel.”
“I’m scared of heights.”
“You went on it today.”
I laugh and lower my voice. “I didn’t want Elise to think I was a wuss.”
“I think she likes you too, Daddy.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. She was smiling a lot.”
I noticed that too. Elise had a bright smile on her face all day. I’d wondered if she was having a good time, or just dedicated to playing her role.
“So were you, Princess.” I tickle her until she screeches with laughter, then kiss her forehead. “I think we all had a good day. Now, get some sleep. Pancakes in the morning.”
There’s a smile on my face as I softly close the bedroom door and go back downstairs. It means a lot to me that Grace likes Elise. I’d do anything to keep Grace with me, and it definitely helps if she’s on board.
I go back to the living room where Elise is resting, her elbow propped up on the arm of the sofa and her head against her hand. She’s kicked off her shoes and has her socked feet curled up beneath her. Her eyes are closed, and she has a tired but content look on her face. She doesn’t look out of place there. She looks like she belongs in that very spot.
She looks up when I enter and smiles. “She get to bed okay?”
“She’s still buzzing from the day out.”
“She’s sweet.” Elise sits up and stretches. “She’s a lot like her daddy. I think you’ve got a very smart little girl there.”
“I think you’re right. Grace knows how to keep me on my toes. Whenever you tell her ‘no,’ she always has a counter-argument. I’ve seen better presentations from her on why she should get to stay up an extra hour past her bedtime than I’ve seen from some of the execs in my boardroom.”
Elise laughs. “What did she think of me? Do you know?”
“She really likes you.” I sit down beside her. “I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. She’s never seen me with a woman like that before.”
“You’ve never had girlfriends? Ever? Not even a date or something?”
I shake my head. “Not since Margot. For the past seven years, I’ve focused everything on my business and on Grace.” I lean back in my seat. “Even though this is all pretend, it’s still new to me.”
“You looked the part.” Elise smiles warmly. “I think we all did.”
“I’m glad. I’ve always wanted Grace to have a happy childhood.” I shake my head slowly. “I wanted her to have a better life than I did.”
“You mean you wanted her to stay away from drugs?”
“More than that.” I give Elise a cautious sideways glance. I want to trust her, but part of me is still reluctant to put my faith in a journalist. Still, I take the chance. “Off the record?”
“Off the record.”
“I grew up in foster care.
Did you know that?”
“I’d heard something about it.”
“My father was a mean old drunk.” I tap my foot up and down on the rug. “He had a real nasty streak. He was violent. Toward me, toward everyone.”
Elise places her hand on my knee. “I’m sorry.”
“I grew up being used to keeping my distance from my father. It was safer that way. Then, when I was thirteen, fate intervened.” I take my sobriety chip from my pocket and roll it between my fingers. “He killed a man.”
“Oh, my god.” Elise gasps.
“It was a bar fight that went too far. My dad threw a punch that was in the wrong place and just a little too hard. The other guy never got back up again, and my father went on the run. That’s when I was taken into care.”
“Where was your mother?”
“I never knew her. I think she left when I was a few years old, but I don’t remember her at all.”
“That’s terrible. Rory, I’m sorry. I never knew.”
“The point is, I didn’t want any of that for Grace. I wanted her to grow up knowing she is loved, never doubting it for a second. I wanted her to feel safe and secure, always.” I shake my head. “Now Margot has shown up and is threatening to take that away from her. God knows what kind of life she’d have with Margot. Maybe she wouldn’t be abused, but she wouldn’t be loved, either.”
I feel my throat tighten. “My upbringing made me who I am today, and god knows, I’m aware I’m a cold man. I went through my whole life without forming a real connection with anyone until Grace was born. I don’t want her to grow up damaged that way. I want her to connect with people, to form bonds with them. I want her to love and be loved.”
“She knows she’s loved.” Elise’s voice is soft and kind. She strokes back the hair at my temple; this is more than a pretend show of affection for onlookers. Elise is being genuine, and I want this to last forever. “You’re a good father. I do believe that.”
“I don’t know.” I stare at the sobriety chip in the palm of my hand. “I wonder if I’ve focused on the right things. When I was getting sober and shaping up, I was looking for a way to make money honestly. I’d been learning to code for years, so I wrote a basic app. You might remember the game, Hedgehogs.”
Elise smiles. “People went mad for it.”
“They did.” I chuckle. “It put enough money in my pocket to develop other games. Each one was more successful than the last. Before I knew it, my success had outgrown me, and I had to bring in more people, find a base. Then it just grew and grew and grew.
“The thing is, I never had a cut-off point. Maybe I should have. Maybe there should have been a point where I stepped back and focused on being a father. I’ve not spent as much time with Grace as I could have, and that’s why it’s so easy to target me now.”
I raise my hands and let them fall back into my lap. “I got hooked on success. I never thought I was ever going to amount to anything, and then suddenly, I was a millionaire, a billionaire. Perhaps I let my ego overtake my better judgment for what was best for my daughter. It simply felt good to beat the odds, coming from where I did.”
“I don’t think Grace feels neglected. She adores you. Anyone can see that.”
“Even a judge?” I raise an eyebrow.
She lays a hand on my shoulder. “That’s what we’re working on.”
“I can’t lose her, Elise. She’s everything to me.”
“We won’t stop fighting.”
Elise wraps her arms around my neck and draws me toward her. I close my eyes and press my lips down over hers. She kisses me back softly. A flood of warmth rushes through me.
I’ve never had someone in my life to comfort me like this.
It feels good.
Elise
I knew there was more to Rory Everest than meets the eye, and now that he’s sitting here telling me his life story, I understand why he’s so cold, so bitter. I also understand why his daughter is everything to him. That little girl is the only person he’s ever truly loved and who has ever truly loved him in return.
I feel emotional knowing that everything Rory holds dear is on the line, and I feel even more determined to help them—and not just for my own personal gain.
I draw back from our kiss. “I’m glad you’re telling me this.”
Rory scoffs. “Why?”
“Because if I’m going to be your wife—or pretend to be your wife—I should know who you really are.”
“My past isn’t who I am. This”—he gestures around the grand interior of his home—“is who I am. What I’ve worked for is who I am. It’s who I choose to be that matters.”
Rory might believe that, but I know there’s no escaping from a traumatic, lonely past. It has shaped him. It drives him. Everything he believes in derives from the childhood that was stolen from him and how desperate he is to break the cycle before his daughter falls victim to the same kind of loneliness.
“You should be proud of all you’ve accomplished.”
He straightens up. “I am.”
“Kiss me again, Rory.”
There’s a moment where he pauses, his eyes examining me closely. I have no idea what’s running through his mind, what kind of doubts or questions. Whatever he’s thinking, he decides to kiss me anyway.
Kissing him now feels different. There’s more beneath the surface of this charade. I’ve spent a day with Rory getting to know him and enjoying his company. He’s pulled back the curtain on a past he fights hard to keep hidden. We’re not strangers anymore.
Dare I say, we might even be friends?
Maybe more than that.
“Stay with me tonight,” he says in a low tone. “We can go for your things tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“Very sure. You are going to be a part of our family now. You might as well start tonight.”
I smile up at him as he steps back. “Okay.”
I feel a sense of belonging, and it warms me. I start down the hall toward the bedroom. He stops me, his hand wrapping around my arm. He pulls me back toward him, and he kisses me again.
“That’s the guest room,” he says. He looks up toward the balcony and leads me to the bottom of the staircase. “If you’re going to be my wife, you will need to sleep in my bed.”
I know that playing the role of Rory’s girlfriend, soon-to-be-wife, constitutes going through the proper motions, but something about this is too surreal to be just a role I need to play. The way he looks at me, the way he kisses me; is he really that good of an actor, or do I sense an affection coming from him?
He leads me up the stairs and around a corner to large doors that open up to a master bedroom bigger than Dayna’s entire apartment. I walk in, and my mouth drops open at the rich colors and elaborate details I see in his old Victorian style room.
“This is your bedroom?”
“It is.”
“It’s incredible.”
“What can I say? I like eccentric things.”
Large concrete pillars corner a massive king-sized bed with rich mahogany wood and burgundy blankets smothered by pillows. The curtains are pulled back from windows that reach from the carpeted floor to the porcelain ceiling. When I walk to one of the windows, the view is breathtaking. A sea of lights from the city pepper the streets beyond a garden and landscape hidden from the city by a stone wall.
“It is beautiful,” I say, looking out toward the gardens.
“Yes, it is,” he agrees, burying his face into the crook of my neck.
He pushes his body into mine, pinning me between him and the window, and I feel his hands all over me. I close my eyes, a thought overwhelming me of being exposed to someone on the streets below who happens to look up toward the mansion at this very moment.
“Do you trust me?” he whispers close to my ear.
Do I? For what we have done so far, yes. For what he wants to do to me… I turn my head and look at him as he loosens his tie and slides it off his neck. He wraps i
t loosely around my neck and pulls it, allowing the silk material to cascade over my skin. I shiver. He brings his hand up, and his fingers hold a condom. I feel myself nod as my lips part in anticipation of what he has in mind.
“I promise you that I will not hurt you. I only mean to bring you pleasure. I want this experience to be pleasurable for the both of us.”
“And what is it that brings you pleasure, Rory?”
“The reaction of a woman under my touch.”
His words feed my fire. I allow him to turn me back toward the window. His lips kiss my shoulder as he pulls his tie up to my face and covers my eyes with it, securing it tightly behind my head. He pulls my wrists up and rests my hands on the wall.
“Don’t move them,” he whispers.
My body starts to tremble, and I concentrate on the sounds around me.
His hands wrap around my ankles and slide slowly up my legs as I shift my weight evenly on my feet. Each inch he moves upward causes my breathing, my arousal, my desire for him to increase. I feel my dress being lifted, exposing my legs, my hips, slowly, my stomach, and up over my head it goes. His mouth is on my neck. He kisses me hard, his teeth biting playfully at my skin. My bra falls away from my breasts and is replaced by his hands, one on each breast. His fingers play with my nipples causing an intensity to flow through me.
I feel his hand slide down my stomach, his fingers lifting the elastic on my panties before sliding lower. I gasp when his fingers delve deep into the folds of my pussy now aching for more. He strokes me, his other hand caressing my nipple. My breath catches as his fingers slide into me, and I open my legs, one foot resting on a lower window pane. He pushes me forward. I feel my underwear slide over my butt and down my legs. I allow them to fall to the floor before resuming the position, his hands on my hips.
My thoughts keep wondering if anyone can see me. Was there light enough in the bedroom for outsiders to peer into the window and watch as he dominates my body? I can’t remember. But the thought quickly fades as I feel his cock press against me. He opens me up and pushes slowly inside, hesitating before moving back and forth. I hear him sigh deeply, his hands gripping my hips. A pressure builds between my legs as he fucks me slowly. His hands wrap around my wrists. He turns me around, picks me up and carries me until he sits me down on something soft. He lifts my arms, wrapping each one with a sort of strap. I hear him buckle it around each wrist. I am hooked to something above me, and I feel his hands on my thighs. He pushes my legs apart and scooches me forward to the edge of whatever I am sitting on. I feel his cock against me again, and he enters me. The seat falls away, and my legs wrap around him. He pushes inside me, jarring my body up and down as he picks up speed, grunting with each thrust into me.