We all left and I drove Lucy to my house, needing some quality time alone with her. I’d get Riley later and we’d do something together since I was certain that I’d won custody of her today. I unlocked the door and pulled Lucy through it, into my arms.
Lucy kissed me as she wrapped her legs around my body and I took us to my bed. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders as I dropped her onto the bed and reached for the tie of her dress. Lucy helped me out of my suit and dropped to her knees to take me into her mouth. I reached for her wild curls. She was a beautiful woman, yet I could still see the girl that I knew all those years ago. I looked down, thankful for our second chance.
I moved her to her back, kissing her from her thighs to her mouth as she moaned my name. She was so hot and ready for me. I sucked on her nipples as I cupped her breasts. I could have sworn that her breasts were bigger as I drew her between my teeth and she let out a slow moan. “Max,” Lucy moaned as I moved to her lips and kissed her hungrily before sliding inside of her. We both cried out with feeling as I filled her perfect body. Lucy started moving with me and I realized that she’d been particularly eager with me as of late.
We rocked together as she wrapped herself around me, finding my lips as I continued to thrust into her. I was on the edge of coming when she tightened around me and screamed my name. I followed suit as she clawed my back and wept my name, coming hard right before I did.
We made love again before she dropped her face to my chest and laughed. “I have something to tell you, Max.”
“That you love me?” I asked as she looked at me with warm eyes before kissing my skin.
“That too, but I’m pregnant.” I pulled her closer as she laughed. “I’ve known for a week or so, but we had this court date and I wanted to focus on that. I was scared. I don’t know.”
I kissed her and slid my hand between us. “I’m so happy. We’re going to have a family. There’s no way the judge will give Blake custody of Riley. Still, though, I’ve been wanting to tell you that I love you for a while. Today was perfect.”
“It was,” she agreed as our lips met again.
Epilogue – Lucy
The decision came in a week and I hugged Max as he told me that Riley was ours. We were starting to go to hospital visits for the new baby and Riley couldn’t have been more excited once we told her about it.
We had a BBQ to celebrate everything a few weekends later. The neighbors and our parents came with plenty of food to go along with the meat that Max was grilling. I made an apple pie in his forgotten cast iron pan as well as some salads and Max smiled at me as he walked into the kitchen for a beer and the platter of chicken, tri-tip, and sausages.
We decided to keep his current house. It had four bedrooms we could work with for now and it was in a perfect place for our kids. We were in the process of moving my things over from the apartment, though Violet assured us that she wasn’t going to be renting it out any longer. Since I came here with so little furniture, I sold what was in a storage unit and we kept Max’s things.
The party ran late into the night, with kids swimming, adults drinking and talking, and music playing through the air. I sipped my sparkling water and watched it all happen, happy beyond belief.
Once everyone started drifting home for the night and we tucked an exhausted Riley into bed, he took me back outside. I looked at him as he surveyed the yard, messy with play and the party. He licked his lips and looked back at me. “This is the best day of my life,” he told me. I agreed and nodded. “I want this for the rest of my life, Lucy. I want this with you.” He dropped to the grass on one knee as I gasped. “Will you marry me?”
“I already said yes,” I told him as I showed him my ring finger.
“I know, but I want to do this for real. I want you to know how much I love you and want to marry you,” he said as he pulled something out of his pocket. “I bought that ring with court in mind – it looked like you. I want you to keep it somewhere. But I bought this new ring for Lucy, the love of my life.” He opened the box and I saw another ring of small diamonds with a square stone as the focal point and a matching diamond band. It had a vintage look to it. I smiled at him as he reached for my left hand.
“This is so me,” I agreed as I kissed him softly. “I love you.”
“I love you. We’re setting a wedding date soon. I’m sick of waiting,” he told me and I laughed. We switched rings and made our way back into the house, locking the door and going to the bedroom so he could prove to me how much he loved me.
*****
THE END
Hungry Boss
Description
What do you do when the hottest, most annoying billionaire on the planet wants a fake marriage... with you?
I’m a twenty-eight-year-old gal, saving myself for the one.
The perfect one. So definitely not for him.
He’s one of the world’s most famous playboys and not interested in relationships.
Did I mention he’s my boss? He is.
But he’s in trouble.
His old man has given him an ultimatum: he has to settle down in three months or he won’t be president of the family’s multi-billion company.
One mistake, one night with too much liquor, and I wake up married to the guy in Vegas the next day.
So we just get an annulment, right?
Right. Until he makes me an offer I can’t refuse.
He’ll give me the thing I want most if I continue with our legal but unconsummated marriage.
What’s a girl to do?
Chapter One
Matt Cross made the trip to his father’s office feeling like he had as a small child when he’d been called into the old man’s study. Somehow, in some way, he had disappointed his father yet again. The elevator dinged and he got off on the old man’s floor.
Bypassing his father’s assistant, who just waved at him with a smile, Matt knocked on the door and let himself in. His father, Richard, was on the telephone when Matt entered, so he made his way to the small bar and poured himself a bourbon. It was too early, but if he were going to get lectured, he needed the drink.
He settled on the leather couch as his father finished up his phone call. Running a multi-billion dollar luxury hotel chain was hard work—and it was work that Matt looked forward to undertaking. His sister was a stay-at-home mom with four kids. She didn’t come anywhere near the business.
Their parents were well into their late-thirties before they had married, and forty before Matt was born. Matt was thirty—young to take on such a role—but his father was seventy now and ready to retire.
Matt had worked for the company since graduating college at twenty-one. He’d worked his way up to a vice-president position. It didn’t take a lot of thinking to conclude that he would become CEO and president when his father retired in just three months.
Finally, his father hung up the conference call and gave Matt an assessing look. “It’s a little early for alcohol, isn’t it?”
“I’m still on London time. It’s past five there.”
Richard shrugged. “Well, thankfully, I’m not here to talk about your drinking. That’s one problem you don’t have.”
Matt leaned forward on the couch. “Exactly what problem do I have?”
“Flitting around the world, for starters.”
“I don’t flit, father. I travel for work.”
“Meh, there’s no point in it, son.” Richard waved a hand in dismissal and sat back in his buttery cream leather executive chair. He left one hand to rest on the steel and glass modern desk.
“I fix the problems no one else can handle. Those hotels, every one, are either in crisis or running at a loss. Without my intervention, those locations would have been shut down within the year.”
“You’re putting out fires. When you’re this high in the company, you don’t put out fires. You hire good managers who can do it for you.”
Matt stood up to pace his father’s large office. “Why h
ire someone to do something I can do better?”
“You’ve got to learn to look at the big picture. You’ll never become CEO at this rate.”
Frozen, Matt stared at his father. His blood turned to ice water in his veins. “What the hell does that mean?”
With a sigh, his father leaned his head back against the headrest on his seat. “It means that I’m considering making Gary interim CEO and president until you get your life together.”
“My life is together. What is this about? And don’t tell me it’s just about how I do my job because I can tell that it’s not.”
“I’m talking about marriage and children. Things you’ll be—you are, the way you work—too busy for if I make you president. Without an heir, who will this company be passed down to?”
Matt threw himself into a soft armchair in front of the desk and ran a hand through his perfectly trimmed hair. He’d tried marriage once already, when he was younger. He’d wed his college sweetheart. Matt had insisted they didn’t need a prenup because they were so in love. Months before he turned twenty-five and came into his trust fund worth billions, he caught her cheating on him. They’d divorced and she’d taken half of what he had at the time.
Now, he knew women were only interested in him for his money. He dated the most beautiful actresses and models. He bought them jewelry, paid for expensive trips, took them shopping. It satisfied both their desires. He had no intention of ever marrying again. “Diane has four children, in case you’ve forgotten. Your legacy is already assured.”
“She’s not raising them to be in the business. You knew how to balance a ledger at twelve. How to—”
“Yes, yes. You did a good job, father. What’s your point, is what I’m wondering.” Matt picked up his forgotten bourbon and took a sip. It burned going down his throat, but it was a welcome heat.
“I need to see some maturity from you, son. Prove your worth to this company, learn to see the big picture, and, damn it, date someone for more than a month. Settle down.”
“You’re retiring in three months. You expect me to do all this before then?”
“If you can somehow swing a miracle, that’d be nice. Otherwise, Gary will take your place, until you’re ready to head this company.”
The unfairness of it all threatened to erupt from him, but his father would see that as no more than a petty, and childish tantrum. Matt did, indeed, need a miracle. He needed some way he could convince his father he was ready to take the company into the future, without becoming tied down with an unappreciative wife and a few kids he’d never have time for.
***
Brooke Monroe was already late for work, but Matt would understand. He knew she had obligations to help her father care for himself. She’d made him breakfast and he was trying the new weighted fork she’d purchased from a website for people with Parkinson’s. Her dad had been diagnosed seven years ago, before her mother’s death. He’d went downhill quite a bit since becoming a widower.
Brooke made her way through the small kitchen into the cluttered living room. She couldn’t find her keys anywhere. This place was wrecked. She tried to make strides on it when she actually got to be at home instead of traveling for work, but there was just too little room with her and her father’s things piled into the two-bedroom apartment. They’d had to sell the family home to cover her mother’s medical bills after she died.
And that was her biggest problem now—her dad should be in an assisted living home, but his insurance refused to cover it. She picked up a box of old records and her keys fell to the floor. She assumed her father must’ve moved the box last night onto her keys without realizing.
The CNA who came by twice a week would be in today to check on her father and make sure he took his medication and had a good lunch. On other days, Brooke had to lay everything out, labeled with post-it notes detailing which pills he should take and when, what container his lunch was in, and how long should he heat it.
When she went out of town, her friend Carrie, a child psychologist, checked in on her dad and helped take care of him. She was utterly indebted to Carrie for the help, but Carrie herself always said she had no family of her own to care for, so she liked helping.
“I’m leaving now, Daddy. Bye!”
“This fork is great, Brooke. It’s helping a lot.”
She paused, door open. Her dad tended to be impulsive now and focused on what entered his mind at the time. Sometimes, like when she was late for work, it was a struggle to be patient, but she tried so hard. “That’s great. I’m going now. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Have a good day at work.”
Brooke rushed out to her car and turned the key. It roared to life. She wished she’d had time to warm it up some. Mornings were still pretty chilly here in Chicago, but she’d just have to let her coat do its job and keep her warm.
She mused to herself, making the drive to the business sector, how she could do more for her father. Without more money, she couldn’t. She made enough to support herself; his income paid for his medications, co-pays, and insurance. There just wasn’t any extra, even between the two of them, to pay for more care or the assisted living home she’d found. If only she’d win the lottery. Unfortunately, Brooke was far too practical to squander her money playing the lottery, so it seemed unlikely.
She just felt so awful for her dad. Her parents had had the perfect marriage—this wasn’t the life they’d envisioned sharing together one day.
And she didn’t know when—between traveling for work and taking care of her father—she’d ever get the chance to meet the perfect man for her. Besides all that, who would believe she wanted to wait until marriage before having sex when she traveled constantly with one of the world’s most famous playboys?
Never mind that she was halfway in love with her boss—who would never settle down again in a million years. Matt was so generous and understanding. It was a shame he was so against loving again. Not like she had a chance with someone like him anyway. He dated supermodels and famous actresses.
It was with a lot on her mind that Brooke finally pulled into her parking space at work, a perk Matt insisted she needed. She rushed upstairs and got off of one elevator just as Matt was getting off another.
“Miss Monroe, you finally made it.”
He called her Brooke most of the time. He only called her Miss Monroe because she had the same platinum blonde hair and clear blue eyes as Marilyn Monroe. The comparison ended there; where Marilyn was curvy, Brooke was thin and petite. Mostly, Matt knew it annoyed her.
“Yes, Mr. Cross.” That annoyed him worse. He hated formality when they worked so closely together. Brooke had told Matt all about her father and the duties she had to take care of for him.
He’d offered to pay for the assisted living home, but Brooke couldn’t bring herself, no matter how much she needed it, to accept such a gift. How would she hold her head up, knowing how very much it cost, how much she owed him?
“Stop calling me that.” They fell into step together as they made their way to his office. “We’re leaving for Vegas this evening.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. We just got back from London.”
“I know, but it can’t be helped.” He opened the door for her and she settled in at her desk. She had messages to go through, correspondence to sort. So much work to do since they’d been in London for five days.
She looked up when he didn’t leave. He just stood in front of her desk. “Is something wrong?”
“How was everything at home today?”
“It’s pretty obvious I’ve had a rough morning—I’m an hour late. Why?”
“It’s nothing. I’m going out for the rest of the day. You leave here by three, so you can pack, and meet me at the airport at eight.”
“You’ve already booked our flight?” She found it hard to believe Matt could do that on his own. She was his right hand, and she knew it. It paid well and at least she had job security. That was more than a lot of people could
say.
He backed away from her desk, lifting his hand in a goodbye salute. “Had someone else do it. See you tonight.”
Perfect. She had five hours to get through the mountain of paperwork on her desk.
***
Thank God, Brooke had managed to make it to the airport before boarding. Now they sat in their first class seats and the plane had just taken off. It wouldn’t be as long as a transatlantic flight, like last time.
“I don’t know why we don’t ride in business class, Matt. Flying in first class makes me feel like I’m bilking the company.”
“It’s my choice to fly in first class. I’m a VP so it’s not an issue. I’d pay the difference if it was.” He settled back into his padded seat. “I like first class.”
“But I’m not a VP. I’m just your assistant. You should at least put me in business class.”
“If I did that, who would I talk to during the flight?”
She quirked her lips and shook her head. “You’re incorrigible.”
After a few minutes, she stood. “I’m going to go to the restroom. Watch out for the cougar up the aisle. I think she recognizes you.”
“And you’re going to leave me here to be devoured by a hungry cougar?”
“Your own fault for dating all those famous women.” She headed down the aisle.
It only took a minute for the woman to unbuckle her seat belt, make her way over, and sit down in Brooke’s seat. “You’re Matt Cross. I recognized you from that article in People. It’s a shame about your breakup last week.”
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