Pretend Daddy

by Amy Brent

  Beau looked over at me in exasperation. I shrugged my shoulders indifferently because I had nothing to say. Not yet, at least.

  “Why don’t we get some water?” I suggested to Amber. “You said you were feeling thirsty on the way in.”

  “Yes,” Amber said, seizing hold of the cue with a grateful smile. “Thanks, Gage. I do need some water.”

  “Hurry back,” Beau said, waving to a couple who waved him over. “I have some people for you to meet tonight, Amber. Good men who can take care of you.”

  My fingers clenched into fists at that. I ushered Amber forward in the direction of a tub full of ice and bottled waters. She rested her hand gently on my forearm briefly in concern.

  “Are you okay?” she whispered. “You know that I’m not interested, right?”

  “I know,” I said smoothly. “I’m just ready to tell the truth, Amber. I’m ready to let the world know.”

  Amber picked out a bottled water. She shook the excess water and ice free while giving me a pleading look. “Just keep quiet for a little bit longer. This isn’t the place to do it. My father thinks he’s doing me a favor.”

  “I know. I know what he’s trying to do.”

  It was driving me crazy, too. My heart raged with jealousy at the thought of another man touching Amber. It was already killing me having to keep my distance as we navigated back through the crowded room when Amber suddenly tensed up beside me. Her fingers latched down onto my arm quickly.

  Alarm skittered through me as I turned to find her eyes wide and focused on something near the back doors.

  “What is it?” I asked, turning to look in that direction as well. “Who are you looking at?”

  “It’s Scott,” Amber whispered, her nails digging into my shirt sleeve. “Let’s go, Gage. I don’t know why he’s here.”

  I resisted Amber’s tugs on my arm. Just seeing that smug look on Scott’s face was enough to set my blood on fire. My vision went red when Scott’s beady eyes settled on us, and he approached without hesitation.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded, putting myself between him and Amber. “You aren’t on the guest list. I’m sure of that.”

  Scott sneered in my direction as he looked over my shoulder to where Amber was cowering behind me.

  “I’m here for my wife,” he said loudly. Heads turned in our direction. “I’d like to thank you for keeping her safe and sound, Gage. Very noble of you to do so.”

  “Ex-wife,” I corrected coldly. “I don’t care how much you threaten us, you abusive prick. I’m sure you’re a big man when you’re smacking a woman around. Try that shit here and I’ll rip your fucking balls off.”

  “Gage,” Amber whispered harshly. “Don’t do this. Don’t make a scene.”

  “I’m sure Beau Roselynn would love those photographs of you and her,” Scott continued on boldly. “I didn’t think Amber could bend in those positions. Good to know for the future.”

  My vision went from red to black. I was dimly aware of the sound of bones crunching beneath my knuckles. Gasps filled the air. I found Scott huddled on the ground with a stream of blood pouring from nose as he clutched at his face with howl of pain.

  “Go ahead,” I snarled, loosening my cuff links just in case this needed to continue. “Threaten her again, you piece of shit. I’ll break more than your fucking nose. And release those photos. I don’t care anymore. It doesn’t matter after tonight.”

  Scott stumbled up to his feet. His eyes glittered with anger as he glanced over at Amber, who stood behind me with her hand clasped over her mouth in horror.

  “We’ll see how you much you don’t care,” he said. “Get used to being called a whore, Amber. That’s what everyone is going to think come noon tomorrow. I bet my entire damn life and kid on it.”

  “Get the fuck out of here,” I said, taking another step forward. “Don’t make me ask you again, or you’ll be crawling out of here.”

  I raised my fist, and Scott scurried in the direction of the back doors like the fucking rat he was. A stunned silence still followed Scott’s retreat as security filed out the door to make sure that Scott left. I turned to look back at Amber, who looked torn between relief and anger. She glanced around at the crowd of onlookers with a grimace.

  “What the hell are you thinking?” she asked.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, grasping her hand briefly. “You’ll see what I’m thinking here in a minute.”

  I grabbed a champagne glass from the table to tap it with the side of a knife to gain everyone’s attention. I waited until the room was completely silent before grabbing ahold of Amber’s hand in my own.

  “I need everyone’s attention,” I announced, squeezing Amber’s fingers tightly. “Amber and I have an announcement to make together, but I have to ask her something important first.”

  I caught sight of Beau pushing through the crowd with a frown. Sucking in a deep breath, I turned to look at Amber who was shaking like a leaf in a cold autumn wind. Her eyes widened visibly when I smiled comfortingly.

  “Everyone. I’m in love with Amber Roselynn. I’ve been in love with her for over a year now. The baby that she is carrying right now is my baby. I am the father of this child.”

  Chapter 28

  Amber

  “Everyone, I’m in love with Amber Roselynn. I’ve been in love with her for over a year now. The baby that she is carrying right now is my baby. I am the father of this child.”

  Gage’s voice echoed loudly in the room. The Christmas music had stopped suddenly when Scott ended up on the floor, howling in pain. Blood had spurted from his nostrils, followed by the sickening crunch of bones beneath Gage’s knuckles. All within a matter of seconds.

  My heart pounded furiously at the mixed reactions from the crowd surrounding us. I wanted to slap Gage across the face. I wanted to ask him what the hell was he doing? This was not how I wanted my father to find out. My emotions were wavering from one extreme to the other. I couldn’t even bear looking over at him to see what his reaction was. Hushed and stunned silence followed Gage’s announcement.

  “Gage,” I started, voice shaky with emotions. “What the hell are you doing?”

  His fingers squeezed mine consolingly. “I’m tired of lying to everyone, Amber. It’s time to tell everyone that I’m in love with you.” Gage’s eyes threatened to burn holes into my own from the intensity of his own stare. “I don’t care what some of the people in this room are going to think of the both of us. Age is just a number to the both of us. I lost my wife to cancer. I watched her slip away from me every single day to that disease until she was no longer here. I didn’t think that I would be able to love someone ever again because I didn’t want to get close enough to love. I was afraid that I would lose someone that way again, and it terrified me beyond anything. That’s when you came into my life, Amber.” Tears filled my eyes as my heart swelled with love. “I’m not a religious man, but I can tell you that I believe that God brings people together for a reason. Even when we don’t see it, or don’t understand it, there is a reason why people are in our lives. I fell in love with your spirit this past year. You are a wonderful mother to not only Ethan, but to my child. And to our unborn baby. You’ve filled the hole in my heart that I thought would be empty for the rest of my life.”

  Gage let go of my hand and pulled a small box from the pocket of his suit jacket. I could barely hear over the pounding of my heart as Gage looked up at me with a loving smile. He went down on one knee while opening the small black box to reveal a diamond ring.

  “Amber Roselynn,” he said. “I was going to ask you this in Florida, but we were rudely interrupted there. Will you marry me?”

  A series of whispers echoed in the conference room. I could barely see straight from the tears in my eyes and from the emotions heaving inside of me. I glanced around the room to see a mixed reaction of shock and disapproval, but I didn’t care. I no longer cared what the rest of the world thought.

  I loved Gage Devlin.
I didn’t want to live my life without him by my side.

  “Yes,” I whispered, holding out a trembling hand for him. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  Gage slipped the ring onto my finger with a happy grin. He stood up to gather me into his arms. Our lips met in a passionate kiss. An awkward and confused chorus of claps came, followed by a few cheers, but I paid little attention to it. We were together. That was all that counted in my eyes.

  Christmas music started up suddenly. The crowd around us started to move again when I pulled back to smile happily down at the beautiful ring on my finger. It fit perfectly.

  “I can’t believe you,” I said breathlessly. “You planned this whole entire thing tonight, didn’t you?”

  “Not in this particular order,” Gage replied, shrugging with a grin. “I had planned it a bit differently, but I did have intentions of asking you to marry me tonight.”

  “You’re sneaky.”

  “Sneakier than I ever thought he was,” Beau said.

  The sound of my father’s voice, tinged with confusion and anger, fell over the both of us. I turned to look at him, but I didn’t get a chance to say a word. He gestured stiffly for Gage and me to follow him out into the quiet and cold lobby, away from prying ears.

  I grabbed Gage’s hand anxiously while a part of me squirmed happily knowing that I was free to do so now. We followed my father’s rigid shoulders through the crowd of people until the doors were closed behind us on the conference room. He turned to look Gage directly in the eye.

  “This is my daughter,” he said, voice a deadly calm. “I asked you to look after her. To care for her as your own child. This is how you repay me?”

  “Dad,” I started.

  “It’s okay, Amber,” Gage said, not breaking eye contact with my father. “I understand where he is coming from. Just know, Beau, that I never meant to disrespect you. Amber and I never planned for this to happen. It happened without either one of us pushing it to happen. I love your daughter. I would never do anything to hurt her. You know who I am.”

  My father couldn’t argue with that. I could see it on his face as he looked over at me. “And you, Amber? Do you love him?”

  “More than anything in this world,” I said passionately. “He’s never mistreated me. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted. This relationship and marriage is going to happen, no matter what. I just hope that you can give us both your blessing.”

  Gage squeezed my hand with a small smile. I tried to read the expression on my father’s face, but it was pointedly guarded. He chewed on his lower lip for a moment before letting out a sigh.

  “I can’t say that I didn’t have my suspicions that something was going on,” he said slowly. “I was just praying that it wasn’t what I thought it was. I guess it wasn’t, in a way.” He looked back at me with a frown. “I can’t say that I am happy that the both of you lied to me, but you are my daughter. I will support you in whatever you want to do.”

  “This is what I want.” I gazed up at Gage with a smile. “I’ve wanted Gage for a while. I’ll be happy with him. He has protected and cared for me every single day that I’ve been with him.”

  “You’ll need that once news of this is leaked. Expect the press to be all over you two, so I suggest leaving here while you still can.”

  I hesitated as Gage signaled for our coats. “What about you? I can’t just leave here, knowing that you’re going to get hounded with questions.”

  “I’ll be fine,” my father said, nodding at me. “I’ve handled things in the past just fine. Just make sure that my daughter is safe, Gage.”

  “You know that I will,” Gage replied, helping me into my coat. “Come on, Amber. Your father is right. If we don’t leave now, the press will be all over us.”

  My father nodded encouragingly as he pulled out his phone. “Go on. Listen to what your fiancé is saying. I’ll be in touch with you two tomorrow.”

  I embraced my father tightly, pouring all my relief and appreciation into the touch. He hugged me back just as tightly.

  The cold night air rushed to greet us the second that Gage opened the City Hall doors. I didn’t feel cold, though, as we both hurried down the stone steps in the direction of our parking spot. I was giddy with excitement as Gage helped me up into the truck, with a grin that spread from ear to ear.

  “Are you ready, Mrs. Soon-to-be Devlin?” Gage asked, turning the truck on to blast us both with warm air. “I have a hotel room booked for us on the other side of Bozeman.”

  I leaned across the center console to kiss him on the lips. “I’m ready, Mr. Devlin. I can’t believe this is happening now.”

  “Soon or later, it had to happen. Everyone will eventually move on to accept our future together.”

  “I hope so,” I replied, sitting back down in the seat to buckle myself in. “Let’s get out of here before the media shows up. I’m sure people are in there contacting various papers.”

  “We will be long gone before they are even here, baby.”

  Chapter 29

  Gage

  The hotel suite was decorated the way I had requested the night before. Rose petals were scattered all over the hotel suite when I pushed the door open to let Amber step inside. She took in the rose petals with a stunned smile as she passed by me with her boots in hand.

  I made sure to lock the door after placing the “do not disturb” sign on the door knob. Reaching up to loosen the tie at my neck, I tossed the garment off to the side while I shrugged out of my jacket.

  Wife.

  The title felt right in my heart as I followed Amber through the hotel suite as she explored with a giddy smile. We were both floating, free of having to protect our relationship from the spotlight. It was out there now. It was one hundred percent out there for the world to take it as they would. Neither one of us cared any longer.

  I waited until Amber stopped next to the king-sized bed to run her fingers through the rose petals with a smile. She looked up at me, eyes blazing with love and desire. I took two steps forward to wrap my arms around her growing waist firmly. Her belly bumped against me while our bodies pushed to be close as possible. Our mouths collided together in a passionate kiss that sent every ounce of my blood pouring into my groin.

  I swept a hand through Amber’s hair to work it free of its messy bun before clutching the back of her head to deepen the kiss. Her mouth opened without a protest to tangle her tongue against mine in a battle of dominance. She tasted of fresh winter air, along with her vanilla chapstick lingering on the inside of her lips.

  Her fingers tugged my shirt free from my belt and pants while I worked on the zipper of her dress. Buttons from my shirt popped in the air when Amber tugged at the fabric of my shirt in a groan of aggravation. I paid the favor back by tugging until I heard the fabric of her dress around the zipper tear in response to my own insistent fingers. I wanted her naked, squirming beneath me. I wanted her for the first time without any guilt and worry that someone would walk by hearing our lovemaking. Or worrying that someone was pushing a camera lens in our direction. There was something liberating about it. I felt free to enjoy the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

  It didn’t take long for either one of us to shed our clothes into the abyss alongside the bed. My heart was threatening to burst from joy as I gazed down at her breasts, heavy from pregnancy, and the big belly that our daughter was growing in safely with each passing day. Her legs were fuzzy, unable to shave because of her stomach, and I chuckled in amusement when I ran my hands down her legs when she tried to jerk them back in embarrassment.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I don’t expect you to be perfectly smooth every single time. It doesn’t help that you can’t see your legs, or reach them, either.”

  “It’s still embarrassing,” Amber said.

  I took a couple of pillows from the bed to prop up behind Amber’s shoulders. She settled against them with a comfortable sigh. I took hold of her swollen ankles to rub them tender
ly before trailing kisses up the inside of her leg to the core of her. A moan escaped Amber’s lips as her hips rolled to match the movements of my fingers and tongue. I kept going until I felt spasms rock Amber’s body a few minutes later. I went to slide between her legs, but Amber pushed me back to stretch out on the mattress beneath of her.

  I groaned at the slick sensation of hot and tight heat when she lowered herself down on me with a trembling gasp. She rocked against me in an excruciatingly slow fashion that had the both of us writhing against one another. The pressure in my lower back began to build as I gripped Amber’s hips to increase the rhythm. Her head tilted back to reveal her swollen breasts as they bounced. Our fevered moans filled the room. I reached up to grip her breasts firmly, mindful of their soreness. That tipped Amber back over again in a second orgasm that milked me into my own.