Everything for Her

by Alexa Riley

  “Oz.” I drop my head in my hands in exasperation.

  “Loophole, baby,” he says, and smacks me on the butt. “Now put something on. They’re setting up in the dining room.”

  He walks out of the closet before I can ask him what he means by that. I shake my head, having no time to fight with him. I walk over to the first rack of clothes. I thumb through a few pieces and check for something comfortable. But as I push the hangers, I notice something on all the tags.

  Maternity.

  My stomach does a flip, and I think about my period, which is supposed to arrive any day now. Oz must really want this if he’s already planning for it. After a moment, I come up with a plan.

  I go over to another rack and see they’re normal clothes, so I grab a tank top with a built-in bra and a pair of yoga pants so I don’t have to worry about underwear. Though God knows if he bought me a closet full of clothes, he probably bought those, too.

  Walking out of the closet, I stop and listen for Oz. I hear him talking down the hall so grab my purse from the dresser. I pull out the burner phone Paige got me the night we sneaked out and turn it on.

  I send her a quick text, hoping she has it turned on, and wait. After a second she texts back, and I’m both relieved and nervous at the same time.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Mallory

  * * *

  Two hours later, I’m being buffed and polished to within an inch of my life.

  Kimmi was here briefly to drop off the secret gown, now hanging next to my new wardrobe. She left already, but gave me a mischievous smile on her way out.

  There are two people here to do my nails and toes and a third to do my makeup and hair. I’ve been plucked and scrubbed, and as the gel finishes setting, Paige walks into the dining room. She’s got her purse over her arm, and I stare at it.

  “Hey,” she says, looking me up and down, then glances around the room. “Where’s Oz?”

  “He wanted to get some work done while I was getting pampered.” I look at the women working on me and smile. “Do you ladies mind if I take a break? It’s almost lunchtime. Maybe we all should.”

  Oz had a few platters of food brought in, and Paige is already halfway to finishing a sandwich.

  They all agree, and I get up from my chair and walk to the bedroom with Paige following me. When we get there, I drag her into the master bathroom and lock the door behind us.

  “Don’t you think this is a bit suspicious?” she says in a hushed voice.

  “Just give it to me.” I hold out my hand and wait.

  Paige unzips her purse and pulls out the pregnancy test, slapping it into my hand.

  “You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get that, Mal. I think Captain popped a blood vessel when he saw what I was buying.” She gives me a smile that looks a little evil, and I would laugh if I wasn’t so scared.

  “I threw away all the packaging so you wouldn’t get busted with the trash lying around. But I read it all. One line, not pregnant. Two lines, you’re knocked up. It seems pretty easy to use.”

  I nod and look at the stick, walk over to the toilet, and sit down. I hold the stick and try not to pee on my hand as I do what Paige tells me to. After I’m finished, I set it on the counter, and then get up, washing my hands.

  “You okay?” Paige asks, and looks at me nervously.

  “Yeah. I’m scared, but I don’t know why. I love Oz, and he loves me. Having a baby with him would be wonderful, but I’m antsy about it. I’m probably pregnant with all the sex we have and all the protection we don’t use.”

  Paige laughs and nudges my shoulder. “Do you feel pregnant? Have you been sick?”

  “No, not at all. But I’ve never been pregnant before, so what do I know?”

  “This is a big deal, Mal. But I know you, and you wouldn’t have done any of this if you weren’t sure. Maybe even if it’s in the back of your mind, I think you knew from day one with Miles that he was it.”

  I nod and a warmth spreads over me. She’s right. I knew deep down he’s it for me. And if our love made a child, then I’ll be the happiest woman in the world.

  Paige checks her watch, and then nods at me. I walk over to the test and pick it up, my fingers nearly shaking. When I look at it, my heart falls when I see there’s only one line on it.

  “Negative.” Paige confirms what I see.

  “Mallory? Paige?” Oz says, knocking on the bathroom door.

  Panicked, I open the bottom cabinet and hide the test under a roll of toilet paper. I stand up and look at Paige, who has her arms out like she doesn’t know what to do.

  “Be right out, Oz,” I say, and try not to sound like I’m up to something. “Paige, um, Paige had to help me go to the bathroom so I wouldn’t mess my nails up,” I rush, trying to cover my fumble.

  Paige gives me two thumbs-up, and I put my hands to my mouth so I don’t panic.

  “Okay,” Oz says, but doesn’t sound convinced. “I’ll be in the dining room when you guys are finished.”

  We wait another minute or two before we take a breath and exit the bathroom.

  “Damn, that was close,” Paige says, and for some reason her words sting.

  I’m not pregnant, and I’m surprised at how sad that thought makes me.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Mallory

  * * *

  “I can’t believe I agreed to this.” Oz runs his finger down between my breasts. The simple touch sends goose bumps up my arms. I lick my lips and look up at him. We’ve only been here twenty minutes and Oz hasn’t released me from his hold. I’ve been pressed up against him since I walked out of our building. In fact, I think he’s even avoiding people by keeping us hostage in a little corner of the ballroom.

  “See, you’re cold. You should take my jacket.” He goes to take off his jacket, making me laugh.

  “I’m fine.” I smile up at him and he scowls.

  “I’m going to have a talk with Ms. Ford about the things she picks out for you,” he mumbles, more to himself than to me as he looks around the room. He moves himself a little, blocking me from view, and I have to fight a smile.

  “Are we going to hide in this corner all night?” I mold myself into him more, trying to cool some of his caveman tendencies. Tension rolls though his body under his jacket. He’s wearing an onyx-black tux and a matching dress shirt. But he’s not wearing a tie tonight. Instead, he’s got the top button of his shirt undone, and his sexy neck is on display. Every time his Adam’s apple moves, I want to run my tongue across its ridge. He looks dark tonight dressed in all black, and I’m having a hard time controlling my dark desires.

  Reaching up, I wrap my arms around his neck, and it makes him look back down at me. I lift up on my tiptoes, and he meets me halfway, putting a soft kiss on my lips. “I’m only yours. I promise,” I tell him when I pull back.

  “I know. But I don’t like fuckers looking.” His hand rests on my back, then slides down to my ass, giving it a small squeeze. I kiss his exposed neck before dropping back down.

  “Oh, sorry, I got some lipstick on you.” I swipe at the shimmer on his neck, but he stops me.

  “Leave it.” He squeezes my ass one more time, then pulls me into his erection. It digs into my stomach, and he makes a grunting noise. “I like your mark on me. You should have let me leave one of my own.”

  Bending down, he kisses my neck, but I pull back before he can deepen it. “No more hickeys. At least where anyone can see them.” He smiles against my neck, and I’m happy that his inner caveman is appeased. For now.

  “Not the kind of mark I was talking about. I meant between your legs. I think I would have felt a hell of a lot better about you in this dress if I knew that right now you had me coating your thighs.” He takes a little bite of my neck, and I shi
ver with desire. “And your pussy.”

  My core clenches at his words, but I only tilt my head more for him. I wish we’d done what he’s saying, but that would’ve been hard with security waiting for us in the living room when I’d come out ready to go. Which is probably why he didn’t mark me to begin with.

  “Miles,” a man says. Oz tenses a little at the sound of his name, and he reluctantly lets me go. He turns around, and I redden even more at being caught having a little make-out session.

  “Tom.” Oz pulls me close to his side with one hand. With his other, he reaches out to shake the speaker’s hand. He looks to be in his midfifties with salt-and-pepper hair, and I get the sense I’ve seen him before, but I can’t place where. Like everyone else here, he’s dressed in a tux that probably cost more than I make in a year.

  Tom looks at me with curiosity. I saw a few of those looks from others when we walked in together. Oz said people aren’t used to seeing him with a date, unless his mom comes with him.

  “Mallory, this is Tom Sanders. He works in real estate.” Tom reaches out to shake my hand. It’s then I realize where I’ve seen him before. His face is plastered on buildings and buses around the city.

  He takes my hand and bends to kiss it, but Oz grabs my wrist, pulling my hand back and kissing it himself. The other man laughs.

  “Never thought I’d see the day,” he says, and for some reason, I feel a sense of pride. Oz has only ever wanted me.

  I look around the room and see others looking at us, but they turn away when my eyes meet theirs. There might have been some buzz about Oz and me possibly dating, but everyone will know now that it’s much more than that.

  “The day was long ago. She’s been mine for years, just not here in the city for me to be able to bring her along,” Oz corrects, making me smile up at him. Every time I tell him we might be moving too fast, he always corrects me, too. He says we’ve been together since the day he laid eyes on me, and I roll my eyes. But inside, I always melt. It’s still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this man waited years to be with me. Which makes me understand even more why Oz is so stingy with sharing me. He’s waited all this time, and he’s selfish when it comes to me. How could I not adore that?

  “No more Vivien then?” I can see the disappointment in the man’s face, and it sparks my interest. I’d never even thought about Oz’s mom dating, but clearly Tom’s interested if the look on his face is anything to go by.

  “Not tonight,” is all Oz offers, and even I’m a little disappointed at that.

  “I’ve seen your face around on buildings, haven’t I?” I ask, drawing Tom’s eyes back to me.

  “God, those things are haunting me.” He laughs. “My marketing team’s idea. Suffice it to say, I will not be doing that again.”

  “Why? I think you look handsome on them.” Oz’s hand on my hips flexes, and I elbow him. “I remember I saw one when I was with Vivien and she said the same thing.” I can’t stop the little white lie from slipping free.

  “Really?”

  “Don’t you remember, Oz? It was last week.” I look up at him, encouraging him with my eyes, but apparently he doesn’t read my body language like Paige does. So I elbow him again because that seemed to work last time.

  “I don’t recall,” he says drily.

  I see Paige rush by out of the corner of my eye. She and Captain both came to the event tonight but dressed inconspicuously so as not to look like bodyguards. Oz offered the two of them, along with a few others, for security tonight—what with there being high-priced auction items up for bid they wanted all the security they could get.

  Paige got her makeup and hair done at Oz’s with me, but she went home to get dressed. I look her up and down as she approaches wearing a tight strapless dress that goes all the way to the floor. It looks conservative until she takes a step, and then I see that a slit runs all the way up to the top of her hip. I’m pretty sure underwear isn’t an option when wearing a dress like that, and it makes me smile. She looks incredible, and Captain looks like he’s chewing on glass.

  “Excuse me,” I say, but Oz doesn’t let me go. “Ladies’ room.” He looks over my head and must see Paige, because he releases his death grip on me.

  “Come back to me.”

  “Always,” I tell him, getting another quick kiss before I turn to follow Paige. I can tell by the look on her face that she’s pissed.

  I catch her outside the ladies’ room and grab her by her arm. “Listen,” she snaps, but stops short when she sees it’s me. It’s then I get a good look at her face. Her lipstick is all kinds of smeared.

  “Who’d you suck face with?”

  “Grr,” she growls, reminding me of her brother. I still forget they’re related, but every now and then something like this makes me remember. She grabs my hand, pulling me away from the bathroom and down a little hallway into what looks like some fancy sitting room.

  “Captain kissed me!” she finally says, using the back of her hand to wipe at her mouth. “Or maybe I kissed him. I don’t know. I wanted him to stop talking. Then, well...” She throws her hands up in the air like she doesn’t really know what happened at all.

  “Was it good?”

  “Mal, I’m serious here.”

  I want to tell her I am, too, but I decide against it. I don’t know why this is such a big deal. Haven’t they been dancing around this since they met?

  “What happened?” I decide to ask instead.

  “He kind of cornered me about the pregnancy test.”

  “Oh, God, you didn’t tell, did you?” I haven’t even told Oz yet, and I have a feeling he’s going to be disappointed when he finds out I’m not pregnant.

  “Of course not.” Her faces scrunches like she can’t believe I asked her that.

  “I’m sorry. I know. Just panicked a little.”

  “Ryan thinks it’s mine, and he’s been on my case about it.”

  “So he thinks you’re pregnant? You didn’t tell him you weren’t?”

  A sheepish look crosses her face “When I dropped the bag in front of him and I saw how pissed he was about it, I might have let it hang out there.”

  Of course she did.

  “Then tonight he cornered me. Said I should be on desk duty if I was in fact pregnant. Then I went ahead and told him to mind his own fucking business.”

  That isn’t shocking either. “And that led to a kiss?”

  She shakes her head. “He started pushing, asking who the father was. He was pissed, Mal. Like, seriously pissed. Then he said there couldn’t be anyone, and I asked him how he knew.”

  “They know everything,” I say, confirming what she already knows.

  “Yeah, but then...” She shakes her head again like she can’t believe what she’s about to say. “Then he said that if there was someone else, then he must not be around and that Captain’d be around if I wanted him to be.” She takes a step toward me. “Even put his fucking hand on my stomach, Mal.” I’m not sure if she’s pissed about this or in awe.

  I’m definitely melting at how sweet that is, because I see the way Captain watches her. He wants her, but to step in on something like that—her possibly being pregnant with another man’s baby—and he wants to be involved. That’s big. That’s saying a lot about how he feels if you ask me.

  “Then we kind of started going at it. Like full-on. He picked me up and pushed me against the wall, like this is a fucking movie or some shit.”

  “I’m not following why we’re mad about this, because you look pissed.”

  She brings her hand to her mouth again, like she’s still feeling the kiss. “I don’t know. All I can seem to feel is mad, and I’m not even sure who I’m mad at. Fuck, Mal, I could really fall for him.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I take a step toward her.

&
nbsp; “He’s not right for me. And if he knew the real me, he’d be gone. Think about it. He’s like Mr. Perfect, does everything by the rules, and well—” she looks down at the floor “—I’m not, and I don’t have any plans to be. In fact, I’ve got plans that...” She trails off, and my heart clenches for her.

  I want to tell her to let whatever plans she has go, but I know that will get me nowhere fast. In fact, it might get me pushed away from her in areas of her life I’ve been trying to push in on lately. Ones she’s been keeping hidden. The part that makes Paige, well, Paige.

  The door suddenly opens, making us both turn to see Oz and Captain standing in the doorway. Paige freezes. I walk over to Oz. “Sorry. Needed help fixing something on my dress,” I say, making my way toward the men. I take Oz’s hand.

  “Will you show me the auction now, or are you going to keep me in the corner all night?”

  He pulls me toward him once again, gluing me to his side.

  “As long as you don’t leave my side again.”

  “Deal.”

  We walk past Captain, who steps out of the way for us.

  “Got a little something.” I point to my mouth, and he reaches up, wiping it away. I have to bite back a smile as he removes the lipstick. Paige follows us out, then pushes out in front of us, putting as much space as she can between her and Captain.

  As we make our way over to the auction tables, Oz has to stop a few times to talk to various people as we look at the different items. He seems so much colder and more clinical with others. I hadn’t really noticed it before. Probably because it’s usually him and me, and we can be ourselves. It’s amazing to me to see the difference in him. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like that only I get the sweeter side of Oz. As we move down, we get to an antique ring, and I can’t seem to pull my eyes away from it. The center stone is square and deep blue. There are small diamonds surrounding it, and it sparkles under the light. The blue is the exact same color as Oz’s eyes. It’s got to be the most beautiful sapphire I’ve ever seen.