Nina lowered her eyes and looked at me with a hard glare.
“You'd better be kidding about this,” she said quietly.
“I'm not. I don't care what we have to do; this is over. Tonight.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “This was all your idea to begin with!”
“Oh, please,” I said. “Don't act like you weren't more than eager to have another reason to be in the spotlight.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Be that as it may, we had an agreement. And now you're just going to go back on it because, what, you're bored? You've decided that, despite the whole purpose of this being publicity, that you don't actually like to be the center of attention?”
For a moment, I considered coming up with an excuse. But I knew right then and there that the time for lies was over. I had to come clean.
“No,” I said. “I met someone.”
“You…what?” she asked.
“Someone that I work with. I don't know how it happened, but it happened.”
“And you thought it was a good idea to screw employees while you and I were in the middle of our arrangement?”
“It all happened before that. I thought it was just going to be a one-time thing, but it ended up being something more.”
“I see.”
“And…there's something else.”
“Oh, this is going to be good,” she said.
“The other girl, well, she's pregnant.”
Nina's eyes went wide and she nearly spit out the sip of wine she was in the process of taking.
“Are you serious?” she asked, her voice rising.
“Serious as it gets,” I said. “And…there's more.”
She calmly set her glass on the table and folded her arms in front of her.
“By all means,” she said.
“She's pregnant with triplets.”
Nina looked stunned for a moment. Then, she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. For a moment, I worried she was going to give me the tearing-into of a lifetime.
“Oh, Rhys,” she said. “Why didn't you say something before?”
I was a little stunned by this reaction. Part of me expected Nina to throw a diva fit and toss the glass of wine in my face.
“Are you joking? Are you not furious?”
“Why would I be furious? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a little frustrated, sure. But this isn't just some little piece on the side here that we're talking about—this is the mother of your children! What, did you think that I would make you choose between her or me or something?”
“I honestly didn't know what to expect.”
“Please, Rhys,” she said, taking her glass into her hands and swirling the wine around. “I may be a bit of a narcissist, but I'm not that bad.”
She looked around, her eyes flicking from paparazzo to paparazzo.
“How do you want to play this?” I asked.
She bit her lip and looked away thoughtfully.
“Well,” she said. “I think if we're going to end this, we might as well go out with a bang. What do you say?”
I let out a small laugh.
“I think it's the least I owe you.”
“I hope you're not wearing a particularly expensive outfit, darling.”
“Wha—”
Before I had a chance to finish, however, a splash of red wine hit me square in the face.
“You pig!” Nina shouted, shooting up out of her chair. “Never did I ever think a man would say something like that to me! Something so…vile! You Americans, I swear!”
Before I knew it, I had the eye of every single person in the restaurant locked square onto me. Nina let out one last “harrumph!” before giving me a secret wink and storming out of the restaurant.
A dead silence hung over the restaurant, and I glanced down at the massive red splotch on my dress shirt.
“It actually was a particularly expensive outfit,” I murmured as the cameras went off around me, the picture that would be on all of the front pages in the next few minutes already on my mind.
Chapter 22
Cassidy
“TROUBLE IN PARADISE!” read the headline on SanBravadoTattler.com.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There, on the tablet I held in my hands, was the great Rhys Cole, seated at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the country, a blood-red splotch on his chest from the glass of wine Nina Wauters had tossed at him only a few moments before.
I couldn't help but laugh as I looked at it. I knew I shouldn't—after all, for someone like Rhys, who hated the attention of the gossip rags, it had to have been his greatest nightmare come true. But he'd played with fire by going through with his whole fake relationship ruse, and now he was getting burned.
Besides, his ego was big enough; he could use a little humbling every now and then.
“I can't believe it,” said Maria, looking over my shoulder. “I don't think I've ever seen him with so much as a hair out of place. And there he is, looking like some sloppy drunk.”
I glanced around the office and saw that just about every one of my employees had the picture pulled up on their computer. Little titters sounded out here and there.
“I would've killed to see how that all went down,” said Maria. “What do you think he said to Nina? I mean, I know she's a bit of a diva, but that's even a little beyond the freaking pale for her.”
“Hard to say,” I said, biting my tongue as much as humanly possible.
I wanted to blab, to tell Maria everything I knew about how their relationship was a sham, that there was a very good chance that the glass of wine was part of some little show Rhys and Nina were putting on for the cameras. Then again, for all I knew, she could've been genuinely mad at him.
But I kept my mouth shut. If Rhys had really broken things off with Nina, that meant he was finally doing the right thing. At least, I hoped that was the case.
“Nothing wrong with the masters of the universe getting taken down a peg or two every now and then,” I said. “Lets ’em know they're not invincible.”
“True that,” said Maria. “But I'm just surprised at how fast their little love connection went to shit.”
“Big egos lead to big breakups, I guess,” I said.
I glanced outside, noting what a nice day it was. The sky was a lovely azure, and there wasn't a cloud above. The greens of the grass outside seemed extra verdant, and a gentle breeze swayed the branches of the pepper trees outside.
“You know what?” I asked, suddenly feeling very chipper. “Let's call it a day.”
Maria raised her eyebrows.
“What's the occasion?”
“Just feeling like it's too nice out to be cooped up in office. What do you guys say?”
I glanced around, noting that just about every employee was focused on their work.
“Your staff's too hard-working for their own good,” Maria said.
With that, she hopped up on a chair and flailed her arms, getting everyone's attention. Eyes snapped onto me as headphones were pulled out of ears.
“Quitting time!” I said. “Get out there and get a head start on the weekend! No excuses!”
The staff looked at one another as though this might be some kind of trick.
“Go on!” I said, affecting a jokey southern twang to my voice. “Get!”
The staff exchanged pleased looks as they began to put away their things. Soon, they were filing out of the office, chatting among themselves about plans for this unexpectedly early day.
“Glass of wine?” Maria asked.
“Wine for you,” I said with a smile as I patted my ever-growing belly. “I'll stick with some fizzy water.”
“One of these days, I'm gonna remember that you've got a mess of babies inside of you,” she said with a smile.
The two of us headed to one of the wine bars on our office's block, where Maria had a glass of wine and I sipped on something booze-free. We gossiped and chatted, the conversation
easy and light. I felt as though some great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, and in the back of my head, I knew that the ending of Rhys and Nina's fake arrangement had more than a little to do with it.
Our drinks done, Maria and I headed out. A pleasant mood swirling in my head, I took the long way home, enjoying the lovely weather and gentle bustle of the city.
Back home, I plopped onto my couch and flicked on the TV. However, it wasn’t long before the itch to work took over, and despite my instructions to the staff to relax, I found myself in front of my design table, going over the last few pieces for the cruelty-free line.
With me at my own business and things being generally a little weird between Rhys and me, the work on the line had mostly been taking place on my own, with me sending designs to Rhys's assistants. I'd do the mock-ups, they'd send me pictures of what they'd come up with, and every now and then, I'd swing by the Cole Apparel atelier to take a look in person. Slowly but surely, the line was coming together. Only a few pieces remained, and I was eager to take them from mental image to reality.
A sharp rap on the front door jostled me out of my focus. I glanced up, noting that the sun had long set and realizing that I'd lost myself in my work for a good couple of hours.
I looked around, surprised. Who would be knocking without calling or texting first?
The knock sounded again.
“All right, all right,” I said, tossing down my pencil and heading to the front door. “Keep your damn pants on—”
I pulled open the door, revealing none other than Rhys Cole himself. He was dressed in a simple, casual outfit of a crisp white dress shirt and dark, fitted jeans, a pair of navy boat shoes finishing the look. His luminous blond hair was just as immaculate as ever, and his face was painted with a warm smile.
And in his hands was a beautiful, giant bouquet of wildflowers.
“Evening, Miss May,” he said in the honeyed voice that I just couldn't get enough of.
“Um, uh,” I stammered, not sure what to say.
“Can I…come in?”
“Of course, of course!” I spluttered, stepping out of the way and giving a sweeping gesture towards the inside of my apartment.
He handed me the flowers and a lovely, fresh scent wafted up to my nose as soon as I took hold of them.
“These are so nice,” I said, hurrying over to a vase on my dining room table and placing the flowers inside.
“Just something I picked up on the way here.”
Rhys took a look around my apartment, his eyes lingering on the fabrics and supplies tossed haphazardly here and there. The place was a mess, and I was a little embarrassed.
“I see you've stuck with the standard décor,” he said with a wry smile.
I filled the vase with water and placed it back on the table.
“And I see you went with the ‘wine-free’ look for today,” I tossed back, matching his smirk with one of my own.
“Touché,” he said.
Rhys took a seat and I plopped down on the chair across from him.
“So!” I said, clapping my hands on my legs. “To what do I owe this honor, sir?”
“Well, I'm sure that you heard the news about Nina and me.”
“You mean your epic breakup in the middle of Saffron? Where just about every damn celebrity in the city happened to be? Along with every paparazzo in town?”
“You got it,” said Rhys, an uncharacteristic spread of red forming at the bottom of his neck.
“Go on,” I said. “Let's hear the deets.”
“Not much to tell,” he said. “I told Nina that our little arrangement was over. She decided to have a little fun with the situation and make our breakup about as much of a spectacle as it could be.”
“I'm sure you're thrilled about that.”
“It was…humbling,” he said.
“And she's not mad?”
“She wasn't happy with me springing it on her so suddenly; I think she was hoping to wring a little more publicity out of the whole thing. But she understood my reasoning.”
I glanced over at the flowers.
“And…what was your reasoning?”
“Come sit over here,” he said.
My heart thudded in my chest as I got up and took a seat next to him.
“I've been doing a great amount of thinking,” Rhys said. “About all of this. About what the right thing to do would be. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how selfish I was being. You were right: I was trying to exercise control over everything that was going on as if they were all…simply departments I could order around.
“But that's not the case at all,” he continued. “Your pregnancy, the children you're carrying—they're not simply problems to throw money at and ignore. The way I treated you was wrong; I acted as though you were some kind of burden, that what we had was something I could simply manage from afar. I treated you like an ex-employee, and not what you really are.”
“And what am I?” I asked, my voice hesitant at what the answer might be.
“You're the first woman I've truly loved.”
The rest of the world seemed to drop away at Rhys's words. A warmth spread out from my heart, and his voice echoed in my mind. Right away, I felt the gentle sting of tears in the corners of my eyes.
But I knew instantly that love was just one part of it all. I wiped away the tears as quickly as I could and spoke.
“And…what are you going to do with that information?” I asked, my voice coming out strange and weak.
“I'm going to do the right thing. And not just the right thing, but what I want, truly. I'm done with the lies, done with all that nonsense. I want you, Cassidy. I want to commit myself to you fully, to give you and our children the lives you all deserve. No monthly payments, no pretending—none of that silliness. I want you to be a part of my life as my lover and the mother of my children.”
It was all that I wanted to hear and more. My heart felt like it might burst out of my chest at any moment.
“And what about the scandal?” I asked. “What happens when people put it all together and find out that you and I…you know…while the thing with Nina was going on?”
“Let them talk,” he said simply. “I'll have you, and that's all that matters.”
He reached for my hand and took it into his own.
“I know that I don't deserve a woman like you after how I treated you, but this is the best I can do. I love you, Cassidy.”
The tears dripped down my face, despite my best efforts to keep them hidden. I couldn't help it—Rhys's words were exactly what I'd hoped to hear, what I'd feared he'd never say. Sitting before me, I could see that there was a vulnerability to him, an openness that what so unlike the Rhys I knew that I couldn't help but feel entranced by it.
But, more than anything else, I knew what I wanted, and I knew how I felt.
“Yes!” I shouted, throwing my arms around him.
He wrapped his arms around me and held my body close. I could feel his heart thump through his chest at a steady, quick pace. I realized that he was just as nervous and thrilled as me.
Then, after a few more moments, he moved me away gently and looked deep into my eyes before leaning in for a kiss.
The kiss was like none other that we'd shared. There was that same erotic charge, but now there was something more, something deeper. We kissed slowly and passionately, knowing there was no rush, nothing in the world but him and me.
Rhys moved his body forward, leading into a lying position. He continued to kiss me deeply as he was on top of me, his hands moving over my body and exploring it slowly. I felt strange at that moment—but in a good way. I was relaxed, the sexual thrill less a pounding insistence and more of a subtle buzz that warmed my skin and made me ready for him.
My hands moved along his body and over his hard angles, stopping up at his hair and running through it, turning his tight, slicked-back style into something more wild and unruly.
“You lo
ve to muss all that up,” he said, glancing down at me.
“What can I say, Mr. Cole—you look good with your hair down.”
I smirked, and he went in for another kiss. I yanked out his tucked-in shirt and slipped my hands under the fabric, feeling myself grow wet instantly at the sensation of his taut abs against my fingertips. Rhys seemed just as eager to get under my clothes; he quickly undid the buttons of my blouse and pulled it open.
He set onto my breasts right away, unclasping my bra and slipping it off over my shoulders before kissing and licking my nipples, the peaks going hard as soon as his lips made contact. I let out a low moan as he scooped my breasts into his hands, squeezing them gently as he went on licking and sucking them. The sensation was as heavenly as ever, and I soon grow hot and bothered in the way that only Rhys could make me.
“Stand up, Mr. Cole,” I ordered, barely able to form the words.
A sly little smile—that killer smile that still made me melt—formed on his lips. Rhys complied, standing up in front of me where I sat. He loomed over me like a statue, and with a smile on my face, I reached up and undid the buttons of his shirt one by one. Soon, it was off, his magnificent physique on full display before me.
Next, I undid his belt and pulled down the zipper of his slacks, revealing a massive bulge in his gray boxer-briefs. What lay below the thin layer of fabric was something I wanted more than anything, but first I wanted to show him how much I cared.
“What's on your mind, Miss May?” he asked, his hands on his hips.
“I just need a little taste,” I said, my voice low and sultry.
With that, I reached into his boxers and took hold of what I wanted. Rhys's cock was already hard, and the sensation of the smooth, warm skin in my hand was beyond compare. I pulled him out, his perfect manhood now inches away from my face. I licked my lips slowly, glancing up at Rhys and letting him see, by my expression, just how eager I was to pleasure him.
I opened my mouth and brought my lips to his cock. A shudder of pleasure ran through Rhys's body as I touched his skin with mine. I formed a tight seal around his head, so that the tip was neatly situated on my tongue.
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