The Tycoon's Convenient Bride... and Baby (Entangled Indulgence)

by Shoshanna Evers

  Taking care of Callie had shown him he could love and care for any child he let into his heart—not just his own flesh and blood. He’d thought about it quite a bit, and while there’d always be a small part of him that was sad he’d never see Lauren’s beautiful flat belly round with pregnancy, or feel his baby kick inside her, he’d be completely fine with adopting a baby.

  He had noticed the disappointment on Lauren’s face when he told her he’d wanted children someday. For some reason, after all the time they’d spent together taking care of the baby, he hadn’t expected that response. Stupid of him.

  After all, she hadn’t been on the husband and baby track when they’d gotten together.

  Why would he think she’d change her goals just because he’d insisted she marry him for Callie’s sake? Yes, she’d done it, but now that Callie no longer needed them as guardians, Lauren would want her freedom. A divorce.

  The whole thing had worked out perfectly, he supposed. Now he was free to go back to being a bachelor, to dating whomever he pleased and doing whatever—or whomever—he pleased.

  And once again, the fact that no other woman in the world held a candle to Lauren struck him like a slap to the face. What good was freedom when he didn’t want it? He’d rather be tied to Lauren any day.

  A literal interpretation of that image flitted through his mind, making his body respond despite his exhaustion and jet lag. Tied to Lauren? Yes, please.

  Anyway.

  What he needed now was a hot shower—or maybe a cold shower, now that he thought about it—a glass of Merlot, and bed.

  Padding barefoot into the bedroom, he saw Lauren flinging clothes into a suitcase. A sense of déjà vous came over him, remembering her packing with that same manic energy in Cabo.

  She must really want to leave. And that hurt a part of his soul he hadn’t even known existed before he got to know Lauren.

  “Lauren?” he whispered.

  “You don’t need to whisper,” she said, louder than necessary. “It’s not like the baby’s sleeping in the other room.”

  Right. He’d gotten so into the habit of being quiet after seven o’clock in the evening that it would probably be weeks before he stopped listening for the sounds of the baby monitor.

  “Do you really need to pack now?” he asked. His voice came out quietly again, so he spoke louder. “Stop. It’s after midnight.”

  “I need to get home. You know—my home. There’s no reason for me to be here anymore, we both know that.”

  Her words stung. Had it really been so terrible, living with him? He’d thought they’d made a good run of it. The easy routine they’d fallen into had lulled him into a false sense of security. He hadn’t realized she was so anxious to leave.

  “You don’t need to leave this second. Stay the night, and we can discuss it in the morning.”

  Lauren paused mid-fold and looked up at him finally. “You mean I can leave in the morning, not that we can discuss it in the morning.”

  “You’re welcome to leave whenever you like,” he said. “But you don’t have to. And we can discuss that in the morning, as well.”

  There. He’d said it. That was about all he could handle putting out there at the moment.

  “Mack,” Lauren said, going back to her packing, “please don’t make this any harder than it has to be. Without Callie, there’s no reason we have to stay married, much less live together.”

  Her words filtered into his mind slowly, as if through a fog. She wasn’t telling him anything new. He’d known all along their marriage was in name only. That it had been for the sake of the baby only.

  At the time, he’d been fine with that. So what had changed? It seemed he was the only one in this relationship who hadn’t stuck to the plan. Lauren, at least, was being smart about it.

  “I guess…” Mack shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed, the one corner not covered in clothes. “I guess I have to get used to coming home to an empty house again. I’ll miss the company.”

  For a second he could have sworn he saw tears in Lauren’s eyes, but then they were gone, and she was back to packing with renewed vigor.

  “Me too,” she said, and threw another shirt into the suitcase.

  …

  In the back of the yellow taxi cab, Lauren clung to her one overnight bag that contained her essentials, and her pot of miniature roses. Mack would have the rest of her stuff sent over tomorrow.

  The roses had been doing so well on his balcony, too. It was a shame to move them. She reached over to caress one of the silky petals, only to be rewarded with a thorn prick. It was as if the roses didn’t want to leave Mack’s place, either.

  “Damn it.” Tears welled in her eyes. Definitely from the sting of the tiny thorn, not from anything else.

  I’ll just keep telling myself that. Maybe it’ll make it true.

  She couldn’t stay the night, even though she was exhausted and jet lagged from their long flight. She imagined the act of leaving was best done the way she’d pull off a Band-Aid—fast. Just get it done with instead of drawing it out.

  If she waited until tomorrow, there would have to be a long, awkward conversation about how they no longer really had to live together now that Callie was out of the picture. They both knew it, and while she appreciated Mack being kind enough to let her stay a bit longer, there was no point in postponing the inevitable.

  At least this way when she woke up in the morning she’d just have to walk down the stairs and she’d be at work. No subway commute necessary.

  Her small apartment seemed smaller than she remembered, perhaps because she’d gotten spoiled living in Mack’s huge penthouse. She’d remembered her home as a calm oasis for her to go to, but now it seemed lonely. Empty.

  She’d grown used to waiting for the sound of the front door opening and hearing Mack’s footsteps in the foyer. She’d grown used to the sound of a baby laughing, or gurgling.

  The silence here was deafening.

  Lauren threw herself on the bed, still in her clothes. Why hadn’t she accepted Mack’s offer to at least stay the night? Being here alone was much, much worse than spending the night trying not to fall into bed with him.

  Goodness knows they hadn’t even attempted to avoid sleeping together on their pretend honeymoon in Cabo. They’d given into every urge, enjoying each other’s company, savoring it for what it was—one last taste of how good things could be.

  If only.

  Visions of Mack’s handsome face danced in her mind.

  If only she could be certain of his motivations in asking her to stay. It didn’t seem like he had been planning on sleeping with her, it was almost as if he really did want to talk about their relationship.

  So many things had changed since they’d first been thrust into their marriage of convenience. For one, she’d discovered that he wasn’t the cold-hearted business man she’d always thought he was. The blind ambition she’d credited him with had also served to help him stop at nothing—not even marrying a virtual stranger—to take care of his best friend’s daughter.

  She’d also discovered that he was going to make a wonderful daddy someday. She loved watching him with Callie. He’d grown from being completely unable to deal with baby stuff to being a seasoned pro in a matter of months.

  Mack deserved to be with a woman who could give him the family he so obviously craved now. Someone who wasn’t as career-focused as Lauren was, perhaps. Someone who could give him a child of his own.

  But Lauren wasn’t willing to ever give up living her dream of running Manhattan’s best daycare center. In fact, now that she was going to have more free time on her hands, she could devote it to her work, like she used to do. She kicked her shoes off, not caring where they landed, and bunched the pillow up under her head. There was that outdoor playground to get started on, for one.

  Thinking about her business put a smile on her face for the first time all day. This could work, throwing herself back into her career. Who needed a family to
come home to if you never came home except to sleep?

  Yes. That was the answer.

  And then perhaps she wouldn’t mind coming home to an empty apartment for the rest of her life. She never should have married Mack. She’d been happy before, happy in her life. Now that she knew what she was missing, however, how could she go back to what she had?

  What she had before she married Mack was nothing compared to how life with him had been. How it could be, if only…

  She’d always wanted to get married to a man who loved her, who wouldn’t leave her because of her inability to bear his children. She wanted the dream—the gorgeous home, the husband, the baby, the career. Everything. She wanted it all. Maybe she’d been greedy. She was never meant to have any of that, and instead she got to experience her fantasy for a short while. The memories were priceless, but knowing what her life could have been like, in some alternate universe perhaps, made her life now…unbearable.

  Lauren wanted her dream man back. She shut her eyes, pressing her cheek to the cool pillowcase, willing herself to fall asleep. Willing herself to dream about Mack.

  I’ll never be able to marry anyone else. Not even after she and Mack got their official divorce. Because…she’d fallen in love with him.

  Oh no. Her eyes opened. She sat up in bed.

  The truth, finally let free of its binding in her heart, was a burden lifted from her shoulders. She loved Mack Hansen.

  At some point between him knocking on her brother’s door in Chappaqua that night, and helping her pack this evening, she’d fallen in love with Mack. How had that happened? She’d been so on her guard. So careful to not do anything that would make her get attached to him, knowing that the relationship was doomed from the start.

  It’s not like she listened to her own advice, though. She’d slept with him, not once, not twice, but over and over again, even knowing that having the best sex of her life with a gorgeous man was probably not the best way to keep from getting attached to someone.

  She’d sat up late talking with him, sharing their hopes and dreams and future plans. She’d tucked Callie into her crib with Mack by her side. She’d sought comfort in his arms when she was worried about her brother and sister-in-law.

  And she’d come to discover the real man behind the playboy façade. A kind, intelligent, affectionate man who would do anything for her.

  No wonder she was in love.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lauren couldn’t concentrate on any single task at work the following day. Part of it was the reporters who kept calling her office, looking for a quote for the newspaper, wanting to know how she felt about her brother and sister-in-law being found alive after being presumed dead. No one mentioned Scorino, or the connection between him and Joe.

  She gave the same answer to each reporter: “We’re thrilled to have Joe and Marisol home safely. Our prayers were answered.” No one asked who the “we” in her statement was.

  That seemed to be acceptable to them. She didn’t even want to think about all the papers her name would be appearing in the next morning. Even the national news had picked up the story, and friends she hadn’t heard from in ages called to let her know they’d seen it on television.

  Finding Joe and Marisol alive was pretty incredible, if she thought about it. But she wasn’t thinking about it, not now. Despite being overjoyed at having Joe and Marisol back in great shape, all she could think about now was her newfound revelation.

  I love Mack.

  The words came to her at the oddest moments, like an intrusive mantra, or a song stuck in her head that she couldn’t quite get rid of. She’d always hoped someday she’d be fortunate enough to fall in love, but not like this.

  Loving Mack Hansen was the worst thing she could do. Why did she have to fall in love with a man who didn’t return her feelings? A man who’d only married her out of obligation?

  A man who was getting ready to end their marriage at any moment, so he could make room for his future.

  But I love Mack.

  Damn brain was replaying those words on a loop. She’d never get any work done if she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

  Picking up the phone, her traitorous fingers pressed her speed dial to his cell before she could make a plan of attack. She’d actually been avoiding talking to him, hoping that with her silence they’d be able to put off legally ending their marriage.

  Not that she thought they should stay married. No, that wasn’t fair to Mack. He deserved a wife he picked, not one he’d accidentally gotten stuck with during an emergency situation. Especially since he’d made it clear he wanted children, the one thing she could never give him. Her heart couldn’t take being broken again by a man who left her for a woman with a womb.

  But the last thing she could handle right now was standing in a courtroom, the same courtroom where they’d married just a few months ago, and getting that legal separation started. Lauren didn’t think she’d be able to get through that.

  And not talking to her husband, hoping he might somehow forget they were still married, was obviously the perfect answer. Or not.

  Mack’s voice came on the line. “Lauren.”

  “You can buy the daycare building,” she said. “I think you should.” She could practically hear the gears turning in his head during the pause before he spoke.

  “I thought you didn’t want me getting involved in your business,” he said.

  I want you involved in my everything.

  “I think you have a really great vision for the place. I love the idea about the rooftop playground,” she said truthfully.

  “I love it too.”

  Her new mantra played like a staccato beat in the back of her mind. I love you. I love you. But she couldn’t say it out loud. No sense in complicating an already endlessly complicated situation.

  “So,” he continued, and she realized she’d been silent too long on the phone. “How was sleeping in your own bed last night for the first time since Joe and Marisol took their cruise?”

  Lonely. “Fine.”

  “I kept listening for a baby monitor that wasn’t there,” he admitted.

  I love you. “I gotta go, Mack.”

  And she hung up.

  …

  Mack stared at the phone in his hand. He shouldn’t have told her how much he missed her—it had obviously freaked her out. Well, he hadn’t exactly said he missed her. He’d said he missed Callie.

  He didn’t actually say he missed Callie, either. Just the baby monitor. Mack shook his head in frustration. No wonder she hung up on him. He’d completely lost his ability to speak his mind.

  If only Lauren didn’t feel so strongly about moving out and separating so quickly. At the very least, he needed time to update the prenuptial agreement he’d made her sign, back when their marriage had been nothing but business, nothing but a piece of paper.

  Now, it had somehow become so much more, and the prenup needed to reflect that. It wasn’t fair that Lauren should have to uproot her whole life, like she’d done, move out of her home, and spend months married to a virtual stranger and then get nothing at the end of the deal except for a divorce. She deserved something more than that.

  If she was as hell-bent on legally ending her marriage to him as soon as possible, as she seemed to be, then Mack must have been seriously misreading her this whole time. Because for some reason, he thought they’d been getting along really well.

  If someone had asked him if he thought Lauren Peters, his best-friend’s twin sister, would have been such a good match for him, he’d have thought they were crazy. But something about her just clicked with him.

  Now he couldn’t seem to sort through his feelings. He knew he missed having Lauren being under the same roof as him. And he definitely missed having her in his bed. Missed staring into her ocean-blue eyes as he moved inside her, her arms clutching his back, her fingernails raking across his skin.

  Their fake-honeymoon had felt so…real. Would he really never make
love to Lauren again?

  A moan escaped his lips, unbidden, and he dropped his head into his hands.

  “Damn.”

  He looked at the phone. Before, when he was feeling depressed, he’d call up a girl to wine and dine, to help him take his mind off of whatever was bothering him. But that wouldn’t work anymore—not after being with Lauren.

  Yeah, in the past, he’d had plenty of other women. Some of them had been amazing in the bedroom, and some had been sweet and kind-hearted. His longest flings had happened when a woman was both. But when those flings had ended, it didn’t hurt. Didn’t feel as if someone was grabbing his guts and twisting them—like now.

  All of those fleeting relationships paled in comparison to the emotional intimacy he shared with Lauren. They had an electricity between them that he’d never experienced before.

  He’d been serious when he’d told her on that yacht in Cabo that yes, his feelings for her were real. He couldn’t fake that. And their relationship…had felt real to him as well.

  Stupid of him, to think she felt the same way. She wanted to end their marriage as quickly as possible— as if that wouldn’t hurt him.

  It didn’t matter to him that they weren’t legally required to be together anymore. Why couldn’t he just be with her for the sake of being together? Mack wanted to wrap her in his arms every night…like they’d been doing.

  The thought that he might never make love to her again was an arrow to his heart. How cruel of fate to give him the one woman who could change his playboy ways, only to take her away. If he could just have Lauren, he’d never need to even look at another woman again. All he wanted was her.

  At least, once he had her daycare building in his holdings, Lauren would have to meet with him, and talk with him. Quite often, in fact.

  This was one project he intended to be very hands-on about.

  Mack scrolled through his contact list on his phone until he got to his lawyer. He had a lot of work to do, and a daycare building to buy. If Lauren wanted the kids in her daycare to have a playground, then he’d make it happen.