by Lauren Wood
“I went to go see him, Cat.”
My eyes widened with fear. “Oh no! You didn’t kill him, did you!?”
“I thought about it,” he admitted shamelessly. “But then I shut up long enough to listen to him and hear how he feels.”
“I think he made it pretty clear how he feels when he dumped me.”
My father shot me a scolding look—the kind he used to give me when I was little and got into trouble talking back to him.
“You’re even worse than I am with how stubborn you can be. You know that?”
“I learned from the best,” I chirped, flipping my hair.
“What I’m saying is I shut up long enough to listen to him, and if you were smart you’d do the same for me now.”
I rolled my eyes and plopped down into the closest chair, begrudgingly waiting for him to tell me whatever it was he thought he had to say. But in that moment, I couldn’t imagine anything making me hate Jordan any less. He had his fun, used me up, then tossed me to the side like some toy he had grown bored with. I guess fucking me was only fun for him while we were in hot pursuit of our rights to Heartstring.
“I was worried Jordan was only using you,” he admitted. “But I see now that it was more than that for him. He loves you, Kitty-Cat.”
My heart stopped for a moment. No matter how hard I tried to pretend, those words were something I had been secretly wishing to hear this whole time. Since I was fifteen, actually.
“What makes you so sure?” I asked slowly, still in shock.
“Because he told me so, and because I’m very gifted at knowing when a man is lying to me. You have to be in the business world. I’ve told you that.”
He was right, and in fact—that was what made it so hard to see Jordan pretend like what we had meant nothing more to him than good sex. It never seemed right to me, and I wasn’t convinced. But fighting it would have made me vulnerable. That wasn’t a risk I wanted to take.
“I believe him,” he continued. “Which is why I gave him my blessing.”
“Blessing for what!?” I shrieked.
“My blessing for him to win you back…For you two to be together.”
“And what did he say?”
“I’ll let him tell you.” He stood and crossed the room, opening my front door.
I shot to my feet and watched Jordan walk in.
“You two came together?” I marveled. It was hardly what I would have imagined happening when my dad went to him after everything I accidentally blurted out.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Dad offered, showing himself out.
Seeing Jordan flooded me with so many different emotions. My eyes welled up and I could feel my heart pounding. I wanted to run into his arms and to slap him all at once.
“I’m…I’m sorry about earlier,” he started slowly. “I told him…what I couldn’t bring myself to say to you. Which is that…the only reason I wanted to end things was the fact that we had to hide it from your dad. I just did think there was any way he’d ever let us be together. I didn’t want us to lose Heartstring, and I didn’t want to cause a rift in your family.”
I was so close to caving in, breaking down. I already felt an overwhelming urge to race into his arms and let him kiss all the hurt away.
But he was the cause for all that hurt, and I wasn’t about to let him off the hook so easily. Besides, he still had yet to make the declaration my father swore he had to make.
“It’s not easy for either of us to say how we really feel,” I admitted. “But at least I kept going with the flow. Maybe I didn’t tell you how I felt, but I tried to show you. And what did you do? You left me hanging. You just stopped everything. What do you think that did to me!?”
“I messed up,” he nodded. “I know that. But Cat…Your father is giving us his permission to see what this thing between us really is.” His eyes dropped to my stomach. “But honestly, I think I already know what it is. No, I know it. I know that I love you.”
Hearing it straight from his lips was an even harder blow to withstand. My mouth dropped as I tried to find the words to say, but I was at a loss.
“How do you know it?” I ventured to ask.
A smile eased across his lips. “Because the moment your father told me you were having my baby, the whole world seemed to fall into place. Like this was everything that was meant to happen. You, me…this child. I saw this whole movie flash before my eyes…of what our lives would be like. You, me, and the baby. A family. I knew right then that I’ve never wanted anything more in my whole life…Not a single business deal, not even Heartstring, even begins to compare.”
His eyes stared earnestly into mine. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
I stammered for a moment, still unsure if I could bring myself to really say it. I didn’t know if, after everything, I was ready to put words to all of the feelings that had been building up more and more for weeks.
This wasn’t a teenage fantasy anymore. This was real…and standing right in front of me, waiting for me to take the plunge. Everything I ever wanted was so close—hanging right there, just waiting for me to take it.
“I love you too,” I admitted through a gush of air escaping my lungs. Just saying the words felt like lifting a weight from my shoulders, and suddenly I was so light I swore I could have flown off into the sky.
But then the sense of impending doom set in. Now that I had said, there was no taking it back.
Jordan’s face twisted with emotion, and then he marched right up to me and lifted me into his arms. I was still angry and tense to his touch at first, but who was I kidding? It only took mere seconds for me to melt into his touch. I had never been able to resist him.
He kissed me deeply before letting my feet touch the floor again. He looked back to my stomach as his eyes begged me for permission. I nodded, and he laid his hands across my womb where our baby was growing inside.
“I can’t believe it,” he murmured.
“Me either,” I whispered, but my eyes were glued to him.
I would finish dealing with the shock of my pregnancy later. I could only take one thing at a time, and right now…all I cared about was him.
His lips crashed into mine again, drawing out the words which sounded a little less scary each time I said them.
“I love you,” I muttered over and over again in between a string of kisses.
“I love you too,” he answered eagerly.
I stayed there in his embrace, just letting the shock of it all wash over us, until the room started growing dim from sunset.
“Oh no,” he fretted. “It’s getting late. And we still haven’t celebrated the Heartstring deal.”
“I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day,” I laughed.
“Oh, no you don’t. I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and stared longingly into his eyes. “I hope not. I hope you’re never done with me.”
His lips melted against mine, and he lifted me up into the air again. But this time he started walking towards the bedroom. Once we were inside, he kicked the door shut behind us.
It seemed now that everything was out in the open and there were no more secrets or lies weighing us down, Jordan was ready to celebrate in the way I had originally intended. Only this time, it was much more than sex and we weren’t afraid to admit it anymore. We made love through the night and talked about our baby and the life we would have together until our eyes couldn’t stay open anymore.
Maybe this was always a risky investment, but the pay off was proving to be huge and more than worth it.
Epilogue
It was a day for celebrating successful acquisitions, and I had acquired a lot over the past year. The reason for our big company-wide party was our one year anniversary since we took over Heartstring.
But Cat and I both knew it was an anniversary for much more than that.
I walked into the nursery where I knew I could find her bent
over the crib, getting in all the last moments she could with baby Charles before we left.
“Are you sure you don’t want to just bring him with us?” I offered for the twentieth time that evening.
“I do,” she admitted. “But I also know I don’t. I never want to leave him, but I’m in such desperate need for a break to go do something other than work.”
“I’m sorry it’s a work party and not just regular old fun.”
“I’m not,” she assured me.
The nanny knocked on the door, so I left to let her in. Cat was hesitant for us to actually leave Charles. She held him for a moment as he looked around the room with his big, bright brown eyes.
“Good night my sweet precious angel,” she cooed, kissing him tightly on the side of his soft, chubby face. “I’m going to miss you.”
It was no easy feat getting her out the door, but finally she let the nanny step in and do her job so we could leave for the party.
On the car ride over, I admired Cat in the backseat. She always looked beautiful, but this was the first time I had seen her really done up in a while.
“God, you’re gorgeous,” I told her, adoring the way her skin and silhouette glowed in the passing streetlights.
She smiled and reached out to squeeze my hand. She held on tight the rest of the way there.
We had the interior of the building all done up with twinkle lights just for the occasion. The Meadows siblings were there along with Jack Landson and his sister. They were toasting us all night long for the continued success we had brought their baby. Lucas regaled us with drunken tales about how when he started the company, he wasn’t so sure it would amount to anything.
“But now look at us,” he marveled.
“Dad would have been proud,” his little sister Jada added.
“He would have been shocked,” Joshua Meadows quipped.
Their other sister Camille rolled her eyes and looked around the room, admiring the lavish set-up. “We’ve always been good at throwing one hell of a party, but I think you two have outdone us here.”
“I think I should take some credit for that,” Mark appeared, gliding over to us with a smile as he clinked his champagne glass against each one of ours.
Cat shot him a twisted grin. “Only because you insisted on throwing such a big party in the first place. We were fine with a smaller affair.”
“A small party means small numbers, and this company hasn’t seen any of those,” he argued.
I squeezed Cat’s hand, giving her a silent signal not to argue. We both knew why she didn’t want the one-year anniversary party to be such a big deal, and it was entirely selfish on our parts. The real reason we were celebrating in our hearts was about something much bigger than the company or our careers. It used to be all that mattered to us, but things had changed.
As I looked into her smiling eyes, I knew it was time.
“Come on,” I said, pulling her to the front of the crowded room where a microphone and stand were waiting.
“What are you doing?”
“I haven’t made my speech yet,” I grinned.
“Speech!?” she panicked. “Oh god, no one told me we were making speeches. Was I supposed to write a speech? What are you going to say? What should I say!? Is Dad going to make one too? If you both do one, then I definitely have to.”
“Relax,” I winked. “You just stand here and listen.”
I wrapped my hand around the microphone, giving Mark the sign to tap a fork to his glass to get everyone’s attention. The hum of the mingling quests faded as they all stopped and turned to face me.
“Good evening everyone,” I started off, trying to hide how nervous I was. I had always been a good public speaker, but this was different. This was one of the biggest moments of our lives, and I had never done anything quite like it before. Hopefully, I would never have a reason to do it again.
“Thank you all for coming tonight.” I continued on for a moment with all the things everyone wanted to hear, everything they expected to hear. I went over our numbers and projected growth and profit and all of those good things. But all of that was just the opening act, and didn’t compare to what I really got up there to say.
“But on another note,” I concluded. “Before I stop boring you all to death, there’s one more very important matter I need to address. You see, one year ago today wasn’t just when we became the official new owners of Heartstring.” I smiled at Cat. “One year ago today was when I found out the woman I loved was going to have a baby, and it was also the day this kind gentleman over here,” I tipped my glass to Mark. “My partner and best friend did something most men could never bring themselves to do. He gave me permission to be with his daughter, the love of his life.”
“I’m having second thoughts,” Mark joked, sparking laughter around the room.
“I’m afraid that’s too bad,” I played along. “Because I intend on marking this occasion with yet another milestone to remember.”
Cat’s face wrinkled with curiosity, but she kept watching and listening.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet box I had been carrying around for weeks—just waiting for that night, for that moment.
She gasped and threw her hands over her face as I dropped down to one knee. She realized all at once what I was doing.
“Catherine Whitaker,” I said lovingly. “If a guy like me gets the father’s blessing to be with a woman like you, he’d be an idiot to let that go to waste. I may have made my fair share of mistakes with you, and maybe I’m not a genius in all departments…but I know one thing for certain. You are the love of my life, and if you’ll take an old man like me…I want you to be my wife. Will you do me that honor?”
She dropped her head in happy laughter. “You’re not that old, Jordan.”
“It’s kind of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, my love,” I winked at her again.
She drew the moment out, just to torture me—like I knew she would.
“Yes,” she said finally.
I couldn’t help let out a little sigh of relief. Cat had always been an unpredictable firecracker after all, and there was some small part of me that was worried she might actually surprise us all and turn me down. But thankfully, I was able to take the ring out of the cushioned box and slide it onto her finger.
“It’s official,” I whispered, standing up to kiss her forehead. “You belong to me now.”
“I don’t belong to anyone,” she teased, narrowing her eyes.
“Come on, baby. Give just a little,” I jokingly begged.
“Okay,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around me. “I guess I can belong to you. Just you.”
I looked around the room and caught Mark toasting to us once again. His eyes were filled with so much love and pride. I realized Cat would never just be mine. She would always be daddy’s little girl. I was just glad he was willing to let me into their family and take care of her the way I wanted to. I realized, not for the first time, that I had to be the luckiest man alive.
Everyone applauded and cheered for us as the music picked back up, prompting me to take Cat into my arms and dance her around the room. We kept drinking and mingling and dancing for hours, until the crowd slowly started to dwindle.
Very late into the evening, we were some of the only guests left. Cat had gone out to make sure the car and driver were ready for us, and then came back in to make sure I didn’t get trapped talking to anyone else. She was exhausted and ready to go home to Charles.
As she crossed the room, she noticed I had gotten pulled into one last conversation—this time with Lucas Meadows.
He was asking me all sorts of questions about Cat and my relationship and how we met. After a while, I was deathly curious as to why he wanted to know.
“It’s funny,” he explained. “I started this company because my father passed away and didn’t leave a penny behind. What little he did have left was seized by debt collectors. I built this place from the ground up o
ut of spite, and I guess I always resented him for not leaving us with anything.”
“But just look at what you accomplished,” I encouraged him.
A big smile spread across his face. “I’m beginning to realize…I don’t think our dad left us with nothing. I think the day we started this company, he was watching down on us from somewhere…helping to ensure everything played out the way it did.”
“It was the least he could do I guess.”
“No,” he shook his head. “You don’t get it. He didn’t just make sure this was a successful company with big profits. He turned it into something more than that.”
“Oh?” Cat asked, spreading her arm around my back.
Lucas hung his head a little, smiling wider still. “This place gives you love. Not just our users. But every executive we’ve ever had has found love through this company, one way or another.”
With that, he turned and went back to his wife, Victoria, who was waiting for him near the front doors. Cat and I flashed each other a shrug. Maybe the guy was just crazy. We didn’t know, and we didn’t really care. All we cared about was that we had each other, and our beautiful son waiting for us at home.
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1
I descended the stairs of the Blasiago Luxury Hotel in my emerald Gucci stilettos and matching bag, popping perfectly against my plum-colored, tight-fitted Schiaparelli dress and long flowing wavy red hair. My diamond jewelry reflected against my pale skin. I had been tanning all summer, but never to a point of changing my complexion too much. I preferred my tan without the overbaked look.