by Mia Carson
“You’re going to need it,” Tim said with a chuckle.
“For what? I’m not in trouble,” he muttered, but even he heard the doubt in his voice. What could Bigsby have possibly wanted that would make Belle take the rest of the day off? “I’ll see you in the morning.” He stalked towards the elevator and rode up one floor. When he reached his office, he called Kelly to see if she was still in.
“Yes, boss man?” she asked.
Greyson’s jaw clenched. “Kelly, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, why?” she answered too quickly.
“Really? Belle went home early, she lied about why, and something tells me you know why, so do me a favor and just tell me so I know what I’m walking into when I get home.”
He heard papers shuffling, and she muttered under her breath, but it was too quiet for him to hear. “I can’t, sorry. That’s between you and her, and I have to go.” She hung up before Greyson could get another word in.
He set the phone back in the cradle and tapped his fingers on his desk, his gaze roaming over to Belle’s darkened office. Normally, he wouldn’t mess with her office nor even consider going in there to search through her papers, but he was not going home until he knew why she had sounded pissed earlier. He didn’t think he’d done anything besides kiss her in the elevator, and that was nothing new. He flipped on her desk lamp, smirking at the dragon figure with glowing red eyes, a token he bought for her a few months back. It lit her desk, and he stared at the perfectly organized space. He picked up the first stack of papers and rifled through it, but nothing stood out.
When he shifted, his hip bumped the desk and her mouse moved, waking up the monitor. He glanced around, making sure no one watched him, and sat down, staring at the desktop. He needed to log in first but had no idea what her password might be… or did he? Greyson set his fingers to work and grinned when his first guess gave him access to Belle’s computer, his heart swelling with love at her choice of password. At least he could say he knew her as well as he thought he did.
Once the computer logged in, he went straight to her e-mails, searching for anything that might stand out. There were several messages from Kelly, more from IT, but the latest ones came from Bigsby Inc.—and not their marketing department, but from the CEO himself.
“What are you up to, Tom?” he whispered under his breath.
Greyson maneuvered the mouse and clicked to open the message, but another password screen popped up.
“Password protected e-mails? What were you two talking about?”
He tried the same password as before, but it didn’t work so he tugged at his beard, thinking of what else she might use. After four attempts, another window popped up saying he was locked out of the e-mail account completely.
“Shit,” he whispered harshly. If she came in tomorrow morning and saw it locked, she’d know he’d been poking around. He picked up the phone, hoping IT was still around, and glared at the locked e-mails. “Yeah, Frank, it’s Greyson. Can you come up to Belle’s office? Her e-mail account’s been locked out.”
“Sure thing, boss, be up there in two,” he replied and hung up.
Greyson paced around her office while he waited, and when Frank walked in, he glanced around. “What’s wrong?”
“Where’s Belle?” Frank asked as he sat down behind the computer.
“Bathroom. I said I’d call you for her,” he lied.
Frank eyed him funny. “Really? I thought I heard she went home early today.”
Greyson stilled and threw his head back. “How does everyone know everything in this place?”
Frank laughed as he went to work. “Well, when the fiancée of the CEO storms out of the office looking ready to kill, word spreads quickly to stay out of the way—and then, of course, watch you intently to see what might happen next.”
“We are not some sitcom drama,” he snapped.
“Ha, no you’re not, but man, are you two a sight to watch when you go at it,” Frank said. “There you go, unlocked. What are you looking for anyway?”
“Nothing important. Thanks, Frank.”
“Sure thing, boss man,” he said. “Can I give you advice from an old man, married for thirty years?” Greyson nodded for him to go on. “Stop snooping around your soon-to-be wife’s computer, get your butt home, and talk to her about whatever’s going on,” he said sternly. “Just saying. See you in the morning.” He waved over his shoulder and left.
Greyson grunted as he looked at the computer and sat down. He swiveled in Belle’s chair for a full ten minutes until he sighed, shut off the desk lamp, grabbed his leather bag from his office, and ducked out. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but Frank was right. He just prayed that when he got home, Belle would tell him why she’d locked e-mails from their partner company without him having to push for answers.
Chapter 38
The strong smell of bacon wafted out of the kitchen to greet Greyson when he walked inside and set his bag down, sniffing the air. “Belle?”
“Kitchen,” she called, sounding better than she had earlier.
He followed the tantalizing aroma of frying pork. Belle stood at the stove, frying enough to feed at least ten people. Beside the stove, stacked at least a foot-high were pancakes, and in a dish behind that were hash browns.
“Breakfast for dinner?” he asked and slipped his hands around her waist, holding her pregnant belly. A thrill shot through him as well as an overwhelming sense of pride. His chest swelled knowing she carried his baby. “Again?” he added after kissing her cheek sweetly.
She smiled and shrugged. “It sounded good, and you can’t complain. You love bacon just as much as the baby does.”
“Okay, blame it on the baby,” he said, resting his chin on top of her head. “So, what’s with this catch you mentioned earlier? What does he want from us?”
“Nothing we have to deal with right away,” she said and moved the bacon around the skillet. “At least let us eat first. I’m starving.”
He kissed the top of her head and moved to get plates. “You’ve been home all day.”
“And?”
“And, didn’t you eat at all?” he asked, frowning.
She shrugged. “I was busy, had a few things to take care of,” she said as he watched her turn off the burner and move the bacon to a plate to let it drain. “Don’t worry, I didn’t starve myself. Your unborn son wouldn’t let me do that.”
Greyson set the plates down and carried the food to the kitchen table. She was lying again, and he wanted to do what he told himself he would—not push her for answers—but the stiffness of her body said something was off. Once the food was on the table and Belle took her seat, he scratched his beard, debating how to breach the topic of the e-mails.
“Is it bad, what Tom wanted from you?” he asked.
She shot him a look but quickly replaced it with a smile. “No, not bad at all. Well,” she corrected herself as she plopped a pancake on her plate, “depends on how you look at it, I guess. I think it’s not so bad, but there’s always a catch to these things.”
Greyson’s hand paused halfway to the bacon. “A catch to what? The catch to him giving us the extension or a catch on the catch?”
“You’ll figure it out,” she said simply, but Greyson wasn’t in the mood to play games all night, knowing she was clearly upset with him about something.
“Belle, what’s going on?”
“Not at dinner,” she said, but he reached over and stilled her hand.
“Will you just tell me what you and Tom talked about?”
Belle set her fork and knife down, her eyes narrowing as she lifted her glare to meet his. “Only if you tell me what you and Kelly discussed a few days ago without me being present.”
Greyson paused, confused, and shook his head. “What we talked about?”
“Yes, very important—she said you talked to me about it, said I knew everything going on with HR and the interviews she was running this week,” Belle said, still smi
ling, but Greyson sensed the pent-up anger beneath it.
He swallowed hard as the pieces slowly fell into place. He glanced down at his plate. “Right, the interviews, I thought I mentioned those to you.”
“Really? You’re just going to sit there and blatantly lie to me about the new hires?” she snapped. “Seriously, Greyson, did you think I wouldn’t notice them running around the office at some point?”
“We need more workers. I’m not sure why you’re upset about it,” he muttered, letting his annoyance show. “There’s nothing wrong with hiring fresh blood, especially when I have a new project getting ready to start as soon as this game launch takes off.”
Belle tore a piece of pancake from her plate, and before he realized what she was doing, it hit him in the eye. He cursed, batting it away. “You rotten bastard! You really don’t get it.”
“Get what? That you’re hiding locked e-mails from Tom on your computer?” he growled and picked up the pancake she threw to toss right back at her.
Her mouth fell open, and her eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re spying on me now?”
“I had to do something to figure out why you were lying to me,” he muttered and chucked another piece of pancake at her.
“You’re one to talk! You didn’t even tell me you were going to hire another designer!”
“I need one! This next project is going to be insane,” he snapped. “You’ve seen the designs so you know!”
She jumped to her feet, hand filled with pancake. “Right, I should know and I do, which is why I have no idea why you’d hire a new designer when you have me, you idiot!” She chucked the pancake at him, furious. “You’re so damn dense I want to throttle you sometimes! Which is why, when I talked to Tom today, he offered me a job.”
Greyson brushed the pancakes off his shirt and blinked a few times before her words sank in. “He what?”
“He offered me a job as a graphic designer at his company,” she said firmly. “Said it was a shame, after seeing my designs, that you would have me taking care of the paper end of the job. So he said if you wanted this extension, I had to show up for an interview.”
“You said no, right?” he muttered. “Belle?”
“Why didn’t you ask me to work on the new project?” she shot back, exasperated. “You told me you’d let me work on the next one, that I was good enough to do it. Were you lying?”
Greyson was backed into a corner, and there was no way out of it. He hadn’t wanted to discuss Belle’s future at Greystone Games until the baby was born, and he hoped it would be easy to convince her of his plan. He didn’t want to tell her now, but the fiery look in her eyes said she wasn’t about to let it go.
“Will you please sit back down?” he asked, his eyes darting to her belly.
She gritted her teeth but sat down and crossed her arms over her chest. “There, I sat, now tell me.”
He nodded, running his hand over his beard, struggling to find the right words that wouldn’t set her off again. For good measure, he pulled the food out of her reach, ignoring her eye-rolling as he did so. “I assumed after the baby was born you wouldn’t be returning to work.”
Belle’s face was rigid. “And why wouldn’t I go back to work?”
“You were so worried about being a mom and being there for our son, I just assumed you would want to stay home with him. I was ready for you do that,” he said. “I’d actually prefer it.”
Belle was on her feet again in a second, glaring at him as her mouth moved, but no words came out. Her hands clenched at her sides, and he was glad he’d pulled the food out of reach. “You… you think I’m going to be a stay-at-home mom? Forever? You never thought to talk to me about it! You were just going to replace me at the office, is that it?”
“Not replace you, but eventually, yeah, I would hire another assistant,” he started, and Belle yelled in aggravation. “What? You keep talking about wanting to spend time with our son! What’s wrong with assuming you’d like to stay home?”
“You can’t control my life, you moron,” she snapped. “You just can’t! You have to talk to me about this shit first. My God, Greyson, I love you and I love our unborn son, but damn it, I don’t want to give up all my dreams for you. Watch you live out yours while I play the perfect housewife and mom.”
Greyson tried to picture Belle as a housewife, and he sighed, his shoulders sagging. “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m sorry. I just… I wanted you to be happy.”
“Being with you makes me happy,” she sighed. “Being a parent with you will keep me happy, and working with you, no matter what life throws at us, will keep me happy.” She walked around the table, and he took her hand, dragging her into his arms. He held her close, breathing in her cinnamon smell and loving the feel of their unborn son nestled safely between them. “I’m still mad at you.”
He smiled, and his arms tightened around her. “I still don’t know if I want to lose you to a project.”
She leaned back, and the fire in her eyes flared to life again. “Seriously? You’re going to do that to me?” Shaking her head, she pushed out of his arms and stormed off towards the bedroom.
“Where are you going? We’re not finished talking about this!”
“I am,” she called back. “I'm taking a damn bath, and that is not an invitation!”
Greyson stalked after her, bringing with him a plate of food so she would eat something. He walked through the doorway just as she turned on the hot water and poured bubbles into the bath. He leaned against the frame, set the plate on the bathroom counter, and watched as she tugged her shirt off angrily. When she turned, her fingers froze unfastening her bra.
“I said I’m done talking,” she insisted.
“You’re not going to tell me you’re not leaving me for Tom?”
“For the love of God, I’m not leaving you, just your company unless you let me prove I can do more than push papers to keep you happy,” she said, but he heard the worry in her voice, a tone he hadn’t heard from his Belle in a long time. He pushed off the frame, his heart pounding in his chest because he’d failed her somehow, failed to show her she was so much more to him than just his assistant, than just the woman who kept him in line at work. She was everything to him, and he’d failed to show her that after all this time.
Greyson took a step towards her, and Belle held up a hand to ward him off, her eyes glistening with tears of worry and anger all rolled into one. She’d never looked so vulnerable before, and all Greyson wanted to do was ease her worries and show her who she was to him. He took her hand gently in his and kissed the palm of it sweetly.
“You were never just someone who pushed papers for me, Belle,” he whispered, his voice strained with all the love he had for her pouring out all at once. “You put me in my place, pointed out my arrogance.” His other hand slid up her arm to her bra strap and slid it down. “You helped me find my passion when I was adrift.” He moved closer and kissed her bare shoulder, stepping to be behind her.
“Greyson.” She breathed his name, her hand tightening around his.
“You didn’t back down, even when I pushed too hard. You pushed me back.” His lips trailed to the crook of her neck then higher, finding her earlobe and sucking on it until she let out a quiet moan. “You reminded me what love was—true love.” He tugged down the other strap on her bra then moved to unhook it. “That fire in your eyes is the same fire you reignited in me, and I don’t want you to ever doubt yourself again, understand?”
She leaned against him but didn’t answer.
“Belle.” He turned her chin gently until her ice-blue eyes met his. “You mean more to me than I’ll ever be able to show you, and you certainly mean more to me than this damn company.”
“It’s your legacy,” she murmured quietly, but he shook his head and his hands moved to her belly.
“He’s my legacy. The family you’re creating with me, that’s what I want to be remembered for. I want to be known as the man who loved his wife with ever
y fiber of his being, every day of his life,” he growled fiercely and kissed her.
Belle’s lips moved over his as her bra fell free, and his hands immediately moved to hold the swollen mounds, kneading them as his passion for her brewed furiously inside him, waiting to be released. The tub was filling up, and Greyson made quick work of the rest of her clothes, dragging her maternity jeans down her hips, kissing her belly as he went, until she was bare before him. His lips lingered at her hips, circling her skin as her hands slid through his hair. When he cupped her ass, she stifled a laugh when their eyes met and a quiet understanding passed between them—a sensation Greyson would never be able to put into words, but it drew him in until he didn’t just see the love Belle felt for him, he saw their whole lives together, every moment they would share as a family. In one brief glimpse, he knew without a doubt that Belle and he were meant to be together.
No matter how many spats they had or how many times they pushed each other to the breaking point, what they shared was unique, theirs alone, and theirs forever.
She pulled him to his feet and lifted his shirt as high as she could before he smirked and finished taking it off. His lips slanted over hers while she fumbled with his jeans, freeing him from the confines of the fabric as her hand slipped down and gripped him firmly, but he wasn’t going to let her have all the fun just yet. Swallowing a groan, his fingers slipped between her smooth thighs, rubbing her wet lips, until her breathing was ragged and desperate against his mouth.
Greyson walked them carefully towards the rim of the tub, the bubbles at the edge and threatening to spill over. He laughed, glancing down at it, and Belle turned to see. “Oops,” she said, but he didn’t care. Taking her hand, he helped her step into the steaming water and turned the faucets off. She watched him as she sank below the bubbles, and Greyson raised a brow as he quickly kicked out of his jeans to join her.
As soon as he was in and sitting down, the water overflowed, splashing over the sides and drenching their clothes. They laughed together, and Greyson’s heart warmed as the sound echoed from her lips. She pushed through the mountain of bubbles between them, straddling his lap while her hands quickly found his erection. She ran them down the length of the hot flesh, and he groaned. It had been several days since he had been buried within her, and he missed the warmth of her body and the storm that enveloped them every time they came together.