by Penelope Sky
“She’s never manipulated me to do anything. I’ve told you that.”
He shook his head. “From the second you met her, you’ve been different. You don’t fuck other women, and now you’re living with her—in the same room.”
“That’s not manipulation, Bates. That’s a man finding a woman. Simple as that.”
He shook his head again, the disappointment in his eyes shining like two beacons. “She got pregnant on purpose.”
I didn’t believe that. “Even if she did, that’s my problem, not yours.”
He took another deep puff. “This is ridiculous. You’re so far gone that you don’t even see how much you’ve changed.”
“I don’t care how much I’ve changed, Bates. I’m happy, alright? Don’t you want me to be happy?”
“With a real woman, yes. Not with this lying, manipulative—”
“Don’t fucking say it.” My hand balled into a fist.
He rested against the back of the chair, sighing in defeat. “Fine. If you want to waste your time with this woman who’s used you from the beginning, I can’t stop you. Since the dawn of time, good men have lost wars because pussy was involved. It fucks with our brains, and we can’t think. I’ve warned you many times, but you don’t listen to me. But this also directly affects me. I helped you build this company from the ground up, fifty-fifty. By being involved with this woman I don’t trust, you’re jeopardizing that. You’re putting me in a position I don’t want to be in—so you’re choosing her over me.”
“Bates, that’s ridiculous. My relationship has nothing to do with our business.”
“For now,” he said. “But what about when you marry her?”
“I’m not gonna marry her.”
“Really?” he asked. “You’re shacked up together and having a baby. It’s only a matter of time before she puts on the pressure.”
“I already told her marriage wasn’t on the table.”
His blue eyes narrowed with anger. “You told her a lot of things are off the table, Cato.”
The woman had moved in to my bedroom and shared every inch of space with me. When she asked me for that, I didn’t hesitate to give her what she wanted. All I wanted was for her to come home with me. And honestly, sleeping with her was something I wanted too. “It’s not like the things she’s asked for aren’t mutual.”
“What are you going to do when she asks to marry you.”
“She has too much pride to ask me to marry her.”
“You know what I mean,” he snapped. “She’s gonna put on the pressure, and when you say no, she’s gonna leave. You’ll be so miserable without her that you’ll cave—like you just did.”
“Like I would let her leave.”
“You let her do whatever the hell she wants.” He threw his arm down. “If you want to make the biggest mistake of your life, fine. But I want to stay out of it.”
“As long as I don’t marry her, you get what you want.”
“If you were still gonna kill her, then I would be relieved. But you aren’t.”
“Who said I wasn’t?” I watched my cigar burn down to the halfway point. I rolled it against the brown ashtray and watched the ash spread in the bowl.
He cocked his head. “Are you?”
“I said I would.”
“But you won’t.”
I shrugged. “She’s betrayed me twice. My memory isn’t as bad as you think it is.”
“But your mood affects how sharp that memory is. Until she’s dead, I’ll never let this go. This company is worth billions, and there’s too much on the table for me to brush it off. She keeps worming her way further into our ranks. She used to be part of a wealthy family. I’m sure she misses the jewels and the cash. By acquiring half this company, she would be the richest widow in the world. That’s the kind of dream anyone would do anything to achieve.”
I was on my way home when my mother called me.
During Siena’s absence, Mother had inquired about having another get-together, but I always made an excuse to put it off. Now that Siena was back, I couldn’t put it off any longer. “Hey, Mother.”
“Hey, honey. How are you?”
“Good. Just finished a long day at the office.”
“It wouldn’t be so long if you took time off like a normal person.”
She was such a delight. “What’s new with you?”
“Nothing. That’s why I’m calling. I would love to have dinner with you and Siena tonight. I feel like I haven’t seen her in months.”
No one had. “That should be fine. Maybe in an hour? I’m twenty minutes away.”
“That sounds good. I’m so glad you aren’t blowing me off…for the twentieth time.”
I ignored her comment. “See you soon.” I hung up and called Siena.
She answered right away. “Hello?” She’d gotten a new phone recently, so she probably hadn’t used it until now.
“My mother is coming over for dinner. She was very insistent, so I couldn’t say no.”
“That’s fine with me. I’m hungry anyway.”
“For cheese?” I teased, thinking of one of our first dates.
“You know me so well. When will you be home?”
Home. She considered my place home. “Fifteen minutes.”
“How was work?”
“Bates was a little bitch.”
“Isn’t he always a little bitch?”
I chuckled, feeling my stress melt away just from talking to her. “Yes, he is.”
“I guess we’ll just have to accept the fact that he’ll never like me. And that’s it.”
My brother would never change his mind. That much was true. “He thinks you’re manipulating me to get half the company.”
She laughed loudly. “That guy is seriously paranoid. How would I even do that?”
“By marrying me and getting me to leave you my half when I die. And then you murder me somehow.”
Now, she didn’t laugh. “Wow…he has a really low opinion of me.”
“He has a low opinion of everyone, if that makes you feel better.”
She turned quiet, considering everything I’d just said about my brother. “This is why I hate money. All people care about is holding on to it to the exclusion of all else. The happiest thing in his life has made him the most miserable. It happens time and time again. It’s the same story over and over.”
Maybe she was manipulating me, tricking me into falling for her games. But when I listened to her say things like that, I thought she was being genuine. She never asked me for anything, never asked me to buy her a new pair of shoes or a diamond necklace. The most she ever did was let me pay for her meals. She even ran away to start a new life—and hung up her clothes to dry.
If she really was after my money, she did an extraordinary job hiding it. “I’m about to pull up to the house. I’ll see you soon.”
I sat down with Mother in the dining room.
She greeted me with a hug and let me kiss her on the cheek. “Where’s Siena?”
“She’ll be down in a bit. She’s having a hard time deciding what to wear.”
“Oh, she doesn’t need to impress me.” She waved her hand as she sat down. “I already like the girl. She’s growing my grandbaby.”
“She’s having a hard time fitting into her clothes, so she’s trying to find something comfortable.”
“Oh…I understand.” She sipped her wine and cleared her throat. “That’s the worst thing about pregnancy—gaining all the weight. You’re so uncomfortable all the time. But then when the baby comes, it’s all worth it.” She smiled as she looked at me, motherly affection in her eyes. “I’m sure she’s as beautiful as ever.”
“She is,” I said immediately. In fact, I thought she was more stunning than ever before. That round belly did interesting things to my desire. There was a new glow to her cheeks, a new joy in her eyes. The difference in her hips and thighs did nothing to stifle my appetite. Her pregnancy turned me into a caveman and spiced
up our love life.
Mother watched my eyes as I said those words, like she was looking for something deep in my gaze. “Are you two together yet?”
I didn’t know what we were. I shared everything with Siena, but there was still an invisible barrier between us. I didn’t quite trust her, but I’d stopped pushing her away. “No.” If I told her there was anything romantic, my mother would pressure me to marry Siena.
Like she hadn’t heard what I said, she followed up with another question. “When are you going to ask her to marry you?”
Stunned by the question, it took me several seconds to respond. “I told you we aren’t together. I’m not asking her to marry me.”
“Then why do you look like a man so deeply in love?”
“I’m just hungry.”
She chuckled. “Cato, I’ve been studying your expressions since the day you were born. I’ve never seen your eyes so blue, seen that slight smile that you’re constantly trying to fight. Even when she isn’t in the room, you light up when you talk about her.”
“Because she’s having my baby.”
“You’re excited to have a baby but feel nothing for the woman delivering it?” She shook her forefinger at me. “I don’t buy that for one moment.” She grabbed her glass and took a sip. “I don’t know why you insist on lying about how you feel about this woman. But let me tell you something, that woman is stunning. She would have no problem finding another man to love her, even with a child in the mix. So, if I were you, I would get my shit together and make sure that doesn’t happen.”
I smiled slightly at my mother’s bluntness. “I’m just not looking for that kind of relationship.”
“Even though you love her?”
My voice came out as a whisper. “I don’t love her.”
She continued to stare at me with a slight smile, like she didn’t believe a word I said. She drank her wine then licked her lips. “Whatever you say, honey. I just hope you realize what you want sooner rather than later.”
Siena and my mother were two peas in a pod.
They got along better than my mother and I ever did.
They made each other laugh, talked about cheese, and excluded me from most of the conversation.
Not that I minded. Watching Siena’s face light up was entertaining enough.
When we told my mother we were having a girl, her eyes welled with tears just the way Siena’s did. She would have been happy no matter what we were having, but knowing the sex made it more real.
Even to me.
Siena and my mother talked for hours, long after my mother usually went to bed.
I actually had to kick her out. “It’s getting late, and Siena needs her rest, Mother. Let me walk you to the door.”
We gathered in the entryway then said our goodbyes. Mother hugged Siena for a long time then squeezed her belly with her hands. “I’m so excited to meet her.” She kissed her on the cheek then walked to her car in the roundabout.
My mother didn’t even say bye to me.
“Your mother is so great.” She rubbed her stomach as she headed for the stairs. “I love her.”
“That makes one of us,” I said as I walked behind her.
“Shut up. Yes, you do.”
Not right now.
We made it to my bedroom. Once the door was shut, I dropped my suit and tie onto the floor. I’d been wearing it all day, and having the tie around my neck got old. I was rich enough that I didn’t have to wear a suit at all—but it was part of my image.
Siena slowly peeled off her clothes and hung them in the closet, sticking to the side that I’d given her. I’d moved my suits to the other side and gave her enough room to hang up her essentials. She didn’t have a lot of clothes. Actually, she had significantly fewer shoes and items than I did.
“Did your mother wonder where I was for the last two months?” she asked as she peeled off her bra and put it in the hamper.
“I just told her we were busy.”
“For two months?” she asked in surprise.
I peeled off my clothes and placed my boxers in the hamper. “Yes.”
“That must have pissed her off.”
“I’m sure it did.” But I had been too depressed to care.
She examined me with that observant gaze, like she caught something I never meant to produce. “What is it?”
“What is what?”
“You seem resentful.”
I walked past her and headed to the shower. “Just something she said to me.”
Siena followed me, her feet lightly tapping against the tile. “What did she say?”
I grabbed the towel and turned on the water. “Nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing. It was something.”
I set the towel on the hook and noticed the steam filling the bathroom. It had already begun to fog up the mirror. “Doesn’t matter if it was something. I don’t want to talk about it.” I opened the shower door and stepped inside.
A minute later, she joined me.
Now I really did feel like I had a wife, a woman who nagged at me.
She tipped her head back and let the water fall into her hair until it was slick against her scalp and neck. Her hands found my stomach, and she lightly pushed her hands up the grooves of muscle.
I stared down at her and silently warned her not to ask me about it again.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it.” She moved in and pressed a kiss to my chest. “But I’m here anyway.” She placed my hand on her belly. “Both of us are.”
When I woke up the next morning, she was right beside me.
Wrapped around me like a pretzel, she snuggled into my side with her belly pressed against my rib cage. One of her legs was tucked between mine. Her deep breaths were light and gentle, and her hair was still damp from the shower we took together last night.
She’d ended up on her knees in the shower as she sucked my dick.
I came in the back of her throat, and we went straight to bed with nothing but a pat down with the towels.
Now the sheets were slightly damp, and the maid would have to wash them. My sheets were usually changed every other day or so because there was come and pussy juice everywhere. Siena was so wet all the time that it made a mess.
Not that I was complaining.
Careful not to wake her up, I gently moved away from her and got dressed for my workout. I hit my private gym then went downstairs to have breakfast.
Siena joined me even though it wasn’t yet seven in the morning. She answered my unspoken question. “It gets too cold when you aren’t in bed.” She wore pajama bottoms and one of my t-shirts. She threw her damp hair in a bun, and even though she was dressed so casually, she still caught my attention.
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to be sorry.” She picked up the mug of decaf and took a drink.
Giovanni prepared breakfast, salmon with mixed veggies, and placed it in front of us.
Siena hadn’t complained about the meals he prepared for her, knowing she needed powerfully nutritious meals and not a bunch of maple syrup poured over waffles. She ate her meal and sipped her coffee. “There’s something I want to ask you, but I’m not sure if I should ask now or later.”
“Depends on what it is.” I set down my phone and gave her my full attention. The last time we’d had a conversation similar to this, I snapped at her and got syrup thrown in my face. I didn’t care to repeat that.
“Well, I was wondering if I could go get my car. That way I would have something to drive if I needed to go somewhere.”
I dropped my fork and ignored my food because this conversation wouldn’t be solved with a simple answer. “What makes you think you’re going to go somewhere?”
Her eyebrows rose immediately, provoked by my tone. “I already ran away and didn’t like it. You think I’m going to do that again?”
“No. But I don’t understand why you need to go anywhere.”
“Well, I don’t have a spe
cific place in mind. But if I’m going to be here indefinitely, I thought I should have a car. I might have errands to run. Maybe I want to take the baby to visit Landon. Maybe I want to get you a birthday gift. When is your birthday, anyway?”
Like I would ever tell her. “You won’t be driving anywhere by yourself. If there’s anywhere you wish to go, my men will drive you.”
“You don’t think that’s excessive?”
“You were the one who accused me of not being able to protect our child. So, no, I don’t think it’s excessive.” I didn’t want to be an asshole when I just got her back last week, but it was impossible for me not to be when she questioned me like this. I was used to barking orders and men following those orders obediently. “I’m not inhibiting you from going anywhere you want to go. But having my men escort you there in an appropriate vehicle with appropriate protection makes more sense. You don’t need your car.”
“So it’s just going to sit there forever?”
“You want to sell it?”
“I don’t know…haven’t really thought about it.”
“Well, now you can.”
“You never answered my question.”
I was certain we’d touched all the bases. “What question is that?”
“When’s your birthday?”
I picked up my fork again and continued eating. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. How are we going to celebrate it if I don’t know when it is?”
“Because we won’t celebrate it.”
“Cato—”
“Drop it.” I silenced her with my tone, telling her I wouldn’t change my mind about this. “I never celebrate my birthday, and I’m not going to start now. Even Bates doesn’t acknowledge it. So leave it alone.” I turned back to my food and ate like nothing had happened. I could feel her gaze on my face, feel her disappointment penetrate through my skin. “If you don’t want me to be an asshole, don’t make me into one.”
“I’m not,” she said quietly. “I care about the man I’m sleeping with, the father of my child, and I just wanted to do something nice for you…because you mean a lot to me. The only reason you’re acting like an asshole right now is because you are an asshole. If you just dropped your guard, you would see that I’m on your side…that I’ve always been on your side.”