I grab her hand to stop her walking away and when her eyes find mine, I set the record straight. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. You were the only person who loved me enough to stay and fight. I wouldn’t be here or have this life without you. And I will always need you.”
She pats my cheek, her eyes soft and warm as she beams at me. “Oh, my girl. And as long as I can breathe, I’ll always be here.”
I press a grateful kiss to her weathered cheek. “Thank you.”
She grins and bumps my hip with hers. “You can thank me by adding mac and cheese to this fancy menu of yours.”
I groan. “Only way that’s happening is if you make it.”
“It’s a deal.” She claps her hands together and saunters off to get started. “You should have let me do all the cooking. You hired all these people to do work I could do for free.” She grumbles as she starts pulling sticks of butter out of the freezer.
“It’s a lot of work, and I didn’t want you to come down here and work yourself to the bone,” I explain.
But I understand exactly how she feels. I balked at hiring a planner for my baby shower. Hayes had to sit me down and explain how my ecosystem worked. “I’m a Rivers. That is our first child and my heir. So every good event planner in Houston started preparing proposals for this event the day we announced we were getting married. Yes, it’s a lot of money, but I’m very rich. Partly because these same people are our customers. In this house, your only job is to force me to put my pride aside and tell me when I’m wrong. All the other work is done by people we pay.” It was a shock to my tightfisted system at first. But I’ve gotten used to it. And I couldn’t have pulled off anything close to what the decorators, caterers and other vendors we hired have done. My house is going to look and smell like a winter wonderland and I can’t wait for him to see it all.
This is our second Christmas in this house. But it’s the first one we’re celebrating with our entire family. My mother is here for the first time since our wedding. Gigi and Lucas – Hayes biological parents will be here, too. We also have his half siblings- Remi, Regan, and Tyson – and their families joining us. Including their mother, Tina. I only invited her out of courtesy.
Stone and Regan tying the knot less than a year ago brought an official end to the two family’s decades long rivalry. But the last time Tina Wilde and Gigi were in the same room, they’d nearly come to blows. When Tina RSVP’d yes to my invitation, I called her to make sure she hadn’t checked the wrong box.
She told me called them months ago to bury the hatchet. She qualified her benevolence and informed me that she still thought her ex-husband a ‘feckless moral lightweight’. But her children had accepted him, and she didn’t want them to miss holidays with their father and she didn’t want to miss holidays with them. So, she’d be here, holding her nose, but here.
Despite her snarky comments, I found her sportsmanship inspiring. So, I extended an olive branch to Hayes’ cousin, Jesse. His father, Thomas, behaved deplorably and deserves the banishment Hayes imposed on him. But Jesse, who’s a senior in college, is estranged from his parents and alone for the holidays.
And Hayes better not flip when I tell him. After all, it was in the same spirit of grace that he asked me to include Eliza, his stepmother, in my planning for tomorrow. When his father had been alive, she played hostess to their Christmas Eve gathering.
I put my reservations aside for his sake and called her. She came over one afternoon, armed with pictures of the previous Christmas Eves that completely upended the kind of day I’d had in mind.
Far from the aluminum foil serving dishes and dollar store tablecloths I associated with holiday meals, these were full on events. Complete with formal table settings, professional décor, and a catered meal that looked more like a royal feast. At first glance it all felt contrived and staged. But his excitement as we looked over the pictures quelled any remaining reservations I had about it.
If it made him happy, that was the only reason I needed. He’d made one request – every year they had a trio of apple, pecan and cherry pies. They were his father’s favorites and they used to eat a sliver of all three in one bowl for dessert.
Eliza said she still had a relationship with the bakery, and she put herself in charge of getting them.
I threw myself into the rest of the planning. It became a second full time job. But it felt good watching it all come together in the last few weeks.
Today was supposed to have been just final touches. I planned a day of pampering for my mother and I at Blush. Regan came for my one-year-old son, Phoenix, last night and I went to bed dreaming of the well-earned massages I’d booked.
But the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes this morning was a text from Eliza telling me that, not only was she not able to make it tomorrow, she’d “forgotten” to order the pies.
It reeked of sabotage. That she-devil doesn’t know the meaning of the word good faith. But when Hayes heard me curse under my breath and asked what was wrong, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.
I would explain her absence tomorrow when I had to. But I didn’t want anything to dimmish the excited sparkle that’s been in his eyes all week.
So, I said something about a late filing and needing to run to my office quickly. I knew it would be a waste of time trying to find anyone who could deliver a dozen pies with less than twenty-four hours’ notice.
But, Eliza wouldn’t win and tomorrow has to be just as he remembered it.
So, I and rolled up my sleeves and decided that even thought I’d never done it before, I was going to get these twelve pies made and they’re going to be delicious. I found good recipes online, got my ingredients list together and went to the store.
When I got back, I tried to send my mother to spa without me, but she insisted on staying and now, I’m glad she did.
“Tesoro,” Hayes’ deep voice cuts into my thoughts and I spin on heel, pies and worries forgotten at my first glimpse of him. He’s standing in the doorway wearing a smile that is what I call his “home” smile – it’s completely unguarded and warm as the noon day sun- and it makes me prouder than almost anything ever has to know that I have a role in putting it there.
He took today off from work, and he’s been out in the small greenhouse he built last year. I drag my eyes over him, drinking in the way his t-shirt clings to his sweat drenched chest and how his sweatpants hug his hips. But when my eyes get to his feet, my smile disappears at the sight of grass and clumps of dirt clinging to his shoes. “I just had the floors cleaned.”
“Don’t worry about that.” He drops a kiss on my lips that stifles my protest and grins at me. “Mary Hassan is here.”
Confused, I frown. “She is?”
His smile grows wider. “Yup, and she’s got her daughter, the one that just moved back, with her. They’re waiting in the foyer.”
My head flies in the direction of the door and then back to his face, “Why?”
He squeezes my shoulder and brushes a lock of hair behind my ear. “I called to ask her if she’d stop by to help you this morning.”
“You what?” I step away from him.
He smiles patiently. “I know you didn’t want to tell me that Eliza left you high and dry, but you should have known I’d find out. And that I’d get you help.”
“Hayes,” I moan and cover my hands with my face.
My mother clears her throat. “Why don’t I go get the ladies and it’ll give you two a chance to talk.”
I nod and give her a tight, but grateful smile. “How could you?” I hiss at him as soon as she’s gone.
He frowns lifts one dark brow in consternation. “How could I what?”
“I didn’t ask for your help. I wanted to do this myself.”
He scoffs and grabs my shoulders and stoops so we’re at eye level. “That’s ridiculous, Confidence. That’s the whole point of marriage, isn’t it? We’re a team. It’s my job to guard your flank. Just like you guard mine.”
&n
bsp; I stare at him stony-faced, annoyed that he managed to douse my fire before it really got burning. “I’m still mad at you —” I don’t finish the rest of my sentence because his warm, soft lips land on mine in a kiss that steals the air from my lungs and scrambles my senses.
He’s always been my greatest weakness. But being loved so tenderly by such a strong man is also the wind beneath my wings. After a lifetime of being responsible for everyone else’s happiness, I love having a real partner. One who is always by my side and takes the lead when I need him to.
My mother’s voice comes into earshot and I freeze. He let’s go of my waist and pulls his lips off mine with a growl. “When this bacchanal of yours is over, we’re going away for a weekend alone.”
I swat his chest but can’t stop my laugh from bubbling out. “Stop calling it that. You make it sound like something sordid.”
“With the most scandalous people in town in attendance, how could it be anything else?”
I frown at him. “Hayes stop it. I’m already nervous.”
His expression loses its humor and shakes his head. “I know. And I don’t understand why. You are the best thing to happen to this family is decades. Just be yourself and it’ll be perfect.”
With that parting gift, the man who is the constant gardener of my happiness disappears down the hallway to his study just as my mother rounds the corner from the front of the house.
“The calvary has arrived,” I crow as the three women come into the kitchen.
“And just in the nick of time,” Mary’s dark eyes twinkle and she smiles a little coyly as she looks around the kitchen.
I rush over and wrap my arms around her. She gives the best hugs. And she always smells so good. In the first year that I lived here she was my navigator, translator, and sounding board. And despite the more than thirty-year difference in our ages, besides Cara, she’s my best friend.
“I know you weren’t expecting us, but I hope you don’t mind us just showing up.”. I shake my head and roll my eyes skyward. “Ignore whatever Hayes told you, I’m thrilled you’re here.” I smile at her daughter and then extend my hand to shake hers.
She grasps it and smiles back. “I’m Milly. Nice to meet you.”
She’s tall, at least six inches taller than my 5’3” and stunningly beautiful – her make up free light brown skin glows and her darkly lashed eyes are the most distinct hazel -almost gold -I’ve ever seen. Her hair is a rich umber that’s has glints of red. If it wasn’t for her pert, slightly snubbed nose and her full heart shaped mouth that are both a carbon copy of Mary’s, I wouldn’t believe these two are related.
“Oh, don’t worry - I’m an event planner and I know what the day before an event is like. And you’re doing me a favor, my son and my husband aren’t here yet, so I’m just rattling around the house missing them and feeling sorry for myself.”
Her smile wobbles and her it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. I can’t imagine spending Christmas away from Phoenix and Hayes. “Well, you’re in the right place, because I’ve got quite an ambitious vision.”
“By vision she means mission, “my mother interjects with wink. I roll my eyes but grin, relieved beyond belief to have help. “I’ll need as many hands as I can get to get everything done.”
“Confidence,” Hayes’ disembodied voice fills the room and I jump. I’m still not used to the intercom system he installed.
“Yes?” I sing song back,
“Gigi says she called you six times and you didn’t answer.”
Perplexed, I look around the kitchen. “Mama have you seen my phone?”
“I don’t think you brought it down with you..”
“I’ll come get my phone and call her back now. Thank you, Hayes.”
“Sure thing.”
I smile at Mary and Milly. “I’m sorry, I need to call her back. Can you excuse me? It won’t be a minute.” I dart out of the kitchen, round the corner and run smack into Hayes.
“Excuse me.”
I give him a quizzical smile when he doesn’t respond and step to the side to move around him. He catches me around the waist and hauls me back to stand in front of him. He still doesn’t say a word, and his intelligent eyes scan my face with an intent, assessing manner.
“Hayes, what are you doing? I’m trying to get to my phone.”
He doesn’t loosen his grip on me. “Why is Gigi calling you so urgently?”
Oh shit. I’d planned on telling him about this later. I lick my lips and put on my best matter of fact voice. “She’s picking Jesse up from the airport—”
“She’s picking up who?”
I wince at the twin claps of thunder in voice and eyes. “Now, Hayes—”
“Please don’t say you invited him to our house for Christmas?” he says in a voice low with warning.
I straighten my spine and meet his gaze unflinchingly. “Of course, I did.”
“Dammit, why would you do that?”
“Because he’s your cousin,” I say with all the righteousness I feel.
“Fuck that. His father tried to steal my company, tried to ruin my life, and almost ruined us. I don’t care if he wiped my ass when I was in diapers. He’s not welcome.” he growls.
I grab his elbow and pull him down the hallway to our study and pull the door closed behind us before I round on him. “Listen to me, I know you wouldn’t piss on his father if he was on fire, and I wouldn’t ask you to. But I think it’s a very good thing that Jesse wants to be here with us.”
He scoffs. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
I ignore his sarcasm and make my case. “Remember how, at first, you thought you were being loyal to your dad by not getting to know Lucas? And then I convinced you to try because all you were really doing was hurting Gigi and denying Phoenix the chance to have a relationship with their grandfather?”
His jaw tenses. “And you’re throwing that back in my face, why?” He fixes his stony glare at something over my shoulder.
I cup his face in my hands and draw it down until his eyes meet mine. “You know I would never do that.” I stroke the bold, high curve of his cheekbones with my thumbs and smile up at him. “I’m just trying to remind you that when it comes to family stuff, I know better.”
He pulls his face out of my hands. “Not about this. You want to forgive and forget. I can’t.”
I stifle an exasperated sigh. “There’s nothing to forgive Jesse for. He doesn’t speak to his parents either. And he’s alone.”
“Confidence, this isn’t your decision.”
“This is my family, too.” I tap my chest. “And I want to give our son the benefit of having as many loving adults in his life as possible. For me, that was the difference between surviving my childhood and falling through the cracks like my brothers.”
“Our son doesn’t need a superfluous relationship with estranged relatives to keep him on the straight and narrow. I didn’t have that and look how I turned out.”
I fold my arms over my chest and lift a knowing eyebrow. “Touché.”
His scowl deepens. “Thanks. Glad to know you think I’m defective.”
I sigh and reign in my defensive posture. I know this is hard for him. It’s goes against the core tenets of his character to embrace someone, who in his view, is aligned with the people who almost ruined his life.
I wrap my arms around his waist and gaze up at his face. His jaw is rigid and muscle in his cheek jumps as he bites his tongue and averts his eyes from mine.
“Mi amore,…please. I understand how you feel. I do. But you owe it to yourself, too.” I lift up onto the tips of my toes and press a kiss to his frowning lips.
His big hands grasp my waist to hold me in place when I pull away. “I like that better than anything you’ve said. Kiss me again.” His cups the back of my head and his lips crash down on mine, his tongue slips into my mouth and at that first taste of him, I’m lost.
I slide my hands up the hard ridges and smooth planes of his chest, around
his neck until fingers slip into his hair.
“Yes, that’s it,” he murmurs against my mouth and then, with his possessive hands cupping my ass, he hoists me up. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he walks us backward until my back is pressed against the wall.
He rocks his hips into mine, stoking the wildfire of need burning its way through me. My head lolls backwards and he presses his lips to my arched neck, trailing kisses up my throat, nipping my chin and swiping his lips over mine in rhythm with the glide of the hot, broad crown of his dick over my clit.
“God, you’re not wearing panties, and you’re so wet baby,” he groans
“I’ve been ready for days, just waiting for you to catch up, King,” I drawl and rocks my hips in search of pressure and relief.
“Tesoro, rest assured that when it comes to getting my dick as deep as possible inside you, I’m always ahead.”
My giggle turns into a long, low moan as he thrusts up hard, filling me completely. He buries his face in my neck, his breath hot against my skin and fucks me in short, fast pumps of his hips. I slip a hand under his shirt and dance my finger through the hair on his chest until I find one of his nipples. I scrape the stiff, flat surface with the edge of my nail, and he sighs. “Quando mi fai questo perdo la testa” When you do that it makes it crazy.
“I know. I’m the maestro of your pleasure,” I pant in his ear.
Having a baby the same year that I started my own firm has put a serious dent into the time we spend together. But even when time is not on our side, he’s relentless in his pursuit of my pleasure and he uses his powerful body to ensure that I’ll feel these few minutes for the rest of the day.
He slips a hand between us, his clever fingers rubbing my clit in the tight, firm circles he knows I love. It’s only a matter of minutes before I feel the first flicker of my orgasm. “I’m gonna come, Hayes.”
He pants in my ear “That’s right. And I’m going to make it so good. Just like you make my whole fucking life.”
I cup his cheeks and kiss him hard before I lean away and tell him one of my heart’s truths. “Sei tutto il mio mondo.” You are my whole world.
The Rivals Page 105