by Jillian Dodd
“You look hot as fuck,” Keatyn says, letting out a whistle and fanning her face. “What is it about a man in a suit?”
I stare at her in shock. She doesn’t usually speak so vulgar. Maybe it’s the pregnancy talking.
“Why are you all dressed up so early in the morning?” Dallas asks.
Aiden laughs and glances at his watch. “It’s almost noon. Speaking of that, do I smell Riley’s usual birthday meal? Chicken and waffles?”
“You know it,” Dallas says. “Marvel isn’t so sure about the combination though.”
“So, where were you?” I ask Aiden. “Keatyn said something about a business meeting. Moon Wish stuff?”
“No, actually, there’s a reason we bought a home in London. Keatyn and I are going to be here more often. And, with the babies coming, I can’t imagine staying in hotels.”
“Is this the wine-bar thing you mentioned?” Dallas asks.
I swear, he always knows everything that’s going on with everyone.
“Yeah, I met with the engineer and the owner of the construction company we’ve chosen to restore the hotel. If all goes well, we’ll be open in four months. The structure is in surprisingly good shape, so that was great news. And we can get it going before the babies are born.”
“Wait,” I say. “You’re opening a hotel?”
“No, it’s sort of a weird concept. A restaurant combined with a wine-tasting room and retail space. Like what we have at the vineyard. I bought an old hotel building that we’ve nearly stripped down to the studs.”
“It’s going to be so cool,” Keatyn interjects. “It’s got a lot of character that will be combined with an industrial look to give it a laid-back vibe. And the best part is, it’s got three floors upstairs that he’s turning into a private club.”
“Well, you know who your first members will be,” I say. “Congrats, Aiden.”
“Thanks, man,” he says, grinning. “And happy birthday.”
“It does mean, however,” Keatyn adds gently, “that we might not be in Sonoma quite as much as we originally planned, but I hope that doesn’t discourage you from buying that house, Riley. Captive’s new studios are definitely still a go.”
Bam’s Yacht - Pacific Ocean
SHELBY
When Juan doesn’t come back from wherever he went, I move to a chaise lounge, figuring I’m bound to get kicked off the yacht before lunch.
Oh well, might as well enjoy the luxury while it lasts.
I slip off my cover-up, revealing a tasteful one-piece, and position myself to soak up some sun on this beautiful day. The breeze is a little chilly, but the sun warms me. I close my eyes and try to imagine what it would be like to be married to a man like Juan Fabio Martinez.
Of course, after we slept together, I was feeling obsessed and searched him on the Internet. There were photos of him with numerous women throughout the years. He was married at one point to a woman named Vanessa, but I’d bet money that he wasn’t faithful to her. It doesn’t matter that he is fabulously wealthy and a famous polo player; the man has the kind of charisma money can’t buy. The kind of man who makes women drop their panties. Those kind of men can be found in every social class. I should know. I have probably fallen for them all.
I hear a ruckus and open my eyes. Juan is standing above me. And he’s in a tuxedo.
“I think I might be a tad underdressed,” I tease. “You look quite handsome.”
His eyes feast on my body before he replies, “And you look like a temptress.”
“I’m tempting you?” I chuckle, glancing down at myself. “This is my most conservative swimsuit.”
“Well, I have seen you naked, so I am most pleasantly aware of what is underneath.” He smiles. “I have a proposition for you.”
“What kind of proposition?” I ask, expecting it to be something of a sexual nature. And I’m all for that. Hell, I’m just thrilled he’s still here, and I haven’t gotten kicked off the boat yet.
He pulls a small box out of his jacket pocket and gets down on one knee.
Wait, did he say proposition or proposal?
“I, Juan Fabio Martinez, am asking for your hand in marriage. I will raise your child as my own, and we will have many more heirs. Not only can I give you a life of luxury, but I also promise to treat you like royalty because that is exactly how you deserve to be treated. After hearing what you said about gifts with meaning, before I present you with this ring of my commitment, I feel the desire to explain.”
When he hesitates, I realize that I’m shaking.
Did I fall asleep? Am I dreaming this?
“My mother gave me this ring to present to the woman I would marry,” he continues. “It was not chosen with you in mind, but I believe in the deepest recesses of my heart that you were whom she had in mind when she gave it to me. Will you marry me, Shelby?”
I start to reply, but just then he opens the box to reveal a gem so big, it belongs in a museum.
“I, uh,” I stutter.
“It’s all right,” he says. “I understand. It is a shock. We have known each other for a very short time, but during that time together, you’ve made me feel different, more so than any woman has before you. My mother tells me that I am like my father—raging hormones, too many for one woman—but she is wrong. You are the only woman I will ever need. May I put this ring on your finger?”
I burst out in a happy, maniacal-sounding laugh. “Yes!” I scream.
When he slides it on my finger, we both discover that it fits.
“See? A perfect fit. Further proof that it was made just for you.”
I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. That leads to me straddling him on the chaise and doing him right there on the deck—for all the world, or any passing boats, to see.
Whatever.
Who fucking cares?
I’m going to marry a gazillionaire, and I’m actually in love with him.
After our celebratory fuck, I ask Juan about the ring—because, holy shit, this ring—“Is this, like, a sapphire or a blue topaz?”
“No, my darling,” he says with a laugh. “It is a very rare blue diamond. A gift to my mother from my father. She never took the time to have it set until she decided to give it to me. It is a modest twelve carats, but because of the rarity of the stone, it is worth much more than a colorless diamond of the same size.”
“I have no idea what either would be worth.”
“Well, if it were a flawless colorless diamond, it would be worth five million. The ring that so perfectly fits your finger is worth around twenty-five.”
“Million?” I gasp. “Oh, Juan, I can’t wear this. It’s too much. Someone will try to steal it or something.” I slip it off my finger and shove it toward him. “Here, take it. If you’re serious about marrying me, that’s great. But I don’t even need a ring. Really.”
Juan just smiles at me. “You know, my friends all call me Bam.”
“Bam sounds like a boy’s name.”
His smile becomes wider. “You’re right. I adore that you call me by my given name. My mother will love you.”
“Do you think?”
“Yes, but you mustn’t offend her by not wearing the ring.”
“So, I only have to wear it when we are with her?”
He takes my hand and slides it back on my finger. God, it’s freaking beautiful.
“You must wear it always. And you must travel to Italy with me today. There is to be a ball celebrating the Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. It is a holiday not typically celebrated in my home country, but it is an important part of my mother’s heritage, so she always throws a party. Because she’s lived all over the world, it’s sort of a mash-up of traditions, but it’s fun. A masked ball on the thirty-first to celebrate Halloween. At just after midnight, there is a great feast to celebrate All Saints’ Day. The party goes on all night, ending with a festive parade mid-afternoon on the castle grounds.”
“I thought your parents lived in Arg
entina.”
“That’s where my father is from, where I was born, and where many of our business interests are, but they have many homes and travel often.” He lowers his head. “Well, they used to. Now, my father is ill.”
“But they are still having the party? Isn’t that sort of morbid?”
“It celebrates both the living and the dead. Since my father is still among the living, he will celebrate with us. And he will be thrilled to meet you and learn of our engagement and, eventually, of your pregnancy.” He pauses. “It will mean, however, that you will have to lie about the baby’s paternity. Are you willing to do that?”
“You will be the only father the baby ever knows,” I answer sincerely.
“You have no idea how overjoyed my parents will be.”
“Tell me about the castle. Is it haunted? Drafty?”
“While it is quite old, it’s been painstakingly renovated over the last fifteen years, and it is quite luxurious. No drafty parts. It has maybe thirty bedrooms, about forty thousand square feet. Want to know the best part about it?”
“Yes!” I can only imagine how amazing it must be.
“It has a Roman chapel on the grounds, and the gardens can accommodate over three hundred guests. I want you to plan your dream wedding. No expense shall be spared. But I would like you to consider it as a possible venue. It would make me very happy.”
“That’s where we’ll do it then. My new goal in life is to make you happy. Speaking of that, what would you think of retiring to your bedroom?”
“I think it sounds like you’re going to make me happy very quickly.”
“Not too quickly, I hope,” I flirt.
Fucking A. What a day!
Wednesday, October 29th
Asher Vineyards — Sonoma County
ARIELA
“Someone is here to see you,” Kyle says.
“Who?” I ask, swiveling my chair around.
Kyle walks over to the arched window that overlooks the tasting room and points down. “Your mother.”
“My mother? Why didn’t she tell me she was coming?”
“Do you want the condensed version?” he asks with a smirk. “Look, I know we’re crazy busy, and this isn’t the best time, but it’s your mom. And it’s quite possible that, when she called to talk to you the other day and you told me to tell her that you would call her back because you were busy—that she called back. And we may have had a very long and heartfelt conversation. One that I was sucked into, much in the same way I had been when I met you at the coffee shop that day. Hell, all I wanted to do was get laid. Now, look at me.” He sweeps his arms out at the gorgeous office that he’s managed to put together for me. “First, I play shrink to you and tell you to go to California to find Riley. I somehow end up here. Now, I’m paying it forward. I suggested that your mom come to Cali. And I maybe didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to tell her no.”
I smile at Kyle, give him a quick peck on the cheek, and rush toward the stairs.
“Let’s see. I got a kiss on the cheek for bringing your mom. What do I have to do to get laid? That’s what I want to know.”
I turn around and stick my tongue out at him. “You’d better watch it, or I’ll tell Keatyn all about your texts to her little sister.”
“We’re just friends.”
“Uh-huh,” I sass back as I run down the stairs.
“Mom! What are you doing here?” I say, throwing my arms around her in a surprisingly affectionate gesture.
If she’s startled by my hug, she doesn’t show it. She simply hugs me tighter. And, in that instant, I know, whatever happens going forward, I can get through it because she’s finally on my side.
“Your lovely assistant said that I should come see where you work,” she states. “He really does have a sexy phone voice. I couldn’t wait to meet him in person.” She gives me a wink. “And he did not disappoint. I suspect that having an assistant who looks like that makes coming to work every day quite enjoyable.” She tilts her head. “Damn. I just realized that’s probably what our husbands thought about their assistants. Is Kyle single? Are you having a fling with him?”
“Mom.” I take a deep breath, slowing her down, and try to figure out how to answer the question.
Kyle sneaks up and wraps his arm around my mother’s shoulders. “Sadly, boss lady and I are not flinging as of yet. She’s all hung up on that Riley guy.”
“Oh, how I wish I were younger,” my mother flirts.
“Um, so you just flew here without telling me?” I ask.
She glances at a tour group that has just entered the tasting room. “Why don’t we go outside, dear?”
I lead her outside to a bench placed in the shade of an olive tree. “I’m so excited you’re here.”
My mother actually blushes. “I was afraid you might not want me here. That’s why I didn’t let you know in advance.”
“After what you said to Dad?”
She absentmindedly straightens her shirt, so it won’t wrinkle as she sits. “I’m worried about your father,” she says. “Do you think I was too hard on him?”
“I think you were too easy on him in the past, and it all came out at once. I think what you did was awesome.”
“It’s hard though when you love someone. I loved your father despite his faults.”
“By faults, you mean, his infidelity?”
“Yes. And, in some ways, what I did was unfaithful as well.”
“Dad and his accountant knew exactly what they were doing when they transferred assets to you. They just didn’t think you understood the significance of it.”
“I lied to your father. I hadn’t been looking the other way until I had control of his company. I was being vengeful. I put up with his cheating because I didn’t think I had any other options, and I was worried about what people would think of me.
“I’m very sorry for what I said to you at the florist. Your boldness and willingness to leave the man you loved because he was a lying bastard affected me. I gave you horrible advice. Advice I wish I had never followed myself.
“When I went home, I looked in the mirror and saw someone who was horribly unhappy with her life but didn’t have the balls to do something about it. I thought about how freeing it would be to not have to carry the weight of an unhappy marriage on my shoulders. And that’s when I remembered the house was in my name, the company was almost mine, and I had your father by the short hairs.”
“And how do you feel now?”
“Exhilarated. Like a new woman. Young and free.”
“But you’re still worried about Dad?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, the bastard is a wreck. I can sort of see why he took a lover now. We married when we were young, and he’d yet to experience the real world. I took over where his mother had left off and became his caretaker. Funny, his playthings don’t seem to be stepping in to make sure his clothes are clean, his place is spotless, or if there is food in his pantry. And it seems to perplex him. Yesterday, we met with the mediator. We’re trying to settle the financial details before seeing a judge.”
“And he looked bad?”
“Yes, his suit looked like he’d slept in it. He’s gained weight because he’s probably been drinking more, eating out, and not meeting with his trainer. I’ve always watched his salt and caloric intake because he’s borderline pre-diabetic. Do you think I am being too hard on him?”
“I think you have a lot of pent-up anger toward him. But I’m certainly no relationship expert. I have no idea what I’m doing. Quite frankly, the best advice I’ve gotten recently was that I should focus on loving myself. That, if I do, I’ll be a good partner. I won’t need a man in my life to make me happy but will have him in it because he enhances my life. Because I have fun with him.”
“Is Riley going to be that man?”
“I’m not sure, Mom. Things are complicated.”
She laughs. “They always are, dear.” She looks around. “Think we can get a b
ottle of wine in this place?”
I laugh, too. “Yeah, I think we can.”
We go back into the tasting room and grab a new rose vintage, and I introduce her to Keatyn’s grandmother, Maggie, and one of the sommeliers, Chad.
“Are you hungry?” Grandma Douglas asks us.
“I actually am a little. Is there a restaurant nearby?” my mother asks.
“I think we can rustle you up a snack. Ariela, why don’t you show your mother the grounds? And I’ll have a late lunch set up on the terrace of your guesthouse in about thirty minutes.”
My mother gives Maggie a hug on the way out, causing us to share a startled look because my mother has never been a hugger. “It’s so good to see you again, Maggie,” she says. “Hopefully, I’ll be seeing a lot more of you.”
“Um, are you planning to stay for a while?” I ask delicately as I lead my mother outside and to a golf cart.
We get in, and I drive us up the hill toward Keatyn and Aiden’s estate.
“It’s really beautiful here,” she says, avoiding the question. “The hills, the valleys, the rows of grapes. It’s all so lush and green.”
“Wait until we get up to the top. You can see the ocean in the distance,” I tell her.
“I can see why you don’t want to come home.”
“The view isn’t why I’m not coming home, Mom. There are pretty places to live everywhere. It’s funny. I came out here to find Riley and ended up finding myself.
“With Collin, I had become a shell. I had given up on my dreams because he didn’t support them.
“Ever since I started in the event-planning business, from my very first internship, I’ve been hooked. I’ve dreamed of having my own company. Calling the shots. Doing events the way I want to. Fewer events, more attention to details. Perfectly executed details are what I do best.
“I had no idea when I came here on a whim that Keatyn would ask me to do her wedding. I had no idea of the demand it would create. But I’m now officially living my dream.
“Would I like Riley in my life? Yes. I love him. Never stopped. But he would only enhance my already wonderful life. He wouldn’t be the reason for my existence, which is a much more empowering and wonderful way to love.”