Money Shot (49 page)

“I think that’s a wise choice.” He smiles, with those killer dimples showing up. His white, even teeth make me want to kiss him.

I shouldn’t. He disappeared years ago. Even though he’s waving a magic wand over my life, I don’t trust him to be my fairy godmother. I learned three years ago to never believe in fairy tales.

He takes my hand, and he has the ring in his. He must have taken out the box again while I was on the phone. He slides it onto my finger. “This is my promise to you; we will have a family together.”

There’s a lump in my throat. “Ok.”

He kisses my hair, just like he did for Lucia. There’s not a drop of lust in it; it’s just affection. It’s surprising from a tattooed biker, who is apparently a millionaire, but it’s nice. It tells me that this time, he’s not after one thing.

“Would you like to move in with me?”

“Move in with you? Why?”

“Well, for starters, we’d be married. For the second thing, Lucia would have a lot more space to play, including a yard. She’d have a chef and a housekeeper to keep track of her.”

It would be nice to have more people on hand. Auntie Tay takes Lucia at night, when she’s home from work, but it’s hard to keep up with my little one on my own, working two jobs.

“Ok.”

“Great. Just pack some clothes, and we’ll be on our way. You two can have your own ready-made bedrooms. My house is way too big for me.”

Mansion

Violet

Lucia is in her car seat inside of a limo. Logan’s limo. She’s happy with her Elmo, which she’s slept with every night of her life. She’s happy and safe, and that counts a lot. I’ve been through so much to make her that way.

Is it sudden that I’m sitting in this limo with my hands folded in my lap across from her father, whom I never thought that I’d see again? Yeah, it is. But when it comes down to it, I need to make decisions that are in Lucia’s best interest. That’s what matters to me, bottom line. If Logan is real about this, I’ll quit my second job for sure.

It’s a little bit of a Cinderella moment for me. Here I am, in the pretty carriage, being whisked away to the palace. The limo is driving onto an estate. The home is a huge mansion, like something that you’d seen in a movie. It’s gorgeous, but it’s overwhelming.

“I don’t think I can live here.”

Logan shrugs. “You can get used to it. I promise. After a while, you won’t even notice the size.” He winks, and I blush.

The chauffeur brings the car to a stop, then he comes around and opens the door. Logan unbuckles Lucia from her seat, and she clings to him as if she’s a little koala. She has no problems accepting Logan into our lives. But then, she’s never known the kind of struggle that I’ve been through since he left me. Abandoned us.

He puts his arm around my waist. I glance up, shocked. There’s that smile again, the one that got me in trouble. “Do you want a tour?”

“Ok.”

“It’s a neoclassical solid stone estate. It’s about twenty-thousand square feet. The whole property is two acres. There’s a two-story grand entrance with Italian marble everywhere. It leads to a Scarlett O’Hara staircase with a Juliette balcony overlooking the twenty-foot cathedral ceiling in the largest room.”

“How many bedrooms are in a twenty-thousand square foot house?”

“We have eleven, with twelve full baths and two half ones.”

I choke. “That’s a lot of space for one person.”

“That’s why it’s perfect for you and Lucia to move in.” He smiles with his even, white teeth. I can’t argue there, so I just keep moving.

“The staff will take care of your luggage and unpacking the bag that you brought. If you want to move in for real, I can hire movers to bring everything that you had in your own apartment here.”

“Hold on, ok? I have been here for just a minute. I don’t know if I want to make major life changes at your whim. I’m trying to take in the size of this place.” I sniff. “Do I smell cookies?”

Lucia stops looking around like a curious puppy. “Tookie?” She holds her arms out to me. “Mum mum.”

I take her little body and cuddle her close. “No, precious, Mama doesn’t have cookies. We’ll see if we can find some, ok?”

I follow my nose to find the source of the smell, and Logan’s right behind me. I try not to be aware of his big body, but a shiver goes down my spine as I’m aware of how close he is to me. I know why I threw caution to the wind all those years ago. With a glance, any woman would.

We enter a huge kitchen with granite countertops. There are more futuristic kitchen appliances than you can shake a stick at. There’s a pretty, curvy Latina woman with silver hair.

“Mum mum,” Lucia demands. I can see cookies in the oven.

“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing?” The housekeeper comes over to say hello to Lucia, and Lucia holds out her arms. The housekeeper pulls Lucia in with an expert hold, as if she’s held dozens of babies. “I have twelve grandkids, and you are just a precious little doll.”

“Sonora, I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Violet. That’s her little girl, Lucia, that you’re holding.”

She nods at me. “How do you do?”

“Great.” I smile back at her. I am helpless if Lucia loves someone, and I can already see that she is going to be great friends with Lucia.

“Mum mum?” Lucia asks hopefully.

“We’ll just wait a few more minutes, and then we can set them to cool. Then I’ll give you a cookie, how about that?”

“Tookie!” Lucia agrees enthusiastically.

Logan says, “Sonora, would it be ok if you watched the little one for a few hours? Violet and I have to get some paperwork done.”

“No problem. Go on.” She flaps her hand at us. “Lucia and I will eat cookies.”

“Come on. I’ll show you your room.” I follow him through the hallway and up the Scarlett O’Hara staircase, which is just absurd. Nobody needs that much space.

“This is your room.” He opens the door.

Everything is blue, and it smells like Logan’s cologne, spicy and male.

“Is this your room?”

He’s not ashamed. “Yup.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Wow, that’s presumptuous, don’t you think?”

He quickly steps toward me, too fast for me to react. His hands are in my hair, and he’s pressing my body against the wall. I’m melting inside.

“Tell me the truth. Aren’t I best you ever had?”

I’m wordless with a tsunami of desire swelling in me. He smiles at me, with his gorgeous face lighting up.

“Turn around.”

Again, Again

Violet

I pull up my hair so he can get at the zipper of my dress. His hands are not on my zipper. They snake around the front of my throat, and his lips are dead center on the back of my neck. His hands slide down to caress my breasts, just the way I like it. He remembers, though it was years ago and only for one night.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he whispers in my ear before biting at the same second that he pulls my zipper all the way down. He lets go of my ear, and I step out of my dress. I turn around. He is pulling off his shirt and pants in record time. His cock is hard, and he is fully aroused. I have always loved the color of his cock. It is one of my favorite shades of rose.

I kneel in front of him, my knees hitting the plush carpet. He puts his hands in my hair. I begin to lick him, base to tip. Base to tip. Salty, and he smells like the essence of man. His hands tighten in my hair, and his thighs tense. He floods my mouth with cum, and I drink every drop. I pull him out, and I wipe my mouth. “If I remember correctly, you have an almost zero recovery time.” With that, I bend to take him in my mouth again. No one-stop shopping for this guy. Sure enough, he starts growing immediately. His hands tighten in my hair again, but this time he pulls me away. “Wait. I want to come inside of you.”

This is how we got in trouble last time, but I come to my feet, and I threw myself on my back on the bed. Reason isn’t a big factor tonight. He is on me like an animal, pulling my thighs apart and thrusting. It might have hurt someone else to spread this wide, but I’d kept my flexibility from my gymnast days. He pulls my wrists above my head, and he can hold both of them in one hand. He is close, but so am I. He thrusts his hips into me violently, angrily, and I give it right back to him. I bite his shoulder. He bites my shoulder as he comes, marking me, too. I scream.

After our orgasms, we both are still, catching our breaths. He is the perfect lover.

I don’t know how to feel right now. I’ve got that warm, after-sex glow, and I feel like my body is made out of light. Physically, there’s never been anything wrong between Logan and me.

But emotionally, I’m having a hard time coming to grips with this. He just waltzed back into our lives and expects us to live with him, to be a family with him. Is this the right thing to do for the long term?

Cost: I have to put up with Logan every day. Which, looking at his tattooed body and perfect face, might go in the benefit section.

Benefits: I never have to struggle to afford diapers for Lucia again. She’ll never go hungry a day in her life. I don’t have to work two shifts just to put food on the table and keep the lights on.

I know that Logan did me wrong last time, but I’ll put my hand in the fire again. Maybe this time, it’ll turn out differently. He does have a ring in his hand. Well, it’s on my hand now. I touch it.

“Do you like it? We can get it reset or anything you like. Cost is not a concern.” He drops a kiss on my shoulder and wraps his muscular arm around me. I like feeling the warmth of his skin, and I like being in a bed surrounded by his scent.

“It’s beautiful. It’s everything I could want.” I put my hand over his. “Thank you.”

“We’ll both sign the prenup, and then we can get married. Lucia is a little small to be our bridesmaid, but she can be your maid of honor.”