The Suspicious Proposal (4 page)

"Okay. I'm going to hold you to that. I love you, Britt." Lena told her with a sigh.

"I love you, too." Brittany replied, glad to have such a good and caring friend looking out for her.

Three days later, she went to Logan's house. They were planning to go shopping that afternoon for wedding cakes and flowers, and he had asked her to come by his home. She had only been there a few times on nights when they wanted to do more than just frolic in the back of his limousine. His place was closer than hers was, making it logistically convenient.

The first time she had seen it, the home had stunned her with its sheer size and the vastness of the property around it. It was three stories tall and was a massive structure, seeming to grow out at every angle and never end.

She marveled at the Roman columns out in front and the marble floors and stairs inside. She was awestruck at the elegance of the glass and gold and bronze everywhere, and the fine wood that graced much of it. She had never even seen a hotel as finely designed or appointed as his home was.

And now, as she went to it, for the first time since he had asked her to marry him, she realized with incredulity that she was going to be living in it and it would be hers also. The thought was nearly incomprehensible to her.

Brittany rang the bell and a man in a dark suit and a white shirt and black tie answered the door.

"Good day, Madam, please come in." He smiled at her, bowing a little as she walked in.

"It's Richard, isn't it?" she asked him with a smile. He nodded and she shook his hand. "I'm looking forward to living here and seeing you more often!" she told him, unsure what to say to him.

He looked at her with silent eyes and nodded. He led her into the library where Logan was sitting behind a desk, his mind intent on the thick stack of papers before him.

"Sir," Richard spoke up as they entered the room, "Miss Taylor is here to see you."

Brittany's smile faltered slightly. Richard was so formal. She wondered if it was in his job description to treat everyone like that and if she would be able to be on a first name basis with him when she moved in.

"Thank you," Logan said and then looked up at her happily.

"Thanks, Richard." She gave the butler a friendly smile. He nodded at her and left the room.

Logan stood up behind his desk and she was struck by how much more powerful he looked there, and what a surprise it was to her. She had seen him in so many ways and in several different situations, but seeing him in a place as austere and formal looking as his library, gave him an air of dignity and power that she hadn't yet experienced with him.

"Hi, baby,” she said.

He walked around the desk and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her cheek and then kissing her mouth softly. He let her go and looked down at her, giving her a strange smile.

"How's my girl doing?" he asked lightly.

She kissed him once more. "I'm good. I'm excited to become your wife, I have a maid of honor, and my fiancé is taking me out to help me choose cakes and flowers today. Life couldn't be much sweeter, could it?"

Logan shook his head and smiled at her. "Not really, no." He led her to the sofa in the library and sat her down on it.

"Brittany, I want to talk with you about something. My attorney gave me a little form today that he wants you to sign. It'll only take a moment, and then we can go out and shop." He stood up and walked over to his desk. "Let me just get it for you."

He picked up the thick stack of documents that he had been poring over when she walked in the room and he brought them to her and laid them on the table before her.

"There are just a few pages to sign." He indicated several tags that were attached to the sides of pages, showing her where her signature was requested.

She frowned and looked down at the very legal looking document. "What is this?" she asked in confusion as she looked up at him.

He shrugged and shook his head. "It's just a little agreement before we get married. I have to have it for the lawyers."

Brittany tilted her head a little. "What kind of agreement?"

He looked at her and smiled a little. "It's a prenuptial agreement; just some official paperwork, really."

Her eyes widened in shock. "You want me to sign a prenuptial agreement?"

"Well, the attorney does."

She lowered her brow at him. "You mean your attorney does... the one that you hire to take care of all of your things; the one that you instruct about how you want things done?"

He pursed his lips and shook his head. "It's actually a little more complicated than that." he told her, looking at her with a gentle smile.

Brittany felt ire growing in her, rising up slowly and spreading. "Why on earth would you want me to sign a prenuptial agreement? What do you think I'm going to do, divorce you and try and take you for every penny you have? Why would I do that? I love you! I'm the one who has agreed to promise my life to you.

“You asked
me
to marry you, not the other way around, so why would you do this? Why would you go to the trouble of asking me to marry you at all, if you didn't trust me and you thought I might try to use you?"

He raised his hands in defense and shook his head. "It's really a lot more complicated than that. You're looking at the bigger picture, that's all. I do trust you; I trust you implicitly; it's just important to the business I run, to the other people who are affected by my business decisions, and for other legal situations that are directly affected by this agreement. It's just a technicality. I wouldn't ask you if it weren't necessary." He was still smiling at her but she was getting to be quite upset with him. 

"How can you ask this of me?" she demanded, beginning to feel an imbalance of fear and anger in her.

He sighed. "Brittany, it's really not like that."

She could not hide her emotions or her frustration that he was putting her in the position that he was. She felt like he was betraying the core fundamentals of their love.

"What is it like? Is it trust? Is it faith that our future together is one of solidarity that won't end in a divorce and me trying to use you and take your money and possessions from you? I didn't ask you to marry me. I haven't asked you for anything but your love, and now you come to me with this materialistic garbage and insult the trust and faith that I have in you, in my love for you, and in our future together? How can you do that?" she demanded of him.

Logan reached over and took hold of both of her hands. "Brittany, my dear, this is nothing more than just a document for the lawyers. I know we are always going to be together, and I know that you are not going to divorce me or take half of my worth from me. That is one of the reasons I asked you to marry me, because I know that you love me. But this is just something that has to be done for business reasons more than any other reason, and we can't get married if it isn't signed."

He looked at her imploringly. "Brittany, I want to marry you, more than anything else in the world, but it can't happen without this." He leaned over and kissed her cheek softly, and then he kissed her lips as his hands gently touched her thighs and one slid carefully beneath the hem of her dress and up her inner thigh.

"You are the answer to everything for me." He kissed her mouth again and then trailed his lips close to her ear as his fingers reached her panties and slipped beneath them, rubbing her gently.

"You are all that I want and everything I need. I want you to be my wife. I want you to spend the rest of your life with me, this is only for business, really, please baby," he whispered, sucking gently on her neck and slipping his fingers inside of her as he began to lay her back on the sofa, massaging her more firmly and making her moan and sigh softly, "Please baby, just sign them for me.

I'll be such a good husband to you, and you won't ever want for anything. It's just business... you understand that, don't you?" he asked, moving his fingers more swiftly in her and making her close her eyes and moan as her arms moved around his broad shoulders and his kissing and sucking became more urgent.

"But it means you don't..." she gasped in pleasure as his fingers moved faster in her, "...you don't trust me."

"I do trust you, or I wouldn't want to marry you, baby. Come on... say you will sign it. I want you more than anything, say yes... come on... say yes..." he whispered against her skin as he manipulated her body and made her arch her back in pleasure as she moaned softly, clinging to him.

"Logan..." she whispered, "It goes against the very nature of love!" She spoke breathlessly as she looked at him through heavily lidded eyes.

He grinned at her and took his hand from her, peeling her clothes off swiftly, his mouth moving from her lips to her neck, and from there to her breasts where he canvassed her nipples with his tongue and tugged hard at them with his teeth. He pulled her dress off and pushed her panties down, laying her back fully on the sofa and spreading her legs.

Logan buried his face between her thighs and licked and sucked at her, biting her gently as she twisted her fingers snugly in his dark curls and began to move her body against his mouth.

He delved his tongue deeply into her until she could not hold herself back and she came hard, calling his name in a breathless gasp. He rose up above her, pulling his own pants down and thrusting his erection into her depths until no part of her womanhood was without him in it.

He moved slowly in her, taking his time and caressing her body with his hands as she cried out again and again in pleasure, coming on him over and again. He kissed her hard and she shivered with ecstasy as he tasted her and loved her deeply.

"See how incredible this is?" he whispered as he pushed himself into her depths. "I want this for the rest of my life with you, please tell me yes. Sign it baby... just sign it..." he whispered, making her come again and kissing her hard.

She held him tightly against her as she moved with him, her body rocking against his and she pushed her head back as he came in her, flooding her with his heat and passion, emptying all of himself into her.

He gasped breathlessly and laid his forehead on her shoulder.

"I will," she finally said in a whisper. "I can't lose you. I'll sign it,” she told him quietly, and then he kissed her mouth tenderly and smiled at her.

"That's my girl." He raised himself back up and redressed, giving her a hand back up and helping her with her buttons.

When she was fully dressed again, he handed her a pen, and showed her where to sign each document, and fifteen minutes later, it was all signed; done and over with.

He walked over to his desk, put the thick stack in a drawer and locked it, and then he opened another drawer and pulled out a long white box that barely fit in his hand, and he walked over to her and kissed her softly.

"This is a little gift for you, thank you for understanding." He opened it and pulled a gold necklace from it with a diamond heart on it.

She gasped as she saw it and smiled widely as he slipped it around her neck and kissed her cheek.

"Shall we go shopping for wedding cake and flowers now?"

She nodded and put her hand in his, walking with him out of his office. As she left, she told herself that he really did care about her and that he was going to marry her because he wanted to spend his whole life with her, and that was the most important thing. Everything else was just paperwork. They wouldn't get divorced, so it wouldn't matter if there was a document or not.

Chapter Three

Brittany was sitting on her sofa with a book one afternoon when her doorbell rang. She was surprised to hear it, as she wasn't expecting anyone. She was even more surprised when she answered the door and found a stocky, decent looking man standing there with a smile on his face and a bouquet of red roses from the grocery store down the street.

He had very short black hair and dark skin like hers; his full lips were curled up in a smile.

"Hey baby, I bet you're surprised to see me,” he said, looking at her through his thick eyelashes.

She stared at him. "I think you could say that, yeah," she told him, shaking her head slightly and stepping back to let him into her home. "What are you doing here, Darren?"

He went to her and hugged her, but she turned her head away when he tried to kiss her cheek.

"I was in the neighborhood and I thought you might like some flowers. These are pretty. I know you like roses."

She sighed and put her hands on her hips looking at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"No, Darren, I mean... what are you doing coming to my home? We broke up. We haven't seen each other. What are you doing here?" She looked at him seriously.

He shrugged. "I just... heard that things were changing a little bit over here and I wanted to come talk to you, that's all,”  he said, taking her hand in his and looking at the diamond ring on her finger.

"So who did you meet? I mean... this can't be real. We just broke up like three months ago. How could you be engaged to some other man so fast?" He frowned at the rock on her hand.

Brittany pulled her hand from his and took the flowers from him, walking into the kitchen with them to put them into some water. He followed her in and pushed his hands down in his pockets.

"Who told you things were changing over here for me?" she asked him without looking at him.

"Oh, I heard it around." He shrugged.

She looked over her shoulder at him and narrowed her eyes.

"I might have seen Lena in the store and she and I talked a little bit and caught up."

Brittany rolled her eyes and sighed. "So you talked to Lena and decided to come by and see me?"

He smiled at her. "Well, I thought I would come talk to you because I was worried about you. She said she thinks you and him are moving too fast. I think you must be moving pretty fast too... I mean, we just broke up a few months ago and now you're already engaged? You fell in love that fast with some guy you barely knew and you're ready to commit yourself to him for the rest of your life?"

She turned and looked at him, holding the vase full of roses as she spoke.

"Yes, I am. I know it's fast, but when the love is true and real, and you know it's right, then it's not a big deal to make that kind of significant commitment."

As soon as she said it and saw the look on his face, she regretted saying it the way that she had. He grew sad and his brow furrowed.

"We had some good love. I didn't really realize it until it was too late, but we did, and I'd give just about anything to have it back." He looked into her warm brown eyes and reached for her hand.

She let him take it, but she kept some space between them.

"Oh, Darren. It is too late for us. We tried but we just weren't right for each other. You can't think about us like that with regret." She looked at him sympathetically.

He shook his head. "But I do think about us; I think about what we had and how good it was, and I think about how bad I screwed up and how I lost the best thing that ever happened to me. I think about all the what ifs…”

He took a step toward her and held her hand to his heart.  "I think about things like what if you ever gave me another chance and what it would be like if you ever loved me again. I think about that so much," he said quietly, looking into her eyes.

.

Brittany felt her heart ache for what they had lost, and she felt sorry for the sadder and wiser man standing before her. She had loved him once upon a time. She thought that maybe they might be able to build a life together and that they might get married, but he had never asked her and when she had caught him chasing another woman, their relationship had gone down in flames and smoke.

When it ended, she walked away from him, and he let her go without any kind of fight or fuss, and there had been as amicable a parting as there could have been. She had been too hurt to want a fight and he had been too embarrassed about being caught to fight.

They hadn't seen one another since the breakup, and it was so strange to her to have found him on her doorstop and even more strange to have him in her kitchen, holding her hand to his heart and hear him spilling out his thoughts and feelings to her. She couldn't imagine how much courage it took for him to come and bare himself so honestly to her, especially after so much time had passed since they had ended their relationship.

Darren smiled at her with an old lover's smile, a knowing smile of one who has been a friend and known every depth of intimacy with another. He raised his hand to her cheek and touched her gently. "You are so beautiful. I can't tell you how much I've missed you and how much it means to be here with you right now. I never thought this would happen again." His voice was low and he leaned toward her as he spoke.

She felt the air between them warm slightly as he neared her. Something in the back of her mind pulled at her attention, but not fast enough.

"Don't give your life to a man who doesn't know you and love you like I do," he pleaded softly.

Brittany shook her head. "He does care about me. He's so good to me." 

Darren shook his head subtly. "He doesn't love you like I do, it's not possible. No one could love you like I do." He brought his mouth to hers swiftly, as if he knew he had one chance, and he kissed her softly, sliding one hand behind her neck to hold her to him as he moved his lips over hers.

She was still for a moment, caught unaware by his sudden move and by the feel of his kiss; it was a familiar feel to her, and something she hadn't felt in a long while. For a moment, she was caught in the memory of what they had, and she let him kiss her, but then she thought of Logan and pulled away from Darren, lifting her hand to her mouth to touch her lips and cover them, her eyes wide as she looked back at him.

"You can't do that!" she told him in a whisper. "I am with someone else, and you just can't seem to learn to respect that when people commit themselves to a person, that means that they do not allow any intimacy with other people.

“How is it that you still haven't learned that? I might have been yours once, but I'm not now. I am with him. I'm
engaged
to him. I am going to marry him and that leaves no room for anyone else, especially you." She frowned at him and looked at him in disappointment.

He shook his head defensively. "It's not like that. I didn't mean it like that. I'm trying to convince you to think about what you're doing and to consider giving me another chance. I want you to realize that one month with him isn't nearly enough time to really get to know him.

“You can't tell me that you know him nearly as well as you know me, or that you know him well enough to marry him! How can you promise your life to a man you've only known for a few weeks?" His eyes were filled with disbelief.

"I know enough about him to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with him, continuing to get to know him as we both change and grow over all the years we have coming together," she told him confidently. She had been touched at his genuine heartfelt emotions, but his kiss had jarred her into her right mind and her heart wanted no more of Darren's advances and affections.

“Darren, you can't come here like this and try to talk me into being with you. We are long past the time we might have fixed what was broken. If you want to try to be friends with me, I think we can work toward that, but I want you to know right now, that's all that there is ever going to be.

“That's all there ever can be. We had our time. That time is gone. You have to understand that. If friendship is good enough for you, then we can try to make that happen, but that's all we can have." She looked at him seriously and made it clear that it was all that she could offer him.

He seemed to acquiesce and he sighed and stepped back a little from her. "I had to try, Brittany; you are worth it. I wish I had known just what I had with you when I had it. I wouldn't be having this conversation with you right now. You'd be my wife right now, and our lives would be so different."

She shook her head. "Well, it didn't happen that way, and I appreciate the fact that you know now what you had then, but I belong with another man and that's not going to change for the rest of my life." Her eyes held him in check and he nodded and sighed.

"I understand," he said with a sad smile. "I guess this is just too little too late."

Brittany nodded and shrugged.

"Well," he continued, "please be sure that he's what you want before you marry him. It just seems so wrong to me. It feels wrong. You are a beautiful, smart, wonderful woman, but no man should be proposing to you after just one month. It's not enough time, it's just so wrong.

“I feel like he's up to something and you are just playing right into his hands. I think you ought to be careful. Real careful. I think you ought to keep your eyes wide open. Even if you don't wind up with me, please be careful about him, and be mindful of him. I'm worried about why he's coming after you so hard and fast."

Brittany knew better. "You are worried about me getting into a permanent relationship and you never having a chance with me again. That's what you're worried about."

He shook his head. "Oh, don't get me wrong; I want you back. I'd love you back, but whether or not you take me back, you are still going way too fast with this guy. That's all. Has he done anything weird or strange?" he asked, watching her closely.

She bit her lip as her mind went back to the thick document she had to sign.

"Aha!" Darren said looking at her with interest. "I thought so! What happened?"

She sighed. "Nothing really, he just asked me to sign a prenuptial agreement, that's all. He's just protecting himself and his business... his property and money."

Darren frowned and looked at her in consternation. "Protecting them from what? From you? What are you going to do to them, take them away from him? Has he met you? You're the least selfish person I know. I can't believe he had you do that. It's like he's already planning for the divorce. If he is asking you to sign a pre-nup, then he can't be too confident in your marriage together."

She looked up at him in annoyance. "Of course he thinks we'll make it. He's just providing some legal protection for his business; any smart businessman would do the same. It doesn't mean that he thinks we won't last!" She didn’t bother to mention to him that she had thought the exact same thing, and that her reaction to Logan's request had been just as objectionable as Darren's was.

Darren sighed and shrugged his shoulders. There was just no arguing with her.

"Alright. Well, you know my opinion, and I know it has no bearing, but at least when I leave, it will still be in your mind. You've heard it and hopefully it'll make you think some. I'm just trying to look out for you and make sure you don't wind up in a bad situation."

He walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug. "Listen, if anything comes up and you need someone to talk with or even just someone to listen to you, I want you to know that even if we aren't together as a couple, we are still friends, and I do want us to be able to have at least that, because we do care about each other."

She hugged him back. "Thank you, Darren, I will keep that in mind."

Brittany walked him to the door and closed it behind him after he left, She sighed to herself as she looked through the window and watched him get into his car and drive away. He had been a big surprise; she hadn't expected that they would ever wind up being friends again, but she didn't see any reason that they couldn't, as long as he kept it in his head that they were just friends.