Hayes
twenty-eight
There is a sadness that permeates his countenance despite the incredible wealth he just gained, along with the new industry he and his wife will be able to utilize to turn another family business into an empire.
“You should see my brother. There isn’t a deal he can’t close.”
“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go home to my wife and explain that, as of the new year, we will no longer have control of the Xenios Group and will be handing over The Mansion. I can feel the headache building from her shrieks and questions already.”
“Maybe lead with an extended vacation you plan to take her on, then drop the bomb of the buyout to soften the blow?”
I cross my arms over my chest as I begin dreaming of the honeymoon I owe Paige.
We may have opted for a quick wedding, but now that this acquisition is finished, we can do what we want.
I plan to take her wherever her heart desires and spend as much time as I can worshiping her body without work commitments stealing my attention.
“Son, you best worry about your own wife and how she will react. I know my daughter. Running the hotels is in her blood. I’ve had my time at the helm, and left my mark, but Paige, well, she’s a tender soul with one dream, and you’ve removed that option from her.
I don’t expect her to stay merciful when she finds out. ”
My gut twists at his words. My sweet, kind, gentle angel may very well hate me and discover the soul-clearing heat of bitterness before the night is out. I haven’t worked out how to tell her, but I know I have to.
“I did what I had to. Her legacy is now part of a bigger story.”
William gives me a wry look and raises an eyebrow at me.
“I damn sure hope you will be smarter than that when you tell her. You shouldn’t expect her to see things the same way you do.”
He slowly walks to the door of the boardroom before turning back to me.
“She likes Leopold’s ice cream. Butter pecan is her favorite, and it would do you well to pick up a pint before you say a single word to her.
Oh, and you better do it fast before her mama calls to tell her the bad news and poison the well against you.
I can only buy you so much time by holding off until after dinner. Then you’re on your own.”
He pats his palm on the heavy doorframe as he exits and leaves me pondering my next steps.
Ice cream. If it helps keep her by my side, I’ll buy the whole damn store.
“Well, hello stranger! You’ve been gone so long I assumed you’d gone back to Atlanta and forgotten your lonely wife here in Savannah.”
Paige greets me from the couch where she sits cross-legged, an open book on her lap.
“Can’t have you getting lonely, Mrs. Olsen.”
I stow the paper bag of ice cream in the freezer and place my suit jacket and briefcase on the island.
Call me a coward, but I’d rather kiss the hell out of my beautiful wife than drop bad news on her the moment I walk through the door, so that’s exactly what I do.
I mount the couch, take the book from her lap, and push her onto her back under me.
“You miss me, baby?”
She wraps her arms around my neck and smiles.
“Very much. I was about to hunt you down and make you come home.” She raises her head and kisses my lips. “Had I known the late hours you keep in Savannah, I never would have let you leave Atlanta.” She wraps her legs around my hips and brings me flush against her.
I devour her soft lips, putting the force of the feelings she’s brought out of me and the exhilaration of having conquered something new into the kiss.
She opens to me, her tongue meeting mine and swirling in her curious way, always wanting more. Her hands roam my back, sliding lower until she’s at my pants and circling around to pop my belt and undo the button. My girl is insatiable, and I’m more than willing to give her everything she wants.
I pull away from the kiss and sit up.
“I want you naked and on your knees by the time my pants are off.”
Her eyes heat as her mouth pops open with a breathy oh.
She’s yanking the hem of her long sweater over her head and stripping the jeans from her legs before my shirt is even fully unbuttoned.
She kicks her foot, stuck in the ankle of her jeans, and whimpers in frustration before she can pull her foot out.
I toe off my shoes one at a time to give her the moment she needs.
I push my pants down and step out of them, just as she’s turning over onto her knees, her peach of an ass pointed at me tantalizingly.
I run my palm down her spine and onto the round globe of her cheek and give it a full squeeze that rewards me with a trembling sigh from Paige.
She arches her back, pressing her ass harder into my hand.
Her pussy tilts back toward me, tempting me to plunge my dick in to the hilt and fuck her hard.
But Paige brings out something more tender right along with the rough desires, and I bring my thumb to the glistening center of her and press into the slick heat that I love instead.
“Please, Hayes, don’t play with me. I’ve wanted you so badly all day. I need you, now.”
Paige presses her chest to the couch, stretching her arms out in front of her and angling her hips right up for me.
Fuck me. I kneel between her legs and grab the base of my cock to direct myself inside. The instant tug of her inner muscles keeps me pushing straight in until I’m seated and she’s moaning with the fullness.
“How do you want it, angel?” I grit out, my control under some serious pressure with the glorious feel of her pussy dragging me under her waves.
“Hard and fast. I want you to…” She pauses, looking over her shoulder at me and biting her lip in a way that makes me throb in her tight heat. It takes her a moment and her hands gripping the edge of the couch for her to get out the request. “Fuck me.”
The whispered dirty words coming out of this innocent angel’s mouth are my undoing.
I pull back and thrust with a roar. I grip her hips and slam into her over and over again as she moans and claws at the couch.
It’s the most savage I’ve been with her, but she’s meeting me in the carnal moment, her own body rocking back into me every time I slam home.
“I want your fingers on your fucking clit, right now.”
She obeys my demand, slipping her fingers under her body to strum herself, and I feel her muscles clench.
“Yes, Hayes. Just. Like. That.”
She whimpers as her entire body tenses and shakes under me. She moans and gasps and I feel my control slipping right along with her pleasure.
“Goddamn,” I manage, the power of her orgasm finishing me in three strokes.
I collapse, catching myself on my elbows so I don’t crush her into the couch. I kiss the skin of her shoulder, working my way to her neck.
“You are absolutely divine. How do you just keep getting better?” I say with my face pressed against hers.
I feel her cheek lift with a lazy smile. “You bring it out of me.”
I push off her back and pull out, the mess that follows cluing me into a big fucking oversight on my part.
“Fuck.”
“What is it?” She looks back at me, eyes wide.
“We didn’t use a condom. Hang on, I’ll clean you up.”
I leave the couch, pulling on my pants as I grab a towel from the bathroom, running the tap to get warm water before I return to her. I gently clean her up and press kisses along her spine to keep my own mistake from eating at me.
“What are you so worried about? We’re married, after all. I imagine very few married couples worry about condoms. Though, I have to admit it was less messy when we used them.”
I catch the smile she gives me and my worries fade a fraction.
“I assume you’re not on birth control, and we haven’t even talked about starting a family, so I wanted you to have full control over what and when we do. I’m sorry for taking that option from you just because I was so focused on fucking you in the moment.”
I sit on the couch and pull her into my lap, pressing a kiss to her head and smoothing my hand over the dark hair that floats onto my chest.
“I begged you for it, so it’s on me just as much as you.
I’ll make an appointment with my doctor this week and get things figured out.
” She pulls her head away from my chest and looks up into my face with a soft expression and rosy cheeks.
“But I do want children, or at least, I want your babies. I hadn’t really thought too much about when.
I just know I want a family, and you make me want to bring lots of little kids into the world so I can have more pieces of you. ”
I smile and tighten my arms around her.
“Guess that makes two of us.”
I’m surprised by the picture that grows in my head from the fear of fucking up to the future of a houseful of beautiful kids running us ragged. Unlike Paige, I hadn’t even considered having a family—that is, until I married her and can now vividly imagine it.
A phone rings, but it’s not my ringtone, so I pull my face from Paige’s and look down at her. “Yours?”
She nods, climbing out of my lap and retrieving her phone from the island as she pulls her sweater over her head. “Hey, Mama.”
Motherfucking shit. Oversight number two barrels down on me hard and this one might even be far more consequential.
“Slow down, I can’t understand you. Is everything okay? Wait, what? You can’t be serious. He would never. Mama, no, Daddy wouldn’t.”
I listen to Paige’s side of the conversation, knowing exactly what she’s hearing from the other line, and wait for the moment she turns on me.
Her eyes cut to me a second later and there’s something worse than hatred in them.
Betrayal. I had her full trust and I fucked it up by not being the one to tell her about the acquisition.
“I’ll call you later. Just try to rest and don’t go anywhere.”
She ends her call, setting her phone back on the island with shaking hands and staring at it for a moment. When she drags her gaze back to me, I’m still not ready for the look of complete and utter anguish the clear green reflects at me.
“Paige—“
She cuts me off with a hand lifted between us and three heartbroken words.
“How could you?”