Rich Baby Daddy Hires Her

1. Nourah Marcell

“Even after all that practicing, Nourah, I’m still nervous.” He laughed quietly. “I love you.”

My eyes burned.

“Carl… I—”

“No. Let me finish… I love you, Nourah. I would never cheat on you. I would never intentionally hurt you, and I damn sure wouldn’t do anything that could jeopardize this relationship…

you’re the only woman I want to be with,” he continued.

“You’re the person I want to come home to.

You’re who I want to build with. I want us to buy a house.

I want to have kids with you. I want family vacations and arguments over dumb things and you taking over every closet in the house, even though you’ll swear you don’t have enough clothes. ”

A tear slipped down my cheek. “Oh my God,” I whispered.

I stepped closer, my eyes dropping to the ring again.

His eyes locked on mine. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody. You’re my best friend.”

Behind Carl’s face, PB’s flashed through my mind.

His lips against mine and the look in his eyes…

Fuck.

Carl smiled softly. “Nourah Marcell…” He took one more breath. “Will you marry me?”

The crazy thing was, if anyone had told me this exact moment would be happening, I’d have said they were a liar. Because never did I imagine Carl proposing to me while I stood there thinking about another man.

Then, all of a sudden, I was snatched back to reality.

“Nourah.”

“Hmm?”

“Did you hear me?”

“Uh… what did you say?” I blinked a few times, trying to process what was happening, then wiped the tears from my face.

He chuckled nervously. “Uh, I’m kind of asking you to marry me right now, in case you haven’t noticed,” he said in that cheesy, nerdy voice of his.

I chuckled too, that same nervousness sitting in my laugh, and slowly pulled my hand out of his.

Did I want to just burst out and tell him I’d kissed another man?

Yes. But instead, I said, “Listen. It’s not that I don’t want to marry you.

But this is a lot, because in my mind, we were broken up.

I was beyond hurt by what I heard, and now… this?”

He put the ring away and stood up, and I could see the sadness settle into his whole face. “So, you’re saying no?”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose for a second, eyes closed. Then I looked at him. “I’m just really confused right now, Carl, because you could’ve just come right out and said this days ago. It would’ve made a big difference.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Wow, I didn’t expect to get rejected… Before I left for my trip, we were happy.”

“Don’t look at it like that, please. I’m not rejecting you. I just need a moment to take all of this in, you know? Imagine if the tables were turned. I wouldn’t want to just spring this on you, especially after you thought you heard me in the background with another man.”

I knew way more about Carl, but PB…

We weren’t dating, but we were getting to know each other. I enjoyed everything about him. He was smart, funny, handsome, and somebody I could see myself with.

And it wasn’t that I couldn’t see myself with Carl, because I still could.

But I didn’t know if I fully believed him either.

He could’ve taken all that time to concoct that story just to pop up here today and propose.

I’d be a fool to just say yes right off the bat without knowing if he was being truthful.

His eyes started glistening, so I put my hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m not okay. But it’s cool.”

He turned and started walking down the stairs away from me, and I followed him. “Where are you going?”

“You said you need some time, so I’m gonna give you that time. Maybe then you’ll tell me what’s really going on.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you mean?”

“Even how you’re looking at me right now is different. What really happened while I was gone?”

“Nothing happened.”

He let out that same nervous laugh. “I don’t know if I believe that.”

So, I said, fuck it. I wasn’t about to beat around the bush. “Okay, fine. I kissed someone else.”

His eyes got wide. “You did what?” He pushed his glasses up on his face with his index finger.

I looked down for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

He stepped a little closer, and something about his demeanor, the expression on his face, and the way he stared at me threw me off. It felt like I was looking at a whole different person.

“When the hell did you have time to meet another man and kiss him?”

“He’s someone from my past.”

“Who?” he asked, glaring at me, wanting desperately to know who I’d kissed.

“He… he’s someone I met right before meeting you, I swear. I didn’t just meet a random nigga at a bar and kiss him.”

“So that makes it better?”

“No. I’m not saying it’s better. I’m saying it wasn’t intentional. I didn’t expect it to happen. We went out to eat as friends. I thought I was eating lunch as a single woman. You can’t fault me for that.”

He shook his head. “See, my mama was right about you.”

He went to turn around and walk off, but I shouted, “Wait… What the fuck do you mean she was right about me? What did she say?”

I was confused, because I didn’t know me and her were beefing or that she felt some type of way about me. She seemed pleasant every single time I saw her ass.

“Nothing,” he said over his shoulder, but he kept walking.

I ran around him, so I was standing in front of him, blocking his path. “No. Tell me what she said right now. Because if y’all are having conversations about me, I need to know what the hell is being said.”

“She told me you weren’t the one for me. And you know what? I’m starting to see it for myself.”

I laughed because now I felt offended. I didn’t wanna lose him. I loved this man, but clearly, things were being said that I had no clue about, and that hurt.

“Oh, so because I decided to kiss somebody after you asked another bitch to marry you, I’m wrong?” I snapped, crossing my arms.

He surprised me when he shouted, “I didn’t ask anyone else to marry me! I already told you that! My coworker was trying to help me. But you know what? None of that even matters anymore. Go be with whoever the hell you were kissing. I’m done.”

I felt my heart practically stop for a few seconds. “You’re done with me? Are you serious right now? I said I needed time to think about the proposal, and now the proposal is off the table? Is that what you’re telling me?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t want to marry you.”

“Okay, look…” I paused, swallowing hard. “Can we go inside and talk about this? All of it? I really don’t want you to leave like this, and honestly… I feel bad. I—I didn’t try to—”

“It’s fine… I was good to you. But I won’t marry a hoe.”

Before I knew it, I slapped the hell out of him. His head turned to the side, and he stayed like that for a second, like he was trying to recover. My eyes began to water.

How could he say that to me?

“You are way out of line, and if that’s how you feel, then yeah, you need to go!”

He stared me dead in my eyes, shook his head, and walked away.

Once he got to his car, cranked it up, and pulled off, I felt a tear fall. I could’ve said yes to the proposal and taken that secret to the grave, but my conscience wouldn’t allow that.

I was shocked. How was I wrong for being honest about a kiss when I thought I was single as a dollar bill going down the crack of a stripper’s ass?