Bedding The Billionaire (Bedding the Bachelors Book 3) (29 page)

“I love you, sweet thing.” He moved in and out of her, everything fitting and flowing just right. If there was ever such a thing as perfection, this was it.

With each thrust of his hips, Lucy squeezed his cock tightly with her internal muscles. Their hearts were racing, and every time his rhythm increased, she matched it perfectly.

They made love that way, slow and gentle, professing their love for each other over and over again. They caressed one another, riding the wave of mind-blowing pleasure until finally Jamie exploded inside of her. Lucy’s body shook and quaked with her own release and at last they collapsed into a sweaty tangled pile of arms and legs.

Words couldn’t capture or express what she was feeling at that moment. Instead of speaking, she burrowed closer to him. They lay there together, getting their breathing under control and feeling each other’s hearts beat.

* * *

Lucy and Jamie spent the rest of the weekend exploring the town, sitting in the hot tub and overall having a great time. Monday morning came and after a hearty breakfast at the inn, Jamie met with the town council while Lucy had coffee in the courtyard.

There seemed to be quite a bit of press accumulating, but that seemed par for the course, given the situation. She was sending a text to Grace and didn’t notice reporters surrounded her until one of them said, “Miss Conrad, John Stuben of the Los Angeles Tribune. Do you have any comment?”

Lucy looked up at him, confused. “Comment on what?” she said.

“The photos that were released this morning by the Golden Enquirer.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lucy said.

The reporter handed a copy to Lucy and she glanced at it.

She gasped, horrified at what she was seeing.

The other reporters and cameramen were snapping photos and yelling questions. There were at least six of them now. Lucy felt light-headed and she thought she was going to throw up, right there in front of these people. She swallowed the bile down, not wanting to give them the satisfaction. Looking at the reporter who’d given her the paper, she said, “I have no comment.”

She pushed her way through the reporters, and instead of going back into the courthouse, she headed for the inn. The whole way there, she cursed herself for being the coward Jamie had said she was.

* * *

Jamie discovered that Garrett, the man he’d met at the baseball game, was the chairman of the town council. The meeting didn’t take long. Jamie told them of the company’s offer to help repair the damage committed by the previous company’s waste system. When Garrett asked what Whitcomb Enterprises wanted in return, Jamie simply said, “We hope you’ll view our efforts as a genuine desire to help this town. Afterwards, if Summitville wishes to do business with us, we can talk. But we won’t be asking for anything in return.”

Garrett and the council seemed stunned by Jamie’s offer and as expected had several questions. Jamie patiently answered them. Then, after shaking hands with every person in the room, Jamie left to find Lucy.

As soon as he got outside, he was confronted by the press.

When he got the gist of what they were saying, he almost panicked. But he managed to stay cool in order to deal with the reporters.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I have no comment,” he told them. As he started to walk away one of the female reporters held a copy of the Golden Enquirer out in front of him. Across the front were the words:
Jamie Whitcomb, heir to the Whitcomb fortune, engaged to marry a stripper?
Underneath there was a picture of Lucy in her bra, backstage at the nightclub, talking to Jamie.

He remembered when she’d torn off her wig and mask in her anger after he’d carried her off the stage at Divine.

Apparently someone had taken her picture, but who?

There were more pictures, as well; several photos of Lucy completely bare-breasted as she gyrated against a pole on stage.

He knew immediately the pictures had been altered. His friends had told him Lucy hadn’t returned to strip after he’d carried her off the stage. But it didn’t matter if the photos were fake. Everyone would think they were real.

He felt sick. Not because he cared about the pictures, but because he’d guessed the reason Lucy had disappeared was because she’d seen them. He had to get to her right away. He shoved the paper in the closest recycle bin and jogged down towards the inn.

By the time Jamie got there, Lucy was already gone. She’d left him a note…and the engagement ring.

The note said,

I’m sorry. I obviously can’t do this. I’ve screwed up my chances to get the baby. I’ve embarrassed you and your family. How can I ever be accepted into your world after this? I’m sorry, Jamie. I do love you, but this will never work.

Jamie took out his phone and tried to call her. It went straight to voice mail. He sought out Marie, who said that Lucy had asked her for directions to the bus depot.

“She seemed upset,” she said. And in spite of everything, she didn’t look pleased or even judgmental. She just looked worried about Lucy.

“I’ve got to go after her.”

“I was going to say the very same thing.”

* * *

Lucy refused to take his calls and she never returned to her apartment. When Jamie finally called Grace, the other woman said Lucy was staying with her for a few days. “She doesn’t want to talk to you or see you right now, Jamie. I’m sorry.”

And he could hear how sorry she was over the phone.

When he called back on Tuesday, Grace told him that Lucy’s in-laws had tried to deny her upcoming Saturday visit with Milly, but apparently Lucy had called her own lawyer, who’d taken care of that matter by producing a court order granting Lucy visitation rights.

The fact that she’d called her own lawyer and hadn’t allowed Mason’s family to bully her had given Jamie renewed hope. But when he tried calling her again, she still refused to take his call.

A few more days went by. Then a week.

By that time, Jamie was pissed.

How dare she shut him out like this? She’d told him she loved him, and this was how she treated him, when he’d done absolutely nothing wrong?

He jerked when his phone rang and his eyes widened when he saw the caller was Lucy. Despite his anger, he picked up immediately.

“This is Jamie,” he said.

“I’m not angry with you,” she said quickly. “I’m not angry with anyone but myself. I’m the one who got on that stage and stripped, and I’m the one who pretended to be your fiancée so I didn’t have to deal with the messy consequences of my previous choices.”

He wanted to hold on to his anger, he really did, but he found himself reassuring her instead. “First of all, that strip-tease may have been a poor choice, but who hasn’t made poor choices in Vegas? Second of all, you are that baby’s aunt, her flesh and blood, and you love her. Whether you actually took your clothes off in front of others doesn’t speak to that at all. Anyone who knows you, and I mean the
real
you, knows that. And I know you. I love you, Lucy.”

She sobbed and he closed his eyes, wanting to ease her pain but knowing he couldn’t do that for her completely. “I can’t do this,” he said quietly. “I can’t make love to you, hear you say you love me, and yet still worry that when something upsets you, you’re going to run away from me. The past week has been devastating.”

“It’s been devastating for me, too,” she said. “I’m sorry for running.”

“I know you are,” he said. “I want nothing more than to be with you. I love you with all my heart. But I have to trust that when you commit yourself to me, you’re going to give me all of you and that, come what may, bad or good, you’ll stand by my side so we can deal with whatever happens together.”

“I want to give you that. I
want
to promise you that.”

“I know. But like I told you before, it’s not a matter of just saying it, Luce. It’s a matter of proving it.”

“So that’s it? I ran. I disappointed you and now you don’t want me anymore?”

“I can
never
not want you.”

“But I can hear it in your voice. You’re walking away just like before. All those months ago, you never called me. You never came after me.”

“I was giving you time. Hoping you’d come to me.

“You’re too used to getting whatever you want. You’re spoiled.”

“Maybe I am. Maybe things have come too easily to me. But I’ve given you what you wanted. Sex without commitment—”

She snorted. “Like it’s not what you wanted too?”

“The sex absolutely. But you’re more than sex, Luce.”

“Then why won’t you fight for me?”

“Because I need you to fight for me.”

The silence that followed his words told him he’d stunned her almost as much as he’d stunned himself. But it was true. He needed her to fight for him, whether it was today or tomorrow. If she wasn’t willing to do that…

“I don’t ever want you to be embarrassed of me or regret being with me,” she finally said. “I don’t want to screw up your life.”

“Then don’t walk out of it,” he said. “Stay with me. Come to me. But do it only if you can commit and fight for what we have. I’ve got to go now, but think about what I’ve said, sweet thing. And take care of yourself.”

“You too,” she whispered.

And even though it was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, Jamie hung up the phone.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

“The people of Summitville want to thank you and Whitcomb Enterprises for your generosity, Jamie. And we want to apologize, unfortunately not for all but for some of us, for the initial mistrust we laid at your feet.”

“I’m just glad we’re moving beyond the past, Garrett,” Jamie said into the phone. “And that we’re working on solutions to heal the town.” He hoped the healing would apply to both the land surrounding the old automotive factory and some of the lingering grief over Sierra’s death and any anger directed at Jamie because of it.

But Jamie had finally accepted he could only do so much, and that the speed and degree of one’s healing had a lot to do with the attitude of the person grieving.

As it always did, his mind found a way to divert his thoughts to Lucy. He had no doubt she still grieved her sister’s death, but was she grieving Jamie’s absence from her life? He liked to think so, given how terribly he missed her.

“We’ll see you in a few weeks,” Garrett said.

Jamie said goodbye, hung up the phone, and turned his chair so he was staring out his window. Instead of seeing the impressive cityscape, however, his mind was filled with memories of Lucy on her pink bike. Lucy petting a stingray and holding a snake. Lucy underneath him and above him, urging him to give her the release she craved…

He cursed even as his dick hardened.

It had been two weeks since he’d asked Lucy to come to him with her heart fully committed, and it still hadn’t happened. His body craved hers. But most of all, he missed just being with her, talking with her, and enjoying her sassy sense of humor.

Maybe she’d never come to him. Maybe Lucy’s prejudices and fears about his wealth and privileged background weren’t something she’d ever be able to overcome.

He didn’t want to accept that, but at what point did hope have to give way to realism?

Someone knocked on his door and he turned his chair around again. “Come in.”

It was his assistant, Annabelle. “Just bringing you your mail.”

He took the pile of envelopes. “Thanks,” Jamie said. He started to sort through the mail, but sensed Annabelle hadn’t moved away.

“I’m sorry, was there something else, Annabelle?”

“Just…um…” She hesitated, then reached out and withdrew a bright orange envelope from the middle of the pile and put it on top. “You’ll want to open this first.”

He looked down at the envelope, his eyes widening when he saw the beautiful black and fuchsia print on the front.

It was addressed to
Jamison Whitcomb the Fourth
.

The return sender?

Lucille Conrad, soon-to-be Mrs. Jamison Whitcomb the Fourth
.

* * *

After her last conversation with Jamie, it had only taken an hour of serious contemplation for Lucy to conclude that hell, yes, she could commit herself to him and everything that came with him—for better or worse. All she’d had to do was replay the last few weeks they’d spent together and recognize his willingness, even after those horrible pictures came out and she ran away, to give her a second chance.

But she didn’t just want to tell him that. Like he said, words didn’t mean anything unless they were backed up with action. So she’d enlisted Melina and Grace to help her start planning. Thus began a whirlwind of activity. Time and again, she’d almost given in to her desperate urge to contact Jamie and beg to see him. She knew he was probably worried that she hadn’t done so yet, but she hoped that in the end, he’d think the surprise she had planned for him had been worth the wait.