The Devastatingly Beautiful Series (13 page)

3

Molly

Robert Delany. The last name alone is enough to make me cringe, but of all the Delany’s this is the one they sent? Jesus this man. Playboy deluxe, no women lasts in his world longer than a couple of days. Every photo ever is him with a different woman at his side. Not that I follow the family, but it’s hard not to when they are everywhere. Why is he here, though?

“How can I help you Mr. Delany?”

“Sorry for the sudden change. Please, call me Rob.” He smiles and his eyes gleam darker than before. “My Uncle is the man you were speaking with before. He is having…health…problems, if you will, and I have volunteered to step up in aiding with the wedding details. My cousin is the groom. He is very wrapped up with business and his bride doesn’t need to be stressed out with wedding planning. Especially something as simple as the pictures.”

Interesting. Most brides love being able to plan and organize. Especially when it comes to detailing their photo shots for the big day. I’ll never understand the dynamics of families.

“Well, Rob, let’s head inside and you can tell me why we needed this sudden meeting.”

I’m only a little put off. Not only does this family scare the daylights out of me, but this man is so beautiful it’s intimidating. I can only hope Tatum isn’t the jealous type because it seems as if Rob is now my go to contact for the biggest and most prestigious wedding I’ve ever shot. And boy oh boy is he beautiful. I can’t screw this up, I need this money.

We walk into the conference room and sit down. Directly across from me he goes to remove his jacket before he sits. Placing it on the back of his chair like a true businessman, he then glances at me.

“I hope it’s ok, I hate feeling cooped up in those stuffy things. Unfortunately it’s a requirement of the job.”

I nod and he smiles, twinkly eyes and all.  Oh baby those eyes. A girl could get lost in those.

“So Rob. I’m sure this sudden meeting isn’t just to introduce yourself as the new contact for the wedding that’s still a year away.”

“No. It’s not. There have been some developments that have made us push up the date of the wedding. My cousin will be marrying the woman of his dreams in two weeks, not next year.” The statement comes out of him so nonchalantly, one wouldn’t think that he just destroyed my schedule I’ve been building for the next few weeks.

Shit!

“Oh.” It’s the only words I have at this moment. While I fight to keep my jaw from dropping and a few choice words coming out of my mouth, he goes on.

“I know it’s short notice, but with the package we have bought I’m sure you will be able to fit it in. I plan on staying in town, so if you need anything I will be close by and there will be no need to bother the rest of the family. As you can assume, things are a little hectic right now. I’d hate to have to find another photographer so soon.”

“Okay. Well, uh… yes. No problem. We’ll work it out, and I’ll be in contact with you.”

He stands to leave and shakes my hand, the jolt of cold surprises me. He looks me straight in the eyes and grins. As he holds on to the handshake a moment too long, Tatum walks through the door and his eyes immediately find us. Holy hotness can my office take this much masculinity? Oh fuck he looks pissed as his eyes glare at Rob’s hand encircling mine. I pull away too fast and now I feel guilty. I shouldn’t feel guilty. I have nothing to feel guilty for. Right?

“Molly,” he manages to speak through his gritted teeth.

“Tatum. Oh. Rob, this is my assistant Tatum. Tatum, this is Robert Delany. He is the new contact for the Delany wedding. He just stopped by to let me know of a slight change in plans with the wedding date.”
Please don’t murder him, please don’t make me lose this client. I really need this money.

Tatum

Fire. I’ll just set him on fire.
That should be enough payback for touching her like that right? That was no fucking ‘business’ handshake. The look I see between the two of them when I walk through the door is enough to make me want to punch a hole in the newly repaired glass wall. Delany nods in my direction, then tells Molly he’ll be in touch, walking towards the door. Then to top it off, the man has the balls to grin at me as he passes. Fucking grins! And introducing me as her ‘assistant’? Yes, I guess technically I am, but aren’t I more to her than that? Living in her house should earn me a bigger title than assistant.

“What the fuck Molly?” I’m trying, but the anger is seeping out. No way this asswipe is getting near her again.

“Excuse me?” she looks shocked. God this woman is infuriating. Rein it in Nate.
Tatum
. Good lord my mind isn’t even working right at this point.

“Sorry. I mean ‘Why did that fucktard have his hands on you, undressing your body with his creepy ass eyes’?” I don’t see how I could have phrased that any better.

“Would you like to re-phrase that?” She glares at me. Daggers. That’s what that look means. She’s mentally shooting me with daggers.

“That man, Robert Delany, do you know him? Other than from this one ‘meeting’ he claimed to need?” I try to calm down. I really do, but it’s pretty infuriating seeing another man, someone like him, with his hands on your girl.

“I know of him. If you are asking if I know the type of man he is, yes. Who in the country doesn’t? The meeting you are referring to was to inform me that the wedding they are paying out the ass for has been moved from next year to two weeks from now. So, if you are done playing the macho boyfriend card, I have a lot of scheduling changes to make to be able to put all of my efforts into this wedding.” She huffs and tries to pass, but I stop her.

“Wait, what did you say? Two weeks? To prepare for the largest wedding shoot of your career?”

“That’s what I said. Now excuse me, I have work to do.”

She walks off towards her office and I follow her. She’s not getting off that easy. Hell, at this rate neither of us will be getting off.

“Molly stop. You can’t shut me out like that if we’re supposed to be a team. Look at it from my perspective. I walk in expecting to have a wonderful day with my girlfriend at work, to being introduced as the mere assistant after some man has his hands and eyes all over my girl! Sorry if you think I overreacted, but you are mine. Haven’t we established that?”

Ah, there are those daggers again. What the hell is wrong with her, can’t she see the way he was looking at her was all kinds of wrong? Why is she so fucking moody all of a sudden. Shouldn’t she have been just as angry as I was at the asshole?

Molly

Maybe if I stare at him long enough he will leave. One minute I’m thinking about telling him that his child is possibly growing inside of me, the next I want to throw him out of an upstairs window.

“Let’s get this straight, Tatum. I belong to me. ME! I have spent the last five years taking care of myself with no one to help me, and I did a damn good job. Just because you waltz in here, save the day, take up space in my house doesn’t mean that I belong to you. As far as this wedding goes, you will not give me any trouble about the contacts that I have to keep to do my job. I need the money from this contract more than you know, so back the fuck off, put the green monster currently raging inside of you away, and let’s get to work.”

Why is fighting with him making him more and more attractive. Like it’s even possible, the meaner I get the hotter he gets. Shit now he’s walking towards me. Or stalking. Something like animals do to their prey before they pounce. I feel like I should be scared of him, but my body is strung so tight right now this whole show is turning me on more than it should.

“Sweetheart” he begins, face to face. So close I can feel the heat radiating off of him “Money is a non-issue with me, therefore it needs to be a non-issue with you. What is an issue, however, is a possible murderer, definite playboy, undressing you with his eyes right in front of me. NO ONE will do that again.” He takes a wild piece of hair and tucks it behind my ear, leaning in to kiss my neck right below my jaw. Shivers lace through my body as I feel the all too familiar pull between my legs. He continues little pecks all around my neck and on to the other side. His hands roam down my side, gripping my hips and pulling me into him. The anger inside of him from earlier is replaced by pure desire. He looks me square in the eyes and repeats the phrase I hate the most, yet love hearing out of his beautiful mouth.

“You are mine Molly, get used to it.”

His lips crush into mine as he backs me against the wall. Hands on my hips, he lifts me and I wrap my legs around him. All while I’m trying my hardest not to grind against him, he’s trying his hardest to make me.

“Ahem…” a voice cut through the fog. That voice. Once you hear it once you can’t mistake it.
Shit shit shit!

I push Tatum away, fixing my outfit as best as I can. Tatum just stands there just staring at me. Not smiling, not frowning. Is he even breathing?

“What do you need Mr. Delany?” he speaks as I catch my breath, never taking his eyes off of mine.

“I forgot my jacket earlier, just coming back to grab it before I check in to the motel. Sorry for interrupting…that.” I hear him chuckle and roll my eyes. Thank the Lord Tatum hasn’t turned around yet, because the whole time Rob is speaking he’s looking at me like he could eat me alive. Unsure how I feel about this (though it should creep me out) I speed out of the room to grab his jacket.

Tatum has turned to look at Rob by the time I return to the room. Just staring at each other. The tension is insane, this is ridiculous.

“Here you go, Rob. Let me walk you out.” Tatum looks at me like I have three heads so I don’t look his way.

As we make it out the front door of the studio, Rob turns to smile at me.

“I’ll be at the motel down the street if you need… anything… Molly.” His eyes sweep down, then up, and my whole body tenses. He pauses when his stare makes it back to my eyes, smiles, and walks away. Those eyes are definitely something to stare at. So dark, so intense, yet so vulnerable. What’s behind the mystery? Why am I thinking this!? I most definitely should not care about this man.

Why is my body betraying me lately!? Oh, wait. I remember. Pregnancy hormones are a bitch. My mind does not want to feel the way my body did when Rob looked at me that way, but seems it don’t have much of a choice. I sigh and walk back inside to a seething Tatum.

“Anything... my ass,” he mutters, then leaves me standing alone in my studio. What the hell is happening today?

Rob

I honestly could have gotten the jacket any time this week, it’s not like I don’t have hundreds of them. I had to see if my hunch was right, though. I had to make sure it was him before we move along with this plan. That man ripped everything away from me so many years ago, revenge will be a bitch for that one. A bitch named Molly.

Luckily I caught them in the middle of a very heated discussion that ended up leading to more, and that was just delicious to watch. Deliciously beautiful, Molly. The wild hair, the vibrant eyes. So plush. She will be perfect. This is all going better as planned. Originally the contract was just to get him…but seeing what I just did my plans have changed.

I smile to myself, knowing that I couldn’t be in any better of a position right now. He has no clue who I really am. I have to keep in touch with Molly for this stupid wedding that’s happening because the bride got knocked up. Everything is going wonderfully. Now all I have to do is keep up the charming Rob charade and everything will go my way. Time to start a mind fuck game that will send Nate in a downward spiral. Everyone knows Nate Savage can take down men twice his size. What everyone doesn’t know is that when it comes to mind games, Nate doesn’t do so well. This is going to be fun.

4

Tatum

What's happening today? It keeps going from bad to worse! I need to chill out, I need to back off, and I need a drink. Unfortunately, bad things happen when I drink, so I end up here. In the middle of a corn field. There are a lot of these around here so it’s not surprising this is currently my scenery. There’s a lake a half mile away or so, corn growing all around me. I think I smell cow shit.

How did I get here? Yes, I love her, but really? At least in Texas I was feared, therefore I was respected. The Savage name got away with anything in Texas. We aren’t criminals, per say (at least they couldn’t get us for anything) we're just that good. The real criminals are taken care of by us. I used to be my dad’s right hand man when it came to teaching those men some lessons. The men like the one that took my little sister and only returned her pieces. The men like the one who killed my brother. When my son was killed my life changed. I didn’t want to kill anymore. I didn’t want to be pitied, and I definitely did not want to talk about my loss every damn day of my life. I guess that’s how I got here. Because I wouldn’t face my past.

I’ve had so much death around me all of my life, but somehow I'm the one that's fortunate enough to be standing here, in the middle of a cow-shit laden field. Really, I need to be with Molly. I need to apologize. I know I'm being protective, but I’ve seen what men like him do to women. It’s not something that Molly needs to be wrapped up in.

First I need to cool off, though. If I see him again today I may want to put my fist through his pretty boy face. No scars, soft hands. This man has probably never been in a fight in his life. Me, on the other hand. Well, I’m full of battle wounds, yet I’ve lived to see another day.

I hate the fact she has to do this wedding this weekend. Doesn’t she know I have all the money we will ever need? I know telling her not to do the wedding will go over incredibly terrible so that’s not an option. My only option at this point is not to leave her side the entire time.

First thing is first. Time to grab a peanut butter cup and some flowers for her. I owe her an apology. And desk sex.

Molly

I have to wait three weeks. Three weeks before I'm able to see a doctor to confirm or deny my pregnancy test. Three weeks of keeping this huge news from everyone I know. Three weeks. A lot can happen in three weeks.

In order to keep my mind off the track it’s racing around, I start to rearrange my schedule to open it up for next weekend’s wedding extravaganza. Everyone's been very understanding when rescheduling. I only had to mention the Delany name once to get someone to agree to the switched date. I also had to give away a free print package to someone else who was very unhappy. Her dogs already had their scheduled bath and grooming session for the photos I was to take. Heaven forbid they get dirty before their pictures.

Sighing, I sit down at my desk and instinctively rest my hand on my abdomen. I still remember being pregnant with Alice. The first flutter, the first real kick, the first time her foot (or arm...or some appendage) got stuck in my ribs and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. If this is all real, if I really am pregnant, I get to experience all of that again. Tears form in the corners of my eyes. I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have a second chance at life. After an unhappy past, maybe I’m now able to have a positive outlook on life.

Sitting here, thinking about everything, smiling down at my stomach, two things happen all at once. I hear my front door open and know immediately that Tatum’s back, and I’m so overcome with emotion from today that I barely make it to the trash can before throwing up everything I’ve eaten. Damnit, morning sickness. If this continues it’s going to be hard to keep it from him for three weeks.

His hand comes to rest gently on my back as I’m leaning over the trash can making sure I’m finished for now.

“You alright?” The gentle edge to his voice pulls at my heart strings. He really does care about me, that’s apparent.

“Yea, just a very upset stomach mixed with nerves from today. I’ll be ok.”

He looks uncertain, like he knows I’m lying.

“Molly, I’m sorry. I was an ass. I trust you and know you would never do anything with him. I’m not used to feeling jealous and I didn’t react well at all. Here, I got you these.”

He awkwardly hands me a package of peanut butter cups and a bouquet of flowers, like he isn’t used to apologizing. The chocolate is a wonderful thought, but just smelling the flowers makes my stomach turn. How to get around this without him being suspicious?

“I absolutely forgive you, especially when there is chocolate added into the apology,” I say, a genuine smile spreading across my face. “Thank you. Why don’t you grab a vase from the kitchenette and put those on the counter. I need to go freshen up from that.” I said nodding towards the trash can. I don’t go out to the counter much when I’m working so the smell shouldn’t bother me back here.

He carefully arranges the flowers in a vase and sets them on the counter. I watch him from the hallway, thanking the good Lord that this perfect specimen of a man is mine. Hormones on high alert again, my thoughts start drifting to places they shouldn’t be drifting while at work. The way his jeans hug his ass, the way his muscles are currently bulging out of the tight black t-shirt. After setting the flowers down, he walks towards the door, flips the lock and turns to me, somehow reading my mind.

“I do believe we have some unfinished business to take care of,” he says as he walks towards me. “I believe we were right about… here… when we were so rudely interrupted earlier.” He growls, then lifts me by my ass as I wrap my legs around me. Shoving us against the newly installed glass wall, I feel his fingers digging into my thighs as he holds me tightly to him.

His lips crush into mine, his hands holding my ass firmly. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back like my life depends on it. Growing more impatient, I grind against him and feel the familiar bulge twitch in his pants.

“Damn woman, you’re going to make me keep that promise aren’t you.” He grunts, then carries me to my office desk and sets me down on my feet, moaning an appreciative moan as he stares at me.

His hands roam down my body, slowly unbuttoning and slipping off the tunic and revealing the lace bra I added into my wardrobe recently. Just the caress of his hands makes my nipples tighten and stretch against the fabric. He leans down and blows on each one, the cool breeze through the fabric is enough to make me explode. I feel like I’m floating, every nerve lighting up in tune with my beating pulse. I start undressing him, shirt first, pants next. I’ll never get used to the body on this man, even if I stare at it every day for the rest of my life. The ripples, the hardness, his ass. The assault on my nipples ends and he focuses his attention lower. My shorts are soon lying on the floor, along with everything on my desk as he swipes it off in one clean sweep to lay me out. It’s a glass desk, cool on parts of my body, other areas burning hot; the sensation is incredible. I lay back and open my legs, ready for him to do as he pleases.

“Fuck Molly, that’s so hot” he growls again, his eyes burning into mine, towering above me as I lay out on my desk. It makes me feel powerful, knowing that I do this to him. He’s as hard as he possibly could be when he enters me, and I feel every inch of him. He pins my hands above my head with one hand, the other snakes down to massage ever so gently the one spot that still needs friction, his eyes never leaving mine as he sets a rhythm that’s sure to set me off.

“Jesus, Molly,” he gasps when I tighten my legs around him and pull him in for a kiss. He sits up and licks his thumb before applying pressure to my clit. Pressure that was much needed.

“Mmm, Tatum,” I whisper, grinding into his hand as he makes love to me.

“Oh God, baby, I’m so close,” he grunts, slamming into me a few more times.

Right as the lightening starts shooting through my body, I scream out in pleasure and my entire body starts tingling. I feel my walls convulsing around him, which sends him into his own release.

“Shit,” he groans as he finishes inside of me, then rests his head on my shoulder.

“You’ve ruined me for other men” I managed to gasp.

He pushes up onto his elbows, unable to move the rest of his body as I’m still wrapped around him.

“You say that like there’ll be other men after me.” The sideways grin I receive makes my heart flop, just like it did the first time he smiled at me.

This man is going to make me forget everything I thought about not becoming dependent on another man. I already am letting him creep into my life slowly by moving in with me and giving him the assistant position. If I’m not careful I’m going to lose myself to him, and the last time I did that I lost more than I bargained for.