The Suspicious Proposal (8 page)

“See, now I can tell you all of it. I can tell you that I really do want to marry you, and I do love you, and I do want to have kids with you. It just worked out that I needed to do it to meet the requirements of my father's will."

He took another step toward her. "It's been hell since you left me. I can't sleep or eat, I don't know how much I've cried, but it's a lot. I want you back, Brittany. I want you with me forever as my wife. I want to marry you. The only thing I don't care about is what happens with my inheritance. If my choice is to find someone else and keep the inheritance, but lose you in the process, then I don't want it. If my other choice is to have you but lose my inheritance, then I don't care if I lose it. I would rather lose my father's money than the love of my life. You can't let me go, Brittany. I can't live without you. I need you, and I want you, forever."

She could not believe what he was telling her. Her heart pounded in her chest and her mouth fell open, amazed at the realization that he meant every word of it. She blinked at him.

"You really mean that, don't you?" she asked him in a whisper.

He nodded. "I do mean that. Are you still willing to marry me if I'm poor? I want you, no matter how much money is in the bank. Do you still want me no matter what?"

She shook her head slowly. "I... I just don't know. I thought you were using me; you lied to me,” she told him sadly.

Logan sighed. "I wasn't trying to use you. If I found someone else to marry me and have my child, then I would be using them. If it was you, then it would be love. I didn't look at that as if I was using you; I looked at that as a really lucky circumstance, because I was going to get to marry my best friend, and if we could manage to have a baby in time in the process, then we would have the inheritance too.

“After you left, I knew right away that it didn't matter about the money. The only thing that matters is you. Please say that you'll stay with me. Please marry me. I love you, Brittany, and I don't want to be without you, ever."

He looked at her imploringly and held his hand out to her.

She felt as if everything in her was frozen. She didn't think she could move or breathe.

"I thought that everything you said and did was for the money...." she whispered.

He shook his head. "No. The money was just going to work out and that was great, but that was never why I was with you. It did have to do with the timing and the rushed wedding, but I wanted to marry you anyway, and I still do, money or not."

Brittany felt a few tears begin to roll down her cheeks and he gave his head one shake, then rushed to her, and wrapped her tightly in his arms. "I love you, Brittany, so much. Always, I love you," he whispered as tears fell down his own cheeks. "Marry me."

She felt the ice in her crack and melt and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him as she buried her face in his chest. He slipped his finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to look at him.

"If I marry you, it's going to be without the money." She had to draw the line. She had to make sure that he really loved her for herself. "If I say yes to you and we get married, then you have to wear a condom every time we have sex for the next two months. There will be no pregnancy."

He stared hard at her and sighed. "Okay. We do it without the money. I'm not willing to lose you. I want you forever."

She had been thinking on her feet, for once with him, and she realized that she wasn't going to be showing her pregnancy for at least three or four months. She realized that the best way that she had of knowing whether or not he really loved her and really wanted her, the best way she could test the validity of his assertion of love and declaration of commitment to her, was to let him believe that she wasn't pregnant and that she didn't have any intention of being pregnant.

If he pushed her to have a baby, she would know that he was with her for the money and for no other reason than because he didn't have time to find another woman to marry and have a child. He had already romanced her, he had already proposed, and she knew that with her, half the battle to get the inheritance was gone; they only remaining thing was, as Sherman had said, the baby.

If he could be with her and tell her that he loved her but not press her for a baby, then she would know that he really meant it. She would know that he truly did love her and wanted to be with her always, and when she knew that without question, then she would tell him that she was pregnant already, but not before.

"Are you sure that's what you want? You could be with someone else. You could find another girl and marry her and have the baby, and then you could get your inheritance, but with me, there will be no money. None at all. Are you really sure that's what you want?" She looked at him carefully to see how he would respond and react to her.

He nodded and pursed his lips. "Then it's without money. I won't lose you," he repeated. "I could have chosen another woman from the beginning when I found out about my father's will, but I wanted you. I still want you. That is not going to change," he told her solemnly.

She wanted to believe him. The pounding of her heart against her chest beat wildly for him, and she wished with everything in her, that he meant every word of what he said and that he loved her and wanted to be with her whether there was money or not, but only time would tell.

"Alright. I will marry you, just as we planned. No kids, at least not before your birthday," she told him.

He took a big breath and let it out slowly with relief. "Thank god. I wasn't sure if you would take me back, even if you knew the truth."

He reached his hand into his pocket. "If we're going to get married, then you are going to need this." He pulled her diamond ring from his pocket and slid it onto her finger. "I promise never to give you a reason to take this ring off ever again."

She looked at it on her hand and thought to herself that it looked as if it was right where it belonged and she smiled for the first time since she had stepped up to the door of his office during his meeting with Sherman.

Logan slid his hands up to cup her face and lift her chin to his. "I love you," he said again, as if he couldn't say it enough times. He lowered his mouth to hers, pressing his lips softly and gently to hers, tasting her hungrily. His hands moved from her cheeks down her neck to her shoulders and then to her waist as he embraced her snugly and kissed her with the starved passion of a lover who had been denied.

She kissed him back, just as anxiously as he did, for she had missed him like the air that she needed to breathe, and feeling herself in his arms again was much more powerful than she had ever imagined it might be. He opened her mouth with his and slid his tongue along hers, twisting and turning, drawing up the need and heat in her belly so sharply that she closed her fingers and hands around him tightly.

She lost her breath as he slid his hands into the loosened buttons on her blouse, moving below the material and grasping her rounded breasts. He moved his fingers and thumbs over her stiff nipples and she moaned with pleasure as his hands massaged her ardently.

"I need you..." he told her, "now... It feels like it's been so long since we made love. I miss you. Come with me to your bed."  She closed her eyes and let the thrill of desire flood through her. It set her on fire, made her breathless, and the more his mouth moved over her, canvassing her mouth, her neck, and the tops of her breasts, the more she lost herself to her growing passion for him.

"Brittany..." he pleaded, “make love with me!" He pulled her close to him and she felt his hard need against her. It made her ache with need for him in return and she looked up at him and kissed him ardently before taking his hand and leading him to her bedroom.

They pulled one another's clothes from their bodies, and their emotion was heightened by having gone through so much anguish apart, that as they began to come together, they felt every nuance, every pleasure, every need and desire, even more so.

Her nimble fingers moved over the buttons on his shirt, pulling them open until he was bared before her and she was able to kiss and touch the body that she had missed so much. He too, pushed and pulled at her jeans and blouse until she was nude and he could cup her curves and run his hands and fingers along the lines of her.

Logan laid her down in her bed and she reached for a condom, handing it to him as he hovered over her, ready and throbbing for her. He did not hesitate a moment, but put it on himself and in moments he had spread her legs apart and thrust himself into her depths.

She arched her back, her fingers holding tightly to his shoulders and then to his back and finally to his hips, as he began to push himself into her, and she lifted her own hips to meet his.

Pleasure felt like electricity flashing through her and nearly paralyzing her with its power and magnitude. His mouth could not get enough of her; kissing her skin, biting at it, sucking soft and then hard on every part of her that he tasted, from her neck and ears to her nipples and fingers. The more they shared with one another, the more they wanted.

"This...." he told her as he rolled to his back and held her on top of him, clamping his hands to her hips and rocking her over his erection, "...this is what I want for the rest of my life. This, always with you. God I could never get enough of you."

He looked up at her face, into her warm brown eyes and told her, "I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, more than anything."

She was thrilled to hear him say it and she grinned at him as she swayed her body over his, sliding him deep into her, "I love you, Logan Grayson. I want this always, too." She leaned over and kissed him, tasting his lips and running her fingers firmly down his muscular chest as they rocked in a hard rhythm with one another.

They touched, teased, tasted, and made love for a long while before he could no longer hold in his release. He held her tightly to his chest, to his heart, and gasped loudly as his body shuddered and he came, his condom reassuring her that he wanted her for who she was, and not so that she could carry his child for money.

Brittany felt relief and joy wash over her, and she leaned up and kissed him softly, and they fell back onto her bed together and rested deeply. It was the most peaceful sleep she’d had since he asked her to marry him. He rested just as well as she did. When they awoke the next morning, he could not hold himself back from kissing her softly, slipping his hands over her body, sliding his fingers between her thighs and making her moan and move against his hand until she came, and then he rolled another condom over himself and entered her again.

They loved for the length of the morning and their farewell was long and slow, but by midday, he was gone, with a promise to see her that night. He told her that he wanted more time with her, and much more closeness and intimacy than they had shared up until then.

She knew that they would have it, and she was practically glowing as she closed the door behind him and squealed in delight and happiness to herself.

Brittany almost ran to her phone to call Lena.

"How are you doing, honey? Are you okay? Are you feeling any better than you were?" Lena asked in concern.

"I am amazing!" Brittany told her gleefully.

There was a pause and then Lena asked in confusion, "Is this what it's going to be like dealing with your baby hormones? You're good and then you're bad and then you're great or what?" she asked quizzically.

Brittany sat down and bit her lip as she tried to figure out how she was going to tell Lena exactly what was happening.

"I need to ask you if you will be my maid of honor. And I need to ask you to hear me out and don't kill me until you know everything, okay?"

"What?" Lena asked in shock. "You can't be serious. You can't be talking about Logan!"

Brittany laughed a little. "I am talking about Logan. I’m serious. He came by yesterday and we spent some time talking. He told me that he's been trying to get a hold of me since I left. He said that he loves me and that he doesn't care about the money; he is willing to let his whole inheritance go if he can just be with me. He wants me more than he wants his own money and home. He is willing to let all of it go if I will just marry him and take him back.