An Unplanned Life (Unplanned Series) (9 page)

Chapter 19

Dailan

I sat in my office, going over all of the material for this case. It didn’t pay to be off on the weekends because now I just had triple the work to catch up on. I heard a light knock on my door. “Come in,” I said, not even looking up.

“Hey
, Dailan, here’s the rest of the files that you needed.” I briefly lifted my head to see Rachel standing in front of my desk with a handful of files.

“Just put them right there,”
I said pointing to the chair. I put my head back down and continued to go through the papers.

She was almost to the door when she turned around.
“Dailan?” I lifted my head up to acknowledge her. “Look, I don’t know what Nicole may have told you –”

I stopped her right there. “Nicole tells me everything.”

“Well, that was a really long time ago and I didn’t want you to form a low opinion of me because of it.”

“
My personal opinion of you and the things that you did to my wife have nothing to do with work. Just do your job like you’re supposed to and we won’t have a problem.”

“
Okay, fine. I just don’t want us to have an uncomfortable working relationship, just because she hates me.”

“And she should.” Her eyes widened in surprise. If she was looking to me to feel sorry for her and
to try to smooth things over, she had come to the wrong person. She stood there silently, staring at me. “Could you shut my door on your way out?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, breaking herself free from her trance before walking out.

I was totally engrossed in my files when my office door flew open. “Yo, D, are we going to lunch?” Paul, another lawyer with the company asked. He sat down on the chair opposite my desk. I looked at the clock. I couldn’t believe it was already one.

“I can’t
. I still got the rest of these files to go through.”

“Man, you are insane for
not settling on this one. Is it worth busting your ass off like this?”

I shook my head and smiled. “You know I never settle.”

“Yeah, well this whole company’s fate is resting on your shoulders, buddy!” He looked out my door and smiled. “At least you got some eye candy to look at while you’re working,” he said as he jerked his head toward Rachel.

I quickly looked up at Rachel sitting at her desk. Truthfully, I didn’t find her attractive at all. Even if
she and Nicole didn’t have a past, she was so not my type. “Not my type,” I said.

“Dude, just because you’re married now doesn’t mean you can’t look. A few years ago
, you would have already been sleeping with her.”

“No, I wouldn’t have. I don’t like blondes. Plus, I don’t need to look
. I have the most beautiful girl in the world who gives me everything I need.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We’ll see if you’re saying that twenty years from now. Me and my wife can’t stand each other, but with a mortgage, a kid in college, and one on the way to college in a few years, we have no choice.”

“Real nice, Paul.”

“Hey, it’s the truth. She does her thing and I do mine.”

“Well,
me and Nicole will never be like that.”

“Okay, we
’ll see about that,” he said as he got up from the chair. “I’ll bring you back something to eat; you need to keep up your energy. My future is resting in your hands.”

I picked up
our wedding picture from my desk and looked at it. I really did have the most beautiful girl in the world. The day that I married her and the day my daughter was born were the happiest days of my life. I had known that I wanted to marry her right away. Neither one of us wanted to wait. She was going to Ireland with me to meet my mother for the first time, so we agreed that we would get married there. Nicole didn’t want a big wedding and neither did I. I smiled just thinking about that day and how Nicole had taken me totally off guard when she recited her own vows.

“
Well, Dailan O’Maley, I never thought that I would be standing here exchanging vows with you, but here I am. You drive me crazy sometimes, seriously crazy, to the point that I want to smack you crazy. But you are like no other man that I have known. You showed me how to open my heart and not be afraid to love. I know you don’t believe in fate, but I do and I truly believe that you and I were meant to be. You have not only given me your love, you gave me my son, and I will be forever grateful to you for that. Because if it weren’t for your flirtatiousness determination, your obnoxious perseverance and that crooked little smile, I might have never known who Ryan really was. We’ve been through a lot in these past few months, and I’m not living in a fantasy world, thinking that we won’t ever be going through more. Because that’s what marriage is all about; facing the good times and the bad, together. I promise that I will always be there for you, even on those days when you are driving me totally nuts. Because at the end of the day, I know that the love that we have and the relationship that we share is like no other. I love you so much, Dailan, and there is no place on earth that I would rather be at this very moment, than right here, becoming your wife.”

I stared at the picture for a little longer
; she seriously was the most beautiful bride. I never thought that I would love a woman as much as I loved her. I didn’t think it was possible to love her any more, but just hearing about everything that she had gone through when she was younger proved that theory wrong. She had experienced so much hurt just to give others happiness. I smiled, just thinking about the joy on my brother’s face, the first time he held Ryan and it was all because of Nicole and her selflessness. I was so deep in thought that I jumped when my office phone began to ring I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Debbie.

“What’s up
, Debbie?”

She began to talk in a whisper. “Dailan, there’s some man here who refuses to leave until he talks to you. I told him that you weren’
t available, but he’s being a real jerk.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know. He refuses to give me his name. He said that it’s regarding Ryan.”

That
fuckhead actually had the nerve to show up here.
“Send him back.” I needed to calm myself down in the short time that it would take him to reach my office. I seriously wanted to punch him right in the face. Debbie had an uneasy look on her face as she led him into my office. “Shut my door, Debbie.”

He went to introduce himself and I cut him off. “What the fuck d
o you want?”

“Look, I told Nicole the other day, I don’t want this
to get ugly.”

“It’s already ugly. It
got ugly on the day you decided to walk away from your responsibility and left Nicole to deal with everything on her own.”

“Well, I was a lot younger then. I was –”

“Yeah, so was Nicole. Do you have any clue the hell that girl went through because of you and
your fucked up family? And now you expect her to feel sorry because your father is dying? I’m telling you right now, you and your family, stay the fuck away from Nicole and Ryan or it will get a lot more than just ugly.”

The smile that stretched across his face made me want to knock his head off his shoulders. “Well, Mr. Big
Time Attorney O’Maley, that’s why I came here to see you today. I have a proposition for you that will benefit both of us. BC industries, you know, that company that’s suing you, is my father’s. Settle on the offer that was presented to your company and I will disappear just as quickly as I did ten years ago. Keep pursuing it and I will have to fight to get to know my son a little better.”

I shook my head, unable to believe what I had just heard
. “Oh, so I see how this goes. You are going to use an innocent child so you can make sure that you get the most money that you can when your father croaks. You are a bigger scumbag than I thought.”

He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled. “Hey, he’s my blood.”

I stood up and walked over to where he was standing. “He isn’t fuckin’ anything to you. All you were was some stupid ass teenage boy who couldn’t keep it in his pants and then ran behind Mommy and Daddy, instead of facing your responsibility. You were a fuckin’ coward back then and you are a coward now. Obviously, your little internet search that you did on me didn’t tell you everything. I don’t make deals with anyone, especially not with scumbags like you. I’m not a seventeen-year-old girl that you and your family can manipulate. Now, you better get your fuckin’ ass out of here because I’m really close to bashing your head into that wall. Another thing you missed on your research about me – don’t ever piss me off.”

“Suit yourself
. I’m sure Nicole won’t be too happy when she realizes that you’re not willing to swallow your pride and settle on a case for her.”

I felt my adrenaline pumping
and rage taking over just as Paul walked in with my lunch. I was so thankful, because I probably would have ended up killing this guy. “Get the fuck out of here and don’t let me ever see you here or around my family ever again, because next time you won’t be so lucky and have someone walk in and stop me from what I so want to do right now.”

“Violence is a horrible trait
, you know. I hope you don’t behave this way in front of my son.”

“You fuckin’ dick –”

“Dailan, calm down,” Paul said as he held me back. “I think if you know what’s good for you, you should leave now.”

I glared at him one last time before he turned around and walked out the door.

“Who the hell was the guy?” Paul asked.

I couldn’t even answer
; I was too pissed. Paul finally walked out. I picked up the picture of Nicole and Ryan from my desk. Now this case had become personal and I would do everything that it took to make sure that scumbag didn’t see a dime of that money or hurt Nicole ever again.

Chapter
20

Nicole

The week flew by and Dailan was virtually non-existent. The only time I would see him was if I happened to wake up in the middle of the night. I was sleeping by the time he got home and sleeping when he left. I was so glad that tomorrow was Friday and, hopefully, a date night with Dailan. I had forgotten to remind him that my parents were taking the kids. I was trying my best to stay up and wait for him to get home. I lay down on the couch, telling myself that I was just going to rest my eyes before falling into a deep sleep.

I opened my
eyes to the touch of Dailan’s lips on my forehead. “Hey, beautiful, what are you doing sleeping down here?”

“I was trying to stay awake to see you. I miss you.” I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

He sat down next to me and hugged me. “I miss you too, Nicole. I promise that it will start slowing down in a few weeks for a little bit.”

“I hope so. Ella and Ryan are missing you too.”

“I know,” he said sadly.

“Well, did you
forget that we have a date planned tomorrow night?”

I could tell that he had by the look on his
face. “I did, but I promise that I will be there,” he said as he kissed me on the lips.

“Good. We have to make up for some lost time
. Plus your birthday is on Saturday.” I kissed him softly on the lips. “I saved you some dinner.”

“I’m not even hungry
. I’m exhausted.” He stood up and took my hand, pulling me from the couch. We headed up to bed. It was so nice to curl up next to him and feel his arms wrapped around me. I rested my head on his chest. It was only a matter of minutes before he was sound asleep. I closed my eyes and smiled, knowing that tomorrow night I would have him all to myself.

***

I decided that instead of going out to dinner, I would cook dinner. I wasn’t much of a cook, but over the past few years, my cooking skills had improved. So tonight, I would be making one of the few things that I was good at: Pasta Primavera.      

Dailan said that he would be home around six, so I knew that meant to have dinner ready for eight.
I was
sexting
him all day to ensure that he didn’t forget. I wasn't surprised when I looked down at my phone to find a text from him at seven:
Leaving now - Sorry
. Lucky for him, I knew him all too well.

Dinner was just about done. I turned down the lights and ran through the house, lighting all of the candles
. Dailan's smile was a mile wide when he walked in the door. "Happy early birthday, Mr. O'Maley." I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. He kicked the front door shut, his lips never leaving mine. He pushed me up against the wall and ran his hands up and down my body. "Wait, wait, wait. Dinner is almost ready," I said.

 
"Don't worry; this won't take long.” He flashed me that crooked little smile and I melted.

 
"Well, that stinks." I giggled. 

"
Oh, don’t worry darlin’; this is just the first course." 

"Oh, you promise?" I asked as
I ran my hand along the scruff on his face.

 
He looked at me and nodded.
God, he was so sexy.
He still knew how to unleash the butterflies in me. He wasted no time lifting up my skirt and removing my underwear. He quickly dropped his pants and boxers and wrapped my leg around his waist. He pushed me up against the wall and I felt the fullness of him inside of me. He was breathing heavily as he moved in and out of me. I ran my hands up and down his back and kissed him on the neck. I knew that was his weakness. "Nicole, you must want this to be over even quicker," he whispered in my ear.

 
"No, but I know there's more to come. Plus, your birthday is tomorrow.” I smiled up at him and kissed him on the neck again.

“You know how to drive me fuckin’ crazy
.” He lifted my shirt over my head and removed my bra. He teased my breasts with his tongue and he began to move about inside of me again. My back was banging against the wall with each thrust that he made. I was getting so turned on. It had been so long since we were able to have sex anywhere but the bedroom. I let out a cry of pleasure as my body tightened around him, just as he released himself inside of me. My arms were around his neck as I pulled him closer. He was breathing hard. He looked down at me with that sexy smile that made me want to start all over again. “I have the best wife ever, you know that?”

I looked up at him and smiled
. “Let’s see if you’re still saying that after you taste the dinner that I made for you.”

***

After dinner, we spent the rest of the night in bed, making love until the wee hours of the morning, like we used to do, before both our lives became so hectic.

I looked over at the clock that was flashing 2:15. I was exhausted. “Wow, we haven’t been up this late having sex in a long time.”

He pulled me on top of him and pushed my hair behind my ear. “Kinda like how it used to be when I first met you.”

I smiled just thinking about those days when Dailan and I would play our little cat and mouse game with each other.
“Yeah, back when you were trying your hardest to get me to sleep with you.”

“What?
! Oh no, I think it was the other way around. You just put on your hard-to-get act, but I knew all along that you wanted it.”

I laughed, knowing that he was absolutely right in his assessment. There was no one I wanted more back then or now th
an him.