The Tycoon's Proposal (13 page)

“No, of course not. I’m thinking about my upcoming trip,” Ryan lied smoothly.

“When are you leaving?”

“I have to take off tonight. I won’t be back for at least a month, maybe longer. Hopefully by then I’ll have some more control over myself,” Ryan told him. Derek actually had the gall to laugh, which caused Ryan to glare. That only made Derek laugh even harder. He guessed he deserved it, as he’d pushed Derek’s buttons when he’d been miserable.

“I have a trip next week in that direction so I’ll stop by and see what you’re working on. I haven’t been able to take Jasmine out in a while and I think she’d really love Rome,” Derek told him with a sappy look in his eye.

“Seriously Derek, you’re disgustingly pleasant now. What the hell happened to the corporate powerhouse?”

“Jasmine happened. I didn’t know I could be so happy but man, if I’m away from her for even a night I feel empty,” Derek said. Ryan’s gut clenched at those words. He was forcing himself to be away from Nicole for much longer than one night. He wasn’t his cousin though and wouldn’t allow himself to think about it. It was a good thought at least.

“I feel like a freaking third wheel around you and Drew now,” Ryan said, feeling a little bit sorry for himself. He loved his cousins’ spouses but both of them were over the moon in happiness. He felt like they were sharing some great secret he couldn’t possibly understand.

“I’ll see if Drew and Trinity want to join me on the trip. I don’t think Trinity’s ever been to Rome either. I don’t know if I can drag them away from the kids, though.”

“Yeah, yeah you guys can all come and throw your happiness in my face,” Ryan grumbled. He may have been complaining a bit but he would be really happy to have his family show up and see one of his projects.

“All joking aside, I think you have something special with Nicole. Take my advice and let down your defenses and maybe you’ll get that same sappy look on your face,” Derek told him.

“I’ll pass on that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said too. Let’s see if you last as long as I did,” Derek said, with a knowing look on his face. Derek took off and Ryan tried to put Nicole out of his mind, while he started focusing on his project. He really did enjoy Rome. It was a beautiful place and the project he was taking on was the biggest and oldest he’d worked on yet. It would consume him wholeheartedly, which was a good thing.

Ryan slammed the hammer down with far more force than was needed. He’d been at the job for over a month and sitting at a desk, behind the scenes, wasn’t even enough to quell his bad mood. He couldn’t believe he was still unable to get Nicole out of his mind. He’d even called her several times, making up excuses but the real reason was just to hear her voice. He was going home that day. He couldn’t take being apart from her any longer. He still reassured himself he simply needed to get her out of his system.

His family had shown up and been suitably impressed with his project but even the normal joy he felt in restoring a historic site was gone. He’d taken a few days off, to tour the city with his family but his smile had been fake and his joy had been subdued. He continued to hammer away his frustration and when he bent yet another nail, he decided to call it a day.

He was ready to head home and take back what was his. He couldn’t get her off his mind, so the next best thing was to go home and see where things were going to lead. He had a real problem though because he’d gotten really attached to Patsy. Hell she was still a kid, even if she was a teenager.

The first time she said ‘I love you’ to him, so casually, his heart had jumped in his throat. There was no way he wanted to kick her out of his home. She seemed to be doing so good and her grades were thriving. He refused to think about any of that right then. His only thought was getting home and taking Nicole to his bed, where she belonged.

Nicole stretched as the sunlight filtered through the window, waking her up. She’d been living at Ryan’s for three months and she’d fallen in love with the place. He’d been gone over the past month and she would never admit it but she missed him like crazy. He’d called her a few times and she would get off the phone aching to be held by him again. She was angry with herself for being so weak.

Her room was a dream and larger than her old apartment. She lay there, enjoying the softness of the mattress and yet filled with an emptiness to be in it alone. She couldn’t believe how attached she’d gotten to Ryan again in such a short amount of time. She figured she’d never really stopped loving him in the first place and being around him again was like a knife through her heart.

Nicole jumped from her bed, quickly showered, got dressed and headed outside. She spent every moment she could outside, when the weather allowed. The morning was starting off beautiful and warm, which was highly unusual for Seattle, home of the rain.

She took off down one of the trails on a jog, enjoying the little bit of heaven, not far outside of the city limits. When she jogged along the trail, she felt like she was in a park, instead of a yard. She ran out of steam quickly, which was normal lately and she didn’t understand it. She was used to going and going day in and out and didn’t know why her energy levels had been so depleted lately.

As Nicole walked along, she thought about her baby sister. She loved how well Patsy was doing. She was back in school and healthier than ever before. She’d fallen in love, at the better high school, which Derek had insisted she attend. She had new friends who’d been at the house a lot and was even getting ready for her first dance.

Nicole had felt guilty about spending more of Ryan’s money but when he’d found out about the dance, he’d insisted she buy Patsy the best dress out there. Jasmine and Trinity were far more knowing of the latest fashions than she herself was so she’d asked them to come along with them and they’d enthusiastically agreed.

Pasty had the best day ever, as the girls not only picked out a dress but new shoes and accessories and even a small tiara to wear. The girls had then dragged them both from shop to shop, where Patsy had been loaded down with an entire new wardrobe. The girls had snuck several items in there for Nicole as well and she was cringing to think what the final bill had tallied out to.

She hadn’t had the heart to say no to Patsy though as she hadn’t seen her little sister’s eyes light up with pleasure that intense ever. The day hadn’t been completed until they all went in for pedicures and manicures. Patsy had even gotten fake nails put on for her dance. She’d been prancing around the house ever since.

That night when Ryan called, Patsy jumped on the phone and talked to him for about fifteen minutes. She went through her entire day and all the amazing clothes she’d gotten. She didn’t have any clue he was the one fitting the bill. As she got ready to hand the phone over to Nicole, she told him she loved him, as only a teenager could and Nicole had to fight back the tears.

She knew she would be considered the most evil person ever if she tried to take Patsy away from the home where she’d made new friends. But wouldn’t she have to leave eventually, when Patsy was done with school, if not sooner. Whenever Ryan was sick of her, they were out. She had a feeling he would allow Patsy to stay though, as he seemed attached to her.

Nicole felt a stinging in her leg, which snapped her back to the present and looked down to see red running downward. She panicked for a moment, thinking something had bitten her and she was pouring blood but as she looked closer she realized it was paint. She smiled, as she realized the kids were out having a paintball gun fight again. She’d run into them several times.

“Hey, I’m an innocent bystander,” she called out good naturedly.

“Nicole, sorry we didn’t know you were out here,” the oldest boy, Jacob said, as he came running up to her, looking very guilty. He had several friends trailing behind him, all with the same expressions of guilt on their faces. “I heard a noise over here and thought it was one of the guys,” he said, as a slight blush stole over his cheeks.

“I’m fine Jacob, it looks like you guys are having a great time,” she reassured him.

“We are, do you want to join us?” he offered. The other boys nodded their heads encouragingly.

“No, I have to get back but maybe some other time,” she told them. She turned around to walk back towards the house and the boys all ran off in the other direction, shouting and firing at the same time. She smiled to herself. Jacob was Ryan’s nephew, well technically his cousin but the three men were more brothers than cousins and the kids called both the men uncle. She was impressed with the very tightly knit family.

She finally reached the house and realized the paint ball hit her harder than she originally thought. She had a slight limp and a huge knot on her leg. She stepped into the kitchen so she could clean up when a shadow nearly scared her to death.

“What happened to your leg?” Ryan said to her. She was speechless for a moment, as she looked up and saw him standing before her. She hadn’t expected him back for a few more weeks and she was worried by how much she wanted to throw her arms around the man who haunted her dreams each night.

“I got shot with a paintball but it looks far worse than it is. This is only paint,” she said and bent to run her finger over the paint.

Ryan sucked in the breath he’d been holding. He’d missed her so much and when he’d arrived home and not been able to find her, he’d gone a bit crazy. He’d thought she may have left him but her clothes were there and Patsy’s room was filled with her possessions. He smiled to think how well Patsy had settled in. At least one of them had no problem with him spoiling them. Nicole acted like he was committing a sin when he tried to give her anything. It was downright insulting.

He had more money than he could possibly ever spend but she didn’t want to allow him to buy her a simple pair of jeans. He wouldn’t allow people to think he mistreated her in any form. He would purchase her things, even if he had to literally take her into the dressing rooms and dress her himself. He got hard just thinking about that scenario.

He stared at her, from her toes, to the top of her head. She was make-up free with her hair thrown back in a sloppy ponytail and she was wearing loose work-out clothes. She’d never looked sexier to him. Damn, he was in a really bad state.

“How did you get shot?”

“Oh, your nephews were having a paintball war and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could’ve been worse, they might’ve been going for the kill shot,” she said on a laugh. His lips rose slightly at the corners.

“I missed you,” he said before he could stop himself. He hadn’t meant for it to slip out but from the gleam in her eyes, it had been the right thing to say. He had a feeling she’d missed him too, although he didn’t think he could get her to admit it.

“Um, I um, need to, um go get this off of me,” she stuttered, acting more like a middle school child, than a full grown adult. She needed to get a grip. She quickly fled the room and never saw the smile split across Ryan’s face. It was the first genuine smile he felt cross his features since the night he dragged her from that restaurant.

He began whistling as he followed her up the stairs. He would wait for her to get out of the shower and then give them what they both so desperately wanted. His aroused body was making it difficult to climb the stairs but the pain was worth it. Soon she’d be relieving that for him.

Chapter Eight

“Where the hell have you been?” Ryan asked furiously, as Nicole walked in the door. He’d come home early from work and she’d been gone. He didn’t like the feeling of not knowing where she was.

“Not that it’s any of your business but I was at work,” she snapped back at him. He’d been back for a week and though they made love nightly, their days were not so pleasant. He was still highly demanding and she was still inserting her own independence.

She had zero doubt she was in love with the man but she also knew she was simply a play thing for him and he would eventually grow bored with her. Then she would be devastated all over again. To top all that off she had a really bad feeling she was pregnant. She’d been ignoring it for months but her stomach was starting to thicken and she’d been so exhausted.

She could pass off the thickening stomach to the amount of food she consumed but the unusual desire for foods she’d never liked before, the complete exhaustion and the mood swings were a dead giveaway. She’d refused to take a test. Then she’d know for sure and she’d have to break the news to Ryan. She wasn’t ready for that.

“Everything you do is my business. How quickly you forget what we agreed upon,” he snapped. He was beyond mad she’d taken one of her worthless jobs again when he was willing to provide everything she and Patsy needed. She allowed him to spoil Patsy but she refused to wear the jewelry he bought her and wore the same old clothes she’d come to his home with, over and over again. It was really making him angry.