Married a Stripper

  Yet my body warmed at the thought of Flynn putting down his camera with lust bright in his dark blue eyes.

  I shook my head and walked faster. For once, I hoped work could keep me too busy to think.

  Later that night, Edward stepped out of a taxi and joined me under the Taj Mahal crowned awning. He looked rumpled and tired, still in the same suit from earlier. Still, he gave me a smile and a kiss.

  “How about take out?” I asked.

  He gave me a grateful look. “You are a dream come true.”

  He had Paul take our order and we lounged in the town car while we waited.

  “Work was that bad, huh?” I asked.

  “Not work, family. Sometimes it’s like trapping wild dogs in a room. You’re trying to feed them, be nice to them, and all they do is snarl and nip.”

  “Your meeting was with your family?” I asked.

  “They’re board members so I have to include them. We even had to wait for one to conference call from Amsterdam. Impossible. Just one of the reasons no one else will take the job.” He craned his head on the back of the seat and gave me a tired smile. “Tell me about your day, Gabriella.”

  I shrugged and said, “What do you want to hear? About psycho-boss’s latest rampage?”

  His eyes lit with humor. “Yes.”

  So I told him, happy to see some of the strain leaving his eyes.

  We made small talk until we got to Edward’s house. Once there, I spread the Indian food out on the sideboard in his study while he started a fire. The air wasn’t cold, but we both enjoyed the cozy fireplace. I piled up two plates and he poured two glasses of wine. We sat side by side on the floor and dug in. I wanted to ask him more about work, but he sidestepped it and we ended up arguing about the best movies of the eighties.

  “I love this,” he said suddenly.

  “What?” I asked, surprised. “Debating bad movies?”

  “No,” he said with a smile. “I love the fact that we can sit here for an entire meal without music, television, or other people and there’s never an awkward silence.”

  I paused for as long as I could before I asked, “You mean like that one?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, Gabriella, I don’t think I’ve ever dated someone who was such a perfect match.”

  He leaned over and kissed me, a soft kiss at first. A soft kiss that quickly became something filled with fire and passion. It wasn’t hurried though. This time, he slowly undressed me, leaving a trail of searing kisses after each removed article of clothing. When I was completely naked, he lifted me onto the couch to straddle his lap. With his arms around my waist, he rocked me up and down against his dress pants until we were both wet from my arousal and his cock was straining against his zipper. Teasing my nipples with his tongue, he fumbled with his pants.

  “Darling,” he gasped. “Wait, I need...”

  “I’m on the pill.” I reached down to cup his hardness through his pants. “And I’m clean.” I locked eyes with him. “Are we good?”

  He nodded wordlessly, then groaned as I freed his cock from its confines. I slipped down on him, turned on by the texture of his clothes against my bare body. It heightened the slick skin on skin where our bodies joined and his hands guided me. “That’s it,” he murmured, bringing one hand up to cup my breast. “Harder…faster…”

  He threw his head back, the hand at my breasts almost painful.

  His cock swelled and I shuddered, feeling myself locking down around him, tightening as my orgasm moved closer.

  I whimpered and fell forward, the angle changing and now each movement had me rubbing my clitoris against him and it was so, so good. “Come for me, Gabriella,” he said against my neck, scraping his teeth against my skin.

  His thumb circled my nipple and I tensed.

  Inside me, the head of his cock passed over my G-spot and I broke, coming around him hard and fast. As though he’d been waiting for just that, he started to drive up into me, each movement quicker and rougher than before.

  Three strokes later and he was right there with me, groaning out my name as he climaxed.

  Long, breathless moments passed, his hands smoothing up and down my back. I smiled dreamily against his chest when I heard the ragged sound of his heartbeat, slamming in a rhythm that echoed mine.

  “Please tell me you can stay tonight.”

  “Hmmm…” I turned my face into his neck. “It is the third date.”

  “That’s a yes?” His arm tightened around my waist.

  “Yes.”

  The next morning, I woke up in Edward’s upstairs master suite.

  I was alone in the king-sized bed and for one panicked moment, I froze. Then I heard the shower running and the tension drained away.

  Smiling that giddy smile that tried so often to overtake me, I stretched and turned my head, following the sound of splashing water until I saw the closed door. We definitely weren’t taking things slow, but everything felt so comfortable, so right.

  We liked the same foods, laughed at the same television shows, loved the same bad science fiction, and had the same ideas of what constituted a perfect day. Though, as the sunlight streamed into his inner sanctum, I realized there was one giant divide between us. I shifted uneasily.

  He was rich. Not just hard-working, the right kind of career rich, but family legacy money rich. I may not have known who his family was, but there was no doubt about it. The master suite not only had a fireplace, it had a family crest engraved above it.

  The sound of water cut off and I sat up, looking around nervously for something to put on. I didn’t quite manage to come up with anything before the bathroom door opened and Edward appeared in the opening, smiling at me.

  “You’re awake. Good morning, gorgeous.”

  “Hmmm. I was lazing about for a few more minutes.” I glanced down and watched as a bead of water slid down his chest.

  “Laze away.” He smiled at me. “In fact, Paul’s going to run me in to the office. I’ll have breakfast sent up and by the time you’ve eaten, he’ll be back. When you’re ready, he’ll drive you to work.”

  Ah yes, work. Slaving away for a menial wage while desperately hoping that my talent would one day be recognized. The perfect thing to remind me of how different our lives were.

  He leaned down to kiss me as someone knocked on the door. His lips brushed against mine and then he called for whoever it was to enter. A moment later, a maid brought in a silver breakfast tray. She gave him a polite nod, but didn’t even look at me as she left the tray on the dresser. He thanked her and followed her out, pausing to blow me a kiss at the door.

  Poached eggs with salmon, fresh bread lightly toasted, and a French press of heavenly strong coffee all tempted me from the foot of the bed, but first I reached for my phone.

  “Okay. This is killing me…I still can’t get him to tell me his last name.” I eyed the crest, something elegant and Old World looking and shook my head. “He says he’s not Batman, but that’s all I can get out of him.”

  “Are you calling me from his bed?”

  Of course that would be her first question. “Yes. He’s left me here with a luxury breakfast that was delivered by a maid. When I’m done, a car will take me to work.”

  “Think you can get some coffee filters while you have access to a chauffeur? We’re out. Have you ever tried the bodega’s coffee? I think it may actually be muddy water they warm up and throw sugar in.”

  “You bought their coffee?”

  “It was cheaper than the filters. So do you have a plan to figure out what he’s hiding?”

  “I do,” I said, pouring fragrant coffee into a delicate China cup. “I’m going to call in late with some excuse and then tell the driver I’m supposed to meet Edward at his office. Boom, I find out what this family business is and why he’s hiding his last name.”

  “Just the fact that he won’t tell you his last name should be a red flag,” Kendra said.

  I sighed. “Yes, and then I thi
nk of the romantic dates, the great conversations, and the oh-so-sweet sex. Really, what’s in a name?”

  “Seriously, Juliet? You do remember how that whole ‘what’s in a name’ thing worked for her and her boy?”

  I scowled at the phone.

  She continued, “Well, text me if your office surprise doesn’t work. Then bring him to Tony’s so I can meet him. Someone better assess if he’s a knight in shining armor or a thinly veiled psycho-killer.”

  “Ah, Tony’s Pizza,” I said. “Always the perfect Plan B.”

  Paul was dozing in the front seat of the town car when the maid opened the front door for me twenty minutes later. She coughed loudly and he jolted awake and jumped out to open the car door. I smiled, wondering how much sleep the poor guy had gotten in the past few days. Edward and I had to have been running him ragged.

  “Where to, Ms. Gabriella?”

  “Edward told me to meet him at his office.” I tried to sound breezy and casual. Whether or not he believed me, Paul nodded and started the car.

  We headed straight into Manhattan. Paul had fierce driving skills. He could give any New York cabbie a run for his money. He navigated snarled lanes of traffic, using his Bluetooth to send messages on his cellphone.

  By the time we made it to the curb outside a giant building, I was both terrified and impressed. Then I saw where we were and all of the blood drained from my face. It had to be a mistake.

  “The Bouvier Building?” I asked faintly.

  Before Paul could answer, the door opened and Edward leaned in.

  “Going my way?” His smile said he wasn’t mad that I’d just showed up at his job unannounced. Paul must have sent him a message.

  I swallowed and fought to keep from looking at the building behind him. “No fair…” I managed a weak smile. “I was just on my way to surprise you.”

  “Well, it’s a little early for lunch, but I know a great place up the Hudson River that serves life-saving Bloody Marys. What do you say?”

  Before I could answer, he got in the car and I had to swallow my frown. Paul screeched away from the curb before I even got to ask which gargantuan office building housed Edward’s mysterious family business. I hoped it wasn’t the same one where I’d met Flynn.

  It was time for Plan B. Thinking quickly, I grinned up at him. “I’d say a Bloody Mary sounds delicious, but I already have a date.”

  “I thought you said you were surprising me.” He sounded puzzled but not suspicious.

  “Surprise!” I said weakly. “We’re having lunch with my roommate, Kendra. Tony’s Pizza, Paul.”

  Before Edward could respond, I gave Paul the address and he swerved across two lanes to make the turn. I smiled brightly at Edward as I discreetly texted Kendra the words ‘Plan B’.

  We rode in silence for a few minutes before Edward started asking about my childhood in Tennessee. His honest inquiries softened me up and by the time we reached Tony’s Pizza, I had almost forgotten what had me so concerned.

  Kendra, however, hadn’t. She was waiting outside and strode up to Edward as soon as he got out of the car, a familiar expression on her face. She was in full-on mama bear mode, ready to protect me from anyone who might hurt me.

  “Hello. I’m Gabriella’s roommate, Kendra. Kendra Facet.” She stuck out her hand.

  He took it with a smile. “Nice to meet you, I’m Edward.”

  “Sorry, Edward,” she said. “I didn’t catch your last name.”

  “Don’t worry.” He smiled. “Just Edward is fine.”

  Kendra gave me a dire glance over his shoulder before speaking to him again. “You know, you look very familiar to me.”

  “That’s not surprising. We met at the big Bouvier party. The night I met Gabriella.”

  He slipped an arm around my waist and kissed my temple.

  “Come on, my darlings,” I said. Time to move from straight interrogation to polite lunch conversation. “Pizza’s on me.”

  Eight

  I never thought eating a slice of pizza at Tony’s could be awkward. It was home base for after-debauchery food and I had seen everything from a drunken cello performance to a bout of mistaken identity happen in that small sliver of a restaurant.

  Nothing had left a bad taste in my mouth until lunch with Kendra and Edward.

  He was secretive, deftly fielding questions to avoid having to answer, and she was understandably suspicious. Kendra was sure they had met before the party and she kept squinting at him as if recognition was just a hard stare away. Edward looked terribly out of place in the pizza-by-the-slice place and spent an almost rude amount of time dabbing the grease off his plain cheese, yet another glaring example of how far apart our worlds were.

  Together, they made me so nervous I tried to pitch them some script material and chattered away about the foibles of subway-riders non-stop.

  Needless to say, halfway through that, Edward told me he had to get back to work, which meant I had to pretend that I needed to go too. He kissed me awkwardly in front of Kendra and told me the next few days were full of meetings. I told him I had a sit-down with a producer interested in a pilot script and then had to make up a television show on the spot. I titled it Slice of Life and was pretty sure he realized I’d lied.

  When he walked out the door, I was certain I’d never see him again, and the thought hurt me more than I’d thought possible.

  “He still hasn’t called?” Kendra asked me three days later.

  “Shh, I have two more pages to finish for a deadline.”

  “Gabs, I can see that you’re writing a complaint about cereal.” She pulled my laptop away from me. “I didn’t mean to kill your whole relationship, I just wanted to make sure he was being honest with you.”

  I wanted to snap at her that it was all her fault for making me doubt him, but had to bite my tongue because I knew she’d just been looking out for me. I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me about his family and, while I was hoping it was just that he seriously disliked them, his omissions were a little bothersome.

  Sighing, I looked up at her. “He wasn’t being honest with me. But…” I shrugged. “We haven’t been dating long enough for me to know his address much less his life story.”

  Although I did sleep with him…at his home. I slept with the guy. But I didn’t know his last name.

  It was enough to leave me with a funny feeling in my gut and I knew Kendra hadn’t been entirely off-base. I had to set aside my frustration with her. I knew that.

  I gave her a wan smile.

  “Maybe it’s for the best, it was moving way too fast.” If I said it enough, I’d believe it, right? Besides, she was my friend and friendship came first.

  “No, you were right,” she said, her face bleak. “It wasn’t moving too fast, it was moving exactly how you wanted it to. And I screwed it up.”

  “I think all three of us did.” I went back to staring at my laptop. “If he’d just told me who he is…if I hadn’t stressed so much…”

  “If I hadn’t stressed you so much,” Kendra added sourly.

  I grinned at her. “Yeah, that. If he’s just going to let it go because he can’t understand why I wanted to know more about him...” I shrugged. “What can I do?”

  “Still.” She bent down behind me and hugged me. “I’m sorry, Gabs.”

  I was hoping her apology would turn into another invite out for free drinks and catered snacks since I could really use some alcohol, but my phone rang.

  My heart flipped when I saw the name on the caller ID.

  I sucked in a breath and showed it to Kendra.

  Her eyes widened and a big smile lit up her face.

  I took one more breath as it rang again and then, calmly, I answered. “Well, if it’s not the elusive Mr. E. Hello.”

  “Hello, gorgeous.”

  Edward’s voice sent a shiver down my spine. Damn. I had it bad.

  “I know this is last minute, but do you have plans this weekend? I got a lot done at work
the past few days in the hopes I could take you out of the city.”

  I locked myself in the bathroom so I could have some privacy and used the time to pretend to check the calendar on my phone. Not that I needed to check it—what would I put on it? Work? Period due? Work?

  I quickly calculated all of the assignments my boss had given me before I answered, “I have a couple of deadlines to finish before Friday, but I think I can work it out. What did you have in mind?”

  “I know a quaint little lodge in the Catskills. How do you feel about hiking?”

  “Sore,” I said. “My legs already feel sore. I’m more a city sidewalks girl and I don’t remember the last time I climbed a hill.”

  He laughed. “Well, luckily our room has a hot tub on the deck.”

  I didn’t even hesitate. “Count me in.”

  We hung up shortly after that and I sighed, clutching the phone to my chest and not even bothering to pretend I wasn’t relieved.

  Late Friday afternoon, Edward picked me up in a silver BMW and I tried not to let my jaw drop. I don’t know why it surprised me. It would’ve been crazy to make Paul drive all that way, drop us off and drive back to the city.

  And having him there would be awkward, I thought, still eying his gorgeous car.

  “You’re driving? What will Paul say? Is he heartbroken?” I teased.

  Edward winked at me. “I wanted you all to myself this weekend. Paul will get over it.”

  He stowed my bag and we climbed in, the nerves already chattering inside me. We had a long drive and my head was already churning. I had the worst habit of blurting things out at the worst possible time. Things like…so, why won’t you tell me who you are? I wasn’t sure I could avoid it for the hours we’d be trapped in the car.

  It came as a relief when he broached the subject first.

  “I want to apologize for my reluctance to talk about my family.” He glanced at me. “And for not giving you my last name. My family name is, ah, recognizable and I just want to know that you’re with me, not my name.”