Bookish (27 page)

“So you’d whore yourself out for me? That’s so freaking adorable,” I laughed.

He hugged me, kissed my forehead and said, “As long as nobody touched your property, I’d do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” I giggled and threw my arms around him. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have Isaac in my life, and I never wanted to forget it.

He came with me to talk about it with Marta, and I was surprised when she gave me a price that I could more than afford with Auntie Abby’s money.

We decided to go ahead with it, and in a month’s time, I would be the owner.

“Does this mean I have to call you Ms. Britton?” Sylvie complained.

“I’m the only one who calls her that, aren’t I?” Isaac jumped in and winked at me. I blushed furiously, he only called me that when we were fooling around.

“No, not much is going to change around here,” I said, trying to concentrate while Isaac was making eyes at me. He had such sultry eyes, deep set and glittering with lust every time he looked at me. “Marta is even going to stay working part time and I wanted to know if you’d be my manager.”

“What?” she asked, “Seriously? I would love that.”

“Excellent, then it’s done. Once I take over, we’ll hire somebody else and keep things rolling.”

Isaac grabbed my hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed it. I swore I could see Sylvie swoon when he did so and I laughed. “Shall we head home, love?” Isaac asked.

It was funny, I knew exactly what was on his mind even though he hadn’t done much more than kiss my hand. I knew he was thinking about taking me back to his place, getting me naked and fucking me silly.

And I was more than happy to oblige.

Chapter Thirty Six

“Do you think I’ll make a good boss?” I asked Isaac on my first day as the store owner. I was nervous even though nothing much was changing. It just felt like so much more responsibility though, their jobs relied on me being good at running a store. I could understand why Marta thought it was a lot of work.

“I think you’ll be an excellent boss,” he said and nuzzled my neck. “If I didn’t have this stupid shoot today, I’d be there cheering you on.”

Isaac was shooting an underwear ad. There was still something strangely disconcerting about driving down the road, looking up and seeing your boyfriend’s junk on a billboard, ten feet high.

It always sent me into a fit of pride and lust, one time I thought I was going to drive off the road staring at that giant package.

“I wish I could come to the shoot, help you prep a little so you fill out the undies,” I giggled and grabbed him through his pants. He inhaled sharply, growled and kissed my neck.

“I would appreciate the help, love,” he said and slid his hand up my thigh under my skirt. I was instantly soaking wet and could crawl back into bed to fuck the day away.

Another weird thing about having a desperately hot boyfriend, I was horny all the damn time. It was ridiculous sometimes, but Marta always said to enjoy it while I still had it. Sylvie truly believed that being with a man like Isaac meant you’d be horny until the day you died.

I guess only time would tell.

“I should get going,” I said and looked at the time, “I don’t want to show up late on the first day.”

“I’ll swing by afterwards and pick you up if you want to take the car,” he told me. He had hired a car service to take me wherever I wanted to go until we found something I liked enough to buy.

It was hard giving up my old shitty car, but I knew it was for the best.

“Sounds good,” I replied, pulled him down and kissed his perfect soft lips. I ran my hand along his strong jawline and felt the prickly stubble. I thought about it brushing my inner thighs later tonight when Isaac was between my legs.

I shivered and pulled away. “Seriously,” I said with a moan, “I have to go.”

“Go, go,” he laughed and shoved me away playfully, “I have to leave any minute now too. Unless we just agree to cancel the day and climb back into bed.”

“You don’t know how tempted I am,” I said and finally got out the door.

As I was waiting for the elevator, our door opened again and Isaac poked his head out.

“Aubrey,” he said.

“Yes?”

“I love you to the moon and back,” he told me with a lopsided grin.

“I love you too,” I replied and blew him a kiss.

The door slid open, I got on and was off to work.

I would miss him though, I always did.

Being in love was a delicious ache, but it was worth it for the times we were together.

***

The day went fast, there was actually a lot for me to do. I was counting the cash registers at the end of the day when I looked up and found Marta and Sylvie staring into my office. Well, it still felt like Marta’s office, but it really was mine now for real.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Check out TMZ,” Marta said, “Or any one of those news sites.”

“What’s going on?” I asked slowly.

“We wanted you to prepare for the reporters outside,” Sylvie told me.

“Reporters?” I asked as I typed in the first news gossip site I could think of.

As I read the first story my heart thudded dully in my chest and I felt sick to my stomach.

Isaac’s family was disowning him for coming back to me. They had officially cut him off from the family estate and have collectively turned their backs on him.

He hadn’t told me a thing about it. I thought I was going to throw up.

“There are reporters here?” I asked quietly.

“They want to get your reaction. Don’t give them one,” Marta said.

Just then I heard the loud rush of a crowd and the front door chime went off. I jumped up and saw Isaac enter my little store.

“Isaac,” I said with a broken voice, “I’m sorry.”

“So you’ve heard?” he asked and rushed towards me, “I don’t give a fuck about them, love. Don’t listen to a damn thing those wolves have to say.”

“I’m not worried about that,” I said with tears springing to my eyes, “I’m worried that you’ve been forced to choose. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What difference would it have made? I want you, Aubrey, and no other. I don’t care if they approve or not, I would rather be alone in this world with you than surrounded by people without you. That’s the bottom line, I won’t ever leave you again, not now that you’ve given me a second chance.”

“I just…maybe if we talked to them…”

“It means nothing to us. We have our own lives and money, we don’t need my family for anything other than somewhere to stay when we visit the UK,” he smiled and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead. “Stop stressing over it, it’s just a little bump in the road. And who knows, they’ll probably come around when we have our first baby.”

“Our first?” I asked, “Baby?”

“Yeah,” he said, “I can’t wait to start a family of our own.”

“Oh,” I said and gulped.

“Don’t look so freaked out,” he laughed, “you know I want a houseful of kids.”

“We’ll talk about that another time,” I said with a little smile, “right now we need to go see your parents.”

“Let it cool down,” he said, “Madeline is on our side, by the way. She adores you.”

“Oh good,” I replied, “at least one of them doesn’t hate me.”

Isaac helped me pack the money in the safe and close up for the night. Marta and Sylvie snuck out the back door and I was about to follow when Isaac grabbed my arm and said, “Let’s go out the front. No more hiding.”

“They hate me,” I wailed and smoothed my hair down, trying to avoid looking like a troll doll in the papers.

“They’ll love you when they see how much I love you” he said and kissed my hand.

I took a deep breath and we left the store. Immediately we were surrounded by reporters asking questions and taking photos.

“How do you feel about your family’s decision?” one guy yelled with a mic in our faces.

“Are you going to leave Aubrey now that you’ve been disowned?” a woman screamed in our faces with a cell phone held out in front of her like a cross in front of vampires.

I ducked down and locked the store. I slipped the key in my pocket and turned to Isaac. I thought we were going to take off but Isaac grabbed my hand and held me next to him.

“I do have something to say,” he told the assembled media. His handsome face was lit up and he was laying on the charm inches thick.

They all went quiet and listened though, he was a charismatic guy and knew how to hold their attention.

I pulled slightly and he squeezed my hand. I turned back towards him and looked up at his beautiful face. My breath caught in my throat as he continued to speak.

“My family’s decision is regrettable. I can’t speak for their motives, but I will say I am hurt by them. I refuse to be bullied though, I refuse to live my life in black and white without the woman I love. When I’m with her, my life is in full color, and once I had a glimpse of it, I couldn’t go back to my former existence.”

I was distinctly aware of my heart beating in my chest and the rest of the world falling back out of my vision. Isaac was in the center and his face was highlighted for me. It was the only thing I saw.

As if in slow motion, he continued to speak as he turned towards me. “I love Aubrey and I can’t imagine my life without her now.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a little velvet box. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move.

Tears sprung to my eyes, sharp and happy, as he dropped down in front of me, down on one knee. “I had hoped to do this in a more romantic fashion, but I think the world needs to see it now. Aubrey Britton, you have changed me. You have made me a better man and you have helped me become whole. I came home when I found you and I want us to be joined together in love and in name. I want my family to understand how much you mean to me, I want the world to know how much you mean to me, but most of all I want you to know. Aubrey, will you marry me?”

The crowd of reporters collectively gasped, waiting for my reply. My mind was racing a million miles a minute as I tried to find the words to tell him how I felt.

Nothing came to me.

Chapter Thirty Seven

I could feel the weight of expectation from the media and I could see the worry in Isaac’s eyes as I struggled to find my voice.

Finally it all came out of me in a great rush of sound. “Yes!” I started to cry, “God, yes! Of course!”

He took my hand and slipped the ring on my finger. It was an outrageously large diamond cut engagement ring, it was breathtaking and must have cost entirely too much.

For once in my life I allowed myself to indulge in the luxury though. I admired it on my finger and I looked down at him.

He gave me a goofy smile, jumped to his feet, swept me up in his arms and spun me around. “She said yes!”

The media snapped hundreds of photos as he spun me, and for once I didn’t care what I looked like. I was captured in my moment of pure unadulterated joy, and I wanted the world to see it.

He set me down and cupped my face in his hands, he looked me in the eyes with his face full of love, and he kissed me.

The crowd started to clap, photos were snapped, but they apparently loved this special moment.

He pulled back and said, “Let’s get home, we’ve got dinner with Jane and Ethan later.”

“Do we?” I asked and held his hand as we walked down the street away from the paparazzi. They were frantically updating newspaper blogs and gossip sites with the latest instalment of the life of Isaac James.

“We do,” he replied and held the door of his car open for me. I bent to get inside, stretched out my hand and looked at my ring, turned around and kissed him again.

“Thank you, fiancé,” I said with a big grin on my face.

“You’re quite welcome, fiancée,” he replied and smacked my butt as I slid inside his little sports car.

It was all surreal, the ride home, the quick shag in the shower, getting dressed for dinner and rushing into the restaurant fifteen minutes late. Our cheeks were flushed and we were giggling when we found our seats.

“You two have been up to something,” Jane laughed as we sat down.

“We have been,” I smiled and glanced at Isaac. He moved his chair closer to me and put his arm around my shoulders protectively.

“Do tell,” Ethan said and sipped his martini.

“Well, it happened today,” I said and kept my hand under the table.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry about Isaac’s family,” Jane said, her eyes clouding with concern.

“It’s nothing to do with that,” I replied, nothing could get me down today.

“Then what?” she asked, “I do hate guessing games.” She laughed and begged me to tell.

“I’ll think about it,” I said and placed both hands on the table. She glanced down, frowned and looked cross that I wasn’t letting her in on our secret.

Then recognition crossed her face and she smiled. She grabbed Ethan’s shirt sleeve and tugged and pointed at my hand.

“What is it, Lassie? Is Timmy down a well?” Ethan laughed at Jane’s wordless gestures.

“No,” she finally managed to croak out, “Look at her hand.”

“Ohhhh,” Ethan said, “You two got engaged! Congratulations!”

“Waiter,” Jane called out, “Your best champagne please!”

I let Jane oooh and aaah over the gigantic rock on my finger, and I made her promise to be in my bridal party.

It was exciting, planning something like this. I’d never been the type to care, in fact my old cynical self had thought things like brides magazines and wedding TV shows were ridiculous, but now I could see the appeal.

All in all, it was an exciting and amazing night, time spent with friends and time spent getting used to the idea of being Isaac’s fiancé.

It didn’t take me long though, I fell in love with being
his
as hard as I fell in love with
him
.

***

Jane and Ethan surprised us all a few weeks later by announcing their own engagement. It soon became obvious why they were rushing a wedding, Jane was pregnant and positively glowing from it.