Fresh: A BWWM Secret Billionaire Romance (10 page)

"
I
'll help
. Thanks, Mom." Jimmy bent down and kissed his mother's cheek. I could see the affection between them, no matter how sassy she was. She loved him, and she would be an excellent grandmother to our children. That was a good thing, since my mom was long gone. The kids would only have two grandparents to spoil them instead of four.

"In here." Jimmy touched my arm and indicated one of the doors.

I opened it. I saw gold everywhere, like I was a conquistador who had suddenly discovered El Dorado.

"Dear Lord." I looked around. He had a canopied California King bed. Everything in his room was done in shades of gold.

He stuck his hands in his suit pockets, ruining the line of his clothes. "My mom...I got tired of all my hockey stuff in my room, but I did not have time to fix it. I gave my mom complete permission to redo it. Do you like it?"

"It's so much." I blinked. I touched the wall. "Is this silk?"

"Yes, all the wallpaper is silk. It's the opposite of a child's room, you see."

"Okay." It wasn't really a bedroom; it was a suite. He had a gigantic walk-in closet that was the size of my tiny apartment. "I cleared out a side for you."

I looked at it. "Maybe it would be better if you cleared your bottom racks and just me have them. I'm too short for the top racks."

He smiled at me. "Whatever you want, Mrs. Fox."

I wagged a finger at him. "I'm still mad at you." But I smiled a little bit. He had gotten ready for me to be here, and that counted for something. Not a lot. Not for knocking me up, not for conspiring with my dad to marry me and have Jimmy take over my dad's business. But it was enough to poke a tiny crack in the wall that I was holding around my heart. I had some hurt in my heart, and standing here in the closet he had prepared for me mended some of it.

"If you want to unpack your little suitcase, I can get the rest later."

I noticed that my suitcase was in the room. I looked at him and cocked my head.

"Who brought it up?"

“We have a man who is sort of our jack-of-all-trades. We don't really have a household staff. We have a housekeeper who cooks for us and our jack-of-all-trades is her husband. They live on the grounds, though it's in a cottage."

"Okay." I opened up my suitcase, and I brought my little toiletries bag into my new bathroom. It was all gleaming gold taps. It was nicer than my bedroom at home, and that was saying a lot.

He came up behind me as I got my toothbrush out to brush my teeth. He wrapped his arms around the indent of my waist, and his chin came down gently on the top of my head.

"I know that you are not that happy right now, but I swear to you, we will make this work if we can. I want this baby." He touched my stomach. "And I have wanted you, even without the pregnancy." I watched his face in the mirror. I could read him like a book. No. He had concealed so much of himself from me, making me think that he was just some Cheesehead farmer when he was really a businessman on par with my father.

"You have a lot of apologizing to do, Mr. Fox." I turned around. I poked him in the chest with a light finger in the center. "You lied for a long time."

He picked me up off of my feet, and I squealed.

“Put me down!”

"I know."He wrestled me so that I fell back into our bed, wedding dress and all. His mouth came down on my lips, and I savored the taste of him. I hadn't kissed anybody else when I had gone out clubbing, and I missed the way that he tasted on my lips. I explored his mouth with my tongue. Smooth, warm wine felt like it was sliding down my throat. I was too mad for this, but somehow, his mouth on mine made it all melt away, like it had happened in another lifetime.

I felt my body warming at his touch. I felt myself getting wet between my thighs. I was conditioned to want him.

"I want to get naked."

I pushed him off of me lightly, and I turned so that he could pull down my zipper. He kissed a trail down all of the dark skin that he revealed. My wedding dress had boning built into it that precluded the need for a bra.

He flipped me over so that I was on my back again, staring up at him. I was only wearing a tiny blue lace thong that did nothing to conceal me.

He stared at me as if he were a thirsty man coming out of a desert. He pulled at the strap at my hip. "Something blue?"

"Something blue." I reached up for him and kissed him.

He tore my thong with two strong hands.

"I like it, but I like seeing your pretty pussy more."

He kissed his way down my body, leaving a trail of tiny fires in his wake, and he stuck his tongue into my dripping slit. I arched into his mouth. His hand came up to stimulate my clit, and I shuddered through an orgasm.

He flipped me onto my stomach. He separated my legs as far as they would go, and he pushed inside of my body. I sighed. I needed this more than I needed his kiss. I felt his dick stretch me. It burned, and my body was filled with light.

He pulled out. I flipped over to stare at him.

"What?"

"I don't want to hurt the baby."

I blinked at him. "You're fine. Plenty of married couples have sex when the woman is pregnant."

"I don't..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It feels different to take a pregnant woman."

My eyes filled with tears from sexual frustration. Maybe I wouldn’t have asked my question if I was not tired and aroused. “Are you calling me fat?"

"No, no! I just...your body is different now."

I could not stop the tears streaming from my eyes. I pulled the top sheet off of his bed, and I wrapped it around myself. I started to walk out the door. No time to pick up my discarded wedding dress.

"Hey. Hey! Come back here."

I turned and shot him my sharpest dagger eyes. "I'll sleep somewhere else tonight."

He pulled on my sheet so that I was naked again. "We can sleep together and not have sex, you know. We're consenting adults."

"Somehow, this wasn't what I thought my wedding night would be like."

Silence fell. I walked out into the hallway as naked as the day I was born. There was a light on under one of the doors, and I knew that must be his mother's room. It was at the other end of the hallway. I slipped into an immaculately clean guest bed with a navy blue duvet in another room. I fell asleep naked, too drained to try to go back into his room and get my stuff.

W
hen I woke up
, I was back in Jimmy's bed. He was nowhere in sight. I checked the clock. Nine. I had slept in a little bit.

I put on a dress, a crumpled, awful one, from my suitcase. Who cared. It suited my mood today. I walked downstairs. There was a plate of eggs waiting for me, covered by a little silver dome. I ate my eggs alone, remembering what it had been like to eat breakfast with Jimmy. I guessed that those days were gone.

His mom came into the kitchen. “Good morning, Amelia."

"Hello, Diana. Please call me Mel." I smiled at her, even though I felt like an undead zombie. She looked like she’d been up for hours, every hair in place. I felt embarrassed for walking downstairs in my rumpled clothing. I was an awful mess.

"Oh, I didn't know that you went by a nickname. Jimmy didn't say."

I was quiet. Jimmy and I did not have pet names for each other. He didn’t know that everyone called me Mel, and everyone called him Jimmy, it seemed. We were strangers still, and nights like our wedding night were not going to cement our commitment to one another.

After a tiny beat of awkward silence, Diana said, "I'll get out of your hair. I know that this is technically your honeymoon, although why Jimmy didn't take you out of the country is absolutely beyond me."

"I'm sure that we'll figure something out." I ate another bite of eggs. "He probably wanted me to meet you first thing."

"Well, anyways, I'll drive back to Chicago this morning."

"This morning? Don't you have a driver?"

"Yes, but he lives in Chicago. I'd hardly ask him to drive me the four or five hours between Madison and Chicago. I can barely stand the horrible Chicago traffic, and I would spare anybody else the inconvenience if I could. So I will."

I liked her. She was spunky and self-sufficient.

"Okay. It was so nice to meet you."

She came around the table and hugged me. I squeezed her back. She smelled like vanilla, and for a half second I thought that I was hugging my mom. I hadn't been hugged by a mother for a very, very long time.

She kissed the top of my head. "Come and visit me when you have a minute. Maybe when Jimmy goes on a business trip. I'll take you around."

"I will." I looked at her and smiled. "You know I will. Safe travels."

"Bye, sweetheart."

I watched her walk out of the door. I heard her car's engine turn on, and I knew that Jimmy and I were going to be alone in this awkward, empty space.

I shuddered. I cleaned up my plate and fork, and I put away the silver dome. I wanted to go upstairs.

I went back to my suitcase and pulled out my laptop. My homepage was my direct line to the school. I messaged my supervisor to tell her that I was living in Wisconsin now. With that message, I was slicing away a bond to my old life. At my wedding, my friends said that they would visit me, but I knew that it was a lot to ask to have them visit rural Wisconsin.

Maybe it would be better if they knew what they were getting into.

I
took
my phone and went outside. I immediately regretted it. Diana hadn't had on a sweater, but I definitely needed it. I went straight back into the house and stole one of Jimmy's coats from the coat rack. He had a dozen of them anyway. I went and put it on. I used my camera to take shots first of the house. Then I walked out and went exploring on the grounds. I wished that Diana had stayed long enough for me to get acquainted with my new home. It had been hers for a much longer period, years instead of hours.

I had no idea where Jimmy was.

I went back to the other house. It was only a little way out of the main house. If I hadn’t stuck to the old farmhouse, I would not have been so surprised by the appearance of the mansion when Jimmy brought me home as his bride.

My breath was visible in the air, so it was still below freezing, but I liked the bracing cold. I had to be careful to breathe through my nose so I didn’t trigger my asthma. It made my skin feel weird, but it felt good to be warm inside of my coat while the wide world was hushed and white with snow.

I walked back to the old farmhouse. I opened the door. It wasn’t locked. Maybe there was nothing to steal. There was nothing inside that was of high value besides the books, and what thief in rural Wisconsin would think to steal the first editions from the Fox family? The inside was in better condition than the outside, of course. Without Jimmy inside, it was more of a house than a home. Still, I could see from the worn wooden step next to one of the doors that this house had been a lovely home when the Fox family was simply just another set of hardworking Wisconsin farmers.

I walked out to the barn, which I had never seen before. My cheeks heated in the cold air, thinking of how I had hidden from the reality of Wisconsin farm life inside of the old farmhouse. It had been snowing, true, but I had never even tried to see what I did not want to. Andrew always told me, “You must see the world as it is and not how you would wish it to be.”

I walked to the barn. Unlike the house, it was locked. I looked in through one of the old windows. I could see that one of the walls of the barn had a gigantic LED screen, five times bigger than the TV that we had at home. And my father loved his football, so our TV was pretty big. That screen was on another level. I guessed that he had considered it a ‘business expense’.

There was one of those extra-expensive ergonomic chairs that looked really weird but were way more comfortable. There was a stationary bike. I saw one of those complicated weight machines, like a Bowflex, but upscale instead of something that you bought off of TV. I guessed that working out while working was a good way to keep his body toned. I saw a big refrigerator in the corner and a little coffee bar. I walked around the barn to look through different windows, but that was pretty much it.

I walked slowly back to my house. I wasn’t in a hurry, and I liked being surrounded by the beautiful landscape. It was like being inside of a painting. I went out back. There was a shed back there, and when I peeked into the windows, I could see ATVs in there. Jimmy must go off-roading.

"Who are you?"

I spun around.

T
here was
a six-foot-tall blonde supermodel behind me. She had blue eyes just a little lighter than Jimmy's. She had cheekbones to die for, the kind that I had to pretend to have with makeup. Despite wearing a practical coat, she still had the kind of look that you saw on the cover of magazines. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley from
Transformers
wished that she looked this good. She was like Rosie’s taller sister.

"I could ask you the same. Who are you?"

She looked me up and down. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I don't have to explain myself to you. You're the intruder."

I snorted. "Hardly. I live here." I straightened up. I hadn’t been very happy about being here, but now that someone else was questioning my right to be here, my hackles were getting up.

"You live here? What, are you the new maid or something? I didn't know they needed more help."

I crossed my arms. "I am not the maid." My voice was very quiet and carefully stripped of any emotion. "And I have never met you before."

"I live a quarter mile down the road." She pointed in the opposite direction of the farm house. "And I don't believe you. The only person who lives in this house is Jimmy Fox."

"That's my husband."

She looked like I had smacked her in the face with a frying pan. A big one. “Your husband?"

I enjoyed her discomfort, maybe more than I should have. Jimmy and I didn't have a perfect marriage, but I liked claiming him in front of this chick.

"Yeah. I'm pregnant."

Her eyes zoomed in on my stomach. "You're pregnant?"

I touched the tiny swell of my belly under my coat. "Yes."

"How do I know that you're not lying? You could just be a fat thief."

I held up my hand. I did not have gloves. She could see the fat rock sitting on it. It was too big, really, but I was definitely enjoying the way that the sunlight was glinting off of it. She looked like she had seen a headless, bloody ghost.

"I'm wearing Jimmy's coat. I live in his house. I'm married to him. I am carrying his child. Now who are you?"

"I am Mary Jo." She crossed her arms. "I had no idea that he got married. I've been friends with Jimmy since we were in preschool."

I relaxed a little bit. Just a childhood friend and neighbor. “Don’t feel bad. His mom didn't come to the wedding," I admitted.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh?" I wondered if I should have said that. She was too happy right now. Too late.

"Yeah. It was sort of a spontaneous thing. All my friends came. My dad was there. But I don't think that Jimmy really brought too many people."

Now interest was definitely sparking in her eyes. "How interesting." She closed her eyes. "I mean, that's a shame. I would have loved to go to your wedding." I could hear the clear lie in her voice, as clear as the skin on her flawless face. She looked like she never had a pimple in her entire life.

"Uh huh. So, if you don't mind, you can go home to your house a quarter mile up the road..." I hinted.

She shook her head. “But I came to talk to Jimmy. We are having a fundraiser at church, and I wanted him to help me run the table."

"I'll pass on the message. Mary Jo wants him to come help with the fundraising table. Gotcha. Why didn't you call before you came?"

"Jimmy and I don't have the kind of relationship where I need to call before I come over. He's always happy to see me."

Jimmy might always be happy to see Mary Jo, but I sure wasn't. He had a little explaining to do.

"Hm. Maybe you should call before you come over in the future."

She looked as if I had slapped her. Served her right for insinuating that she and Jimmy had a close relationship. I had taken his virginity, and I wanted this chick off of my land. Funny how it was ‘my land’ when this morning it had been Jimmy’s.

"I'll call Jimmy," she threatened.

"Do it." My posture was relaxed. My hands were loose by my sides. My head was up, looking straight at her. In the battle between his wife and his childhood friend and neighbor, I was pretty sure that I could win. He was my husband, after all. I was having his child.

She took her cell out of her pocket, and I realized two things. One, I didn't have Jimmy's cell number. Two, there was no reception out here.

She stared at her phone. "It's searching for signal."

I smirked. "Looks like you'll have to go home and call his landline, then. Oh wait. Jimmy's car is gone. I don't know when he'll be back."

If she could kill me with a glare, she would have done so at that moment. "I'll be back." She walked away with long strides. Her hair swished quickly behind her, lashing around like a very angry golden kitten's tail.