The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 20

Bobbie felt nerves stealing her breath as she preceded Olivier into the penthouse suite. She hadn’t had the opportunity to change after work, so she had insisted before they had dinner in the hotel restaurant as set up by Olivier, she run up to get out of her garb. Of course, he had said he would accompany her to the room when Everly had said they would take the kids and get their orders started. She had ignored Everly’s wiggling of the eyebrows as he rushed to follow her. Her friend was clearly a s*x fiend.

A thought occurred to her as he followed her quietly into the bedroom where her clothes had been stored. “Last night in the pool, you told the kids you’d have a surprise for them. Was it the toy store? Did you have it set up already?”

He chuckled, “no that was a short notice plan Riggs threw together when my grandfather showed up unannounced. I have set up one of the ballrooms downstairs for movie night. I managed to call in a favour with a friend of mine. You know the new movie about the princess and the whale and the witch? I got a copy of it.”

“You’re spoiling them.” She gave an impatient shake of her head. “The movie hasn’t even been released yet. It’s only previews out.”

“I have eight years of birthdays, Christmases, and every other holiday to make up for. Sue me.” His voice told her she was barking up the wrong tree with her arguments.

“I don’t think eight birthday presents equates to a blockbuster movie preview.”

“I do.” He leaned against the door as she yanked open the closet where he’d had her clothing stowed.

“Fine but now we have a few minutes alone, I want to talk to you about something anyway.”

“Sure,” he sat on the edge of the bed, his hands between his thighs resting on the mattress, “or you could pay up on your over full swear jar.” When she looked over her shoulder at him, he waved to his crotch, “I know you want to.”

She lifted an eyebrow at him, and he laughed, “very funny. Six people are waiting on us downstairs and three of them ask very pointed questions. Do you want to explain to them what took so long? You and I both know, the minute it,” she waved where his hands were, “makes an appearance, it’s going to take more than the few minutes of me getting changed.”

“You’re right but I’m sure Grady would cover for me.”

“You want Grady to explain to the kids we’re up here having s*x while they’re eating fish fingers? Because I have to say, it doesn’t sound like a solid plan. He’s the one who told his kid the one time she heard them having s*x they were playing a game of spank the monkey and it was all about who could get spanked most.”

He threw his head back and laughed, “he has a great imagination.”

“He’s insane.” She shook her head. “No, definitely not letting him explain to the kids what is taking us so long.”

“Fine,” he shrugged, “but don’t say I didn’t offer. The way you’ve been cursing today, you’re likely to be at two jars by bedtime.” She threw one of her pumps at him and he caught it and sniffed it winking at her gagging noise, “okay, what did you want to discuss?”

“Getting married,” she saw his face tighten and she held up her hands, “Olivier I’m not ready. I know you want the kids to have the perfect family, but it doesn’t mean we have to get married.”

“Bobbie, it’s not an option.”

“It is an option. Just because it’s what you want doesn’t mean it’s what I want and you’re not going to run roughshod over my feelings just so you can assuage whatever guilt you have for not being part of their lives for the last eight years.”

“Marriage is important in my family, chérie.”

“It’s not in mine. Love, respect, and trust are more important to me than anything else. Olivier, I’m willing to try and make things work but I need you to work with me. I’m not ready.”

“Why are you bringing this up now?”

“Because you mentioned your family coming tomorrow and I keep hearing what you said in the toy store about your father.”

“He is a very religious man, chérie. He believes strongly in family, and he has already made it clear to me he expects me to do right by you.”

“This isn’t the eighteen hundreds,” she snorted.

“No. It isn’t but there is a lot to be said about the lack of family values in the world and the state of our world.”

“Jesus Christ,” she grunted as she slammed through the closet looking for something to wear. Whoever had put her clothes away had put all her casual stuff to the back. “If you tell me, you are some conservative religious nutcase, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Not conservative. Semi-religious but not crazily so, much to my father’s chagrin. I believe more in my grandmother’s religion than his. I am, however, very much a firm believer family comes first above everything. It is a moral engrained in me from my cradle.”

She scoffed, “this is rich coming from the guy who hates his own grandfather.”

“Every rule has an exception,” he twisted his lips, “and that is a story for another day. I have children now. I want to give them the family they deserve, and it includes parents who are committed to each other, completely.”

“I don’t want to get married.”

“You didn’t argue this much all weekend. Why today?”

“Because you dropped on me tonight your family is coming tomorrow. All of them! As you said, it’s important to them and I don’t want to be put on the spot. I need you to have my back if someone asks the plan.” The expression on his face was the mirror of when she told the twins to eat vegetables and she almost laughed at him.

“You want me to tell my family you don’t want to marry me?” He purposefully twisted the words.

She sighed frustratedly, “Olivier, I’m not saying I’ll never marry you but I’m not marrying you this week. I need time. It’s been nine years. Please be patient with me. A week ago, I thought you were a s*x trafficker. All which has happened since then is you dictating and me bending because I would do anything for the twins.”

“They deserve—”

“What about what I deserve,” she interrupted him angrily, her patience finally snapping its thin tether. “You forget, I’m the one who was attacked nine years ago. I’m the one who had to run and hide. I’m the one who had her entire world flipped upside down back then. I’m the one who had to survive it all. I built a safe space for me and the kids. I did it! I’m not letting you suddenly pop back into my world and steal the independence and autonomy I’ve made for myself just to make a couple kids happy, even if they are my kids!”

“They come first!” he snapped back. “It isn’t all about you, Bobbie.”

“If I get married it’s going to be to someone I love, adore, and respect and I don’t love you.”

She saw the flash of anger cross his face and she braved herself for the fury to come.

“You think I give a s**t if you love me or not? Again, this isn’t about you. This is about doing what is right for our children and our family.”

“Putting a gold band on my finger isn’t going to suddenly make up for the fact I spent almost a decade terrified of you! I have lived independently for years raising two kids alone!”

“You didn’t have to do it all alone, Bobbie. You could have come to me!”

“Right! When should I have done this? Should I have gone back to the place I was slapped around and almost raped? You told me you were coming back on the Sunday, but your fiancé told me you were getting married on the Saturday, so I wasn’t exactly expecting you back!” She growled as she moved back to the closet and furiously decided upon a change of clothes, “you know you like to say this was my fault, but you didn’t exactly come looking for me, did you?”

“I spent nine years looking for you.”

“Did you? Did you check the bank where I took the money out?”

He glared at her as she shrugged out of her skirt and then shimmied into her jeans. “I did. I went to the bank myself and asked to see surveillance of the withdrawal. I saw the video of you at the bank counter asking for cash and watching you sit in the waiting room while they had to assemble it. You were there for over an hour.”

“Yet you didn’t notice I had a black eye in the video?” she tossed him an angry glance noting his surprise

“The video was grainy and in black and white.”

“Regardless, did you not ever, since then check it?”

He frowned at her as she pulled her cell phone forward and started swiping through the screens.

“Why would I? I got the information you took the money. They had no address other than the hotel address.”

“Is that so?” She threw her phone at him and didn’t bother to turn around to look at him again as she ripped her blouse off and hung it on a hanger. She found a t-shirt and yanked it over her head, “the day the kids were born, I updated my address with the bank and started paying the money I had withdrawn back to the account. When I bought my house and moved to our gated community, I updated it again. The thing is, as terrified as I was you or Bernard would replace me, I had to put the money back. I couldn’t do it though without my address being accurate on the account. I’ve paid back every single penny I took. I did it. Not Grady or Everly or Prue. Me. I put the money back. I took my dignity back. I took my self-worth back. The balance on the account is the money, every single penny of it, plus interest to the date I made the final repayment amount.”

“Bobbie,” his voice was a quiet whisper from where he sat.

She continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “I raised two kids on my own for the last eight years, terrified every single day one of you would check the bank account and replace me. Find me, murder me and my babies to keep me quiet.” She spun on her heel and looked at him, tears running down her face, “you don’t know what it’s like to live with this kind of fear Olivier. All I’m asking for is time. Time to get used to this. To accept my life, the one I’ve worked hard to build for us is no longer just mine to control. I feel like I’m losing it all and you’re taking it and I have no say and I need a say,” her voice trailed off as she looked away, her anger finally fading.

“Hey,” he stood up and moved toward her and tugged her towards him, her feet dragging on the carpet. “Come here,” he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her head to his chest tightly, “it’s okay. It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

“I’m trying not to,” she bit out frustratedly, “but I can’t help it. I’m pissed off.”

“I see that,” he chuckled as he rubbed her back.

“It’s all moving too fast. All of it. I’m already back in your bed. I agreed to living with you and letting you renovate my house, but I need time before marriage, Olivier. I just need time. Why can’t you understand this?”

“It’s important to me.”

“A piece of paper legally binding us, is more important to you than my feelings?” she huffed with annoyance.

“When you put it like that,” he g*****d.

“Well, I’m putting it like that.”

“You were right the other night when you said you’ve gotten better at arguing,” he chuckled softly.

“Damn straight I have.”

He kissed the top of her head, “I’m sorry. I’ve railroaded you, just like I did Max yesterday.”

She nodded unable to look up at him but wrapping her arms around his waist, suddenly craving the comfort he was offering. How could she be angry with him and yet want to be held by him all at once? This guy was her kryptonite.

“I really want us to be married, Bobbie,” his voice was low, “I want us to be married and to have our little family and be together.” As she made a noise to protest, he spoke over her, “but I also hear what you are saying to me, Bobbie and I respect you for talking to me and expressing to me what you’re feeling. Can we make a compromise?”

She sniffed and took a breath, “such as?”

“I’ll settle for us being engaged, for now. I want my ring on your finger. I won’t compromise on living together or sleeping together and being a couple. I feel it’s important for us to be united together for the children, but if you’re asking for time before committing to each other in front of God, family, and friends, then I can give you time.” He rubbed his cheek on her hair, the stubble of his beard mussing it up, “a diamond on your finger will quell my father’s annoyance for now, and I promise you, he will be pushy, but I’ll keep him in line.”

She sighed, “okay, but we don’t have to get married before the end of the week?”

“No,” he rubbed her back reassuringly, “we’ll revisit in a few weeks and see where we are.”

“Thank you, Olivier.” She closed her eyes and relaxed in his embrace.

“Now,” he bent his head closer to her ear, “we have kids downstairs probably driving the Hoffmans insane. Should we go rescue them or we can make out and be really late and give them something to talk about and you can pay off the swear jar debt.”

She couldn’t help the laugh bubbling from his words, “you’re awful.”

“You wouldn’t want me any other way,” he stepped backward from her and grabbed her hands, kissing her knuckles before wiping the tears off her cheeks. “Come on, let’s go have dinner and then once the kids are asleep, you can give me my blowjob.”

“Oh my god,” she g*****d as she pulled him out of the room.

“Wait,” he pulled her backwards to him.

“What now?”

He pulled a box out of his pocket, “you should put this on your finger.”

“You bought a ring already?” she blinked as she looked at the huge marquise cut diamond with a twisted band of platinum and smaller diamonds.

“Went to the place you sent Grady,” he grinned as he slipped the ring on her shaking hand. He gave a sad smile, “I know you don’t love me Bobbie but I’m hoping you can grow to love me. I’m confident we can make this work.”

She nodded, unable to look away from the ring on her finger. “It’s beautiful.”

“Do I get a thank you k**s?”

She stepped closer to him and wound her arms around his neck. She lifted her chin and pressed her lips to his gently.

“You can do better,” he teased her. “Put your back into it.”

She tugged his hair playfully at his teasing, “my back?”

“Your tongue then?”

She kissed him a second time, a fraction of a second longer than the last time and he growled.

“Now I’m certain you’re teasing me,” he lifted her off her feet and hugged her to his chest. “K**s your fiancé, chérie.”

She tilted her head just slightly and parted her mouth, sliding her lips across his in a gentle sweeping motion. As soon as she started the k**s, he took it over. Hungry and possessive, he dipped his tongue deeply into her mouth swallowing the m**n of pleasure bubbling from her chest. Her feet weren’t touching the floor and it was purely his strength keeping her to him, cradled against his body as he devoured her.

The buzzing of her phone she’d shoved into the rear pocket of her jeans made her jump in his arms and he chuckled as he set her back on her feet.

“Come on,” he kissed her forehead tenderly, “let’s go see my babies again.”

“You know they’re my babies too,” she frowned as he laced his fingers through hers and walked with her through the hotel suite.

“Who could forget?” he called the elevator. “Max is your emotional double.”

“What do you mean?” she grimaced at him as they entered the elevator.

“It means, unlike Ollie, who like her father, her grandfather, and her great-grandfather, blows up fast and then it’s over with, you and Max let things build up until you explode. It makes me think of my grandmother’s gumbo.”

“What?” she gave him a perplexed look. “What a weird thing to say.”

“See, my grandmother makes a gumbo, and she lets it simmer all day. If you leave the top on the pot, you don’t know what’s happening inside but the minute you lift the lid, you see the boil rolling inside and if she’s left it on the high heat too long, it bubbles and pops out of the pot onto everything. My sisters and I had more burns on our hands growing up trying to sneak bites of it before it was dinner time.”

“You’re comparing me to over boiling soup?”

“No, I’m comparing you to my grandmother’s gumbo, which by the way, is my favorite food on the planet.”

“You’re weird,” she mumbled under her breath as the elevator doors opened to the lobby.

She noted his friend Riggs and the other security guard Henri sitting in the lobby. She gave them a tight smile. “Riggs is your best friend, right?”

“Yes, he and Soren and I grew up together. I attended school here and Trace brought us home every weekend from private school. Henri came along later but he’s also a good friend.”

“Why are they out here then and not joining us for dinner?”

He paused and looked at her, “I wasn’t sure how you would –”

She gave a grunt and walked over to the men sitting in the lobby, “get in the restaurant. If you’re family, then you’re family. We eat together.”

As she marched in the direction of the restaurant, she heard the surprised grunts of the seated men and the low laugh of Olivier, following her.

Bobbie considered she had successfully argued with Olivier about the wedding. The least she could do was include all of his family as part of their family. He was going to learn he wasn’t the only one who put family above everything.