It had been two weeks since Riley and I had made that exclusivity commitment to each other. Probably not as difficult for her as it was for me, based on my knowledge of her, her background, and of course, a comparison of our lifestyles. I'd never been in a monogamous relationship, had never committed to anyone. The women I slept with knew better than to even suggest such a thing. It was one thing to get your rocks off, quite another to promise someone that you wouldn't date anyone else. For Riley, I was willing to give it a try.

If I had thought she would date me without such an agreement or commitment on my part, I wouldn't have needed to do it, would I? But my past spoke for itself. Riley was different and she didn't play around. None of those mind games that I'd dealt with from past… indulgences, had experienced until I nipped it in the bud. Sex was physical, but the mental part of a relationship, the emotions involved, were totally new to me. I had never wanted to get to know a woman on a deeper level. Ever. But for Riley, I would give this a try.

My rationale was both logical and emotional. She was so different than any woman I'd been with before. I kept telling myself that, and that was the plain truth on one level, but it went deeper. I now saw her in a completely different light. She wasn't merely a conquest, a deal to be sealed, but someone who needed to be respected. For what she had done for her family, and yes, even her passion in my bed. She deserved to be acknowledged. This was a woman who needed to be loved. Not played with, not a toy, but cherished.

For the past two weeks we had enjoyed one another's company, sneaking out of town on her day off, once to just drive around, another to spend the evening at a rural bed-and-breakfast, where, thanks to a baseball cap and sunglasses, nobody recognized me. That was a nice change of pace too. Was I growing tired of my playboy lifestyle? Would I miss being a player? Would I miss the attention? I thought long and hard about that and realized that the answer was probably a negative. I did need to settle down. I was at the age where I had to start making better life decisions, both short-term and long-term. Was I really a habitual flirt or had I just not been able to find the kind of woman I wanted in my life and by my side? Yes, I could be ruthless at work and I was also known to be a compulsive risk taker, and maybe I needed to take a risk with Riley.

In the back of my mind, I knew why I had never been able to form a long-term relationship with any woman, mainly because of my memories of the way my mother treated my father. Riley wasn't like that, but the bonds of a relationship, they were serious. They required time, commitment, and loyalty. My parents' marriage had not been a good one, but then at the other end of the spectrum, I looked at Riley's parents. They have their troubles, sure, but they never gave up on each other.

I had come to a decision. I had a fifty-fifty chance of it going well, but it was a risk I decided to take. I would host a party at my mansion, very unusual for me, since the housewarming party I had thrown when I first bought the place and moved in was the first and no one had been here since. I preferred my solitude when I wasn't out screwing around, and it took me a bit of hemming and hawing to make this decision. I wanted to introduce Riley to my friends and associates and in doing so maybe hint that my playboy days were coming to an end. If I was going to be exclusive and I wanted to keep seeing Riley, I knew we couldn't keep sneaking around, worried that someone might see us. Perhaps the best way to stifle the interest of the social media mongers and the entertainment industry paparazzi, was just to get it out in the open.

I wasn't sure what Riley would have to say about it, but it was tired of the subterfuge and sneaking around trying to find places where we could go incognito. I didn't want to have to leave the city just to take a nice walk with her or make dinner reservations under a false name in the secluded corner of any of my favorite restaurants just to spend time with her. In some ways, being blatant about a relationship was probably better than trying to hide it. Maybe if people got used to the idea that I was seeing someone, they'd back off. I wouldn't have to worry about being followed everywhere I went. Neither would Riley.

At the same time, it was risky. 'They' might want to know more about Riley, perhaps even dig into her past. Not that she had been cornered by any paparazzi as of yet, but if we didn't do something, and soon, the chances were that someone would see the two of us together, find us hiding from the public, and then all hell would break loose. So, as far as I was concerned, it was time to get it out into the open. To publicly introduce her.

We'd gotten together last night, and after an invigorating session of lovemaking upstairs, while we'd sat in the darkness on my upstairs balcony gazing out at the canal, I had broached the topic. Although she appeared hesitant and worried, she agreed that it was probably for the best. She hadn't said anything to her parents yet about us and I wasn't sure if she was ready to. She wasn't worried that her parents would find out through social media outlets, as they didn't follow them. She still wasn't ready to tell her parents, and I let it go. She would tell them in her own good time.

I mentioned that I wasn't sure if I should invite my mother to this party, but Riley encouraged me to. After all, she said, I had no reason to keep secrets from my mother, did I? What, other than opening myself up to her unending criticism? Not really. I didn't even really care what she said about me. Actually, things between my mother and I had started to thaw – incrementally – but I still felt wary. What would she think of Riley?

Gradually, over the past couple of weeks, I had opened myself up to Riley more than I had with any other person in my life. This was all new to me. I wasn't used to spilling my guts to anybody. While I had friends, I never had one that I considered a confidant, not like Riley had in Sadie.

Anyway, we both agreed that we would do it, take a wait-and-see attitude, and after the party – maybe - after Riley had a chance to mingle, she would feel more comfortable about making the announcement to her parents that she was dating me. Of course, I couldn't see them having any objections. What would they object to? The fact that I was rich? Of course, I did have a reputation of being a player, but I didn't doubt that I could reassure Riley's parents that I wasn't toying with their daughter. Then again, maybe things would blow up in my face. Maybe Riley would decide she didn't like my world and didn't want to be a part of it. Plus, there was also a chance that Riley's parents would not accept me either.

After our discussion, I had mentioned to Riley that she might need to go out and buy a dress suitable to the occasion. I saw a look come over her face. Hesitance. I told her not to worry about paying for it, as I had an account at a nice boutique downtown. She nibbled on her bottom lip at that, and I could only imagine where her mind was going. How many women before her had visited that boutique, on my dime? But there was a big difference here. Riley hadn't asked for anything. Riley wasn't one of the women I'd seen in the past who wanted to spend tons of money on clothes, jewelry, and shoes. I knew she felt most comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt and I liked that. I hoped she wouldn't turn me down.

Finally, she nodded and told me that she would find something reasonable, and I smiled at that. More than likely she would be bowled over at the cost of even one of the cheaper dresses in the boutique, ranging into the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. It didn't really matter to me. I wanted, and told her, to pick out something that she liked, regardless of the cost. I sensed her embarrassment as she looked up at me, her cheeks flushed, again a niggling frown appearing on her brow.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked. "We come from two different places, Wyatt, and sometimes I don't have two dimes to scrape together, while you… well, you can pretty much snap your fingers and have anything you want. Aren't you worried that people are going to talk? About me? Call me a gold digger?"

I smiled at her concern, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close. "You let me worry about that, all right? No one even has to know any of that. That's private."

She looked up at me.

"Maybe we could tell them, if you think anybody's going to ask, that I haven't lived here very long?"

"Wouldn't do any good, Riley." I told her. "Like I said, the more secrets a person like me appears to have, the harder people look. I know who you are. I know you're not taking advantage of me. In fact, I'm the one chasing you, remember?"

It was true. The tables had turned on Wyatt Cross. Because of this crazy bargain we had, I had grown very fond and attracted to Riley Hunt. If anyone wanted to challenge me about that, so be it.

The guests were arriving, the caterers busy, my house open to the roughly one hundred guests that I had invited tonight. Business associates, old friends and family, even my mother, who at the moment was busy schmoozing a couple of our board members. I had sent to car to pick up a Riley at her house. I wasn't sure what she planned on telling her parents or if she would simply resort to somehow sneaking out in a formal gown. I hadn't seen the dress she picked out and looked forward to it. More than I could imagine.

"So where is she?"

I turned to find my mother standing next to me in her sleek, black satin dress, her hair perfectly coiffed, her makeup, if not subdued, not quite as harsh as it usually was, as tonight she had chosen a softer pink lipstick than the red she usually wore.

"She'll be here soon," I said. "I sent the car for a little while ago."

"Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone?" She gestured. "And throwing a party like this? It must be serious."

The look she gave me invited more explanation but I remained quiet. My mother and I were still on rocky ground, as far as our personal relationship went, and okay, into our professional one as well. She'd always been a controlling – and not always wanted - influence in my life. She was opinionated and could be incredibly selfish, often harshly critical of me, my choices, and of course, my lifestyle. My mother had never learned that she couldn't force people to think and behave like she wanted them to all the time. She had tried to do that with our family and had for the most part succeeded with my father, but only because he got tired of fighting with her. She wore him out. As my mother had learned after my father died, that kind of control often came with a heavy price.

I gave her some slack because I knew that her own upbringing had been quite unstable, that her parents had been especially critical of her as well, and emotionally detached. We learn from our parents, don't we? In a way, we're all looking for something, a balance. While I had grown up with my narcissistic mother and she had pretty much run roughshod over my sometimes-passive father, Riley had spent her youth and early adulthood taking care of a sick mother, helping to run the family household, and now, doing the unthinkable to support her father and make sure that a roof would be over their heads. Riley had sacrificed her virginity to keep the family home from being repossessed by my own bank, and an opportunity to survive, at least financially, until they could get on their feet again.

And what was I doing? Ruthlessly and sometimes relentlessly growing the institution that my dad had left to me. I had always felt the need to prove myself not only to my mother, but my dad's memory. I wanted my dad to be proud of where I had taken his legacy. This whole thing with Riley was an attempt to prove to her, as well as to myself, that I was capable of changing, capable of adapting because I wanted to, not because I had to.

"Wyatt, why this sudden decision to present her to your peers?" She frowned. "You haven't gone and asked her to marry you, have you? She's not pregnant, is she? She's not threatening you with a paternity suit or blackmailing you into—"

"Mother!" I snapped, a flush of heat rising in my cheeks. "I like her, that's all."

"Then why all this?" she asked. "What's the big deal?"

I sighed, figuring that I might as well just get it out of the way. "Mother, she's not the daughter of a rich or well-known family in the city. She's—"

"Oh my God, don't tell me." She groaned. "Another strumpet taking advantage of you, taking your money, wrapping you around her little finger—"

"Mother," I warned, my voice tight with barely restrained anger. "You will not talk that way about Riley. She's not like that. I invited you because she encouraged me to, but I swear, if you start making waves, I will kindly, or maybe not so kindly, ask you to leave."

We stared at one another for several moments before she gave a short, stiff nod. I didn't like speaking to my mother this way, but sometimes I had to put my foot down or she would just keep on going, roll right over me, like she used to do to my dad. I wasn't going to have it, not now, and not—

"Is that her?"

I turned to see where my mother gestured with her chin and my heart did a flip-flop. My mouth went dry, and I couldn't deny the surge of pride I felt at that moment when Riley was escorted into the foyer by a doorman that I had hired. She had chosen a gorgeous, gold, drop-shoulder, glittery lace mermaid dress that hugged her figure. Delicate straps held up the bodice, which clung to her luscious breasts, the dropped cold shoulder design showing off her beautifully sculptured collarbones, hugging her waist and then flaring slightly at the hips, dropping down to the floor. A pair of matching sandals and a silver bracelet completed the ensemble. She wore her hair down and lose, its very simplicity and her minimal makeup even more striking given her natural inclinations. Several guests turned to look at her and that surge of pride blossomed as I stepped forward, hand extended.

"Riley, you look absolutely gorgeous." I meant it, every word. I couldn't pull my gaze away from her until I felt movement beside me and glanced at my mother, examining Riley as if she were… a rival?

"Mother, I'd like you to meet Riley Hunt. Riley, this is my mother, Iva Cross.”

Riley swallowed, glanced at my mother, and offered a polite smile. "Very pleased to meet you, Mrs. Cross."

"Likewise," my mother replied, although the low undertone that I heard in her voice caused an inkling of wariness. I turned to smile once again at Riley and gave her my elbow. She wrapped her hand around my forearm and I sensed by her grip that she felt tense and nervous. I grinned down at her and gave her a wink. "You ready?"

She looked at me and offered a very small shrug, eyebrows raised, again biting her lower lip. "I guess I have to be, don't I?"

"You going to be just fine, Riley. Promise."