Chapter8
Two days after they reached their agreement in the all-night diner, Ryder went to Regina’s house to pick her up so that he could take her shopping. He double checked the address in his GPS system when he saw the house from his car in the street. She had texted him her address, but when he saw the house, he was certain that it must be wrong.
When he realized that it wasn’t wrong and that she actually did live there, he was shocked and a little surprised that his stomach knotted a bit at the sight of it. It began to dawn on him as he walked up her old sagging wooden front steps to the paint worn door at the slight front porch, that he was changing her life in a tremendous way, and that knowledge touched the edges of his heart.
He knocked and waited uneasily, wishing that he didn’t feel badly that she lived in such a humble old place, and wishing even more that he didn’t feel anything about it at all. She was going to be his employee, he told himself. She was going to be well taken care of. She wouldn’t live in the kind of mean state that she was just then. It gave him some peace to know it.
The door opened and she smiled at him. He couldn’t help but give her a genuine smile in return. She was in jeans and a pretty, form fitting top. Her curled red hair was pulled up in a ponytail at the back of her head, and her fresh face was shining. She looked happier than he had ever seen her, and he felt that happiness coming off of her like sunbeams.
“Good morning,” he told her lightly. “You look great.” He gave her a nod as he tried not to be obvious about checking her out.
“Thanks!” She stepped out of her home and closed the door behind her, not too keen on letting him see the inside of it. She wasn’t ashamed of it, she kept it clean and it looked nice, but it was as simple a home as one could get, and she felt slightly inhibited in letting him see it.
He walked with her to the car and opened the door for her. Minutes later they were driving toward Fifth Avenue to begin their day of shopping. They hadn’t gotten far when something that was eating at the back of his mind found a voice.
Looking around at the traffic nonchalantly as he turned his yellow Ferrari in and out of other cars, he asked with a partly interested tone, “Have you quit your job yet?”
She was looking at the interior of the car, fascinated with the design of it. She had never seen a Ferrari in person, let alone been inside of one. She looked up at him and shook her head. “No, not yet, but I will. I know it sounds funny, but I wanted to give them notice. At least a week. I know Garrett will have my spot filled pretty fast, but then there’s a little training time for the new replacement and I wanted to be sure to take care of that before I go.”
He turned and stared at her, stunned. “Why? Why would you bother to take the time to give them notice? That place is nothing to you; it’s just a bar, you worked there, and now you don’t need to. It’s not like you’re going to go back, or even need a job after we’re done.”
Regina lowered a brow and spoke seriously to him. “I care about the people who work there and about my word and my integrity. Yeah, I could just walk right out of the door, but I don’t want to do that. That would leave them in a tight spot; high and dry without help until they replaced me, and then they’d have the added work of training someone to do my job. Not that there’s that much training, but a couple of nights doing that is more work for them, and I don’t want to give them any extra work or hassle and stress. You’re right, I don’t need them anymore now, but they need me, and they’ve been good to me, and I’m not going to let them down at the end. That would be awful of me to do to them.”
Her logic seeped into his mind and he saw what she was speaking about; her own integrity was much more valuable to her than just throwing her old job to the curb and walking out, and he saw her a new light. He saw the goodness in her, and he was impressed with it.
“That speaks volumes about the kind of person that you are,” he said quietly as he glanced over at her and gave her an approving smile.
“Any decent person wouldn’t leave them flat on their backsides.” She shrugged, looking out of the window.
“Well, I should tell you that my purpose in asking you whether or not you had quit the job was completely selfish,” he admitted as the hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth.
She looked back over at him curiously. “Selfish? Selfish how?” She couldn’t begin to imagine how her letting go of her job right away might be a selfish motive on his part.
He shrugged then and spoke offhandedly. “I don’t want a fiancé of mine being hit on by other men. Not even a fake fiancé.” He glanced over at her momentarily and saw a fleeting look of surprise on her face, followed by a light laugh.
To his own amazement, he realized as he listened to her laugh, just how much he meant what he’d said. He didn’t want anyone hitting on her, and the sooner she was gone from her job, the less frequently it would happen.
“I’ll be gone from there in a week.” She told him with a soft chuckle and a shake of her head. He had surprised her more than once since she had met him, and she wondered how much more he would surprise her before their job was done.
The two of them shopped in several stores up and down Fifth Avenue, and at every door they walked into, he was greeted almost as if he was royalty, and she was treated with a mixture of curiosity and awe. Everyone wanted to know who she was and what was going on between them. He was casual about saying that she was his girlfriend and that he was spoiling her a little.
After the first two shops they’d visited, he reached for her hand to hold in his while they were in public, when it was a timely moment for them to be affectionate in the eyes of strangers. The first time he did it, she pulled her hand from his quickly, not realizing what he was doing, and she looked at him in muted shock. He carried on speaking to the adoring salesgirl, and when the girl turned away for a moment, he glanced over at Regina and held his hand out to her. She realized then what he was doing and took his hand in hers.
It felt awkward to her at first, creating a closeness that wasn’t quite natural between them, but after a few moments she realized that her nerves were more settled with her hand in his. She was in completely foreign territory in the businesses that he took her into, and she felt far out of place in them, as if she didn’t belong there and had no business being there. His hand felt to her like a gentle anchor keeping her at bay and steadying her in the uncertain waters she was navigating.
The clothes and shoes that he bought her were priced more than the back rent she had just paid, and she couldn’t imagine spending such an obscene amount of money on clothing that would get worn out just as much as the clothing she bought off the rack at the shops far up north in Harlem where she liked to shop. It was astounding and humbling to her, and she felt a little uneasy at first, even though Ryder never batted an eye over any of the sky-high prices that were mentioned to him every time he handed his card over to the shopkeepers.
She thought that he might not like spending so many hours going in and out of one store after the next, looking at so many different outfits and shoes and accessories, but he seemed to find some fascination in dressing her, almost as if she was a life-sized doll that he was playing with, and enjoying it immensely.
Ryder had begun the day thinking that they wouldn’t be out too long, that it wouldn’t take much time to find her five or six outfits to get her started and then be done with it, but as he sat in the chairs outside of the dressing rooms and watched her coming in and out, each time dressed in some new outfit or other, he began to be charmed by the experience of it, by putting her into materials that she never would have been able to afford before, and to see her enjoying it so much.
She had been nervous at first, but he had held her hand and calmed her, and then he had discovered that he liked holding her hand, and even after she was more at ease, he continued to reach for it throughout the day, liking the feel of her hand in his. He loved seeing the way that her beauty seemed to blossom under the flourish of new fashion and style, and he was entranced with the way that his hot little red headed cocktail waitress began to transform before his eyes into a beautiful and elegant woman as those parts of her were revealed in the lovely new clothes and accessories that they found.
He didn’t even mind waiting at the salon while her hair was done and she was given a facial. He told her when they were done there, they’d go to lunch, but in the meantime, he sat and sipped champagne and went through his emails and other business dealings while she was pampered. He was pampered some as well, getting a massage while her beauty appointment was being done.
When she came back out to the private room where waited for her, he looked up expecting to see a woman slightly glossed over, but he stopped still where he was when his eyes rested on her. Her makeup was flawless, her hair stunningly styled, with just a hint of additional color in the red curls around her shoulders.
“You look incredible.” He told her earnestly when she walked in and went toward him.
She loved the feel of the butterflies in her stomach when he said it. She began to think that being his wife might not be half bad, at least while she was doing the job. She grinned and turned in a circle before him and he shook his head.
“I didn’t think you could be improved upon, but they have somehow managed to make you even more beautiful.” He said with a smooth voice as he stood up and went to her, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
The feel of his lips brushing the side of her cheek surprised her and she drew in a breath. His breath was warm on her skin, and his lips were soft. The scent of him had changed with the oils that had been used in his massage, and she breathed in light fragrances of lemon and lavender. They mingled with his natural scent, and together it made her close her eyes and wish that she could hold it in for a long while, savoring it.
He let her go and stood back from her, giving her a friendly smile. “Well, I’m famished. Shall we go have lunch?”
She agreed and they left the salon and spa and went to a swanky restaurant where they were nestled together in a private corner. They perused the menus and ordered wine to have with lunch. When the server left them, she looked over at him with a mysterious smile.
“Isn’t all this shopping sending you over the edge? Most men wouldn’t want to spend a day doing what you’re doing,” she intoned in a soft voice, keeping her eyes on him. She was sure that he’d have given up on it long before they made it to lunch.
Ryder shook his head, his black tumbles of hair shifting a little as his sky-blue eyes shone. “Not at all. I’m enjoying it. It’s almost like watching a butterfly emerge from a cocoon. You have no idea how enchanting it is to see you evolve the way that you have today, and it seems like with every stop it just gets better.”
She hadn’t expected anything like that from him, and his words caught her off guard a little, making her grin as she picked up her wine and took a sip. She set the glass back down and looked over at him happily. “Well thank you. It’s been an incredible day for me, and I’m glad that we’re doing this together. I never would have found all of the right shops or clothes or any of it without you. You have good taste.”
He eyed her closely and nodded, “I do indeed.” He agreed with her, thinking that choosing her to help him in his secret marriage mission might have been some of the best taste he had ever had.
Regina tilted her head slightly and looked at him interestedly. “So, I was thinking about something while I was getting my hair done at the salon.”
“What’s that?” he asked, sipping his wine.
“What are you going to tell your father about me? About who I am and what I do?” She had been trying to imagine what kind of occupation she could say that she had when she met Ryder’s father and still get away with it. There weren’t many professions that she could lie about doing and still sound like she knew what she was talking about. It was beginning to weigh on her mind.
He set his wine glass down and looked directly at her. “I’m going to tell him the truth. I’m going to tell him that you’re a cocktail waitress.”
Everything in her came to an abrupt halt and she stared at him. She was sure she had heard him wrong, but then she could see that she hadn’t. “What?!” she asked horrified. “Why? Why would you do that?” She was shocked. “Why would you go to all the trouble to dress me up and put me in fancy clothes and get me all dolled up so that I could meet him if you’re just going to tell him who I really am anyway? What’s the point?” Anger began to bubble in her and she felt like the first time since they had begun, like a joke.
He leaned forward a little. He wasn’t going to tell her the whole truth, but he could tell her a part of it. “I want my father to see that I’m spending a good deal of money on you and taking you seriously so that it doesn’t seem like I’m just having a fling with you. If he’s going to be believe the engagement, he needs to believe the dating. Make sense?”
She felt her ire ease some as she worked what he had told her through her mind. It did make sense, though she still wasn’t sure why his father needed to know that she had been a cocktail waitress before. She could fib some and say that she had worked in an office, and maybe that might make a better impression. She was going to mention it to him, but then before she said it, she realized that he knew his father and she didn’t, and whatever it was that he was doing to make his game work, he obviously had a plan and they should stick to it.
As his employee, she didn’t really have a say in how he handled the whole thing with his father. If he wanted to tell the old man that she was a cocktail waitress that he had dressed up, then she was going to go along with it. Just so long as she got her million dollars at the end.
They ate a lavish lunch and Ryder had a few more glasses of wine. She wondered if he was tipsy, but she said nothing about that either. He had called in a driver to take them to a few more stores, and had someone drive his car home for him. She was amazed at his seemingly effortless lifestyle.
At the last store they went to, he began to choose more form fitting and voluptuous clothes for her than he had that morning, when the styles that he had chosen with her had been more elegant. Regina wondered if it was the wine or if she would truly need to look like a pin-up model in snug sexy things at some point in the future while she was living with the Carrington’s.
The last dress she tried on was red and fitted around her curves like a second skin. It had a deepened V neck and cuffs at the shoulders. It was paired with a set of red heels that matched the smooth satin material perfectly. She walked out of the dressing room and stood before Ryder, waiting to see if he would approve of it for her new lifestyle or not.
He stood stock still when he laid his eyes on her, staring at her; his gaze traveling up and down her form slowly. She waited and he said nothing for a long moment, but she knew the feeling that she had. She knew that he was undressing her with his eyes, and it made her uncomfortable.
“Will this work?” She asked, feeling irritation building up in her. “Should I get it?”
He nodded and lifted his eyes to meet hers finally. “Yes, definitely get it, and in fact, don’t take it off. I want you to wear that home today. Just call it a favor; a thank you for spending so much time and money on you today.” He gave her a mischievous smile and she smirked some and headed back to the dressing room.
The sales lady packed up her clothes and they headed to the car, her still wearing the red dress and shoes as he had requested. They drove home sitting side by side in the back of the limousine. He had asked her if she wanted to go to dinner with him, but she knew that their shopping day was done, and she was going to go to work that night, so she turned him down and told him no thank you. She said they’d have time for dinners on other nights. He said nothing, but she caught his eyes on her legs and saw him gazing at her face now and then.
When they got to her home, he helped her from the car and the driver carried all of her packages and bags to the front door. Ryder offered her his arm to help her walk up the stairs in her heels, and she took it. The driver went back to the car and when they reached her door, she turned to look at him. She was a tumble of emotion; gratitude, wonder, joy, uncertainty, and she was doing her best to remain mindful of herself in the midst of all the surrealism of her day and her new situation. She promised herself that she would keep her head about her.
“Thank you for such a wonderful day, and for all that you did for me today. I really appreciate it. I’m going to do my best not to let you down.” She promised him, both hands holding her keys in front of her as she looked up at him.
He smiled and his eyes moved over her form again slowly, coming back up to rest on her full lips and then her blue eyes. “Thank you as well; I had a very good time today. I’m looking forward to many good times with you.” His voice grew soft and he stepped closer to her, lifting his hands to her hips. He ran his hands over the smooth red satin, pulling her close to him as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Shock flashed through her and she turned her face from his just in time. His lips touched her cheek and she felt the surprise in him. Reaching her hands to his arms, she began to push them away as his hands moved over her hips, squeezing gently.
“It’s okay,” he said quietly, kissing her cheek and then moving to kiss her neck just beneath her ear, “we can have everything we want, don’t you want this too? You can have it… you can have me…” He trailed off, kissing that tender area again.
She pushed his arms even harder and moved her hands up to his chest, giving him a firm push there as well. He stepped back and looked at her in utter surprise. “What? What is it?”
Regina looked at him sharply. “Stop.”
With a shake of his head, he blinked in amazement. No woman had ever pushed him away before. Not once. Especially after he had begun kissing them. “What are you talking about? Why should we stop?”
“Because this is business. Business only. No fooling around. We don’t want to have it any more complicated than it is now. Right now, it’s clear and simple. I work for you, I’m your employee, I’m going to marry you and be your fake bride to fool your father, and when you get your inheritance, I’m out. We’ll be divorced. We’re not going to allow anything else into it. It’s just business. Keep that straight.” She looked at him seriously and spoke with a clear, strong voice.
It was obvious to him that she meant it, and that it was her intention to keep it just business. He was stunned. “Alright, then. Just business it is.” He stated coolly.
She unlocked her door and went inside, turning to look at him as she said goodnight. He said goodnight in return and left her, stepping down the stairs toward the car as he clenched his jaw slightly.
The limo pulled away from the curb and he looked back at her old faded front door. She was going to be his, and he was going to have her all he wanted. He promised himself that, no matter what it took, no matter how long it took, he was going to have her; he was going to make her want him desperately, and when he did get her into his bed, he wasn’t going to let her leave it for a long, long time.
The limo took him home and he sauntered into the dining room just in time for dinner. He poured himself a double bourbon and swallowed most of it before he sat down at the table with one more. His brothers came in; Pierce and Lucas, followed by Camille who went to him and dropped a kiss on his cheek.
She looked at him worriedly, and he shook his head at her and gave her hand a squeeze. “Things are good.” He promised her quietly as his brothers talked about business to one another. “Things are going to be just fine. I have it handled. Don’t you fret.”
Camille nodded and took her seat beside him. Their brothers were across from them, facing them. They shared some light conversation, asking how each other’s day were, and giving light answers in return. There was no big news to share from any of them.
Carter walked in and sat with them. He looked at each of them in greeting, and Ryder felt his stomach tighten as he saw the expression behind his father’s eyes change as the old blue eyes met with those of each of his children.
He looked proudly at Pierce, almost disdainfully at Lucas, adoringly at Camille, and dismissively at Ryder. Ryder turned his head away and focused on the food that was being served. He let his father begin the conversation, and he let his brothers talk with their father about business. He let Camille join in the business conversation, telling them all of her own financial pursuits and gains. She always amazed them all, seeming so feminine and light, like an angel in a garden, but she buried them all with her business sense. It was a second nature to her, and she had a mind for it that none of them could match.
Ryder said nothing until the conversation began to lull somewhat. Then he looked up and glanced around at all of them. “I’ll be bringing my girlfriend to dinner tomorrow night. I’d like you all to be here.”
There was silence at the table and every eye turned to him and stared. He had never brought a girl home for a meal. He’d brought several home and been found with them in the pool, in the library, in his bedroom, in the den, and once in the garage on top of his Ferrari, but he’d never had one fully dressed and sitting at the dinner table with them.
Carter stared at him, shooting icy daggers from his eyes, but he remained silent. Pierce, Lucas, and Camille all smiled at him as their shock began to wane, and they nodded and smiled encouragingly to him.
“Of course, well that would be lovely! I’m sure we’d all be very glad to meet her!” Camille smiled warmly at him, small lights of hope in her eyes.
“Certainly!” Pierce added with a pleasant tone and a nod. “I’ll be here. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“I’ll make sure that I’m here.” Lucas added, glancing at Carter and then back at his brother. “What’s her name?”
“Regina.” Ryder answered, grateful that his brothers and sister were at least receptive to the event.
“I’m sure she’s lovely. It’ll be nice to have another lady here at dinner.” Camille winked at him and gave him a heartfelt smile.
He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze, smiling back at her, and then reached for his glass of bourbon. His father said nothing.