Chapter 20
Kain
I stared at Mandy for a long time, basking in the afterglow of the lovemaking. She was glowing, radiant, and just supremely beautiful. I really couldn't believe how lucky I was to have a woman like her. She stared back at me, and I saw nothing but love in her eyes. A profound sense of warmth, affection, and intensity swelled within me, growing so powerfully that I thought I might explode.
“You know,” I said to her, “my dad came and spoke to me earlier.”
A look of worry flashed across her face. “And... and is he angry with you?”
I smiled and shook my head. “That's what I was expecting but no, he isn't, not at all.”
Now she looked surprised. “Wait... he wasn't angry or upset?”
“No, he really wasn't. He actually came to apologize to me for trying to force me into a marriage I didn't want to be in.”
“You must have been pretty surprised,” she remarked.
“You bet! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I mean, this is the most stubborn guy in the universe right here. And yet, here he was, apologizing to me!”
She laughed; a warm, gentle bell-like laugh that sent a surge of attraction ripping through me.
“They say that a leopard can't change its spots but maybe your old man never was a leopard to begin with, huh?”
I laughed. “Maybe he wasn't.”
“So, what else did he say? And did he tell you why he changed his mind about everything? Because, uh, he seemed pretty much sold on this idea that you and that Tracy airhead should get married.”
“Well, for the longest time he was. But I guess when the Financial Times article came out today, he finally understood just how evil and nasty someone like Marsha Hendrikson could really be. I think he'd always had a suspicion that she was a really mean person but seeing what she did here finally opened his eyes to it. And he realized what a mistake it would be to get me to marry into that family.”
“I'm glad that he did manage to come to that realization.”
I nodded. “I am, too, trust me.”
A look of worry now came across her face though, and it seemed almost as if her happiness was beginning to deflate. “But even if he's changed his mind about her, and about everything else, it doesn't change the fact that the article is out there.”
“No,” I said, “but it does mean that we now have him on our side instead of her side. He's mad as hell about what Marsha did, and he wants to get her as badly as I do. And over the course of his long business life, he managed to make friends with many of the best lawyers in this city. He and I sat down earlier and formulated a strategy to fight this.”
Now her expression began to brighten up with new, fresh hope. “That's great!” she exclaimed, beaming one of her gorgeous smiles at me. “So, you guys are going to get the article retracted, and force the Financial Times to make an apology to you and me?”
“That's only the beginning of it,” I said. “We're gonna sue them, and we're gonna sue and prosecute Marsha Hendrikson.”
She nodded slowly, and a look of determination flashed across her eyes. “Good. And I'm going to help you to do that. Together, we're gonna take that bitch and her firm down.”
I chuckled and caressed her cheek playfully. “Oh, really? Wow, getting feisty now, are we?”
The look of determination on her face grew even fiercer. “I want to get revenge on her just as bad as you do, Kain. I'm not joking.”
I could see that she really was being quite sincere here.
“I understand that, Mandy,” I replied, “but my father and I have this under control. I don't think we need any assistance—and I'm not saying that you can't, that you're not capable of helping, not at all—I'm just saying that we did a lot of strategic planning earlier, and we've got everything under control. It's all set up. All we need to do now is to meet with the lawyers, and then get the ball rolling.”
“And I understand what you're saying,” she said, “but I want to personally get that bitch back for what she did to me.”
“You're uh, you're not gonna do anything crazy, are you?”
She chuckled. “No, don't worry, nothing crazy, nothing like that at all.”
“Well, what then?”
“I'm gonna hit her where it really hurts,” she said with a confident, knowing smile. “In her wallet.”
“And how are you gonna do that?”
“I'm gonna work my ass off for your company. I know that you and Hendrikson, Inc. are neck and neck in the race for who comes out top in terms of earnings this quarter—and I'm gonna make damn sure that your company wins. I'm gonna work on a platform that competes directly with Hendrikson's main platform. I'm gonna go right for the jugular; I'm gonna steal Hendrikson's main clients, and bring 'em over to us.”
My attraction and love for this woman was just growing and growing by leaps and bounds with every syllable she uttered. I nodded slowly, smiling at her. “Brilliant,” I said eventually. “Absolutely brilliant. An attack on all fronts. She doesn't know what's about to hit her.”
“No, she doesn't. And it's gonna be one sweet, sweet moment when all of this does hit her,” she said. “She's gonna realize just how bad she screwed up, and how she should not have taken things as far as she did.”
I nodded, and we both stared at each other in silence for a while.
“I'm really, really glad to have you,” I said to her. “You're so inspiring, so... you're just amazing.”
She blushed, her beautiful cheeks glowing softly. “Nobody has ever made me feel like this. I'm so lucky to have a guy like you. I just feel like we could conquer the world together. I really do.”
“Well, we're gonna take it on, I promise you that. One battle at a time. And the first battle... well, we're ready to fight it, aren't we?”
She nodded, her eyes aglow with fierce determination. “You bet. Let's take her down... let's take Marsha Hendrikson down.”
“I love it when you talk with that fighting talk,” I said, feeling desire swelling with delectable heat within me. “I really love it.”
We stared into each other's eyes again, and I could see the flames of desire crackling inside her as well. We started making out, and soon I was hard again, and she was wet...
I lay on my back, exhausted and drenched with sweat after the marathon lovemaking session. I reached down for Mandy's hand, slipped my fingers through hers and squeezed tightly.
“That was even better than the last time,” I said, an ear-to-ear grin stretched across my face. “Damn, it really was amazing.”
“You're amazing,” she said, and leaned across and kissed me gently on the cheek.
“You know,” I said, “getting revenge on Marsha wasn't the only thing my father and I talked about.”
“It wasn't? What else did you talk about.”
“I talked about my future,” I replied.
“Your future. Okay... and what about your future specifically?” she asked.
“Well. who I'm going to spend it with.”
“Ah, the marriage question. Well, we've already established that you're not going to be marrying Tracy Hendrikson.”
“Yes, but that wasn't the end of the conversation about marriage.”
She turned her head and looked across at me with a curious smile. “All right,” she said. “So where is this going?”
“Well, I told my father that I had found someone who I really wanted to spend my life with. You. And he supported that decision.”
She stared at me for a while, and I couldn't tell if she was overjoyed or totally shocked. Maybe it was a bit of both.
“Well, obviously he knows that we're together, you and me... but the whole question of marriage to me... you brought that up with him? And he was okay with you getting married to me?”
“He's totally okay with it. He supports the idea completely.”
“And what do you think about it, you personally?”
I breathed in a deep breath before replying. “I've been very resistant to the idea of settling down. All my adult life I've resisted that idea. I've lived the rich playboy lifestyle, I've never let a woman tie me down. I always thought that it was what I wanted—to live like that, like a player, like a bad boy. But it never made me happy—not truly happy. However many girls I had, it never filled the hole in my soul. And I think part of it was simple rebellion, rebellion against my father, who had been so strict and controlling. And, of course, there was the fact that I simply never met a girl who influenced me enough that I wanted to settle down with her. Not until... not until I met you.”
“And now your views are different?”
I nodded, smiling at her. “Now my views are totally reversed. It feels like I'm a new man, as if I've been able to start life afresh, with a clean slate. I no longer have even a single shred of desire to live life the way I used to. In fact, all I can think about, the only thing that keeps me going, the thing that fires my blood and fills me with a driving, powerful energy, is the desire to be with you. To please you, to make you happy, to have you by my side always, now and forever. I want to marry you. I really couldn't think of a better way to spend my life than with you by my side until the end of our days.”
She smiled at me again, tears glistening in her eyes. “That's... that's just beautiful, Kain. I think that that might be the most beautiful thing that anyone has ever said to me. And I can't deny that I feel the same. I really couldn't imagine any other future now than one spent by your side.”
“So,” I said, “are we gonna do this?”
She smiled, tears of joy running down her cheeks. “I think we should. I really, really think we should, Kain.”
I smiled and kissed her. “Then I think it's gonna happen in the future. Maybe in the near future...”