Chapter 32
Mira
I’ve never seen a shit-eating grin immediately turn into a look of defeat in my entire life.
When Carl Westbrook walks into the shitty, dilapidated offices that he tried to foist off onto me and my company, he’s obviously feeling pretty proud of himself.
I can see it smeared across his rat-like, self-satisfied face. Or at least, across the parts of it that Owen hasn’t already turned black and blue.
Carl thinks he’s beaten me. He still thinks that the little stunt he pulled behind my back has already played out better in his favor than he ever could have imagined.
He has my company.
He has all the years and years of hard work that I’ve put in to make Wilder Lingerie what it is today.
He has his shady board of directors. He has his fancy Hamptons estate. He has my own mother wrapped around his greasy fingers.
And now, he thinks he has me.
“Well, well, well,” Carl sneers as he walks in, reeking of cologne and overpriced brandy. “Looks like the little slut finally realized what was good for her, hmm?”
Yeah. He actually talks like that. I’m seriously waiting for the super villain monologue to begin any fucking minute now.
“You’re right, Carl,” I coo in my sweetest, most innocent little voice. “I owe you so much for what you did for me…you have no idea how grateful I am.”
His grin widens. “Grateful, huh? Frankly, Mira, I underestimated you. Grateful…you’re smarter than you look, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
“Infinitely,” I agree. “And I’m even wiser now…all thanks to you, Carl. I can’t believe how, in just a few days, you’ve managed to teach me so much.”
“Mm. You’ve been a naughty girl lately, Mira. Have you learned your lesson now?” Carl loosens his tie and licks his lips as he approaches me. “Or does your new Daddy need to teach you a few more lessons?”
I let him get close to me. Real close. Too close for comfort.
On one hand, it means that I have to try pretty hard not to totally throw up in my mouth.
On the other hand, now as he lowers his lips to mine, I have the perfect angle to knee him in the balls so hard that I can feel the air leaving his lungs in place of a kiss.
“I think I’ve learned enough lessons for one day, actually,” I whisper in his ear while he doubles over, making strangled wheezing noises. “But I’m sure my lawyers would be interested in what Daddy has to say.”
“I don’t think you’ll be calling him Daddy for much longer.” Owen strides into the office from a side room with his arm wrapped protectively around my mother’s shoulders.
My mother is staring Carl down with a rage that I’ve only seen her direct toward late housekeepers and chubby pool boys.
“Worst thing about cheap office buildings, Carl—thin walls make for few secrets.”
“Fire hazards, too,” Owen’s lawyer adds. “And god forbid this place goes up in smoke—you’re growing enough illegal marijuana on the roof of this place to get the entire city stoned.”
“Assuming that the meth lab in the basement doesn’t blow everything up first,” I add. “The DEA is totally fascinated by the little side operation you were running here, Carl. I’m sure they’ll be in touch soon.”
“I bet the FCC will get to him first,” Owen counters. “Insider trading, illicit business contracts…is there any slice of the criminal pie that you haven’t slipped your slimy little fingers into, brother?”
“That reminds me,” I add. “Our lawyer had a look over the contracts you had me sign, and he’s very convinced that they wouldn’t hold up in court. Which means that moving all of Wilder Lingerie’s production outlets to sweatshops overseas won’t be happening anymore, either.”
“You…you little fucking bitch,” Carl grunts.
“You’re exactly right, Carl. Me.” I smile down at him just as smugly as he was grinning at me when he walked in. “You thought that I was a stupid little girl you could take advantage of because I didn’t know any better—and maybe you were right. But not anymore.”
Owen releases the hounds—or, at least, he lets my mother start getting her own personal digs in on Carl—and moves to me, taking my hand in his.
There’s something small and hard with sharp edges between his palm and mine. When I turn his hand over to see what he’s handing me, my heart skips a beat.
“It’s not a diamond,” Owen admits. “But you didn’t seem like that kind of girl anyway.”
I blink several times as I stare down at the princess cut sapphire engagement ring resting in the center of Owen’s big, broad palm.
“You weren’t kidding,” I say in disbelief. “You…you really meant it.”
“Why the fuck would I joke about that?” Owen raises a dark eyebrow. “I’m not a sadist, babydoll. Well, not really—it runs a lot stronger in Carl’s side of the family.”
“So, let me get this straight,” I say, picking the ring up gingerly. “Your big proposal moment involves me fake-seducing your half-brother—my own step-father—”
“Soon to be ex-step-father, from the sound of things,” Owen interjects, nodding to the distant sound of my mother screaming obscenities at Carl, and the DEA agents breaking into the building’s basement.
“Watching me knee a man in the balls—”
“You’re incredibly sexy when you’re angry,” Owen admits with a shrug.
“Uncovering a massive drug smuggling operation and half a dozen different high-level white-collar crimes…”
“It’s unconventional, I know.” Owen grins down at me and my heart melts. “But so are we. Just say yes, Mira. The press can’t look down their noses at us if you’re the woman who finally tamed the infamous Owen Westbrook into choosing a bride.”
“I won’t step down from Wilder Lingerie,” I warn him.
“I’d never ask you to. I own too much stock in the company, to be perfectly honest.”
Owen pulls out his phone and tilts it toward me, showing me that Wilder Lingerie is officially public—and beyond my wildest dreams, prices are soaring.
“There’s no way,” I gasp. “With all the scandals…Owen, these prices shouldn’t be nearly this high.”
“When you’ve got the money I do, Mira, baby…”
“I’m not hearing any of this,” Owen’s lawyer mentions.
I giggle. I honestly forgot that he was still here.
“Isn’t that, y’know…also illegal?” I ask.
Owen shrugs again. “I’m investing my money in something I believe in—and someone.” He takes my jaw into his hands, cradling my face in his palms. “You haven’t said yes yet, Mira. You’re going to give me a fucking complex if you make me wait around any longer.”
I smile up at him, closing my eyes and leaning in for a kiss.
“Yes,” I breathe against his lips.
At some point, I think I hear the lawyer leave.
I sure hope he leaves, anyway.
After everything Owen and I have been through, all the prying eyes and the flash photography…
Considering what I know we’re about to get up to next, I don’t think I’m interested in being watched.
“Owen…do you love me?” I ask.
After all of this…everything that's happened between us, all that we've been through…
I have to know. For sure.
If I can just have Owen's love, then I can have everything I've ever wanted and more.
A puzzled look crossed Owen's face.
“Do I love you?” he repeats, grey eyes twinkling with amusement. “That's a heavy question, Mira.”
“You just asked me to spend the rest of my life with you as your wife,” I remind him.
He laughs. It's a big booming sound that rumbles deep in his chest.
“Silly girl,” he says softly, smoothing my hair behind my ear. “I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you. Even when I was fighting it…Everything you are, everything you've ever been and everything you're going to become is all too easy to love.” He presses a kiss to my lips, hard and certain. “Can't believe you had to ask.”
“I love you too,” I giggle as his stubble tickles my chin.
“I know, babydoll. Now, get your fucking panties off,” he growls into my ear. “I want to do things to you that would make Lis Langley choke on her own fucking words.”
“Jokes on you,” I whisper back, tugging on his collar and pulling him even closer to me. “I'm not wearing any.”
Owen smiles like he just won the lottery.
Not that he needs to. Being, y'know, a multi-billionaire and all.
“That's my girl.”
He kisses me again and I can feel my thighs getting slick with honey already in anticipation of where that kiss could lead.
“Always,” I tell him. “Forever.”