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  Instead, I tossed some flippant words her way, “That’s what we agreed to.”

  “Well, I plan to enjoy all this while I can,” Charlie said, leaning her head back. “Because at the stroke of midnight, all this is going away. I know it. I don’t believe in fairy tales.”

  The rest of the ride remained quiet as we rode a few more blocks to the Lennox Hill area.

  “The Banks family is closely related to the Rockefellers. My great grandfather was married to a Rockefeller descendant. That’s when the real estate development started.” I pointed to a grand brick building on our left. “Our family owned the entire block from 57th to 58th Street before we converted a row of mansions into luxury apartment buildings. My grandparents’ money originally came from owning railroad companies and investment banking.”

  “Your family sounds like a real life monopoly game. I can picture your father as a short, stocky man with a black, tall hat and walking cane,” Charlie said. “Am I close?”

  “Actually, that describes my great grandfather more than my dad,” I answered with a chuckle. My dad was still super attractive at fifty-five and he got around. A lot. But being married to my mother for almost thirty years, who could blame him.

  “I’m a little nervous to meet your father. He travels a lot?”

  I nodded. “No need to be nervous. He’s a big kitty cat compared to my mother. He just wasn’t around much when I was growing up. Our family company has a lot of interests overseas, and he lives over there more than in the States. Of course, living with my mother is a bit of a challenge. I’m sure he’s enjoyed his time away.”

  No need to tell her about the bevy of hot, younger mistresses.

  Charlie pursed her lips.

  I laughed at her discomfort, but not really understanding. I had no idea what it might be like to not have money but have love. “Relax. Everything will be okay.”

  Up ahead we spotted a line of limos and private cars. My mother had arranged a private valet service for those who drove into the city.

  Charlie touched my arm. “You’re really a great guy. There’s more to you than meets the eye, Nolan Banks.”

  A wave of heat encompassed all four of my limbs and shot straight to my heart. I cleared my throat. “I apologize in advance for any… if anything happens tonight. I’ll speak to my mother again and remind her to be on her best behavior.”

  “No need to apologize,” Charlie said. “I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to this. I’m a big girl and can handle myself. I’ve managed worse than your mother. She’s just a woman who loves her only son.”

  I gazed at Charlie as we arrived. I couldn’t help but feel a new appreciation awakening in my heart for her. She was doing this for me, something that she could’ve refused to do, and it meant more to me than she would ever know. I’d never had anyone do something for me for all the right reasons. Not wanting anything in return.

  The red ball of the sun had just dropped below the horizon when we exited the carriage. I took her hand and pulled her into the fray. Like ripping the Band-Aid off a skinned knee.

  We could hear the lively sounds of a band playing as we walked into the penthouse. I placed my hand in Charlie’s, giving it a quick, reassuring squeeze as we found ourselves being swallowed up by a throng of elegantly dressed people. I looked around for my parents but couldn’t see them anywhere.

  “Nolan, I don’t know who any of these people are,” Charlie whispered through a smile. “Oh god, what was I thinking.”

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “If anything gets too sticky, just let me know. I’ll take care of you.”

  “We should have a safe word,” Charlie suggested.

  “Like when having sex?” I whispered in her ear. “How about cock ring?”

  She pursed her lips and speared me with a glare. I guess there would be no lightening the mood right now until she felt more at ease.

  “No, like as in tonight,” she pleaded. “If I find myself getting anxious, I can say bacon and you’ll know we need to blow this place.”

  “Bacon? As much as I love a good piece of bacon or the entire pound, it’s too simple. If you won’t let me use cock ring, how about a slightly more entertaining word, like …”

  “Hoodwink?” Charlie suggested.

  “Well, I was thinking of something a little bit sexier,” I said with a wink as I rubbed her back. “Like throb.”

  “We’ll go with crocuses.”

  “What the hell is a crocus…” I started, but a group of ladies from the legal department swooped in and grabbed Charlie.

  “We need to speak with your lovely fiancée for a moment,” Stacey said, looping her arm around my girl. “We’ll have her back in a jiffy.”

  “All right.” I watched the group descend upon the bar. Looking around, I found Chase sitting on the terrace with my parents. I blew out a breath and decided to face them head on. Maybe I could smooth the way for Charlie before she made her appearance.

  ***

  “Nolan, darling.” My mother sat on the terrace with my father and Chase, her legs elegantly crossed in a perfect vee. I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Where’s that fiancée of yours?”

  I shook my father’s hand. “She was abducted by some of the girls from work. She’ll be out in a moment.” I turned my attention to my dad. “Father, always good to see you. How were your travels abroad?”

  “Oh you know, the usual wheeling and dealing,” he said with a wink. His wheeling and dealing included fucking his latest college aged girlfriend. “We finally received approval to start construction on the Cambodia hotel. Pretty soon, Banks Investment will have a foothold on the tourist industry in Southeast Asia.”

  “What about the Malaysia deal?” I asked.

  “We lost the bid on the first property, but we’ll be bidding on our second and third choices next week,” the elder Banks explained.

  “So you won’t be in town for long?”

  My father lit a cigar and let out a plume of smoke. It was a disgusting habit he’d picked up in South American. I wished he wouldn’t do it in front of Charlie. “Heading back on Tuesday. I thought I would stop by the office on Monday and see how things were going.”

  I brought my dad up to speed on the new Banks building and other plans. “You’ll meet Charlie soon. She’s heading up our legal department and also running the housing project.”

  “I’ve heard a lot about her from your mother,” he said with narrowed eyes. Lord knows what my mother told him. None of it true.

  A low grunt escaped my mother’s lips. “There wasn’t much to tell.”

  I shot my mother a warning look. “You promised…”

  “I also heard that Chase has recently joined us,” my father interjected, saving me from having an argument with my mother.

  Chase tipped his beer toward me. “I told your father all about my first day on the job. I felt just like a kindergartner on the first day of school.”

  “He’s going to do well,” I told my father. “Chase may have been out of the real estate game for a few years, but I have a feeling we’ll be at fifty percent sold by the end of our first sales month.”

  “I have no doubt that he’ll accomplish great things, but why didn’t we put Chase with our international group?” my father asked with a gesture to my best friend. “I could use a good man like him. He was just telling me all about his travels throughout Southeast Asia. I don’t know of anyone else better qualified than he is for that part of our business.”

  “I think I’m ready to throw down some roots. Settle in for the long haul,” Chase said. “Although I’m flattered to think you want me in the trenches out there, I think working with Nolan on the new office project is better suited for me right now.”

  My father slapped Chase on the back. “If anything ever changes, call me.”

  “I’m going to see if I can find Charlie.”

  I looked through the French doors at the growing crowd inside. There must’ve been a hundred
or so people already mingling about, drinking champagne and munching on appetizers. Wait staff mingled everywhere and their trays were always full. I didn’t want Charlie to feel abandoned among people she didn’t know.

  “Stay put. I’ll be back,” I instructed my dad.

  It took me a few minutes, but I finally found Charlie surrounded by a gaggle of women. I recognized a few ladies I went to school with, some ex-girlfriends. I hung back for a moment, hidden by a large potted plant where she couldn’t see me, so I could hear how she was handling herself.

  “Tell us again how you landed the biggest fish in the city?” asked a bleached blonde who was once a swimsuit model and featured on Sports Illustrated four years ago. She now owned a PR firm and was out to land a husband. My friends had tried to set me up with her in the past, but she wasn’t my type.

  “What do you mean?” Charlie asked.

  “What did you do to corral that gorgeous hunk of a man?” She gripped her red tipped nails around the stem of her wine glass.

  “Please do tell us,” another woman asked. “Matty has been trying to get her claws into Nolan since they were in diapers.”

  “I’m afraid I didn’t ‘land’ or ‘lasso’ him,” Charlie said, her upper lip curling just a fraction of a hair. “He’s not some kind of animal or fish. But if you must know, we met through work.”

  A different girl, this one a brunette I recognized as a former girlfriend, one that I dated for all of two weeks, looked Charlie up and down. I probably should’ve gone ahead and stepped in to rescue her, but I was really curious about what would happen next. I mean, she was an attorney for god’s sake. She could do this.

  “We want details. Do you work with Nolan?”

  Charlie blew out an exasperated breath. She was clearly about to lose her patience. “I’m an attorney. Nolan’s attorney.”

  Matty giggled. “So you’re the one who got him out of that paternity mess. How convenient for Nolan.”

  “What do you mean?” Charlie asked.

  “To have a fiancée that doubles as an attorney on retainer,” she cackled. “The Banks family is always looking out for the bottom line. Sometimes, I wonder if they ever experience any emotion. Cold. Like Antarctica.”

  Are you fucking kidding me? I’m pretty sure I was seething with emotion right now.

  Anger.

  “Are you wearing Dolce & Gabbana?” the former girlfriend asked. “I thought I saw that on the sales rack at Niemen’s,” she said, causing the entire group to explode in giggles.

  “Excuse me, I’m going to find my fiancé,” Charlie said, trying to get away.

  Another girl with raven dark hair dug her fingers into Charlie’s arm. “How long do you think it will take for Nolan to wake up and come to his senses?” she asked with passive aggressive rancor. “It’s not like you’re the first girl he’s asked to marry him.”

  The girl stood back, crossed her arms and waited with a smirk for Charlie’s reaction. When my princess moved to walk past her, the girl stumbled and spilled her glass of red wine all over Charlie’s beautiful gown.

  Charlie gasped in horror as she watched the red stain blossom across her chest. She looked like she’d been stabbed. “Oh, no.”

  That was my cue.

  “There you are, sweetie!” I swooped in and kissed Charlie. I nodded to the rest of the group, who had suddenly backed up a couple feet. They’d gone too far. And they knew it.

  “I see you’ve met some of our family friends? How are you, Matty? Suzanne?”

  Matty smiled and said, “You’re looking dapper tonight, Nolan.”

  “Yes, we’ve been getting to know your fiancée,” Suzanne said. As I stared at her, I pictured her the night she’d stalked me to Covet and flashed her tits to the entire dance floor. “I’m so sorry, Charlie,” she gushed.

  Fake. As. Shit.

  “It was an accident. A little club soda should get that out,” Suzanne suggested.

  I looked down at Charlie’s gown. And her horrified expression. She’d have to meet my father looking like this and she was nothing if not proud.

  “We’ll get you cleaned up in no time,” I commented, trying to smooth over the situation. I slid a comforting arm around Charlie’s waist, feeling her rigid posture. “We should get going. My parents are waiting for us on the terrace.”

  I pulled her away from the group and once we were out of earshot, I said, “What the hell happened back there?”

  “Your little gang of admirers wanted to string me up and hang me,” Charlie said through gritted teeth. She looked down at her gown. “This wasn’t an accident, Nolan. I’m not used to other women being vicious without cause. I don’t want this.”

  She stopped dead in her tracks and threw her arms wide. “Any of this.”

  “I thought you handled yourself pretty well,” I said. “But I can’t introduce you to my father if you’re a splotchy mess. Follow me.”

  “What about my dress? All of our guests?” Charlie asked, clearly starting to panic.

  “It’s our party,” I answered. “Besides everyone is already sloshed. No one will miss us for a few minutes.” I swung by the bar and picked up a bottle of club soda from the bartender. “We’ll get that stain out and no one will be any the wiser. This ain’t my first rodeo, cowgirl.”

  Damn. I shouldn’t have used that expression. Now, I had a mental fantasy of Charlie riding my cock in the reverse cowgirl with her lush hair cascading down her back.

  “I realize that you have a past, Nolan,” she said. “I just don’t want it thrown in my face.”

  Hmm. A jealous admission. Score one for Nolan.

  “Don’t worry about them.” I tucked the bottle of club soda under my arm and led Charlie to one of the bedrooms. “They’re just jealous that you’re wearing that.” I nodded to her canary yellow diamond ring.

  “I guess I shouldn’t have let it bother me so much,” she whispered. “It’s not like I’m your real fiancée.”

  “I guess not.” And for some reason, that really bothered me. A lot.

  Chapter Nine

  I held Charlie’s hand tightly as we made our way into a bedroom. My old bedroom when I’d lived here. Dark hunter green walls, heavy green and navy plaid comforter on a king sized bed, plush dark brown throw rugs scattered on top of Brazilian cherry hardwood floors. Two dressers, a massive oak desk that still held college textbooks and a wood-burning fireplace. Carefully arranged artwork adorned the walls – hunting scenes and a portrait of a black Labrador. I studied Charlie’s face for a reaction.

  “It looks like Ralph Lauren threw up in here,” she said as she glared at the décor.

  “Hey,” I said, poking out my lower lip in the perfect pout. “This was my childhood bedroom.”

  “It explains a lot,” she continued her verbal assault. “What’s with the dog?”

  “That was Wilson,” I said with a sigh. I still missed that dog every day. Most days, he was the only affection I’d received. “My constant companion until he died while I was away at college. We did a lot of dove hunting back in the day.”

  She ran her finger across the portrait. “I’m sorry. I lost a dog when I was little too. Koko. She was everything to me.”

  “What kind of dog?” I asked. Curious. Really wanting to know everything about her.

  “Oh, she was just a mutt,” Charlie said in a rush of embarrassment. “We couldn’t afford a purebred so we adopted from the pound. A little of everything. But she never left my side.”

  “What happened to her?”

  Her face crumpled at the memory. “She was hit by the mailman’s truck,” Charlie said and reached up to wipe a tear from her eye. I stepped closer, wanting to wrap her in my arms and ease the pain. Charlie had experienced so much turmoil. Agony. And she deserved none of it. “One minute chasing a squirrel and the next…”

  “Hit by a truck.” I finished. “That’s not funny, I’m sorry.”

  Charlie giggled. “It’s a little funny.” She looked down at
her ruined ball gown. “I look like I got hit by a damn truck. It hurts me when women are petty,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Take it off. Let’s see if we can salvage it.” I motioned for her to follow me to the bathroom.

  She turned around so I could unzip the dress. I pulled the zipper down and let it fall to the floor. She was wearing a baby pink lacy strapless bra and a matching thong. I gulped. Feeling that familiar swelling down below, I tried to concentrate but my hands were shaking. And my knees.

  “Let’s pour some club soda on the stain.” I grabbed the dress off the floor and laid it gently in the sink. Pouring the soda over the stain, it started to bubble up.

  “How do you know this stuff?” Charlie asked, chewing the skin on the end of her thumb, her eyes glued to the growing mess that she’s supposed to be wearing.

  “I’ve had my fair share of red wine stains, coffee spills, and uh, other embarrassing accidents at college. Birdie, our former maid, showed me some tricks.”

  “Oh shit,” Charlie exclaimed. “It’s spreading!”

  We helplessly watched the stain grow from dark red to a lighter shade of pink. But she was right, it was spreading.

  “Maybe the pinks will blend in the dress?” I said hopefully.

  Charlie raised her hands to cover her face, only peeking through her fingers. “It’s ruined. What am I going to wear?”

  I thought about the dresser full of tee shirts and shorts. A few suits that I still kept in the closet. Most of them too small for me. “I might have an Armani suit that would fit you? You can be like one of Robert Plant’s girls in that music video.”

  “Addicted to Love?” she asked, her eyebrows straight up. I clearly wasn’t helping. “They were wearing plain black dresses.”

  “Huh? Are you sure?’

  “Yeah, pretty sure.”

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to go with what we’ve got.”

  I couldn’t take it any longer. As she started to object, I lowered my mouth to her neck, kissing the sweet spot above her collarbone.

  I felt her swallow. “Nolan, we can’t.”

  “Why not?” I continued to kiss her neck, my lips curious, teasing their way along her soft skin. Nibbling on her ear lobe. I lifted her head and pressed my lips to hers. “You taste delicious.”