“A bit higher than we thought, but it’s going to be necessary if we’re going to make things happen.”
He grunted. “Why am I not surprised?” Contractors. This was the fourth time she’d raised the estimated price on him. “Just get it taken care of. And never come to my office again. I don’t want my fiancée to get suspicious. I don’t want her to know about this.”
Ms. Kenler gave him a sweet smile. “Of course not. Shall we move forward with the deal?”
“Do I have a choice?”
***
Gretchen moved away from the door. She felt numb with shock. This wasn’t something she’d have ever expected, but how could she possibly come to any other conclusion?
A strange woman bringing photographs to her fiancé and demanding money?
It was clear that her sweet, noble Hunter was being blackmailed. Someone was trying to ruin their happiness before they got to the altar. She walked slowly back into the lobby, sat down with her magazine again, and began to flip through it once more as if nothing was wrong. All the while, her brain was whirling.
Clearly it was something Hunter was ashamed of, or else he’d have told her about it. What could it be? Maybe someone from his deep past that had to do with the incident that scarred him? Rumors about his father? Financial problems?
She didn’t care. All she knew was that if someone was coming after her man, she’d make them pay. Hunter Buchanan was hers, and she loved him more than she loved life itself. If she had to play dirty to protect him from these assholes trying to blackmail him? She would.
She needed a plan.
But what?
Maybe Audrey would have ideas. She resisted the urge to text her sister, though; Audrey was always busy, juggling her husband, her new baby, her job, and her second pregnancy. That wasn’t what made Gretchen pause, though. When it came to scheming? Audrey was less of a sneak and more of a Dudley Do-Right.
For the first time in a long, long time, Gretchen wished that Daphne was around. Daphne was the sneaky, clever twin. Daphne was the one who didn’t play by the rules. Daph would know what to do when it came to someone blackmailing Gretchen’s man.
But Daph was out of the picture. She’d just have to think of something on her own. Frustrated and unhappy, she went to Maylee’s desk and plucked a red-iced éclair off the religieuse and took a hearty bite out of it.
If ever a woman needed to cheat on her diet, now was the time.
***
“You sure you’re all right?”
Gretchen gave her fiancé a tired smile in the mirror as she squirted toothpaste onto her toothbrush. “Just been a long day.”
He put down his floss and moved to her side of the palatial bathroom, leaning in to press a kiss onto her shoulder. “They’ve all been long days lately. You’re working too hard.”
“Working too hard? All I did today was bake.” She snorted and began to vigorously brush her teeth. That wasn’t entirely accurate, though. She’d baked, and she’d stewed. She googled the fuck out of private investigators and contacted a law firm to see what options she had if her billionaire fiancé was maybe being blackmailed. Sadly, all the lawyers wanted to talk about was whether or not she wanted a prenup. Which made her freak out just a wee bit more.
Hunter kissed her shoulder again, his scarred fingers brushing over her bare skin. “I know you, Gretchen. You have that look on your face that says you’re stressed. You need to tell me what’s bothering you.”
She leaned over to rinse and spit, making sure to push her ass against his cock as she did, because hey, she was human and her fiancé was superhot. “I’m not stressed,” she protested again. “Okay, maybe I am, but it’s just wedding stuff. It’ll all be done soon.”
The look he gave her in the mirror was affectionate, even as his hands slid into the waist of the pajama pants she’d just put on not five minutes ago. “You fired another caterer, didn’t you?”
“Maybe. I mean, if they don’t know how to make a decent croquembouche, I can’t exactly have them catering my holiday-themed wedding, can I? Also, did you notice that our colors aren’t holiday? I’ve got to figure out how to meld the pinky-purple of the bridesmaid dresses with the new decor and—”
“And you’re changing things at the last minute,” Hunter chided, tugging the pajama pants down and exposing her panties. “We’ve had this conversation. Let it go.” He knelt and began to kiss the curve of her ass from behind, sending tingling shock waves of lust through her body.
Damn, and here she thought she’d be the one distracting him. Gretchen tossed her toothbrush down on the counter and shoved her pants down to help him out. They’d been together for over a year now, but the sex was just as intense and consuming as it was on day one. And when Hunter’s mouth began to move lower down her hip, even as he turned her around so he could pay attention to her front? The breath left Gretchen’s body entirely.
She twined her fingers in his hair and moaned when he began to kiss toward the patch of curls shielding her sex. “God, I love you.”
His chuckle skittered across her skin like a feather. “You always say that when I’m about to go down on you.”
So she did. Like that was a problem. She meant it, though. And as he kissed his way between her parted legs, she vowed that nothing was going to come between them.
Not crazy weddings, not blackmailing assholes, nothing.
***
“Come on. Let’s do another thirty burpees.”