“I wasn’t sure.” She snakes her arms around my neck. “We’re in our forties, and you’re so busy with work. I didn’t know how you’d feel.”
“I’m ecstatic, Nessa.” I kiss her lips because I need to be close to her. “I don’t care that we’re older, and I’ll hire a manager to help me with my workload. I promise you won’t be doing the heavy lifting alone. I’m with you every step of the way. I want to go to every appointment and be involved as much as I can.”
Tears spill down her cheeks again. “Oh my god.” She laughs, hastily brushing the tears away. “I’m an emotional wreck.”
“At least it explains some things.” I rub at her plump lips. “I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve felt today. I’m sorry that bitch tried to rob the joy from the moment, but that’ll only happen if we let it.”
“Tell me everything, Jackson. I need to know.”
“How about I tell you everything and then we take off for the rest of the day? We’ll grab a late lunch, maybe a couples massage, and then I’m taking you home to make sweet love to you all night.” It’s not often we have a kid-free house, and I want to take advantage.
“Sounds perfect.” Her fingers thread through my hair, and delicious shivers instantly coast up and down my spine.
My wife’s touch is golden. Even after all these years, she still has the power to turn me on with the barest of caresses. No other woman could ever compare to Vanessa Lauder. She’s my everything, and I’ve never as much as looked at another woman in all the time we’ve been together. Even when I was a jackass at the start of our relationship, those other girls at RU were only ever a tool to hurt Vanessa. I didn’t give a shit about them, and there was zero attraction.
It still kills me I hurt her like that, and I’ll never stop trying to make it up to her. I’m not the sole reason Nessa has trust issues,but I hate I contributed to her insecurity. I regularly wish I could return to young me and punch myself in the face.
“I should have listened to you when you warned me about Ember. That’s on me,” I start explaining. Nessa peers deep into my eyes while combing her fingers through my hair. “She was fine the first few months. Completely professional, but then she started flirting with me. It was so subtle at first I couldn’t be sure, but I spoke about you and the kids a lot hoping she’d get the message. I purposely didn’t bring her on business trips, but I had no choice with the Spanish event because I wasn’t just there to watch the race. I had meetings lined up with a few potential sponsors, and I needed her to take notes and organize the meeting itineraries, etcetera.”
“I want to claw her eyes out,” Nessa admits, looking like she’s ready to commit murder.
“When I’m done with her, she’ll be clawing her own eyes out,” I promise.
“Tell me what happened in the hotel room.” My wife visibly braces herself.
“Like I said, I woke up to her in my bed. I went nuts. Told her to get the fuck out of my room and she was fired. She’s clearly not used to hearing the word no because she refused to accept it. She lay back on the bed and started fingering herself, so I locked myself in the bathroom with my cell and woke Trevor up. He got a hold of hotel management, and they arrived with hotel security and removed her from my room. I lodged a formal complaint with the front desk for giving her a key without my approval and contacted HR and Conrad immediately.” I smooth a hand along her spine as I talk.
“When we got back to New York, HR conducted a formal disciplinary meeting. We have corroborative video evidence from the office and footage from the hotel, so it was adequate grounds to fire her. We told her she would receive a reference ifshe left quietly, and she was reminded of the NDA she signed. I knew she was fuming and that she’d told her father. I’d already had Maxim blowing up my cell, but I thought he’d talk sense into her even if he is pissed at me.”
“I never liked him either. The way he looks at me always gives me the creeps.” Nessa leans her head against my shoulder. “Like father, like daughter.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. Ember has convinced him we had an affair, and he thinks I gave her the brush-off because a hotel worker found us together and was going to out the relationship in the media. He’s bought every single lie she’s told him, and I’m guessing she felt safe selling her story because she thinks Daddy’s money will save her. But she’s a fucking fool because I could buy and sell him a million times over. He’s no match for me, and he’ll regret crossing me. I’ve already instructed my broker to start buying his stock. I’ll take his company from him and then sell it to his biggest competitor for significant profit. And I’m going to bury that bitch in court.” My fingers toy in Nessa’s soft, wavy blonde hair.
“What if the same thing happens as last time?” She places her hand on my chest.
“I won’t be settling this time, and Ember isn’t a celebrity. Her father may run a successful company, but they are not well-known. She can’t countersue on reputational damage like that slut did seven years ago, and we have Trevor and the hotel staff as witnesses and enough video evidence to prove she’s lying.” My bodyguard goes everywhere with me, and he’s witnessed the flirting and innuendos as has my regular driver.
I still can’t think of that supermodel or even say her name without wanting to punch something. Back then, I wasn’t the CEO. I was Lauder Racing’s star champion, and that meant giving interviews and bending to sponsor’s demands. One of our sponsors at the time was a leading clothing company, and theyhired that bitch to do a few photo shoots with me for their new racing line. She hit on me repeatedly, and I constantly rejected her. I told her point-blank, over and over, that I love my wife and I’m faithful to her.
When Nessa and I bumped into her a few weeks later at a charity event, my wife had a few choice words for her. She took offense, and her revenge was to blast fake news of our affair everywhere. I instantly refuted it and sued her for defamation and reputational damage, and she countersued claiming damage to her brand because I called her a liar.
I was fully prepared to go to court, but the stress on my family was considerable, and she was planning to drag up my prior history with women to paint me a certain way. Though there was no proof of any affair—because it didn’t exist—the legal team wasn’t entirely sure I would win when it came down to a “he said, she said” situation, and my past playboy reputation could sway things her way.
So, to save my family any further pain and embarrassment, we settled a day before the court hearing, both agreeing to terminate our cases and sign NDAs never to talk about the other again, and I told my father in no uncertain terms I would not be doing any promotion for the brand or any sponsors with any women ever again.
“We have a rock-solid case, and I’m taking it all the way.” I set my hand on her stomach again. “Unless you think the stress will be too much and you want me to handle it differently.”
“I want you to end that bitch, Jackson. I want it splashed everywhere that she lied. How dare she try to ruin you like this. All because you didn’t want her.” Fire hisses from her lips and shoots from her eyes. “Do it all. Take her to court and destroy her. Take her father’s company out from under him and let it teach all those bitches out there a lesson. No one will come for us again when this gets out.”
“Fuck, I love you.” I kiss her deeply and passionately.
“I love you too, and I’m sorry I had a wobble. I do trust you, Jackson, but I’m not happy you kept all of this from me.”
“I wanted to tell you, and I didn’t keep it from you lightly. I’ve almost cracked and told you so many times, but I’ve never forgotten how stressed and hurt you were when this bullshit happened the last time. I remember the devastation it caused and I thought I was protecting you by handling it myself. I made the wrong call and I’m so sorry.” Lifting her hand to my mouth, I press a soft kiss to her palm before peering directly into her eyes. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you. I regret it, and I swear I won’t ever do it again. You’re my life, Nessa. I don’t exist if I don’t have you by my side.”
“I need you to truly mean that, Jackson, because you keeping it from me hurts every bit as much as hearing about it does. I don’t ever want a gold-digging bitch to come between us, and you keeping secrets from me is letting them interfere. I need you to promise you won’t shut me out again.”
“I won’t. I swear it.”
