Falling For My Husband (British Billionaires) (23 page)

“You know, the usual tit and tat.” She was skimming towards one of the order forms, flashing her massive ten-carat yellow diamond engagement ring as she did so.

She was being suspicious and I was getting curious. She usually had the juicy bits readily available. Besides, now that she was acting all odd, I was like an addict in need of her daily juice. “I like tits and tats.”

Sienna smirked, lifting those unusual golden-green eyes of hers. “They’re reporting that he purchased her a new home, so I guess that means he’s not living with her. Blake assures me that a man in love wouldn’t be caught dead having his woman living in a different house.”

How thoughtful of Knightly to relay that information, I wondered how much Sienna had let on about my unusual affair. I never meant for anyone to know, but with Luciana’s big gob and with Sienna working with me closely, it was difficult for her not to catch on.

We both turned at the door when someone knocked. Ally opened the door to let a deliveryman in, carrying a black Lalique vase full of summer blooms. Ally ordered the man to situate the vase on the coffee table before all three of them immediately left me alone, but that was before I caught Sienna winking at me.

With a thudding heart, I got up and inspected the flowers. It consisted of vintage lilac roses, powder blue hydrangeas, tracheliums, mint green carnations, lisianthus combined with sandriana foliage and peonies. It was superb, but what really caught my interest was the card that vied for my attention.

Reaching for the note, I calmly opened it.

You’re one of a kind.

CK

CK.
Ha. Bloody. Ha.

“Callum Kensington. Great.” I took in a sharp breath and tried not to think about the fact that he had bought Zara a house. “Hope you’re living the life, buddy,” I muttered, scathingly.

It took me an hour—yes, I was bloody counting the time—to grab my phone and type a reply.

Me:
Got your flowers. They’re wonderful, thank you.

Almost immediately, my phone beeped back.

Callum:
Can I see you tonight? Dinner, perhaps?

“Shit,” I hissed, placing my phone down, nervous. I was so tempted to say
heck yes
, but I knew I should move forward. Where the hell was Sienna or Luciana when you needed them most? Those two sucked for emotional support.

Deep
breaths.

Okay, Callum wanted to take me to dinner. With dinners, the outcome usually could vary. Coffees and lunches were typically
friendly, neutral. Dinners on the other hand were complicated, too intimate. I was treading on a fine line and I didn’t want to fall flat on my face. He was with
her
. Zara. I had to remind myself that. So a dinner with Callum was out of the question. Besides, there was that dinner invitation from Derek…

Speaking of moving on with my life, I best get a move on with that one. Picking up my phone again, I sent a message to Derek, letting him know that I would love to meet him for dinner. The second message was for Callum.

Me:
I’m going to see Derek tonight. Maybe some other time, coffee or lunch would do. Say next week?

There! Sent. I sounded like a rational woman. Not an ounce of jealousy oozed out of those words. I was proud of myself. My phone shrilled again immediately. “My, aren’t you a busy one today!”

Callum:
You’re going back to him then?

Getting personal much? Hell. What did he care if I did or didn’t? He had just bought a house for Zara, that’s a massive purchase. For him to dole out that hefty
sum, it could only mean one thing and I hated him for it… a little.

Me:
I’m not sure yet.

I was hoping he’d leave it at that, but nope! He wasn’t done.

Callum:
Does he make you happy?

Derek was great, for some time. That was until he went berserk with his relentless pursuit to get my virginity out of the way.

Me:
He did at one point.

Callum:
Now, what about now?

I had no idea. All I knew was that I was in love to a man who didn’t want it because his heart belonged to her, his Zara. If this was his attempt to make sure that my dating life was great so he wouldn’t feel a tad guilty, then he was fine. He had nothing to worry about. I was fine without him.

Me:
I’ll know soon enough.

I stared at my phone for a full minute, waiting for his reply, but when I didn’t get one, I convinced myself that he had only been
feeling obligated towards me.

So, I tried to mask my hurt and delved into work.

An hour later, he finally responded.

Callum:
I miss you, S.

“Oh God!” I freaked. “No need to have a panic attack, so calm down.” I coached myself to breathe evenly. This was Callum after all; it could mean so many things.
I miss you
might be different in his terms. “Yeah, he was used to having me around. So, don’t get yourself affected, Stella. Just fucking don’t or you’ll be fucked,” I repeated to myself until I released the phone and didn’t bother replying to his message.

It was bad, but his words never left me. Even when I went on the date with Derek, Callum was in the back of my mind. I hated how affected I was with his words.

Yet I was determined to move on, broken heart be damned.

Chapter 30

Callum

Stella didn’t bother replying and all afternoon I was plagued by images of her.

It was the first time I had admitted to her that I missed her, and yet, the tenacious woman decided to ignore it. I wasn’t sure if I was in awe or furious at her. I suppose I was a combination of both. I had to give it to Stella, though, by her not responding to that consequential message, it made me want to seek her out.

“Callum?”

“Yes, Zara?” I asked, glancing at her a bit.

She had insisted on cooking me dinner, so she was already here when I got back from work, chopping and humming her way in the kitchen.

Dinner was great, but she chatted my ear off and I needed a reprieve. With a bottle in hand, I strode towards the garden outside, needing some fresh air.

However here she was again, following me. I had avoided heavy discussions about the future since I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, but I suppose Zara was adamant.

It started when my father died of a heart attack. Two hours later, Zara was on a mission to inject every single memory we had as a couple back into my life. My father was had just been declared dead, but she was already pestering me then about our future together.

“You look deep in thought.” She smiled, pressing her hands on my chest.

As I looked down on her, I remembered the same look she had back in the day, one where she vowed to love me. “Thinking is what I do. Money makes money, but money doesn’t just sprout without formulated ideas.”

It was a good excuse because, well, I used to think about business all the time, yet now, Stella had dominated my mind. After last night’s dream, I woke up, reaching out across the bed for her, but it was empty. Sleep evaded me afterwards, however Stella remained.

Knowing that she was out on a dinner date with her ex didn’t help my uneasiness. When my mind wandered to the subject of her letting another man touch her, I wanted to commit murder.

“We aren’t getting any younger.” Zara was onto her usual self. Couldn’t she give me a break? Hell, she was becoming such a nuisance. Zara pressed harder against me, lips slowly creeping towards mine. “We could be together now. No one is stopping us.”

No, no one was stopping us,
that’s for sure. Although, Stella had been in my head and it seemed like her memory wasn’t going away. It was plaguing me and I wasn’t sure where to go from here.

Being around Zara again reminded me a lot of all the good things we had shared before, but try as she might, it didn’t feel the same. There was something off; I couldn’t pinpoint it really, but it was bothersome. A part of me wanted to capture what we’d had before, however the fireworks we once shared were now a mere sparkle of what we’d had in the past.

Zara used her hand to guide my face to look at her. “We can get married now. It was what you always wanted.”

That was before… Stella.

Now, things have changed.

“I don’t love you the way I used to, Zara. I’m not saying this to hurt you or to be
mean because of the past; I’m simply telling you the truth. My mind is bombarded with Stella lately.” That certainly made Zara scrutinize me in a different light.

“But what you had with Stella was sex. What more is there?”

Was it just sex? It was
the
greatest sex I’d ever had. Merely thinking about how great the sex was had already got my blood running south…

Stella.

She was a mixture of ethereal beauty and spitfire vivaciousness. Add her extraordinary cunt into the equation and then it was a double-edged sword; any mortal man’s Achilles’ heel.

“Stella’s my wife, that’s what’s more, Zara,” I directed at the woman who used to make me kneel at her feet.

“Wife?” she choked out. “I thought she was just a fuck?” She gripped me harder. “Are you in love with her?”

Zara looked like she was in a great deal of pain. I still loved her, I knew that much, but it wasn’t the same. My body didn’t rattle the way it used to. My heart didn’t beat as wildly as it once had. She used to take my breath away… yet now, I realized that they were memories that could never be rekindled or relived again.

I wanted to be cruel, be that bastard who made her cry and crush her heart the way she had mine, but for some reason, I desired to come clean more. Maybe all this heartache and pain would ease out of my conscience if we freely discussed this now. I suppose, this moment was as good as any other.

So I started with Richard and his plea.

I didn’t dare glance at Zara until I finished speaking. I knew I didn’t owe her anything, however a part of me wanted for her to understand.

“You don’t love her and you still love me… but you want to be with Stella because she makes you feel
better?
” Zara was staring at me, waiting for a yay or nay reply.

“Better is not the word precisely, but yes, she does have that.” Amongst other things…

“Well, I can be all of that and more. Just give me time. You still love me, Callum. You can’t just brush that off and pretend that you don’t because some virgin made you addicted to her fucking untouched cunt!”

Her tone and the way she was speaking about Stella snapped something in me. “
And I bloody love that virgin cunt of hers!
It’s one where you can’t fucking compete, Zara. I’m the ONLY man who had a taste of that and I fucking love knowing that no man has ever dwelled in that euphoric place. She’s fucking mine and I won’t stop until she’s back in her place, beneath me, panting and gasping my name until she can’t breathe any longer!” Well, there you have it. My cock had made the decision before I’d even thought it myself.

It was one thing to be addicted to something; it was another thing entirely when you had become addicted to a woman.

Stella von Berg, I’m coming for you. On you. In you.
It didn’t really matter, as long as I was sharing it with her.

Chapter 31

Stella

“What the hell?” I softly muttered under my breath.

It had been over an hour and the guy wearing all black hadn’t stopped staring at me. It was creepy. Freaky even, but it was exciting me at the same time.

My date night with Derek turned out to be a dud. Maybe it was me who was trying too hard to forget Callum or maybe the man’s charisma had just not been working for me anymore. Either way, I had left that date feeling more depressed than when I’d walked in.

So here I was, a couple of nights later, somewhat working on promoting
a new flavored vodka in one of Mayfair’s swankiest clubs. It was hectic, lively and I thrived for these moments, but
the man
kept interrupting my flow.

“Why do you keep glancing at your watch?” Mark asked whilst handing me a drink.

“What’s in it?” I ignored his question and referred to the drink he was handing me instead. I dipped my finger in it then tasted the concoction.

“Lychee.”

“Tastes fantastic!” I grinned, grabbing the drink from his hand. When working, I usually only drank a champagne or two, but tonight, I had decided to push it further, since everyone was pushing me to chill and “loosen up” a bit.

My friends, lovely as they were, kept pushing me to meet a new man and have a one-night stand just so I would know what it was. “You kept saying that your hymen was the reason you couldn’t enjoy singledom to the fullest. Well, here’s your chance. Free the bad girl and shag whoever you fancy!” Luciana had even taken it as her “responsibility” as my best friend to make me look the part.