White sparks exploded behind her closed eyelids. They sharply inhaled a shared breath. Dibs swiveled his hips, embedding himself deeper, grinding his pelvis against her. A heady throb warmed her inner thighs, trickled into the arches of her feet. Her head lolled to the side and she bit her lip when his finger circled and flicked, teasing her hidden bundle of nerves. A delicious pressure built as he massaged faster. A thrill burst, her internal muscles spasmed and clenched. He groaned, withdrew, and drove into her a second time, rolling his stance, stroking each part, poising her on the edge of a yawning precipice. A shudder racked her body, but she wanted more, clung to him as he set up a heady pace, each plunge lifting her higher. The world spun, only the two of them existed. Until a deep tremor gathered strength, erupted, and she convulsed as Dibs crested the wave in unison, their love drenching them in an exhilarating release.
Chapter Sixteen
A shiver whispered through the hair on her arms and she tugged the blanket higher, curling the edge under her chin. Cold…so cold…Tessa rolled over to snuggle against Dibs, but met only an expanse of cool empty sheets. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up, searching the dark room through the moonlight streaming in the windows. Empty. Alone. Flipping the covers back from her legs, she snagged his bathrobe from the end of the bed and tentatively stepped toward the bathroom door. Nothing but blank white tile stared back at her.
Apprehension tickled her belly. Where the heck had he gone? She padded to the bedroom door and silently slipped through.
Walking the dimly lit hall, she tied the robe at her waist, and then folded her arms against another shiver. Faint light glowed up the stairs from the welcoming room and she descended those first several steps then paused, turning her ear to the murmuring voices.
“…and he’s absolutely amazing.” A wistful quality softened Caroline’s voice. “If you met him, I know you’d think so too.”
Tessa tucked the robe behind her knees and perched on the fourth riser.
“That’s great, Bunny,” Dibs said. “I’m really happy for you.”
“The thing is…he doesn’t know.”
“Doesn’t know what?”
“About the money. He has no idea about any of it…about me…or us.”
“Well, for Christ’s sake, Caroline,” Marcus scolded.
“Why didn’t you tell him?” Dibs asked.
“Because I’m afraid to. And now I’ve let it go on so long…Sometimes I feel like I’m all these different people. One with Jeremy, one with my friends…another with my family.” She sighed. “Things are getting really complicated…and confusing.”
“The only one making things complicated is you, Caroline.” Dibs spoke gently. “You should tell Jeremy the truth, and then let him decide what he wants.”
“Nonsense.” Marcus was dismissive. “Don’t say anything. Not like Mother will allow the relationship to go very far.”
“Mother doesn’t know. And there’s no way I can tell her.”
“Maybe it’s time you started making some decisions, too,” Dibs said. “You can either live as Mother sees fit, or you can live the way
you
want.”
“Horseshit,” Marcus disagreed. “We all know how things work around here. We have our fun, but in the end the decisions are left to the ones holding the money and controlling the power. You both know it and so do I. So go ahead and have your fun, Caroline, and you, too, Dibs. And enjoy it, I say, because before you know it, the fun comes to an end.”
“Not this time, Marcus.” A hard edge sharpened Dibs’s voice.
“She’s enchanting, Dibs, I’ll grant you that, but sooner or later you must snap back to reality. That is just not how things work in this family.”
“I’m done listening to their directives. I did that once and all I got in return was a lot of pain and a messy divorce. I will not let them dictate how I should live. Not anymore.”
Marcus laughed, but the tone was sour with derision. “You say that now. Just wait until they start taking things away. I can guarantee, you will begin to doubt your hasty decisions.”
“Nothing would ever make me doubt the way I feel about her, Marcus. And that, I can promise you.”
“Only because they haven’t forced you to make a choice yet,” he said. “Trust me, when it comes down to losing everything, you’ll find you’re not as selfless as you seem.”
Tessa pressed two shaking fingertips to her lips.
“Did you ever wish you were someone else?” Caroline whispered. “Did you ever wish you could just disappear and start completely over?”
“Never,” Marcus snapped.
“All the time,” Dibs said.
A break in the conversation echoed up the stairwell. Tessa’s rapid heartbeat thundered in her ears. Someone stood.
“I’m heading back to bed.” Weariness coated Dibs’s voice. “We can continue this same discussion we have every time we see each other, tomorrow.”
Tessa sprang to her feet and scrambled up the stairs, flew down the hall, and gently closed the bedroom door. Shedding Dibs’s robe, she hopped into bed and yanked the covers over her body, then concentrated on calming her heart, breathing deep and slow. A few moments later the door opened. She lay very still as the bolt clicked into the latch, Dibs’s muted footsteps neared the bed.
He slid his arm under her shoulders and urged her close until she lay tucked against his chest. She waited, listening, until his breathing lengthened, deepened, and a gravelly snore spilled from his lips.
Her eyes popped open.
…The decisions are left to the ones holding the money and controlling the power…go ahead and have your fun, because before you know it, the fun comes to an end…
The harsh words reverberated in her mind, each syllable a resounding gong inside her head. Bitter tears swarmed her eyes and she held a breath to subdue a sob.
This was it. The one thing that in the end would destroy them.
…Wait until they start taking things away. I can guarantee, you will begin to doubt your hasty decisions…
All this time, Dibs had borne the possibility of a staggering sacrifice, just so they could be together. And he’d not said one word. The excruciating pressure, the fact his family could make his life miserable if he didn’t comply with their wishes…
Being with her…meant risking everything else.
A breath hitched in her chest. If what Marcus said was true, she’d been ensconced right in the middle of a nightmarish triangle, where Dibs would ultimately have to choose between everything else in his life…and their love.
No. That couldn’t be right. It just
couldn’t
be. She closed her eyes against the memories, all those times he had talked of his foundation. His deep commitment…the importance of creating something that brought meaning to his life.
Would the Brenners actually stoop so low as to threaten his life’s work? Did they even have the ability to do such a thing? The foundation had been Dibs’s brainchild from the onset. Surely he retained leadership. Or perhaps in Mr. Brenner’s assistance to help Dibs get it started, he’d insinuated himself into a position of power on the foundation’s board. It held the Brenner name—exactly like BFG and Brenner Property Investments. Did this ensure Mr. Brenner’s involvement? Or his protection? Her questions swirled in a maelstrom of worry.
…They haven’t forced you to make a choice yet…you’ll find you are not as selfless as you seem…
All signs pointed in the same direction. Dibs would be coerced into a decision. Leave…or lose everything because of her, only living to regret the choice he made in staying. Just as Marcus predicted…and exactly like Michael had harbored regrets in the end.
Her heart wrenched, warm tears spilling onto Dibs’s chest. God, she had always known…had always, always known. And here it was again, that damned inevitable end waiting just around the corner.
But she loved him.
More
than she’d loved Michael. More than she’d loved anyone. And if she’d spoken honestly to his parents—to him—how could she knowingly let him gamble everything? She couldn’t. Not after all the things he’d done for her. Not after he’d accepted her, tainted past and all.
There was only one option.
Wait. Find out as much as she could about the Brenners and their involvement in the foundation. And if she stayed true to Dibs, if she was patient and waited, maybe she could prove her worth, find a way to win his parents over. Waiting was what he had done for her, and in the end his patience had proved his love. If she did the same, Mr. and Mrs. Brenner might accept she wasn’t in this relationship merely for the taking. That she truly loved their eldest son.
Their consent could be the answer to her prayers. His family would give them the blessing Dibs so desperately longed for, and there would be no more risk, no reason for him to ever leave. She would be giving him a second chance at everything, his happiness, his life, exactly like he had done for her.
Now if she could just find a way to earn their approval…
****
Her eyes cracked open, puffy and sticky with residue from the previous night’s tears. She’d slept miserably. But in that moment, she was tangled in Dibs’s body, her head resting on his shoulder, and waking within the safety of his arms made all the difference in the world.
She tilted her head back to his alert gaze, his generous smile. “Good morning.”
“So, here’s an idea.”
She slid her head to the pillows. The happy shine in his eyes…the clever smirk tilting one side of his mouth…
Uh, oh…
“Let’s get married.”
She thrashed around under the covers until she’d successfully pushed up on one elbow. “
What?
”
“I want us to get married.”
She studied his face, brows lifted in eager anticipation, joy hovering at the corners of his lips. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
He squinted, and then settled a hand behind his head. “Yeah, that wasn’t really the answer I was going for here.”
All the anxiety of the night before boiled to the surface and her body shivered with the rush, alongside the strong urge to wallop him upside the head. Fear, chased by exasperation, and hot sparks of irritation flooded her chest. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“Ah, no.” He brushed the ball of his thumb along the edge of her lower lip. “I’m in love with you and want to marry you.”
Blinking back a fresh set of tears, she rolled away from him and snatched his robe off the end of the bed. “I’m not marrying you, Dibs.”
Her arm became momentarily caught up in the sleeve, and she fought the robe onto her shoulder before tying the belt briskly and tightly at her waist. She whirled around and stormed into the bathroom.
Unbelievable…
“Are you mad at me?” he called.
“Yes, I’m mad at you! Of
course
I’m mad at you!” She braced her palms on either side of the sink. The man didn’t think! He hadn’t considered the repercussions of marrying her at
all
. For God’s sake, he just did not think!
“Okay, let me get this straight.” He appeared in the doorway, tying his pajama pants at his waist. “I propose and you get mad. I’m confused.”
“I’m mad because you’re acting like an ass.” She yanked open the vanity drawer and rummaged around for her toothpaste.
“Now I’m an ass. This really isn’t going the way I had envisioned it.”
“How can you even
consider
asking me that question?” She pointed her toothbrush at him. “Have you listened to nothing I’ve said? Did you hear nothing your mother said at dinner last night? God, men are ridiculous.” She squirted toothpaste onto her toothbrush and vigorously scrubbed her teeth.
“You know, not to blow my own horn or anything, but I’m guessing a lot of women would jump at the chance to marry me.”
She spit into the sink. “Well, then ask one of them. I’ll be sure to wish her good luck on her way down the aisle.” A slurp from the faucet, and she swished water around in her mouth.
“Yeah, maybe we could limit this discussion to the realm of reality.”
“Reality?” That was classic. They were smack-dab in the middle of a crisis and he had gone off half-cocked, embarking on some whimsical version of
Romeo and Juliet
. She swept a towel over her lips. “How about the stark reality that my very intelligent boyfriend has just gone completely mad!”
The hand he rasped across his stubbled chin did a poor job of masking his smile. She spun around and whipped the towel at him.
“Come on, Rex.” He chuckled, catching the towel against his chest. “I want us to get married.”
“Well, that’s not gonna happen. We can’t get married, Dibs. You, of all people, should know that.”
“Why not?”
She brushed past him through the doorway to the far side of the bed, jerked and straightened the blankets. “Because of so many reasons,” she muttered, shaking her head.
“Name one.”
“How long were you lying in bed thinking about this?”
“An hour.”
“And you’ve got the whole thing worked out in your head, don’t you?”
“You’re just mad because you can’t think of one good reason why we shouldn’t get married.”
“Oh my God, you have
got
to be kidding!” She propped a hand on her hip. “Okay, let’s start with the obvious; how about the fact your mother hates me?”
…Just wait until they start taking things away…you will begin to doubt your hasty decisions…
“She hates the idea of you, not you personally. She’ll hate anyone she doesn’t choose herself.”
“It doesn’t matter, Dibs. She would still make life unbearable.” The edge of the blanket still fisted in her hand, she aimed a finger at him. “And you can’t tell me her rejection wouldn’t kill you. Even though you say you don’t care, I know you do.”
“This is about you and me, Rex, not anyone else.”
“Don’t patronize me! We both know this is about your family. You’ve lived your entire life bucking their authority. You love to get a rise of out your parents. And gee, Dibs, isn’t it convenient they hate your new girlfriend, and oh boy, wouldn’t it really get their goat if you
up and married her
!” She threw her hands down at her sides.