The Curvy Voice Coach and the Billionaire Actor (He Wanted Me Pregnant!) (15 page)

“Not really a week. Only a few days. It could have been a week, if I hadn’t been so stupid.” Or maybe the stupid part had been stepping out from behind the wall, when Tanner had been working out. Getting into the hot tub with him. Daring to believe that I was worthy of being with someone like him.

“It was still good, right?” Jan asked. “And they can’t take that away from you.”

“No,” I echoed sadly. “They can’t take that away from me.”

She didn’t know the whole story. She didn’t know that I needed to get a pregnancy test, as soon as I could work up the courage. And that, if it was positive, my life was going to suddenly be a lot more complicated.

I sighed. “I keep thinking someone’s going to recognize me,” I said. “Even here.”

Jan shook her head. “You’re not in a dress. You don’t have your hair done the same. And you’re not distinctive.”

I gave her a look. She was my best friend, but between the language barrier and her honesty, she could be a little...blunt.

“I just mean everyone has people who look like them,” said Jan. “That girl looks like me. That guy looks like Tanner.”

I followed her finger towards the bar. There was a guy there who
did
look kind of like Tanner, though a little more unshaven and disheveled.

And he was walking towards us. I stood up, my chair falling over behind me.

“Chill,” said Jan. “He just looks like—”

“I’m sorry,” said Tanner, breathlessly.

“Oh,” whispered Jan, and went quiet.

“What are you doing here?” I looked around me to confirm that I was actually in Britain. “How did you even find me?”

“I stopped in at your mother’s place. She told me where you’d gone. She was pretty upset about everything.” He paused. “I got called some things.”

“Sorry,” I said quietly.

“No. I deserve it. I should never have put you in that situation. And I should have seen what Maury was doing.”

I looked sharply at him. “You know about—”

“Probably more than you do. It all came out, after you left. At first, he said it was all your idea to leave, but I didn’t believe him. Then he slowly started spilling. I fired him.”

I imagined Maury lifted off the ground by Tanner and pinned to the wall as he gasped a confession. It was a pleasant image.

“He called the paparazzi to the restaurant,” Tanner said. “But we should never have gone there in the first place.”

I shook my head. “Tanner, it would have happened eventually, even without Maury. I—I’m not ready for that life. I never will be.”

He stepped closer. “Then I don’t want that life either. Don’t you remember what I said? You, a house somewhere quiet, a baby—that’s all I want.”

“Wait,” said Jan. “A baby?”

“Give up Hollywood?” I asked. “That’s insane. I couldn’t ask you to do that.” I paused. “
Would
you do that? Really?”

“In a heartbeat.” He planted his hands on the table and leaned over it, his eyes blazing into mine. One thick forearm was about an inch from Jan’s face. She gulped.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said slowly. “I can’t let you do it. Even if you want to.”

“Then come with me and we’ll figure something out together.” He held his hand out to me.

I stared at him. “Promise me it’s going to be okay this time,” I said.

“I promise.”

I took his hand.

***

Outside, there was a gleaming motorbike.

“You have a motorbike...
here?
” I asked.

“You can hire a bike just like you hire a car. Everyone told me I shouldn’t have a car in London.”

I was in a summer dress, so I had to hoik it up to swing my leg over the saddle. “Where are we going?”

His eyes locked on my legs as he spoke. “Which way to the country?”

I pointed, and we went.

***

It’s surprising how fast you can get out of London and somewhere green. In an hour, the bike was resting up against a fence and we’d crossed one field and were walking hand-in-hand across a second, attempting to get as far from civilization as possible.

“I don’t want you to give up anything,” I said gently.

“That doesn’t mean I have to live right at the heart of things,” he told me. “I have some leeway, these days. Money buys you that.”

“It’s never going to be normal, though...is it?” I asked. “Even in a small town. It’s going to be fences and guard dogs and nannies and private schools for the kids. You’re a billionaire, for God’s sake.”

He nodded. “I’d be lying to you if I said it was going to be normal. I forgot how weird it all is. He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I forgot that I take a lot of stuff for granted. Like the lack of privacy thing.”

I ran my hand over my stomach. “If I
am
pregnant…I don’t want our kids to have a life like that. Imagine how a teenager would react to what happened to me.
I
can’t even handle it.”

He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. “Never again, I promise. You
or
the kids.”

I knew I was pussyfooting around the biggest issue of all. I had my head pressed to his chest, but I turned my face to the side so that I could speak. “Wherever we live, though, there’s still...
me.
I’m not Hollywood material. Even if you’re not living there, everyone still sees the two of us together. Everyone’s going to think I’m after your money. Or they’ll think: what’s
he
doing with—”

He pushed me roughly back from him. “No! Never! God,
never
say that!”

I blinked and looked up at him, surprised. “But you know that I think that. I told you—”

“Yeah, but I thought I’d—” He sighed. “For God’s sake, Charlotte. What do I have to do to convince you? I like you—I love you—exactly the way you are. And anyone that doesn’t like that can go fuck themselves.”

“But—”

“
No!”
I actually jerked in shock. It was the angriest I’d ever seen him, but the rage wasn’t directed at me. “No ‘buts’! That’s my point. Fuck them. Fuck them all. If we say we’re good together, we’re good together. They don’t get to judge us. Not anymore.” He put a finger under my chin and lifted it until I was looking into his eyes. “Okay?”

I stood there, staggered by the force of his will. It hit me for the first time that he really meant it: he didn’t care what anyone else thought.

And if he didn’t...maybe I shouldn’t either.

“Okay,” I said in a tentative voice.

“Like you mean it,” he growled.

“Okay!” I said, louder.

And then he was picking me up and whirling me around, making me shriek. When he stopped, he said, “Wait. How did you say they had sex, again, with those corsets on?”

I swallowed. “They just hoiked their skirts up,” I said, reddening. “And lay down in the grass.”

I started to look around to see if the coast was clear, but he was already lowering me down on my back.

And that’s how he rescued me. I wasn’t a servant girl and he was on a bike, not a horse, and he wasn’t really English…and some would say he wasn’t really a gentleman.

But it was exactly like my dreams anyway.

Epilogue

Six months later

It ended with tea.

“Aaand...
cut!
” yelled the director.

I sipped on my tea as the cast and crew relaxed and sauntered off the set. We were back in Britain, filming the movie in a stately home. Tanner had got the part and was amazing everyone with his English accent. He’d started looking at other serious parts, too—smaller films and foreign co-productions, things that would stretch him. Without Maury controlling him, he had options.

I smiled as he walked towards me, loosening his tie. The heating had been cranked up, to compensate for the chill of a British winter and three of the actresses had passed out already—the dangers of corsets. I, meanwhile, wasn’t wearing anything nearly as restrictive. The maternity dress was already tight over my swollen stomach and I still had almost three months to go. It was going to be a big, bouncing baby—a boy, Tanner claimed, though I thought a girl. No matter. I had a feeling we were going to have plenty of both.

The wedding, three months after we’d met and before I’d started to show too much, had been an intensely private affair in the Seychelles. Tanner had kept the press away by simple means of hiring the entire island. I was beginning to see the benefits of the billionaire lifestyle.

“That,” said Tanner, “is quite enough of that for one day.” And he kissed me.

“You can drop the accent, now,” I told him. “You forget: you can’t fool me with your gentleman act.”

He frowned and pulled me close. “Didn’t we establish that I could be both? A gentleman and a bad boy?”

“Fine.” I kissed him. “But lose the gentleman. I want my bad boy back until tomorrow morning.”

<<<< >>>>

Thank you for reading! :) If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. It really helps readers to find stories they’ll like!

Each time I release a story, I price it at $0.99 for the first 24 hours. My mailing list subscribers get an email so they can snap it up cheap before the price goes up. To get on the list, sign up here: (you must be over 18). There’s no spam, just one mail per story.

http://list.victoriawessex.com

If you liked The Curvy Voice Coach and the Billionaire Actor, you’ll probably like
other stories in my “He Wanted Me Pregnant!” series
.

I’ve included an extract from
He Wanted Me Pregnant! The Reporter and the Billionaire Scottish Wolf Lord
below.

I love to hear from my readers!

[email protected]

An Extract from

The Reporter and the

Billionaire Scottish Wolf Lord

TV reporter Rachel isn't happy about being sent from sunny LA to gray, freezing Scotland to interview a minor royal. But when he turns out to be reclusive billionaire Lord Alex McKillington, things start to get interesting. Why is the whole village scared to go near his private island? Why does he seem so worked up when he's near her, his low voice almost a...growl?

Alex has hidden his secret for years, isolating himself for the safety of others. But his need to mate hasn't gone away and when Rachel walks into his life, controlling himself is impossible.

When she discovers his secret, Rachel must convince the brooding, loner alpha male to put aside his demons and love again. But is she really ready to become his mate...and offer him her fertile body?

He looked at the floor. “I don’t do well around people. Especially—” He cut himself short.

“Especially who?” she asked.

He didn’t reply.

Rachel took a step closer and noticed that he pressed back against the bureau. It was subtle, but she was good at subtle. She could spot when a politician started to rub his nose when telling a lie, or when a line of questioning had him loosening his tie. This man was nervous of her. Nervous…and something else.

“Especially women?” She took another step towards him, and now she could feel something. It was like a wave of heat, radiating off him—she swore she could actually feel it on her skin, soaking into her body and warming her from the inside out, the heat turning dark as it sank down to her groin.
Lust.
He wanted her, on a level she’d never known before. It was almost frightening in its intensity…and intoxicating in what it was doing to her. If a man this handsome wanted her, she certainly wasn’t going to argue. But she could see something else in his expression, in the way he backed away. He wanted her…but why did he fear her?

She took another step. The air almost seemed to shimmer between them like a heat haze as she pressed forward.

He looked around the room, his gaze everywhere but on her. She could see him gritting his teeth, sucking in little gasps of air. “Don’t,” he said warningly.

He’s scared of me,
she thought in wonderment.
Why is he scared of me?

She made her voice innocent and sweet. “Don’t what?” she asked. “Don’t come any closer?”

She took another step towards him and he pressed harder against the bureau. He was strong enough that it actually moved, banging against the wall. She could see his chest rising and falling under the robe—he was panting now, as if he’d just run a mile.

“Don’t,”
he said again, desperate now.

“It’s okay,” she said gently.
God, he’s gorgeous. Those eyes!
She was close enough now that she could put her glass down on the bureau behind him. That meant reaching around him, her bare arm brushing his body, her neck sliding close to his face.