Billionaire Husband (3 page)

When he’d walked into the apartment he’d heard moaning and groaning, all the signs he’d yet to hear from Addie’s own lips. Jealousy had struck him deep. No man was allowed to touch what belonged to him, and Addie was his woman. The very thought of another person touching her, had him so damn angry. He wanted her all to himself.

Taking a slice of the sinful cake, he took a bite, not knowing what to expect. The moment the chocolate hit his tongue, it was like an explosion of flavor. His mouth watered for another slice, and he just couldn’t help himself. He needed more.

“Wow,” he said. “This is so damn good. You’ve cooked like this the whole time?” He’d never been a big chocolate lover, as he preferred citrus, but he was in love.

“In the beginning I kind of sucked. I’ve learned a lot in the last couple of years. It really has been a wonderful experience.”

“I can’t believe how good this is. I mean, wow, this is so damn good.”

She chuckled as he kept on eating her food. He loved it. Shaun hadn’t heard her chuckle before either, and he stared into her eyes, seeing the delight inside them. Slowly, little by little, he’d been killing her, and he was only just witnessing it now.

Finishing off the cake, he was tempted to lick the crumbs but decided against it.

“You really did like it?” she asked.

“I loved it.”

“I’m so pleased.” She took the plate away, and placed it in the sink. “I bought this place once I realized you had a routine of visiting me.”

“Routine?”

“Every month just after my cycle, I’ve always been on time, you’d meet up, and we’d have sex.”

He remembered their wedding night, and it had been such a total disaster. She’d been a virgin, and he’d been so damn aroused by her, even though they hadn’t said two words to each other outside of their nuptials.

“Did you cook for us?” he asked.

“Yes. All the meals you ate at that house, I prepared.”

“Damn. I never knew.”

“It seems there’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”

He couldn’t agree more. “So, what made you do this?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes. I need to know.”

Addie signed and took a seat across from him. She locked her fingers together, pressing her arms tight against her body. Her tits pushed together, and his cock swelled at the sight.

“I’ve always loved cooking, even from a little girl. I’d be around my grandmother, watching her. When she died before we got married, she told me to promise her that I would never live a life of regret. Life was too short, and that I had to live it, doing something I loved. I loved cooking. After she died, and I married you, I thought it was going to be different. I waited around in that house, and it just wasn’t the same. I didn’t have the passion there that I do here. There’s nothing there I love or what to be part of. That house belongs to my mother, not to me.” She ran a finger along her bottom lip, and Shaun was drawn to that single digit. “When you would disappear for weeks at a time, and only return for that once a month ‘inoculation’, I’m going to call it.” She chuckled, and he was filled with shame. “I started to think about what I wanted to do, and this was it. The blog, the cooking, and sharing it with friends, that’s how it was born.”

He glanced around the modest kitchen, and he saw all of the top of the range equipment around the room. Shaun spotted the camera in the corner.

“Is that rolling?”

“No. Not today. When I’m cooking, Darla holds the camera, and we have lights set up, but I couldn’t cook every single day in a kitchen like that. I need to have my space to create. Wow, we have actually talked. How strange is that?”

“Do you want kids?” he asked.

“What?”

“Children. I was under the impression you wanted them straight away.” He loved kids, but he wasn’t ready to have his own. Shaun had been trying to give Addie everything she ever wanted. He was starting to see there was a lot he didn’t know about his woman. Her mother had fed him a lot of lies when it came to her.

“Right now? No, I don’t want kids. It’s too soon, and I’m not ready to have them. Do you want kids?”

“One day. I thought you wanted them immediately.”

“No. We don’t know enough about each other to take that next step.”

“I agree. Can you get pregnant?” he asked, blurting the question out.

“What?”

“We’ve been trying for three years, and nothing has happened. I got tested as I thought something was wrong with me.” He’d wanted to break the vicious cycle they were in, and finally give her something she actually wanted. If she couldn’t get pregnant then he would deal with it.

“Oh, God, I’m so sorry. It’s not you at all. Before we were married, I went and got the implant.” She showed the inside of her left arm. “I got the implant before we were married. You were supposed to marry Evangeline, not me. I was going to tell you, but you seemed determined not to talk to me about anything. You were always so busy, never wanting to actually talk. I didn’t think it would go on as long as it did. Three years was a long time to be stuck in some kind of rut, and I figured you’d find your release elsewhere—”

“Elsewhere?”

“Yes. The women you’ve been dating. I’ve seen your picture in the newspapers, and on magazines. I figured you’d found what you were really looking for.”

“I wasn’t looking for anything.”

“Shaun, you’re a good looking man. I know I’m not the kind of woman for you.”

He didn’t like that. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he asked, pissed that she would put herself down like that.

“You’re a hot guy, Shaun. I’m not. I’m overweight.”

“What the hell does your weight have to do with anything?” he asked. He was so damn annoyed. He’d never once thought about her weight. Shaun liked her curves. In fact, he loved them.

Everything was so fucked up between them. He didn’t even know where to start to make it right.

When he was away from her, he thought about exploring every single one of her curves. The moment they were together, this stillness came between them, and he couldn’t push it away, or stop it. It drove him crazy, and now he was seeing a whole other side of her, and he couldn’t stand it, not anymore.

“I’ve never cheated on you, Addie.”

She smiled. “Shaun, don’t worry about it.”

Getting to his feet, he closed the distance between them, and cupped her cheek. “I didn’t cheat on you.” He ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “Those women I went out with, I went out with them to help the company. They were part of helping the company to continue to grow and expand. I have never cheated on you, and I never will.” He pulled a little on her bottom lip.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Damned if I know. This has got to stop.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“We’re husband and wife. I took your virginity, Addie.”

She winced. “Sex for me isn’t exactly great, Shaun. You don’t have to make excuses.”

“I made it bad for you.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t contain myself. I’m the one with experience, and yet I was the one who behaved like a horny teenage boy. That’s not who I am.”

“I don’t want to talk about this.” She pulled out of his arms.

“Sex can be a million times better, that I can promise you.”

“You made it bad on purpose?”

Shaun sighed. “You never responded to me, Addie. I couldn’t get you to open up to me, and sex was just to give you a baby.”

He was so damned relieved that she couldn’t get pregnant. From the moment he saw that interview on television, his entire world had been opened up, and it was all his own fault. He’d believed her mother about everything, instead of going with his gut, which was telling him otherwise.

“I can’t hear this right now. Everything is moving fast.” She moved away from him, and he had no choice but to follow her through her apartment. He stopped when they passed the sitting room. There were pictures of her with Darla and Dean, and some with another woman. He saw a couple of celebrity chefs, and then there were a lot of pictures of her with her grandparents.

Chasing after her, he found her sitting on the edge of her bed.

His wife’s bedroom was neat, clean, and yet it had personal items that had all been missing from their museum. There was no way he was ever thinking of their place as a house again. It hadn’t been a house at all.

“What’s happening now with your book?” he asked.

“I’ve got a book signing on the day of release downtown in the bookstore. I’ve, erm, got a couple more interviews, and I think that’s it. I’ll be doing some more video uploads after they’ve been edited. I’ve got the cake to upload tomorrow.”

“Who does your editing?” he asked.

“Darla. She’s been a huge help with this. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. What do we do about us?”

He took a seat beside her on the bed.

Shaun wanted to reach out and touch her, but he held back.

She’s your damn wife, you idiot.

Taking hold of her hand, he locked their fingers together. “I think it’s time we went back to the start. There’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and the stuff we do know, is crap.”

“You swear a lot. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, it was a habit I picked up but never got rid of. It drove my parents crazy.”

She laughed.

“I want to be part of this world you’ve created, Addie.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your cooking. I want to be the one trying your food, not Dean. Have you and Dean got something going on?” If anything was going on, he was going to pummel the bastard.

“No. We’ve got nothing going on. He’s a friend who has a serious crush on Darla. I’m married. I take my vows seriously.”

“I’m telling you the truth, Addie. I didn’t sleep with those women. I’ve not been with anyone since you.”

“You had the reputation of a playboy, and we slept together once a month. Do you expect me to believe you?” she asked.

“Yes, I do. I believe you without a doubt. I wanted to reach out to you, and I wanted more than what we had built together.”

“You want more?”

“I didn’t want to live in a house that was cold to me. This is home, this feels like home to me.”

“You want to live in my little apartment?”

“Your apartment will fit me. Now, you said you got the implant. How long does that last?”

“I’ve got to get it changed in a couple of months, why?”

“I want you to get it changed. Neither of us wants children yet, and I think it’s time we focus on us, and making this marriage work before we add children to the mix.”

“You want to make this marriage work.”

“I don’t want to love and hate once a month anymore.” He touched her cheek. “Our marriage started out wrong, and it has been a disaster for a long time. I’m not going to continue that.”

“Okay.”

“I’m Shaun Woodside, I’m a workaholic, and I love my job. I have a wife I know nothing about, but I want to get to know her. My birthday is in April, and I don’t like chocolate, but your cake was damn good.”

Addie chuckled.

“It’s your turn, babe.”

“Babe?”

“Yep.”

He loved seeing her smile, and wanted to see her smile a hell of a lot more.

“I’m Addison Woodside, but my husband calls me Addie. I’m a cook, and I love what I do, creating new things. I don’t know my husband, and I’m starting to think I’ve got him confused with an image I’ve seen. My birthday is in a couple of months, and I’m pleased you liked the cake.”

It was a start, and he intended to repair the damage that started out in his marriage.

Chapter Three

“So, what happened?” Darla asked.

Addison smiled toward her friend. They were sitting in a coffee shop in the center of the city. She’d needed to get away from her apartment, and just get some fresh air. “We talked, not all night. We broke the ice that had seemed to surround our marriage.”

Darla was one of the people who knew about the arranged marriage between her and Shaun.

“He knows about your cooking? The book? The blog? Everything.”

“Yes.” She tapped the inside of her arm as well. “He knows I’ve got the implant, and he seems so happy about it. It’s too soon to have kids.”

“All this time, you both felt the same way.”

They had only talked for an hour, but it was the hour they should have taken at the beginning of their marriage, rather than now.

Their problems weren’t going to go away overnight. They were working on them, which was far more important to her.

“Do you think your marriage can work?” Darla asked. “You’ve said so yourself, you’re worlds apart.”

“Very true. I don’t know if we can be fixed, but I’d really like to give it a try. I don’t like failing, you know that.”

“I do.” Darla took a sip of her coffee, and Addison sat back in her chair. She loved these moments with Darla. In the early months of her marriage, it was these moments that had gotten her through.

Her friend was her rock.

“So, how are you and Dean getting on?”

“We’re not getting on. He asked me out again last night, and I turned him down.”

“You know, I don’t know why you don’t go out with him. He’s such a sweetheart.”

She sighed. “I know. He’s nothing like I imagined, and he’s sweet. When was a male model ever sweet?”

Dean was sweet, and for a short time, Addison had thought he was gay, but he wasn’t.

“He likes you.”

“Don’t, Addie, honey, please.”

Holding her hands up in surrender, she smiled. “I won’t interfere with your life. I’m sorry. I’ll try to keep my little nose out of it.”

They finished their coffees, and headed back to her apartment by walking. Addison loved walking as it cleared her mind and inspired her. Passing certain restaurants or takeouts, the scents helped her to think of new recipes to cook.

Darla talked about the latest video they had filmed, and how she had edited it twice so it was just the necessary stuff.

An hour later they entered her apartment. Dean was out for the day on a photo-shoot, so it was just them.

“I’m just going to put the news on, okay?” Darla asked.