Never Dare a Tycoon (21 page)

 

“Antonia?” Brett asked, looking at her strangely.

 

“What?”

 

“Do you want to get off the elevator?” he asked, keeping his finger on the “open” button to hold the doors for her.

 

“Oh,” she said, then blushed as she stepped into the parking lot. “Sorry,” she said.

 

“No problem,” he replied. “My car’s over here.”

 

“I’ll just head home, if you don’t mind. I’m not all that hungry anymore.” Antonia wanted to hurry home and think this latest revelation through.

“No way. I’m going to make sure you eat something,” he said and took her arm to head her in the direction of his car. Holding open the door, he said, “Get in. I’ll drive you home later and pick you up tomorrow morning.”

“Brett, there’s no need,” she said but was cut off by the door closing on her. She waited until he got in beside her. “Brett, there’s no need to take me out to dinner. I really want to go through those files again.”

Brett ignored her and started the engine, backing out of the parking space. “After dinner,” he said.

He drove to a small Italian restaurant close by the office and they were quickly seated since it was a Monday night. Antonia was determined to remain angry with him over his brutish tactics, first at dragging her out of her office, then when he forced her into his car and practically kidnapped her to the restaurant. But her will couldn’t hold up against the fantastic plate of fettuccini alfredo and Brett’s humor. He told her stories about some of the vice presidents that had her laughing so hard her stomach hurt.

It was ten o’clock when he dropped her off in front of the house. The front lights were on, but the rest of the house was dark. Antonia suspected that Sal was still working. Probably where she’d be right now if it hadn’t been for Brett.

But she couldn’t be mad at him now. Especially when he was leaning down to kiss her good night. And Antonia kissed him right back, feelings of tenderness overwhelming her at the thought that she might be carrying his child. She completely forgot about her promise to try and break off this relationship.

The next morning, she walked into the kitchen feeling awful. She tried to smile when she saw Brett, but she was afraid it came out more as a grimace. Walking to the sink, she poured herself a cool glass of water and sipped it, hoping her stomach would calm down. She was almost positive that she was pregnant. And right now, she wasn’t feeling very tender towards Brett, who’d shown up at the house this morning before she was ready. He was standing in the kitchen, sipping coffee looking fresh and alive, reading something in a file folder.

“Long night?” he asked.

 

Antonia shook her head. “No. I slept like a log.”

Brett smiled and pulled her close. “Wish I’d been there,” he said, kissing her neck, her ear. She resisted for only a moment. But her stomach rebelled and she stood still, hoping it would get back onto a normal keel again.

Antonia shivered. How could he make her want him, even when she felt this awful. She moaned softly when he found a spot behind her ear, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Want to skip work today?” he asked. “We could stay in bed all day and make love.”

 

Antonia’s body was already reacting to his nearness. But she resisted. “I don’t think that would make a very good impression.”

 

“I’ll clear it with your boss,” he said and slid his hand down her spine, sending shivers through her body.

 

“Brett…” Antonia pleaded.

He took a deep breath, then sighed. “Ok. You win. We work. But no more nights alone. You’re leaving at six tonight and we’re heading to my house for dinner.”

“I don’t think that would be a very good idea,” she started, only to be interrupted by Brett kissing her.

 

“Come on. You’ll be late for work,” he said and he took her hand, pulling her behind him to his car.

For the rest of the week, Antonia worked hard on avoiding him. She made sure she had left the office before he came to pick her up. And when she got home at night, she was already asleep when he called so Sal had an easy excuse for why she wouldn’t talk to him on the phone.

That worked for only a week. By Friday Brett trumped her by ordering her into his office late in the afternoon. When she received the summons, she was irritated but reminded herself that he was now her boss.

“You called for me?” she asked politely, standing in the doorway to his office, not daring to come inside.

 

Brett looked up from the file folder he was reading and nodded his head towards an empty chair in front of his desk, indicating that she should take a seat.

 

Instead of taking the chair, Antonia stepped into the office but only a few feet.

 

Brett noticed her defiance and his mouth thinned in frustration. “Close the door,” he snapped.

 

“I’d rather…”

 

“I don’t care what you’d rather, shut it,” he interrupted and turned to face the window, assuming she would follow his orders immediately.

 

Antonia did but only because she wanted to have it out with Brett and didn’t want his other employees to hear the conversation.

 

As soon as the door closed, Brett swung around and glared at her. “Ok, tell me what the hell is going on.”

 

Antonia bristled at his tone. “Well, let’s see, I’m working on a project…” “Not about your work. Why are you avoiding me?”

Antonia’s raised an eyebrow sardonically. “Why would you think I’m avoiding you? And how could I possibly do that?” she snapped, her anger rising as she thought about her circumstance. “Our rehearsal dinner is in exactly one week, our wedding is the next day. Apparently I have the whole day off next Friday and the following two weeks which I didn’t know about until this morning when Kim mentioned it to me.”

“It’s for our honeymoon!”

 

“Well, thanks for asking me!” she snapped right back.

 

Brett leaned both hands against his desk and glared at her. “What’s going on? I know you love me so what’s your issue with this wedding?”

 

His comment took all the wind out of her. And in a small voice, she replied, “No one asked me.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Antonia took a deep breath to control the sudden need to cry. “You never asked me to marry you. You just told me.”

 

“Because you would have said no,” Brett replied, his voice softer as he took in the hurt expression on her face.

 

Antonia nodded. “Yes, I probably would have.”

 

“Why?” he demanded.

“I explained all this before. I’ve spent my whole life being controlled by my father or my brothers. Everyone has always told me what was in my best interest. But no one ever asked or trusted
me
to know what was in my best interest.”

“That’s not true,” Brett started only to be interrupted by her.

“Yes, it is true,” she said, nodding her head forcefully. “Look at how you got me here. You took control of my bank account, my stock portfolio and got my brothers to make sure I couldn’t depend on my trust fund for money. I’m completely at your mercy.”

Brett shook his head and came around the desk to stand right in front of her. “Believe it or not, I didn’t do any of those things. But I’m grateful for your brothers for doing them since it pushed you right towards me,” he said. Antonia blinked back the tears. “You didn’t?”

Brett shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope.”

 

“Then, why…who…?”

“I’m guessing your brothers finally found out all of your secrets and manipulated everything themselves. But I promise I had no prior knowledge of anything they were doing,” he said.

As she thought back to the conversations with the bank managers, all of them had mentioned one of her brothers. Antonia had just assumed that Brett had set them up to it. And then her face brightened again when she realized that he trusted her to work in his company.

“So, you weren’t trying to control me?”

 

Brett shook his head. “No. But if you’d left, I would have dragged you back here,” he corrected.

 

That took some of the wind out of her sails. “Why?”

Brett took one of her hands and pulled her closer to him. “We’ve already had this discussion. You would have been running away from me, and from what I can make you feel.”

Antonia couldn’t deny that anymore.

 

“Are you going to stop avoiding me?” he said, lowering his head to kiss her.

 

“I don’t know,” she replied, lifting her head to meet his kiss.

 

Brett growled in response. “You’re going to drive me crazy,” he said and kissed her passionately.

 

A few minutes later, he raised his head. “Will you marry me?”

 

Antonia examined the face she loved so much it hurt. “I need to ask you a question first.”

 

Brett sighed deeply. “Ok, what’s the question?” he said and leaned back against his desk, bringing her with him so she was standing between his long legs. “How do you feel about kids?”

 

Brett shrugged his shoulders. “I love them. I want lots of them,” he replied immediately.

Antonia nodded her head, accepting his answer. “I do too.” She was looking at the buttons on his shirt, afraid of what she had to tell him now, worried that he meant having babies later rather than sooner.

“So are there any other issues or can I kidnap you for the rest of the afternoon and make love to you?”

 

Antonia laughed, liking the idea but wanting to get her news out first. “Well, there’s something you should know.”

 

“If I agree to it, will you finally agree to marry me?”

 

“I’m pregnant,” she said bluntly, then held her breath while she waited for his reaction.

Brett’s stunned expression lasted for only a few moments. Then a huge grin started on his face, growing to a wide smile that ended with him throwing his head back and laughing. “So all this week, you really were sleeping?”

Antonia nodded, feeling more free than she ever had in her life. “Yes,” she said.

 

Brett stilled. A moment later, he pulled her shoulders back so he could look into her eyes. “Yes?”

 

“Yes, I’ve been falling asleep early each night. Yes, I’ve also been avoiding you for fear of your reaction. Yes, I’ll marry you. And yes, I love you.”

“Thank God! I’ve been waiting for you to admit that for weeks!” he laughed. “I’m glad that we have a wedding already planned. Otherwise, you’d be flying out to Reno tonight.”

“Brett…”Antonia started, feeling shy once again.

 

“I love you too,” was all he said before bending to kiss her again.

 

And those were the only words Antonia needed to hear before throwing her whole self into kissing him back.