Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

The defensive attorney thinks I’m a monster, but there’s no way I’m reducing the charges on a man like that…

I flipped again.

This case makes me want to drink until I pass out so hard that I can’t dream about it. The pictures of that dead woman. They’re so hard to look at…I have to win this for her.

I snapped the book shut.

“Shit,” I said, feeling guilty and triumphant at the same time. Part of me felt like I shouldn’t invade his privacy by reading these, but he was dead now, wasn’t he? Maybe I’d find some answers.

The gas pump stopped and I shoved the books back into the backpack and pushed them across the seat. Once I’d finished paying, I jumped back in the truck and drove the rest of the way home.

Chloe

“That was delicious, babe, thank you,” Bear said, smiling across the table at me. His eyes were sad, but tonight there was something else.

“I love cooking for you,” I said. “More than that, I love eating.”

He laughed softly, pulling me into his lap and kissing me.

His cock stirred and I wiggled my hips.

He moaned softly and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, love,” he said. “My heads just not in the game tonight.”

“I understand,” I said, kissing him gently. He’d told me he’d bailed out of work and gone up to the cabin today. I knew he would do it soon. He’d been talking about going up there for weeks.

Now that he had, I knew why I didn’t want him to. From the haunted look in his eyes, it was as if he’d taken two steps back in the grieving process.

“You know, Bear, I was thinking,” I said. “Maybe we should postpone the wedding. Until you’re feeling better. Maybe we need more time.”

“No!” he insisted, shaking his head firmly. “This weekend!”

“You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” he insisted. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I promise not to be so macabre on our wedding day, Beauty.”

“It’s not that…well, maybe a little, but you feel whatever you need to feel. I just wish there was something I could do.”

“You’re doing it,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Just by being you. By being here. By marrying me.”

“If you say so…”

“I do.” He kissed me again before staring deeply into my eyes. “Marry me, Chloe. That will make me the happiest man alive.”

“All right, my love,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “This weekend. Here. In this penthouse. I will marry you, in front of my Mom and Marie and Max.”

“I can’t wait,” he said, his sad eyes betraying the smile he was forcing. It was all so bittersweet, and there was nothing I could do to lift his mood.

“It’s going to be very simple,” I said.

“I just want you to be happy,” he said.

“That’s funny, because that’s what I want for you.”

“Well, then,” he replied, “sounds like we’re a match made in heaven.”

I kissed him lightly through my smile and stood up, gathering the dishes and heading to the kitchen to clean up.

“Are you sure you don’t want help with that?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said. “You can go to your study if you want. I’ll bring you a whiskey.”

“You’re the best, Beauty,” he winked. “I love you forever.”

“I’ll love you longer,” I said, tossing him a smile over my shoulder.

Ten minutes later, I brought him a goblet full of sparkling amber whiskey that probably cost a thousand dollars, but I didn’t know any better. It all smelled and tasted exactly the same to me, just like wine did. I guess I just didn’t have a taste for expensive stuff.

Either way, the smell of it made me gag, and I held it far away from my very pregnant nose.

“Thanks, babe,” Bear said, as I sat it on the table next to him. He’d turned off the lights and started a fire, and he sat by the easy chair next to the hearth, completely engrossed in a book.

“Sure,” I said. “What are you reading?”

“I ran across some old journals of Bruce’s,” he said. “Thought I’d skim through them.”

“Okay,” I replied gently, my heart aching for him. “I’m going to work on my dress. Let me know if you need anything.”

He didn’t look up, he just nodded and I padded out, quietly closing the door behind me and leaving him alone with this thoughts.

Time, time, time, I reminded myself as I made my way to my new studio. He’d converted one of the back bedrooms into a studio for me and I was putting the finishing touches on my wedding dress.

I didn’t have much time, so I opted for a simple slip style, made from fine white silk. The top was fitted, with spaghetti straps and a low v-cut in the front. The skirt stretched all the way to the floor, flaring out at the bottom to give it a little flow. I’d left it backless, with just a few pearl buttons starting at the swell of my hips and trailing up to the small of my back.

It was classic and elegant and I couldn’t wait to wear it.

I had a few more hours work left to put in and I figured tonight was as good as any. The faster I got this done, the faster I could get to other things.

My lists were long and plenty but I was crossing things off left and right, making decision after decision, emboldened by my new-found strength and motivation. I’d never been so productive in my life.

Of course, I had a baby cooking in me the whole time, and that just empowered me more—as if, I could accomplish all these tasks and still keep growing my daughter, then there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do.

It was a good feeling that I allowed myself to wrap myself up in, in the midst of all this anguish that filled these silent rooms.

Time, time, time, I reminded myself for the hundredth time today. Things will get back to normal in time.

Whatever normal is…

I looked up as my door opened just as I sat down at my sewing machine.

Bear’s hungry eyes met my gaze and I smiled…knowing exactly what he wanted and so happy I could give it to him.

Bear

I watched Chloe walk away and put the journal down. I sipped the whiskey, my eyes glued to her swaying hips. She was only a few months pregnant, but I already noticed a slight change in her body. Her hips were more voluptuous and her breasts had swollen slightly. Her nipples were ten times more sensitive, which made pinching them even that more fun.

Dammit, I thought, downing my whiskey and abandoning the journals for now. I’d come back to them later. After I’d tended to the fire that merely watching Chloe walk away had ignited inside of me. My cock was hard as a rock and I shifted in my jeans as I walked down the hallway, my cock already buried inside of her in my mind.

The look on her face when I op

ened the door told me everything I needed to know. She came to me with open arms, her lips warm and inviting, her body pressed silently up to mine.

We didn’t need words.

She knew. I knew. We both needed the same thing.

We walked arm in arm down the hallway to the dark room, the door closing behind us. I made a mental note to get a lock for that door soon. If we were going to have a toddler running around, the last thing I wanted to do was scar her for life. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

As Chloe turned to face me, I ran my fingers over her beautiful face, trying to imagine which of her features our child might inherit. Hopefully, all of them.

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I said.

Her smile lit up my heart and made my cock throb even harder. She reached down, gripping my cock and squeezing gently, lifting her chin as she met my gaze.

“Tell me what you want, Bear. Tell me what I can do for you, tell me what you want to do to me…I want to please you,” she whispered, her eyes glistening.

She was so sweet it almost broke my heart. I know she hates seeing me in pain. I know it’s hard on her. I know all of these things and I’m doing my best to shake them. And I will. I’ll figure it all out, I’ll work through it, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and then I’ll be the man she knows.

I hated that I’d been taken down by grief. I felt soft and vulnerable, in a way, and I hated that fucking feeling more than anything.

I growled, my anger at the unending grief growing inside of me.

“Tell me what to do, baby…”

Chloe’s eyes were a blank slate of submission. I’d never been more thankful for her.

“I just want to forget,” I said, sitting down. “Just for a few minutes…”

“I think I can help you with that,” she said. She stood in front of me, her movements sure and confident as she pulled her shirt over her head and unzipped her jeans. She pushed them over the new curves of her hips, shimmying out of them and pushing them to the side. Naked and bare, I drank in her smooth skin, reaching out for her. I ran my hands over her hips and up to her stomach, my fingers flaring out over her belly. I leaned forward, closing my eyes and pressing my lips into the soft velvety skin there. She held me close, stroking my hair before pulling away.