One Wild Night: Magnate's Mistress...Accidentally Pregnant! / Hot Boss, Boardroom Mistress / The Good, the Bad and the Wild

Chris closed the dishwasher with a snap and came to kneel next to her. “As much as I hate it, I have to go. I’m going to be late as it is.” He kissed her gently on the forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ally followed him to the door. “That’s an awful lot of driving for one weekend.You don’t have to come tomorrow. It’s okay.”

He was threading his belt through the loops of his jeans and didn’t look up. “The driving is a pain, but it’s not an issue anymore.”

“Oh.” Had he changed his mind in the last two seconds?

“Victor had the tail rotor taken apart this week, but he promised to have the helicopter back in working order sometime today.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Helicopter? You own a helicopter?”

Chris smirked, then hooked a finger under her chin, closing her mouth and turning it up to his at the same time. “Not personally, but the company does. It saves a lot of time.” He brushed his lips across hers. “Bye.”

Ally closed the door and leaned against it. She could hear the powerful motor of his car roar to life, then fade into the distance as he drove away.

Like she didn’t have enough to process. He owned a freaking helicopter, as well. And he’d be flying down tomorrow just to have lunch with her family. Suddenly, the hundred miles between Savannah and Charleston didn’t seem like such a stumbling block.

Just when she’d begun to think she had her feet under her and a plan in place, Chris had pulled the rug out. Bit by bit, he was slowly chipping away at her entire wall of defense.

How this vapid family produced someone like Ally baffled him.

She’d picked him up at the helipad, then spent the entire drive to her mother’s house “preparing” him, saying her family was a bit crazy but generally harmless. He hadn’t said anything in response to her anecdotes, because everyone thought their families were a bit insane or embarrassing.

Instead, he’d been introduced to the most selfish, narcissistic, self-centered people on earth. They were quick to put two and two together and realize he was the father of Ally’s child, but that hadn’t stopped the snide remarks made to Ally about her unwed, pregnant state.Yet no one seemed to make the same comments to Steven or his obviously pregnant girlfriend, Diane.

Ally favored her mother, Hannah, who didn’t look old enough to have three adult children, but the similarities ended there.

Hannah vapidly bounced from topic to topic, complaining about everything from wedding plans to the way Ally wore her hair. Erin, whom he mentally dubbed “princess,” treated Ally to condescension while simultaneously expecting Ally to manage everything. Ally’s brother was a real piece of work, a man-child who was obviously used to the women of his family waiting on him hand and foot. It extended to his girlfriend, as well, who even in an advanced state of pregnancy perched on the edge of her chair waiting to care for his next need. Through it all, Ally’s father wore the look of a man who’d learned it was easier not to interfere while his family swirled around him.

The entire lot disgusted him. Was Ally sure she wasn’t adopted?

After half an hour, he’d been hard-pressed not to drag Ally out of that toxic atmosphere, but she’d given him a pleading look and a whispered “It’s okay. They’ll get it out of their system soon.”

No wonder Ally approached the world with such caution. Her entire family had the emotional maturity of fifteen-year-olds, and no matter what happened, it was Ally’s job to fix it or else take the blame and to soothe ruffled feathers. When her brother handed Ally a checkbook for her to balance, it was almost the last straw. Couldn’t these people handle anything without Ally?

An hour later it hadn’t gotten any better, and Chris’s appetite and patience were long gone. When his phone rang, he went onto the porch to take the call and stayed out there to cool off before facing her family again.

“They’re usually much better behaved in front of company.” Ally spoke from behind him. “I’m sorry.”

Her heart-shaped face was earnest and concerned, and all the light had gone out of her eyes.

He bit back the disparaging remarks. This was Ally’s family, after all, and she obviously cared for them. He wouldn’t score any points with Ally by insulting her family—however well-deserved and correct the observations were. “They’re certainly…” He searched for an adjective.

“Crazy?” Ally provided. “I told you that,” she added with a sigh.

It wasn’t the word he would have chosen, but it would do. “They’re nothing like you, that’s for sure.” He touched a finger to her chin.

“Somebody has to be the grown-up. Can you imagine how they’d function if I weren’t around?” The corner of her mouth tipped up like she thought it was amusing.

“They’re adults,” he said, although it was a loose interpretation of the word. “They can take care of themselves.”

“You’d think.” Ally seemed to ponder that statement as she leaned against the porch railing. “It’s just easier to humor them than it is to deal with the fallout.”

“Let me guess. The reason you left Tortola so unexpectedly wasn’t simply because Steven had been in an accident, but because someone had to come deal with the grown-up stuff.”

Ally inclined her head slightly. “Of course I was worried about Steven, but, yeah, they needed me to deal with the hospital and the insurance companies and such. They don’t deal well with actual emergencies.”

He tried to keep his voice light. “What are they going to do when you’re busy with the baby and not able to drop everything when they call?”

She paused, seeming to think about something, so he let the silence stretch out. “Molly asked me the same thing.”

“Maybe it’s worth thinking about.”

Ally kicked off the railing and started to pace. “Sometimes I get really fed up with them. They’re flighty, they can’t hold down jobs or be responsible about anything. Theylovedmy ex, and looking back, I can totally see why. He was just like them. Happy to just sit back and let me take care of everything.”

Bitterness tinged her voice, and she seemed to be talking to herself now. “Calling me home from my vacation was par for the course. And at the time, I actually thought they’d done me a favor.”

“A favor?”

“After I got over the anger at having my vacation interrupted, I realized that given a few more days, I probably would have latched onto you. Tried to bring you home with me.”

Understanding dawned. “And I’d be just someone else for you to take care of. A beach bum with no job.”

She nodded. “No offense intended. I still toyed with the idea of trying to find you for a little while, but then I turned up pregnant.”

“And you figured the baby would be enough responsibility.”

“God, yes. I just didn’t have any more to give.”

“So doing it alone was your solution?”

“It was easier than trying to figure out how you’d fit into the picture.” She snorted. “Of course, that’s before you showed up and proved you didn’t need me to take care of you, too.”

“That’s because I’m an actual adult—not like them.” He jerked his head in the direction of the house. She winced, then nodded in agreement. “I don’t need a keeper.”

“I know that now. I misjudged you, and I’m sorry.”

He stepped forward and smoothed his hands over her crossed arms. She’d provided him with an opening. “I’d like to help take care of you, you know. You and the baby.”

Ally’s eyes met his, and he could see the confusion there. She really had been flying blind through this. And while the front porch of her parents’ house wasn’t exactly a good place to be having this conversation, he forged ahead.

“We kind of went about this all backward and out of order, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it work.”

Ally inhaled sharply. “You’re talking about getting married, aren’t you?”

He took a deep breath and asked for patience. “Yes, Ally, I’m talking about getting married. But not immediately.”

Her shoulders dropped and she sighed audibly in relief. That irked him a little. “But this game we’re playing—dancing around like there’s a better solution—is crazier than your family.” His voice turned husky. “There’s a lot to build on.” This time when she inhaled, he watched her eyes darken and knew she was also thinking about the night before last. His body hardened in response.