The Real Deal Read online

  Zach left enough money for the bill and a substantial tip on the table, then escorted Betty out to the car. By the time he got her back to her apartment she was wobbly on her feet, and he insisted on taking her up to her apartment, then tucking her into bed.

  “Seriously, you don’t have to do this. I’m fine, okay?” Her face was flushed, whether with fever or embarrassment he couldn’t quite be sure.

  "You don't look fine, actually, and I'm not easily convinced once I've decided to do something. It'll be easier for everyone involved if you let me do this." Zach smiled down at Betty, and although she rolled her eyes in return, she also gave him a weak smile back. Even feeling so sick the way she was, he was shocked by how much he wanted her. He'd done the gentlemanly thing and turned around while she slipped out of her clothes and into a nightshirt, and it had been all he could do to keep from peeking. He could still see her laying underneath him in the back of his car, and it was a difficult image to ignore. There was something else, too, something he was completely surprised by. He didn't just want her; he wanted to protect her. He wanted to take care of her, and if that wasn't the damnedest thing, he didn't know what was.

  "I'm sorry, Zach," she mumbled sleepily, her eyes already half-closed, "I know you told me to stop saying that, but I am. I didn't want this one to be over. I wanted to stay."

  He said nothing in return, just sat on the side of her bed quietly and watched her slip into a fitful sleep. When he was sure she was out, he crept into the other room and settled down onto her couch. She hadn't asked him to stay, might be pissed when she woke and found him still there, but he couldn't leave. If there was any chance at all that she might need him, he wasn't going anywhere.

  Chapter Ten

  Betty Ingrid

  THE NEXT COUPLE OF weeks were the most surreal of Betty's life and for more than a couple of reasons. For starters, the series of dates Zach took her on bordered on unreal. Never before had she been on so many dates in such little time, and never with so much variety. In the span of two weeks, Betty went to more hole in the wall restaurants than she even knew existed, but also two different Michelin star restaurants as well. She went to her first opera, ballet, and basketball game, too. Every time she saw him, it was something different, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to separate what was real from what was only for show. Along with the dates came an ever-rising presence of the paparazzi and the media, which meant that for the first time in her life, she was somebody other people noticed. It wasn't a ton of people, not yet, but it was nothing she was used to. At the moment she was mostly touted as the "other woman" who was trying to take the place of the lovely Lucille. Lucille was busy playing the poor, suffering victim and in Betty's humble opinion, doing it very well. She had seen the severe-looking woman on more than one tv program talking about how she would still be there for him to come back to when he was done with his ‘last hurrah’ dalliances. Betty tried to remind herself that what she was involved with was a business deal and nothing personal, but she couldn't help it; she got to feeling almost territorial when Lucille said things like that as if Zach was truly something that belonged to her in the first place. Oh, and there was the fact that she was pretty sure she was pregnant. There was that, the thing she couldn't stop thinking about no matter where she was or what she was doing. Which, unfortunately, made it hard for her to act anything close to normal when he swept her off her feet for a romantic weekend at a remote cabin. It came with a ride on a private jet and everything, and all the while she thought about her potential baby.

  "Betty? Are you okay with this?" Zach broke into her private, scattered thoughts. He moved up behind her with the glass of tea she had requested over a glass of wine, just in case. He set it on the side table and then settled into the rocking chair perched close to hers. She could feel his particular brand of heat even through the thick woolen blanket, and it made her shiver.

  “Thanks,” she said gripping the mug in her hands and blowing across the top, “this is perfect. Definitely okay with it.”

  "Well I'm glad to hear it, but that's not exactly what I meant."

  “What did you mean?” she asked nervously. That was the worst part about the possibility of being pregnant. Everything that happened, everything Zach said, made her think she was going to be found out and all before she was sure there was any finding to be done. Except that she was sure, at least as sure as she could be without going to the doctor and having a blood test.

  "I meant this trip. I know it was unfair of me, springing it on you the way I did. I know you've got a life outside of what happens between the two of us." She glanced at Zach when he said that, looking to see if there was any kind of hidden meaning in what he’d said, and saw that he was only peering out into the lightly falling snow outside. Maybe his mind wasn't going anywhere sexual then, but she couldn't keep hers from doing so, at least not entirely. The two of them hadn't gotten physical aside from the odd kiss here and there for the benefit of the cameras. That had been weeks ago, and yet she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was the first place her mind went, for God's sake, and at the most inopportune times. It was good that he was respecting the boundaries of their agreement, or at least that's what she told herself. She just wasn't sure how completely she believed it.

  “I don’t, you know.”

  "Don't what?" he asked, watching her with warm, kind eyes. How come she hadn't ever noticed how kind his eyes were before? And where the hell was all of these similarities between the two of them coming from all of a sudden?

  "Don't have a life outside of this arrangement. I don't have a job anymore, which you well know." He winced, and she smiled to let him know she wasn't mad about it anymore.

  “Right. Sorry about that. Again.”

  "Don't be. I'd take this weird job over working at the diner any day. I don't know if you know this but being a waitress kind of sucks."

  “I don’t doubt it,” he laughed, “not at all. But that’s not all you had, right? You still have school.”

  “That’s right, I do. And thanks to you I’m actually going to be able to finish, and not in another five years. This is the only time in my entire school career that I’ve been able to pay for more than just a class or two at a time.”

  “That’s awesome, Betty. Really, I’m glad to hear that.”

  "Me too," she said thickly, appalled to find her eyes filling up with tears she absolutely would not allow herself to shed. "It makes it feel real. After all of this time, I can see that there's going to be something else. Something better, maybe."

  “And what would that look like?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” she said, coloring a little under the weight of his intent gaze.

  “When you’re done with school. What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t want to say. You’ll laugh.”

  “I won’t, though. You should try giving me a little more credit.”

  “I want to open my own restaurant.”

  “Do you really?” he asked with surprise.

  “I know, it sounds nuts, especially when I’ve just gotten through telling you how shitty it is to be a waitress. But I love the way food can bring people together. That part I’ve never gotten tired of. I want to open my own shop and do things right.”

  “I think that’s lovely. And your family?”

  “What about them?” She asked a little testily. She saw her tone register on his face and softened, if only slightly.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to strike a nerve. I was just wondering–”

  "They aren't in the picture, and even if they were, they wouldn't be able to help. I grew up dirt poor, Zach, with nothing. I'm the only one of my family who's ever even considered going to college."

  “But your folks have got to be proud of you for doing it, even if they don’t totally understand it.”

  "You would think, right? Unfortunately, they're a little too busy being alcoholics to give it much thought. I'm on my own, Zach. Like, for re
al."

  “You must think I’m such a douche,” he said quietly, almost sadly.

  “What? Why? I didn’t say that at all.”

  “Because of who I am. What my family has.”

  "But you didn't take money from them, did you?" she asked gently. She could hardly believe she was defending him, but she didn't seem able to stop herself. There was something about him that looked so vulnerable she couldn't not come to his defense.

  "No," he said in a long exhalation of breath, "no, I didn't. It's important to me to be my own man. I love my family, but I don't want anything from them. Taking things from them means obligations, and I don't want those. Not any of them."

  Betty nodded, careful to keep a blandly interested look on her face. Inside, though, she felt like she was breaking apart. So that was his key motivator: avoiding any and all obligations. She didn't have any experience with the matter, but she had a sinking suspicion that a baby fell squarely into that category. She had no idea how she was supposed to go on and act like she was fine now, especially for a whole weekend, and she knew he was going to see the upset on her face. It looked like he might be about to ask her about it, too, when a very loud noise came from overhead.

  “What the hell is that?” she asked, looking up quickly.

  “Shit. It’s company, that’s what it is.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Betty Ingrid

  "THIS IS GOOD THOUGH, right? This was part of the reason you wanted us to come here in the first place." Betty had to raise her voice some to be heard over the helicopter flying alarmingly low above their heads. It didn't take a genius to know that it was someone, or several someones, trying to get their picture for the latest gossip news network. Zach had discussed it all with her when he'd come up with the plan to head to his cabin in the first place. With all of the teary-eyed interviews Lucille was giving, people weren't taking things with him and Betty serious enough. He wanted to take a romantic trip to clue people in to how serious he was getting about her and maybe dampen Lucille's sway a little bit. So essentially, it was all a big show the two of them were putting on for the benefit of the people he was trying to get off his back: mainly, his family. It was working, too. They were here. Except that instead of being pleased he looked annoyed. More than annoyed, he looked pissed off. The only thing she could figure was that it was likely an inborn reaction to the presence of these intruders he had probably been putting up with for the entirety of his life. A small voice in the back of her head kept insisting that his reaction was due to something else, that maybe he hadn't wanted their time together interrupted after all, but she pushed it savagely aside. It was only stupid female emotion, hormones, or something like that making her think that way. At the end of the day, this was still a job, and she had made a promise to put on an excellent performance. She intended to do so, too. She intended for Zach to get his money's worth. She put her mug down softly on the table and stood, allowing her blanket to slip from her shoulders and fall to the ground. It was only a small number of movements to get her from her position of standing in front of him to straddling him where he sat in his chair.

  "Hey, what are you doing?" His hands flew up so violently he almost dropped his glass of wine, but she managed to catch it in time. It was like her reflexes were on overdrive.

  “What are you doing?” he asked her, sounding a little out of breath.

  “What you asked me to do. I’m putting on a show.”

  She waited only for a moment, but it was long enough for her to see the genuine surprise in Zach's eyes. There was always that promise between the two of them that she would live up to her end of the bargain, but somehow she had still managed to catch him off guard. It was unexpected, but it infused her with an awesome feeling of power over him, and when she bent her head and kissed him it was with confidence, unlike anything she'd ever been capable of before. She didn't worry at all that she might be too heavy to sit in his lap or that he might decide there was just a little too much of her and come up with some kind of excuse to make her move. There would have been no need for those fears, either, because getting rid of her looked to be the furthest thing from his mind. When her lips met his, her tongue sliding effortlessly into his mouth, all of the uncertainty left his touch. His hand moved up to her waist, gripping her tightly and pulling her closer towards him. He rocked her hips over his own, simulating the act from weeks ago that she hadn't been able to get out of her mind. She felt him go hard beneath her and her body flooded with the feeling of absolute control.

  “Come on, Zach,” she murmured into his ear before nibbling tantalizingly on one earlobe, “they want a show, right?”

  “Yes,” he groaned, “yes, that’s what they want.”

  “So let’s give them one they won’t ever forget.”

  He half laughed, half growled, his hand moving to her hips while she took control. Her hair tumbled down around the both of them and created something like a curtain to shield them from all outside intruders. Her entire body seemed to be infused with his scent, something resembling cedar that made her heart jump. Somewhere above her the noise of the chopper's propellers was still going strong, but it didn't seem to matter. It didn't bother her one bit. Let them take their pictures. That was why she was there. That was why they were all there. She kissed him and kissed him again, and after a little while, she felt like there was meaning to it. His taste filled her mouth completely as his hands roamed the secret territory of her body. It was a feeling to get lost in, and when he pulled away from her, just slightly, it felt like a loss.

  “Betty, I–”

  “They’re gone. That...that was fast.”

  And it was true. Almost as quickly as it had come, the helicopter had gone. Apparently, they had put on such a good show that whomever was up there in the sky had already gotten what they had come for. She looked down into Zach's face and saw something in his eyes that looked a lot like real desire, whether there was somebody taking their picture or not. Seeing that terrified her. She got up from his lap so quickly she almost lost her balance and fell over. He reached out to help steady her, but she pulled away from him in a hurry. She was pretty sure she was making a fool of herself, but she couldn't help it. She hurried to her room, the separate room she had insisted on having if the two of them were going to have a weekend away, and shut the door. She sat on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. It was unbelievable, how things could go from so delicious to terrible in such a short amount of time. The problem was she had gone and caught a case of feelings. She didn't know how she could have allowed something like that to happen, how she could’ve been so reckless. That combined with the probable baby growing inside of her and she had made a complete mess of her life in a matter of weeks. And here she was, stuck with Zach in a freaking cabin with no way to get away and protect her heart.

  “Betty? Hey, can you let me?”

  “Um, no? I don’t want to. I’ve made a fool out of myself.”

  “I promise you, you haven’t. I’m concerned, though. I would really appreciate it if you would let me in.”

  Betty sighed. She would have loved to ignore him, only the concern she heard in his voice sounded real. That, along with the fact that it was his cabin to begin with, compelled her to do as he asked. She took a quick look in the mirror to survey the damage and cringed. Her face was badly flushed, and there was no way she would be able to hide her embarrassment. She opened the door nervously and moved aside to allow him room to enter. She moved back to the bed and sat on the edge, her hands folded primly in her lap. He sat beside her, so closely that she could feel his heat seeping into her skin.

  “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Would it be okay if I said no?” she asked timidly.

  "Sure it would. I'm not going to force you into anything, and that includes talking to me."

  “I just got flustered, okay? I don’t know.”

  “That’s alright. Would it help any if I told you that you had me f
eeling pretty flustered, too?”

  “Maybe. I might not believe you,” she said with a smile.

  “You can either believe me or not. Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make it any less true.”

  "Interesting. Does it make you nervous when I do this?" she asked coyly. She slid from her position on the bed and down to the floor. Never breaking eye contact with him, she positioned herself between his legs, placed her hands on his knees, and spread his legs further apart.

  "A little," he answered thickly. She could hear his breathing, and imagined that she could even hear the sound of his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. She was sure her own heart was beating just as loudly, but she didn't care. As long as she had something to distract herself from the swirling thoughts in her head she didn't care one bit. Her hands snaked up to the button of his slacks and pulled. She thought he might tell her to stop so they could finish their conversation, but he didn't do anything of the kind. What he did was stand and take down the zipper so that his full erect length was revealed.

  "Perfect," she murmured. She rose up onto her knees to meet him, then took his cock gently into one hand. He moaned a little at her touch, and she smiled. Whatever else was going on, this was a feeling of power. She slipped him into her mouth, and he let out a cry of immediate pleasure. While she was doing this, his body was at her mercy, and there was no time for talking. Her tongue ran along the ridged tip of him, her mouth moving up and down, up and down. One of her hands moved up to his shaft and slid up and down in tandem with her mouth. He moaned, rocking back on his heels and then plunging his hands into her hair. She felt him quiver inside of her, and a shiver of pleasure ran through her body.

  "Christ, Betty, if you don't want me to lose it you need to stop." He looked down at her, his face contorted with pleasure. Instead of stopping she sped up, hitting a rhythm no man alive would be able to stand up to, including Zach Jameson. She felt him jerk inside of her mouth and then he cried out again. His hips moved helplessly in time to the rhythm her mouth had set, and when he spilled himself inside of her, pulling her hair as he did so, she felt a jolt of pleasure in her own body so strong it was almost as if she was climaxing instead of him. Then he was helping her to her feet and back onto the bed. When he pushed on her shoulders gently, prompting her to prop herself up on her elbows and look at him in confusion, it was his turn to smile.