CEO's Unwanted Wife

Chapter 8

...And the penny finally dropped. Bella stared up at the warmly smiling man and felt like a complete i***t for not connecting the dots sooner. It was Friday night, Brian was dressed in his sports gear and he had brought her to his regular, bloody football game! How typical, the man certainly pulled out all the stops when faced with an obstacle but this was just despicable and so unbelievably obvious! He had given her no warning whatsoever. No wonder he was such a successful businessman, he was a master at manipulating a situation to his advantage and this was a classic example. Give the woman what she wants and maybe her rebellion will subside and she will get down to the business of being a human incubator!

"I'm so happy to meet you, Mr Braddock," she said softly, taking the man's proffered hand and disguising her anger and confusion behind a sweet smile. "Why, just recently I expressed a wish to meet you!" She refused to look at Brian but she sensed him uncomfortably shifting from one foot to the other. "And here we are..."

"Indeed," the other man smiled even though it was obvious, in the way he glanced at Brian, that he knew something was amiss. "I'm glad you overcame your aversion to football and decided to join us tonight. The guys will be delighted to meet Brian's beautiful wife." Her aversion to football? So that was how he'd explained away her conspicuous absences.

"And I'm looking forward to meeting them," she said warmly. She was annoyed with Brian and hurt by his transparent ploys to keep her appeased but this tall, broad-shouldered man with the warm smile seemed lovely and Bella could not help but instinctively like him.

"Everybody's around back, Brian," Gabe informed the silent man who stood at her back. "I'll join you soon, I'm waiting for Bobbie." He relinquished Bella's hand and grinned down at her. "Don't let the guys flirt with you too much, Bella. They're an incorrigible lot and they're suckers for a pretty girl!" He seemed to mean it, if his lingering glance over her blushing face was any indication.

"Enough with the flirting, Braddock," Brian suddenly growled, stepping forward to place a possessive hand on her elbow and Gabe's grin took on a decidedly wicked slant.

"I can't believe it..." he hooted his voice alive with discovery. "You're jealous... of me!" The very idea was so ludicrous that Bella laughed along with him but Brian's grip tightened on her elbow.

"I'm not jealous," he retorted scathingly once their laughter had died down. "Just trying to protect my wife from your smarmy attentions, you smart ass."

"No... I'm beginning to believe you kept her away from all of us for so long because you can't handle the competition," the other man ribbed with the nerve that only a long-standing friend would possess.

"I am confident of my wife's excellent taste," Brian dismissed before trying to steer Bella away but she resisted.

"Now hold on a second, Brian... I haven't exactly been spoiled for choice you know! I may find that my taste has changed..." Oh he did not like that, not one bit! He slanted a hard narrow-eyed glare at her that the other man, who was laughing in delight at her pithy comeback, did not see and Bella tilted her chin stubbornly and met his glare with a defiant glare of her own.

"Ooh, I like her, Brian," Gabe finally laughed, wiping at his eyes. "She's a feisty one."

"Yes..." Brian's eyes warmed with reluctant amusement. "This I am beginning to realise." He tugged at her arm again and before Bella could say or do anything more, he was leading her away. She followed docilely until she was certain that they were out of sight and earshot of the other man before she yanked her elbow from his grasp and turned on him furiously.

"You despicable, manipulative bastard!" She seethed, venting her frustration by punching him in the chest for good measure. He grimaced and rubbed at the spot she had hit before stepping out of the range of her swing.

"What the hell is your problem?" He growled angrily.

"My problem?" She managed to keep voice just under a screech. "My problem is you! You lied to me... again. You said that this was a business thing."

"Technically, it is... I am in business with at least five of the men here tonight!" He responded defensively.

"But this isn't really business is it? This is your precious little football game, the one I wasn't good enough to be invited to until after I threatened to leave you!"

"You said that you wanted to meet my friends," he seemed genuinely baffled. "Now when I give you that opportunity, you go crazy! I don't understand you at all..."

"The only reason you brought me here tonight was because you thought it would appease me. Throw the vicious dog a bone and it'll soon be eating out of your hand!"

"More like vicious b***h," he muttered beneath his breath and when he realised that she had heard him, he shrugged unrepentantly. "If you're going to be using animal metaphors, you may as well get it right."

"Fine, I'm a bitch... whatever!" She knew her response was childish but she was feeling more than a little put out by the situation.

"Look, I don't understand why you're so angry when you said you wanted to meet them."

"A year ago... Eighteen months ago even but not now! Don't you realise that this is too little too late?" She shook her head in frustration. "It's like putting a band-aid on an amputation!"

"You're being over-dramatic as usual," he dismissed scathingly.

"Oh you knew what my reaction would be and the only reason you knew that was because you recognised how inadequate and pathetic this gesture really is."

"And how do you figure that?" He asked defensively, crossing his arms over his broad chest and glaring down his beautiful nose at her.

"Why else would you be so sneaky about bringing me here?"

"Maybe that's because you've been so ridiculous about going anywhere with me lately!" He snapped angrily. "I knew you'd refuse if I asked you to come here tonight, so I had to fabricate a business dinner. Recently you've done nothing but over-react to everything I say and do, as well as completely misread my intentions, so I couldn't take the chance. I was hoping that for once I'd be wrong about you... but sure enough you had to go and be unreasonable about this too. You're so determined to put a negative slant on everything I do these days, that you're not willing to accept anything at face value. There are no ulterior motives here... I realised that you had a point about never meeting my friends, I realised that I have been... unfair and I wanted a chance to make it right," she bit her lip, unwilling to trust him but unable to resist the earnestness in his eyes. He looked like he actually meant his words.

"Don't you realise how foolish I feel?" She suddenly whispered, lowering her gaze to her feet. "Meeting them now... what must they think of me? I feel like I'm on display... your mystery wife who has shunned them for more than a year." He took a hesitant step toward her before wrapping his arms around her and dropping his forehead to hers. He brought his hands up to cup her face.

"They'll know whose fault it was, Bella... I'll make sure of that," he promised huskily.

"How?"

"I'll get them to believe that I really was too possessive to share you with them. They'll think that I wanted you all to myself."

"But that would make you look..." she struggled to find the correct word. "... insecure."

"Maybe..." he shrugged carelessly. "Or maybe they'll take one look at you and understand why I'd react like that."

"What do you..." his thumbs pressed to her soft lips, silencing the question.

"Silly little Bella," he chided softly. "I may not have said it much, or at all for that matter but you're so beautiful I ache just looking at you sometimes." She wasn't beautiful; she knew she wasn't but just this once she wanted to believe him, especially since he seemed to mean it. She had never seen such stark honesty in his eyes before and it warmed her down to her toes. He leaned even closer, his lips just millimetres away from hers when an amused voice had them leaping guiltily apart.

"Come on guys, your honeymoon ended a year and five months ago. Give it a rest!" It was Gabe, coming up behind them. Bella went a fiery red, while Brian merely frowned, hunching his shoulders and dropping his hands into his pockets. He slanted a quick and inscrutable look at Bella, who immediately averted her eyes. She couldn't think about that achingly sweet moment and she certainly couldn't wonder about that near-kiss, not right then.

She was quiet on the drive home and still confusing reality with fantasy. Brian's friends had been lovely and she'd enjoyed cheering them on from the sidelines. She had been a bit uncomfortable around the other wives and girlfriends at first but they'd been so genuinely welcoming that Bella had relaxed almost immediately. Brian's constant attention had helped a lot. He would often trot over to where she was sitting to ask if she was okay, if she needed anything, if she was warm enough and it had become embarrassing after a while, especially when his friends had started ribbing him about it. Bella had known, of course, that it was all an act but it had still been a heady sensation to have his entire focus on her like that. Bella had found the actual football game surprisingly riveting, especially since she had been unable to tear her eyes off of her graceful, talented husband. Afterwards they'd had a barbecue and again, Brian had been constantly attentive and almost affectionate, holding her hand or wrapping his arm around her shoulders. After the initial awkwardness, Bella had found herself relaxing more and more.

Now in the confined space of the car, there was a shimmering tension between them and Bella leaned forward to fill the silence with music but he caught her hand to prevent her from turning on the CD player.

"Don't..." she turned to look at the silhouette of his profile but he kept his eyes glued to the road.

"But..."

"Did you have a good time tonight?" He asked gruffly.

"Yes... they're all lovely people."

"I'm glad." Silence again. He still hadn't released her hand, keeping it pinned between his hard thigh and his large hand.

"Everybody really liked you," she could hear the warmth in his voice but didn't know if it was directed at his friends or at her. "I was... proud... to have you there." She blinked, not at all sure how to take that. "And I felt guilty for leaving it for so long. I never meant to make you feel like I was ashamed of you, Bella... I didn't want to marry you, it's true, but not at any point did I ever feel that you would shame me."

"Thank you for saying that," she whispered. "It means a lot." His hand tightened on hers before he let her go and she reluctantly lifted her hand from his thigh. There was silence again but this time it didn't feel quite so unfriendly and unwelcome anymore.