The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 23

Bobbie felt her palms sweating and admitted she was beyond nervous. She had excused herself from the breakfast table and was in the bathroom shaking uncontrollably. She knew she had to get it together, but the reality was, she didn’t feel good enough.

Olivier came from a bunch of uber wealthy people, and she was the illegitimate daughter of a bar server who had never met her own father. She had, even if Olivier said she hadn’t, sold herself for money and had been his hooker. Even though he said he’d never really considered it this way, it still felt like it to her and meeting the parents of the man she had prostituted herself to had never been something she’d thought she’d ever do.

A knock on the door interrupted her negative thoughts and she opened it once she heard it was Everly on the other side.

Everly immediately wrapped her up in a big hug and squeezed her, “it’s going to be okay.”

“I’m out of my depths here,” she confessed, her eyes watering. “These people are super wealthy, crazy religious and I feel outclassed. I keep thinking of Ollie crying when she realized she had sworn in front of her father without knowing he was her dad. It’s how I feel. What if I curse in front of them?”

“Then you curse in front of them,” Everly shrugged. “Bobbie, you have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to feel small about.”

“I was his hooker,” she clenched her fists frustratedly.

“Yeah, one he hired,” Everly didn’t do what everyone else did in trying to tell her what she believed she had done was a misunderstanding. “You might have been a hooker, but he was a John. Don’t forget! He went looking for paid s*x. No matter what, you were both equally responsible for the events which transpired until someone else ripped your relationship to shreds.”

She rested her head on Everly’s shoulder, “he told me last night he had come back on the Sunday with the intention of tossing the contract out and just asking me to be with him. Bernard ruined it. Apparently, his father knew all about me back then.”

“Really?” Everly rubbed her back, “that’s good. It means he cared for you back then. He definitely does now. He can’t keep his eyes or his hands off you.”

She sniffed and closed her eyes, “you think?”

“I do. I saw the ring you have on your hand you keep hiding behind your back. When are you going to tell me about it?”

“Not much to tell,” she made a face. “I told him I didn’t want to get married this week. He agreed to a compromise. We tell his family we are engaged but no date set yet. He got me a ring yesterday.” She held it up for Everly to examine.

“He has good tastes.”

“I have good tastes,” she gave a small smile, “he went to the place I sent Grady for your anniversary gift.”

“You definitely have good tastes.”

“They’re going to be here any minute and I feel like a fraud.” She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t be hobnobbing with the rich and famous.”

“You’ll have to figure it out because they are going to be here, and they are Ollie and Max’s grandparents. You have to deal with them and have to interact with them.”

“His mother is Gael’s daughter.”

“But” Everly pointed out, “Olivier, for a man with the bank balance he has, is the most down to earth guy ever. He’s more grounded than Grady. Grady’s a stick in the mud sometimes but Olivier is the mud. He’s just down and dirty and relaxed. Even his two friends who were there last night for dinner were super relaxed. He didn’t get this way from being raised by uptight wads.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Bobbie gave a small nod as she pulled away and grimaced at her reflection. “I’m ruining my make-up.”

“What’s with the make-up by the way?” Everly asked curiously, “we’re in Houston. You never wear foundation in this heat.”

“Broke a bunch of b***d vessels in my face. My skin looks like I had acupuncture.”

“From what?”

She stuck her tongue into her cheek and Everly gave a loud guffaw.

“You dirty girl,” Everly grinned.

“You’re one to talk,” she tossed back, “aren’t you the one I had to take to the emergency room once to get a toy removed from your a*s?”

“Can you imagine Grady wanted to come with me?” Everly shuddered in repulsion. “What a tool. It was bad enough the staff were going to laugh at me but if he’d been there, it would have been a hundred times worse because he would have gone into explicit detail about how he broke the string off the anal beads.”

They both giggled loudly. The bellowing of Olivier calling for Bobbie made them both look towards the door of the bathroom.

Everly opened it up, “we’re having girl talk. You’re interrupting.”

“My family just pulled up to the hotel. They’ll be in the elevator in minutes.”

“Show time,” Everly pushed her in the direction of the door. “This is a nice bathroom, by the way.”

“It is,” Bobbie agreed and then thought of something, “how’d you get the mirror fixed so fast?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Olivier laughed and hooked his arm over her neck and hugged her tight. He whispered in her ear, “relax, chérie, they don’t bite. They’re just people.”

“Easy for you to say,” annoyance tinted her voice, “you weren’t the hired help.”

“Everly, out,” Olivier spun Bobbie around by the arm and saw Everly’s eyebrows raise at the sudden drop of temperature in the room. “Out!” he echoed his command and Everly put her head down in uncharacteristic fashion and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

“This is the last time I ever hear you referring to our time as paid services again, am I clear?” he ground out through clenched teeth. He shook her arm furiously.

“Why? It’s the truth!” She tried to pull her arm away from him, but he held her bicep tight in his grip.

“We went over this last night, and I made it clear it is not. However, if it’s the truth you want to hold onto, so be it but I will not let you continue to sully our relationship and taint our children with the sordid nastiness of your mind. If it makes you feel better to think you were my w***e, then think away Bobbie but keep those thoughts from ever coming out of your mouth again. If one of the kids ever hears you say such things, I will not apologize for my reaction. The day they were conceived was beautiful to me, something special and I’ll be damned if I let you continue to paint over it with nastiness.”

His fury was spilling off him in a tidal wave and Bobbie felt sick as she stared at his full-blown rage. Her heart thundered against her chest as she considered her nerves had gotten the best of her and she’d shot her mouth of recklessly. The whoosh of the elevator arriving in the other room, signalling the arrival of his family made him shake his head as if attempting to dispel the fire of his temper.

“Get your s**t together, Bobbie and stop being a selfish b***h. You’re not a f*****g martyr so stop pretending to be one. You’re not the only one hurt from everything to have happened. Get your head out of your a*s and stop focusing on the past when the future is in the other room.” He straightened his arms out and rolled his cuffs up and pulled the door open. The smile he put on his face to greet his family was nothing like the infuriated man he’d just presented to her.

She wiped a wayward tear off her cheeks and then took a breath and put the poker face on she and Grady had practiced in the past. She stepped into the room and saw Everly’s look of concern, and she just shook her head warningly.

Olivier was wrapped up in the arms of a man who was taller than he was and was being crushed by the entire group of people who had spilled out of the elevator in a mob. He was laughing as the children of the group were demanding hugs from their ‘Uncle Ollie’ and were pushing into the middle of the throng. He threw the smallest girl up into the air and caught her burying his nose in her neck and giving her tickles while she shrieked about his scratchy beard. He hadn’t shaved since Monday morning. He looked rugged and the little one rubbed her palm against his face, and he pretended he was going to bite her.

She felt Ollie and Max slip their hands into hers and she looked down at them with a tight smile. They appeared petrified by the overly enthusiastic crowd, and she pulled them closer, understanding their terror. It was a safe bet to say Olivier was the golden child of his family, loved and adored by every single member.

She stepped backwards with the twins, towards the Hoffmans and her movement had ten pair of eyes suddenly turning in their direction.

“Holy!” A man who Bobbie could only guess must be a brother-in-law pulled his head back in surprise. “My brother, did you clone yourself in a petri dish? They are your doubles.”

A petite blonde woman, possibly in her fifties with big blue eyes and impeccably dressed moved towards them, much the way Bobbie suspected someone would approach a cornered kitten. “Hello,” the woman said tentatively to Bobbie and the dropped to her knees in front of the trio, reaching a shaking hand out to each of Ollie and Max’s cheek and touching them softly, “I am your grandmother, Meri. I am so happy to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Ollie whispered shyly.

Max took a deep breath and responded in French, making Bobbie’s heart clench with pride, “it’s my pleasure to meet you too.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked up at Bobbie from her position, “you taught them some French?” She looked over to husband, “Levi, she taught them French.”

“Maman, you are blocking everyone’s view of the nerd’s doppelgangers,” one of his sisters commented with a smirk. She gave Olivier a playful shove, “move nerd. I want to meet your spawn.”

Bobbie instantly chuckled at her words, especially when Everly snorted behind her.

The woman nudged her mother out of the way, “move, ma, you’re hogging them.” She winked at the kids, “I am your Tante Elise and the littlest little girl over there is your cousin Terra. The really big, tall brute of a man at the back is my husband Timon, like the meerkat in the Lion King. He stinks like him too. Gassy.” She waved her hand in front of her nose and the twins giggled at her antics.

Max giggled, “it was Pumba who was stinky.”

“Handsome and smart!” Elise clasped her hands to her chest exaggeratedly at Max’s words.

The little girl ran at Ollie and touched her hair, “your hair is so pretty.”

Ollie nodded shyly, “thanks.”

“Nerd, move,” the other sister pushed Olivier from the other side, and he shook his head at her. “You poor kids. You look just like your father, don’t you? He is a good-looking man thank God.” She reached out and hugged Bobbie tightly, surprising her. “My name is Fiona. We are going to be best friends. I will tell you all the things the nerd and his friends won’t tell you.” She reached down and tapped Max’s nose, “for example, when your Papa was your age, he still wet the bed.”

“I did not,” Olivier protested.

Fiona nodded as Max giggled, “he did. Maman made him put garbage bags under his sheets to make sure he didn’t ruin the mattress.”

Lark gave a loud giggle from behind Everly, and Fiona turned her attention to the noise, “I hear another little birdie giggling. Why do you hide little one? Come out here, we know you will be another cousin. You must come say hi. Don’t you want to hear all the stories about Olivier the nerd who pees the bed.”

Lark ran full tilt at Fiona who hugged her to her side, “Sera and Shiloh come meet your cousins. We have so much to tell them.” Fiona squatted down surrounded by six kids, “I should tell you the story about the time Olivier broke his arm falling out of a treehouse trying to spy on the teenagers next door who were kissing but,” at his protest she laughed, “I think I’ll start by telling you the story of when Olivier was in third grade and I was in first grade and he got angry at me for using his favorite backpack and he peed on it.”

Olivier chuckled as the kids all turned to look at him in disgust. “She ruined her backpack just to get mine. If I couldn’t have it anymore, neither could she.”

“Dad!” Ollie made a face at him, “gross.”

Meri started crying again at Ollie calling Olivier dad and Bobbie couldn’t help but shake her head at the emotions of the woman.

It was not hard to tell Olivier came from his father. Bobbie considered if she put Max, Ollie, Olivier and Levi in a line, the resemblance was uncanny. The man was studying the group intently, not saying anything and Bobbie could feel his eyes burning holes through her. She avoided his gaze and kept her focus on the children. He appeared cold and aloof, back from the group as he regarded everything going on and saying nothing.

Even more disconcerting than Olivier’s father was the woman who was nearly six feet tall, imposing, thin with long dark hair reaching her waist and eyes as dark as coal. She was dressed in a long white dress flowing down and around her ankles and her wrists were covered in bangles and bracelets. Bobbie could feel the woman staring at her as if her flesh were on fire from it. She swallowed against the intensity.

“Olivier,” the woman’s voice was melodic and sweet and not what Bobbie had expected, “introduce me to your wife and children.”

Olivier looked at her, “grandmother, she is not yet my wife.”

“She is your wife as surely as your mother is your father’s wife. Married in this life and your last and you will be in your next lives as well. It is the way your spirits are meant to be, always together.”

“Jesus Christ,” Fiona growled out, “can’t we have one day without you being all weird, old woman? You are freaking the kids out.”

“Fiona,” the woman waved her hand at her casually, “when are you going to tell your husband about the baby.”

“What baby?” Fiona glared at her and then looked down at her stomach. “There had better not be a baby. I had surgery to prevent any more babies.”

“It failed,” the woman shrugged and moved towards Bobbie holding her hands out.

Bobbie felt compelled to let her take her hands in hers and the woman smiled at her, “so much pain in your life, my sweet child but Olivier will help to take it away for you. Trust in him. You have strength and fire in you, and he is a spoiled brat. Make sure you keep him in line.” She reached down to Max, “you, my sweet Maximilian, you are going to do great things in your life. We will all be watching. Ms. Olivia Rosamunde,” she looked back to Bobbie, “you know when your sister passed, she flowed through you to make her. She is a blessing from your sister.” She touched Ollie’s forehead with her thumb, “you will rule the world child, take it by storm.”

“Veronique,” Meri protested the drama, “please.”

Fiona leaned towards Bobbie, “she told me on the day my kids were born one was going to marry a plumber and the other was going to save me from myself.”

“She did, did she not,” Veronique waved her hand. “You had a seizure and struck your head on the marble of your fancy tiles in your fancy house, and she called emergency services.”

“Coincidence,” Fiona argued.

“You do not believe, but you should,” Veronique continued. “Now, Everly,” she moved away from Bobbie and approached her friend. “The thing you have been wishing for is within your grasp. It will happen on this trip. Part way through your journey you will feel it is all falling apart but please, remember child, it is meant to be. I assure you. It will be.”

The woman walked away and looked to Prue, “you, you look like someone who needs a drink as badly as I do. The stupid flight attendant spilled my whiskey all over me. Olivier usually has fantastic bourbon. What do you say we take it off his hands and get drunk on the patio?”

“What the f**k just happened?” Everly whispered to Bobbie as the entire room watched Veronique pull Prue out to the balcony with the decanter of bourbon and two glasses.

“You just met the Villeneuve witch,” Elise muttered exasperatedly. “Crazy loon. At least your messages,” she air quoted the word, “were not half as shitty as the ones she gave us when we introduced the husbands. She told my poor Timon someday his pecker would rot and fall off thus it was important we had children early.”

“She told Walt,” Fiona sighed, “he would live long enough to see great-grandchildren, but he’d be lost in his own mind it would be best if he offed himself in his sixties. To set the record straight, I had a tubal ligation. There’s no baby in here. She’s just screwing with me. I’m sure of it.”

Bobbie couldn’t help the giggle erupting from her chest. “No.”

“She’s insane,” Fiona grunted, “but sometimes her prophecies are so on the money it’s scary.” She pointed at Olivier, “told mom she would have a blond-haired boy who would be one of the wealthiest men in the world, but he would know loneliness before knowing love.” She waved at Bobbie, “he was pretty lonely the last nine years. Ain’t going to lie.”

“Why were you lonely, dad?” Ollie asked curiously.

“Your aunt is as insane as your great-grandmother,” Olivier ignored the question and glanced towards the sliding doors of the patio. “Christ, I forgot how nuts she can be.”

He motioned for Max and Ollie to come closer and then waved at Bobbie too, “Bobbie, Max, Ollie, this is my Papa, your grandfather, Levi. Papa, this is my family.”

Bobbie wasn’t sure what she had been expected from the man but him placing his hands atop the twin’s heads and sobbing openly wasn’t even in the top ten of guesses she would have come up with. It dawned on her he had stood back from the group because he was trying to control his emotions but the minute the twins were in his reach, he was a verifiable wreck. He kept staring at them and then the ceiling as if praying and then back to them, sniffing loudly as he struggled to control emotions.

Meri wiped tears off her cheeks as she approached Bobbie, wrapping her arm around her middle to hug her. “We are so grateful for you, Bobbie.”

“You must do right by her,” Levi stared hard at Olivier as he reached for a tissue from the box Fiona held out. “She deserves the world for this gift she gave you. Do not let yourself ever forget this.”

“What gift did mom give dad?” Ollie whispered to Max

“I think he means us,” Max whispered back, earning chuckles from the adults in the room.

“You will marry her!” Levi spoke harshly to Olivier.

“I have put a ring on her finger, Papa but I will not browbeat a woman into a wedding unless it is something she wants to do. We are still replaceing our way. When she is ready, we will get married and not a second before.”

“Olivier,” his father protested and looked to Bobbie. “Do you not want to get married?”

“No,” she didn’t back down from his intense stare.

“But why?”

“Because I loved him once and then I hated him.” Bobbie said sincerely, not caring who was listening. “I need to know what I’m feeling now, what I’m feeling again, isn’t going to be fleeting or reactive to the words of someone else. When I marry Olivier, it will be because I know in my heart, I will love him until the day I die and no sooner.”

“You said you love our dad,” Max made a face at her.

“I do. Very much,” Bobbie touched his cheek softly, “without him, there would be no you. It is not for you to worry about Max,” she looked at Levi directly, “and it is not conversation you will bring up in front of small ears again. Children have too much on their minds already with a new father and a new family,” she waved around her at the large group. “Do not make me regret agreeing to any of this by overstepping boundaries which are not yours to set.”

“Woo!,” Fiona shouted with glee, “I love her already! Like seriously, I love her. If she wasn’t your girl, I might leave my husband for her.”

Bobbie looked to Olivier to see he was clearly not in agreement with Fiona and had expected her to be much more diplomatic than she had been. He stared at her, the anger in his eyes evident as he considered she disrespected his father. She leaned closer and whispered in his ear, “diplomacy is for chumps.”