The Ceo's Contracted Mistress
The Ceo’s Contracted Mistress Chapter 27

Olivier was exhausted. Every single fibre of his body ached and as he stood in the huge window overlooking the Manhattan night sky, all he wanted was to go home. “Home,” he thought with a twist of his lips. Home would be wherever Bobbie and the kids were. He missed them. He’d known of them exactly one week now and he ached with the need to be with them.

It was nearly eleven now, ten back in Dallas and he wished with all his heart the kids had agreed to talk to him when he’d texted Bobbie around seven. She had said they were busy playing with a friend and didn’t want to come in. He had asked for a photo of them, but she’d ignored his request, not that he could blame her.

He’d had at least twenty calls since earlier in the day from his father who was worried about his mother. Apparently, she’d disappeared from his suite in the middle of the night. Hotel security showed her purposefully walking out of the hotel at four in the morning, her head held high as if she didn’t care who saw her leaving. She’d left her cell phone behind along with a nasty note for his father and said she was leaving him and wasn’t coming back. Olivier told him he’d seen the video she looked well and healthy leaving the hotel and unless he thought otherwise, he wasn’t dragging her back to him. She had lots of friends in Houston and New Orleans she could go to. Levi was pissed with his son. Olivier didn’t give two f***s. The man could rot after what he’d done.

Olivier nursed his drink as he looked down at the city, thinking of his mother. He had tried to talk to her after he’d gotten back to the hotel suite on Tuesday, but she’d been furious with all the men in the room. She’d grabbed his face between hers fingers much the way she had when he’d been a small boy and told him how disappointed she was in him and then she’d locked herself in his bathroom, refusing to come back out.

His grandmother threatened to hex them all and then she’d left, saying she was going back to Louisiana because the snakes were less dangerous in her swamp than in the fancy hotel room, she was currently in.

His sisters were furious he had kept secrets about his relationship with Bobbie away from them but had confided in their husbands.

Riggs was pissed off with him on so many fronts, Olivier was losing track. He was pissed his father knew of the contract. He was pissed Timon, of all people knew of the contract. He insisted Olivier should have known what his father would do if Bobbie refused to marry him. The man was constantly harping on and on about women trying to steal Olivier’s money and being gold-diggers. His father was a cunning businessman and while not as entirely ruthless as he or Gael could be, he was notorious in his own right for doing underhanded things to get results. He was pissed at him for missing the signs little Max was pulling away and even more pissed to all the outsiders it seemed he was favoring Ollie. Most importantly, Riggs told him he’d deliberately thrown Bobbie under the proverbial bus and should have protected her better. He liked her and said he understood why Grady felt the need to watch over her. She was sweet and kind and he’d left her to the sharks, and he should be ashamed of himself, according to Riggs.

Sentiments, strangely enough, echoed by his grandfather. He knew there was no love lost between his father and grandfather. The old man had hated his father for stealing his little girl and taking her to another state to live, or so the tale went. However, his father had reached out to Gael and told him the story of how Bobbie was part of an elaborate scheme with the Hoffmans to try to steal from Olivier. Gael had immediately dispatched his lawyers, offering anything to protect Olivier. When Olivier had called him to tell him the truth, the man had been ballistic. He’d called Olivier every name under the sun, several which Olivier felt uncomfortable repeating himself, and swore if he never got to meet his great-grandchildren, especially the boy, because of him, he’d rue the day.

He’d f****d it up. Royally screwed himself over by fighting with Bobbie just before his parents came in and then not standing up for her when his father had started. Then he’d stood there helplessly while Grady took the kids and his family away from the chaos. He couldn’t stop thinking of the tears streaming down Bobbie’s face when she’d sat in the Hoffman’s suite looking at him in the doorway. He’d broken her heart and he knew it.

Then his father not realizing the children were in earshot made the comment about taking the kids away and poor little Ollie had erupted into a fiery ball of rage, and he’d been too stunned to react. He almost chuckled as he considered she’d landed a couple of solid hits, one of them to his junk. The panic on Bobbie’s face at his father’s words was an image he would never forget as long as he lived.

Overall, the last three days had been hell on earth. The only positive had been watching the shock on Cleo’s face as she registered who it was to have taken over the company she had been running as CEO. At first, she had relaxed, thinking everything was just a temporary switch as power shifted from one owner of the company to another but then he’d made it clear, she was done. When she’d demanded to know why, he’d said she had played along with Bernard’s schemes one time too many. She admitted then the events which had transpired but swore she didn’t believe Bernard would have really hurt the girl, but she had looked away, unable to meet his gaze and he knew she’d lied.

She finally sobbed Bernard had threatened if she hadn’t played along, he was going to reveal a dark secret he’d had on her. She had begged to let him keep her job, but he’d said even if he’d had no problems with her personally, her misuse of corporate finances was enough to make him fire her. He had no use for her, and he’d already replaced her with a younger, enigmatic woman with a degree in journalism and who had spent six years walking a runway. She was a perfect fit to a fashion magazine.

He’d had Cleo escorted off the premises and she was screaming she would make him pay and he had simply smiled coldly and welcomed her to try.

He sighed and took another sip of his drink and then realized he’d reached the bottom of the glass. He’d been drinking too much the last three days. He’d called Bobbie, Grady and Everly on numerous occasions, each time knowing they had their phones off and he had drowned his loneliness in bourbon. He missed them all.

He flopped into an oversized leather chair and g*****d, rubbing his eyes. He missed her. He stared at the selfie he’d taken of the four of them the first night they’d all stayed together, piled into one bed, watching a movie on his laptop. He and Bobbie had dodged question after question about why Max and Ollie couldn’t have a baby brother or sister and he’d distracted them with begging for a selfie. He’d made it his screensaver and now he sat in the dark and traced her face on his screen.

He jumped when the phone rang in his hand, and he laughed at himself. He stopped laughing as he noted the name on the phone.

“Bobbie, are the kids all right?”

“They’re fine,” she spoke quietly. “I’m sorry I didn’t text you back earlier. We had a friend visiting and the kids were having a lot of fun. Then we had a little bonfire in the back yard around the firepit and I went in to grab marshmallows and hot dogs and forgot my phone on the counter. I didn’t think of it again until I was putting the three of them to bed.”

“You have Lark with them?”

“I do,” she continued speaking lowly. “Grady and Everly have things they need to sort out. She’s really pissed at him.”

“What did he do?”

“Defended you,” she chuckled.

“He shouldn’t.” He spoke quietly. “I f****d up bad, Bobbie. There is no defense. I have none. All I can do is tell you how sorry I am and try my best to make it up to you and the kids.”

She was quiet for a few seconds as she absorbed his statement.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he stared at the phone.

“I’m in bed. We’re all exhausted.”

“It’s just after ten home?”

“It is. Took me a minute to remember to set alarms and to show the kids to not touch a single thing once the doors are locked. Riggs set everything up so if a door opens after I go to bed, an alarm sounds on my phone. It’s kind of neat.”

“I’m just content they are safe.”

“They’re missing you,” she whispered suddenly. “They’re angry and scared but they’re missing you Olivier.”

“I miss them so much,” he exhaled slowly. “I miss the three of you.”

“I can’t, Olivier.”

He could hear the tears in her voice. “You can’t what, chérie?”

“Olivier, I’ll support you being part of their lives but when I think of being with you, it makes me feel dirty.”

He closed his eyes at the pain he heard, “no. Please don’t say this,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, the phone inches from his face. “You have no reason to feel dirty. You are the purest heart I’ve ever met. I feel so much guilt over how badly I’ve handled things. Please, give me another change. I’m begging you.”

“Your father called me a w***e. Your brother-in-law made a comment about me being paid in front of our son. I was your hooker.”

“No, you were never that. Not ever.” He gripped his head in frustration, “f**k, I am so bad at this. I suck at it!” he said furiously and slapped his hand against the leather seat.

“Suck at what?”

“This, us, relationships. Bobbie, you are the only woman I’ve ever had a relationship with, and I’ve bungled it from day one.” He blurted the words before he could stop himself.

“I don’t understand.”

“Chérie, I’m the world’s biggest nerd, ask my sisters, Riggs, Henri, or Soren. They’ll all tell you. I don’t think I said a full sentence to a girl until tenth grade. Unless it’s about work or money or it’s someone I’m related to, I cant. It took me until senior year high school to get laid the first time. I went through a series of one-night stands and a handful of second or third dates through college. I spent more time working than anything else. I like s*x but I’m shitty at pillow talk or small talk and until you there was nobody, I actually wanted to have conversation with after I f****d them. Before the two months we spent together, I’d never had an actual relationship with any woman. I don’t know how to flirt with a woman I’m interested in and so I come across as aloof and cold. I know how to talk money and finances but love or feelings with a girl? It’s no good. I promise, Bobbie, I truly intended the document we signed to be a way to protect you and make sure you weren’t negatively or financially impacted because I wanted you with me all the time.”

“You never had a girlfriend until we –”

“Bobbie, I never had a girlfriend before you or after you. I’m not saying I didn’t have s*x or casually date women, but you are the only person I’ve ever had a relationship with.”

“Holy f**k,” she sounded incredulous.

He was laying it all on the line now and he kept pouring his heart out, praying she heard the words he was saying. “Chérie, I saw you back then in the coffee shop and I did what I do best where girls are concerned and put my foot in my mouth. I clearly didn’t explain myself correctly. I’m bossy and I like things a certain way. I’m focused, driven and can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a spoiled son of a b***h and I like things my way or the highway. Frequently, I’m the smartest man in the room and I love the superiority complex I get from it. I’m arrogant as f**k and I know it because my own best friends tell me all the time. But when it comes to Bobbie Caron, I’m nothing more than a bumbling fool.”

“You always seemed so self-assured,” she whispered.

“Chérie, do you know how much it breaks my heart to know, everything I thought was a real relationship, you thought was a job? For me, you were my mistress, my girlfriend, my lover and to you, I was a paycheque. I genuinely believed you just had a weird sense of humour and were making hooker jokes all the time and to know you were being serious, guts me,” it was his turn to whisper. “It kills me to think it was all one-sided. I was only a means to an end to you, a way for you to make money to make Rosamunde comfortable.”

“Olivier,” she whispered into the phone.

He cut off what she would say next, “The day in the shower when we think the twins were conceived, I realized I never wanted to let you go. I thought you were feeling the same way, but I realized when I reviewed the file Riggs had put together for me, the day I thought we were having reciprocal undeclared feelings, you were dealing with the knowledge of your sister being in a coma. I really was just a job, and you were only dealing with emotional trauma. I’m having a hard time getting past it but I’m trying and each time I’m almost there, you bring up again you never felt the same. I misread the day so badly.”

“No,” she corrected him. “I mean, yes, it was that day but,” she g*****d in his ear. “This is so humiliating.”

“What? Talk to me, chérie.” He implored her to be honest.

“I caught you looking at me,” her voice was barely audible, “you were staring at me and in the moment, I thought maybe you had feelings for me. I thought perhaps you could sense how I felt about you and maybe you were feeling the same thing but then you looked away from me and I thought I’d just imagined it. My only experience with hookers was in the movies where they say not to fall for the guy, and I fell for the guy. I went to the shower to cry it out, not because of Rosamunde, but because I had fallen for you, and I thought it was stupid and hopeless.”

“I had been watching you,” he admitted as he spoke earnestly, “I was relaxed and happy just sitting there and I realized I never wanted to let you go. My days were, still are, full of stress and the demands on my time can be insane but, in the moment, I knew it was you who made it all fade away. You brought me peace and excitement all at once. I never wanted to let you go. I wanted to spend every available moment I had with you. I should have told you. I simply didn’t know how. I thought in the shower I had demonstrated my affection for you, but it seems I missed the mark.”

She giggled suddenly, “oh you hit the mark and so did your swimmers.”

He laughed for the first time in days at her comment, “cheeky.”

“I miss you,” she said suddenly. “I hate that I miss you, but I miss you.”

“Don’t hate missing me. The knowledge you are missing me gives me hope I can fix this, fix us. Please chérie, tell me it’s not too late.”

“I –” she paused as if unsure of what to say.

“I will go as slow as you want. No pressure for a wedding or a ring. I only want to be with you and the kids. Please.” He chuckled suddenly, “my mother would have a stroke to hear how many times I’ve said please this evening. She always complains my manners are shit.”

“They are.” Bobbie agreed with his comment. “You’re a pushy son of a bitch.”

“I am and I admit I was wrong to push you. I simply wanted to do everything I could to tie you to me and not lose you again and in doing so, I f****d it up.”

There was a long lull in the conversation where they both sat listening to each other breathe. He didn’t know what else to say. Continuing to beg her forgiveness was not out of the scope of what he wanted to do but he also needed to demonstrate to her he respected her. He needed to replace the balance and so he waited. He waited for her to tell him how she felt. His chest slammed against his ribs at her words.

“You know,” she said quietly, “you’ve sworn several times in our call. I think I’m due a massage.”

Olivier g*****d and closed his eyes as he leaned back in his chair and sent a silent prayer of gratitude towards the sky. In her way, she was telling him, she would give him his chance. “You tell me when and where and I will be there with warm oil at the ready.”

“Oil?” her voice was breathy at his comment. “I was going to just say a foot rub but if you’re bringing out oil, I want a back rub.”

He felt his heart thudding excitedly at her words. “I will rub you from head to toe and every square inch.”

“Every square inch?” she asked curiously. “I only said the back.”

“I will happily stick to your back but if you give me permission, I’m going to tend to every single muscle I can get my fingers on.”

“What about in?”

He sucked in a breath at her question, “chérie, are you trying to flirt with me?”

“You can’t tell?”

“Which part of I’m really bad with girls did you miss?”

She giggled, “you fool. Yes, I’m flirting with you.”

“What are you wearing?” he leaned back and hooked his ankle over his knee, his eyes closed.

“Sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt.”

He opened his eyes in confusion, “why? Its July in Dallas. Its hot as hell.”

“Because your team in addition to the security system upgraded my HVAC unit and it’s so cold in the house, we’re all in pyjamas. Riggs promised tomorrow to come over and walk us all through how to use it.”

He laughed lowly, “if I was there, I would keep you warm.”

“I think,” she took a breath, “I would let you.”

“Good.”

“Damn,” she spoke suddenly, “Ollie’s having nightmares again. I need to go. I’ll call you back.” She hung up on his ear.

He felt sick to his stomach. Nightmares? Why was his little girl having bad dreams? Was this from the events of the week? Had he done this to her? For ten minutes he sat holding his phone in his hands and waiting for an update. Then he started pacing.

At the fifteen-minute mark he was ready to arrange a flight back to Dallas but then his phone rang, and it was Bobbie’s number and he answered it on the first ring.

“Is she okay?”

“Daddy?”