"What's your name?"
"Rachel."
"I fucking love you Rachel…"
Rachel replayed that scene over and over in her head, feeling a blush heat her cheeks, and her lips curve in a soft smile that she could not have prevented, not even to save her life.
She could do this. She would do this!
Drawing in a shaky breath, she turned to face the snobbish, but very pretty receptionist behind the counter, who was doing everything in her power not to acknowledge that Rachel existed, let alone that she was standing right in front of her.
"I'm looking for Nicholas Grey please, I know he is here, because I watched a gossip vlog that said he was lodged here at The View," she said naively to the receptionist at the desk.
She felt out of place in the five-star hotel with its expensive furnishing and snobbish staff. The only reason she had the confidence to press on with her mission was the tender words that had been spoken to her in the heat of passion.
Rachel blushed again, but not because of the hostile eyed of the pretty receptionist fixed on her, she was remembering all Nicholas had done to her body three days ago. He was a master lover, and when he had been done making love to her, Rachel wanted to kneel and worship the ground he walked on, but then he had said he loved her.
She shivered. Nicholas Grey loved her, it seemed surreal, the kind of stuff fantasies were made of. Noticing that the receptionist was speaking to her, Rachel snapped herself out of her reverie in time to hear;
"… So maybe, I'd just take you to him. It should serve fan girls and social climbers like you a lesson when you watch him get married to his wife here in this hotel."
Rachel shook her head, unable to properly process what she had heard. Something about a marriage – of course, she'd heard wrong. Nicholas Grey could not possibly be getting married, not to another girl, not when he had said he loved her, when she had the results of her pregnancy test with her to show him.
The receptionist's heels were clicking away on the marble floor, and Rachel had to walk faster to catch up. If she thought it odd that the lady had left her desk to lead her, instead of merely writing out his room number, she did not say. Her mind was too busy trying to process her jumbled up emotions as her brain warned of something her heart just wouldn't accept.
"Here!" The reception said, throwing the door to an event hall open, and ushering her in, then she turned and was gone.
The first thing Rachel noticed was how shabbily dressed she was, even I'm her best outfit. She could see the camera lights clicking away at the elegantly dressed creame de la creame of society, as they flaunted their wealth and connections.
The next thing Rachel noticed was how handsome Nicholas Grey was, dressed in a black and white three-piece suit that did nothing to hide his tall and muscular frame.
His jet black hair, so black, it was almost navy blue was slicked back, but even the formality of the occasion had not been able to bind his hair in confinement. Several strands of rich, wavy hair had fallen forward, across his forehead. Rachel suppressed a nervous giggle as she remembered the awe she had felt, running her hand through his hair.
He was smiling, his firm, and yet full lips curved up in a wry smile that did not quite light those jet black eyes of his, and it was then Rachel noticed the woman he had been smiling at, his bride.
"You may now kiss the bride," someone said, and she watched in horror as Nicholas pulled the blushing woman in white into his arms and kissed her. She relieved the sensation of his kisses as she watched him kiss the woman with just as much ardour as he had once kissed her.
She didn't realize what she was doing, until she found herself pushing to the front of the small gathering, and pulling at Nicholas arm, trying to yank him away from his bride. The security guards swarmed in then, trying to whisk her off the scene before she became more of a nuisance, but Rachel was relentless.
"Nicholas please don't do this – Nicholas please listen, I'm pregnant for you!"
Security let go of her then, and the entire hall became deadly quiet, heightening the effect of the murderous look in Nicholas's eyes as they pinned hers in cold fury.
This was her chance! The was her only chance. She began searching frantically for the pregnancy test stick she had kept in her bag, but she couldn't find it, instead her bag decided to empty itself on the floor. Three buttermilk candies, a tampon stick, a refill pen, and several sticky notes.
The rest of the hall burst out laughing, and Rachel heard a few snickers from the guards.
"That's it!" Nicholas snapped, yanking her by the arm and pulling her through a door into a private room.
"You have one minute to tell me who the fuck sent you to fuck up my wedding, and I might decide to let you go." His voice was far from calm, fuelled as it was by the force of his anger, but he was not shouting.
Choking back a sob, Rachel tried not to think about that same voice, fuelled by passion instead, whispering into her ears… I fucking love you Rachel.
"You said you loved me!" She couldn't keep the tears from filling her eyes, nor could she stop her voice from breaking.
Nicholas ran a hand through his hair. "Damn! Have we fucked before?"
He could have said anything and Rachel would have kept fighting, but those words – those words indicating that he did not even remember her! This man who had given her the best night ever of her life, teaching her then virgin body lessons in scarlet that made her blush up till now.
His big powerful body had lain on top of hers, kissing touching, biting, as his hands explored every single curve in her body, and he had taken her virginity that night, her heart too, and left her pregnant with his baby.
Rachel dug her hand into her bag once more, and thankfully, found the pregnancy stick. "I'm pregnant for you Nicholas," she said softly.
She stood then, her honey-coloured eyes filled with hurt and anger, staring defiantly at him. She was waiting for the softening in demeanour that always came when men heard they were going to become fathers.
If there was any softening in Nicholas heart, his expression did not show it. His brows furrowed as the look in his eyes became more guarded. "I don't know why the fuck you'd think you're pregnant for me, but this joke has gone on long enough. Get the fuck out of my party, Lady."
Rachel boy back a sob, trying her best not to crumble up in tears. To her, she had found the love of her life, her own Prince Charming, but to celebrity businessman, Nicholas Grey, it had only been a one-night stand. A one-night stand that was not even memorable enough for him to remember.
Hurt and hope mingled together had made Rachel cry, but now that the hope was totally gone, the tears dried from her eyes. "I want fifty thou dollars." She said coldly.
He raised a brow. "What?"
"I said I want a million dollars or I'd make even more of a scene than I have already made."
Nicholas narrowed his eyes as he pulled out his phone from his back pocket. "I should just lock you up for disrupting my wedding, but I'd have mercy on you – today. If you pull this stunt again, I promise you, you'd live to regret ever knowing my name."
"Fuck you!" Rachel said under her breath, but he heard it. His eyes flickered up to pierce hers again, then it flickered over her, touching on her small but perfectly rounded breasts outlined against her cheap dress, her throat, her full, bow shaped lips. His gaze moved over her like the sensual touch of a lover.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you? For me to fuck you?" Before Rachel could recover enough to reply, Nicholas snapped. "Call out your account number."
Rachel did, thankful that tears no longer filled her eyes. She should have walked out with her dignity intact after she realized that he did not feel the same way about her, but she was feeling bitter and vengeful.
In her naivety, she had thought fifty thousand dollars would cripple his finances, but judging from the way he casually asked for her account number, he could obviously afford to carelessly fling such an amount her way. Of course, Rachel should have known, a man of influence like him ought to be very rich.
Her phone chimed as her bank alerted her that the money had been received. Nicholas raised a brow.
"The money has been received, I take it? You've caused enough disruption just for it. I don't take kindly to blackmail, but I admire courage when I see it. Now scamper off before I change my mind and have you arrested."
With a mix of anger and hurt burning in her warm brown eyes, Rachel turned to leave, only she didn't make it far before Nicholas caught her and yanked her back to him.
She felt the impact of her body colliding with his powerful one, and then he crushed his lips to hers. His kiss was hot, passionate, stirring old fires.
He would remember now… He had to remember… Her heart fluttered with hope, but then He pulled away.
"I should at least taste your lips if I am going to lose fifty thousand dollars to this silly stunt of yours."
He turned then and was gone, and Rachel felt her heart die a little within her.