Chapter Thirty

Home-Seattle, Washington. Via Rayner

“Happy twenty-sixth birthday, baby!” my husband shouted as he opened the shower door and snapped a picture of me.

I gawked at him. “Thank you baby! Tell me you did not just do what I think you just did.”

He snickered. “Maybe.”

“Did you ever find out what Michael wanted from you?”

The look on his face went from relaxed and switched to cold as ice in a matter of seconds.

“Unfortunately, yes. He asked for my blessing to propose to my sister.”

My ex-fiancé was getting engaged to my sister-in-law. That’s right, fiancé. Michael and I had been engaged for a short period of time. That is, until the both of us agreed to go separate ways. He wanted bigger and better things I just had not been prepared for.

There were reasons why I had not mentioned this to Ryan. For one, he would blow everything out of proportion and I did not need to give him another reason to hate the man. Second, Ryan’s maturity level wouldn’t be able to take it, seeing as how he had the temper of a five-year old. Lastly, the engagement had been a long ass time ago and was water under the bridge!

“You never did get to open your wedding gift.” Ryan’s voice knocked me out of my thoughts.

Shutting the water off, I wrapped a towel around my body and stepped out. “I can only imagine what ridiculously extravagant thing you have bought.”

“Don’t worry baby, it is something both of us will enjoy.” Winking at me, he strolled out of the room.

I threw my clothes on and rushed downstairs.

Ryan was patiently waiting for me in the kitchen. “Your gifts are outside in the car.”

Taking my hand, he led me out the front door. If I didn’t know my husband well enough, I would not have been able to believe my eyes at the sight of the pearly white and expensive looking vehicle with the red ribbon atop of the hood.

“You bought me a car?”

Still keeping a hold of my hand, we walked closer.

“This is a Maybach 62 S Landaulet. I know you wanted a Super Sport like mine, but since we have a baby on the way, I had to find something four door that is still luxurious.”

Strolling up to the vehicle that could pass for a limousine, I opened the driver’s side door. The gift box I had seen on the plane was now positioned in the seat.

“Do I even want to know how much it cost?” I wondered, looking back at him.

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Most likely not, but don’t worry about it. Open your gift.”

I couldn’t help but snicker. “Technically, I already did.”

“The box, Mrs. Smartass,” he told me, rolling his eyes.

Picking up the package that looked almost too perfect to open, I shook it. Tearing the paper, I opened the box to see a bra.

“You bought me a bra as a wedding gift. How ironic!” I stared up at him.

“Look closer, Via. It is the Victoria’s Secret Fantasy bra, and it was two and a half million dollars.” He shrugged as if he had spent twenty-five bucks.

I tossed the box into the seat as if the damn thing had caught on fire. “Are you fucking crazy? Two and a half million dollars on one boulder-holder! Do you have any clue as to how many regular Victoria’s Secret bras you could have bought?” My head was spinning.

He held up his hand as if to silence me. “I know… A bra for every bra-less woman in Seattle.”

I placed the lid back on to the box, not wanting even to look at that damn thing anymore.

“Is it that bad of a gift?”

Shaking my head, I said, “It isn’t a horrible present at all. I do not feel the need to cover my breasts with three million dollars.” I began to nod. “I know just what to do with it!” I dashed into the house with the box.

Ryan followed me into the kitchen, “What do you have in mind? Let me help.”

“You can man the e-mail invites, Mister Tech-Savvy. It will be held in the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you could get your wealthy pals to donate something to auction off, that would be amazing!” Pulling out a notebook from one of the cabinets, I wrote down every detail.

He looked down at the paper and kissed my head. “It’s perfect, baby.”

Breast Cancer Awareness!

Join us in the charity event of the season…

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

@ La Mia Dominare Italian Dining

3:00 p.m.

Ladies, be sure to bring in your raggedy-old bras in exchange for a $100 gift certificate to Victoria’s Secret!

Auction, food, and fun!

All proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation!

Ryan returned with a copy of the flyer in his hand, handing it to me.

“Thank you so much, baby!”

Leaping into his arms, I smashed my lips into his.

“You never cease to amaze me, Mrs. Rayner.”

I playfully rolled my eyes. “Well, duh. I am good for more than just kinky sleep-fuckery.”

He held me close in his arms. “You are the sweetest, kindest, and the most selfless woman I have ever met. I can honestly say that you are the first to put my wallet to good use.”

“Aw, I love you too, baby.” I kissed his lips.

“What does my talented wife want to do on her birthday?” he wondered as he stared into my eyes. “Oh, before I forget, I have another birthday surprise for you.”

Shaking my head, I held up my hand.

“Please do not tell me that you bought me a five million dollar pair of panties.”

“I didn’t have to purchase this one, baby. Jennifer called—she isn’t pregnant!” he exclaimed with anticipation written on his face.

I almost knocked us backwards when I hopped into his arms again, kissing him long and hard.

“That is the only thing I wished for on my birthday. You should have given me that bit of news first and I may have danced around in that three million dollar bra for you.”

He smirked as he shook his head. “No you wouldn’t. I know you better than that.”

“I have to admit, you are right. I guess I will never be able to adapt to your exquisite lifestyle, Ryan. You know, I am okay with that. By the way, you have lost all control over the bank accounts,” I informed him.

“You want to start managing our money? Are you sure you want to know how much you are worth, Mrs. Rayner?” he asked, becoming intrigued.

I stood with my arms folded, tapping my foot. “Not even twenty minutes ago, I was worth close to five million. I think I can handle it.”

* * * **

Ryan snapped his fingers at me, attempting to break me out of my unmoving glare at his computer screen.

“Via… Earth to Via Rayner!”

Closing my eyes, I shook my head to regain my concentration.

He stared at me with his lips pursed as if to keep from laughing. “Are you feeling alright? I tried to warn you.”

“What in the hell… Are you sitting on a fucking gold mine?”

“Figuratively speaking, yes. Very nice choice of words, by the way.” He spoke as calmly as ever, as if the endless amount of money he had did not faze him one bit.

I scowled at him. “You know what I mean, Ryan!”

“It is only money, baby. To be brutally honest, I would choose you over any amount of money.”

“Alright Mister Rayner, what in the world do you have up your sleeve now? I know you can be sweet, but you are giving me cavities over here. What did you do?” I questioned as my eyes narrowed at him.

He playfully grinned. “Why baby, I am a little appalled that you would believe I would keep anything from you.”

“Ha! Are you kidding me? You love keeping me blind and in the dark!”

Ignoring the fact I had just stomped my foot like an adolescent, he reeled my body closer to his.

“I have something to show you, Mrs. Rayner.”

He led me upstairs and into his office, walking us over to his computer.

“I made something for you the night before our wedding.”

Before I could open my mouth, he had already hit play and the video started up.

It was him, sitting at his piano!

“Olivia Johnson, tomorrow you and I will legally be bound together as husband and wife. It may be difficult to believe, but I knew I was going to marry you the moment I saw you. You have brought new meaning into my life, Via. We may have our quibbles at times, but you will always be the most beautiful woman in my eyes. Baby, I know that by the time you see this we will already have officially danced together as husband and wife, but I want you to dance with me right now. Nobody to gawk at us, just you and me.”

“May I have this dance?” Ryan asked, in sync with his voice in the video.

Startled a bit, I looked over to at my husband standing in the open space on the opposite side of his desk. He held one of his hands out to me while holding a dozen light pink roses with the other.

I strolled over to him. “I will always be your dance partner, Ryan.”

He placed the flowers onto his desk, turning to swoop my body closer to his. With his right hand on my frame and the left interlocked with mine, he took the lead in slow dancing as cyber-Ryan played a familiar tune on the piano.

He began to hum and ever-so faintly sing, “You know I’d fall apart without you, I don’t know how you do what you do. Everything that don’t make sense about me, makes sense when I’m with you.”

My cheeks couldn’t help but flush by this point.

Oh, my damn! I have the sweetest fucking husband on earth!

He is right about one thing: we do happen to bicker quite a bit. But somehow it makes our bond stronger than ever. I am not going to lie—I could have wrung his neck when he told me about the possibility of Jennifer being pregnant with his baby. When I boarded the plane and he didn’t come after me, I was so afraid we were over before we could even begin. I thought to myself, do not let something like this stand in the way of your happiness with this man. At least he had the balls to tell you the truth instead of hiding it from you!

“You still haven’t told me what you want to do for your birthday. What does your little heart desire, Olivia Rayner?” he wondered, breaking me away from my thoughts.

The doorbell rang the second I was getting ready to speak.

Ryan kissed me seconds before releasing his grip. “I will see who it is. It may be that female stripper I ordered for you.”

My eyes practically bulged out of my skull.

There is no way he would order a female stripper… Would he? I mean, the dude hardly has enough balls to man a whip, let alone order me a stripper with a vagina!

Allowing my curiosity get the best of me, I followed him to the door. I leaped into the arms of another important man in my life. “Daddy! You’re here!”

He held on to me tightly. “It’s my little girl’s birthday and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Have you eaten? Are you hungry?” I questioned him as I landed back on my feet, scraping away the strand of hair stuck to the corner of my lips.

His eyes fluttered over to Ryan. “You haven’t told her yet, have you?”

“I was getting to it,” Ryan assured him, focusing his attention to me.

“Your father is whisking you away for the afternoon, Mrs. Rayner. He is treating you and your friends to lunch, and will be dropping all of you off at the spa for a day of pampering.”

I wrapped my arms around him and stood on my tippy toes to touch my lips to his ear. “Then later on tonight, you are all mine!”

“Anything for the birthday girl.”

* * * *

“Is Ryan a hit man?” my father wondered as he slid into the passenger seat of my new car. I swear I just about choked on my spit.

“Of course he isn’t! Why would you even assume he was?”

He looked around the interior. “Oh I don’t know… Maybe because this car costs almost two million dollars!”

Starting the engine with a keyless ignition (there is something that will take me a while to get used to!) I pulled out of the driveway. My heart pounded against my chest. Not at the fact I was driving a car worth more than anything I had ever owned—oh no—but because my dad was sitting in the seat next to me. Ever since I started driving, I have loathed driving with him in the car. He is more intimidating than a driving instructor!

“How was your honeymoon?”

I glanced over at him and smiled. “It was great. We went zip lining and Ryan took me to a waterfall. I actually want to go back before the baby is born.”

He grew silent again as I pulled into the restaurant. Something my father has always sucked at—making conversation.