Garrett: BBW (Members From Money Book 30) Read online

  “I'm still a size twenty two,” she pointed out.

  “More of you to cuddle. Let me love you. Let me show you that I will always love you and be there for you. Let me prove how much I care about you.”

  “I can’t—” she choked.

  His arms closed around her with stunning force and to his grief he heard the racking sobs coming from her and realized that he'd caused her all that pain.

  He held her in his arms until she'd finished crying then he led her to one of the comfortable sofas strewn around the store. He didn't let go of her hand and he noticed that she refused to look at him. He tilted her chin up and used the pad of his thumb to wipe the moisture from her cheeks. “I know it's going to take some time for you to forgive me, but I'll wait,” he said quietly.

  “What about her?”

  “Grace? We were never in any sort of relationship. I haven't been with anyone else since I met you.” He smiled gently. “You ruined every other woman for me.”

  “She's your type.” She desperately wanted to believe him.

  “You're my type,” he told her softly. “I've been fighting the inevitable, baby, and I've been suffering because of it. I love you with all my heart and body and I cannot be with anyone else but you.”

  “You're going to want me to change,” her lips wobbled as she said that.

  He swore softly beneath his breath. “I deserve to be flogged for making you feel like you're not good enough. I don’t deserve you Afiya, but I'm hoping you can look past that and be my wife.”

  “What?” she stared at him in shock.

  He smiled whimsically. “You thought I wanted us to shack up?”

  She shook her head. “You want to marry me?”

  “I want that more than anything in the world,” he told her gently.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. Now, will you please say yes and put me out of my misery.”

  “Garrett—”

  “Baby please, no more objections or else I'm going to suffer from an inferiority complex,” he teased her.

  “In that case, yes. And if you ever hurt me that way—” he cut off the rest as he took her lips in a stunning kiss that had her reeling.

  Chapter 10

  He made the grand gesture without her even being aware of what he was up to. She was still absolutely wary of his intentions even though he did his very best to show her that his intentions were clear. She put him off when he said he wanted to meet her mother, telling him that she needed a little more time. He spent the night at her place and the next day he insisted on her spending it at his place. It had been three days since he'd admitted that he loved her and wanted to marry her and she was still reeling from the shock of it.

  She hadn't even told her best friend, afraid that it was all a fluke and that somehow it would all come tumbling down.

  He told her about his mother.

  “She was such a sweet woman,” he murmured as he stroked her naked back. He refused to let her sleep in clothes, telling her that it was going to take too much trouble to take them off. She covertly admired his lean, muscled body and found that she had to keep pinching herself to believe that this gorgeous man really loved her. “She worked hard to send me to school and put food on the table for both of us, but mostly me. I remember several times when she would rush in to prepare dinner and rush back out without eating. I would ask her if she wasn't having anything and she would tell me that she wasn't hungry. It was when I grew older I realized that she didn't eat because she wanted to make sure I had enough to eat.”

  “She sounds like an amazing woman,” Afiya said softly, hearing the love and pride in his voice for her.

  “She was.” He bent and kissed the top of her head. “She would have loved you.”

  “Maybe not,” Afiya said a little dryly. “Maybe she would have wanted one of those size zero to two women for you.”

  “She would have hated them,” he said with a whimsical smile. “She was always telling me to love with my heart and not my genitals.”

  “I would have liked her.” She lifted her head and looked down at him. They had never talked before. Only the sex and then he would leave or she would. It seemed surreal that they were actually having a relationship.

  “You don’t have to do this, Garrett,” she said quietly.

  “Do what?” he asked with a little frown.

  “Marry me.” She shrugged. “We could just be together like this and see where it takes us.”

  “I'm not shacking up with you Afiya,” he told her grimly.

  “It’s not exactly shacking up. We're just going to see how this turns out.”

  “You mean see if this is what I really want,” he interpreted grimly. “I messed up pretty badly Afiya, and I promise that I will spend whatever time I have here on earth making it up to you. I know you probably don't believe me but I'm completely in love with you and want to marry you.”

  She stared at him for a moment and then lowered her eyes. “I want you to be sure. I've been hurt pretty badly in the past. I told you about that but what I didn't tell you was that after I heard the cruel joke about my size I went on a diet that almost killed me. I almost starved myself to death and did some pretty awful damage to my body. I laid there in the hospital dehydrated and starving and vowed that I would never allow another person to make me do that to myself again.”

  He pulled himself up, and her as well, his expression one of harsh regret. He cupped her face with trembling hands. “I am sorry,” he whispered hoarsely. “I want to tell you that I want the name of that bastard who did that to you but I was no different. Please Afiya, you have to believe that I would never hurt you that way again. I want you to be my wife and the mother of my children.”

  “Children?” her voice wobbled as she looked at him.

  “Possibly two,” he whispered.

  “Garrett—” Words failed her as she felt tears threatening.

  “Please marry me,” he whispered.

  She nodded. “If you are sure.”

  He lifted his head and took her lips with his. Time stood still as their lips met and his tongue entered her mouth. It was always the same: as soon as they came into contact with each other no matter how casual the touch there were always fireworks. She leaned into him and his hands wrapped around her tightly as he deepened the kiss. His world had been tilted by her and nothing, not the wealth he had accumulated or the places he had been to, could measure up to what she made him feel.

  ******

  “Afiya, could you come up here and join me please?” Garrett said into the microphone. An urgent town’s meeting had been called for Saturday afternoon and she'd thought that it had something to do with the new addition to the library that his corporation had donated. He hadn't said anything else to her about an engagement ring and she hadn't asked him.

  Hillary looked at her friend curiously. She still hadn't told her anything, waiting for the right time. She got to her feet and felt everyone's eyes on her.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered in an undertone.

  “You'll see,” he told her mysteriously.

  “I've been here since June and I have felt nothing but ease and comfort and acceptance from all of you. At first I thought that it was because I was spending a lot of money—” he paused as the laughter started and waited for it to stop. “But I realize that it's a lot more than that. I have come to think of Roseville as home and even more so now that I have found something that I never expected to find, and in fact wasn't looking for. The love of my life.” He took Afiya’s hand and she heard when the place went still. A gasp escaped her and several others when he went down on one knee.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  He had a dark blue velvet box in his hand and when he opened it she stared in wonder at the dazzling diamond solitaire that was encased in it. “Afiya Camille Lowe would you do me the extreme honor of being my wife?”

  Afiya blinked as she looked down at him and into his li
ght green eyes. This handsome, extraordinarily rich man, was on his knee before her asking her to be his wife, and he was doing it in front of the entire town.

  “If you don't say yes I will!” someone called out.

  “Yes,” she told him huskily. “Yes.”

  He took the ring out and slid it onto her finger. It was a perfect fit and looked great on her. He got to his feet and without another word he took her into his arms and sealed the engagement with a kiss that had her sagging against him.

  *****

  “I want details!” Hillary demanded as she took a seat next to her best friend on one of the sofas in the shop. They'd just come back from the meeting and Garrett had told her that he would pick her up later and they would go out for dinner to celebrate. People had crowded around them, offering their congratulations, and Afiya had a feeling that there had been thoughts of incredulity that this man had proposed to her. Her mother had called her and she'd told her what happened. Her mother said she couldn't wait to see the ring and officially meet her future son-in-law.

  “How could you be seeing him and not say anything to me?”

  “Because I had no idea where the relationship was going.” Afiya had a smug smile on her face that she couldn't help. “Besides, I never thought that a man like Garrett could be with me.”

  “Honey, you don't give yourself enough credit.” Hillary dragged her hand towards her to take a closer look. “This thing cost more than my house.”

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” she said dreamily.

  “When's the wedding?”

  “I was thinking June.”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice to turn the county fair into a wedding and an all-day celebration?”

  “I'm sure the people wouldn't go for that.”

  “Garrett King is the biggest benefactor in Roseville. He's going to be bringing in businesses from all over. I'm sure if he suggested that he parade naked in the streets the Mayor would agree.”

  “He won’t be doing that as I'm the only one who's supposed to see him naked,” Afiya told her dryly.

  “Look at you all in love and being possessive! Speaking of naked, how is he in bed?”

  “Absolutely mind blowing.”

  “Another reason for me to want you dead,” Hillary said with a sigh. “You can make it up to me by letting me plan the wedding.”

  “You have a deal.”

  *****

  “You look happy,” Gertrude commented as she came into his office to hand him his cup of coffee. “Why wasn’t I invited to the meeting where you proposed to the local girl?”

  “You were invited but you said you had a bridge thing you couldn't miss,” he said with a grin as he took the coffee from her.

  “You've been seeing this girl for quite some time now and no one knew about it. Why?” she looked at him suspiciously.

  “You know why,” he told her frankly as he settled back in his chair. “It almost made me lose the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  “You always liked thin women,” Gertrude said with a curl to her lips. “Thank goodness that you weren't foolish enough to settle for Grace.”

  “I'm grateful for that as well.”

  “So when is the wedding?”

  “We were thinking June. The Mayor suggested that we make a day of it. Apparently this is going to be the biggest thing this town has ever seen. She wants us to do it on the day of the country fair.”

  “I'll handle sending out the invitations to the members of that club you belong to. I'm afraid there aren't going to be enough hotel rooms to accommodate them.”

  “I was thinking of pitching tents,” Garrett said with a teasing smile.

  Gertrude sent him a wry look. “I have a better idea, as usual. The people in this town are very accommodating and I'm sure they wouldn't mind opening up their homes to the invitees. It would give them a chance to make some money for themselves in the process.”

  “That’s actually a very good idea. What would I do without you?”

  “Hopefully you will never have to find out.”

  *****

  “It’s a brilliant idea!” Hillary could hardly contain herself from the excitement. Another town meeting had been called and the idea thrown out to the people. “I have a four bedroom house and my children are leaving the third week of June. I could get it cleaned up and be out of there in time for the guests to arrive. I could stay at your place Afiya, as you'll be staying with Garrett.”

  “I have a three bedroom house that I could have people staying in. I could move in with my sister for the time they're here,” Mrs. Bell, an elderly lady spoke up. Others piped in as well and very soon there were close to twenty houses available. Gertrude had been given the floor as she would be the one orchestrating everything, with the help of Hillary and several others. There was an air of feverish excitement around as this was something that the small town of Roseville had never seen before. The mayor had stopped by for a visit to her shop the day before and had thanked her for what she was doing to the town of Roseville.

  “You're giving me too much credit, Mayor Williamson,” she'd told the woman. Her shop had become one where people would come in every few minutes to look at her in curiosity, but they would usually end up buying something. The small newspaper had printed the story of a small town girl engaged to a big city billionaire. She'd gotten calls from all over to do interviews, which she'd refused.

  “This place is now on the map,” she'd said with a satisfied smile. “I'm hoping you won't up and leave,” she had added anxiously.

  “I don’t think we'll be doing that.”

  “Good,” she'd said in relief.

  Afiya left the meeting quietly and went back to open the shop. It was a Monday afternoon and signs of spring were already evident. She was starting to feel the anxiety of her wedding crowding her. Garrett had insisted on her hiring a wedding planner but she'd told him that she didn't want to offend the town’s people. “At least let Monique Romano see to your wedding dress.” Her eyes had opened wide. Even in Roseville people knew who Monique Romano was.

  Her phone rang as she stepped inside and closed the door. “Are you watching me?” she asked him lightly as she turned the sign around.

  “Of course,” his deep voice sounded in her ear. “I want to make sure you're okay. Why are you still open?’

  “Because I left the shop to go to a meeting where I wasn't needed. How do you know I'm still open?”

  “I told you, I'm watching.”

  “Garrett!”

  He laughed. “I'm parked across the street. Look out the window.”

  She moved over to the window and pulled the shades. She saw a dark blue convertible parked there and his almost white blond hair very evident. No longer did he park several blocks up because he wasn't afraid to let people know he was with her. It sent a glow inside her.

  “How soon can you get ready for us to have dinner with your mother?” he asked.

  “Garrett!” she cried in exasperation. “Some notice would have been nice.”

  “I'm sorry baby. I called and spoke to her and she suggested it. “Go get ready please.”

  “Come on over. You're going to help me pick something out.”

  *****

  “How comfortable are you where you are?” Garrett asked as they waited for their dessert to arrive. He had taken them to the most expensive restaurant in Roseville. The manager had rushed to seat them and had sent them the chef’s delight – a delicious concoction of fruits and vegetables with a zesty sauce.

  “What do you mean?” Ingrid asked him. She'd told her daughter that God had smiled on her and she deserved it.

  “The place where you are now. Is that what you want to do?”

  “My employer is fine but very soon she'll be moving in with her sister.”

  “Mama, you never told me that!” Afiya cried.

  “You're having your big moment right now honey, and I didn't want to spoil it with my bad news.”

  “It’s
perfect!” Garrett declared with a smile on his handsome face.

  “What do you mean?” Afiya asked him.

  “I am going to suggest something to you,” he leaned forward and took Afiya’s hands in his. “I know you love the store—”

  “I love you more,” she told him quietly.

  His hands tightened on hers and for a moment he forgot that her mother was sitting right there. He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them tenderly. He cleared his throat and continued. “I want you to manage the mall. It’s going to take a lot of work but I'll guide you through the process. There will be an office you are free to decorate any way you want to. I would also like you to come with me when I have to travel.”

  “You want me to manage the mall?” she asked him dazedly.

  “If that’s what you want,” he said swiftly. “Your mother could take over the store and live above it. Like I said before, if that’s okay with you both.”

  Both women stared at him in shock.

  “You're the most fortunate woman alive!” Ingrid declared to Afiya as she looked at her future son-in-law. “Thank you very much Garrett.”

  “What do you think?” He looked at his fiancée anxiously.

  “I think I'm the most fortunate woman alive,” she whispered huskily.

  “Then it’s settled.” He threaded his fingers through hers and held on tight. “And you're wrong. I'm the most fortunate man alive.”

  *********

  “If you like we could live here as well.” He wrapped his hands around her waist as they stood in the large homely living room. He'd told her on Sunday that they would be flying over to see his mother’s place and so that he could show her off to his friends.

  “How many places exactly are we going to live?” she asked him teasingly as she twisted her head to look up at him.

  “Anywhere in the world you want to live, it's up to you,” he bent his head and kissed her lips, lingering. She sank into him and angled her head for more, her body shivering.

  He lifted his head, his light green eyes smoldering as he looked down at her. He stepped back from her and went to the window to look out. The gardener had done a wonderful job with the landscaping and he could see new bulbs popping up. His mother would have been delighted, he thought, feeling the grief at her passing coming over him.