His Nasty Little Pussy

TESSText property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

My heart was light as I thought about the evening ahead. The taupe floral lacy lingerie I’d purchased had just arrived in the mail, and I planned to surprise him with my outfit, a bottle of wine, and the revelation that I was pregnant.

After our conversation on the sailboat, I knew it was time. The moment he revealed that he wanted children, it was all I needed to hear. And I wanted the reveal to be perfect.

This entire week had completely taken my breath away. I couldn’t believe that this was my life. Now everything seemed possible.

I pushed open the front doors of Brady’s apartment building, the setting sun catching the glass at just the right angle, blinding me. I blinked, squinting at a large crowd of people gathered on the front promenade of the building.

It was like standing on a beach as the water receded. An unassuming person would just expect it was nothing more than the roll of the tide, a natural everyday part of life. In this case, it was New York City-celebrities lived in Brady’s building. Of course, there would be photographers and people waiting for autographs.

But this wasn’t the roll of the tide. This was the water receding before a tsunami. The rogue wave lifted into the air, and everything crashed on top of me.

“Tess!”

“Tess! Where’s Brady?”

“Are you guys in love?”

“How long have you guys been together for?”

My heart skipped, my voice catching in my throat. The flash of cameras erupted in front of me, hands gripping mine, bodies pressing against mine. I gasped, stumbling backward as their questions assaulted me.

I reached for the handle of the front door, but it was too late. The crowd of people had already descended, wrapping around me, blocking the path to the door, and sucking me deeper into the crowd.

It was as if I’d been yanked underwater, and I could no longer breathe. Panic rippled through me as I gasped for air, spinning in a circle as I attempted to process the chaos that had just been dumped over me.

Out of nowhere, a hand shot out in between the crowd and grabbed my wrist, their vise-like grip tightening around me. Terrified of whoever was holding onto me, I yanked my arm back, but all it did was pull the person closer towards me. And that was when I saw him.

“Get the fuck away from her!” Brady screamed. “Get back!”

Brady shouldered through the crowd, his hand still holding mine. I’d never been so happy to see him. But the sight of him only instigated the crowd of paparazzi, making them lunge even tighter around us.

Brady let go of my wrist and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, curling my body against his chest and using his opposite arm as a shield to shove us through the crowd.

“Brady!” people shouted.

“Are you dating?”

“Tell us, did you know each other before you started working together?”

I linked my arms around his waist, holding onto him for dear life as he pulled me through the crowd, our bodies tumbling forward toward the street. A moment before we neared the street, a photographer shoved a camera into my face.

“Fuck off!” Brady screamed, shoving the butt of his palm against the man’s shoulder. He was the last person in our way, and as the photographer stumbled backward, Brady lunged for an approaching taxi, waving it down. The driver slammed on the breaks, and Brady threw open the back door, then pushed me inside.

The door slammed shut, and I glanced out of the window as the crowd dissipated while the paparazzi continued chasing after us.

“Drive,” Brady said. He named an address I didn’t recognize.

“What’s going on?” I gasped.

He twisted around, gripping my arms. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I panted, my heart pounding. I realized I was in such shock that with the amount of adrenaline pouring through me, I wouldn’t have been able to feel any pain if I had been injured. “What is going on, Brady?”

“Someone photographed us on my sailboat,” he said. “It’s on the cover of every gossip magazine in town. They know we’re together.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered. “But we were in the middle of the bay. How is that even possible?”

“These people are relentless,” he said. “They were probably on a boat that we didn’t see. Their lenses were amazingly strong. Fuck, I’m so sorry, Tess.”

I took his hand and squeezed it. “I don’t have my phone. I left it at your apartment.”

“We’ll get you another one. Don’t worry, I’ll get you anything you need.”

“Where are we going?” I whispered.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

At that moment, I realized that I not only trusted him, but I didn’t want to be apart from him any longer.

I loved him.

“Yes,” I nodded.

An hour later, the taxi dropped us off at a small airport. The sun had fully set, and lights on the tarmac illuminated Brady’s private jet. He gripped my hand as we approached it, the pilot and a flight attendant waiting for us next to it.

The pilot and flight attendant greeted us with wide smiles. “Evening, Mr. Wyler, Ms. Perkins.”

As we boarded, Brady led me to a leather couch in the back of the plane and sat down beside me. I realized my legs were shaking.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked me again.

I nodded, although I wasn’t even certain if I was in shock or not.

“I’ve never flown on a private jet before,” I whispered.

He kissed my lips. “I’m going to talk to the pilot, but I’ll be right back, okay?”

I nodded again, and as he disappeared toward the front of the plane, the flight attendant approached me. “Ms. Perkins, would you like anything to drink?”

“No, thank you.”

“Do you need anything else?” she whispered. I could tell by her question that she knew exactly what was going on…that she’d seen the article too.

“Do you think I could use your phone? I don’t have mine, and I want to text my dad. And maybe a glass of water, please?”

“Of course,” she said, pulling her cell out of her pocket.

I sent my dad a quick text telling him that I didn’t have my phone but I’d text him when I could, and as the flight attendant went to get my water, I quickly pulled up a search engine and googled my name and Brady’s.

The article came up immediately. I clicked on the link, skimming it. The photograph of us on the sailboat showed Brady leaning over me, kissing my neck. It wasn’t even that bad-it was clear that we were together, that it was intimate. But it was everything else in the story that concerned me.

The person who’d written the article in the gossip magazine had written an incredibly biased piece based on a string of assumptions. I almost couldn’t even call it an article. It read more like an opinion piece.

I gathered multiple points from it that pissed me the fuck off.

One: Because I was sleeping with a rich man, I was obviously a gold digger.

Two: Oh, and because of the first point, I was definitely stupid. In fact, I probably hadn’t even invented Perkins Formula, someone-presumably a man-had created it, sold me the rights, and I’d put my name on it.

Three: Point two was even further proven by the marketing photos Brady had chosen to use for the campaign. Because I’d been an “ugly duckling turned fuckable,” the photographs would help sell the product even more if I claimed I’d created it.

The fourth point was what concerned me the most. I quickly closed out the article and handed the phone back to the flight attendant as both she and Brady arrived back where I was sitting. I thanked her for the water and watched as she disappeared through a door at the front of the plane.

The captain came over the speaker. “Evening, Mr. Wyler and Ms. Perkins. We have a smooth flight ahead of us, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Please ring the bell if you need anything. Otherwise, we will give you your privacy.”

“I read the article,” I said to Brady.

Brady leaned back on the couch as the plane began to taxi out on the tarmac. “I don’t even want to know what it says.”

“It’s a lot of bullshit,” I said. “But there’s one point that’s bothering me…that I’m concerned about.”

He twisted around to look at me as he tucked my hair behind my ears. “I don’t want you to worry about anything, Tess.”

“The story said that if you had just fucked a client, it would have been different. But that you made a mistake by making me your business partner because now that we’re fucking, it gives our investors the impression that we’re unstable and irresponsible.”

“Well, that’s obviously not true,” he said, leaning in to kiss me.

I pulled back. “Do you think we’re going to lose the advertisers we landed? You said that woman Meredith was the most important person we could’ve gotten.”

“No, we won’t.”

His phone vibrated, and he glanced at it as Rich’s name popped up. He sent the call to voicemail, and I saw that there were four or five other missed calls from him. I recognized the name from the contract I’d signed.

“That’s your lawyer, isn’t it? It’s true? We’re going to lose the advertisers. That’s why he’s calling you, right?”

The plane vibrated as it sped up, lifting into the air. Brady wrapped his hand around my waist, gathering me closer and pulling me into his lap.

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation before. I think Rich is nervous about that happening, but I really have no idea what will happen. Either way, I do not want you to worry about this. If we lose the advertisers, we will figure this out. I’ll invest my own money into the product. I’ll do whatever it takes because I believe in what you created. I believe in Perkins Formula. And I believe in you. Fuck what anyone has to say about us.”

My heart pounded in my chest as I realized the time had come. I couldn’t hold this in any longer. “Brady…I need Perkins Formula to sell. I need that money.”

“What are you talking about? I’ll take care of you. You don’t need to worry about money.”

“I appreciate you saying that, Brady, but I didn’t get my Ph. D. to end up with someone and depend on them just because they have money. I want my own career. I want to make a name for myself.”

“End up with someone,” he smiled. “So does that mean…we’re officially together?”

I licked my lips, my throat dry. This was the first time we’d had a conversation about the future, about us. “Is that what you want?”

“You know what I want?” he asked. “I want you to find all the success in the world. And I hope that I can be by your side while that happens. And I’ll do whatever I can to fix this. Because I know your career matters to

you. That’s one of the things I love about you.” “W-what?” I stuttered, my brain freezing.

His fingers touched my cheeks, his gaze honing in on me. “I’m in love with you, Tess. I didn’t know it was possible to feel something like this. But I do.”

A choked sob escaped my lips, emotion spilling out of me, tears sliding down my cheeks.

“No,” he whispered, wiping my tears. “Why are you crying?” “Because I love you too,” I said.

His mouth opened in shock, then closed again. “You do?” “Yes,” I nodded vigorously.

He tightened his arms around me. “I’m sorry, but that is like the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Well, I’m hoping my next words will be even better,” I said.

He leaned back and cocked his head.

I hoped he’d meant what he said the other night-that he actually did want children. And even though he’d just said he loved me, that didn’t necessarily mean he’d want kids with me.

I forced myself to meet his eyes. “I’m pregnant,” I said slowly. “With your twins.”