Love In The Fast Lane Part 26

"Goodnight my snugglebunny."

"Goodnight, Momma."

She trotted back to the kitchen to find Nate elbow deep in soapy water, donning the "Kiss the Cook" ap.r.o.n.

She walked behind him and crept her arms around his waist, resting her head on his firm back. "There's something about a man in an ap.r.o.n that I find very s.e.xy."

"Is that so?"

"Mmmm hmm."

"Maybe I should lose the clothes and show you just how s.e.xy my ap.r.o.n can get."

"Ooh stop, I can't control it when you get like this, big boy," she teased.

He pulled off the gloves and pulled her toward him, running his hands up and down her back as he covered her mouth with his.

When they eventually made it to the bedroom, things were different. It felt different from the caress of his fingertips to the gentleness of his kisses to the thrust of his erection. He was making love to her entire body. The thought terrified and thrilled her. She wanted to give herself up to him on a silver platter.

Could she be falling in love with Nate?

CHAPTER 18.

THAT WEEKEND BRIELLE DECIDED TO just kick back and relax. It had been a long time since she and Noah had had much quality time and with Nate out of the country, it was their perfect opportunity to do just that.

"Come on, kiddo," she called out. "We need to stop at the grocer before we go to the park."

"Coming, Mom!!" He ran past her to collect his backpack and the j.a.panese kite Nate had bought him the previous week, then dashed toward the car.

Brielle locked up behind her, loading the car with her cooler bag and beach towels for later. Noah was chatty on the short drive to the local supermarket and even carried the basket as they entered. She walked up to the organic food aisle and stocked up on healthy snacks for the day.

"Can I get Cheetos, Mom?"

She gave Noah a pointed, disapproving look. He opened his big eyes and pouted.

"Dammit, you know I'm a sucker for that face."

He added the chips to the pile.

A young couple walked past them, whispering and glancing back at her. She brushed it off as her being paranoid. What could they have to say about her?

She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and continued down the aisle, Noah dragging the basket behind them.

"Honey, let me take the basket. It's too heavy for you."

"No Mom, I gops it. I'm strong."

She didn't want to wound his ego so she left him to drag the heavy basket behind them.

A group of teenage girls were at the end of the aisle and they too were looking at Brielle and sn.i.g.g.e.ring amongst themselves. Did she have something on her face?

She looked at her reflection in the metal shelving and didn't notice anything weird on her person. She looked behind her to make sure her skirt wasn't tucked into her underwear or anything. Nope, everything was in order. Maybe it was just this aisle.

She moved to the next aisle to get some juices and yet again, another couple walked past, followed by harsh whispers. She'd had enough. She walked toward them. "What are you whispering about?"

"Nothing."

"I saw you turn back and stare at me. Why?"

She noticed some rushed movement at the end of the aisle but ignored it. She needed to know what was going on.

"Haven't you seen the papers?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're the girl that Nathan Wolfe is boning. You're the mother of his b.a.s.t.a.r.d child."

Brielle felt the blood drain from her face. The world was spinning and her pulse was racing but her blood ran cold.

"Where did you hea-"

"It's in all the magazines," the stranger explained.

At that moment, the commotion at the end of the aisle came toward the group and Brielle stared right into a camera as it flashed. What the h.e.l.l was going on?

A microphone was pushed into her face. "Miss Woods, how long have you kept Nathan's child from him?"

"What?"

Another camera flashed and more people joined the swarm. "How do you feel that Mr. Wolfe is slumming it with you?"

What the h.e.l.l?

"Are you ok with Mr. Wolfe's other girlfriends? Are you a part of that lifestyle? What do you do with your son during these orgies?"

Brielle was backed up against the shelf. Noah gripped her leg as he started to cry. She needed to do something.

"Just leave us alone," she cried as she picked up Noah and pushed through the thickening crowd. The other shoppers stared at her as she ran all the way out of the store, the paparazzi hot on her heels.

She'd never been so scared or embarra.s.sed in all her life.

What the h.e.l.l was going on?

It took her an entire hour to calm Noah down when they eventually got home. She just managed to call Emma for help while her son wailed, wanting to know what's going on, why were they attacked? He was traumatized to say the least.

When Emma arrived, Noah had just fallen asleep.

"What happened? You sounded like you were just hijacked."

Brielle flopped onto the sofa and buried her face in her hands. "I feel like something worse happened."

She filled her in on that afternoon's events, including all the accusations and questions thrown at her. "What's going on Em?"

"Where's your laptop?" she asked.

Brielle pointed to her bedroom where Emma retrieved the laptop and returned to the living room and sat beside her shaking friend. She tapped in a few keys and the screen became flooded with news headlines.

"What is it?" she asked Emma, her blue eyes wide in her face.

"It's bad."

"How bad?"

"Bad."

"Emma, tell me already!"

"Someone found out about you and Nate and are twisting the story." Emma looked pale.

"Twisting it how?"

"'Golden Boy of racing has a b.a.s.t.a.r.d!', 'Nathan Wolfe slumming it with his baby-momma', 'The playboy and his mistress', 'Brielle Wood's paid to keep quiet about b.a.s.t.a.r.d child'."

"Just stop!" Brielle felt dizzy. "How is this happening?"

"I don't know babe, this is just out of control. These people have the wrong idea." She flipped through other articles and from her expression; Brielle could tell it was bad. How was she going to s.h.i.+eld Noah from this? He was so scared and confused.

"Have you spoken to Nate?"

"I tried to call him but keep getting his voicemail."

"There's a video here from his PR rep, let's watch it."

Brielle didn't say no and Emma took it as a go ahead.

The woman was blocked by the news reporters in front of her so Brielle couldn't get a good view of her face.

"Mr. Wolfe had no prior knowledge of his child, up until a few weeks ago. The mother of the child had kept him secret from Mr. Wolfe. She has not extorted money from him for child support or other expenses at this time, however Mr. Wolfe will be moving ahead and filing for full custody of the child. No further questions." Brielle felt the wind knocked out of her. This was all Nate's doing? Was this his plan all along? b.u.t.ter her up so he could file for custody of Noah. Fear and anger and a mult.i.tude of other emotions constricted Brielle's throat. The crowd on screen cleared and Nate's PR rep stood in all her modelseque glory. Beside her, Brielle heard Emma suck in her breath at the same time that she recognized the woman as the one Nate had draped all over him in a magazine a few weeks earlier. Her name appeared on the screen and Brielle's heart stopped.

"Oh my G.o.d." She whispered.

"I know, I can't believe it's the same woman."

"No, she's Mena Williams. I heard the name before but I couldn't quite place it but it clicked now. She's the same PR lady that told me that Nate wasn't interested in owning up to his child."

Emma just stared at her.

"Was this all a plan from the beginning? I can't believe I've been so stupid. I feel so used." It was like things were happening in slow motion. Like this was a bad dream and she needed to wake up but it just wouldn't happen.

"I'm sure there's a reason for all of this?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know yet."

"Don't defend him, Emma."

"I'm not."

Brielle's heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She'd fallen in love with Nate and he'd taken her heart and trust and splashed it across the tabloids. How stupid could she have been? But what really hurt her was that he would do this to Noah. What was she going to tell him? How could she explain this to him? She suddenly felt exhausted.

Someone knocked on the door and Emma went to answer it. It opened just a sliver before the room was lit up with camera's flas.h.i.+ng.

"Just leave us alone," Emma shouted and slammed the door in their faces. She locked it behind her and pulled Brielle into a hug. "It will be ok."

"What have I done, Em?" she choked out.

"Hey! This is not your fault Bree. Don't even think about blaming yourself."

"How did I not see this coming?"

"How could you have? Nate seemed so normal. Who would've thought he'd turned out to be such a snake? You just wanted to be a family, there's no shame in that."

"I fell in love with him, Em," she whispered.

"I know honey."

The next few days turned out to be just as bad with the paparazzi camping outside Brielle's home. She chanced a look at the online articles about the scandal. She was depicted as a lying, money greedy heifer that used her child against Nate. She'd re-run the video of Mena Williams and only ended up feeling worse, looking at the lithe beauty. They'd been in on it against her from the very beginning. She'd tried to reach Nate again, unsuccessfully and decided that he was avoiding her. His work was done. Now she had to contact her lawyer. If Nate was planning to take custody of Noah, then she needed to be ready to fight him. She felt depleted just thinking about it. He had money and celebrity and he had the tabloids in his favor. She needed a miracle.

She browsed another article and saw the picture of her and Noah in the supermarket the day before and Noah dragging the heavy basket behind him. The headline read: b.a.s.t.a.r.d Child living in slavery and neglect. She was angry and indignant just thinking about this. If she ever saw Nate again, she was going to kill him. Actually put her hands around his neck and choke the life out of him.

She'd had to hire a security company to patrol her house because of the tabloid reporters being a nuisance. When Emma breezed in with her overnight bag, she felt safer.

"Thanks for staying with us," she said to her friend.

"Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't be anywhere else." She gestured to the laptop in Brielle's hands. "You torturing yourself?"

"Yeah," she slammed it shut.

Someone knocked on the door and Brielle peeped out to see the security guard. "Yes?"

"There's a Mr. Wolfe here wanting to see you," the bulky guy said.