Her Fairy-Tale Life

"Of course you don't need it, you've never had to worry about money a day in your life!" she spat.

"Maggie," Bob said gently. "We're here to help. At least consider what he's saying, or let him get you a lawyer to go over your father's will and find a way to get that company management off this land so she gives you the insurance payout. Otherwise, you know she will delay until after Valentine's day, and there goes any small chance you might have had making the balloon payment."

She looked up at him with tired, sad eyes. He hadn't seen her look so lost since her father had died. He reached over and poured a shot of whisky into her empty tea mug and waited while she took a sip. She grimaced and coughed, making the men smile.

"All I'm saying is, you've lost the battle, and if you refuse Kaeden's help, you will lose it all. The guy is offering you a chance to re-enter the battleground and win, think about it. Listen to what he has to say and then decide. I'm a proud man, but even I would ask for help when things look this bleak," Bob got to his feet. "I'm just gonna take a little kip in the spare room, you two arm wrestle or something, but no more yelling."

"So I get to keep my farm, and you get what from this proposal, a share in a business that barely makes ends meet? You clearly don't need or want the twenty-five percent. And if you say you want me or to marry me one more time I will scream, and Bob will come back in here grumbling." Maggie asked calmly.

"When I offered this business proposal, I didn't realise how badly Elena and Alecks were about to screw you out of everything, so I would like to try a different approach," he said slowly. "Let's get a piece of paper and write this down so we don't forget. I don't want you blaming the whisky tomorrow and reneging on any agreements."

"I won't drink any more of that without cola. I do have a bottle of red, though, in the study, it's not bad, probably a bit rough, by your standards," Maggie offered, remaining calm and preferring Kaeden's businesslike approach to the kissing and pleading voice that made her just want to say yes to everything he wanted.

"I guess that's where the paper is as well," he shrugged, picking up his glass and the bottle and following her through the living room. "The study is also my spare room, and Bob is probably already asleep," she explained, indicating that he should sit. When she came back, she sat opposite him, and he frowned.

"Come and sit beside me," he frowned. "I promise no touching or kissing unless you want it," he held up his hands as if surrendering to her terms. He waited until she was settled, then smiled, taking the writing paper and pen from her hands and placing it on the table.

"Let's start with what you get out of the deal?" Maggie asked, narrowing her eyes. "I let you help me by paying out my mortgage and ridding me of the evil step-monster, and you get what, exactly?"

"Everything," he said easily. "But let's get one thing straight first before making any deals at all. You seem to be under the delusion that I don't know you, and you're wrong." He held up a finger as she opened her mouth to argue with him. "The morning I crashed I was here for more like six hours rather than two or three you claim, and I remember almost every minute. I remember you coming into the cockpit and wondering if you could wake me with a sleeping beauty kiss," he grinned.

"You heard that?" her eyes went wide.

"I was dumb and opened my eyes too early, and when I closed them again you didn't kiss me," he said sadly. "I felt you check my whole body before attempting to move me, which you didn't do until you were one hundred percent sure you could safely. I remember you took most of my weight as I stumbled back to the house and the feel of your bony shoulder against my side and under my arm each time I felt like falling. I remember you torturing me by undressing me, sitting on the floor and pulling off my jeans, looking like the sexiest woman I have ever seen. I remember your wet hair falling over your shoulders," he paused and sipped his drink as she stared at him, her mouth open wide in absolute shock at how accurately he portrayed their movements the night of the crash.

"You seemed so out of it at the time. How could you possibly remember all of that?" she asked.

"I remember how good you looked when you came out of the shower with your hair hanging down to your waist. You smelt of coconuts and pineapple and a tropical cocktail that I've craved ever since. I remember you talking to Wade and dealing with the men who came to get me. I remember it all, very well, and having you tell everyone I don't is quite insulting," he said without any rancour.

"I didn't realise," she admitted. "That still doesn't mean you know me, though."

"I've spoken to you every day since, sometimes twice a day, about everything and anything. Once I realised that Elena was somehow screwing you over I looked into you and your step-family further, just like I know you have googled my family and me," he grinned, seeing her open and close her mouth again with the argument about an invasion of privacy dying on her lips. "I spent quite a bit of time tonight talking to you and listening to you and your brothers. I spent quite an interesting hour with Bob while you were sulking."

"I liked calling you each night to talk about how you were recovering," she admitted, ignoring his barb about sulking.

"So did I. I looked forward to those calls every day," he said softly. "I want to talk to you every day. I want to see you every day. I have never wanted or felt that closeness with someone before. I've never had someone fill my thoughts so completely, the way you look and smell and sound, all of it," he explained. "I didn't think I would be able to meet this family expectation I have hanging over my head, and then I met you."

"What family expectation?" She asked, pleased that this wasn't all about her and her fucked up family.

"I'll still inherit my share of the family fortune and business, regardless of what happens, but if you agree to marry me before I turn thirty, I get Everything." It was the truth, but it was a stretch of the truth, or not exactly the whole truth, but it was the only thing he could think of to use as a bargaining chip.

"When do you turn thirty?" she asked, seemingly unfazed by his disclosure.

"In about six weeks," he said thoughtfully.

"Cutting it a bit close, aren't you?" she tilted her head. "I'm sure any number of women would jump at the opportunity."

"I can barely stand being in the same room as most of those women you've seen me photographed with, and I dream about being in the same room with you all the time. I want to talk to you about my day and my crazy family. I want to hear about how many roses you managed to save and the buds you are sweating over. I want to fight with you and have you scold me for trying to charm you into doing things you don't want to do," he grinned. "I'm a little bit pissed that you couldn't say no to Claire as easily as you seem to be able to say no to me."

"I've never tortured her at all, why start now?" Maggie asked with a perfectly straight face, making him laugh.

"Call it luck, Kismet, Karma, whatever. I think it was fate that I crashed into your life when I did. We both need something, and I think if we grab the moment with both hands it could work out great in the long term for both of us. At the very least I think we could be really good friends if the marriage doesn't stick," he said reasonably.

"I want a prenup," she said. "I don't want anything from you or your family, but this farm remains mine and mine alone."

"You'll marry me?" he was stunned by her words.

"If I get a prenup. I want it done properly by a lawyer and witnessed by Bob," she said stiffly, Bob was the closest thing she had to family now. "I also want Elena and Alecks out of my life for good. I want nothing that ties to me them at all, not even Ruslan, though I doubt he even knows or cares what his mother is doing."

"Okay, we pay off the mortgage to keep the bank happy, then we go after the bogus company and have it dissolved," Kaeden drew a line down the centre of the paper she had supplied and began making notes on the side he had labelled Maggie. On his side, he wrote the word wife in capital letters. "I'm assuming you won't want to move to the city to live with me?" he asked.

"We could renovate here, maybe, if you don't like the house," she looked around at her home. It was desperately in need of repair and updating.

"Just consider this for a moment, we could build a new house and let Bob have this one. He's been lonely since his wife died, and his kids have been trying to get him into a retirement village so they could sell his small patch of land," Kaeden suggested.

"There's no room to build another house, not with the greenhouses and the orchard on the other side of the old airstrip," Maggie frowned. "I know it doesn't look like an orchard, and the trees are mostly dead now, but I don't want to get rid of it." The small group of fruit trees had been her mother's sanctuary, and the few memories she had of her mother were bound to those trees.

"We can discuss that one further, but have a think about Bob, he's pretty old, and I don't think his kids are keen to help him," he wrote the words house, airstrip and a helipad on his side of the paper.

"Helipad?" she queried.

"Might be easier than the airstrip, and probably better for commuting to and from work every day," he shrugged. "I hate traffic, and it's a bit of a commute to the city, you have to admit. We can keep my penthouse, and you can come into the city sometimes. I travel a bit for work, so that I won't crowd you too much our here on the farm," he reassured her.

"Will you need or want kids from this marriage?" she asked, blushing deeply.

"Yes, but I'm in no hurry. I'd like to practise making babies with you first," Kaeden chuckled at Maggie's blushing shyness. "We could start practising now and finish this in the morning," he wagged his eyebrows at her and leant over, making her lean back and place a hand on his chest.

"I thought you were still recovering," she whispered coyly.

"I'm willing to risk it if you are," he murmured, moving to kiss her.

"No," she laughed, and leant forward to give him a quick peck on the lips, surprising him.

"Why do you find it so easy to say no to me," he grumbled, not moving as she lay back, resting her head on the arm of the couch.

"I don't," she laughed. "But for the little bit of teenage fumbling that happened with Alecks years ago I'm practically a virgin, and if you're serious about marrying me I think it might be kind of nice to wait," she flushed bright red, unable to hide her anxiety about having sex with him, given his reputation.

"So, we'll elope tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

"Not tomorrow, but eloping sometime soon sounds good. Who would I invite to a formal wedding?" Maggie asked, embarrassed that her voice caught in her throat and wobbled slightly.

Kaeden watched as her calm veneer crumbled and her bottom lip quivered. He pulled into his arms and held her tightly. "It's been a long night," he said softly. "You need sleep," he murmured into her neck and hair, breathing in her unique smell. Unfurling from the couch with her in his arms.

"Put me down! I'm too big and heavy for this!" she complained, trying to wriggle from his arms.

"I think I can manage," he said confidently. He walked into her bedroom and placed her on her bed, kissing her with feeling. He went to leave her to change into something more comfortable to sleep in, but she stopped him.

"Stay," she whispered, tightening her arms around his neck. "Until I fall asleep?"

"As long as you promise not to take advantage of me," he smiled, stripping off his shirt again.

"I promise," she said, and slipped off her jeans, leaving the soft shirt in place and climbing into bed. Kaeden lay down beside her and spooned into her back, wrapping his arms around her and burying his nose in her hair.

"I love the way you smell," he murmured against her neck and tightened his hold on her slightly.

Maggie said nothing, letting the tears that had begun to slide silently down her cheeks. The only people she had that she could call family had betrayed her so completely that she felt bereft and cast adrift. Kaeden's words of friendship and fate instead of lies about love and beauty had swayed her. That was what she needed right now, a friend she could depend on, a friend with a good lawyer who could help her regain control of her life and the independence from her step-family she needed.

Chapter 10.

The realist in Maggie resurfaced as she thought about what she had just agreed to and why. She could play the good wife as long as she could keep her little farm, and sleeping with a man like Kaeden wasn't going to be a hardship, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, she agreed that they could be great friends, even once he got everything and divorced her for someone more his type. They were just friends thrown together by circumstance and willing to help each other out. So why was she so worried about having sex with him? Friends with benefits was a thing. Why shouldn't she take advantage of the benefits while she could?

Kaeden felt her relax in his arms, but he knew she wasn't sleeping. She really was a Cinderella, with the evil step mother and step brothers instead of sisters. He just wished she could see herself as he saw her. She was beautiful, whether in jeans and a button up shirt or dressed up as she was earlier tonight. He'd never met a woman like her, so strong and funny and fiercely independent. He'd fallen in love with her somewhere in the last two weeks, and he wanted more of her, in every way possible. He wanted to be the Prince Charming to her Cinderella story. He'd never been surer of anything in his life. His hand slowly caressed down her side, a natural movement he was barely aware of as his thoughts continued to roll.

Maggie turned over and looked at him in the darkness. She was in bed with the man she had fantasised about for weeks now, after accepting his marriage proposal. What was she waiting for? Neither of them was in love. The marriage was a business proposal, so why had she asked him to wait for a romantic wedding night? She leant into him and kissed him lightly.

"You're making it very hard for me to wait until the wedding," he murmured, both surprised and pleased by her kiss. He smiled and nibbled at her bottom lip.

"Where does your name come from? It's not a common name," she asked curiously.

"You'd have to ask my mother, I've never questioned it," he said, nuzzling into her neck. "Where did that question come from?"

"I don't know you at all, Kaeden, and I just agreed to marry you. I thought I should at least know something about you, other than the fact that you're a terrible pilot," she teased.

"I'm a great pilot, besides, you admitted that you googled me. If anything, I should be the one asking the questions here. Let's start with favourite colour?"

"I don't think I have one," she admitted quietly.

"Every girl has a favourite colour," he said. "You have to trust me with some personal details eventually, especially as I am going to be your husband as soon as we can organise a wedding."

"Sunset, maybe. Pink and orange and inky blues all strung out together in one perfect sunset," she said thoughtfully after a moment.

"I like it, but it's not as good as racing green," he teased, taken aback by the romance in her answer. "Tell me about your other favourites, smell, touch, taste, even sights."

"Well, I guess they are all one in the same," she said softly. "I love those hot summer afternoons when the sun is setting, and inky black storm clouds are chasing it over the horizon. You can smell the coming rain, and you wait out there in the strange twilight until those first soft drops of rain fall on your face and shoulders, chasing away the heat and exhaustion of the day." She looked into his eyes and smiled shyly.

"I think summer storms are my new favourite thing too. At least the storm that brought me to you," he gave her his crooked smile and kissed her again. She kissed him back this time. She knew she was opening herself up to heartache when he fully recovered and realised what a mistake he was making, but she couldn't help it. Right here and now she wanted to believe him and live that fantasy she had denied could be possible since they met. She pressed up against him and ran her hands over the smooth skin of his back as the kiss extended.

"Maggie, if we don't stop, I'm not sure I will be able to, I want this, I want you, too much, and I'm only human," he said seriously. She smiled at the sincerity in his voice and sat up, still facing him. Her fingers trembled slightly as she lifted the bottom of the singlet top she wore and quickly pulled it free of her arms and head.

"I changed my mind," she whispered, blushing, and reached around to undo her bra. Kaeden sat up then, pulling her hands away from the clasp.

"Are you sure?" he asked, torn between wanting her so badly and needing to make sure she wasn't doing this because of everything that had happened today. "I can wait, I'd never force myself on you in that way. You've been through a lot. I don't want you to wake up tomorrow and regret this."

"You're not the only one who has been thinking about this since we met," she admitted, continuing to hold his hands. "I just..." she hesitated. "I'm just so..." she floundered for words, not wanting to say inexperienced, "me, and you're, well... you're you." She blurted. "So I made the excuse of waiting for the wedding, but you may as well know what you're getting," she said sadly. "I want to do this," she reassured him, despite her embarrassment. "I've thought about it a lot."

Kaeden gave up all sense of restraint at that point and pulled her across his lap and into his arms, kissing her passionately. His hunger for her gripped him, but rather than the purely sexual passion he usually felt with the women he went to bed with, this time his hunger was rich and unexpectedly sweet, like the woman he held in his arms, and he intended to savour it.

Her arms settled on his shoulders and tips of her fingers traced a pattern over the skin there and at the base of his neck. She shifted in his lap, pressing more firmly against the evidence of his desire for her. When he eased back from the long passionate kiss, she followed the movement of his head, kissing the corners of his mouth, his chin, and followed the line of his jaw up to his ear. Her hands shifted softly through the ends of his hair that fell to his neck.

Kaeden smiled and shook his head slightly.

"What?" She breathed hotly against the skin of his neck, worried that she was doing something wrong.

"You," he pulled back, looking into her face.

"What about me?" she became self-conscious.

"I just didn't expect you to be so..." he hesitated, choosing his words carefully.

"Easy?" She became defensive and leant back further.

"Willing," he corrected, pulling her back toward him.

"I think you knew you would wear me down with your charm eventually," she gave a small, shy smile, admitting how charming she found him.

"Yet my sister had to set me up on a date with you?" he raised an eyebrow. "I thought I would have to work even harder, that I'd have to take things very slowly. Now I'm not sure if slow is going to work for either of us." His fingers danced lighting down over her chest, tracing the outline of her bra, making her quiver, and then they were gone. His voice had become deeper and huskier as he asked, "What do you think, fast or slow?"

Maggie's heart beat loudly in her chest as his hands trailed around her ribs to unclasp the bra and lightly tickled back over her ribs as he peeled it forward, causing the straps to fall from her shoulders and the garment to land in the space between their bodies. She reached for it, tossing it aside, not wanting the tantalising fingers to stop moving from her back around her ribs. She sucked in a breath, closed her eyes and waited, willing him to keep going to touch her breasts that were growing heavy and tight with longing.