the one to push me to move on and even introduced me to Lyle…”
No wonder Drake had been so cold toward me at the funeral. He’d told his daughter to hold out hope, and I’d been too focused on work and trying not to think about Arella. I’d let them both down. Fuck.
“But he knew Lyle was just a rebound. Just like—”
I covered her mouth with my hand. “Please don’t put the names of the guys you’ve fucked in my head, love. Unless you really do want me to start a hit list, just keep that shit to yourself.”
She kissed my palm before pulling my hand away, the grin on her face sheepish. “Sorry.”
“I’ll still talk to your dad. I want to do everything right from here on out. Including getting his blessing to marry you.” I stroked her cheek. “Until then, can we please go house hunting? As much come as I’ve filled you with in the last few days, we need to get a bigger place sooner rather than later for all the babies I’m going to fuck into you.”
She licked her lips, squirming over my already steel-hard cock. “H-how many babies are we talking about?” she asked breathlessly, opening her legs.
I could feel how wet she was already and moved to flip her under me, only to have to force myself to keep from thrusting into her when she wrapped her legs around my hips. “Fuck,” I groaned. “I need to ask you something. And I need an answer soon, love. Because if you’re already pregnant, there is no way in hell I’m letting you do any stunts for the damn thing.”
“Stunts?” she repeated. “I’ve never actually done any stunts before. Is this about that part you were talking about yesterday?”
“Yeah.” It was hard to think when she was completely naked beneath me with my necklace glittering up at me in the sunlight shining through the window. All that separated my throbbing cock from her soaked pussy was the thin material of my basketball shorts. “I might possibly put some money into a new movie franchise if you’re willing to be the lead.”
Her eyes filled with curiosity, and I told her all the key points of the plot line. Her interest only heightened, and I could actually feel her excitement bubbling up. But then I had to tell her about her uncle. “Garon Steel is the one who approached me about investing. He will be the other executive producer on the project.”
“No,” she said, already shaking her head. But I could also see the disappointment on her face. She wanted this; she just didn’t want to have to work with Garon. “I can’t, Jordan. If it were anyone else, I would have already said yes. But not him. He’s evil.”
“How so?”
Her lips twisted into a grim line before she pushed at my chest. I sat up, and she pulled the covers over her as she sat facing me. “This isn’t public knowledge, but when I was a baby, he tried to sue my mom. The production company he had at the time was going bankrupt, and he needed some fast cash. He tried to scare her into paying him hush money to keep him from dragging her through the tabloid trash. Mom’s birth ended Pop-Pop’s marriage to Garon’s mother. Claudia Steel ended up with most of Cole’s money at the time because Mom’s very existence proved he’d cheated on his wife.”
Anger at the man for trying to exploit money out of people I considered my own family made me see red. “Did she pay?”
“Of course not.” She sighed. “Pop-Pop stood behind her, got her a lawyer, and showed Garon which of his two children he was supporting in the matter. But Garon still persisted. Daddy made a deal with him because he knew it was stressing Mom out. If Garon backed off and dropped the ridiculous lawsuit, Daddy would arrange for his next production to get the backing it needed by the right people. Obviously, it helped him, and that’s how he became a part of Strive Studios.”
“I didn’t know anything about that, love. If I had, I never would have even taken the meeting with him.”
She gave me a small smile. “I know. It’s not something we talk about, and thankfully, it never made it to the tabloids. I didn’t doubt your loyalty. Mom wasn’t worried so much about herself back then, but Nevaeh and I were little, and she didn’t want us to be dragged