Wildflower Chapter 5 (New)

Chapter 5

 

Wildflower woke up with a smile on her face until she remembered Nicolas was gone. She loved this bed and wondered if all the rooms in this hotel had beds like this. If so then that was why it was so expensive. Yesterday after Nicolas wore her out she took a little nap then got up to assist in moving day. Then she came back to the hotel with her girlfriends and they had a girls’ night. It was Brooke’s late birthday celebration so they went out and had fun and a sleepover. The birthday girl in question was sleeping in the bed with her. Three beds and four of them so somebody had to share, Brooke made the choice. Today they were going to have breakfast and the go to the spa.

“Missing your hubby?” Brooke asked and she turned to look at her.

“A little,” Wildflower admitted. “He told me he loved me yesterday.”

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?” Brooke asked sitting up excitedly.

“Because it wasn’t that important and we were kind of busy most of the day. I agreed to move in with him too,” she confessed.

“Oh my God! Seriously? Finally! We have to celebrate this,” Brooke said.

“He also gave me a credit card with no limit to use while he is gone.”

Yesterday after Nicolas left she put pretty much everything from her mind. She was more focused on her family and her best friend. Now she was ready to talk about it, talking made it all so real. Thinking of yesterday she felt her body go warm, if only he was here. A week seemed like a lifetime to be away from Nicolas. And it seemed longer now that she finally knew what he was like in bed. At this point she was sure what she was going to do with his credit card. Just because he said she could spend whatever she wanted didn’t mean she should. For some reason she felt a bit of guilt every single time bought her something and he was always giving gifts. One thing she didn’t feel guilty about was having his beautiful big black SUV.

“Let’s go shopping then,” Brooke predictably suggested.

“Brooke I’m not spending his money,” she replied.

“Your boyfriend is a billionaire and he works hard, what is wrong with you? It’s not like he’s some spoiled rich playboy. The man is always working and he wants to buy you things and all you do is say no. I know you are new to this but come on; you are crazy not to use it. I know he told you to use it, of course he did. What are you so afraid of? He told you he loves you and you are going to go live in his mansion,” Brooke said staring at her.

“What are you yelling about?” Christina asked when she came into the room to join them.

“Nicolas told her he loves her and gave her his limitless credit card to treat herself. She refuses to use said card but has decided to live with him,” Brooke recapped.

“Did you tell him you love him too?” Christina asked and she nodded, both of her friends were excited. “Honey, you have to stop thinking so much. If his money is going to bother you now then break up with him. He isn’t going to stop being rich and if it’s a problem now it always be. Don’t lead him on and say you’ll live with him then stall and avoid the situation. You can fall in love with someone else; it’s just not fair to either of you.”

“Mama Chris is right,” Brooke agreed.

They made everything seem so simple when it wasn’t. Or was it simple? Why was she so afraid to just let herself relax? It was logically impossible to spend all of his money, especially in a week. The real reason that she was so against gifts was because it reminded her of Daisy. Her sister needed validation from other people and praise and gifts from guys to make herself feel good. That type of thing always repulsed her and she worked for everything she had. This kind of felt like giving up the independence and self-sufficiency that she worked so hard to build. Nicolas wanted to take care of her completely and her natural response was flight.

“I couldn’t break up with him if I wanted to,” she replied. “I love him and I’ve never felt this way before but I was raised to work for everything not let my rich boyfriend buy me everything. When you spend 23 years in my family you kind of feel like it’s a handout and we don’t take those. What I know is working for things not just going to a store and swiping a credit card. It’s been 3 months and I don’t know if I will ever be comfortable spending his money.”

A knock coming from the door got her out of this conversation. She gladly got up and went to get it. Room service was bringing them breakfast, she assumed this was Nicolas’ doing. Behind the room service workers were Sugar and Sammie. Now she knew it was his doing, of course he sent in his little spies. Both girls came to hug her and a buffet’s worth of food was left in the living room. Brooke and Christina came out and then Cody woke up and joined them. Unfortunately this was the conversation that refused to end.

“Uncle Nick told us that we should take you shopping,” Sugar told her.

“He said not to take no for an answer,” Sammie added.

“I must say he is good,” Brooke shook her head. “Now you have to go and at least buy something cute to wear for him. And buy me something to wear for Jay so I can stay at his new place. Finally we can have some privacy to do whatever we want to.”

“Ivan lives there too,” Christina pointed out.

“So? I’m sure he will parade s***s through and as long as Jay isn’t screwing s***s I don’t care,” Brooke replied. “Anyway enough about me, Wildflower are you going to keep being lame about the card?”

“What card? What are you talking about?” Cody asked, these days she always seemed out of the loop.

Wildflower remembered Cody was her best friend pretty much forever and they were always so close. Lately she was closer to Brooke who she was friends with less time. And of course she was close to Christina who she’d only known a few years. Sometimes she wondered if maybe it was because Brooke and Christina were in relationships with her brothers that made them closer. Cody had a boyfriend and she did spend time with him a lot but more recently Cody didn’t like Nicolas. Since she started seeing him Cody was starting to distance herself or at least that’s how it felt and it was confusing. What was going on? Nicolas could be too assertive but he was always nice to anybody that was important to her.

“My uncle gave her his credit card,” Sugar answered. “It has no limit and its begging to be swiped.”

“Why did he leave you his credit card?” Cody asked looking a bit confused.

“Because he wants to take care of me and so we are all caught up I guess I am going to live with him in the very near future,” Wildflower said. The teenagers squealed in delight, of course they were happy.

“You barely know him,” Cody said.

“Shut up Cody, don’t discourage her,” Brooke said.

“They told each other that they love one another too,” Christina added.

“Really? That is amazing!” Sugar said hugging her. “Did you have sex with him too? You’re like totally glowing with sexual satisfaction.”

“If it will get me out of talking about sex with a 16 year old I will agree to going shopping,” Wildflower said. If she was going to be the live-in girlfriend of a billionaire then maybe she had to try to get use to it.

*********************

Wildflower was enjoying the peace and quiet of the hotel, something nonexistent at home. The last few days she had various company in her haven. Monday Sugar and Sammie stayed over and Tuesday Evan did and of course her friends had over the weekend. Nicolas wasn’t coming home until Sunday. Tonight she was finally going to spend by herself; it was very rare for her to be completely alone. At home there was always someone there and since she had been staying here she had almost no time alone. Even though she was enjoying her alone time she opened up her laptop and wasn’t surprised that two seconds later she got a message from Nicolas.

 

               NickCapriani: Hey beautiful.

               daisyLove3: Hi how’s business?

               NickCapriani: Boring…wish I was with you.

               daisyLove3: Aww my baby… I wish you were here.

               NickCapriani: Where are you anyway?

               daisyLove3: Your bed…at the hotel.

               NickCapriani: What are you wearing?

               daisyLove3: The same shirt I had on when you left.

               NickCapriani: Oh really? Why are you wearing my shirt?

               daisyLove3: It smells like you.

               NickCapriani: So you’re lying in my bed...in just a shirt?

               daisyLove3: Pretty much.

               NickCapriani: You are such a tease.

               daisyLove3: How so?

               NickCapriani: You should be in my bed here…in less.

               daisyLove3: Do you ever think of anything besides sex?

               NickCapriani: Of course.

               daisyLove3: Like what?

               NickCapriani: You.

               daisyLove3: You Mr. Capriani are crazy.

               NickCapriani: I’m crazy about you.

               daisyLove3: I think I’m going to go take a bubble bath.

               NickCapriani: There you go again you tease.

               daisyLove3: Not a tease…I just want a bath.

               NickCapriani: So after this bath you’re gonna be walking around my room   

        naked?

               daisyLove3: Maybe.

               NickCapriani: Take the rest of the week off…get on a plane.

               daisyLove3: No…you’ll see me in a few days.

               NickCapriani: You better be naked when I do.

               daisyLove3: Really…stop thinking about sex.

               NickCapriani: Fine.

               daisyLove3: I miss you.

               NickCapriani: Come out here.

               daisyLove3: I wish I could.

               NickCapriani: You don’t have to work…I want to take care of you.

               daisyLove3: I already told you no…besides I like my job.

               NickCapriani: Nobody ever really likes their job.

               daisyLove3: Well I do.

               NickCapriani: Your job is to be mine.

               daisyLove3: My job is to help my family.

               NickCapriani: I’m your family now.

               daisyLove3: I don’t see a ring on my finger.

               NickCapriani: That could be arranged.

               daisyLove3: I bet.

               NickCapriani: But then again how can I buy you a ring if I can’t buy you 

                                       anything?

               daisyLove3: You never listen to me anyway.

               NickCapriani: It’s because you never tell me what you want.

               daisyLove3: Maybe I don’t want anything.

               NickCapriani: With me you won’t have to want…you can have anything

               daisyLove3: You’re driving me crazy.

               NickCapriani: You’ve been driving me crazy since I first saw you.

               daisyLove3: That seems like so long ago…but it really wasn’t.

               NickCapriani: It’s because we’re soul mates.

               daisyLove3: Since when do you believe in that stuff?

               NickCapriani: Since I met you.

               daisyLove3: Oh I see.

               NickCapriani: Babe I gotta run…meeting time.

               daisyLove3: Oh ok…call me later then.

               NickCapriani: Will do… later baby.

 

Wildflower closed down her laptop and put it on the nightstand; she just laid silence for a moment. Was this what it would be like to live with Nicolas? She had planned to stay with her family at least until school was out next month. But it seemed that her family was conspiring against her and all of them basically told her it was time to go. Her brothers wanted to make her happy because she was always doing things for others. The trouble was that she was like Ricky in the sense that she liked to do for others but didn’t want praise for it. Her family was pushing her forward and she did appreciate it but she still felt they needed her more. Or maybe she really wasn’t needed anymore, the boys were all teenagers.

This felt like she was a mother having to learn to let go. She had a hand in raising her brothers, some 7 year olds played house with dolls she had real babies. Iris and Daisy were disinterested in babies; those two were a lot alike. Wildflower loved children and family but everybody had to grow up and life was full of change. Even once she got over not being needed by her family anymore she still felt like she didn’t fit with Nicolas. She wasn’t exactly the type of girl he was use to dating. In fact Brooke did some serious searching to find out the types of girls he’d been out with in the past. The thing about dating someone in one of the top 10 riches families was that he got photographed a lot. His brothers more so than him and his sisters, like his famous fashion designer sister.

How was she supposed to fit into that life? The last few times she bought clothes they were from Wal-Mat and Target. Before meeting him she never really cared too much about her appearance. She was less tomboyish and realized that she would not die or burst into flames if she wore pink. All of the women in Nicolas’ life wore designer clothes and that included his assistant. Gloria probably had the best of everything; it made her wonder about that. Everything Delanoz said was hiding in the back of her mind where she was leaving it for now. Back to her current freak out she was starting to see why Nicolas didn’t introduce her to any of his friends or family.

After lying in bed a little while longer she considered getting up for her bath. A nice quiet relaxing bubble bath, something she could not do at home. In truth the only time she took a bubble bath was with Nicolas that first night together. Before that the last one might have been when she was 5. This was just something she wanted to do for herself; she never really did anything to please herself. Now she had a man that wanted nothing more than to please her and give her any and everything she wanted. There was a knock on the door and she sighed, who could it be? She got up and went to the door and didn’t care that she was only in a men’s shirt that just barely covered her butt.

When she opened the door she expected maybe that Brooke decided to crash her night to herself. That was a very Brooke thing to do, she loved the hotel. Or it could have been Sugar and/or Sammie; they were very invested in her relationship. When they talked her into going shopping the other day she bought a few things. The guilt wouldn’t go away though, so she didn’t use the credit card again. Somehow it felt like she was taking advantage of him by using it. At the door to her surprise was the last person she would have guessed, Nicolas.

               “What’re you doing here?” Wildflower asked in a bit of a mild shock, no wonder he wanted to chat online as opposed to calling her. He wanted to make sure she was in the hotel and unaware of what he was up to.

               “I had some free time and thought I’d come spend some time with the love of my life,” he said then kissed her. “Perks of having your own plane,” he went on pulling her back towards the bedroom.

               “Won’t your father be mad?” She asked when they were sitting on the bed, he shrugged.

               “No big deal really, he probably won’t notice. Gloria and my brothers will cover for me,” he said matter-of-factly. “Now what’s this I hear about a bubble bath?”

               “I was just about to go run some water,” she told him. Even though she wanted to have one night to herself, she was happy to have him there.

               “I can’t believe you’re really still wearing that shirt,” he said running his hand over the buttons before he started to unbutton it. “You’re just too cute,” he told her as he pulled her onto his lap so he could finish unbuttoning the shirt.

               “You only came here to have sex?” She asked and he stopped staring into her eyes.

               “No, I came to take a bubble bath,” he replied. “No really I just wanted to see you, let’s go to dinner I’m starving.”

               “Ok, I was just going to order room service but we can go out if you want,” she said.

               “We’ll just go downstairs, go put some pants on,” he told her.

Not having much of a choice she got up and grabbed pair of jeans off of the chair and slipped them on and buttoned the shirt back. She had missed him but this sort of felt like a booty-call. But he missed her enough to sneak and take a flight to see her. That really seemed like love, so why did she have such an uneasy feeling?

 

At dinner Nicolas noticed Wildflower was a little quieter than usual and that worried him. He had been thinking about her so much that Gloria sent him home to clear his head. There was just so much left to do with no time to do it. Of course Gloria knew when he was distracted but nobody else seemed to notice. Since he wasn’t needed again until tomorrow he came home. Well he also wanted to check on Wildflower. So far she didn’t change her mind about moving in but it was coming. He knew her well enough to know that she would find some excuse.

               “So will you be ready to move in when I get back?” Nicolas asked her and she looked up from her salad that she’d been picking over.

               “Oh I guess so,” she said then looked back down.

               “Well I figured we could stay in the mansion, but if you want we can stay at the hotel. Doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re there,” he said.

               “Whichever is fine,” she said and he was pretty sure by the tone that she was upset about something.

               “Wildflower is something wrong?” He asked, she looked up and smiled an obviously forced smile. “Should I not have come?”

               “I missed you, I’m glad you came,” she said but he wasn’t at all convinced.

               “Is this too much? Am I suffocating you?” He was worried, this wasn’t what he expected. Desperately he tried to think of something he might have said or done.

               “Nick,” she said looking unsure. “Why are you with me? I mean I know we love each other but I’m like dirt poor and you have a lot of money.”

               “Money is boring, I’ve always been able to have whatever I wanted, no challenges. The women I use to see were all about the money. But you aren’t and you don’t make things easy for me, I like a good challenge. You are genuine and a really good person and I love that about you. If it would make you happy I’d give everything up for you,” he said honestly. While he enjoyed being able to have anything he wanted he often thought about going off on his own and starting over without his family’s money.

               “So you like me because I’m not easy? That isn’t really the best foundation for a relationship is it? I’ve just been wonder where this is going, because living together feels very serious to me,” she said.

               “What I admire most about you is that you don’t let anybody tell you what to do. You’re strong and independent, beautiful and stubborn and very loyal and honest and you value family and you have morals, values and standards. I like that you challenge me and you will stare me down until I fold, you are my future. I’m very serious about our relationship, I think of you as my future wife. But I know that it might take time for you to want to marry me and I can be patient,” he told her. “Truth be told I know why I want you but I have no idea why you would want to be with me. I think you are way too good for me and I’m not saying that to boost your ego.” To him she was perfect and he definitely wasn’t.

               There were a lot of things she didn’t know about him. Every family had skeletons, right? With his family it wasn’t a closet it was more of a graveyard or a tomb full of secrets. People thought they knew about the Caprianis but they had no idea. And he knew where most of the bodies were buried, both figuratively and literally. Some people feared his family but the fear made them intriguing to the general public. The family was filled with all types of people and most liked to be in the spotlight. Nicolas wasn’t one of them; he left that to his siblings who loved attention. He liked his privacy and they did their best not to give him any. His reputation of a ruthless businessman was carefully cultivated, he never left things to chance, and he liked the fear. Most people were afraid to cross him and he always got what he wanted, it didn’t matter what he had to do to get it.

Nicolas was almost 30 and hadn’t ever been married or close to it. No woman he ever met was right for what he wanted and then he saw Wildflower and somehow he knew. Maybe she really was his soul mate, if he had much of a soul left. Wildflower was selfless loving and loyal, loyalty was very important in the Capriani family. He had big plans for her, he really didn’t want a girlfriend or a play mate he wanted a wife. And he was going to do whatever it took to have her as his wife. His family wouldn’t approve and it wasn’t just his parents that he had to deal with. No, it was the rest of the family; everybody had a stake in his future.

               “You always know just what to say,” she shook her head. “I’m nervous about moving in with you and I don’t know if I could fit into your life. And I don’t dress like a rich man’s girlfriend.”

               “We’ve been together for what three months? I think you fit in my life pretty well. As for how you dress buy new clothes if it bothers you. Though if you want to dress like you were the night met you, I wouldn’t mind if I’m the only one that sees you of course.”

               “Well if you knew me I’d say before my sister died, I basically dressed like a boy. In fact I actually wore Ivan’s clothes; I always thought I should have been born a boy. What I was wearing that night isn’t exactly what I would usually wear. Daisy was the girlie girl and she tried so hard to get me to dress like or act like a girl. So I guess skin tight jeans and an itty bitty halter top might have been an improvement,” she shrugged. There was a look in her eyes anytime she mentioned her sister.

               “Tell me about her, you never really talk about what happened,” he said.

               “Um ok, Daisy and I were polar opposites, like I said I was basically a boy with a vagina. She liked boyfriends and commitments and cared about her appearance and was more into getting close to people outside of our family. Me, I never cared about appearance or needed outside attachments my family was always enough. I figured nobody could ever love me like my family so I got all my love and affection at home. Never had boyfriends but I liked sex so I might have been a little s****y. Even though I liked sex and I really haven’t had sex with that many guys so you know, just more than once I was um having sex with two different guys but I didn’t plan it that way it just happened. I hated cuddling and sleeping together and any type of PDA, she was the opposite. Daisy was a preppy princess and I was a wild tomboy.

“She wanted to be taken care of; she would have been perfect for you. Let you buy her whatever she wanted and be all lovey,” she told him. There was a look in her eyes that he couldn’t quite decipher, obviously she missed her sister but there was something else. “Um it was the end of the summer and we were going to a party with her boyfriend. I ended up staying home sick and they went out and they never came back. Her boyfriend Eli he was like her high school sweetheart, or so it seemed. She told me that night that the truth was that he was gay and she was pretending to be his girlfriend, it explained a lot. They were together for like 4 years on and off. Nobody knows exactly what happened it just seemed that he lost control of the car and crashed and it caught on fire. Both of their bodies were burned beyond recognition. Nobody really talks about her because of me; I was in a bad place after she died.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t imagine losing someone so close,” he said taking her hands.

               “We were triplets it was like having a piece of my soul ripped out, it’s a wound that just can’t heal. Obviously we moved on, my family is use to loss. My father lost his siblings, then his father, then he died and then his mother died and then Daisy. Apparently being a Laiez is hazardous to your health. I learned when my father died that death only makes life pause, the living still have to go on. My family always takes care of each other and honestly the thought of leaving them is hard for me,” she admitted.

               Nicolas knew she was attached to her family but now he knew that this was going to be very difficult. He expected resistance but hearing her talk about her sister he knew it would be about 100 times more difficult to get her to stay with him. Was it selfish to take her away from her family? If she didn’t leave them now she never would and he knew that and they did too. She was too good to be true and yet she was true. The selflessness wasn’t an act it was just how she was. He wanted her to be loyal to him though and for him to be her family, was that wrong? No, wrong was not pushing her foward, it would be better in the end. Selfless she was and selfish he was because he wanted her and couldn’t let her go, consequences be damned. His family would see her as an obstacle and never see what he saw in her.

 

Thinking about the past made Wildflower feel teary, she missed her sister. It had been a very long time since she talked about any of that. She still felt empty without Daisy but lately she’d actually been happy. Nicolas made her happy and he made her smile and he made her want to bare her soul to him. Loving him was easy and it scared her to death, she’d never been in love before. Moving in with him meant a lot of things and she was just afraid he would get bored with her. What would she do if he got bored? She’d never had her heart broken because she never gave her heart to anyone.

It was pretty impossible not to fall in love with this man. He was the perfect guy loving, attentive, smart, fun and very independent. Sometimes she wondered how he could live alone so long. She was never alone proven by the fact that the night she was supposed to be alone he showed up. At first she wasn’t sure if she should be happy about it or not but she was. Talking to him and seeing him put her more at ease. That was the effect he had on her, like nothing could be wrong as long as he was there. And she had been wondering where all of this was heading, it was why she was hesitant. But he was serious when he said he saw a future for them ending with her as his wife.

Did she even ever want to get married? Good question, she didn’t know the answer because she didn’t have relationships before him. Before it was never even an option and not that it was she still had no idea if it was something she could want. Moving in with him was really for the best; at least the house would be less cramped. It wasn’t just about convenience she wanted to do this because it was a new experience. She’d had a monotonous life already she wanted something new and different like how he wanted a challenge. Maybe their relationship made sense on less obvious levels. Living together they could figure out if they did really have a future beyond his fantasy of it. Of course it wasn’t promised to go well but wasn’t it better to do it than to not and have to wonder? Officially she was talked back into moving in with him after his trip.

“Let me be your family and take care of you, we can take care of each other and it’s not like you are moving far away. Your family is welcome in our home any time,” Nicolas said. The man only spewed perfection constantly, but she did appreciate it.

“Ok,” she agreed. “My family kind of voted me off the island anyway; they want me to live with you. Go figure, my brothers don’t even all like you and yet they all decided I should go. So I guess you are stuck with me.”

“There is no one else in the world that I want to be stuck to more than you,” he replied. “Explain to me though how if you don’t like PDA or sleeping with men and yet all the things you don’t like happened the night we met? And they continue to happen on a daily basis.”

“I don’t know I guess it’s just you, with you its just ok. Being with you just feels right,” she explained.

“I love you,” he said and she knew he was very serious.

“I love you too,” she said finally feeling more at ease. “We should go upstairs and do all those things that I suddenly like only without any clothes on.”

“Really? I really did just come to see you, sex isn’t a requirement and I’ll probably be gone when you wake up,” he replied.

“You made us both wait three months to have sex, I feel like we have a lot more sexual tension to work off. But if you don’t feel the same…” He cut her off with a kiss and she didn’t mind that it was in a restaurant where people were looking at them. No, nothing else mattered when he kissed her and God help her she loved this man.