Chapter Thirty-Seven

When Grace no longer had any tears left to cry, Mac repeated what he’d said moments ago. “A person has a right to leave their past behind them.” Then he continued, “I took that right from you when I betrayed your trust and went behind your back, digging into information that wasn’t mine to know. At least not by that means. I’m so sorry, Grace. I hope you can forgive me.”

She looked at him incredulously. “You’re sorry? I’m the one who should be sorry. I lied to you.”

“Did you?” he asked. “You applied for a job as my escort. You claimed to be suitable for the job. I assumed you had some sort of experience somewhere, even though it didn’t show up anywhere. So, you left some stuff off your resume; people do that all the time. You were trying to keep your private life to yourself. So yeah, Grace, I’m sorry that I poked my nose where I had no business doing so.”

“Well, at least Alice will feel vindicated,” Grace remarked.

Mac frowned. “Do you think I’d tell Alice?”

“She has access to your email, doesn’t she?” Grace asked.

“Fuck! God damn it!” Mac swore.

Grace gave an exhausted sigh. “It is what it is, Mac. She didn’t think very highly of me anyway. Now at least she has a reason to look down on me.”

Mac turned to Grace and said, “I really don’t give a shit what Alice thinks. I’m going to admit here that I spent a few minutes feeling inadequate when I learned that you were a prostitute in Cote d’Ivoire. Then you puffed up my ego with the comment about my package in the shower.”

Grace gave a weak smile. “I didn’t lie about that, Mac. You win the prize for having the biggest dick and balls that I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing firsthand. And yeah, I should know. Your comment makes sense now.”

He smirked. “Thanks.”

“What happens now, Mac? Am I fired?”

He wrinkled his forehead. “What do you mean? What kind of a hypocrite would I be if I got upset that the woman that I hired to sleep with me came with unexpected experience?”

“Meaning, you wanted a whore, and you got a whore?” she asked bitterly.

Mac shook his head. “Meaning it’s a bit of a relief to know that I wasn’t taking advantage of an innocent woman who was so desperate for a job that she would agree to sleep with the boss.”

Grace tilted her head. “Was that a compliment?”

“It was,” he laughed. “I’m just notoriously shitty at expressing myself.”

“So, what does this mean for us. Not the boss and his assistant, but for Mac and Gracie?” she asked.

“I don’t see why this changes anything,” he said. “Except that we both need to do better at being completely honest with each other.”

“And we need to ask each other if there are things we want to know, not go digging for information behind each other’s backs. Without this, we will never be able to trust each other,” Grace added.

“You’re absolutely right. Can you forgive me, Grace?”

She answered by wrapping her arms around Mac and hugging him tightly. “I was afraid you wouldn’t want to be with someone like me.”

“Grace, you are everything I want,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “What you did to survive before you met me doesn’t change the fact that my life has become brighter since you’ve been in it.”

“You’re really okay with the fact that I slept with men for money?” she asked.

“Grace, I’m a man who has paid women to sleep with me. Are you okay with that?” Mac asked in return. “In fact, you’re the first escort that I’m not paying to have sex with me.”

“Technically, you are, Mac, and we both know it.”

“If I were paying you for sex, you’d be making a hell of a lot more at this point. I’d have given you a raise and several bonuses by now,” he said, hoping to make her smile.

It worked. “Now, you tell me this?” Grace asked teasingly. She watched as he poured them both a glass of wine. They both took a generous first sip. He may have said he didn’t feel differently about her, but the silence was becoming awkward. They sat on the couch looking everywhere but at each other.

“Grace, ask me something about my past that you want to know,” Mac said, all of a sudden.

“Umm, okay. You seem reticent regarding anal sex. Was that an issue with you and Louise?” Grace asked.

The question flustered Mac at first. Then he said, “Well, given my size, most women have said ‘absolutely not’ to letting me in the back door. Makes sense, really. When Louise and I got engaged, however, I assumed that she would at least be willing to try to accommodate me. She was appalled at the idea, called me a pervert, and told me that men didn’t want to do those kinds of things with the woman they planned to marry.”

“Wow, how very judgmental on her part,” Grace said, frowning.

Mac nodded, “I felt horrible for even bringing it up. I began to think my views on sex were a little skewed from sleeping with prostitutes and escorts. So, I never brought it up again.”

He tipped his glass up and finished his wine. “Then, of course, I came home with expensive flowers to find her boss’s dick pounding into her ass while she screamed for him to fuck her harder. I was stunned and humiliated.”

Grace’s heart ached for him. “That must have been devastating!” She downed the rest of her wine as well. Mac poured them both another glass.

“It wasn’t my favorite moment in time,” he answered, sighing heavily.

She took a deep breath and said, “Okay, your turn, I guess.”

“It’s fine, Grace; we don’t need to talk more about your past if you don’t want to,” he said softly.

“No, if we’re going to make a go at a real relationship, honesty has to be part of that,” she insisted.

He thought for a moment, trying to choose the right words. “How did you wrap your head around working in a brothel after being used against your will?” he finally asked.

It was a fair question. She’d asked herself the same thing at least a thousand times. She inhaled sharply. “I literally had no other choice. Koffi, the owner, was very kind, but when he told me what kind of work he could offer me, I cried. I explained that I couldn’t even stomach the thought of a man touching me sexually after being raped repeatedly. So, to start, he had me service guys who just wanted hand jobs and lonely, older men who were looking for someone to talk to as much or more than a body to fuck. It was hard at first, but my choices were to spread my legs or starve. Over time, I learned to tolerate being touched and eventually discovered I was rather talented at making men feel good.”

Mac nodded. “I can vouch for that.”

“When I left Abidjan, I thanked Koffi for helping me to enjoy sex again. Sounds crazy, I know,” she sighed.

“No, it doesn’t. It makes perfect sense,” he said.

“Anyway, does that answer your question?”

“Yes, thanks. I know it’s not easy to talk about that time in your life,” he said, taking her hand in his.

“Oddly, it was easier than I thought it would be. I was afraid you were going to ask about the attack.”

“I will never ask you to tell me what happened. But, if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here to listen,” Mac said.

He leaned in to kiss her, and she melted against him. Mac led her to the bedroom, setting their glasses aside, and pulled Grace onto the bed with him. Finding his phone on the bed, he picked it up and made a point of turning it off in front of her.

“What do you need, Gracie?” he asked her in between the kisses he was planting seductively on her neck and shoulders.

“Sex, food, and sleep, in that order,” she answered.

So, Mac made love to Grace, ordered room service, and held her until sleep claimed them both.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The next week flew by despite the tedious meetings. Having a side trip to Stonehenge planned gave them something to look forward to. He’d meant to keep it a surprise for her, but he couldn’t help himself. The fact that she’d forgiven him so easily still astonished him. But a part of him felt he still needed to make things up to her. So, he told her about the trip to make her smile.

He was thrilled that they continued to grow closer, rebuilding their trust in one another, despite a very vocal protest from Alice. She had, indeed, accessed Mac’s email and read the report from the private investigator. And she made sure to call Mac to let him know her opinion.

“You need to fire her at once, Mr. Stewart,” Alice had demanded. “She’s nothing but a lying whore.”

“Watch your step, Alice!” McKinley warned. “I fail to see why I should fire an escort because it turns out she has more experience than she originally divulged.”

“Ugh! You’ve got a blind spot where Ms. Remy is concerned, sir,” Alice said curtly. “She will use you to get what she wants and end up hurting you in the end. You’re certainly not the first wealthy man she has targeted.”

“Alice, while I appreciate your concern, it is misplaced and misguided.”

“Fine,” Alice huffed.

Mac sighed. “I’ll be in touch, Alice.”

Grace heard the interaction and rubbed Mac’s shoulders. “Well, at least she reacted exactly as I figured she would. I’m not after your money, McKinley Stewart; it’s your body I want.”

“Well, then, come and get it, Gracie,” he said, pulling her onto his lap.

Mac couldn’t help but think, as she was riding his cock moments later, that he was a lucky man.

When the last day of this leg of the trip arrived, they got up before dawn, walked a few blocks to pick up the tour bus, and dozed a little while leaning against each other on the drive. Occasionally, Grace would wake up to hear little snippets of the tour guide’s spiel.

“Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed between 3000 BCE and 2000 BCE, which is the same as BC for those of you not familiar with the newer terminology. BCE stands for Before Common Era. What we used to call AD is now CE, or Common Era,” he prattled on, although most people were either sleeping or busy talking amongst themselves.

When they arrived, Grace was astounded. It was totally worth the ungodly hour he made her get up when she saw the giant prehistoric stones standing majestically in a circular pattern. Stonehenge was so much bigger in person than in the history books she’d seen as a child.

“Oh, Mac! This is amazing!”

“Wait till you see the sun begin to rise, Miss,” the tour guide said.

Grace was mesmerized by the grandeur of the sunlight peeking through the magnificent structure. She was utterly in awe of how futuristic the giant monoliths appeared, even though they were thousands of years old.

Mac had arranged for the inner circle tour, so he and Grace and the others in their small group were allowed to walk among the massive stones. The guide instructed everyone not to touch the stones, which only seemed to make doing so more tempting. He saw Grace taking pictures and asked, “Miss, would you like me to snap a photo of you and your man in front of the stones?”

Grace answered, “I’d love that, thank you very much!”

Afterward, Mac held Grace from behind and kissed her temple. “Make sure to email me a copy of that picture of you and your man.”

Grace smiled. A week ago, that might have been a touchy subject. That they had managed to survive him ripping the Band-Aid off the wound that was her sordid past only made her more confident that they were meant to be together. No other man on earth would have taken the news of her being a whore as a minor detail the way he had. It made forgiving him for his invasion of her privacy so much easier.

Although the rest of the tour group was going to Lacock and then on to Bath, Mac arranged separate transportation to take them back to their hotel. From there, they would head to Heathrow to catch a flight to Vienna. He hoped the surprise he had waiting there for her would show her how much he cared for her.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

On the plane to Vienna, Grace slept most of the way, but Mac was restless. Franz Huber, the CEO of the company he was acquiring in Austria, had once hoped that McKinley Stewart would become his son-in-law. While his daughter, Johanna, had been a lovely distraction for a while, she was far too arrogant for his taste. It was one thing to know that you’re beautiful, and another to demand people recognize it. Not to mention, at the time, Mac was not as wealthy or successful as he was now. Johanna lost interest in him when the next guy who came along was more affluent and more willing to dote on her every word.

In any event, he could have skipped Vienna altogether as he and Franz had handled most of the paperwork virtually. But a very vain part of him wanted to show Grace off.

“Your brain is very noisy, Mac,” Grace said with her eyes still closed.

“Your ability to hear my brain thinking is sometimes disconcerting,” he teased.

“Just one of my many talents,” she teased back. “So, is there a reason we are only in Vienna for a week instead of two?”

“I’ve completed a lot of the transition process in advance on this one. Franz Huber and I go way back.”

Grace nodded.

“What’s on our dance card this week?” he asked her.

She opened her tablet and pulled up the agenda for Vienna. “We have a small dinner reception tomorrow night. Then Tuesday, we have your presentation in the morning, lunch with the board of directors, a couple of meetings in the afternoon, and we have tickets for Dinnertheater Schoenbrunn in the evening.”

Mac smiled. “How did you know that I love dinner theater productions?”

“It’s my job to know these things,” Grace teased. When she saw him frown, she rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, fine, I didn’t know. I just thought it sounded like a cool thing to do.”

“It is a cool thing to do,” he grinned. “I’ve just never dated anyone that enjoyed it the way I do, so I rarely get to go.”

Grace felt secretly pleased with herself that she managed to find a way to surprise him. “Well, now you will. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are mostly meetings and luncheons. But you’re finished at noon on Friday, and we don’t leave for Budapest until later on Sunday. So, we should have a little time to see parts of Vienna. Maybe we could even tour Schonbrunn Palace.”

Mac smiled. “We’ll see.”

After they landed and collected their bags, McKinley hailed a taxi. “Austria Trend Parkhotel Schonbrunn, please,” he told the driver.

Grace looked confused. “I thought our reservation was at Hotel Sans Souci.”

“I changed it. I wanted to take you somewhere special,” Mac told her.

“I sure as hell hope you informed Alice,” she said sarcastically.

“Nope. I don’t answer to her,” he said in a cocky voice. “But I will tell her eventually where we are, so I don’t have to listen to her bitch.”

When they arrived at the hotel, she was impressed with how beautiful everything was. “Oh, look! We’re so close to the Schonbrunn Palace!” she said excitedly.

He grinned. “We’re about to get closer.”

After checking in at the Austria Trend Parkhotel Schonbrunn, a concierge directed them to the suite where they’d be staying, Schonbrunn Grand Suite Palace.

Grace’s eyes grew wide. “Oh my God, Mac! We’re staying in the Schonbrunn Palace?”

“I wanted to do something special to surprise you, Grace,” Mac said. “I wanted to show you how much you mean to me.”

Her eyes filled with tears. Mac worried that he’d done something wrong. “Hey, Gracie, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just that my way of surprising you was buying tickets to Dinnertheater Schoenbrunn, while you surprise me with a suite in a palace! I’m just a little overwhelmed.”

Mac put his arms around her. “Yes, but you bought those tickets out of the goodness of your heart. I reserved the suite in the palace to make up for betraying your trust.”

“Well, you succeeded,” she said, kissing him. “Thank you!”

“Let’s see if you still feel that way after having to climb all those stairs when we get there.”

Mac wasn’t joking, as there were eighty-eight stairs to climb to get to their suite.

“Looks like we’ll be getting our exercise!” Grace remarked.

“I’m sorry there isn’t an elevator, darling.”

She turned to him and said, “It’s a small inconvenience to be able to stay in a real palace!”

Mac watched her excitement as they looked around the luxurious rooms of the suite. She chose the second bedroom and its bathroom as her own. “Don’t worry; I fully intend to spend my nights in your room. It’ll just be nice to have more space to get ready in.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The next day, after a delightful breakfast cooked for them in their kitchen by a private chef, they took a tour of Schonbrunn Palace and its gardens. It wasn’t something that Mac would have chosen to do on his own, but watching Grace enjoy the opulence and history made it worth trudging through nearly all forty rooms open to the public.

Later, Grace finalized the menu with Veranda, the restaurant in the Hotel Sans Souci where they were hosting the dinner reception, and she was checking over the list of attendees.

“Hey, Mac, I see a Johanna Huber on the list for tonight’s dinner reception. Is she related to Franz?”

Mac froze for a second. Why the hell was she coming tonight? Struggling to sound nonchalant, he said, “Yeah, that’s his daughter. She is on his board of directors. But the merger is all but a done deal, so I’m sure she’s just coming to be seen. She’s quite enamored with herself.”

Mac figured it would be best not to mention the six-month torrid affair he’d had with her.

Grace watched Mac’s body language change when he talked about Johanna. But she let it go.

When it was time to get ready, she decided to skip the pale-yellow tea-length gown she had initially selected, opting instead for the A-line, one-shoulder sweep, satin gown in royal blue. She opened the jewelry box provided and chose the sapphire pendant necklace and matching earrings. She checked the clock, and since she had time, she straightened her hair.

When she stepped into the living room, Mac’s jaw nearly hit the ground. “Wow! You look amazing!” He’d never seen her hair like this, straight and sleek. She was breathtaking.

“Thank you,” she said. “But we need to get going, so put the tongue that is hanging out back in your mouth and let’s go.

When they arrived at Veranda, Franz was already there, but Mac didn’t see Johanna yet. “Franz, it’s great to see you. Allow me to introduce you to Grace Remy.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my dear. I’d introduce you to my daughter, but she’s running fashionably late, as usual. Johanna likes to make a grand entrance. She has a flair for the dramatic. But it was nice of you to include her, Mac. She was delighted to get a message from your Alice extending the invitation to attend tonight.”

“Es freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen” Grace said, hoping her German wasn’t too rusty.

“Ah, she’s lovely to look at, and she speaks German! You need to hold onto this one, McKinley,” Franz smiled.

When Franz was out of earshot, Mac said, “He wasn’t joking about his daughter. She likes to be the center of attention.”

“So, she’s an attention whore, whereas I’m just a whore,” Grace said curtly. “How interesting that Alice invited her.”

Mac frowned. “Grace…”

But she cut him off. “I’m not stupid, Mac. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the two of you have a history.”

She turned and walked away. Mac was about to follow her when the other dinner guests started to arrive. He was annoyed that he had an obligation to mingle with these people to make them feel confident about the acquisition when what he really wanted to do was assure Grace that whatever history he had with Johanna was well in the past.

He did his job and chatted with people. But he kept track of Grace out of the corner of his eye. She was busy conversing with some of the younger associates and looked, on the surface, to be having a good time. But the smile on her face didn’t reach her eyes. There wasn’t much he could do about it until later.

When they were about to be seated for dinner, Johanna made her grand entrance. Grace watched with curiosity as the tall, willowy figure, with the jet-black hair that fell past her waist, seemed to float into the room. Her dress was a rich cream color that was low cut in front and had a slit up the side that threatened to show her intimate parts to the room. She was beautiful and sophisticated; Grace disliked her instantly.

Johanna homed in on Mac like a bird swooping in to catch its prey.

“McKinley! Oh, goodness, it’s been ages! You still look good enough to eat, darling. The years have been kind to you.”

“Hello, Johanna,” Mac said. “You look lovely as always.”

Grace was seething inside when Johanna helped herself to the chair next to Mac. Franz looked on with humor, not at all surprised by his daughter inserting herself into the middle of things to be noticed.

“How naughty of you to forget to invite me, McKinley. Fortunately, that sweet admin of yours, Alice took care of that little oversight,” Johanna whined.

Grace was about to sit next to Franz when he very graciously offered his chair to her instead, putting her on McKinley's other side. She waited awkwardly for Mac to introduce her to Johanna. Franz seemed puzzled by the lack of introduction, so he took it upon himself to do the honors.

“Johanna, may I introduce you to Grace Remy, McKinley’s...”

“...girlfriend,” Mac said, finishing Franz’s sentence and bringing Grace’s hand to his lips for a gentle kiss.

Johanna’s mouth dropped open, and Grace felt all her anger drain away.

“Oh, well, Alice didn’t mention you had a girlfriend. Shame on her!” Johanna said dramatically. “She only mentioned you had an assistant with you.

Mac continued to hold Grace’s hand. “She’s my assistant as well. I’m lucky for that, as I couldn’t function properly without her. “

“I see. Well, It’s lovely to meet you, Grace,” she said in a sweet voice as daggers flew out of her eyes.

“Likewise,” Grace said, smiling.

The rest of the evening was like watching a fencing match. Franz found himself secretly rooting for Grace. He wondered if McKinley truly appreciated what a gem he had.

When the evening was over and people said their goodbyes, Johanna was nowhere to be seen.

Franz seemed amused by the fact that his daughter, having clearly lost the match of wits to Grace, had slipped away unannounced. “Goodbye, my dear Grace. It was entertaining watching you hold your own this evening. It’s not every day I get to see my daughter put in her place so eloquently. I’ll apologize for her rudeness in leaving without a proper goodbye. If I know her, she’s probably off licking her wounds somewhere, ready to pounce on some poor, unsuspecting soul who thinks she’s interested in him.”

Grace laughed and thanked him for his kind words, but she said nothing of the silent victory she was claiming.

“McKinley, you’re a lucky man,” Franz said, shaking his hand. Then he added, “Don’t fuck it up. There are a lot of eligible bachelors out there who’d be only too willing to steal Grace away from you, myself included.”

On the Uber ride back to their suite, Mac looked at Grace and shot her an amused smile. “The current standings are Grace 1, Alice 0, and Johanna, -10.”

Grace smiled seductively. “Good save earlier tonight. So, am I your girlfriend, Mac? Or was that just your way of swatting Johanna away?”

He pulled her in for a kiss that nearly ignited a fire. “Would it be wrong to say it was both? What good is having a hot girlfriend if I can’t use her to swat away the rejects of my past?”

“You have the most interesting way of giving me compliments, darling.”

He gave her a goofy grin and then leaned in to nibble on her neck before whispering, “Now that you’re officially my girlfriend, how do you feel about my taking that ass tonight?”

Grace felt her nipples harden under her dress as a wave of arousal washed over her.

“It’s about damn time, Mac.”

Chapter Forty

After what seemed like hours of decadent foreplay, Mac spread a copious amount of the special anal lubricant he bought all over Grace’s puckered rosebud. He slid his finger inside her ass as he kissed her passionately. It embarrassed him that he had zero experience in anal sex and found himself wondering how many men had previously had the pleasure of fucking her ass before him.

Sensing his hesitancy, Grace purred in his ear. “I’ve never had a lover take my ass, darling. I can’t wait for you to be the first,” she whispered seductively.

Mac’s cock twitched. She was offering him something she hadn’t given of her own desire before. He’d be a fool not to enjoy the gift she was trying to share with him. Silently commanding himself to get out of his own head, he added a second finger, making Grace moan erotically.

He worked his fingers into her while he kissed and nibbled the back of her neck. She was extremely aroused as she pushed her back end against his hand and encouraged him to give her more. He pulled his fingers out and rubbed the head of his rock-hard shaft against the entrance to her tight ass.

He teased her for a bit longer before pushing just the head inside her.

“Holy fuck, you’re big!” Grace said, panting. “But don’t stop. I want to feel you inside my ass, baby. I want you to claim my ass as yours.”

“Christ! Your ass is so fuckin’ tight, Gracie. I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit. I’m afraid of hurting you,” Mac replied.

“Let me be the judge of whether I can handle you or not,” she answered.

He eased himself into her ass gradually and just stayed deep inside her to let her get used to his size. When he felt her relax, he moved slowly in and out.

“Oh, God, yes! I’m so filled up! Yes, baby, fuck my ass with that big cock!” Grace cried out. “It feels so fucking good!”

“God, yes, it feels good! You’re so amazing!” Mac replied as he picked up the pace of his thrusting. He knew he wasn’t going to last long.

Wanting to make sure she came with him, he reached around and found her clit. Using the wetness from her soaking wet pussy, he rubbed her hard little nub while he fucked her ass.

Grace started bucking against him wildly. “Yes! Fuck my ass, Mac, fuck it hard!”

He gave her what she wanted, and she came hard, drenching his hand. Then he grabbed her hips and pumped into her ass until he erupted inside her. “Holy fuck! Oh, my God, Grace! You’re so fucking good!”

They lay still for a few moments, both panting and enjoying the afterglow. Then Mac kissed Grace on her forehead and said, “Thank you for making my first time so amazing.”

She giggled softly. “It was my pleasure. You need to know that I’ve never done that willingly. It was such a horrific experience when it was part of being attacked that I never wanted it before now. But I wanted it with you, and it’s so wonderful when it’s part of lovemaking. Thank you for making my first time so amazing too.”

Mac pulled Grace into his arms. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but the words got stuck in his throat. Then she turned her body into his and nuzzled her head on his chest, and everything in his world shifted into place.

“I love you, Grace,” he said softly.

“I love you, too, Mac,” she answered.

And suddenly, it seemed, no other words were necessary.