Just Business
Copyright© 2025 by Don Lockwood
Chapter 2
Romance Sex Story: Chapter 2 - Arranged marriages. Aren't they fun? Especially when the bride and groom hate one another. Will Brad and Ingrid ever be actually married?
Caution: This Romance Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Consensual Fiction Oral Sex Safe Sex
BRAD
I arrived at this party with Steve, my best friend from college who would be my best man for this farce of a wedding, if I went through with it. I needed Steve at this party, if only to have someone else who saw the absurdity of the whole situation. Steve was awesome. We immediately grabbed a beer and sat down in one of the rooms. I hadn’t seen Ingrid yet.
She walked into the room where we were after about 5 minutes. Fair is fair, she was still gorgeous—she had been back in high school, too. 10 years and a baby hadn’t diminished that at all—in fact, she was probably more gorgeous now. But the first words she said to me confirmed that she hadn’t forgotten.
She walked right up to me, sat down next to me, and said, “If you hit or rape me you will find I’m not as powerless as Laura was.”
“I’m not going to hit or rape you.”
Steve made a quick escape, proving he’s a smart man.
“Yeah, I bet you told Laura the same thing,” she snapped.
“I never hit or raped Laura,” I said. “Not once. And there is zero chance you’ll believe me. I’m not sure this is worth it.”
“What?” she asked.
“This wedding. I’m not sure what’s worse, losing my job and inheritance, or being married to someone who thinks I’m a rapist. I don’t know if it’s worth it.”
She sighed. “I wish I could say that.”
“Hm?”
“My choices are, marry you, or get thrown out on the street with a child.”
“Why would you even consider marrying me?”
“I just told you.”
“You’d marry someone you think is a rapist just for shelter?”
She shrugged. “I have a better chance of fighting you off than I do heatstroke. Or, in the winter, a blizzard. Especially for my daughter. If it were just me...”
Just then, a blonde streak wearing a pink dress came flying into the room. She stopped in front of us, turned to Ingrid, and said, “Hi Mommy!” Then, she turned to me, and said, “Hi! I’m Leah. Are you gonna be my Daddy?”
I had absolutely no idea what to say to that, but Ingrid did. Smiling at her daughter, she said, “That’s what we’re talking about right now, sweetie.”
“OK,” she said. She then crawled up on the couch next to me, and then climbed into my lap! I saw Ingrid’s face when Leah did that--a clear moment of shock, followed by an expression that was completely unreadable. When Leah got settled in my lap, she looked up at me, and said, “I really want a Daddy.”
“What do you want a Daddy to do?”
“Well. Play with me.”
“I can do that,” I said.
“You make pancakes?”
“Big ones. With chocolate chips,” I said conspiratorially. She giggled in delight.
“You read to me?”
“Any time you want,” I promised.
“You get me a puppy?”
I roared at that. Even Ingrid smiled. “We’ll have to think about that one.”
We talked for a few more minutes. She made a deal: if I couldn’t swing the puppy, I’d have to make extra pancakes. With blueberries. And read her stories about puppies. I agreed. We talked a bit more, then Ingrid ‘s mom came to take her, so Ingrid and I could continue to talk.
I had talked to that little girl for less than 15 minutes. And I was hopelessly, irretrievably, completely in love.
I didn’t say that to Ingrid. What I said while staring into space was, “I seem to have been wrong.”
“Huh?”
“I told you that I wasn’t sure if this marriage was worth it. I was wrong. That little girl is absolutely worth it. I’ll do it.” She looked at me in surprise.
“Look,” I told her, “It’s a big house. If I put you in the second master suite, that’s clear across the house from where I am, in the first master suite. I work from home a lot, but my office is down near my suite. There’s a room right next to your suite that would be perfect for Leah. We might run into each other in the kitchen sometimes, but you really will be able to avoid me. And there are other people in that house—my housekeeper, my cook. If you think you need to hide from me, you’ll be able to.”
She was looking at me in shock. “If you truly believe that I abused Laura, then I’m assuming that you will want to keep Leah away from me. I hope you do not, but as long as she thrives and never has to worry about where she’s going to sleep, I can live with it.”
She was now looking at me like I was from another planet. “I leave the arrangements to you and your family. I would like to send you a short list of people I want to invite. If you need any help, or my opinion on something, please ask. Otherwise, just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.” I stood up and left her sitting there, heading off to find Steve’s sympathetic ear and a beer or six.
INGRID
Oh my God.
I watched this man, a man I considered a monster, put my daughter on his lap, treat her like a total princess, and visibly fall in love with her. Could it have been an act? Sure ... until he calmly told me that he’d understand if I kept Leah away from him. That wasn’t an act.
He didn’t want this marriage. He knew what I thought of him. He didn’t want to deal with that. But he said yes, for my daughter’s sake, even though he expected me to keep Leah away from him.
I didn’t know what end was up.
After everyone left, I sat at my laptop. I needed to find Laura. I’d tried before, but half-heartedly. I needed to try again. I needed her to confirm what happened. Or not. The leads I found were tenuous at best, but I followed them anyway. I’d put out a few feelers, and all I could do was wait.
The wedding date was in a mere month. At the country club. How on Earth did we manage to get the country club with a month’s notice? Alex Olson twisting arms and opening checkbooks. Somewhere, there was a couple given a very large check in exchange for getting married at Denny’s. That’s Daddy’s M.O.
Brad and I talked and texted a few times, mostly about logistics and decisions. He also came over my house a few times. He signed papers, talked business with Daddy, and made sure he spent time with Leah. A week before the wedding, he invited me to dinner, so we could nail down the final details and he could show me the house. I accepted.
He answered the door himself and led me into the dining area. He had asked me a couple of days earlier what I enjoyed eating, so his cook made linguini with clams, one of my favorites. He was calm and smiling across the table at me.
The first thing I said to him, trying to lighten the mood a bit for my own sake, was, “You have a cook? So, she’s actually the one that’s going to make pancakes for Leah?”
He laughed. “Anna has weekends off most weeks. The Sunday morning pancakes are all on me.”
I smiled back. “This is an impressive house.”
“Thanks. Luckily, I inherited it, from my grandparents.” I looked at him, puzzled. “So, it’s paid off, so I don’t have to worry about losing it if the company goes belly up,” he said with a smile.
“That’s good. It’s very big for one guy.”
“Yes. When I inherited it, I was 21. I could have sold it and gotten something smaller. But I had my eye on the future.” His voice dropped. “I always thought that I’d fill this house with kids running around.” He paused, and visibly brightened. “At least there will be one kid running around.”
I guess I should have seen it, the way he treated Leah: this man wanted to be a father more than anyone else I had ever met. And, here he was, about to marry a woman who wasn’t going to be making any kids with him. I did feel bad about that, but, he seemed to be happy about Leah. Who, again, he expected me to keep away from him.
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