Khan (Bowen Boys, #2)(42)
“And in answer to your question, yes, I want to have children with you. As many as you’re willing to have. I want as many as my mother had, but you’ll be the one that has to carry them, and I don’t want anything to happen to them.”
They finished their meal and went back out into the cold. He took her to one of the nicer shops on a side street and told the lady behind the counter they had an appointment. She apparently knew Khan.
“Khan, it’s been an age. Where have you been hiding yourself? Are you buying for that special lady in your life?”
Monica looked at him, wanting to both leave and kill him at the same time.
“No. This is for Monica. Monica, I’d like you to meet Alice Combs. Alice, my mate. My mother said she talked to you this morning and you knew what I wanted.” When the woman nodded and walked away, he turned to her. “I buy things in here for my mom. Ask her. I buy her a formal dress that she wears to the charity thing they have for Panthers without Parents. I do it every year.”
She believed him, but didn’t want to let him off the hook that easily. She walked up to him and cupped his cock in her hand, and he stood very still. When she gave it a sharp but short tug, he groaned. “You want to keep this impressive appendage, then I would suggest that you never take me anywhere that you took that bitch. Understand?” He nodded. “And for the record, when I see her, I’m tearing her eyes out.”
When she removed her hand, he pulled her to him for a hard kiss. “And so you know, I’m going to let you. And she would never come in here. This place is owned by the woman that you just met and not a big brand name shop. Roseann was big on names.”
The woman was pushing a rack. On it were several gowns and a few wraps. Monica looked at Khan. He only shrugged. She was going to murder him in his sleep as soon as she got him alone.
“Warren and Marshall have invited us to the Christmas Ball at the White House tonight. It’s a private affair, they said, but it’s formal. I wanted you to be able to dress up. So I had Mom call Alice and had her find you a few things to try on.” He took her hand and kissed it. “Besides, I thought it would be a nice break for you to think about something besides Barr for a little while.”
She looked at the dresses hanging there and back at him. “These are very expensive, even I can tell that. I can’t let you—”
He kissed her. “You can and you will. Besides, I’ve taken the advice of a very wealthy woman and had everything I own put into your name as well, Monica Bowen, but we’re going to take care of that as soon as we can get this other mess taken care of.”
She thought he was hiding something from her, but didn’t know what. When Alice showed her the fitting room, she followed. There were things there already laid out for her as well.
“Corrine didn’t know for sure what size you were, so I put several different sizes in here for you. Some of them go with specific dresses so we’ll look at those if we get that far.” Alice lifted her hair up off her neck and twisted it into a sharp bun. “You have such a lovely neck. I would think that wearing your hair up sort of like this would be just lovely.”
She fussed with some of the items and handed her a pretty bra and panty set. Then she handed her a robe. Alice told her that she’d have her put the dresses to her skin to see which ones suited her before she tried them on.
“But I must admit, I believe that there is only one dress that’ll do for you. It’s the cranberry one that has the… Let me get rid of Khan, and you and I will play. He mentioned shopping for his tux as well.” She disappeared, then returned a short time later. “I told him that when we found a dress, he wasn’t to peek until you got to the ball. He said that he would try to promise that, but wasn’t making any kind of guarantees. He loves you very much.”
Monica nodded. “And I love him as well. But I don’t…I don’t want you to be insulted, but this is going to very expensive for him. I know that he says he can afford it, but I don’t want him to spend money on me for a dress when I’m sure I could borrow one of the other ladies’.” She fingered the cranberry dress. It was so beautiful, but she was afraid of the cost.
Alice tisked at her. She looked like she had a secret too. “When I first started this business, nearly ten years ago now, Khan and his mother were my very first customers. He wanted a dress for her for some event and I barely had enough money after buying this place to pay the payment much less purchase the money for the material needed to make a dress I could already see Corrine in. He made the arrangements to pick it up, even inviting me to the hotel where she was staying to help her put it on correctly. He said he’d pay for such service. And he did.” She took the dress off the padded hanger and handed it to Monica. “Before he left, he handed me some money and his business card. He said that he knew it was expensive to run a shop and wanted to make sure that his mother looked good. He winked at me, then left. I looked down at the cash in my hand.”
The dress slid over her head and pooled at her feet like it had been lengthened just for her. When she looked in the three-sided mirror, she watched, mesmerized as Alice zipped up the back, the dress seeming to mold to her body. Even the bodice seemed to have been made for her ample bosom. “How much did he give you?” Monica asked the woman smiling at her as she held up her hair. “He gave you enough to run this place, didn’t he?”