All of Me (The Billionaire Next Door Book 7)

ALL OF ME

(The Billionaire Next Door #7)

By Violette
Paradis

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©
2014 Violette Paradis

This is a
work of fiction. Names, places, and characters are a product of the author’s
imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, places, or people is
entirely coincidental.

~Chapter
1~

“If Louis can’t fix it, then I’m afraid you’ll
have to buy a whole new machine. I know it’ll be expensive, but you won’t be
able to run your practice without it. Uh-huh… Mmmhmm… Okay. Not a problem. You
too.”

I hung up the phone and looked up. I was
sitting by the fountain in the Jacksonville
mall. Glittering but tasteful holiday ornaments decorated the interior of the
mall, contrasting fiercely with the sun and palm trees which could be seen from
the large windows and skylights.

“What was that about?” Jason asked, startling
me. He had gone into the sporting goods store while I took a call.

“One of the followers of my blog. She’s from Miami. Her x-ray machine
broke and she was asking for some advice on fixing it.” I furrowed my brow as I
tried to figure out what Jason was hiding behind his back. “What’s that?”

“You’re nosy.” Jason smirked as he tried, but
failed, to hide two large stick-like objects behind his back.

“Nosy?” I raised my eyebrows. “It’s not like
you’re doing a good job of hiding those - whatever they are.”

“It’s the holidays - you shouldn’t be asking
me what I bought. For all you know, it might be a gift for you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Only a fool would go
Christmas shopping for his girlfriend
with
his girlfriend.”

“I guess I’m a fool then.” Jason smirked and
pulled the stick-like objects out from behind his back.

“What are those?” I screwed up my face.

Jason laughed. “They’re skis.”

“Whats?”

“Skis,” Jason repeated. “You strap them to
your feet and glide down the side of snowy mountains with them.”

“That sounds absolutely terrifying.”

“Terrifying? No way. It’s fun! But you can
find that out for yourself because these are yours.” He held the skis out in
front of me. They were bright red, shiny, and incredibly intimidating.

“M-mine?” My eyes were wide as I looked at the
skis, making no effort to touch them.

“Take them!”

Without saying anything, I shook my head. My
face was pale white. “When would I ever use those? I’m a Florida girl!”

“Well, I thought maybe as a holiday treat we
could head out west and hit the slopes.”

“Hit the slopes?”

“Yeah! Colorado
has some awesome ski hills this time of year.”

“But - I can’t ski.”

“I’ll teach you.” There was confidence in his
face and demeanor.

“But - I’ve never even made a snowball. I’ve
never even touched snow! The heaviest thing I own is a rain jacket.”

Jason laughed. He put his arm around my
shoulder. “That’s okay. We’ll get you what you need. Now if only there was a
giant place which would sell us everything we needed.” He put a finger on his
chin and looked up, as if lost in deep thought.

“Jason.”
I pushed him and he laughed.

“Let me put these in the car, and we can shop
for you, okay?” Jason held up the skis, which looked monstrously large and
intimidating.

Letting out a sharp exhale, I crossed my arms.
“Fine. But don’t take too long or I might buy you a surf board.”

He smirked and balanced the skis on his
shoulder before heading off towards the parking lot.

***

“You’re going to need this, this, and this.”
Jason piled a winter coat, some gloves and a pair of goggles into my arms.

“Goggles? What are we going to do - science
experiments?”

“They’re so you keep your vision clear, and so
your eyes don’t get cold.”

“So my eyes… don’t get… cold? You do realize
I’m from Jacksonville,
don’t you?”

Jason smirked and his devilish eyes suggested
that he was planning something naughty - evil even.

“I want to get this Jacksonville girl out on the slopes.
Oh!
You’ll definitely need this.”

He put some thick wool socks on top of the
pile.

I wrinkled my nose. “I’m pretty sure my
grandpa used to wear those.”

“Oh come on, you’ll look sexy in them,” Jason
joked.

Looking at the giant pile of stuff in my arms,
I wondered if I’d be able to make it to the cashier without tripping.

“You sure know a lot about this,” I said.

“Skiing and hanging out in the snow was my
life back when I was growing up in Montana.
I can’t wait to get out in the snow again.” Jason looked at the rack of gloves
and picked out a black pair for himself.

“Sounds to me like you were a bit of a
daredevil.” I looked at him and saw the reckless teenager behind his eyes.

“Who says I’m not still?” He smirked as he
grabbed the pile of stuff out of my hands. His eyes drifted down over my body,
then back up. “You’re going to be the hottest snow bunny on the slopes.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Snow bunny?”

“That’s what they call someone hot like you.”

I smirked. “Are you one too?”

Jason thought about it for a second before his
devious smile reappeared. “If it means we can do it like bunnies, then sure.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away for the
second time that evening before walking towards the cash register. As I walked
away I couldn’t help but smile.

After we paid for all our ski stuff, we walked
through the mall. It was my first time really enjoying Jason’s new Jacksonville mall and it
was comforting to see shops that belonged to old friends. As I walked by
Ellie’s dress shop, I peeked in. She wasn’t there but I could tell the shop was
doing well. The store was full of shoppers trying on dresses and getting
fitted.

Jason held my hand firmly as we walked through
the mall and at one point he pulled me into a store.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Trying to figure out what you want for
Christmas.”

I eyed him skeptically.

He picked up a large purse. “Here, what do you
think of this?”

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” I grabbed it and touched
the material. It had that delicious new smell that expensive things had.
Instinctively, I looked at the price. I immediately put the purse down. I was
sure my face was whiter than Colorado
snow because Jason looked concerned.

“Are you okay? You look sick.” He touched my
shoulder, keeping me steady.

“This is crazy,” I said, looking up into his
eyes. “Have you seen this?” I showed him the price of the purse. He looked at
it as if he didn’t understand.

“What’s wrong? I was going to get this for you
as a gift.”

I shook my head. “No, you can’t do that.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

“This is almost three month’s rent!”

“Sophia, you don’t have to worry about money.”
He took my hand, but I quickly retracted it, still in shock that a purse could
be that expensive.

“It’s not that.” I looked into Jason’s eyes.
His lips were parted.

Oh no.

I realized that I might have hurt his
feelings. He was trying to buy me a gift, after all.

“I just don’t think I’d be very comfortable
carrying around such a valuable purse. It doesn’t make sense to me. If you
want, we can go to that store and you can buy me a purse from there.” I pointed
to a much more affordable store across the hall.

“But I want to spend my money on you.” Jason
held my hand in his.

I tightened my lips and exhaled sharply.

“Well, if you want to spend your money on me,
spend it on something that will make me happy.”

“Like?”

“Like the vet from Miami - she needs a new x-ray machine and
this would cover it.” I held up the price tag, careful not to touch the purse
in case I stained it accidentally.

“You sure?”

I nodded. “A hundred percent.” I kept my eyes
steady on him.

Jason looked deep into my eyes before cracking
a smile. “You really are incredible, you know that?”

I smiled, knowing that Jason understood.

Jason pushed a strand of hair back behind my
ear. “If that’s what will make you happy - then consider it done.”

“Really?” My eyes grew wide. “Oh, thank you,
Jason! Thank you, thank you!” I wrapped my arms around him and held him close
to me. He rubbed my back and I inhaled the scent of fabric softener which
lingered on his fitted sweater. The intoxicating scent riled me up for a few
seconds.

“Anything for you, Sophia,” he whispered into
my ear.
“Anything.”

Reveling in the moment, I closed my eyes,
deeply inhaling his scent until it was so ingrained within me that I could no
longer smell it.

“Anything?”
I whispered.

Jason pulled back and nodded.

“Does that mean you’ll buy me some crispy
chicken over at the food court?”

Jason raised his eyebrow and cracked a smile.
He shook his head and shrugged. “I guess I did say anything. Let me drop our
bags off at the car and we can grab something to eat.”

“By the time we leave, there won’t be any room
left in the car for us!”

“We took the limo,” he reminded me.

“My point stands.”

Jason smirked. “See you at the fast food court
in ten?”

I nodded.

As soon as Jason was out of sight, I walked
down the hallway towards a lingerie shop a few stores down. While passing it
earlier, I noticed a black, see-through night gown that was
very
short
and left
very
little to the imagination. Along with it, I bought a black
lacy thong. After buying it, I discretely shoved it into my purse. The material
was so small that it fit effortlessly - Jason wouldn’t suspect a thing.

Merry Christmas, Jason,
I thought.

A few minutes later I met Jason at the food
court, where we ate greasy, crispy chicken and I listened to him talk about work.
The naughty woman in me smirked because I knew what I had in store for him.

~Chapter 2~

Jason and I sat in his private jet as I looked
out the window at all the snow coming down.

“That’s a lot of snow.” My voice was weak and
shaky.

“Good.” Jason snapped his laptop shut. “That
means the conditions will be just right once we land.”

I swallowed hard and sat back in my chair,
ignoring the severe peaks of the mountains looming just beyond the window.

In order to distract myself, I checked the
messages on my phone.

“Holy-”

My eyes grew wide, looking at all the new
messages.

Jason looked up at me with a question on his
face.

“My inbox - I must have over a hundred new
messages!” I opened one.

Sophia Fletcher,

Thank you so much for your generous contribution.
Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to hire a new veterinarian for the New
Year.

Again, many thanks and happy holidays.

- Jaclyn Nomar, Philadelphia

I clicked on the next email - someone from North Carolina was also
thanking me for my “generous contribution”.

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head.

“What is it?”

“All these emails, they’re thanking me for
donations. I didn’t make any donations.” I looked up at Jason with a furrowed
brow.

“Oh, right,” he said, as if remembering
something that was trivial to him. “Remember when we were at the mall and you
said you’d rather buy a new x-ray machine for that woman from Miami than get a new purse?”

I nodded. “Yes…”

“Well, after seeking her out and buying the machine,
it didn’t seem like enough. So I sought out all the clinics and shelters
associated with your followers online and donated a sum to each and every one
of them.”

My mouth dropped.

“It’s pretty neat,” he continued, smiling
slyly. “You have followers from each state.”

“You - you donated money to a clinic in each
state?” I looked at him in amazement. “Including Hawaii?”

Jason nodded, a proud grin on his face.
“Clinics
and
shelters. You have a lot of followers!”

I opened my mouth to speak but didn’t know what
to say. “Jason, I’m speechless!”

“I just thought, hey, why not. It’s the
holidays, right?”

I shook my head. “Jason, you’re insane.”

“Thank you?” He raised an eyebrow.

“No, what I meant was - this is crazy! I hope
you didn’t go over-budget or…”

Jason laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Sophia.
I wanted to donate to those places. I want to do good things in the world, like
you do. Now that I’m with you, there’s nothing that money can buy that will
satisfy me the way you satisfy me.”

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

“You do realize you said that while flying in
your private jet, right?”

Jason nodded. “The irony is not lost on me. Champagne?” He held up a
bottle.

I giggled and shook my head. “No thanks.” I
let out a sigh. “Thank you, Jason, truly, from the bottom of my heart. This
makes me happier than anything else you could’ve given me. All the people and
animals you’ve helped - thank you.”

Jason grabbed the armrest which jutted out
awkwardly between us and lifted it up so that he could shift closer to me,
holding me in a tight embrace.

I kissed him on his soft lips, and he touched
my cheek with his delicate fingers.

Pulling back, I looked up into his dark,
sparkling eyes. “Now all I have to do is figure out what to get you.”

“No pressure or anything.” He chuckled.

“Hmm, what to get the man who has everything?”
My eyebrow shot up as I surveyed him.

Jason laughed and pulled me in tighter. His
lips grazed my ear.
“All I want is you.”
He pulled me in tighter,
kissing me softly.

Lucky you,
I thought, losing my fingers in his hair. Little did Jason realize
that he would have me -
all of me.

***

Not fifteen minutes later, the small jet
landed and a car shuttled us to the chalet where we’d be staying. In my head I
was preparing the sequence of events that would follow - we’d settle in, Jason
would make us drinks as I changed into my naughty lingerie,
then I’d seduce him
.
But as the car followed the curvy road up the mountain I couldn’t help but get
distracted.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked.

I nodded, but there were snakes squirming in
my stomach. The mountains were much taller from this point of view. I looked
out the window up at the menacing peaks.

“Hey,” Jason put his arm around me. “I won’t
let anything happen to you, okay?”

I gulped. “But what if I hit a tree, or trip
over my ski? What if I’m too cold?”

Jason laughed. “None of those things are going
to happen to you, okay? I’ll teach you how to ski without hitting a tree or
tripping. And I’ll keep you warm.” His deep voice reassured me. “Okay?” He
looked deep into my eyes. I nodded. He hugged me tighter. “I’ll take good care
of you.”

The car pulled up next to a large chalet built
of warm-colored wood. Through the windows I could see a warm fireplace. Just
the sight of those orange flames made me feel warm and cozy already, despite
the fact that I was still standing out in the snow where large, fluffy flakes
fell from the sky, dusting me in snow.

Jason handed the driver some money and before
I knew it, the car was gone. I gulped.

Here we were, alone on the mountain
.

I smiled and my momentary anxiousness eased
up. There was something sexy about being alone out here.

“Come on.” Jason took my hand and we took
large, careful steps through the deep snow up to the chalet. Once we were there
we hit our boots against the door frame and shook off the excess snow.

Looking around the inside cabin, I was amazed
at how spacious it was. Windows on all sides showed off the beautiful mountain
ranges in the distance and the warm wooden architecture absolutely sparkled
under the gleam of the fire. A hot tub sat on the far side of the room, looking
out towards the view, and on the opposite side of the room was a bar where
several people sat.

Several people?

I narrowed my eyes.

“Ellie?”

My best friend turned around with a wide grin
on her face. “Sophia! You guys made it!” She came rushing towards us with her
arms open, ready to give us each a big hug.

“But - how is this happening? Why are you
here?” I looked beyond her at the other people at the bar. Ellie’s tall,
dark-haired boyfriend Ty sat at the bar drinking what looked to be a glass of
whiskey. Next to him sat a man and a woman. I searched my brain for their
names, because I recognized them. The man was tall and bearded, and I
remembered him interviewing Jason when we were in New York City.
What was his name?
Simon! Simon Trotman. And the woman was -
oh my.
My heart stopped.
Was
it? It couldn’t be
- it was…

“Sophia, you remember Simon.”

I nodded as I put my hand out to shake his.

“And this is Julia.”

“Julia Stein,” I said, with wide eyes. I was
sure my mouth was hanging open. “Wow, what a pleasure.” I put my shaky hand out
and shook hers, a little bit too enthusiastically.

“Likewise,” she smiled, as if this happened
all the time.

Julia Stein was
the
It girl in Hollywood.

“Your performance in The Heart Beats Again was
simply amazing.”

Julia smiled and nodded. “Thank you, it’s
always great to meet a fan.” She took a sip of her wine.

“Guess what!” Ellie popped up next to me.
“Julia is going to wear one of my gowns at her next premiere!”

“Wow, that’s great!”

“Her gowns are simply beautiful. Such fine
attention to detail.” Julia took another sip of wine.

I stared at her with a long stare.
Her skin
looks so perfect…

“She’s more star struck over you than she was
meeting me,” Jason joked, making his way around the bar and pouring himself a
gin and tonic.

“Well, I photograph better,” Julia said,
inciting laughter from all of us.

“Luckily my job doesn’t depend on it.” Jason
winked at me as he took a swig from his glass. He poured a glass of white wine
and handed it to me, but being in Julia’s presence, I felt drunk already.

“I hope you brought your bathing suits,” Simon
said. “After this round, we’re thinking of getting into the hot tub.”

“No skiing?” Jason asked.

“It’s too dark already,” Ty added. “We’ll ski
tomorrow morning. How about we meet down here at seven?”

“Seven!”
I asked in shock. “I thought we were on vacation!”

“Oh we like to start early. You have to take
advantage of the sun around this time of year,” Simon said.

“Plus that’s when you get the really good
powder,” Ty added.

“Oh no, not you too,” I said.

“Yes, me too. After long summers in Hong Kong
with the family, I was always excited to get back to Montana and hit the slopes with Jason once
winter hit.”

“We tore those slopes up.” Jason smiled
deviously.

“And we’ll do it again.” Ty raised his drink.

“Don’t worry, Sophia,” Julia touched my arm.
Julia
Stein was touching my arm!
“I’m having a spa day here in the chalet if you
want to join me.”

A spa day… with Julia Stein?
My heart wouldn’t survive this day.

Jason grabbed Julia’s hand from me. “Nuh-uh.
Sophia is coming skiing with me.”

Dammit, Jason!

I gave him a cross look, but he just smirked
that bad boy smirk at me.
Ugh. Why did he have to be so cute?

“Well, I’ll go skiing!” Ellie chirped,
drinking some mysterious blue cocktail. “Won’t you go, Julia?”

Julia shook her head and flourished her hand
in the air. “My contract for my current movie says no strenuous or dangerous
sports.”

I tightened my jaw.
Dangerous sports?

Jason saw my reaction and came to my side to
squeeze my hand. The conversation shifted to the strange clauses in Julia’s
contracts over the years.

“Everything will be fine,” Jason whispered
into my ear. “Now let’s go have fun.”