Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (72 page)

Daniel was sitting down again,
too. He leaned across the table and spoke to me in a low voice. “Did you
want to go home?”

I forced a smile. My eyes, at
least, had stopped watering. Mostly. “No,” I said. “I’m fine.
It’s just…it’s a lot, you know?”

He nodded like he knew what I was
talking about, but I wasn’t sure that he did. From his point of view, it was
just a fake relationship, a fake marriage. He was willing to go through
absolutely anything to get what he needed. But for me, it was different. I
couldn’t explain why I was crying, to him or to myself. The maelstrom of
emotions inside of me was impossible to understand in any rational way. I just
knew that I wanted to cry.

I looked down at the ring,
sparkling on my finger. It really was perfect. It was exactly what I would have
wanted my real fiancé to pick out, if I hadn’t given up on that idea a long
time ago. Wait - was that what was bothering me? Really? I’d come to peace with
the idea of being single a long time ago. This was the worst possible time to
realize that I really did want to find my happily-ever-after, someday.

I took a deep breath.

It’s just one year. It’s just one
year. It’s just one year.

After that, I could do whatever I
wanted.

“I think we’d better go
home,” said Daniel finally, apparently understanding that my no really
meant yes.

We finished our champagne. My
head was buzzing, and I was grateful for Daniel’s arm to lean on as we made our
way out to the curb.

John stared at me in the
rearview as we climbed in. “You feeling all right, ma’am?” he said.
God, I must look like a complete mess.

“I’m fine,” I sniffed.
“Thank you.”

“You ought to be
congratulating us, John.” Daniel took my left hand in his and raised it
up, putting the ring on display for him.

“Oh my goodness!”
John’s face broke into a grin. “Congratulations, you two. That’s so…it’s
such good news. I’m very happy for you.”

“Thanks,” said Daniel,
draping his arm over my shoulders. John had come so very close to saying
something about how quickly we were moving - I could tell - but it was his job
to do nothing but nod and smile and validate all of his employer’s choices.
Just like everyone else in Daniel’s life.

I knew Daniel was expecting me to
spend the night at his apartment, and as much as I was dreading it, nothing
else really made sense. We were a young couple, crazy in love, who’d just
gotten engaged. We’d be expected to spend the rest of the night naked in each other’s
arms. We had to maintain the illusion.

When we arrived, I shed my shoes
in the front entryway and walked straight into the main floor bathroom for a
shower, not speaking to Daniel or even looking at him. When I got out, he was
nowhere to be seen. I retired to the room I’d picked before, pulled two
ibuprofens out of my purse and swallowed them dry, and climbed into bed.

I didn’t cry. I felt completely
empty and wrung-out, exhausted but unable to let myself drift off to sleep. I
hadn’t expected this to be so hard, so soon. Daniel was right. It was
impossible to pretend we weren’t human.

For the first time since I’d
signed that contract, I truly regretted what I’d done. I felt caged. But even
if I had the opportunity to back out now, would I? The carrot of two million
dollars dangling in front of me was going to inspire me to keep moving forward,
no matter how painful it was.

Well, the good news was it
couldn’t possibly get any worse than tonight.

Could it?

Chapter Seven

The next morning, after I groggily
dragged myself out of bed, Daniel made me breakfast again. This time, he didn’t
need to ask me how I took my eggs. I ate mechanically and responded to him with
one-syllable answers when he asked me how I was feeling, did I sleep well, did
I have a good time last night? I could tell he wanted to ask much more prying
questions, but he kept his mouth shut.

For a while.

Just as I was about to finish my
second cup of coffee, he said:

“That was quite a
performance you put on last night.”

His eyes were searching my face.
He knew it wasn’t an act - he wanted me to admit it. He wanted to comfort me,
just as if we were really a couple. Didn’t he understand that was going to make
it worse? We couldn’t play at being in love in private. It was bad enough doing
it in public, with everyone watching. At least then I could distract myself
with the dubious thrill of deceiving people.

“Thank you,” I said
flatly, slamming my cup down on the counter so hard I was sure it would crack.
It didn’t, but Daniel jumped a little.

“I’m going to get dressed.
Can you have John ready for me? I have to go home and take care of some
things.”

“Absolutely. Of
course.” I could feel him watching me as I walked down the hallway and
disappeared into my room.

This was probably a bad time for
me to sequester myself in my apartment and not speak to him or see him - it
would look strange. But I had to appreciate that he wasn’t pushing me. Maybe he
did understand. Sort of. A little bit.

My apartment felt cold and
strange when I got there. Oddly un-lived-in. I certainly hadn’t ever gone on
any sort of vacation or getaway since I’d moved in here, so it was an odd
atmosphere. Until Daniel came along, I hadn’t even spent the night at someone’s
place. I’d never felt comfortable doing it - it wasn’t the intimacy of it so
much as simply trying to sleep in a bed with another person. Of course the guys
I usually picked had maybe a twin-sized bed if I was lucky, and getting a
decent night’s rest while tangled up with a sweaty, snoring, thrashing human
being in close quarters was simply impossible. I didn’t know how long-term
couples did it. I needed my own space, a big, cool expanse of bed upon which I
was free to sprawl as I pleased. I never felt lonely when I slept. Far from it.

Daytime was different, of course.
Sometimes it was too quiet, a little too still, even for me. But that was the
trade-off for independence.

It was going to be a rough
adjustment to being a kept woman for a year.

Daniel didn’t call me all
weekend. My phone did ring once, but it was the mechanic, letting me know that
my car was done and they’d send a courtesy shuttle to pick me up whenever I was
ready.

It was funny; I didn’t know they
were open on Sundays.

The place was oddly deserted when
the shuttle driver pulled in, and even when I craned my neck around the parking
lot, my car was nowhere in sight.

The owner of the place came out
to meet me.

“Here you are, Miss,”
he said, handing me an unfamiliar key.

I stared at it.

“This isn’t mine,” I
said, even as the realization of what was happening grew in the back of my
mind.

“With Mr. Thorne’s
compliments,” the owner muttered, pointing to a car parked nearby. He
looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

It was my car, technically, if my
car were about ten years newer, and sleek black with silver trim.

“Same make and model, just a
little bit of an upgrade,” said the owner. “Mr. Thorne insisted. Said
it was an engagement present.”

I closed my eyes for a moment.

This wasn’t happening. This could
not be happening.

“He traded your car in for
it,” the owner went on, clearly trying to break the awkward silence.
“Knocked a thousand bucks off the asking price.”

“Thank you,” I said,
more loudly than I meant to. The owner stepped back, and I hit the automatic
unlock button on the key fob. That was new.

Okay, to be fair, the whole car
was new.

I slid into the leather seat and
stuck the key into the ignition. It was such a familiar action, and yet so
strange at the same time. It stank of new car. I rolled the windows down after
I pulled out of the parking lot.

So it wasn’t the most extravagant
of gifts. To him, it was almost no money at all. But it was more car than I’d
ever be able to afford. I’d bought the last one out of the classifieds for a
pile of wrinkled cash. I hadn’t ever tried to get financing for something at a
dealership, but I had a feeling it would be a disheartening experience.

Somehow he’d known that buying me
some hundred-thousand-dollar sports car would completely blow my mind, perhaps
scare me off forever. He’d gone for a more subtle gesture. He was saying, you
can still have your old life, just…upgraded.

Did he think that was what I was
worried about?

As I pulled into my usual parking
space at my apartment complex, I was acutely conscious of being watched. If one
of my nosy neighbors said something about my new car, I was absolutely sure I’d
have a complete breakdown right there in the hall. What was I supposed to say?
“Oh, yeah, it’s a gift from my fiancé.” All cool and casual, like
everybody gets brand new cars as an engagement present?

Once I was safe inside my
apartment, collapsed in a chair, the guilt began to set in. I’d been given a
really nice gift - maybe “generous” wasn’t the right word considering
the source - but it wasn’t fair to Daniel to react like this. He hadn’t done
anything wrong. It was my own stupid fault I was getting carried away.

I took a deep breath and picked
up my phone.

It rang once before he picked up.

“Hi, Maddy.” He sounded
tired.

“Thank you for the
car.” Oh, God. That sounded so ridiculous.

“You don’t have to thank
me,” he said, and he sounded like he might be smiling a little bit.
“But you’re welcome. When I called them to check up on it, they gave me a
further laundry list of problems that made it easier and cheaper to just buy
something new. I didn’t want to trouble you, so I just took care of it.”

“Okay,” I said.
“But could you…not surprise me next time? It was a little weird.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Do you not like surprises?”

“Well, normally I don’t
mind.” I fiddled with my ring. “But usually they’re more like - ‘oh,
hey, I brought you this coffee from across the street because I happened to be
there anyway.’ Not like, ‘oh, hey, here’s a new car.’”

He sighed. “Maddy, I didn’t
mean to make you uncomfortable. I really am sorry. I just wanted to do
something nice. I know this isn’t an easy transition for you.”

“It’s okay,” I said.
“It’s…it’s a nice car.”

“I’m glad you like it.”
There was a rustling noise, like he was switching his phone to the other side.
“I did want to talk to you about something, if you have a minute.”

“Sure.”

“Next weekend, a few of my
family are going to be coming into town. I let them know about you. I would
have told you sooner, but I didn’t think my sister and her husband were going
to be able to get off work so soon.”

“Oh,” I said. I wasn’t
quite sure how I felt about that.

“They’ll want to meet you,
of course,” he said. “But we don’t have to overdo it. I’ll tell them
that you’re very busy trying to get your affairs in order and plan for the
wedding.”

“It’s all right,” I
said. And strangely, it was. The idea of meeting his sister’s family wasn’t
nearly as terrifying to me as it ought to have been. Maybe I’d just maxed out
on the amount of stress I was able to process, but I felt very calm. “I’d
love to get to know them.”

There was a moment of silence.
“That’s good,” he said, sounding a little suspicious. “Well,
I’ll try to limit it to a lunch and maybe a shopping trip or two. I don’t know
exactly how long they’ll stay.”

“Don’t worry about it,”
I said. “Really. I’m serious. It’s not a big deal.”

“All right, well.” He
exhaled. “I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch, then.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“I love you,” he said.

Did he really think someone might
be tapping his phone? I shook my head.

“I love you too,” I
said, and hung up quickly.

Well, this was an interesting
development. Meeting someone’s family was always the best way to get to know
the things about themselves that they weren’t always forthcoming about. I was
actually looking forward to talking to his sister. Maybe I’d actually learn
something about the man I was going to marry.

I arrived at work the next
morning in strangely good spirits. You might even say I was…glowing.
Thankfully, that fit right in with my story.

“Oh my GOD!” Florence
jumped up out of her chair and enveloped me in a fierce hug as soon as I walked
into our cubicle. “Congratulations! I can’t believe it!”

“Yeah, me neither!” I
squealed back, extricating myself from her grip with some difficulty. “We
were keeping things quiet for a while, obviously, but…”

“So you won’t be working
here for much longer, probably. Right?”

I’d actually forgotten about that
part. “Yeah, I mean…we haven’t talked about it in a while, but I’ll
probably try to wrap up all my projects in the next few weeks so I can focus on
planning the big day.” Ugh. Big day? Had I really just said that?

“I’m so happy for you!”
Annie settled back down in her chair, thank God. “Is somebody throwing you
a bachelorette party? Because my cousin is part-owner of that male strip club
down on the ave, I could probably hook her up with a discount group rate.”

“Oh, I don’t…” What was
my excuse going to be? I don’t have any friends? That sounded hideous - plus,
she might actually offer to throw it for me. That was obviously unacceptable.
“…I don’t really go in for that kind of thing.” I fidgeted a little,
trying to look as much like a prude as I possibly could. I wasn’t, really, but
the idea of a bunch of meatheads gyrating their sweaty pelvises in my face
while I sucked down fifteen dollar drinks wasn’t exactly appealing.

Annie looked at me, her eyes
narrowed. I needed a better excuse.

I leaned forward, lowering my
voice a little. “I just…I don’t really think Daniel would be too happy
about it.”

Understanding dawned on her face.
“Ohhh,” she said. “Okay. I get it. Little bit of a jealous type,
huh?”

I shrugged, smiling a little.
“I dunno if I’d say that.”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong
with that! Personally, I think jealousy can be pretty hot.”

Ugh.

Thankfully, the chatter stopped
once she fell into that interminable vortex that was her inbox. Florence’s
habit of signing up for everything and never remembering to check the “do
not email me” box was the inspiration for most of her workday complaints,
but for once, her chronically overstuffed email was working in my favor.

I managed to make it until
lunchtime with only three more attack-hugs and awkward conversations, and I was
able to avoid eye contact on my way to meet Daniel for lunch.

We ordered Chinese food - from
the only four-star Chinese restaurant in town, of course. To be fair, it was
pretty damn good. And at least it still came in those nice familiar cartons.

“How’s your day going?”
Daniel wanted to know.

“Well, Florence tried to
offer me a discount on male strippers, so…pretty decent?” I broke an egg
roll in half.

“Fantastic,” said
Daniel. I thought I saw a brief shadow pass over his face in response to
something I’d said - but no - I must have imagined it. “No one’s talked to
me yet. I’m not sure why.”

“Abject fear?” I
twirled some noodles onto my fork. “Well, I sincerely hope someone offers
you a discount on female strippers before the day is out. I wouldn’t want you
to miss out on that experience.”

He chewed silently for a moment.
“I did talk to my sister earlier. She wants to take us all out to dinner
with her husband when they get in.”

“Great,” I said, with a
smile that wasn’t even a little bit forced. “I can’t wait to meet
her.”

“Really?” He was giving
me a look.

“Really,” I said,
lightly. “I think it’ll be fun.”

I wasn’t sure why he was unnerved
by the idea, but for some reason, that just made me more excited to meet her.

-

I’d hovered over the
“relationship status” bar for way, way too long. It was time to make
the change.

Then again, I hadn’t told my
parents yet.

Then again, was I going to?

I’d been going around in circles
like this for ages. I had to make a decision already. As much as I wanted to
simply change my status and move on, I knew I needed to tell them first.

It took me five tries to dial the
number all the way.

Once it started ringing, I almost
lost my nerve and hung up, but instead, I waited.

“Hello?”

“Hi, dad,” I said.

“Oh,” he said, sounding
vaguely stunned. “Maddy. Hi. How are you?”

“I’m…I’m good.” I took
a deep breath. “Is mom around?”

“Yeah, want me to get
her?”

“Could you both get on the
phone? I want to tell you something.”

“All right.” He sounded
suspicious, but he did what I asked nonetheless. I heard my mom’s voice in
another few moments.

“Hi, honey,” she said.
“How has everything been?”

“Pretty good,” I said.
“I just got engaged.”

Silence reigned for a few
seconds. Then, they both started talking at once.

“Who are you-“

“You didn’t tell us-“

“It happened really
fast,” I said, quickly. “It’s my boss. His name is Daniel.”

“At that…office supply
place?”

“No, mom. That was years
ago. I’m at a consumer electronics place now.”