Billionaire's Island Bride (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) (4 page)

BOOK: Billionaire's Island Bride (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series)
13.16Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

She opened her
mouth then, those soft lips still swollen from his kiss, but he cut her off
before she even had a chance to utter the first word.  There was no way he was
giving her a chance to back out.  He’d had a taste of her lips and, deceiver
though she may be, he wanted more.

He took her by the
elbow and turned her toward the pathway.  “Come.  Let me walk you back to your
villa.”

“N…no,” she said
quickly.  “No, thank you.  I’m fine.  I can get back on my own.”

He shrugged. 
“Until tomorrow then.  Seven o’clock.”  He watched her hurry away, heels
clicking on the cobbled stones along the lighted path.  He had no concern for
her safety.  He’d made sure security was at its highest level at his resort,
with plain clothes security guards patrolling the grounds twenty four hours a
day.  In his five years operating the resort he’d never had a visitor fall victim
to a crime on his grounds.  He was determined to keep that record spotless.

Dare DeSouza was
an entrepreneur and had been since as long as he could remember.  He’d grown up
in Michigan and while in elementary school he’d run a candy business, buying
bags of candy for a dollar and selling the sweets to his classmates for a quarter
a piece.  When his home room teacher found out about it he’d had to abandon his
enterprise but by high school he’d graduated to selling soda pop and comic
books and was raking in a few hundred dollars a week.  By the time he started
his engineering degree at MIT he was running an online trading company
specializing in collectable items, a business which he sold in his senior year
for over a million dollars.  With this seed money he started yet another
business, another trading company that far surpassed the success of the first,
and was soon the head of a multi-million dollar operation.

Then he attended a
wedding on the island of Santa Marta and was hooked for life.  He loved the
richness of the island, the verdant pastures and the vibrant green of the
tropical foliage.  The brilliant blue of the sea and the sky, the cotton white
of the clouds, the rich reds of the flora - everything seemed to practically
glow with life.  He spent a week there and vowed that he would be back.

Next time he visited
the island it was for a site visit and on his third trip he signed the
documents for the purchase of Sunsational Resort on the northern coast where
the best beaches lay.  It was family owned but had been neglected due to lack
of funds.  The couple’s children were less than enthusiastic about the hotel
business so they were all too happy when Dare offered them over one hundred
million for the place.

And then the
rebuilding began - renovating, refurbishing and advertising to let the public
know the resort was under new management.  Sunsational Resort burst back onto
the scene and outshone its rivals, soon placing among the top ten resorts in
the Caribbean.  He expanded to other islands until he had resorts in four
additional Caribbean locations.  He’d found a winning enterprise and he was
loving it.

But that brought
with it a host of challenges, fighting off gold-diggers being one of the
annoying things he had to deal with.  Just a year ago he’d almost been fooled
by an expert who tried to convince him to invest millions in a venture that
turned out to be phony.  Good thing his accountants and attorneys had done
their job and reviewed the proposal before letting him sign on the dotted
line.  If he’d signed he’d have had to hand over millions to a woman whose
greatest asset had been her prowess in bed.

And now soon after
he’d gotten rid of that one, here was another.  A more innocent-looking
package, to be sure, but a deceiver just the same.  That was the worst part about
being a billionaire.  Would he ever be able to find a woman who loved him and
not his money?  The likelihood of that seemed very slim.  

He shoved his
fists into his pockets, brows furrowed in thought, and headed back toward his
own villa.  That other gold-digger, Chantalle Marsden, had escaped his wrath
but he had absolutely no qualms about taking out his revenge on this one.

***

 

 

By the time Erin
pushed open the door and entered the villa she was shaking and it was not from
the light breeze that cooled her shoulders.  She was shocked and she was
scared.  Had she just promised to go out on a date with a man she hardly knew? 
No, correct that.  Didn’t know at all.  She’d met him all of two times, once in
a pool, and the other time by a bar.  And he’d ended up kissing her!  Her heart
flipped in her chest at the horror of it all.  She, staid and boring Erin Samuels,
had been kissed by a total stranger.

What was worse,
she had kissed him back.  And she had loved every second of it.

Goodness, what had
she become?  Was it the romantic atmosphere?  Was it the fact that she was
miles and miles away from Vancouver, ensconced on an island?  She’d heard about
girls who’d gone wild on spring break but she wasn’t like that.  She was Erin
Samuels, bookworm, student librarian, Miss Boring.  How had she gone from that
to this? 

Still deep in
thought she walked into the bathroom, unzipped her dress and let it fall to the
floor.  Her underwear followed.  She stepped into the shower and turned the
spray on her body, letting the water wash over her.  She grimaced as the
realization came to her.  As much as this was against her norm, she knew there
was no way she would miss her date with Dare.

It wasn’t until
late the next day that Erin mentioned her date to the other girls.

“You, Erin?” Tisha
squealed.  “I can’t believe it.  Where’d you find a guy to invite you on a
date?”

“Tisha.”  Maria
frowned at the laughing girl.  “What?  Don’t you think men notice Erin?  She’s
a pretty girl.”

“Yeah, but she’s
boring.  She never wants to do anything fun.”  Tisha shrieked and jumped out of
reach as Maria tried to pinch her.

Robyn was the only
one who wasn’t smiling.  She seemed deep in thought.  Finally she spoke.  “What
did you say his name was?”

“Dare.”

“Check out the
name,” Tisha said.  “Dare.  If that’s anything to go by, he’s my kind of guy.”

“But not Erin’s,” Robyn
said with a frown.  “So you met him at the bar?  And you’re going out with him
just like that?”

“No…I mean, yes.” 
Erin took a deep breath and began again.  “He wasn’t the one who came on to
me.  I bumped into him and anyway I’d met him before.  At the pool.  Remember
the guy I almost drowned?”

The three girls
gasped as one.  “That’s the guy you’re going out with?” Tisha’s voice was high
with excitement.

Erin nodded.

“Wow, that’s quite
a catch,” Maria said, her voice low with obvious respect.  “You can see that
guy’s loaded.”

Robyn frowned. 
“How do you know?  All he was wearing were swim trunks and a gold chain.  I
didn’t see anything that spelled money.”

“No, but it was
the way he carried himself.”  Maria raised her eyebrows.  “Even half-naked the
man exuded power.  Didn’t you notice how the men sitting around him practically
bowed in respect?  The man’s big.  I just know it.”

“And he asked you
out…” Robyn’s voice trailed off as she stared at Erin.  Her face had that
distant look again as if there was something on her mind. 

Erin frowned,
almost sorry she’d brought up the subject.  Her suite-mates were acting like it
was impossible for a man to want to go out with her.  Well, not so much Maria,
but the others.  Tisha had practically laughed at the idea and Robyn looked
none too pleased.  Was she jealous?  Erin sighed.  Anything was possible where Robyn
was concerned.  If she wasn’t the center of attention she was not happy.

“Well, I just
wanted you guys to know where I am tonight,” she said with false cheerfulness. 
“Michelangelo’s, seven o’clock.  If I’m not home by eleven send in the
marines.” 

Tisha chuckled. 
“Just keep your cell phone on.  We’re not going to spoil your fun.  Just check
in with us if you’re running…late.”  She lifted her eyebrows and gave Erin a
naughty grin.  “You only live once, right?”

Erin felt the heat
rise to her face.  Abruptly she got up and walked toward the French doors that
opened onto the back patio and the pathway to the beach.  “I…need some fresh
air.  I’m going for a walk.”

She could hear the
chuckles as she slipped outside.  They must think her so pathetic.  The ugly
duckling, finally asked out on a date when they’d been out every night since
they got to the island.  While the girls made friends she would return to her
room each night and curl up in the sofa with a good book.  Not that she’d
minded.  Now, though, she had her chance to prove to them that she was just as
desirable as they were.

The day flew by
and before Erin knew it the sun had begun to slide down toward the horizon. 
Her heart did a bunny hop in her chest.  This was it.  Her first date while on
spring break. 

She dressed
carefully, picking out a simple yet elegant black dress.  She accessorized with
a pearl necklace and matching earrings then slipped her feet into high heeled
sandals.  Now it was time for her hair and face.  As she usually did when
trying to look sophisticated she took a firm brush to her curls then pinned her
hair up into a neat bun.  The face was more challenging.  She wanted to look
good but doing makeup had never been her strong point.  She tried some eye
shadow and hated it.  She had no clue what she was doing and didn’t want to ask
any of the girls.  She’d been humiliated enough for one day.  In the end she
gave up and settled for foundation, lip gloss and eyeliner.  If her date didn’t
like her that way then that was his problem.

Then it was time
to go.  She’d been finding all sorts of excuses to dawdle - she couldn’t find
her purse, she needed another glass of water, she had to redo her lip gloss - until
it was ten minutes before the hour.  Now she’d have to hurry to make it to
Michelangelo’s on time.  She could see that Dare was not the sort of man who’d
take kindly to being kept waiting.

When Erin stepped
into the lobby of Michelangelo’s she took a deep breath and clutched her purse
tightly in her hands.  She peered down the dimly lit hallway toward the salon
then breathed a sigh of relief.  He wasn’t here yet.  Her racing pulse began to
decelerate toward normal.

“Good evening, Erin.” 

She jumped then
whipped round to peer into the darkness of the hallway.  And there he stood,
tall and imposing in an elegant dinner jacket of dark gray.  Those piercing gray
eyes glittered in the dim light and she felt as if his gaze stripped her bare.

“Dare,” she said,
her voice breathless, “I didn’t see you over there.”

“I know you
didn’t.  Come.”  He gave her his arm.  “A table is reserved for us.”

She rested her
hand on his arm and as she did so a shiver ran through her.  Furtively, she
glanced up at him through her lashes.  Had he felt it, her body’s reaction to
his?  She hoped he hadn’t.  That was just what she would need - her body making
its response to him unmistakably clear.  She breathed a soft sigh of relief
when he gave no indication that he’d felt it.  He simply kept on walking, her
hand tucked into the crook of his arm.

The maitre d’
bowed low, showing extreme deference to Dare, then directed them to a private
room adjoining the restaurant, an elegantly decorated room aglow with the soft
light of a dozen candles shining through stained glass shades that lined the
walls.  In the middle of the table was what looked like a bouquet of flowers
but turned out to be flower shaped candles from which an almost heavenly
fragrance wafted.

Dare released her
arm and pulled out her chair then he went to sit across from her, his eyes
never once leaving her face.  It was if he was seeing her for the first time,
so intense was his stare.  Or was there something more?  There was a gleam in
his eyes, one that she could not decipher.  The only word that came to mind was
‘wicked’.  She could feel her breathing grow shallow.  Goodness, had she made a
mistake in coming?

But then inexplicably
his demeanor changed.  Gone were the frown that had darkened his face, gone was
the intense stare that was almost a glare, and in their place was a half-smile
that, while not totally reassuring, made her breathing just a little bit
easier.

Dare took charge,
placing the order for both of them.  He seemed familiar with everything on the
menu so there was no need to question his recommendation.

In fact, just then
Erin was feeling so out of her depth she doubted she would have been able to
order anyway.  She wasn’t even sure she’d be able to eat when the meal
arrived.  Dropping her hands to her lap she twisted her napkin with shaking
fingers and pasted a bright smile on her face.

“Are you
alright?”  Dare’s frown was back.  He was watching her intently, his gray eyes
glittering like shards of glass in the candlelight.

“I’m…fine, thank
you.”   The words came out stilted and strained.  She swallowed and tried
again, hiding desperately behind her fake smile.  “This is a really nice
place.  It seems to be the nicest restaurant at the resort.”

“I like it.”  His
voice was brusque and cool.  It was almost as if he had no interest in
conversation.

BOOK: Billionaire's Island Bride (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series)
13.16Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Claiming Ariadne by Gill, Laura
Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh
Pregnancy Plan by Tina Gayle
The Stolen Suitor by Eli Easton
Broken Wing by Judith James
Transience by Mena, Stevan
Her Bad Boy Biker by Stone, Emily
Cry of the Newborn by James Barclay