The Billionaire's Gamble (14 page)

She went into the bedroom and looked around. Her clothes were already placed beside his in the closet and she found her other clothes in half the drawers. It was odd, and very intimate, to see her clothes next to Sid’s in this way. The thought sent a small shiver down her body, knowing that she really was married to this strange and enigmatic man. She’d spent two months getting to know him but he really was still a stranger. But a stranger she loved getting to know each day.

Sighing, she pushed her silly thoughts aside and pulled down a pale, pink suit. Quickly showering, she changed into the suit, slipping on a pair of soft, pink pumps. She pulled her hair back and added a touch of mascara and lipstick then surveyed her appearance in the mirror. She looked ready for battle, in a very feminine, soft kind of way.

She took the key Sid had left for her and made her way down the private elevator, then walked across the lobby toward her office. It was a slow process as many people stopped her to say hello and wish her well in her new marriage.

It took more than fifteen minutes before she reached her office. Her staff was genuinely pleased to see her. Some even expressed their surprise, knowing that her position had been advertised. Sabrina dismissed the job posting as just a miscommunication and then started diving into the messages, paperwork and e-mail that had piled up over the past month.

By seven o’clock, she was exhausted but had finally organized the mountain of work that had appeared on her desk while she’d been out. Everything was now organized into groups of priorities. She’d already dealt with the most urgent and was now onto the simply extremely important issues when her phone rang at her elbow.

“Sabrina Charmichael, how can I help you?” she said in a cheerful voice.

 

Sid’s reply was not nearly as merry. “You’re Sabrina Matthews now and I thought we already discussed your position.”

 

“Sid!” she said, her heartbeat increasing with the sound of his voice. “Where are you?” she asked, glancing down at her watch, amazed that it was so late.

 

“I’m up in our suite, waiting for you which is interesting since I had thought you were up here all day, getting settled in like I told you to do when I left you.”

 

Sabrina sighed. “This might not be the right venue for this conversation. I’ll be up in a moment.”

She put down the phone and turned off her computer, forcing her mind to concentrate on each task and take her mind off of the confrontation about to happen with her new husband. Her stomach was clenched and her fingers shook as she made her way across the lobby and she tried to maintain a serene expression on her face. The path was easier this time as she ran into the same people as she had earlier so it was a simple matter to just wave to everyone from across the room or hallway.

She reached the penthouse quickly but was dreading the confrontation.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she saw him standing in the middle of the great room, his arms crossed over his chest. She stepped off the elevator quickly and smiled brightly. “Did you have a productive day?” she asked, hoping to avoid the fight if possible.

She was wrong. “It was until I came back here to find that you weren’t here. When I asked security if you’d left the building, they informed me that you’d been in your office all day long.” He walked slowly over to where she was standing, intimidating her by his height and brawn. “I found that amazing since I told you earlier this morning that you didn’t need to work.”

Sabrina didn’t budge, refusing to let him intimidate her. Or at least let him know how intimidated she was. “You might have said it but that doesn’t make it so,” she said, lifting her chin defiantly.

Sid’s eyes narrowed as she stood there. “Is that right?”

 

“Absolutely,” she said and crossed her own arms over her chest. “That’s so,” she replied, nodding her head for emphasis.

“Well, that’s interesting, since usually, what I say around here really does make it so,” he countered. “In fact, I could make a phone call right now and have your office cleared out.”

Her hands dropped from her chest and dangled uselessly at her sides. She couldn’t believe her ears. Was Sid really threatening to fire her and embarrass her like this? “You wouldn’t do that, would you?” she asked, her eyes burning with the tears. “You wouldn’t humiliate me like that.”

Sid shook his head, denying her claim as outrageous. “You are embarrassing me by working when I told you that you don’t need to,” he said.

She decided to change tactics. Challenging Sid wasn’t a very good way to get him to see reason and since he owned the entire hotel and casino, she suspected that he’d been challenged on many occasions and came out the winner. She was an amateur in this arena. Besides, it was time to learn more about her husband and being confrontational wasn’t a good way to start. “But it isn’t a question of need, Sid. I
like
my job. I don’t want to be one of those women who spend their days shopping and primping. I want to contribute to the success of your business.”

“You would be helping me by not having me worry about you,” he said. “Now, enough of this subject. Let’s have dinner and move on to a more interesting subject.” He turned and started moving toward the terrace. “I contacted an agent today and they are ready to show you houses whenever it is convenient for you.”

Sabrina’s mouth almost fell open as he walked away from her, dismissing her concerns about her job and future. “Sid! What are you doing? This subject is not closed!” she called out. “Do you have any idea how offensive you are being right now?”

Sid spun around, his eyes angry. “Offensive? I will not have my wife working here. That’s final.” Without another word, he walked out onto the terrace and started opening a bottle of wine, pouring two glasses and waiting for Sabrina to follow, fully expecting her to give in on the issue.

Sabrina did follow him out but what she really wanted to do was walk up to him and kick his shin for being so bull headed. Taking a deep breath to calm her temper, she looked over at him, “Perhaps you should explain to me exactly why it is offensive for me to work.”

“Why would you want to?” he demanded. “It shows the rest of the world that I can’t afford to keep you in style.” He handed her the glass of wine and watched her take a sip.

“But what about if I find satisfaction from working?” she asked.

 

His eyes immediately lightened with her words. “Well, then I’ll just have to find other ways to satisfy you, won’t I?”

Sabrina looked at his intense gaze and her body reacted despite her anger. But she refused to give in to the seemingly effortless way he could make her forget everything. “Sid, that’s not the point. I need more than just sex from life. I need to feel productive and needed. I also need an outlet for my creativity. Otherwise, I’ll go crazy. My job gives me that outlet and feeds my ego, making me feel like I’m needed.”

“What about when we have children. We will not put them into day care,” he said and she saw his jaw harden, a vein on his forehead started throbbing.

“Absolutely not,” she said and was glad when she saw him relax. “I would love to have the time to spend with our children but that’s years in the future. What am I going to do in the meantime? I want to work and I love working for Solara.”

“I’m glad you feel that way but why don’t we move up the timetable? Why would we wait years to have children when there’s no need? What could possibly hold us back from moving ahead with our marriage?”

“Have children now?” she asked, her eyes showing her surprise. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” she said. “And I don’t think that marriage is only about procreation. It’s also about you and me and what we represent both individually and together.”

“What’s wrong with having children now?” he asked, putting down his glass of wine, taking a seat at the dinner table and taking the cover off of one of the plates.

Sabrina couldn’t believe her ears. “Sid, are you saying you want to have children now simply because I want to work? That doesn’t make sense. We should decide to have children when we’re both ready. That’s probably a few years into the future,” she said, knowing that she was terrified of having children with a man who didn’t love her. “Besides, the current issue is broader than just a job.”

“Oh really?” he asked, taking a bite of the asparagus. “I thought that was the current topic although I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not my favorite.”

Sabrina bristled at his autocratic tone but she pursed her lips, striving for patience. She took a seat as well and lifted her own cover but the scents of the food which were usually so enticing, didn’t even reach her consciousness. She was too absorbed in the conversation and trying to figure out how to get Sid to understand her point of view. “No. It isn’t just about the job. It is about you talking to me and both of us agreeing on what our future together will be. You’re making decisions and not including me in the process.”

Sid sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Sabrina, you’re not going to work.”

Sabrina’s temper flared. It was no use. “Sid, you’re just being obstinate and not listening to a thing I’ve said.” Stomping her feet, she stood up and started to walk away from him. She paced back and forth along the patio, her body alert and hopping mad. “So you don’t want me to work for you? Is that your final word?” she asked.

Sid looked up at her from his chair, his eyes considered her angry gaze and stance. “Yes. That’s my final word,” he replied as if they were discussing the weather instead of a monumental, life-altering conversation about Sabrina’s and their future happiness.

Taking a deep breath, she made up her mind. “Fine. If that’s your position, then I consider myself fired. If you don’t want me working for you, then I’ll just work for someone else. My skills are valuable and I think my history here at Solara will warrant a job with another casino. If you don’t want me working for you, I’ll find someone who will,” she said defiantly, raising her chin in challenge.

Sid stood up and walked over to where she was standing, hands on his hips. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”

Sabrina tried to lie, tried to maintain eye contact with him but she just couldn’t do it. She looked away, wiping the angry tears quickly so he wouldn’t see how much he’d hurt her. “No,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

With a sigh, Sid took her into his arms, ignoring her stiffness. He put his head on hers and stared out at the open dessert visible from the opposite side of the terrace. “Thank you for that.” He let her walk away from him before stating, “It wouldn’t have worked anyway. One word from me and the other casinos wouldn’t even let you in the door.”

Sabrina sniffed and shook her head. “You don’t understand and I can’t figure out how to make you see. But this is very important to me. Imagine how you’d feel if I told you that you had to quit your job.”

Sid smiled at the idea. “You just said I’d fired you. Did you quit or did I fire you?”

 

Sabrina pushed away and punched his arm, hurting her knuckles against his rock hard bicep. “I hate you,” she said, her voice soft with pent up emotion.

 

“No you don’t,” he countered. “And I promise you won’t regret this, Sabrina.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and shook her head. “No, Sid. I promise you’ll regret your decision. I’m the best events planner you’ve ever had and you know it. Just try and find someone as good as I was.”

He smiled down into her beautiful, defiant face. “And you’ll look for a home? I promise you can have whatever home makes you happy.”

Sabrina frowned, frustrated that he still didn’t understand. “The home won’t compensate for me not working Sid. Would you feel happy if you had a beautiful place but no satisfaction?”

Sid picked her up in his arms. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that you won’t be satisfied. I think I’ll have to just show you how satisfied you will be as my wife,” he said and carried her into their bedroom. He made love to her until she was crying out for release and when he’d given her body what she’d demanded, she curled up in his arms as she floated off to sleep.
Chapter 9

Sabrina spent the second four weeks of her marriage in the opposite state of her first four weeks. She watched Sid go off to work, spending long hours in the office and basically ignoring her until he came home at night. Those nights, they spent going to the theatre, the ballet, to social events or simply in bed, discovering each other’s bodies and likes and dislikes. They never brought up the subject of her job or his autocratic ways but she could feel the tension building and she didn’t completely understand it.

She spent her days shopping for a house. The realtor showed her dozens of houses, all of them large and luxurious with beautiful pools, elaborate kitchens and spacious floor plans. For some reason, none of them made her feel like it was the one that she wanted to spend her life in with Sid and raise their children. After several days of going through beautiful homes with a very nice realtor named Mindy, Sabrina finally called it quits, if only temporarily.

“Mindy,” Sabrina started off, staring at the lovely three story brick home with a lovely view, “I’m sorry but can we hold off on the homes you have scheduled for the afternoon?”

“Of course. Would you like to see more tomorrow? I can call and reschedule them.”

Sabrina thought about it for a long moment before she shook her head. “Not right now. I need to talk to Sid a little more. So far, none of the houses are what I’m looking for but maybe I’m not sure what I really want.”

Mindy was very professional and accepted Sabrina’s comment. “I can understand that. I’ve been in this business for a long time. Take whatever time you need and call me when you’ve figured out what you need. Maybe something smaller? A little less overwhelming?”

Sabrina laughed. “I don’t think Sid would allow that. So far, these houses have all been smaller than his current penthouse.”

 

Mindy smiled. “I can look for something larger, but I’m not sure if there is anything bigger in this area.”

 

“No, larger isn’t the issue,” Sabrina replied apologetically. “But I’m not sure what the problem is but I’ll figure it out and call you when I have.”