Bad Boy Billionaire (A Standalone Romance) (5 page)

Chase looked across at Maria. She had fallen asleep almost as soon as they were in the air. He smiled tenderly. She had curled her legs up underneath her. It was such a contrast to how she was when she was awake that he couldn’t help but feel protective of her – even more protective. Without thinking, he reached over and stroked a stray curl away from her face.

Her eyes burst open and she sat up groaning for breath.

“It’s okay,” he said, alarmed at the terror that was etched on her gorgeous face.

She held her hand to her chest, her shoulders rising and falling rapidly. “I’m sorry. I get nightmares.” She cringed.

“It’s fine, really. It happens to a lot of people.”

She straightened herself up in the chair and brushed a hand through her hair. In that moment, he felt her move away from him like she’d put her guards up again. “I know. It’s unprofessional is all.”

“And teasing me about being into caviar and strippers isn’t?”

He watched her eyes, still puffy after her sleep. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a conversation as weird as the ones they’d been having since they boarded the jet. His relationships were so stilted and boring now. But not with Maria. She wasn’t afraid to tease him. She even made him laugh. He saw her eyes widen momentarily and he automatically knew she’d thought of something scathing. He smiled. It was the most meaningful connection he’d had with anybody for as long as he could remember.

“I never said strippers. I said naked chicks.”

“It was implied.”

“No it wasn’t. You’re stinking rich. I assume you haven’t had to
pay
for a chick to strip in a long time.”

“That’s true.”

She looked at him in surprise.

“What, you didn’t expect me to be honest.”

She looked deep in thought for a moment. “No. I expected some kind of bullshit about how strippers are cheaper in the long run.”

“Nah,” he said dismissively. “I don’t hate women…”

“But?”

“But nothing.” He glanced at her.

“You were about to say something else but you changed your mind.”

“What are you, a mind reader?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “Just observant.”

He thought about that for a moment. “What made you decide to go to secretarial college?” he asked.

“I can’t remember now. It was so long ago. A burning desire to serve, maybe?” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I’m serious. Why did you choose that instead of psychology, say?”

He thought he saw her flinch. He glanced back. Her face was calm. She appeared to be thinking about the question.

“I don’t know. I was young I guess. Like if you’d chosen to go along with what your father wanted instead of studying design.”

He shrugged. “I guess I see what you mean.”

He stared ahead at the TV screen. It was tuned to Bloomberg News with the sound on mute, just like it was on all of his flights. From the corner of his eye he could see her watching him. He couldn’t see the expression on her face.

“I hope I haven’t offended you,” he said after she hadn’t spoken for a couple minutes. He turned to face her.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry. You haven’t.”

“That’s good. I wouldn’t want to. Offend you I mean.”

She smiled briskly but it didn’t travel all the way to her eyes. He wondered about that; he wished he had her ability to read people. He had a feeling that it would take quite some time to pick apart the layers that made Maria de Reyes tick.

“Why are we going to Chalk Key,” she said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. “I assumed we were going somewhere corporate. Like downtown Miami.”

“The main contact I’m meeting, that’s where he’s based. Why? Had you planned to go partying?”

She shook her head and snorted with laughter. “I hadn’t thought of it, no. Especially not like this.”

He watched as her hand swept down her front. It took him several seconds to realize that she was talking about her outfit. One glance at her hips had clouded his mind. He shook his head. That was hardly a desirable side effect when he was about to head into an important meeting.

“Ah,” he said after a too-long pause. “You’re worried we won’t find anything appropriate for you to wear down there.”

“Kinda. I’m picturing alligator t-shirts and comfort casuals.”

He laughed. “Now who’s spoiled and sheltered? They have stores.”

“Right.”

“We’ll go, right after we land and have dinner and I have a chance to catch up with Ralf about the new office and this Keton thing.”

She was uncharacteristically silent. He glanced at her to see if she was ok. All of the color had drained from her face. “What happened?” he asked, grabbing her wrists instinctively to check her pulse. Her heart was racing and her skin was cold and clammy. “Maria?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. It was nothing. Promise you won’t get mad?”

He nodded, wondering why she suddenly cared about making him mad. But the look on her face made him stop questioning it. She really looked as if she was about to faint at any moment.

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Here goes.”

“Go on,” he urged her. His own heart was starting to race as he wondered what it was that had made her react like that.

She inhaled again. “I’ve kinda got a fear of flying,” she said sheepishly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He reached over and put his arm around her.

She fidgeted away from him. “Because I need this job and I knew there was travel involved. It’s part of it.”

“But you must be terrified.”

She glanced up at him, her big brown eyes wide. She nodded. “Fucking petrified,” she said weakly.

He laughed and pulled her to him. “You’re gonna be fine. Okay? Maybe don’t look out the window any more. Hey, I’ve got a better idea.” He pushed a button on the wall and Izzy popped her head out of the flight deck. “Can you close the blinds?”

All around them, the shades whirred down over the windows. The only light in the cabin came from the emergency lighting underneath the seats.

Maria closed her eyes and gripped his hand tight. “Talk to me, please.”

“Okay,” he laughed nervously. “You know it’s always impossible to think of something to say when someone orders you to keep talking.”

“Good,” she said through gritted teeth. “Go on. It doesn’t matter what we talk about.”

“I’m gonna find you the most awful resort wear in Chalk Key. You’ll look like a prematurely aged snowbird by the time I’m finished with you.”

She hooted inelegantly with laughter, which he appreciated. “No chance.”

“We’ll see.”

“Tell me more about Chalk Key. You mentioned Keton? What’s that?”

He laughed. “It’s fine. We’ve landed. No more need for conversation filler.”

Maria cursed mentally. If she’d come right out and just asked him, she might have a clearer idea of what she was looking for. Instead of a total blank like she had now, along with a supposed fear of flying. She glanced sidelong at him - he was scrolling through something on his phone. His arm was still draped protectively over her shoulder.

Guilt hit her from nowhere. She wrapped her arms around herself. She hadn’t wanted to lie to him but she’d needed to explain her reaction somehow and it was the only thing she could think of.

He glanced over at her. “Still freaked out?” he asked. “You’re okay now.”

Maria smiled weakly. This would be so much easier if he was the rich asshole she had assumed he would be. But he wasn’t. Sure he was a bit of a playboy, but he wasn’t a bad person.

She was.

But she had no other choice. She needed to find out as much as she could about Keton if she had any hope of getting Janey out. She hadn’t found any trace of it or the other keywords on the Breton server, nor had anyone at the company mentioned them. Now, suddenly, he’d mentioned it in conversation.

“Yeah I’m fine,” she whispered.

“Good. Let’s go eat.”

“I hope you like seafood,” he grinned, jumping out of the smart black sedan and running around to open the door for her almost as soon as the driver had pulled up at the curb.

She nodded. “Shouldn’t we go check in first, though?”

He shook his head. “I have a place down here. It’s all good to go.”

She let him help her out of the car. It looked like they’d stopped in the middle of nowhere: the beach was on one side, wild and empty, and there were empty lots on the other.

“We can’t reach it by road.”

He took her hand and dragged her down the steep incline to the sand. Maria followed him laughing. She bent to take off her sensible black pumps. When they reached the sand she closed her eyes and sighed. It had been years since she’d been to the ocean. She’d forgotten how calming the salty air could be.

“Just a little further.”

Maria looked around. There was still nothing around them, except a couple beach shacks up ahead in the distance. She tried to keep up with his rapid pace. After a couple minutes, they got closer to the shacks.  They were still the only buildings in view. One of them had a makeshift cardboard sign stuck to the front with cable ties.

“Is this it?”

He looked back and nodded. “They’ve got the best lobster I’ve ever tasted.”

Maria smiled. In a way she wished he’d brought her to a stuffy fine-dining restaurant, which would have helped remind her of the differences between them. But no. Instead he brought her here – a cute, mom-n-pop place in the middle of nowhere. She stopped in her tracks. It wasn’t right to do this to him. She’d justified it by telling herself that he could afford to lose money. But that wasn’t the point. If she went through with it, she was no better than Johnny and his crooked associates. And she wasn’t a criminal – no matter what the circumstances.

“Chase.”

He turned around. “What’s up?”

She shook her head and took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

He stopped and held her by the shoulders. “What is it, Maria? What’s wrong?”

She stared down at her feet to avoid his eyes. She had no idea how she could phrase this without making him hate her forever.

“I…”She stopped. An image of her and Janey as kids popped into her mind. They were on vacation with Nonna and Grandpa. They must’ve only been eight and nine. She’d long forgotten that early fall morning when they’d woken up first and ran to the little waterfall at the back of the RV park. Maria had jumped into the pool without hesitating or bothering to test how deep the water was. Janey, the weaker swimmer of the two, had watched in horror as her sister struggled to keep her head above water. Maria could see her terrified little face clearly in her mind.

But the danger hadn’t mattered to Janey. She’d jumped right in after her sister within seconds, and managed to hold her up above the water line until one of the adults heard their screams and came rushing down. There was no doubt that Janey had saved her life that day.

And it wasn’t the only time, either. They’d gotten into so many scrapes through the years that it was impossible to remember them all. But one thing had gotten them through. Each other. It was all either of them had in the world now that their grandparents were gone.

“You…?” Breton prompted.

Maria took a deep breath. She knew then that she had no choice but to do what was right for Janey.

“I’m allergic to shellfish.”

Breton’s face fell in surprise. “You are?”

She nodded.

“But there’s only one dish on the menu here. And that’s lobster.”

His disappointed face warmed her heart. Here was a guy who was seriously in love with his food. She wished she hadn’t said it but it was the only thing she could think of on the spur of the moment now that a confession was out of the question.

“I’m just kidding,” she smirked.

His face burst out into a range of emotions. Chief among them was relief. “I thought I was gonna have to take you somewhere else,” he said with a sigh. “You really had me there.”

“Sorry for messing with you.”

“It’s okay.” He took a seat at the one long table running down the center of the room. “Trust me; it’s a novelty having someone who teases me endlessly. Aside from my brother, and even he’s been off color since his wife left him.”

She sat down beside him. “Mike, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s just the two of us. And my folks.”

“You’re close?”

She knew about his family but only in the cold, detached way of her profession. Her research hadn’t told her anything about the relationships or dynamics between them.

“Yeah,” he said. “We’ve been inseparable since he learned how to walk.”

A small, round weather-beaten woman shuffled over to them with a miniature bucket of cutlery and napkins. A couple minutes later she was back with two huge plates piled with steaming lobster.

“See? This is all they have. There’s no menu,” he said, his eyes gleaming as he tore into his food.

Maria couldn’t help but do the same. When they’d finished, they sat back on their rickety metal chairs and sighed with satisfaction as they cleaned their fingers with paper.

“Good?”

She turned to him and nodded. “Amazing.”

He smiled. “I’m glad you liked it. I can’t say it was my first choice for a date but I couldn’t come to the Key and not eat here. It’d be a crime.”

“So this is a date?” she whispered with a wry smile.

“I hope so. Is it?”

He stared into her eyes. She could tell he was searching for some indication of interest from her. She felt a sharp pang of regret. Maybe if she wasn’t who she was and he wasn’t who he was, they’d have met in a bar and fallen into an uncomplicated life of wild sex, beach life and amazing fresh food. But that was just a fantasy. Still, it didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun. She’d just have to pay the price later when he eventually found out who she really was and never wanted to see her again.

She nodded. “I think so.”

He looked so happy that she felt like an even bigger bitch than ever. She glanced up and realized that he was watching her intently.

“What?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. Come on; let’s go for a walk on the beach.”

“I thought you needed to meet Ralf.”

“Not for a couple hours. He had to push back. Complications on his end. Come on, we can walk back to my beach house from here if you don’t mind walking in those clothes.”

Maria glanced down to see what she was wearing. It felt like so long since that morning that she couldn’t remember.

“I can take my shoes off,” she shrugged. “My dress is pretty clingy but I can just pull it up.”

His eyes lit up. “Good idea,” he grinned.

She swatted his arm with her purse. “Very funny.”

“You think I was joking?” 

He led her out of the building and onto the fine white sand. She looked around. The sun was starting to set, sending streaks of pink through the sky.

“It’s beautiful here,” she said. “How often do you get to come down?”

He took her hand. “Not as often as I’d like. Maybe twice a year these days.”

“You used to come more often?”

He nodded. “When I was younger and my grandparents were still alive. I’d come and stay in the beach house and go fishing, built shit from palm fronds. That kinda thing.”

She stroked his rough palm with her fingers.

“You’re testing my claims to be an outdoor man.”

She laughed. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it. You don’t have rich guy hands.”

“You’ve held a lot of rich guy hands?”

She shrugged, wondering how much of her real self she should reveal. “No way. My mom left us for a really wealthy guy. He wanted nothing to do with us.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“That kinda explains your attitude to rich guys.”

She nodded. “That and then some,” she muttered, thinking of Janey.

They meandered along the beach not meeting another soul as they went. “So you’re happy now?” he said at last. “In your work.”

For a moment she though he meant her other work. She corrected herself just in time, wishing she didn’t have to lie to him again. But if he knew about her business then it wouldn’t take him very long to get suspicious. She couldn’t have that.

“Yeah, I’m learning a lot.”

“And your family - do you see them often.”

She bristled. “I don’t have much family left. Mom never came looking for us. My grandparents raised me.”

He seemed shocked; saddened. “No brothers or sisters even?”

She wavered between lying and telling the truth. It seemed like a terrible omen to pretend Janey didn’t exist. “One sister.”

“Is she in the city too?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Do you get to see her much?”

“As often as I can.”

“Does she work? Have kids?”

She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, breathing in the salt air. “She’s in between jobs at the minute. She’s a designer.”

That piqued his interest. “Oh really? What kind?”

“All sorts of stuff, really. She gets bored easily and then tries something new. Nine times out of ten, she excels. She’s amazing at what she does. Her latest focus is furniture design.”

“I’d love to see some of her work.”

“Hmm.” Maria couldn’t help but picture the two of them together in her mind. She had a feeling they’d get along ridiculously well.

She shook her head but the damage was done. She had known she was walking a thin and dangerous line with Breton, but she was falling for him faster than she’d like to admit. Already, she had a fantasy image in her head of what their life would be like together. There was only one way that would happen. And she wasn’t about to sacrifice her own sister for a fantasy.

“I’m serious. Who stocks her designs?”

“Like I said, she’s between jobs at the moment.”

To her relief, they came to a stop and turned toward a modest pink villa with an entrance directly off the beach. The blazing red sunset was reflected in its windows.

“This is it?”

“Yeah. Not how you’d pictured?”

She shook her head. “Not in a bad way. I was picturing something big and ostentatious.”

He laughed. “I prefer it how it is. Believe me. It belonged to my mom’s parents. They weren’t as well off as my father’s.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said, opening the gate in the picket fence and walking up the slightly overgrown path. “It’s totally you.”

She turned back to find him smiling widely. “I’m glad you’ve stopped thinking of me as some awful rich ogre.”

“I guess I have.” She turned and waited for him to catch up and open the ancient wood door.

Inside, the reception room was filled with vibrant, yellow light from the sunset. It made the wicker furniture and nautical-style soft furnishings seem even more magical and otherworldly. She’d never been to a place like this. She tiptoed across the sun-bleached floorboards to the sofa and sat down.

“I can see why you love this place.”

He smiled. “I’m glad you like it. It gets even better. Come on.”

She followed him through into the tiny kitchen and out the backdoor into the shady yard. Three colorful hammocks hung from the veranda, swaying in the light summer breeze. Beyond it, the garden was lush and green, with a tinkling fountain at its center. A high fence marked the perimeter giving the entire place the feeling of a secret sanctuary.

“I don’t know how you leave this place, I really don’t.” She shivered in the breeze.

“Come on, let’s go inside. It gets chilly once the sun goes down.”

He walked back to the lounge and opened one of the doors in the pale wood dresser.