Bad Girls Do: a Billionare Romance Novel (The Everly Brothers Series, Erotic Romance Book 3) (21 page)

Just like that, he was back to business. Go figure.

Diane tried her best to appear interested in his conversation. But before she could summon up a response, she heard a commotion from just outside the closed door leading out into the hallway.

Daniel’s brow wrinkled and he swiveled his head toward the sound of the two voices arguing. “What in the worl—”

The door burst open, and much to Diane’s shock, a very disheveled Sam stalked inside. Hot on his heels was Daniel’s housekeeper, Miriam.

“I told you, you can’t just barge in here,” she was yelling at Sam.

“The hell I can’t,” he mumbled, looking around the room.

His eyes landed on Diane, and a look of relief overtook him.

What the hell?

Frozen in her spot, Diane could do no more than stare at him. His leather jacket was only half zipped and his hair was standing straight on end as if he hadn’t bothered combing it. He hadn’t bothered shaving, either.

In fact, he was still wearing the same damn clothes from last night.

A burst of anger had her straightening her spine. How dare he come in here looking like he’d just left the bed of whatever skank he’d ended up with last night?

Before she could ask him that very thing, her father plunked his fork and spoon onto his plate with a loud clatter. “Sam Everly? What on earth is the meaning of this?”

“No offense, Mr. Milstrom. But I’m here to see Diane,” Sam said calmly.

Diane’s hands clenched into fists. How could he stand there so nonchalantly after what he’d done?

“I’m s-sorry, sir,” Miriam stuttered. “I told him you were having breakfast in here, and he just rushed past me before—”

“I understand, Miriam,” Daniel cut in sharply. “You’re excused.”

She gave a relieved nod and, after one last fearful glance between him and Sam, raced from the room.

Daniel turned back to Sam. “What business could you possibly have with my daughter?”

Sam slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “That’s between me and her.”

Her father turned to her and, when he saw the thinly veiled anger on her face, his own grew incredulous. “Diane? Surely you’re not involved with him? I know you would never be interested in someone so childish.”

For some reason, those words on top of her fury at the sight of Sam’s face, broke the last vestiges of her self-control.

“How could you possibly know that?” she snapped. “You don’t know a thing about me.”

Her father’s expression grew flabbergasted. “Well, I—”

Cutting him off, she said to Sam, “What are you doing here?”

“I’d like to talk to you. Alone,” he added.

“What for,” she said without bothering to disguise the coldness in her tone. “I think it’s pretty clear where things are between us.”

A flash of heat sparked in his eyes. “I think you’re wrong. That’s why I want to talk to you.” When she didn’t immediately respond, he added a soft, “Please.”

Something in that last word, some glimmer of desperation in his eyes, prompted her to reluctantly say, “Fine.”

But they certainly wouldn’t be speaking in front of her father, whose face was so red he looked like he might be having a stroke.

“Excuse me,” she said to her father. Without waiting for a response, she rose and stalked past Sam, then out of the room and down the hall. She didn’t stop until they were almost to the doors leading out into the courtyard.

Diane turned to see Sam hot on her tail, as she’d expected he would be. Although he looked like he’d barely slept a wink—the bastard—he still looked like his deliciously masculine self. Still had that undeniable force of life that had held her under his sway these past few weeks.

A twinge of pain clenched her heart, but she hardened herself against it. Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “What do you want?”

“I…” He stopped several feet in front of her, his hands sliding out of his pockets to reach toward her. But then, apparently sensing just how little she wanted his hands on her right now, he stopped. They fell loosely to his sides, and his face grew uncertain. “The way I left things last night, it wasn’t right.”

So that was why he was here? He felt bad about how he’d ended things?

“Don’t worry about it,” she bit out. “I’m a big girl. I’ll survive.”

“No, you…” He sighed and raked a hand through his messy hair. “I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never had to before.”

He looked so miserable that she almost felt sorry for him. But then she remembered what he’d been doing last night, and the misery morphed into perverse satisfaction. Hell, as far as she was concerned, the more he suffered, the better.

“Spit it out, or get out.”

That flash of heat marred his features once more, and this time he grabbed her shoulders. “I wasn’t with anyone else last night.”

Her immediate instinct to pull away died when his words penetrated. “What?”

Sam frowned down at her. “Do you really think I could be with another woman hours after I was inside you?” When she opened her mouth, he gave a dejected sigh. “No, never mind. Don’t answer that.”

Confusion raced through her as she stared up at him.

He shook his head slowly. “I guess it’s what I deserve for not being straight with you from the very beginning. My only defense is that I didn’t realize it myself.”

Scoffing, she said, “You’re not making any sense.”

He gave a wry chuckle and shook her slightly. “Don’t you get it, Diane? I’m falling for you. Hard. And it scares the shit out of me.”

His words shot into her and her eyes went wide.

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.” His stormy blue eyes locked on hers, as if willing her to believe him. “I didn’t know how to react. I-I freaked out, babe. I’m sorry.”

Oh god, he sounded sincere. And she wanted to believe him. So, so badly.

“But…” She licked her lips. “Is that why you practically ran away from me last night?”

“That, and…” He frowned. “Andrew saw us together. He figured things out.”

She sucked in a breath. “Did he—?”

“He’s okay with it.” Sam let out a low laugh. “In fact, he thought we might be good for each other.”

“Wow.” Not that she’d imagined Andrew would care enough to be upset about her and Sam hooking up, but it was quite a shock to hear he thought they might actually be good together.

“When he told me that, I guess it all just hit me at once.” Sam’s hands slid down her shoulders, caressing her arms. “I hadn’t let myself think about it while we were hooking up. Told myself it was just sex—really, really good sex.”

A soft, reluctant laugh escaped her.

Sam’s lips quirked upward. “But the truth is, I was falling for you the whole time, babe.”

The sound of his voice reverberated through her chest, sparking a song of light and hope in her heart. His words were more than she could have ever hoped to hear, but they still didn’t account for where he’d been last night. And even though he’d said there was no other woman, she knew what she’d heard.

“So…” She took a shaky breath and forced herself to ask her next question, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer. “Where did you go after I got into the cab last night?”

“Beringer’s.” His palm slid up to her cheek, then back through her hair. “I was hoping I could drink myself into forgetting how I felt about you. Instead, I almost drank myself into a coma.”

Beringer’s
. That was so much better than what she’d imagined. And in fact, now that he’d said it, there was no missing the distinct smell of liquor wafting from his pores, or the red rim around his eyes that indicated a hard night of drinking.

“I was talking to Zoey and she made me realize how I feel. I tried to leave right then and there to come and talk to you.” His lips gave a wry twist. “But I barely took a step before almost falling on my ass.”

She laughed at the imagery, while happy little butterflies danced in her stomach.

“So she took me back to her place instead.” When Diane’s smile started to die, he quickly added, “Where I slept
on her couch
.”

Whew. Good.
She didn’t know Zoey well, but she’d always found her rather likeable. It would have been a shame if she’d had to kill her.

“So the voice I heard when I called you this morning—”

“It was Zoey rummaging around in her kitchen,” he supplied, softly cupping her chin and lifting her face so their eyes locked. “I wasn’t with another woman, Diane. To be perfectly honest, the moment I slept with you, I lost interest in every other woman.”

“Oh, Sam,” she sighed. While she couldn’t say she completely believed
that
, it was still just the right thing for him to say.

Grinning, he pulled her into his body, wrapping his arms around her waist. “It’s true. I found it downright annoying, actually.”

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, guess what, Sam Everly?”

“What?” he said in a teasing tone.

“I’m falling for you, too,” she confessed.

He sobered, staring down at her intently. “Then I guess we’ll just have to fall together.”

Diane’s heart gave a happy lurch as she rose to her toes to give Sam a long, passionate kiss. Whiskey breath aside, she had to say it was one of the best kisses of her life.

Finally pulling away, he murmured, “I can’t say we’ll have it easy, Diane. I don’t think your father likes me very much. I have a feeling he’s going to disapprove.”

A sharp laugh escaped her. That was the understatement of the century.

“Lucky for him, bad girls are all about parental disapproval,” she joked.

“Then I sure am glad you came over to the bad side.”

“Me, too.” Stepping back, she grabbed Sam’s hand and led him down the hall. “Come on.”

He followed along willingly. “Where are we going?”

“To my room.” She gave him a teasing backward glance. “I still have a few items to cross off my list.”

Sam took a shaky breath. “I love that list of yours.”

“So do I, Sam.” If it weren’t for that list, she would have missed out on the best thing that had ever happened to her. “Let’s see if we can think up a few things to add to it, hmm?”

“Amen to that.” Snatching her back into his arms, he pressed another wet, hot kiss to her lips. “
Mm
…in fact, I have a few ideas in mind already.”

Epilogue

T
he private party room of the upscale restaurant had been transformed into a vision of gilded table settings and shimmering candlelight. The elegance of the scene was only improved by the array of vases laid throughout the room, packed with a variety of wildflowers. It fit, considering they were celebrating Andrew and Hailey’s engagement.

Sam could hardly believe it. His big brother Andrew was going to be married soon.

But then, a lot had changed over the past few months.

“What are you thinking?” Diane asked from where she sat beside him.

Case in point.

Smiling down at her, he murmured, “How beautiful you look.”

“Stop,” she whispered, blushing a pretty shade of pink.

Yeah, maybe it was corny, but it was true. Over the six months he and Diane had been together, she’d only managed to get more and more beautiful. Blossoming, James’s girlfriend—no, now
fiancé
—Lyssa had said. She was right.

But Diane wasn’t the only one. He’d changed, too. Where once the thought of spending his life with one woman had seemed laughable, if not downright terrifying, now he knew the truth. When you found the one, a lifetime with them wasn’t nearly long enough.

Wrapping his hand around Diane’s, he allowed his gaze to stray to the couple sitting at the end of the long, rectangular table. Andrew and Hailey had never looked more in love. In fact, Andrew’s smile was so wide he looked downright giddy.

Sam’s chest tightened with warmth and love. He was so happy for Andrew. Happy for James and himself, as well. Somehow, despite everything they’d witnessed growing up, they’d managed to move past their parents’ mistakes. They’d opened themselves up to love, and become a hell of a lot better for it.

Now, with the global expansion of Everly Publications a success, and the new assistant CEO who’d been hired on to take some of the workload off Andrew, things were only going to get better.

Life was pretty damn good.

Following his gaze, Diane murmured, “I can’t say I ever imagined when I first saw Andrew propose to Hailey that I’d be sitting here helping him celebrate the event.”

Sam chuckled. “True enough. As I recall, you were pretty PO’d about the whole thing.”

She squeezed his hand. “Good thing for you I was. Otherwise, I would have never come up with my To-Do list.”

What a shame that would have been. After six months of dating, he was proud to say her To-Do list was now several pages long. And almost every item had been crossed off of it.

Turned out that the woman who he’d once thought boring and predictable could be pretty darn adventurous when she set her mind to it.

Yup, now that he knew the real Diane, he was all too aware of just how right she was for him. The perfect mix of good girl and bad.

Which was why he was going to ask her to marry him.

For a guy who’d once thought he would never get married, the topic wasn’t something he’d ever take lightly. He’d given it a great deal of thought, and every time he came to the same conclusion.

She was the one.

But it wasn’t going to happen tonight. No, this was Andrew and Hailey’s night. Diane deserved a night all of her own. The perfect night for the perfect woman.

As he snuck a glance at the gorgeous creature he’d been lucky enough to land, his chest ached with the desire to flat-out ask her. He hated keeping secrets from her, and he wasn’t exactly the patient type. But this was one secret he would keep. Because she deserved the best proposal he could possibly think of.

Diane deserved the world, and he would do everything in his power to give it to her.