LOVE AND HATE (A Billionaire Romance) (26 page)

Mom’s cooking stole the show at the reception. The band played long into the night, and I think Becky and Ryan danced every dance they could. Our parents excused themselves early, and drinks and laughter flowed with the music long past midnight.

Susie and Serena vanished after the cake was cut, and I couldn’t wait to hear about their exploits. I wished Susie luck, even if it was a brief flirtation with fame and the paparazzi.

Scott stayed by my side all night. We stopped touching when I danced with my dad and he with his mom. We didn’t smash cake in one another’s faces or do anything obnoxious. Serena called us boring at one point. Cheryl was equally unimpressed with how square I’d become.

It wasn’t the time nor the place for it. This wedding was about love. The first one was about tequila shots, a mermaid dress, and scheming. For our honeymoon, we’d be taking a yacht similar to Percy’s to Europe and the Mediterranean, and Scott promised me debauchery there. Something about topless night clubs in Italy, sex parties in Monaco, an underground S&M club in Slovenia he thought I would like. I’d try anything with Scott because he would try anything for me. Tonight, I needed him to be a reliable, perfect husband, and he played the role to a T.

We’re all different things for different people. I hadn’t started out to find love or get married, not after my recent break up. I stumbled into him because that’s how life works.

I slipped away to go to the bathroom, and on my way I paused by a window, one where I could see outside. A ways away, under a pine bough, Ryan kissed my sister, his fingers entwined in her hair. Happiness washed over me. I told Scott. Exhausted from dancing, we’d formed the chairs in a little circle and sat talking to old friends.

“I have some other news,” I whispered to him.

He quirked an eyebrow at me. In that moment, I realized he thought I was going to tell him I was pregnant. It may be in my cards for the future, but not today. “I got the job!” I whispered, all hot breath in his ear. “The one with Image!”

He pulled me into his arms, onto his lap, and kissed me. A few people gave drunken cheers, and we rewarded them with another kiss.

“Well, Mrs. Creed, what do you think?” he asked. A limo waited at our beck and call, ready to take us to the airport, and from there the Bombardier would fly us to Norfolk where the rental yacht waited.

“I think I’m still not taking your name, Mr. Creed.”

“Shall we head for our next adventure?” he asked.

“I think we shall.”

“Have you ever had sex in an airplane?” His breath was a hot whisper in my ear as we gathered ourselves to say goodnight.

I giggled. “Wedding night sex in an airplane? You know I haven’t.”

We said goodnight to our friends and made our way to the waiting car. The next adventure awaited indeed.

*** THE END ***

(BONUS BOOK #1)

CHANCE

(A Stepbrother Billionaire Romance)

By

Mia Carson

COPYRIGHT © 2016

All Rights Reserved

CHAPTER 1

Claire got out of the cab and looked in horror as Trent, her fiancé, held a woman in his arms and kissed her lovingly on the lips in front of his house. She wanted to run or close her eyes and pretend the man she had been dating since after high school, for three years, was not kissing another woman the day before their wedding. But even the darkness that would come if she closed her eyes was insufficient to rid her confused mind of the event unfolding in front of her.

He stroked the woman’s face and spoke soothingly to her; he was so engrossed in their conversation that he didn’t see Claire until she had seen too much. By the time he did see her, her cheeks were drenched with tears. She remained motionless as he ran towards her.

“Claire, this isn’t...”

She looked up at him, feeling like a zombie. She felt nothing, heard nothing, saw nothing except the woman who stood uncomfortably a few feet away from them.

“Look, I can explain,” he told her. But there was nothing he could say to make the situation right.

“I wanted to see you one last time before tomorrow,” she said as the tears poured down. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Claire,” he said softly, his eyes pleading with her. “I never meant for this...”

“You’re fucked up, Trent, and you know it. Just fucking leave me alone!” she said as she walked away.

“Claire!” he called after her, but she didn’t stop. “Let me at least give you a ride home.”

“Fuck off,” Claire said, just as she stumbled into an older man on the pavement, but he caught her as she did.

“You okay, ma’am?” the man asked. “Can I help you?”

“I just need a cab,” she sobbed. “Please just get me out of here.”

“This way,” he said as he led her to the yellow and black checkered cab around the corner.

She composed herself long enough to give him her address, but try as she might, she could not get the image of Trent kissing another woman in public out of her mind.

“We’re here,” the cabbie announced a few minutes later as he pulled up to her driveway.

She looked around as if scared. She rummaged in her bag in search of her wallet. “Hang on,” she said as she moved the items in her bag.

“It’s on me,” he told her. “Don’t worry about it.”

“What?” Her eyes looked dazed as if she were unaware of who she was or what she was doing there.

“The ride. No charge.” He smiled at her and reached for the lock on the door.

Her eyes were wild, almost as if she didn’t understand him. When it registered in her brain that he thought she needed the help, she said, “No, I have money...”

“I know,” he answered. “But this one is on me. And ma’am, any man who makes a woman cry isn’t worth her tears.”

Claire offered him a weak smile. “Thank you.”

“Hope your day gets better,” he said, returning the smile.

She staggered from the car towards the door of the house, dreading what her mother and best friend, Amy, would say when she announced the wedding was off. She opened the door, and as she closed it behind her and rested against it, she felt as if the weight of a thousand anchors had descended upon her. Her legs weakened and she collapsed to the floor, her back against the door.

“Claire?” she heard her mother, Willow. “Amy!”

“What is it, Mrs. Callahan?” Amy rushed from the kitchen. Amy and Claire had been best friends since middle school, and she had been helping with the final preparations for the next day. Claire had been there earlier, but she had snuck out to see Trent before the big event.

“Call Trent,” Willow said to Amy as she knelt next to Claire on the floor. “Are you okay, honey?”

“No!” Claire managed to say through tears. “Not him.”

“Why not?” Amy asked, her fingers already dialing Trent’s number.

“Don’t call him,” Claire said as she tried to move, but the weight in her mind was enough to keep her motionless.

Willow and Amy looked at Claire. “Why not? I think he should know that you’re sick,” Amy said.

“I’m not sick and there won’t be a wedding,” Claire responded. “It’s over.”

For a few seconds, no one said a word. Willow got on the floor with her daughter and tried to hug her. “It’s normal to get cold feet. We have talked about this. When I married your dad…”

“I don’t have cold feet, Mom,” Claire said to the woman as she got off the floor, pushing her mother away. “I just saw his cheating ass with another woman.”

“What do you mean you saw his cheating ass with another woman?” Amy asked.

But Claire had risen from the floor and was walking toward the kitchen. Willow got off the floor and followed her daughter. “Talk to us, Claire,” Willow said. “Please.”

Claire ignored them as she walked to the kitchen, but they followed closely. She walked to the fridge for a bottle of cold water and sat on a stool next to the kitchen island. She placed the water against her forehead and rested her hand on the countertop. Her mother and friend sat next to her patiently.

Claire tried to grip the edges of the island, but her fingers slipped and slid over the glassy surface. Her knuckles whitened as she stared at the countertop. In a release of rage, she slammed her palms down on it. The two women jumped when she did, and Willow tried to hold her once more. Claire gently pushed her away.

“I’m okay, Mom.”

“What happened?” her mom asked gently. “You don’t have to say anything right now if you don’t want to…”

“I wanted to surprise him one last time before the wedding,” Claire laughed amidst the tears that had started trickling again. “But there he was, his hands all over some woman.”

“Claire, I’m so sorry,” Amy said. “That’s messed up.”

Claire turned her head to look at her audience as if she just realized they were there.

“My poor baby,” her mom whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“The two of them have been an item for a long time. The way he looked at her, touched her, kissed her. I could tell this has been going on forever…” her voice cracked, and she started sobbing. “I can tell he’s been sleeping with her.”

“Come here,” Willow said as she put her arms around her daughter, and this time Claire didn’t resist. She led her to the living room and sat next to her on the sofa. Amy stood a few inches away.

“And he tried to tell me…” Claire started but her voice cracked again.

“Sweetheart. It’ll be okay,” Willow said as she pulled her into a hug. Claire’s shoulders rocked as she let out all her hurt and pain on her mother’s shoulder.

Eventually the shaking stopped. Claire rested her head against the velvet sofa. “Why would he do that?” she asked. “Why did he ask me to marry him if he knew he was in love with someone else? What if I hadn’t seen him this evening? Would he have left me at the altar tomorrow?”

“There is no easy answer to that, Claire,” Willow said as she smoothed her hair. “Sometimes people just do stupid things.”

“This was beyond stupid,” she said and got up. “And if anything, I was the fool!”

“No, don’t say that, Claire,” Willow said. “You know that’s not true.”

“Well, he’s the one having sex with some girl in his house, and I’m here crying over him. How does that not make me an idiot?”

“Claire, don’t be too hard on yourself,” Amy said. “You didn’t do anything—”

But Claire cut her off. “I need to be on my own for a while.”

“Yeah, sure,” Willow said quickly, and she and Amy watched Claire climb up the stairs that led to her bedroom.

Once Claire closed the door behind her, she stepped out on the little patio next to the sliding doors in her room. Usually the fresh air calmed her, and she closed her eyes, expecting the same results. When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing ahead of her, and when she closed them, she saw Trent standing in the passageway with her. She started crying again. She returned to her room as she tugged the clothes from her body and ran to the shower. She filled the bathtub with water, having every intention of letting the warmth of it soothe her sorrows. But it did little to quell the storm raging in her, and her tears were lost in the bath water. She finally got out of the tub, lay on her bed, and cried herself to sleep.

She woke hours later; a red light was flashing on her phone indicating she had new messages, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone tonight, or any night for that matter. It was probably Trent anyways, and she was never going to talk to him again.

CHAPTER 2

The wedding day came and went rather uneventfully. Thankfully, it had been a small wedding, so Claire didn’t have much to do except cancel the venue, the caterers, and the flowers, and that in itself had been nerve-wracking. In the days that followed, Claire stayed in her room, hardly paying attention to her mother and Amy. She knew they worried about her, but she was beyond caring. The way she felt, her life was as good as ended.

A few days later, Claire overheard her mom and Amy talking behind her door while she was locked in her room.

“This can’t go on,” Willow said to Amy. “She hardly eats; she looks a mess all the time, and I can’t get to her.”

“What about forcing her to open the door?” Amy asked.

“I’ve tried,” Willow said. “Her door is always locked and she doesn’t answer anyone. If anything happens to her in there, I wouldn’t even know it. I should break the damn door down.”

“Then let’s do it,” Amy said.

“Do what?” Willow asked, but before Claire could hear the response, she heard loud pounding on her door.

“Claire, if you don’t open this door I am going to break it down!” Amy yelled. “And you know I will!”

Claire reluctantly opened the door and Amy walked in. Without a word, she walked to the patio doors, pulled the curtains back, and let some sunlight in. “Okay, this has gone on long enough. I know you are hurting, but this isn’t doing you any good. Get up, take a shower, and let’s go somewhere fun.