A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2) (15 page)

“Yes, thank you,” she said, sheepishly as she
looked into his dark, sexy eyes. She could not believe just moments ago they
had been so intimate and done such naughty things with and to each other. Oh,
heavens! But she felt closeness to him more than before. She treasured the way
he made her feel.
 
No man in her
life had ever done that to her, not that she had a lot of experience to begin
with.

Lucas moved over to her and embraced her, wrapping
his strong arms around her before lowering his head to hers and pressing his
lips on hers again and oh how electricity pulsed through her blood like never
before. The man had a seductive touch that was indescribable! How lucky was she
to have Lucas in her life. But did she have him now?

“What’s on your mind, baby?” Lucas asked in a
low voice as if he could read her mind.

“Nothing. I just…I enjoy being with you,
Lucas.”

“I enjoy you, too, Maxine. In fact, I can’t get
enough of you. I want to be with you more than anything else right now.”

Maxine gushed. So where did this leave them?

Lucas and Maxine spent the rest of the evening talking
and away from the party crowd. He’d made her a wicked western omelet in the
kitchen of the cottage and they dined by the fireplace and sipped on sweet red
wine only to make love again later into the night.

She’d gotten to learn a lot more about Lucas
and his family and his hopes and dreams and the way he’d felt about her for a
long time. She cherished the moment. Not realizing how stupid she’d been not to
have seen
the signs before. He really liked her,
didn’t he? Since Lucy and Antonio’s wedding. And this wasn’t just about
flirting with the next pair of legs. He really had feelings for her. Maxine had
never gotten this kind of attention from a man before. Not even her ex gave her
this sort of love and devotion. Lord, she did not know what she was missing
this whole time.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Three months spun by and Maxine felt as if she
had everything under control for the first time in her life. Her new
receptionist and secretarial replacement from the temp agency was a fabulous,
hard-working older woman who really meshed well with Dream Weddings, Inc.

The new software had some minor teething
problems and glitches during the first month up and running but before long
Lucas’s team helped her set things back on track and business was running smoothly
and flowing well once again.

Lucy and Antonio’s baby was due any day so the
family was excited about the new addition to the Romero dynasty on the horizon.

Maxine was so grateful to Lucas for everything.
And since it was his birthday, she was all too glad to take him out for a special
dinner for once.
Just the two of them.

She discovered with the help of Lucy a renowned
plush restaurant in the entertainment district that was exclusive.

“Thank you, Maxine, but you didn’t have to do
this. I actually do enjoy your cooking.” Lucas grinned. He sat across the table
from her and had the most beautiful glow on his handsome features from the soy
candle in the cozy booth.

She scowled playfully at him. “Very funny,
Lucas.” He knew full well that she was no Martha Stewart in regards to cuisine.
Still, he appreciated her and often showed her stuff he’d learned with
preparing certain dishes. Imagine that! He loved her in spite of her
imperfections.

“Well, now what should we order?” Maxine picked
up the velvet-covered menu.

He looked lovingly into her eyes but did not
move. He just gazed intently.

When she opened the menu she was stunned that a
silk flower slid out. It looked remarkably similar to the one from the bouquet
she’d caught at Lucy’s wedding. Her heart pounded hard in her chest.

“But…what is this?” she asked and picked up the
flower. Lucas was grinning from ear to ear across the table from her. Did he
know? But how could he have known where she’d take him for his birthday?

“I don’t get it. Did you put this here? Why?”
Oh, right. She forgot that she mentioned it to him last week.

 
“Well,
you caught the bouquet at Antonio’s wedding and I caught the garter. So it was
only natural.”

A lump climbed in her throat. She didn’t think
she’d be able to breathe again. “What?” she whispered before picking up the
flower and taking a closer look. Her heart almost gave out. She reached into
the flower and pulled out the most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen in
her life.

She felt weak, dizzy with excitement. Stunned
beyond belief. Her eyes widened as she looked at Lucas with tears misting her
eyes.

Lucas got up from where he was seated and went
to Maxine's side of the table. He knelt on one knee. Maxine was about to faint.

“I never thought I would ever get married until
the day I met you, Maxine. You brought such an unbridled joy to my life that I
can never be the same without you with me. I love you. I honor you and I
treasure you. Maxine Summers, will you do me the honors of being my loving
wife?” he asked humbly.

Maxine was a river of tears but she was so
overcome with joy she just kept nodding. “Yes. Yes. Yes,” she said as she
reached over and hugged him and gave him the biggest squeeze and passionate
kiss to seal their love.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Maxine felt an unbridled joy she’d never known
before. She was on top of the world ever since her engagement to Lucas a week
ago. Lucy, of course, was over the moon thrilled for her. They were going to be
cousins by marriage. Imagine that!

She parked her car outside the office building
at Dream Weddings, Inc. getting ready for a busy day at work when
she was swarmed by reporters
. What were they doing there?

“Maxine. What do you think about being used by
your fiancé for a public relations gimmick?” one reporter called out.

“Maxine! Maxine! Any comment on the recording?
Did you see the video?” another shouted from the crowd.

Huh?
Video? Recording? What recording?

Maxine thought she was going to lose her mind.
What the hell was going on? Did she miss something on the news this morning?

She hurried into her office past the crowd. Her
cell phone was buzzing but she decided not to answer it. Her handbag swung from
her shoulder as she entered the lobby of the building. The doorman ushered her
inside and she paused panting.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” the young man asked her,
a look of concern on his face.

Maxine caught her breath. “I…I don’t know. I’ll
be fine. Thank you.” She was breathless but made her way up the elevator to her
floor.

“Maxine, the phone has been ringing off the
hook. Reporters. What’s going on?” the new receptionist called out to her as
she entered the reception area.

“I’m sorry, I…I don’t know.”

Once in her office, she closed the door and
slumped into her chair. Her heart was racing, pounding hard and fast in her
chest. What was going on?

Maxine looked at her smartphone and a text from
Lucas showed up on her home screen. “Will be there soon” was all it read.

She switched on the computer on her desk and
went to the Yahoo email home to see what was trending in the news. Her heart flip-flopped
in her chest.

ROMERO BAD BOY STAGES FAKE ENGAGEMENT IN WAKE
OF PATERNITY SCANDAL

The next trending topic:

MAXINE SUMMERS FAKE FIANCEE

And the topic following that:

MAXINE SUMMERS LUCAS ROMERO

Maxine wanted the ground to open up and swallow
her whole. She could not believe what her eyes were glaring at on the screen of
her computer.

Fake
fiancée? Fake wedding? Scandal? That sex scandal again?
She was sure her heart rate was beating five
times the limit and her blood pressure was probably through the roof. What was
Lucas going to do when he arrived? Explain everything away?

Was he really the father of that girl’s baby?
Was Maxine just a diversion?
A publicity stunt?

She reluctantly clicked on one of the links that
led to a YouTube channel. Her body went cold when she saw a video recording of
a boardroom meeting some time ago at the Romero Corp. When she listened to the
recording, sure enough, Toni Romero and Lucas were discussing his image and the
possibility of settling down or getting engaged to project the illusion of
stability. So that was why he asked Maxine to marry him? To reverse his bad boy
image all in the name of business? What a fool she’d been to believe in him.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lucas felt the heat of his blood boil inside
his vessels. He was face to face with Maxine at her office. “Do you really
think this was a publicity stunt? It’s obvious you don’t know me very well,
Maxine.”

 
“But
you and your grandfather were on the Internet discussing you settling down. How
can you deny that, Lucas?”

“I’m not denying anything, Maxine,” Lucas said,
his voice stern and cold. “I had a discussion with my grandfather, yes, but it
wasn’t anything to do with fixing a fake wedding to prove anything to anyone.”

Lucas was worked up. Maxine saw a muscle twitch
in his jaw. He pace with his hands shoved in his pockets. He paused and gave a
sigh. He then turned his attention back to Maxine. “I’ll be going away for a
while.”

“Where to?”

“Don’t concern yourself. I’ll be out of your
way.” With those words he left the office before Maxine could say anything
else. Her mind was numb. Her legs were weak. What just happened? Everything
felt wrong, so wrong. Did she just let the love of her life walk out of her
life—for good?

***

“I told you I had it covered, Lucas,” Zack assured
him later in the afternoon at the Romero Estate. “Our men have the dirt on this
woman and we’ll be able to make a public announcement soon.”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Lucas answered
back. The men were in the study along with Toni and their press secretary,
Pamela. “I really don’t care what they say.”

“You don’t mean that, Lucas. We’ll get this
cleared up.”

“Who the devil could have leaked that to the
media?”

“Apparently one of the undercover reporters had
sneaked on to the premises and pretended to be a temp. They had their cell
phone on the boardroom table recording the whole thing. It was by the basket of
flowers,” Pamela informed them with bitterness in her voice.

“It seems like we just can’t trust anyone,”
Zack shot back. “If we ever catch that person-”

“Don’t worry about that now, Zack. They’ll get
what’s coming to them. For now,” Toni returned his attention back to Lucas.
“Lucas, you are our main concern. You should never have taken it out on
Maxine.”

“Listen, if she doesn’t want to believe in me
after all we’ve been through, that’s fine with me.”

“You don’t mean that, do you?” Toni walked over
to his grandson and pressed his hand on his shoulder. Lucas had his hands in
his pockets, pain in his eyes. He looked like a broken man. Giving up on
everything.

Zack and Pamela excused themselves from the
study to give Toni and Lucas some privacy.

“I really love her, Granddad. I want her more
than anything in the world but how can I make her understand?”

“You don’t have to. I already do,” a breathless
voice interrupted the men from behind. When Lucas turned, he was stunned to see
Maxine standing at the doorway to the study. “I…I’m sorry to interrupt. I just
got here and Zack said you were in the study.” Maxine looked timid, anxiety
racked her body.

Lucas walked up to her immediately, a look of
concern on his face but she could see a mild sign of relief. “What made you
come?”

“Because I just realized what I was doing.
Lucas, sometimes people say stupid things in the heat of the moment. I thought
about the past few months we’d spent together and all you’ve done for me and
meant to me. How could I have discounted all those things? I really care about
you,” she said before pausing. “Besides, love means giving the one you care
about the benefit of a doubt, right?”

Lucas reached his arms around her waist, gazed
intently into her eyes and a wave of desire and longing slithered through her
being.

“I love you, Maxine. I would never do anything
to hurt you.”

“I…love you, too, Lucas. More than anything in
this world.”

She rose up to him on her tiptoes as he lowered
his head to hers and pressed her lips to his softness. They’d almost forgotten
Toni was still in the study with them.

“It’s okay. Please don’t stop on my behalf.”
Toni smirked as he walked out of the room. “Please carry on,” the old man said
as he grinned in approval.