The Billionaire Bachelor (Billionaire Bad Boys Book 1) (11 page)

His throat went tight at the thought of sharing the space with a woman a second time.

He pulled his shoulders as he drove, mentally compartmentalizing the years he’d spent with Gwyneth. No matter what awaited him behind the front door, he wasn’t going to allow himself to be hurt all over again. Especially by old business. He was no longer the hopeful twenty-five-year-old who would get raked in by a purposeful pout. He was a grown man, his legacy within reach. The discomfort he felt at being here was nothing more than an inconvenience.

He pulled up to the gate and pressed his finger to the security touchpad. The iron bars swung outward, opening to the lush garden he hoped survived the cool spring. He’d hired landscapers to plant colorful flowers and clean the fountains and pool, and perform whatever other maintenance was required to get the house wedding-ready. Plenty more flowers were being trucked in for the big day that was in actuality a small affair, but his wedding planner was exuberant and he’d let her talk him into indulging.

“It’s your first marriage,” she’d told him, hearts mingling with dollar signs in her eyes. He’d thought of Merina and how this was her first marriage, too. Just because he wanted to get this over with was no reason to rob her of doing things right. More flowers were the least he could do.

He parked his car—a Porsche for driving around town—in the garage and walked a path to the front door, his stomach heavy.

The paved walkway to the door was one Gwyneth hated and had complained about often. She’d wanted white stone instead of gray. At the front door, he recalled the Christmas wreath she’d ordered that was so massive, it hid the doorknob.

The doorknob he grabbed now. His palm was damp. His heartbeat erratic.

It’s a house.

A gargantuan monstrosity he could barely find his way around in. A piece of real estate he’d purchased because he’d made a lot of money quickly and needed to move out of his father’s house. When Gwyneth left and Reese relocated to his suite in Crane Hotel, he still didn’t get rid of it.

One of his heroes was Howard Hughes, but it didn’t mean Reese had to follow him into lunacy. Papers wrote stories and were always looking for an angle. Sleeping in his suite looked as if he worked a lot of overtime, but living there without an actual home? He didn’t need reports that he’d lost his marbles or that he was weak.

He was not weak. This house was a symbol of his success, and it made good business sense to keep it. It also happened to be a place where he’d never really belonged.

He turned the knob just as it began to rain.

Rain pelted the windows of the formal dining room. Merina sat next to Reese, feeling tension radiate from him. He wore his usual dark suit and neutral expression, but his lips were slightly pursed and the skin around his eyes looked tight. She’d noticed it when he set foot in the foyer where she and Penelope stood chatting. At first she’d thought he must be upset about work, but when Penelope asked for a tour, he’d denied her with a curt “later,” then led them into the dining room.

Suspicious.

Then again, he didn’t live here. Was it that surprising he didn’t like his own house?

So many unanswered questions. All of which she stowed when Penelope announced, “Okay,” after tapping her phone in silence for a few minutes.

They’d started the meeting with glasses of wine, Reese’s half drunk, Pen’s untouched, Merina’s gone. Reese had requested the housekeeper, Magda, give them privacy, which was a shame. Merina could use a refill.

She’d expected his mansion to reflect Crane Hotels: white and black and glass. For the most part, she wasn’t wrong. Though instead of white, the interior consisted mostly of shining cream-colored floors and thick gold drapes, black furniture and modern-styled lighting. The dining room was considerably warmer with low-hanging shaded lights overhead and a centerpiece with live plants running the length of the black granite table.

Merina hadn’t hidden her surprise at the sheer size and beauty of Reese’s mansion. She’d lingered out front earlier, admiring her soon-to-be home. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to get to
live
here.

“I think we’re all set.” Penelope rubbed her hands together, a bright smile on her face. The excited gleam in her eyes was even more worrisome than when she’d railed on them back at Reese’s office the other day. “You two are on the accelerated plan, which I admit was an aggressive suggestion,” she said. “But in just a few dates you’ve pulled it off. I think after last week’s display at Posh, you’re going to have a lot of media interest in your wedding on Saturday.”

“That came really fast,” Merina murmured.

“Whirlwind romance, remember?” Reese said. He was awfully calm. Or something. Normally, he was buttoned up, but today his shoulders were practically under his ears. Whatever issues he’d walked in with hadn’t gone anywhere.

“It’s fast enough that tongues will be wagging, which is what you want. This needs to be big, a sensation on the gossip outlets. The more attention you get, the more speculation you’ll have, so be sure you’re always ‘on,’ no matter what.”

“Like our own reality television show,” Merina said.

“Exactly.” Pen looked pleased. Reese looked…weird. “We are not doing an announcement of engagement,” Pen continued, “but, Merina, you should begin wearing your engagement ring as soon as Reese presents it.” She looked to Reese. “Where are we with that?”

“Tomorrow.” He lifted his glass of white wine and took a hearty drink. It was possible he was as stressed as she was, and who could blame him? Suddenly everything felt really big.

Marriage.

Yikes.

“Perfect,” Pen said. “Merina, you’ll need to begin moving your things soon. After the wedding, there’ll be no more going home for any reason. Happily married couples spend all their time together. You two are infatuated. Remember that.” She pointed at Merina with the end of her pen.

“I’ll have Bobbie send movers to collect Merina’s things.” Reese’s nostrils flared and his eyes went past the dining room to the foyer, then around, before finally landing on her. “Just let her know what day.”

He radiated stress. It was palpable. Twice, her eyes had gone to his fist on the table, curled into a tight ball. She was tempted to put her hand over his. If they were by themselves, she may have, but in front of Penelope, she felt odd about the display. Odd about the entire thing.

“Merina needs to see the house. Is it later yet? I’d still love a tour,” Pen said.

“I’ll arrange it.” Reese stood abruptly and left the room, back rigid, phone to his ear. He mumbled a few things into it as he wandered into the foyer.

Before Merina could comment on his behavior—and how strange it was for the man of the house not to show his fiancée around—he poked his head back into the dining room.

“I have to get back to the office, but Tilly will show you the house.” He pulled back but leaned in again. “She’s the house manager. Penelope, good to see you. Merina.” With a dip of his chin, he left.

What? He was just…going?

“Don’t worry,” Penelope said. “I’ve been coordinating with the wedding planner. You have a fitting appointment for your dress tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll forward the other details via e-mail.” Penelope pushed a gold embossed business card Merina’s her direction announcing that Sash & Satin was expecting her at three o’clock. “Everything is being taken care of. All you have to do is show up.”

“I…have to work,” Merina said numbly. Reese was behaving more disconnected than before and she was expected to plan everything with Penelope and Bobbie. And what was she going to tell her parents? Suddenly everything was so real.
Too real.

“Well, honey, this is your big day, so you’re going to have to allow time to be a bride.”

Those words still echoed in Merina’s mind when she went to Sash & Satin the next afternoon. In the dressing room, she slipped into the wedding gown, a backless satin sheath with lace overlays. The straps were made up of fabric flowers skimming over her shoulders. She pulled her hair back, holding it at the nape of her neck and watched a shock of blond fall over one eye.

Then she lost strength in her legs and plunked into the puffy pink chair provided for brides-to-be as devastation washed over her like a rogue wave. Her first wedding. Her first wedding dress. But no one was here, not Lorelei, not her mother. Pen had made the instructions clear last night: until Reese gave Merina a ring (he promised it’d be today), Merina was under a gag order. Even with Lorelei, who Merina had to reveal knew the truth.

“We have to be careful,” Pen had warned when she and Merina strolled through the corridors and giant rooms of Reese’s house yesterday.

Merina’s eyes burned. She had the strong urge to sit in her wedding dress in this boutique and bawl her eyes out. Which was exactly why she gritted her teeth, stood, and smoothed her beautiful wedding gown with both hands. She tucked her hair behind her ears and swallowed the lump of emotion trying to take her down.

She had to remember why she was doing this. Because the hotel meant everything to her and her parents. This was a business arrangement. One she made because the Van Heusen was a landmark and deserved to be treated with respect.

A tap on the door came and a soft feminine voice called, “Ms. Van Heusen, how is it fitting?”

“Almost perfect.” Other than a small hem on the straps and at the skirt, the dress fit, hugging her curves, like it was made for her. “Maybe just a few alter—”

Her words halted as she opened the fitting room door and revealed Reese standing behind the petite woman who worked at the store. He was in a dark suit, but she didn’t have a chance to catalog what color tie he was wearing. She was too taken by his face.

He looked as sexy as he ever did, but it wasn’t his good looks that floored her. It was his expression.

Reese Crane was stunned.

I
t made sense in his head. Sash & Satin was on his way back from a meeting downtown. He figured why not? Now that he was looking at Merina, who was poured into a white dress—the same white dress she would be wearing as she walked down the aisle toward him—he felt woozy.

“You’re here.” Merina sounded as surprised as he felt. Not that he was surprised to be there, but he was surprised by his reaction to her. He knew he would marry this woman come Saturday, and he’d expected her to be in white. But now that he stood there with the wedding band in his pocket, in this room, he was having a hard time remembering that this was an on-paper agreement. He was going to be Merina’s husband.

He’d be responsible for her.

The way his father had been responsible for his mother. The way he’d worked to provide for her. The way he’d kissed her good-bye before going to work and pulled her into his lap on the couch whenever they watched television as a family.

Suddenly Reese was having a difficult time separating what his parents had from what he and Merina would have. The walls felt as if they were closing in.

No.

This wasn’t the beginning of a family. Of a life built together. He may share nuptials and a house with Merina, but theirs was a finite arrangement with a very specific end goal: getting him to CEO.

There. Thinking of what was to come outlined with bullet points took his blood pressure down some. Finally, he was able to peel his tongue from the roof of his mouth to speak.

“That’s a beautiful dress.”

“Mr. Crane.” A petite brunette entered the oversized dressing area and delivered a glass of sparkling water. “If you need to sit, there’s a bench right behind you. Many of our future grooms experience exactly what you are experiencing right now.”

“Excuse me?” He accepted the glass.

She pulled in a deep breath and pressed both palms to her chest. “To see your bride for the first time in the dress you’ll be marrying her in is quite something.” Then she swept away.

He looked at Merina, one eyebrow raised. Her expression echoed his: perplexed.

“I’ll just give you two a minute,” the attendant who had been helping Merina said. She left and closed the door behind her.

Predictably, the air in the room thickened the instant they were alone.

“I didn’t expect you to be here.” Merina knotted her hands together, looking nervous.

“Me neither. I was going to call you tonight, but I was close by. Pen told me about your appointment.” He glanced around the enormous room, at the various seats and racks of dresses and wraps, veils, and tiaras. A small side table stood by a chair and he put the glass of water down without taking a drink. “I’m surprised you’re here alone.” He’d figured Merina would be surrounded by an army of girlfriends, or at the very least her mother.

“Penelope Brand’s orders.” At that, he spotted something in Merina’s eyes he didn’t like one bit. Sadness. Again he thought about what his wedding planner said about this being a first wedding. Was Merina’s wedding day one she had dreamed of? Had he backed her into a corner and now she couldn’t escape?

Without thinking, he stepped closer to her. She lifted her face to his and the sadness deepened into hurt. He felt it like a punch to the kidney.

He was a fucking idiot. She was a strong woman but she was also a vulnerable woman. For years, his responsibility to the women he was with never extended past one night. He was out of practice for anything deeper.

What he wanted to ask her was if she was having second thoughts. But even if she was, he knew he wouldn’t give her an out. Crane Hotels was his legacy. He needed Merina.

So instead, he said, “The only thing you’re missing is the ring.”

He pulled the felt box from his pocket, the moment weirdly intimate and definitely backward, considering she was already in the dress. “I wasn’t sure what you liked…”

He swallowed past a lump in his throat and cracked the lid on the white gold ring with a princess-cut two-carat diamond.

Merina gasped, touching her chest with one hand, her mouth dropping open. “It’s…oh my God, Reese. It’s beautiful.”

Pride flooded his chest along with that same tight, hot feeling about being responsible for Merina through this ordeal.

“Glad you approve,” he said. “Matching wedding band will be at the ceremony.”

There was an awkward moment when she reached for the diamond ring at the same time he reached for her hand. “Oh, did you want to…?”

“Let me.”

“Okay.” She let out what sounded like a cautious laugh.

“This makes it official.” Reese plucked the ring from the satin, took her left hand, and slid the band home. “You were right,” he said. “Perfect size six.”

He released her hand and she smiled down at the ring. Her honey-blond hair was tucked behind her ears, her shapely figure accentuated by the dress, arms bare.

“Wow.” She turned toward the mirror to look at the dress again giving him a view of her smooth back. The line of her spine shadowed gently into the low cut of the dress where it then flared out, cupping her ass in a ridiculously sexy way.

He’d lost the strength in his knees once in his life—the moment he’d learned his mother died—but now that familiar weakness returned, threatening to drop him.

He locked his knees and remained steady. It was this room. It was sweltering.

It’s not the room.

She turned and his eyes dipped to the subtle
V
in the front, but it wasn’t enough to reveal the tattoo he’d gotten a tease of the day she came into his office. He had to know what it was. Either Merina would wear a top revealing the secret ink, or he’d get her out of her shirt and feed his curiosity.

At the idea, his dick throbbed.

Whoa, boy.

“You’re sure it’s not too much?” she asked, studying the ring he’d had rush-made for her hand.

“Billionaire,” he answered.

The joke hit its mark. She laughed and the sadness bled out of her expression. Another wave of pride crowded out the nervousness sharing his chest.

“Okay.” She lifted her shoulders and dropped them in adorable acceptance. “Fair enough.”

“That was it,” Merina told Lorelei, whose jaw was sitting on the bar. When she called her to tell her she was in possession of a two-carat engagement ring she’d been presented while wearing her wedding gown, Lorelei demanded they meet at O’Leary’s, an upscale pub where a girl could get a fancy drink and
not
be accosted by men. It was a good second choice when they weren’t in a Posh mood. “Nothing fancy. He just pulled out the velvet box and put it on.”

Lorelei was beaming. “What did he saaaaay?”

Merina had to laugh. Lore had been dragging details from her since she got here. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her, more it felt awkward being excited. While the engagement was real, the sentiment behind it was fake. “You know this is all for pretend, right?” She dropped a consoling hand on Lore’s arm.

“If you do not tell me how he proposed”—she stopped to drain her martini, then plucked a blue-cheese-stuffed olive from the glass and pointed at Merina with it—“I will never forgive you.”

“He said, ‘This makes it official.’”

“Oh.” Lorelei chewed thoughtfully.

What Merina didn’t tell her was when Reese said it, he’d been smiling one of his wry smiles, the gleam in his navy eyes suggesting he liked that they had a shared secret. And what she further didn’t tell Lorelei was that Merina liked having a shared secret too.

“Well. Six months ain’t all that long.” Lorelei polished off her olives and ordered another round—a pink drink for Merina and a martini for herself.

“The wedding is Saturday and you are officially coming. You and my parents. Bring a date.”

“Saturday?” Lorelei shook her head. “Oh, girl. I have to meet with a client…” She shook her head and then smiled. “You know what? She’s canceled on me twice already. I’ll be there.”

“Good. I’d love to see Malcolm again.” Merina grinned. She’d been teasing Lore by bringing up her ex-husband, but the moment she did, Lorelei gaped at her like a fish, then pressed her full lips together. “I knew it.” Merina wrapped her hand around her refilled drink. “I knew you two weren’t over each other.”

“It’s nothing! Just…exes with benefits. We’re not getting into anything like you are.” Lorelei waved a dismissive hand.

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

“Oh? And you know you won’t fall into bed with Reese Crane?”

Merina shushed her friend. Reporters could be anywhere. She doubted it, but one could never be too careful.

“Of course I will,” she said, batting her eyes in a way that let Lorelei know there was no alluding to the real truth of the situation while they were in public. “He’s my almost-husband.”

Lorelei caught on and took a careful glance around before winking.

“How do you know we haven’t already?” Merina asked, lifting her glass.

“Aw, hell no.” Lorelei propped both elbows on the bar and under her breath said, “We’re going to need a signal or something so I know when you’re being honest with me. I can’t take this did-you-or-didn’t-you stuff.”

Drink in hand, Merina looked over her shoulder and spotted a woman who was trying to pretend she wasn’t looking in their direction. Reporter or yet another of Reese’s past dates? Maybe both? Enjoying herself, Merina rested her chin in her left hand, angling the hunk of diamond so it sparkled in the overhead lights.

She wanted to see the woman’s reaction but didn’t want to be obvious. So instead, she just smiled and enjoyed the One Ring of Power sitting not-so-discreetly on her third finger.

“Tee many martoonis.” Merina giggled as she climbed out of the car a few hours later. Lorelei had picked Merina up, but after three and a half hours imbibing drinks at O’Leary’s, there was no way Lore trusted herself to drive. So, Uber it was.

“You? Me, girl. I’m a mess. Good night, future Mrs. Reese Crane!” Lorelei shouted from the backseat, then she pulled the door shut. Merina waved and stagger-stumbled up the five steps to her front door.

Soon to be her parents’ front door. Because she was moving to Lake Shore into a house big enough to hold her and her family and a few friends, and the entire cast of
Glee
.

She giggled at her own joke and popped open the door, only to be greeted by her dad.

Though “greeted” was the wrong term. Accosted might be a better one.

“Mer,” he said, his voice stony. His eyes went to her hand and he sucked in a breath and let it out. He sounded like a hibernating grizzly when he did that. The sound meant trouble and always sent a shiver down her spine.

She hiccupped. Right on cue.

“I need some water,” she said, her words running together.

“I’ll get it.” This the weary voice of her mother, who, like her dad, was in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt but also a hoodie.

“You didn’t have to wait up,” Merina said, and her enunciation hadn’t improved.

Her mother handed her a glass of tap water and Merina chugged.

“We received a call from cousin Patty,” Jolie said. “She directed me to a website where your love life has been openly broadcasted.”

Great
. Her mother’s first cousin was a gossip hound. She lived in Missouri and one would swear she was part of the FBI for all the details she excavated about each of her relatives.

“You and Reese were spotted at a bridal shop, and I told her there was no way…” Her mother’s words faded out.

Merina blinked, realizing she’d lifted her left hand—with a rock the size of the kitchen table on it—to smooth her hair.

This wasn’t the way she wanted her parents to find out.

Jolie moved from behind the counter and took Merina’s hand. A gasp sounded in her throat. Behind her, her father let out a sigh that sounded more like a grizzly bear that’d been punched in the nose.

“I wanted to tell you, but everything happened so fast.” Which was not exactly a lie. Things were moving at lightning speed.

“I don’t like it,” he said.

“Well, it’s not up to you.” Merina spun on him and his face mottled red. She thought of his heart and softened her tone. “I’m sorry. I’m”—she waved her hand as she tried to come up with an excuse for her behavior but couldn’t come up with anything but the truth—“drunk.”

“Were you drunk when you said yes?” her father asked.

“Dad!”

“Sweetheart, why wouldn’t you tell us how serious things were between the two of you?” Jolie asked.

“I couldn’t!” That was the truth, anyway. “I was worried you wouldn’t approve. Not that I need your approval, because we’re getting married on Saturday whether you approve or not.” Merina grasped the edge of the counter as the room swayed. She chugged down the rest of her water in greedy gulps before surrendering the glass to the sink.

“Saturday?” Her mother looked aghast.

“Yes. A private affair at his mansion. I only want you and Dad and Lorelei there.”

Jolie raced over and grasped Merina’s face. “I’d ask if you were pregnant, but surely you wouldn’t drink this much if you were.”

Merina put a palm over one of her mother’s hands. “I’m not pregnant. I”—she swallowed and told another lie, hoping to God she’d remember how to tell the truth once she was through with this charade. “We fell in love.”

The phrase came out as if said while her mouth was full of peanut butter, lilting at the end so it sounded more like a question.

“We didn’t expect it. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you.”

“But your dress…” Jolie didn’t continue but she didn’t have to. Her mother had wanted to be there when Merina tried on her wedding gown, of course she had.

“You were busy at work,” Merina mumbled, knowing it was a lame excuse. Then she said, “You’ll see it Saturday,” which was even lamer.

Jolie moved her hands out from under Merina’s, covered her own face, and burst into tears.

Sobriety never came so fast.

Her father curled an arm around her mom, shushing her, and sent Merina a glare. “This is the wrong time to do this. Better head to bed.” His glare had definitely not softened.