The Billionaire's Masquerade (The Friendship Series) (19 page)

What was a woman supposed to say to a proposal like that? “Yes,” she sighed. Then she screamed as he lifted her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and started striding across the large wooden expanse of his great room. Laughing, her hair falling over her face, she held onto his back. “What are you doing?” she gasped out.

“I’m taking you to my bed. And I’m not letting you up until you can’t speak any longer and neither of us can move.”

She laughed even harder at that, thinking about all the beds the man actually owned. But she didn’t disagree with that plan. Not at all.

A long time later, Rachel sighed, stretching now-tender muscles and smiling when his arms tightened around her waist.

“What are you thinking about?” Emerson prompted.

She rolled over, looking up at him in the dim light of his stunning bedroom that looked out over the ocean with skylights that allowed her to see the twinkling stars above in the night sky. She had no idea what time it was, and she probably should be exhausted, but she was afraid to fall asleep. “I’m happy,” she replied finally. Her fingers dove into his dark hair and she smiled up at him. “You really do make me happy,” she whispered.

He bent down and gently kissed her lips. “Then I guess I finally succeeded,” he replied back.

Epilogue

[Rachel smiled as she listened to what sounded like a herd of wild animals coming down the stairs. It was only her children, but she still cringed at the noise.

“Brace yourself,” Molly groaned beside her.

Rachel chuckled but turned to see her two sons and two daughters stampede down the wooden stairs, all of them dressed with their hair at least brushed, although not necessarily well. “Jonas, button your shirt properly,” she told her oldest. “You’re ten years old so there’s no excuse for the buttons to be askew like that.” She surveyed her eight year old daughter. “Liza, did your father do your braids this morning?”

She plunked her bottom down at the breakfast bar and looked at both Molly and her mother as if her braids were perfect instead of one being several inches higher than the other. “Jonas helped me,” she replied proudly.

Both Rachel and Molly looked over at Jonas who was trying to smother a mischievous smile. “What?” he asked when they continued to glare at him.

Rachel stuffed the last peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the lunch bag then moved around so she could fix Liza’s braids. “Lilly, you can’t have ice cream for breakfast,” she called out, relieved when her six year old simply closed the freezer without an argument. Rachel still lost more arguments to that child than she won. Lilly had the most amazing logic. It wasn’t always accurate, but it made enough sense that Rachel allowed her to win. It was hard to argue about some things, especially when she was laughing too hard at the arguments that child came up with.

Molly picked the little girl up and plunked her down on one of the breakfast bar chairs, then pushed a bowl of freshly picked blueberries and organic yogurt in front of her.

Three year old Jefferson was still working his way down the stairs and Rachel moved over to pick up his sturdy little body, only groaning slightly at his weight. “What do you have in there?” she teased, poking his little belly. He wasn’t chubby at all. In fact, it was hard to give these children enough food sometimes. They were so active, rarely sat still and were the joy of her life.

Jefferson was giggling while Rachel nuzzled his neck playfully. A moment later, the boy was lifted out of her arms and held in the air, squealing as his much stronger, much taller father lifted him high into the air and gave him a tickling kiss on his tummy before plunking him onto one of the tall chairs as well.

Molly chuckled, shaking her head as she moved off to check on the children’s bedrooms. Rachel wouldn’t let her make their beds or clean their rooms, but she knew that Molly sometimes snuck upstairs and did it anyway.

While the four children watched with huge grins on their faces, Emerson Jackson swept Rachel into his arms and captured her attention simply by kissing her until she was clinging to him and breathless. “Good morning, my love,” he said with that low, rumbling voice that never failed to send excited tingles down her whole body. “You look lovely.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed away from him, but she couldn’t stop the grin. “I look a mess,” she contradicted.

Emerson watched with rapt attention as she walked to the steel fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk.

“Dad’s staring at your butt again, Mom,” Jonas called out.

Rachel swung around and, sure enough, Emerson’s eyes were caught!

He was unrepentant though and looked into her green eyes, winking with his silent message. Rachel bit her lip as she watched him grab his own bowl of blueberries.

“Can I have some milk, Mom?” Liza asked.

Rachel pulled her eyes away from Emerson, trying to pull her mind away from the enticing possibilities of Emerson’s silent promise. “Excuse me?” she asked, looking at Liza confused.

“Milk?” she prompted, lifting her empty glass. “Can I have some?”

Rachel looked down at the jug of milk she was hugging in her arms and jumped. “Oh! Yes!” she came forward in a hurry, pouring glasses of milk for all of them. “Sorry,” she said to Liza.

Liza shrugged and lifted her glass of milk towards her mouth. “We’re used to it,” she replied, shaking her head.

Emerson walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his strong body. “Could be worse,” he commented for only her ears.

She froze with the container of muffins in her hand. “I just wish they weren’t so observant,” she came back. “It’s a bit disconcerting.”

Emerson chuckled and let his thumb slide under her pretty, lemon colored sweater. “Just wait until after I drop them off at school,” he told her, his thumb rubbing against the soft skin under her sweater.

“Uh oh,” Jonas groaned, shaking his head. “Here we go again.”

Liza covered her mouth and giggled, Lilly stared at the two of them with confused attention and Jefferson continued to stuff yogurt covered blueberries into his mouth, unaware of the undercurrents but completely secure in the knowledge that his mother and father loved and were loved.

As far as he was concerned, everything was pretty wonderful.

Excerpt from The Tycoon’s Deceptive Chase

Brianna stepped out of the cab while smoothing the embarrassingly clingy fabric down over her hips. She balanced carefully, not used to the four inch heels that were already making her feet ache. She handed the cab driver some money, making sure to not bend over too far. The ridiculously expensive dress she’d bought for tonight’s mission didn’t have a great deal of fabric to the tush area, an uncomfortable circumstance, but necessary to capture her prey. “Thank you,” she said sweetly to the driver. “Have a good night.”

At least it wasn’t a cold night, she thought, trying desperately to find a silver lining to her crazy adventure. The late fall weather meant that the humidity had left the air but it was an abnormally warm autumn this year. Thankfully, the night air still hadn’t cooled down to the point where she’d need a coat. It was coming though. She could smell something in the air, could feel the warm front moving out of Washington, D.C. and wool coats would most likely be coming out very soon.

The cab driver looked into the soft, green eyes of the beautiful woman and hesitated. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked, not sure that this gentle lady was prepared for what went on inside this particular nightclub. He’d never been in there himself, but he’d heard rumors. It wasn’t open to the public and only the very elite knew of this place. It was where the wealthy of the world came to play and they partied hard inside the benign looking edifice.

Brianna warily looked up at the building, then back to the cab driver. Was she okay? She could honestly say she’d never been more frightened in her life. But fear was not going to deter her tonight. Turning back to the worried looking driver, she forced herself to smile brightly. “I’ll be fine,” she replied quickly, more to reassure herself than the cab driver. “But thank you for asking.”

With that, she turned around and took a deep breath, not sure what to do next. The building didn’t look like a decadent nightclub patronized by the decadently bored and wealthy. In fact, it looked like just a normal office complex, although it was very elegant looking.

“Coeur Tombe?” a tall, previously hidden man asked.

Brianna looked in the direction of the voice, startled to hear anything at all. The darkness seemed to be abnormally quiet tonight. “Yes,” she replied, relieved that she was in the right place after all. She’d been expecting a long line of people trying to get into the club, calling out to a heavily muscled bouncer, begging for entry. The streets were empty and she’d been wondering if she’d gotten her information wrong.

“This way,” the man said and opened the door, pressing a button that was basically hidden behind something on the cement wall of the building.

A moment later, a pair of doors opened up and a warmly lit elevator appeared. She stared at the interior for a long moment, her heart racing and her mind telling her to run down the street to the brightly lit diner at the corner where it was safe. Instead, Brianna stepped through the door and took a deep breath. Looking around, she noticed only one button instead of a series of buttons that would take her to the various floors of the building. The strangely silent man pressed that button and the doors closed. She was startled, not sure what the button might be for. It almost felt like he was signaling someone but that didn’t make sense. Who would he be signaling?

She found out a moment later when the elevator doors opened up again and she tentatively stepped through the next doorway. Instead of the peaceful, hesitant quiet of the night air outside, she found herself enveloped into a pulsating, throbbing darkness that was interspersed with flashing neon lights and a thick, blue and green mist rising from the floor somehow.

As soon as she took a few steps forward, the mist enveloped her legs, adding a sense of mystery to the eerie atmosphere. She looked down, astonished to discover that she couldn’t see her feet any longer.

So this was the fancy nightclub everyone was talking about, she thought as she stepped through the doors. There wasn’t a cover charge at the door like she was expecting. There wasn’t a big, beefy guard standing sentry. But there were probably hundreds of people, all glammed up and writhing on the dance floor, waitresses walking by with neon colored cocktails held high up in the air and a bar on each side with a well-lit backdrop, luring customers to the multiple bartenders where drinks were being served up with astonishing speed.%

Her eyes took it all in, her mind whirling at how insane the whole atmosphere seemed to be. She took several steps forward, wishing desperately that her best friends Nikki and Rachel were here with her now. It was always terrifying to be alone at a bar, but this was beyond frightening. This was….mind numbing. Nikki would look at all of this insanity and make some joke, Rachel would grab her hand and squeeze it gently to give Bri some encouragement and then the three of them would find a corner, grab some drinks and make up silly stories about the other patrons. When the three of them were together, Brianna always felt invincible and had since the first time they’d met back in elementary school. They were alike and yet so completely different from one another. Their personalities complimented each other while their fears, hopes and dreams connected them almost closer than sisters.

But Nikki and Rachel weren’t here, she told herself firmly and squared her shoulders, digging deep inside of her to find some strength. In fact, her friends didn’t even know she was doing this. She’d kept her mission to herself, afraid Nikki would try and talk her out of it or Rachel would demand to come along.

This wasn’t a girls’ night out. Tonight was all about work, about breaking out of her comfort zone. She had a job to do and she had a limited amount of time in which to accomplish her mission. She had to do this on her own. As a reporter, she had been floating along, content with covering weddings and garden parties or any other fluff piece her editor handed out. If she had any chance of breaking out of the wedding circuit and being considered a real reporter, she had to take risks. She had to get out of her comfort zone and find some breaking news, something that would stun the newspaper readership and her editor with the incredible impact of her report.

She was tired of the snarky little comments about her work from the other reporters in the newsroom, teasing her about how she wasn’t a real reporter. Her editor wouldn’t give her anything but fluff pieces no matter how much she begged for something more substantial. He repeatedly told her that she was good at the fluff and should stick to what she did well.

So if she could just get one story, one fabulous report that would show her editor, as well as everyone else, what she could do, she would never have to report on the billowing folds of a wedding gown or the tantalizing curve of a tulip again!

This was her chance. And she was here tonight to hunt down her prey - none other than the elusive, illustrious and disgustingly wealthy Rocco Antoniv who was currently in town. Brianna was determined to reveal the real man behind the charming, suave billionaire. She’d been at his press conference earlier this afternoon, gritting her teeth as she watched him answer questions, charm the more hard core reporters with his wit and jokes. Sure, he might be an astonishingly handsome man with black hair and that scary, dangerous Russian allure as well as that sexy accent that probably sent shivers down other women’s senses. Not hers though! She’d been immune to that charm and sex appeal and his accent didn’t do a thing for her!

Okay, she might be lying just a tad. That accent had caused some flutters in her stomach every time he’d answered a question but she’d just told herself it was indigestion.