WIFE WANTED (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (11 page)

“What are you doing here, Ben?” the woman in black asked.

“Anna, I’d like you to meet my associates, Frank and Linda. We’re attending the function for our boss.” The real Ben shot him a look but didn’t say anything. If they could just keep it together for a few moments, he could sneak out and vanish. This was getting too dangerous too quickly. If the wrong person walked down the hall or saw him at all, the charade would be over, and he had a feeling Anna would disappear.

“Nice to meet you, Frank. Linda was telling me how horrid these things are. I guess your boss makes you three come instead so he can lounge about at home?”

Ben and Linda smirked at Riley as he faked a laugh. “Yeah, something like that. Are you here with someone then?” Riley asked.

Phoebe cringed a bit. “Yeah, I am, sadly. The guy from the other night? Giving him a second chance.” Her eyes darted around nervously, as if she was worried he’d appear beside them. Riley stood straighter at her words and tried to keep the smile on his face. So, she was here with a guy. A guy that, the last he had seen, was not making her very happy.

“Second chance, huh? Well, I hope he really deserves it.”

“Don’t you think everyone deserves a second chance?”

“Depends on what they’ve done. Last time I saw you with him, you were pretty upset and I was ready to kick his ass if he followed you out of that place,” Riley said. Why was he getting so worked up? He hardly even knew this woman. Maybe she liked men like that. In that case, she certainly was not his type.

“Maybe you just don’t understand the circumstances,” she said hotly, cheeks flushing in anger.

“Fine, then, maybe I don’t. Either way, I still don’t think you should be here with him.”

“I didn’t give you permission to dictate my life.”

“You didn’t,” he agreed.

“Good. Then maybe you shouldn’t.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before Ben cleared his throat. “So, you two known each other long?”

Riley saw Anna’s lips twitch before she started to laugh. He joined her, and they shook their heads. “No, we met last week—briefly, but it was still quite an adventure.”

“Never been rescued by a pirate before,” she added, pulling her cell from her purse. “I should really get back inside before he comes looking for me, not that anyone in there actually misses me.”

“Why don’t you just stay out here and hide a bit longer then?” Riley suggested.

She glanced around but they were alone. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Splendid. I’ll go and grab some beers and sneak right back.” Riley watched the real Ben disappear inside the ballroom as Linda and Anna returned to their bench down the hall. He followed, hoping her date wouldn’t decide to take a stroll any time soon.

“I really shouldn’t have worn these shoes,” Phoebe said as she pulled them off.

“Just walk around barefoot,” Linda told her. “No one will notice.”

“What do I do with the shoes?”

Linda leaned close and confided, “I always stash mine in the supply closet. Usually forget about them.”

Phoebe laughed as Riley rolled his eyes. “Why do you wear them in the first place?”

“They were a gift, actually. So was the dress.” She hunched her shoulders a bit, and Riley had a feeling she wasn’t used to getting such outlandish gifts. Had to be from her date. Who was this guy? She didn’t seem like the type who would go after someone for their money, so why hang around him? “But it’s all right, I’ll just carry them. Everyone here already knows I don’t belong.”

“Trust me,” Riley whispered, leaning in close, “that’s a good thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“He means that those people in there are utterly full of themselves,” Linda chimed in. “And what’s worse is they know it. They’re terrible, self-centered, arrogant, and the list goes on. You’re better off not hanging around them, ever.”

Phoebe laughed. “Is that why your boss makes you three come instead?”

Linda looked right at Riley and smiled. “Not sure. Maybe one day I’ll ask him, and he can explain it all to me.”

Riley nodded when Anna wasn’t looking. “I got your message by the way,” she said.

“Oh? And were you going to call me back?”

“Considered it, but now that you’re here, I guess I don’t have to.”

“So, are you going to make me wait all night before you give me your answer?”

Phoebe glanced sideways at Linda, who took that as her cue to leave. “I’ll be with Frank if you need me,” she said to Riley, then headed off down the hall. Riley took her spot on the bench, laying one arm on the back and turning so he faced Anna.

“So? Date or no date?”

She looked at him long and hard, a gentle smile playing on her lips. For a second, he thought she was going to say no, and he felt all his hope dashed…but then she leaned onto his arm behind her and said, “Sure, why not? I don’t have any plans.”

“Well then, it’s a date.” He reached out a hand and tucked one of the curls behind her ear. “Now, are you going to tell me why you called me pirate the other day?”

“You have to admit, you give off that flair. Black leather jacket, tattoos, stubble, and not to mention this,” she said, tugging at his earring. “Honestly, I thought you were going to pull out a cutlass at any second.”

Riley laughed. “Pretty sure I own one of those, too.”

He wasn’t sure how long they sat on that bench and talked about mundane things, but with Anna, it was anything but boring. He could tell she was holding back much of who she was, but then again, wasn’t he doing the same thing? It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but he had to be careful. This marriage-in-two-months issue was driving him nuts. That and the fact that she did, in fact, work within Yancey’s company somewhere. There were too many unknowns to reveal who he really was. Maybe soon, maybe in two months when he hit the deadline and needed a wife.

A buzzing interrupted his thoughts, but it wasn’t him. Anna glanced down at her clutch but didn’t reach for her phone. Instead, she stared at him, cheeks flushed from their laughing. The light was soft against her face and brought out the green in her eyes. He noticed a slight shimmer around the edges where it faded to grey. He’d never seen eyes like hers and started to lean forward with every intention of investigating further. Her breathing intensified and her chest moved, breasts brushing against him as he hesitated, only inches away. Her lips parted and he was about to lean in for a kiss when her phone buzzed again.

Her eyes fluttered, and she backed away slowly, the moment gone. “Sorry, I really should see who this is,” she said as she reached for her cell.

Riley wanted to take it out of her hands and throw it down the corridor, but she answered and her face fell. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

She was listening to whoever was on the other end, eyes widening and tears welling within their depths. All the color from her face started to drain, and she looked like she was about to slump over on the bench. Riley reached out an arm and gently held her upright until the call ended, and, with shaky hands, she tucked her cell back in her purse.

“I…I have to go,” she whispered and tried to stand, but her legs gave out.

“Easy, Anna, just sit for a second. What’s wrong?”

“It’s ah…that was the hospital,” she said as tears fell from her eyes. “My mother, she was moved to intensive care. I have to go fill out the paperwork. I need to leave.”

“Your mother’s in the hospital?”

She nodded, then stood. “I need to find my date so he can take me. But I’ll see you for our date, right?”

“Course,” he said, walking with her a bit. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

They reached the door to the ballroom, and she shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. Thank you for this evening, by the way. It would’ve been boring as hell if you hadn’t shown up.” She squeezed his hand, then hurried through the doors to find her date.

Riley went inside, too, just so he could see this mystery date of hers who deserved a second chance. He watched her dress disappear through the crowd; moments later, it appeared near the front entrance with a man at her side. Riley ground his teeth. “Mitch Harper? That asshole?”

“Did your lady take off on you again,
Ben?
” the real Ben teased as he and Linda came up beside him. “Wait, is she with who I think she is?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Riley muttered.

“She didn’t leave you for him?” Linda asked.

“No. Apparently, her mother is in the hospital, but she said she’d still see me Friday.”

Ben and Linda exchanged a glance, but Riley ignored it. Anna wouldn’t stand him up. He could tell by the look in her eyes how honest of a person she was, despite whatever she was hiding from him. Probably had to do with her mother. It was personal. And she’d still told him some of it. But at the same time, the suspicious businessman in him needed to know more about this woman, especially since he knew she worked for Yancey.

“Well, have we stayed long enough, boss?” Ben asked. “I’m sure you’d like to get out of here, too.”

“Let me talk to our board members before we leave, since I’ve been absent,” Riley said. “But you two can go ahead and leave since I always drag you here against your will,” he added with a wink. He headed over to talk to the men he really never trusted. His grandfather always said the board members were sheep who followed the market.
Never trust them in any capacity to do what’s best for the company.
All they cared about was lining their pockets.

And if Mitch Harper was here, that meant his board was planning on doing some new investing. He didn’t trust Harper’s company. They’d made some shady deals in the past, and his grandfather had always stayed away from them. So why the sudden turn to them now?

He told himself he would ask a few light questions and do some more investigating tomorrow. They greeted him with smiles and handshakes, six old men, all gone grey now. Riley knew they looked down on him in some respects. They thought he was too young to run a company as big as Cyber Vault, Inc., that his grandfather had been a fool to leave him in charge these past years. But Riley didn’t care what they thought. As long as the majority of the company stock was under his name, they couldn’t touch him.

Hence, the reason he had to keep Diane Chandler out of the picture.

Something was going on, and he really needed to figure it out before everything was pulled out from under him.

***

Charlotte was waiting for Phoebe when she rushed into the waiting room. “She’s upstairs. I can’t let you in to see her, though, but the Doc said I could take you to speak with him on how she’s doing,” she said as her friend tried to rush past.

“Why can’t I see her?”

“I mean, you can…just, you can’t be at her side. Come on, Phoebe, I’ll take you up.”

“Ok. Mitch? You can leave if you need to,” she said, turning back to her date.

But he sat down in a chair and grabbed a magazine. “Nope, I’ll be right here waiting for you. You’ll have to get home somehow, right? I’m just a few floors away if you need me.” He smiled gently, and she mouthed a thank you before letting Charlotte take her to the elevators.

“So, I take it your evening went all right? I didn’t get any panicked calls.”

“Yes, it went fine,” she said, “but I’ll have to catch you up on why later. Why are you already here, anyway?”

“Doc Chambers knows how close we are. He promised to keep me updated about what’s going on with your mom so I can be there for you,” she said as they entered the elevator and started up. “And I got called in about five minutes before they moved your mom.”

“Well, I’m really glad you’re here,” she said when the doors dinged open. “I don’t think I could handle this alone.”

Charlotte took her friend’s hand and held it the whole way to the ICU unit, where Phoebe could only look through a window at her mom. She was hooked up to all sorts of machines. It was the nightmare she’d always had. That her mother would slip away from her like this. Phoebe felt her legs start to give way under her, but Charlotte held her up and led her to a chair.

“I’ll get Doc Chambers. Just sit right there.”

Phoebe nodded and gripped her clutch, desperately trying to hold onto anything, needing a lifeline to pull her out of this mess. She knew what the doctor would say. Her mother needed that surgery, needed it soon. Phoebe had no choice now. She’d been backed into a corner, and her only option was to give up her life so her mother would have a shot at living a bit longer and maybe die with a little less pain.

That man downstairs, the man who hadn’t even really noticed she’d been absent from his side for half the night, that was the man she was going to have to marry.

But what about Ben
?

She shook her head. She did like Ben, but there was no way he was as rich as Mitch. No way could she ask him to put up money for this sort of thing. She knew what her heart was getting drawn into, but it wasn’t going to solve her problems. She needed a wealthy man who was willing to give her what she needed to make her mother better. Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out. It was from her pirate, a text:
Hope your mother is doing ok. If you need to talk later, I’m here. See you Friday night, and maybe I’ll bring my cutlass.