WIFE WANTED (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (42 page)

Olivia walked up to us, and she didn’t look too happy. In the moment Nick and I shared, I had forgotten she was there.

“Will you look at that? Nick, forever a gentleman,” Olivia said, her voice filled with disdain.

“Hello,” I muttered to her. I didn’t really want to speak to her, but it would be just plain rude to walk by her, no, rather, be carried by her billionaire ex-boyfriend past her, and not say a word. Nick ignored her comment and continued to his private jet. David had noticed the dilemma and rushed from the car.

“May I help you, sir?” he asked, referring to helping him carry me.

“No, I can manage,” Nick said, frowning. Of course, he could manage. Mr. Rich had so many muscles I probably weighed nothing to him.

“Yes, sir,” David said as he moved to the side. “Should I get the luggage?”

“Yes. Thank you,” Nick answered. He had reached his jet, which was open and waiting for him. His pilot, a tall, lanky man, greeted him and asked him if he could help. Nick again rejected his offer but when he attempted to carry me up the stairs of the plane, it quickly dawned on him that it was dangerous, so he set me down.

“Can you walk?” he asked gently.

“I didn’t break anything. Of course I can walk.”

Nick still held my hand, supporting my weight. “Take it slow. One step at a time.”

I wanted to giggle at the ridiculousness of his behavior; he was treating me like a child. As I put weight on my foot, I realized he was right. “Ouch,” I gasped as I felt as sharp pain rip through my toe.

“Take it easy,” he said gently.

I nodded and took another step, more gently. It didn’t hurt as much. I took a couple more steps and soon I was in the plane.

“Nice.” The words escaped my mouth involuntarily, my hurting toe forgotten. Nice was actually an understatement for the sight before me – posh, cream leather reclining chairs, dark brown, soft carpet, cherry wood trimmings, marble, crystal, chandeliers, flat screen TVs – the jet looked like a five-star hotel lounge.

“Thanks,” Nick said. “Now let’s look at your toe. Sit here.” He led me to a couch and sat next to me. “Are you comfortable?” I nodded. “Good. Lay back and let me see your toe,” he said as he helped me lie back. He took off the sandal and placed my foot on his knee. “Doesn’t look too bad.”

“You’re kidding me, Nick.” Olivia had followed us into the plane. “Shouldn’t one of your chauffeurs take her home or to the hospital or wherever. What the fuck are you doing?”

“Taking care of my woman,” Nick told her, the look on his face serious. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Olivia didn’t immediately respond, but the look on her face said it all. She was so mad at Nick and at me, she would have punched us if she could have. I looked at Nick, the phrase ‘my woman’ swimming in my head. I was his woman!

“Well, good luck to you. And here’s a keepsake for you, you asshole!” she yelled as she yanked a necklace off her neck, threw it at Nick, and walked off the plane.

The necklace fell to the floor with a thud. It looked very much like the necklace Nick had given me. I had been right; he gave everyone the same exact necklace. Mine was not an exception. It was no more special than the one Olivia had tossed on the floor. I looked at him and then at the necklace. I should have done the same thing with the necklace he had given me days ago. I felt stupid sitting in his plane, my legs on his knee, a duplicate necklace he had given me flung to the floor by his bitchy ex. This was not good at all.

“I have to go,” I said abruptly. I tried to stand but fell back on the chair as pain tore through my toe.

“No, wait, Sara. I can explain.”

“No, Nick. I don’t think I’m ready for this. With the kiss from the ex and the necklace you gave me and insisted on me wearing a copy of your ex’s? What sort of game are you playing?”

“What? You’re jumping to conclusions, Sara.”

“I may be, but at least I’m not deceiving you,” I said as I scrambled to get up from the chair and finally succeeded.

“You need to hang on for one sec.”

“Nick. I’m not ready for all this. This is nice, the private jet, the dinner, and every other thing money can offer, but I don’t want to lose myself or my morals.”

“What are you talking about?” Nick asked hotly.

I was overstepping my boundaries. Nick Saunders was a powerful man, and I had to tread carefully. Besides, I was in the middle of nowhere, on his property, and he was in charge. I needed to keep that in mind. I stood next to him but without heels on, I reached his shoulders, if at all. I felt like a child in front of a bear.

“You really want to know? Do me a last favor, Nick, and pick up that necklace?” I dared. I bet he wouldn’t touch it, would call one of his servants who was probably within earshot to come and pick it up. But I needed to prove a point.

Without hesitation, he picked up the necklace Olivia had dropped on the floor and lay it on the table next to us. I hobbled over to my backpack and retrieved the goddamned jewelry box I had been carrying around for weeks. I pulled out the necklace and put it next to Olivia’s. They were identical.

“How do you explain this?” I asked. “You told me mine was unique, and yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have believed you, but I liked you enough to want more from you, from us.” I fought to stop the tears welling in my eyes. I hated crying, especially in front of a man. Certainly not in front of Nick. I couldn’t let him see how much I had grown to like him in the space of just a few days, and how much he could hurt me. After my ex, I had sworn that no other man would hurt me the way he had. But I was in the same place, being lied to and getting hurt again. Would I ever learn?

“Sit,” Nick commanded.

I sat without questioning, my tears and hurt quickly forgotten. I looked at him but couldn’t hold the intensity of his gaze. He was very upset. He pulled a magnifying glass out of a nearby drawer and gave it to me. I took it. I couldn’t afford to make him any more upset if I wanted to get out of there. He flipped both necklaces and pointed to an inscription on Olivia’s necklace. “Read.”

I placed the magnifier where his finger was resting and read the inscription. “Diamond Jewelries Gifts 2015.”

“Glad you can read,” he snapped, then pointed to an inscription on the one he had given me. “Read.”

I moved the magnifier to the inscription and read out aloud. “To Caroline, the woman of my dreams. 1935.”

For all the weeks I had possessed that necklace, I had not noticed that inscription. In my own defense, I would never have noticed the inscription without a magnifier, and he knew that. I looked at him, then at the necklaces again. They looked the same except the inscription. I realized after some thought that the one he had given me was a family heirloom, but that didn’t explain Olivia’s necklace.

“Is that all you can see?” he asked as he pointed to my necklace.

I placed the magnifier over the inscription again. “Susan. Cathy. Who are these women?” I asked, not sure what to think. More of his girlfriends?

“Caroline was my great-grandmother, Susan my grandmother, Cathy, my mom.”

“So?” I asked, still confused.

“So the men in our family traditionally pass on this family heirloom to the women they marry,” he said.

“So I’ve been holding on to your family treasure for weeks? What if I’d lost it?” My heart sank because my anger was unjustified.

“I knew you wouldn’t. I took a risk that it would eventually end up on your neck, but I might have acted too hastily. If you had lost it, it would have been my fault. When I first saw you, I knew we would end up together,” he said, his tone softening, his eyes watching me intensely.

I felt like the ground was slipping away from me. He wanted to marry me? Without even getting to know me? I looked at the necklaces again.

“So what’s with Olivia’s?” I asked, pointing at the necklace that was a perfect copy of his mother’s.

“Apparently, she knew our family tradition, and when she got it into her head that we would get married, she had a duplicate made. I guess it was her way of making people believe we were together. I couldn’t get her to take it off, and frankly I didn’t care what she did until today when she overstepped her boundaries.”

“So were you two ever engaged?” I asked.

“No. We dated briefly. She cheated on me, and we both moved on. I would never marry someone like her.”

His deep brown eyes told me he was telling the truth. I picked up the necklace. This did not make sense. A few minutes ago, we were just taking a trip together, nothing serious, but now he was proposing to me? Or not. I was totally confused.

“Is this really worth a million?” I asked.

He shook his head. “A little more.”

“How much more?” I asked.

“Try adding a couple of zeros at the end of the million,” he grinned.

I nodded as I handed him the necklace. We were standing so close to each other. I closed my eyes in anticipation of his lips, but to my disappointment, he simply touched my lips, causing me to open my eyes.

“Come with me,” he said as he led me to the couch. I wanted to kick myself for being so gullible. “Your toe,” he said. “How does it feel?”

I had forgotten my toe hurt, and the adrenaline rush from the past few minutes had certainly numbed the pain. “I’m fine.”

“Good, because I have to show you around the plane,” he said, getting up and holding my hands. “Come with me?”

I had also forgotten we were in a plane, scheduled to depart soon. As we passed the stairs, his pilot asked if he could get ready for departure.

“Yes, please,” he said without stopping. I hobbled up the stairs, one at a time until we were upstairs in a bedroom.

“Wow,” I said. The bedroom looked like a hotel room, a nice hotel room in a five-star hotel. “I didn’t know planes had bedrooms.”

“Well, where else am I going to show you how much I care about you?”

I swallowed hard at his implication, and butterflies circled my stomach. I needed a distraction. “What about Olivia?”

“She’s history. She knows never to come near you unless you want her to,” he said as we moved to the edge of the bed.

“Amy? Does she know where I am?” I asked.

“Yes, she knows you’re here with me, right now.” He had pulled so dangerously close to me, I could feel his heartbeat against mine. “Except we’ll let her guess what we’re doing.”

“And what are we doing?” I asked, grinning.

“Patience, my love,” he said. “Do you want to know where we’re going?”

“Yes, but I’m guessing you won’t tell me.”

“You’ll have to wait.”

“It’s not fair,” I said.

“Maybe not, but you made me wait for days for a first date. More like you made me trick you to get a date out of you,” he exclaimed.

“Did you expect me to jump into bed with you just because you came in for a cup of coffee?” I giggled.

“No, but I was hoping you’d be a lot nicer to me than you were. This is payback time,” he said as he pushed me onto the bed.

I could hear the engine of the plane roaring as the pilot prepared the plane for departure. Nick fell into bed with me, pinning me on it.

“We’re about to leave,” I said, trying to wiggle out from under him and giggling.

“Yes, I noticed,” he said as he held me down. His lips descended on mine.

I kissed him intensely, as if I was afraid he might disappear if I stopped. Soon the plane started moving and jerking us around.

“I think we need to strap in for departure,” he said as he pulled me up from the bed. We walked to a set of seats next to the bed, sat down, and buckled our seatbelts just as the pilot announced for everyone to take their seats and fasten their seatbelts.

I looked at Nick and could see a smile curving his face. This was unreal. How did we go from fighting in a coffee shop to feeling so in love in a short span of time? The thought of love made me pause and take a second look at him. I loved Nick. I had a lot to learn about him, but I loved him. I reached out to stroke his face and pulled him closer to me so I could plant another kiss on his face. He put my hands on his groin and let me touch him.

“That’s what you do to me,” he giggled as I squeezed his hard cock.

“Pity we’re strapped in these chairs. I could help you out,” I teased.

“Oh trust me, I’ll make you keep your word,” he said, kissing me again.

The plane started ascending and soon it was stable enough to remove our seatbelts.

“Now, what was that you promised me?” Nick asked as he pulled me out of my chair and we headed back to the bed.

“What do you want?” I asked innocently.

“More than anything in the whole world?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. He made me sit on the edge of the bed and pulled out the necklace. “You really do want me to have this necklace?”

“More than anything in the world,” he said as he got on one knee.

At first, I was confused by what he was doing; then it dawned on me that he was making a commitment to me.

“Sara, I’ve loved you since I met you in the coffee shop. Would you please be my woman?” he asked, holding the necklace in anticipation of placing it around my neck.