Heart of the Billionaire Read online

  The six of us stood in the center of the room, glancing around with increasing confusion, when the sound of tribal drums filtered suddenly through the open window. James and Nick lit up at the same time, while Abby and I just stood there, hoping the frightening old lady had not decided to sacrifice us to the island gods once and for all.

  “What the hell is that?” Abby demanded as a curl of smoke drifted lazily inside, hanging in the air between us. “Some kind of Lord of the Flies reenactment? I hope she’s not looking for a virgin sacrifice, because she’s not gonna find that in this room!”

  “No, silly,” Nick said, then kissed her on the forehead. “It’s only a luau.”

  A luau?! My eyes lit up as I turned to look out the window, standing on my tiptoes to catch a glimpse of the excitement. Of all my island fantasies, a luau was near the top of the list, and I couldn’t believe one was happening right outside. “Did you tell her?” I asked James quietly as we headed for the door. “Did you do this?”

  He shook his head and raked his dark hair away from his eyes. The island air had put an extra spring in his step, and our day in the sun had bronzed his skin, giving him an unearthly sort of glow as we headed through a trail of tiki-torches to a clearing in the trees. “It wasn’t me. This was all Granny,” he said.

  A moment later, we rounded the corner, and I stopped in my tracks, my eyes widening as I took in the scene. It was everything I could have imagined and so much more. A wide swatch of land had been cleared away in the middle of a copse of palms, leaving nothing but a circle of silky grass, surrounded on all sides by brightly glowing torches. Garlands of fresh flowers were draped from the trees, and a life band, assumedly occupants of the guest quarters, serenated us with a festive, spirited tune. A roaring bonfire crackled away in the center, its flames dancing along with the beat as they licked up toward the sky. It seemed Granny’s entire staff was in on the surprise, because they were all there, garbed in perfectly accurate luau attire, their faces orange with the glow of the fire as they laughed and feasted and danced beneath the stars.

  “This is incredible,” I said, my eyes flying from one thing to the next. I was so utterly overwhelmed that I couldn’t exactly concentrate on one area or another. “We should do this every night.”

  James laughed and pulled me against his side, flashing a secret smile at Granny as she sauntered into view, looking like a queen with a crown of flowers on her head and a pack of rabid corgis running at her feet. The two locked eyes for a split second before she opened her arms wide and gestured for us to join the party in front of her, a silent invitation with a twinkling smile.

  As a pair of servers in grass skirts rushed past and draped colorful leis over our necks, I turned to James with a dazed smile. “Where do we even start? Food, drinks, or we could—”

  “Yes, milady, let’s dance.”

  He caught my hand and pulled me to the dancing area, spinning me into his chest as the music suddenly changed to a slower, more sensual tune. It was all I could do to stay on my feet in the sand. The air was warm and thick with the scent of flowers, and my head was light and spinning with rum. Not only that, but the flickering torch flames in James’s dark eyes made me want to tear off his clothes right then and there.

  “I will remember this forever,” I murmured, pressing my lips into his neck as waves of his hair fell down around us, blanketing me in that honeyed scent. “Thank you for letting us stay. I’ll never forget it, James, truly.”

  His lips tugged up in a sweet smile, and his fingers found their way around the small of my back. “This is just the start for us, Della. There is so much more to come.”

  My entire body just melted into him, and a blissful smile decorated my face as I closed my eyes. “Promise?”

  He pressed a tender kiss against the top of my head, while his arms tightened instinctively around me to cradle me possessively against his chest. “Cross my heart.”

  I watched Charlie laughing as Sherry fed him a bite of food. Charlie seemed like a funny, fun guy. He had the looks, the charm, and the charisma. I was sure he would be able to somehow get his inheritance.

  Abby and Nick looked like two people deeply in love. I watched how captivated he was by his wife. He loved her more than anything. They were laughing, kissing, and having the time of their lives.

  The next few hours flew by in a whoosh of firelight and rum. After the mouthwatering feast, Granny turned in for the night, but not before instructing, “You children carry on and have a good time now,” and we thanked her and assured her we would.

  We stepped forward one by one to kiss her goodnight. We were carefree, with no international spotlight blinding us or paparazzi nosing in on our conversation, splattering our private moments all over the gossip rags. There didn’t seem to be any mountain of insurmountable problems waiting for us back home. For once, we were truly free.

  The dancing grew dirtier as the music picked up the pace and the hour grew later. A tall man who doubled as a scuba instructor pulled a pair of bongos out of nowhere, and before long, there wasn’t a single person in the clearing who wasn’t leaping toward the stars, losing themselves to the beat.

  My hair hung in damp tendrils down my back as James wrapped his hands around my hips and pulled me into his body.

  “I love you,” he said with heartfelt emotion.

  I cupped his face and stared into his eyes. “I love you too.”

  We moved against each other slowly, seductively, lost in our own little paradise as the rest of the world continued on around us. His fingers slipped inside my dress, his forehead bowed to touch mine, and his lips pulled up with a little grin. “Do you want to get out of here?” he whispered.

  I didn’t even stop to think. From the second he first pulled me into that dance, my mind had been completely consumed with that same thought, and what I was thinking about all that time was not exactly something we could do in public, paparazzi or not. “Hell yes. Let’s go,” I said.

  We were off the next second, winding through the trees hand in hand as the noise from the party faded slowly into the darkness behind us. We tripped, stumbled, and fell, but every crooked footfall was punctuated with a burst of drunken laughter as we made our way gradually away from the compound and into the open wild.

  I didn’t care if James had a particular place in mind. I didn’t even care if we had put enough distance between ourselves and the party. Suddenly, I blurted, “C’mere,” unable to wait for even another microsecond.

  “What? Here?”

  For an answer, I yanked him backward, shoved him up against a tree, and sank to my knees, taking his pants with me. His lips parted in surprise, but before he could protest, I wrapped my hands firmly around the backs of his legs and took him roughly into my mouth. He released a sharp cry and held on to the tree for support as I moved faster and faster, punishing and teasing him with sporadic bites and little flicks of my tongue.

  “Fuck,” he panted, closing his eyes and moaning quietly. “Take off your clothes.”

  All in good time.

  Instead of doing as he commanded, I picked up my pace, releasing his legs so I could grip him with my hands as well. His fingers wound through my hair as his hips jutted gently toward me. The muscles in his stomach tensed, and his head fell back for him to stare at the star-speckled sky, all the velvety black cosmos bearing witness to his rapture.

  “Della...” He tried again to move, but I held him firm. “Please!”

  My teeth raked across his skin, and he cried out once more, fisting his hands in my hair and pulling me suddenly to my feet. His hand darted beneath my dress with perfect precision and ripped my panties right off, just as he had at the opera. The forest around us blurred into a single shadow as he spun around and smashed me against the same palm tree that so recently held him captive.

  My body lifted, my legs wrapped around his waist, and just a moment later, he was ramming roughly into me, loving me rougher than anyone ever had before, yet exquisitely at the same
time. It was almost too much, almost, but I cried out with no restraint as he slammed into me, pinning against that bark with thrusts so fiercely intense that made me lose all control. My eyes snapped shut as he picked up speed, and I buried my face in his neck, half to keep my balance and half to muffle the sound of my ever-loudening moans as he brought me closer and closer to the edge.

  “James,” I gasped, holding on to him for dear life, “I can’t—”

  A second later, he was right there with me. His legs gave out beneath him, and we tumbled to the forest floor, panting, gasping, and clutching one another as we lay atop the foliage and debris that clung to our sweaty bodies.

  It felt like forever before it was finally over, before the shockwaves subsided so I could breathe again. Without thinking, I rolled over on my side and slipped my hand into his. I kissed it once before hitching myself up onto an elbow so I could watch him.

  He looked like some sort of tropical god, fucked to within an inch of his life. His eyes were closed, his heart was pounding, and there were shredded bits of purple and pink flowers strewn throughout his dark hair. He felt me watching him and opened his eyes to stare up at the stars, then fixed his gaze on me. “What’s going on inside that pretty head?”

  I flushed with a smile, then sobered abruptly. “I’m thinking that I am going to hold you to that promise you made, Mr. Cross,” I said, staring deeply into his eyes. “Consider it an unbreakable contract.” Our fingers laced together, and I squeezed his hand. “Like you said, this is just the beginning for us.”

  His eyes softened tenderly as he brushed his lips across my knuckles with a fleeting kiss. “Yes, just the beginning.”

  Chapter 21

  THE NEXT MORNING, I awoke to the sound of a television. I squinted groggily in the early sunlight before my eyes rested on the back of James’s head. He was standing in front of the TV with the volume low, almost mute, his masculine body blocking most of the screen. I could still detect a British news channel, two economic panelists in some sort of argument about the future of Cross Enterprises.

  “Are you sure there’s nothing missing?” I asked.

  He turned around in surprise and flipped the TV off as he spun. “Sorry. Did I wake you?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Charlie left this morning. He said goodbye and you were sleeping. He said it was nice to meet you.”

  “It was nice to meet him too. I said my goodbyes last night. I hope he can find his fake wife.”

  “Me too. So you were watching TV?”

  “Yeah.”

  I cocked my head to the side with a knowing grin, not at all fooled by his casual stance and dismissal. “I was actually just about to watch a little television—”

  “And I was actually just about to get some breakfast.” He pulled me to my feet and kissed the tip of my nose. “Care to join me?”

  “Sure.” I dropped my robe and stood before him, completely naked. “Let me just get dressed first.”

  His mouth opened as he looked me up and down. A second later, he shook his head and pushed me down onto the mattress. “Breakfast is overrated.”

  I fended him off with both hands, shrieking with giggles until he finally relented and I was able to get to my feet. “Actually, I’m starving. Someone kept me up burning lots of calories late last night.”

  “And who was this scoundrel, milady?” James asked, his face darkening with false rage.

  I refused to answer and simply slipped into a sundress.

  As the two of us headed down the hall, he valiantly declared, “I’ll kick his ass!”

  A deep voice echoed between us, “Not talking about me, I hope.”

  The two of us whirled around, shocked to find the owner of that vaguely familiar voice standing there, with his hands deep in his pockets and a nervous look on his face, like that of a comedian whose set had failed to entertain. “Hey, James, Della,” Robert said, shifting uneasily on his feet, more self-conscious than I’d ever seen him. “I heard I missed a luau.”

  James clenched his jaw, trying very hard to keep himself in check. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Granny invited me, said it’s urgent.” Robert shifted again, then bowed his head in preemptive defeat. “I was already on my way anyway.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “I need to talk to you, James. I couldn’t find you in London, and you wouldn’t pick up your damn phone.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Only a billionaire would think to hop on a plane when he can’t get hold of someone by phone.

  “Well, now that you found me,” James said, lifting his chin in defiance, “what the hell do you want?”

  A tense silence rang out between them, and it might have gone on forever if Robert wasn’t brave enough to end it with five simple words: “I gave up the company.”

  Oh my gosh!

  Just like that, the ball bounced back to the other side of the court, but James was too shocked to register it. He just stared at his brother like he was a stranger, like he’d never seen him before, like there had to be some kind of mistake. “You what?!” he finally said, his accent stronger than ever before, to the point where he sounded almost identical to his twin. “I-I don’t understand.”

  Robert called in a woman. It was the blonde I saw him screwing on top of his desk that fateful day. She walked in and smiled, and it was then that I noticed she was pregnant.

  “This is my lovely wife, Harmony.”

  My eyes widened in disbelief. “Wife?”

  “Yes. You heart right. We eloped the other night in Vegas. She’s five months pregnant.”

  James’s jaw dropped. “You got married?”

  “I beat you to the punch! But kind of had too,” he joked, pointing to her round belly. “But no, really, I wanted to. I’m in love and we’re having twins.”

  We just all stared at him in shock.

  What the fuck?

  “It’s just,” Robert continued. “Well, Harmony wants me to move to Florida and work for her dad. He’s making me the president of Preston Technology Service Corporation. So it won’t be as demanding as CEO. And it’s something I think I could be good at. I’m a good businessman but I can’t handle the world on my shoulders. It’s why I sucked at running Dad’s company. I’ve finally come to realize that. And I never have to work past five pm. I can be there for my family. I can be a good president and a good dad. And also, it’s best if I start fresh somewhere else. I’ve slept with too many...um...it’s just best I start fresh. Harmony doesn’t want to deal with all my past affairs. It makes her feel uncomfortable.” He looked at James. “And I want us to be closer. I want my children to love and cherish you like Nick’s little girl does. I don’t want us to fight and hate each other. Because I think we were heading down a dark road.”

  “I always wanted us to be closer,” James said. “But we just kind of drifted apart as we grew up. And I was afraid this CEO thing was going to tear us apart forever.”

  “I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly. I pondered long and hard. Dad would not want me destroying his company, and that’s the path I was on.”

  “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”

  “I was running the company into the ground, James,” Robert confessed, his voice uncharacteristically soft and steady. Apparently, he’d reconciled with himself, and now he was seeking his brother’s forgiveness. “I don’t have the head for it, never have—not like Dad and not like...you. Not to be cliché, but it just isn’t my cup of tea,” he said, daring a wink at me.

  If James was stunned to hear that his twin brother had walked away from a multibillion-dollar company, he was completely blown away to hear Robert liken him to their father. His lips parted in absolute shock, and for a moment, he appeared to be sincerely touched. Then, just as quickly as they faltered, all those defenses shot right back up again, urging him to harshly accuse, “This must be some kind of joke, Robert. I can’t believe you would just—”

  “Wel
l, believe it,” Robert interrupted conversationally. “It’s already done. And I’m already packed to go to Florida. I’m leaving all the stress behind me, and I’m even getting a one-million-dollar sign on bonus. Listen, giving up the company would make Dad happy. He told me he wanted you to run Cross. I always knew that. Also. It’ll stop this insane fight between us. And I’ll have more time with my family. Because right now, I’m working 100 hours a week. And that has to stop.”

  James tried to process all the information. “Congratulations on the wedding. And congrats on the twins.”

  “I’m having boys,” he declared proudly.

  “That’s wonderful, so exciting!”

  He touched Harmony’s belly with his hand. “It is. We’re so happy.”

  “I settled his ass down,” Harmony said, flashing her two-carat diamond ring. “Bet you didn’t think I could make a family man out of him.”

  I watched with wide eyes as Robert flashed a sudden smile and plopped down onto one of the sofas by the fire. Harmony sat down to the left and he held her hand.

  He gently kissed her hand. “I did this all for you, darling. For you and our precious family.”

  “Baby, I love you more than anything.”

  “I’m leaving this island happier than ever.”

  “We’re going to have a great life together.”

  The man might have been at some kind of existential crossroads, but unless I was very much mistaken, there was something lighter about him, something happier, as if he’d cast off a burden and was, like his womb mate, finally free.

  James took a tentative step forward, then sat down beside him, still not fully believing him. “So what happens now??”

  “It’ll go to David or someone equally qualified.” Robert paused for a moment before lifting his head to look his brother right in the eyes. “It could, of course, go to you, the most qualified of all.”

  Those were the last words anybody said for a while.

  “I DON’T UNDERSTAND. You’re just going to leave, just like that?” I stood at the foot of the bed with my arms folded across my chest, watching James throw wads of stray clothes into a bag. “Can’t we at least talk about this? And what the hell makes you think Granny will let you go?”