Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (26 page)

9

Sam’s pulse is beating so hard at her bare neck that she is
sure everyone in the ballroom can see it. The staccato trup-trup-trup must be
unmistakable. Why else is everyone looking at her? Why is everyone averting
their heads and stopping their conversations as soon as she and Brian Morton
enter through the double doors?

Worse yet, the memory and imprint of his kiss are still
fresh upon her lips. The taste of his mouth, the scent of his body against
hers. His warmth. His delicious erection pressing against her as he held her
close.

Oh, but he is remarkably beautiful. His torso is so lean
that she can see … and feel, from whatever she could briefly grope …
every muscle. His flesh is as hard as a rock. His eyes were swimming with
desire when he gazed upon her earlier, and when he kissed her –
French-kissed her passionately – she never wanted it to end. She wanted
to drown in him and hold him and do everything to him that a woman can possibly
do to a man.

And then he had to go and spoil it. Damn him!

She had been ready to forgive him. Forgive and forget the
entire middle school. He was right anyway. Why penalize a kid who probably
didn’t know what he was growing up to be? It wasn’t exactly as though he were
an axe murderer, though he came close.

But then the adult Brian Morton turned caustic and
sarcastic and her feelings towards him soured again. Feelings? Maybe that’s too
emotional a word. She doesn’t know what she feels for and towards Brian Morton,
other than she thinks he’s a conceited, arrogant prick who delights in
tormenting her.

And yet she can’t deny her attraction towards him. Just
look at him right now. In his dark suit and Hermes white silk scarf slung
around his neck, he’s the epitome of gorgeous male virility. He’s striking
enough to turn every head as he enters with aplomb.

Ah yes, maybe that’s the reason why everyone’s attention is
riveted to them. It’s him, not her.

This was the exact reason why she wanted him on her arm. To
make this splendid entrance. To show him off like a new Chanel tote. Look at
me. I’m not totally hopeless. I have a glamorous and gorgeous and fantastically
rich boyfriend.

Cassie and Caleb are already here. Their arms are linked as
they happily stride towards Brian and her.

“There you are,” Cassie says pointedly. She is wearing a
fabulous sequined little black dress, cut in the twenties’ fashion. “I’ve given
up all hope that you would make it down here.”

“We’re just being fashionably late,” Brian says.

Cassie takes Sam’s arm and whispers, “So … were you
torturing him up there?”

Sam flushes. “Not exactly.”

“Why? What happened?”

Sam does not reply, because the moment – the piece de
resistance – that she has been planning for is about to occur. Lori
flutters her way through the crowd – gaily, breezily, her shimmering
gauzy pink tulle dress floating around her in a cloud. She’s a prettier,
younger version of Sam, only that she has dyed her hair blonde.

“Sammie!” she screeches. “Oh, Sammie, you made it!”

Almost no thanks to your delayed afterthought of an
invitation, Sam thinks as her sister bamboozles her way to fling herself into
her arms. It is as though they are the most beloved of sisters. Siblings who
share their every thought on What’s App and who spend hours manicuring each
other’s nails. Instead of the truth. Since Sam went away to college, she only
saw Lori on family occasions and festivals. And during intervals, Lori never
texted her unless she wanted something.

Say, Sam, since you are away at college and all, you won’t
mind if I borrowed your purple V-neck sweater, would you?

Lori is a powder puff of pinkness and screeches and
perfume, and so Sam performs the dutiful but hasty display of sisterly
affection by hugging her at arm’s length (body slightly averted, bosoms not
touching).

Then Lori takes a couple of steps back. She appraises Brian.

“Wow, so you must be the new boyfriend.”

“I must be,” Brian says easily. He grabs Sam’s waist and
pulls her towards him. “Aren’t I, sweetheart?”

Sam tries to beam. Brian’s body pressed against hers is
very discomfiting. For all the wrong reasons. She can’t help flashing back to
his naked body, pressed against hers at a different angle – his tumescent
cock prodding her belly in a most alarming and yet enticing way.

Before she can blush any further, she says, “Lori, this is
Brian. Brian, Lori. You know Cassie. And this is Brian’s best friend, Caleb.”

Lori blows a few kisses. Then she turns her attention to
Brian again.

“So how did you two meet?”

Sam is ready for this.

Brian says, “Well, we – ”

They are interrupted by two more warm bodies.

“Samantha?”

“Mom.”

The former Mrs. Fox sails into the midst of the gathered
group, dazzling in a slinky blue number that could have been the pride at any
Oscar night party. Sam cringes. It’s amazing how much Lori is starting to
resemble their mother. Put thirty years on Lori, and she would be a spitting
physical and psychological image.

Adele Ratner (once Adele Fox, albeit briefly) air kisses
her older daughter. “You’re looking marvelous for once, darling.”

Brian’s mouth twitches at the subtle putdown. Sam boils
inwardly. If he’s going to make fun of her after this, she’s going to
emasculate his balls.

“And who is this very, very handsome young man?” Adele
gazes admiringly at Brian, who is grinning from ear to ear.

Brian snakes out a hand. “I’m Brian Morton, Sam’s boyfriend.
And I’m twenty-seven years old, which by all accounts from some present is
positively geriatric.”

“Oh, you are not old by my standards,” Adele gushes
flirtatiously, clasping Brian’s hand and holding it a tad too long. Sam and
Cassie exchange warning glances. “Boyfriend? Well, she never told us. Not a
whimper, not a text, and certainly not a Facebook relationship status
update.”

“I know. Isn’t that the wildest? Sammie is usually the
first to announce she’s in a relationship because of … you know … the
fact that she almost never is in one,” Lori says.

Gosh, you are a bitch!
Cassie mouths silently while
making a funny cross-eyed face.

Sam glares at her.
Shut up.

Still, she’s grateful that at least one person is on her
side.

“Mom, you remember Cassie. And this is Caleb, Brian’s best
friend.”

“Oh, are you two a couple? You look very cozy together.”

“Mom! They’ve just met, OK? And you shouldn’t be
matchmaking anyone or making assumptions about them.”

“Oh, go on with you.” Adele turns her attention back to
Brian. “So Brian, what do you do?”

Everyone around them is listening as well. You can cut the
anticipation in the room with a knife.

“I run my own advertising agency.”

“Morton?” Lori’s bejeweled ears prick up. “Say, you
wouldn’t happen to be related to the Mortons of Chicago, would you? The ones
who run seemingly everything?”

“Sadly, we have the misfortune to share the same
bloodlines. My uncle is the Chairman of Morton Enterprise Ltd. My father is his
asshole brother.”

Shocked gasps and titters all around. Sam hides her hands
behind her back to stop them from wringing in despair.

Adele says, “You shouldn’t say that about your own father,
Brian.”

“The truth hurts, but it’s necessary most of the time. In
fact, I should say … all the time.” Brian flashes another brilliant smile.

“So how did you two meet?”

Sam bunches her fists. “We met at the … ”

Brian cuts in, “We met at a dance club. Sam is an
incredible dancer and you should see her moving on the dance floor.”

Sam’s eyes bulge.

“I noticed her immediately. Cal, do you remember? We were
at the bar ordering our drinks, and you said to me, ‘Wow, you should look at her’.”

With his face straight, Caleb says, “Uh, yes. I said that.
I think.”

Cassie jabs his ribs.

Brian goes on, “She was incredible. Out of the entire dance
floor, she stood out like an angel. She was sexy, magnificent, perfect in every
way. She was wearing this really hot number. Bandeau top that reveals almost
everything – ”

“I was not!”

“ – and this flirty skirt that twirled when she spun.
And she was spinning all right, many times.”

Cassie says, the warning clear in her tone, “I thought you
met her at the gym, Brian.”

“Nah, it was at the club. I have a memory for these things.
So I elbowed my way through the crowd and danced with her. She was with this
dude with greasy hair and a T-shirt that says ‘FUCK ME GENTLY’.”

Another round of gasps. Sam feels like vanishing into a
hole in the ground.

She puts her hand on Brian’s back. “Now, darling, that’s
not how it happened … ”

That’s not what we rehearsed, you evil manipulative twat,
and you know it.

“So we danced all night. She was wearing this pair of red
shoes, and her feet seemed to have their own manic energy, you know, like they
were being possessed – ”

“Like in the fairytale,” Lori puts in. She claps her hands
in glee. “Oh wow, I never knew Sam could dance. She was always such a
klutz.”

Sam winces.

Brian says, “She can dance, take it from me, her boyfriend.
So I asked her out. And we found out … during our ridiculously romantic
date – ”

Sam holds her breath, closes her eyes and prays.

“ – that we went to the same school together. Would
you believe?”

“No!” Adele and Lori chorus. It’s amazing how alike they
sound.

OK, OK. He’s holding on to the script. Please let him
follow the script.

“She has never mentioned you once, has she, Lori? When she
was growing up?” Adele says, amazed.

“Nope, not once.”

“We didn’t really know each other in school,” Sam
interjects hastily.

“But you’re both twenty-seven. Surely you must have taken the
same classes,” Lori points out.

“Er, we sat at different ends of the class. And he was
always cutting class, so we rarely saw him.”

Brian looks amused. “It’s true. I was an awful kid –
never doing my homework, always in detention. I even got expelled twice.”

“Oh my goodness.” Adele’s hand flutters at her neck. “You
must have been quite a bad boy.”

“The worst. Anyway, I fell for Sam immediately. We became
inseparable. But don’t worry, Mrs. Fox, we’re practicing safe sex. Sam insists
upon it. ‘Can’t be too careful about getting pregnant before time,’ she always
says.”

“I didn’t know you even had sex,” Lori says to Sam,
deadpan.

Sam is blushing too hard to make a face at her sister.

“And here we are, happily together,” Brian finishes with a
flourish. “Never a quarrel or harsh word between us. It’s the perfect
relationship. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

He grabs her suddenly before she can protest and kisses her
full on the lips, right in front of everybody. It’s a head tilted backwards,
swooning kind of kiss. The type she always dreamed of having. Once again, he
takes her breath away. She almost forgets everyone around them. Almost loses
herself in him again.

“Oh my,” she hears her mother say.

When they part for air, her eyes are locked on Brian’s
face. He has such an interesting face. One she can study forever. Why has she
never noticed the little dimple in his chin?

“Oh well,” Lori cuts in, her voice shrill, “it’s time for
you to meet Lance.”

Sam finally notices the nervous young man standing beside
Lori. He must have been watching them kissing … and is that a look of mild
envy on his features?

They shake hands and exchange pleasantries all round. Then
Lori claps her hands.

“It’s time for the reception. Come on, everyone.”

*

Dinner is one protracted affair. Brian finds himself seated
in between Mr. and Mrs. Buchner, who quiz him on everything from business to
the planet Saturn. (“Are the rings around it really made of ice?”) Lori keeps
giving him glances from lowered eyelids and Lance Buchner turns out to have a
stutter.

Brian figures out that Lori is marrying Lance for his
money, since there is nothing remotely interesting about him. Or his stutter.
Either that or the sex has to be fantabulous.

He finds himself studying Sam now and again. She is really beautiful
when she laughs, and she does this often when Cassie and Caleb say something
funny. Her teeth – which he remembers in braces during middle school, and
which had been a constant source of amusement for him – are now perfect
and pearly white. Kudos to her orthodontist, whoever he is.

After dessert, the band strikes up a lively tune from the
sixties. It is clearly meant for ballroom dancing.

Lori taps her wine glass with a knife.

“Listen up, everyone. I would like to make a toast … to
my future parents-in-law, the Buchners.”

She’s totally sucking up to them, Brian thinks as he raises
his glass.

Lori gushes on with more pleasantries and superlatives that
she probably doesn’t mean, and then her face turns sly.

“And now, to lead off our dance for tonight, I would like
to invite my sister, Samantha, to the floor. I hear she is quite the dancer.”

Applause all round.

Adele beams. “Oh yes, she is. That’s my baby girl.”

Sam’s face is engaged in the very act of petrification. Her
eyes bulge as they shoot lasers at Brian. If looks could kill, he’d be blasted
off to deep space by now.

Lori claps her hands. “Oh come on, Sammie. We are waiting.”

There are cries of encouragement and shouts of ‘Hear,
hear!’

Lori starts up a chant, which is soon joined by everyone at
the table. “Sammie, Sammie, Sammie, Sammie.”

Brian has to stifle his laughter. Well, fuck yeah. He got
her into this. He supposes he owes her big time.