Crushed (Crystal Brook Billionaires) (63 page)

“Have sex!” Eryk yells.

I hang up and bounce off the grass, propelling myself back towards the kitchen and the man waiting there for me.

He’s standing in front of the table, setting a pan of some kind of casserole next to the salad bowl.

“Smells good,” I say. And it does. Really good. And just like that, I’m starving.

“Hopefully, it will be good. How is he?”

I enthusiastically nod my head, not meaning to look like a bobble head, but not being able to contain my joy over everything being so perfect. “He’s great.”

“Good.” His eyes lock on mine and he steps forward for another kiss. I let myself go loose in his arms, and he pushes his weight against me. The kiss grows deeper and I bump into a chair.

Chuckling, he breaks off. “We could forget about dinner.”

I pretend to pout. “I’m hungry.”

I’m ravenous, actually, and I try my best not to scarf down the whole dinner in two minutes. As we’re finishing up, Simon looks over at me.

“You write on Saturdays.”

I swallow a bite of carrot. “I do…”

“You told my father. That’s how I know.”

“Oh.” I nod.

“Screenplays.”

“Yep.”

“Did you today?”

I laugh. “Today was awfully full, so no. I actually took Brendan to the airport this morning.” I wait for his reaction. His lips purse slightly, but his face doesn’t give much away. “He didn’t have as much fun here as he thought he was going to.”

“With you?”

I run a hand across the top of my hair. “He was kind of hoping we might get back together.”

“Hm.” He stiffly nods his head.

“We’re not,” I say, my voice deep, serious.

He barks out a laugh. “I should hope not.”

I grin and tap my foot against his leg under the table.

“What are you writing now?” he asks as I take another bite.

The question takes me by surprise. I don’t usually talk about my projects, preferring to just keep them mostly to myself. “It’s… nothing special.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed.”

“I kind of am.” I study him. “Have you ever written anything?”

He guffaws, his eyes lighting up with the laugh. “Anything good? I don’t think so. Bad? Yes. Absolutely.”

I grin. “Then you have no right to tell me not to be embarrassed.”

“You have an eye for things I don’t have, as well as a sensitivity most people don’t.”

I blink heavily, staring back at him. “Wow. Thanks.”

“It’s a simple observation. I think anyone might be able to see it. You have the qualities of a great writer written all over you.”

I stare down at the table, aware of the flush creeping across my body. “What about Star Trek fanfic?” I ask. “Were you responsible for any of those in your fan boy days?”

He lifts a brow. “How do you know I’m not still writing them?”

“Wow. Finally, the enigma of Simon Mulroney begins to unravel.” I grin at him. “So that’s what you do behind that closed door all day.”

He runs his hand along the edge of the table. “There was a time when I wanted to make films.”

“Huh?” I say in honest confusion. “You do make films.”

He shakes his head. “Not the kind I want to.”

“The Dawn Companion,”
I say. “Isn’t that kind of like Star Trek? They both have a lot of unbelievable action in them.”

“That trilogy’s story line is shit.”

I snort. “It’s definitely not Tolstoy. Millions of people love it, though.”

“You know that doesn’t mean it’s actually good.”

“Of course I know that. So what
is
good? I mean, you’re the head of the studio. You can do what you want, right?”

“Not entirely. But to a certain degree, I can make executive decisions, just as long as what I decide to do makes money — or at the very least doesn’t
lose
money.”

I nod and smile. “Right.”

“Can I see what you’re working on?”

The smile falls off my face. “I don’t know.”

“Why?”

I wrinkle my nose. “It’s not close to finished yet.”

He folds his arms on the table and gazes at me. “What does it need?”

I give that some thought. “I don’t really know. I’ve been struggling with it for a while, and I can’t quite figure out what it’s missing. I’m kind of stuck.” I shake my head. “Maybe I should just give up on it.”

“No,” he quickly says, a strange ferociousness in the word. “Don’t quit. Let me see it. Maybe I can help.”

I suck in a sharp breath, still half uncertain. “All right,” I finally say. “I email it to myself whenever I make changes, so I could pull it up now from any computer.”

His eyes sparkle and he sits up straighter. “Let’s do it.”

A bit of nausea comes over me. “What about cleaning up?”

“I’ll just put them in the dishwasher and worry about the rest later. There’s a computer across the hall, in the study.”

“Okay.” Now I’m really starting to regret agreeing to this. Slowly, I stand up and edge across the hallway and in the direction he pointed me to.

The computer is at a long wooden desk. Simon’s library doesn’t have as many books as his father’s, but it’s cozier, with a love seat holding lots of throw pillows.

Hm… maybe if I call him in here and just start seducing him on that couch, he’ll forget all about the screenplay…

I boot the computer up, gnawing on my thumbnail while I wait. Sucking in a deep breath, I pull up my email and open the document holding the screenplay. The empty title page glares at me. I hardly ever show people my writing. Just the thought of doing so with Simon is a big deal.

Planting my palms against the desk, I push myself up.

Here we go.

He’s washing his hands at the kitchen sink. “It’s pulled up,” I say, standing self-consciously in the doorway.

“Great.”

“Are you going to read it now?”

He gives me a coy look. “Unless there’s something else you would rather do.”

I nervously tap the doorway. “Just go ahead and read it so we can get it over with.”

He playfully grabs my waist as he walks by. I turn and watch him go into the study, but can’t find it in myself to follow.

“I’ll be… doing something else,” I call to him.

I start to walk down the hallway, thinking maybe I’ll find the TV, but stop when headlights flash through the windows next to the front door. Curious, I edge towards the lights. The curtains are drawn in the study, so Simon doesn’t know someone’s here.

A Jeep pulls up and Dana gets out of the car, a folder in her hand. She walks across the small front patio illuminated by porch light. I freeze. Maybe I should go hide. Does Simon even want Dana knowing I’m here?

I indecisively hover for a second, and then, for some reason I can’t explain, go to the door. Opening it, I quickly step outside, making sure to firmly close the door behind me.

“Oh,” Dana says, her eyes wide. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

We look at each other for a second.

“Is this weird?” I ask, twisting my fingers in front of me.

She smirks and shifts from one foot to the next, tucking a pink strand of hair behind her ear. “Maybe. But not too much.” She looks over my shoulder. “Is… Mr. Mulroney inside?”

“Yeah. Should I get him?”

She licks her lips and looks down at what she’s holding, then thrusts it toward me. “You don’t have to. Can you just give him this?”

“What is it?” I ask, taking it.

“It’s my written two-week notice.”

The ground seems to shift beneath my feet. “Why?”

She cocks her head. “Probably not for the reason you think. It’s not his attitude. Actually… that’s been improving, although ever so slightly.”

I purse my lips together. “I’m sorry.”

She looks straight at me. “You’re making things better. You really are.” Her voice falls to a soft hush. “I think he’s falling in love with you.”

I duck my head, trying not to smile. “So what’s the reason?”

“You.”

I look back up at her, interest mixed with a large dose of dread.

“You left the office because it wasn’t what you wanted to be doing. You took that other job because it’s where your heart was. That’s really inspired me, Sydney.”

“Wow,” I whisper. “Really?”

She nods. “Yeah.”

“Where are you going?”

She takes a deep breath. “I got a job stage managing a play.”

I can feel how wide my eyes go. “
What?”

“I know,” she nods with a soft, embarrassed laugh. “I never even talk about plays. I guess… I was just so caught up in climbing the ranks at the studio that it started to feel like its own reward, you know? I forgot all about what I really wanted to do once I got out of school.”

“Dana, that’s so cool.”

She nods again. “Yeah, it is.”

“Wow,” I softly breathe. “I always got the impression you were right where you wanted to be.”

“I know,” she says, wrinkling her nose. “I was probably sub-consciously trying to give that impression.”

There’s a noise in the house and I glance over my shoulder.

“I’m gonna go,” she says, taking a step back. “Text me and we can hang out.”

“Okay,” I agree. “Bye.”

She hesitates. “I hope it works out for you guys. You’re good for him. Bye, Sydney.” She waves and then goes around to her Jeep, climbing inside and turning the headlights on. The car makes its way around the circle and disappears down the drive.

I clutch the envelope and head inside.

Simon’s voice comes from the study. “Was someone out there?”

“Yes, it was Dana.”

There’s the sound of a chair being pushed back and a second later, he comes through the doorway, a slight frown on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I bite my lip, not sure how he’s going to take Dana’s resignation. “Here.” I hand the envelope over. He takes it, studying the flap, but doesn’t open it.

“It’s her two-week notice.”

His head snaps up. “Did she say why?”

“She got a job working on a play… it’s what she wants to do.”

He cocks an eyebrow and doesn’t say anything, just fingers the envelope again.

I speak up. “Are you upset with her?”

His eyes shift up to the ceiling as he thinks about it. “No.” He looks back at me. “It’s hard to be mad about anything when my life is suddenly going so well.”

His words bring a hot flush all over my body. He must sense it because he steps forward and pulls me close to him.

His face drops down close to my neck, his lips grazing the top of my ear, and I think he’s going to kiss me. Instead, he speaks.

“Your screenplay isn’t even half done yet.”

Another flush comes over me, but it has nothing to do with his close proximity. “Yeah… I know.”

“You should finish it.”

I pull back just enough so I can look up at him. “You didn’t read all those pages just now, so there’s no way you can fully critique it.”

“I didn’t have to read all the pages.”

I roll my eyes. “Also, you don’t have to humor me. I’m going to have sex with you again whether or not you liked my writing. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not humoring you.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and turns me to squarely face him. “I’ve read enough scripts to know when there’s something there. It’s a great story, and I think it can become even better.”

I take in a breath, taking my time to weigh his words.

“Remember what I just told you at the table?” he asks. “Some people’s skills are just obvious. You can see it in the eloquent way they describe even the simplest things.”

I finally believe him, but still don’t know what to say. I spend so much time being self-conscious about my writing, the idea of people actually responding positively to it sometimes doesn’t seem like much more than a fantasy.

“If you finish it, we could make it,” he says.

Surely I’ve heard wrong. “What?”

He nods. “We can make it into a film. The script has to be finished, of course, but I could help you.” He starts talking fast, like he’s getting excited. “And if we need to, we can hire other writers to help flesh it out. The only thing missing so far is some romance, although I’m not entirely sold on the pacing. Unless the romance is coming in the second act. Is it?”

“I-uh, I planned on it.” My tongue feels so numb, I can’t believe I was able to say the words.

He looks closely at me. “I won’t do this if you don’t want me to. I wasn’t trying to intrude. It’s your story.”

I smile, and at first it’s forced, but then it turns into a genuine one of appreciation. I’ve never seen Simon so excited as he is right now, talking about making this film. There’s no way his enthusiasm can be anything but real.

“This is just taking me by surprise. I didn’t even expect you to like it.”

“I more than like it,” he says, his voice husky thick.

The low tones send little tremors through me, heating me up from the inside out. Simon edges closer to me, his face swooping in.

Our lips collide, the motion so perfect it seems we’ve rehearsed it a thousand times. We know the routine so well now that all we have to do is show up and trust the magic will happen.

Trust.

Finally, I trust. Finally, I believe that the best fantasy can become a reality, and Simon and I are living proof of that. And more than anything, I now see how every moment, especially the ones that made no sense at the time, have led to us being where we are.

Here. Together. In this moment, the next, and on and on…

The End

Bad Boys: A 16 Book Collection of Sexy Badasses, Broken Billionaires, and Hot Alphas

Behind the Scenes

Damaged: Crystal Brook Billionaires

The Billionaire Prisoner - The Complete Series

The Bluegrass Billionaire Trilogy

Wrecked: Crystal Brook Billionaires

Jessica Blake is the author of the hot alpha billionaire romance series, “The Billionaire Prisoner,” along with her friend Alice Ward. Since she was a young college girl reading and writing romance was what she loved the most and she enjoys entertaining her fans through her books. Living in Miami, she likes to sit by the pool with her laptop and write her next hot romance. However, when she is not reading or writing romance, she also enjoys being with her beautiful family.