Forever Branded (Billionaire Love Series #1) (18 page)

“Yeah, you know Jedi. He’s making new friends and learning all about improvising and ad-libbing. He’s happy as a clam.”

I smiled, thinking about Jedi’s sweet smile. “Good. I’m glad he’s having a great time. I’m sure he’ll put on a few more plays when he gets back.”

“Probably. You know what his productions are like,” Emma agreed as she sliced the watermelon.

Jedi enjoyed directing any number of impromptu plays he came up with. Beware, lest he recruit you to get involved. Costumes, sets, and roles were always in need. We had all been sucked in by his can-do attitude at one time or another.

“Who else is coming tonight?” I asked as I opened a jar of pickles.

“Sam and Grace, along with their kids.”

“Yay! I haven’t seen them in a little while.”

“Yeah, it should be a fun evening.”

“What else do you want me to do?” I asked as I finished filling up the relish tray.

“Can you cut up some tomatoes for the salad?”

“Sure.”

In no time flat, we had everything ready for dinner just as Grace, Sam, and their kids arrived.

“Emma! Marla!” Grace cried as she rushed into the kitchen. “How are my two favorite ladies doing?” she asked, giving me a hug.

“Good. How are you?” I asked as I mixed up the salad.

“I’m feelin’ fine on this holiday night. Are we ready to have a good time?”

“Yes!” Emma and I said at the same time.

“I brought some hooch. Let’s get this party started!” she said, holding up a bottle of whiskey.

“The hard stuff? Bring it on,” I said suddenly feeling like cutting loose.

“Are you trying to get my wife drunk?” Micah asked as he came in through the French doors from the deck.

“Maybe,” Grace offered with a fun wink.

“Don’t be flirtin’ with my wife, Turner,” Sam Richardson said as he walked into the kitchen, teasing his former teammate.

“Hey, man! How’s it going?” Micah greeted Sam as they man hugged and slapped each other on the back.

“Good, man. Glad to be here,” Sam said, sporting a black eye from his latest game. It made him appear even more intimidating than usual with his square jaw and brawler’s nose. But it didn’t take long to realize that Sam was a total sweetheart under his tough exterior.

“Well, make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa,” Micah offered.

“All right. I most definitely will,” Sam supplied as he reached for a carrot on the relish tray. “Did someone say something about hooch?” he asked, turning to his wife.

“You know I did, honey. You’re the one who wanted to stop at the liquor store,” Grace admitted playfully.

He put his finger over his mouth as his dark eyes danced with mischief. “Shh... don’t tell anyone that.”

“You’re just looking to get me drunk,” she shot back good-naturedly.

“You know I like it when you drink and get frisky,” he said, smacking her on the bottom.

We all laughed as Micah got down some shot glasses and poured each of us a drink.

“Here’s to family and good friends!” Sam said as we held up our glasses.

“Hear, Hear!” we all chimed in, ready to celebrate.

“Let’s eat. The steaks are done,” Micah announced as he put down his shot glass.

“Good. I’m starving,” Sam said, munching on some chips.

We brought all the food outside and gathered around the wooden table, the warmth of summer curling around us as we sat on Micah and Emma’s back deck eating juicy steaks.

The conversation flowed freely, everyone comfortable and slightly tipsy.

“Did Micah ever tell you about the time he tried to cook for me at your cabin?” Emma asked Grace as we passed around the wine for another round.

“Now, Babygirl, you can’t be sharing all my secrets,” Micah playfully scolded.

“You were so cute when you saved those green beans off the counter. That’s when I knew we had a chance,” Emma admitted lovingly.

Micah stopped cutting his steak. “It was?”

“Yeah, you could have just let those beans fall to their death, but you dove across the floor to save them.”

“Ah, Babygirl... I love hearing that.” He kissed her tenderly as the rest of us looked on.

It almost made me cry. They were so sweet together and I suddenly wanted to honor that moment.

“I would like to propose a toast. To new beginnings and second chances,” I said, lifting my glass. “I am so glad to be spending this evening with all of you.”

“Hear, Hear!” Everyone clinked their glasses together with a round of smiles.

“A beautiful toast, Marla. Now are we ready for the night’s festivities?” Micah asked as we finished eating.

“Sure, what did you have in mind?” I asked.

“We’ve been invited by a friend of mine to go on his yacht and watch the fireworks.”

“What about the kids?” I asked.

“They will have a sitter who has plenty of sparklers to keep them busy,” Emma explained as she got up and started to clear the table.

“Yeah, that sounds super cool,” I said suddenly up for an adventure.

The six of us piled into a SUV Micah hired and headed toward the wharf. I didn’t think much about it, until we pulled up to the dock and there was a massive yacht waiting for us to board.

Warning bells went off in my head. “Wait, whose boat is this?” I asked as we got out of the car and walked toward the dock.

“Just a friend’s. Come on. It’s a beautiful night and you’re already here. Live a little,” Emma persuaded sweetly with a smile.

I ignored my gut check. “All right, let’s go have fun.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Beau:

“I just need your signature on a couple of requisitions,” Donna said as I sat at my desk, going over a bunch of plumbing bids for the Arsenal.

“Okay, give them here.” I was very much a hands-on owner. It was the only way to make sure things were done the right way. My way.

My cell phone rang as I reached for a pen. It was Micah Turner. I’d met him the year before when I bought the team. He’d retired, but we’d kept in touch, mostly so he could give me shit. I considered him a friend, one of the few I had.

When you have the kind of money I do, you have to be careful who you let your guard down with. But with Micah, it was easy. He was a little gruff, but a good guy and a helluva of a hockey player.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked as I answered.

“Glad you asked, Shepard. Emma and I are having a barbeque on the fourth. We thought you might like to join us. Marla is going to be there.”

My head snapped up from examining the papers in front of me as an idea occurred to me. “Aah...well, I already have dinner plans, but how about you bring everyone from your party to my yacht and we’ll watch the fireworks on the water.”

“You really want to do that?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

“Yeah, that would be cool. I’ll let Emma know,” he told me.

“Good. If Marla doesn’t want to come, I understand,” I offered fairly before I set my plan in motion.

He gave a short laugh. “Oh, she’ll be there. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Great. See you in a couple of days.”

The bait was set. Now all I had to do was arrange the eye candy I needed for my plan to work.

“Get every hot girl in a fifty mile radius on that boat for tomorrow night,” I told Dane, the intern who worked for me as he came into my office.

“The usual crowd?”

“Yep. Look at our party lists. Let the all the ladies know that Beau Shepard is throwing a Fourth of July bash.” I handed him a wad of cash. “Take this and call Elite Escorts. Get those professional girls on my yacht pronto. I wanted it stacked with girls.”

I was going to blast Marla with an epic party and make her endure the sexy action coming off my yacht.

This wasn’t her kind of scene. It never had been.

All the sweeter.

The Fourth of July evening got off to an awesome start. The water was calm with clear skies and everybody started coming aboard about eight o’clock. At first, it was just a trickle of women, but that all changed as the honeys began arriving by the truckload.

Soon, there were five hundred girls on the ship rocking bikinis and short skirts. Their flawless, toned bodies were the perfect backdrop to showing off the luxury of my yacht. My large, over the top, yacht.

I admit it was a status symbol.

One Marla couldn’t deny.

At about eight thirty, I glanced over the edge, waiting for Marla to show up. Sure enough, there she was in the parking lot, frowning as she studied my yacht. I smiled as I turned my attention back to my other guests, but I immediately knew when she came on board.

She looked good in those shorts.

Soft.

Feminine.

Curvy.

“Welcome aboard!” I called out, opening my arms in greeting after I stuck my cigar between my teeth.

Shannon, the tiger girl from the club, followed my cue as she joined me, in her tiny string bikini, her tits straining against the thin purple material, her ass holding high and tight. She clutched onto my arm, giggling like she was having a good time.

The group shifted uncomfortably as if they had just walked onto the set of
Temptation Island
. But I was only interested in Marla’s response. Her eyes darted around as if she was in shock. I thought she would at least try to hide her reaction, but her brown eyes were as big as saucers. This was going better than I expected.

I grinned through my clenched cigar, enjoying her distress.

“Hey, Shepard,” Micah said unevenly, shooting me an ‘Are-you-crazy?’ kind of look as he realized I had stacked the yacht with a bevy of beautiful, plastic women.

“How’s it going, man? Welcome!” I said as we shook hands.

“Thanks for having us,” Emma supplied graciously as she took her husband’s arm. “It looks like you have lots of friends on board.”

That was a nice way to put it.

“Yes, I do. Make yourself at home. There’s a pool and a hot tub if you care to take a dip.” I threw my arm around Shannon as I puffed on my cigar.

“Oh, I can’t wait to swim with you and get all wet,” Shannon cooed, flashing me a sexy smile.

“Anytime, babe,” I flirted back.

“This is quite the party, Beau,” Grace offered as she glanced at the dance floor, heavy with women sexily gyrating against each other.

“Yes, it is,” I said, taking my cigar out of my mouth. “Cigar, gentlemen?” I asked as my butler arrived with my humidor.

“Sure,” Sam said as he and Micah each grabbed a smoke out of the wooden box.

“What’s with all the girls?” Sam asked as he pointed toward a group of honeys grinding up on each other.

“Just some friends.”

“Na-uh, those aren’t friends.” Sam shook his head. “Definitely not friends.”

“Sam.” Grace shot him a be-quiet look as she tugged on his Hawaiian shirt.

I just grinned again. “I would like to invite everyone to go below and sample the gourmet dessert buffet prepared by my pastry chef,” I said as I pointed toward the winding staircase that led to the dining area.

“You have a pastry chef?” Marla asked in surprise.

“Yes, I have a whole culinary team,” I explained off-handedly.

What else was I going to do with my money?

“I wish I had a culinary team at my disposal,” she let out sarcastically, crossing her arms.

A tight smile appeared on my face as I ignored her comment. “I hope you enjoy your stay on
Sunshine’s Fool
. We’re going to cast off in a couple of minutes.”

“Come on, Beau. I want to dance,” Shannon pouted, rubbing up against me.

“Sure thing, babe,” I said, walking off, enjoying the look of horror on Marla’s face as I dropped that little bomb.

Marla:

Of course, this was Beau’s yacht.

Why didn’t I see that coming?

I should have stopped walking right there, turned around, and gone home.

But I didn’t, even as I expressed my misgivings. “I don’t know if I can do this, Emma,” I admitted as we climbed the gangplank.

“Of course you can. Just nod and smile. You don’t even have to talk to him.”

“I’m not sure it’s that simple,” I muttered through my teeth as we climbed aboard.

Holy crap.

The yacht was insane.

With three tiers of decadence, it resembled a mini cruise ship built for pleasure. It was at least the size of a football field; sleek, smooth and sexy with luxury oozing out of its fiberglass pores.

A lot of people were already on board, most of them women dressed in very little, primarily bikinis. Zedd’s “Are You Going to Stay the Night” blared out of the speakers, while white lights glittered above a dance area already crowded with women who were twerking for all they were worth. I half-expected a
Girls Gone Wild
crew to come out and start filming.