Romance: One Night With A Billionaire

Romance:

One Night With A Billionaire

Amy McAdams

Romance: One Night With A Billionaire

Amy McAdams

Copyright © 2015

Published by Run Free Publishing

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. 

Other titles by bestselling author Amy McAdams:

Romance: One Fine Holiday

Romance: Returning Home

Romance: In Love with a Billionaire

One Night with a Billionaire

Amy McAdams

Chapter 1

Grrr….

The alarm blares in Bella's ear, waking her from her deep sleep.

"Why is it morning already?" she mumbled.

Bella sat up and took the alarm clock off the top of the bedside cabinet. Throwing it onto the floor, she lay back on the pillows and looked up at the ceiling.

She'd had another dream about her ex-boyfriend Gerard and that always threatened to ruin her day. But this time, as she lay looking at the cracks in the ceiling, she was determined to let it go.

“I have to let him go,” she whispered a mantra to herself over and over.

As she started to climb out of bed, she turned her attention to how far she had come in the last three months - one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three miles to be exact.

Since moving to New York City, she marveled every day about how daring she'd been. She'd always been so conservative and didn't like taking risks. As a child growing up in Oklahoma, she had point blank refused to even climb a tree, fearful that she would probably be the one who would fall and be crippled for life.

“I have to let that life go,” she repeated to herself.

The reason why she had arrived in New York City wasn't anything to marvel at. In fact, it made her feel sick to the stomach at the very thought of Gerard.

Sitting at her dressing table, Bella looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had seemed to have more luster since she arrived here. It also appeared to have grown at least an inch and her natural brown wavy locks now sat on her slender shoulders.

“Forget about him,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “Let the past go.”

She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't unattractive, that she was still desirable to the opposite sex and that one-day her fragile ego would be repaired and she could even possibly find love again.

She just had to figure out the quickest way to boost her self-confidence.

She read an article yesterday that suggested one-night stands were the quickest way to boost one’s self-confidence after a hard breakup.

But ironically, she didn’t feel she had the confidence to do it…

“A one-night stand…” Bella continued to stare at her reflection. “Maybe…”

Bella had always thought Gerard was the one.

He was everything she looked for in a guy and he'd literally knocked her off her feet when they had met at university. She had been dancing on the dance floor minding her own business at the Fresher's ball one minute; the next she'd been pushed so hard and with such bodily force it had felt like someone was practicing a mortal combat move.

They hadn't, of course.

It had just been Gerard very drunk after drinking too much punch that had been meant to be for the new arrivals. By the look of Gerard it had seemed that he'd practically drowned himself in it. 

He would have apologized no doubt but as well as being legless, his speech had completely disappeared and turned into a slur.

At least the next day, he had the decency to seek her out and had found her in the cafeteria where he apologized.

In the cold light of day, Gerard had been a lot better looking than Bella had remembered.

His jet black hair had flopped over his eyes that were a remarkable blue that were framed with Clark Kent style glasses.

He'd looked so suitably mortified and uncomfortable Bella couldn't help but accept this apology with good grace; she also couldn't ignore the steady thump that had started to beat in her chest as Gerard put down his tray and pulled out a chair.

Sitting down he'd grinned sheepishly at her, “I've always wanted to sweep a girl of her feet as opposed to literally knocking them off them.”

That one line had Bella well and truly sold - completely and utterly sold for six whole years. Six years of what she'd thought had been true love, a love nothing and nobody could destroy.

Standing up, Bella threw on her white bathrobe and padded across the apartment to the bathroom and began her morning routine - shower, teeth cleaned and a liberal amount of deodorant.

She'd actually comforted Gerard when he'd split up with her, and Bella recoiled at the very thought as she lathered her body in strawberry and pomegranate shower gel.

She'd held his hand as he'd sat in front of her, his eyes downcast, his lashes shimmering with what looked like the threat of tears, “It's just not working Bella. It's not you, it's me.”

He'd squeezed her hand tightly and the minute he delivered that cliché line Bella had felt a trickle of dread seep down her back before moving round and landing in her stomach. She might have been a virgin when she met Gerard and yes, she had a simplistic view of life, but she wasn't actually so simple that she didn't know what that line really meant.

“Have you met someone else?”

As Bella washed the soapy foam from her body, she remembered how totally shell shocked she had been at his admission that indeed there was someone else. He could have at least had the decency to lie to soften the blow.

Bella had started to wonder what the girl Gerard had met had that she didn't. In fact, it didn't matter anyway because once Gerard had confirmed he had met someone new, his mouth had revved up like a runaway train. He hadn't meant it to happen, but the chemistry between them had been allegedly catatonic.

Bella had never heard Gerard use words like that before and at the time she hadn't even been convinced that he'd even used it in the correct context. She'd googled the meaning after he'd left the house with a red cheek and a budding black eye after she'd socked him one in the face after she'd found out exactly who the other girl was.

Switching off the shower, Bella stepped out of the cubicle, wrapping herself in a pink fluffy bathrobe.

It had transpired that the girl who had left Gerard filled with lust had been Sophie, Bella's younger stepsister.

Sophie - with the stick thin figure, big tits, and an even bigger mouth.

She was four years younger than Bella and made her feel at least four stones heavier too.

So, Sophie and Gerard had been pulled together as they had ripped Bella's life apart.

For three days, Bella had holed herself up in her bedroom watching chick flicks, eating an inordinate amount of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and crying.

Crying so hard she'd felt like her eyeballs were going to explode.

Then the inner fight had kicked in.

Why should she allow Sophie and Gerard to ruin her life?

She was only twenty-five years old; the world was her proverbial oyster.

She'd rang Julia that evening, still crying but hoping that her trusted friend would be able to pick her up and offer her a solution.

At ten years her senior, Julia was knowledgeable of all things worldly and especially anything related to the opposite sex. Bella had figured that Julia would be able to boost her up and give her a contingency plan.

What Bella hadn't been banking on was Julia's offer.

“Stuff him and stuff her, they deserve each other,” Julia's voice had boomed. “Come and live with me. Get out of the back of beyond and move here, move to New York honey, it's time top kick start your life. Anyway, I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll pay for your flight; in fact I'm booking you a flight as we speak.”

As Bella cleaned her teeth, she couldn't help but smile.

Julia had been right to be so forceful because if she hadn't have been, then Bella would have avoided making the necessary changes to her life.

Three days later, Bella had arrived at the airport to a large welcoming hug from Julia and the promise of a new start.

Towel drying her hair, Bella heard the radio being switched on in the kitchen and Julia's voice, singing along completely out of tune to a Katy Perry song.

As she unlocked the bathroom door and made her way back to the bedroom, a whiff of waffles and freshly ground coffee infiltrated the air.

Bella knew she had done the right thing; New York City was now definitely her home.

“So I said to him - I am open minded but if you think for one minute I'm going to treat you like my child because that gets your rocks off you've got another thought coming,” Julia took her coat and hung it on the coat stand. She turned to Bella and smiled, “I don't know where I meet these men. I really don't.”

Bella knew exactly where Julia met these men.

She was a serial online dater and Bella also suspected that on the sly her friend was a nymphomaniac.

Petite with delicate elfin features, Julia looked much younger than her thirty-five years and was never short of admirers, Bella being one of them.

Bella admired Julia's thirst for life and the fireball of energy that she carried around inside.

“Right, let's get this show on the road,” Julia said like she did every morning when they arrived at the coffee shop she owned.

Within an hour of her uttering these words, The Lemon Tree coffee room was teeming with customers. 

It had once been described as the jewel in New York's crown by an acclaimed food and drink reviewer of the New York Times and their clientele was an eclectic mix, as vibrant as the interior décor that was a mixture of bright yellows, oranges, and dark blues, giving the coffee shop an almost Mediterranean feel.

The client range varied from the students from the local university who usually bought one latte between six of them and would stay huddled in the corner on the orange sofas for as long as they possibly could.

In comparison, high-flying businessmen and women who patted out their orders, their brusqueness as sharp as their suits and stiletto heels, also frequented the coffee shop.

“Choose one of them,” Julia quipped throughout the day. “Any of them. Just choose one.”

“I can’t do it,” Bella regretted telling Julia about the article suggesting one-night stands were good for the broken hearted.

“Yes, you can. You are an amazing woman, Bella. It’s time you started living an amazing life.”

It wasn't until mid-afternoon that things had started to slow down in coffee shop.

Just as Julia suggested they take a break and were both nursing a well-earned latte, the bell tinkled, heralding the arrival of another customer.

“Oh,” the words fell out of Bella’s mouth as she looked towards the door.

Julia whistled under her breath before whispering in Bella's ear, “Ten out of ten? A candidate for your new life, maybe?”

Bella couldn’t answer – her breath had vanished.