ROYAL BRIDE (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (40 page)

“Sleep is overrated. Besides, if you had a permanent woman, you wouldn’t be sleeping now, you’d be fucking her.”

“Oh my God, Zia, you’re so filthy. How do men ever date you with that mouth?” Nick asked with a smile. “You’re worse than me, and I know women find me vulgar sometimes.”

“You, vulgar? Maybe in bed, but you’re hardly the big bad wolf,” Zia said as she kissed her brother on the cheek and pushed past him. “Get over yourself.”

“Zia, you do know I’m a grown man, right? You may be the older one, but that doesn’t give you the right to barge into my house whenever you want.”

“Come on, bro, chill. It’s not like you have a woman upstairs. Or do you?” She looked past him, pretending to look for someone upstairs. “I don’t see anyone, so I guess you’re by yourself again.”

“Zia, you do know what privacy means, right? It’s something I deserve and something you have to work on giving me,” Nick said.

“Sure, I will. Right after I go over some paperwork with you. Why the soreness anyways?” She dropped her bag on a nearby table and sank into a couch. “Are you going to sit with me or what?”

“Well, can I put on some clothes first? As you can see, I’m half-naked,” Nick said, rubbing his eyes again and pointing to the fact that he didn’t have a shirt on.

“Eww. Please go put on a shirt. I don’t want to see all that,” Zia said. “You should go to the gym more often.”

“Are you jealous?” Nick grinned, trying to flex his muscles. “I guess your men don’t look this good.”

“You wish. Nick, you’ve got nothing on my men. Pity how those girls you hang out with don’t see you’re not all that. I guess money does talk.”

Nick smirked at her and flexed his muscles again. “You’re simply jealous.”

“Whatever. Please put on a shirt and stop acting like your God’s gift to women. I’ll be waiting down here. Make it fast. I have a date waiting for me.”

“In your dreams,” Nick said, giggling as he went back to his room to change into some day clothes. A few minutes later, he came down with some sweats and a tee-shirt on.

“Much better, bro,” she said. “Now, can we talk some business?”

“This early?” Nick said, frowning. “Can’t it wait until later?”

“Why would I be here this morning? Booty call?”

“Ewww, Zia. That’s so disgusting,” Nick said, wrinkling his nose.

“Exactly. It is disgusting. Can we focus on business? I have a date.”

“Sure, if you say so,” Nick teased. “I wonder who the unlucky man is.”

“Nick Saunders! You better watch your mouth. I can still whoop your ass, you know,” Zia said as she hit her brother playfully on the chest. “Can we please discuss the preservation and the ball?”

“She said please! The mighty Zia said please,” Nick grinned. “Sure.”

“Seriously, Nick. You’re full of it. But luckily for you, I have business on my mind,” Zia said as she pulled some papers from her bag and laid them on the table. The atmosphere turned from jovial to serious as Zia shuffled papers.

“I really wish we could maintain the preservation without this ball. It is stressful,” Nick said.

“Yes, it can be, but it’s a good way to get everyone who is someone to care about something bigger than themselves,” Zia said.

“Did you reach out to the state again? Maybe they might be interested in acquiring the property?” Nick said.

“I’ve already been in touch with everyone that matters, and the general consensus is that if the state gets the land, we might as well say bye bye to that land the way God intended it to be. The state will turn it into a mall.”

“Sad,” Nick said. “Well, a mall is not going to work. We might as well keep doing things the way we’ve done them for years.”

“That’s the plan,” she said as she pulled binders out of her bag, each binder color-coded. She was incredibly organized when it came to financial matters. Anything else just fell by the wayside for her. He chuckled as he imagined what kind of life she would have had as a homemaker thousands of years ago.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, not wishing to get into an argument with her. She always claimed that if she ever had to make a home, she’d be just fine.

“I think we can find ways of reducing expenses next year so we don’t have to depend so heavily on donors,” Zia said after a moment of silence. “I don’t know how much longer our donors will be this generous, especially if they have nothing to gain from it. At a point, we might need to reconsider our options.”

Nick didn’t say a word. He knew what she was referring to. They had discussed letting go of the preservation that had been part of the family for centuries. But Nick would never let that happen, and Zia knew his opinion of it but occasionally still pushed it. The preservation, which was a few thousand acres, was tucked away in the Shenandoah valleys of Virginia. It had been in their family for years, just like Saunders Empire had been a family legacy from his great-grandfather. A few years ago, the man they had trusted with managing the preservation embezzled the money they had entrusted in his care, and as such, they ran a risk of running down the preservation.

This was their third year raising funds by leveraging their contacts and marketing the fundraising as a way to preserve nature for generations to come. The people on his guest list usually had so much money to donate they didn’t even care to know where the preservation was located.

Now Sara was on his guest list, and he didn’t want to tell his sister that she might not be getting ten million from her.

In that instant, Nick felt bad. He hadn’t thought what inviting Sara meant to the preservation he cared so much to protect. The dinner was strictly for twenty people who always gave them at least ten million dollars. They didn’t always have the same guest list every year because they didn’t want people feeling bothered about donating, but each of them was responsible for inviting ten guests guaranteed to give a hefty donation.

When he had invited Sara, all he cared about was seeing her again and being in her company. He hadn’t given her ability to donate much thought. Sara was going to cost him ten million without knowing it. He didn’t mind paying her donation in secret, but if Zia found out, she’d eat him alive. Nick knew enough not to get on Zia’s bad side. She would bite his head off, even in public.

“Oh, I’m looking through your guest list, and I recognize most of the names, except this one.” Zia pointed to a name on the list.

He didn’t have to look to know who she meant, but he wanted to play it safe until she said something. “Who?”

“Sara Nolles?”

“Yes, Sara. She’ll be a good donor. I met her some time ago. I think she’s someone we want on our side.”

Zia looked at Nick in a way that told him she knew he was lying, but she didn’t press it. That was the other good thing about Zia; she knew when to back down and Nick loved her even more for that. Zia let the topic drop and moved on to the rest of her agenda.

After discussing a few more details about the ball –food, flowers, seating, agenda– things that Nick didn’t care much about, Zia announced she was ready to leave.

“Well, I’ll see you at the office tomorrow,” Nick said.

“Hopefully you’ll be able to concentrate better,” Zia said, winking at him.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked. “The fact that I don’t care what roses we use for decoration doesn’t mean I’m inattentive.”

“That has nothing to do with anything, Nick. I know you very well. I dare say maybe there’s a girl on your mind,” Zia said.

“Well, maybe you need to mind your business,” he said, smiling at her.

“You’re getting defensive. You always get this way when you’re after a girl you can’t have.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“You know exactly what I’m saying. Whatever girl you got on your mind is screwing with it. You barely heard half of what I said now. You need to fuck this girl and get over with it so I can plan this ball.”

“Zia!”

Zia had already risen and was heading to the door. Nick walked behind her again, letting his little sister take the lead as always.

SARA

The rest of the week dragged on, and Saturday couldn’t come fast enough. I went to work every day, hoping Mr. Rich would show up, but he never did, to my disappointment. Maybe I should have been nicer to him. He truly seemed to be a decent guy, even with his Rolex and limo.

In the evening after work, I played dress up, trying on my dress a million times. It was still as perfect as the first time I’d tried it on. My shoes fit perfectly even though they were a tad bit too high and sexy for me. And the diamond necklace looked fabulous with it. Sadly, I knew I couldn’t wear it. It was one thing accepting someone else’s invitation, but I could not accept someone else’s present. I would simply return the box to Mr. Saunders on Saturday and thank him for inviting me to the ball. And if the real Sara Nolles showed up, I’d slip away.

As the week slowly rolled by, my interest in Nick Saunders was piqued, and I picked up little titbits about him from Amy. I didn’t look him up online because I didn’t want to be intimidated. After all, he was only one of the richest and sexiest men on earth. I imagined he only dated skinny, sexy women, something I was proudly not. As the thought of dating crossed my mind, I blushed and admonished myself. We weren’t dating. We weren’t even friends. He didn’t know me. I didn’t know him. This was all just a miscommunication.

Finally, Friday night came, and as expected, Amy was ringing my doorbell as soon as I settled in with my Chinese takeout.

“Hi, Amy. The ball is not until tomorrow, you know,” I said as I opened the door before she could use her key. I knew Amy too well. She was probably too excited to wait for Saturday.

“Oh, but I want to sleep over so we can talk about all the things you can expect tomorrow.”

“Amy, it’s just a ball and I most likely will be kicked out before I even get in.”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” she said as she settled in comfortably next to me and picked up one of the paper takeaway bowls and scooped some of my fried rice into it. “How can you eat this crap?” she said as she took the first bite and almost spit it out.

“I love their food,” I said as I chewed on a piece of broccoli. I had ordered chicken and broccoli with fried rice for dinner.

“Enjoy,” she said as she went to the kitchen. Minutes later, she appeared with a sandwich.

“You know my kitchen better than I do,” I teased. “I had no idea I had the ingredients to make a sandwich.”

“You don’t,” Amy said dryly. “This is the most pathetic sandwich I’ve eaten in a while. No mayo, no ketchup. Do you ever go grocery shopping?”

“That’s what you’re here for.” I shrugged my shoulders, picked up the remote control, and started flipping through channels. Amy took it away from me and turned off the television.

“We need to talk about tomorrow,” Amy said, and without waiting for my response, she started talking about what she thought tomorrow would be like. I grunted my responses, mostly tuning her out because I was really tired of discussing it. The only reason I wanted to go to the ball was to see if I could speak briefly with Mr. Saunders about a chance to work for his company. If he met me face-to-face, he would see that I have enough experience to be an excellent addition to his staff. Amy was still talking when I dozed off.

When I woke the next morning, Amy was lying next to me, snoring softly. I had no idea how I got to my bed, but Amy must have gotten me into bed after I fell asleep on the couch. I smiled and covered her partially exposed body with the comforter.

Saturday was finally here, and I was gatecrashing a party. I quietly got out of bed so I didn't wake Amy. I needed some quiet before her yapping restarted. But I wasn't quiet enough; Amy woke up as soon as I moved from the bed.

"It's Saturday," she yawned. “Finally.”

"I know," I said, turning around to smile at her. Yes, it was Saturday and I was going to make a total fool of myself.

"Are you excited?"

"Sort of," I said. I was kind of excited to be going somewhere. The closest I'd come to a man since breaking up with Jim was Mr. Rich, and that didn’t qualify as an interaction. I’d hardly given him the time and energy. Now I was heading off to see a billionaire who was probably as cocky as Mr. Rich. At least Nick Saunders sounded more polished and seemed to know how to treat a woman.

“Sort of? You should be ecstatic,” Amy said, jumping out of bed.

I don’t know where she gets her energy, but Amy could be a fireball sometimes. I didn’t have the energy for her that morning. “I’m going to take a shower,” I announced as I slipped off to the bathroom. By the time I got out of the shower, Amy was cooking breakfast.

"You honestly, truly love cooking," I said as I towel-dried my hair. Amy was making miracles with the bare essentials I had.

"Not really, but we can't eat junk food all the time."

I smiled at Amy. Years ago, when we were roommates, Amy had always done the cooking while I did the eating. I still loved eating and would throw down a good meal any day, no questions asked. My curves needed to be fed.

"Besides, it's fun to cook for someone who actually likes food. Justin's so picky I barely make anything he likes."

"Justin is not human," I teased. Amy's longtime boyfriend was the only man I've ever met who ate the bare minimum to survive. To be fair to him, he had a whole host of food allergies, so the poor thing could hardly eat anything that didn't cause him to break out in hives or just plain get sick.

"Hey. Leave my boyfriend alone. At least I have one. All you have is that stuffed bear over there.”

I looked at Winky, my stuffed teddy bear, laying on the bed. I didn't see anything wrong with having a stuffed animal that reminded me of home. I may be an adult, but I still missed home occasionally, and Winky was my childhood teddy.

"Now you're starting a war," I said as I let my towel fall to the floor and pulled on a pair of sweats and a tee shirt. Amy glanced briefly at me as I dressed and continued cooking. It was funny how comfortable we were with each other's bodies, so much so that I had no problem undressing and dressing in front of her.