What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 (10 page)

Reese swallowed, seeming stunned. “Tony, I’m Reese Chaplin.”

“I know.” Well, he did
now
. He hadn’t known until she’d told him that Sutherland was her stepfather’s name.

“That doesn’t…ring any bells for you?” she asked.

Crap. Should it? Apparently, it should, judging by the look on her face. He racked his brain, but nothing came up. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Have we met before the club?” It was possible, he supposed. He met lots of people all the time at charity fundraisers and board meetings of new companies and social gatherings. But it was hard for him to imagine having met Reese and not being as affected as he had been the first time at her stepfather’s club.

She frowned slightly. “Actually, no. We’d never met before that night in Kyle’s club.” She looked over at the cab and then back to him. “We should go.”

Tony followed her to the cab, feeling relieved. Whether they had met or knew each other’s names before tonight didn’t matter. They were together now. They were
married
. Whatever had happened in the past was in the past. He was a new man.

“How many times did I propose before you said yes?” he asked as he helped Reese into the back of the cab.

“Three.”

“You know I’m not going to be able to repeat them word for word.”

“I can’t wait to hear what you come up with tonight,” Reese said. “We’ll see how close you get to what you said last night.”

Huh. Tony wondered if he was more romantic when he was drunk off his ass…or less.

Chapter Four

What had she really expected?

Reese was rolling her eyes and kicking herself at the same time. Her spontaneous trip to Vegas and drunken, impromptu wedding to her ex-fiancé’s best man hadn’t turned out well? Imagine that.

Tony joined her in the back of the cab and gave the driver an address she didn’t recognize. Of course, the night before he had done the same thing, but she hadn’t paid attention. She had been too distracted by the fact that he was running his hand up her leg and that she’d always had a back-of-a-cab fantasy.

But finding out she was married to Tony Steele had definitely distracted her.

Well, not that she was married to Tony Steele. She’d known that. But she
hadn’t
known that Tony Steele was also the CEO of T.S. Enterprises. She’d done her homework. Or she’d thought she had. The CEO’s name was…

“T.S. Enterprises’ CEO’s name is Anthony,” she said, turning to Tony.

He was already watching her. “Yes. Tony is short for Anthony.”

“But…” Dammit.

“Did you know the CEO’s last name was Steele?”

She nodded. She had. But there were other Steele’s in the world. Probably.

Okay, the truth was, she hadn’t known Tony’s last name for months after meeting him. She hadn’t needed to know it. And when she had dealt with T.S. Enterprises, she’d always thought of it as a company, not Anthony Steele. She hadn’t thought of him as a person until the day she’d met him…and he’d said no to everything she’d asked.

Except that she hadn’t met Anthony Steele.

“So my name doesn’t sound familiar to you at all?” she asked, feeling her heart begin to pound as the truth slowly sank in.

“Honey, I’ve known you for eight months. You’re name sounds as familiar as my own.”

Oh, he was smooth.

She put a hand up, stopping him from leaning in. “I mean from before we met at Kyle’s. Nothing about me associated with T.S. Enterprises rings a bell?”

He leaned back in his seat. “I take it that it should?”

“Well, we had a meeting. About two months before I started at Kyle’s.”

Tony frowned. “I would have remembered that Reese. I’m sure of it.”

“Maybe you would have. If you’d been there.”

“So we
didn’t
have a meeting,” Tony said.

“I met with someone claiming to be Anthony Steele, the CEO of T.S. Enterprises.”

Tony’s frown deepened. “You did.”

“I can’t believe you,” she exclaimed. “You don’t even take your own meetings!”

“I…I’m busy.” He didn’t even sound like
he
believed that.

“Busy with your poker games and women,” she said. She crossed her arms. Dammit. She’d been having fun.

She was so stupid.

“Look, Reese, I apologize for…”

She rolled her eyes as he trailed off. “You don’t even know what happened.”

“Tell me.”

She was tempted to just pout. And make him buy her presents. Except
that
wouldn’t make a point at all. He bought presents all the time. Crazy, expensive ones, she was sure. Tony Steele threw money around like he had a fricking money tree in his backyard.

And that suddenly pissed her off.

He threw his money around without a second thought, but he couldn’t even tear himself away from his playgrounds and games long enough to meet with someone who had a legitimate need for his money.

She pivoted on the seat and tucked one leg up underneath her.

Tony’s gaze immediately dropped to her thighs.

“Don’t even think about it,” she told him.

He sighed. As if he knew he was in trouble and as if it was nothing new.

“I work for a nonprofit group called Harmony & Home. Does that sound familiar to you at all?”

“I thought you worked for Kyle?”

“I’m a social worker. I work for a nonprofit organization that survives on donations and grants. I need a second job.”

Tony seemed to take that in slowly. “You came to me for money and I’m guessing you met with Will. I’m also guessing Will turned you down.”

“Who’s Will?”

“My right-hand man.”

“Will answers your phone calls, correspondence and requests?”

“Some of them.”

“I see.”

“You don’t approve,” Tony said, leaning against the door behind him.

“It doesn’t matter if I approve,” she said. Though she did not approve. Maybe if Tony was busy with business meetings and even business luncheons. But he was on a first-name basis with seventy percent of the city of Las Vegas.

“But that’s why you’re pissed. Because Will turned you down.”

“You never answered my question,” she said. Because of course she was pissed that Will had turned her down. “Have you heard of Harmony & Home?”

“I do give money to charity.”

“You write checks and give them to the big wigs who show up at the dinners and fundraisers you attend.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

The cab pulled up at their next stop. Reese recognized it from the night before.

“Are we getting out?” Tony asked.

She was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that.

“Are you kidding?” she asked.

“Keep driving,” Tony told the driver. He sounded put upon.

Poor baby.

Reese frowned. “Back to the Bellagio,” she called to the driver.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I can deal with that,” Tony said, relaxing slightly. “We’ll have some room service, some wine…”

“I want a divorce.”

He sighed again and didn’t seem surprised. “Because Will didn’t give you money?”

“Because we have nothing in common.”

“That’s not true.”

Now it was her turn to sigh. “It is, Tony. We have chemistry, but that’s not the same thing.”

He turned his attention out the window and she could see that his jaw was tight.

They made the rest of the drive in silence and walked in and rode the elevator to the suite without talking or touching.

Reese knew it was stupid to feel like she was losing him. It wasn’t like he had really been hers to start with. They’d been together for a total of twenty six hours, and even those hours had all just been one of Tony’s spontaneous risks. It was clear that money and women were expendable to him, and that he acted on instinct in the moment without giving any thought to his actions or their consequences.

That whole consequences-be-damned thing was way too familiar. Her brother lived by that same motto. The difference was that Tony had the money to cushion falling on his ass. Sebastian didn’t.

She and Tony were just way too different. The suite at the Bellagio was nothing compared to Tony’s house in Kansas City. Now that she knew who he was, she knew that the luxury surrounding him was not a weekend escape or a vacation. It was his norm.

How could she sleep,
live
, in that kind of extravagance and then go to work with people who had to worry about where every meal was coming from? And how could she look at herself in the mirror knowing that she had actually “married up” as her mother had always encouraged? Her mother had done it with Kyle. Yes, Reese believed her mother actually loved Kyle now, but she’d first been attracted because of his Rolls Royce. Reese’s sister was spending more time with her mother now than ever before because of her penchant for rich older men who dated younger. Brittney wasn’t interested in the marriage thing, but she was very interested in gifts and shopping trips.

But the truth remained that Reese was now married to a guy far above the social status she came from. And ironically, he wasn’t just rich—he was
rich
.

It was cliché to think that she could win Tony over, show him the good he could do, how he could use his money and power for the betterment of the world. Tony wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t blind. He knew there were people with less than he had. Hell, probably ninety-five percent of the world had less than he had.

He was a grown man. He made choices. He chose to play poker and lose cars and clubs and God knew what else. He chose to drink tequila and marry women he barely knew.

Yes, she sounded like a Pollyanna wishing that he would do something good with all of his money. That she could be the reason he changed. That she could save him and the world and everything.

Frankly, if there was anyone she should spend her time and energy saving, it wasn’t going to be Tony Steele. He was just fine. Perhaps not as well-rounded as he could be, but he wasn’t spending the night on the street or starving.

Tony let them into the suite, shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over the chair.

Reese faced him, hugging her arms against her stomach, her heart flipping in spite of everything when he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button on his shirt.

She was going to have to say goodbye to him.

Which, when she thought about it rationally, made sense. She should have said goodbye to him at the end of her wedding reception after marrying his best friend. But that’s not how things had turned out.

Still, she couldn’t say that she hadn’t had a great time with him, and given the chance, she would do it again. All of it.

She had needed an escape from her reality and he’d definitely given her that.

Her life and her beliefs and her pursuits were not his responsibility. He hadn’t asked for any of it, and it was unfair of her to put that on him, to judge him for not sharing the things she was passionate about.

“I’m sorry I—”

“I’ll pay you a million dollars a month to stay married to me.”

She gaped at him.

“Seriously,” he went on. “It’s a win-win. You need money, and I’ve got money. I want you to stay married to me. I’m willing to pay for the things I want.”

She was torn between laughing, crying and slapping him.

“You know what they call women who take money for those kinds of things.”

“I’m not paying you for sex,” he said. “We’ll only have sex when
you
ask me. Nicely, by the way. But I will pay you to stay married to me. Marriage is, after all, basically a legal arrangement. I pay for business arrangements all the time.”

She licked her lips, a million thoughts running through her mind all at once, struggling to make it to her mouth. Marriage was a legal arrangement? How romantic.

“So you’re buying a wife?”

“I’m paying you to live with me, eat dinner with me, be my companion, talk with me, attend social events, family events, holiday events, with me.”

“I still think that is borderline slimy.”

“Why? There are home health agencies that provide companionship for the elderly for a fee.”

She felt both eyebrows shoot up. “So I would be like a home health provider. This is interesting.” She tightened her arms against her stomach. “I suppose cooking and sponge baths are part of my duties?”

One corner of his mouth curled up and Reese narrowed her eyes.

“Of course not,” he said. “Have dinner with me every night and tell me about your day. Period.”

“That’s a lot of money for dinner and conversation.”