What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 (15 page)

“But they’re in the middle of—”

“I don’t care.”

“Okay.”

That was what he paid Will for—to say okay about what he wanted and to make it happen.

Tony met Reese’s eyes. He saw surprise, doubt and amusement, but there was a flicker of admiration and intrigue.

He’d take even a flicker.

“And,” he said as he remembered everything she’d told him. “I need to buy a bus.”

“A…bus?” Will repeated.

“Yes. A bus. But one that can handle wheelchairs.”

“Okay.”

Tony really liked Will.

Reese raised both eyebrows.

“I suppose we need to find a driver too,” Tony added. “The bus is going to run from the downtown area to the new rec center.”

“The rec center we built?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Okay was one of Tony’s favorite words.

He wanted to hear a lot more of it from Reese as a matter of fact.

“I’ll talk to you in a couple of days,” Tony told him.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Tony grinned. He didn’t know if Will actually meant that or not, but Tony liked hearing it.

“Wow,” Reese said as he disconnected.

“There. Problem solved.”

“Just like that.” She didn’t look especially impressed.

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

“You did that to keep me married to you?” she asked.

He thought about that. Had he wanted to make her happy? Yes. Had he done that specifically for that reason? Not entirely.

“Reese, the thing is, I have a lot of money.”

“Yes, that’s starting to sink in,” she said dryly.

“And I know there are people who need money. I just don’t always know who they are.”

“And it’s just as easy as asking you? You’ll hand cash over to anyone?”

“Maybe not just anyone,” he said. “But I’m happy to give to a good cause. And I think that’s true of many. Yes, the distribution of wealth is uneven in this country. But that doesn’t mean the people who need stuff can’t get it.”

Reese seemed to be pondering that. Then she nodded. “When you say it like that, it seems perfectly logical.”

He moved in closer to her and lifted his hand to slide his fingers through her hair. “I think we could be a really good combination,” he said. “I’ve got money and you know where it’s needed.”

“You think guilt will work?” she asked. “You say, think of all the people I could help, and that will keep me in your bed?”

“I think appealing to your sweet, giving nature will help you to see me and my money in a new light,” he said.

She laughed. “That was a nice deflection.”

He gave her a grin. “I’ve sat around conference tables with some of the best deflectors in the world.”

“Deflectors or bull-shitters?” she asked.

“Both.”

“And there’s a certain amount of B.S. in what you say too, right?”

“Sometimes.” He really loved her hair—the look, the feel, the smell. “But not with you.”

“Why not with me? You want something from me.”

He nodded. “I most certainly do. But I think you can read B.S. from a mile away.”

“I think you’re right.”

“And
you
don’t bullshit people.”

“No, I don’t.”

“So what would be the point?”

She shook her head. “Coercion is better than B.S.?”

He moved in close, backing her up against the wall and making her tip her head to look into his eyes.

He liked that about her—that she always made direct eye contact with him.

“I love to have a good time. Parties make me happy. I throw money around. And that gives people the impression that I am always laidback and easygoing. But I promise you, Reese, that is not always the case.”

Playboy, good-time-guy Tony Steele was appealing. He was attractive. He was charming. He was sophisticated. He was a nice guy. He had a smile that could make her immediately wish she had fewer clothes on.

But intense, I-will-have-you Tony Steele was…impossible to resist.

“Are you going to stay married to me?” he asked her.

She wet her lips and tried to think of a flippant, this-is-all-just-a-game thing to say.

She apparently took too long, because he shook his head and stepped around her.

“A thousand on red,” he told the man at the roulette wheel.

The wheel spun, and before it had even slowed, Reese knew he was going to lose.

Sure enough, the little while ball bounced into a black slot and Reese rolled her eyes.

It almost physically hurt as she watched Tony hand over the thousand dollars.

“Yes or no, Reese?” he asked, another thousand in hand.

This was a crazy game of chicken, but somehow Reese couldn’t let it go. Everything always worked out for Tony. Then again, he was a billionaire. How could things
not
work out? He had a guy he could call at two a.m. to do anything he needed done. He’d certainly never gotten passed over for a promotion or not gotten a job he’d applied for. He’d never not been able to pay his electric bill or had his car repossessed.

It had probably never rained on his birthday. He had probably never had an unrequited crush. He’d probably never even had a bad hair day.

Of course, his niece had had cancer.

That was something big.

“Your niece is fine now, right?”

Tony looked confused for a moment, understandably. Then he nodded. “Totally fine. They caught the tumor early enough. The surgery was unfortunately radical but effective. She’s cancer free for five years now.”

Reese swallowed. Her throat felt tight at the thought of a fourteen-year-old girl diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. And she almost didn’t ask the next question. She didn’t want to sound unsympathetic. But she had to know. “Did your brother’s money have anything to do with her being totally fine? A robotic prosthetic, a world-renowned surgeon flown in from Europe, a secret non-FDA approved treatment?”

Tony shook his head, with a frown. “No, none of those.”

But he looked uncomfortable. And Reese wondered if the master poker player maybe had a tell or two of his own.

“What, Tony?” she pressed. “What did Adam’s money do?”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly…” He sighed. “He hired Jaden to privately rehab Emily.”

“Okay.” That wasn’t completely unheard of. It was possibly unconventional, but not illegal or anything.

“For a million dollars.”

Reese didn’t reply to that right away. That was a lot of money.

Of course it was only a drop in the nine-hundred-and-sixty-million-dollar bucket that Tony was offering
her
. And he wasn’t even offering a job.

Then again, being married to Tony was sounding a bit like a job.

Like babysitting a thirteen-year-old boy. With a credit card.

“So you and your brother are used to buying anything and everything you need, including people,” Reese summarized.

His jaw tensed, and for a moment Reese was fascinated by Tony looking something other than playful, sexy or happy. That intensity was, unfortunately, just as appealing as all the rest.

“It’s far more complicated than that.”

It probably was. She had met Jaden Monroe Steele, and while they weren’t exactly friends, Reese knew enough
about
Jaden to know that the other woman was not the type to be bought.

“What are you willing to do to see if this marriage can work?” Reese asked.

“Anything.”

Not a blink, not a breath, not a moment’s pause.

“You’d be willing to give up your lifestyle, your money, your social life?”

“Yes.”

Again, not a second of hesitation. That made her really, really like him. Sure, he might be nuts, but he made her feel like a goddess. When had
anyone
treated her like she was the center of their world? Never. She was self-aware enough not to fully fall under the spell, but dang it, being adored was addicting.

“You would really try anything to see if we can make it?”

“Yes.”

“Let me show you what it’s like to live like a normal person.”

He narrowed his eyes, but he seemed more intrigued than concerned.

Reese wondered for a moment if Tony ever actually got
concerned
.

“What’s that mean exactly?” he asked.

She was tempted for a moment to
really
drive home the message that his lifestyle was a fairytale. She could find a dumpy apartment and a beat-up car easily enough.

But she said, “We live in my apartment, you drive yourself places—in a car that costs less than twenty grand, you get a weekly allowance and you don’t make any trips to Vegas or play in any big-stakes poker games for the next month.”

“They make cars that cost less than twenty grand?” he asked.

And he was serious.

Oh, boy.

She shook her head, grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him away from the roulette table.

Frankly, everything about their relationship felt like a roulette table.

“Is it a deal?”

“Will you take the million a month for your projects?” he asked.

That was tricky. She truly hated the idea of him paying her to stay married to him.

“Okay,” she finally agreed. But she wasn’t spending a penny of it on herself. “I guess it bothers me less since my next huge charity project isn’t going to cost anything.”

“What’s the next huge charity project?”

Reese punched the button to take them back to the suite. “My un-makeover of you.”

“Un-makeover?”

She nodded as they got on the elevator. “With a makeover, you’re dressing someone up. I’m going to dress you down, teach you about frozen dinners and budgeting. The opposite of a makeover.”

He crowded her into the corner of the elevator and put both hands on her hips, moving into her space as if he had every right. She caught her breath as she realized he did, indeed, have the right. He was her husband. Her space was his space now. Especially once they got to her apartment. It was pretty small.

“But a makeover makes someone a better version of themselves right?” Tony asked, his breath warm on her lips as he leaned in.

She nodded.

“I have a feeling that I’m going to be a better version after spending even a day the way you do.”

Oh, he was so smooth.

And it so worked.

She lifted on tiptoe and put her lips to his. There was no way to be that close to that mouth and not want it all over her.

He dove into the kiss immediately, running his hands up and down her sides, pulling her close, pressing his hips against hers, stroking her tongue with his.

Reese was weak. Or smart. Because she arched into him, her arms wrapping around his neck and her mouth opening with a groan.

He was so good at this.

She’d kind of intended to talk him into heading home tonight. No reason not to get started on this project right away.

But maybe there was one reason to wait one more night.

Or she could combine both things. Because she did have another fantasy.

“I’ve always wanted to have sex on an airplane,” she said against his mouth when they came up for air as the elevator arrived at their floor.

“I have an airplane.”

“I know.”

“But I can’t use it. I’m living like an average joe now,” he said, stepping back.

“Oh, but—”

“No. I think this is good,” he said. “I’m ready to be a better person. Right now.”

He was messing with her. Of course he’d turn this around.

But Reese could be stubborn too. “Okay. You’re right. We should start right away.”

He led her down the hall, already unbuttoning his shirt.

She smirked behind his back. Tony Steele got his way. A lot.

But he’d never been married to her before.

“I’ll be right back,” she said as they stepped into the suite.

She headed for the bathroom while he kicked his shoes off and started stripping.

It was tough to leave a room where Tony was getting naked, but Reese did it. She closed the bathroom door behind her and took a deep breath.

This was the craziest, sexiest game she’d ever played. And it was important.

There was no way she and Tony were going to stay married. But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t make an impression on him in the meantime. In fact, she wasn’t sure she could live with herself if she didn’t take the opportunity to educate a billionaire about the real world and real people. If she could raise his awareness and make him more charitable, she would have done something good. And she would have made him a better person