TORN: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novel)

by Love,Michelle

  With a smile, he says, “I know you do. I can see it in your eyes. I love you and I’m going to make you happier than you ever dreamed possible.”

  With a kiss, he ends his sentence and I cross my fingers this is all real and what he’s saying will come true.

  Can things really go right for us?

  Chapter 10

  JASON

  The last day of our trip has come. Tomorrow we’ll be going back to the real world and tonight I’m hoping Britt tells me we can fly straight on to Vegas.

  We’ve gotten along fantastically. If she tells me, we should wait I don’t know how I’ll take it. So in trying to make sure I hear a yes from her, I’ve had some special things flown in and am picking them up at the front desk.

  A few surprises, like my grandparent’s antique wedding rings, I had Mom send me. I think that will be sentimental to her and better than something with no meaning behind it.

  There’s also supposed to be some other things in the package too. I had Donovan get some things I’ve kept of hers all these years and I hope that shows her she’s always held a special place in my heart.

  Granted the special things are a pair of panties, a bra, and one shoe. I lost the other one somewhere along the way but managed to hold onto those things and a handful of love letters she wrote me back then.

  I kept them all in a shoebox and forgot I had them in the top of my closet at home. But with grappling at what kind of sentimental things I could use to get her to decide to let me change her name, I recalled those things.

  As I enter the reception area, I see a tall thin woman behind the desk. She smiles at me. “Hello. What can I help you with today?”

  “I was supposed to get a package, for Jason Brennan. I hope you have it. We’re leaving tomorrow,” I say as I look at her hopefully.

  She nods and I let out the breath I was holding. She picks it up from behind the desk and taps her long fingers on a note on top. “It seems you need to make a phone call to a man named Donovan.” She points to a small room off to one side. “You can use the courtesy phone in there if you’d like, Mr. Brennan.”

  I take my package and after telling her thank you, I go to make the call and have to wonder what the hell he could have that’s so important. It has me feeling nervous and I hate feeling like this.

  Especially when I feel so damn nervous already about what Brittany is going to tell me in a little while. Putting the package down, I pick up the phone and make the call.

  “Finally,” Donovan answers the phone.

  “Nice greeting, Donovan. What’s up?”

  “Are you sitting down?”

  I sit down and say, “Now I am. Hurry up. You’re freaking me out.”

  “Then get ready to really lose your mind. A lady showed up at your penthouse,” he says.

  “That’s no big surprise, Donovan,” I say as I let out my breath.

  Damn it! I’m on pins and needles here!

  “The surprise is what she held in her arms. It was a baby, Jason.”

  My wheels slow to a crawl as I try to figure out what the hell that has to do with me. “So?”

  “So, she said it was yours. Her name is Beatrice. She’s from…”

  I interrupt him. “She’s from New Holland, Texas. I know who she is. Number twenty-six, and that kid isn’t mine. I never have unprotected sex and all of my women take oral birth control too. She’s lying.”

  “She came with an order for you to appear in court in Texas on Wednesday. If you’re not there, then she said the judge who is a dear friend of her family’s will grant her child support from you. So you better make that your next stop.”

  “How can she get away with just saying the kid is mine and getting child support?” I ask as I hold my head in my hands.

  “I’m not sure. I can call your lawyer and have him meet you down there in New Holland for the court date.”

  “Do that. Fuck! This messes up everything I had planned,” I say with a groan.

  “What did you have planned?” he asks.

  “Vegas. I wanted to leave here and go to Vegas and get married to Brittany.”

  “Oh man, that sucks. Well, maybe after the hearing you can do that.” He sighs. “If she’ll want to marry you after she finds this out.”

  “Thanks for the information, Donovan. I guess we’ll be taking a detour through Texas to straighten this shit out.” I hang up and want to go choke that damn, lying woman who’s trying to mess up my life at the most inopportune time possible for me.

  The crystal clear water and the cool salty breeze do nothing at all to calm my now extremely frazzled nerves. When I walk up to our bungalow with the package in my hand Brittany looks up from the book, she was lying on a lounge chair on the porch, reading.

  “What do you have there, Honeybuns?” she asks me.

  Taking her hand, I lead her inside as I debate on asking her this right now or telling her about my problem. I settle on asking her first. I need her by my side for the other thing, anyway.

  I hand her the box. “Open it.”

  She sits on the little sofa and pulls the brown paper off the package and smiles when she sees the old shoe box then says, “An old pair of Nikes, how thoughtful.”

  “Open the box up and hand me the little box on the very top. Then look at the rest of the things.”

  She opens the top and hands me the little jewelry box and smiles as she does. “That looks like it has a ring in it.”

  “Can’t put anything past you, can I?” I chuckle. It’s forced but I fake it for her sake so this can be a great memory for her.

  It will always have some bad in it for me, but I can’t make that ruin it for her.

  She pulls out her old bra and smiles. “I always wondered where this went. I guess it was left in your truck.”

  I nod and point at the box. “There’s more.”

  She pulls out the panties and wrinkles her nose. “Even these? My God what did I have on when I went back inside my house?” She pulls out the one sandal. “I left without one shoe too? Was I drunk that night?”

  “On me,” I lean in and kiss her. “And you left both shoes. It was me who lost one sometime or another. I’ve moved a few times and somehow one has disappeared.”

  She laughs and picks up the letters. All are folded into neat little shapes. “You saved all this, all these years?” The tears start flowing in slow trails over her pink cheeks. “I never in a million years thought you would save anything of mine.”

  “I loved you. Of course, I kept everything I had to remind me of you, Sugar-britches.”

  “I tossed anything that reminded me of you. Every last thing.”

  I move down on one knee in front of her. “That’s okay. I don’t blame you.” I open the small box and show her what’s inside. “These were my grandparents. They passed away a few years ago. Mom asked me on my thirtieth birthday if I wanted them. I told her, no, at that time. I told her I wasn’t getting married. Ever!”

  She laughs and I love the sound. “Not ever, huh? Just like me.”

  I take her hand in mine and hold it to my heart. “Brittany, I’d like to use these rings in our wedding. And I’d like to officially ask you to become my wife, forever. Do you think that’s something you’d like to do in the near future?” I take out my grandmother’s solitaire diamond engagement ring and wait for her answer.

  After what seems like forever she speaks, “Jason, I would love to become your wife in the very near future.”

  “Thank God!” I say as I breathe out. I take her hand and run the ring up her slender ring finger and find it fits perfectly. “What do you know about that, Pumpkin?”

  “I guess it was meant to be, huh?” she asks. “Do you think we can really do this, Jason? Do you think we can really be what each other needs for the rest of our lives?”

  “I do,” I tell her and pull her to kiss me, sealing the deal.

  Nothing has ever felt more right in my life. And I feel better than I ever have. Although t
here’s the heavy burden of what I’m up against now.

  I end the kiss and she looks at the ring and then says, “So tomorrow, straight to Vegas then?”

  I bite my lip. “Well, we have to make a little stop in Texas. In three days I need to be somewhere. It just came up.”

  She pulls the other two rings out of the box and holds out my grandfather’s gold wedding band. “Let’s see if his fits you.”

  I hold out my finger and she runs it on and it fits perfectly too. “Wow! This really is meant to be,” I say.

  She runs her arms around my neck. “Take me to bed and show me how every night of my life will be spent as Mrs. Jason Brennan.”

  I pick her up and carry her to the little bedroom and wonder when the right time is going to be to tell her this pretty bad news.

  Laying her back on the bed, she looks up at me. “I cannot wait to tell you that you’re going to be a father, Jason. I can’t wait to see the look on your handsome face when you hear those words for the very first time.”

  Interesting, she should say that.

  Nope, I won’t be telling her tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

  Maybe not ever. Does she really have to know about this?

  To be continued…

  The Shameless Billionaire Series

  Book 3

  Game Changer

  An Alpha-Male, Billionaire, Bad Boy, Bad Girl, Romance

  By Michelle Love

  Tribulations. Compassion. Devotion.

  Jason finds himself in a situation he never thought he’d be in. Using extensive measures to ensure none of his women ever got pregnant, he’s found one of them has secretly done just that.

  Brittany is by his side, accepting anything which comes with the man she is falling more and more in love with.

  The couple finds there is less than a fifty percent chance the baby is Jason’s, giving them hope their wedding plans won’t be on hold too much longer.

  On the way back to visit their families in their hometown has the couple witnessing a terrible tragedy which sends Jason over the edge.

  Brittany finds herself dealing with a man she’s never known him to be before. It has her making hard decisions where he’s concerned.

  Can Jason forgive her for making him take a path he doesn’t want to? Can Brittany take the dark person she now knows he can become? Or will the stress Jason’s under end the couple?

  Chapter 1

  BRITTANY

  Waking from a sex coma on the private jet taking us to Texas has me looking into my fiancé’s gorgeous blue eyes and wondering how this all happened so fast. It’s been a week and here I am engaged and ready to marry this man.

  “Hey, Beautiful,” he murmurs. “Did you sleep well?” His lips graze my cheek, igniting a slight burn.

  I guess I have a bit of whisker burn from the stubble on his face and all the kissing we did before exhaustion overtook us and we fell asleep.

  “I slept like the dead. I’m surprised to see you awake.” I take his hand and hold it against my chest, near my heart.

  He’s back in my heart. All of it.

  I can feel the comforting sensation of having faith and hope in this man once again. When he slipped the engagement ring on my finger, I let the doubts fly away. There’s no room for doubts if this is going to work. And I want this to work more than anything I’ve ever wanted.

  “I checked the time.” He turns away from me and gets off the bed. “We’ll be landing in Dallas soon. I’ll rent a car and we can stay in Dallas until my meeting on Wednesday. The place I need to go is about forty minutes away from the East side. You can stay in the hotel while I have the little meeting then I’ll come get you and we can go visit our parents.”

  I turn over on my side and prop my head up on the pillows and watch him going through his suitcase to find something to wear. “What’s the meeting about?”

  He stops and makes that dear in the headlights face and I know the meeting may not be a real meeting. His body tenses and every muscle stands out. “Oh, nothing really. I’m going to take a quick shower. I’d ask you to join me but you distract me and we need to hurry up, the plane should be landing in twenty minutes.”

  I let him get in the shower then I get out of bed and go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and look at the rat’s nest that’s now my hair. “You really did a number on my locks, Luscious.”

  “I saw that,” he says with a chuckle. “Medusa doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

  After I rinse out my mouth, I pull the little shower curtain back. “I’m getting in. Try not to get distracted.”

  He looks me up and down and growls. “Too late.”

  With a laugh, I bump him with my hip and knock him over a little so I can get my hair wet. “Well, control yourself. I’m already going to look less than fantastic when we go inside the airport and being that this is Dallas I may run into people I know.”

  “Do you have any of your boy toys in Dallas?” he asks as he rubs shampoo into his dark hair.

  “All of my men are in New York.” I hold out my hand. “Would you please put some shampoo in my hand? It’s behind you and if I have to get it myself, I may cause you, even more, distraction.”

  He obliges me but has a frown on his face. “Let’s stop calling them your men and my women, okay? I’d like to think I’m your only man and you are my only woman.”

  “Great. I like that way of thinking myself.” I massage the shampoo into my hair as he rinses his out. “So, this meeting, what time is it?”

  “Early, you know one of those first thing in the morning things. Maybe over breakfast I guess.” The way his eyes look everywhere but at me has my brain doing flips to get me to see he’s up to something.

  “Is it about your app?” I bump him again, making him move so I can rinse out my hair.

  “Sure,” he says as if that sounds convincing at all. “My app, it’s about that.”

  “And it’s outside of Dallas?” I ask as I hold out my hand. “Some conditioner please.”

  He pours some into my palm. “Yes. I’m done in here.” He kisses my nose then gets out of the shower and away from my questions.

  I hurry to finish showering and hop out of the shower, wrapping a towel around me and finding him buttoning up his shirt, already dressed. “Would you grab me a bra and panty set and a little dress, Baby?”

  He nods and grabs them out of the suitcase and lays them on the bed. “I’ll be in the cabin. I think there’s something to eat in there. I heard some noise a minute ago.”

  “You and food, Jason. You have such an appetite.”

  “I did have a few hours work out earlier, Baby. Jeez! And you need to eat too. I’ve only managed to get about three pounds on you and I wanted to get ten in this week.”

  “Trying to fatten me up so no other men will look at me, Jason?” I ask as I pull my panties on.

  He watches me with his jaw clenched. “You're making me nuts. Get dressed then we can talk. You’re making it very hard to think about anything other than getting you back in that bed.”

  He leaves the room and me still not knowing what he’s really going to be doing on Wednesday morning.

  Maybe it’s some kind of surprise for me!

  I shake that thought off. It most likely has nothing to do with me. It most likely has to do with one of those women he has on his app. And now I’m kind of pissed and not in a very great mood any longer.

  After I dress, I go into the cabin of the jet to find Jason scarfing down some kind of pie. “What do you have there?”

  He looks at me with a grin. “Apple pie. Come, sit with me and let me feed you.”

  I sit next to him and he places a bite in my mouth. I’ve decided arguing with him about eating is futile. And food has never tasted so good as when he’s placing it in my mouth.

  Only three bites in and the older woman, who is the stewardess, comes out of a little door. “Sorry, I have to put that up. We’ll be landing in just a few minutes. Take your places and put on your
seatbelts please.”

  Jason gets up, pulling me along behind him. “Don’t worry, I’m getting you something to eat in the airport. You have to be starving.”

  I’m not so much hungry as I am curious about his damn meeting but he seems more intent on feeding me than letting me in on the true nature of this meeting.

  Gently pushing me to take the seat next to the window, he leans over and latches my seat belt. A quick kiss to the top of my head and he sits down next to me.

  I realize he can’t get away from me now. “So who is this meeting with?”

  “A man,” he says as he buckles his own seat belt.

  “You seem very sketchy about this meeting, Jason. I don’t like it.”

  He looks down for a while then back at me. “Britt, can we talk about this at the hotel? It’s complicated. I want to tell you. I do. But not here. Okay, Pumpkin-britches?”

  “It’s that serious?” I ask as a knot forms in my stomach.

  He merely nods then takes my hand and kisses it. “I’ll tell you everything once we’re all settled in the room. I promise.”

  I can’t help thinking about all the possibilities. And since this thing has stopped us from heading straight out to Vegas, the way he had been planning if I accepted his proposal, I know it has to be bad.

  He tightens his grip on my hand and tugs it so I’ll look at him instead of out the window at the black night sky. “It’s going to be okay. No matter what, it won’t affect you and I and what we have.”

  I nod and find I can’t talk as a lump has lodged in my throat. Deep inside of me I knew things wouldn’t go along as smoothly as I hoped they would. Except for my work, nothing else in my life has ever gone according to plan.

  I have to ask one more question to try to ease my mind a little. “Jason, is this legal trouble or woman trouble?”

  He sits quietly for what I deem as too long. “A bit of both.”

  I nod again. “Do you have a lawyer?”

  “I do. He’s going to be there.”