The Billionaire's Triplets (A Steamy Contemporary Romance Novel)

by Mia Caldwell

  “How did you get here so fast, I thought you were in Milan?”

  He shook his head, ignoring her question. “It doesn’t matter where I was. As soon as I heard about your crazy plan, I came as fast as I could. I’m sorry about the airport security, thing. I didn’t have time to explain anything. I didn’t know what else to do. I just told them that they had to detain the American woman travelling with three babies. I might have led them to believe that you were trying to kidnap my children…” he said trailing off.

  “So, is that why you’re here? Do you intend to file some sort of custody claim? Do you plan to turn this into an international incident?”

  “Lissa, you’re killing me. Will you listen. Just listen.” Lissa folded her arms as best as she could with Hunter still in her lap. Hunter didn’t like that, so she unfolded her arms, and turned her back to Julio.

  “I came here to stop you from leaving.”

  “And why is it so important that I – I mean we don’t leave? It’s not like you expected us to stay forever, what’s the difference with us leaving now or in a few weeks.”

  “Will you stop?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Lissa said.

  “For Christs sake, Lissa, don’t you understand? Look at me.”

  Lissa turned and saw that his face was more serious than she’d ever seen it.

  “Lissa you are my forever. Don’t you know that? I couldn’t let you leave, because I was going to propose, this weekend. I had this whole big event planned, romantic as fuck. Everyone but you and your sister was in on it. I was supposed to sweep you on your feet.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Jesus, woman, I’m in love with you, I’ve always been in love with you. You’re the most important person in the world to me, not counting these three precious babies. I don’t want you to leave, because you belong to me, I want you to marry me, Lissa Edwards.”

  Lissa’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Here, hold Ryland,” he said.

  Tears ran down her face as she took Ryland with her free hand and settled him onto her free hip. She watched Julio switch Marco to his other hip, and saw him reach into his pocket for something. When he pulled out a small black box, her heart skipped a beat.

  Taking care to keep Marco firmly in his arms, he knelt carefully before.

  “Lissa Marie Edwards, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”

  Lissa then noticed that the room outside in the busy terminal seemed to have quieted as people leaned forward holding their breath. Joan stood in the doorway and when Lissa caught her sisters eye, she didn’t miss the approving nod.

  She turned toward Julio, and as the two babies in her arms reached out for his face, she said, “Yes, I’ll marry you -- you crazy bastard.”

  Relief flooded his face, and somehow he managed to rise to his feet and kiss her without allowing the babies to bonk heads.

  Applause and cheers broke out in the lounge, which frightened the babies. They started to cry so Joan rushed up as did one of the rude airport security people. They took the babies out of the arms of the newly engaged couple, so Julio and Lissa could kiss their consent.

  They kissed for a long time, hard and deep, with the passion that comes from pure joy.

  When the kiss finally ended, Lissa was reminded of the pressure on her bladder.

  “Oh, excuse me,” she said.

  She hurried away and Julio’s face showed alarm.

  Joan shouted over to him. “Don’t worry, she just really needed to pee.”

  When Lissa returned, the show was over, and the people in the airport went back to their lives. Joan had taken the liberty of cancelling their flights, and Lissa expected them to all leave, and go back to the house in Barcelona. But as they moved out the family, Julio pointed Lissa and Joan towards another set of gates.

  “I’ve booked us all on another flight,” Julio explained. “It’s a few days, earlier than I’d planned, but since I’ve already proposed, there someplace I want you to see.

  Julio refused to give Lissa any more details. A few hours later, the private jet landed. An SUV was already set up with the baby’s car seats, and Fernando was waiting with a second car to follow them to wherever he was taking them.

  When the caravan drove through the gorgeous countryside, Lissa couldn’t help but admire the beauty around her. Finally, the car, headed off the two-lane highway that ran through the rolling hills and headed down a much narrower road, complete with bumps and dips, heading towards a clutch of woods in the distance. As they came out the other end, Lissa gasped at the sight of the most beautiful country farm house she’d ever seen.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is our new home,” he said.

  As they got closer, Lissa could see that workmen were erecting a massive tent structure at the side of the house.

  “What’s happening here?”

  “Well, if things had gone to plan, our wedding was supposed to happen here. That’s why I’d been cagey about work, because I hadn’t been doing the normal work. I’d been working on this surprise, instead.”

  “But, what about the project?” Lissa said with alarm. “They only gave us a month to do everything, are you telling me you’ve not done a thing on the other project. Julio, how could you?”

  “Relax, my love. It’s all good. As soon as they heard about our babies going to the hospital, they granted us a two-month extension. So, there’s nothing to worry about, you and I will have plenty of time to get that squared away.”

  Lissa felt a fresh jolt of joy, so he still wanted her to work with him, they were a team.

  “Okay,” she said.

  Fernando and Joan were in good spirits as they eagerly helped put the boys in the two strollers. Once everyone was good to go, they left the luggage in the two cars and Julio gave them a brief tour of part of their new house.

  Workmen were still getting things squared away inside the house. “I have just the bare bones of furniture and things, but I figured you’d want to have a say in the interior design, put your mark on it. Whatever you want, I’d be happy to let you have. The only rooms I decided to completely finish, were the kitchen, so we could eat, the nursery, so the boys could sleep and play and our bedroom so we could….”

  He left the final word off that sentence, but Lissa knew exactly what he meant.

  She felt a rush of desire, and wondered when they’d have the house to themselves.

  As if she’d read her mind, Joan suddenly spoke up.

  “Listen, me and Fernando were thinking we should take the boys back to Barcelona, let you two have some time alone in your new house.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Lissa said.

  “Oh, yes they do,” Senora Torres said.

  Lissa wheeled around, shocked but pleased to see Julio’s mother standing near the dining room. She’d come out of nowhere. But, when Lissa caught a whiff of delicious food in the air and saw that Senora Torres was wearing an apron, she knew she’d come from the kitchen.

  “Senora Torres,” Lissa said. “How did you get here so fast?”

  “What do you mean, where do you think you are. This ranch house is only an hour away from Barcelona.”

  “It is?”

  “Of course, dear, I wouldn’t want to isolate you from the rest of the family.”

  Just then, more people came into the hall, their voices booming in the still relatively vacant front room.

  “Did she say yes?” Asked a cousin, whose name Lissa couldn’t’ recall.

  “She did, indeed,” Julio said with pride as he pulled Lissa too him.

  She was overwhelmed.

  Fernando spoke up.

  “Listen everyone. After lunch, I want everyone to leave. I’ve already told the workers to get lost and take a few days off. If you want to continue the party, then stop by Senora Torres’ house and help us take care of these three perfect babies. I think that this couple deserves to have some t
ime alone to get acquainted with their new home.”

  Most of the relatives, present, who didn’t speak a word of English looked at Fernando with confusion. So he translated, then everyone laughed and clapped with agreement, and gave Lissa meaningful looks and winks. Lissa felt herself blush, but Julio just smiled, that goofy happy grin, that made her heart melt at the sight of him. He really did love her, she no longer had any doubts about that.

  The meal was delicious, paella and papas, dried figs, cheeses and a tray of fresh fruit, and toasted the newly engaged. They all out outside at several rustic picnic tables. A playpen area had been set up close to the table where Julio and Lissa sat, and the boys were in heaven, exploring their new digs.

  The covered back porch overlooked acres of grapes, acres which all belonged to the Julio Torres and his new family.

  “Is there a vineyard somewhere on this property?” Lissa asked.

  “Only if you want there to be one,” he replied.

  By the time everyone left and the children were safely on their way for a night back at Mamacita’s house, the workers were all long gone, having each been given a bonus payment for agreeing to take the next two days off. Lissa and Julio were finally alone.

  They held hands and kissed as the sun set.

  Are you up for our pre-wedding honeymoon, Mrs. Soon-to-Be Lissa Edwards Torres?”

  “You know I am,” Lissa said as she gazed up into his loving, deep brown eyes.

  “Then follow me, my love,” he said.

  She took his hand and without another word, he guided her to their new bedroom.

  ***

  THE END

  Did you enjoy this story? Is so, please consider leaving a review HERE: viewAuthor.at/mia-caldwell-books

  (If you did not enjoy this book and feel that it could be improved, please feel free to send comments to: authormiacaldwell@gmail.com)

  Thanks for reading!

  Love, Mia

  About the Author

  Mia Caldwell has been fantasizing about stories of "Happily-Ever-After" since she was a little girl, and now that she's all grown up her "Happily-Ever-After" stories have taken a steamier turn! After graduating from college Mia still wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do with her life. Bored with her day job as an Administrative Assistant for a non-profit, she started writing stories on the side and sharing them with her friends. They gave her the push she needed to share them with you!

  She lives in New York with two rascally cats named Link and Zelda, eats too much chocolate and Chinese take-out, and goes on way too many blind dates. She's still waiting for Mr. Right, but in the meantime she'll keep dreaming up the perfect man!

  Get notified of my latest releases and specials – Sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/biglo9

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  Also by Mia Caldwell

  Looking for other books by Mia Caldwell?

  You can find Mia Caldwell’s books on Amazon.com

  Hollywood Happily Ever After

  The Billionaire’s Snow Date

  Billionaire’s Baby Surprise

  Billionaire’s Baby Deception

  Kidnapping the Billionaire’s Baby

  Up in Flames

  And more…

  Excerpt from Hollywood Happily Ever After

  Chapter One

  It was an oppressively sunny Southern California day as Olive Hunter made her way from her apartment in Topanga Canyon to her office in Santa Monica. All of her coworkers told her she was insane for picking a place in Topanga, but while they fought their way in through the traffic on the 10, Olive got to take in the sights of the SoCal beaches as she made her way up the Pacific Coast Highway. Sure, her roommates sucked and she mostly ate food she could buy on her gas card, but the view more than made it worth it.

  Olive had moved to Los Angeles from New Jersey five years before, the first in her distinctly East Coast family to make the journey to the dreaded West Coast. In Jersey, her middle-class African American family fit right in, as she had grown up in one of the state’s many culturally diverse neighborhoods in Newark. But it had been a hell of a culture shock when she got to California, and discovered diversity in Hollywood wasn’t an actual thing. But Olive had grown up desperate to be a filmmaker, and the best schools to learn to do that were in LA. So the minute she turned eighteen, she was on a plane and bound for UCLA to study directing and screenwriting. And for the most part, she had loved her time there.

  But getting out of school into the real world of filmmaking had delivered yet another harsh blow of reality. Despite the connections she had made in school, and the many friendships she had developed, the idea that she was just going to jump out of school and start making movies had been a bit naïve. Olive had no money, and she had been so busy learning how to be a director and a writer, that she hadn’t actually managed to build a name for herself. So she had been forced to beg, borrow, and steal her way into an internship with Stardust Filmworks, an independent-film production company in Santa Monica that was known for finding unrecognized talent and developing it.

  In the span of a year, Olive had made her way from marketing intern, to secretarial assistant in the reception center, to actual receptionist. It was only when she shared an elevator with Agatha Bellemare, the newly elected head of the studio, that she finally managed to beg her way out of the reception pool. After telling Agatha about this fabulous young-adult series she was reading that had huge thematic potential, Agatha brought her on as her assistant, and the rest, as they say, was history.

  Today, as she panic-parked outside Starbucks to pick up Agatha’s skinny soy vanilla latte, she was hoping that she might actually get the chance to sit in on a production meeting as the studio prepped for shooting on The Euphoria of Underground Caverns, the YA novel that she’d introduced to Stardust in the first place. At ten a.m., Agatha was meeting with Sebastian Jones, who would be directing the film, to discuss potential casting of the lead roles. And since Olive had been obsessed with the book since she read it, she had some ideas she wanted to share.

  Olive also knew that Agatha wasn’t remotely prepared for the meeting with Sebastian. Most of Olive’s job was keeping Agatha organized, reminding her when she had meetings, and stopping her from double-booking when she forgot about meetings she was already late for. Agatha was great at her job, but she was a scatterbrain, and without Olive by her side, she wouldn’t be able to find her way home every night.

  So Olive was more than shocked when she ran into Agatha’s office and found her boss already there. She was talking a mile a minute on the phone and was practically buried under a stack of papers that Olive had never seen before. When Olive rushed over to give Agatha her coffee, Agatha handed her an envelope and waved her to the corner of the room. Olive opened her mouth to protest, but a furrow of her employer’s manicured brow made it clear her best option was to do as she was told.

  Once settled in an armchair out of Agatha’s line of sight, Olive opened the delicate gold envelope and marveled at the custom art deco Atelier Isabey invitation inside. She ran her fingers over the script, and was so lost in the beauty of the design she barely even noticed what the invitation was for. When she did, she almost threw up all over it.

  We Request the Pleasure of Your Company

  At the Marriage of

  Kallie Wayy-Singer

  and

  Ash Grace

  At The Wonderland Private Villas & Resort

  Pecatu, Bali

  From April 5th to April 8th

  Accommodations will be arranged by the bride & groom

  All additional materials will arrive separately by messenger

  In lieu of gifts, please make a donation to a charity of your choice

  Regrets Only

  Olive’s mouth dropped open and she looked up at Agatha, who was still babbling like a maniac on the phone. Today was April 2nd, which meant that Agatha’s plane must be leaving soon.
Didn’t it take days just to get there? Olive’s mind raced as she tried to anticipate all the things she’d need to start doing to ensure Agatha was packed and at the airport in time. Agatha would need a dress from one of her designers, something that no one had been seen in before, plus all kinds of fancy resort wear. Olive would need to cancel all her appointments. She’d need to find a way to get Agatha booked for last minute spa appointments to get her hair done, body waxed, and nails done? Shit. There wasn’t going to be enough time.

  And what about that meeting with the producers tomorrow? Olive knew that some were scheduled to come in later that night. The one’s coming in from the East Coast might already be travelling. She’d never be able to cancel.

  What was she supposed to say to them when she got them on the phone? “I’m sorry, the head of the studio decided to blow you off in favor of a going to Bali for a wedding? Damn it.

  Olive stared at her boss and shook her head with disbelief, feeling lightheaded as she tried to steel herself for the day to come. She knew the next twenty-four hours would be the most challenging of her career thus far, and she hadn’t even had her own damn coffee yet.

  Finally, Agatha hung up the phone and waved Olive back over.

  “Olive, my love, did you read the invitation? Can you be ready to go by tomorrow morning?”