It's Only Acting_A Secret Billionaire Romance

by Jackson Kane

  “That was my final lesson to you.

  “You were too old for my fatherly wisdom. In truth, you've both far surpassed me in your own ways.

  “Richard, you are a far better CEO than I was at your age. You have the uncanny ability to break problems down and knock them over like dominoes. You will do great things for the King legacy, our corporation could not have a better leader. Please understand that you are more than your net worth. Find yourself outside of the company as well. You are a man first, a King second, and everything else afterward.

  My nurse tells me you’ve been seen with a plucky, young entrepreneur and that you look happy. You keep your emotions locked away too deeply; you need someone to bring that out of you. I hope this woman is the key to unlock that vault.

  “Lucas, I can never repay you for the debt you willingly paid on behalf of your flawed parents. Fulfilling that insane contract and living with that other family for the sake of your mother’s honor was the noblest act I had ever seen. You weren’t of my blood, and by not managing the family business, you broke a King tradition hundreds of years old. Your boundless empathy showed me that blood and tradition were nothing before family and love. Pursue whatever makes you happy, my boy.

  “I’m saddened that I never had the chance to get to know Molly like my wife did. However seeing you together recently made me understand why your mother always turned a blind eye to you sneaking her over when you were children. She would say to me, ‘You wouldn’t deprive an arm of its hand?’ Lucas and Molly completed one another. They belong together.’ And she was right.

  “Please don't be sad for me. I'm with your mother now and all the pain is gone. I couldn't fathom a better place to be.

  “Lastly, this competition will stay in place until the terms are met. Fall in love, have children, find happiness.

  “I’m incredibly proud to have called you my children. I love you both.

  “Signed, William, an old fool, who learned far too late, that being a father was what truly made him a rich man.”

  The heavy silence in the room that followed was broken only by soft sobbing.

  “Looks like you won, little brother.” Richard hugged me. “Congratulations. The inheritance is yours.”

  The victory sank in my stomach like a hot rock.

  Richard and Gloria were planning on having kids eventually, just not right now. They wanted to explore the world together and nourish their passions for entrepreneurship. They shouldn’t be punished for not falling in love faster. If I took all the money for myself I’d truly have learned nothing.

  NO, it couldn’t end this way.

  “I’m not a very good millionaire, let alone billionaire,” I said, wiping my eyes and addressing the group. “With the way Richard and I have treated each other over the years, neither of us deserve this money.”

  “What are you saying?” Richard asked.

  “Let’s step out of the long King shadow for awhile. We’re all doing fine with our own ventures; we don’t need the fortune. I’m saying we give it all to our kids when they’re old enough.”

  “It’ll be a present from their grandparents,” Molly said, her beautiful red-rimmed eyes glistening with hope.

  “I like the idea of that, little brother.” Richard put an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s let the burden of tradition skip a generation.”

  “You do realize that means we’re all going to have to put up with each other for the next few decades, at least.” Gloria smirked, clearly enjoying the idea.

  “I’m instituting a King dinner night! We’re going to practice being a family.” Molly beamed with ideas of future events. I loved her so damn much. “Tonight can be our trial run, what do you think?”

  “I’m down. And as Dad would say, ‘if it’s worth doing once…’” I looked at Richard expectantly with my own smirk.

  “Really?” Richard sighed, placing his hands on his hips. I nodded. “Fine. It’s worth doing a thousand times.”

  Epilogue 2

  Richard

  Halloween Masquerade Party

  “Fuck.” Gloria’s storm gray eyes nearly rolled out of her head at the sight of the ring. She almost dropped her glass and silver mask. I had them commissioned at the same time; our masks were really one full face mask that was split in half.

  Two halves of the same soul.

  “That wasn’t really the effect I was going for.” I raised an eyebrow, looking up at her from my bent knee proposal. My own mask was placed on the carpeted floor next to me. I wanted to do this later on in the evening, but odds were that we wouldn’t be alone like this again.

  The Halloween masquerade was on full tilt in the ballroom next door. Gloria and I were in an adjacent even room that was almost as big. Muffled music, dancing, and laughing could be heard through the wall. Candelabras and flowers filled the room with exotic scents and mysterious, uneven lighting.

  A few guests that cut through this room hushed their conversations, when they saw me on one knee. There was a sensation of awe and wonder everywhere, except the only place that mattered; directly in front of me. Could I have misread our relationship? Was I moving too fast for Gloria?

  Maybe this was a mistake. I began to stand up.

  “Wait!” She pulled her mask off and reached a hand out toward me. “Shit, I’m sorry. You caught me off guard. Can we start over?”

  I smirked, settling back down on my knee. I was again reminded why I loved this woman so much. Gloria was so unapologetically genuine. She always kept me on my toes, or in this case off them.

  “Gloria Grant,” I started again. I raised the box containing the engagement ring I bought. The ring—like her—was very special, and extremely hard to find. I finally opened the box and let her see the modest, yet rare artifact. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes!” Gloria choked out the word, trying not to cry and failing. She tightly wrapped her arms around me like she had fallen off a boat, and I was the life preserver thrown in to save her. There was a quiver in her voice that warmed my bones. “Oh my God, yes!”

  After a dozen tear-stained kisses, she let me go long enough to actually look at the ring. I couldn’t hide the pride I felt in getting her one I knew she’d like.

  “Holy shit. Is that…” Her bottom lip quivered. “Missy Gladstone’s ring!”

  I nodded, smiling.

  Gloria had turned me onto her favorite band Twilight Son. They were a three-piece ensemble from the seventies. The bassist married the drummer early in their career, and they both died in a plane crash ten years ago. It took a lot of money and time, but I was able to track down the original engagement ring.

  “You are amazing!” Gloria wasn’t the type of girl to squeal, but she came awfully close as she held it up to get a better look at it. “How?”

  “That doesn’t matter.” I picked her up easily. I might tell her about the whole arduous process someday, but not now. I wanted her to remember today as the day she became engaged; nothing else.

  “Y’know, you don’t have to do this,” She said, blotting at her cheeks to not spread her mascara further. “You already lost the bet.”

  “I won something far better than an inheritance.” I said, ignoring my vibrating phone. No one was going to take me away from this moment.

  “You are so goddamn cheesy,” She smiled broader than I’d ever seen before. “I love you so damn much.”

  “I—” My phone hadn’t stopped vibrating. I took it out of my pocket, intent on throwing it across the room when Gloria stopped me. She looked up at me and told me to answer it. “It’s my assistant.”

  “Go.” Gloria rubbed the deep maroon of her lipstick off my lips and cheeks. “I need to put my face back on and gloat to Molly anyways. You’d better come find me when you’re done.”

  “Nothing could keep me away.” I kissed her long and passionately, ruining what was left of her lipstick. “Remember to wear your mask. This is a masquerade after all.”

  Gloria sighed, frowning. She did her
best to tolerate the party’s theme. She loved the mask, but didn’t love actually wearing it.

  I slipped on my masquerade mask, straightened my tux, and went to the kitchen.

  There was an argument with one of the chefs, and some administration noise for me to clear up, but soon enough everything was running smoothly again. I made my way through the dance hall to find Gloria.

  “Hell of a ride, huh?” Lucas had stepped off stage and grabbed my shoulder. He’d been chatting with the band while they set up for their next song. His long hair fell all around the black skull mask he wore. He nodded toward the table where Gloria, Molly, and Judy sat. Gloria was showing them the ring. I couldn’t suppress the happiness I felt at seeing the excited smile sweep across her face as she talked about it.

  Every time I looked at her, I felt warm all over.

  “I used to think we were cursed to always come out on top, but never win,” Lucas said, slowly shaking his head at his pregnant wife and burgeoning new family. He still had trouble accepting that this wasn’t just a really good dream he’d wake up from. This was his life now.

  “Yeah.” I threw an arm around my younger brother and jerked him to the side roughly. Because of our competitive natures, our brotherly love was always rough like how dogs played. “Dad would’ve finally been proud.” I shook him. “Don’t screw it up.”

  “Speak for yourself, old man.” He flashed me a grin, nodded, then broke away as the band started to play the song he wrote for Molly. In true Lucas-style, he parted the crowd and slid on his knees to the table our women were sitting at.

  I walked over like a normal person, when an argument across the hall caught my attention. Judging from the size and shape of the man getting yelled at, I knew right away that it was NFL MVP Garrett Walker. I hadn’t met him, but I remembered seeing his name on the guest list my assistant forwarded me.

  I didn’t envy that poor bastard right now; his wife was really laying into him about something. It wasn’t any of my business, I decided. I had more important matters before me, like a fiancé to dance with.

  “The trick to a masquerade party is to keep the mask on,” I said to Gloria with a smirk. She only humored me with this party. She never liked a lot of pomp and ceremony.

  “Oh my fucking God!” Gloria roared, tearing the mask off and slapping it on the table. “There. Now it’s on the table.”

  Judy and I laughed. Judy must’ve been giving Gloria grief about not wearing the mask either.

  “Hi, Judy.” I smiled warmly to her. “Do you mind if I steal my wife for a dance?”

  Judy looked great. She wore a light blue dress with a beautifully homemade mask. This sort of event definitely appealed to her, it was a shame she couldn’t share this with her boyfriend. From everything Gloria told me about Doug, Judy was too good for that complete waste of space.

  “Actually,” Gloria started. There was a look of concern on her face that bothered me. It made me wonder what Judy’s boyfriend fucked up this time. “Judy and I were in the middle—”

  “I don't mind at all,” Judy said in her customary, chipper, upbeat voice. She stood up and offered a little smile, before walking out into the dance floor. “I need to go find Doug, and harass him into at least one dance, before he gets too drunk and makes another scene.”

  “Everything alright?” I asked, watching Judy leave.

  “I don’t know.” Gloria’s lips pulled to one side of her face in a confused frown. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow. How about you? You put out all the fires?”

  “We’re alright.” I looked down at Gloria’s hand. It looked so fucking good with that ring on it. “What’d they say?”

  “They didn’t even know who Twilight Son is! Can you believe that? I have the worst friends.” She smiled despite herself. She was still excited to be wearing it.

  When the song ended, my assistant took the stage and called out for me to come take the microphone.

  “Please tell me you didn’t set up some grand gesture that would put me in the spotlight in a room full of strangers…”

  “No. of course not,” I said, texting my assistant to cancel the announcement. Gloria saw through my lie and smiled. I stood up and grabbed Gloria’s hand. “OK. You caught me. Let’s get out of here before they find us.”

  Gloria laughed, no doubt reminded of the last time we were at this golf course for a party. I guess we’d never get through a whole night at one of these events, and honestly, that was fine by me. As long as she was by my side, I couldn’t care less about these parties.

  I led her out of the main hall, down a few large hallways, and into an audio visual supply closet. Not the most romantic of locations, but at least no one would find us here. Eventually they gave up on the announcements and the band resumed. Even at this distance, I could still feel them playing through the walls and floor.

  “I think we’ve lost them.” She laughed, panting from our quick exit and light jog.

  The room was small, cramped, and stuffed with electronics. The terrible, cold, overhead fluorescent lighting made Gloria look even paler than she usually looked, but it still couldn’t rob her of her natural beauty. The flickering light also deepened her thunderstorm eyes, making her look even more mysterious.

  I would have the rest of my life to explore everything about Gloria, I realized.

  “What is it?” She asked, noting my broad smile.

  None of the answers that swam to the forefront of my mind could convey how blessed I felt at that moment. Nothing I could say would capture the way I saw her, and how much I loved her.

  So I kissed her instead.

  My lips went on a tour of her neck and ears. I dragged my teeth down her soft, pale skin. With one hand on the middle of her back and one cradling the back of her head, I pushed her against the wall hard enough to make electronic equipment on the nearby shelves rattle.

  We fell into each other.

  Gloria let out a heavy erotic sigh and began wrenching at the lapels of my suit. She liked the edge of roughness. I liked giving her what she wanted…after a bit of teasing.

  “You know,” Gloria said in between smiling, spikes of breath, as I worked my mouth down her collarbone. “People are going to wonder where you are.”

  “Let them.” I tugged the zipper down the back of her black dress and worked my other hand behind the loosening fabric. With a quick snap of her bra clasp, and shrug of her shoulders, all the fabric fell to the floor.

  Gloria was naked save her panties, low heels, and a devilish smile.

  I gasped in air at the sight of perky tits and hardening nipples. She was so damn perfect. A wave of near-incontrollable lust boiled inside of me, making my cock ache from the sudden blood rush. A moan escaped me as I licked my lips and scoured every inch of her soft, glowing skin.

  Gloria’s dark eyes deepened when she saw the hold she had on me. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting anyone else than her, and she knew it.

  I loosened my bow tie, as she slid my jacket off, and unbuttoned my shirt.

  I pulled off my sleeveless fitted undershirt, and watched her eyes light up at the hard rows of my abs and chest muscles. Like a moth drawn to my fire, her hands were on me, sliding over my every carved valley and solid ridge.

  “I’ve always wanted to fuck in an AV closet.” Gloria smiled as she pulled my belt free with a sudden jerk, and smoothed my pants off my hips, letting them fall to the ground. The thick, rigid outline of my hard cock strained against my tight black briefs. Gloria bit the corner of her lip when she caught sight of it. “High school me would be so impressed right now.”

  “High school you couldn’t imagine how hard you’re about to come. Not in her wildest dreams.” I swept everything off a nearby cabinet and sat Gloria down on top.

  Flat screen monitors crashed around me and fizzled against the concrete floor. A few shards of glass and plastic sprayed over my pants, ripping small holes in the fabric. That didn’t matter. Seeing her like that made it impossible to think straight. Al
l I cared about was peeling her panties back and diving into her pussy.

  “Oh yeah? You’d be surprised at– Oh!” Gloria laughed and quivered, as I jerked the thin cotton fabric aside.

  As horny as I was, she was lucky I didn’t tear her underwear in half. I pulled her thigh up to open her slit even more. Gloria’s pussy eagerly glistened. Her whole body wanted me. I couldn’t contain myself anymore I ravaged her clit and lips, with a savage hunger.

  “Holy shit!” Gloria arched her back and pushed her hips into me harder. She loved the pressure of my tongue and teeth against her tender petals. I licked and sucked, and teased and flicked, until her thighs began to tremble.

  I slipped my free hand into my briefs. I squeezed my rock solid cock, and began to stroke myself as I ate her out. She quivered, like champagne bubbles rising to the top of a toasting drink.

  “Fuckfuckfuckfuck.” Gloria twisted to the side as her first orgasm rippled through her. “Don’t—Don’t stop.”

  I slowed my tongue, but didn’t stop. I dropped my briefs and let my cock bounce in the open air. I loved knowing that she was watching me. Hearing her moan made me jerk off faster, which in turn, caused her to moan even louder.

  “You’ve ruined it for me now.” The vibrations of my deep voice sent shivers through her pussy. “I’m never going to be able to stroke my cock without the taste of your sweet pussy on my lips.”

  Gloria nearly bent in half, as another orgasm made her gasp in air.

  When all the aftershocks subsided I leaned away from her, wiped my chin, and stood up. Gloria pressed a hand into her chest, trying to slow her heart rate. She was nearly out of breath. She grabbed the back of my neck, pulled me in for a kiss. She licked my chin and, smiling, said, “Good.”

  Gloria hopped off the cabinet. The broken monitors crunched beneath her heels. I wheeled a cart of projection equipment out of the way and laid my jacket over the concrete. Then I brought her down on top of me. I could feel broken bits of plastic and glass poking me beneath my jacket, but I couldn’t care less.