“Damn,” Drake said as he waited for her by the car. “On time and dressed like the woman of my dreams.”
“I couldn’t disappoint you since this is the first time you’ve ever wanted me ready on time,” she said with a smile.
Drake loved Samantha’s smile. The joy that she exuded when she was happy was palpable, and he wished he could bottle it up and carry it with him all the time. Sam wasn’t just pretending to be a great woman—she truly was one of the greatest women he had ever known.
Because of Sam’s involvement in LeBlanc Enterprises, they were more active in charitable groups than they ever had been before. One of the newest charities they had contributed to was Allison’s pageant program for girls with disabilities. When Samantha heard about everything that Allison was doing for those girls, she instantly offered to contribute money, not just money from the business, but her own money.
The side effect of being involved in a pageant charity was that Sam also loved to buy fancy dresses so she had a reason to donate them to Allison’s group. Before they started dating, Drake could probably count on one hand the number of times he had seen Sam in a long gown, but once Sam got involved in Allison’s charity, she was always wanting to get dressed up; then she would wear her dress once and give it to the charity. Drake loved that about her.
“You are stunning,” he said as he opened the door and helped her into the vehicle.
“Thank you, darling,” Samantha said. “Now why is tonight so important? I’m sure the people at Romani’s would have held our table if we weren’t on time.”
Sam was right. The owners of Romani’s would have held a table for Drake without question. They loved him just as much as he loved going to their restaurant. But Drake had a lot planned for the evening and didn’t want to throw the timing off for any of it. His proposal was going to go off without a hitch, and he couldn’t risk the timing being the cause for something not working out the way it was supposed to.
“Well, thank you for being ready; I really appreciate it,” Drake said, leaning in and gently kissing Sam.
He knew that she didn’t like her lipstick messed up after she had gotten ready, so he left his kiss gentle. Drake knew a lot about what Sam liked and didn’t like, and that was going to make the night’s festivities even more exciting.
Sam reached over and held onto Drake’s hand as they pulled out of the driveway. She didn’t feel the need to talk constantly as they drove, just another reason Drake and Sam got along so well. On that night especially, Drake didn’t want to risk giving any clues to the night he had planned, so he didn’t want to talk too much before they got to the restaurant.
For five years, Sam had been one of his best friends. She was the one he went to when he had great ideas, and he could hardly keep a secret around her at all. Drake knew if he talked too much, Sam was going to know something was up purely because he was so horrible at keeping secrets from her.
They pulled up in front of Romani’s, and the valet opened Drake’s door, then Drake went around and opened Samantha’s door. He held his hand out to help her out of the vehicle, and she wrapped her arm around his as they walked into the restaurant. He knew how much she enjoyed going to dinner. It had been one of their favorite things to do together since they started to date.
“There’s just something so magical about a dinner out in L.A.,” Sam said as they walked toward their seat.
She had said something very similar on previous nights when they had gone to dinner. It was exciting to be out in L.A. in the evening mostly because the energy of the town seemed to come to life. But Sam had also loved to see celebrities out and about, eating and having normal lives. She wasn’t a celebrity stalker or anything like that, but Sam just enjoyed seeing how real celebrities were. So many people put celebrities up on pedestals, but they were just like everyone else.
“Yes, tonight does feel pretty magical,” Drake said with a smile.
His secret was bursting at the seams, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it in for very much longer. He wanted to see Sam’s face when she realized what was going on. He couldn’t wait to see how she would react when everything started to unfold right there in the restaurant.
The waiter came over to the table, and Drake ordered them some wine and an appetizer while they looked through the menu. Despite coming to the restaurant several times before, Sam always wanted to try something new when she was there. She liked the excitement of not knowing exactly what she was going to get.
“Oh, my God,” Samantha said as she looked over Drake’s shoulder. “It’s Julia Roberts. She’s right there with her husband and kids. Right there, Drake,” Sam said as she nodded in the direction of the celebrity.
“You should go ask her for an autograph,” he teased.
Drake knew that Sam didn’t like autographs, and that wasn’t why she liked celebrities so much. She liked them because they followed their dreams and went after what they wanted. Celebrities were the ultimate in dream followers and that inspired Sam more than anything else about them.
“Oh, she’s walking over here. Oh, my God, Drake, she’s coming over here.”
Drake just sat looking forward as Julia Roberts joined them at their table. This was all part of the plan, and he tried his best not to let himself give in and smile.
“Drake LeBlanc, thank you so much for your generous donation at the Playboy Mansion charity event. I’m looking forward to lunch with your friend.”
“It was my pleasure and my friend Emily is looking forward to her time with you as well. This is my girlfriend, Samantha,” Drake said as he introduced the two of them.
“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Julia said shaking Sam’s hand. “I better get back to my family. Enjoy your night.”
Just as quickly as she had come over to the table, she was gone and back sitting with her family. Sam was left holding four small wooden letters that looked like they had come from a scrabble game.
“She handed me these,” Sam said with a puzzled expression.
She held out her hand and in it were two ‘L’ letters, one ‘I’, and one ‘W’. Drake just smiled at her as he watched the inquisitive nature of her expression. Sam looked at the letters and then back up at Drake.
Scrabble was the first game she and Drake had ever played together. He could still remember the night he was waiting for a big client to commit to a project, and they had set the game up in the conference room. Sam had kicked his ass with words that he was convinced weren’t actually words at all, but he didn’t care because it was so fun to watch her excitement as she beat him.
“Maybe she knows how much you love Scrabble,” Drake said with a smile.
But before Sam could say another word, she looked up and saw another of her favorite celebrities standing right next to her table. Harrison Ford was holding the hand of his long-time girlfriend and didn’t say a word to either of them; he just handed Sam three more letters.
“What is going on?” Samantha said with a grin that shone across her face.
She placed the new letters in a pile and moved them around to form the only word that would work. ‘Y’, ‘O’, ‘U’ were the letters that she laid out on the table. Then she reorganized the first set of letters to form the word ‘W’, ‘I’, ‘L’, ‘L’. Suddenly Sam knew exactly what was going on, and her face turned bright red as she looked up at Drake with tears in her eyes.
He couldn’t have wished for a better response from Sam as she realized he was going to ask her to marry him. But it wasn’t over yet, and the next celebrity that walked up to their table was one that Drake knew Sam had loved for many years. She wasn’t the biggest named celebrity in the world, but Demi Lovato was one of Sam’s favorite celebrities. She had fought against a lot of odds and made music that Sam loved.
“Hey, dear,” Demi said as she handed Sam some more letters. “I think you are about to have one hell of an amazing night. Come see my show tomorrow, and we can talk backstage.”
Demi rea
ched down and hugged Sam, who was in total tears by that point. Sam couldn’t even talk as she wrapped her arms around Demi and nodded her head yes to the offer to come to her concert.
Drake felt his own eyes tearing up as he watched Samantha. He couldn’t have hoped for the day to be any better as he grabbed the letters out of Sam’s hand and placed them on the table to spell ‘M’, ‘A’, ‘R’, ‘R’, ‘Y’. Everyone was watching them as Drake pulled the last two letters out of his pocket and slid the ‘M’ and ‘E’ across the table to Sam.
He then got down on one knee and pulled out the diamond engagement ring that he had Harry Winston rush for him that day. Sam could hardly keep her eyes open, they were so full of tears. She nodded her head yes before Drake had even asked the big question.
“Samantha Marie Holt, you are the love of my life, and nothing would make me happier than if you would agree to be my wife,” Drake said as he pulled the ring out of the box and presented it to her.
The whole restaurant erupted into applause as Drake held the ring up to Sam’s finger and slid it on. She was shaking and in tears as she bobbed her head up and down to say yes, but then finally found the words to actually talk.
“Yes, yes, yes!” she screamed as she pulled Drake up off the ground and he wrapped her in his arms.
She could hardly see straight from the tears, but she was happy, and Drake saw that in her eyes. He had made her happy, and he hoped to be able to continue to do that for the rest of her life. He couldn’t wait to get started on planning their wedding because he wanted it to happen as soon as possible.
Drake had spent almost forty years of his life working on his business and putting his personal life second. Now that he found Sam, and she had agreed to be his, he wasn’t about to waste another moment before they started their life together.
He hugged her and spun her around as the restaurant continued to cheer. Drake couldn’t have been happier than he was at that moment, and he expected his life would only get better and better now that Sam would permanently part of it.
“Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, and Demi Lovato just proposed to me,” Sam said through her tears as she laughed. “Thank you, Drake. I love you so much.”
Chapter 4
“Did she say yes?” Sam’s father said when he called him later that evening.
“Yes, I think she is planning to call you soon. It went off without a hitch. Thank you for giving me your blessing.”
“Of course, Drake. She has been happier these last few months than I had ever hoped she would be. Her mother and I will be coming into town in a couple of weeks, and we would love to take you two out to dinner to celebrate.”
Drake loved Sam’s father very much. He had hoped her family would be happy with the news, but hearing just how happy they were was music to his ears.
“Yes, we would love that.”
“When will the wedding be? I hope you won’t be waiting five years?” her father joked.
“Oh, heck no. I’d get married tomorrow if I could convince Sam to do it.”
“Why not plan it for when we are there in two weeks?” Mr. Holt said nonchalantly.
“I’m not sure Sam would appreciate that very much; you know women—they always want to plan everything and throw a huge event.”
Mr. Holt was quiet for a minute, and Drake thought he might have said something wrong. He didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his relationship with his future in-laws. Drake knew them well enough that he felt comfortable with Samantha’s family, but he didn’t know them well enough to know if something he said was offensive to them. He didn’t think it was, but as the silence dragged on, his nerves got the best of him.
“Is that what Sam wants?” Mr. Holt asked.
Drake didn’t really know at all what Sam wanted for her wedding day. They had never even brought up the conversation before, that was probably why she had been so blown away by the proposal.
“You know, I’m not sure. I guess we should talk about it.”
“Talk to her and see. We’ll be there no matter when you decide to have it.”
As Drake got off the phone with Samantha’s father, he couldn’t help thinking about the idea of throwing the wedding in two weeks. But he didn’t think Sam would like it. Not because it was so fast, but because she was in the middle of a big project at work and would say she was too busy to arrange everything. Drake made a note to talk with some women in Sam’s life and get their opinion on if he should even bring up the option.
“Who was that?” Sam asked as she came out of the bathroom.
“Oh, just a friend. I had to share the good news. Have you called your parents yet?” Drake asked.
“I’m just about to call my mother now. I was thinking about telling them when they came out in two weeks, but I can’t keep a secret that long at all. Speaking of secrets, how the hell did you keep that proposal a secret from me? You’re horrible at keeping secrets.”
“Hey, how do you know if I’m horrible or not? Maybe I’m so good at keeping secrets that I just never tell you. Therefore, you think I’m bad at keeping secrets when I’m really the best secret keeper in the world.”
Sam started to laugh hysterically at Drake, and he pulled her onto the bed with him. They both knew that Drake was horrible at keeping secrets, and that was the truth. Drake held Sam on his lap while they sat in bed. She was wrapped in her pink silk robe with her hair wet from the shower.
“I just took my shower mister, you behave yourself.”
“Oh, I’m about to behave myself all over you,” Drake said as he untied her robe and exposed Sam’s naked body.
“Drake, I’m going to have to shower again,” she pretended to plead with him. “You’re going to wash me. I’m not doing all that work again.”
“Mmm, that’s a promise I can keep.”
He quickly grabbed her and threw her down on their soft bed before standing up and starting to take off all of his clothes. Everything about Sam made his body rock hard. He literally couldn’t think about any part of her body that he didn’t love.
As she lay there naked on the bed, Drake’s cock throbbed for her. He wanted to feel her softness around him and couldn’t wait to climb into bed with her so he could feel her body.
“Happy engagement day,” Drake said sweetly as his body pressed against hers.
“We should get married soon,” Sam said softly. “I just want something small with my family. How quickly could we make it happen? Maybe if I hired a planner, we could get it done in a couple of months?”
Drake couldn’t believe his ears. Sam had unwillingly just given him the go ahead to throw a surprise wedding. Sure, it was risky to surprise the bride with her own wedding, but then again, Drake’s entire life had been filled with risk; why should he change now that he was getting married?
“Sounds good. How about we look up some planners and see who we like tomorrow? I don’t have much going on at work.”
“We?” Sam asked.
“Hell, yeah, I’m only getting married once, and I’m going to be involved in planning the damn thing.”
“That’s a deal,” Sam said as she pulled Drake’s body into her.
Her hips thrust upward as she urged him to move deeper inside of her. His mind was filled with thoughts of how he could possibly plan a wedding in two weeks. There was no doubt he’d have to hire a party planner, and they were going to do it the next day. Whether Sam knew it or not, he was going to get her input on the wedding.
Their bodies moved together gently as they kissed each other and let their hands move over each other’s bodies. Drake loved the feeling of her soft skin against him and knew he would never get tired of having Sam naked in his bed.
He had fantasized about having her for so many years that it still felt unreal when they made love sometimes. His mind would flash back to a fantasy he had about Sam, and he would have to wonder if it was real life or one of his fantasies remembered.
Drake moved his body with Sam’s
as they built up the excitement between them. Her chest heaved as she took in deep breaths and rocked her body in perfect timing with Drake’s. Nothing about their lovemaking was boring. Not way Drake moved his hips, nor the way Sam grabbed his back; it all worked together perfectly to form a cosmic explosion as they both finally erupted together.
When Drake fell onto the bed in exhaustion, he couldn’t help smiling at the realization he was lying next to his soon-to-be wife. Samantha had agreed to marry him, and he wasn’t going to waste a single moment. He was going to do everything in his power to throw a surprise wedding that still met all Sam’s requirements for being the wedding of her dreams.
“Um, don’t you fall asleep, fiancé of mine,” Sam said as she tugged on Drake’s arms. “You promised to wash me down in the shower.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t think you were serious. I’m too tired. I can’t move. My legs are cramping up,” Drake teased as he pretended to have leg cramps.
But all Sam had to do was smile at him, and Drake started to crawl out of the bed and go with her to the shower. Sam had that power over Drake for most of the time they had known each other. Even when she first started to work for him, Drake could remember how she would flash her smile at him and ask for something; he would always give in.
“I’m going to need every inch of me washed off,” Sam teased Drake.
“Yes ma’am,” he answered.
As they climbed into the large walk-in shower, Drake turned the wall of shower heads on and warmed up the water before Sam climbed in. The shower was big enough to fit several people and had a stone bench on one side of the area.
There were six shower heads that shot out from the wall and two from overhead. Drake had a remote control that he could use and make the shower heads work in different patterns and with different water strengths for a hydro massage while he showered. But he knew that Sam wanted a more personal touch while she showered, and that was perfectly fine with him.
Bedroom Rodeo: A Billionaire Romance Page 130