Billionaire Ever After
Page 18
This is the night my life ended,
and though I didn’t know it at the time,
the night I was reborn.
The long hotel hallway, lined with doors, stretched in front of Flicka von Hannover as she ran as hard as she could.
Her ankles wobbled in her gilded, stiletto sandals every time her feet thudded on the carpeting. Her slim, crystal-encrusted skirt was bunched around her thighs so she could stretch her long legs. Her purse dangled from her wrist and bounced against her thigh with each stride.
Just a few more doors.
—432, 434, 436—
If she could reach room 460, she had a chance.
She glanced behind her, risking a stumble as she sprinted.
Doors studded the silent hallway behind her. Shimmering sconces threw dim light over the grand hotel’s gold carpeting, and black night pressed against the windows. She could still taste the metallic tinge of blood in her mouth.
No other hotel guests were standing around in the hallways at four in the morning.
—442, 444, 446—
When she had escaped from her own suite minutes before, the Secret Service men, armed with handguns and large knives, had been chasing her. Flicka had leaped into the closing elevator, rolling on the floor and slamming her shoulder against the back wall. It had been a stroke of luck that the elevator was at the penthouse and the doors had been closing just as she had run. That little bit of luck had allowed her to make it this far.
At the fourth floor, she had pushed all the buttons to send the elevator lower into the hotel, hoping to confuse her pursuers.
—450, 452, 454—
Flicka ran harder, trying to make it.
She looked back again.
The hallway behind her was still empty. Her husband’s Secret Service men hadn’t expected her to be able to sprint so quickly in high-heeled shoes and a slim ball gown, but princesses are accustomed to wearing evening dress. She could probably rappel down a cliff face in petticoats and pumps.
Flicka von Hannover was a real, modern princess, not a fairy-tale one, and she had run for her life more than once.
The Secret Service men must have made for the stairwells, splitting up to search each floor for her, planning to communicate her position to each other for reinforcements. That’s how she would have orchestrated the search. They would come thundering out of the stairwells at each end of the hallway at any moment and see her racing through the hotel with her pale pink dress hiked up around her hips and a diamond tiara glittering in her blond hair.
Room 460.
Flicka pounded on the door and held her hand against the wood, willing it to open right now.
The door moved under her hand.
The tall, blond man opening the door saw her, and his gray eyes glanced down the corridor—worried. A white towel was slung low on his hips below the accordion pleats of his abs, and a livid scar creased the skin on his biceps on one arm. Other, fainter scars criss-crossed his pale gold skin. “Durchlauchtig?”
Flicka whispered, “He said he’d kill me.”
Dieter grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside, bending to survey the hallway after she passed him. Dieter Schwarz was one of the bodyguards who’d protected her from assassins for years. “Did anyone follow you?”
Flicka leaned against the wall beside the door, still out of breath from running. “I lost them.”
Dieter pressed the door closed and flipped the locks. “You’re sure?”
“—I think so.”
He held his finger to his lips, watching through the door’s peephole.
Flicka flattened herself against the wall. Her purse dropped off her wrist and thumped on the floor.
Dieter waited, peering through the lens, and then dodged to the side, ending up standing inches in front of her. He flicked off the lights and turned, shielding her from the sight of anyone looking through the other side of the peephole. The view through the lens probably didn’t go far to the sides and no one should be able to see them in the darkness, but she hid behind him anyway.
In the faint light misting from the bedroom, Dieter’s chest and shoulders were broad, so wide across, and his muscles were chiseled lines in his flesh. The scent of fresh soap and an herbal, spicy cologne wafted off of him, faint until her nose was literally two inches away from his tanned skin and rounded chest muscles. He must have showered after they had both closed down Flicka’s brother’s wedding reception that night, only a few hours before.
Flicka tried not to breathe, tried not to gasp and cry in rage or frustration. Those emotions whipped around inside her until she couldn’t help herself any longer.
She leaned toward him and rested her cheek against Dieter’s strong shoulder, seeking comfort.
His bare skin and silken chest fuzz warmed her face. She breathed in his comforting, male scent that had felt like safety to her for so many years. A little bit of cinnamon. A little bit of clean soap and wildness.
She knew she shouldn’t. She knew she should lean back and pull away from him.
But the terror subsided a little, so she didn’t move.
Dieter’s hand cupped the back of her head, cradling her. He moved closer, resting his forearm on the wall as they waited.
Revulsion and terror warred inside Flicka. She didn’t want anyone, anyone at all, to touch her. Her guts twisted in her stomach, and yet this was Dieter, just Dieter.
She’d loved him once, and she’d hated him, but she couldn’t imagine running to anyone else when her life was in danger. If anyone could protect her, it was Dieter Schwarz.
And if no one else would take the chance, Dieter would.
Flicka snaked her arm around Dieter’s tight waist to hold onto him, lest her shaking knees give out.
Under her arm, the sinews woven around his torso slid under his skin as he barely breathed. His terrycloth towel snagged on the crystals covering her silk dress.
Dieter wrapped both his arms around her shoulders and whispered near her ear, “Does he know about us?”
Flicka shook her head. “I never told him.”
“Good.”
Footsteps marched down the hallway outside and paused outside the door.
Flicka held onto Dieter’s strong waist more tightly and tried not to breathe.
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After Blair Babylon wrote Billionaires in Disguise: Rae
readers emailed, asking, “And then what happened?”
So she wrote some short little stories about them.
Read them all here:
Billionaire Ever After
More Billionaires and Rock Stars in Disguise
BILLIONAIRES IN DISGUISE SERIES
READING ORDER
Here’s the theoretical and chronological reading order:
Working Stiff (Runaway Billionaires #1, Casimir)
Stiff Drink (Runaway Billionaires #2, Arthur Duet, Part 1)
Hard Liquor (Runaway Billionaires #3, Arthur Duet, Part 2)
“Rae Falling” (The first, free part of Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
Billionaires in Disguise: Rae, Complete Omnibus Edition (includes “Rae Falling”)
“An Extravagant Proposal” (A Side Story for Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
Falling Hard (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #1)
Playing Rough (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #2)
Breaking Rules (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #3)
Burning Bright (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #4)
“Alwaysland” (Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, A Prequel)
What A Girl Wants (Rock Stars in Disguise: Rhiannon)
Somebody To Love (Rock Stars in Disguise: Tryp)
Every Breath You Take (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #1) (includes Rae/Wulf civil wedding) ~FREE!
Wild Thing (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #2)
“Skiing in June, A Rae and Wulf Epilogue #1” (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
“Kidnapped, A Rae and Wulf Epilogue #2” (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
“Rae and Wulf: At the Hospital”
Lay Your Hands On Me (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #3)
Nothing Else Matters (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #4)
“Montreux, A Rae and Wulf Epilogue #3” (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
The Rock Star’s Secret Baby (Rock Stars in Disguise: Cadell)
“Dream On” (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, Epilogue #1)
“Keep Dreaming”
Santa, Baby (Rock Stars in Disguise: Peyton)
Runaway Princess Bride (Billionaires in Disguise: Flicka)
In Shining Armor (Runaway Princess #2) (Billionaires in Disguise: Flicka)
In A Faraway Land (Runaway Princess #3) (Billionaires in Disguise: Flicka)
At Midnight (Runaway Princess #4) (Billionaires in Disguise: Flicka)
Happily Ever After (Runaway Princess #5) (Billionaires in Disguise: Flicka)
Stiff Competition (Runaway Billionaires #4, Maxence)
You don’t have to read everything perfectly in this order. I try to recap or make books as standalone as possible. The mini-series within this overall list, such as the Lizzy books or the Georgie books, should be read in order. ~BB
Also, just so you know what you’re getting up there, novel-length books are in italics, like this, but “short forms,” like short stories and novellas, are in “quotation marks.”
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Q. Are Blair’s Billionaires Books erotic romance or erotica?
A. Blair’s Billionaires Books are all erotic romance or contemporary romance.
Erotica generally centers around the sex act, a preponderance of the page count is given to the sex act, and the main characters usually do not build a life together after the sex act. The main character usually discovers or accepts something new about herself or himself, thus it is a journey of self-discovery.
Erotic and contemporary romance concerns itself with the two people falling in love and, usually, building a life together in a very, very sexy way. Romance novels generally end with an HEA (Happily Ever After) or at least an HFN (Happy For Now).
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A. Seriously? You’re reading The Billionaires in Disguise Books in a book club? Blair wants to hang out with your awesome dirty book club. Email her above. She likes to Skype or do Google Hangouts with book clubs.
About Blair Babylon
Blair Babylon is an award-winning author who used to publish literary fiction. Because reviews of her mainstream fiction usually included the caveat that there was too much deviant sex in her novels, she decided to abandon all literary pretensions, let her freak flag fly, and write hot, sexy romance novels. She’s having much more fun, now.
You can chat with Blair Babylon at:
Website | Mailing list | Goodreads | Twitter
Like Blair’s Facebook Page
Join Babylon ~ A Fun Facebook Group!
Ebook giveaways and more every week!
Chronological Reading List
For ALL of Blair Babylon’s Books
Copyright and Notices
Copyright 2015, 2016, 2017, & 2018 by Malachite Publishing LLC
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s wild and naughty imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission from the author or publisher.
1st Edition: October, 2018