BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The Unforgettable Southern Billionaires: The Complete Collection Boxed Set (Young Adult Rich Alpha Male Billionaire Romance)

by Walker, Violet

  She didn’t answer because there was no need. Besides they both knew how much she loved this land, loved Montana. And maybe just a tiny part of her wanted to give him the cold shoulder.

  “Yes Jake it is beautiful. How are you this morning?” He smiled and deepened his voice, “I’m great Zaria, thanks for asking.” He turned his blue gaze to her, “That’s how you have a proper conversation.”

  She grunted. It was too damn early for conversation.

  “I don’t know if Annabelle told you but she invited me to stay here at the ranch while I’m in Beloved. I hope that’s okay, she figured it would give me as much time with Zach as possible.”

  Her jaws clenched as she literally bit back the words she wanted to say. “If Ma invited you to stay I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s okay with me or not.”

  “Dammit Zaria, I’m trying here. Okay?”

  She stood and looked down at him. Fiery blue gaze to fiery blue gaze. “I don’t want you to try Jake, okay? Just be good to Zach and don’t forget him when you go back to wherever you’re from, that’s all I ask.” She went back inside and poured another cup before going to wake her son.

  “Mom do you think Dad is coming over today?”

  She hated that wary tone she heard in his voice. “No he’s not coming over baby, he’s already here. Grandma invited him to stay at the ranch so you could see him as much as you want.”

  “Really? Oh boy, that’s so cool!”

  She had to smile at his youthful excitement. Her sons laugh and sweet voice brought such joy to her heart. “I’m glad you think so, kiddo.” She kissed his cheek and sent him down for breakfast.

  “Hi Ryleigh, bye Ryleigh,” he yelled as he flew down the stairs. “Dad you’re here!”

  Ryleigh laughed as she stepped back out of his way. “Boy if we could bottle that energy we’d be rich!” She yawned. “Man I’m so tired and I slept eight hours,” she covered her mouth. “How about a ride with your favorite sister?”

  “Meet you in the stable in a half hour?”

  Zaria nodded and got dressed in her favorite dark blue jeans, teal snap button top with a white tank underneath. She braided her blonde hair and grabbed a dusty Stetson and made her way to the stable. “Ry, are you in here?”

  “The horses are already out here woman, get your butt in gear.”

  She laughed and followed the crazy redhead to where the horses waited. “Let’s ride the Lazy Bones trail, that’ll give us time to chat.”

  “Are you ready to talk about Jake yet?”

  No. “Yeah, I suppose.” She didn’t really want to talk about him at all. There was nothing to say. He was Zach’s father and he was going to be here for who knew how long.

  “Good talk,” Ryleigh laughed. “So you’re still pretty pissed at him?”

  She shrugged. “Not really pissed, just disappointed. I mean, I always thought he would leave again and not look back but I never thought he would do that after he’d gotten so attached to Zach. Or seemed to.”

  “Oh he cares sweetie. He’s just a man and men are stupid.”

  “Yeah well when it comes to your kid, stupid isn’t a good enough excuse.”

  “I guess that makes sense. I hope my baby always has a father around. I couldn’t imagine if anything ever happened to Zeke or he walked away from me. God, Zaria.” She rubbed her belly absently, staring into the distance.

  Zaria was staring with her mouth open at Ryleigh’s wistful expression. “Oh my gosh, you’re pregnant! Ryleigh and Zeke are having a baby,” she whispered with tears in her eyes. “Oh Ryleigh that is so great. Amazing, wonderful.” She leaned over and half hugged her friend. “There’s going to be another baby on the ranch! Ma’s gonna be so excited.”

  “Slow down woman you’re making my head spin.” She smiled and waited for Zaria to calm down. “I’m six weeks along so I guess it happened that first night we were together,” she blushed. “I actually have an ulterior motive for telling you. We’re getting married in a month and I want you to be my maid of honor and help me plan it. Are you in?”

  “As long as you don’t make me wear any type of gingham.”

  “Done.”

  She smiled, “In that case, I’m in!”

  ****

  Jake hadn’t felt so young since he was a child. Being around Zach gave him a newfound youth that he hadn’t experienced since he was growing up in Beloved. “Dad come on,” he urged as he ran around gathering eggs. “I’m going to beat you!”

  Jake’s big body was doubled over the coop trying to pull eggs out without getting pecked. Zach was doubled over with laughter after every two or three eggs, pointing and having a good laugh at his dad’s expense. “Very funny. It’s no fair, your hands are smaller than mine!”

  “No dad look, this is how you do it.” He leaned in and explained, with his grown up voice, exactly how to remove eggs from the coop. Twenty minutes later they were on their way inside with a basket full of eggs, most gathered by Zach.

  “Grandma, look at all the eggs we got! Now you can make lots of cakes.”

  “Or maybe I’ll just boil all these eggs and we can eat’em for dinner.”

  “Ew grandma, gross. I’m just going to take these eggs back to the coop.” He giggled when she grabbed him up and tickled him.

  “Come on kiddo, let your grandma work her magic while we get cleaned up.” He scooped Zach up and carried him up the stairs, passing Zaria on the way down. He wished the ice between them would thaw but she steadfastly ignored him in a way that didn’t really allow him to say anything. She wasn’t hostile or angry or mean, she just sidestepped his attempts at conversation and left the room when he entered it.

  While Zach cleaned up he made his way downstairs, stopping at the midway point when her heard Zaria and Annabelle talking. “I thought this was what you wanted Zaria, a family.”

  She scoffed, “Yeah mom I did, a decade ago. He made his choice then and we’ve all made our own lives since then. I just don’t want him to do to Zach what he did to me. He’s too young for that kind of heartbreak.”

  He heard Annabelle’s patient voice tell her, “I don’t think you have to worry about that. He’s as smitten with that boy as he was with you when you first brought him home.” Jake smiled at the memory.

  “Then we have no problem.”

  “You know, there are easier ways to tell a man you still love him.”

  Zaria hesitated and then forced a laugh. “Thanks Ma. If I’m ever dumb enough to fall in love again, I’ll be sure to remember that.”

  Jake had heard enough. He made sure his last few steps were loud enough to alert them to his presence. “Afternoon, ladies.”

  “Jake you’re just in time to help Zaria with the salad,” she smiled at him and winked. His face flushed, she must have known he was listening.

  “No need, it’s already done,” she sat it on the table and skipped up the stairs. “Zach lunch is almost ready.”

  He watched her go, his heart slowly breaking at her behavior. She was dead set on not exploring whatever there still was between them. He knew by the way she’d made loved to him that they weren’t finished. Apparently Zaria didn’t get the memo.

  “She’ll come around Jake. You hurt her and her heart ain’t inclined to open up to you again so soon.”

  “I sure hope you’re right.”

  Chapter Three

  “I can’t believe we’re getting married in two weeks Zeke. It seems like just yesterday you were shouting at me in the middle of a field.” Ryleigh was rubbing lotion on her legs with a towel wrapped around her body. “I love you, sweetie.”

  Zeke wrapped his arms around her and dropped a few kisses down the side of her neck. “I love you too honey, more than you know.” His hand roamed up her body tugging the towel until it dropped to the floor. “And I’d like to show you how much.”

  Ryleigh giggled. “We don’t have time for this Zeke, there’s a party kicking off downstairs and we’re the guests of honor.” For the past t
wo weeks she and Zaria had worked hard to put on a party worthy of the Triple Z Ranch and invited all of Beloved.

  Zeke growled his appreciation at her naked body, his hands cupped her breast and his thumbs grazed her nipples. “It’s our party honey and they’ll wait for us.” He spun her in his arms and attached his mouth to a pink tipped nipple and sucked until she screamed his name. “You taste so good, baby.”

  Ryleigh lost herself to the heat washing over her body as his mouth made love to first one breast and then the other. “Zeke,” she whispered, arching her back and pushing her hips against his. “You’re hard and ready for me.” She reached her hand between them and fisted his cock, pumping eagerly until he hissed in her ear. “I need you Zeke. Inside me now.”

  His grunt bounced off the walls of the bedroom and he grabbed her by the waist and lifted until her long legs circled his waist. “Ah,” he hissed again when he pushed his head inside her wet heat. “You’re so fucking wet baby,” he groaned and slid in on one smooth thrust.

  “Oh Zeke,” she threw her head back until her red hair fell over the arm that held her tight to him. Zeke licked the column of her neck, soft nips dotting her neck until his mouth found what it sought, her plump breast hard and glistening from his tongue. She fisted her hands in his hair and held him closer to her breast. “Yes Zeke,” she moaned again and clenched around him. He growled and his teeth closed around her nipple, his thrusts coming in harder and harder, pounding her body into submission. “Zeke, I’m coming,” she called and felt her body stiffen and tighten around his cock. For a long endless moment she floated in the heavens far away from earth and everything she’d ever known. And then like a burst of lightning her orgasm ripped through her, shattering her body and soul as she floated back down to earth. To Zeke. She gave him a lazy sated smile. “Now it’s your turn cowboy,” she said as her body sucked and squeezed him from deep within.

  “Oh fuck Ry!” He cried out when her pussy began milking him. His thrusts were ragged, frantic and needy as his body sought pleasure in the depths of hers. His thrusts kept coming, her moans making him rock hard and eager to see her to another orgasm. No one looked as beautiful as Ryleigh did when she glowed from his loving. “Now I’m ready baby, come with me.” He tipped her backwards until her red waves were brushing the floor and her hips thrust upward in the perfect angle to make him lose his mind. His grunts grew louder, more guttural and then finally he stilled and sent his seed splashing inside her. ”Goodness Ryleigh, that was fucking amazing!”

  She smiled. “And to think, we get to do that every damn day for the rest of forever.”

  He buried his face in her neck and laughed. Damn he was going to enjoy being married to this redheaded minx.

  ****

  “Dad can you teach me how to tie a tie?” Zach turned facing Jake, his tie looped into a big bow.

  Jake’s smile was wide enough to light all of Triple Z. “I sure can buddy, come here.” He crouched down until they were eye level and turned him in the mirror and explained how to tie a perfect knot. “And there you have it.” Then he untied it.

  “Hey! What’d you do that for?”

  He wanted to laugh at the angry expression that so mirrored his own. “Now it’s your turn to do it. Do it once and you’ll never forget how.”

  He stared at him thoughtfully for a few seconds. “Okay,” he said and promptly tied his own tie. “I did it dad! I’m gonna go show Mom.”

  Jake laughed and watched his son dart out of his room in search of Zaria. He heard the boy downstairs telling anyone who would listen how he tied his own tie.

  “You’re pretty good with him,” Zeke’s gruff voice offered reluctant praise.

  “Thanks. He’s a great kid and I owe a lot of that to you.”

  Zeke grunted and stared.

  Jake bent over and laughed. “You and your sister are master conversationalists. Maybe you ought to go into town more often.”

  “Yeah well raising a kid and working a ranch are enough to keep any person busy, never mind a single mother.”

  Oh so they were having that talk right now. “Well had I known I would have helped in any way I could.”

  “Then maybe you should be asking yourself why you didn’t know.” Zeke stalked away to join his engagement party.

  When Jake finally made his way downstairs most of the guests were seated at tables under a big tent set up in the yard. The ranch was transformed into an elegant ballroom complete with linen tablecloths, crystal glasses and expensive plates. The girls had gone all out in planning this engagement party and the wedding. He spotted Zach and Zaria at a table near the front.

  “Dad over here!” He walked over, his eyes glued to Zaria looking like real life fantasy in a silk dress that was the same color as her eyes. “Doesn’t mom look beautiful?”

  “She looks like the prettiest picture I ever saw.” Zach giggled and he didn’t miss the hitch in her breath. “May I have this dance, Zaria?”

  She looked up at him, his black hair slicked back with that one curl that couldn’t be tamed falling over one eye. His blue eyes glowed with amusement, the bastard knew he had her. She couldn’t say no in front of Zach and risk him picking up on the tension between them, but she also couldn’t bear the thought of being in his arms again. It was still too soon, she was still too affected by him. “Fine.”

  “Don’t sound so excited about it,” he joked.

  “Yeah Mom don’t sound so excited,” Zach laughed.

  “You’re lucky I’m even doing this, don’t push it.” She held her body stiff as they walked to the dance floor where only Zeke and Ryleigh danced along with a handful of other couples. Jake pulled her in close until they were cheek to cheek and one strong arm banded around her back and the other grasped her hand against his heart. This was torture, pure and simple. His delicious smell, his masculine heat and everything that made him Jake was too much at this moment. He was too much.

  “It feels incredible to have you in my arms again. I never thought I would get the chance to hold you this close and I know I don’t deserve it, but I love it.” She stiffened at his words and he didn’t know what to make of it. “I want to tell you a story Zaria and I want you to listen without interrupting me. Can you do that?”

  She closed her eyes and nodded, knowing she couldn’t make a scene tonight at Zeke and Ryleigh’s engagement party. She kept her eyes closed and listened while Adele crooned in the background as Jake told her about why he’d broken her heart all those years ago. Told her how his father threatened to cut off his college money as well as alimony for his mother if Jake didn’t move to California for college. He explained that he couldn’t leave his mom to end up homeless while he ran off with his girlfriend. She winced and her heart cracked a tiny bit more at his classification of her as just his girlfriend when she thought they’d had a great love for the ages. But she didn’t say anything, didn’t argue that they could have found a way to be together, that he could have contacted her if she’d ever meant anything to him. She didn’t say any of that. She stepped back when the song ended and told him, “Thank you for telling me,” and walked off the dance floor.

  ****

  Zaria had to get out of here and away from all the happy couples and she especially had to get away from Jake. As far away from Jake Olson as possible. She didn’t think it possible but somehow he had managed to break her heart all over again.

  She understood the dilemma he’d faced as an eighteen year old boy with the world at his feet. Leaving his mother to fend for herself was never an option and she never would have asked him to do that. What hurt more than anything was that he’d simply fled without a word. He never felt the need to send a letter explaining his decision or asking her to come to California with him. No he just vanished without a trace. Of course he did, she reminded herself, you were just some girlfriend. You were never the love of his life.

  To think that the single most important romantic relationship she’d ever had was not the grand love she thoug
ht it to be was devastating but it was also kind of a relief. Now she didn’t have to hold up that relationship as an example of what real love was. She didn’t have to color her sexual experiences with expectations of what sex with love was like. “Now I can actually go out and enjoy a sexual relationship with a man.”

  “This conversation just got interesting,” joked Annabelle as she climbed the steps on the front porch. It was far enough away from the party that she could faintly hear the music but not be scene. “Any man in particular?”

  She shook her head. “No just in general. Jake just explained to me that I was just some girlfriend and it hurt, god Mama it hurt so bad,” she clutched her chest unconsciously. “But you know, it was also freeing. I can stop looking at my relationship with Jake as something bigger and better than what it was. We were high school sweethearts and that was it. All this time I thought he’d just walked away from the most special love there ever was and it was all in my head.” Her smile was watery and she gave those tears permission to fall. She was surprised they weren’t tears of sadness, they felt more like release. Laughter bubbled up and she let it free, letting the sound and sensation wash over her. “Goodness. All this emotion is too much.”

  Annabelle smiled. “I’m glad you finally got that weight off your chest sweetheart. It’ll be easier when I tell you what I have to say.”

  “What is it Mama?”

  “Bullshit.”

  She gasped, “Mama! What’s wrong with you, using that language?”

  “You’re old enough to hear it, girl. I call bullshit on all of it. You and Jake were as in love and me and your daddy when we were teenagers, maybe more. You looked at each other like the other was responsible for the moon and the stars, the oceans and the earth. It was quite a thing to watch if you want to know the truth.” She fanned herself and laughed. “I always knew something big must’ve happened to pull that boy away from you, lord knows it would have to be grave for him to leave you behind.”