“I worked so hard for this house. I’m going to have to start all over.”
“No,” he said. You won’t. I have something to tell you,” Jack turned to face her and took her hand.
“What is it?” Hadley asked. She wasn’t sure that she could handle another surprise about this man she was just feeling as if she knew again. The heat of attraction coursed through her as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.
“The house…” he said, looking up at it. “Your house. It’s paid for.”
Hadley’s heart stopped. She could not speak.
“I had Roger arrange for it. He uncovered the balance due, and I’ve put money into an offshore account that’s ready when you want to transfer it. Your house is paid for. You don’t have to worry.”
Hadley felt a rush of relief flood over her.
“And your business…” he said. She waited with a trembling lip. The sense of relief that she felt continued to crash over her like a tidal wave.
“Your business debt is covered, and I have a check for Wilder Marketing here. You could pay for staff for a year, advertising, equipment… anything that you need to get going again. I know you are smart, Hadley, and good at your job. I want you to have it back.”
Hadley managed to hold back tears, but her lip continued to tremble.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said. “I don’t know why you’re doing this.”
“You said you could teach me how to love again, Hadley,” said Jack. He smiled. “You already have. I remembered what it was like to love Jane’s mother. I remembered true intimacy. That wouldn’t have happened without you,” Jack said.
Hadley’s hand shook as she reached it up to her mouth and covered it. She sat for a moment, the shock of having her worries lifted so completely from her shoulders left her unsteady, the world spinning around her. Shouts and clapping floated through the bushes, and filtered through the oak leaves above her. Happy sounds seemed to float down to her from above, sprinkling down like raindrops off of the oak’s leaves and branches.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you,” Hadley said at last.
“You don’t have to. It’s my thanks to you.”
“But Jack,” said Hadley, her eyes full of concern. “What about you? What about... us?” She finally managed the term ‘us.’ When it came to Jack, there had been such a wide divide between them that the word never seemed to stretch wide enough, far enough, to encompass both of them. At last it seemed to fit, like an oversized sweater that she’d managed to pull over both of their torsos. She saw him smile at the term.
“Well,” he said. “I’ll have to visit undercover. We switched out the Cadillac… now we’ll be trading between three highly anonymous Lincolns. The press has stopped following me, and I can get around as long as I don’t stay out in the open for too long. I could come and visit…”
“Yes,” Hadley said, sure that this was what she wanted. “Yes, I would like that.”
“And you could see my homes. I have a few,” he said, and by his tone she knew that he meant more than just a few. He smiled.
Hadley tried to imagine his mansions. She wondered if they were as grand and majestic as she would expect from a billionaire, or if they were understated, like the cottage. She couldn’t wait to find out.
“I want to be with you, Hadley,” he said softly. “I want you by my side. I want to spend me time with you. I need you near. I feel better when you are near.”
“You do… you feel things, Jack?” she said in a joking manner, though her eyes were starting to tear up at his words.
He laughed. “Thanks to you. I won’t let you go again, Hadley.”
His words made her heart feel so open that she felt she might float up into the sky. As she thought about this, she felt his hand on her chin, grounding her back to her seat on the bench. He tilted her head up towards his, and leaned down and kissed her. His kiss was strong, deep, and felt more loving than ever before.
As their lips parted, Hadley whispered, “Jack. I have to know one thing. Is it only going to be me? Or am I one of many women that you do this with?”
“Hadley, there’s only you. I don’t want that life any more. I only want you. If you’ll have me.”
“Yes, Jack.” She smiled as she kissed him again.
The end.
Enjoyed that? Be sure to check out other parts in the Alphas From Money series here:
https://www.afroromancebooks.com/alphasfrommoney
For example (each can be read as a stand along story):
1: Her Older Alpha.
2: Her Russian Alpha.
3: Quadruplets For Her Alpha.
More coming soon, if they're not out already. Have a search. ;)
Is This Love...
Sometimes, you get that second chance...
A sexy millionaire BBW romance by J A Fielding of BWWM Club. Features another free bonus book.
Natasha’s life was blown apart by the death of her Army fiancé Kyle.
Now she’s running her own successful web design business, but still can’t seem to get life back into gear.
But then she meets Matthew Leander, a handsome millionaire travel blogger who needs his website redesigned.
And when he meets Natasha, he ends up wanting a whole lot more than a redesign.., and so does she.
Soon they’re hitting it off and burning it up in the bedroom.
But their wildly romantic tryst comes to an end when Matthew announces he’s going traveling the following week.
Natasha feels betrayed, used and devastated.
With her attachment to the past, and Matthew’s inability to commit, how can their love ever work?
Can they smash their barriers to find the life and love they so desperately want?
Find out in this gripping, red hot romance by J A Fielding of BWWM Club.
Suitable for over 18s only due to sex scenes so hot, you’ll dream of jetting off into the sunset with your own handsome stranger.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 1
It was a little after three in the afternoon when Natasha Bailey looked at her phone and sighed. She had planned on being out of the office by midday considering she had started the day quite early on that particular Tuesday. Well, it was a little earlier than early really thanks to her latest client. Suddenly, she hated herself for taking on a different project than she was used to.
“Music, Natasha? Really?” she wondered as she took a sip from her bottle of water that was sitting on her desk next to her computer. “I usually do so well with the business websites, but no, that was not enough. I just had to venture into the unknown.”
She took a long deep breath and looked around for her pen. A loud gasp escaped her lips when she realized for the millionth time that she had lost it. She drummed her fingers on her notepad and leaned back in her chair, gently rubbing her temple as she thought of what to do next. Natasha could have easily walked to the other side of the desk and taken her intern’s pen, but the desk seemed a little too far. And as far as the idea of bending down to pull the drawer for an extra pen went, she knew that it was futile. This was her last pen…at least until she got a new batch of stationary delivered at the end of the week.
She was still looking for her pen when she heard the door open. She looked up to see her intern Travis Vaughn walking in, holding a takeout bag in one hand and a couple of coffees in the other hand.
“I thought you would be gone by now,” he said as he walked towards her.
She shrugged.
“I thought so too, but this Bars and Clefs For America’s Heroes is killing me,” she said as she leaned back in her chair. “I should have n
ever taken this job.”
Travis raised an eyebrow over the other and smiled.
“You know you love this project,” he said as he placed the takeout bag on the desk. “It is the challenge that actually pushed you to taking it. You know it and I know it.”
She sighed loudly and took another sip of her water.
“It is a great project and it is for a great cause, but it is kicking my ass…I mean, if I don’t deliver, I will have failed everyone who risks their life to defend us both at home and abroad,” she said in an exhausted voice. “So, is this coffee for someone specific or did you anticipate me being in the office at this time?” she asked, and Travis smiled as he handed her one of the Styrofoam cups.
“I have been here for ten months and I have learned that while you keep business deadlines, you hardly ever keep deadlines that concern your health.”
Natasha smiled as she took a sip of her coffee and then closed her eyes before she let out a long satisfied sigh.
“You remembered my favorite order,” she said, her eyes still closed, a smile on her lips.
“You have several favorites actually. But black, three pumps vanilla, one pump cinnamon is your go-to blend for days you promise to leave early,” Travis said, and Natasha shook her head.
“Days I promise to leave early?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Well, you always say you are going to leave early, but you never really do. So, I brought coffee and lunch because I know that you didn’t leave that desk since I left,” he said. “A choice of orange chicken or ginger beef and a side of vegetable rice, of course.”
“I will have a little of both. Thank you very much,” Natasha said as she began opening one of the boxes.
“So, this project you are currently working on,” Travis started as he poured a little orange chicken onto his vegetable rice.
“Bars and Clefs for America’s Heroes,” she said, nodding.
“It is so much easier to just say B-CAH. But that’s beside the point…I know why you took on this project,” he started, and she looked at him for a brief second before she reached for her chopsticks.
“Don’t say it,” she warned.
“Well, I am sorry, but I am going to have to say it,” he said.
“Travis, don’t,” she warned again.
“I will,” Travis said before he leaned back and looked at her. “Barlow.”
Natasha looked up at him and exhaled loudly.
“Travis…” She shook her head. “This is not something I want to talk about. Ever. I thought I made that clear enough.”
“Well, I have been here for ten months, and so far all I can tell is that this little refuge you have built for yourself here is a little more than just work oriented,” Travis said, and Natasha shrugged. “You know I love it here at Big Ideas, but the truth is you have to move on from Barlow.”
She bit her lower lip and shrugged.
“I think I already did,” she said, and he took a bite of his food.
“Really? You think so?”
She shrugged again.
“Before Big Ideas, I was just another underpaid genius helping people at Best Buy with their computing questions and now I have Big Ideas,” she said. “I think that is pretty much the definition of moving on.”
Travis took another bite of his food and then reached for some ginger beef.
“You reinvented yourself in your career path, but that does not really say much as far as moving on from Kyle…I mean, this is unhealthy, Tasha. You and I know that.”
“Travis,” Natasha started as she put her chopsticks down on the table and looked across the desk at him. “I know you are just trying to look out for me and I appreciate it, but right now, this works. Me being here, just focusing all my time and work into Big Ideas and its clients…this is enough for me right now.”
She was looking at Travis, who looked like he wanted to say so much more but the look she gave him was enough to shut him up. This was not the first time he was bringing up her ex-fiancé, and in the back of her mind, she knew that it was most definitely not going to be the last time she heard him bring it up.
She took another bite of her food and took a long deep breath before she shut down her computer.
“You know, whatever I haven’t done, I can always do it tomorrow,” she said in a low voice, and Travis smiled at her.
“That sounds like a great idea,” he said, raising his coffee. “Come on. Don’t leave me hanging.”
She rolled her eyes and raised her own coffee before she took a sip.
“To working less hours,” he said, and she nodded.
“I can drink to that.”
She took another bite of her food and bit her lower lip as she leaned back in her chair feeling a little guilty for going off at Travis the way she had. But talking about her dead fiancé was not something that she liked getting into mostly because after all these years, she felt more than a little uncomfortable getting into that. And she was right to feel that way too because going through what she had…she would not have wished it on her worst enemy.
By the time she got home later that afternoon, it was almost five. And even though she hated thinking that Travis might have been right about her, she could not help but go to the same place she had been going almost every single day ever since she got the worst news in the world. She was thinking about Kyle.
Again.
And the more she tried not thinking about it, the more it happened. Sometimes it was so bad that she actually felt like she was reliving the whole thing all over again. But then again, she had never really moved on from the fact that the man she loved was never coming back. Her apartment was actually full of Kyle’s stuff. Photos, clothes…and it was that moment that she realized that Travis might have been right after all. She did need to move on. And for her, that meant cleaning her place and getting rid of everything that reminded her of Kyle. But as soon as the idea struck her mind, she took a long deep breath and sighed.
“Maybe I should have a quick nap first,” Natasha thought to herself as she walked towards her bedroom. “I will figure out everything else when I wake up.”
*****
Matthew Leander was exhausted when he finally got back to his condo back in Boston. He was not sure what was more exhausting – the fact that he’d had to sit through one of the longest meetings of his life and four hours later he was still not sure how vital it was for him to do something like that or that he’d traveled back home right after making yet another mistake in sleeping with his publicist. This was the first time it had happened since they decided to keep things strictly professional a few months earlier. But he had finally realized that he did not make the best life choices any time he had cocktails. He dropped his bag and made his way to the kitchen a little more slowly than he would usually have walked. He had just opened the fridge when he heard his housekeeper’s voice from down the hallway.
“Is that you, Mr. Leander?”
He got a bottle of water and closed the refrigerator door.
“Cómo estás, Yolanda,” he said, forcing a smile.
“Muy bien, Senor Leander. I was expecting you a little later,” she said, and Matthew shrugged as he opened the water bottle.
“Well, I hurried things up,” he said before he took a long sip of water. “Let’s just say that…staying at that hotel room a minute longer was not something I was looking forward to doing.”
“I see nothing wrong with that,” Yolanda said. “I just made a fresh batch of churros if you are interested.”
Matthew smiled.
“Since when did I turn down your churros?” he asked.
“I’ll get the hot chocolate started as you freshen up,” Yolanda said with a smile.
Matthew grinned even wider as he made his way to the bedroom. Somehow, having Yolanda in the house always made him feel better especially since she almost always knew what to do when he was feeling some type of way. Having her as his live-in housekeeper was probably one of the best
ideas he had ever had since quitting his day job to become a full time travel blogger. His website Matt the Nomad had been in the leading travel blogs in the country for six months and counting, and when he added his hotel and vacation spots rating on the site, he was suddenly in the big leagues rated up there with the likes of Travelocity and Adventure Journal. An article in the New York Times had recently called Matt the Nomad “The YouTube Of All Things Travel.”
After taking a quick shower and changing into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, he walked back to the kitchen, but Yolanda no longer had the warm receptive look she’d had earlier. The mom look she usually had when she was angry with him was on. And for a minute there, he was afraid that Missy, his publicist, had called while he was in the shower. She would have hated to explain himself to Yolanda since she was not exactly Missy’s biggest fan. She had been weary of her ever since they first met, and according to her, there was something not quite right about Missy.
“Everything okay, Yolanda?” he asked as she walked towards him
“That loca woman is here,” she said in a loud whisper. “Don’t you give her any of my churros, now,” she added in a warning tone as she made her way down the hallway leaving a stunned Matthew standing in the middle of the hallway.
“Okay, that was weird,” he said to himself as he began walking towards the kitchen.
He was not sure what Yolanda was upset about, but as soon as he walked into the kitchen and saw the long familiar auburn hair, he knew exactly why Yolanda was so upset. He took a long deep breath and exhaled loudly as he walked up to the kitchen counter.
“Missy,” he said as he walked round the counter. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, you left without giving us a chance to talk about everything.”
He took a long sip of the water he had left on the counter and again, sighed loudly.
“That’s because there is nothing to talk about,” he said. “I thought I made that perfectly clear last night.”
“I was not sure if I should take you seriously considering you had just downed a dozen shots of tequila and raised half the mini-bar”
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