Billionaire's Best Woman - A Standalone Novel (A Billionaire Wedding Romance Love Story) (Billionaires - Book #5)

by Claire Adams

  I unlocked the front door and went back into the kitchen.

  “Sienna,” Tony said while shredding some cheese for the omelets.

  I sat down on the stool and sipped from a glass of water. Screaming with the music had made me parched.

  “This conversation with Parker on Saturday, I’m dying to know what he said to piss you off so much.”

  “Tony, I don’t really want to bring it up again. I’m smiling, remember?”

  “You obviously had the capacity to forgive him. And I know you well enough to know that you want to get it off your chest. Satisfy my need for knowledge while helping yourself.”

  “Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?” I quipped.

  He grinned. “Maybe.”

  I had to admit it might be nice to hash out what had happened between Parker and me. And I knew Tony was a vault. I held onto many of his secrets.

  “Fine, but this is between you and me.”

  Tony nodded and continued to shred cheese.

  “So, everything was fine. I brought him home and got him into bed. Then when I was about to leave, he wanted me to lay down on the bed with him. Of course, I hesitated, but he gave me this look I couldn’t refuse. So I did. Then he started talking about how he was lucky to have me and that he wanted us to be like Harriet and Kenneth.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony asked.

  “Well, they were good friends growing up, and now they’ve been married for forty years.”

  Tony slowly turned his head to me. “Whoa.”

  I nodded slowly, the feeling of regret flickered inside of me, but I quickly quashed it. “I know, right? And to be honest, I’ve always had these feelings for Parker. There was a time in our past that I thought we’d get together. But he has a totally different type of woman that he dates. So, I’m resigned to leave it the way it always has been.”

  “So, why were you so pissed at him?”

  “After he unloaded all of this on me, he said, ‘I love you, Rachel.’”

  “What the hell?” Tony said, affronted.

  I smirked. “That’s exactly how I felt. Then when he didn’t call or text, it made me feel awful.”

  “I can understand that. Damn, Sienna, that’s some messed-up shit.”

  I sighed. “I guess I just held onto something that wasn’t there. And it's not his fault he doesn’t remember.”

  “Even if he doesn’t remember, those feelings are real for him. Alcohol can be a truth serum, sometimes. Maybe if you told him what he said—”

  “No, no way. He’s getting married to Rachel. I would be a terrible friend if I tried to break them up.”

  “Are you sure? From what I know of her, I think you’d be doing him a favor.”

  “I know. But I have to keep this to myself.”

  “Even if it’s at the expense of your happiness?”

  “Yes. I’d rather Parker in my life as a friend than risk losing him entirely. I know I’m playing it safe, but it’s worked for years.”

  “You really are a good friend. And a bigger person than most.”

  Tony and I continued to hash over the whole Parker situation between customers. But it wasn’t until one particular customer came in that all words were removed from my head.

  Apparently we were in some alternate universe, because Rachel was standing in my dining room. Without Parker. Instead, she was with some other chick.

  She wore a disgusted grimace again, which made my blood boil. If she was so unhappy here, why did she keep coming in? Her friend wore a similar expression. If possible, she was even thinner than Rachel, with long, silky black hair. Her blood-red fingernails were lightly scratching at her neck, as if she had some skin rash. She was going to create one if she kept doing that.

  “What’s she doing here?” I asked.

  “I’ll go find out,” Tony said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to comfort me or hold me back. Either way, he was grounding me in place.

  I moved away from the pass-through so Rachel couldn’t see me. She gave Tony a terse smile and allowed him to bring her to a table. She said something and pointed to the table, Tony nodded and went to the serving station, pulled out a rag, tossed me a “what the fuck” look, and proceeded to clean her table again.

  That bitch had some nerve.

  Tony came back to the serving station. “Two glasses of water please,” he said in a high falsetto.

  I smirked.

  “She asked about you,” Tony said. “She wanted to say hi.”

  I groaned. “Why the hell is she here?”

  “I don’t know, but I have a feeling if you do as she asks, she will be out of here sooner.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Put the water down; I’ll be right out.”

  I knew no matter how much primping I did, I’d never impress her. But I did check myself in the mirror to make sure there wasn’t food or anything on my face. I didn’t want to give her more of an excuse to look down on me. I smoothed my hand over my hair to rein in the flyaways.

  I plastered the fakest smile I could muster on my face and pushed through the double doors.

  “Good luck,” Tony said when he passed me.

  I nodded and took the waters from the serving station. As I made my way over to the table, my heart hammered in my chest. I had to give Rachel a chance, at least outwardly, if Parker was still going through with the wedding.

  “Hi, Rachel,” I said in an unfamiliar cheery voice. It hurt my ears and ego.

  “Hi, Sienna,” she said as if we were besties. My hackles rose.

  I glanced at the other girl. She was staring at my chest. I already knew I had an egg stain on my shirt from earlier. Of course she’d find the only flaw on my body right away.

  “Can I take your order?” I asked.

  Rachel looked at her friend and her eyes flashed.

  I tried to ignore the strange tingling feeling inside of me. Almost like when I was in high school and I had any interaction with the popular crowd who always made fun of me for not wearing name-brand clothing.

  “Just some hard-boiled eggs, and we’ll split a slice of whole wheat toast,” Rachel said.

  I didn’t need to jot anything down on my pad. That was the easiest and most boring order I’d ever received. I could almost hear their stomachs screaming for nutrition.

  “You’re Parker’s best man?” her friend asked. Her thin eyebrow rose questioningly.

  I put my pad in my apron pocket. “Yeah. We’ve known each other forever.”

  “Hm,” the girl said.

  I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. “Well, if you don’t need anything else, I’ll get started on your order.”

  “You can have that sexy man beast come out with our food,” Rachel’s friend said.

  “Sure thing,” I said turning around. I lost the smile, relaxing my sore cheeks.

  “Doesn’t he remind you of the second guy you slept with last week?” the friend said to Rachel.

  I sucked in a breath at the same time Rachel did.

  “Shut up, Ophelia,” Rachel hissed. “We promised to leave all of that on vacation.”

  Rachel slept with at least two guys on her vacation away from Parker. What the hell was I going to do with that information? The right thing to do was to tell Parker, but how could I do that when he knew I already hated her? Would he think I was trying to break them up? I had been right about Rachel this whole time, but telling Parker would break his heart.

  I stood in front of the pass-through, locking eyes with Tony.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Tony said.

  My hands gripped the counter as I stared at Tony, and my mouth went completely dry.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Parker

  I was floating between a dream-like state and wakefulness when two things happened. My phone’s text tone went off three times in a row and was immediately followed by incessant banging on my front door.

  I sat up and inh
aled sharply. What the hell was going on?

  I grabbed my phone from the side table and turned the screen on.

  Sienna had texted me in three separate texts:

  “Let”

  “Me”

  “In”

  I rubbed my hand over my face and then the banging started again.

  I glanced over my shoulder at Rachel, who was sleeping like a rock. I knew that wouldn’t last long. And we’d had a good night last night; I didn’t want to ruin that. She’d been attentive and even stayed up until nine with me to watch a movie. The vacation had been good for her and for us, adding to my resolve that I was making the right decision by going through with this wedding. Sure, it would be stressful with planning something so soon, but if the rest of our married lives would be easy like this, then I’d do whatever it took.

  I typed a quick response to Sienna, telling her I’d be there in a minute. I stood up from the bed and put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. I sneaked out of the room and closed the door behind me. I let out the breath I’d been holding.

  Rachel hadn’t moved during the entire exchange. I supposed with her sleep schedule, she was probably thrown off by our “late” night. Funny how I remembered her being fine with late nights unless I was around. Weird.

  I opened the front door for Sienna and she barged in the second I gave her an opening.

  “Parker, I need to talk to you.”

  I yawned and stretched my hands over my head. “Good morning to you, too.”

  She waved a dismissive hand at me. “This is important.”

  Her mouth was pinched and her eyes were filled with worry.

  Something serious had happened.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, leading her into the kitchen. I offered her a seat.

  “I can’t sit right now,” she said. “And yes, I’m fine.”

  A breath of air whooshed out of me. “Okay, well let me at least get a pot of coffee started.”

  I went into the cabinet and pulled out the filters and a can of coffee.

  She stood next to me, with her hand on her hip. “I heard something yesterday,” she started, lifting her hazel eyes to mine. “And I’ve been up all night trying to figure out how to tell you.”

  “Slow down,” I said. I’d never seen her so rattled before. “Just start from the beginning.”

  “At the diner yesterday—” she stopped talking and her eyes wandered to a spot behind me.

  I turned to see Rachel there, wearing a silky purple robe. Her eyes were narrowed at Sienna.

  “H-hey, Rachel,” Sienna said and then brushed passed me. “I didn’t realize you stayed over last night. I’m sorry, Parker, I should have called.”

  I followed Sienna, who bee-lined for the front door. “What was it you wanted to tell me?”

  Sienna’s eyes flicked to Rachel then back to me. She let out a forced laugh. “Oh, it’s not that important. It’s, um, about my dress. The store called and there’s a problem with it.”

  “Couldn’t you have called me about that?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I just wanted to see if you were able to come with me to take a look. When you get a chance. No rush.” She let out another laugh and waved. “Okay, I’ll talk to guys later, then.”

  “Bye,” I said, thoroughly confused.

  Sienna left and I glanced out the window to see her shuffling toward her car. I knew Sienna better than that. There was something going on with her, and I wanted to find out what it was. Maybe Rachel would have something to do today and I could stop by the diner to see Sienna.

  “That was weird,” I said, scratching my chin. I turned to Rachel. “I hope we didn’t wake you.”

  “You did,” Rachel said. Her gaze lingered on the front door; her eyebrows were lowered in thought.

  “Sorry.”

  Then she snapped out of it, almost violently. “I think we should move the wedding to this Saturday.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “This Saturday?”

  Rachel came up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, pulling me closer to her. She peered up at me. “Why not?”

  “Why not?” I repeated. “We can’t make this work with all the vendors.”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “As long as we have the venue, we can find people who are available.”

  “What about the guests?” I asked. “We haven’t finalized the list yet, and we still have to send out invites.”

  “We can do email invitations.” She gave me a funny look. “Why are you questioning all of this, dummy?”

  I smiled, unable to help myself. It was my only means of keeping her engaged in a conversation without her seeing my intent—to keep her talking to me. Helping me. “You want to email people the wedding invitations?”

  She lifted a shoulder and dropped it, looking up at me through her long eyelashes. The resignation on her face said she was catching on. “Picking out invitations will be crossed off the list. And we can send it all in one fell swoop.”

  I stepped back, needing space from her and the situation she just created. “I’m not sure about this. It feels very rushed.”

  Rachel groaned. “Come on, Parker. Don’t you want to start our lives together sooner rather than later?”

  She rested her hands on my shoulders. One of her hands started to play with my hair while the other trailed down my side and rested on the waistband of my sweatpants. “I’m really looking forward to breaking the final barrier between us.”

  I swallowed, knowing exactly what she meant. My body responded to her touch as she moved closer to me. Her pillowy lips were so close to kissing, and I imagined them trailing over other parts of my body.

  I took a steadying breath and just when I was about to kiss her she pulled back. She smiled and said, “Okay. Saturday it is.”

  She winked at me and moved her hands over my waist. “You won’t regret this.”

  “I should go and see Sienna about her dress.” It was a flimsy excuse since I knew something else had to be going on with Sienna. She looked too worried to have it be about a dress.

  “No,” Rachel said quickly. “I’m sure she can handle it. I want to go with you to check out other vendors today. We don’t have any more time to waste.”

  Even though I really wanted to talk to Sienna, Rachel was right: we had a lot to do and barely any time to do it. Even though it hadn’t been my decision, Sienna could wait.

  Rachel left the room and I stood in the foyer, trying to calm myself down. This abstinence thing was getting harder and harder to deal with. At least with the wedding happening on Saturday, two days from now, I had a definite countdown clock ticking down in my brain.

  Rachel popped her head back into the room. “Come on, Parker.”

  I snapped back to the present and headed for the bathroom to shower. A cold one.

  My stress level intensified throughout the day as we checked out vendors. Thankfully, the venue was still available this Saturday. They had a wedding on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, so I was forced to pay for the overtime that the staff would need to turn over the wedding from Friday into Saturday then tear it all down for Sunday.

  I was never careless with my money, since each dollar had been earned with hard work on my part. But Rachel deserved the best for her wedding. Besides, we’d only do this once; might as well go all out.

  We were able to secure a catering company by approaching a reputable one and paying double the price. And I had to overpay for flowers, as well, since Rachel insisted on having specialty ones shipped overnight from all around the world.

  By the end of the day, I was spent, both physically and financially. By spending so much money, I started to think about the offer to sell my company. It was more than enough to cover the expenses plus a honeymoon while giving our future kids a bright and prosperous life. I still had yet to bring it up to Rachel, and I still wasn’t sure why I continued to hesitate about that decision. At the end of the day, it was my choice, and it was possible t
hat I was holding back because I didn’t want her influence. I knew which way she would automatically go. This was ultimately my choice since the company was mine, and had been since its inception.

  My mind was in overdrive and I wanted to flop on the couch with a beer and relax.

  With the wedding taken care of, my mind wandered to Sienna and her strange actions that morning. And as much as I hated to sneak around and lie to Rachel, I had to see Sienna to make sure she was okay. She never cared about anything material before, so the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that she was going through something. And what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t support her the way she always supported me?

  When we got home, I suggested we head out for dinner. Maybe then I could stop over at Sienna’s on the way and make sure she was okay. I knew Rachel and her’s history was a little stilted, so I was sure Rachel wouldn’t mind waiting in the car.

  “No,” Rachel said. “Order something in. I’m tired and want to relax.”

  I ordered from my favorite Italian place. By the time it arrived, it was already five-thirty. I started to get anxious about Sienna since she hadn’t called or texted all day.

  By six, Rachel was yawning and complaining about being exhausted. I suggested we head to bed early since tomorrow would be our final day of being fiancés. She thought it was a good idea. I hated pretending I was tired but I thought I’d be able to sneak out when she went to bed. She thwarted my plan by insisting I come to bed with her. I started to suspect that she wanted to keep me away from Sienna. Was she jealous of our friendship? I couldn’t believe that. Rachel was so confident in herself. It was also possible that she was overwhelmed with wedding activities just as I was.

  It was a good thing Rachel wasn’t a cuddler. She settled into her sleep with her back to me and I watched the slow rise and fall of her breathing through the sheets. I stared at the ceiling, waiting for over a half-hour before it slowed even more and she was asleep.

  I slowly moved off the bed, turning back at Rachel with each step out of the bedroom. I compiled a few excuses for her, but if she approached me about sneaking out, I decided to be honest with her. I didn’t want to start off this marriage with lies. Especially when I wasn’t doing anything particularly wrong. I’d tell her I was worried about Sienna. Since she was my best friend, there was a code that went with that, and I wanted to be there for her if she was going through something.