“You are?” she asks with her eyebrows way up high. Surprise riddles her pretty face, making me laugh.
“Of course.” I can see she’s the type of woman who needs to have an emotional intimacy prior to a sexual one. Now to see if I can find out enough about her and tell her enough about myself to get her into my bed tonight.
I can envision things going well for us all night long. Over and over again. I’m sure, once her puritan ways are pushed aside, that she’s going to be one hell of a good time. If I can just get her to let me show her one, that is.
The waiter shows up with a wine list and I think I may be able to ply her with alcohol to loosen up her tight control over her body. He hands me the list without a word and I point to the one I want.
Elizabeth waits and watches as the waiter starts to walk away. “Wait!” she shouts.
The people from the tables around us all look at her and she sees that and blushes. “Yes, madam?”
“I need some water. I don’t want any alcohol.” She looks at me. “What I drank before has finally worn off and I want to keep my head straight.”
“A little wine won’t hurt.” I look at the waiter. “Bring her a glass of water and the wine.”
He nods and leaves as she sighs. “I won’t drink any.”
“You don’t have to,” I say as I run my arm over the back of her chair. “But it’ll be on the table just in case you change your mind.”
“So, you said you wanted to know about me. Is that right?” she says quickly as she leans forward to place her elbow on the table and rest her chin in her palm.
“I do,” I say as I lean up and mimic her pose. Our faces are much closer this way and I can smell her sweet breath. “What’s your family like?”
“Well, I’m an only child. My parents, Ted and Nancy, are currently on an extended vacation in Mexico where I think they may start living every winter from what Mom told me the other day when we were talking on the phone. Now I get to ask you one. Where were you born?”
“Here. And where were you born?”
She smiles and says, “Canada.”
“Are you an American citizen?” I ask as the waiter brings our drinks.
“I am. It was an accident. I was born while my parents were roaming around Canada. They went through the process of making sure I was made into an American.” She looks at the waiter who’s waiting patiently for her to stop talking. “What’s good to eat here? I’m starving.”
“It’s all very good, madam. I assure you anything you order will be above par,” he tells her.
She cocks her head to the side then looks at me. “Order for me, hubby.”
“I’d love to,” I say and love that she called me that. “Two of the lobster dinners please.”
With a nod, he asks, “A caviar service to start things off?”
I look at Elizabeth who has her nose wrinkled. “No, just the lobsters, please.”
With a nod, he leaves us alone again and I settle back in my chair to look at her. “What about the rest of your family?’ I ask. “I know your grandfather has passed on but what about anyone else?”
“I’m an only child but I come from a massive family. My mother has four siblings. Two uncles and two aunts. With them all married and all have more than one kid, the family gatherings we have are enormous. Most are done outdoors, there are so many of us.”
“Do they all live around Chesapeake City?”
She smiles and leans back in her chair. “Most of them do, but a few have strayed off to other places in the U.S. I like where I grew up. I really can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“I see.” I look around at the people near us and all are quite apparently New Yorkers. Though I’ve had her all fixed up, Elizabeth still stands out. Her face is fresh, her skin is tanned, her attitude is normal. Delightfully, normal.
“What about you, Zane?” she asks then sips her water. “Have you always lived here?”
“I have. To be honest, I’ve never thought about living anywhere else. I’ve traveled extensively but I have to confess it was all for business. I haven’t looked at any place with the eyes of anything other than a business man.”
She frowns and reaches out for my hand. “Zane, that’s sad.”
“I’m a very busy man.” Moving my hand from under hers, I cover hers with mine. “Maybe a little too busy. What would you say to going with me to a child’s birthday party I was not going to attend this weekend?”
“Why weren’t you going to go?”
“I’ve wanted to buy a toy company from this elderly man who owns it and has no heirs, for the last few years. He wouldn’t sell it to me because I’m not married and have no kids. He thinks it’s a fundamental thing in the toy industry. He’s hosting this little boy’s birthday at his estate in The Hamptons. Every month he throws a birthday party for children who come from poor families.”
“What a nice thing to do,” she says and gets a dreamy little smile. “Some people can be so nice.”
“Yes, they can. So, you’ll join me then. Showing up with a wife and talking about having a family soon should make him think more about me and accepting my offer to buy his company.”
“I don’t know if I like that,” she says then shakes her head. “No, I know I don’t like that. To get an aggressive woman off your back is one thing. Lying for your financial gain is quite another. No. No, I won’t go with you.”
So many morals, this chick has!
Chapter 3
ELIZABETH
“You certainly have your opinions about right and wrong, don’t you?” Zane asks me as he picks up the deep red glass of wine, pulling it up to his plump lips.
It’s taking everything I have to keep my mind straight with this man. And his idea of fooling yet another person about being married has me worried. “Zane, you’ve said you aren’t much of a liar but this is already the third person you want to tell this particular lie to. You have to realize that has me seeing red flags about you. I’d also like to know one more thing. How long do you think you can get away with this lie about being married?”
His eyes glaze over as he looks up instead of at me. “I really am not a liar. I don’t know what made me tell that lie except for desperation to be rid of that woman once and for all.” He looks at me and I see confusion in his expression. “It’s you, Elizabeth. You’ve triggered some things in me that have never been triggered before.”
“That’s not good then. We may be very bad for each other, Zane.” I find myself wanting some wine now with the revelation this might never go anywhere. Not that I had any intentions of hooking up with this man at all but with the fake marriage and the obvious attraction we have, it was seeming like we might have something here.
The weight of his hand on mine as I reach for the wine bottle makes me look at him and I find his expression has gone soft. “My mother died when I was a baby. Dad raised me on his own. His mother helped some but she passed away when I was five. Maybe I have some kind of a mental block where women are concerned. I keep them in a separate place in my life and always have. When I saw you walking away from me in my office today, my heart stopped. For the first time in my life, everything inside of me called out for a woman. You. Why do you think that is?”
“Your mother died when you were a baby?” I ask as I take his face in my hands. “Oh, Zane.” Kissing his cheek, I find myself feeling so much sympathy for this man.
He seems like he’s a tough man with a ton of ambition and nothing can stop him but he’s broken just like the rest of us. He takes my hands. “Don’t feel sorry for me. There are others who’ve had it much worse than me. I turned out okay.”
“You did,” I say and notice how his hands are still holding mine in between us. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-five,” he says. “You?”
“I’m ten years younger than that. And I’m not worldly at all. I’m not a girl who’s been around the block. I’ve had a few boyfriends and all of those little relationshi
ps fizzled out on their own. How about you?”
Placing our clasped hands in his lap he looks at them as he runs his thumbs over the top of mine. “Ten years ago I was with a woman for only one year. I cared for her. She cared about me. She was from a wealthy family but she wasn’t spoiled like so many of those rich women are. She was nice. And I gave her very little of my time. My neglect was what caused that breakup. I never tried again.”
“Maybe you should give her a call,” I say and the words make my heart sting a bit as I really don’t want him to but my heart says that’s the right thing for him to do.
“She’s married with three kids now. She’s happy. I didn’t love her, anyway. If I had, I’d have made time for her. I can see that now.” His eyes move up to mine and I see a glimmer in them. “I want you to stick around and I’m willing to make you a deal.”
“You want me to stick around?” I ask. “How? I can’t afford to live in New York.”
“You’d live with me. You’d keep on acting like we’re married and you’d help me learn how to live with a woman and learn how to make time for one.”
“I don’t want to train you, Zane,” I say as I throw my hands up in the air with his stupid idea. “No. That’s not what I’m about. I’m not a gold digger and I’m not a user of men.”
“That’s why you’re perfect for this. And you talk to me in a way no one else does. You call me out on my shit and I need that.” He takes my hands and holds them up then kisses the knuckles of each hand. “And I want you to be around. I can’t explain why, I just do. So please think about it.”
An idea pops into my head so I spit it out, “Will you give me the lighthouse, legally?”
“I tell you what,” he says with a grin and a twinkle in his eye. “You come with me to that birthday party and I’ll have a contract drawn up, giving you the property and the lighthouse. Plus, I’ll renovate it for you too.”
“Now we’re talking!” I give him a nod and pull my hands away from his and grab the wine. “I need a drink now with all this. My head is spinning and I need something to turn it the other way. I don’t know what I’ve just agreed to.”
“You’ve agreed to live with me, be my pretend wife, and teach me how to make a relationship work.”
After a nice, long drink of the sweet wine, I put the long stemmed glass back down. “Wow, that’s quite a lot I’ve taken on, isn’t it? Especially since I have no idea how to make a relationship work.”
His shoulder bumps mine and his mouth touches my ear. “Maybe we can help one another learn some things.”
I bet he could teach me plenty!
Then the sleeping arrangements slap me in the brain. “I’m not having sex with you.”
“Ever?” he asks with wide eyes.
“Well, we’ll see about that. But sex isn’t part of this deal. Okay? I’m not a whore.” I take another drink and look at him over the rim of the glass.
“I’d never take you like that anyway. I’m coming to respect you, Elizabeth. I have an extra bedroom. But we’ll have to act as if you sleep in my room so we’ll keep all of your things in my room. The maid goes home every night so she’ll never know where you’re sleeping but that means you’ll have to make your own bed and keep that room looking as if it’s untouched.”
“Wow,” I say as I think about that. “You mean do what I do with my room now?” I laugh at him and he smiles back at me.
“Or you could just sleep with me. I think I’d like that even better,” he says with a wink.
I think I would too but that’s moving way too fast and we’re already putting the horse before the cart too much as it is.
He holds out his glass and I clink mine to his. The deal is set. Now to see how this thing will work out.
Chapter 4
ZANE
I don’t know what made me ask her that!
There’s something so different about her. There’s something so different about me!
I keep glancing at her as we eat our lobster dinners. An excitement is simmering just below the surface and I have no real idea why that is. Elizabeth is a beautiful woman in appearance and she seems to have an inner beauty to her as well.
I know that I don’t know the woman yet. Not really. But there’s a transparency about her that has me thinking I do know her somehow.
In milliseconds I’ve gone from wanting to get her into my bed so I can get a good dose of her and get her out of my system to asking her to move in with me and teach me how to have a relationship.
I’m playing it here and I am not sure how things are going to end up. I do want her in my bed, I’m not about to stop trying to get that going!
She’s not a woman who’s had men hurt her, so she’s not some damaged, frail thing who I need to be easy with for fear of running her off. She’s not a complete innocent who I have to be careful with. She’s a grown woman who is more than capable of protecting her feelings as well as her body. In my opinion, she’s fair game!
“That lobster bib looks sexy on you,” I whisper as I lean over and wipe a rogue drop of butter off her chin.
She giggles and nods. “Yours is pretty sexy too. We look like a couple of very sophisticated toddlers.”
The chandelier’s light hits the diamonds in her dangling earring and I touch it, rubbing my thumb over it. “These look amazing on your cute little ears.”
“My ears are tiny. I’ll probably never wear them again. I seldom wear earrings so attention doesn’t get drawn to my little ears,” she says as she bats my hand away.
“I hope you do wear them again. Those are real diamonds, you know.”
Her mouth falls open and she shakes her head. “No! Zane, why would you buy real diamonds for a woman you don’t even know?” Her hand flies to her neck and she runs it over the diamond necklace I gave her. “These are real too?”
I nod. “I don’t waste money on fake things. And I have no idea why I bought those for you. I’ve never even sent flowers to anyone before much less bought them jewelry. You’re the first. It came into my head to do it and I did it. I have to admit that was the very first time anything like that has ever popped into my head.”
“Well, I won’t be keeping them,” she says like it’s a matter of fact. “You can take them back to where you bought them and get your money back. This is thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry. I don’t like to be responsible for such an extravagant amount of money.”
“I can have them placed in one of the hotel’s safety deposit boxes if you’d feel better about their safety. I’m not taking them back, though. They’re yours to keep. I hope you keep them forever as a reminder of our first date.” Leaning over, I kiss her cheek. “And I’m not taking no for an answer about that.”
She shakes her head and sighs. “They are gorgeous. I do love them. Maybe I will feel better about them being in the hotel’s box thingy. But when I go back home, I don’t know what I’ll do with them.”
“Banks have them too. You can transfer them to your bank when you go home.” I find that thinking about her leaving is giving my heart that little pinch it had when she tried to walk out of my office today.
I’m not sure I’ll ever want her to leave and that feels so odd. How can a person who I didn’t know existed only hours ago mean that damn much to me?
Finishing her last bite of lobster, she turns to me. “How about some real New York cheesecake for dessert?”
I laugh and nod. “Okay. You really aren’t like any of the other women I’ve ever known. Your appetite is a thing I never knew I’d like to see in a female but I very much like it. Cheesecake it is.”
“You only live once, Zane. You should experience all you can. Like a sunrise in a lighthouse, for example.”
“Is that an invitation to spend the night with you in your new lighthouse, Elizabeth?” I ask then give her a wink.
“Yes, it is. I have a couple of sleeping bags left over from when me and Gramps had sleepovers in it. You can borrow his,” she says them winks back
at me.
The waiter comes back and I order the cheesecake to go. “To go?” she asks.
“Yes, to go. I want to feed it to you while we lay on the sofa in the penthouse. I think you should be fed New York cheesecake by a real New Yorker. You know, so you can really experience it.”
She laughs and the sound is delightful. Light, airy, amazing! “That does sound like something.”
“Good.” Pulling off my lobster bib, I place it on the table then gesture for her to turn around so I can take hers off.
Remarkably, she does as I’ve asked and I untie it and stand to pull it off so as not to get any of the traces of butter on her dress. Taking her by the shoulders, I turn her back to me and find her smiling at me. “Thank you.”
Taking her hand, I help her up. “Time to go upstairs, honey.”
“We need to stop by the suite you set me up in. I need to get my things,” she says as she takes my arm. “Or maybe I should just stay the night in that room. I think that might be for the best.”
“No, it wouldn’t. I want you to stay in my penthouse from now on.”
With a nod, she says, “We really do have to hammer out a time limit, Zane. I don’t want things to get weird between us.”
“I’ll think about it. Is there anything pressing that you need from your place back in Chesapeake City? Any reason you need to go back there anytime soon?”
“I have to go back next weekend to work for the girl who’s taken over my shift tomorrow. She’s getting married in Vegas to her no account boyfriend then. I promised I’d work for her.”
“You know I mean for you to quit that job, right?” I ask her as I take the cheesecake which has been boxed up for us and give the waiter a nod as we leave the restaurant.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she says as she shakes her head. “I can’t up and quit. I don’t see how I can do what you’re asking of me.”
The Billionaire’s Lighthouse Series: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Romance Page 8