by McAdams, Amy
Romance:
One Night With A Billionaire
Amy McAdams
Romance: One Night With A Billionaire
Amy McAdams
Copyright © 2015
Published by Run Free Publishing
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Other titles by bestselling author Amy McAdams:
Romance: One Fine Holiday
Romance: Returning Home
Romance: In Love with a Billionaire
One Night with a Billionaire
Amy McAdams
Chapter 1
Grrr….
The alarm blares in Bella's ear, waking her from her deep sleep.
"Why is it morning already?" she mumbled.
Bella sat up and took the alarm clock off the top of the bedside cabinet. Throwing it onto the floor, she lay back on the pillows and looked up at the ceiling.
She'd had another dream about her ex-boyfriend Gerard and that always threatened to ruin her day. But this time, as she lay looking at the cracks in the ceiling, she was determined to let it go.
“I have to let him go,” she whispered a mantra to herself over and over.
As she started to climb out of bed, she turned her attention to how far she had come in the last three months - one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three miles to be exact.
Since moving to New York City, she marveled every day about how daring she'd been. She'd always been so conservative and didn't like taking risks. As a child growing up in Oklahoma, she had point blank refused to even climb a tree, fearful that she would probably be the one who would fall and be crippled for life.
“I have to let that life go,” she repeated to herself.
The reason why she had arrived in New York City wasn't anything to marvel at. In fact, it made her feel sick to the stomach at the very thought of Gerard.
Sitting at her dressing table, Bella looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had seemed to have more luster since she arrived here. It also appeared to have grown at least an inch and her natural brown wavy locks now sat on her slender shoulders.
“Forget about him,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “Let the past go.”
She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't unattractive, that she was still desirable to the opposite sex and that one-day her fragile ego would be repaired and she could even possibly find love again.
She just had to figure out the quickest way to boost her self-confidence.
She read an article yesterday that suggested one-night stands were the quickest way to boost one’s self-confidence after a hard breakup.
But ironically, she didn’t feel she had the confidence to do it…
“A one-night stand…” Bella continued to stare at her reflection. “Maybe…”
Bella had always thought Gerard was the one.
He was everything she looked for in a guy and he'd literally knocked her off her feet when they had met at university. She had been dancing on the dance floor minding her own business at the Fresher's ball one minute; the next she'd been pushed so hard and with such bodily force it had felt like someone was practicing a mortal combat move.
They hadn't, of course.
It had just been Gerard very drunk after drinking too much punch that had been meant to be for the new arrivals. By the look of Gerard it had seemed that he'd practically drowned himself in it.
He would have apologized no doubt but as well as being legless, his speech had completely disappeared and turned into a slur.
At least the next day, he had the decency to seek her out and had found her in the cafeteria where he apologized.
In the cold light of day, Gerard had been a lot better looking than Bella had remembered.
His jet black hair had flopped over his eyes that were a remarkable blue that were framed with Clark Kent style glasses.
He'd looked so suitably mortified and uncomfortable Bella couldn't help but accept this apology with good grace; she also couldn't ignore the steady thump that had started to beat in her chest as Gerard put down his tray and pulled out a chair.
Sitting down he'd grinned sheepishly at her, “I've always wanted to sweep a girl of her feet as opposed to literally knocking them off them.”
That one line had Bella well and truly sold - completely and utterly sold for six whole years. Six years of what she'd thought had been true love, a love nothing and nobody could destroy.
Standing up, Bella threw on her white bathrobe and padded across the apartment to the bathroom and began her morning routine - shower, teeth cleaned and a liberal amount of deodorant.
She'd actually comforted Gerard when he'd split up with her, and Bella recoiled at the very thought as she lathered her body in strawberry and pomegranate shower gel.
She'd held his hand as he'd sat in front of her, his eyes downcast, his lashes shimmering with what looked like the threat of tears, “It's just not working Bella. It's not you, it's me.”
He'd squeezed her hand tightly and the minute he delivered that cliché line Bella had felt a trickle of dread seep down her back before moving round and landing in her stomach. She might have been a virgin when she met Gerard and yes, she had a simplistic view of life, but she wasn't actually so simple that she didn't know what that line really meant.
“Have you met someone else?”
As Bella washed the soapy foam from her body, she remembered how totally shell shocked she had been at his admission that indeed there was someone else. He could have at least had the decency to lie to soften the blow.
Bella had started to wonder what the girl Gerard had met had that she didn't. In fact, it didn't matter anyway because once Gerard had confirmed he had met someone new, his mouth had revved up like a runaway train. He hadn't meant it to happen, but the chemistry between them had been allegedly catatonic.
Bella had never heard Gerard use words like that before and at the time she hadn't even been convinced that he'd even used it in the correct context. She'd googled the meaning after he'd left the house with a red cheek and a budding black eye after she'd socked him one in the face after she'd found out exactly who the other girl was.
Switching off the shower, Bella stepped out of the cubicle, wrapping herself in a pink fluffy bathrobe.
It had transpired that the girl who had left Gerard filled with lust had been Sophie, Bella's younger stepsister.
Sophie - with the stick thin figure, big tits, and an even bigger mouth.
She was four years younger than Bella and made her feel at least four stones heavier too.
So, Sophie and Gerard had been pulled together as they had ripped Bella's life apart.
For three days, Bella had holed herself up in her bedroom watching chick flicks, eating an inordinate amount of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and crying.
Crying so hard she'd felt like her eyeballs were going to explode.
Then the inner fight had kicked in.
Why should she allow Sophie and Gerard to ruin her life?
She was only twenty-five years old; the world was her proverbial oyster.
She'd rang Julia that evening, still crying but hoping that her trusted friend would be able to pick her up and offer her a solution.
At ten years her senior, Julia was knowledgeable of all things worldly and especially anything related to the opposite sex. Bella had figured that Julia would be able to boost her up and give her
a contingency plan.
What Bella hadn't been banking on was Julia's offer.
“Stuff him and stuff her, they deserve each other,” Julia's voice had boomed. “Come and live with me. Get out of the back of beyond and move here, move to New York honey, it's time top kick start your life. Anyway, I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll pay for your flight; in fact I'm booking you a flight as we speak.”
As Bella cleaned her teeth, she couldn't help but smile.
Julia had been right to be so forceful because if she hadn't have been, then Bella would have avoided making the necessary changes to her life.
Three days later, Bella had arrived at the airport to a large welcoming hug from Julia and the promise of a new start.
Towel drying her hair, Bella heard the radio being switched on in the kitchen and Julia's voice, singing along completely out of tune to a Katy Perry song.
As she unlocked the bathroom door and made her way back to the bedroom, a whiff of waffles and freshly ground coffee infiltrated the air.
Bella knew she had done the right thing; New York City was now definitely her home.
“So I said to him - I am open minded but if you think for one minute I'm going to treat you like my child because that gets your rocks off you've got another thought coming,” Julia took her coat and hung it on the coat stand. She turned to Bella and smiled, “I don't know where I meet these men. I really don't.”
Bella knew exactly where Julia met these men.
She was a serial online dater and Bella also suspected that on the sly her friend was a nymphomaniac.
Petite with delicate elfin features, Julia looked much younger than her thirty-five years and was never short of admirers, Bella being one of them.
Bella admired Julia's thirst for life and the fireball of energy that she carried around inside.
“Right, let's get this show on the road,” Julia said like she did every morning when they arrived at the coffee shop she owned.
Within an hour of her uttering these words, The Lemon Tree coffee room was teeming with customers.
It had once been described as the jewel in New York's crown by an acclaimed food and drink reviewer of the New York Times and their clientele was an eclectic mix, as vibrant as the interior décor that was a mixture of bright yellows, oranges, and dark blues, giving the coffee shop an almost Mediterranean feel.
The client range varied from the students from the local university who usually bought one latte between six of them and would stay huddled in the corner on the orange sofas for as long as they possibly could.
In comparison, high-flying businessmen and women who patted out their orders, their brusqueness as sharp as their suits and stiletto heels, also frequented the coffee shop.
“Choose one of them,” Julia quipped throughout the day. “Any of them. Just choose one.”
“I can’t do it,” Bella regretted telling Julia about the article suggesting one-night stands were good for the broken hearted.
“Yes, you can. You are an amazing woman, Bella. It’s time you started living an amazing life.”
It wasn't until mid-afternoon that things had started to slow down in coffee shop.
Just as Julia suggested they take a break and were both nursing a well-earned latte, the bell tinkled, heralding the arrival of another customer.
“Oh,” the words fell out of Bella’s mouth as she looked towards the door.
Julia whistled under her breath before whispering in Bella's ear, “Ten out of ten? A candidate for your new life, maybe?”
Bella couldn’t answer – her breath had vanished.
Chapter 2
Owen Parker's day started pretty much in the way it always did - a short, sharp platinum power shower followed by breakfast of eggs Benedict accompanied with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
Owen knew that he cut a formidable figure.
His short black hair crowned his caramel colored features. His piercing green eyes were at odds with his half-caste origin but were also his best feature and he knew it.
His broad six foot four inch frame was toned to perfection but today, he felt at odds with himself as he shrugged his body into his black Armani suit.
Of course, he knew what had caused his discontent.
As always, it was down to Priscilla.
She was his long-term girlfriend and at times Owen saw her as more of a hindrance than a pleasure. Recently she had started to become really difficult, so difficult, in fact, Owen had completely lost his temper the previous evening and called his chauffeur and then ushered Priscilla into the limousine, ignoring her pleas to just let her stay.
When he had met her, Priscilla had been such fun but for months now she had been banging on about commitments and how he was so non-committal when after three years most women were expecting a proposal along with an engagement ring.
In Priscilla's world, that would have meant a diamond ring the size of a small rock.
Owen would have loved to be able to meet her demands but unfortunately as he had explained the previous evening, for what felt like the hundredth time, he had enough commitments in his life running his billion dollar social media company and the demands on him had started to grow recently.
He had tried to explain that he didn't have the time to go on holiday, let alone a honeymoon.
Owen looked in the gilt bedroom mirror and adjusted his pink tie before checking his cufflinks felt right.
Whenever Priscilla had one of her tantrums like she had the previous evening, Owen felt like shit the next day.
He shut off thoughts of Priscilla, although if he started to imagine her nice tight body and firm breasts he knew his cock would harden and then he would be confused and pissed off with her even more.
The New York sun hit Owen clean in the eyes as he stepped out of his prestigious apartment block, nodding to Jonah, the hotels' doorman.
Pulling out his Dolce and Gabanna sunglasses, Owen shielded his eyes from the light.
As his driver pulled up, Owen got into the car, the smell of the plush leather assailing his nostrils.
He'd really arrived now in the world.
His business life was everything he had ever dreamed of and everything he had worked for.
He had more power than he could ever have imagined possessing but as the limousine pulled away from the curb, Owen couldn't ignore the hollow feeling he had inside and he knew what it was, it was loneliness.
Despite having Priscilla and his business there was a gap inside that was gnawing away at him.
His meeting that morning had ran smoother than Owen could have imagined, but by mid-afternoon he still felt restless.
It was custom for his PA Renee to arrange his lunch and that of his fellow businessmen but the repast of fancy sandwiches placed in the middle of the ivory topped boardroom table had left him feeling cold.
Uncharacteristically for him in working hours, he'd decided to escape the confines of his office and ventured outside.
Before doing so he decided to change out of the restrictions of his suit and swapped it for grey jogging bottom and white t-shirt that he kept at the office just in case he wanted to use the gym facilities at any point.
Walking down the street, he felt himself blending in with the other pedestrians who were rushing here and there like a scurry of ants.
He didn't even know where he was going, but all he knew was he wanted to enjoy the buzz of New York City life that was happening all around him whilst he focused on his work.
He knew he should take more time out for himself.
As the July sun beat down on his face, he vowed to do this more often - to actually partake in everyday life and not disappear within his work.
Finding himself outside the small coffee room, he felt a sudden impulse to go in. Owen needed to do what every other average New Yorker probably did - just sit and enjoy a drink while pondering on their goals and happiness and where their lives were heading.
The smell of coffee and fr
esh bread immediately reminded him of his mother and his childhood and walking in, he decided to enjoy that rare feeling of nostalgia that had descended upon him.
Once inside, the warmth and the atmosphere were hard to ignore and immediately Owen felt at home.
The two assistants were sat down and he felt slightly bad that his appearance had interrupted that moment.
As he made his way to the glass counter, they both jumped up and went round to serve him.
As he waited, he was monetarily stunned by the smile that the younger girl gave him and watched as the older assistant whispered in her ear causing a creeping blush of a pink hue to creep over her cheekbones.
Lost in the moment and watching her expression change, Owen felt a pull inside.
So much so he was briefly taken out of his stride as the girl asked, "How may I help you?"
He looked at the chalkboard behind her, buying him some time, "I will have a gingerbread latte please, with a swirl of cream please."
He watched as she prepared his drink, little did he know that Bella at that moment felt like she was going to faint such was the effect he'd had on her.
Chapter 3
"So what did you think of Mr. Ten-out-of-Ten then?" Julia asked Bella as she unlocked her car door.
Getting in Bella smiled at her, "Well, what do you expect me to think? He was gorgeous."
"He so fancied you," she said as she started the engine and set off on the ten-minute drive home back to the apartment.
Bella shook her head, "Don't be silly. Anyway, what makes you think that? Sometimes I think you do get carried away with your incessant need to try and pair me off with someone. If you're not trawling the net on my behalf, you are now assuming that our clients have a thing for me."
"Listen, I have this gut instinct and I am never wrong, trust me on that."
Bella laughed, "Yeah, well take your gut instinct elsewhere; we've never seen him before and we probably won't see him again."