by Kyanna Skye
“Please, I…I don’t have anywhere else to go. I moved to LA because I wanted to find adventure, I wanted to make my dream come true, and I have. With you. I needed a friend here, I was all alone, and I found you, the only one that I trust completely.”
“You shouldn’t, Lucy. You shouldn’t trust me. I’m sorry,” He said but doesn’t look back, “I’ll set an apartment up for you across town. You can stay there for as long as you like. I just…I just want you to be happy.”
“But I’m happy here, Owen. With you. I’m happy with you.” Lucy pleaded, trying to get him to see, to understand. But all he could see was the monster he thought he was.
Before she can say anything else he’s already gone, nothing but a shadow where he’d just been standing, all the words she wanted to say left unspoken, bottled up inside her where they would stay forever. And just like that Owen was gone from her life, flipping it completely upside down and leaving her once more all alone and heartbroken.
Chapter 11
“…I know. It’s finally happening, can you believe it?” The excitement in Lucy’s voice was contagious, and palpable even over the phone.
“Well, I’m proud of you honey. You know I had my doubts.”
“I know you did, mom. But I’ve got a leading role! A real chance to get my name out there and make my dreams come true.” Lucy was practically vibrating with happiness as she paced around the apartment. It was the happiest she’d been in the months since Owen had fired her and asked her to leave. She’d been saving up money and would soon be able to move into a place of her own, and she had even made a few friends from the theater she would be acting in the play at. Christian, an excellent director, and Tracy, a fellow aspiring actress, who was actually supposed to be coming over any minute.
Lucy can’t help the smile that breaks across her face. It had been a tough year, really tough, but things were finally starting to look up. She hadn’t dated anyone since Owen, and that night that she’d realized she was in love him. Because the fact was, she still loved him. She wasn’t sure when, or even if, that feeling would go away and part of her didn’t want it to. Owen was like no one she’d ever met before, or probably would again in her entire life and he had changed her, for the better she thought.
The doorbell rang, and Lucy went to go open the door thinking that her friend had arrived at last to run the lines for rehearsal. But as the door swings open it reveals the last person she would have expected. Tall and as handsome as she remembered, Owen devastated her senses even as he devastated her heart.
“Owen, what are you–.”
“Please, let me,” He said, cutting off her words as he stepped inside, “Let me go first. I need…I need to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Lucy finally managed, breaking through her shock at seeing him. Her heart raced in her chest, every ounce of love flooding her body as she noted the dark smudges under his beautiful golden eyes and his haggard appearance as if he hadn’t been sleeping.
“Lucy, I…I was so, so wrong to make you leave. I was scared. Terrified really, and I just didn’t know how to handle it. How to handle my feelings for you.” He paused then as if searching for the right words.
“What feelings, Owen?” Lucy asked softly. Her gentle words seemed to be all he needed because the next instant he was standing right in front of her, his hands reaching out to lightly grasp each of her own. His eyes bored into hers, trapping her gaze with his.
“How do I put my feelings for you into words?” His whisper was rough and intense and rolled through her like a tidal wave, dragging her under. “Love seems like a timid word, like it’s not big enough, not real enough, but that’s the closest I have. Lucy, I love you, even though it’s so much more than that. I love you, and I need you,” He paused with a chuckle, “and not just to chain me up at night.”
Slowly, he lowered himself down to one knee, still not letting go of her hands, still not letting her gaze free of his.
“Lucy Harrison, you are the most beautiful, caring, kind hearted, amazing, talented person that I know. And you didn’t run away when you saw me at my worst. You tried to stay, and I was the one that was weak, that pushed you away. I’m begging you now. Don’t let me push you away again.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box but Lucy could barely make it out through the tears filling her eyes at his words.
“Please, Lucy, will you marry me?”
His question rings through the room and she can feel her shattered heart healing as she dropped to her knees beside him, throwing her arms around his neck as joy like she’d never know filled her up until she thought she might burst.
“Say it again.” She whispered.
“Will you marry me?” Owen repeated, a small smile tilting up the corner of his mouth
“No, the other thing.”
“I love you, Lucy Harrison.” He said, just as softly as her whisper and the tears in his eyes now matched hers.
“I love you too.” Lucy let out a teary chuckle as she pressed her trembling lips to his. “And yes, yes, of course, I’ll marry you. After all, who else will tie you up every night?”
Her words surprised a laugh out of Owen. “You promise? For the rest of my life?”
She looked up at him, all the love shining through her eyes, “I promise.”
The End
Billionaire Romance Collection
Filthy Escape
There's a secret that I must get out of him in order to keep my job, even if that means betraying his trust..
Jamie Lombardo was a young girl fresh out of law school and confident that she had an edge: she could get to know anyone's secrets with subtle tactics. A good tool for a lawyer. But her edge is put to the test when she receives a mysterious invitation to work for one of the top law firms in the country: no interviews, no lengthy hiring process, they want her to begin right away. There's just one catch, she must work with a man who is only weeks away from being released from prison and he knows something that her employers wish to know very badly. But her convictions are put to the test when she realizes that her client is unlike any man she has ever known and soon she both admires and desires him. Will she do as her employers wish, or will she give into her more primal and carnal desires?
When Jamie Lombardo opened her eyes she was staring right into the face of her alarm clock. The numbers 5:33 AM peered back at her, almost mockingly. Quickly she did the math in her head, recalling that the last time she had been awake enough to read the numbers on her clock had been 2:01 AM. She had been asleep for less than four hours.
Shit, she thought half angrily and half excitedly.
Rolling onto her back she looked up at the blank ceiling above her bed, which she had stared at with a brooding intensity the night before. She had been so excited over what was to happen today that sleep had seemed all but impossible. Impossible, but it was necessary to attempt at any rate because she knew that she needed to be rested for today. She had even pulled out all of her tricks, save one, that would have helped her to find her rest.
A warm bath with scented candles, her favorite jasmine bath salts, soothing music, and her favorite book had been employed to relax and calm her nerves before she had gone to bed. She had even dared a luxury that she usually did not indulge in, a glass of red wine. Together they formed the perfect recipe for a calm and soothing night’s sleep.
The bath had been perfect and relaxing, the salts had caressed her skin, the candles had filled her nostrils with pleasant memories that danced across her other senses as well, and the music had lulled her into a perfect calm. And the wine too had done its job and brought her to a relaxation that she had not known in quite some time.
Despite all of this, sleep had not come easily to her.
At least I slept a little. She pondered a moment if perhaps last night would have been the perfect opportunity to employ her favorite tactic for finding a restful night.
Temporary companionship had never been hard for her to find, not even here
in New York where the woman-to-man ratio was 10 to 1. She had never had any difficulty in filling her bed for a night… a week… or even a year if she wished it. Boyfriends came and went, but men looking for only a single diversion had only ever been her truest interest apart from her work. Her career would always come first and she had known that from the beginning. And a man in her life that would fill a more permanent role was something that she had no care to have.
There’s never been one worth it, she thought.
Men had their uses, yes, and some of them definitely rare enough to warrant having one around. But to keep them around forever in her life seemed as pointless as trying to put a leash on a shark. They were diversions at best, something that she needed when she wanted to relax, just like a bath. But that was all.
But no, she had decided. She had lost enough sleep as it was. And having a man in her bed would have only caused her to lose more sleep. It was better that she had skipped such a thing altogether and done as she had. It was better that way, and she needed as much of her rest as she had gotten.
She looked back at her clock, 5:38 AM it now read. Her alarm would be going off in less than an hour. It would serve no purpose to just stay in bed, she realized. I might as well make use of the time while I have it.
Rising up she stretched her back, her muscles feeling better after a short night of half-sleep. Pulling off her covers she stood barefoot on the floor wiggled her toes, the plush carpet under her feet was warm and soothing and the resulting tickle was enough to dispel some of the lingering fatigue.
Standing up she began to unbutton her silken pajama top. Finishing it, she set it aside on her bed and began to pull off her matching pajama bottoms. Standing naked in her bedroom she mechanically folded her sleeping clothes and set them back into the top drawer of her vanity before moving to the bathroom.
The cold tile underneath her feet sent a shiver through her body that made her dance for a moment as she moved to the wide and gaping corner shower that she owned. Turning it on, the jets of water that issued forth were cold as a river in winter and squealing lightly from their temperature she stepped back, allowing the water to warm itself before she got under it.
Taking a shower the morning after taking a bath seemed redundant, she knew. But today was too important to risk even the slightest mishap. What was more, her baths were less about actual bathing and more about relaxing when she had knots that needed untying. A shower served the opposite purpose and was more for preparations than for relaxing.
While she waited for the water to warm up she turned and looked at herself in the full-length mirror opposite the shower. Seeing her nude twin standing there she gave herself an appraising look.
An olive-skinned girl of twenty-six stood there, staring back at her. She put her hands on her hips and turned to look at herself. Her legs were strong, but not overly so and they were a result of her favorite exercise of jogging. Her hips were a bit wide, but not overly so. Her belly was flat and had just enough muscle to look appealing, she thought. Her breasts were shapely and full and her shoulders were proportionate to the rest of her body. Her hair was jet black with natural curls that reached down to the middle of her shoulder blades, a holdover from her Italian roots.
Not too bad, she thought. She could stand to lose a few pounds, maybe work on toning the rest of her body as she had always thought that her legs were her best feature. And she had toyed with the idea of getting a haircut, maybe even making it as short as her jawline. Maybe she would, but not today.
The steam that began to flood the bathroom pulled her from her assessment of her body and she hastily stepped under the jets of water. She let the water gently hammer at the skin at her neck and back, watching as her dark hair turned into a soaked mass of tendrils that dripped down in narrow rivulets over her breasts. She took up her body wash and cleaned up her skin and followed it up with her shampoo, conditioner, and face wash. The whole process took less than fifteen minutes before she was done and she shut off the warm shower, savoring the lingering steam for a few moments.
She dried herself and wrapped her head in a towel as she moved back to her bedroom. From inside her wardrobe, she pulled out the best of what she had to wear. A new business suit, a gift from her father now that she had landed this new job, hung ready and waiting for her. The suit was custom made by the hands of one of the best tailors in town and had not been cheap for her father to have made, she was sure.
The suit would wait for a while longer; she had other things to tend to first. She picked up a pair of comfortable panties and a bra to match as she moved back to the bathroom where the steam still hung in the air. She slipped on the panties and bra and felt comfortable in them, walking around the room just to let the garments find a comfortable seam line on her body.
Still clad in her underwear she went to the kitchen and arranged breakfast. She quickly scrambled a couple of eggs, made some toast, and fried a few strips of bacon. The latter had been her mother’s influence.
“Bacon is good for you,” her mother had once told her. “It’s good for the blood and it’ll keep you alert.” Never having been one to question her mother’s wisdom, Jamie had always held that as true. She sat at her table and consumed her small meal, washing it down with a glass of chilled orange juice.
She checked the paper for anything interesting and relevant to a lawyer’s needs and found nothing there. Keeping in tradition with her childhood she perused the comics in the paper and enjoyed a few lighthearted laughs of characters that she had followed since childhood.
A glance at the clock on the wall told her that she was getting down to having roughly two hours before she needed to report in for her induction interview at the firm. Feeling a growing nervousness born of excitement she cleaned up her dishes and returned to her bathroom to complete her morning routine.
When she brushed her teeth and took a shot of mouthwash for added effect she took the towel off of her head and the mass of jet black tendrils that lived there was her next concern. She took laborious pains to dry and treat her hair, recalling that everything needed to be perfect for the first day of a new job. Next year, perhaps, she could afford to be a little more relax in her preparations. But for at least the first year, everything had to be just so. That was the way that lawyers had to work, meticulously. And that would be reflected in her appearance.
First days at a new job left lasting impressions and she intended to be certain that her impression was just that: lasting. Not for her looks or that she had an expensive suit to wear, but for her intellect. One of the first lessons that her father had taught her long ago was that a person could be remarkable for their appearance, but they could be all the more amazing for what was not visible to the eye. Intellect was certainly that and her father had proved that on more than a single occasion.
When she completed the work with her hair she turned next to her makeup. She added the usual features, a little mascara, eyelash curls, and a touch of lipstick. She debated adding rouge to her cheeks but decided against it. Rouge had a tendency to rub off when she least needed it to. No, she thought that what she had done already was sufficient enough. Not perfect, but sufficient. She wanted to come across as strong today, not overbearing. Or at least she didn’t want to appear that way in matters of her appearance.
Her hair and face done she checked the clock. She still had another hour and a half before it was time for her to be at the firm. There was still plenty of time for her to finish her morning routine.
She picked out her best pair of shoes and checked to make sure that they were color coordinated with her new suit. She spared a moment to shine them, making them pristine and neat. Then she slipped into her new suit, checking every seam and button to make sure that she was perfectly dressed.
She turned to her briefcase. It was a handsome thing of brass and calfskin that sat open and waiting for her on her hall table. She double-checked everything that was inside, the usual fare for a lawyer that had yet to take on any clie
nts. She had two notepads, three silver pens with old-style calligraphy heads, an appointment book, a contact keeper, her phone charger, a card holder with a dozen of her business cards inside of it and a small reference book to the most basic articles of law that every lawyer should have. It was that last article that she felt she did not need as she had committed every facet of law to memory. But again, her father’s influence reigned in that.
“I had something like this in my briefcase for every trial, love. I always felt safer with it and the only times I ever lost was when I was without it,” he had once told her. To that end, she made sure it was safely tucked away in her case before closing it.
She put on her best and most professional looking watch, made sure that her phone was fully charged, and gathered up her wallet and keys.
She gave herself another look in the mirror at her front door with only minutes to spare and nodded satisfactorily at it. She looked strong, proud, and even a little menacing, just as her father had taught her. But there was still a delightful womanly quality about her, which her mother had taught her. Just because she intended to be perceived as fearsome did not mean that she should sacrifice her feminine charms. She smiled at her reflected twin.
“Alright,” she said to herself, “let’s go get ‘em.”
The cab ride to Manhattan took longer than she had anticipated with morning traffic and she was thankful that she had left her apartment with time to spare. When she arrived at the lobby doors of Lester & Desoto they were already teaming with people moving in and out of the glass revolving doors like an army of worker ants foraging for food.
Her skin danced with nervousness as she walked to the door, briefcase in hand. She kept her eyes firm and strong as she walked by the others that passed her, in true New York fashion none of them paused to give her a single look as she went by.