Keeper (A Billionaire Romance)

by Belle Roberts

  They all nodded, and I felt pleased that they were all so polite.

  “We’ve loved being here, Jonathan,” Krista said raising her glass. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and I’m so happy for you both. Anyway, here’s to love and also to second chances!”

  “To second chances and love!” I echoed, and the sentiment radiated throughout the room.

  Anna looked at me and smiled sheepishly.

  “You deserve it,” I whispered, putting an arm around her. “Second chances are just that, a second chance to put things right.”

  “Thank you…”

  The sound of the doorbell interrupted us, and as Loria was refilling glasses I turned to answer it.

  “Excuse me, Anna. I should get this.”

  I left her side and hurried out to the hall without even thinking for a split second that what I was about to do could change everything.

  I took the key out of the lock and pulled the door open, the hazy smile of contentment and champagne fell from my face instantly when I realized who it was.

  “Hi, where’s Loria? Sorry I had to ring the bell, my key wouldn’t open the door for some reason.”

  Shit! It was Kate.

  Kate

  He stared at me, speechless, as though I was the last person he’d expected to see at the house that I now lived in.

  “I think we need to talk about last night,” I said, feeling a degree of confidence fueling my determination. I could do this!

  I started to walk in towards him, but he closed the door slightly so I could only see a fraction of his face.

  “Hey, what’s going on? I thought you understood that what you saw between Evan and me was completely innocent.

  “I do. I did…” he stuttered.

  “You did? You mean you don’t anymore?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I do, I get it and I’m sorry about what I did. Look, why aren’t you at the spa?”

  “Wow, well I’m happy to see you too…”

  “It’s not that.” He looked behind him briefly and opened the door, before coming out quickly and closing it behind him.

  “Jonathan, you’re scaring me. What’s going on here? Why can’t we go inside and talk?”

  “Do you trust me?” he whispered, taking my face into his hands and pressing our foreheads together. “Remember that night in bed? Do you remember how we opened up to each other? How I felt?”

  “Well, that’s just it,” I said, putting my hands over his. “I have to tell you something. Actually I need to tell you something. I…”

  He kissed me and pulled away, a sad look in his eyes.

  “Then please, hold onto that thought and don’t say it.”

  “What do you mean?” I looked at him confused and unable to read his expression.

  “If you trust me, Kate, and if you’re going to say what I think you’re going to say, just get back in that car and drive away. Please do it. Go and book a room in that place at the end of the road I’ll come to there and pick you up in an hour. You can say it to me then and tell me everything. I want to hear it all, but I can’t right now. We’ll go somewhere, anywhere you want to Kate, just name it and we’ll take the jet…”

  “Jonathan…” I looked at his pleading eyes then at the closed door putting every little detail together, before I turned and saw the large executive minibus parked over by the garages. “Who’s here?”

  “Kate…”

  “Who the hell’s here, Jonathan?” I demanded, pushing him away from me. He allowed himself to fall backwards slightly. “What’s happening that’s so important you can’t even tell me?”

  “I can’t explain that just yet, but I promise…”

  The door opened behind him and he spun his head around quickly to see who it was. A large breasted woman who’d been poured into a tight and ridiculously short dress stood in the doorway with a glass of champagne like she owned the place.

  “Sweets,” she smiled at him, “is everything… ohhhh shit, it’s you?”

  She gestured to me, spilling some of her drink.

  Jonathan put his head in his hands and ran them down his face.

  “Sweets? Is she serious?” I asked him incredulously. “Who the hell is she and why is she calling you sweets?”

  I felt tears of anger instead of hurt threatening to fall, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Not while the gawping woman was standing there staring at me as though I was the one that shouldn’t have been there.

  “Krista, go back inside,” he said, speaking without looking at her.

  “Kate, it’s not what it looks like, hon. We’re…” she began but he cut her off.

  “Krista go back in-fucking-side!”

  She bit the corner of her lip anxiously, turned, and disappeared back into the house closing the door behind her.

  “Krista?” I asked, looking at him. “Really? Krista? This bitch knows who I am yet I’m left standing here none the wiser while she’s drinking champagne in my house dressed like that?”

  “I swear it’s not what you think, Kate. Just give me a chance to explain.”

  I turned and walked back towards the car partially blinded by tears. He ran after me, holding onto my arm and spinning me around.

  “You want to know the truth, Kate?” he asked urgently. “You really want to know what she’s doing here?”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t bear to hear him say it, not now when secretly all I’d wanted was to give him the one part of me that no one else had ever received and have him hold me.

  “You know, I came here because I wanted to tell you exactly how I felt. I finally realized everything about myself and about how I feel about you. What bullshit. You shipped me off to a spa so you could sit around with her. With Krista!”

  “It’s not like that, Kate. She’s here for you!”

  I laughed at his explanation, feeling utterly stupid at how I could ever have thought a man like Jonathan would be tamed by someone like me especially when, from the beginning, it had been too good to be true, but the other night had thrown me off guard. We’d made love instead of having sex, and I’d allowed myself, like so many other women he’d reeled in, to get caught up in his charm.

  He snaked his fingers up my arms and around my neck and pressed his lips to my forehead, and for a moment I closed my eyes, breathing in the way he smelled and forgetting the anger, but it flashed before me again when I thought about Krista with her arms around him and I pulled away.

  “You know what the funny thing is?” I asked. “I don’t know why I’m letting myself feel like this. You never were and never have been mine. We’ve got a relationship and engagement built on fakeness. I should have known it would end up like this. I should have known that someone like you wouldn’t be able to give up the thrill of women like her. I was stupid to have ever let my guard down with you.”

  “Come to the house,” he whispered. “I’ll explain it all. I’ll show you everything.”

  I shook my head, emotionally drained.

  “I can’t do this anymore,” I said quietly. “I can’t marry you and not fall in love with you. It’s impossible, I’m sorry, I can’t.”

  “Why fight real feelings, Kate?” he asked, taking a step closer to me. “I didn’t say not to fall in love with me. Things have changed now. We both know they have.”

  “I can’t,” I repeated. “I can’t because when I love, this is what happens. I can’t keep being hurt by people. Clearly I’m not enough to make you happy.”

  He sighed, running out of ways to try and stop me.

  “There’s nothing going on between Krista and me. If you give me a chance, I’ll explain everything. We didn’t want to say anything to until we were certain…”

  I stepped away from him, not listening or registering what he was saying. He stopped speaking and stared at me, my heart pounding and tears making it impossible for me to even see his face clearly.

  “Goodbye, Jonathan.” I managed to say
without my voice cracking.

  “Don’t do this, Kate,” he whispered. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before in my life. You have no idea what even the sound of your voice does to me or how different I am now you’re I my life. I need you here.”

  “No, your mother needs me. You don’t know how to love or recognize when you’ve got something good. Sorry, I have to go.”

  I turned and he held onto my hand, then let it slip through his grasp as I ran back to the car. The driver opened the door for me, confused and I got inside.

  “St. Regis, please?” I asked him once he was seated, my voice cracking with heavy emotion. I knew it was a far way back, but I couldn’t stay in the Hamptons. Not when I knew what was happening inside the mansion.

  “Yes, Miss.”

  He started the engine and we pulled around the drive.

  “Don’t leave like this, Kate! Wait!”

  I turned back and saw Jonathan running after the car as fast as he could, the strong determination on his handsome face as he tried to stop me.

  “Drive! Just drive!” I ordered, unable to bear the heartbreak any longer, and as we sped out of his reach he still didn’t give up chasing the car until we’d turned out of the drive and he was out of sight.

  I felt my heart about to explode, and I could barely control the sobs that rocked my body as the realization hit me hard. That was it. Jonathan and I were over for good.

  Chapter Eight

  Jonathan

  The overly eager woman in the desperately tacky red sequined mini dress leaned closer to me, pushing her enormous tits into my face. Close enough for me to smell the mixture of fake tan and sweat from them.

  “I said,” the bottle brunette shouted over the music, “did you come here alone? Are you with anyone?” She took another sip from her straw and tilted her head. I was sure it was meant to be a last ditch attempt at being seductive, but in reality her manner couldn’t have been less attractive if she tried.

  “Excuse me,” I said back, leaving her side and heading towards the door. I walked past several other women who obviously knew who I was and tried in vain to get my attention, but I wasn’t that man anymore. Not since I’d met Kate.

  “Hey, where’re you going?”

  I felt Evan’s firm hand around my arm, pulling me backwards just as I was about to leave. He raised his eyebrows at me suspiciously.

  “Were you just gonna leave and not say bye?” he asked.

  “Listen, I appreciate the effort you’re going through here, but it’s not helping. None of this is!” I gestured around us to the members club that I used to enjoy frequenting. Before it would have been the perfect place to unwind after a long day at work, and normally the women would have been exactly what I wanted to busy myself with, but now, the more I looked at it and the atmosphere, the more I realized how seedy it was. There were older men almost everywhere with arms wrapped around young wannabe models and amateur actresses. It was the place to go if you wanted a benefactor to pay all your bills, and I knew now with new eyes that it wasn’t for me.

  “Jonathan, you’re not gonna get her back, okay?” Evan said firmly. “Women like Kate are fragile, and once you break down the trust that’s it. Game over. I’ve been there with girls like that before.”

  “Thanks.” I knew he meant well, but it wasn’t helping.

  “You know I don’t mean it like that,” he sighed and reached into his pocket for his phone. “Michael? Bring the car, we’re done.”

  “You don’t have to leave on my behalf. I saw you talking to Jenna earlier...”

  He shook his head and rested a firm hand on my shoulder.

  “Jenna was only asking me about you, Jonathan. They all do. Since I dated your sister, the whole female population of New York avoid me. Come on, let’s just get out of here and go back to the Grape Vine for a drink.”

  I followed him to the door and straight into the waiting car, relieved that I was out of that hellhole.

  “Have you tried calling her?” Evan asked me as we pulled away from the curb. Had I called her? I’d surprised myself and done nothing but. I’d never put so much effort into anyone before. I’d called, emailed, messaged, and tried all avenues of social media. Nothing had worked. She didn’t want to be found and she most certainly didn’t want to be married to me anymore.

  My old self would have just discarded her immediately and moved on to the next, but I found myself comparing everyone to her. Did they have her beautiful eyes? Her smile, her curvaceous figure, or her wild hair? Did they have the ability to speak to me about more than just what type of Louboutins they’d wanted their whole life.

  I rested my head back on the seat rest. I had to give up; he was right. Women like Kate were special. They weren’t made of the usual hardened stuff I was used to. I’d been constantly surrounded by women who didn’t care how bad I’d hurt them, as long as I kept dating them, they were fine. I was used to getting my way, and the fact that Kate had cut off all communication and made it clear that she wanted nothing more to do with me only made me want her more. She had me.

  “What is it that you actually did?” Evan asked. “I mean, from where I stood, it looked like she was pretty into you. I thought you guys were smoothing over the incident at Haselini. Michael said you both had an argument or something.”

  I sighed and turned to the window, watching New York zoom past. With drivers and staff, you forfeited almost every inch of your privacy.

  “I did one of the biggest gestures I think I’ve ever done for a woman.”

  “And she called the wedding off?”

  “She didn’t know. It was just a damn huge misunderstanding. I should have just come out and told her everything.”

  “Then why didn’t you?”

  “Because there’s a whole other part to this story and the other person swore me to secrecy until I had it confirmed. Until everything was set in place…”

  “Shit…”

  “Exactly. I don’t even know where the hell she’s living or what she’s doing. It’s like she’s gone off grid. How do you even find someone with no family or friends in a big city? I’m fortunate enough to get my hands on the bed PI services in town, but where do they start?”

  Evan thought for a moment and shrugged.

  “Well think of it this way, you’re both from two different worlds, so sooner or later it wasn’t going to work, right?”

  I nodded reluctantly.

  “So, what do you say we go out at the weekend? Helen told me she has some friends she can introduce us to.”

  I laughed, the stale atmosphere lifting. I knew what her friends were like, bible studying, tights and sandal wearing women who wanted to love you for a few years before marriage and then have sex.

  “What’s funny?” he asked, smiling too, and I thought about telling him they wouldn’t be our type, but the desire to see his face when he saw them for himself was almost too much to walk away from.

  “Fine, I’ll go. Just once.”

  “Awesome!” He took his cell out and scrolled through the calendar. “Three days’ time, no backing out?”

  I nodded and turned back towards the window; the only woman on my mind was Kate. I’d spent the last few weeks thinking of nothing else but her. Helen and Evan could introduce me to as many substitutes as possible, but until I saw her again and explained, it wasn’t going to work. They would never be Kate.”

  “Listen,” Evan said, squeezing my shoulder, “this is why men like us shouldn’t settle down. We only know how to be one thing…”

  “And what’s that?”

  “This,” he gestured at the chauffeur driven car around us. “We only know how to be us. There are men out there made for being husbands and fathers, but we love variety. We love to please a woman and move on. What’s different this time?”

  “This time, she’s not just any woman. She’s actually funny and I want to be around her. It’s not just sex, it’s more than that. I never thought I’d hear myself say it,
but I actually care about her. Can you believe it? Can you believe that there’s a woman on this planet besides my mom and sister that I actually genuinely care how their day went? God, what’s happening to me?”

  I buried my face in my hands and took a deep breath. Even saying it out loud sounded ridiculous, and the look on Evan’s face told me he thought the exact same thing.

  “Didn’t you feel that with Jess?” I asked him, sitting upright. I knew they had a particularly rocky relationship, but it dawned on me that we hadn’t really talked about it before.

  He shrugged and nodded.

  “Jessica and I are different. There’s a lot of stuff there, but I don’t know, I’m not that guy.”

  “What guy?”

  “She wants commitment, Jonathan, and I don’t know if I can really give that to her. I like her being around, but I just don’t want to hurt her like that. She’d have been the right woman in ten years’ time, just not right now. I can’t be running around this city like you because one woman won’t return my calls.”

  I let his words sink in, trying to imagine myself in ten years time. Did I want what he wanted or was I deluding myself?

  Kate was the most naturally beautiful woman I’d ever seen, both inside and out, but the thought of running around pining for someone for the unforeseeable future left a bad taste in my mouth.

  I wanted her, there was no denying it, but also on the other hand I didn’t want to lose the part of me that I’d worked hard to build into a billion dollar company or that part that like to be in control.

  I had to face the facts. Evan was right. She got one more chance and then that was it, I had to finally let go and move on. I just didn’t know what I disliked more, having to tell my mother that the wedding was off or the thought that one day, somewhere in the world, Kate would most probably be in the arms of another man, and it wouldn’t be me.

  Chapter Nine

  Jonathan

  I sat re-reading the email in my inbox from Jess, her angry words emblazoned on the screen in front of me: