Just like Grey (Series ONE Complete Set): Billionaire Romance

by Jessie Cooke

  “One weekend. Not some crazy tete-a-tete; not some outlandish ploy to try and get you alone. One weekend to show you how serious I am about pursuing something meaningful with you. If you don’t feel the same or feel like you can’t be with me after that, then we part as friends.” He leaned back to look deeply into her eyes. “And you can think about the townhome and get back to me. The offer still stands for you to have your own place.”

  There were days that Bella believed she could be a “kept” woman, but . . . was that really what she wanted?

  The townhome nearly rang with the silence that surrounded them as she mulled over his proposal.

  “And you’ll let her down easy?” she asked.

  “I’ll be gentle, but I can’t promise it won’t hurt.”

  Bella sighed as she wondered how she got here. Would she fault Nicky for giving it a go with an ex-boyfriend of hers? One that had dumped her after leading her on longer than necessary? She knew it would hurt, but she wanted to say that she would be the bigger person and encourage her friend to at least explore the possibilities? Wasn’t that what they were all looking for in life—the “perfect fit”; a partner who fulfilled? A “big love?”

  “One weekend,” she heard herself say. “That’s it.”

  Reece beamed, and she saw within his face a younger, more child-like Reece whose face lit up with the promise of unforeseen treasure.

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “Don’t give me time to reconsider,” she said. “I’m already riddled with guilt at the whole thing and can’t believe I just agreed.”

  “Then go pack your bags! We leave in the morning.”

  “But I just got back to work! I can’t afford to take a long weekend.”

  “You let me take care of that. There is some advantage of being able to pull strings in this town.”

  Bella couldn’t help herself—her heart was racing and excitement fluttered within her stomach. A weekend was all she would allow, but at least she would get one weekend of feeling like a princess. One weekend of being wooed beyond all of her wildest dreams.

  She surprised herself again by kissing him deeply before she waved a finger goodbye as she guided her car through the town square and pointed it towards Dallas, leaving Grapevine and facing happiness regardless of how fleeting.

  Reece could still taste Bella on his lips as he backed his silver Porsche Boxster away from the townhome. He had high hopes for his future with Bella. He already knew all that he would lavish on her this weekend, and he would enjoy lavishing it just as much as she would enjoy receiving it. And—though he wouldn’t admit it to some of the good ol’ boys he ran around with—he was actually relishing the idea of talking with her, watching her to learn her idiosyncrasies. And, if he were being honest with himself, he’d admit that he felt a deep thrill within the pit of his stomach at the idea of just watching her sleep next to him, just feeling her skin brush his own.

  The ringing of his phone through his Bluetooth system interrupted his thoughts. The radio console flashed Nicky’s name up on the screen, and Reece winced inwardly, knowing that he must suffer some un-pleasantries to finally get to the pleasantries he had in store for Bella.

  He punched a button on his steering wheel allowing him to answer the phone.

  “Hey there,” he said, making certain that his voice didn’t convey too much excitement but not instill any trepidation yet.

  “We need to talk,” the concern in her voice was amplified by the car’s speakers.

  “Ok. I’m on the way back to the office from Grapevine. I’ve got some time now.”

  “No. Face-to-face.”

  A surge of hope swelled within him. Perhaps she was sick of it and was going to ditch him before he had to ditch her. That would get him off the hook and leave him a little more wiggle room, not to mention it’d probably be a little better for Bella—granted, it wouldn’t cast her in a perfect light, but it would at least lessen the harsh glare in which Nicky may try to see her.

  “Are you at work?”

  “No. I called in sick.”

  “I’ll be over in twenty minutes,” he said, and signed off.

  14

  Nicky opened the door to reveal what Reece could only seem to label as “train wreck”. Her eyes and nose were red and raw; her lips were dried and cracked from the dehydration her tears had caused. Her hair usually bobbing with life was limp and greasy, seeming to be more the color of oily French fries than summer sun.

  “Geez, what happened?” Reece asked. He didn’t know if he should try to hug her, but he felt a visceral reaction against it when the question arose.

  He followed her into the living room where it was obvious she’d been camped out. Used tissues were balled up and littered the sofa and the floor around it. One mug held a limp tea bag while an airplane bottle of Irish whiskey revealed half of its contents gone. A ratty quilt with squares of pink and blue posies lay in a heap at one end of the sofa, and the television emitted light and movement but no sound.

  Nicky threw herself onto the sofa and ran her fingers through her slippery hair as she inhaled deeply.

  “First, I just want to say ‘I’m sorry.’ I know that I’ve been a lot to handle the last few days . . . well, probably longer. I, well, I think it must be my hormones or something.”

  Reece shook his head.

  “The holidays bring the worst out of everybody,” he said, “and I haven’t exactly been very present.”

  “Which is part of why we need to have the conversation,” Nicky interjected.

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you too, Nick, but . . . to be honest, the time never really presented itself.”

  “Well, it’s presenting itself now in all its glory.”

  Reece looked at her with confusion.

  “I’m not sure I understand,” he began, but she cut him off.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Silence.

  Reece actually thought that perhaps he could hear beneath the silence; beyond the mute on the television. Somehow, voices and sirens and tires squealing and weird music could be heard from underneath the waves of silence in the room.

  “Are you . . .”

  “I’m sure.” Nicky pulled out the receipt and schedule of upcoming visits from her doctor’s office as proof.

  “How—um—how far . . .”

  “Fourteen weeks.”

  “Fourteen?” Reece began doing the math.

  “It’s yours, Reece. I wasn’t seeing anyone else when I started seeing you, remember?”

  He remembered. He had heard it from both Nicky and Bella—how devastated Nicky had been that her then-boyfriend had cheated on her, and she’d ended it, only to find herself back on the scene hooking up with Reece before she’d had time to thoroughly exhaust all the angry-chick songs in her playlist.

  Nicky was wiping her eyes though there weren’t any tears.

  “I really thought I’d cry and moan my way through telling you, but I guess I’m just about dried up,” she confessed.

  Reece wanted to run. The walls within her apartment seemed to grow closer and closer like some Temple of Doom. He couldn’t look at her, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, his body feeling as heavy as concrete as the news sank into him.

  “Say something, please,” Nicky beseeched.

  But try as he may, his mouth wouldn’t even move; it was so heavy.

  “I thought . . .” he finally managed to get out.

  “Our first time. At the office party? We didn’t use a condom then. I know. I couldn’t remember either until—it finally hit me, and I sat straight up in bed last night with the memory.”

  “How long have you known?”

  “For sure? Only this morning.”

  “How long were you suspicious?”

  “About two weeks, but I was also suspicious of you cheating on me. I was suspicious of early onset menopause too. Hell, I couldn’t pin down my thoughts and really be rationale. I guess it was the hormones.”
/>   “The hormones,” he repeated absently.

  Nicky reached out to him, patting his knee consolingly, and he realized that somehow this was all wrong. He’d always thought he’d be the type of guy to console his girlfriend when the time came; not the other way around . . . but he never imagined it would be Nicky.

  His stomach dropped. What about Bella?

  “And I know it’s a real shock to your system, and I’m sure you have plans and dreams and goals that don’t involve a wife and child, but . . . Reece? Are you listening?”

  He realized he hadn’t been, and so he shook his head slowly to indicate so.

  “I was saying,” Nicky continued.

  Reece put his hand up.

  “Just stop,” he whispered. “Just wait.”

  He heard Nicky take in a jagged, wary breath.

  “I can’t hear you.”

  “Oh, I was saying . . .” she began again a little louder.

  “No,” he said, his hand up again. “I mean I cannot hear you right now in this moment. I—I need to go.”

  “Go?”

  “Just—you have to give me a little time, Nicky. I . . . I need to process all of this and think it through, and I can’t do it here, okay? I need to be outside, in the open, where I can breathe and think.”

  “What about me?” Nicky asserted. “You don’t think I haven’t needed to get out of here? Needed to breathe or think? I need my boyfriend to comfort me, too, damn it, not just hear he’s gonna be a father and run away, leaving me wondering and wallowing.”

  Reece had thought his stomach couldn’t sink any lower, but he felt it dip again. He knew what it looked like to her; he knew that, were this a movie, he’d think the boyfriend was a complete tool. But he also thought if he didn’t get out, he might die right there on the spot, his chest and lungs constricted.

  He reached over and grasped her hands.

  “I am not abandoning you. . . I promise. Give me one weekend to figure it all out. We’ll get through this, but . . . well, for now, you know me: I need to hole myself up and reconfigure the plans, redraw the schematics. Can you trust me that much?”

  Tears had sprung to her eyes, and Reece found himself wishing for all he was worth that it was Bella giving him this news rather than Nicky. It would be so completely different if it were. But Nicky nodded, seemingly encouraged by his words.

  “One weekend,” he said. “I’ll be back here on Monday with our future staked and ready for claiming.” He had put on his best businessman smile, his salesmen’s pitch.

  “OK,” Nicky said as she leaned into him for a kiss that he didn’t feel . . . a kiss he couldn’t even remember because all the time he was picturing Bella’s face, her body, her long milk chocolate hair and mourning their one weekend, their only weekend.

  He closed the door behind him. How had his world suddenly become so wrong when it was on the verge of being so right?

  15

  Bella Ryan stuck her arm out the passenger’s side of the silver Porsche Boxster S allowing herself to feel the sensation of the wind lifting and lowering her arm like a wing. Though her hair was pulled into a loose knot at the back of her neck, a few strands had loosened themselves and danced in the wind created by the open roof and windows. She looked at the handsome man beside her, the muscles in his forearm rippling as he shifted into sixth gear.

  Reece Hamilton caught Bella’s eyes which were more cerulean blue today against the lavender V-neck she wore. He winked his ochre-colored eye at her, unable to contain the smile he felt as he took in her beauty. Finally, it would be just the two of them . . . even though the weekend also meant the finality of just the two of them.

  But he would think about that later, he told himself as he turned his gaze back towards the open road. He had offered to fly them to South Padre Island to make better use of their time, but Bella had insisted she get to ride in the Porsche.

  “Who in the world would ever turn down a road trip in a dream car?” she had asked playfully. “You just saddle up and get ready to ride,” she had remarked.

  To which he replied, “I will if you will,” and nibbled on her ear.

  Bella knew what was at stake this weekend; the settlement had been made. She had agreed to give him one weekend to woo her properly, and if she could walk away, then she would . . . and she had every intention of doing just that. Reece already had history with Nicky, her best friend, and though they had vowed not to speak of Nicky this weekend, the thought of her had already entered Bella’s mind. She was wondering if he’d done what he said he was going to do and gently broken up with her.

  Ironically, Reece too was thinking of Nicky, but for a different reason: he was troubleshooting. What would he do if she called? Where would he say he was? He could always tell her he’d gone to his vacation home on the island, but he wouldn’t put it past her to show up suddenly. She’d proven time and again that she had a knack for surprising him.

  Bella reached over and took Reece’s hand into her own, her palm was warm and her fingers small. Instantly, he felt the desire to protect her from all that he knew would transpire. He wanted her more than anything, but he simply couldn’t walk away from what was right and what was his responsibility.

  They had just crossed into South Padre Island proper when a siren blared behind them. Bella turned around in her seat to see blue lights flashing on a police car a few car lengths behind them.

  “Oh no,” Bella said. “Are you speeding?”

  Reece checked his speedometer.

  “Not at all. It must be for somebody else.” But the police car passed the Chevy truck that had been behind them, and closed the gap between the Porsche they were in.

  “I think they want us,” Bella remarked.

  “Well, I’m not stopping,” came Reece’s response. She watched his jaw muscles clench, and she knew he was digging his heels in. Reece had the reputation for being stubborn; it was what had made him successful in the world of property development.

  “Pull over please,” a voice came from the police car at back of them, and the cacophonous screech of the alert tone of the siren sounded piercingly. Bella bet dogs were howling for a twenty mile radius, her ears still ringing with the obnoxious noise.

  Reece cursed under his breath as he eased the Porsche onto the shoulder and threw the car into “park”.

  “Step out of the car, please sir, with your hands in the air.”

  Bella’s mouth and stomach dropped. What had he done? She wanted to kick herself for listening to her body and her heart and leaving Dallas to go on a weekend with a man she barely knew. This is what she gets, is what her mom would most likely tell her when she called her from jail.

  Reece complied, but Bella could see that he was just as shocked and confused as she was. He exited the car slowly and shut the door, but Bella could still hear him questioning the car behind him.

  “What is going on, officer?”

  The officer stepped out of his car, and Reece felt a jolt of recognition.

  “Just had to stop and give you my thanks,” the officer grinned. “I didn’t want to say it while you have a lady in the car, but if you recall, you gave me some flowers and a bag of goodies to take to my wife for her birthday, and that was one night for me to remember myself! I owe you one, my friend.”

  “I thought I recognized your face,” Reece said with a relief. “But did you have to scare the devil out of me in the process?”

  “Sorry about that,” the officer said. “Just a little fun on the job. Hey, I don’t make that much money. Cut me some slack if I got a charge out of giving you a little bit of a scare.”

  “Little bit? I was already about to have a stroke from my blood pressure rising so fast.”

  “I saw your car cross over the city limit, and I didn’t want to let you go without giving you a proper thank you. That woman did things that night I’d only dreamt of her doing. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it sure did turn around the life in our bedroom.”

  R
eece shifted his weight a bit uncomfortably.

  “Glad I could help, I guess,” he replied.

  “Seriously, bud. My wife became a raving sex maniac. I had trouble sitting in my car for a few days. It was the best week I think I’ve ever had of my life.”

  “I’m pleased everything worked for you,” Reece said, anxious to get back to his car with his girl he hoped would turn into a raving sex maniac within a few hours’ time.

  “Imagine that,” the cop mused, “another man saved my marriage by giving my wife fancy undies, chocolate, champagne, and flowers. It’s enough to make me want to give you a big kiss, but I’m guessing that might confuse things between you and the beautiful lady you have in your car.” The policeman bent down and peered into the window, tipping his hat at Bella gallantly. Then he turned to Reece. “Looks like things have picked up for you, too.”

  “They certainly have,” Reece grinned. “And the best part is: she’s not wearing any panties.”

  “She’s a beauty, too. If you tell me she’s wearing a mini-skirt, I might just have to ask her to step out of the car and put her hands on the hood.”

  “She’d see right through that,” Reece admitted. “Officer, one day I’m going to invite you and your lovely wife for a drink at my holiday home. Today, however, I’ve got better things to do, if you know what I mean.”

  The policeman smirked. “I look forward to that. Until then, have a lovely day,” he said and walked back to the patrol car.

  “What was that all about?” Bella asked.

  “Turns out, he’s an old friend of mine,” Reece replied.

  As Reece started the motor to move onto the highway, they hear a voice bellow from the car behind once again. “Drive safely, and keep your knickers on,” followed by a short laugh.

  Reece smiled sheepishly at Bella, whose mouth had dropped open in utter astonishment.

  “Well, I can promise to drive safely, but the rest I can’t promise I’ll do,” and he accelerated towards Fountain Way and the guarantee of a memorable weekend.

  When they got to the house, Bella didn’t need any introductions or tours; she had decorated the thing for crying out loud.