SNAKE

by Leal, Samantha

  The phone rang again and he ignored it; whoever was calling from reception could go straight to hell; he didn’t feel like talking to anyone¾ well anyone apart from a certain brown-eyed, sad-faced blond.

  Whatever else she may be, he loved her, he realized. If nothing else, he owed her an apology for last night and he had to make it right. He was a billionaire, with holdings in almost every exotic country in the world, but for the past two months, nothing and no place excited him. If he didn’t want to live the rest of his life in dull monotony, he needed Sage.

  With a muttered oath, he shoved to his feet and stalked into the bathroom. In two seconds, he had brushed and shaved and he immediately grabbed his wallet and strode out the door. He was waiting for the lift when it arrived bearing two angry women¾ Sage’s friends!

  The redhead took one look at him and aimed a blow straight at his nose. He deftly caught the tiny fist, surprised at the force she had put into the blow. That would have broken his nose and probably knocked him out!

  “What the hell?”

  “You have a damn nerve!” the petite blond with pretty blue eyes spat.

  “I don’t follow!” he said, releasing the redhead’s hand and turning warily to face the other little dynamo.

  “You made her cry! Again!” the woman spat angrily.

  No prizes for guessing who ‘she’ was.

  “I, um, I know. I was actually on my way to her now¾”

  Both women immediately aligned their bodies in front of the lift, effectively blocking his path.

  “Why? So you can torture her some more over some useless piece of trinket?” the redhead asked.

  “It’s not useless. My mother gave it to me with her last dying breath,” he protested automatically.

  Silence.

  “I was actually on my way to see Sage and apologize for behaving so dreadfully,” he said, encouraged by their silence.

  The redhead threw her head back and laughed harshly. “Well, good luck finding her. She left last night!”

  His heart skipped a beat. “Left? For where?”

  “Parts unknown! She wouldn’t talk to anyone, which is all your fault!”

  Raven felt every last trace of energy drain out of his body and he slowly sank to the floor, his back against the wall. How was he going to survive losing her? Would she even be back?

  As though she had read his mind, the blond said, “And she took a year’s worth of clothing with her when she left, so good luck finding her!”

  “And for the record, Sage only took that useless piece of trinket because we dared her to steal all the cash in a stranger’s wallet. She took your watch instead and never sold it!” the redhead flung over her shoulder.

  With a shake of their collective heads, both friends disappeared back into the lift, muttering audibly about insensitive men who deserved to be strung up, hung drawn and quartered.

  She could be anywhere in the world! How would he find her, he wondered.

  Well, how did you find her the last time? his mind wanted to know.

  Galvanized into action, he raced for the lift and dashed downstairs to the lobby. He hailed the first cab he saw and headed straight for the airport. He would look at the cameras.

  The moment the taxi pulled up at the airport curb, Raven flung a few notes at the cabman and dashed into the terminal, his head swinging around wildly. He grabbed the first security man he saw and shoved a thousand dollars into his palm as he demanded to see the cameras.

  “Whatever for? Someone pick your pocket?” the man asked as he hurriedly pocketed the money.

  “I need to find someone, my…wife! She left in a huff and headed here and she could be halfway around the world. I just wanna see what flight she boarded.”

  “You say she was pissed?” the man asked musingly, staring off into the distance.

  “Yes!” Raven affirmed impatiently. If he could just find out what plane she had boarded, he could jet on his private jet and be waiting at her destination airport by the time her plane landed.

  “This…wife, she wouldn’t happen to be blond, somewhat chubby, with sad brown eyes would she?” the security man asked.

  “That’s her! You saw her! What plane was she on?”

  “She’s right over there,” the man said, nodding toward the waiting crowd.

  Raven turned slowly and felt his stomach flip upside down; Sage sat a few feet away, weeping openly into her handkerchief as though her heart was broken.

  “Now, if you had anything to do with the way that poor girl’s weeping, mate, then it’s a good thing she left you,” the security man informed him huffily before swanning off with his nose in the air.

  * * *

  Sage was certain this was what it felt like to be a homeless hobo. She had packed up almost her entire belongings and now she just sat at the airport confused. She had wanted to go to Spain, back to where it had all started and just put things in perspective, but now… She missed her flight and she couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.

  Someone sank onto the seat beside her, but she kept her eyes focused on her palms, refusing to look up. She didn’t feel like chatting and if this idiot couldn’t tell then¾

  “I’m sorry,” a familiar voice said quietly.

  Sage’s shocked eyes flew to his face. Raven! Her stupid heart did a happy jig until she sternly calmed it down and glared at him with all the hatred in her heart.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she spat.

  “I never meant to hurt you. I was hurting myself. I felt used and stupid and I lashed out. I was wrong.”

  “Go to hell!” she spat and sprang to her feet to leave. He wouldn’t let her.

  His hand clamped about her wrist like a manacle and then he dropped to his knees, his eyes trained on her face. Everyone turned to look at the pair of them, the waiting crowd giggling as they obviously waited for some romantic proposal.

  “You’re embarrassing me!” she whispered furiously, trying to tug her arm from his grip. It was no use; it might as well be a handcuff for all the give it had.

  “Then sit back down. Please, Sage.”

  She slowly sank back onto her seat and he released her wrist, but he remained kneeling.

  “Sit,” she ordered furiously, her face suffused with embarrassed color.

  “I can’t. I don’t deserve to. I have been an ass. I shouldn’t have said what I did, especially because it wasn’t true. I was hurting, so I guess I just wanted to hurt you back.”

  Sincerity blazed back at her from his eyes and she relaxed a little against her seat, feeling some of the hurt gradually seeping away just like that. The man had a scary power over her.

  “I was wrong, Sage. I¾ I love you,” he admitted quietly. “And I guess I just felt you took that watch to make some money, but you never sold it after two months. That alone told me it was a keepsake for you. My mother gave me that watch before she died and that’s all it was to me; of sentimental value. But now I realize I would cast a thousand of it away before I would lose you. I want to hear you laugh again and hear your soft cries as I¾”

  The elderly gentleman seating beside them cleared his throat loudly and ruffled his newspaper.

  Sage giggled, unable to help herself at the look of exasperation on Raven’s handsome face.

  “Why don’t we get out of here?” he suggested.

  Sage shook her head, smiling happily at him, “You said you love me?”

  “With all my heart.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re you, and because I can’t help myself,” he told her softly.

  Tears sprang to her eyes again; this time, tears of such joy that her entire face glowed with it.

  Seeing the tears, Raven held her fingers in his and asked quietly, “Will you make me the happiest man on earth, Sage, and be my wife?”

  Now the tears were falling down her cheeks unchecked, her heart thumping in her throat as she stared at him in shock.

  “Please,” he whispered when he
thought she was hesitating.

  She wasn’t hesitating; she was speechless.

  “There is nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with you; to have you in my arms and to have you as the mother of my children. You do want kids, right?”

  Sage nodded happily, her hand going protectively to her midriff.

  “Say yes, Sage. I don’t have a ring right now, but I swear the minute we get out of here, I’m going to get you the biggest, honking diamond I can find!”

  Sage dissolved into laughter and threw her arms around his neck, loving him as he slowly rose to his feet, taking her with him. She leaned back in his arms and grinned at him, “Yes I love you, and yes, I’ll marry you.”

  He leaned down and took her lips in a kiss so infinitely tender that it would have melted her into a puddle right there if his powerful hands hadn’t been holding her up.

  When he lifted his dark head, she smiled at him, “And about those kids, how do you feel about twins?”

  He grinned happily, “Well, if it’s twins you want, I hear we have to make love at least thrice a day to get twins. I’ll be happy to oblige you, ma’am,” he said, leerily.

  She laughed. He really was something else. “Slow down tiger. Before you start rotating the mattress in your mind, I’m already pregnant. Twins!”

  His heart skipped a beat against her chest and then he grinned, looking happier than she had ever seen him as he said, “I must be the luckiest man alive.”

  No, Sage corrected inwardly as she hugged him tightly. She was the luckiest woman alive, she decided, as her eyes shut.

  THE END

  Billionaire Yes Please

  Katrina Bliss

  Copyright ©2016 by Katrina Bliss. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Chapter 1

  Jasmine knew she wanted more the moment she had finished. She sank back in her seat and pushed the bowl with the last creamy drops of her chocolate chip ice cream away from her, the spoon clattering in the bowl. It slid from her end of the table top until it reached the other end, grazing her mother’s arm.

  “Jasmine!” her mother growled at her, while her eyes remained glued to the book she was reading. “Don’t you see? I’m a child pining for attention, Mom,” Jasmine responded and pouted her lips. Her mother turned a page of her cheap paperback and sighed.

  “I wonder when you’ll begin to act your age. You’re a twenty-five year old woman. It must be all the kids you surround yourself with all the time,” she said, without lifting her head to look at her daughter.

  She could be right, Jasmine thought. The only real conversations she had on a daily basis were with five-year-old tiny humans at the kindergarten where she worked. Her mother, Camilla Kiberd, had made it obvious that she didn’t approve. The unanimous dream of both her parents had been that their only child would grow up to become a doctor or an engineer; a profession that would reel in the money, in any case.

  Jasmine had chosen teaching and she had chosen kids. Not for a second did she regret her decision, especially when she walked into the classroom to find a dozen shiny happy faces staring up at her. Her mother, on the other hand, never failed to remind her how disappointed she was with her daughter’s life choices.

  “Your father would have been so disappointed!” is the line she threw at Jasmine from time to time; just to really rub it in.

  Jasmine tore her exhausted gaze away from her mother and turned in her seat to catch the waitress’ eye again.

  “What are you doing?” she heard her mother remark.

  “I want some more ice cream,” Jasmine said, while she waved furiously to the waitress who still had not noticed her.

  “Your sweet tooth will be the death of you,” Camilla admonished, her attention was diverted from the book finally. In fact, she always had time to throw caustic remarks at Jasmine.

  “Relax, Mom. We’re on a holiday,” Jasmine said, and smiled broadly as the waitress finally began walking over to their table.

  “Another one of those delicious cups of chocolate chip ice cream, please. And, Mom, anything for you?” Jasmine turned to her mother at the last minute.

  “Just some coffee please. Black,” her mother spoke to the waitress curtly and smoothed the lapel of her grey jacket. She was every inch the properly dressed woman.

  Jasmine watched her mother as she went back to concentrating on her book again. She had no idea where she had gotten her own looks from. While Camilla’s most striking features were her sky-high cheek bones, her straight and slim, somber lips, and a head of thick, straight hair which she now, like any proper sixty year old Englishwoman, chose to cut into a neat greying bob; Jasmine was an apple from a completely different tree. In fact, she was more of an orange. Her oval face barely gave away the hint of cheekbones; her lips were wide and in a perpetual pout, while her auburn curls were constantly unmanageable. Her mother was tall and slender, where Jasmine was petite with an ample chest – more than ample in most cases. Her father, too, had looked more like her mother than he did like Jasmine.

  Jasmine sighed as she watched her mother read and gazed out of the smooth, cool glass panes that they were sitting next to. She could hear the seagulls in the sky and when she looked at it, it was bright blue and clear. She didn’t need to step outside to know that the sun would beat down on them, and yet, her mother was in a business suit. Well, she was always in a business suit.

  “Aren’t you warm in that thing, Mom?” she asked.

  “Don’t be silly, Jasmine.” That haughty tone in her mother’s voice which Jasmine knew so well had returned. “I couldn’t possibly have worn anything else,” she said while glaring at her daughter through narrowed eyes.

  “Mom. It’s not a business meeting. It’s only a property viewing,” Jasmine suggested just as the waitress came back with the cup of coffee for her mother and a paper cup with two scoops of ice cream.

  “Exactly. It is a business meeting. It’s a meeting between two individuals who will be embarking on a business contract,” her mother replied, as she gingerly pinched the handle of the cup with her forefinger and thumb. She even put her pinky finger out like only those who were royalty – or true snobs – did.

  “He’s going to buy the house. You don’t need to impress him,” Jasmine said as she scooped a large spoon of ice cream into her mouth and relished the sensation of it melting in her throat. The feeling of it trickling down the heated skin on her lip was heavenly. Her tongue whipped out quickly to catch it before it fell down her chin.

  “Well, if I don’t impress him and the house doesn’t sell, then I’m stuck with that place. And it’s falling apart with nobody else making any offers,” her mother’s voice had risen by a few decibels and Jasmine looked up with a raised eyebrow.

  “Okay, okay,” Jasmine said, her voice muffled by the big dollop of ice cream in her mouth.

  “I just can’t afford to have the property lying around anymore. At this rate it will never sell,” Camilla added and shut her book with an audible ‘swoosh’. Jasmine had never been able to develop the skill of consoling her mother. She was always too distant, too self-aware to betray the need to be consoled or allow anybody else to comfort her. So Jasmine didn’t try anymore.

  “It’ll sell, Mom. The man is the wealthiest man in this town, you said yourself that he is a billionaire. This purchase will be pocket-change for him. He is clearly interested in it, and didn’t you say he knew Grandfather?” Jasmine offered instead, avoiding eye contact with her mother since she had mentioned the grandfather she never knew. Whom her mother despised.

  “Yeah, apparently my father encouraged his stamp collection when he visited here on his holidays. You know, when he was shacking up with that woman,” Jasmine’s mother said through gritted teeth, her anger bein
g vented on her molars. “At least, that is what he says in his letters. Anyway, I suppose we’ll simply have to wait and watch,” she added and opened her book again.

  Jasmine couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She still couldn’t forgive herself for agreeing to accompany her mother on this trip. At least it has the potential of being a much needed holiday, Jasmine said to herself as she looked out through the window again, her gaze settling on the sprawling golden sand and the greenish blue waves crashing gently somewhere in the distance.

  Chapter 2

  “This looks cozy I suppose,” Jasmine smirked as she stepped out of her mother’s car and banged the door shut.

  “Careful with the door!” she heard her mother yell out to her, but she had already run up the broken steps which led to the big wooden door. This door might have been rich brown and looked polished decades ago, but definitely didn’t any longer. She craned her neck up to get a good long view at the house and to her, it was marvelous. The white paint was peeling and had gray patches of damp in the corner, the bottle green painted wooden shutters had chunks missing from them and even from outside, Jasmine could smell the musty scent of locked up spaces.

  “This is pure romance,” she sighed just as her mother reached her side, joining her in staring up at the house.

  “Well, if anything it’s a dead romance,” Camilla said, pulling a key from her purse.

  “I can’t imagine why this hasn’t sold yet. It doesn’t take a wild imagination to know how this place could potentially look if it’s repaired and looked after,” Jasmine was chirpy and excited. Her parents had never brought her to this house before as her mother rarely ever spoke about her grandfather, but finally this dilapidated place seemed to solidify her roots.

  “My father didn’t have a very respected reputation around this town. It might have something to do with that,” her mother replied as they stepped in through the door together and entered a large hallway. There was very little light inside, and the few slivers that entered through the holes in the windows illuminated the thick films of dust that had settled on everything.