The Billionaire’s Crush

by Tineka Brown

  “Mmm...” Olympia sighed, and the warmth of the sun and his arms drew her right back in. They tumbled over onto each other.

  It was another half-hour before Olympia got up in earnest. She took a quick shower, then headed down to the hotel lobby, grabbing a kiss and a final bite of breakfast before she did.

  “I guess the next time I see you you’ll be coming down the aisle,” said Everett.

  “Uh huh.” Olympia felt a shiver of electricity run through her at the thought. “No cold feet yet, hm?”

  “Never,” said Everett.

  Alex and Mrs. Jackson were waiting at the entrance to the hotel spa. Everett had practically booked the entire hotel in order to house all their guests, aside from his parents, who would be arriving by plane right before the ceremony.

  “My goodness this place is fancy,” said Mrs. Jackson before Olympia could even greet her mother. Olympia laughed.

  “I know, mom. But try not to make Everett too self-conscious later, okay?”

  “He has no right to be self-conscious about this. I’m just glad that my daughter will be provided for so wonderfully. Just…”

  “What?”

  “Well, I just hope that when he comes ‘round to my house for dinner, I’ll be able to impress him with my cooking.”

  “Mom!” Olympia laughed and embraced her mother. “He’ll be very impressed. You know that he grew up poor, right?”

  “Are you saying I’m poor?”

  Olympia chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

  They’d organized to have manicures and facials at the spa before Alex and Mrs. Jackson went to work on Olympia’s face. Olympia felt relaxed almost as soon as they entered the spa — gentle, soft chimes sounded over a clear speaker somewhere in the ceiling. Beautifully well-kept potted plants adorned every corner, and the rooms were separated elegantly with textured glass.

  A small woman in a white uniform greeted them at the reception desk. “Good morning. You must be the Jackson party.”

  “That’s us,” said Olympia’s mother.

  “Right this way.”

  *****

  Two hours later, the three women left the spa and headed for an upstairs room that Everett had booked out as a dressing room. Olympia’s dress hung on a rack in the center of the room as they entered. It looked almost eerily similar to the dresses that had awaited her in her dressing room at the casino.

  “It’s beautiful,” breathed Alex, immediately walking up and grabbing at the hem of the dress, feeling the silky white fabric between her fingers. She turned to Olympia. “How much?”

  Olympia blushed and looked away.

  “Oh my god, Olympia, how much did your dress cost? Mrs. Jackson? You want to take bets on this?”

  “Mom, please.”

  “Well, sweetie, I’m also curious. Just how much?”

  “It was…” Olympia looked around and muttered, “it was just over $10,000.”

  Alex clapped a hand to her mouth and immediately dropped the fabric from her hands, then bent down a second later to examine the dress where she’d touched it, as if she were worried that it might burst into flames from her touch.

  “To be honest, I was trying to forget just how much it cost,” said Olympia, picking up the fabric herself to demonstrate to Alex that it was durable. “I’m a little afraid to wear it.”

  “I would be.”

  “Thanks Alex, real helpful.”

  They laughed.

  “So, let’s get you into it, then,” said Mrs. Jackson, ever the practical one.

  A few moments of zipping and adjusting later, and Olympia was dressed. Her mother stood back to admire her daughter, and immediately burst into tears.

  “Oh, honey, come here, let me hug you--” Olympia didn’t let her mother finish the sentence before squeezing her in a tight embrace. She knew, anyway, that her mom would have been too afraid to hug her for fear of ruining the dress.

  Note to self, thought Olympia. Ten-thousand-dollar dresses just aren’t worth it.

  She was sure Everett would disagree with her on that point.

  Once the happy tears had subsided and everyone was back under control, Olympia plopped herself down on the seat in front of the vanity and let her makeup team do what they had been waiting to do all morning.

  An hour later, Alex said, “okay, you can turn around.”

  Olympia hesitated for a moment. There’d been a flurry of activity, involving her face, her hair, her lips — she honestly wasn’t sure what to expect, and as much as she trusted Alex and her mother, she hoped she wouldn’t have to feign her excitement.

  “Come on, don’t be shy.”

  Olympia took a breath and turned around, opening her eyes to see her reflection in the vanity mirror. She gasped, and narrowly missed clapping a hand to her face and smudging the lipstick.

  “Oh my god… I look like a model!”

  “You always look like a model.”

  “Oh, shush.”

  “What do you think… is Everett going to cry?”

  “By god, he just might.”

  Olympia examined her reflection, transfixed. A shimmer of metallic gold on her eyelids brought out the warmth of her gaze, and the deep, brownish red hue splashed across her lips looked terribly inviting — and most like would prove irresistible to her fiancé.

  “You guys… I’m so happy.”

  “Do you like your hair?”

  Olympia hadn’t even noticed — her hair was still a deep, dark brown cloud around her head but now she could spot pinpricks of something shiny. She leaned in to get a closer look. A tiny gossamer thread of metallic something, strung up with miniscule glass crystals and gold beads, was threaded throughout her hair. She gasped.

  “Wow,” she breathed. “I love it.”

  “Yeah, good luck getting it out.”

  “Alex!”

  Olympia laughed, and spun around to face her friend and mother. “What’s the time?”

  “Looks like you’ve got to head down to meet your limo.”

  “One last hug, okay?” The three of them came together in a slightly awkward embrace, Olympia fighting to keep her face from touching anyone’s shoulders. Alex pulled away first — she had just enough time left to change into her bridesmaid’s dress before the phone on the corner of the vanity counter rang.

  Olympia’s mother picked up. A moment later she nodded at the two younger women and said, “that’s him. Time to head downstairs.”

  As they made their way out through the lobby, Olympia caught a few other hotel guests staring at her. A couple were friends of Everett’s that she’d met on a couple occasions, others were strangers. All seemed transfixed by her, staring as though they’d seen the incarnation of Aphrodite herself.

  The car was mercifully well air-conditioned, so Olympia didn’t start sweating until they arrived at their destination. The sun hung nearly at its apex as they walked toward the little white arch which sat toward the edge of the canyon, looking out onto a clear, picturesque vista.

  Thankfully, Everett had thought to have the audience seating and the archway covered with a delicate sheet of some silky fabric, accented with white flowers, to provide some much-needed shade. A few concealed fans blew slightly cool air around the space.

  Out in the middle of nowhere as they were, Olympia had managed to swing a tour bus for her to sit in while the crowd gathered and before the ceremony started. She sat in front of the air-conditioning unit, reciting her vows.

  “They’re going to help you with that, you know.”

  “I know,” said Olympia. “But I don’t want to mess up a word.”

  Her mother smiled. “If Everett’s as good a man as he seems to be, he won’t care, dearest.”

  Olympia nodded.

  The ceremony began with astonishing speed, and Olympia opened the door on cue and started to make her way to the aisle with her mom.

  “I hope Everett’s family doesn’t think it’s odd
that I’m giving you away, rather than your father.”

  “Who cares what they think, mother. Everett loved the idea, and I think it’s much more meaningful this way.”

  The strains of cellos and violins playing the wedding march got closer as they came to the foot of the aisle. Everett, whose view of his bride had been obscured by the angle and the fabric over the audience, grinned hugely.

  As Olympia got closer, she could see a single tear running down his cheek, still shining there.

  She made a mental note to tell Alex as soon as they got to the reception.

  Everett took her arm gently as she stepped up to him. With one last look at her mother, Olympia took her place in front of her soon-to-be-husband.

  The vows passed as a blur, falling easily out of her mouth. She didn’t hesitate or stumble. Right before they kissed, she looked at Everett, trying to memorize every detail of his face in this moment, the way the sun hit his eyes and his skin, the way he looked in that tux — which probably cost at least as much as her dress. She closed her eyes as he leaned toward her, and the image of it was imprinted in her memory.

  I hope this never changes, she thought, kissing him as passionately as the circumstance would allow.

  Then the ceremony was over, and after a round of heartfelt embraces and congratulations, everyone was making a beeline toward their cars to get out of the heat. Olympia hung back, holding Everett’s hand and searching the audience. Finally, she spotted them — Everett’s parents. They were the only ones walking toward the altar instead of toward the parking lot.

  “Mom, dad,” said Everett as if to warn Olympia more than to greet them.

  Olympia smiled serenely, confident that nothing could ruin this day anymore. Not even rude comments from the people who were now her parents in-law. Now that was a realization. Her serenity wobbled for a moment but returned.

  “Son,” said Mr. LeBlanc, nodding at Everett. “Olympia.”

  “Thanks for coming,” said Everett. There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

  “Thank you, Everett. And thank you Olympia.” Mrs. LeBlanc turned to Olympia and looked her in the eyes. “I wanted to apologize to you. We haven’t… we didn’t give you a chance. We said some terrible things. And I don’t expect you to forgive us. But… it’s clear that you make Everett happy. And that matters to us.”

  Olympia opened her mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “You don’t have to say anything right now,” said Everett’s father, putting a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “But, son… if you ever want to talk to us… or Olympia, if you ever… well, you know how to reach us. Thank you for having us. The ceremony was beautiful. Enjoy your reception.”

  “Dad.” Everett put out his arms and hugged his father and mother in turn. “Thanks. I’ll… I’ll call. Okay?”

  “Take care of yourself, son. And take care of Olympia.”

  “Of course.”

  “We love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  And just like that, they were leaving, heading toward their van. Everett stood, staring after them for a few more minutes. Olympia squeezed his hand gently and rested her head on his shoulder.

  “You okay?” She asked.

  “Yeah. I’m fine. That was… I wasn’t expecting that. I hope you don’t feel like they were trying to manipulate you or anything like that.”

  “Hm? Manipulate? No, not at all. It sounded genuine.” Olympia paused. “I don’t know if I can… well… listen,” she turned to Everett and kissed him, giggling as she realized that he had a bit of lipstick smeared across his face. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. But I promise we’ll make time for the discussion later. For now, I want to eat cake, and drink champagne, and dance until my feet hurt.”

  “Now that we can do.” And without further ado Everett lifted her up in his arms and carried her to the limousine that was waiting to take them back to the hotel.

  *****

  The hotel’s ballroom had been transformed. Olympia was the last to arrive at the reception, after spending longer than she had expected getting out of her wedding dress — trying desperately to avoid smearing her makeup on it or jamming the zipper, which was quite a feat even with the help of Alex and her mother.

  “Do you like it?” Asked Everett as soon as she walked in. A live band was playing a selection of upbeat jazz tunes — a classy start to the dance party, though Olympia knew that later they had some more modern club hits to look forward to.

  “Are you kidding?” She asked, playfully smacking him on the arm. “It’s gorgeous!”

  Then she spotted the cake — a towering, multi-tiered white confection covered in flowers that upon closer inspection turned out to be sculpted out of icing and colored chocolate.

  “Mmm… glad I’m not on a diet,” Olympia laughed.

  “Don’t ever lose those gorgeous hips, baby.” Everett wrapped his arms around her waist and swayed gently to the music. “After this song is over I’ll call a toast, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  They continued to sway back and forth, hands on each other’s hips, like teenagers at a school dance, until the song began to fade. Then Everett made a large gesture at the band leader, who nodded and took a step back, cueing the remainder of the group to stay silent.

  Everett clapped his hands together.

  “I just wanted to say, thank you all for coming. This means a lot to me… and to my wife.” He grinned, and Olympia kissed him on the cheek. “Now, uh… who wants cake?”

  After much whooping and hollering, they gathered around the confection and Everett cut into it, feeding Olympia the first, delicious bite. It was rich chocolate under all that white icing, and she closed her eyes, savoring it.

  “Oh,” said Everett, as they sat down at the table with dessert plates in hand. “I have something for you.”

  “Hm?”

  He pulled a small, gift-wrapped box from seemingly under his chair, and handed it to her. “It’s not much, but…”

  Olympia took the box and, curiously, began to unwrap it. She had no idea what Everett could possibly have gotten her that he hadn’t already given. Then, as the box’s contents began to reveal themselves, she gasped.

  It was a CD of her album.

  “It’s pressed?” She asked with wonder, looking at him.

  “It’s heading to stores tomorrow. But, since we’ll be on a plane to Paris… I wanted to make sure you had a copy.”

  Olympia turned the disk over in her hands. “Wow,” she said. “I can’t believe it.” She looked across the room. “I’m going to give this to my mom, though.”

  Everett smiled. “I thought you might say something like that.”

  Olympia turned and looked at him. “You’re my husband now,” she said. The realization felt simultaneously dumb and profound.