by Carter Blake
“You, of course. Us. How easy this all is. And how we could’ve had this years ago, if we’ve not both been so stubborn.”
Dani gives me a sad smile. “No point being so melancholic about it when we can’t do anything to change the past.”
I kiss her gently once more. “Ever the practical one, Dani. Will you never allow me to romanticize anything, even once?”
She grins. “Not even once. Your life is what you make of it, remember? I feel like an idiot told me that once.”
“Hilarious.”
Dani glances towards the cockpit, then looks suggestively at me. “How much time until we land?”
My eyes widen in surprise. “I didn’t have you down for a return trip to the mile-high club, Miss Robinson. And we’re about to descend, unfortunately.”
She pouts beautifully in response.
“We’ll just have to fuck on the next flight, then,” she says, so matter-of-factly that I burst out laughing.
“But of course. Seems the natural thing to do.”
“It would just about be the only natural thing about us being in a giant metal box, suspended in the air, traveling hundreds of miles an hour.”
“Semantics, my love.”
“You know I’m all about the semantics.”
I quietly shush her with a finger, which Dani proceeds to nibble the end of instead.
I sincerely regret my next words.
“Get your seat belt back on. That’s us descending.”
“How long until we reach the hotel?” Dani inquires.
I look at my watch, frowning slightly as I work it out.
“No more than forty minutes, tops. Longer if we get dinner on the way.”
Dani gives me a wicked smile as she glances down at my crotch and back up to my face.
“Don’t you dare make any kind of food-related joke about my dick, woman.”
She laughs. “I was merely going to suggest that dinner could wait, actually.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“Okay, whatever. I’m a liar. Food-related sex humor is so easy, though.”
I roll my eyes but chuckle all the same. “Just so long as you don’t start descending into puns. I’d seriously have to reconsider whether I actually love you if that happened.”
“Such a cruel man, Janus O’Connell. I never knew your love was so fickle.”
Dani rests her head against my shoulder as I chuckle in response to her outrageous statement.
I close my eyes.
Never have I been so glad to ignore my own advice from three years ago: to forget about Danielle Robinson.
With her by my side, it feels as if both of our stories are only just beginning.
Which works just fine by me.
Thief Of Hearts
A Rogue Billionaire Fake Fiancé Romance
By Carter Blake & Aiden Forbes
Copyright 2018 by Third Base Press
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. This work intended for adults only.
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Kalista
Being this wealthy should be illegal.
It probably is.
They can say what they want about the von Knopfs—yes, those von Knopfs—but don’t let anyone try to tell you that Kalista von Knopfs’ twenty-first birthday was anything but pure and undiluted style.
Champagne. Silk. Diamonds—ooh la la—to the most decadent extreme. The caviar at the buffet is of the highest quality, as are the hard, hot bodies of the nude Italian male models that it’s being served on.
The brass band was smuggled out of the palace of the Middle East’s most ruthless Sheikh Prince by an armed guard, under the cover of a moonless night. The red wine, rescued from a sixteenth century Spanish galleon sunk by British privateers under order of the Queen herself, so the world would never learn the glory of that year’s Valencian vino tinto. And the chocolate-covered strawberries, hand-picked from a Hungarian field watered exclusively by the blessed tears of a secret sect of blind nuns, who weep constantly out of adoration for God.
Essentially what I’m saying is, this party is very swish, darling.
But of course, I’m Kalista von Knopfs, so I demand nothing short of the very best.
Not many hotels can get away with calling themselves The Luxury. This venue lives up to its name. It’s the finest accommodation the French Rivera has to offer, so naturally, mom and daddy insisted that I have it for tonight.
The whole hotel has been rented out and decorated to perfection. It was styled into my own personal Casino Kalista, for my birthday. We’re only a few hours into the evening, and it’s already proving to be an epic success.
Not that it matters, but I even saw that snide little tart, Porshetta Rossolini-Humpsfield, enjoying herself at the roulette tables earlier. I know that it’s just so difficult for her to have fun these days, what with the enormous stick up her ass and what not.
“Kitten, don’t scowl like that.”
Mom reaches over and smooths the furrow out of my brow. “You’ll get lines, sweetheart, and then what eligible young bachelor will want you for a wife?”
“One who knows what’s good for him.”
Daddy swats mom’s doting fingertips away from my face.
“Our Kalista is a clever girl, aren’t you, Kali? You’ve got more than just your looks to fall back on, thank god. A man could only dream to be so lucky.”
Of course, even as the words leave daddy’s mouth, his eyes are on Archibald Huxley-Rollins’ new trophy wife, whose most valuable assets are largely based in silicone injections and implants. Luckily, mom doesn’t notice, and I make a point of not pointing it out.
“Still, mom’s right, I shouldn’t scowl,” I agree with a wistful sigh. “I’m adoring my party, honestly. And I love my present even more!”
My fingertips dance along the pendant settled just beneath my collar bones. It’s like touching the face of God himself—if God was insured for over a cool ten million dollars.
The Kalista Canary.
The real star of the party isn’t me, really—it’s this gorgeous, priceless gem.
Ten carats of canary yellow diamond set in Harry Winston’s signature pirouette style. It’s surrounded by eight exquisitely flawless, marquis-cut white diamonds in a swirling sunburst pattern that made Porshetta Rossolini-Humpsfield choke on her champagne when she saw it.
Daddy had it designed specially, just for me, and it’s the most beautiful thing that anyone has ever owned in the history of humankind. The fact that it’s disastrously expensive doesn’t hurt either, of course.
“Nothing but the best for my favorite girl.”
Daddy presses a kiss on my forehead, then gives me a push out onto the dance floor.
“Now, go on, mingle. No respectable twenty-one year old should be spending her whole birthday talking to her stodgy old parents.”
I blow them both a kiss, as I trot away on my gun-barrel silver stilettos.
I might be a bit of a daddy’s girl, but when it comes to partying, no one needs to tell me twice.
Out on the dance floor, I find myself immediately lost in a sea of color, cashmere, and silk. My parents spared no expense on the festivities, and my guests have responded by sparing no expense on their outfits for tonight. Ball gowns and tuxedos of the finest cuts and most beautiful colors, do the foxtrot and the tango, to the delectable wailing of Sheikh Pompadom’s stolen band.
I let myself become engulfed by it. After all, a party without dancing isn’t a party at all. I dance with a mixture of my own friends, social rivals,
potential suitors, and daddy’s business associates until my feet are sore.
And then it’s champagne, gambling, champagne, more dancing, and more champagne.
As I find myself in the ancient arms of Archibald Huxley-Rollins once again, I couldn’t possibly be more distracted. Not by my partner’s crypt-breath or his chronic case of two-left-feet.
But by, well…him.
Tall. Dark. Handsome.
It’s like whoever wrote the clichés used him as their muse.
He’s six foot four, with angelic blue eyes and a devil’s grin. His hair is slicked back like ocean waves on a pitch-black night. Military-grade, clean-cut, but looks like he knows exactly how to get nice and dirty.
And maybe it’s the champagne talking, or maybe it’s just my ten-carat ego, but unless I’m mistaken he’s looking right at me.
He’s looking right at me as I run my finger up the thick, rippling thigh of one of the Italian caviar models, scooping the rich black caviar up onto my finger and sucking it clean with my perfect red lips.
He’s looking right at me, as the American Vice President offers me his dice to blow on at the craps table for good luck—and he’s still looking right at me, as I win the VP a fat pile of golden casino chips, too.
He’s looking right at me, as we wind our way through the party, effortlessly navigating both the landscape of the drunken festivities and the treacherous social waters, with class and flair.
And when I’m sitting at the poker table with a royal flush in my hand, he even sits right next to me, close enough that I can see the silver gryphons on his cuff links and the ace up his sleeve.
But even though I can feel his eyes all over me, I make it a point of not looking at him.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that cheaters never prosper, Mister…”
“Abernathy,” he retorts, with the world’s most natural and dreamiest London accent. “And they have, in fact. I’ve just found that—ah.”
The other players at the table clap politely as Mr. Abernathy beats my hand by a single ace—hearts suit.
“It rarely ever holds true.”
“Most men as frank as you wear their hearts on their sleeves, rather than beneath them.”
“Most men aren’t as anything as me.” I can feel his breath on my shoulder, as he turns and leans forward, collecting his winnings. “But the name’s Griffin, sweetheart—not Frank.”
I run my tongue across my back molars, tasting a mixture of my own amusement and disgust. I’m just about to turn my head to tell him what a terrible, horrible joke that was, but when I do, he’s already gone.
Like a thief in the night.
“Griffin Abernathy.”
I weigh his name on my tongue, as I scan the party for him and come up blank.
Instead, I catch the eye of Archibald Huxley-Rollins again, and judging by the toothless smile on his gummy face, he thinks that I meant to do it, too.
Dirty old geezer. He must think he’s seeing wife number seven, when he looks into my eyes—and frankly, rich as he is, he’s dreaming, and he ought to know it.
My grandfather was an enterprising man, and for him, family always came first. I suppose that’s why when I was born, he set up a trust fund for me, that’s now easily worth hundreds of millions. This birthday, mom and daddy might have paid for everything—but next year, I turn twenty-two, and every penny of that trust is mine, to do with whatever I see fit.
Until then, daddy is the co-trustee, and whatever I want, I need only ask. That money is mine—not my non-existent husband’s and not even daddy’s. Hundreds of millions of dollars set aside and legally untouchable—unless they’re being spent on yours truly.
Don’t get me wrong. The Huxley-Rollins fortune is big.
But the von Knopfs fortune is bigger.
“Oh, hello again, Mr. Huxley-Rollins!” I coo, saccharine, as my wizened admirer approaches.
But all the while, I can’t help but wish that it was him instead.
The handsome stranger with the gryphons on his cuffs and the Ace of Hearts up his sleeve.
Maybe I’m the one dreaming now, but that guy?
He can steal me away any day of the week.
Griffin
There are people who are ridiculously rich. And then, there’s the von Knopf family kind of rich. Knowing just how much they’re worth, makes this party more of a joke, than anything.
The smuggled brass band—they were playing at a party two weeks ago for the Queen, at a private party at Balmoral Castle. The sixteenth century wine—more like nineteenth century. I know, because I have four bottles of it myself.
The strawberries picked by Hungarian nuns? That one’s actually true.
But the point is, the family is trying too hard to be more than what they are when they don’t need to. And nobody questions it. Everyone goes along with the spun web of lies, as if it’s all fact.
That’s why I love stealing from the rich. They make it so damn easy. I’ve been at this party for an hour, and I’ve already managed to help myself to sixty thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry from unsuspecting marks.
It’s chump change really, when compared to what I’m here for. I’m here for something with a much bigger price tag attached.
I’m here for the Kalista Canary.
That shiny ring can easily fetch ten million dollars on the market, possibly more, depending on how the bidding goes among the buyers. Anything less than eight figures, isn’t worth my time and effort. It’s why my reputation as the best, is well earned.
Because Griffin Ignatius Abernathy—or the Gryphon, as I’m known professionally—is the best.
In any given room, at any given event, I’m the best in the room. I can dance with any woman and make them look like a world champion. I can out wit, out talk any world leader—and charm their wives out of their panties, while I’m at it.
You need someone to show you wonders in the bedroom you’ve never experienced before? I’m your man.
If you believe some rumors about me, I’ve made women climax, just from saying their name. Now, a proper gentleman never kisses and tells, so I won’t confirm or deny if there is truth to that rumor or not.
But as good as I am at all of that—and I am—I’m the absolute best, when it comes to, being a thief. I’m so good at my job that I was able to pocket jewelry off from Her Majesty, The Queen. I returned the jewelry on the same night, without anyone noticing.
I’m a thief, but I’m also a Brit. There’s no way that I was going to steal permanently from the Queen.
The security here is nowhere near as tight around Kalista, as it was around the Queen. So taking that lovely ring from the lovely creature Kalista von Knopf is going to be easier than taking candy from a baby.
From across the hall, my eyes linger on the heiress. I’ve seen her in plenty of magazines and all over the usual social media sites. None of them come close to capturing just how gorgeous she is in person.
Her black hair, which moves like silk, is darker than the night sky. Her eyes are a vibrant blue, like the sky on a cloudless summer day.
She’s slender and curvy, with a body that’s toned from hours of working out.
Kalista von Knopf is the kind of woman that men create in their sleep while dreaming about the kind of life that I live.
A server with a tray of champagne walks by, and I grab a glass from the tray, without removing my attention from the birthday girl. I’d like to say that I’m not one to mix business with pleasure, but then, that would be a lie.
I almost always mix business with pleasure. And considering that I didn’t bring a gift to the party—rude of me, I know—it would only be fair to give Kalista a little fun, before I steal that decadent ring of hers.
“Excuse me, but I don’t believe we’ve met before.”
I turn to look at my side, where the voice calls out to me.
The woman is in her mid-thirties, bottle blonde—attractive, if I’m being honest—and thoroughly drunk. Her d
ark eyes are a glossed over from too much champagne, and the lopsided smile on her face isn’t there on purpose.
“No, we haven’t.”
“Ooh, you’re British. I love British men.”
“Well that’s because only British men are real men.”
The woman tips back her glass of champagne and finishes it in one gulp.
I can only imagine what her total is after that glass.
“Thirsty love?” I ask with a friendly chuckle.
“Oh, you have no idea, my yummy British friend.”
“Well, aren’t you the forward type?”
She takes a step forward and places her hand on my chest. Her cheeks flush a shade of ruby that matches the earrings dangling from her lobes. The mystery woman bites down on her bottom lip and looks up into my eyes.
She’s thirsty alright, and it’s not for more champagne.
“You know, I have a nice, big, and empty room upstairs that we could enjoy. And I could show you just what it is that I’m thirty for.”
Honestly, if the woman wasn’t so incredibly drunk, I would likely take her up on the offer. But I make sure that any woman I sleep with is in complete control of her mental faculties.
Taking advantage of a woman in such a manner, is not my thing.
I reach down and take the woman’s hand in my own.
“I’m sorry love, but I’m not sure that would be a good idea.”
I try to let the woman down as easily as possible, but I can see the sudden flare of anger in her eyes at my rejection.
“And why not?”
“Well I’m not too sure Kalista would enjoy me wandering off with one of her guests.”
The woman raises an eyebrow and scoffs. She mutters something under her breath about Kalista always getting what she wants. Then, she storms away without another word.
I look down at the diamond ring I slipped off the woman’s hand and grin. It’s from Tiffany’s and worth about ten thousand dollars.
Not a bad grab to make up for the awkward encounter.
Then, I think about her words about Kalista.