Dark Masquerade: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Michelle Love

  Brent winced sympathetically.

  “Oh, God. Yeah. That sounds like she’s gold digging.” He shook his head. “There’s a reason I don’t have much to do with women. They’re all like that.”

  I nodded. That had been my experience, too. I’d never met a woman who didn’t try to get something out of me.

  “Well, that’s good news for you, right?” Brent’s lips tugged up at the corners with his amusement. “I mean, she wants your money, she doesn’t know that you want hers. You have the upper hand there.”

  I smirked right back at him and nodded. He was right, after all.

  “She won’t know what hit her,” I agreed.

  No, she wouldn’t. She had no doubt gotten my grandfather to fall prey to her charms. Maybe she’d found it so easy that she was going to go after me now. But there was a bit of a difference between a sick old man and someone like me, young and dominant, who was used to having things his way.

  I had to wonder how many other men had fallen to her charms. My grandfather, definitely, but she was a nurse. She had access to all sorts of rich old men.

  But then why was she living in that tiny apartment?

  Well, either this was the first time she’d tried it, or she was such a spendthrift that she went through money too fast and had to find a new sucker. Whatever the case was, I honestly didn’t really care that much.

  The important thing was, I was on to her. She could throw her sweet, innocent, naive act around all she wanted. It was never going to fool me. I had never been the kind of man to be taken in by a woman, no matter how gorgeous she was.

  She’d fooled my grandfather, but she would never fool me. Never, not in a million years. I promised myself that right then and there.

  Kaye James might think she had another sucker on her line, but she would find out this wealthy man could fight back. She’d made a pretty critical mistake if she thought she could manipulate me like she had my grandfather, and who knew how many other lonely men.

  She would never have me.

  I would give her every reason to think she’d convinced me of her sweetness, that I believed her act, had swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. I would keep on guarding my heart, as I had always done, and in the end, she’d end up with nothing.

  It actually sort of pissed me off, thinking about what she’d done. She’d not only stolen from me, but she’d taken advantage of an old, dying man. This revenge was no longer just about the money.

  It was personal, and I had felt a little bit bad for her before, but that was all swept away with righteous indignation now. Steal from a Black family member? Lie and misdirect us?

  No way was I going to let her get away from that. I hoped she would suffer when I took everything from her.

  It would be no more than what she deserved.

  Vengeance would be sweet.

  Kaye

  The whole story broke my heart.

  I had known, somehow, that it was bad. I had known it from the moment Theodore had asked me to dial the phone for him. Strange to think it had only been about a week and a half ago.

  Hearing it all had actually hurt to listen to. After hearing everything David had been through, it was impossible for me to dislike him anymore.

  Yes, he’d been scared, but he had good reason to be. He’d been so hurt. It all made so much more sense to me now.

  The only thing I regretted was I hadn’t been able to check with him about if he would be interested in taking half of the money. I hadn’t expected him to show up at my house, and my cold had kept me from thinking straight about the whole thing.

  Maybe I’d see him again, though. He’d asked me to, and I liked the idea. Much more than I expected to.

  “Earth to Kaye,” the laughing voice of one of my friends from work, a lovely lady with golden skin and laughing black eyes named Joan called out. She was the one I was closest to at work.

  There were five of us, including myself and Joan. We were all nurses, and all on our lunch break at a local restaurant. This was something we often did, and for me, it was some of the only social time I got.

  It was hard to be a nurse. The hours were long, and it could be hell on relationships. The only person who could really understand a nurse, I firmly believed, was another nurse.

  “Sorry,” I blushed, sort of hating myself for it. I didn’t usually blush, but I’d gotten caught thinking about David again.

  David. I had misjudged him so horribly. Luckily, he didn’t seem to hold it against me.

  “Oh my God,” one of the other nurses, Angela, spoke up next. “You met someone! Finally!”

  To my embarrassment and their amusement, I colored up even more. I’d been around girl talk before, of course, but I’d never been the subject of it. More of an outsider, listening in.

  “No, it’s nothing like that,” I protested, but I could see they weren’t buying it. And it wasn’t the way they were thinking. The situation was far too complex, and, knowing they would bother me until I told them, I started to talk.

  I told them about the money, about how it had all been left to me, about how I didn’t even know what to do about it. I told them everything, right up until the day David had stormed out of the lawyer’s office.

  It was good to say it all. Get it all out of my head. I could trust these women, each and every single one of them, and I knew that. As I was slowly processing the whole situation, it definitely felt nice to say the words and to know I had their support.

  They weren’t as excited as I would have thought, though. Oh, they were happy for me, and I could tell it was genuine, but honestly, they seemed more worried about David than I would have thought.

  “So he calls you names, storms off, and then comes back later? What stopped him from being upset over the money in the meantime?” Joan asked, her voice strangely cautious.

  “No, no. It wasn’t like that. I know what you’re thinking, that he’s just after the money, but …” I forced a deep breath into my lungs. How to explain to them? I didn’t want them disliking David for any reason, not with everything he’d already been through. “He doesn’t even seem to want the money.”

  I saw four sets of skeptical eyes fixed on me, four pairs of eyebrows raised, and I knew none of them believed that it was possible. Joan was quick, “Been through?”

  “He’s been through so much.” I could hear the passion in my own voice, and I just had to hope they would hear it, too, and believe me. “His mom left him, his dad died, and then his grandpa passed too. He has no one.”

  The four other women exchanged glances, and Angela was the one who finally broke the silence. “He was so terrible to you. Why is he suddenly being so nice? Your heart is so big, but maybe sometimes it wouldn’t kill you to not think the best of people all of the time.”

  I bit my lower lip. What they were saying made sense, I suppose, but somehow, I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe David was lying. Not unless he was a far better liar than anyone I’d ever met before.

  “He doesn’t need the money. He’s gorgeous, young, and he’s already wealthy.”

  All of the girls sat up to take notice of my comment, and I winced. I’d said just a little bit too much, and there was no way I was going to get away without being thoroughly grilled.

  “You’re talking like you have a thing for him.” Joan’s eyes were curious, but I wasn’t sure I liked the look in her eyes. She still seemed so suspicious. They all were, and nothing I was saying was helping them.

  “That’s not what I meant!” Or was it? I had to admit if only to myself, I had been awfully drawn to the guy. But that didn’t change the fact I did believe him. I’d never been the kind of girl to be drawn in by a handsome face or a strong body before, so it wasn’t that.

  Sighing, I had to just sit there and wish my friends could just trust me. What bad judgment had I shown before? I had the sense it would just make it worse if they thought I was defending him, though, so I stayed quiet, frustrated, and helpless to make them un
derstand.

  “We care about you,” Angela said, and I felt myself softening a bit, felt the frustration and helplessness fading a little. “That’s why we’re worried. This guy, he’s acting a bit weird, you have to admit that. Maybe it’s what you say, maybe it’s something different, but …”

  Joan broke in. “Just try to be careful.”

  Because it would make them feel better, I nodded. I honestly didn’t think there was any reason to be careful, though. Maybe they could see that in my eyes.

  “What if he’s after the money? We all know how rich people can get. They want more money and more money, and nothing is ever enough.”

  I had to grant Angela that, but Theodore hadn’t been like that. I had hope David wasn’t, either. No, he wasn’t. He hadn’t even mentioned the money.

  “He said I should move into his grandfather’s old house. He was worried because my apartment was so small,” I remembered. “There’s no way he’s after the money if that’s what you think.”

  Why would he be trying to get me to accept my inheritance if he just wanted to take it from me? No, I didn’t buy it. David’s story made complete sense to me, and he’d apologized profusely for everything he’d done to me. I’d been able to feel his remorse for the whole situation.

  The man had wasted twelve years, after all. Of course, he was upset about that. Anyone would be. My friends were good people, sweet and caring, but they were letting their own suspicious minds get in the way.

  I knew they’d all been hurt by men before. I knew it because I’d heard them talking about it. Of the four of them, only one was married, and Joan and Angela were both divorced.

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” Angela held her hands up in surrender, laughing a little bit. “You’ve got it bad for this guy. It’s fine. And you’ve got us to watch your back, right? So it’s all good.”

  She seemed satisfied, and so did the other two women, who I didn’t know all that well.

  Something in Joan’s eyes, though, said she didn’t seem to feel the same way. On the surface, it was all fine. Joan dropped the subject, and the conversation moved on, though every so often one of the four other women would shoot me a bit of a look.

  It was a lot to take, I knew that. Not only the whole thing with David, either, but just the fact I’d gotten so much money. I hadn’t even tossed any figures around, I was too cautious for that, but they were still worried for me.

  The whole David issue, it was a big part of the problem. I even understood why. If someone had told me everything that had happened, I would have thought there was a pretty good chance they were going to get themselves into trouble, too.

  David wasn’t like that, though. David had opened up to me. He’d shown me sides of himself I somehow knew he didn’t show to most people. These four women were good people, but they didn’t know him.

  Somehow, I felt like I did know him. At least a little. Enough to be sure that he was not the monster I’d sort of thought he was when I’d first heard about him. He had reasons for everything he’d done.

  What really got to me was how bad he felt about all of it. He’d made a terrible mistake, and I knew he was paying for it, and he would keep paying for it. I wasn’t sure he would ever forgive himself.

  Maybe I was just the woman who had nursed his grandfather, but I figured if I could forgive him, it was a start. Maybe it could get him to the point where, maybe someday, at least, he could forgive himself.

  I would help him. And I would get to spend time with him, too. My motives were pure, of course, but I would admit I enjoyed being around him. Not just because he was handsome, though he was, but also just because of the person he was inside.

  He’d shown me that person, he’d become vulnerable for me, and I had already made the decision. It didn’t really matter what my girlfriends thought. I valued their opinion, but I would make my own choices.

  I was going to be friends with David Black if he would let me. It seemed to me like he needed a friend, maybe more than anyone else I’d ever met.

  If he wanted me, he could have me. As a friend. And I definitely hoped he did.

  When I held his hand, it sent little shots of electricity through me. He and I had some kind of a connection. Maybe it was because we both cared deeply about the same man. Or maybe it was something else, altogether.

  Whatever it was, I wanted to see it through. And I had hope he would too.

  David

  When I remembered the night Brent, and I had made this plan, the one thing that stuck out in my mind was how open I’d been, how honest, with the alcohol in my system. How I’d said things, I normally wouldn’t have said, just because the beers had taken my inhibitions away.

  Why not use that?

  I knew from texting with Kaye, as I had started doing now and then, she had taken my advice and moved into my grandfather’s old house. It burned me up inside to think of her living there. The woman who had, the way I saw it, essentially robbed my grandfather.

  It did mean, though I knew where to go to find her, and after impatiently waiting a few days, I put the next part of my plan into motion.

  It was a balancing act, deciding on timing. I wanted to act quickly enough to keep her interest, but not so quickly it would seem strange. Still, I wanted her safely married to me by the time my grandfather’s estate was settled.

  From the research I’d done, it could be as soon as six months, especially since I had no intention of contesting the will. My grandfather had paid someone to act as the executor, and I would let him do his job without the slightest hint of protest.

  I had a much more sure-fire way to get the money, after all. Why get involved in a nasty fight I had no chance of winning?

  Still, it was time to get a move on, which is why I drank one beer. Just one, so I would smell and taste like it.

  Staggering up the walkway to the house, I let my eyes blur. Leaning carefully against the side of the house, as though I could barely keep on my own feet, I knocked on the door, and then closed my eyes and bowed my head as though it were almost too heavy for me to hold up.

  It was night time, but only just. The sun had gone down about an hour ago, so I knew there was a good chance she would be awake.

  “David?” she pulled the door open, and those remarkable green eyes of hers widened as she looked me over. “David, are you okay? Come in. Are you sick?”

  “No,” I let my words slur a little bit, and pushed myself away from the wall, but acted as if it was all too much for me and collapsed back against it. “Sorry for bothering you.”

  The woman had quite the caring nurse act going, and I was willing to bet she wouldn’t let that slip. It was possible that she even did feel sorry for me. I was doing everything I could to be pitiful, and when I felt her arm slip around my waist, I knew I was doing well at it.

  “It’s Grandpa,” I whispered, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and leaning on her just enough to make my story plausible. This close, surely she could smell the beer. She smelled like coconut and fruit and damned if she didn’t smell good enough to eat.

  Whoa.

  I wasn’t there to fall for her charms. What did it matter what she smelled like?

  “Come on,” she said, and she even supported my weight better than I would have expected. I outweighed her, but she was strong. Of course, she was a nurse, so that was hardly surprising.

  “I’m such an idiot,” I moaned, and it was actually pretty easy to put sadness and regret into my voice. I felt them. Part of why I was so determined to bring Kaye to justice was because I hated how she had taken advantage of my grandfather. The money was only part of it, but not the biggest part.

  I hadn’t served my grandfather well in life so I would serve him now.

  “No, you’re not,” Kaye helped me to the couch and eased me down gently onto it. “Please don’t say things like that, David. You’ve made mistakes, but we all have.”

  I knew it. I knew that, for her Mary Sunshine act to work, she was going to h
ave to comfort me. I had to applaud her, though. She belonged in Hollywood because even though I knew her game, I was hard pressed to find any signs of insincerity.

  “I wish I had him back,” I whispered, and it was true. So very true that it was no problem to put sadness into my voice.

  “David, I’m so sorry.” Kaye leaned forward and wrapped her arms around me. The softness of her full breasts pressed sweetly against my arm, and I felt a throbbing heat start to build through my body, focused on my cock and balls.

  Oh, she was good. She made me want her just by hugging me. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was all completely sincere. It really seemed all she was doing was comforting me, but the way her gorgeous, soft tits pushed against me couldn’t be accidental.

  Well, I had come to deepen the relationship between us, right? So why not ‘let’ her seduce me? It would give her a sense of power. While normally that would irritate me. I wanted to be the one in control of things. But for my purposes, I’d allow her to think she had the upper hand.

  Letting a gorgeous woman try to get me into bed, though, that was a sacrifice I could willingly make.

  So I did the only logical thing. I wrapped my arm around her slender waist, tugged her into my lap, and kissed her.

  For just a second, her lips parted, and I tasted not only her sweetness but also victory. I’d won. She doubtless felt like she was the one who had trapped me, but it was the other way around.

  Then I realized something. She was pulling away, her jade eyes wide, her hand rising to cover her lips as though protecting them. She hadn’t kissed me back. The way her pretty lips had parted, it was entirely about surprise.

  The whole thing was over in half a second. Maybe less.

  “What’s wrong?” I slurred, glad that I’d thought to act drunk. It was all about the deniability. I could so easily say I had been only acting this way because of the booze. It had also made her feel sorry for me, so it was a good plan all around.

  Kaye still had the slender, beautiful fingers of her own hand pressed against her full lips.