“Very well, sir.”
Venus straightened her dress. She knew from working for the Romeros that if Toni called at a late hour like this, it was often something important. And the Romero family always stuck close together and dropped what they were doing for the elder Romero. No matter what time it was. She respected them for that. Their grandfather had done so much for the brothers over the years and it was a blessing that they never forgot where they came from—no matter how high in life they’d reached.
Still, Venus’s mind was reeling from that damn hot kiss.
What just happened?
She was left breathing hard, panting. His electric kiss left her dazed and confused. She reoriented herself to what she was doing on the yacht with Carl. Oh, right. The agreement. The arrangement. The proposition. She knew this was only for a year. A taste of what was to come. But would a year be nearly enough? Could she possibly be his without breaking down and revealing her dark secret to him—something he may very well find…unforgiveable?
“I’m sorry,” he said, breathing hard. Hungry passion still blazed in his dark, sexy eyes.
“It’s okay. I have to get my son anyway. It’s getting late.”
“As I said, I’ll take you home and the offer still stands,” Carl said, reaching for his cell phone and powering it back on. “I just need to make a phone call first.” Carl excused himself to make the call while Venus gathered her notes and her contract off the table. Oh, God! Did the waiter see what was on the table when he approached? She immediately dismissed the thought from her mind. Even if he did, the Romeros only hired and vetted discreet and reliable people to work close with them. She should know. They vetted her before she started working for them. Although her past in Murumba was a closed vault that not even the federal government could open.
“Is everything alright?” Venus turned to Carl after he’d finished up with his phone conversation.
“Yes and no. I will explain later,” he told her as he guided her down the steps to the lower deck. Her shoes clanked lightly as she stepped down after him. He looked worried, concerned. Oh, dear. She hoped everything was okay with Granddad Romero. She was so fond of that man. If it hadn’t been for Toni Romero, she may not have even landed the job at the Romero Estate, first working for the vineyard and winery and now for Carl and Jules in their corporation.
“We still need to go over some fine details about our marriage and arrangements. I will speak to you about that later.”
“Okay,” Venus said, disturbed by Carl’s sudden change of tone and his seriousness. She knew that more than anything else, Toni was an important factor in Carl’s life. Period. Then another thought struck her. Would Toni, as much as he always spoke about the boys getting married, agree with their plan to stage a marriage—for a year? Toni always spoke about respect for the institution of marriage as sacred.
Venus swallowed hard.
She hoped Toni would go along with the plan Carl had developed knowing how influential he could be with his grandsons. Venus prayed he would go along with it.
CHAPTER NINE
Carl drove Venus along the country road from the waterfront to the main house in his convertible. He used the automatic power button to close the roof top as night fell over them. The evening breeze began to drop the temperature slightly. Venus felt the temperature inside her body chill at the thought of only having Carl for just one year. Then it would be all over. She tried desperately to squash the thought from of her mind. Instead, she diverted her eyes to the sightseeing of the grand Romero estate.
My God! The Romeros own all of this?
Venus’s eyes drank in the massive land and the green mounds of hills on the way to the manor passing by the grand vineyard in the distance. The Romeros owned almost 20,000 acres of magnificent countryside property including the gorgeous wrap-around land by the pristine lake that housed several yachts at the dock. It was a popular waterside getaway—privately owned. It was mind-blowing. Surreal. And…
Where on earth would she and Carl be living while he ran the city—assuming he won the election?
“Carl, where will we live?” she blurted out. “Here? At the manor?”
Carl tilted his head back slightly and chuckled.
“Oh, no, beautiful,” he answered. “There’s no way I would run a city from this place. Do you think the hard working taxpayers would appreciate it?”
“No,” she agreed quietly. “You’re right. I guess you think of everything.” She admired the way he planned ahead. He was so right. It would send the wrong message—yet again. And that was the last thing Carl would want to do in his run for mayor.
“Unfortunately, Venus, life isn’t always simple,” Carl opined, steering the car towards the main road leading to the house. “It’s not enough to do the right thing. One must appear to be doing the right thing in life, as Granddad said.”
She noticed his grin faded fast, his eyes penetrated the dark roadway ahead of them.
“Of course,” she said quietly. Why did life have to always be about appearances? Or keeping up appearances?
“I own a modest property near…” he hesitated for a brief moment. She thought she saw raw pain clouding his eyes. “Near the place where we grew up,” Carl said, continuing as they drove closer to the manor. “It’s nice in a decent neighbourhood. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, detached, two-levels. I think it would be perfect for us and we’ll be closer to the community I’m going to serve. It also has a good size backyard where Tristan can play.”
Yes. It sounded perfect. Perfect for their impending marriage of convenience.
Still, Venus admired him for his purpose and intent on making a difference in the community. “You know that is so commendable of you, Carl. Here you are, ensconced in so much luxury and yet you don’t mind living modestly.”
“Money isn’t everything, Venus.”
“Says the man who has all the money in the world,” she teased him.
His face melted into that sweet, boyish, handsome grin again. God, he looked so charming, so adorable. And her lips still tingled from the memory of their sweet, passionate kiss only a few precious moments ago. Oh, she couldn’t wait to taste his lips again—and so much more.
“Being content with who you are and what you do and what you represent in life means a lot more,” he said, arching his brow.
“So true.” Her voice trailed off. Was she content with whom she really was? Her heart plummeted again inside her chest. She wasn’t even up front with him about her past. She began to feel distressed about her past and what she had become—her belief about being true to herself was not in tune with her actions.
Venus was beginning to experience cognitive dissonance. She detested the feeling. It was unbearable. Distressing. She hated to deceive him. She hated that she could not be upfront about…her past. But it didn’t matter now, did it? She was protecting him by not telling him what really happened to her. If he ever found out, which she prayed he would not, perhaps he would forgive her and know that she really had no choice but to leave her past out of the equation. In any case, she was an entirely different person now. That was all that mattered.
At least that’s what Venus wanted to believe.
* * *
“Granddad, are you okay?” Carl whispered, leaning over Toni’s bed.
“Yes, Carl. I just had another little scare. Nothing to get all up in arms about. I’m not sure why Shelly called everyone here.” Toni Romero was reclined up in his special custom-made adjustable bed. Shelly was by his side.
Carl and his brothers Jules and Zack had commissioned the design of the unique bed for their grandfather after his stroke a couple years earlier. The luxury mattress was therapeutic and had a soft memory foam that enabled their grandfather to have the most relaxing, restful night’s sleep. Heck, the old man deserved it. He’d worked tirelessly around the clock his whole life just to provide for others. Giving them nothing but the finest he had to offer. He deserved only the best. Anything the
y could do to make his life a bit easier was good to them.
“Your grandfather had an absence seizure,” Shelly clarified, as she lovingly hugged Toni. Being married to a nurse had its advantages for his grandfather. At first when Toni had announced that he was marrying his young nurse, the family was up in arms. And rightfully so. The wealthy tycoon had many previous marriages, not including the one to their beloved, now-deceased biological grandmother. The brothers summed up his previous brides as gold diggers who ended up with the old man paying plenty in alimony soon after the nuptials dissolved.
“Dr. Ademe just left,” Shelly continued, rubbing Toni’s arm. “He came in to check on your granddad when I called. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Toni heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do with her. She gets too worked up about things.” A grin played on the old man’s lips. That made Carl feel a bit more at ease. At least his grandfather wasn’t taking things too seriously.
“What do you mean by absence seizure?” Carl asked.
“I just stared off into space for a bit and Shelly went ballistic because I wasn’t paying attention to her,” Toni chimed in playfully.
“Now, Toni, you know that is not quite true.” Shelly then motioned to Carl. “I’m just going to speak to Carl and Jules for a minute. You need your rest. Okay?” she said, getting up and placing her hands on her hips.
“Fine.” Toni picked up the newspaper on the bedside beside him. “I’m going to read a bit more first.”
“Toni, I really don’t think you should be reading that now.”
“Please, woman. Let me be!” Toni waved her off dismissively.
Soon after, Shelly and the boys went out into the hallway outside the room.
“Okay, now tell me what’s really going on,” Carl demanded.
“Well, Carl,” Jules interjected. “Before you got here, Shelly filled me in.”
“Oh?”
“Carl, your grandfather is worried sick about you,” Shelly explained. “And yes, he has been having these little absence seizures. Nothing to worry about. We just need to monitor him closely. Basically, they are seizures that can last for a few seconds. Sometimes it’s hard to detect. It’s rare for absence seizures to occur in adults. But it can happen.”
“Hard to detect? Few seconds?” Carl repeated in shock. Why the hell wasn’t Carl told about this sooner? “And what do you mean, he’s worried sick about me?”
“Carl, I noticed your grandfather started to read the newspaper about what the press is saying about you and well, at times, I would be speaking to him while he had the newspaper in his hand and he would suddenly zone out for a few seconds. I wasn’t sure what caused it but it’s been happening quite a bit. You know your grandfather is already having some challenges with his health,” she added.
“I know,” he said, still reeling in shock.
“Well, it distresses him when he sees the press taking potshots at you like that. He’s worried about you running for mayor.”
“But our granddad is always worried about us, doing anything.”
“Yes, but politics is a whole different arena, Carl. He kept talking about them making a fool out of you, mocking you, trying to knock you down before you have a chance to accomplish anything. You know your opponents want nothing more than for you to be out of the competition,” Shelly continued.
“Yeah, and so what? I’m not backing down that easily,” Carl shot back.
“I know, man, but it’s really something to think about,” Jules added.
“So I’m to just back out and let the incompetent haters take over?” Carl demanded, a bitter taste rising in his throat.
“We’re not saying that, it’s just…” Shelly hesitated at first. “You see how the media can be with mayors from other cities who get wrapped up in scandals.”
Carl rubbed the stubble on his chin. Shelly did have a point. Damn, the media could be darn right brutal!
Then, he thought about Venus for a fleeting second. His mind trailed to the secret she was hiding, whatever the hell it was, and his own background. Were there any proverbial skeletons that he had forgotten about that could resurface from the graveyard of the past?
Not that he had any crazy exes that he was worried about making a name for themselves, but still, one could never be too careful. All it took was for one person to blow things out of proportion with half-truths, untruths and everything but…the truth. The papers fed on scandal and The Hills Times was no exception. Heck, they had it out for the Romeros for the longest time dating back to an old family feud with the newspaper’s founder and their great-grandfather over some damn land issue.
“Thank you, Shelly,” Carl said dismissively. “I’m sure Granddad would appreciate you by his side now.”
Shelly appeared stunned at first but took her cue. “Good luck with everything, Carl. Are you going to make the announcement soon?”
“Soon enough.”
Shelly left the boys out in the hallway and re-entered the grand master suite, closing the French double doors behind her.
“What was all that about, Carl? You seemed really peeved with her. She was only trying to help.”
“It’s not that. I was about to tell Grandfather my plans but I don’t know how he would take it right now. I’d rather not do anything that could rattle his nerves or get him upset.”
“Upset?” Jules appeared puzzled at first. “Oh, wait a minute. You’re still going through with that fake wedding, bro? Gotta be careful the press doesn’t get wind of that. It wouldn’t be pretty.”
“I know. But it’s not going to be a fake wedding. We will be getting married. And I need you to be there.”
“What?”
“Yeah, Venus finally agreed to the arrangement. I’ll do whatever it takes, Jules. And besides, I really like Miss Jackson, a lot. She’s a good woman. People get married for all kinds of reasons.”
“Yeah, but love should be one of them.”
Carl grinned. “I know.” Who said Carl didn’t love Venus?
The truth was, Carl was falling for Venus. He was falling damn hard for her. Thinking about her right now got his body aroused. Shit! That kiss was something else. He’d never tasted anything more beautiful, salacious than sweet Venus. She turned him on in every way a man would be turned on by a beautiful woman. This wasn’t purely a contractual deal. He really was feeling something for her. Even if it were for just a year—since he could never really do the lifetime commitment thing—he still wanted to have a meaningful temporary relationship with her. He was going to enjoy playing man and wife with darling, marvellous Venus Jackson. And he was all too happy to play the doting father to her adorable son. He felt oddly comfortable in taking on his new role.
“And where is Venus now?” Jules asked, as the brothers walked down the corridor to the grand stairwell.
“She’s with her son in the daycare center.”
The Romeros had built a twenty-four hour care center for staff who worked for them around the clock but needed the odd assistance with last-minute childcare. Venus at times would always tell him that she didn’t want to take advantage and preferred not to use it too much on her off days but it worked well. They had their own screened childcare professionals. Especially since his cousin Antonio and his wife Lucy had their little Alexander. They were often busy taking business trips and in meetings with clients, so it was a convenience. Lucas, his brother, and his wife, Maxine, also used the private care center in the west wing of the Romero Manor for their little girl, Mary-Louise.
“I’m going to take her home but we’ll need to get a few documents in place,” Carl finished.
“You’re really going through with this, aren’t you, bro?”
“You know it means a lot to me…and to the people. They deserve the best. If we didn’t get lucky with Granddad, what would have happened to us?”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Jules agreed. “Listen,
you know I’ve got your back, regardless, right?”
“I know. And I’m not going to tell Granddad yet. Maybe tomorrow, before we leave. I’d hate for him to read about any weddings in his own family that he wasn’t invited to in the newspapers, if you know what I mean.”
Jules grinned. “Yeah, I get you. I agree with keeping it from him for now given his recent situation. I just wish Granddad wouldn’t read those damn rags.”
“I hear ya. So you’re with me?”
“Yeah. Just say the word and I’m there, Carl.”
“Good. We all leave for Vegas, the day after tomorrow.”
Jules appeared caught off guard and almost missed a step on the marble staircase spiralling down. “Man, you really don’t waste any time.”
Carl grinned. “Time is way too valuable to waste, my brother. Time is all I’ve got.”
CHAPTER TEN
Early on Wednesday morning, a private plane touched down in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States on a glorious summer day. It was the hottest day in the year thus far in the region. And, it was the beginning of a whirlwind adventure.
Since deplaning, Venus felt shaken inside as they drove in the limousine. Her nerves were a hot mess. And it wasn’t the heat from the sun that melted her inside, it was Carl Romero.
Her heart palpated every time she was near the man. At the moment, he looked ravishing in his dark gray business suit, white crisp shirt and navy blue tie. His dark short cropped hair was slicked back and accentuated his beautiful cheekbones and complemented his smooth tanned skin.
The expression on his handsome face was, however, serious. Something was bothering him and Venus wished she knew what it was. Was he having doubts? Or second thoughts about the whole marriage thing? She knew full well that he had a heated conversation with Toni, his grandfather, prior to their departure from Canada for this trip. What had that conversation been about? Carl mentioned to Venus that Toni had finally learned about their plans and intentions as soon as he his condition had become more stable. He told Venus that his grandfather was speechless at first and then scolded Carl for what he was getting into but the elder Romero decided he would leave it be—for now!
The Billionaire's Proposition (The Romero Brothers, Book 4) Page 6