The Long Ride: A Billionaire Romance

by Jane Keeler

  Gabriel realized then just how big the world was, and how little of it he had seen. Even though he’d travelled the world with his father, he’d actually seen very little. Sitting there, watching people walk past him, he knew he was ready to see more.

  He had a lot to learn about himself and the world around him. The excitement of a new adventure was building up inside of him. He had no idea what was before him, and for once, it didn’t matter.

  If he left now, and never came back, would anyone miss him? His father would, he was sure; but would he miss Gabriel as a person, or would he miss having a son to show off to the world around him? A son to mold into any shape he wanted?

  What about Gabe’s friends? Would they miss him? Would they wonder if he was okay? Then, of course, the big question came—did he even have any friends? Or did they just like him because he had a yacht and a lot of money to throw around?

  When the bus pulled up, Gabe snapped out of his reverie. He wasn’t usually this much of a thinker. Despite the problems he was having now, life had always been easy for him. He’d always had that soft cushion of money and influence to fall back on, unlike most of the people on this bus.

  He felt ready. He climbed inside and looked around. It was a coach bus, not a regular street bus, and he thought it would be bigger inside. He had visions of lying down and having a nap, but the chairs looked small and rather uncomfortable. He walked up to a man near the front, with a newspaper, and showed him his ticket.

  “Uh, excuse me. Do you mind showing me where the first class section is?”

  “The what?” The man peered over his newspaper but didn’t bother putting it down.

  “The first class section? I booked a first class ticket at the counter.”

  The man looked amused. “Oh yeah? Did you ask for that?”

  Gabriel was confused. The man seemed to be mocking him. “Yes, I did.”

  “And they actually told you that you had booked a first class section?”

  “Well, the guy laughed, but didn’t say anything. He still gave me a ticket, though.”

  “You do realize there is no first class, don’t you? This is just one big bus. Same seats for everyone. Jeez, where you been?”

  “Oh… okay. I was just kidding,” Gabriel muttered, ducking his head.

  “Sure you were.”

  Gabriel walked off briskly. He could feel heat rising to his face but didn’t want the stranger to see that he was embarrassed. Since when was Gabriel Braxton embarrassed? He hadn’t been embarrassed by anything in his whole life. Now he was blushing on a bus?

  He shook his head in dismay. As he walked down the aisle, he saw the hardbody suit guys again. It looked like they were going to New York too.

  Gabe made his way to the end of the bus and found a row of mostly empty seats. Only one was taken—a very pretty girl staring furiously at a bunch of papers in her hand. She was looking at them with so much intensity she didn’t even seem to notice him.

  In a way, this was good, as it gave him the chance to study her. The girl was short, but very curvy. She had porcelain-like skin, freckles that danced on her face, and beautiful red, wavy hair cascading down to her shoulders.

  She looked different from the girls he normally went for. She wasn’t model beautiful—she was something else. She was interesting, and he found he couldn’t stop staring at her. She must have felt his gaze because she suddenly turned to him. For a brief second their eyes met, and then she quickly looked away. Gabriel couldn’t help but smile. The girl had the most piercing blue eyes he’d ever seen. If he were to describe her in one word, it would be vibrant.

  He heard a ring tone, and watched in fascination as she stuck her tongue out at the phone before answering it with false brightness.

  “Hello, Karlee Gold speaking,” she said.

  Gabriel grinned again. Karlee Gold—what a fun name.

  “Oh hi, Reginald. I mean, Mr. Grossman. Great to hear from you.” She was making faces as she spoke.

  Gabriel let out a short chuckle. Karlee glared at him, then stood up and walked to the front of the bus, out of earshot. In spite of her attitude, this pretty redhead intrigued him. He pretended to rummage in his bag to cover the grin on his face. He watched her have her conversation, enjoying the free play of emotion on her striking features.

  She came back to her seat, and Gabriel saw her staring at the phone, a mixture of expressions on her face. Then she sighed and put the phone back in her purse.

  She turned to look at him and he quickly looked away. It was obvious he’d been trying to listen in on the conversation. They both knew it. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Why did this small girl make him so hot under the collar?

  Chapter 3

  For the next hour Gabriel and Karlee sat in silence. They kept shooting sideway glances at each other, but neither of them dared speak first. Gabriel noticed Karlee looked incredibly annoyed. She kept taking her phone out, scrolling through it and then putting it away with a sigh. He assumed she was checking her email, but he couldn’t be sure. Her boss, this Mr. Grossman, obviously annoyed her.

  He wondered what it would be like to have a boss like that. He got frustrated with his father, but he’d never had to take orders from a complete stranger. He wished he could call this Mr. Grossman and tell him off, but that was stupid. He had no idea what their situation was—he was only taking Karlee’s side because she was so pretty.

  At one point Karlee got up to stretch and Gabriel took the time to assess her body. She was very different from the women he usually met in bars and clubs. He liked the way Karlee looked. She had curves, and a full and feisty mind. There was just something about this girl he liked. He chuckled when he thought about what his father would think of him looking at a girl like her. Karlee heard him laugh and turned to look at him.

  “Are you laughing at me?” she asked him pointedly. This was a girl who took no nonsense from anyone.

  “Uh… no. Sorry, I was laughing at something else.” Since when Gabriel Braxton ever timid in front of a girl?

  “Hmm.” She turned away before he could speak to her again. She seemed annoyed by him and that turned him on even more.

  She turned back to look at him, almost assessing him. A look of recognition dawned on her face and she quickly looked away. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she had gotten her phone out again. She was fervently punching something into it, and when she found whatever it was she was looking for, she smiled. Soon her notebook was out and she was scribbling down her thoughts.

  Gabriel wondered what was so interesting she needed to write it down so urgently. Writing down her thoughts looked completely natural for her. It was frustrating not being able to see what she was writing. Her head was down and her hair fell over her face. He could just make out the tip of her small button nose, and the corner of her mouth. He stifled a laugh when he saw the tip of her tongue sticking out and her brow furrowing as she hurried to get the words down on paper. It was cute.

  He wanted to tell her she should just record her thoughts on audio to make it easier for herself, but she seemed annoyed enough already without having to listen to his ideas. Anyway, the audio would’ve only been nice for him, so he could know what she was writing about. Perhaps somewhere in the long journey she would fall asleep, and he’d get the chance to read what she wrote. The thought made him smile.

  She made him smile.

  Chapter 4

  Karlee felt a mixture of emotions on her bus ride back to New York. She’d been frustrated by her phone conversation with her boss. She’d been in trouble with Mr. Grossman in the past, and she was only digging her grave deeper. She’d been so sure she had a story he was going to love, and she’d thought it was worthwhile to rush out to get it without telling him.

  “He’ll forgive me when he sees the story,” she told herself. Of course, as it turned out, there was no story to be told, and now she had to return shamefaced to the office and await her fate. There was something in Mr.
Grossman’s voice that she hadn’t liked this time around—a sense of finality.

  She was almost certain she was going to be fired. She resigned herself to it, and decided she was going to stick to her guns no matter what. If Mr. Grossman wanted a good journalist on his team, then he was going to have to put up with someone like her, who followed her nose and took risks. If he only wanted mediocre work, then he could get it from the uninspired drudges like the rest of the writers who worked there.

  She was going to roll with the punches, no matter what they were. She knew she was good at what she did, even if her leads sometimes took her down the wrong path.

  Several times during the bus ride she noticed the man sitting to her right—or he kept noticing her. He kept looking at her. He’d obviously been trying to overhear her entire conversation with her boss, the nosy freak. She leaned back, going over it in her mind.

  “Karlee, I am sick to death of your shenanigans,” Mr. Grossman said.

  Karlee laughed. “Shenanigans? Great word.”

  “Stop it Karlee! You’re infuriating, you know that? You’re lucky you’re such a good writer, otherwise I’d have fired you a long time ago. You went off on another wild goose chase and left us high and dry. Why on earth did you go to Miami? I didn’t send you there. You should be here at work with the rest of the crew. They don’t take liberties the way you do. If they did, they would have been fired.”

  “Yes, sir, I know. But—”

  “But nothing. I’ve had enough of this. If you think I’m going to pay for your trip then you’re sadly mistaken. I want you in the office, and I want you to find your way back to New York right now. And you had better do it quickly. When you get back, I want you to come and see me immediately.”

  “Mr. Grossman, sir—”

  “Immediately! No questions asked.”

  “But I don’t have any money. How do you expect me—”

  “What I expect, Karlee, is for you to be here at work like everyone else. I’m not here to baby you. I’m your boss, not your father. Now get back here and we can discuss it further then.”

  “But—”

  Karlee didn’t get a chance to finish the conversation, because Mr. Grossman had already put down the phone.

  She sighed. Well, at least it was over and done with. All she could do was get back to New York as fast as possible and hope for the best. She could see her seatmate was itching to ask her about it, but she wasn’t in the mood to talk to a stranger, not even an incredibly good-looking one. If ever there was a man who fit the description of tall, dark and handsome, it was this guy. He was a proper fairy-tale sort of man.

  Come to think of it, there was something about him that looked familiar, something she couldn’t place. She gave him one more hard look, and it hit her.

  She quickly got out her phone to make sure. Yes, she was almost certain he was Gabriel Braxton. She typed in his name and looked at the photos that popped up. Yes, it must be him. What would a man like Gabriel Braxton be doing on a bus? Just in case, she quickly wrote down all the information about him she could find.

  Maybe, just maybe, she had a story here, although the chances that this was the real Gabriel Braxton were slim. He wouldn’t be caught dead on public transport .

  If he wasn’t Gabriel Braxton, she might actually be interested in him. She had to admit he was absolutely gorgeous—and he’d smiled at her several times already—but if he was the notorious son of Westley Braxton, then she wasn’t at all interested in anything romantic. He might be good-looking, but he was known for his huge parties and scandalous behavior. He was the sort of man she always avoided. The too-rich, silver-spoon type who took everything for granted.

  The bus came to a halt and the driver announced they were at a rest stop.

  “There’s a shop and a bathroom if anyone needs them. I’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes, so be quick.”

  Karlee stayed in her seat. She didn’t need the toilet and she didn’t have money for snacks. In her bag was a sorry excuse for lunch—half a sandwich left over from this morning. It was better than nothing.

  She watched as the handsome Gabriel look-alike strode past her to get off. As soon as he was gone, she tucked into her sandwich and devoured it within seconds.

  She leaned back, satisfied for a while, and noticed the man had left his bag on the seat. Who on earth leaves their bag on a bus like that? How naïve was he? She quickly glanced out the window and saw he was still in the line for the bathroom.

  Karlee scooted over to his bag, leaned over, and looked at the tags. The name G. Braxton was clear. So it was him! But why was he on a bus? And where was he going? She was curious to see what else was in his bag, but she didn’t want to get caught. She quickly made sure everything looked the way it was when he left.

  She sat back down and closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep. She must’ve actually dozed off, because she woke up when her phone flew out of her hand. She reached down to pick it up, but before she could, Gabriel sudden materialized and handed it to her. Their eyes met, and Karlee smiled. The feeling of his hand against hers made her skin tingle and she quickly pulled away.

  “Thanks,” she said briefly, and looked away again. Why was her heart beating so fast?

  “No problem,” he said.

  She wondered if he’d say more to her, but he didn’t. She closed her eyes again and eventually fell asleep.

  When she opened her eyes again it was because the bus had stopped. Now she really did need to go to the bathroom. She was also desperate for something else to eat, but she was too afraid to use the last of her money on food. She rushed out to go to the bathroom, and afterwards she called her boss.

  “Where are you?” he shouted.

  “I’m on my way back, but it’s a long ride. I’ve taken the bus. I can’t afford to get there any other way.”

  “Fine. Don’t forget to come and see me when you get back.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. The reason I’m phoning you is because I have another lead.”

  Her boss groaned. “Oh come on, Karlee. Haven’t you had enough of this already? How many times do I have to believe you?” he sighed. Clearly, he still couldn’t resist the idea of a big story. “Fine. Tell me more.”

  “I’m sitting next to Gabriel Braxton on the bus.”

  He laughed. “Gabriel Braxton doesn’t take the bus.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. But when he went to the bathroom I took a look at his bag, and it had a tag with his name on it. It’s really him. I have no idea why he’s on the bus, but I’m assuming there’s a story behind it. Like you said, Gabriel Braxton wouldn’t be sitting on a bus like us regular folk without a reason.”

  “Well, have you spoken to him?”

  “Not yet, I wanted to speak to you first. Because, you know, I wasn’t sure if I was fired yet or not.”

  That, at least, made Mr. Grossman laugh. “Fired? You’re not fired. You’re close to it, though. Okay, well, this does sound like it could potentially be a story. It could also be nothing more than a young man deciding to try out the bus. Take some pictures, ask some questions. Try and find out as much as you can. If there is a story, you might not have a lot of time to get answers, but while he’s stuck with you on that bus, you might as well make the attempt. Let me know if you get anything.”

  “Okay, I’m on it.”

  Karlee put the phone down and smiled. She wasn’t fired yet. That was something at least. Now, she just hoped she really did have a story. Perhaps she should’ve found out first before phoning her boss. If it all fell through, she’d just given him something else to hold against her. At least he could see she was trying. Surely that counted for something?

  Karlee turned around and saw Gabriel was off the bus. This time, he had his bag with him. The espresso-colored leather duffel bag didn’t have any visible brand names or logos on it, but Karlee had a feeling it cost more than her entire outfit. Gabe carried it easily, walking around the small park attached to the rest sto
p, stretching his long legs.

  Karlee had to admit he was hot, in spite of his sleazy reputation. If she believed yesterday’s tabloid story, everything was—ahem—in proportion. Stop it Karlee, she berated herself. You’re drooling like some lust-struck teenager, not the seasoned reporter who broke the Montgomery Walters story.

  She didn’t quit staring at Gabe, though. It had been a long time since she’d last felt attracted to anyone. When he touched her hand earlier she’d definitely felt a spark. Something in her lower belly stirred as she thought about it now.

  Cool, clear, professional objectivity, that was the ticket. She would exercise her powers of observation. In spite of the bad weather, there were a lot of people killing time in the park. One man even seemed to be jogging. He was wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head, and he was moving pretty fast. If he didn’t watch where he was going he was likely to run into someone.

  Karlee gasped as Gabe went down in a jumble of long limbs. The mugger was running even faster now, Gabe’s bag in his hands.

  She rushed over to stand beside Gabe. He’d picked himself up, and seemed unharmed except for a small split at the corner of his mouth. He smiled when he saw her, but stopped abruptly when his lip started to bleed.

  “Ow. Damn it.”

  “Here, maybe this’ll help.” Karlee handed him a tissue from her bag. “Are you okay? It looks like the mugger’s long gone. I hope you didn’t have anything too important in your bag.”

  “Just a change of clothes. Did you see what he looked like? All I saw was a black hoodie. He just came up behind me and pushed me down. Long gone before I could get a look at him.”

  “I saw him from the bus window, but all I could tell was that it was a tall man, very fit. I couldn’t get a good look at his face or hair or anything because of the hood…” Karlee trailed off. “Well, if you’re sure you’re okay, I guess we’d better go tell the bus driver.”