Taking Control: A Billionaire Boss Romance (Playboys of New York Book 4)

by JA Low

  “Make yourselves at home. All the rooms upstairs are empty except one, which is Ariana’s.”

  “You might have to share with me, Had, if there isn’t enough space.” Austin winks at Hadley, and she rolls her eyes at my brother. I can’t believe these two are still flirting like this after all these years. Hadley had the hots for Austin all through high school, and she had to watch him date every damn girl in town. He saw her as his little sister’s friend. The story eerily like EJ and me, but at least we’re having a happily ever after. These two seem to be still stuck as if six years haven’t passed.

  “Help yourself to food, drinks.” I point to the kitchen. “There’s beer in the fridge, wine on the counter, and tequila in a cupboard somewhere,” I tell them.

  “You know Austin goes crazy on tequila.” Lacey laughs.

  Oh, man, he does too. A memory of Austin running through town with just a cowboy hat covering his naked self because of tequila, or the time he tried to ride Bad Billy, the wild horse, while he was drunk, and it ended with a dislocated shoulder.

  “Guess some things never change,” I muse. I’m taking in the sight of my family all around me, and it feels good.

  “Oh my God, look at the ocean,” Hadley exclaims as the sapphire blue on the horizon catches her attention. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

  “There’s a pathway that leads down to the beach. You can check it out if you want,” I tell her. She hesitates because we have the stuff to talk about, but we have all the time in the world now they’re here. “Go… I don’t mind.”

  “I’m coming,” Austin says and grabs Hadley’s hand, pulling her toward the beach. She looks back over her shoulder at me, pretending to be mad at my brother, but her bright smile says otherwise.

  Jesse grabs a beer for us all and sits on the seats opposite Lacey and me.

  “Cheers, Stell.” We clink our bottles together, and I take a sip, trying to steady my nerves. “So…” Jesse, Lacey, and I sit in silence for a couple of moments before we all burst out laughing at the awkwardness of it all. “You’ve done pretty well for yourself, kiddo.” Jesse looks around the room as he takes a long gulp of beer.

  “Thanks. I guess I’m doing okay.”

  “Are you still looking after that famous chef?” Lacey asks. “I follow you on Insta, so you know…” She shrugs nervously, which makes me smile as she trails off.

  “Yeah, I still work for EJ. Well, actually…” How do I tell them that I’ve somehow fallen in love with my boss? This is going to be hard to explain. “We’ve recently decided that we should, um…” this shit is nerve-wracking, “… should be together.”

  The room falls silent while I nervously bite my lip.

  “Are you happy?” Jesse asks.

  “Yeah, I am,” I tell him honestly.

  “Then, I’m happy for you.” Jesse raises his beer bottle in my direction.

  “Me, too, Stelly,” Lacey adds. “Plus, I’ve seen his Insta page, and you go, girl.” Lacey gives me a high-five, which has us all bursting out in laughter.

  “Chloe is his sister,” I explain. “The one you said sent her plane. Well, it would probably be her fiancé, Noah’s plane. They own boutique hotels around the world.”

  Jesse’s eyes widen as he sips his beer. “Shit, Stelly, you are living a glamourous life. Nothing much has changed since you’ve left Moonlight Falls.” She shrugs.

  “You’re still working on the ranch with Dad?” I ask.

  “Yeah, but he’s not as energetic as he used to be,” Lacey explains. “Back down near the wildflower paddocks in my section of the ranch, I’ve set up glamping tents. The city slickers love it. They get a taste of ranch life, pay big bucks for the pleasure of helping us out on the ranch, and get a home-cooked meal under the stars,” Lacey muses.

  When we wore born, our parents separated parcels of the ranch for each of us to have when we got older. Jesse turned his into an organic beef farm, and now Lacey is saying she’s turned hers into tourist accommodation, and Austin has his cowboy school on his side of the ranch.

  “That sounds fantastic. I remember you pushing Dad to do something like that for years.” I remember the arguments around the dinner table with Lacey asking our father to diversify the ranch.

  “Finally wore him down.” Lacey giggles, which makes me laugh too. I didn’t realize how much I missed reminiscing about home. “Did Jesse tell you he’s won awards for his organic beef?” Lacey tells me proudly.

  Jesse shrugs when I look over at him. “No way! That is fantastic. When EJ gets back, you should talk to him about it. I know he’s always looking for the best beef for his restaurants. Jesse just tips his hat in acknowledgment and doesn’t say anything else.

  “Your land is still there,” Lacey tells me.

  “Mine?” Huh?

  “Yes. You still have your allotment. Dad looks after it, checks to see that everything is in order,” Lacey explains.

  Oh wow, I thought once I left that the others would have taken it over. I didn’t realize it was still there. “Dad’s been looking after it?” My throat tightens just thinking about my father.

  “Of course, he misses you dearly, Stell.” Lacey reaches out and squeezes my hand. “He was so happy when he found out you had reached out to us, and we were coming to see you.” Tears begin to well as she continues, “He understands your hurt over what happened between him and Claire, but they are still together, Stell, and they’re happy.” My sister shrugs her shoulders.

  “You need to make amends,” Jesse tells me gruffly.

  “I know.” I let the tears fall down my cheeks, uncontained. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt everyone so badly.” Trying, I swipe the tears from my cheeks, but they still fall. “I didn’t mean to go this long apart from you all. But as the years went by, I thought it was all too late.” Breaking down, Lacey wraps her arms around my shaking shoulders and pulls me tight to her.

  “I don’t care anymore, Stelly. I want you in my life forever, okay.” Lacey cries beside me. “You broke my heart when you left. I felt like I lost my sister as well as my mother all at the same time. But so much time has passed now that I don’t care anymore. I don’t want to waste another moment of not having you in my life.”

  Looking up into my sister’s bloodshot blue eyes, I say, “I’m so sorry, Lace.”

  She shakes her head. “I love you, Stelly.” She grins, holding my face. “We are a family. Nothing else is ever going to break us apart. You hear me,” she tells me sternly.

  “I promise with all my heart. Stelly, Lacey, and Hadley are all back together again if you’ll have me.” I use my nickname—I was always upset that my name didn’t end in a ‘Y’ as a child that I used to call myself Stelly to match the other two.

  “The Three Amigos were on a hiatus, now they’re back.” Lacey squeals, making me laugh.

  “And what about you, Jesse?” Turning to my oldest brother. “Are we okay?”

  “Of course.” He smirks. “Life hasn’t been the same without you in it, kiddo.” He uses the uncool nickname he used to use on me, especially around his hot friends. “I do have one condition, though.” He sits up and looks at me seriously. “I need you to come and see Dad. He was heartbroken when you left, Stell. He blamed himself for so long, and he sunk into a dark depression for a while,” Jesse explains. “So much so, we thought we might lose him.”

  Tears fall rapidly down my cheeks at his surprise admission.

  “Claire pulled him out of it, but he was never one hundred percent Dad anymore.”

  Guilt begins to eat away at my heart. What the hell have I done?

  “I promise as soon as I’m out of this...” I tap on my cast, “… I’ll come down and visit him.”

  Jesse nods his head.

  The sound of Austin and Hadley’s raised voices gains our attention as they stand at the glass sliding doors dripping wet with the biggest smiles on their faces.

  “Austin threw me into the ocean.” Hadley shakes the droplets
of water onto the deck from her hair.

  “Only because you refused to go for a skinny dip with me.” He winks at her.

  Hadley rolls her eyes at him.

  “What? No one was on the beach. It would have been for my eyes only. Not like I haven’t seen them before.” He pokes her.

  Hadley’s face turns red as she elbows him sharply in the ribs.

  “There are towels upstairs… if you want to warm up,” I tell them.

  “Only one shower, Had, we’re going to have to share.” She elbows him again before bolting through the room and up the stairs with Austin hot on her heels.

  “What the hell is going on between them?” I glance at Jesse and Lacey. I think I’ve missed a hell of a lot.

  Jesse throws his hands up in the air and heads to the kitchen to grab himself another beer.

  Lacey leans in, so Jesse doesn’t hear. “I think they’re doing the whole friends-with-benefits thing.” Lacey looks around, making sure no one can hear. “Austin is going to break her heart.”

  “They seem flirty.”

  “Austin is still messing around with rodeo groupies while on the circuit. He’s not settling down anytime soon.”

  “Why does Hadley put up with it?” Annoyed at the way my brother is treating my friend, I can’t help but ask the question on my lips.

  “I don’t know. But there’s always that one guy you just can’t seem to get out of your heart no matter how much you wish you could.” Lacey ponders sadly.

  “I see River Jennings is still big on the country music scene.” I mention Lacey’s high school boyfriend, Hadley’s older brother, and the love of my sister’s life. River left Moonlight Falls when he signed up with Dirty Texas Records and moved to LA. He made it big and left everyone in the town behind him, especially my broken-hearted sister.

  “Yes. He’s doing well. Dating all of Hollywood, too.” She groans.

  I wrap my arms around my sister and pull her closer. “I get it. I had to watch EJ date every single woman in New York while I sat on the sidelines being invisible,” I confess.

  “What changed?” she asks.

  “My accident,” I tell her the truth. “The thought of losing me pushed all the bullshit aside and made him take the leap.”

  “Are you saying I need to break a leg to get River to fall back in love with me?” She smirks.

  “Might be extreme, but you never know.”

  We both burst out laughing.

  40

  EJ

  “So, you finally did it,” Ariana tells me in the car on our way back to The Hamptons. She was in the city for work and asked for a lift back. “I never thought I would see it, but you two look good together. It’s nice,” she teases.

  “I’m happy. This is the first day of us not being together, and I miss her already,” I confess to Ariana.

  She gives me a knowing smile. “You think once you’re both back in the city, you’ll be okay?” she asks. “You know… with all the temptation around.”

  “Of course,” I tell her. Ariana frowns at me. “What?”

  “Look, I don’t doubt your love for, Stell,” she starts. “And I’m not trying to be a bitch.”

  “But?”

  “The person you were only a couple of months ago to who you are now is a massive change.”

  And there it is, my reputation has caught up with me again.

  “Look, I know I had a reputation before Stell. But do you seriously think I would do anything now we are together to jeopardize that?”

  Ariana is silent for a little while.

  “How many DMs have you gotten since you and Stella have been together?” She arches a brow at me. “I mean, I know you two have gone official on social media, and you both post photos of the two of you on there.”

  Again, there’s a but I can feel coming.

  “I get it,” I tell her. “Take my phone and check for yourself,” I tell her.

  “What, no!” Ariana squeals. “You don’t have to prove yourself to me, EJ.”

  “Please, I want you to look at the DMs I’ve been sent and how I’ve handled them. I need someone on my side trusting me.” Looking over at her, she reluctantly takes my phone. “My code is 6969.”

  “Are you fucking serious?” She shakes her head as she types it. She goes to the messages in my accounts and reads them, so I give her a couple of moments.

  “I believe you.” She places the phone back on its dock.

  “Look, there will always be women sliding into my DMs because of who I am, but I’m not interested. Why would I be when I have Stella waiting at home for me?”

  “Urgh. Fine.” She huffs but has a smile on her face.

  “Anyway, what’s going on with you?” Turning the tables around, I want to hear about her love life.

  “Nothing much. I am just having fun. Working at a job I hate. You know… the usual.” She groans.

  Turning my head toward her, I say, “I have questions. You ready?” She nods her head. “So… you and Gray?”

  “Fun,” she states.

  “Nothing more?” I push.

  She gives me a funny look and shakes her head. “Nope. He’s nice to look at and knows what he’s doing in the bedroom, but that is about it.”

  I hold my hand up for a high-five, which she gives me, and we both burst out laughing.

  “Right, next question.” I grin at her. “Work? I thought you loved being an architect?”

  She lets out a heavy sigh. “You wouldn’t get it because you’re a guy.”

  I frown at her answer. “Try me?”

  She then explains how the company she’s working for are still stuck in the dark ages when it comes to women in the workforce. The old men always ask her to fetch the coffee. They never invite her golfing or to their secret men’s club for drinks. They never take her ideas seriously, even though hers are the ones the clients end up going with most of the time.

  Well damn! I thought shit like that went out in the 80s.

  “I’m sorry,” I tell her.

  She shrugs her shoulders. “It sucks. But it’s made me more determined to leave the practice. But, I need another job to go to first.”

  “I don’t need an architect just yet,” I tell her. “But once I find the perfect space for Stella and me, you have a job.”

  “Thanks.” Her face lights up.

  “Are you thinking about going out on your own?” I ask.

  “That seems to be where I’m leaning. I just need to get my contacts in order. Plus, I’d be moving from high-rise buildings to residential, which is where my passion lies… on the smaller projects. Also, I’d love to find some historic old place and restore, too,” she tells me.

  “Well, I’ll share your name around town. Maybe that might help.”

  Ariana thanks me as we fall into an easy conversation for the rest of the journey.

  Eventually, we pull up out the front of the house, and the first thing I hear is music. I grab our bags out of the trunk of the car and head toward the door. Ariana opens it for me, and we step inside.

  Our ears are assaulted by country music. What in the hell is going on?

  I step further in, and that’s when I notice Stella giggling and laughing with some cowboy who has his arms around her, and she’s snuggled into his side as if they know each other well. My stomach sinks, and I feel sick looking at the scene in front of me. I notice another cowboy swinging a girl around in the air. Another girl is sitting across from them, laughing and clapping along. I don’t understand what’s going on. Ariana has a frown on her face when she looks at me. If her best friend has no idea who these people are, then what the hell has Stella been up to. I walk over to the stereo and turn it down, which makes everyone stop what they are doing and look at me.

  “EJ,” Stella calls out my name, but she doesn’t look worried that I’ve just caught her with another man.

  There’s a stabbing pain in my chest. Am I having a heart attack?

  “EJ, come over here. I want yo
u to meet some very special people.” She giggles.

  Is she drunk? My eyes land on the guy with his arm around Stella, and I glare at him. The cocky bastard doesn’t move his arm away from her, and he just glares at me back. I’ll fight him if he doesn’t take his arms off my woman.

  “Ari!” she calls out, noticing her friend behind me. “You’re here,” she squeals. “Come, come… let me introduce you.”

  Ariana gives me a sideways glance and walks over to where Stella’s seated in the living room.

  “Ari, this is my brother, Jesse,” she introduces the cowboy who was wrapped around her.

  Her brother?

  Ariana walks over and shakes the guy’s hand. Then Stella introduces the rest of the people as her sister, Lacey, her other brother, Austin, and her best friend, Hadley. They all greet us warmly.

  Her family.

  Shit.

  “Nice to meet you.” Jesse shakes my hand hard, giving me the big brother stare. “Stella’s told us so much about you,” he adds. I look over his broad shoulders to where Stella is seated with a big, bright smile on her face, and her cheeks are flushed from drinking.

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “Thank your sister for us. She’s the one who set this all up. My family can’t repay her enough,” he states.

  What? Chloe set this all up for Stella? Damn, my sister likes to poke her head into other people’s business, but this time she’s done well.

  “I’ll let her know.”

  Jesse nods his head and walks off to join the rest of the crew.

  “You gave me a fucking heart attack when I walked in,” I tell Stella as I sit beside her. Her blue Bambi-like eyes widen at my words. I lean over and whisper into her ear, “I saw some cowboy with his arm wrapped around you, and I nearly lost my shit.” Stella giggles. “Seeing another man with his hands on you filled me with rage.”

  Stella turns and looks up at me through her lashes. “But he’s my brother.”

  “I didn’t know that when I walked in, did I?”

  Her mouth forms an O in understanding, then she giggles again.