Wedding Date with the Billionaire

by Andrea Bolter

  Following a hot shower in the smooth stone of the hotel bathroom, she checked her phone. No messages. Okay, she promised herself. Tomorrow would be a brand-new day.

  Naturally, the first thing Erin did when she woke up for the first time in Tokyo was check her messages. Still none. Since it was a business day, she assumed that Kento would be going in to work, so she would head to NIRE. Showing up to his office was going to be a shock. She hoped it would be a good one.

  NIRE occupied six floors of a green glass–windowed building in Akihabara, a high-tech mecca with shops that served fandom cultures—entire stores dedicated to fictional characters, video games and electronics. After Erin rode a lightning-fast elevator to the NIRE offices, the doors opened to a reception area, which Erin stepped into. A beautiful woman in a blue suit bowed from behind a check-in desk, where a sign in a signature font read NIRE. Erin had meant to ask Kento over the weekend what NIRE stood for, but she hadn’t had the chance.

  “I’m here to see Kento Yamamoto,” Erin stated after bowing her head in return.

  “I’m sorry,” the receptionist answered quickly, “Mr. Yamamoto’s schedule is only by appointment. He is very busy.” It made sense that he had a gatekeeper. Perhaps more than one. Erin began to worry how she was going to make her way into Kento’s inner chamber, where he was no doubt protected from unwanted interruption.

  “Could you get a message to him for me, please? We are old friends.” That was the best and most important description she could think of. An old friend who came to see him, if she could get through the barriers. A half dozen glass doors led to different corridors.

  “I can relay a message to his assistant.” The blue-suited receptionist stretched out her hand as if to receive an actual paper message. “Mr. Yamamoto will let us know if he wishes us to contact you.”

  Erin hadn’t conceived of being refused access like this, although she should have. Obviously as the CEO of a huge corporation, Kento’s time and security were carefully guarded. Her face got hot. Nerves began to get the best of her as she searched through her purse for a piece of paper or something to handwrite a note on. What she found seemed only too appropriate.

  It was Kento’s drawing of her from Lucas and Christy’s wedding morning. She wanted to be up front and not waste another precious moment, so she wrote on the back.

  I’ve come to tell you aishiteru.

  I love you.

  As soon as the drawing was handed to him, and not arriving through the postal mail, he’d realize that she was here. At least she’d know right away where she stood. Hopefully he’d burst through one of the doors and into her arms.

  “Thank you.” The receptionist offered another bow after receiving the folded drawing with two hands. They both stood still. Finally she asked Erin, “Is there anything further?”

  “No. I’ll wait for Mr. Yamamoto’s response.”

  “I’m sorry. This is a waiting area for people who have appointments today.”

  Erin knew that there could be hackers, spies and all sorts of unwelcome visitors to a company like Kento’s, so she understood the need for regulations. Still, though, tears burned behind her eyes as she nodded once again to the receptionist before returning to the elevator and pressing its call button.

  * * *

  “Thank you.” The words came out of Kento’s mouth in slow motion as he unfolded the piece of paper Emiko had just handed him after she relayed that someone claiming to be a friend had stopped by the office. When he unfolded the note, he couldn’t believe his eyes. “How did this get here?” he demanded. How on earth could the drawing of Erin that he’d slipped under her door on Willminson Island be in his hands right now? His pulse sped, wanting more information.

  Emiko confirmed the conclusion that was taking shape in his head. “Ms. Barclay delivered it herself.”

  He wanted to be angry at his staff for not letting the special guest in, but they’d have no way of knowing that Erin Barclay was, and would always be, more than welcome wherever he was. Emiko bowed deeply from the waist in her boss’s presence and then turned to leave.

  Erin was in Tokyo? How could that be? Over the course of his years here, there had to have been hundreds of times when Kento saw something on a Tokyo street or saw a scene in a movie or ate a food that he wanted to share with her. The distance to Seattle never seemed greater than it did when he was missing her, which he’d done so much of. He stared again at the note she’d written on the back of the drawing.

  I’ve come to tell you aishiteru.

  I love you.

  She loved him. He took more air in one breath than he had in the past hundred. All of a sudden his lungs were completely open, the inhale and exhale flowing unforced and natural. Erin was in Japan and she loved him! That changed everything. Guesses popped into his mind about how she’d gotten herself here. A far cry from what he’d overheard of her conversation with her parents at the gift-opening brunch that sent him packing, deciding for both of them how best to finally end the cycle they’d been on for far too long.

  In his desk drawer, he found the burner phone with the Seattle number that he’d tossed aside after he got back from the wedding. There were three messages on the voice mail, all from Erin. She explained only that she had something to say to him in person so she was getting on a plane, each message sounding a little more desperate than the one before. It hadn’t occurred to him to check the phone once he got back.

  As it happened, he’d reached a decision of his own. That in a couple of days, after some high-level meetings he needed to stay in town for, he was going to fly back to Seattle. Because he’d never rest until he looked Erin in the eye and apologized for deserting her not once, but twice. Begging on his knees if he had to in order to make her see that her parents couldn’t deny her love and happiness. That the life she and he could have together would be worth the cost. The note and the fact that she was here had him churning with optimism that she’d already made her choice.

  Where was she now? Perhaps worried that she hadn’t been able to see him. When he tapped the phone number he had for her, the call went to a mailbox, where her lush voice instructed him to leave a message. “My staff just told me you’d come by. I am so sorry you weren’t let in. Meet me at the Hachikō statue at noon.”

  After having a driver rush him to his destination, Kento couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. He didn’t know if or when Erin would retrieve his phone message, but he wanted to get to the meeting spot as soon as possible. As usual, many people were gathered near the statue, taking photos with Japan’s most famous dog depicted in bronze.

  Those clear breaths that had given him such certainty after seeing Erin’s note were spiky now. He wouldn’t exhale easily again until he saw her. He didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself, but the fact that she was in his city made him speculate that she had gone against her parents’ wishes, and that alone filled him with pride. He could hardly imagine how difficult that must have been for her, if that’s what had come to pass.

  Finally, the head of dusty-colored hair he’d known for so long became visible. “Erin,” he yelled as he ran toward her, darting around people this way and that to get closer. “Erin!”

  Once she turned her head and spotted him, a huge smile swept across her face, letting him know that the woman he loved was going to be his in the end. When he reached her, he kissed her face over and over again, her cheeks, her lips, her forehead, her eyelids.

  “Kento.”

  “How can this be? How is that you’re here?”

  “Why did you leave me at the wedding?”

  Wow, she wasn’t mincing words.

  “I saw you talking to your parents and knew...”

  “Knew what? Did you hear us?”

  “Only a little bit. What I heard was that you and I were still the impossibility we always were.”

  “Well, then, you did
n’t hear everything I said to them. Why didn’t you wait?”

  “I was trying to make it easier for us to say goodbye.”

  “Hey, Yamamoto. I’m not saying goodbye. You got that? I’m never saying goodbye. I made a big enough mistake after the wedding not telling you I loved you. I’m never going to let a day go by that I don’t say it again.”

  He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Come here.” A big, long hug in the center of the fast-moving city brought his breath back to sure and even. He positioned them so that they could take a selfie with the famous Akita statue.

  “What’s the story of the dog, anyway?”

  “Hachikō used to wait here every day for his owner to come up from the railway station after work. Even after the owner died, the dog still came every day. For nine more years. Every day for nine years. Until he himself died.”

  “A symbol of loyalty.”

  “Of not giving up.”

  Kento ducked them into a café, where he ordered tea. They explained to each other what had happened after the wedding. Erin told him that her parents would have nothing to do with her anymore. That she was going to create her own path, one alongside his. “I want you to see this home I found for sale. I think I want to buy it.”

  That was his woman. Someone who was ready to embrace chance, to find her destiny, to look herself in the mirror. “I can’t wait.”

  More kisses and excitement followed as Kento told her ten places in Asia he wanted to take her to see, followed by ten more.

  “Hey, I never asked you something.”

  “What, my love?” he responded with a brush to her hair.

  “You’ve never told me, what does the name of your company mean? Is NIRE some kind of acronym?”

  Pulling a pen from his jacket pocket, he wrote the four letters big and bold on a napkin. And then held the napkin up toward the window so that she could see them written backward in the reflection.

  “E-R-I-N,” she read aloud, and then her mouth dropped open. “What? After all this time I’m finding out that I’ve lived in Tokyo all along?”

  “You see? Even when we were apart, we were together.”

  “And we always will be.” She reached her hand to his face and brought him close. “Aishiteru, Kento.”

  “Aishiteru...my heart.”

  * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Andrea Bolter

  Captivated by Her Parisian Billionaire

  His Convenient New York Bride

  The Prince’s Cinderella

  The Italian’s Runaway Princess

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from The Greek’s Secret Heir by Rebecca Winters.

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  The Greek’s Secret Heir

  by Rebecca Winters

  PROLOGUE

  “MONIKA? I’M SO HOT I’m going for a quick swim before I’m burned to a crisp.”

  Her sandy-haired friend didn’t open her eyes. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

  Alexa Remis, almost eighteen, got up from one of the rental loungers set out along the semicrowded Perea Beach outside Salonica, otherwise called Thessaloniki, Greece. The August temperature had climbed to the high eighties, perfect for her three-week vacation before school started again on Cyprus, nearly a thousand miles away. This was only her second day of freedom from books and tests, but it would go too fast and she wanted to make the most of it.

  After wading into a surreal world of turquoise water, she kept going until she could immerse herself in the deepening cobalt blue beyond. Talk about paradise! On impulse she did a series of somersaults and ended up colliding with a hard, male body who gripped her arms to steady her.

  “I’m sorry!” she cried after lifting her head. Once he let go, Alexa had to tread water to stay afloat.

  “It was my fault, despinis.” The sincere apology, spoken in Greek, came from the gorgeous guy staring straight into her eyes. In the afternoon sun she couldn’t tell if his eyes were black or brown between those black lashes. “I’m Nico Angelis.”

  “I’m... Mara Titos.” She’d almost made her first mistake by telling him her real name. Her grandfather was the Greek ambassador in Nicosia in Cyprus. For security reasons he and her grandmother had made her promise never to reveal who she really was to anyone while on vacation. With so much political unrest there, they didn’t want Alexa to be a target for enemies.

  Meeting this Adonis out swimming had thrown her off-balance. “Where did you come from, Nico?”

  He pointed to a sleek white cruiser in the distance, revealing his well-defined chest. “My friends and I have been racing each other.”

  “And I ruined it for you by being in your way.”

  His gaze wandered over her, making her feel a voluptuous warmth that was completely different from the effect of the sun. “I didn’t watch where I was going, but believe me, I’m not complaining about running into a beautiful mermaid. I didn’t know they came with long chestnut hair and sea-green eyes.” She smiled as he asked, “Do you live here?”

  “No.” Remember what you’re supposed to tell people, Alexa. “I live in France with my mom, but am on vacation until school starts.”

  “You’re a long way from home. I’ve just turned nineteen and must join the Greek navy in three weeks to do my military service.”

  They swam around each other. “Are you looking forward to it?”

  “Not particularly. I’d much rather stay right here.”

  The comment sounded so personal her heart picked up speed. “How long will you have to be gone?”

  “Two years.” He studied her features, lingering on her lips. “At the moment a year sounds like a lifetime.”

  “One more year in a strict French schoolroom before college sounds like a lifetime to me too.” After he chuckled, she heard voices in the distance coming from the cruiser. “I think your friends are calling to you.” But Alexa didn’t want their conversation to end.

  “That’s okay. They can wait. I have more pressing matters here.” His compelling mouth broke out into a smile, turning her body to liquid. “What about you?”

  Remember for security reasons that Monika has a different name too. “My cousin Leia is sunbathing. I’m staying with her and the Vasilakis family during my vacation.”

  “How long are you here for?”

  “Three weeks.”

  “That’s perfect. It gives us time to make some plans.”

  He had a masterful way about him that made her breathless. There was no guy in Europe or anywhere else who acted or looked like Nico. The dark hair plastered to his head reminded her of a copy of a statue of a young Emperor Augustus in the Archaeological Museum of Salonica she’d seen yesterday.

  Monika’s parents, the Gatakis, who’d only recently begun working at the embassy with Alexa’s grandfather, kept a house here. They’d insisted the girls have one day of intellectual pursuits before hitting the beach for the rest of their holiday.

  As far as Alexa was concerned, Nico, with his chiseled features and firm jaw, could have been a model and was so handsome, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  “What did you have in mind?” She knew she was being picked up. Other guys had tried. Before now she’d never been tempted to break her grandparents’ rules, but this guy was different. She decided to go with it and see what happened.

  “Tell your cousin you’re swimming to the cruiser with me. I know a place along the coast where we can buy food and eat on deck while we get to know ea
ch other better. I’ll bring you back before it gets too late. Wherever I’m stationed in the military, I’d like a happy memory to take with me.”

  That worked both ways. “What about your friends?”

  “I’ll drop them at the pier.”

  So it was Nico’s boat. Alexa made a snap decision. “I’ll swim to shore and let her know.”

  His smile faded. “If you don’t come back, I’ll know this meeting wasn’t meant to be after all and you really are a mermaid who’ll disappear on me.”

  Alexa took off for the beach, haunted by what he’d just said. She reached the lounger dripping wet and told Monika what had happened. “He’s going to take me for a boat ride.”

  Her friend jumped to her feet. “Are you crazy? Don’t you know who that is?” She sounded almost angry.

  “Should I?”

  “Nico Angelis is the only son of the billionaire Estefen Angelis, the famous Angelis Shipping Lines owner in Salonica. I’ve told you about him before.”

  Alexa didn’t remember.

  “Over the last year he’s been in the news—he gets around.” At least Monika knew of him. Alexa’s grandparents couldn’t object to that. “There’ve been times when he’s played volleyball here on the beach with some of his highbrow friends, picking up girls. He’s the last guy on earth you should ever get mixed up with.”

  Whoa. How could Alexa have known something like that while she’d been living in Cyprus for so many years with her grandparents? “He’s still out there waiting for me.”

  Monika laughed. “You really think so with a line like the one he just fed you? A mermaid? How naive can you get.”

  Alexa felt foolish. “Maybe I am. But all the same, I’m swimming back out.” She hurried into the water once more, wondering, fearing that he’d disappeared. Somehow the idea of never seeing him again disturbed her.