The Billionaire Book Club

by Monroe, Max

  He nods sagely, turning away, pacing in front of my windows and then turning back and crossing his arms over his chest. I can’t help but watch him.

  “Maybe not. But holy shit, Cap…can you imagine if you could have…and you didn’t try?”

  “We told you you were gonna fuck up,” Thatch reminds me. “You’ve done it, and it sucks. But now you need a plan.”

  Something foreign is stuck to my face; I can feel it, but I don’t care. At the prospect of saving myself—of saving my misery for a time when I’m old and gray—I perk up enough to look Kline in the eye.

  “You guys can help me?”

  Kline nods. “We’re going to help you help yourself.”

  I take a full breath for the first time since Ruby left me standing on the sidewalk in front of her building and climb to my feet.

  Wes comes out of my kitchen with a shot of tequila, but he drops it when his hand shoots up to cover his eyes. The glass shatters into a mess on my living room floor.

  “For the love of God, guys. Somebody get the guy a pair of pants.”

  I look down at my naked dick and then shrug. “You don’t have to be jealous, Wes. I’m just unnaturally gifted.”

  Wes scowls, but Trent and Quincy smile at each other and embrace my usual madness. “We’re in business, boys. He’s back.”

  “Where do we start?” I ask.

  Kline smirks. “Somewhere very important.”

  I nod. I’m ready for anything he throws at me.

  “The shower.”

  I almost laugh, because I do, in fact, smell like a fucking garbage can.

  But for once in my life, I’m not thinking about me.

  I don’t give a fuck about me.

  I only care about her.

  “And then?” I ask, and Kline’s smirk turns into a full-blown smile.

  “A rock-solid plan to fix this fucking mess you’ve made, and hopefully, one that will get you back your girl.”

  There’s only one thing in the entire fucking world that can make me focus like this.

  And it’s not these bozos. Or the courtroom. Or billion-dollar contracts. Or the adrenaline rush that comes from winning a case.

  It’s her. Ruby. The woman who has managed to become my whole damn world.

  Ruby

  I groan a little as the cab pulls up in front of Hilson House, a trendy spot in SoHo where Kevin and Julie are apparently having some kind of prewedding party, which pretty much just sounds like a second engagement party to me.

  I teased him mercilessly about being that extra, but he was insistent that if I didn’t attend, it’d be the end of our friendship.

  With the way the last few weeks have gone for me, I actually considered it but, in the end, decided I wanted people I could count on to stick around.

  Sigh.

  My dress snags a little on the seat belt as I climb out, and I have to reach back in to completely free myself.

  My dress is black with fringe, stops just below the knee, and brings a sense of fun to the party that I knew I wouldn’t be able to provide on my own.

  Something about celebrating love right now just feels like torture.

  I’m not even willing to consider the idea that the reason is Caplin fucking Hawkins.

  It’s been fourteen days since he basically tore my heart out of my chest and stomped it into the sidewalk, and even though the pain still smarts far too much for my liking, I outright refuse to give him any more credit than he deserves. Nor will I let him have that much control over my emotions.

  You sure about that? my brain pipes up with shit I don’t want to hear.

  I ignore it, lean into the cab window to pay the fare, and turn on my heels to find twinkling lights at the top of Hilson House. It’s apparently a rooftop party—a bold move at the beginning of November in New York—but I’ve been assured there will be heaters involved so I don’t have to keep my parka on.

  When I step into the building, the woman at the front desk takes my coat to check it and then directs me around the corner to the elevators, where a group of women stands waiting.

  They’re all beautiful—as in, beautiful—and they’re all so happy. They’re laughing and giggling among themselves and discussing their men.

  “I know. A fluffing book club, of all things. I swear to God, if I weren’t so amused by it, I’d punch Thatch in the dick.”

  “I was starting to think maybe Wes was keeping something from me, but he never actually seemed excited about going. I figured if it were an affair, he’d be excited,” a classy blonde says to the group, and the rest of them laugh.

  “I noticed Milo was asking me a lot of questions about ‘women’ and the way they think, but whenever I called him out on it, he just said it was research.”

  The whole group dissolves into a fit of laughter as the elevator dings its arrival. I feel a little weird climbing inside the cart with them, but there’s a space right in the center, and it seems a little bitchy to wait just because.

  I step inside after them and turn to the front, and their laughter quiets immediately. It’s awkward as hell as we all ride upward, so I don’t even notice until we make it to the top that we’re all going to the roof. When they step off behind me and start whispering, I begin to feel really self-conscious.

  I try to make my way through them, back toward the elevator, but no matter where I try to go, one of them is blocking me.

  “Sorry,” I say. “I think I’m in the wrong place.”

  A woman with kind blue eyes and strawberry-blond hair steps forward and puts a supportive hand to my shoulder. It’s a startling movement, but she looks so friendly, I don’t immediately karate chop her in the ribs.

  “Um,” I mumble, but she shakes her head to interrupt me.

  “You’re in the right place, Ruby.”

  I jerk my head and widen my eyes. “Uh…how do you know my name?”

  “I’m Georgie. Kline Brooks’s wife.”

  What in the hell does Kline Brooks have to do with this?

  My heart thunders in my chest as the rest of the women behind her nod.

  What is happening right now?

  “Okayyy.”

  “You’re gonna wanna run. We get that,” she says with sympathetic eyes. “But we’re here to make sure you don’t.”

  “What are you talking about? And how do you all know me?”

  Instead of explaining, Georgie nods to the space behind me. “Honey, turn around.”

  When I don’t do it immediately on my own, she uses a gentle hand to spin me.

  A full wall of glass doors is open completely to the patio outside, and lights line the entire perimeter of the roof. Seriously awesome, inexplicably twinkling balloons make a path down the center, and rose petals line the ground in between them.

  I swallow thickly and glance back to the bizarre women who’ve strangely become my support system, and they all nod. “Go on,” Georgie prompts.

  I consider how much force it’d take to knock her over and make a run for it, but the statistics are against me.

  She’s tiny like me, and I’d make it through her no problem, but the rest of the group would present a challenge. There are just too many of them. Plus, the tall, gorgeous brunette who was talking about punching dicks looks like she could put up one hell of a fight.

  Gingerly, fearfully, I take the steps out onto the patio and straight into the path to Cinderella’s castle.

  I’m missing the pumpkin carriage, but I fully expect my black cocktail dress to transform into a ball gown by the time I make it to the end.

  I step carefully along the petals, my heart hammering so hard, it’s climbed into my throat. I don’t know what to expect at the end, but when the fanfare, lights, and balloons clear to reveal Cap standing there, I seriously turn around to run.

  But Kevin is right behind me, the huge, betraying bastard.

  “This isn’t a prewedding party at all, is it?” I yell in his face.

  He winces, but everything else
about his large frame is horrendously tender.

  “Just hear him out, Gem.”

  “No!” I yell, and the girls from the elevator peek their heads in at the end of the path behind him. “No,” I cry, my throat closing in on itself as my nose starts to burn.

  My throat sounds scratchy as I whisper, “I don’t…I can’t, Kevin. I…I won’t survive it.”

  “Ruby,” he murmurs softly.

  “I’m barely holding it together, Kev,” I admit for the first time since I left Cap standing on that sidewalk in front of my apartment. “I’m not strong and I’m not okay and I can’t do this.”

  A hand settles gently onto my shoulder from behind me, and I don’t even have to look to know whose it is.

  I turn quickly and jerk, making it fall off immediately.

  Cap lifts his hands in a gesture of harmlessness.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I shake my head, and he smiles sadly.

  “Ruby, I’m sorry for everything. And I know that might mean nothing to you. That you might hate me for the rest of your life. If that’s the case, I’ll find a way to deal with it—but not without trying to make it right. Not without showing you something first.”

  Goddamn, this is almost too much. He’s almost too much.

  “Cap—”

  “Please, Ruby. Just ten minutes of your time. I’m begging you.”

  “Caplin Hawkins begging?” I ask skeptically, and he nods immediately.

  “I’ll beg every day of my life if it means I get to see you.”

  “I don’t believe you,” I say outright. “I don’t believe a thing you say, and I don’t know that I ever will.”

  He nods. “I understand that. Just let me show you something, and then if you want to, you can go.”

  I breathe a heavy sigh and look around the rooftop again. The exit is still blocked by whoever those women are, and Kevin and Julie now stand off to the side behind them. A group of men is behind Cap and to the left, and a huge silk sheet covers a gigantic rectangular object in front of me.

  As much as I want to just get the hell out of here, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it without show-and-tell.

  I sigh and step around Cap and toward the giant, covered cube.

  One of the men runs in from the side and grabs on to the cover, ready to unveil it, and Cap comes forward again to stand in front of it.

  He nods to his very tall, good-looking assistant, and the sheet flies off with a flourish.

  A huge, human-sized book sits in front of me, a hand-drawn illustration gracing the cover with the title “The Captain and His Ruby.”

  My breath catches in my chest and balloons out until my lungs spasm.

  “As I now know you figured out…I was, in fact, reading the books you were reading and using them against you in an attempt to get you into bed,” Cap begins. “I know it was a shitty use of something you love, so I apologize for that, first and foremost.”

  I glare as he continues.

  “The thing is, I feel like it’s a really special part of our story now, so I took the liberty of writing it. Our story, I mean. But as the guys over here can attest, I’m not exactly the most mature human alive.” I glance to the men who are nodding profusely and then back to Cap. “So, I wrote it as a children’s book.” I widen my eyes as I look more closely at the book to see a cartoon likeness of Cap dressed as a pirate, holding the precious gem form of my name. “I hope you’ll humor me for a minute while I read it.”

  Entirely too curious to deny him at this point, I nod. Just once. He doesn’t hesitate to begin as one of the other guys jumps forward to pull the enormous cover open and turn the page.

  As he reads, and the guys help to turn the pages and illustrations appear one by one, all I can do is listen and read along.

  “Once upon a time, in a crowded, overachieving land, a pirate known as the Captain set sail on his ship of adventure. An independent fellow, the Captain often went on trips on his own, eager to find the next exciting treasure.

  “He’d traveled to thousands of different lands and hunted for thousands of different gems, but he’d never found anything special enough to stop searching.

  “One day, while out on one of his quests, he ran into a wise man. The wise man spoke of a new treasure, one that couldn’t be replicated or bought. He told the Captain to have patience and forethought while he was out on his adventure, for a treasure like that would only come once in a lifetime.

  “The Captain, though, he was used to finding all sorts of treasure and liked the variety. The wise man’s cautions seemed shortsighted and ill-advised, so stupidly, the Captain chose not to listen.

  “When he arrived at his next island and made it to the cave, he found dozens of chests of jewels.

  “They all sparkled, but none really possessed a true shine. Dismayed and unsuspecting, he opened the final chest without much hope. But there, nestled in the satin, was something the likes of which he’d never seen before. A delicate, magnificent, unmatched in both color and clarity…ruby.”

  A hand floats up to my mouth before I even realize it’s happening.

  “Faced with this special gem, a treasure the wise man had warned him about with great wisdom, the Captain took it. Added it to his collection and kept it as his own. Unfortunately, the Captain hadn’t paid close enough attention, allowing his stubborn, outdated ideals to guide his foolish next actions.

  “When presented with an offer, he sold the ruby at the market the next day, for he was certain a gem of its caliber would come once again.”

  I glance from the book to Cap as his voice breaks on the last word and startles me.

  A single tear mars the perfect, rugged skin of his manly cheek.

  And the tenderness on his face urges my own tears to blur my vision.

  But he keeps going. Keeps reading.

  “But he was wrong. Just as the wise man had said, that ruby was the best thing the Captain had ever had in his life. He loved it. But because of him, it was gone.

  “And now he had a choice. He could spend the rest of his life regretting the sale, or he could do everything in his power to get it back.

  “And the Captain may have been foolish once, but he refused to be that way again.”

  The last page turns at the hands of one of Cap’s helpers, and a blank page rests in its place.

  I look from the book to Cap with tears still in my eyes, only to find a whole new set of tears in his own.

  “How does it end?” I ask, forcing the words through my immobile lips.

  He shrugs just one shoulder, and my soul comes back to life. Back to me, back to here, back to the possibility of something in life I didn’t think was possible.

  Love.

  “That’s up to you, Ruby. I couldn’t finish the story, because the ending this time…is up to you.”

  Cap

  Time slows down as my heart slams against my ribs repeatedly. I’ve never in my life felt this exposed, this vulnerable—this exhilarated.

  I love Ruby Rockford in a way I didn’t think was possible. Not for anyone, but especially not for me.

  I love her in a way that I know I’ll be happy with her for the rest of my life and then some. In a way that laughs in the face of other women and completes something in me I didn’t know I was missing.

  I love her in a way that makes me willing to fall at my love-sick friends’ feet in apology and thanks.

  They’ve known all along what I couldn’t see. They’ve known that the right woman would transform a man from who he was into who he should be, and she’d do it without even changing anything about him.

  Ruby’s eyes flutter as she looks to the book behind me once more before meeting my eyes. She is so perfect.

  Her uncertainty. Her backbone even in the face of it.

  She’s the most interesting woman I’ve ever met and, quite possibly, likes me the least out of any of them.

  But it works.

  She gives me the grounding I need, a
nd I’m just the kind of asshole she needs to make sure she remembers to have fun.

  I can no longer imagine my life without her, and I hope to God she’s willing to give me a chance to give her a reason to spend it with me.

  “The ending is up to me,” she says softly, and I nod and swallow.

  I don’t know how I wait without saying anything else—maintaining silence isn’t my strongest ability—but I won’t jeopardize the chance at a life, at a forever, with her for anything.

  “Well…I guess I just have one question, then,” she murmurs.

  “And what’s that?”

  “If the Captain gets the ruby back, what does he intend to do with it?”

  I reach out and take her hand in mine because I can’t fucking help it anymore. By some miracle, she doesn’t pull away. “Treasure it. Forever.”

  She raises an eyebrow, and I nod.

  “Ruby, I love you. And I can promise you with absolute certainty, if the Captain gets his ruby back, he’s never letting it go.”

  I place my hands on the sides of her face, wrapping them around the delicate lines of her cheeks and lifting her mouth to mine. Our lips touch softly, and time stands still. I wait—impatiently—but finally, her body sways toward mine.

  Everything in my world falls precisely into place.

  “Caplin fucking Hawkins,” she says softly with a shake of her head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for some insane reason…”

  I hold my breath.

  “I love you too.”

  Ruby

  Cap’s arms are around me tightly, his lips skimming across the skin of my neck intimately, and the feeling is…surreal.

  We’ve essentially gone from no physical contact to the exact opposite in the last hour and a half, and out of the two of us, Cap is definitely the more affectionate.

  It’s genuine in a way I’ve never seen from him before and plentiful in a way that is downright effusive.

  This man wrote me a freaking book and read it aloud for everyone to hear. He put it all out there, on the line, for me.