The Merger: A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance (Playboys of New York Book 3)

by JA Low

  “Oh!” Is Emma’s sister’s reaction to me standing on her front doorstep. “You’ve found her.” Her eyes widen with surprise and many unasked questions.

  Amelia is as equally beautiful as Emma, but she has a fragility about her that Emma doesn’t possess.

  “I’m sorry to turn up announced like this, but…” Amelia waves her hand in the air as if to say it’s no bother at all.

  “Come in.” She opens the door wider for me. “Emma is resting. You must be exhausted from your travel.”

  I follow after her through her cottage and into the kitchen where she makes me a great cup of coffee. I take a long sip of caffeine and feel it energize me instantly. She offers me some fresh croissants too, and my stomach growls with hunger.

  “So, you’re here to take her back?” she questions.

  “I’m here to see if she’s okay. If she would like to come home with me, then that’s a bonus, but I will not force your sister if she’s not ready.”

  She smiles. “Do you love her?” she asks me straight out. “She told me everything last night, or do you just love her because she’s a nice, pretty object on your arm?”

  “There is no way in the world that Emma would ever be satisfied being a pretty object on my arm, nor would I ever want her to be,” I tell her. “I wasn’t a fan of commitment before Emma, and she would probably say the same thing about herself.” Her sister nods in agreement.

  “We kind of just went into this marriage with no expectations of each other.” Amelia nods. “But somewhere along the way, things changed. The more time I spent with Emma, the more I realized she was more than just a beautiful face. She’s smart, funny, intelligent, crazy, wild, passionate. Why would I want anyone else, especially when no one can compare to her?”

  “She told me you proposed to her in Vegas on your one-year anniversary just before the accident.”

  “I did. I brought the ring with me in case…” My stomach swirling with uncertainty as I trail off.

  “She’s going to need some time. If you’re willing to be patient—”

  “I’ll do anything for her. I’ll wait for however long she needs. Just as long as she doesn’t give up on us.”

  Amelia gives me a small smile. “We’ll see what we can do,” she tells me.

  Emma walks into the kitchen and stops as she sees me sitting with Amelia. Her hand reaches up and covers her scar unconsciously, her brows furrow, and her jade-green eyes look between Amelia and me. She’s dressed in a silky pink robe, and her raven hair is out and messily draped around her shoulders.

  My heart skips a beat at seeing its soulmate again. I want to walk over there and take her in my arms and kiss her and tell her everything is going to be okay.

  “What are you doing here?” She doesn’t seem happy, the tone of her voice tells me.

  “I wanted to see if you’re okay.”

  Emma’s arms wrap around her as if trying to calm herself. “I’m fine. I’m with my family.” Her eyes fall on Amelia, but I’m her family too.

  “I’m going to give you both a moment.” Amelia stands and goes to leave the room.

  “You don’t have to. He’s not staying long,” Emma tells her.

  “Ems.” Amelia glares.

  Emma rolls her eyes at her older sister and shakes her head.

  “You need to speak to this man. You owe him an explanation for leaving him like you did.” Her sister’s voice is low and calm while she reprimands Emma.

  “I explained everything in a letter,” she groans.

  “Not good enough. You need to tell him face to face. You, Emma Banks, are not a coward.” Amelia leaves the room.

  Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe Emma really doesn’t want me anymore, and I’m just the stubborn fool to think Anderson West is a catch.

  “Would you like to go for a walk outside in the sunshine?”

  Emma’s eyes fall on me and then toward the wooden door of the cottage before she nods once. I grab a croissant off the table and hand it to her. She takes it grumpily while I hold the door open for her.

  Amelia’s home is in a gorgeous semi-rural area. The back yard is filled with wildflowers and lavender. You can smell the sweetness of the flowers in the air.

  “So…” Placing my hands into my pockets because they are itching to touch being this close to her, Emma remains silent as we make our way away from the cottage and out into the open fields. “You broke my heart when I found you were gone.”

  Just be honest, Anderson, that’s all you can be, and if it’s not enough, it’s not enough.

  Silence falls between us.

  “I felt my heart being ripped out. I thought I had done something wrong.”

  Emma stills, her steps slow as she stops. “This is not your fault.” She looks up at me.

  “Then tell me how I can make it right?” I plead with her.

  She swallows hard as if preparing herself to break my heart all over again.

  “Something broke inside of me that day of the accident, and I don’t know how to put myself back together again.” Those jade-green eyes look up at me and fill with unshed tears. “It brought up things from my past that I thought I had buried a long time ago.” She looks away at the ground where she kicks a stone.

  “Amelia tells me I run away from my feelings and bury them down deep, and I never really deal with them.” Okay, I understand that. “I’m broken, Andy.” Her lip quivers as she says it. “You don’t deserve broken.”

  Reaching out, I grab her hands and link them with mine. “Life isn’t the same for me without you in it. I’m lost, too, Ems. I feel like I’ve lost my anchor, and I’m adrift.” A lone tear falls down her cheek. “Do you not love me anymore?”

  “Andy…” She pulls her hands from mine and wraps her arms around herself again.

  “I need to know if you still love me. That no matter what, I’m not fighting for us for no reason.”

  Emma shakes her head, turns away from me, and starts walking again through the field.

  “I will do anything for you, Emma. But if only one of us wants this, then it makes it hard.”

  “Look at me…” she thumps her chest, “… look at how disgusting I am.” She points to her face. “You want to love someone like this?”

  Rushing toward her, my hand cups her face as my thumb runs down her scar. “I still think you are the most beautiful woman in the world. You look more badass now.” Her jade-green eyes soften. “If someone asks me how my beautiful wife got her scars, I will tell them that she got it fighting off pirates in the Caribbean, or she was wrestling bears in Alaska, or maybe she was lost in the Amazon and had to fight her way out of the jungle…” I continue my rambling nonsense, then I hear a tiny chuckle fall from her lips.

  “We can say whatever we want.” I grin down at her. “I don’t care.” I bend down and press my lips against her angry skin.

  “Andy…” her voice is filled with emotions.

  “I don’t want anyone else, Emma.” Pressing my forehead against hers, I say, “In all my years on this earth, no one has ever been able to make me break my rules, that was until you. Now, I can’t imagine a life, a future, without you by my side.” She sniffles. “Plus, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a woman my sister and mom like. That will never, ever, happen again.”

  She smiles genuinely.

  “You’ve ruined them forever. No one will ever come close, and honestly, that’s not really fair.”

  “Andy…”

  I shake my head. “You promised me! You and me against the world, Ems.”

  “I know… I just…” her voice hitches.

  “If you need to stay here in France with your sister to sort yourself out before coming home to me, then do it. I will wait for you.”

  She nervously swallows. “You would do that for me?”

  “I will do anything if it means you will come home to me. Forever.” Holding her beautiful face in my hands, I look into her beautiful eyes.

  �
�I still love you, Andy,” she confesses, and I swear hearts and unicorns explode from my damn chest.

  “You do?” I do not quite believe what I’m hearing.

  “I do.” Emma reaches up and presses her lips against mine and gives me a tender kiss, and honestly, her lips feel amazing against my own. “I just need some time, though.”

  My stomach sinks a little. “How much time do you need?”

  I’ll wait for however long she thinks she needs like I said.

  “A couple of months,” she tells me.

  Oh, okay, wow. Um, I was hoping for a couple of weeks, but I guess it could be worse.

  “Okay,” I tell her.

  Emma’s brows raise in surprise—she didn’t think I meant what I said.

  Leaning forward, I kiss her passionately. “I’ll see you in a couple of months.” And before I can fall to my knees and beg her to let me stay, I turn and head back to the airport with the tiniest bit of hope blooming in my chest.

  50

  Emma

  I didn’t stay long in France, a couple of weeks with my sister catching up, but I had to get back to my life in New York. I snuck back into the city where I have been for the past month seeing a therapist and working on myself.

  My employees still think I’m in France as I have been working out of my old apartment. I’ve messaged my friends and checked in with them. They were all pretty upset that I left town and Anderson like I did, but once I explained to them what was going on, they didn’t hate me quite as much.

  I asked Anderson to give me a couple of months to sort my shit out, and I was surprised he has allowed me the space I needed, which only makes me miss him more. I was going to stay away for a couple of months, but I just can’t do it anymore.

  Walking into the steel elevator that takes me up to my apartment, I’m filled with apprehension and nerves. What happens if he didn’t mean what he said about waiting for me. What happens if this time apart, which was great for me to work through my shit, has actually made him re-evaluate his, and he realizes he can do better.

  It’s too late now.

  You’ve worked so hard to come this far. You need to continue and finish it, whatever the outcome.

  The doors open, and I step back into our old apartment, our old life flashes before me, and the feeling of love and contentment overpowers me. I take the first couple of steps tentatively into the apartment and see Anderson slumped on the sofa, watching some crappy television show, shoveling chips into his mouth. He’s dressed in an old white T-shirt that looks like it has salsa stains on it and his gray sweatpants. He looks pathetic, yet an adorable mess.

  I feel bad that I have done this to him, that I have made him doubt our love. I have a lot of sucking up to do to this man.

  I walk toward him, but he’s so engrossed in what he’s watching that he doesn’t hear me.

  “Hey.” My voice startles him, and his bowl of chips fall from his lap and all over the floor.

  “Emma?” He stares at me as if a ghostly apparition has appeared before him.

  “Hi.” I give him a small wave.

  He stands, brushes the crumbs off him, and smiles.

  Yep, that’s definitely salsa all over him.

  “You’re really here?” He rubs his eyes.

  “Yes, I’m back.”

  “Back in New York, or back…” he doesn’t finish the words that I can tell are right there on the tip of his tongue.

  “I’m hoping… back with you,” I tell him.

  His bright turquoise-blue eyes widen as his brain slowly computes the words I’ve just told him. “You’ve come back to me?” He taps his chest as he begins to move toward me.

  “Yes. If you will have me?” I have to admit I am feeling a little concerned about what his answer might be.

  He doesn’t say a word. Instead, he scoops me up and kisses me, then he swings me around the living room.

  “You are home?” he questions, placing me back down on solid ground. My head’s a little dizzy after that greeting.

  “Yes. If you still want me?” Double-checking as I’m still unsure, even though the greeting so far has gone well.

  “Want you? I haven’t stopped thinking about you since leaving France. I haven’t been able to sleep. I can’t work. I haven’t even gone to the gym.” He pats his taut belly. “But now you’re home, everything feels right in the world.” He captures my mouth again with his, sealing his feelings with a kiss. “Don’t ever leave me again, Ems, okay?” he pleads, pressing his forehead against mine.

  “I promise you, Andy. This is it. You and me. Together forever.”

  He grins. Then he abruptly let’s go of me and rushes off.

  Not long later, he is back and is down on bended knee opening up the black velvet case that houses my engagement ring.

  “Prove it, Emma,” he states as he slips the ring back on my finger.

  51

  Anderson

  One Year Later

  It’s the anniversary of our Vegas wedding, and last year the renewing of our vows didn’t go so well. I’m hoping this year will be different. No. This time I know it will be different because we are surrounded by our friends and family.

  “Why do you look so nervous?” Noah asks. “You’ve done this before.” He chuckles, elbowing me in the side.

  Yeah, first time I didn’t know I was the one getting married, and the last time, I had no idea everything would go to shit. It’s taken Emma a little while to get over the trauma of the accident. Thankfully, one of the best plastic surgeons in Las Vegas worked on her, leaving the thinnest of scars across her face. I think her recovery wouldn’t have been so fast if she was truly disfigured, and I don’t know if she would be walking down that aisle to me either.

  I let out a long exhale.

  A couple months ago, we bought a home in the suburbs. I know, the two city lovers now have a weekend pad. And seeing as Logan and Noah are happily settled in their lives out here, Logan with his kid and Noah and Chloe knocked up, things are changing. So here we are getting married in the back garden of our home in Greenwich. We bought a home overlooking Long Island Sound—I mean, if I’m going to be stuck in the suburbs, I might as well take up sailing or something to pass the time. That’s what you do out here, isn’t it?

  The music begins, and I suck in a nervous breath, my heart is thumping uncontrollably in my chest. I watch as one by one, Emma’s friends walk down the aisle, each with large smiles on their faces.

  My sister winks at me as she passes me, then the song changes, and the wedding march starts while my feet move nervously across the grass. I hear the crowd’s collective gasp as Emma begins her walk down the aisle to me.

  I take a moment to take in a deep breath and lift my head to meet her eyes. My breath is taken away. She looks like an angel walking down the aisle.

  I’m the luckiest bastard in the world that she wanted to do this all over again with me, but I’m not going to question her judgment in this moment.

  She doesn’t take her eyes off me the entire way down the aisle.

  Tears begin to well as I’m overcome with emotion. Dammit. Fuck it. She looks so beautiful when she finally reaches me. Turning, she gives her bouquet to Ariana, then spins back to me.

  “Hey,” she whispers.

  “Hey, yourself,” I reply as I look down into her gorgeous jade eyes.

  “You look so handsome. I can’t wait to pull you into one of the bathrooms later and consummate this marriage.” Her candor catches me off-guard in that moment, and I let out a hearty chuckle, then remember all our family and friends are waiting with bated breath for us to say our vows.

  “You look so beautiful, and I can’t wait to eat you,” I tell her, whispering those last few words against her ear. Behave, Anderson, you don’t need a boner standing in front of everyone on your wedding day.

  “Then let’s hurry this thing up, so we both can get out of these clothes.” Emma grins.

  And with that, we say our vows and live
happily ever after.

  Ha, who am I kidding? Everyone knows there will be ups and downs in a marriage.

  But we did head upstairs after the wedding and quickly screwed each other’s brains out before we had to cut the cake.

  THE END

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks for finishing another one of my stories.

  Really hope you enjoyed it.

  Have a fantastic day !

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  Xoxo

  About the Author

  JA Low lives in the Australian Outback. When she's not writing steamy scenes and admiring hot cowboy’s, she's tending to her husband and two sons, and dreaming up the next epic romance.

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  Coming Soon

  Playboys of New York

  Book 4 - Stella and EJ

  December 2020

  Interconnecting Series