The Billionaire

by J. R. Ward

  Sean’s eyes shifted out to the Charles River. His father not mean? Yeah, right.

  He felt his hand get gripped. “What happened with your dad, Sean? I know you don’t like to talk about it, but…”

  As her words drifted, he absently rubbed her palm with his thumb and watched a crew boat stroke under one of the bridges that stretched over the water. Eventually, he said, “Nothing happened that matters now. It’s all over and done.”

  “Do your brothers feel the same way?”

  “Yeah.” Although actually, he didn’t know that for sure. None of them had ever talked about it. Especially Mac, who’d taken the lion’s share of the abuse.

  “Do you see your brothers often?”

  Sean smiled a little. “Billy and I are tight. He comes down to the city a lot on the off season and we have a great time.”

  “Off season?”

  “He’s a football player. Linebacker for the Patriots.”

  “Boy, what a life that must be.”

  “Yeah, he gets around. And I’m not just talking about all the traveling he does. My brother’s a real ladies’ man, but he’s also a spectacular athlete. Think the world of the guy, I really do.”

  “And your other brother?”

  Sean shrugged. “I love him just as much, but no one knows Mac well, not even us.”

  “What does he do?”

  “He’s in the army. Special forces.” At least that was the story. Mac had been very quiet about his job so both his brothers suspected he was involved in some very high-level covert ops.

  Yeah…there was some possibility Mac was an assassin. Although that was based on one dropped comment made years ago.

  “Where does Mac live?”

  “He has a place just outside of D.C., but he’s not there all that often.” Not there at all, frankly.

  “What was your mother like?”

  “She died when I was very young.”

  Lizzie lifted her head. “I’m so sorry. Do you remember anything about her?”

  Sean broke the contact of their hands. The idea that secrets were escaping him, that revelations were being made that he couldn’t retract, that she was getting into his head, made him twitchy. In the home he’d grown up in, and in the profession he excelled at, vulnerabilities were used against you.

  Silence was safety.

  He brushed his finger down her straight, slightly freckled nose. “So how about that nap for you?”

  She smiled and closed her eyes. “I’ll stop prying.”

  In the silence that followed, Sean frowned, thinking there had been no censure in her tone. Just acceptance. The fact that she didn’t get on him made him feel grateful…and even closer to her.

  “You don’t mind?” he said softly. “That I’m not a big talker?”

  “Not at all, Sean. Just being out in the sun with you is enough for me.”

  He stared down at her for the longest time, thinking how perverse it was that now that he knew she didn’t care whether he said another thing, he found himself wanting to talk.

  He looked back out to the river and watched the sun glimmer across the Charles with poetic glory, all golden sparkles over gentle waves. On the far side of the water was Harvard, that mountain of red brick and wrought-iron fencing. His eyes shifted up to the bright-blue dome that marked the horizon.

  “I liked school and I was good at it,” he said for no particular reason. “I liked reading and studying. Liked to see my report cards. Liked to be at the top of my class. In high school, I would have graduated valedictorian, but I got arrested for stealing a car my junior year and that took me out of the running no matter how high my GPA was. Yeah…school was all I had really, growing up. The only constant.”

  When there was no response, he glanced down. Lizzie was sleeping soundly, her eyelids flickering a little as if she were dreaming.

  He told himself it was just as well. Didn’t quite believe it.

  Taking a page from Lizzie’s book, he lay all the way down and rested his head on the back of his forearm. As a sailboat bobbed by right in front of them, he had some dim thought that he hadn’t had a vacation in…ever? How was that possible?

  Surely he’d taken a week. A long weekend. Something.

  Good God, no, he hadn’t. He’d worked through his college vacations as a member of the grounds crew to make extra money. Then in the years that had followed, he’d been too busy getting an MBA and making a name for himself. Now, any traveling he did was for business: captive insurance meetings in the Bahamas or the Caymans, trips to Tokyo and London and Hamburg and South America, financial summits in Switzerland. And as for the triathalons he entered? That was still all about competing and winning, not recreation.

  Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done something like this…. Just sat on the grass and let his thoughts drift with the breeze.

  “Heads up!” someone hollered.

  Sean glanced to the right and saw a Frisbee flying through the air, heading straight for Lizzie.

  * * *

  Lizzie heard a curse and then felt herself get covered by the weight of Sean’s body. As her eyes flipped open, she saw him deftly catch a Frisbee…that would have hit her right in the face.

  “Sorry, man!” a guy said as he ran over. “Everyone okay?”

  Sean balanced his upper body on one arm as he reached up to give the thing back. “Yeah. Watch it though.”

  “We will,” the guy promised. “Hey, great save, by the way. Wanna play?”

  The light that came into Sean’s eyes made Lizzie smile. “Go ahead,” she said. “I’m sure you’re terrific at it.”

  The guy with the Frisbee looked at her. “And you’re welcome, too.”

  “Thanks, but I’d rather be on blanket patrol.”

  “You don’t mind?” Sean asked her with a frown.

  “Not at all.”

  “Okay. I won’t be long, though.” He kissed her quick and leaped to his feet. In a smooth move, he took off his shirt and let it fall to the blanket. “Don’t want to get this sweated out in case we head off to dinner.”

  Sean jogged over with the guy and shook hands with the other players. On the bright green grass, he fit in perfectly with them, one more strong set of shoulders, one more defined chest. The bunch of them went at it hard, until there were three disks going at once between five guys. Sean was amazing, all lithe power and razor instincts, his big body moving with elegant speed, his loose jeans hanging low on his hips, his gold cross bouncing against his chest as he ran around.

  Those red and yellow Frisbees went faster and faster and the guys got more outrageous. Eventually, Sean went for a flying catch, springing up into the air and going horizontal to the ground—right as another guy came from the opposite direction. The two collided and fell hard.

  Lizzie started to scramble to her feet…but they were fine as they rolled onto their backs and laughed. As she took a deep breath, Sean flashed her a thumbs-up then stood and went back into the fray.

  While the horsing around went on, she felt as if she were playing with him even though she was on the blanket. Every few minutes or so, he would look over at her and wave. Or wink. Or he’d deliberately run by and do some wild catch around his back or pull off a crazy, convoluted toss.

  He was showing off. For her.

  Which was pretty darned charming.

  By the time he came back to the blanket forty-five minutes later, he was breathing hard and a sheen of sweat covered his smooth skin.

  “That was great,” he said. “Thanks.” He sat down, putting his forearms on his knees to air himself out as he regained his breath.

  God, she wanted him. “You looked like you were having a wonderful time.”

  “It’s been a while since I’ve just run around for no good reason.” He reached into the Deluca’s paper bag and took out a Poland Spring bottle. As he cracked the top, he shot her a quick smile then tilted his head back and poured the water down his throat, his Adam’s apple working in
a rhythm.

  When he brought his head back to level, he pointed at her, bottle in hand. “So what can we do for you? I mean, I’ve had my fun. We should do something you want to now.”

  As she considered the offer, she prayed he couldn’t read minds. Because all she could think of was him moving down her body this morning…and how much she wanted him to do that again. Without interruption.

  Sean frowned. “Hey, do you have enough sunscreen on? You look a little red.”

  Uh-huh. Go figure. “Ice cream.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “I would love some ice cream.” She put her hand on her stomach. “Even though I shouldn’t—”

  “Ice cream it is.” He finished the water and sprang to his feet as if he hadn’t just run miles chasing a Frisbee. “You have a favorite place?”

  “I’m easy.” Lizzie got up as he tucked his shirt into the back pocket of his jeans and together they folded the blanket. “As long as it’s cold and sweet, I’m happy.”

  Just as they were about to leave, she frowned. “Wait a minute.”

  “What?”

  She looked around. She had her purse and he had the blanket and the bag of food and they’d left no trash. But something was off.

  When she ran her eyes up and down his chest, she realized what it was. “Your cross. It’s missing.”

  Sean’s hand snapped to his heart, and though he tried to fight it, she could see panic in his eyes.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find it,” she told him.

  They walked the area he’d played in, but it seemed hopeless as he’d covered a lot of distance during the game. Then she remembered. Where had he fallen with the other guy? She headed over to where she thought he’d hit the ground and began crisscrossing the vicinity.

  She was about to give up when she saw a flash of gold in the cropped blades of grass. “I’ve got it!”

  Sean came running over and as she held out her hand he sagged in relief. He took the necklace and inspected the clasp, then put it back on.

  “Don’t know how it fell off,” he said. “Everything seems okay.”

  “You should get it checked.”

  “I will.” His hazel eyes lifted and met hers, then he bent down and kissed her. “Thank you,” he whispered against her mouth. “Just…yeah, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” As he pulled back, he was gripping the cross so hard his knuckles were white. “It obviously means a great deal to you.”

  He glanced down. “Mac gave one to me and to Billy and kept a third for himself. I wear it because…hell, I don’t know.”

  Abruptly, his lids dropped over eyes that had gone deliberately blank.

  She squeezed his hand. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Sean kept it together as they walked away from where the necklace had been lost, but he cracked a couple minutes later.

  The two of them were on the Arthur Fiedler pedestrian bridge that arched over Storrow Drive when he put his arm around Lizzie’s shoulders and drew her tight to his side. A few feet farther and he stopped altogether, gathered her in his arms and put his mouth to her ear.

  “Lizzie?”

  “Yes?”

  “If I had lost that necklace…it would have killed me.”

  “I’m so glad we found it.” As she hugged him, he absorbed her kindness, fed off it.

  “Mac got the crosses for us right after he went through basic training and before he shipped out for the first time.” Sean kept speaking right into her ear, the only way he could continue. “I haven’t seen him in a decade and I talk to him once a year if I’m lucky…when he calls me on my birthday. So the necklace is all I have of him. Lose it, lose him.” Sean cursed as he heard what he was saying and pulled back. “Sorry, don’t mean to get melodramatic.”

  Her arms tightened around his waist. “You’re not.”

  Looking into her eyes, he felt as though the essential loneliness of his life was exposed, laid bare to the summer day and to her. For all the people he dealt with every hour of the week, for all the women he’d been with and the men he competed against, he was nonetheless alone.

  Except he didn’t feel alone now.

  He kissed Lizzie at first just in thanks for her understanding and acceptance. Then he kissed her some more because he didn’t want to stop.

  As the sun fell on his bare shoulders and people walked by and cars zoomed underneath them, he dropped the bag and the blanket he was carrying, dug his hands into her hair and tilted her head back so he could go deeper into her. In response, she settled against him like warm water, flowing over his hard edges, both soothing him and exciting him.

  He closed his eyes and let himself get good and lost in her. Oh, man, did he have plans for them. Tonight, he was going to go back to her apartment and make love to her. Slowly. Thoroughly. He was after the closeness, not just the orgasms, and he was going to hold her afterward until he was ready to do it again. Then he was going to sleep next to her and wake up looking into her face.

  When he finally pulled back from her mouth, he brushed her lower lip with his thumb. “I can’t feel my legs. How about you?”

  She laughed a little breathlessly. “I’m on fire.”

  “Then we’d better cool you down.” He kissed her quick. “How’s Ben & Jerry’s sound?”

  “Perfect. I’d love some of their Mint Oreo in a waffle cone.”

  “Ask and ye shall receive.”

  They meandered off the bridge and hooked up with Newbury Street, joining the crowd that strolled down the sidewalk. There was a line in front of Ben & Jerry’s, but the breeze was nice and soon enough their cones were being handed to them. As he pulled a twenty out of his wallet, Lizzie went for her purse.

  “No, wait. Let me—”

  “My treat,” he said. After he gave the bill to the kid behind the register, he nodded to the door. “Shall we?”

  The kid called out, “Don’t you want your change?”

  “Yeah. In the tips jar.”

  “Hey, thanks, man!”

  Sean smiled and followed Lizzie out into the sun.

  “I really like that about you,” she said as she stuck a white spoon into her waffle cone and brought some of the chunky ice cream to her mouth.

  “Like what?”

  “That you tip generously. Mmm, this is so good.”

  Sean watched her lick her spoon clean and had to put the blanket in front of his hips. God, men were letches, weren’t they? But man…he wanted her.

  He cleared his throat. What had they been talking about? Oh, yeah…“Well, I know what it’s like to live off tips. I’ve waited a lot of tables in my day—”

  “Sean? Sean O’Banyon?”

  Sean frowned at the male voice and looked over his shoulder. When he saw who it was, he felt an absurd impulse to shield Lizzie, to protect their day together.

  Except it was too late. As a well-dressed man headed right for them, he knew that the bubble he’d been in all afternoon was about to burst.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Lizzie smiled at the gentleman who was hustling up to them. He looked very Great Gatsby in his white linen slacks, crisp blue button-down and navy-blue blazer with a kerchief in the pocket. His loafers were shiny and tasseled and his round glasses were made of tortoiseshell.

  He looked very pleased to see Sean. “Sean! How do? I haven’t seen you since—”

  “Rolly, it’s good to see you.” Sean stuck his hand out. “How are you?”

  “Fine, fine. And you? I’ve heard you’re doing great things with—”

  “So how is it possible you’re in town on a sunny Saturday? Is the whole family here with you, too?”

  “No, no. Sarah and the kids are at the house on the Vineyard, lucky devils. I had to come in for business. I’m sure you know how that—”

  “I’d like you to meet my friend, Lizzie. Lizzie, this is Rolly.”

  The man smiled, revealing perfect teeth. “Good Lord, where are my manners? It’s a pleasure
.”

  Lizzie shoved her spoon into her cone and offered her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Enjoying the day with Sean, are you?” he said as they shook.

  “Very much.”

  “You know, I didn’t think the great SOB ever wandered around—”

  “You need to give my regards to Sarah,” Sean cut in.

  “Of course, and I hope you’ll come out and visit us sometime on the Vineyard?” Rolly smiled at Lizzie. “Friends are always welcome, too. We have a big house and the more the merrier. Well, I must off to the club. I’m late, which I despise.”

  As the man waved and dissolved into the pedestrian stream, Lizzie glanced at Sean. His brows were down low and his mouth set tight.

  She was not surprised when he said, “How about we head home? I could use a shower.”

  “Sounds good,” she said. Even though it didn’t. She wasn’t in a hurry for the day to end, but she sensed that even if they kept walking around now, it would be over anyway. Sean had gone somewhere in his head and his mood had changed. Which was odd. Rolly Whoever-he-was had seemed perfectly nice, yet Sean had been in a hurry to get rid of him.

  They were quiet as they walked down Newbury then went through the Commons and down into the parking garage. Sean didn’t say much on the way home, and when they pulled up to the row house, she had a feeling he was going to make an excuse to go upstairs.

  She told herself it was better this way as she could start getting her résumés out.

  Yeah…right.

  As they got out of the car and went up to the shallow front porch, she said, “Well, thank you for the day. I had a wonderful time.”

  Sean stopped. Looked her in the eye. Took her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. About being a buzz kill.”

  “Why did running into that man bother you so much?”

  Sean glanced across the street, but she was sure he wasn’t seeing the other row houses. “He and I went to college together.” In a dry voice, he added, “I was on scholarship, Rolly wasn’t.”

  Oh, that explained it. It must be hard to see people who were so much more successful, who had so much more.