Taming the Bad Boy Billionaire Bundle

by Sierra Rose

  “It just happened. I didn’t plan it. You took my breath away, and it was spontaneous.”

  “But how was the kiss itself?”

  “It was sweet, hot, and very passionate.”

  I smiled. “I thought so too. It was an Oscar-worthy kiss that took lust to a completely new level. I wish I could’ve dragged you up to my bed, because, damn it, yes, it was that was smokin’ hot! And just for the record, when I start drinking, never ask me questions. Because I never hold anything back.”

  His eyes twinkled. “Were you attracted to me the second you met me? Or was it the cash I threw in your face?”

  “I was extremely attracted to you. Part of me wished that everything I told those women was true. When I saw you, I wished it was all real. And when I waited for you to shoot me down...you didn’t. You just went along with it. My gosh, you were a complete stranger. I was in your house, at your party, telling those women I was your girlfriend. And you went along with it.”

  “Did you see the look on their faces?”

  I laughed. “Priceless.”

  “I wasn’t going to let those cougars tear you apart like that.”

  “I appreciate that so much. I had no right to do that.”

  “I’m so glad you did. Or else we would’ve never met.”

  “That’s sweet. You’ve forgiven my deception.”

  “I would’ve done anything for you. And at that party, I wished you really were my girlfriend and that I was really showing you off.”

  “But you don’t believe in girlfriends.”

  “I didn’t. But at that moment, I wished you were all mine, and only mine.”

  “You played the part so well,” I said. “I loved how you came up and kissed me.”

  “That was a nice added touch.”

  “Well played. I guess I’m just lucky Mr. Takahari liked me or you would’ve gotten another girl to play the part.”

  “It was really too late to get another girl. He took an instant liking to you. If I would’ve come with a different girl and claimed it was my girlfriend, he would’ve deemed me a player. So when you announced to everyone that you were my girlfriend...”

  “You were stuck with me. I totally screwed you. I’m sure those women pointed me out, and I was the talk of the party. I’m sure Mr. Takahari knew who I was before you even introduced me.”

  “I like being stuck with you. You’re different from any other girl I’ve ever met.”

  “Gotta love the girl that sprays Mace at ya.”

  He chuckled. “I should’ve called your name out there in the dark so you didn’t think I was a mugger.”

  “That would’ve definitely helped. But I get it now. I now know why you hunted me down. You needed me, and only me. Because I had already announced myself as your girlfriend. In order to save your client, you needed me to look like the woman who had tamed you and settled you down. It would help fix your image problem. Because Mr. Takahari wasn’t going to do business with a playboy any longer.”

  “That about sums it up.”

  “I just wish you would’ve really wanted to date me for real,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  My stomach rumbled. Oh, gosh! Please no!

  “I think I’m going to throw up,” I said. “I can’t make it to the bathroom.”

  The stewardess handed me a plastic bag and I threw up.

  “Okay, you’re okay.” Cool hands stroked back my hair, and a wet cloth was placed on the base of my neck. “You’re okay, sweetie. I think we all saw that coming.”

  “Sweetie? Are you practicing or are we trying to fool the stewardess too?”

  He chuckled.

  With a low groan, I leaned back against the chair. In a flash, the bag vanished and Marcus was sitting across from me, smiling affectionately as he absentmindedly rubbed my knees.

  “You saw that coming?” I quoted weakly.

  “You licked the seatbelt.”

  My face contorted in pathetic anger. “For luck, Marcus. Haven’t you ever heard of licking the seatbelt for luck?”

  “No.” He was making a valiant effort not to laugh. “That’s not real.”

  Too weak to argue, I brought my fingers up to my temples with another groan. My eyes fell on his hands, still rubbing my knees, and the hands instantly disappeared.

  “Here,” he murmured, rummaging around in back of a seat, “take a water.”

  I sipped it silently and cast a wary glance out the window. The towering skyscrapers of the city were quickly vanishing, blanketed beneath a fine layer of clouds. My fingers shook, and I drew in a quiet gasp, offering up a silent prayer for deliverance.

  “Sri Lanka.”

  I pried my eyes away from the window long enough to look at him. “What?”

  “That’s where I got Eduardo. Sri Lanka.”

  “Sri Lanka?”

  “Yes.”

  “You went all the way to Sri Lanka to pick up a peacock?”

  “Eduardo was at my hotel and we kind of bonded. I’d feed him bread and he’d follow me around. When he got attacked by a dog, the vet was going to put the bird down. The staff said the peacock was testy and not worth saving. But I found something special about him. I thought he was very much worth saving. Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?” He looked into my eyes for a moment, and then continued. “I brought him home and saved his life.”

  I couldn’t help but notice the symbolism. Marcus was beautiful, and so was the bird. All they needed was that second chance. The bird had gotten his. Would Markus get his?

  “Does he like you?” I asked. “Because he hates me.”

  “He loves me. And he’ll love you too.”

  “Do you shop in Sri Lanka?”

  Marcus leaned forward and gave me a winning smile. “Rebecca, there aren’t many things I wouldn’t go to Sri Lanka for. Have you ever been?”

  “Uh...” I glanced distractedly back out the window before returning his gaze. “Let’s assume I haven’t.”

  “Well, they have the most beautiful beaches. And there’s this incredible rock fortress called Sigiriya... We have to go and see it sometime.”

  I shook my head with an exasperated grin. “If Takahari decides to golf from the top of it—I’m there.”

  “I hope so. I’d love to golf there.”

  My eyes narrowed, and I shoved the water into a cupholder. “Really? Well, I like to golf too. I like that it’s just a game, but me and my friends call it a sport. I like that it makes me feel really athletic when I drive from hole to hole sipping mint julips and talking shop. In fact, I even like the little argyle socks I get to wear—they make me look like a Keebler Elf.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our cruising altitude...”

  I looked up in surprise upon hearing the disembodied voice before peering hastily out the window. Sure enough, the plane had evened out, and we were sailing through clear blue skies with hardly a bump—just a gentle hum from the engines.

  When I twisted back forward, I saw Marcus watching me with a little smile. A sudden suspicion dawned on me, and my cheeks flushed pink in the cool air.

  “Was that all just to distract me?”

  He picked up a newspaper with an indifferent shrug. “Anything to keep you from vomiting again...”

  Chapter 20

  The rest of the flight passed surprisingly quickly. I even fell asleep. Marcus and I mostly kept to ourselves, occasionally spouting off a one-liner and grinning over the tops of our respective magazines. The second the plane began to angle lower in the sky, he started up a rousing conversation about pygmy fruit bats, but again, that might have been more for my benefit than his own. Nevertheless, by the time we got to the hotel, I was exhausted. That is...until I saw the hotel.

  “Oh my gosh.” I actually paused outside the resort to drink it all in. “This is incredible.”

  It was exactly the same kind of “strung-together-bungalows” that I’d seen and envied on the covers of a million travel magazines. T
he kind of place that celebrities went to vacation and I secretly despised them while simultaneously dismissing the notion that it was somewhere I’d ever get to go. The air was moist and thick with the smell of flowers, and each of the huts was nestled alongside sparkling turquoise water in a bed of white sand.

  It was stunning! Beyond breathtaking! Paradise!

  I took off my shoes immediately and dug in my toes, smiling as a warm breeze swept my hair off my shoulders and sent it dancing toward the sea.

  A sudden kiss on my cheek made me jump, but Marcus was already pulling away by the time I looked over. “I’ll go get us checked in.” He hesitated at the slightly confused look on my face. “You’re my girlfriend, remember?”

  “And I’m going to play the part perfectly.” I touched his face, gazed into his eyes, and kissed him softly on the lips.

  “I don’t think that was convincing enough,” he said.

  “Really? Because there’s nobody around but that old couple.”

  He glanced over with a sly smirk. “And I could swear one of them had a camera.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. “Then we better convince them we’re lovers.”

  “I knew I hired the perfect actress for the job.”

  I gazed into his eyes. “I think you’re enjoying this far too much.”

  “I think I am.”

  I flashed him a big smile. “Want to see how well I can play the part?”

  “Most definitely.”

  An electric shock shot through me as his lips crashed into mine. He kissed me long and hard, devouring every inch of my mouth. I traced my fingers over the curves of his muscular chest.

  “I thought sex wasn’t involved with this deal,” I said.

  “It’s not. But you never said making out was off the table.”

  “Your lawyer found a loophole?”

  He kissed me softly on the lips. “Kissing wasn’t part of the deal. But when I’m around you, I just can’t help myself.”

  “I can’t either.”

  He shot me a beautiful smile, and headed to the hotel desk while I perched on top of a huge boulder in the sand and gazed out at the tranquil water. The ocean was almost too bright to be plausible, I thought as my eyes grew hypnotized by the waves. It was hard to believe such a vibrant color existed naturally anywhere.

  My trance was broken by the sudden sound of laughter, and I looked up to see a couple walking hand in hand along the shore. They moved slowly, swaying this way and that, content in their own little bubble. The man was a good deal taller than the woman, constantly bending down to whisper into her ear. But her outrageous laughter made up for her size, echoing coarse and loud across the sand, completely unrestrained. Her laugh would make him laugh, he’d bend down to tell another joke, and on and on again. It was kind of hard not to watch them. They were clearly in the blissed-out stages of love. I wondered if they’d just gotten married.

  “Rebecca?”

  I looked down to see Marcus biting his lip with a nervous frown. The sight threw me for a second, but I hopped off the rock and skipped up beside him in the sand. “What’s wrong?”

  “There was a little mix-up with the room.”

  Five minutes later, the two of us were standing in front of a king-sized bed. A huge heart of red rose petals smack dab in the center.

  “Wow!” I said. “It’s absolutely gorgeous!”

  “It seems they thought we were...honeymooning.” Marcus seemed to be having trouble getting the words out. “Needless to say, they’re booked up for the event—no other cottages are available.”

  I looked from him to the rose-petal heart and said nothing.

  “I know, I know,” he held up his hands quickly, “it’s completely unacceptable. I’ll tell them that someone will just have to be moved, or combined, or...I can figure out where my flight crew is staying and have some of them bunk—”

  I held up my hand. “As long as you don’t snore, we’ll be fine.” My arms crossed over my chest, and I stared at the bed in a resigned sort of way. “It’s not like I didn’t think you were going to do this.”

  He looked appalled. “Rebecca, I swear I didn’t—”

  A stray giggle broke through my solemn mask, and he threw up his hands in exasperation.

  “Why do you do that to me?” he demanded.

  “It’s one of the only perks I’m getting out of this relationship.” I grinned mischievously.

  He shot me a seductive look. “We’ve got this crazy chemistry. How the hell are we going to share a single bed?”

  “The cottage has one bed, not one room. I’ll sleep on the couch in there.”

  There was a meaningful pause after which Marcus rolled his eyes obediently.

  “As I’m the man, why don’t I sleep on the couch?”

  “How chivalrous,” I said cheerfully, tossing my purse in the center of the heart. “But I’ve put you through hell. I’ve kicked you, Maced you, and even asked you to join the Mile-High Club. If anyone deserves the couch, it’s me.”

  “I’m making you be my girlfriend. Please let me take the couch.”

  “I kind of like being your fake girlfriend.”

  “Miss White, are you still drunk?”

  “I love the limos, the private plane, (throwing up in front of everyone would’ve been way more embarrassing) the fancy room, the clothes, kissing you.”

  He peered at me intently. “Can you say the last part over again?”

  “Kissing you. I really enjoyed kissing you. It’s an added perk that wasn’t in the job description.”

  “Fake kissing me?”

  “It didn’t feel fake to me,” I said.

  He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. He softly placed his lips on mine and kissed me.

  “You mean like that?” he asked.

  I stared up into his eyes. “I really love it when you kiss me like that. And lingering kissing must never be rushed.”

  “I have to agree.”

  And I’m not sure how long we kissed, but it was long, slow, romantic, and beautiful. We started to unpack.

  I unzipped my suitcase. “So believe it or not, I did look at the itinerary, and all it said for today was a dinner cruise?”

  He started pulling shirts out from his own suitcase and smiled. “I thought a sunset boat ride might be nice, very couple-y, you know.”

  “It is indeed. Somebody’s been on Google,” I congratulated. “So what exactly should I be wearing for this sunset cruise?”

  “I don’t know,” he teased, “why don’t you surprise me?” But as he headed out to the living room, he glanced back with a wink. “I stocked your closet, by the way.”

  I shut the door behind him and turned with great trepidation toward the little bamboo doors. Moment of truth. His people had been fitting me all week. What had they come up with?

  As it turned out...not much.

  Wrong choice of words.

  There were lots of clothes...just not much clothing. All skimpy little numbers.

  A hundred designer bikinis, sheer cover-ups, and little, little dresses stared back at me. A huge smile started spreading up my face as I browsed slowly through the selection, hardly daring to sully the silky fabric with my unwashed airplane hands. At first, my eyes were dazzled by the sheer amount of colors, gemstones, lace corseting—you name it. Then, I saw the shoes. I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw mixed in amongst the stilettos, a number of sparkly, ballet-type flat sandals. Marcus’ influence, no doubt.

  A soft knock on the door made me jump, and I spun around to attention as Marcus poked his head inside. His hair was doing something adorable with the humidity, curling up in random patches to give him a tousled bedhead kind of look. My fingers twitched by my sides, aching to scrunch themselves through the messy locks.

  “You find everything to your liking?”

  I realized I was holding a thong bikini and hastily dropped it behind my back. “Yeah, this will be great. Especially for the two days t
hat we’re here.”

  He shrugged with an innocent grin. “I didn’t know what you’d like so I had to cast a wide net. It’s just being practical.”

  I nodded in solemn agreement. “So it is.”

  “Well, I’m off to the boat to get some things ready.” He cocked his head to point the direction. “The white one just at the end of our pier. Meet you there?”

  “Yeah, just give me like ten minutes.”

  “Take your time. There’s no rush.” He flashed another mischievous grin before ducking back outside the door. “I liked that one you were holding, by the way.”

  My cheeks burned crimson, and I locked the door loudly behind him, listening to him chuckle as he headed outside. But I pictured those dimples and curls, and in spite of myself, I had to smile. Yeah, I bet he did. Well, he wasn’t going to be entirely disappointed. I reached into the closet and pulled out a hanger as a piece of red fabric caught my eye.

  I had a little something in mind...

  When I stepped out onto the pier, there was no part of me that didn’t shimmer in the last rays of the tropical sun. From my metallic shoes to the bronze dusting around my eyes, to the gold and crimson matted lace that snaked down my body before making itself scarce somewhere around my thighs. I’d pulled up my auburn hair so it swept gracefully across my forehead before spilling down my shoulder blades. And while I’d used very little powder or foundation, I went for a dark rose stain for my lips. All in all, I was very pleased with the effect.

  We’d just have to see how couple-y Marcus found the ensemble. I reached for my small camera in my purse and took a few beautiful shots of the water. It was truly mesmerizing.

  My skin started tingling with excited energy as I made my way down the wooden planks to the boat waiting at the end of the dock. Where the hell did these butterflies come from? Was I really that excited to show off a freaking dress?

  My pace slowed for a moment as I acknowledged that wasn’t it.

  I was excited to show off for Marcus.

  Sure he was an obnoxious Forbes-obsessed mogul with an image problem and a penchant for exotic birds...but there were other things about him as well.

  The way his eyes got distant when he talked about family, the way he gave both thoughtfully and thoughtlessly all at the same time, the way I felt when he tucked my hair back behind my ear...