Once Upon a Billionaire

by Jessica Clare

  Logan groaned. Cade grinned, and Reese kept his expression carefully neutral as his new sister-in-law, Gretchen Petty, bounded into the room and sat at the table, her voice breathless. “Sorry I’m late. I had to take a wicked piss.”

  “Thank you for sharing,” Logan said in a dry voice. He shot a look at Hunter. “I wasn’t aware you were coming to every meeting from now on, Gretchen.”

  “I invited her,” Hunter said, glaring back at Logan.

  “You know Griff and Jonathan don’t like her here. We’re brothers first and foremost.”

  “I’m fine with it,” Griffin said, speaking up. He watched Gretchen, trying not to seem too hopeful. He didn’t want her to leave, not tonight. He wanted her to stay so he could weasel information about Maylee out of her.

  Gretchen noticed Griffin and beamed a too-sweet smile in his direction. “Hello, dickface.”

  “Is that really necessary—” Cade began.

  “It’s fine,” Griffin said in a weary voice. “I seem to be on the shit list of several females lately.”

  “Oh, shit,” Reese said. He leaned over and elbowed Griffin. “What did you do? Too much pussy back in the home country?”

  Griffin glared at Reese. That was a little too close to the mark.

  Gretchen scooted her chair in between Reese and Hunter, deliberately ignoring the conversation. “So what are we playing? Slapjack?”

  “Slapjack?” Reese gave her an incredulous look. “Are you fucking high? It’s poker!”

  “We should play slapjack,” Gretchen said. “Hunter would be awesome at it. He’s got a really strong right hand. All those years of jerking off—”

  “Gretchen,” Hunter said mildly, cutting her off. But his mouth twitched, and Griffin suspected he was laughing inwardly.

  “What? Isn’t this how guys talk with one another? All sex and broads talk?” She winked at Hunter and reached over to stroke his thigh under the table.

  At least, Griffin hoped to hell that it was his thigh.

  “We’re playing poker,” Reese repeated. “Or at least, some of us are. Some of us are just folding at the start of every round.” And he scowled in Griffin’s direction.

  “He’s mad at himself because he’s a dickface,” Gretchen said again.

  “Isn’t it interesting that every time Gretchen shows up, she makes the entire meeting about her?” Cade’s words were teasing. He and Gretchen were old friends.

  “I’m my own favorite subject,” she agreed, and Hunter put a hand around her shoulders protectively. As if that horrific female needed protecting, Griffin thought to himself. She was like a rabid animal even on her good days.

  “So why is Griffin a dickface?” Logan asked.

  “Other than the usual,” Reese said with a grin.

  “He borrowed Hunter’s secretary for his trip, fucked her, and then fired her,” Gretchen declared.

  “Goddamn it,” Griffin said, his temper finally flaring. “I didn’t fuck her, and I certainly did not fire her.”

  “If you didn’t fuck her, then why are you so moody?” Logan asked.

  “Blue balls,” Reese chimed in.

  Griffin glared at Reese again. “Shouldn’t you be at home with your pregnant wife?”

  “Brotherhood meeting tonight. Very important stuff.” He chewed on his cigar with a wink. “Plus, I’m not getting any right now. Audrey’s got morning sickness night and day. So I might as well be here.”

  “Spoken like a true gentleman,” Cade murmured.

  “Oh, fuck off,” Reese said in a cheery voice. “After we get out of here, I’m going to that pickle place she loves on the Upper West Side for her. And then I’m stopping to get her ice cream. I should be fucking sainted after all that.”

  “I’m still not clear on why we’re all mad at Griffin for not fucking his assistant,” Logan said.

  “Maybe she really wanted sex and Griffin denied her because he’s got a massive stick up his ass,” Gretchen mused. “Whatever it was, he made her quit and she ran back home, and now my poor sweetie doesn’t have an assistant at his office.” She gave Hunter a soft look. “I’m helping out, but we’re not getting much work done.”

  “Oversharing, sweetheart,” Hunter murmured.

  “You love it,” Gretchen said with a wink. And she stroked his thigh again.

  “At any rate, I came here tonight to pass on a nugget of advice,” Gretchen said brightly, and her gaze narrowed back in on Griffin. “I know Maylee. I like Maylee. I hate that you hurt her. But I can see you’re not all sunshine and roses at the moment either, so I hope you’re as messed up over her leaving as she is. And I just want to say that if you like her? Go after her and show it. You’re kind of shitty at that whole ‘likability’ thing.”

  “Gretchen,” Hunter murmured again.

  “It’s true,” she protested. “He’s about as warm and friendly as a popsicle.”

  Griffin considered this. Gretchen, in her uncouth way, had hit the nail on the head. He was terrible at showing affection. It wasn’t in his nature, and his war with his lineage and what was expected and proper for that compared to what was expected in a normal relationship didn’t mesh. She was right. He wasn’t good at this.

  And maybe, for Maylee’s sake, he needed to try harder. Would it have killed him to hold her hand when she’d wanted it held? It would have meant so much to her, and he wouldn’t be in the situation he was now.

  Why in the hell had he cared so much? Why did it matter what people in Bellissime thought of him? He didn’t live there anymore, didn’t want to live there anymore, so why had he panicked when she’d tried to show a little public affection?

  “Well?” Gretchen challenged.

  “Stunningly good advice, actually,” Griffin said. “Thank you, Gretchen.”

  She blinked. “Okay, I admit, I wasn’t expecting that. But since you were a good boy and all, you get a treat.” And she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and slid it toward him.

  Griffin stared at it for a long moment, and then reached out to take it in hand. He opened it slowly and stared at it. There was an address—an Arkansas one. He looked up at Gretchen’s sly face. “I could kiss you right now.”

  “But you won’t,” Hunter said, and pulled his woman closer.

  Gretchen just looked smug. “Go get ’er, tiger.”

  ***

  Maylee woke up to wet, sloppy licks on her face from her coonhound. She rolled over on the futon, trying to get comfortable and away from Bubba’s enthusiastic tongue. “Go away, puppy.”

  The dog whined and licked her arm instead.

  Groaning, Maylee dragged herself out of bed. “Fine, fine. Bathroom time.” She padded across the floor of the single-wide trailer to let Bubba outside for a quick pee. The dog disappeared into the underbrush with an excited woof as soon as the door was opened, and Maylee stood on the porch, arms crossed, yawning, as she tried to wake up.

  The house was silent, which meant that her younger sisters were still asleep in their room. Mama’s truck wasn’t in the driveway, so she’d gotten up early and gone out, probably to the store. It was quiet and peaceful, and there was no sound but birds chirping in the trees, the rustle of leaves, and Bubba’s snorting whuffs in the bushes as he looked for just the right spot to mark.

  It was nothing like New York City.

  And it troubled Maylee that she even thought about that. As much as she liked being home with her mother, sisters, and her grandparents nearby, it wasn’t quite the same. She loved having her dog close at hand, but she was noticing things she’d never paid attention to before. The rust on the skirt of the trailer, the creaky, weathered wood of the porch, the muddy, unpaved road that led to their home. The absolute poverty of the area.

  She saw it through Griffin’s eyes and was ashamed. What would he think if he saw her living like this? And she hated that the thought even crossed her mind. Just because Griffin was a snob didn’t mean she had to be ashamed of her family. She wasn’t. She just . . .
couldn’t help but see some of the things he’d turned his nose up at in the past. This was why he kept her a secret—she wasn’t good enough for him. No trailer girl would be right for Viscount Montagne Verdi of Bellissime.

  She wiggled her bare toes and looked down at her pajamas. She refused to be messed up over a man who thought she was dirt. So why was it she couldn’t stop thinking about Griffin? Why was she so completely and totally hurt that he was ashamed of her? She’d thought he’d finally come to see her for who she was, and appreciated her help and her competence.

  Instead, he’d been lining her up to pork in private while romancing a princess in public.

  That was the part that hurt the worst. That she’d been falling for him, and all the while, he’d been busy making sure no one saw him with her in public. She had such a stupid, soft heart. Maylee brushed tears out of her eyes and watched Bubba circle a nearby tree. She was gullible and dumb and he’d preyed on that.

  As the dog relieved himself, her mother’s truck pulled up in the driveway, and she winced at the clanking sounds the engine made as it turned off. She’d left her well-paying job in the city and now her mama wouldn’t have the extra income that Maylee sent home every month. Her mama had said it was fine, but it was money they all needed, especially if the younger girls were going to go to college in a few years. With Maylee’s retreat, that was out of reach for now—and possibly forever. She felt ashamed and defeated by that, too.

  Really, she was just a big ol’ blubbering mess, wasn’t she? Maylee sighed and surreptitiously swiped at her watering eyes again, then waved at her mother as she got out of her truck. “Hi, Mama.”

  Maylee’s mother had the same pale blonde corkscrew curls, though hers were more silver now, and her tan was deeper. She wore an old T-shirt and an equally old pair of jeans, and Maylee felt a twinge of unhappiness. Her family could use the money from her job so badly. Why had she let Griffin drive her out of NYC? It had been so selfish of her to move back home.

  It was just that . . . she’d felt so alone and unwanted in her small, dirty apartment. She’d laid down in her bed and cried, missing—and hating—Griffin, then missing her mama, her sisters, and even her dog. It had seemed natural to come home. Now that she’d had a few days to sleep on it, though, she was mad at herself for giving up.

  “I’m glad you’re up, Maylee-darlin’,” Mama called out. She juggled a paper bag of groceries. “I forgot the sausage at the store. Can you put on some jeans and run back out there for me? I need to start breakfast. Your Nana and Pepaw are coming over.”

  “I will, Mama,” Maylee said, and snapped her fingers to call Bubba over. The dog trotted back to her, and the two women went inside the small trailer. Maylee went into the bathroom to change, and when she got out, she grabbed the keys to the truck and headed out for the store.

  Twenty-five minutes later, she pulled back into the driveway of her home to a shiny black sedan with tinted windows in the driveway.

  Her heart began to drum a frantic beat and she wasn’t sure if it was terror or excitement.

  It wasn’t him . . . was it?

  A short man in a sport coat leaned against the side of the sedan, smoking a cigarette. It wasn’t Griffin . . . not that she wanted to see him, anyhow. This man was short and balding, unlike her lean, scholarly, and snobby viscount. The stranger cast her a bored look as she pulled up next to him.

  Maylee got out of the truck with her grocery bag and gave the man a friendly smile. “Hi, can I help you?”

  He took another drag on his cigarette and gave her a dismissive look. “I’m just waiting on someone.”

  She frowned, confused. “Are you lost? This is a private drive.”

  He snorted and shook his head. “Wish to God we were.”

  That funny feeling began to bubble in her stomach again, but she ignored it and offered her hand. “I’m Maylee.”

  “Kip,” he said.

  Maylee’s eyes widened. Oh, no. No, no, no. “What are you doing here?”

  “What do you think I’m doing here?” There was a wealth of derisiveness in his tone.

  “Oh, no,” Maylee breathed, and rushed up the steps of the single wide.

  When she got into the house, she tore through the small kitchen into the tiny dining room. There, sitting next to her two pajama-clad sisters, was Griffin. His hair wasn’t its normal slicked down look but a messy sort of tousle. He wore his Bellissime court regalia and one hand was wrapped in a fluffy white towel. And he peered through his glasses at what looked to be a bowl of grits set in front of him.

  “What are you doing here?” Maylee exclaimed.

  “Maylee,” her mother said. “Be nice. We have a guest.”

  “I don’t have to be nice to him!”

  Griffin got to his feet and stood despite the cramped quarters, hugging his towel-covered hand close to his chest. The sight of that made her heart flip-flop painfully. Had he somehow injured himself? Why did she care, damn it? As he stood, he adjusted his glasses with his free hand and then gave her a sharp nod. “Miss Meriweather.”

  Her sisters looked over at her with wide, unblinking eyes.

  Maylee handed the bag of sausage to her mother and refused to look Griffin in the face. “You need to leave, Mr. Verdi. I’m done with being your assistant.”

  “This gentleman needs a burn talked, Maylee,” her mother said in a do-not-argue-with-me voice. “He came here because of that.”

  Guiltily, Maylee glanced at his hand, still swathed in the towel. She couldn’t tell anything from it. How badly had he hurt it? And could she ignore a man in need, even if he was the one who broke her heart and made her feel like she was less than dirt? “All right. Come on.” She waved him forward.

  “Thank you,” he began, but she shot him a scathing look and he stopped. “Right. No thanking.”

  “Exactly.” Without stopping to check if he was following, Maylee went out onto the porch and sat down on the first step. A moment later, Griffin eased his body down next to her, medals and braids clinking on his ceremonial coat.

  She didn’t look over at him, staring off into the distance so she could compose her thoughts. “Nice jacket,” she said, and was proud of how nonchalant her voice sounded.

  “It gets me places,” he admitted.

  Like into my mother’s trailer, Maylee thought but said nothing. With a long sigh, she braced herself and then turned to face him. “All right, show me the hand.”

  He held out his wrapped hand to her, his gaze intent on her face.

  Maylee took the bandaged hand in hers, holding it gingerly so she wouldn’t hurt him worse than he already was. “Okay,” she murmured softly. “You know how this works. Whatever you do, you can’t thank me for this.”

  “Very well,” he said in a voice so soft that it made shivers go up and down her skin.

  She held the thick wrappings for a moment. “Talk to me about the pain.” The first step was always to get the person talking and concentrating on telling her what was wrong.

  “It’s with me day and night,” Griffin said in a low voice. “Won’t go away no matter how much I try to distract myself. And I keep saying it’s my own fault, but somehow, it doesn’t help things. All I know is that you’re the only person who can fix it for me.”

  “Mmm.” Maylee gently took the wrappings and began to undo them, ignoring the flutter of her heart at his words. “What did you do?”

  “I was an idiot and wasn’t paying attention to where I should have placed my hand.”

  It was hard being so close to him, she realized. Maylee could smell the clean, spicy scent of his cologne, could feel the warmth of his big body next to hers, felt the heat of his gaze on her face. Her stupid body remembered his touch, though. Her nipples reacted, hardening under her bra, and she wanted to hunch her shoulders in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice. This man had been terrible to her—so why was she still attracted to him?

  She pulled the last of the fabric free and was surprised to see his hand w
as curled into a fist. She put her fingers on his and began to gently uncurl them. “Oh, Griff, you really should relax your hand if you’ve hurt it—”

  He flattened his hand and revealed pink, perfect skin.

  On his palm, he’d written This hand is the property of Maylee.

  She frowned down at it, then looked up at him. “I don’t understand. You’re not hurt?” Why was she so relieved? And confused?

  Griffin’s face was solemn as he gazed down at her. “I’m a prat, Maylee. An unthinking prat who hurt your feelings over and over again. I should have held your hand when you asked me to, and then maybe you wouldn’t have assumed the worst when you saw those tabloids.”

  She shook her head, releasing his hand as if she was the one scorched. “I don’t understand. How did you—”

  “The driver explained a lot to me, and I found the magazine. It was easy to put two and two together,” Griffin said gently. “I never flirted with the princess of Saxe-Gallia. I never flirted with anyone but you. Hell, I’m not even sure I flirted with you, because I’m truly fucking rotten at it.” He raked his hand through his messy hair, ruining whatever hope of style he might have tried to accomplish with it. “I came here to ask you to come back with me, and to offer you this.” He held his hand out to her again, and she stared at the words written on his hand. “It’s yours whenever you want it.”

  Maylee had a sudden vision of taking his hand and smacking him in his own face with it. She jumped off the porch step quickly, trying to distance herself from him. “You were mean to me. Constantly mean. And you made me feel like I was never good enough for you! You kept trying to change me!”

  He stood, looking distinctly uncomfortable in his ceremonial jacket. “I was,” he agreed. “I was cruel to you and I shouldn’t have been. When Hunter and Gretchen sent you to me, I hated you on sight because you were everything I dislike. You were dressed poorly, talked ignorantly, and I thought I deserved better and that Hunter and Gretchen had foisted you on me to make me miserable at a time in which I couldn’t afford to have anyone but the best at my side.”

  “This is not making me feel better.”

  “Just listen,” he said, and there was a desperate note in his voice that made her stop. “I kept you on because I was stuck.”