Love Me Billionaire Boxset Page 21

  “Don’t touch him, Marcus.” Hannah didn’t leave. She stood up behind Marcus. “Leave him alone. He has nothing to do with this.”

  “He has everything to do with this. He took my life away. And now I get to take his away. You step away from the door, Mr. Billionaire, and close it. We’ll end this.”

  “Hannah, get out of here.” I needed her away from here. I needed her to be safe, if she were just away then I could breathe. I knew how to wrestle. I could fight him, get the gun away, take a bullet, I didn’t care, as long as she was okay.

  Marcus smiled. It was eerie and harsh. “This is right. You took my wife. You took my life. Now I take yours.”

  He raised his arm high and slowly pointed the gun at my head. It happened in slow motion like they said it always did in the movies. I imagined the next step, his finger flexing on the trigger. The bullet going through me. And all I cared about was that Hannah was safe. “Hannah, go.”

  “No,” Hannah said, simply. Quietly. And then she smashed the stone dog rhinoceros sculpture down onto Marcus’ head. He stumbled to his knees groaning, and the gun fell to the ground.

  I snatched up the gun and pointed it at the man. He moved to get up. “Stay down,” I said, “or I’ll shoot you.”

  Marcus mumbled, “No you won’t, billionaire,” and started to rise.

  “He said stay down.” Hannah bashed him on the head again with the heavy statue and this time he collapsed in a heap. “Dumbass never listens. Always thinks he knows best.”

  Marcus didn’t move. I didn’t dare move, aiming the gun at him. We both just stood there. I huffed a shocked puff of air. “I told you I loved Fido.”

  “Fido?” Hannah blinked at me.

  I pointed my chin at the statue in her hands. “Dog Rhino.”

  “Oh.” She laughed, once. She shifted the statue in her arms, holding it like a baby, now.

  I swallowed. “You saved my life, Hannah. He would have killed me.”

  She stared at me shocked. “Are you kidding? He came here to kill me. You saved me. How did you know? How did you know I needed you?”

  I laughed. “The dogs.”

  “The dogs?”

  “They were barking like crazy. They woke us up, barking at someone in the garden.”

  All of a sudden, the racket of barking started up again getting closer and closer. Then right outside the door, the dogs were barking to be let in. “Bette must have let them out of the kitchen. I told her to keep them in the house. She was calling the cops. They should be here any minute.”

  “Oh, my good girls!” Hannah opened the door, and she went down on her knees, with the dogs swarming around her. She put the rhinoceros dog down on the floor so she could pet them both with two hands.

  After a moment of silence, she looked up at me. “Did I kill him?” she asked, not looking at the man on the floor.

  I knew she didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t blame her. “Keep Fido at the ready,” I warned her, earning a half-hearted smile. I knelt and felt for a pulse. For a second I didn’t feel anything and then got a sick feeling, but there it was. His heart was beating. I nodded. “He’s alive.” I heard her let out a sigh of relief. “He smells like the floor of a bar. And not a nice high-end bar. A dive bar. Off the highway.”

  “Got drunk. Came to kill his ex-wife.”

  “Hannah...” It wasn’t funny. If that was supposed to be a joke.

  “It’s okay, he didn’t, did he?” She had both arms around the dogs and looked up at me.

  “He didn’t.” The sound of police sirens intruded. “That’s the cops. I’ll let them in, they’ll arrest him.” She nodded and hung on to the dogs, who huddled around her. “It’s over, Hannah. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  “Yeah. I am okay. He didn’t hurt me. It happened so fast. You came so quickly. He scared me. That’s all.”

  I opened the door to the cops, and they took Marcus away, who began to stir just as they arrived. Hannah and I were both relieved because Fido was heavy and she had hit him rather hard, twice.

  Bette arrived to check up on us and take the dogs back, and I stayed to give my statement, but mostly to watch out for Hannah.

  I closed the door on the police as dawn was just breaking. Hannah sat on the couch with a cup of herbal tea. “Are you okay?”

  “How many times are you going to ask me that tonight, James?”

  “No more times. Because the night’s over. It’s morning.” I sat next to her, wanting to wrap her up in my arms, wanting to hold her, wanting to take care of her, but holding off, because the last time this came up, she’d left a letter telling me she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t be with me. She needed space, so she was the one who needed to make any overtures. “But I have to be honest, Hannah. I don’t think I’ll ever stop asking if you’re okay. I just need to know how you are, because I love you and I care. I want caring for you to be my job.”

  She put her head on my shoulder and cuddled against me. A wave of relief went through me when she touched me. “I have a secret.”

  I put my arm around her shoulders and tucked her into my side. “I’m listening.”

  “I like to have you taking care of me. And I think I shouldn’t.”

  “No! You definitely should.” I tried very hard not sound excited. Not to let my hopes influence her.

  She laughed at me so I must have failed. “I think I should take care of myself and be strong and independent, but I’d like to find a way to be strong and independent and still let you take care of me.”

  I kissed her temple. Playing cool. “You should live with me.”

  She slid her hand across my stomach and around my waist. “You sure? That’s not very independent. And it sounds rather committed, considering we’ve only been together a couple of weeks.”

  “No. Not at all,” he said. “Our history is over ten years long, you know. You can live with me. Live with me. Keep your house. Continue dog walking after your little vacation. Totally independent. Just... you’ll be in my house so I can take care of you.”

  “Hmm,” she said, contemplative. It sounded like a joke, but it also sounded like she was considering it. Anticipation flooded my chest. She sucked her teeth doubtfully. “That doesn’t really solve the problem of being overly committed for such a recent relationship.”

  “Ah,” I said, keeping my tone light. “Yes, of course. Well, I had intended for you to sleep in the guest room, as all non-committed guests do.”

  She gasped, offended. Or pretending to be offended. “Never!”

  “And why not?” I brushed her curls back from her forehead.

  She wrapped her arms tight around me, sincere now that her little game over. “Because I only want to sleep in your bed. In your arms. Listening to your heartbeat as I fall asleep. Because I love you.” She pressed her ear to my chest.

  “Ah,” I said, my heart expanding like the new day. The hot sting of her tears soaked my shirt. “That is what I want, too. So we have a deal.”

  “What is our deal?”

  “You live with me, and sleep in my arms every night, and I get to take care of you forever.”

  She sniffled and shook her head. “No deal.”

  I leaned my head down to hers and whispered into her hair. “And why not?”

  “Because the deal has to be that you take care of me, and I take care of you, too.” Her fingers clenched into my shirt, drawing me even closer. “Forever.”

  “Deal,” I said. This was the deal. She and I, in each other’s arms. Forever.

  Epilogue

  I was painting at my easel: a memory that made me happy, so happy. A cliff, a sunset, the ocean in the distance. I tried to paint the smell of the sea air and the flower-scented breeze, of the warm skin, and the kiss. I liked that I could be at home, in my little carriage house studio, and remember a beautiful day on an exotic island where happiness was bright, and I could make it real with paint and canvas.

  Here, I was surrounded by familiar things, my cozy ru
mpled couch and all my books, the music that never failed to soothe me and remind me of who I was, and my heavy lumpy dog rhino statue, Fido.

  The doors and windows were open and the scent of our newly planted honeysuckle wafted through. Ever since we’d taken down the wall, I had the best view into the garden from here as I painted.

  From the other side of the garden, I heard a barking arise and smiled.

  James was home. He would be here soon to collect me. He promised he would if I got wrapped up in painting and stayed too long. I’d done it before and he never failed to make fun of me for it. The butterflies fluttered in my stomach as they always did when I thought about him and thought about seeing him. I hurried to put away the paint because James would be here soon. Before I knew it, a large, scruffy beast of no known breed of dog barrelled into the carriage house and jumped on me. He put both paws on my chest and reached up to lick my face enthusiastically.

  “Rhino!” I yelled. He was my boy. James found him as a puppy, lost on the street small enough to fit into two hands, and given him to me. Now he was a huge behemoth with no manners. “Down boy. Down!” Oh the bad manners. “Sit, Rhino. Shame on you. Does that bad man let you do this when I’m not around?”

  Rhino sat, and smiled at me, his tongue lolling out of his mouth happily. He was too good-natured to care about my scolding.

  “Let him? I taught him.” James’ laughing voice had me turning to him, where he leaned against the door jamb, so jaunty and beautiful my heart flipped. His blue eyes pierced my soul and his proud smile filled me with light. “Look!” He patted his chest, “Kiss, kiss, Rhino!” Rhino leapt up, happily, and jumped up on James, slobbering all over him until he pushed him down, laughing.

  I sighed, exasperated. “Jumping on people is not a good dog trick, James.”

  He lowered his eyelids and looked at me through his black eyelashes, then patted his hard chest twice with his hand. “Kiss, kiss, Hannah.”

  My stomach flipped right over, and heat rose in me. “You are not using dog tricks on me, James Silver.”

  He winked at me. Patted his chest. “Come on, sweetheart. Gimme a kiss.”

  I couldn’t resist any longer and melted right into him, leaning up into a long, searching kiss. He held onto my hips and kissed me back with a passion that started out hot and demanding but gentled and softened into sweetness, joy, happiness. He ended it by kissing the tip of my nose, then he pulled away from me and took both my hands in his.

  “Are you all done with painting today? Bobby and Bette and her new girlfriend will be here in fifteen minutes for dinner.”

  “Is it that late already? I got carried away. I’m sorry I said I’d be home earlier to help you set up since you’re cooking. What are we having?”

  “Saffron risotto with shrimp and spring peas. And I have some polenta with fresh tomato and gorgonzola for an appetizer.”

  “Mmm yum. Talk dirty to me.” I leaned up into him for another kiss. “You know, if you had told me you could cook that first night we met again, I never would have resisted you at all.”

  He nipped my ear. “You’ve been busy yourself, I see.” He strolled over to the painting on the easel, still holding my hand. He stopped in front for a minute, then brought my hand up to kiss my fingers. “It’s Hawaii. You painted our wedding.”

  I nodded and bit my lip. “My happiest day.”

  “It makes me happy. You, looking so beautiful, and me, and that gorgeous sky, and us promising to love each other forever. But it’s not my happiest day.”

  “Oh?” That surprised me. He had told me then it was his happiest day. I treasured that. “I suppose it was because you couldn’t share it with your friends and family, because we kept it a secret from everyone?”

  “What? Oh god no. I loved that we eloped, that our wedding was something just for us, not for friends or family or status or appearance or the public. I loved that it was just you and me.” He wrapped his hands around my hips and snugged them into his side, still looking at the painting. He’d known immediately what I’d painted, although there was no wedding in the picture. It had been what we’d seen as we stood there on that glorious day. I loved him.

  “You’re such an introvert, James. How did you hide this from everyone your whole life?”

  “Lots of practice I guess.” He shrugged. “I performed my life for everyone else, but our relationship, our wedding, you and I? That is just for us. The wedding being our secret was great, but I wouldn’t call that day my happiest day ever, because every day I’m with you is happier than the one before and that was what? A month ago? I am now thirty days happier than I was on our wedding day. Because I have you.”

  The butterflies in my stomach swarmed and took my heart and lungs and every part of me away with them. “How did I get so lucky with you, James? I love you so much.”

  “I don’t think it was luck, sweetheart,” he said and kissed my hair, letting his fingers twist in it and tangle because he liked to make a mess. I slapped his fingers away because those would turn my hair to knots soon and leaned back from him. He still clung to my hips, not letting me get away. But I tied my hair up in a bun, saving it from his fingers while he endeavored to get in the way by kissing me. I finally got it up and shoved him away the tiniest bit, not really meaning it. He gave me another kiss with a trouble-making smirk. “It wasn’t luck, Hannah. It was fate.”

  “Fate? Do you believe in fate? Since when?”

  “Since you. The concept has been growing on me. When I think back to how we knew each other... how we were drawn to each other and never knew it...”

  He was making it such a story. I snorted. “I knew it, rich boy, I was in love with you. You’re the one who didn’t notice me.”

  “I noticed you. I wasn’t ready for you, sweetheart. But something drew me to you. You were meant for me. And I was meant for you. Fate. It just took us ten years--”

  “And a couple of scandals and an attempted murder--”

  “—to get there.” He laughed at my additions. “Yeah. So soulmates with a flair for the dramatic. Clearly, we had to elope in Hawaii and keep it a secret for a month.”

  “You are so good to me,” I hugged him. Cuddled him and didn’t want to let him go. Although I could really use some of that saffron risotto. Ahh. Dinner. And that gave me a thought. “Are you ready to tell people we’re married? We can start with Bobby and Bette tonight.”

  “Really?” His eyes lit up with joy. I felt bad. I’d made him keep a secret from people he loved.

  “I’m sorry, James. I didn’t mean to keep it from them if it made you feel bad. Let’s tell them right away.”

  “Oh, I don’t feel bad, I can’t wait to rub it in their faces that I won. I got you when they said I couldn’t have you AND I kept you a secret for a month. My secret love. My secret girl. My secret neighbor. I got you anyway. They could never beat me.” He grinned smugly. “I can’t wait to see how shocked they are. And pissed off. It will be so great.”

  I stepped back and cocked my head at him. “I will never understand you people. You are like aliens. Too much money, I think. It went to your heads and rotted your brains or something.”

  “Probably. That sounds about right. Too bad the brain rot is coming for you now that you’re Hannah Silver. What’s mine is yours? Brownstone, money, family, brain rot, all of it.”

  “Oh my god. I didn’t think this through. Can we get an annulment?” I groaned.

  “Nope,” he said, and pulled me into him so I stumbled and I would have fallen if he hadn’t caught me. “Too late. We’re forever. Soulmates. You’re my home. No escape for you. Not from me.”

  “Dammit,” I said, not at all sorry, as I cupped my hand around the back of his neck and urged him to kiss me because he was everything to me. Everything.

  The Doctor’s Secrets

  L.A. Pepper

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

  About L.A. Pepper

  Like you, LA loves contemporary romance stories and is an avid reader.

  She's had her heart broken by her true love, yet is still addicted to happily ever after endings!

  When LA is not writing about the next bad boy billionaire, contemporary romance novel, she enjoys a glass of Chianti, raclette with her girlfriends, spin classes, and watching the sunrise every morning!

  She is a self-proclaimed desperate housewife and lives in a cul-de-sac of excitement, drama, and love stories. Many of her outlines are inspired here.

  LA was given her nickname by one of her teenage daughters, and it stuck with friends and family!

  Leanne lives in Canada with her husband, and 4 children!

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  Chapter One: Alex

  “My dear, you are stunning.” The older man, debonnaire, with silver temples and a smile, leaned against the edge of the bar.

  I tilted my head to him without giving anything away. “Thank you for the compliment, but I am meeting someone.”