Single Dad's Fake Marriage: A Billionaire Romance (Billionaire Lovers Book 1) Page 3

  Just as our lips were about to touch, I pulled away. The guilt taking over my thought overwhelming me. “I’m sorry.” I apologized and left her there on the dance floor. How could I even think something like that? It was absurd! What was the difference between me and that brute we had thrown out? I went back to our table to sat down to clear my head. Diane’s presence and eyes were driving me insane and I wasn’t thinking straight.

  Chapter 4

  Diane

  He seemed to be a noble gentleman, someone with good intentions. I’d always admired the bar and thought the owner must be some outstanding man to keep the place the same as his father had left it. There he was in front of me, pulling me closer to him. He was extremely handsome, sexy as hell and a gentleman. I bet no women on this earth could resist him. His hands were gentle on my waist and I was falling for him, for sure. The music was booming and the lights were blinding. When he leaned down kiss me, the world stopped; the music had faded away in the background and everything around me vanished. Just as our lips were about touch, he suddenly pulled away and reality washed over me.

  What the fuck just happened?

  I watched him go back to our table; he was looking away. I knew what was bugging him; he felt guilty about moving too fast, especially just after I told him everything. I wasn’t interested in a relationship and maybe he was also scared of any commitment.

  I was again moving slowly with the music as Jared leaned closer to me. “Go to him. He’s just confused. Maybe you two hit it off.” He smiled at me encouragingly and I felt like I should do just that.

  I wanted to see him again and I didn’t want it to be awkward. I walked over to him, but before I could reach the table, a blonde woman jumped in and took the chair in front of him. I stopped, as I didn’t know what to do. Should I turn around and go back to the dance floor with my tail between my legs or should I approach him? What if this woman is one of his previous flings? I knew she wasn’t his current girlfriend; he had built that trust in few hours.

  She touched his forearm and he looked up. He quickly pulled his arm out of her hand; it was clear he was not expecting her. Reading their body language, she was definitely trying to get his attention, but he appeared to be uninterested. Maybe this time, it was my turn to save him from the clutches of another.

  I put my confident face on and walked over to the table. Just as I got closer, Xander looked up in my direction, smiling gratefully. I moved towards his side of the table and he made space for me to sit next to him. This obviously agitated the female, as she just said, “I see you’ve already placed your order. Let me know if you changed your mind. I’ll be waiting.” And she paraded away.

  “Thank you,” Xander said. For a minute we sat there in silence.

  “Well, I guess that makes us even. You saved me from Tattoos and I just saved you from Easy.” I broke the silence and the comment made him smile and he visibly relaxed.

  I had to ask. Otherwise, I would regret it. “What just happened there on the dancefloor? Are you feeling guilty that you were about to kiss me?”

  Xander tensed up again. “I’m sorry. My imagination went haywire and I imagined that we could fake a marriage.”

  I was taken aback a bit by his blunt comment, but I was sure that I didn’t hear him correctly. I shifted slightly in my seat to face him squarely and ask, “Say that again?”

  I could see this time he was considering his words before just blurting them out. “For a moment I thought we could help each other out. I thought about how you need the money to pay for the medical bills and loans you took for your mother’s treatments and I have tons of that. I need a wife, a mother for Kayla and you are definitely someone the judge would accept as good mother material. I don’t know you very well, but I know you are hard-working, caring and have high values.”

  For a moment, the wind was completed knocked out of me. Marry for convenience? I felt disgusted and like a fraud, just considering the possibility.

  Xander looked up at me and touched my hand lying on the table. “I’m sorry for such a wild suggestion, but maybe there is value in it. I can afford to pay for your mother’s medical bills and I would do literally anything to get full custody of my daughter. Does that really make me a bad person to think this could be possible?”

  I could feel my resistance crumbling. I could see he was desperate, maybe because he was under the influence of alcohol. The feeling of disgust vanished while I looked upon a loving dad sitting in front of me, afraid of losing his daughter. My heart melted to see his love for his daughter. How could someone have so many qualities at the same time?

  “I will have to think about it. This is really all very hasty. I’m not sure if this will be good for either of us.”

  He looked at me and placed his hand on mine with genuine tenderness in his eyes. “That’s all I could hope for at this moment. Thank you.” His shoulders opened up again and it looked like he’d found some sort of hope. I felt quite powerful to make a strong man weak and then give him back his confidence.

  We both were sitting there lost in our own thoughts. My thoughts were jumping here and there. If it meant I could employ two more staff members and I could get rest over the weekends or even one evening a week, that would mean the world to me. I felt really bad thinking that way; it was wrong and I decided to get away from him.

  “Thank you for a wonderful evening, but I have to go now,” I said, pulling my hand away from him. I stood up and started walking towards the entrance, then I realized Mimi had to take me back home.

  Luckily Mimi was at my side in a flash of a minute, “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll call you.”

  I give Mimi a wide-eyed, shocked look and said, “That’s not even half of it. You don’t know anything.”

  ∞∞∞

  When we drove back, I told Mimi everything. She found it very intriguing and encouraged me to go ahead with it.

  The next morning, as I opened my eyes, I was genuinely considering the offer. Imagine if I didn’t have to get out of bed yet, just lie here until the pain in my tired legs gets away. I won’t even have tired legs that have to recover in the first place if I married Xander. Again, I was thinking like a gold digger.

  I pulled myself out of bed and got up slowly, walking towards the bathroom. My head was slightly pounding, which was strange beacuse I only had one drink. Maybe it was the loud music or maybe the emotions that were flying all over the place. I never even asked Mimi about her adventures with Michael and Jared last night.

  As I shuffled into the bathroom, I saw my reflection in the mirror and realized that I’d fallen asleep with my make-up still on. I looked like I had just stepped off the scene of a horror movie; my mascara was smudged all around my eyes and lipstick was all around my mouth. My head was pounding and my legs were shaking, my knees feeling as if they were going to buckle any minute. This was insane.

  I decided to at least wash my face and then call Mimi to ask if she would be able to open the café for me. I’d join her just before lunch. She wouldn’t be happy with that because she hated working in the restaurant and she was probably as tired as me.

  I reached for my phone and dialed Mimi’s number. She was still half-asleep as she answered. “Hi, Diane. Why’re you calling me so early? Don’t you know normal people still sleep at this time of the night?”

  I felt guilty. “I’m sorry, Mimi. I’ll call you back this afternoon. Just go back to sleep.”

  “No, tell me, what happened?” She probably had jumped out of her bed.

  Mimi was going to be the first one to scold me if I burned out. “It’s nothing. I just needed your help, as I’m feeling very tired. I wanted you to please open the café until lunch shift starts.”

  “Seriously? You know I hate working there. The customers are so used to your good service that they expect me to be the same and I’m not.” She stayed silent for a few seconds.

  “That’s why I’m telling you to get back to sleep.”

  “No. I’ll do i
t because I love you, but you owe me big-time.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you so much Mimi,” I promised myself that I’ll make it up to her someday, somehow.

  I was waiting for her to say something, but all she said was, “This is the last time. You have to make a plan and hire someone. I have to go now. I have to get ready to save my friend’s life.”

  Always the drama queen, Mimi cut the call short and I climbed back into bed. I set the alarm to wake me up again at 11 AM so that I could get to the cafe before lunch shift.

  As I was lying there in my bed, Xander’s proposal ran back through my mind and I once again thought that maybe I should just throw caution into the wind and grab the opportunity with both hands. I had to be careful of my feelings. I could already sense my heart beating just at the thought of him. He wanted me in this for only one reason and that was to get custody of his daughter, nothing more. I was scared of getting hurt in the process, but then thought at least the heart could heal with time, but the medical bills and loans won’t just go away.

  I knew I’d tried my best so far, but regardless of all my efforts, it still wasn’t enough. I had to do something to get out of this mess. But I had to think about it when my mind was relaxed. I didn’t want rash decisions to regret later. I tried to clear my mind, promising myself I would think over it again. Right now, I needed rest and soon I fell asleep.

  Chapter 5

  Xander

  The sunlight moving over my closed eyelids lit a fire inside my head. I slowly opened my eyes, battling a piercing headache. I must have been drinking more than I realized last night. I pulled the duvet over my face and tried to calm the throbbing in my brain

  As I was thinking of the paperwork and the court case, my mind wandered to how I blurted out my potential plans to Diane. I acted like a complete idiot last night, confiding in a complete stranger. True, I did feel a deep connection with her and I actually really liked her, but I went too far when I told her of the idea of a fake marriage.

  Maybe under different circumstances, I would have liked to pursue her in a more gentleman manner. With the blunder I pulled last night, that ideal gentleman was flushed down the toilet.

  I had to get up and get ready for the day. I was expecting a call from Japan shortly. I couldn’t ask them to wait for me. I took a quick look over at my alarm clock and it was 6:40, twenty minutes before the agreed time for our conference call. In the nick of time, I took a quick shower and got dressed in a white shirt and a tie.

  My laptop was already placed on my table in my suite. I had a small office on one of the floors here at my mansion, as I had to make so many calls with other countries. And due to different time zones, it was not possible to rush to the main office all the time.

  I positioned myself in front of the webcam, checking the background and made the call. The Japanese branch manager of a recently acquired company answered the call.

  “Hi, Reo. How are you doing today?” I could see that Reo was ready to get on with business, as he immediately asked if he could share his screen. Reo had already pulled the numbers for the past quarter and he wanted to get home to his family.

  It was a quick and painless presentation. I had met Reo three years ago and since then he has been my wingman in Japan, always on top of every deal. I gave him the go-ahead to proceed with buying the next company. It was a small three-man start-up company that invented a new type of hard drive and, with a bit of guidance and funding, I was convinced they would be able to break new ground not just in hard-drive technology, but another computer hardware as well. Disconnecting the call, I was able to take a moment to breathe.

  I strode back to the hallway and I could hear Kayla was already terrorizing the staff. “I can do it!” Her nanny was standing next to her laughing at the events. With a smile on my face, I turned into the kitchen, knowing the mess my little Kayla may have created. True to my expectations, there was oatmeal all over the floor and Kayla was feeding herself. When she saw me, she started to get so excited that she slammed her spoon on her tabletop and more oatmeal flung into the air.

  “Hello, my sweet little angel.” I picked her up and give her a big hug. Nanny cleaned her hands and wiped my suit where Kayla’s dirty little fingers landed.

  She was adorable and I wanted to spend some time with her, so I pulled a chair closer and asked the cook to dish up some oatmeal for me as well. With a bowl of oats and a bit of sugar, Kayla and I were sitting and eating our breakfast. It was the best feeling in the world to eat and laugh with your baby girl. I was still of the opinion that I got more of her oatmeal into my mouth than what she swallowed herself, but I wouldn’t change this moment for anything.

  Her nanny was going to take Kayla to the park to feed the ducks and maybe play on the jungle gym, but she promised to get her back for lunchtime. I looked at my watch and excused myself, turning to Nanny to say, “I won’t be in until after lunch, so you can get her to sleep at naptime. I will see her when she wakes up.”

  “Right Sir,” she said with a smile on her face. I didn’t have to worry about Kayla; she was in safe hands.

  I went down to the garage and got into the Jeep. I decided to pick Jared up a bit later for lunch on my yacht. That would probably get my mind off of Diane. My yacht, Lucy’s Luck, was the second love in my life. Honestly, until Kayla came, I didn’t think it would be possible to value another human as much as I loved my yacht. It represented freedom and a life-long dream to me. I was finally able to afford it a few years ago. My father and I had made so many trips before he became too ill to join me.

  I finished my office work and instructed my assistant to handle the rest. And after a quick call to Jared, he agreed to meet me at the docks in two hours. I knew I won’t be able to concentrate on anything today; rather I just accepted that I needed a day off. After a hectic day in court and a rough night at the bar where I made a complete idiot of myself, I needed the freedom that Lucy’s Luck would give me.

  After an hour’s drive, I reached the docks; a bit earlier than the time we’d agreed upon. But it gave me enough time to check that everything was ship-shape and ready for a short sailing trip around to Toledo and back again. The captain greeted me just as I reached the yacht. He knew that I had the habit of coming earlier than the committed time. Nothing got me as excited as having the chance to take the yacht out, but that day it would only be a short trip.

  Jared arrived just in time for the anchor to be raised and we were off. I was hoping that the fresh, salty air would clear my throbbing head and also get my mind off of Diane. But the first thing Jared asked as he got aboard was, “So, when are you gonna see Diane again?”

  I felt the world come down on my shoulders. “Please, Jared. I was trying to forget about last night. Don’t start any conversation about it.”

  “Ah! so you did like what you saw. Well, you could have fooled me because you were inches away from smooching the little lass until her toes were curling and then you went ice-cold.” He punched my shoulder and went towards the bar to get himself a drink. “What are we having for lunch, my friend?”

  “There’s a seafood platter and a fruit platter. They’ll bring it out shortly. I asked them just to wait till we are free from the noise out in the open water, then they can serve us on the sun deck.” I turned towards the captain and signaled that we were ready to sail.

  Jared poured me a drink and as he handed it to me, he had a concerned expression on his face. And he asked, “You do realize, she might just fit the bill? She seems to be sweet, kind, innocent and sincere. I know you like her. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be standing here on Lucy’s Luck to try and distract you.”

  I knew Jared was not going to let that go until I told him everything, so I spilled the beans. “I made an ass of myself last night and just as I was about to kiss her on the dance floor, the thought of a fake marriage jumped into my head. But it was your and Michael’s fault, you both were feeding the idea of faking my ma
rriage whole time yesterday. And immediately I felt fake to ask her about it and my intentions weren’t pure. I stopped myself and I had to get away from her.

  When she came back to the table, I was relieved to see that she hadn’t decided to dump me before anything could happen. You are right; she is a great catch, but I’m concerned about my intentions. I don’t want to cause her pain; she’s got enough on her plate. But for some reason, I want to help her as much as I want to secure my custody of Kayla. So I told her about my idea. At first, I could see she wasn’t impressed by the idea, but as I explained, she became more willing to listen. I don’t want to push her, but I can’t stop thinking about what she might decide.”

  “Wait a second. Back up a bit, you told her you wanted to get married to her for the sake of getting custody of your daughter? Man, that is ballsy. I didn’t see that one coming. And now? What are you going to do? Sit and wait for her to make the next move?”

  His questions rattled me slightly and it made me think about what my next move should be. “Do you think I should call her and ask her out? Maybe get to know her a bit better, maybe prove to her that I don’t bite, maybe I could try being a friend?”

  “All these maybes are getting me confused. Why are you talking about being a friend, Xander? Don’t you have the hots for her?”

  I just shook my head, “Diane is still not over her previous break-up; she isn’t interested in anything serious and if she agrees, it will be for the money. Her mother is sick in the hospital and they have medical debt that she might not ever be able to pay off. I offered to pay the bills for her if she agreed to get married until I have custody of Kayla and then we can get divorced.”