by Leslie North
Blake throat tightened all over again as her words washed over him. Prior to meeting Michelle, he never could have imagined how good it would feel to be included in a family unit like this. He never could have imagined the joys and highs awaiting him from fully diving into love.
But maybe that was precisely why his friends had urged him into the bet.
They knew the secret. And finally Blake did too.
It was the type of lesson he’d hang onto for the rest of his life.
Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
“Hey, wait a second! Where are the capers?”
Blake’s incredulous voice rang through the empty field of the Seagulls stadium. Michelle and Mollie had come with Blake and his best friends for a relaxed, autumn Sunday picnic. And being that Blake was the one with the least amount of experience in organizing lunches that didn’t require an elite staff of chefs and servers, Michelle had tasked him with unpacking the picnic basket.
It was just one of many ways that their lives had blended effortlessly ever since he’d shown up at her house six months ago. Going out for picnics on Sunday with friends and family came from Michelle’s world. Having the picnic inside the privately-owned Major League Baseball stadium came from Blake’s world.
And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Michelle snickered as she headed toward him. He’d laid out a big blue blanket right by third base, while Grayson and Daniel threw a baseball back and forth nearby.
“They’re in there, I swear.” She sank to her knees beside him, grinning at the perplexed look on his face. “And even if they’re not, I think lunch will still be great without them.”
“Yeah, but the salmon—”
She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You’re an incorrigible perfectionist, and I love you for it.”
“No canoodling on the picnic blanket,” Grayson called out.
“I like their canoodling,” Mila said, heading their way with baby Ethan hoisted on her hip. He was just shy of a year old. Mollie followed in Mila’s wake. She was eager to help with Ethan at every turn.
“Lunch will taste better if there’s some canoodling involved,” Jackie added with a laugh, joining Michelle on the blanket.
“See? We’re all in agreement,” Michelle said, winking at Grayson.
“You three would be,” Daniel teased. “Inseparable friends that you are.”
He wasn’t wrong. In just six short months, Mila and Jackie had turned into soul sisters. They had a long-standing Monday morning coffee date that none of them would miss for the world. And whenever questions came up on anything from fashion to training to caring for pets, the ladies consulted each other first.
“I can’t find them,” Blake finally said, throwing his hands in the air. “You look.”
Michelle sighed, fighting a grin while she took his place in front of the picnic basket. His gaze sizzled on her as she rummaged through the contents. She clearly remembered watching him place the capers in here, so her boyfriend was particularly blind today if he couldn’t find them an hour later.
Beneath the red and white checkered paper plates, she spotted the tiny glass jar. But she also felt something else next to it. Something small and velvety. She frowned, tugging out the jar followed by the strange little box.
The air around her changed as soon as she freed the box from the picnic basket. Suddenly, it felt like all eyes were on her and she wasn’t sure why.
“Oooh, Mommy, what’s that?” Mollie asked, bounding her way.
“I don’t know—” she began, but then clamped her mouth shut. Suddenly, it clicked. Blake’s eager gaze. The way Mila and Jackie’s mouths had parted. Why Daniel was discreetly filming the whole scene with his phone from the third baseline.
Michelle popped open the box, finding a glittering diamond ring inside. And below it, in a smaller slit, a tiny, simple band that looked like it was made for Mollie’s finger. Michelle gasped so hard that the box tumbled out of her grip. Mollie squealed with delight and caught it before the ring box got lost in the depths of the picnic basket again.
“Michelle,” Blake began, the low rumble of his voice immediately prompting tears. She knew what was coming. What this all was about. And hell if she could stop the tears that were already brimming in her eyes.
“Oh, my God,” Michelle whispered.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Mollie gazed at the rings, the box filling her small palms. “Why are you crying? Are they too pretty?”
“Yes, they’re too pretty.”
“Just like your mother,” Blake said, his voice thick with emotion. The unnatural crack in his always smooth tones sent the tears dripping down her cheeks. And he hadn’t even formally asked her anything yet. “I’m glad you’re holding that, Mollie. Because I have a very big question that I want to ask both of you.”
“Oooh, what is it?” Mollie hopped from one foot to the next.
“You and your mom are the most important people in my life. And I want us to be together forever. We’re a family now, and I’d like for the world to be able to see just how deep and real our love is. I want you two to become my family in law.” Blake pinched the bridge of his nose, laughing a little. “I seriously never thought I’d be saying these words to anyone in my life, but from the second I met you, Michelle, I knew that things weren’t going to unfold as normal. So I have a question for both of you.”
He sniffed, looking at Mollie with a big smile on his face. “Mollie, will you be my daughter?”
Mollie’s face lit up with so much joy that Michelle dissolved into sobs. Jackie wrapped an arm around her, giving her a little squeeze.
“Yay, Blake is my new daddy!” Mollie threw her arms around his neck. Blake wrapped an arm around her, and while still holding Mollie, turned to Michelle. His eyes were teary. She’d never seen him so emotional.
“Michelle,” he began, his voice cracking again. “Will you be my wife?”
She couldn’t even talk, she just fell into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him and Mollie. She cried into his shoulder—so much for an elegant, beautiful proposal video. Daniel was most likely capturing full blown ugly crying, but there wasn’t much else she could do in the face of so much unexpected emotion—and perfection.
When she found her voice, she whispered into his ear, “Of course I’ll marry you.”
Blake pulled back to kiss her forehead, and then her lips.
Mollie escaped from their embrace, dancing around happily while Blake’s arms went around Michelle’s waist. Their kisses deepened, turning sloppy and urgent and passionate.
“That looks like a yes to me!” Jackie announced, and everyone cheered around them.
“Blake,” Michelle whispered once their kissing broke. “And here I thought you were just looking for the capers.”
He laughed, pressing his forehead to hers. “I was looking for capers and a little more.”
From behind them, a champagne bottle went pop. She grinned, amazement and bliss making her warm from head to toe. “You really planned this out.”
“I’ve only been losing sleep over it for the past month,” he confessed, bringing her hand up to his chest. “Feel how fast my heart is beating.”
She laughed, more tears spilling over from her eyes. “You are amazing. I had no idea.”
“I had no idea how much you’d rock my world,” Blake said, brushing his lips against hers again. “And I never want to spend another day without you at the center of it.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. She felt the truth of his words down to her core. Because with Blake, even though she’d been unsure in the beginning, every day only proved to her how much they were meant for each other. How amazingly they fit together. How much higher they could soar when they were at each other’s sides.
As their friends made the rounds to hug her, Blake, and Mollie, Michelle could only marvel at how much love and support filled her life these days.
; This was the new normal. This was what she’d always been dreaming of. This was the life she’d wanted without believing she’d ever be able to find it. Living in a beautiful city, with her happy daughter thriving at her side, a gorgeous and successful man at her other side, surrounded by great, loving friends.
And all the pain she’d lived through to get here?
Every ounce of it was worth it when this love was the prize waiting for her on the other end.
End of The Billionaire’s Girlfriend Bet
The Billionaires Club Book Three
PS: Want more sexy billionaires? Then keep reading for an exclusive extract from The Billionaire’s Ex-Wife (The Jameson Brothers Book One).
Thank you!
Thank you so much for purchasing my book. It’s hard for me to put into words how much I appreciate my readers. If you enjoyed this book, please remember to leave a review. Reviews are crucial for an author’s success and I would greatly appreciate it if you took the time to review the book. I love hearing from you!
About Leslie
Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.
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BLURB
Sam Jameson always gets what he wants and what he wants is his ex-wife.
Sam views the world in black and white—a strong attitude that’s earned him billions in the business world and an ex-wife in the real world. What Sam wants is to choose his own future, but to do this he must pass a test set out by his older brother, and CEO: onboard his wayward brother, Eddie. Sam accepts the challenge but isn’t sure what to think when he learns that the woman he’d love and left is part of the test too.
Trinity Jameson is a fixer. It doesn’t matter if it’s ugly furniture or an ornery employee, Trinity has the touch and she’s spent most of her life helping others achieve their best potential. But when her ex-husband comes back to town to prove he’s got a heart, Trinity makes a decision: She’s not going to fix his problems for him—no matter what his smoldering blue eyes ask of her, she’s going to say “No.” She’s determined that he’ll fix his own mess this time.
Before Sam landed in New York, his goal was to leave the city just as fast. But when Trinity saunters into the room looking better than ever, his desire begins to shift. He realizes that what he really wants is what he can no longer have: Trinity. Sam has no trouble stoking their physical fire, but hot sex isn’t going to be enough to heal the hurt he’d caused long ago. Sam isn’t going to be dissuaded by her new found emotional wall. He helped her build it, and now he’s going to knock it down.
Grab your copy of The Billionaire’s Ex-Wife (The Jameson Brothers Book One) from
www.LeslieNorthBooks.com
EXCERPT
Chapter One
His favorite suit was wrinkled. It didn't matter if there was only one: the wrinkle was there, leering up at him like a lopsided, mocking smile.
Sam Jameson shook out his sleeve, but the minor imperfection remained. Minor, he thought to himself in consolation. A wrinkle that wouldn't smooth was the least of his problems today; still, it lingered in the back of his mind as much as it lingered on the otherwise crisp fabric of his suit.
Sam distracted himself by gazing about the familiar waiting room of the New York office. He missed the East Coast more than he could express, and he wasn't an expressive man by nature—but even he could appreciate the familiar, sanitized smell of the office, the classic wooden furnishings, and the precision of the New York City skyline just outside the high window. The L.A. office always smelled like someone was secretly giving manicures in the staff kitchen, and the West Coast skyline was…quirky. Slipshod. Obscured by a permanent haze and decidedly not up to code.
L.A. was to blame for Sam's current predicament, of that he had no doubt. Who the hell lodged a complaint about "annoying perfectionism" and took their business elsewhere? Apparently L.A. clients did. Sam blamed the strange holistic culture that had seized the West Coast—the culture of "mistakes are successes that haven't happened yet," or whatever inane philosophy Californians liked to paste on the bumpers of their hybrid cars—but his older brother William didn't see things the way he did. That was partly why William was CEO, and Sam was COO, of Jameson Advertising Agency: it wasn't just a matter of age, but perspective…or so their father had once explained it.
If only Sam could give William a momentary demotion and make him see things from his point of view. This move to onboard Eddie was a mistake. More than that, it was far below Sam's paygrade—but even he wasn't so callous as to say as much out loud. He had learned early on that when it came to family, talking in strictly business terms wasn't exactly smiled upon.
But surely even William could see, from his lofty vantage as CEO, that bringing Eddie any closer in the family business was a mistake. Their father had certainly thought so. The youngest Jameson simply wasn't cut out for more than wining and dining clients.
Inviting the family screw-up back into the fold didn't seem like a wise move to Sam—but who was he to protest it? He would get in, do the job to a more than acceptable degree, and get out, the same as he always did. William wouldn't be able to argue with the results, and then Sam could get the hell back to L.A. and move onto better things.
The door opened and Sam rose, applying one last swipe to the wrinkle. He raised his gaze, expecting to find Eddie's lopsided grin and ridiculous eyebrows waggling a greeting.
Instead, it was his own ex-wife he found staring back at him.
"Trinity." He hated how out of practice he suddenly sounded saying her name out loud. Not a day had passed since their separation that it didn't enter his head on a repeating loop, always in threes: Trinity. Trinity. Trinity. "What are you doing here?"
His ex-wife blinked her gorgeous doe eyes like he had her caught in a crosshairs. Obviously his presence in the room wasn't a surprise to her, but maybe seeing an estranged spouse in the flesh shook her as much as it shook him. His eyes dropped at once to take in the form-fitting pencil skirt and matching blazer. Only Trinity could make such an uninspired shade of gray look borderline sultry. Not a wrinkle in sight. He noticed she was parting her hair differently; the line combed into her scalp was off-center, and her honey-brown hair spilled in one thick wave down the left side of her face. The asymmetry should have bothered him more than it did, but all Sam could think in that moment was how strikingly well-suited she was to the style. The elegant curl hugged her cheekbone while exposing the other one, making them appear even more pronounced than usual.
"Where's Eddie?" He hadn't expected himself to be the one to break the silence. Trinity blinked again, and shook her head to dispel whatever thought it was that had frozen her in the first place.
"Hello, Samson. Your brother asked me to meet with you. Not Eddie," she qualified. "William."
"I see."
"He wants me to assist you in onboarding Eddie. William, that is. But I guess you knew which of your brothers I was referring to that time."
Sam nodded. Trinity's sudden appearance had thrown him into turmoil on the inside, but he was used to masking pressure indicators in high-stress situations. There was a reason his coworkers all called him a machine. "Where is Eddie these days?" he asked her.
"Barbados. Last I heard." Trinity swept her clipboard toward the conference hallway, and Sam rose at her invitation. He followed behind her, despite knowing the way, and watched her graceful balancing act. If she wore silk stockings with her heels, Sam couldn't perceive them at this distance. Only running a hand up one of those elegant calves would reveal the truth to him….
"In here." Trinity waved him on into one of the r
ooms. Her face looked a little flushed, and Sam wondered how loudly he had been broadcasting his thoughts…then again, maybe they were simply on the same wavelength, as they had so often been when they were married.
In those first years, anyway.
He would never show it, but Sam was still reeling from the divorce. It had been almost a year since he signed the papers Trinity wordlessly pushed across his desk, and he still didn't know what the hell had happened between the two of them. Hadn't they always shared ambitions? Work ethic? Not to mention great, great sex? He knew from all the divorce studies he had read that he should have at least started entertaining the idea of dating other women by now, but he couldn't even bring himself to set up a simple online dating profile…and the Millennials at the L.A. office had certainly volunteered to help.
Sam took a seat at the head of the table out of habit. He pulled out the chair beside him, and Trinity's mouth quirked a little in wry amusement. She bypassed Sam's offered chair to pull out her own. She sat down, and began to array her files as Sam studied her. Maybe having Trinity around to assist with the onboarding would be a good thing…professionally-speaking, of course. Surely he had no better ally in all this than his own ex-wife, who knew his preferred method of running things. Trinity was familiar with every nuance of his personality—hell, she was one of the few who would vouch for him even having one.
Right?
Trinity was the people-person. She understood the needs of others in a way Sam could never wrap his head around outside of the business boardroom. Corporations were straightforward, and most of them desired the same thing: damn good advertising. That he and his brothers could deliver. He had been raised to understand the cold, calculating terms of business minutiae; not the far less black-and-white terms of the people who stood behind the businesses.
