by Elle James
“Do I know this person?” he asked softly.
She nodded. “Tag Bronson, it’s you. I love you. I didn’t realize just how much until I logged onto BODS and tried to find my perfect match.” She shook her head. “I didn’t realize I already had. I was so blind. But now I see. You’re my perfect match.” She frowned, tears leaking from her eyes. “Oh, Tag, say something. I know you said you would always be my friend, but I want more. I want you as my best friend, my lover and my life mate. Please, talk to me. Please love me.”
His mouth claimed hers, cutting off her flow of words with a kiss that rocked her soul and took her breath away.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him as close as two people in a restaurant could be without being naked.
When he finally raised his head, he stared down into her eyes. “Is it my turn?” he asked.
She laughed, the sound catching in her throat. “That’s right, you wanted to tell me something.”
He cupped her cheeks in his palms. “I wanted you to know that I loved you way back when we first met.”
The tears flowed harder. “And you don’t love me now?”
He shook his head. “Not like I loved you then.” He brushed the moisture from her cheek. “I love you even more. I’m a different man from the Tag who hung out with you and Randy. I know what’s important now. I don’t want to go another day without you in my life.”
She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. “I never thought I could love another as much as I loved Randy.”
“And now?” Tag asked.
“And now, I know I can love someone else as much, but in a different way.”
Tag brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “I will never ask you to stop loving Randy. He was my friend, and I loved him, too.”
“I could never stop loving him. But I want to move on with my life. I know now that I have enough room in my heart to love again.” She grasped his face in both of her hands. “And I love you.”
Tag smiled down at her. “I was so afraid you would only ever see me as your friend.”
She laughed. “I was afraid of the same.”
“I think Randy would have been happy for us,” Tag said. “He only ever wanted you to be happy.”
She nodded. “He told me not to grieve too long, to find someone else to love. I think he would have approved of my choice.”
“What about Joe?”
She smiled up at him. “Joe who?” Then she blinked. “Oh, dear.” She looked past Tag to the yellow rose draped across the table on the patio. “I’m supposed to be with Joe tonight. I need to tell him I can’t.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Tag said.
Leslie shook her head. “I can’t let him think I stood him up.” She stepped around Tag and started through the door. “I’ll be right back. It will only take me a minute.”
Tag followed her. “Really, Leslie. It’s not necessary.”
By then, she’d rounded the potted plant and reached the table. The rose was there, but there was no man seated in the chair.
“I don’t understand,” Leslie said. “Do you think he saw me kissing you and left?” Leslie looked up into Tag’s eyes. “I would hate to think I hurt that poor man.”
“I can tell you with absolute certainty, you didn’t.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why? Did you tell him to leave?”
Tag shook his head, his lips twisting. “There’s something else I needed to tell you.”
Leslie tipped her head. “Is it about Joe?”
He nodded. “There never was a Joe Fox.”
“You know who he was?” Leslie asked.
Again, Tag nodded.
“How do you know him?”
“I’m Joe Fox,” Tag said. “I was your final match. I wanted you to get to know me without being biased by our friendship.” He took her into his arms, a frown pulling his brow low on his forehead. “I hope you’re not mad. I treasured our messages to each other. It helped me to see you from another angle as well.”
She shook her head, her frown deepening. “You tricked me?” She pressed her hands against his chest. “Why would you do that?”
“I wanted you to fall in love with me. I thought we were too close as friends for that to happen. I wanted you to see me as someone who could be your friend and more.” He tipped her chin. “But you fell in love with me as me. Not Joe. And that’s even better.” Tag kissed the tip of her nose, her cheek and finally her lips. “Please, don’t be mad. I couldn’t lose you. If you loved me as Joe, I would have changed my name to Joe Fox to make you happy.”
Leslie stared up into his face. “I have to admit, Joe intrigued me. If I hadn’t been so in love with you, I might have gone for him.”
Tag sighed. “Sweetheart, you can have both of us. I’ve waited so long to say I love you, I can share you with my alter ego, gladly.”
Leslie relaxed in his arms. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I wasn’t sure that you loved me, and I couldn’t declare my love and risk losing you as a friend. One way or another, you would always be a part of my life. I wanted you to love me, but I never wanted to lose you.”
She cupped his cheek. “That’s what I was afraid of, too. You’ve been such a big part of my life. I didn’t want to risk losing you either.”
He lifted the yellow rose from the table and handed it to her. “To new beginnings?”
“To new beginnings.” She took the rose and smiled up into his eyes, her heart overflowing with emotion. “Can we go home now?”
“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked.
“I have food in my refrigerator.” She took his hand and led him toward the exit. “We can eat later. I’ve been dying to finish what we started the other night.” She stopped and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Why did you stop that night?”
“I didn’t want to be a one-night stand. I wanted you to love me for me, not just for a quickie. And I didn’t want you to regret it later.”
“Darlin’, you’re not getting out of it tonight,” she said. “I wouldn’t have had any regrets that night. My only regret now is that we’ve wasted days we could have been together.”
“I like the way you’re thinking,” Tag said. He gripped her hand and led her out of the restaurant. Soon, they were running for their vehicles.
“It’s not a race,” he warned her.
“The hell it’s not,” she said with a grin. Though she wanted to speed all the way home, she kept it barely above the posted limit, pulling into her driveway fifteen minutes later.
She had the door unlocked by the time Tag caught up with her.
Once they were through the door, he kicked it shut, yanked his shirt from the waistband of his trousers and grabbed the hem of her dress, pulling it up over her head and tossing it to the corner.
They left a trail of clothing from the front door to the bedroom, arriving at the bed naked and laughing.
When at last they fell into bed, they were wrapped in each other’s arms, kissing like they had a lot of time to make up for.
Leslie knew tomorrow was never guaranteed. She wasn’t going to waste another minute of happiness being alone. “I love you, Tag. Make love to me.”
Epilogue
Tag and Leslie arrived at the restaurant together. They were done with all the trouble of arranging for separate dates. Instead, they’d asked Anne Blanchard and Milton Koch if they wouldn’t mind going on a double date. Each had agreed.
“You think they’ll mind us ditching them halfway through the meal?” Leslie said.
“I hope not,” Tag said. “If they get along as well as Otis and Twyla—”
“And Herman and Chrissy—" Leslie added.
“Then they’ll be planning their wedding before the main course is served,” Tag said. He couldn’t stop grinning.
“Are you worried they might be disappointed we aren’t their dates?” Leslie asked.
“Not in the least. We’re t
wo for two, so far. I’m confident we’re doing the right thing.”
Leslie chuckled. “I think you like matchmaking even more than I do.”
“I can’t wait to see what BODS dreams up for Emma’s brothers. I just know they’re going to have the best matches. They’ll all be married before the year is up.”
Leslie’s brow wrinkled. “I don’t know. I think the system is a little glitchy. I might need to tweak it before the Jacobs brothers go out on their first dates.”
“Oh, leave it and see what happens,” Tag said. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“BODS could match them with people completely inappropriate for them,” Leslie pointed out.
“Which might make it all the more interesting.” Tag took her arm. “In the meantime, we have to match our dates. Then we can go home and start working on our own family planning.”
“Family planning?” Leslie asked, cocking a brow.
“Well, yes. If we’re going to have four children, we need to get going. If they turn out half as much fun as you, I might want to keep going until we have an even dozen.” He winked and smacked her on the butt. His expression grew serious. “And, if you want, we can add Randy’s kids to our bunch.”
Her eyes widened and filled with tears. “Really? You’d do that for me?”
Tag cupped her cheek in his palm. “I’d do it for you and Randy. He was my friend. I know how much he wanted children. And having his child would keep Randy in our lives.”
Leslie flung her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. “I love you, Tag. More than you can imagine.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.” He tipped her head up and pressed his lips to hers. Then he took her hand and walked her into the restaurant where Milton and Anne waited for them at the bar.
“I give them fifteen minutes,” Tag whispered into Leslie’s ear.
“Make it ten,” Leslie said. “It might take a lot of practice to get our family plan started. We can’t delay too long.”
He grinned. “You’re on.”
THE BILLIONAIRE GLITCH DATE
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ELLE JAMES
About The Billionaire Glitch Date
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Finally convinced to try the Billionaire Online Dating Service, Billionaire construction giant, Dillon Jacobs is ready to build his own home and wants to start the life of his dreams, with his perfect match. He likes control of his destiny and is looking for a woman who understands and fits in the tight little box of his world.
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Chapter 1
Bayou Miste, Louisiana
* * *
"Boyette, I hope this idea works." Edouard François Marceau scrunched his smartphone between his ear and shoulder as he sat on the bench by the back door of the rental cottage. With his hands free, he pulled off a muddy boot and dropped it to the porch planks. "If it doesn't, we may have us one dead witness on our hands, and that bastard Primeaux will get away with murder."
"Don't worry, it'll work," Ben Boyette, his partner in the Special Criminal Investigations Unit in Baton Rouge, reassured him. "Did you have any trouble finding the old trapper shack?"
"Did anyone ever tell you GPS devices work best on roadways, not waterways? Still, we managed with a few dead ends and switch-backs. If I lose this thing, I’ll have to hire a tracking dog with gills to find them. Holy Jesus, that swamp is a freakin' maze! Marcus and I counted no less than nine alligators while we were out there. And those were the ones we could see."
"Did you point them out to our witness?"
"You bet.” Ed shifted the phone to the other ear and attacked the laces on his left boot. “That ought to make even her stay put."
"You think? After the drug-running, backstabbing, mafia thugs she's been shacking up with, the alligators probably looked tame."
"Good point." One-handed, he tugged at the remaining muddy boot. The phone slipped, and he grabbed for it. “Tell me again why we're playing babysitter to a witness and why you didn’t take this assignment?”
“Number one, I don't trust anyone else to get our witness to the courthouse alive. I suspect we have a mole in the force. And I'd have done it, but I’m up to my neck in trials over the serial rapist case.” Ben sighed. “Since I did all the legwork, I’m the one in court. God, I hate courtrooms. But, we have to nail this guy so it sticks. Otherwise, I’d be there in a heartbeat. Oh, and I have a pregnant wife at home.”
“Oh, yeah. That. Guess you’re right. Although, I’d switch with you in a second. You’re the one with all the experience wrestling alligators.”
“You’ll survive. Hopefully, the only alligator you have to wrestle is my moth—” Ben stopped in mid-sentence as if he changed his mind about what he was going to say next. “By the way, how are your digs? Mom buy your story?"
"Yeah.” Ed padded through the small cottage, appreciating the homey feel of it. This was the kind of house he’d always pictured belonging to his grandmother. If he’d ever known her. “I hate lying to your mom, though."
"She'll get over it. Did my share of fibbing to get out of doing the lawn a couple times growing up.” He chuckled. “Come to think of it, I can still taste the soap. That woman could see right through every lie. She always caught me. But she loved me anyway."
"Yeah. She had to love you, you're her son." And Boyette was damned lucky to have her.
"I’m sure your mom did the same."
"Don't bet on it. Never knew her." His voice was a little harsher than he'd intended. A twinge of longing flickered across his subconscious, which he quickly squelched. No use pining after something he never had.
After all these years, he hadn't realized how much he missed having a mother until he'd met Ben's. Barbara Boyette was the consummate maternal figure. Care and concern written in every smile, wrinkle, and gray hair.
Ben cleared his throat. "Oh, by the way, do you like kids?"
Ed pushed his boots to the side and stood. Did he like kids? "Never thought about it. Why?"
“No reason. Did mom invite you to dinner already?” Ben asked.
“Nope.”
Ben laughed. “Don’t worry, she will.”
“Is that bad?”
“Uh, no, not at all.” Ben’s answer was a little too swift for his comfort. “She moves quickly with single men.”
“I’m not single, I’m divorced. There’s a difference. Is there something you’re not telling me?” He tamped down a sudden urge to get out of town. Fast.
“No, no. Nothing at all.” Now Ben’s voice sounded entirely too cheerful.
He should definitely run from this small town stuff as fast as his Nikes could take him.
“Mom’s a great cook. She just sometimes cooks up more than her guests are ready to swallow.”
Now he knew for sure Ben was keeping something from him. “What the hell do you mean
by that?”
"Okay, so you're all set, then.” Ben ignored his question. “Lay low and go fishing enough to keep Marcus and our girl fed and happy."
"Gotcha." He looked around the tiny cottage, the walls closing in on him already. "One question."
"What's that?"
"What the hell am I supposed to do with my time for the next few days?"
"Keep an eye open for suspicious characters. Otherwise, make like a vacation, and relax."
"I don't think I've ever taken a vacation.” He scratched his head and thought back. No, he’d hung out at the office even on annual leave. All that use-or-lose vacation time got lost each year. “What do you do on a vacation?"
"Sleep until noon, girl-watch, you know, the usual thing."
"Maybe on Cocoa Beach, but in Bayou Miste? I’d go so far as to say the alligators outnumber the people. I don't think I've seen one live human besides your mother and the marina owner. Tell me, Ben, do they count the alligators in the census?"
Ben’s outright laughter blasted Ed’s ear. "Bayou Miste isn’t that bad. Think about it, you arrived in the middle of the day, right?"
"Yeah. So?"
"School and work should be getting out by now.” Ben chuckled again. “Just wait."
He didn’t like the sound of his partner’s laugh, it had a devilish quality. "Wait for what?"
"To meet the family. You're gonna love them."
“I thought it was just you and your mother."
Ben snorted. "Oh, no. I have eighteen brothers and sisters."
He fumbled the phone and almost dropped it. "Holy hell!"
"Yeah, that’s what it’s like around my house after school."
The introverted halls of Monti-Ed-zuma crashed around his ears.
