The ballroom explodes in applause.
I hand the microphone to Elvis. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining Christopher and Isabella as they join their lives for now and forevermore.” Looking at us, he says, “Isabella, please repeat after me. ‘I, Isabella Maria Vargas, take you, Christopher Erickson Reinhardt, to be my husband, my partner in life, and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever.’”
Bella repeats her lines, and my heart swells with love.
“Christopher, please repeat after me. ‘I, Christopher Erickson Reinhardt, take you, Isabella Maria Vargas, to be my wife, my partner in life, and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever.’”
I repeat my lines.
“Christopher, do you take Isabella to be your wife?”
“I do.”
“Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her?”
“I do.”
There is more whooping, and I think it’s Stevie and Jonathan. I grin.
“Isabella, do you take Christopher to be your husband?”
“I do.”
“Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him?”
“I do.”
“Wedding rings are an unbroken circle of love, signifying to all the union of this couple in marriage.”
He looks at me, and I know it’s my turn. “Isabella, this ring is my sacred gift, with my promise that I will always love you, cherish you, and honor you all the days of my life. And with this ring, I thee wed.” I slip a wedding band on her finger.
“Christopher, this ring is my sacred gift, with my promise that I will always love you, cherish you, and honor you all the days of my life. And with this ring, I thee wed.” Isabella slips a platinum band on my left hand.
“By the power vested in me by the great State of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
The crowd goes crazy, and Jonathan comes up to the stage, gives Bella and me a hug.
“This weekend has been a culmination of many years of planning. Thank you for being patient with us when we didn’t have it down just right, and thanks everyone for helping to make the opening weekend and huge success.” The crowd goes crazy. “It’s my great pleasure to introduce you to the real reason you’re here—Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Jr.” The crowd goes completely crazy as U2 comes out on stage.
We walk off stage as Bono says, “For the bride and groom,” and begins singing “It’s a Beautiful Day.”
As the partners and our families all descend on us, Bella says, “I hope you don’t mind that we hijacked your party tonight.”
“What? Are you kidding? This was awesome! Congratulations,” Emerson says.
“But we didn’t get to do a bachelorette party,” CeCe bemoans.
“I didn’t want one. I got the idea when I was trying on the wedding dresses. Mama, I know you want a big church wedding, and we can absolutely do one with Father Michael for just family.”
“Oh, baby, I’m so happy for you both.” She hugs us both and wipes tears from her eyes.
“Mother and Father are going to be so upset they missed this,” Maggie announces.
“They can come to the church ceremony,” I tell her. This was a great night, and I’m the happiest man on earth. “Thank you all for sharing it with us, and as much as we’d like to hear U2, we’re heading upstairs to our suite to enjoy a quiet night of celebration.”
“I hope it isn’t too quiet,” Dillon quips, and everyone laughs.
Read an excerpt
from:
Enchanted
Venture Capitalist
Book 7
by Ainsley St Claire
(And, don’t forget to sign-up for our newsletter/readers group. Don’t miss a release or sale.)
Chapter ONE
Quinn
My other work phone is ringing. I check the caller ID before I answer. “Hello, handsome.”
“What are you wearing?” he rasps into the phone.
“A black silk robe. I love the way it feels against my nipples.” I breathe heavy for effect.
“Are you touching yourself?”
“I am. My pussy is wet. Can you hear me play with it? But what I want to know is if you are touching yourself?”
“My dick is so hard right now. What would you do if you were here with me?”
“Mmmmm… that’s easy. I’d get down on my knees—” I pause for dramatic effect. “—then I’d lower the zipper to your jeans, and I hold on to your hard cock nice and tight.” I moan my appreciation. “It’s so big; I’m not sure I can take it all in my mouth. What should I do?”
“Take it deep in your mouth,” he whimpers.
“Ohhh… my tongue swirls around the end. I love the way you taste.”
“I want you to take it deeper in your throat.”
“Can I play with my pussy at the same time?” I say in my best coquettish voice.
“Only if it’s completely hairless.”
“Smooth as a babies bottom. Tell me what you like. I want to please you.”
“Play with your nipples and your pussy.”
“Oh, that feels soooo good. Can you feel me take you deep in my throat?” I hear his breathing increase and I know he’s close, but I don’t want this to end yet. I whisper, “Don’t come yet. I want to suck your balls.”
He moans into the phone.
“I’m licking and sucking on your balls—swirling my tongue around and pulling gently.”
“Pull harder,” he commands.
“You get me so horny. My hand is so wet. I neeeeeed you.”
“I want to hear you come for me.”
“I’ll only come for you if you will come all over my tits when I’m done.”
“Jesus, woman, I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard before.”
I begin to moan my orgasm for him.
“Ahhh,” he grunts into the phone. “Gawd, you’re amazing. I can’t sleep anymore without you. Are you working tomorrow night?”
I’m panting for added effect. “Yes.”
“Can I call you again tomorrow?”
“I think I’ll have recovered by then.” I giggle seductively into the phone.
“Goodnight, Cinnamon.”
“Goodnight, handsome. You’ll haunt my dreams tonight.”
He hangs up, and I walk into the kitchen, wearing sweatpants and a giant ratty old wool sweater I got years ago. I grab a Diet Coke from the fridge before my next client calls for his evening naughty talk.
Sitting down at my computer, I look at the project plan for my newest client. We’ve just invested almost two hundred million in a company who is working on a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, and I’ll oversee the office manager on-site and coordinate the recruiting and other operational sides of the business.
I pick up my phone, and it lights up, showing I’ve been on the phone with one of the partners for over a half hour. I quickly push the red button to disconnect the call. Fuck! I’d called William to leave him a message about his newest client and what he was trying to accomplish when my second job phone rang. I thought I’d disconnected the call. Crap.
Living in San Francisco is expensive. My one-bedroom apartment has a rent more than most people’s mortgage, and I don’t have a parking space or washer and dryer, and my view is of the street outside of my third-floor walk-up. Plus, I have a school loan payment of over four thousand dollars a month. I’m drowning in debt, so I took a second job that didn’t require me to have strange people get in and out of my car or actually prostitute my body out to strange men—eww! I’ve gotten to know men too well doing the job, but they don’t know my actual name and only think they know what I look like from the highly photoshopped picture. I make a dollar a minute plus tips, which means over eight hours I earn about two hundred and fifty dollars a night, a
nd I try to work at least six nights a week. It pays my school loans and puts a dent in my rent, but it’s often lonely. I haven’t been out with my friends for so long they’ve stopped asking.
My phone rings again.
“Hello, handsome.”
“Cinnamon, do you have some time to talk?”
“Jeffery?”
“Oh, sorry. Yes, this is Jeffery.”
“Of course. What’s wrong?”
“My company is going public, and I’m freaking out. I just need to hear the calm in your voice to get me off the ledge.”
“I’m here for you, baby. Just imagine me cuddled up next to you.”
“I love how soft your breasts are.”
“You’re so naughty when you play with my nipples.” I moan into the phone. “I’ll promise to stroke that beautiful cock, but only if you tell me what’s bothering you.”
He goes through the litany of challenges that he’s facing. I want to tell him he should have invested with my company SHN, but first that would be too close to home, and second, I’m not exactly sure who Jeffery is, but I don’t really want to find out.
Most of my job is to listen to the men who call. Some want to have a physical release when they talk to me, and others just need a sympathetic ear. Jeffery keeps me on the phone for over three hours, and when we hang up, I get a message that he’s tipped me five hundred dollars. A good night. I turn my phone off and stop taking calls.
My mind drifts back to my open call with William. I’ve never wanted my professional job to intersect with my second job. They should never mix.
The bile rises in my throat. I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Okay, there are two possibilities. I said goodbye, and he hangs up, and most likely he never listens to all of my messages. Or he listens and tells everyone, and not only am I beyond embarrassed but I’ll most likely lose my job, and then I’m in serious trouble with my bills.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck! I can’t believe I was careless. Shit.
What am I going to do? How am I going to explain this to him?
What if he thinks I was talking to him? Oh, gawd! I run my hand through my hair, and I see several strands laced in my fingers, and now I’m sure the stress is making my hair fall out, and I’m going to go bald. Why can’t anything be easy?
I have an idea. Maybe I can go in and erase the message. I search “How to erase voice mail messages on someone else’s cell phone.”
Shit! I’m not a hacker.
Okay. Think, Quinn. Do you know anyone who can hack a phone?
No one.
Cameron from work—maybe? But then I’d have to explain to him why I need him to break into William’s phone.
Breathe.
All right. What did I say to the caller?
Think.
I told him how I liked how my nipples feel against silk. Shit! I’m screwed.
I’m sure he’s the type of guy who would erase the message after I said, “Goodbye.” He may not have even listened to the message to that point.
I hope. I pace my small living room and bite at the nail on my thumb. How can I ever go back to work again? What am I going to say when I see him? Can I avoid him for the rest of my life?
Quinn, how could you’ve been so stupid?
Chapter TWO
William
I roll over half asleep and say, “Alexa, alarm off.” I cover my eyes and desperately want to go back to sleep, but it’s five, and I need to work out. Pulling on a pair of shorts and tucking my feet in my running shoes, I walk to my home gym in my condo. It’s really the second bedroom, but I don’t have guests, so I have a decent treadmill that I run on each day as I look out on the Golden Gate Bridge. Sometimes, if I feel up for it, I may go for a run up and down the boardwalk, but this time of year there are too many tourists, and it’s just easier to run inside.
Noticing a missed a call from last night, I pop my cell phone into the cradle for the speaker on the side table and push play on the message. Once the message is over it will move over to my music. Setting the treadmill for a four-minute mile, I jump on and start running. I love how it clears my head and sets me up for a good day.
“Hey, William. It’s Quinn. I met with the team at Worldwide Payments and have a timeline all set up. I think we’ll be good with one operations person who can double with our help on the recruiting side. I also”—I can hear a phone ring in the background—“think we may need to look at some of the support staff. Let’s talk about it in the morning. Goodnight.”
I wait for the call to disconnect, but it doesn’t.
Then I hear her, in the sweetest, most sultry, southern drawl. “Hello, handsome.”
I almost trip over my feet. It’s quiet a moment, and then I hear her describe giving the guy a blow job. Before I fall off the treadmill, I stop it and walk up to the speaker. She isn’t talking into the phone’s microphone, so I can barely hear her, but I know exactly what she’s saying. Her voice is so fucking hot. And since I know what she looks like, I wonder what it would be like to have her going down on me.
Holy fucking shit! My cock could pound nails right now it’s so hard.
I know I should disconnect the call and erase the voice mail, but I’m so aroused I can’t bring myself to do it. I listen for the entire length of the call, and she finally tells whomever she’s talking to “Goodbye,” I can’t help but stroke myself.
Who could she have been talking to? A boyfriend? I’ve never had phone sex like that, but I’d sure like to.
I’m not in any serious relationship. I have a few girls I see when I need a date or want some fun, but no one who talks to me like that.
She disconnects from the call, and I then hear her hum the sweetest melody.
I’ve always thought Quinn was stunning. She’s blonde, with an incredible rack and legs that I wouldn’t mind wrapped around my waist while I pounded into her. Okay, I only thought that last part since I heard her talking on the phone. I don’t mix my personal life with my professional life, so I try to only admire my female colleagues from afar.
Holy crap. How will I ever look at her again and not have a huge hard-on?
I glance at the clock, and unless I get a move on, I’m going to be late for work.
The water is warm as I ease myself into the shower, and I keep replaying her sultry voice saying, “I want to please you.” I begin to stroke myself until I shower the wall with my orgasm.
How am I going to be able to get through the day and not want to bend her over my desk and pound her hard from behind?
As I walk into the office, I can’t help but look around for her. I don’t see her. She has a cubicle on the other side of the office, and we rarely interact.
I finally spot her. Her hair is up in a ponytail—easier to pull her deeper on my cock, I think as I fantasize about her.
She’s wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black pants with a pair of sexy stilettos—I wonder what her underwear looks like? I wonder, if I were to tweak her nipples, would she moan in appreciation or knee me in the balls? Probably the latter.
I need to get my mind out of the gutter. I need to forget the message and focus on Worldwide Payments. My deal has been funded, and the goal is to finalize the software with Cameron’s team over the next year and prepare to take them public. Without Quinn’s help, my deal with go south, and not only will the company be out of their investment, but I’ll be out of a job.
She did leave a message saying we would talk about my issue today. I’d also like to include Mason, Cameron, and possibly someone from his team to do some planning. I check everyone’s calendars and send out an invite for a meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss.
As I push send, I look over in Quinn’s direction. I watch her pop up and look at me. I glimpse a pink flush cover her face, and even that makes me hard. I look away.
What is this woman doing to me?
Thank you!
I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve given
me the time to share with you the stories that ramble around in my head. This is a dream come true for me to be allowed to introduce you to a group of people that are my friends. If you like it well enough, feel free to write a review on your favorite review site – you can find me on Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub. If you want to know the exact date, know what’s going on with my books join my newsletter. I try to send only one a month but if I’m releasing a book, you might get a second.
Other people to thank include my amazing husband. He’s my inspiration for Christopher (only his family are potato farmers and not department store moguls ;) ). But in his pure kindness and willingness to go two-hundred miles above and beyond for Bella is purely based on him. He’s my muse and my always.
My editors from Hot Tree Editing are amazing. My content editor Barbara really helped to keep me on track. I had a big spoiler in this book and she caught it and suggested I take it out. So you can blame her. ;) All in good time! Virginia did the heavy lifting with this book and my line edit. She makes sure all those commas and apostrophe’s are in the right place. I take great comfort in knowing that one of my all-time favorite authors, Ernst Hemingway is known for not having used any punctuation in his manuscripts and drove his editors crazy. Granted, I’m no Hemingway, but I assure you Virginia has all her hair still on her head. I also have a fabulous final editor Kim and Clara and Sue, my wonderful beta readers who always find the last few missing periods, commas, and things that don’t make sense.
Aria Tran at Resplendent Media does an outstanding jobs with my covers. I adore her and all her work. I highly recommend her!
And to my friends, Gayle, Erin, Carol, Jocelyn, Julie, Nicky, and Nicole, THANK YOU! These ladies listen to me talk unending about my books, let me talk through the plot points that sounded so good when I mapped out the series and now make no sense as I’m writing. You girls are my biggest fans and greatest support. Thank you for listening even when I’m pretty sure you’re over me talking about it.
Longing (Billionaire Venture Capitalist #7): A Billionaire Romance Page 20
