by Holly Rayner
And then he was gone, and Josie was left staring at her phone with a bemused expression. It wasn’t that Matteo wasn’t normally a playful man—that he most definitely was. But their lives have been so busy lately that this felt like a welcome interruption.
She went to the room adjacent to the bedroom that had been transformed into her closet and began choosing clothes. That in and of itself was relaxing; she had spent so much time modeling that it was easy to forget that her love for fashion was what had drawn her to the industry in the first place.
After a while of picking and choosing, she had a bag ready to go, and a member of the household staff had appeared out of the ether to carry it downstairs for her. Josie didn’t know who had summoned this member of staff, but she liked to imagine that it was something Matteo had arranged. She headed downstairs and looked for her usual car and driver.
It wasn’t there. Instead, a playful, bright blue limousine sat waiting.
The member of staff was already disappearing around the back, dispensing with her bag. Meanwhile, the driver was already coming around and opening the door for her.
“Eduardo! The car is looking a little different today, don’t you think?”
To his credit, Eduardo kept a completely straight face. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, ma’am.”
Josie grinned. “No, I’m sure you don’t.”
She slid into the back of the limousine and found the interior just as opulent as could be. The only thing that she could’ve wanted was a view.
“Eduardo?”
“Ms. Green?”
“Isn’t the point of windows that you’re supposed to be able to see out of them?”
“I’m sure I don’t know anything about that, either, ma’am.”
She couldn’t see his face anymore, as he was up in the driver’s seat and already pulling away from the curb. But she could hear the grin in it.
So, Matteo wanted it to be a surprise. That being the case, Josie was happy to surrender herself to whatever her boyfriend’s plan was, trusting him to know her and shower her only with good surprises.
At first, entirely without meaning to, her mind tried to trace the path of the limousine. But after a few turns, she was completely lost and went along for the ride. By the time the car got to its destination, Josie had no idea whatsoever where she was.
It wasn’t until Eduardo opened the door and the smell of the air hit her that she knew where she was.
“The marina!” she said, stepping out of the limousine. Eduardo was smiling now, but he knew his job and was just as quickly disappearing into the background as he had originally appeared.
“How did you get so close?” she said under her breath. The sailboat was directly in front of her, the same one that Matteo had taken her out on for their second date. It was right up against the main drag of the marina and had been elaborately decorated with dozens upon dozens of roses.
“Is this a ship or garden?” she called when she saw movement up on the deck.
“Come aboard and find out!” Matteo’s voice answered, confirming her suspicions.
She wanted to run to him, but she also needed a minute to think. She mentally ran over the list of their important dates and important anniversaries, but she came back empty. Whatever had compelled him to hire someone to do this was lost on her.
The more she looked at the boat, the more she saw how elaborately it had been decked out. The exact shade of seafoam green that was her favorite color showed up now and again in ribbons and decorations. The roses, she could see now, were interspersed with her other favorite flowers.
She could have stood and stared at it for ages, but her desire to go see the man she loved overrode the temptation. She climbed aboard and was greeted by the sight that she had so enjoyed the first time she’d seen it, over two years ago now. There was Matteo, going about the tasks in front of him with complete focus, preparing for their journey.
She honestly didn’t know how her bag had managed to appear on the deck, but she was beginning to understand why it was there.
“We’re going sailing?” Her voice was a mixture of amusement and delight.
Rather than give her an immediate answer, Matteo smiled somewhat nervously.
What in the world would he have to be nervous about?
“I hope so,” he said, seemingly while he finished the boat’s preparations.
Josie was perplexed, but pleasantly so. She sat where she always did any time they went out for an afternoon—where she had found was the best vantage point from which to watch Matteo exercise his skill.
And before she knew it, they were underway, heading out to the deep, blue water. Josie’s favorite place to be. But in between long stares out across the water, Josie watched her boyfriend. Yes, there was definitely something off about him today. And, as she watched him scan the horizon carefully, she found it hard not to directly ask him what it was.
But he found what he was looking for, at last.
“There they are,” she heard him mutter under his breath in Italian. A simple enough phrase for her beginner-level skills.
Josie stood, suspecting she knew what Matteo was talking about. And, as she moved along to the bow of the boat, she saw that she was right.
“Dolphins,” she whispered when she felt Matteo’s arms come around from behind her.
“Yes,” he said. “Do you remember the first time we saw them?”
As she watched them jumping and playing alongside the boat, Josie recalled that day. She remembered all the sweet sensations of that afternoon. She remembered how much he already was beginning to feel like home, even though she had met him such a short time ago.
“I remember,” she said in Italian.
“I remember it too,” he said. “I knew you were special then, and I thought I knew how special you were going to be to me. But I was wrong.”
Josie felt her face scrunch up in confusion. It would have been unattractive if the camera had been pointing at her, but one thing about being with Matteo was that it made her not care what any hypothetical viewer might see.
“You were wrong?”
“Yes, I was. There was no way I could possibly have known just what you would come to be to me. I didn’t have any concept of how it could feel for another person to hold so much of my life and so much of my happiness in her beautiful hands. I could never have guessed how natural it would feel that every part of my present is intertwined with you. Or how my every thought of the future is wrapped around you.”
As he spoke, Josie could feel his hands moving around in front of her. She looked down and could see now that he held something in them. A small box that he opened as he spoke his next words.
“Josie, I don’t deserve to have you in my life. I don’t think any man does. But I would be honored if I were the undeserving, lucky man that you chose to marry.”
She couldn’t speak. Too many emotions were flying up into her throat, demanding to be felt and acknowledged. Instead, she turned around in his arms so that she could see his face. So much hope and anticipation were written there, and Josie answered it the only way she could.
As she pressed her lips to his, she felt a greater closeness to him than she had ever known. All this time, they had been weaving their lives together with an unstated understanding that it was what they wanted. She didn’t think anything was missing—not really. But she realized now as she kissed him, that the dissatisfaction and restlessness that she had been feeling recently had been a desire for this.
Everything that had been unsaid between them, about what they wanted and how certain they were about each other, had been said aloud.
Well, had at least been said aloud by him.
“Please tell me that’s a yes,” he said when their lips finally parted.
She smiled, treasuring the closeness of him in that moment.
“It’s a yes. It’s always a yes. For now, and for tomorrow, and for the rest of my life. Every day, it will be a
yes.”
This time, he kissed her. And his kiss held so much enthusiasm that it threatened to fling the two of them off the boat and into the water—if he hadn’t planted a steady hand on the railing. Josie thought she knew what it was to feel intimate with Matteo. After two years, they had spent countless hours physically much closer than this. But she had never known the pure, deep, certain connection that she felt just kissing him now.
When he slid the ring on her finger, it almost felt like an afterthought. A gorgeous, glittering afterthought to be sure. She had a guess as to which designer had been the mind behind this incredible creation, but she didn’t ask it right now. That wasn’t what was important at the moment. What mattered was everything the ring stood for—everything in her arms.
She had to take it off to swim with the dolphins, but that was a compromise she was willing to make. Again, she remembered their second date, and how she had already known by then that she was onto something special. When they came back in from the water, and she slipped the ring back on her finger, she wondered if every time she did so, she would feel this way. It was like the ring was a tangible reminder of the love she had always felt that Matteo had for her. It was their bond made real.
She told him this—sputtering out words as they dressed and prepared themselves for dinner. Without them discussing it, they had headed out, out into the ocean. Just the two of them, and the open sea.
“And I’m hoping it won’t be the only way ‘our bond is made real’, as you put it,” he grinned.
She laughed, feeling free and light and perfect.
The sun set behind them as the ship carried Josie and Matteo, and all their dreams and plans, forward toward the horizon.
The End
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His For A Price
Time for a tease!
Up next is the first chapter of the previous book from my Billionaires of Europe series, His For A Price
Happy reading!
Holly x
Copyright 2018 by Holly Rayner
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the explicit written permission of the author.
All characters depicted in this fictional work are consenting adults, of at least eighteen years of age. Any resemblance to persons living or deceased, particular businesses, events, or exact locations are entirely coincidental.
Chapter 1
Julien
I didn’t quite know how Marc’s bachelor party had ended up at an operatic pop show. Before the trip, there had been talk of strippers and shots and all the debauchery Las Vegas had to offer, but somehow, there we were, shuffling into bar seats at some kind of live music club, surrounded on every side by couples as old as our parents.
“Is this seriously the best thing happening in Las Vegas right now?” Alain whispered loudly in my ear, a blond eyebrow raised in doubt. “Somewhere, a woman is taking her clothes off, and we’re at a middle-aged music festival. The sign out front said ‘operatic pop.’ What even is that?”
“It’s not our bachelor party,” I said with a shrug.
I’d been a fan of opera since I was a kid. Going to the theater had been a regular family outing, so the idea of operatic pop was at least mildly intriguing. Alain, however, seemed to have missed that particular cultural experience.
“Julien’s right,” Marc slurred. He leaned forward and pointed at his own chest, nearly falling out of his seat. “It’s my party. I’m getting married.”
This elicited a round of clapping and cheering from the rest of the men in the row, all of them glassy-eyed and red-faced.
Alain gave a few half-hearted claps and turned back to me, lowering his voice. “All I’m saying is, I didn’t leave Monaco at the height of racing season to listen to opera.”
Racing season in Monaco was Alain’s life passion—the cars, the women, the notoriety. Everyone knew racing was dangerous, especially with the tight turns on the FP100, but it was what Alain lived for.
I lived for it, too. The adrenaline rush as I sat behind the wheel of one of the world’s most powerful cars, the stands around the track packed with onlookers from around the world…there was nothing quite like race day.
“You’ll be back in plenty of time to woo your many admirers, Alain,” I teased.
“If I can win this year, maybe I’ll even steal a few of yours,” he shot back, pulling a face. Then, he relaxed back into his seat, expression sobering. “I just want to get back to training. It’s important to stay in a good rhythm in the weeks leading up to the race.”
“Your rhythm is fine,” I said.
“You would say that,” he snapped. “You’ve won the last three years. My pattern of coming in second to you would seem fine to you, but as I’m sure you can imagine, it isn’t fine for me.”
“Actually, I can’t imagine,” I said, pursing my lips in deep thought. “I’ve never come in second.”
Alain elbowed me in the arm and we laughed just as the house lights dimmed and the curtain around the small stage parted. In contrast to the Vegas shows known for being overly flashy—smoke and flames and strobing lights—the stage was dark except for one spotlight in the center. A steady hum of music played in the background, like a heartbeat for the entire bar, building up the tension as the audience waited for something to happen.
Then, just as the hum in my ears began to reverberate into my bones, setting my body on edge, a woman stepped into the spotlight.
The light caught the edges of her golden-brown hair and white dress in a halo. She looked angelic in the spotlight. My breath caught in my throat, anticipation pulsing through me. Alain whispered something to me, but I didn’t hear it. I was too focused on the stage.
The music cut out and silence sat heavy over the crowd. Suddenly, I was nervous that the build-up for the performance would outmatch the woman’s skills and it would be humiliating for everyone in the audience. But then, she opened her mouth to sing, and my worries floated away.
It was beautiful. Her range was unprecedented and the power behind each word glued me to my seat. I couldn’t understand why she was performing at a hotel on the Las Vegas strip instead of selling out arenas around the world. Her talent shouldn’t have been wasted on a half-drunk audience of men like Alain who would find more beauty in a naked woman sliding down a pole. Or even on middle-aged couples in the city for a weekend away.
The woman was a marvel, and she should have been filling seats at the best opera houses in the world. She should have been at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Palais Garnier in Paris, the Metropolitan in New York.
“Are you coming?”
I looked over to see Alain standing up, shoulders raised in a half-shrug, anxious to get past me.
“Going where?”
“We’re leaving,” he said.
I looked to my right and saw Marc and the rest of the party slipping through the door of the bar.
“You don’t want to stay?” I asked, confused. Had he not been watching the same performance I had?
Alain screwed up his face, hesitated for a moment—clearly trying to decide if I was kidding—and then frowned.
“No, this is not the way I want to spend one of the few nights we have in Vegas. One of the guys met a dancer earlier who invited us to a party tonight. It might be lame, but anything would be better than this.”
The people sitting behind Alain began to grumble, waving their hands to urge him along and out of their way. He stepped over me.
“So, are you coming?”
I thought about leaving. It was Marc’s party, after all. At the same time, something about the woman kept me in my seat. She capti
vated me. I had to see more.
“No, I’ll stay,” I said. “I’ll see you back at the house.”
“You want to stay?” he asked, forehead wrinkled. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah, you guys go ahead.”
Alain was still staring at me as the music transitioned from one song into another, and I turned my attention back to the stage. I don’t know how long he stood there, but when I looked over after the next song, he had gone.
My life had been filled with beautiful women and opulent parties for as long as I could remember. I’d grown up in a wealthy family and had then started a business that had grown larger than I could have ever imagined. I’d traveled the world, exploring the seas in my yacht, tasting the nightlife in every large city across Europe. Alain liked to joke that I had a woman waiting for me in every city in the world, and he wasn’t so far off.
Yet, the woman on stage, whose name I didn’t even know, felt elusive. She felt unattainable in a way that only made me want her more.
The way she moved across the stage, her gown rippling behind her, was classic. Her voice, effortless and powerful, sounded timeless. I had spent my life chasing after the best things in this world. The best experiences, best cars, best people.
This woman was the best, and I knew instantly that I needed to have her in my life. I just had to figure out how.
His For A Price is available on Amazon now
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More Series by Holly Rayner
BILLIONAIRES OF EUROPE
Fake Bride Wanted
Single Dad, Billionaire Boss
Big Greek Baby Secret
His For A Price
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