by Claire Angel
BILLIONAIRE’S FAKE MARRIAGE
A Billionaire Romance
(TEMPTING BILLIONAIRES SERIES BOOK 2)
CLAIRE ANGEL
Copyright © 2020 by Claire Angel
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on life experiences and conclusions drawn from research, all names, characters, places and specific instances are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. No actual reference to any real person, living or dead, is intended or inferred.
BILLIONAIRE’S FAKE MARRIAGE: A BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE
Table of Contents
Billionaire’s Fake Marriage: A Billionaire Romance
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
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Billionaire’s Fake Marriage: A Billionaire Romance
Drooling over a married man, is a bad idea.
I know but I can’t help that.
It is even worst faking a marriage with him.
But I can’t help that too…
I was self-obsessed and I loved myself.
I was enjoying all the money I had earned in all these years.
And I didn’t need a man to make me happy.
That was until I met a silly accident and rescued by him.
He took my heart in return.
And I ended up sleeping with most intimidating billionaire.
He was handsome, intriguing, and wholesomely smouldering.
I knew sleeping with him was a mistake…
And I was not going to repeat that.
But the second time I met him; he was a completely different man.
I knew that he had a heart of gold underneath that rugged exterior.
He rescued me one day and now I decided to rescue him.
But… then I ended up sleeping with him again.
I could save him by marrying him, but that was not going to be easy.
I would be sharing the house with him.
And I need to keep my heart safe from this gorgeous billionaire,
Because I was falling for him already.
How I will manage to stay away?
And what will happen when a broken billionaire and a sassy millionaire come together?
***
Chapter 1
Erika
I had just sat down at my desk for the first time all day to answer the email from that annoying pest Habersberger, or whatever his name was, when I realized that I’d broken one of my freshly-done nails. “Aww man!” I cried as I examined it, feeling my annoyance surge through me. It really wasn’t a big deal- I had so much money at this point that I could have gotten my nails done one hundred times that week and it wouldn’t have made a dent in my finances- but it was always the little things that seemed to get me going.
My assistant, Natalie, leaned into my office and asked, “What did he do this time?”
I looked up at her, now absolutely furious at my nail. “No, it’s not... it isn’t Habersberger this time,” I responded with venom in my voice. “My nail broke off, and I just got it done yesterday!”
I held up the snapped off nail rather pathetically, and Natalie rolled her eyes at me. She was younger than me by about five years, and she was almost twice as beautiful. I would have been jealous of her if she was not the nicest person in the world and also my best friend.
“Erika.” Natalie crossed her arms and looked at me disappointedly. “You’re the Founder and CEO of NowNews, one of the biggest apps in the world, and you’re being outdone by your nail?” She walked over to me, rolled up a few papers that I had sitting on my desk and gently hit the sides of my head with them. “Pull yourself together, woman!” she cried as she bopped me.
I put up my hands to try and shield myself, but it was no use. I squealed with laughter and cried, “Stop, stop!” and eventually she took pity on me and did as I said. I hesitantly opened my eyes when she did, and she was still giving me a death glare.
“Are you over it now? You can go down to Ya Ya’s and get it fixed over your lunch break, can’t you?” Natalie asked.
I nodded sulkily and held my poor, wounded nail like it was my puppy. “I guess so,” I responded, looking wistfully out the window.
“You’re ridiculous,” Natalie spat back at me. “Now, have you answered that bloody email yet?”
I gave Natalie my biggest, most pathetic-looking eyes. “No... not yet,” I replied sadly.
Natalie was having absolutely none of my usual nonsense today, and so she yanked my computer off of my desk and took it with her as she returned to her workstation. “You’re seriously so incompetent sometimes that I don’t even understand how this company manages to run,” she grumbled as she went.
“Thank you!” I called after her. “I’ll buy you one of those pumpkin spice thingies that you love so much when I go out next!”
Natalie popped her head back inside my office. “It’s not a pumpkin spice thingie,” she snarled. “It’s a pumpkin spice latte. You’re the white girl, and I’m the one who has to correct you on that? Get a handle on yourself, Heatherington.”
And then, Natalie disappeared from the doorway and I was left alone again. I, of course, knew exactly what the drink was called, but I absolutely loved teasing her about it. The nice thing was that I never drank coffee because of my stupid, delicate heart, and so it was believable to her that I would forget the name of a PSL.
I looked down at my nail for a final time, and then decided to get over myself once and for all and go about the rest of my day. I sifted through the mountain of papers on my desk, trying to see what was important and what could wait until later. It was still early in the day, so I had plenty of time to catch up on things that needed tending to, but I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. When I had started this business five years ago, I could have never dreamed what it would become.
I had started NowNews because I was tired of working in the freelance journalism industry. I wanted to create my own database for news and provide journalists with consistent, steady income. I didn’t want others to have to suffer paycheck to paycheck like I had for so many years, and so the best way I could figure to do that was to create an app. That way, I could hire on a core staff of people who were my employees, and they didn’t have to worry about where their next meal was coming from.
When I taught myself how to create the app, the first version of it was complete garbage. It was slow, boring, and desperately needed assistance. And so, I hired my first employee, who ended up helping me build the layout for the app that millions of people now used and loved around the world. I couldn’t believe how quickly it took off, and how much people loved it and relied on it. I could not have been happier of the empire that I created.
And n
ow, as I sat at my desk looking out at all of the people who worked ‘under’ me (I put that in quotations because I absolutely hate thinking about anyone as being beneath me), I was excited to see where my company would go from here. It still wasn’t the number one most popular news site, but we were getting there. I knew I could rest easy, because I had such a solid team of wonderful people working with me.
I snapped out of my daze when a notification popped up on my phone. I picked it up and clicked the little glowing icon on the screen. “Darshi’s party, 8 PM tonight.” Oh no, I thought. I had completely forgotten that I’d promised Darshi that I’d be at his birthday party this evening. Thankfully, I didn’t have anything planned for the night, so I was relieved as I was still able to make it. I decided to work double speed for most of the day so that I could actually get out of work in enough time to go get my nail fixed before the shindig that night.
*
At 8:07 that evening, I pulled up in front of Darshi’s mansion. It was so massive that I was almost tempted to call it an estate, but Darshi insisted on calling it a mansion. I’d met Darshi when we were both working as interns at SportsNet, and we were the only two people there who absolutely hated sports. Now, Darshi was a multi-millionaire because he had landed an anchoring gig on one of the biggest news shows in the country, BreakfastLive!
I parked my Subaru on the long, winding hill that led up to his house. I had considered buying a fancier, more impressive car many times, but I just couldn’t bear to part with my trusty old Subaru. It was almost fifteen years old, and yet it still ran the way it did on the first day I got it, brand new. Well, brand new to me, that was. I might have had more money than I knew what to do with, but I wasn’t frivolous with it. I knew the importance of saving money, and I had no intention of getting rid of my car any time soon.
As I walked up to the front door, my heart pounded. No matter how old I got or how many parties, press conferences, or group meetings I went to, I still got nervous before each one. When I was a teenager, my mom had reassured me that things got easier with practice. But now as I was steadily heading toward middle age, I still wasn’t so sure about that. It seemed the older I got, the more my old habits seemed to rear their ugly heads.
I shrugged and finally summoned the courage to knock on the door, and it swung open almost immediately, and standing in front of me was Darshi’s husband, Rick.
“Erika!” he cried excitedly, pulling me into a hug. “We were worried that you weren’t going to come! This is shockingly late for you.”
I hugged him back and chuckled into his shoulder. “I know, right?” I said, pulling away from him and smoothing out my timeless black dress. “I’d planned to be here on time, but there was a hold up on Washington St. Apparently construction is more important than me getting here on time.” Rick arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
Rick was a tall, traditionally attractive man with large arms and a perfect body. Unlike Darshi, he loved sports. Darshi always found it amusing when Rick’s friends came over to their house and they all started talking baseball. At that point, Darshi and I would usually excuse ourselves from the room and go discuss what shows had been promoted to Broadway.
“How dare they,” he empathized, as I laughed.
“Welcome to the party.” Rick said, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I knew most of the people there.
When Darshi spied me, he squealed, ran over to me, and hugged me tightly. “Come,” he said urgently. “Come, come, come, I have something to show you.” Darshi took my hand and ran me into the back of the house, away from the rest of the guests. He got to the back door, opened it, and shooed me through.
“Where are we going, Darsh?” I asked, completely intrigued.
“Shh, shh, shh!” he ordered. “Don’t ask, just look!”
I looked out across the back lawn and saw that there was now a trampoline, in addition to the pool, tennis court, and running track (the latter two were, of course, built for Rick, not Darshi). “You... you got a trampoline?” I asked cautiously.
Darshi clapped his hands excitedly. “Isn’t it wonderful?” I could see the joy on his face. “I’ve wanted one since I was a kid but have always been hesitant to get it because I care so much about what people think of me. But Rick ordered this, and so now...”
Darshi went over to the side of the house and flipped a switch. Party lights started flashing and Beyonce came on the sound system. “I’ve got a party trampoline!” he shouted excitedly.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s incredible, dude,” I whispered, staring in awe at the trampoline. “Have you tried it yet?”
Darshi, like me, was still trying to navigate this whole ‘having money’ thing. We had both been so strapped for cash when we were younger that to now have millions of dollars to our names was unbelievable. I was so happy that Darshi was finally using his money for things that he so desperately wanted.
Darshi looked at me like I had just asked him if he would say no to meeting Idina Menzel if he ever got the chance. “Have you lost it?” he asked, taking my hand again and walking toward the trampoline. “I’ve spent most of my night on this thing! Come on, try it!”
Darshi pushed me toward the trampoline, and I laughed hysterically. “I’m not wearing the right attire for this!” I protested, gesturing to my short dress and heels. “I’ll try it next week when I come over before we go see Hamilton for the fifth time.” But Darshi would not take no for an answer.
“You’re trying it out tonight,” he demanded, bending down to help me take off my shoes. “I won’t take no for an answer!”
Finally, I resigned myself to the fact that this was going to happen and sighed. “Fine, fine,” I said, jokingly annoyed. “I guess I’ll try it.”
I clambered up onto the trampoline and instantly felt like a ten-year-old again. My aunt had a trampoline when I was growing up, and I had many fond memories of bouncing on it for hours at a time, so truth be told, I was very excited to be jumping on one again.
“No one will see me jumping, though, right?” I asked, gesturing toward the house.
Darshi nodded. “Everyone’s distracted playing Cards Against Humanity inside. Don’t worry about it!” he reassured me. And so, I struggled to stand up on the trampoline, took a deep breath, and started bouncing.
I loved it. I had forgotten how much fun it was to fly that high in the air, but also how much it hurt your spine after a little while. I jumped and jumped and jumped, laughing hysterically as I did so.
And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man standing in the window at the top of the house. I got distracted looking at him, because he was the most handsome person I had ever seen in my life. He had deep green eyes, short black hair, and his mouth was upturned in a playful smile. Unfortunately for me, however, I was so distracted by him that I didn’t watch where I was going on the way down, and slipped on the surface of the trampoline, went over the edge, and felt my ankle crunch.
“Ah!” I cried out, clutching my ankle. Darshi was at my side in an instant.
“Oh my god, oh my god! Are you okay?” he asked, positively panicked. “You need a doctor. I’ll go get one, you stay right here!” And with that, he ran off toward the house, shouting, “Curse you, trampoline! You decadently evil bitch!” I had no idea where he was going to find a doctor, nor was I entirely sure I needed one, but I let him go because I was in so much pain.
I held my ankle with both hands and started rocking back and forth slowly. It hurt like hell, and I didn’t know how to make it any better. But suddenly, there was someone kneeling before me who smelled like a combination of smoke from a summer fire and candle wax- two of my favourite scents. I looked up, and it was the handsome man from the window.
“Hi there,” he said quietly. “Would you let me take a look at that? I’m no doctor, but my father was. He annoyed me enough with his wealth of information that I have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing.”
&n
bsp; I silently nodded, maintaining eye contact with him the whole time. He took my ankle gingerly in his hands and said, “Alright. I’m going to very gently move it around, and you tell me when the pain gets to be too much, okay?”
I nodded again (where had my speech disappeared to?) and the man started delicately rotating my ankle. It surprisingly hurt less when it was being moved, until he turned it just slightly too far to one side and I yelped. He stopped immediately, and returned his attention to me.
“You have a sprained ankle,” he said in a calm, deep voice that sent chills down my spine. “I don’t believe it’s broken, but if you want a second opinion, I wouldn’t be offended.”
I still could do nothing but nod because I was so entranced by him. He was looking at me expectantly, probably waiting for me to say something, anything in return, but when I didn’t, he spoke again.
“What’s your name?” he asked gently.
Finally, my brain kicked in enough for me to think of a response. “Heatherington. Erika Heatherington,” I managed to spit out. My ankle was still hurting enough that I couldn’t quite think straight, but at least I could tell him my name.
He stuck out his hand so that I could shake it, which I did. “Hello, Erika. I’m Xavier Franklin.”
My eyes widened and I immediately dropped his hand, which I thoroughly regretted. “X...Xavier Franklin?” I stammered, looking at him is disbelief. “As in-”
“Yes, that Xavier Franklin, unfortunately,” he said. I wasn’t certain, but I thought I could detect regret in his voice. He also looked disappointed when he answered me, so I knew there was more behind the way he’d said that.
But in the moment, I wasn’t aware enough to shut my mouth, so I pressed on. “You’re the CEO of AccuTek, the biggest medical supply company in the world. You’re... you’re one of the ten richest men in the world!”
At this point, Xavier looked like he no longer wanted to have anything to do with me. “That’s... that’s me,” he said, looking even more uncomfortable. He sat back from me and placed my foot on the ground again. “I’m sure that Darshi will be back any minute, but I’m going to go make sure he’s found someone to help you.”
