The Billionaire's Past: A Billionaire Secret Baby Romance (Mercury Billionaires Book 5)

by Nicole Casey

  It was too late to turn back now but maybe, just maybe…

  It seemed such a tiny, fragile glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, but it was all I had to hold on to as I tried to work out what to do next.

  I used some of the wood to set up a temporary shelter. It wouldn’t withstand any heavy winds but it would probably be okay for a day or two.

  Jessie was up and about now but was too proud to ask me for help or even to speak to me.

  People thought I was the luckiest guy in the world and it was an image I was happy to go along with. Yet, right now I felt far from being lucky.

  I had been shipwrecked on a beautiful island with the only woman I had ever….the word “loved” came into my head but surely it was a mistake.

  I had often thought I was incapable of loving or being loved. Could it be that Jessie has caused such an incredible change in my life after so little time?

  The waves lapped against my feet as I wondered what life on this island would bring us now.

  10

  Jessie

  I just couldn’t believe that Adam had walked away on me like that.

  Typical of a poor little rich boy to give up as soon as the going got tough. I bet that he had never before had to solve any of his own problems. He probably always had a nanny or a butler or someone to clean up any messes for him.

  Getting up onto my feet was tough at first but I got there in the end. I was going to have to be strong because I knew that there was a lot of work to be done before I could relax.

  I vaguely remembered seeing someone in a movie or documentary once spell out “HELP” or “SOS” or something with rocks on a beach, so I decided to do the same. Just in case a plane or helicopter flew overhead and saw the message.

  There were very few suitable rocks nearby, as they were mainly too small and too similar in color to the sand. So I had to wander into the small wooded area behind the beach to look for some there.

  The mood changed instantly back here, as it was dark and forbidding when compared to the light and sunny beach. There was a horrible feeling here that someone or something could be spying on me.

  I got into a minor panic when I heard some leaves move and ran back out onto the sand, hoping that he couldn’t see me. Yeah, the whole rocks spelling out a word plan could wait a bit longer.

  Instead, I gathered together some driftwood to make a shelter of some sort. As I did this I noticed that Adam was trying to salvage some stuff from the yacht, which looked as though it was going to sink completely under the waves at any second.

  He carried out some clothes and then some food. As least he was salvaging useful stuff rather than his expensive gadgets and other little luxuries like I had feared he would do.

  I resisted the temptation to run out and tell him to be careful, as the yacht could sink and take him down with it.

  He wouldn’t listen to me anyway, as he had already shown himself to be an extremely stubborn and selfish little brat. I still couldn’t quite work out why it was that he caused my emotions to swing so wildly from one extreme to another just by thinking about him.

  If he hadn’t been so determined to seduce me then none of this would have happened. His stupid plan to trap me on his ridiculous yacht was the most selfish thing I had ever seen anyone do.

  Of course, when I closed my eyes I relived our glorious night of passion all over again. It had been the most magical night of my life but the come down from that high had been brutal. First of all, he had been cold and distant with me and now his recklessness had seen us shipwrecked, a fact that he didn’t seem to ever plan on apologizing for.

  Night fell over the island slowly as the sun sank into the distant horizon. The sea was ablaze with a glorious sunset that really deserved to be shared with someone. Unfortunately, the only other person on the island wasn’t the type of person who was likely to be impressed by nature in all its glory.

  I eventually decided to swallow my pride and walk over to him. This moment just felt too special to be experienced while feeling all alone and miserable. I was going to swallow my pride for the first time that I could remember.

  He was lying back looking up at the sky, apparently oblivious to the incredible sunset we were being treated to.

  “Have you got your camp sorted out?” I could clearly see that he hadn’t. It looked worse than mine and that was saying something.

  “Almost there.”

  “Just taking a rest?” The words come out far more sarcastically than I had expected for some reason.

  “Better than standing there watching a stupid sunset.”

  “Have you never thought that the finest things in life are the little moments like this when we just sit back and look at how amazing nature is or savor an unexpectedly inspiring moment?”

  “No.”

  “Ah right, for you life is all about spending money and impressing people who don’t even care for you. I bet most people that you think are your friends secretly hate you and are only with you for your money.”

  By the way he winced I could tell that my words had hit home. So, the arrogant little rich boy had a weak spot after all. Maybe it was time to see if I felt better after twisting the knife a little more.

  “If you lost your inheritance tomorrow you’d be all alone in the world.” Strangely, this wasn’t making me feel any better at all but some sort of wild, uncontrollable impulse made me carry on regardless. “Why don’t you just admit it, you might be a billionaire but you’re a loser as well.”

  The rage inside me suddenly subsided and I immediately felt ashamed of spitting out those hateful words. I had never spoken to anyone like this in my life and it was a horrible, empty feeling that settled in my stomach as he stared out to sea. What had come over me to make me act so nasty with him?

  Adam got up slowly and walked towards me. For a second I thought he was going to hit me. It would have been better if he had.

  Instead, he walked down to the water’s edge and just stared at the wreck of his yacht. It was about to disappear and I guessed that by the morning all traces of it would be gone.

  How could the warmth and tenderness that briefly sizzled between us have vanished so quickly and in such a horrible way?

  My instincts now told me to go to him and apologize but this time I ignored them. That’s the funny thing about instincts; it is easy to only follow the wrong ones.

  I stood there like a fool, not knowing what to do next. My emotions had been all over the place in the last few days and showed no sign of settling down anytime soon. For the first time in my life, I genuinely feared that I might be going crazy.

  This island was having a weird effect on me. Added to the effect that being around Adam had on me, it was clear to see why I was feeling so strange but I had no idea what to do about it.

  There was nothing left to do but wander back over to my own camp and get ready for what promised to be a long, sleepless night.

  11

  Adam

  As night fell over the island I had all the time in the world to reflect on the mistakes that had led to me being in this situation in the first place.

  I knew that Jessie was only a few hundred meters away but she might as well have been back in Buenos Aires or up there on the Moon that hung silently in the sky so high above me.

  We had never felt closer yet so far apart. Every grain of sand between us could have been a kilometer wide and it wouldn’t have made any difference.

  To top it all off, my camp was a disaster and so was hers. The temperature was starting to drop a lot more than I had expected and my light clothing wasn’t going to keep me very warm.

  Jessie was in an even worse situation than I was, as she only had a flimsy t-shirt on. It might even still be wet from when we had got shipwrecked.

  I looked up at the Moon, as though expecting to find the answers to my problems engraved on it. To be honest, the answers came from a lot closer to home, as I truly listened to my heart for the first time in my life.
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  It felt like some sort of miracle as I finally began to feel as though I understood myself. I wasn’t the rough, tough guy that I had been pretending to be. It was just some stupid part I had given myself and that I no longer knew how to escape from.

  I felt some sort of indefinable emotion bubble up inside me as I thought about how I could make things right against with Jessie if only I could find my real self and my genuine personality. She was perfect for me and I had risked it all by being stupid and thinking only of shallow things.

  It was so clear to me as I looked up at the dark sky over the island that I had done it all wrong from the very first second that I had laid my eyes on her. I had to admit that I had been doing everything all wrong for longer than I cared to think about.

  Strangely, I felt a sense of liberation rather than regret when I thought about my mistakes. If I could admit them to myself then maybe, just maybe, I could do something to fix them as well.

  Making things right again wasn’t going to be easy. Jessie might never feel able to relax with me again after what I had done and the attitude I had shown. Yet, I had to give it a try to see if she felt able to forgive me.

  As soon as the ideas were clear in my head I knew that I had to act that very night, before old fears and bad habits stopped me from doing so. I had wasted far too much time already to be able to give myself the luxury of hanging around and waiting for the perfect moment before acting.

  It was probably around midnight or now, or maybe even later, but I knew that she was as wide awake as I was.

  I walked over to her camp and saw that she wasn’t there. She was down on the beach where the water was washing over her feet.

  Jessie was staring up at the sky as well. When she saw me she sat up straight, seemingly prepared for another fight or at least an argument. That was how our relationship had always worked, wasn’t it?

  I sat down on the sand beside her. Jessie looked even more alluring than normal in the moonlight and with only the gentle sounds of waves running on to the sand to listen to.

  We sat in silence for a moment. The mood seemed perfect and I didn’t want to spoil it with a clumsy choice of words. She had pulled my t-shirt down over her knees and looked so sweet and innocent that I had to fight back a lump in my throat before I could speak.

  “Jess, I’m sorry for…well, everything really.”

  “For being a spoiled, heartless little brat?”

  “Yeah, especially for that.”

  “And for getting me stranded out here due to being selfish and thoughtless?”

  “Yup, that too.”

  “And for seducing me on your yacht?”

  “Um, that no so much.”

  We sat in silence for a bit longer, it was a far more comfortable silence now, though. It felt as though the heavy sense of awkwardness that had hung over us had disappeared at a stroke. Was this going to be so easy after all?

  Our bodies were almost touching and I tentatively put an arm around Jessie’s shoulders. She was cold but her body felt just right when leaning against mine. She didn’t pull away, so I was going to claim that as my first small victory in the battle to win her back.

  “Do you want to stay in my camp tonight?”

  She was looking out to sea so I couldn’t read the expression on her face after I had asked the question.

  “Hell no.” She turned around sharply to look at me. “Your camp is even worse than mine.”

  “So, invite me over to yours then.”

  “Do you want to stay in my camp tonight?”

  “Uh huh.”

  The silenced carried on for a few minutes more then she stood up and held her hand out me. After walking together to our new joint camp we sleep, with our bodies almost but not quite touching.

  We were making progress but there was no doubt that they were still issues to smooth out before we could look ahead to the future with any degree of confidence.

  “Do you think that a man like me could ever…win a girl like you?”

  “I don’t know. What is a man like you like? I mean, what are you really like, under the billionaire bluster and the fake arrogance?”

  I closed my eyes and tried to find the answer deep within me. I could almost touch it but I couldn’t yet put it into words. Who was I really? The answer moved closer and closer until I could see it at last.

  “I’m just like you, Jess.”

  “In what way?”

  I shrugged even though I knew that she couldn’t see me in the darkness.

  “I just need to love and be loved. I have weaknesses-“

  “A lot of weaknesses.”

  “I have a lot of weaknesses and, hey, a few good points too.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as…” I closed my eyes again. This was incredible. She gave me the time and the space to find the answers within me. Was it going to work again?

  Maybe 10 minutes passed. It is hard to keep track of time when you are cut off from the world and can only feel the wet sand and the silky smooth hand of the woman that you think you are falling in love with.

  “Such as my desire to make the world a better place. Such as the genuine love I feel for you. Such as the way I want to make you happy more than anything else I have ever done. Did I mention that I make some mean pancakes?”

  “With bananas?”

  “Maple syrup, I’m afraid.”

  “Ah well, it’s something I guess.”

  “What are your good points, Jess?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been searching for them but I can’t quite seem to catch them in the light long enough to examine them.”

  “Let me tell you then.”

  “Please do.”

  “Okay, so Jess is a kind generous woman who worries more about other people than about herself.”

  “How could you possibly know that? It’s just a wild guess by a crazy, sleep-deprived, and shipwrecked man.”

  “No. I can tell just by looking at you and listening to you. How you cared for your brother, how you have tried to make me a better person. How you have such a big heart.”

  “No-one’s ever noticed any of those things in me before. I’m not even sure they really exist at times.”

  “They’re easy to spot if you take the time to look. I saw them right away when I finally decided to look for them. Sorry, it took me a while to work it out.”

  Finally, I felt we had advanced enough for me to put my hand on her head and stroke her wonderfully unruly hair. It was wilder than ever but somehow more adorable too. I would love to wake up and see that hair every single morning for the rest of my life.

  “You’ve got great hair too.”

  “Ah, I recommend swimming in the salty ocean and then sleeping on the sand in the wild for a few days to get the perfect coiffure.”

  “You really go the extra mile for your image, don’t you?”

  We sat down there, talking and joking until we were virtually falling asleep in each other’s arms. Something had changed in the world that night and it could never go back to being the same as it was before.

  The island no longer seemed like a prison either. Now it was a place where we could really be ourselves, free from the pressures of trying to maintain our imagines or be what other people wanted us to be.

  I fell asleep with a lighter heart and a freer mind that I had felt in years, possibly ever.

  When I woke up in the morning Jessie was gone.

  12

  Jessie

  I opened my eyes and saw that it was still dark, but it was that wonderful, fleeting moment when you just know that the sun is going to appear at any second to signal the start of a brand new day and a new opportunity to make the most of life.

  The sun was just under the horizon and I wanted to be out on the beach to greet it when it made its first appearance of the day. Adam was sleeping so I left him there. This was something that I wanted to experience alone anyway.

  I had slept very little in the last few nights
but I was restless again and needed to walk and think. I went for a stroll along the sand around the curved bay. The feeling of wet sand under my wet toes was amazing and it instantly relaxed me. I loved the sensation of sinking into the sand as I walked.

  On a whim, I took off the t-shirt and threw it onto the beach. Well, there was absolutely no–one around to see me walking naked along the sand, feeling the joy of the early morning sun on my bare skin. I had done the same thing once in the jungle reserve, walking down to the outdoor shower naked when I knew that everyone else was asleep.

  This felt different, though. More thrilling and more like a bold step in my life rather than a moment of madness to liven up my day.

  This was the kind of total freedom that I had dreamed of when I had set off on my travels but had never quite managed to feel before now.

  The first rays of the sun shone on the beach and I lay on the sand making angels with my arms and legs like I used to do in the snow as a kid. I was now covered all over in wet sand, so I ran into the water to wash it all off before carrying on with my exploration of the island.

  This was like having my own private island where I could do whatever I wanted without having to give explanations or conform to other people’s ideas about what I should be like and how I should behave.

  Something had clicked in my mind last night. I had convinced myself since leaving home that I had discovered the true meaning of freedom, but I hadn’t until the last few hours spent on the sand with Adam by my side that I had truly felt it.

  In fact, for most of my time backpacking and working in the jungle I had been scared, lonely or confused. Of course, it had all been part of the journey towards understanding what freedom really is and appreciating it. I could see now that I couldn’t enjoy this moment without having passed through everything else on the way.

  The final part of the process had come last night. While Adam had been apologizing to me I had come to understand that I could finally achieve freedom with him by my side, believing in me and seeing in me the good things that even I struggled to notice at times.