Billionaires Runaway Bride

by Claire Adams

  I smiled and had a feeling this was going to be it.

  We met with the venue wedding planner, an older gentleman named Jacob. I already liked him better than the other woman from the last venue. He was kind and answered all of my questions without caring how my best friend looked.

  There were two rooms for the reception we could choose from. The first was nice and had a view of the landscaped courtyard. “The cocktail hour will take place outside in the courtyard, and then dinner will be in here. Depending on the weather, all of these windows can be removed so that your guests can filter between inside and outside.”

  “This is great,” Sienna said.

  “Let me show you the other option.”

  We walked down a long hallway to the back of the building. This room was a little smaller. And the windows had already been removed to show the bright blue sky and view of the ocean in the distance.

  “Wow,” Sienna said.

  Jacob smiled. “We get that reaction a lot.”

  We walked through the space and outside. “We can have your ceremony out here, overlooking the ocean.”

  The view was even more breathtaking than the photos on the website. This was the place I wanted to have my wedding. And I knew Rachel would agree.

  “Over here we can seat up to two hundred people,” Jacob said, indicating the space in front of us. “Then over there would be your cocktail hour.” There was a long bar on the backside of the reception room. “We usually put out high top tables and a tent, so your guests stay cool.”

  I nodded and looked back over to where the ceremony would take place. Sienna had wandered to the edge of the overlook. When Jacob was done with his spiel, I walked over to her.

  “What do you think?” I asked her.

  She took a deep breath. “It’s perfect.”

  Jacob came up behind us. “If you both stand over here and face each other, then you can imagine how it will be on your wedding day.”

  Sienna flinched and turned to Jacob. “It’s not our wedding day.” Her tone was hard, as if she couldn’t even imagine marrying me. My throat tightened. I didn’t understand why I felt so upset by her comment, but for some reason, it upset me more than I wanted it to. My earlier feelings from before were squashed. Sienna had no feelings for me other than friendship. Her dislike for Rachel had spurred that conversation from the night before, and that was all. At least my cold feet had finally thawed.

  “Oh,” Jacob said, “I’m sorry. I just assumed.”

  “I’m the best man,” she said, smirking at me.

  “You won’t be the first female best man we’ve had,” Jacob said.

  I bumped Sienna’s arm with mine. “See, it’s not that weird.”

  “So, what do you think?” Jacob asked. “Do you have any more questions?”

  “Are both rooms available for the day I discussed with you on the phone?”

  “At this moment, yes.”

  “Good, I want to buy the whole place for that day,” I said.

  Jacob cocked his head. “How large is your group?”

  “Not that big, but we want privacy. I’ll pay whatever you want.”

  Jacob blinked a few times. “If you insist. Let me put together some numbers for you. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” He left us alone to wander the property.

  “I really like that courtyard,” Sienna said. “And if you’re buying the place out, I think it should be used.”

  “I thought you would say something about my careless spending of my money.”

  She rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to spend money, you might as well spend it on a fabulous party.”

  “I’m glad you agree.”

  “Do you have to check in with Rachel about it?”

  “No,” I said quickly. If Rachel was going to leave me to make this decision and not have the decency to call me, I was going to make the final decision. Besides, with a view like that, I doubted even the pickiest of brides would refuse.

  “Glad you’re taking the initiative,” she said. “This place is really nice.”

  “What do you think: band or DJ?”

  “How about both? I went to a wedding years ago where the band also DJ’d. It was interesting and a really cool idea. And maybe for that extra room, you can do a photo booth or something fun like that.”

  “You’re really getting into this.”

  “With a place like this, it’s hard not to get into the wedding spirit.”

  “I agree.”

  We walked to the edge of the overlook again and silently stood side by side, listening to the crashing waves. I closed my eyes and imagined what my wedding day would look like. I could almost hear a string quartet in the background as Rachel came up the aisle.

  “Okay, Mr. Liston,” Jacob said from behind me.

  My eyes fluttered opened and I turned to him. “I’m all ears.”

  After booking the venue and taking Sienna to a long lunch at a nearby seafood joint, I brought her back home. It was almost six by the time I walked her to the front door.

  “How am I still stuffed?” Sienna said, rubbing her stomach.

  “Well, you did eat a whole entree plus half of mine.”

  “Uhh,” she groaned. “Let me know if you go back to that restaurant; I definitely want to try the lobster rolls next time.”

  I laughed. “Will do.”

  “Oh!” she said with a devilish grin. “I have a surprise for you on Monday. So, take the day off or turn off your phone or whatever you need to do to. You’re all mine.”

  “I take it this is a surprise?”

  “Oh, yeah. It’s time for me to get you back for all the surprise visits.”

  I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of begging her for details. “I’ll take off work on Monday if you help me with decorations tomorrow.”

  She took a backward step toward her door. “Fine. But I’m not picking out flowers this time. Apparently, I can’t choose the right color scheme.” She winked at me then opened her door.

  “Good night, Sienna,” I said. “I’ll come by around ten.”

  She waved. “Night, Parker.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sienna

  It was just after eight when I woke up on my own. I stretched my arms over my head and yawned. I had plenty of time to get ready for Parker’s arrival. But that wasn’t happening until I got some caffeine in me.

  While sitting at the breakfast bar, waiting for my coffee to cool down, I flipped through my phone to get to the weather. It was going to be close to seventy-five today.

  After my shower, I picked out a pair of khaki shorts and a cream-colored tank-top. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be outside a lot, but I wanted to be cool. I had a tendency to run hot in the spring and summer months.

  I had just finished putting makeup on when my doorbell rang. I glanced over my shoulder and my hair glided over my skin. I wasn’t used to wearing it down during the day. I wasn’t sure how long it would last either. I slipped a hair elastic around my wrist just in case.

  I jogged over to the front door, my bare feet slapping against the cool tile floor. I opened the door for Parker.

  “Morning,” I said.

  His eyebrows rose. “You seem chipper this morning.” He made a point of smelling the air between us. “And you showered. What’s the occasion?”

  “You know I could slam this door in your face,” I said with a bright smile.

  He chuckled and came inside.

  “Can I get you some coffee? I just brewed a pot.”

  “Sure,” he said.

  I poured him a mug and refilled my own. “Let’s sit out on the porch; there’s a nice breeze this morning.”

  Outside, I sat on one of the lounge chairs and Parker plopped down on another.

  I sat back and dropped my sunglasses over my eyes. The mid-morning sun was already making me sweat. Thankfully, the breeze from the ocean was strong enough to keep me cool. I could have easily made iced coffee, but I never liked the tast
e of it.

  It was one of the main selling points of the house for me. I was close enough to the beach to have an unobstructed view, but it was about a five-minute walk down the path to get to it. During the warmer months, the beaches swarmed with people. I loved the ocean view, but needed my privacy.

  I took a deep breath, inhaling the salty scent in the air. “Remember when we were kids and wouldn’t come out of the water for hours?”

  Parker laughed. “Yeah.”

  “Now I barely want to get my toes wet.”

  “Why did you get a place by the ocean, then?”

  “I love the view. Just not the sand in every crevice of my body.”

  Even though Parker had sunglasses on, his gaze lingered on me a little too long. I would have done anything to know what he was thinking. Those penetrating blue eyes had a way of pulling you right in. And sometimes, even I wasn’t unaffected by them.

  He turned his gaze back to the water, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “That was a good way of culling our circle of friends.”

  “Hey, if they can’t cut it on a normal day with me and you on the beach, then they weren’t worthy of our friendship.”

  “Speaking of school,” he said. “You know we have our fifteenth reunion coming up in a couple of years.”

  I groaned. “Don’t remind me.” Even though high school brought me closer to Parker, sealing our friendship, I hated it. Parker grew into his looks senior year while it took me until college to finally feel good about my body. I wasn’t sure of the etiquette on high school reunions, but I hoped that we wouldn’t have one ever, never mind a few years from now. “Well, you’ve made a name for yourself and will probably have children by then,” I said, even though it made me sick to imagine Parker and Rachel’s children. She didn’t seem to have a motherly bone in her body.

  “Maybe,” he said. “I bet you’ll have a great guy to take you.”

  I snorted. “Yeah right.”

  “Speaking of, any new men in your life?” Parker asked.

  I took another sip of coffee; the liquid tasted like chalk. I hated talking about my love life or lack thereof. “Not at all.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Maybe I’ve been too busy helping you plan a wedding.”

  “You’ve only been helping me for a little while. You can tell me.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “How come?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about this with him. Everything I said would be a lie. It should have been obvious in a strange way, but the only person I wanted to spend time with was him. It was so wrong since he was engaged to another woman, but I couldn’t deny the feelings he had stirred inside of me lately. I had to be under some wedding spell. I’d been down this road before with Parker. There were times in my life I imagined being with him, but I couldn’t risk our friendship. I would be lost without him, and I wasn’t about to spill my heart out to someone who was in no way available to me like that.

  “I haven’t found the right person,” I lied.

  “It’s hard to do that when you’re either working or sleeping.”

  Or spending time with you…

  “I have to work to keep my business. It’s just Tony and me.”

  “You could hire someone else.”

  “I will, when it’s the busy season.” I usually hired part-time employees during the tourist times, but I had to find someone that gelled with the dynamic that Tony and I created at the diner.

  “If you let me help you by investing…” he trailed off.

  I gave him a look. “You already know the answer to that one.”

  He smirked. “I’m never going to stop until you say yes.”

  “Then I suppose you’re going to have to ask forever.”

  “I want to see you happy, Sienna.”

  “I am happy. But to be honest, I don’t think love is in the cards for me.”

  “Don’t be like that,” he said.

  “I’m not being pessimistic; I just don’t see myself with anyone.” Anyone but you. God, I needed to nip this in the bud before I got my heart broken.

  “I can’t wait to prove you wrong.”

  “Why? Do you have a guy you want to set me up with?”

  “I think that would be wrong on so many levels.”

  I laughed. “Probably.”

  We were silent for a few minutes. My mind lingered on the subject of love. Until recently, I rarely thought about dating. I had Parker and Tony in my life, who else did I need? But with Parker’s pending nuptials, it dawned on me: I was almost thirty and hadn’t had a serious boyfriend for almost five years. Was there something wrong with that? Sure, as a little girl I’d imagined my own wedding day, but there had only been one guy I wanted standing next to me. I couldn’t even admit the name to myself. It wasn’t going to happen, and Parker was set in his mind about marrying Rachel.

  “I’m starving,” I said. “How about I make a couple grilled cheeses?”

  “That sounds great,” Parker said. “Do you have that cheddar?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “I love that shit,” Parker said.

  I giggled. Being in the restaurant business had its perks. Along with stocking Sunny Daes with the best ingredients, I sometimes ordered for my own personal kitchen. Those who I was close with expected the same quality of cooking as I did professionally, and I never disappointed.

  Parker wanted to help prepare the meal, so I gave him the opportunity to wash some vegetables with a salad. He was hopeless in the kitchen and was happy that I allowed him to even do that.

  After I made four grilled cheese sandwiches and a chopped salad, we made our way back to the porch to eat. By then, the sun was higher in the sky and much warmer. I opened the attached umbrella on the table to shade us while we ate. Our conversation didn’t delve into my love life, but we were able to reminisce, something we hadn’t done in a while. Maybe this was what weddings were about: taking your past and bringing them together with a hopeful future. Even though I wasn’t going to be the one to walk down the aisle toward him, I still held a prominent position in his heart.

  It was almost three o’clock before I noticed how late it was.

  “We should get going on those decorations. I can’t believe I lost track of hours of time.”

  I stood from the lounge chair and Parker waved me down. I sat.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “We can do it another day.” He sighed. “I needed a day like this with you. It’s been too long.”

  “Well, you should enjoy this relaxing time, because tomorrow, you’re going to hate me.” I grinned at him.

  “In that case, I think you should get me a beer so I can relax even more.”

  I hopped up from my chair. “Coming right up.”

  I smiled all the way to the kitchen, excited to see his face tomorrow when he realized what I had planned for him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Parker

  The sound of hard banging on my front door jolted me from a very deep sleep. The room was dark, and I blinked a few times. I jumped out of bed and ran across the room and threw open the bedroom door. My heart was hammering in my chest by the time I reached my front door. The banging started again, and I whipped open the door.

  Sienna stood there, but it took me a minute to interpret what I was seeing.

  She wore a fitted camouflage outfit and face paint only fit for someone in the military. Her bright white teeth were smiling devilishly at me. And she held a paintball gun against her shoulder as if she were modeling the weapon.

  Her eyes moved to my chest and back up to my eyes. “Surprise.”

  I looked down and realized I was only wearing my pajama bottoms. In my rush to get to the door, I hadn’t dressed properly. Good thing it was her and not a real emergency.

  She smacked me on my bare chest and pushed through the door.

  I laughed. “This is your surprise? What are you going to do? Shoot me in m
y living room?”

  “Not exactly. I thought—if I’m going to be your best man, I wanted to show you why you chose so wisely. And what do men like to do? Shoot guns. So, here I am.”

  “Don’t you think it is a little early for this?”

  A smile slowly crept across her lips. “It’s payback time. Now, get dressed. We leave in five.”

  I used to go paint-balling all the time in college and was surprised to find one of my old outfits stuffed in one of my drawers. Back then, I had been in peak physical condition, so the shirt sagged a little, but the pants fit like a glove.

  Sienna refused to let me drive, and she insisted on blindfolding me. “There’s only one place in the area that has paint-balling. The blindfold is unnecessary.”

  “It’s totally necessary, and you’re going to leave it on. I’m in charge today. Sit back, relax, and shut up.”

  I turned to her and tried to see her through the thick scarf she wrapped around my head. “You know I used to be insane at paintball. You better be ready for this,” I said.

  “‘Used to’ is the operative phrase.” She blasted the radio and I sat back in my chair, feeling the freest I had felt in a long time. Even though her little beater car had issues driving above fifty, we managed to get to the paintball place in record time. Sienna was a speed demon behind the wheel, and I was almost glad I had been blind for the whole ride.

  When we arrived at the paintball field, there were more cars in the parking lot than I expected for a Monday morning.

  “Whoa,” I said, taking it all in. “I haven’t been here in forever.”

  “They did an expansion many years ago,” she said, gathering our things from the trunk. “The back field is now several acres of forest.”

  I helped her with the equipment and we walked through the front gate.

  Since it was a weekday, they only had the main field open. Half of it was an open field with several barrels and a few high walls as hiding places. The back half was all in the woods as a more authentic terrain. I remember the wooded terrain being my favorite. Now that there was more, I was excited to get out there.

  A group of about a dozen high school teens milled around the entrance. When they saw Sienna and me approaching, all eyes went to her. Of course, she was oblivious and strode up to the guy in charge, announcing our reservation.