Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels)

by Love, Michelle

  The sound of chopper blades cutting into the sky make me look up and there’s Max, with a kid hanging out the side of the machine in the seat he invented. He lands and someone runs up and gets the kid out of all the harnesses that hold him into the seat.

  Little screams of laughter fill my ears as the chopper goes quiet. I turn to see what little kid is so happy and what is making them that way.

  My heart stops.

  Why is he here?

  Blake is turning in circles as a little boy flies through the air. The kid is smiling nearly as much as Blake is.

  I have to lean against the Jeep to steady myself as my knees have decided to give out. It’s been a little over a month since I’ve seen that handsome face. That hair that hangs to his broad shoulders.

  My hands clench into fists as I fantasize about the last time we were together. The way he touched me, the way he kissed me, the way he loved me.

  And all I did for him was to leave him.

  In an instant my body goes hot and my face has to be fifty shades of red as he looks up and his eyes meet mine. I can’t seem to look away. But he does, and he turns away too and walks away with the little kid in tow.

  I can’t go in there now. I can’t face all this and the fact Blake hates me now too. Then an arm falls over my shoulders and warm lips kiss my cheek. “Hey there, sweetie. I’m so glad you decided to come.”

  Max moves me along with him towards the place where so many people are hobnobbing with each other. That’s not my ideal place to be. Add a man who wants nothing to do with me in and it becomes a place of night mares.

  “Max, why’s Blake here?” I manage to get to come out of my mouth. “I had no idea he’d be here.”

  “He donated quite a large sum of money for the improvements. So of course they wanted him here for the celebration. Did he see you?” he asks as we walk up to some man and I’m handed a hot dog.

  “He did, then he walked away. I guess he hates me.” I take a bite of the hotdog and chew it mindlessly.

  A little girl touches my leg and I look down to find her red curls in cute dog ears. “Hey, lady.”

  “Yes, can I help you with something?” I ask.

  “Yes, can you reach me a Dr. Pepper? They’re in the very bottom of the ice chest and I can’t reach it.” She takes my hand and leads me to a table with several large ice chests on them.

  Max follows along. “After you do that I want to take you inside to meet the people who took care of you that few weeks when you were little, Shelly.”

  “Okay,” I stuff the rest of the hotdog in my mouth and reach into the freezing water and dig around until I find the drink the little girl wants. “Here you go. I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

  “I’m Sally. Thanks lady.” She takes the coke and pops it open.

  “You can call me, Rachelle,” I tell her and she smiles.

  “You’re really nice, Rachelle.”

  I give her a half smile because I know at least one man here who would disagree with her. I scan the area and find Blake pushing, the same little boy he had been spinning around, in a swing. I look away as Max takes my arm and leads me towards the house.

  Looking hard at everything, I say, “I remembered the road on the way in. The way the trees covered it. I remembered that, but I don’t recall any of this.”

  “They did a massive overhaul of the place thanks to me and Blake. I doubt any of the house is what you would remember. How are you doing so far?” He opens the door for me and I walk inside.

  “I’m okay. I’ll be fine. I hope so anyway,” I mutter as I walk inside and see an old couple sitting on the sofa.

  Max gives them a smile and says, “This is Rachelle.”

  The old woman smiles. “I remember her, Randy. Come sit and tell me how you’ve been. I’ve talked to your young man several times. What a blessing he has been to this place.”

  “He’s not my young man,” I say and look up to find Blake and the little boy coming into the house.

  “And why’s that, sweetie?” she asks me.

  He’s looking straight at me and I can’t take my eyes off him. “Yeah, why is that?” Blake asks me.

  Blake

  Sitting side by side in the swings, Rachelle and I sit in silence. “Why’d you follow me out of there if you don’t want to talk?” I ask her.

  Her small shoulders shrug. I can’t take the silence from her anymore. I get up and walk away. I want to look back so bad to see what she’s doing, but I won’t let myself.

  “Blake!” she shouts.

  I look back and she’s coming towards me. Tears spill over her pink cheeks and she breaks into a run and throws herself into my arms. Wrapping her arms around me, she buries her head in my chest.

  Her hair is soft and falling free to her small waist. I run my hand over it. “Shh, it’s okay, Rachelle. You don’t have to cry.”

  “I didn’t know you’d be here. I would’ve never come if I would’ve known.”

  Her words hit my heart like ice and I push her back, gently. “I’ll leave if it hurts you this much.”

  Watery eyes look up at me. “Please don’t.”

  “You are a very complex person, baby. I’d ask you what you want me to do, but I know even you don’t have a clue what you want.”

  “Do you hate me?” she asks with her dark brows furrowed.

  “I could never hate you. Am I mad at you? Now that is a hell yeah! I’m mad as hell at you, Rachelle. How could you send me off to the store to get things and come home to find you gone?” I let her shoulders go and take a step back. “I felt like a dumb dog that was dumped on the side of the road.”

  “I’m sorry,” she says as she looks down. “That was cruel in hindsight, but I had just talked to my mother and she made me so afraid of the love I felt for you. I felt I had no choice but to do it that way. I could never leave if I had to look at you as I did it.”

  “Maybe that’s because you love me and should have stayed with me. You have me gun shy now. I don’t know if I could do it all over again with you.” I shut my mouth as I really didn’t know that was going to come out of it.

  I want her back!

  “I don’t expect you to, Blake. What I did was too horrible. I know that. If you could find it in your heart to forgive me is all I ask. Not take me back or anything. I know you could never trust me again after what I did.” With the last word she looks at me. Her eyes are so sad.

  “We should talk. Don’t you think?”

  She nods and I wrap my arm around her shoulders. It’s warm outside, but she’s shivering. What all this young woman has been through and here I am putting her through more.

  “What if I told you that I forgive you?”

  “It would be a start at me forgiving myself. It’s so hard to know what the right thing to do is. You see, I believe you deserve the best. The very best woman in the world is who you deserve and I, well, I’m not the worst, but I’m so far away from the best.” A shudder runs through her.

  “Why can’t you realize you are all I want, all I need. You are exactly the person I deserve and guess what, baby, you deserve me too.” I tighten my arm around her and walk towards the parking lot. “Did you come here in that Jeep?”

  “Yeah, it’s Peyton’s. Kip flew us to Smithville, and I borrowed it and drove it the three hours down here.”

  I pull her closer to me. “There’s a town a little bit bigger than this about ten miles or so to the south. I saw it when we flew in. What do you say to me getting us a room in that town and maybe something to eat and drink? We could stay the night together and hash some of this out.”

  Her body tenses and she looks everywhere but at me so I decide to give her an out. But wait to see what she says. “That actually sounds fantastic, Blake. We could drive back to Smithville in the morning and Kip could drop you off where ever you want with his helicopter.”

  Leading her to the Jeep, I kiss the side of her head. “Go ahead and get in, I’ll just be a minute while I go tel
l Max what I’m doing and then we’ll be off. Unless you want to come in with me and say your goodbyes.”

  With a shake of her head, she says, “No, I’ll wait in the Jeep. With my crying I must look like crap and I’m kind of emotionally spent right now. Tell Max I’ll see him on Sunday for a while as Kip plans on stopping by before we make our way back to Los Angeles.”

  I nod and take a few steps then stop and look back at her. “Wait! Kip knew he was bringing you down here to go to this thing, right?”

  “Yes, why?” she asks.

  “Oh no reason. Hold on! I’m sure Kip talked to Max and made arrangements for the visit on Sunday. Do you know if he did?”

  “Yeah, Kip talked to Max. Max knew I was coming here. OMG! They hid it from us!” Her eyes go bright and shiny and she giggles.

  My heart fills with the sound and I smile. “Rat bastards, they are. I’ll be right back.”

  As I walk away I realize there is a huge chance I will walk back to this very spot and find her gone. I have to give her this chance to leave if she wants to.

  If she does leave, this will be the last chance I ever give her.

  Rachelle

  Five minutes go by and I find my mind going crazy. Maybe Blake decided not to come back. Maybe Max told him it was a terrible idea to get a room with me and talk, or more.

  I hope there’s more!

  Another five minutes pass and no Blake. I had taken the passenger side, but if he’s not here in five more minutes I’m moving into the driver’s seat and taking off back to Smithville.

  He could be giving me a dose of my own medicine after all. Leading me to believe all is well and we can at the very least be friends then walking away and leaving me all alone.

  I deserve it. I know I do. Only a few more minutes to go and then I’ll be leaving here alone. I had already put on my seatbelt.

  One more minute then that’ll have been fifteen minutes and I’m no idiot. It means he fucked me over this time. I unbuckle the seatbelt and turn to get out of the car and make my way to the driver’s side.

  “Were you going to leave without telling me goodbye?” a little girl’s voice asks.

  I turn to find the little girl named Sally. She’s walking next to Blake as he carries the little boy I saw him playing with. They look like a little, perfect family and my heart thumps hard in my chest.

  I jump out of the car and jog up to meet them. “No! I’m sorry, Sally. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.”

  “A little,” she says as she holds her small arms out. “Can I have a goodbye hug, Rachelle?”

  I take her up in my arms and hug her. “How old are you anyway, young lady?”

  “I’m five. I’ve been here for a couple of years.” She leans close to me and whispers in my ear. “Can I tell you a secret?”

  “Of course.”

  “I think you look like a nice lady and if you ever want a cute little girl, I’m available. My mommy isn’t ever coming back for me and I know it.”

  My heart clenches in my chest and I hug her tight to me. “Well, I hope that changes for you, sweetie,” I whisper back. “And if my life ever gets to a point where I could use a cute little girl in my life I’ll be sure to consider your offer.”

  Her lips touch my ear again. “While you’re thinking about that, think about that handsome man as my dad, just saying.”

  I giggle and squeeze her. “Will do. I’ll keep in contact Sally. Tell me your last name so I can.”

  “Sally Portis.”

  I put her down and run my hand over her little head. Red curls and glasses look up at me and I wish like hell I could take her with me now. “Well, Sally Portis, you get ready to get some awesome little goodies in the mail. I’m a chef in training and I can make yummy cookies.”

  She jumps up and down then Blake nudges me with his shoulder and I look at him to see the dark haired little boy blushing. Blake says, “Toby is her little brother, and he asked if you could send him some goodies too.”

  With a tussle of the kid’s hair I say, “I can manage that, Toby.”

  “Thank you,” the little boy says and Blake puts him back on the ground.

  Sally takes her little brother’s hand they wave before they start back towards the house I had spent three weeks in once what seems like a zillion years ago.

  “See you guys soon. I promised I’d be back to visit and I always keep my promises,” Blake calls out.

  I kind of fall apart inside with his words. I wonder if he really does keep all his promises. What kind of a life would that be?

  Blake

  The wind blows around us as we drive into the town near the children’s home. Rachelle has been too quiet all the way into town. I gave her the chance to haul ass on me and I have the feeling she was just about to do that when I walked up.

  “So, those kids were cuties, huh?” I ask her.

  “They were. It’s good to see them happy. That’s all I saw were happy kids. Not like I really remembered it when I was there. But I only recently let myself remember so that’s probably why.” She looks out the side and taps her fingers on the door frame.

  After grabbing us some drive through food and a six pack I find the nicest place in the town to get a room and check us in. Back out to the car I jog and get back in to park the car.

  “Room 107, on the ground floor here in beautiful Beeville, Texas.” My smile I hope is letting her know all is okay.

  She takes the food and I take the beer and we go inside the little, very ordinary room. I wish this could be better, like so much better. I’m a billionaire for the love of Pete and I have yet to really take this woman anywhere fabulous.

  Rachelle takes the food out of the bag and places it on the little table. I put the beer in the mini fridge and wrap my arms around her from behind. My lips touch her neck and my manhood springs to life.

  “Hungry?” I ask.

  “Not really. That hotdog filled me up.”

  I turn her to face me and she runs her hands around my neck. “So let’s leave that for later then. I’m hungry for something though,” I say.

  That little half grin she gets pulls the corners of her mouth up. “What are you hungry for?” Her eyes twinkle.

  With one smooth move, I run my arm under her legs and pick her up. “Let me show you.”

  With a playful toss, I put her on the bed then take my shirt off. I’ve been working out like a maniac and the way her eyes light up tells me she likes the results.

  “Oh! Damn, Blake. How in the hell…” I place my finger to her lips and pull her T-shirt over her head.

  Her creamy skin at the top of her breasts begs me to kiss it. My lips touch the top spilling over the lacy, pink bra. I unhook it at the back and pull it away. They spill out and I groan.

  “Baby, how I missed you.” My mouth takes one and my hand takes another.

  Her hands move all over my back, touching every muscle as she moans with the sensations. “Blake, my God! I missed you too.”

  Her body is making me crazy, but I told her we would talk so I have to give her that chance. I pull my mouth away from her juicy breast, but my hand won’t leave the other.

  “Baby, do you want to talk? I’m sorry for going all animal on you. I did ask you to come here to talk.”

  “Blake, please can we talk later? I kinda really want you bad right this minute.”

  “Sure thing, baby. Whatever you want, I will give it to you.” Her lips are begging me to kiss them so I do.

  The amount of groaning is insane and I don’t know why I’m doing so much of it. The button on her jeans is making me crazy so I stop my kiss and pull back to see what kind of a contraption she has going on there and unbutton them then slide them off.

  Only little pink panties are left and I am drooling. She lifts herself up on her elbows. “Wait!”

  No! No wait!

  Her pink lips curl into a smile. “Finish undressing and let me look at you.”

  Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking abou
t!

  “You want to see some of this, baby?” I ask as I slide my hand down my defined abs.

  She shakes her head, confusing me. “No, I want to see all of you. Strip for me, cowboy.” She lies back and turns on some music on her cell phone.

  Who are we? Bud and Sissy from Urban Cowboy? Oh well, I’ll play along!

  Kid Rock starts signing how he wants to be a cowboy baby and I have the idea she downloaded this song for just this occasion. I rock my hips to the music and slowly unbutton my jeans. The zipper I move up and down a few times, then leave it down.

  Rachelle lies back and watches me with a nice smile on her pretty face. When I push my jeans down, her eyes go wide with the sight of what I plan to fill her with in just a bit. She sits up and when I pull the last remaining piece of clothing off me, she bites her bottom lip and I know she wants me.

  Her panties I pull down as she looks into my eyes. “I missed this, Blake. I missed it all. How happy and charming you are. How sweet and sexy you are. I missed it all.” Her palms take my cheeks between them. “Make love to me, please.” She lies back and I look down at her.

  Black hair and blues eyes look up at me and all I want is for this moment to last forever.

  She wants me!

  Rachelle

  Heat fills me with the way Blake is starring into my eyes. It’s as if he’s looking into my soul. His mouth moves so slow to mine and when his lips touch mine I swear I have to hold myself back from a full blown orgasm.

  My breath is already ragged, what the hell?

  My body is shaking as he presses his body on top of mine. It’s as if he can’t wait any longer either. His hard cock presses into me and I cry out with the relief I experience. “Hard and fast,” I say.

  A growl comes from deep inside him and I can feel it in his cock. The first stroke is dead on and I arch up. Beads of sweat form on my body and his body slicks with a light sheen as well.

  My hands flow over his tightly muscled back, and it sends shivers down my spine. He looks at me as he makes hard and fast strokes like I asked him to. His blue, brown eyes are mostly brown with desire.

  He stops moving and says, “Do it.”