Billionaire's Secret: The Complete Series

by Simone Sowood

  “Tell me about your mother.” My heart pounded but I had to ask, it was something I’d been wondering about. How did one mother produce such different men? One was a cheat, was the other? Or was he what he seemed, a loving, generous man with a big heart? I opened my eyes to watch him.

  “My father died after falling off a horse when I was a baby.” He cleared his throat, and then cleared it again. “My mother remarried not too long after when I was still young to Matt’s father, Johnny. After Matt was born, I was nothing to them. Especially to Johnny. I didn’t understand why when I was a kid. I tried everything to make them like me, to approve of me or praise me. When I was a teenager, I found out he wasn’t my real father.”

  This time it was me putting my hands on Jay’s. Clasping them. Trying to heal him.

  He took a deep breath and carried on, “Johnny turned out to be a racetrack grifter. He taught Matt the ropes, to scam and cheat people for a living. It’s a good thing he didn’t treat me like his son, because I would’ve ended up the same way. Instead I vowed to make something of myself and get my mother out of the marriage.”

  “Did you? Get her out?” My heart had broken for him. I wanted to embrace him, to take away his pain.

  “No. She was blind to it. Instead I had a PI follow Johnny and gathered evidence against him. I turned the file over to the police. He’s in prison now.”

  “Did she divorce him after that?”

  “No.” Jay shook his head.

  “Why?”

  “According to her, Johnny’s the best thing that ever happened to her. The fact that he used up all my real father’s money on bad bets wasn’t an issue.”

  “I can’t understand it.”

  “Love makes people do stupid things.” Jay hung his head.

  I squeezed his hands, heat coursing from them straight to my heart. And my mind.

  “I thought you supported her?”

  “I do. I send her ten grand every month.”

  “Do you have a good relationship with her now?”

  Jay sat back in his chair, his breathing heavy. He leaned forward again, his hands restless on the table.

  “I swore I’d answer everything you asked today and not hold anything back. It’s, you know, something I’ve never talked about to anyone.”

  This was what my mind needed to hear in its battle with my heart. I leaned forward and took hold of his hands, stilling them. I waited for him to continue.

  “She only speaks to me when she wants more money to buy a new car or take an expensive vacation. She resents me for pressuring her to divorce Johnny. But the real reason she doesn’t like me is that I’ve tried so many times to convince her to help me turn Matt around and get him to live an honest life. She hates me for criticizing her baby. Matt can do no wrong.” He swallowed.

  “And you can do no right?”

  “Pretty much. My only use to her is as an ATM.”

  “So stop giving her money.”

  Jay looked up and met my eyes for the first time since he’d started talking about his mother.

  “I can’t. She’s my mom.”

  Matt used and hurt Jay even more than he’d used and hurt me. I couldn’t bear to hear the way his mother treated him. How could she not see what a horrible man Matt was? And what a kind, loving soul Jay had?

  The genuineness of Jay’s words was too obvious to ignore. He wasn’t a liar or a cheat. Not by a long shot. Jay and Matt couldn’t be more different. They were nothing alike.

  Jay sat before me, fully exposed. Why he kept himself hidden from me before was understandable. Maybe not ideal, but understandable. I would’ve run a mile in the other direction if I’d known who he was. Or rather, who he was related to.

  My instinct was to shower him with my love. In all the time I’d known him, I don’t think I’d ever loved him more than I did at this moment. But.

  “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m too gullible.” How could I forgive myself for my willingness to believe his lies, and Matt’s lies? To have to look at myself in the mirror and see nothing but a sucker.

  “You’re not gullible, just a hopeless romantic.”

  “Why did I ever think real life could be like the movies?”

  “It doesn’t matter now. The past is the past. We have to live in the present.”

  We sat in silence, each lost in our own thoughts, my hands still resting on his.

  The past was the past, but I could learn from it. Learn not to make the same mistake again. Except what if my mistake was in judging Jay by his relationship to Matt? Guilt by association.

  I may have been stupid to believe all Jay’s lies, but I was seeing through them to his core, and at heart he wasn’t a liar, he was trying to protect me. He loved me and now he was doing whatever he needed to keep from losing me. The biggest mistake I could ever make would be in walking away from him now. He needed me. I needed him.

  I became aware of the stuffiness of the little room. Of the uncomfortably high temperature the heat between us had created.

  I had to say it, I owed it to myself, and to him. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and broke the silence.

  “Do you, um, want to get a coffee? It’s stuffy in here.” For the first time that week, my heart felt settled. My head was no longer fighting what it needed.

  “You’re sure?” Jay asked, his voice vibrant.

  Jay stood, taking my hand. I led him out of the room. Led him out of the building to the coffee shop on the corner. A new coffee shop, one neither of us had been in before.

  Chapter 34

  I breathed in the scent of leather as we sat on the floor of Jay’s horse trophy room, our shoulders almost touching. A stack of photo albums was in front of us. Coffee had been great. Better even — amazing. He hadn’t pressured me for anything. Instead we’d talked, our words charging the air with electricity and heat. The attraction between us, the love between us, was no longer possible for me to ignore.

  “This is the only one of me and my father.”

  Jay passed me a framed snapshot, the paper now yellowed with age. Jay was a tiny baby and held aloft by his father in front of a horse in the winner’s circle.

  “Is that Bourbon Chaser?”

  “Yep.”

  We looked through a few more photo albums. Of Jay as a kid, a teenager. Often with Matt. Not often with his mother or step-father. Jay lifted one of Matt, his mother and him on a fishing boat close to his face, examining it. Presumably it was taken by his step-father.

  “They’re the only family I had. Matt is my little brother. I tried so many times to get him to change his life around.” Anger and frustration filled his voice.

  “You couldn’t do any more.”

  Jay shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. He’s nothing to me now. I will never forgive him for what he did to you. Any of it. He can sit with Johnny and Calvin in prison over the kidnapping.”

  “Don’t forget the embezzlement and blackmail.”

  Jay looked hurt at the freshness of the memory all over again. He sighed and said, “You know what? It doesn’t matter now. You don’t have any family either. But if we have each other, that’s enough.”

  I turned my head to find him looking at me. Jay’s face had lit up with his dazzling smile. His deep brown eyes penetrated my own. I couldn’t look away from him, ever. We were connected.

  Jay leaned over and kissed me. The tender press of his lips against mine made my insides burst wide open. All the emotions and feelings for him that I’d tried to suppress were now racing through every iota of me, both my body and mind.

  I kissed him back, unable to contain the explosion of love going on within me. I leaned into him, longing for more. He responded to my need, his tongue sliding against mine until it found its way into my mouth. Something happened deep within me, a new feeling.

  Before I could figure out what it was, he cupped the back of my head and laid me down alongside the photo albums. Intense emotions filled my body and threatened to burst open my c
hest. Love, longing, want grew and grew each second. Each time his skin came into contact with mine, another feeling appeared, until there were no words for what was happening inside me.

  “We haven’t done this room yet, have we?” I asked, giggling. After the initial surprise at my remark, he stood and took my hand.

  “You know what? This room is the past, we don’t need it.”

  I followed him out of the room, my hand safely gripped in his as we walked down the hallway. Jay carried on to the staircase, but I stopped and pulled him back to me.

  “Let’s take the elevator.”

  A devilish grin appeared across his face as he pushed the button. The doors opened and he stepped in, hustling me with him.

  He’d already had me pinned against the back wall as the doors slid shut. Our mouths and hands were frantic, taking back what we’d almost lost.

  The elevator doors opened on the second floor and he herded me into his bedroom, our bedroom.

  Jay didn’t rip off the buttons of my blouse. Instead he undid them carefully, deliberately, each button revealing more of my skin underneath. I’d worn a black silk Agent Provocateur bra underneath. I’d put it on that morning to give me confidence at the divorce meeting. Now Jay moaned in approval of it.

  I pulled my arms out of the sleeves of my blouse, aching to feel his body against mine. My fingers found the buttons of his shirt, and he did nothing to stop me undoing them. Did nothing to stop me when I got to his belt. And the buttons on his pants. Or when I slipped my hand under the waistband of his boxers. I wrapped my fingers around his erect cock and stroked, my pussy getting wetter as he got harder.

  He kissed over the silk of my bra. I flared my chest, wanting as much skin to skin contact with him as possible. I wanted nothing to be between us ever again.

  “Would you just rip the damn bra off?”

  I released my grip on his cock and reached behind my back to undo my bra. Jay pulled it off and dropped it on the floor. He shed his clothes and stood fully exposed before me.

  He trailed kisses down my neck to my breasts, treating me as if I were made of porcelain. Each contact of his lips with mine shattered the remaining barriers between us.

  I moaned in approval when his lips reached my nipple. His tongue flicked it and his head moved back up to mine. As he moved, I popped the button on my skirt and pushed it and my panties down around my knees. I kicked my leg, getting rid of them altogether.

  “Beautiful. You are so beautiful,” Jay said, stepping back and surveying me.

  All I could do was moan in approval. I was his, completely. And it felt good. Right.

  Jay lifted me and laid me on the bed. He slid up my body, pressing his over mine. The tip of his hard cock pressed against me, my heart thumping with anticipation. I ran my hands over his powerful shoulder muscles. I’d forgotten how perfect they were.

  “You’re never leaving my bed,” he said, his voice low and forceful.

  I shivered at its intensity. The confidence and the power. My Jay was back.

  We kissed, less delicate than before. Hungrier. All apprehension between us gone.

  Jay grinded against me, stoking the flames within me. The fire traveled in a direct line between my pussy, heart and mind, a heat I could barely contain. It came out a high-pitched moan, a release of love and lust into the air.

  He responded with his own groan and pushed his cock into me. Back where it belonged. We moved in unison, my own pleasure and excitement seeming not to matter nearly as much as having him in my arms. Jay pressed his cheek into mine, our ears close to our mouths.

  “I love you, beautiful.”

  “I love you too, Jay.”

  Feeling so loved by him and confirming my own love for him, my body trembled and burst. Waves of joy washed over me as I writhed under him.

  “Abbie,” Jay cried and released himself into me.

  A huge, great smile spread across my face. Euphoria bubbled through my body and I started laughing at the craziness of the past day, weeks, months. Jay propped himself on his elbows and looked down at me.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Were you really going to surrender all your property to me?”

  “I took a chance that you wouldn’t accept it. It was a risk I had to take to get you to understand how much you mean to me.”

  “You’re nuts.”

  “No, I’m not. I’d risk everything for you.”

  * * *

  I spooned sugar into my coffee. Not very much, just a little. We were dressed and ready for work. The Rolls was taking us in.

  “Beautiful, there’s something I want you to do.”

  “What?”

  “I want to put you in as the head of CQ Francis.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s your company. You need to be in charge of it, to get it in shape.”

  “Shut up.”

  He could not be serious.

  “I’m serious. You’re more than capable, you just have to believe in yourself the way I do.”

  I stared into my drink, digesting the words.

  “Remember all that stuff I said about proving things for myself? That I don’t want things just because I’m fucking the boss?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, forget I ever said it.”

  Jay laughed, making me laugh, making us both laugh harder. Yes, I could do this. I could do anything with him.

  * * *

  We snuggled on the sofa in front of the fire. My head rested on Jay’s chest, his heart beating against my ear.

  I’d been back in his house, in his arms for two weeks. It was quite obvious now that nothing could push us away from each other again. We need each other too much. We were all the other had, and all the other wanted. Every second of the day, I wonder how I ever got so lucky to find a man as amazing as Jay.

  He’d seemed more relaxed now that the secret was out. Less interested in needing me to know he loved me than in loving me.

  I have been may be a sucker but Jenny was right, you have to take a chance in life or you’ll miss out on the best things. Like love. Jay’s love. And now I was totally happy to be loving Jay.

  Dirty Billions

  (Jenny’s Story)

  I left her, and now I’m going to beg her to be the mother to my son.

  She’s the best woman I ever could have dreamed of, and I screwed it up. I never should have left her.

  Sure I made a pile of money, but without her it was meaningless.

  Now I’m committed to making things right, for my son, for myself, and most important of all, for her.

  And that means getting her back. I’ve longed to have her in my arms all these years, and denying that was the biggest mistake of my life.

  She’s a woman who gives nothing but love and support to everyone around her. No one would make a better mother to my baby son. No one would make my life as complete.

  She just has to forgive me first.

  Jenny

  “Holy hell,” I moaned. My head throbbed, though more from the pain of turning thirty than the celebrations last night. At least I had a spa day to look forward to. Before returning to my lonely one-bedroom apartment. Alone. All by myself.

  I hauled myself out of the unfamiliar bed and made for the kitchen. I’d stayed here overnight because of the central Chicago location of my best friend Abbie’s condo, making it an easy place to crash after our late-night celebrations.

  “Good morning,” I said, forcing myself to sound cheerful.

  “Hey, happy birthday, sweetie,” Abbie said, and hugged me.

  “I am so looking forward to my massage.” Mostly because I’ll be horizontal.

  “I wish I was having one.”

  “But I’ll see you afterwards for lunch and the hydrotherapy pool.” Unless Abbie decided to bail and meet up with her boyfriend Jay.

  “Yeah, when you’re all relaxed we’ll all be tense.”

  “You should come, now you’re the big boss. Lord knows you
could use a massage.” I poured myself a cup of coffee, knocked it back in one and poured a second. I was in desperate need of the caffeine to get me through the day.

  “I am not the big boss, just Sam’s boss. And I haven’t had a paycheck yet. I’m broke.”

  We sat at Abbie’s little dining table, drinking our coffees. She was lost in her thoughts, which was fine with me. I don’t know how long I could have kept up the facade that I was happy it was my thirtieth birthday. I had to keep some enthusiasm in reserve for when they joined me for lunch.

  * * *

  Naked and face down in the dim light, the recorded wind chimes and birdsong rang out from the speaker over background music that could only be a sitar. Sienna, my therapist for the morning, kneaded my tense neck muscles, providing some relief for my pounding head.

  This sucked. I wasn’t in my twenties anymore. I was officially old. And what did I have to show for it? No man. No marriage. No house. No babies. I kicked myself internally, forcing myself to stop being so negative. I had a good job in marketing at a big company. To be paid for creativity is wonderful.

  But the already echoing noise of my biological clock ticking got even louder overnight. The countdown to my last egg seemed as though it had truly begun.

  * * *

  “There’s the birthday girl,” Sam said running up and hugging me. “Ready to get naked with me?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. Sam, Abbie and Marla entered the plush relaxation room where I’d been sitting, relaxing just as the name suggested.

  “Happy birthday! Are you all nice and relaxed from your pamper morning?” Marla asked.

  “Yes, thank you guys so much for such an amazing present.”

  “Don’t get too excited. Really, we wanted to come check out the fabled hydrotherapy pool at this place,” Abbie said

  “I’m going to say this right now,” I said looking at Sam, “the nudity is optional. You guys did bring your swimsuits?”