The Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Single Dad Next Door Romance

by Sarah J. Brooks

  "Well, I mean, I can't think of anything I've done to piss a cop off, but what if ... this is about you, Ally?"

  "Me?"

  "Did you tell Rebecca that I hired someone to look into the case?"

  My heart skipped a beat. Yes. "Rebecca? You think she's behind all this?" No. It didn't make sense. "But I just met Rebecca when that body showed up." I'd hadn’t had a run-in with a cop since then.

  Garth looked away. "So you did tell her?" I felt my cheeks flush. "Don't worry, I'm not mad." He smiled as I headed over to him and sat down.

  "If that is the case, it could be two different things. The body could have been there for no reason at all."

  "So then why would you get a finger?"

  "Because she's a police officer. She's trained to pick up on things, like when someone is in a relationship. And she wanted to get rid of any competition she had, or thought she had."

  "That's crazy." But I couldn't help wondering if it were true.

  "When she asked me if I knew the girl, she seemed so sure I was lying. Why?"

  "Were you?"

  Garth stared at me. "No! Of course not! I'd never met the girl in my life. I'm not even sure I've ever seen her cross the street. But ... maybe she's trying to lead up to me knowing her. Maybe she's trying to frame me or make you think that I could have done it so you don't want anything to do with me."

  "I don't know ..." It all sounded a little dramatic. "I don't think Rebecca could do something like this."

  "No offence, but you don't know Rebecca."

  I hated admitting he was right. I kept my mouth shut, but we both knew he made a good point.

  I sat there silently. If he were right and Rebecca was involved, then this was my fault. This is about me not him. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. Had I caused this?

  Garth reached out and touched my knee. “It's going to be okay,” he promised.

  “I know.” And I knew he was right, it was going to be OK, eventually. But right now, right now it was far from okay. I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath of frustration.

  "If she is involved, we will sort this out—even if she isn't. We're going to sort this out," Garth promised. "Together."

  And for some reason, that made me feel better. I knew it shouldn't have mattered all that much to me. After all, if I hadn't been there with him that day, I wouldn't be facing any of this.

  I knew it was wrong to think like that. This wasn't Garth's fault, but if Alyssa had been sick, I wouldn't have seen that body and wouldn't have been dragged into this. But I also wouldn't have gotten to know Garth the way that I had. That had to count for something, right?

  I looked over at the man beside me—the man who had just bought me five dozen rainbow roses. I reached out and took his hand in mine, our fingers tangling together. He said we were going to get through this together. He said we could get through this together. Giving me a soft smile, he squeezed my hand.

  “What do you say we order some take out tonight? How about Indian?”

  “Sounds perfect to me.” In truth, spending the night together sounded perfect to me.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I didn't remember falling asleep last night. But I did wake up in Garth's bed cuddled up to the man. My eyes opened, my body itching to get out of bed. No, I thought. I didn't want to roll away. I wanted to keep cuddling.

  As if reading my mind, he pulled me closer to him, his arms tightening around me. I let out a soft sigh and closed my eyes again. But it was no use, as hard as I tried, I couldn't get back to sleep.

  I rolled out of bed, defeated. There was no point in laying there if I couldn't get back to sleep.

  Instead, I made my way into the bathroom, stripped down, and padded over to the shower. I fiddled with the taps until a thick steam came from the shower head, letting out a deep breath as my shoulders relaxed. The hot water relieved stress I didn't even know was there. After a few seconds of relaxing, I reached for a bottle of shampoo and worked the contents into a lather in my hands before applying it to my hair and massaging my scalp. More stress vanished from my body as my fingers worked over the top of my head. I rinsed the lather out and washed my body quickly. The warm water had done its job—making me feel alive again.

  But that didn't take away what had happened yesterday. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't stop replaying the scene in my head again and again. John had bailed and was probably in another country with his family. I couldn't blame him. A body part showed up at his door. What else was he going to do?

  And we're in this alone now.

  Maybe I could get Rebecca's help. No. Garth wouldn't like that. He didn't trust her. And I couldn't help wondering if he had a good reason for it.

  I bit my lip, turning the shower off and stepping out, wrapping myself in a towel.

  In the dark, I found a dress, slipped into it, and headed for the kitchen.

  I found the eggs in the fridge and pulled out a pack of bacon. Simple breakfast, but at least it was a breakfast. I didn't know how everyone was going to treat me at work after finding out about my relationship with their boss. But I knew I still had to go in and pretend that whatever they said about me didn't bother me.

  I made up some breakfast, with enough to share quickly and ate before putting the kettle on.

  "Morning," Garth said sleepily. "How long have you been up?"

  "Just long enough to shower and eat. There's leftovers." I pointed towards the frying pan on the stove and watched as he headed over there. I wasn't sure what it was about him, but something made me want to get up early and have his breakfast ready and the kettle boiled.

  "So, I've been thinking about yesterday."

  "What part of it? Because it was pretty eventful." With Alyssa back, everyone in the office finding out about us, and everything that happened with John.

  "All of it, actually. And I think we need a vacation."

  I raised an eyebrow. "Really? And what do you suggest?" It's not like we could just pack up and leave. He had a business to run. Oh, and there was that whole thing with dead bodies.

  "I was thinking Jamaica or somewhere warm."

  I stared at him. He was actually talking about going away. Getting away from everything.

  "We live somewhere warm," I reminded him.

  He shrugged. "It's not the same. Unless you'd rather somewhere cold." He raised an eyebrow. "I can take you to Canada," he said, clearly joking.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Alright, so you’re thinking we should go away. And how is that going to work?” Hell, how was it going to look? He said he thought Rebecca had it out for him. Well, if he went traveling, what would she think? If I were her, and I had it out for him, I’d think he was trying to run.

  “Well, normally someone books a plane ticket, they go to the airport and then they get on said plane.” He grabbed a piece of bacon and turned to me, a grin over his face as he took a bite. “But if you’d like you can try walking.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I mean, smart ass.”

  Garth’s grin widened. “I know. But you’re making it out to be more of a deal than it actually is. All we do is book the vacation, and then we go.”

  He made it sound so simple. But I wasn’t sure it was going to be that simple.

  “And then what? We run away from everything that is going on?

  “That was kinda the idea.” He nodded and stared off into space. “I know we can’t run from it forever and that going on a vacation isn’t going to change anything that has or will happen. But we deserve a chance to relax. We deserve a chance to get away from it.”

  And what if it followed us? What then? That would make him look so much worse to anyone trying to pin it on him. I bit my lip. In the shower … I thought about all the stress that had left my body just by having a hot shower. Suddenly conscious of my stress levels, I forced my shoulders to relax. It was harder than I’d like to admit.

  Maybe he’s onto something here, I thought
. I mean, it couldn’t hurt to try getting away from it alright?

  “Alright, fine we could go for a quick vacation. But it shouldn’t be a long one, maybe two or three days … nothing dramatic”

  Garth mocked shock. “Me? Dramatic? No. I’m not sure what would give you that idea.”

  I snorted as I turned to look at the flowers he had gotten me yesterday. Yea, no clue what would give me the idea he might be a little (tiny) bit overdramatic. None at all. When I turned to look at Garth again, I saw him smiling widely. He closed the distance between us and pulled me into a hug, his lips touching the top of my head.

  “It’s going to be amazing, I promise you.”

  I was already looking forward to it and hated admitting it.

  He stepped away from me. “Anyways, we’d better get ready for work. We should at least try and be the first ones there and all.”

  “It is your company after all.”

  “Very true.” His eyes sparkled. “Well, I guess I have to share it, since my partner is still in town for a couple more days.”

  “Really? Still? I thought he was going to leave ASAP.”

  “He was until a dead body was found. We agreed it would look bad if he up and fled so he’s staying a little longer. The weekend after next.”

  When Garth and I arrived for work, we didn't bother trying to hide the fact that we'd spent the night together. Instead, we stepped off the elevator hand in hand. No one dared look up at us as if he was going to give them trouble for looking up from their work.

  He placed a soft kiss on the top of my head before padding over to his office doors while I went to my desk and started up my computer.

  Everyone stared at me as soon as his office doors were closed.

  Before I could say a word, the elevator door opened, letting us know someone else was here. Brent.

  "Morning!" He smiled widely. "Is Garth here?"

  "Yes." Alyssa jumped to her feet and circled around the desk. After all, she was still his assistant now that she was back and healthy. I knew it shouldn't, but that made me a little jealous. Not because she had the better job—but because she got more time with him. It doesn't matter. You're the one who sees him off work, I reminded myself.

  And I was right. I glanced up just once to see her open the office doors and lead Brent in before the doors closed behind him and she returned to her desk.

  She glanced over at me with a snide smile. I returned it, trying to give her a genuine smile in return. The look on her face was not a happy one. And I have to admit, that pleased me a little.

  "I see." Brent nodded. He looked like he was thinking everything over. "So, you won't be here when I leave?"

  "I'm sorry. I thought it would be good for Ally and I to get away from everything. I mean, with what we're going through ... it's not fair to her to have to be so stressed over everything."

  "That reminds me, did everyone find out about you two? The way they look at her ... like they want to kill her, but they are too scared to."

  My cheeks flushed. "Yes. I uh, might have bought her some flowers." I made it sound a lot less dramatic than it had been, but Brent most likely knew it had been dramatic—after all, he was my best friend. He knew me better than anyone else out there.

  "I totally understand. I think it's a great idea for you two to get away. I think it would be best for everyone. And it will be safe for you two. She must be worried for her safety—at least a little."

  I bit my lip. I wasn't sure honestly. She hadn't come out and said it, but it wouldn't be surprising for me to find out that she was. I mean, I was being targeted by someone who seemed to want to hurt me.

  "Are you sure you're alright handling everything, though? I mean, if you think it's too much, I can stay a little longer, and we can go away another time."

  "Relax," he scowled. "I will be more than fine without you."

  I grinned. "Thank you."

  I wanted nothing more than to get away with her, to show her a little fun and spoil her—make her feel better about everything going on. And maybe, just maybe, try to have sex in a plane.

  My eyes sparkled as I turned to my friend and looked him up and down. "I will have to come visit you when we return. It's been too long and we've hardly had a chance to catch up since you've been here."

  "That ... would be nice." He sounded like he was hiding something. My brow furrowed. What could he be hiding from me? Maybe he has a girlfriend, I thought. It wouldn't be crazy to think they didn't want to tell anyone. But I had told him about Ally and I. Only because I had to.

  Either way, I smiled widely at my best friend. "It will be a date. Just the two of us. Maybe I'll bring Ally, but I'm sure she will be more than alright going off on her own."

  Brent smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." His eyes shone as he adjusted his suit. "But I'd better get going. I'll see you around."

  "See you later, Brent! I'll let you know when we get back!"

  I waved to my friend as he headed for the office door and let himself out.

  My heart sank. I didn't want him to go back already. I hated going home—I hated seeing everyone back there now that Nana was gone. But I couldn't always ask him to come see me. I'd have to make the trip every now and then. And Ally would love the chance to travel a little more. Right?

  So, I'm going home for Ally. Would I have to tell Mom I was in the area?

  I took a deep breath, trying to convince myself it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t worth thinking about at the very least. It was in the future—or the past, depending on what I was thinking about.

  I shook my head and turned my attention to my computer. I had work that needed to get done, and it wasn’t going to get done with me just staring at it.

  I went through the motions, typed out the emails, pretended to be excited when I had to be and got the work done. The nice thing about emailing was that no one could really tell if you were excited or not. They just read your email, however they wanted. So even though I couldn’t get the thought of having to go home and tell my family about Ally out of my mind, I could pretend everything was just fine.

  I gave Brent a smile as he headed out of the building and into the elevator.

  "I think he'd make a nice boyfriend," Alyssa said. Her head tilted to the left. I looked over to see her staring at his backside. She turned to me, a wide grin on her face. "How do you feel about sharing the company with me? I mean, I'd probably convince him to propose to me before you could even talk about it with Garth." Her grin widened.

  I stared at her for a couple of seconds, unable to process how she could be such a fucking bitch. Finally, I opened my mouth. "It astounds me the level you will drop to."

  I heard the girls on the other side of me inhale sharply.

  I turned back to my computer without another word. It took everything I had to keep my heart from racing as I checked email. I could feel her staring at me, those eyes burning holes through me.

  I tried to ignore it. It took all my resolve to keep my hands from shaking. She's just trying to scare you, I reminded myself. It didn't make me feel better—because part of me was kinda scared of her.

  "W-what are you doing here?"

  "I thought you might like to grab dinner." It had worked before; maybe it would work again this time. "I had something I wanted to talk to you about that I think you could help me with."

  "Really?" She brushed her blonde hair out of her face.

  I grinned. This was going to be easier than I realized. Girls were always easy to play—it's like if you asked them out to dinner they'd just drop everything.

  A date. Such a perfect excuse to get to know their dirty secrets. You ask a few stupid questions like their favorite color or flower, and they don't think twice when you ask about their boss.

  The Billionaire’s Mystery

  Book Four: An Unexpected Trip

  A Billionaire Romance Suspense Series

  Sarah J. Brooks

  Copyright © 2016 by Sarah J. Brooks

/>   This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Facebook: Sarah J. Brooks

  Chapter Sixteen

  I stared down at the printed plane ticket in my hand unable to believe this was happening. Don’t get me wrong, I’d been out of the country a couple times but never before to somewhere like this. I just couldn't believe it. I mean, it was like a dream come true for me.

  I’d been saying for years that I wanted to go to Japan, and now here I was, about to board a plane to Japan.

  I bit my lip nervously as if maybe as I approached the flight attendant to show them my passport and ticket, they might just turn me away for no reason.

  Garth stood beside me. He looked calm and collected—like he had done it dozens of times.

  I wasn’t sure what it was about this trip, but it didn’t feel like the others. Maybe it was because I wasn’t traveling alone or maybe it was just because of everything going on right now.

  I was sure that slipping away would make me look bad; after all, it seemed like Rebecca was out to pin everything on me. The officer had been one of the officers to show up when Ally and I found a body in a house we were going to show a client of mine—a very wealthy client. Maybe it was just that she wanted to date my girlfriend and even taken her out on a date when we split up, or maybe she honestly did have a reason to think I was the one who killed that girl. I had no clue.

  I took Ally’s hand and pulled her close to me as we made our way closer to the front of the line. I placed a soft kiss on top of her head as I stepped forwards, showing the flight attendant my passport and the print off of the ticket.

  She nodded, scanned the boarding pass and motioned for me to move forward.

  I walked slowly, waiting for Ally to catch up with me.