The Billionaire and the Waitress

by Lacy Andersen

  Finally, he went to retrieve a blank envelope that had slid across the carpet and nearly ended up under the dresser. He picked it up, the papers inside spilling out. One word in particular caught his attention: Paris.

  He stared down at it, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. It was an airline ticket. One first-class seat to Paris, leaving in two days. No return flight.

  His brain went numb. He peered deeper into the envelope and found a check made out to Rachel. It was from her father. The amount was for more than Rachel probably made in five years as a waitress. He didn’t understand why she had it. She’d always maintained that she hated her father’s money. Why was she carrying around a check from him?

  Rachel walked through the doorway at that moment, wrapped in a thick, fluffy green towel. The heat of the shower had left her cheeks red and glowing. She tossed her wet hair and gave him a smile that left his knees weak. Even without a speck of makeup, she was devastatingly beautiful to him.

  “Hi you,” she said. Her gaze fell to her purse and the envelope in his hand. She stopped in her tracks, her hands clutching at the towel. “Where did you get that?”

  “Your purse fell and I was putting everything back,” Logan said, his mouth going dry. He frowned at her. “When were you planning on telling me you were leaving?”

  Sorrow filled her eyes and her shoulders drooped. “Oh, Logan, I meant to tell you.”

  He closed his eyes, feeling the floor drop out from beneath him. Just thirty seconds ago, he’d been on top of the world.

  If only he could reverse time.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rachel found Logan sitting on a rock near the edge of the shore. He had his elbows propped up on his knees, a pained expression on his face, as he stared at the pristine scene in front of him. Her heart constricted and she paused a few feet away, knowing all too well that she was responsible for his hurt. She’d been selfish and let last night go too far. All so that she could have one last beautiful moment with him before she had to say goodbye.

  “Can we talk?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  Pushing her now dry hair off her face, she took a step closer and wrapped her sweater tighter to her body. Colorado mornings were certainly a lot cooler than San Jose, but she liked the way it always smelled like rain here.

  “About how you were planning on leaving me?” he asked, turning his blue gaze toward her. “Or about how you told me you loved me last night?”

  She sighed and closed her eyes. “Both.”

  “Okay, good. Because frankly, I’m confused.” He set his jaw in a hard line and returned to staring at the water. “An hour ago I was the happiest I’ve ever been. Now, it feels like I’ve been left out in a Colorado snow storm.”

  Rachel moved to sit on the rock next to him, their thighs brushing. She sighed again and folded her hands in her lap. “If it makes any difference, last night was the happiest I’ve ever been, too. But it won’t last.”

  He ran his tongue over his lips and looked at her. “Why not?”

  Her brown eyes opened wide, willing him to understand her. “I’m broken, Logan. Scarred beyond repair. Haven’t you caught on yet? It took me about ten minutes at the gala to destroy everything we had and all because of the drunken whispers of some jealous jerk. A normal girl wouldn’t have fallen for those lies. A normal girl would’ve given you the benefit of the doubt. You deserve someone who would give you the benefit of the doubt. You’re such a wonderful man.”

  He squinted at her, his hands curling into tight fists. “And that’s the reason you’re taking your father’s money and moving back to Paris?”

  “He wants me to devote myself to something,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “He got me a job, too. I guess it’s his own brand of affection. Maybe, there’s a tiny part inside of him that loves me after all.”

  “And is this what you want? To go to Paris?”

  She pursed her lips together, considering his question. “I don’t know, but it seems better than finding another dead-end waitressing job. Maybe, I can even finish school online. Who knows where this could take me?”

  Logan stared at her for a long while before turning back to the lake.

  Two swallows darted past them, locked in a complicated dance, skimming the surface of the water with their feathers. They shot up into the sky and then fell sharply back toward the ground, sending out a piercing cry and turning up just before crash landing into the cold water. Rachel wished for one moment that she and Logan could trade places with those birds. Live a life uncomplicated by human emotions. Soar to unreachable heights, side by side.

  It would be a beautiful life.

  “You say I deserve a girl who will give me the benefit of the doubt,” Logan said suddenly, turning toward her. She could feel his gaze heavy on the side of her face. “But what about what you deserve? Don’t you deserve a man who understands you? Who will work through those scars with you? Who loves you?”

  Her breath caught in her lungs. “Maybe some of us aren’t deserving of anything. Especially love.”

  “I call bull.” The fierceness behind Logan’s reply made her blink rapidly. He moved to the ground in front of her, kneeling as he took her cold hands in his. “Rachel Knight, you are worthy of love.”

  Despite her reservations, her heart thumped wildly in her chest at the sight of Logan’s eager expression. It was too easy to fall for that boy. Her whole being longed to be wrapped up in his arms without a care in the world.

  “You don’t want this mess,” she said, gesturing at herself, tears springing to her eyes. “Trust me. When you find the perfect girl you’re meant to be with, she won’t be carrying a lifetime’s worth of baggage, and you’ll be all the happier for it.”

  He cupped her cheeks and swiped at a tear that had made a salty trail down her cheek. There was an earnestness in his eyes. A soft, yet powerful intensity that echoed in his voice.

  “Rachel, I’ve found the girl I’m meant to be with.” His eyes narrowed in a gentle expression. “Don’t you get it yet? Love isn’t about finding someone perfect. It’s about finding someone perfect for you. Someone with flaws of their own. I’m certainly not perfect.”

  She laughed and shook her head. If she’d learned anything the last few days, it was that Logan Madison was just about near to perfect as a guy could get.

  “Come on, you’ve got to believe me.” He grabbed her hands tight. “You’ve already witnessed my obsessive need to fit in. My insecurities. My weakness with...what did you call that car? A metal trap of death? Just wait. There will be plenty more flaws. I promise.”

  A small smile tugged at her lips. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his eager expression. “Promise?”

  “Absolutely.” He softly ran the tips of his fingers over her temple and down to her cheek, sending delicious shivers down her back. A grin curled one side of his mouth. “I promise you, Rachel Knight, that I will never, ever, be perfect. I won’t even try. How about that?”

  She laughed, feeling her heart rejoice at his promise. Logan wanted all of her, including her flaws and baggage. He’d seen the bad and still loved her. And she had witnessed his own issues. If they could both venture into this relationship with their eyes wide open to the baggage that they each carried, maybe their love really could survive.

  But was she being naive? Could she really learn to love Logan in the way that he deserved?

  “Are you sure?” she asked, squeezing his hand. Hope leaked into her voice. “I’m new at this whole love thing. I might mess it up.”

  The look he gave her made her want to melt. “Darling, you’re already so much better at it than you realize. And I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I love you.”

  She leaned forward, claiming his lips with her own. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. Her fingers wove through his blond hair, heat blazing in her cheeks. She wanted to inhale him, to remember forever the way he tasted of mint and chocolate. Electricity
raced across her skin as he trailed kisses down her jawline to the base of her neck. Finally, he placed one, last kiss on her lips. She groaned in frustration when he pulled away, wanting more of him.

  “Don’t let me take you from your dreams. If you want Paris, go to Paris,” he said breathlessly. His eyes searched her face. “But if you want to stay in California and help me run my restaurant, then the offer is yours. Either way you’ll have my heart, and we’ll make this work.”

  Before the words were even out of his mouth, she knew what she wanted to do. She’d known it all along.

  “I’m staying,” she said, a smile lighting up her lips. It was as if the clouds had rolled back and the sky had cleared. This was what she’d wanted all along, but she’d been too blinded by her own insecurities to notice. “But I’m going to finish school first. And then, we’ll see if you can afford me for that little restaurant of yours.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. When he was done, he took her hand in his and gently kissed each one of her fingertips with a sensual slowness, until a fire burned once again in her gut.

  “What I said before, I was wrong.” He gave her a smoldering smile, his eyes blazing with heat.

  She tilted her head in confusion. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

  Pushing himself off the ground, he helped her up and pulled her close. “Yesterday wasn’t the happiest I’ve ever been. Right now is. I can’t imagine anything being better than this.”

  Rachel laid her head on his chest, savoring the warmth flowing through her. So this was what it felt like to be fully loved by a man who held nothing back. It was an intoxicating feeling. He was right.

  She couldn’t imagine anything better than this.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Don’t forget the hot cocoa, woman,” Ned called after his wife as she shuffled into the kitchen. She waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder and he chuckled, his gaze growing soft.

  Logan watched his father’s dreamy face, determined to never miss those small moments between his parents. The quiet and steady love between them was inspiring. He knew what a miracle it was to find your perfect match.

  And she was sitting right beside him.

  He gazed down at the beautiful woman sitting in the crook of his arm, her long, brown hair draped over her shoulders, a sleepy smile on her face. They shared a patchwork quilt that kept them warm and toasty in the cold Colorado Christmas Eve night. Her hand rested innocently on his thigh, driving him mad with the desire to cover her in kisses. But this was not the time.

  A hearty fire roared on the hearth of his parents’ giant stone fireplace while snow fell just outside the massive windows, blanketing the lake in a crystalline winter scene that would remain untouched until the first woodland creatures ventured out in the morning.

  A pine tree towered above them in one corner of the log home, Christmas ornaments and cheery colored lights draped across its fur pine branches. It filled the home with the fresh scent of pine, mixed with cinnamon and chocolate. Shiny wrapping paper lay scattered over the floor, along with discarded wire ribbons of every color, and soft holiday music played in the background. No one complained about being snowed in that Christmas Eve. It was perfect just the way it was.

  “I still can’t believe you,” Emily said from the recliner, where she sat draped across Michael’s lap, a white envelope in her hands. Logan had invited them to his family’s Christmas, making this already perfect evening all the better. She hit Michael playfully on the shoulder and laughed. “Is this really for me?”

  “Darling, when I pay for two front row tickets to Mary Prescott’s live filming event, you’d better bet it’s not for me,” he said with a grin, grabbing her hand to place a kiss on her palm. A shiny new wedding band winked from her ring finger. “And I’ve got to say, I didn’t expect them to cost as much as my BMW. You’re lucky I love you.”

  She smiled and cupped his chin, pulling him into a kiss. Rachel looked up at Logan, her eyes flashing with amusement. The newly married couple had been doing that all weekend. It was hard to get a word in when they got that goofy look in their eyes. It was as if the whole world dissolved around them when they began to kiss.

  Logan knew that feeling all too well.

  “So, what’s in the plans for you this next year?” Nancy asked, coming back into the living room with a tray of steaming hot chocolate mugs that she placed carefully on the coffee table. Her soft smile landed on Rachel. “Any chance of going back to work at Madison Park?”

  Rachel’s face lit up and she helped herself to a mug, settling back against Logan’s side. “Not yet. I just got accepted into an MBA fast-track program. I’ll get my undergrad and my master’s degree in only a couple years. I’m loving school right now.”

  As Nancy cheered, Michael broke away from his kiss with Emily to give his sister a shocked look. “Really?”

  She laughed and bit her lower lip. “Is it really so shocking? Your baby sister is getting her life together.”

  “No, not surprising at all,” he answered, a frown forming on his chiseled jaw. “You’re a Knight. We’re born to succeed.”

  Logan chuckled and wrapped his arm tighter around her. He would’ve liked to know how it felt for five seconds to have that kind of unaltered confidence. Maybe if he had been born like Michael, his stomach wouldn’t currently be doing flips inside his abdomen, anticipating the last tiny little wrapped box hidden in the bows of the tree.

  “Are all the presents unwrapped?” Nancy asked, eyeing the colorful massacre on the floor. “Did we miss anything?”

  “I don’t think so.” Ned patted his belly happily. “Unless you want me to crawl under that tree and check.”

  “There is one more thing,” Logan announced, jumping to his feet.

  He tugged at his knit sweater and tried to hide the nervous shake of his hands. This was it. The big moment.

  Rachel turned her brown eyes toward him, amusement lighting them up. “Don’t tell me you have Mary Prescott herself wrapped up under that massive tree?”

  He chuckled, running the palm of his hand across the side of his head. “As much as she would love that, no, I’m afraid I don’t.”

  He crossed the floor and gently stuck his arm into the tree, feeling around for the present he’d hidden there only yesterday. His fingers enclosed around a little box, just big enough to fit in the palm of his hand. A tiny jolt of adrenaline coursed through him. He pulled it out and approached Rachel, her eyes growing wide at the sight of it.

  “Logan?”

  “Open,” he said, swallowing hard.

  She tentatively took the box from him, examining the shiny silver wrapping and the tiny white ribbon. With shaky hands, she slowly pulled back the paper and unveiled a black box.

  Logan kneeled before her, enclosing her hand and the box in his. “Rachel Knight, it was here that we first professed our love for each other. And it was here that we also learned that someone could love us, flaws and all. I think it’s only appropriate that this is where we make another kind of promise.”

  He took the box from her and gently opened it to reveal a stunning princess cut diamond in a miniature diamond surround on a silver filigree band. All the women in the room gasped at the same time, Rachel’s eyes filling with tears.

  “I love you,” he continued, watching her face intently. “I can’t imagine my life without you. You have made me into a better man. And I want nothing more than to share a lifetime with you. If you’ll let me, I will love you until the day I die, with all the fierceness and tenderness that you deserve. Say you’ll marry me.”

  There was an achingly silent moment that followed his proposal. The only thing that punctured the quiet was the pounding of his own heart as it tried to escape his ribcage. Rachel’s gaze flitted from his face, to the ring, and back again.

  “Oh, Logan,” she said, tears filling her eyes.

  He swallowed hard, hoping those were good tears.

  She slid to her knees in front
of him, taking both his hands in hers. A serene smile lit up her glowing face. He couldn’t help but imagine her as an angel in that moment, her whole body radiant with a love so fierce it couldn’t be contained. She blinked softly and then nodded her head.

  “I want nothing more in this world than to love you forever,” she said, breathing deeply. “Yes, yes. I say yes a billion times. I love you, Logan.”

  He pulled her into a lung crushing hug, inhaling the scent of her shampoo as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. Complete and utter happiness, like he’d never known before, burst inside him. He released her quickly to tug the ring from the box and place it on her left hand. All around them, the room burst into applause and cheers. Rachel held up her hand to the increased squeals from the ladies. He smiled so hard, he thought his cheeks were going to crack.

  “Congratulations.” Michael held out his hand to him and they shook firmly. A smile played on his lips. “I guess I can finally give my consent to you dating my baby sister.”

  “I hadn’t realized I still needed it,” Logan said with a laugh, watching his mother ogle Rachel’s ring. “But I’m glad to know I’ve got it.”

  “If you hadn’t, you would’ve known,” Michael said, hitting him playfully on the back. “But I guess I was right after all. I really am a great matchmaker. It just wasn’t the type of match I was intending.”

  Emily appeared at his elbow, her eyebrows arched. “I guess this is a reminder to match responsibly, then.”

  “As if you could’ve predicted this outcome,” he protested.

  “I did.” She smiled deviously, clapping her hands together. “I saw the potential from day one and I was hoping it would play out exactly like this. Don’t try to outmatch the matchmaker, darling. You’ll only hurt yourself.”