Just like Grey (Series ONE Complete Set): Billionaire Romance

by Jessie Cooke

  Just as Reece had promised, the job had been offered to Luke as soon as the manager saw him. He still had plans to pound the pavement in search of something more long-term in the design world, and between Reece’s extra compensation and the extra dollars he’d walk away with after a night of working at Zipper’s, Luke was doing just fine financially and affording himself the time during the day to do more job searching.

  The only thing he hated was lying to Bella—but he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth, not about himself and most definitely not about Reece while the money was still coming in.

  “Speak of the devil,” Luke mumbled to himself. Almost as if the thought had conjured him, Reece Hamilton appeared at the intersection of North Fitzhugh and Buena Vista Street. He was outfitted and standing beside his mountain bike waiting to cross with the foot traffic. It seemed to Luke that Reece was heading in the direction of Cole Park, and Luke had half a mind to follow him, do a little stalking of his own, then call Reece and let him know exactly what it felt like to know someone was watching your every move.

  “Hell, if I were smart, I’d knock the bastard off his bike,” Luke said crossly. “It’d probably do me more good to be rid of him than to be beholden to him. Life would be a lot less complicated without him in it.”

  The light where Luke idled turned green, and he revved his engine slightly, then told himself to calm down.

  “It might not be much,” he whispered to himself, “but he’s responsible for what you’ve got, and you just might need him to get you further.”

  Resolved, Luke squealed his tires as he zoomed forward from the traffic light, an unspoken message to an unknowing Reece that thanks to Luke, he would ride for one more day.

  Reece looked back at the squealing tires that had just passed him.

  “Asshole,” he muttered, shaking his head at the theatrics of some guy most likely in a muscle car showing off for some chic in the passenger’s seat. He slung his leg over the seat of the mountain bike and began to navigate his way down the street towards Cole Park. At least Nicky had an apartment in an area of Dallas he liked, and he was stoked about getting in a game of tennis at the park after such a long hiatus from the sport.

  His new accountant Fletcher Stevens was an avid tennis player, had played in college and now spent his free time teaching the sport to kids who couldn’t afford to take part in other organized sports. Fletcher had proposed a friendly match when he found out that Reece would be visiting his daughter.

  “I live over close to Cole Park too,” he’d said. “It’s a good area, and there are lots of kids for me to work with there. Call me when you leave. We’ll finally play that match we’ve been talking about. And I have some numbers I’d like to discuss with you too.”

  At least seeing the mother of my child affords me a few pleasures, he thought as he chained his bicycle to the rack outside, repositioned his tennis racquet on his back, and walked up the steps to Nicky’s apartment. He could hear Hayley Jo crying from inside when he got to the door.

  Nicky answered the door with the crying baby in her arms. “Oh, please. Just take her for a minute,” she said in exasperation, but Reece noticed that Nicky was freshly showered with makeup and a faint scent of fresh linen and lavender.

  “What’s happening, baby girl?” he began asking his daughter, shutting the door with his foot as the mother of his child simply walked back into the apartment and flung herself on the sofa.

  “She’s been inconsolable,” Nicky said. “Wait, is that a word? In-con-sol-able. Yeah, I think it’s a word. Geez, I swear, my brain is atrophying. I didn’t know having a baby literally made you dumber.”

  Reece bit back a remark about being astounded that it was possible Nicky could be any dumber. He knew that was the bitterness talking, though. He fought daily not to hold her accountable for the fact that he couldn’t have Bella. He bounced the crying baby in his arms instead, speaking softly, caressing her thick cheeks. He began to swing her slightly as he cradled her in his arms, softly singing the only song he could think of at the moment: “The Star Spangled Banner”.

  “Oh-hh, say can you see? By the dawn’s early light . . .” His voice was quiet, but soon, it was all he could hear as Hayley hiccupped her way into a silent stare, watching the lips of her father as he sang the national anthem.

  On the sofa, Nicky sat up suddenly. “’The Star Spangled Banner?’ Really? That’s all it took? I’ve been singing every kid’s song I could think of. She wasn’t having any of it.”

  “No offense, Mom, but your voice isn’t the best in the world anyway,” Reece said with a smile. “But perhaps we have a little patriot on our hands.”

  “Well, whatever it is, your voice or the song, keep it up. She’s been going strong for at least an hour now.”

  “Maybe she’s teething,” Reece suggested. “Didn’t I read that kids cry a lot when they’re teething?”

  Nicky shook her head. “She’s too young for that, but yes, they cry a lot; they’re in pain, duh.”

  Reece lay his daughter in the bassinet, her small body stretching out in the vast space once there. “You look nice,” he complimented.

  Nicky ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah. Had a few moments to shower for the first time in what feels like days. It’s always nice to be back among the living—or at least feel like it anyway. Did you ride over?” she asked indicating his bike gear.

  “Yeah. It’s a great day, and I’ve got a tennis match with Fletcher in a bit. Thought it’d be good to get in some exercise before winter has us all buckled under.”

  “Winter sminter. You know in Dallas that can mean any variety of weather patterns, and most likely you’ll have plenty of time and warmth for exercise. Besides, someone like you has several memberships to several clubs, I’m betting, or perhaps your very own personal trainer.”

  Reece shook his head. “Too much like being in the army, and if I’m going to work out, I’m not going to pay someone to sit and yell at me to do it when I can do it on my own.”

  “Well, I still think you should be careful riding your bike downtown. Too much traffic. It’s one thing to ride out in the woods and on trails, but quite another to weave your way through downtown cars and trucks. It’s too easy to get knocked off by some asshole driver.”

  He knew it was meant as motherly concern—mainly for the father of her child—but something else, perhaps an undertone or unspoken sentiment, made him feel like there was something sinister in her warning. “Thanks for the advice,” Reece said, as he headed towards the bathroom. When he got in and closed the door, he felt that something was different. He looked around, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it—no new soaps or towels. The shower curtain was still the same. There were no new fixtures he could see. He sniffed, but the usual soapy smell of a fresh shower filled his nostrils. Shrugging, he faced the toilet, reaching down to lift up the seat only to realize that the seat was already lifted.

  He washed his hands, dried them on the white towel, and headed back into the living room. He sat down on the sofa beside Nicky and checked on the baby who was sleeping soundly. Nicky rubbed her foot across his leg and into his lap seductively.

  “Now that she’s asleep, we may have a few minutes to ourselves, and—well, I have had a shower.” She ran her hand down the front of Reece’s chest and into the space between his legs, her palm against the girth. He knew she’d been feeling rejected, but he’d made it clear that it was over between them—there was nothing more than Hayley to keep them connected.

  He pulled her hand out of his crotch and set it definitively into her own lap. “Nicky, we’ve talked about this.”

  “But let me show you,” she said. “Let me remind you how good we are together. Every couple goes through this. It’s the baby blues, I just know it.”

  “By the way, had any visitors lately?” Reece asked.

  Nicky frowned. “No. Why?”

  He shrugged. “I just wondered if anyone had come to see Hayley Jo lat
ely.”

  Nicky slid over closer to him on the sofa. She pressed her breasts against his shoulder and allowed her finger to trace his jawline. “Don’t push me away, Reece, not yet anyway.” She took a deep breath. “What if we went away, just the two of us, just for a weekend? Like we did back before we were parents? Like we did when it was new and exciting?”

  “What about Hayley Jo?” he asked.

  “My mom could keep her. She’s been dying to anyway. We could head to South Padre. I could remind you of just what we had before Hayley came into the picture.” Her hand slid down lower again, and this time she smiled at the rigid response she was getting. “You sure do look delicious in that riding gear,” she mumbled. “Makes me want to do things we haven’t done in a long time. What do you say?”

  54

  “Nice volley!” Fletcher yelled to Reece from his end on the tennis court.

  “Thanks, coach,” Reece replied. He’d already been kidding Fletcher about feeling like one of the players he coached, but Reece had to admit he liked it. Fletcher was encouraging and patient with the fact that it had been years since Reece had played, but now that he had lost two games, it was all beginning to come back to him, slowly, and the score was finally something respectable: thirty-fifteen.

  “You’re going to beat me yet!” Fletcher promised.

  “Not at this rate, but at least I don’t have to hear you refer to me as ‘love’ anymore,” Reece said as he lobbed a ball back over the net towards Fletcher.

  When they’d finished the game—Reece sadly hadn’t scored anymore points, but felt better about having scored twice at least—they sat down to enjoy a cold water before heading back out. It was getting dark, and Reece kept replaying Nicky’s warning in his head and thinking about asshole drivers who didn’t like to share the road with bikers.

  “Before we go,” he said as he wiped his brow, “you said you wanted to mention something to me about some numbers you didn’t like.”

  Still drinking from his bottle of water, Fletcher tried to nod. “Yeah,” he said as he used the back of his hand to wipe the water from his lips. “I was familiarizing myself with some of the lesser accounts, you know, just so I know where everything is, know what’s what, and there’s one that has consistently had withdrawals recently. I don’t have the account number with me, but I can get it to you in the morning. No activity for about a year. Had only seen deposits for most of its life, and now—boom! A withdrawal about every month for six months now.”

  Reece frowned. He had diversified his portfolio years ago and had some accounts at small banks that he’d set up, mainly in case his mom needed anything, or Marie and the kids, but no one had access to those accounts except for him.

  “How much are we talking?” Reece asked.

  “Total? Twelve grand.”

  “Twelve grand?! In six months? How am I freaking bleeding money and no one alerts me to it?” Reece asked.

  “I guess that’s what I’m doing now,” Fletcher said. “But keep in mind: I’ve only been with you for two and a half months.”

  “I’m pulling all my records I have access to at home when I get there. I want to meet with you first thing in the morning. Eight a.m. My office, and bring coffee. I want answers before lunchtime.”

  “We’ll figure this out,” Fletcher promised.

  “Oh, you’d better believe we will,” Reece said, his teeth clenched and his jaw set.

  The whole ride back to the office to retrieve his car, he ran through his memory of the accounts he’d created when Marie had her kids. He knew for a fact that he’d never given her access to those accounts, though he’d informed her of them. They were meant to be emergency funds, to support her and the kids if anything should ever happen.

  After he’d finally strapped his bike to his car and was heading back to his own place, he told his phone via the Bluetooth in his car to dial Marie. She answered on the third ring, and he could hear voices and clanging in the background.

  “Guess I’m just in time for dinner,” he said when she answered.

  “If only. I’m so far behind. The twins had dance practice and it ran late, then Junior needed to meet a group at the library to work on a project. Oh, and your nephew decided to throw his retainer away in the school cafeteria today, so we’ve been dumpster diving tonight, the whole family.”

  “Did you find it?”

  “No, so guess who’s going to be getting a job at the ripe old age of eleven?”

  “Mooommm!” Reece heard Stuart in the background protesting. “Can you really do that to me?”

  “I can in more ways than you’d like to imagine. Now, set the table,” she said. “Reece, you know I love it when you call, but this is the worst time.”

  “I won’t keep you then, but just a quick question: the accounts I set up for the kids, you haven’t needed them recently have you?”

  “Needed them?”

  “Do you even have access to them?”

  “No. I mean, maybe, but if I do, then it’s in the safety deposit box at the bank, just like you told me to set up. And Alan has no key to it; just me.”

  “He couldn’t somehow get the key could he?”

  “He’d have to know my code too, and no one knows that but me and you.”

  “Okay,” Reece mused.

  “Why? Everything alright?”

  “Just some weird numbers popping up. May not be with those accounts at all. I don’t know for sure yet, but I wanted to check with you before heads started rolling here in Dallas.”

  “Shit!” a voice too young to be using the language said in the background after a crash and clanging of something.

  “What did I just hear you say?” Marie had pulled the phone away from her mouth, but Reece could still hear her loud and clear. He’d been on the receiving end of Marie’s righteous anger before. She’d helped raised him after all, and he knew she was meaning business when she took that tone.

  “Sorry, Mom,” came the voice.

  “Sorry does not excuse that language. You’re grounded this weekend.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” came the whine.

  “You didn’t mean to say it where I heard you,” Marie finished. “Grounded, no discussion.” Her voice came back to Reece. “I’ve got to go.”

  “Raising some real rebel rousers there,” Reece joked.

  “Hey, I cut my teeth on raising you. If I can survive you, I can survive these five. One’s just pushing his luck with me trying to act a little too big for his britches.”

  “Tell them all I love them. I’ll catch up with you later, sis. I love you all.”

  “Love you too, baby brother.” And with that she was gone.

  The hullaballoo and the craziness that Reece had been privy to, however, had lightened his mood. What’s money when you’ve got family and love like that? He thought of Hayley Jo and wondered if he’d go dumpster diving for her or wash her mouth out with soap when she starting trying out words that were too big for her. Then he smiled and nodded to himself.

  “Damn straight I will,” he said aloud, making that promise to his daughter even if she wasn’t there to hear it.

  Bella hadn’t had a weekend away in months. Ever since her return from Haiti, she’d been playing catch-up, then renegotiated her contract, and then begun performance reviews. Her own clientele had been often relegated to a weekend ‘to do’ list, but now she rolled the windows down and breathed in the sunny exhaust-filled air, glad to be riding the second shortest freeway, I-30 on her way to Dallas.

  Luke had invited her for a visit, and she had finally gotten to a place with work where she felt she could allow herself some fun-filled free time.

  This ride would be better in Reece’s Boxster, she found herself thinking, and then she gently chastised herself for first of all wishing for what she didn’t have and secondly for allowing Reece to enter her mind when she was on the way to visit her boyfriend for the first time in weeks since he’d moved.

  While her weekends had
been busy enough, it seemed to her that Luke’s weekends had grown increasingly busy making him harder and harder to contact on Saturdays and Sundays. When she did hear from him, it sounded to her like he was always rushing somewhere, or recovering from something, and their conversations—save the few times they’d had phone sex—had been quick and with little depth. In spite of how much Luke convinced Bella that he was learning a lot and making a lot of connections that he hoped would lead to a good position at a respectable firm, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something from her.

  He’d taken a job waiting tables, he’d told her, and worked crazy hours sometimes, but being the “new guy” he had to take his lumps, and even if he worked nights, he thought it great that he had his days to do the leg-work he thought necessary for building a name for himself in Dallas and separate from Dreamscapes.

  “As long as you’re happy,” Bella had said tentatively, but she could hear the happiness in his voice spilling over into the phone. There was a note, a timbre, she’d never heard before, and a part of her was sad that she hadn’t been the one to inspire it.

  “Funny how life works,” Bella said to herself as she pulled into the Camden Design District apartment complex. “Here I was in Dallas, looking to get out. Moved to Fort Worth. Met a boy. Now he’s moved to Dallas. Of course, I fired him. Hence the reason for his moving, but . . . well, life’s funny sometimes.”

  The apartment complex was posh. Balconies and patios like stacked shadowboxes overlooked a pristine pool with hot tubs and white lounging chairs that looked like new. Tall boxed planters surrounded the square-shaped umbrellas and seating areas, and immediately, Bella knew exactly what had drawn Luke to this place: the clean lines and rectangles and squares. His favorite.

  She knocked on the door to 121 A and was greeted by familiar smiling hazel eyes, but the smile was not framed, as it had been, in the clean-cut trimmed copper beard.

  “You shaved!” she exclaimed, to which Luke instantly rubbed the side of his face.