The Billion Dollar Wedding: The Honeymoon Collection

by Cynthia Dane

  Something dripped from Jasmine’s eye. She wiped it away the moment Ethan called for her.

  She went, slipping out of her heels and turning four inches shorter by the time she appeared in the doorway.

  “I love you.” Ethan was by her side, taking her by the arm and showing her what he had done. “Before anything else, I wanted to tell you that.”

  Rose petals scattered across the bed, the cool night breeze from the window swaying their tips this way and that. A trail of them led from the bed into the master bath, where a bath was currently being drawn – full of bubbles, of course.

  “I already took a bath earlier,” Jasmine said.

  Ethan held her, his cologne the most comfortable thing in the world right now. “Take another one. With me.”

  Now more of that pesky wet stuff was coming down her face. It was starting to hit her. The romance of it all. The engagement. Ethan, of all people, going so much out of his way to do this for her. “We never take baths together…”

  “I know. It’s a shame we should fix.”

  Jasmine cried. She allowed the tears to fall, one after the other, until she could barely see the blurry world around her. I love him so much. She let him take her hand and bring her into the bathroom, where he undressed her, his hands taking every opportunity to touch her and bring her closer to him. The whole time she cried, and when he asked her if they were tears of happiness, all she could say was, “Yes, yes, yes.”

  For the first time in so long, Jasmine allowed the fantasy to consume her. Even when she started dating Ethan, she didn’t allow her Cinderella fantasies to come full circle. There was too much danger in that. The fantasy could die at any moment, and where would she be? Crying for very different reasons.

  She stopped crying by the time she stepped into the bath and got comfortable in Ethan’s lap. With his arms wrapping around her, nose nuzzling her throat, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Because I am. She would let herself believe it. Perhaps for the first time in her life.

  Cinderella didn’t have to run away from the ball. It stayed with her, forever.

  Chapter 17

  Ethan’s alarm went off no later than seven Monday morning. That was the time it almost always went off, unless he had an early meeting to tend to, but Jasmine still had yet to learn how to sleep through it.

  As he rolled over and turned it off, she opened her eyes, welcoming the bright morning sunlight as it streamed through the bedroom windows. They were back in the manor in the Hills, in their big bed with a bigger cat taking up most of the property. Jasmine moved her foot from beneath Blackbeard’s body and listened to him growl in disproval. He never growled at Ethan. Bros before mama.

  “Morning,” Ethan mumbled, sitting up and stretching above his head. “Big day today.”

  “Mmhmm.” Jasmine closed her eyes and wrapped her arm around him, begging him to stay behind and cuddle a little. She knew that wouldn’t happen, though. Ethan was a punctual man, which meant he was in the bathroom by ten after seven. A man had to rinse off in the shower, shave, and brush his teeth, after all. And if Belinda were worth her salt – and she always was – his clothes for the day would be laid out in the walk-in closet, freshly pressed and cleaned.

  Still, a girl could make it known that it was a travesty the boyfriend had to leave.

  “You’ll come home to me tonight, right?”

  Ethan took an extra second to kiss her, lightly enough to let her keep dozing. “I’ll try. Might be late, and I might have to stay in the penthouse, depending. This is the day we’re announcing the merger with Adrienne, so it’s going to be chaotic.”

  “Aww.”

  His phone rang on the end-table. Ethan glared at it. It’s not supposed to ring during certain hours unless certain people are calling him. Other such contacts were sent straight to voicemail until eight. So for someone to be getting through now…

  “Well, it’s not you, at least.” Ethan picked up the phone. “It’s Monica.”

  “Huh? What is she doing calling so early?”

  Ethan answered, leaving it on speakerphone so he could keep it far away from his sleepy head. “Monica?” he greeted with a groggy voice.

  She was quick to speak. “Have you seen the paper yet?”

  “What? Not yet, no. I literally just woke up.”

  “I thought so. You better get one. Right now. First page of the Business section.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m not going to be the one who tells you. You have to see this for yourself. Both of you.”

  Jasmine perked up. “What are you talking about?”

  “Let’s just say the first thing Henry did when he saw it was make drastic planning changes for this June. Then he asked me what was so off about it.”

  “What?” Ethan was out of bed, carrying the phone with him to the door. Usually the paper was waiting for him downstairs. Sometimes he read it. Sometimes he merely perused it. A few times Jasmine went downstairs to see him devouring a certain article and then angrily calling someone. This sounded like a different beast, however. “Belinda! Harold!” he shouted down the hall. After a second shout, Belinda’s cheery voice piped up. “Bring me the paper, please!”

  As long as he says please, I guess. Jasmine was too tired to chastise him for acting like that. Yet she found the strength to get up, her hand snatching her engagement ring off the nightstand. She wasn’t comfortable sleeping with it on yet.

  Belinda scuttled into the room, handing Ethan the paper. “Anything else you two need?” When she was dismissed, she shrugged in Jasmine’s direction and went back downstairs, probably to start their breakfasts.

  Ethan didn’t waste any time. He unfolded the paper, digging through it until he found Part C, the Business section. The rest of the paper landed on the bed, waking up Blackbeard with a yawn. Jasmine’s cat rolled over and looked as cute as a snowball while her fiancé turned beet fucking red.

  “What the fuck!”

  Jasmine held out her hand. “Let me see.”

  Ethan was already on the phone, slamming buttons until he was on the line with someone at the paper. Jasmine held the paper up, seeing two separate pictures of Ethan and Adrienne, printed side-by-side.

  That wasn’t the scary thing, however. Neither was the fact the headline ran with: Cole and Thomas Merge Businesses – To Marry In June.

  Wait. Jasmine read that again.

  She took journalism for a while in school. Even worked on the college paper, albeit as a layout artist, not a reporter. Even so, she heard plenty of stories about headlines and other lines that made no grammatical sense other than to report something other than the truth. This happened a lot with young and naïve journalists. It was not, however, supposed to happen at one of the biggest papers in the nation.

  Because that headline? Implied that it was Ethan and Adrienne getting married. Jasmine assumed this was a mistake, or she was still too tired to read it properly, and continued to read the article, hoping to see her name appear as Ethan’s actual fiancée.

  In a way, she was mentioned.

  “And what of Jasmine Bliss, Ethan Cole’s current girlfriend? Sources say she is out of the picture and Ethan Cole has reunited with Adrienne Thomas, his new business partner – and soon to be wife.”

  “What the fuck!” Jasmine echoed.

  “Same sources report that Cole and Thomas have already begun merging businesses and will be marrying this June.”

  “Someone is getting fired!” Ethan promised.

  “Mr. Cole?” Belinda sheepishly said at the door. “Ms. Thomas is on the landline. Do you want to answer?”

  “She can wait!”

  Jasmine felt sick to her stomach. Blackbeard looked languidly at her, daring her to say anything other than, “Yes, yes, you’re cute.”

  Her phone rang and rang and rang. People whom she had spoken to previously about her engagement were calling.

  “What’s this about you and Mr. Hunk breaking up and him marryi
ng his old girl?”

  “I thought you said you were getting married next June?”

  “I figured that was a mistake. Anyway, I’ve changed plans so I can make your wedding this June. What’s the exact date? Australia can wait.”

  “Jasmine!” Ethan dropped his phone as she slumped over the edge of the bed. I can’t take this. Not only was she getting married in three months, but she wasn’t even the one marrying her fiancé, apparently!

  Jasmine had a feeling a terrible force was coming… and she was at the center of the storm.

  Part 2: GUESTS

  Chapter 1

  “Ms. Granger will see you now.”

  Jasmine stood up from the couch in the receiving room. Friends Nadia and Selena were slower on the uptake, partially because Nadia had dozed off during their thirty-minute wait, and Selena was too busy gawking at ten-thousand dollar wedding cakes in a magazine.

  They followed the assistant through the door and into what appeared to be an office and entertaining space hybrid. Jenny Granger stood up from her glass desk, wearing a flowy, silky floral blouse and black pencil skirt that sashayed with every step she took. Both hands went out to Jasmine, who felt she had no choice but to take them into between her fingers and accept the kisses to her cheek.

  “It’s so lovely to have you here, Jasmine.” Jenny gestured to the sofa and chairs in the middle of the room. The trio sat on one side with Jenny on the other. She pulled out a binder labeled “BLISS / COLE” and opened it to the first blank page, pen poised in her hand. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”

  You’re looking forward to it? I’m about to die. Jasmine hadn’t slept in the nearly two weeks since that terrible article came out in the paper. After Ethan chewed out and threatened to have half the staff fired for the heinous misprint, the paper put the corrections up online right away and ran them in the next day’s paper… but it wasn’t enough. By that time, a hundred high-profile and would-be guests had called to demand the exact date of this supposed wedding so they could make last minute changes in plans. I still can’t believe it… After being humiliated in a national paper, Jasmine suddenly discovered she was getting married in less than three months. Ethan started telling people that they were getting married the last Sunday of June, and Jasmine had no choice but to go along with it.

  She thought that would be the hardest thing to accept. Ha! After that fervor died down, Ethan still had to deal with the pushback from him and ex-girlfriend Adrienne Thomas merging companies. But not before he told Jasmine, “You need to call Monica and get the name of her wedding planner. We’re having the summer wedding of the year according to these assholes.”

  Jenny Granger was not an easy woman to book, let alone at the last minute. She was the go-to wedding planner for any well-to-do couple in the whole region. She claimed to have reach throughout the thirteen original colonies “and some of those states that branched off because of the Civil War.” Jasmine couldn’t imagine this woman going out to West Virginia for anyone’s wedding, but she didn’t care. She had to have her.

  Since Jenny only did one wedding a month, it was nearly impossible to book her for a June wedding that year. Monica had booked her the moment she found out she was getting married six months before the wedding, and the only reason she convinced Jenny to take her on was because of who she and Henry were. This is so ridiculous. If Ethan weren’t one of the richest men around, Jasmine would have done more than get on the floor and grovel. Which she practically did, not that Jenny was unprofessional enough to acknowledge it now. She turned away another high-profile couple marrying in early June to do our wedding. Jasmine had gone from engaged to planning the wedding of the summer within a week.

  Now she sat in Jenny’s office with two of her best friends. This should have been fun. So why did Jasmine feel like she was about to pass out at any moment?

  “Who are these lovely ladies?” Jenny asked, already writing things down. The assistant brought them all coffee, complete with cream and sugar set. Selena dug right in while Nadia waited a few seconds and Jasmine completely ignored it. “Your bridesmaids, I’m sure.”

  “Two of them, yeah.” They had already agreed, Nadia a bit more reserved about the whole ordeal than Selena, who screamed into the phone and asked if she could wear “the most expensive dress ever!”

  “Is either of them the maid of honor?”

  Jasmine’s lips twitched. “I haven’t decided that yet, sorry.” She wasn’t looking forward to figuring that mess out. So many politics.

  “All right. Let’s dive in. How many people do you plan on having in your bridal party?”

  The woman was practically filling out a pre-fab form. Not that it surprised Jasmine, since she had hired the best of the best, and she expected this woman to be no-nonsense and get things done in a timely fashion. I was on the other end of her at Monica’s wedding. I know what she’s capable of. Jasmine was exhausted thinking about it. From maid of honor to bride in four months…what were the odds?

  “Maybe three to five.” Jasmine cleared her throat. “I’m still talking to people and trying to figure it out. Plus, I have to keep in mind that Ethan needs to balance it out with his own party…” Who the hell would he choose as his best man? His one male best friend turned out to be a scumbag and a half. “Should I have more?”

  “You can have as many as you want, although I usually suggest odd numbers because it looks nicer. However, I will suggest that you extend good will to as many young ladies as possible. It also makes for more popular photo spreads.”

  “Photo spreads, huh…”

  “If you haven’t heard from a magazine yet, Jasmine, mark my words. It’s coming.”

  Selena whistled. “You mean I’m gonna be in a magazine?”

  Nobody answered her.

  “Next, I want to discuss the colors for your wedding. Regardless of what you think you might like already, you must take into consideration that the two most recent high profile weddings used certain colors that would be uncouth to replicate. For example, the Warren wedding used crimson and black. If you were dedicated to the color red, I would suggest going for as light a red as possible and pairing it with any color but black. Another color to be careful of is emerald green. The Bingham wedding in December used it. I suggest waiting at least a year before replicating a color, and that’s only if you were not involved or close to that couple.”

  “I got it. Red’s out.” Not that Monica would care if Jasmine used her favorite color in her wedding. I would like to use red… It was a great core color and accent. I don’t care about the green… “Anything I should be aware of between then and now?”

  “Nothing as high profile as Warren and Bingham, but this month I am doing an orange and gold wedding, and in May yellow and blue is happening. I do not think it will create too much conflict if you borrow from those colors for your wedding, though.” Jenny’s smile was more ruthless than reassuring. “To be honest, Jasmine, I will be telling my clients for the rest of this year to avoid whatever colors you are going to use. Ethan Cole having a June wedding? I hope you appreciate how popular this is going to be.”

  Jasmine’s hands shook in her lap. “Oh, I do.” Her engagement ring nearly cut her other finger. “The guest list is already a mile long.”

  “Oh, good! That’s what I wanted to talk to you about next.”

  Jasmine was held captive for the next hour, being grilled about colors, flowers, religious traditions, and then going over a plethora of pre-approved locations for a large wedding like she and Ethan were destined to have. I won’t recognize half the people there. They’ll all be people Ethan has done business with or would like to one day. Jasmine would be lucky to have a pew dedicated to the certain people she did know. Her family? Good luck.

  Nadia was a good sport and asked only minimal questions. Selena, on the other hand, nearly got herself kicked out because she wouldn’t stop barging in with questions about the quality of this, how much of that, and whether or not she wou
ld get to walk with a hot guy. “Come on, Jas,” she said more than once. “You need to make sure I get paired up with a hot single billionaire. I’m sure Ethan knows some. I need to get paid too!”

  These were comments that were funny on the phone or in private, but here in front of Jenny Granger, Jasmine nearly sank so far into her couch that she was never to be seen again.

  By the time her first meeting with her wedding planner was over, Jasmine needed a hard drink. She also needed an excuse to go through the binder she was sent home with, so she had her driver take the three of them farther into town and to a quaint café for lunch.

  Bad idea.

  “Oh, congratulations!” cried a woman Jasmine had never seen before. She had barely sat down, purse on the ground and binder clattering against the table. Now she had to get up again, receive a hug from this strange woman, and then pretend she had any idea who she was. “You’ll be the most beautiful bride since my daughter!”

  Jasmine made sure to buy the hardest drinks they could muster for lunch. Long Island iced teas, martinis, cosmos… Jasmine was willing to sample them all if it meant forgetting how stressed out she already was. All this because someone had to get fired at a paper. She took a cursory glance at the binder before shoving it in her bag. No more patience.

  “So where are you going for your honeymoon?” Selena asked over her drink.

  “No idea yet. Haven’t had time to figure it out. Ethan’s already rearranging his schedule for two weeks afterward so we can even go on a honeymoon.” At least Fourth of July weekend was in there, which meant little in the way of socializing for Ethan anyway. He better not work while we’re on our honeymoon. That’s why he had Adrienne now. That woman could take over the grunt work while her partner went on his honeymoon.

  “You should go to Hawaii.”

  “Hm. You think so?”