by Leanne Banks
Rafe’s words cut close, but Damien ruthlessly turned him off. He focused on his shot and sank the last ball into the pocket. Taking a deep breath, he heard Rafe swear and lifted his glass of scotch in salute.
“How do you do that? Even on an off day,” Rafe said.
“I’m hungrier than you are,” Damien said. He felt not an ounce of satisfaction at beating his brother. “I always have been.”
“Hungry enough to go after Miss Emma Weatherfield?” Rafe asked.
Damien met Rafe’s gaze. “I’ve been hungry to survive, to succeed. Women come and go. I’m usually glad when they go.”
“But not this time,” Rafe said with a knowing glance.
Damien sighed. “You can be a real pain in the butt.”
Rafe stretched his lips in a sharklike smile. “Part of my charm.” His brother moved toward him and clapped him on the back. “I think you’ve met your waterloo.”
Damien shook his head, not wanting it to be true. But it was. “She despises me. I—” He paused. “I seduced information out of her. She’ll never forgive me.”
“If she surrendered to the seduction, then she can’t totally despise you,” Rafe said.
Damien threw him a sideways glance.
“Unless you blew it in some other way.”
Damien shifted from one foot to the other.
“Like omitting the four-letter word that starts with L,” Rafe said.
“What makes you an expert?” Damien asked, feeling as if he was being fried alive.
Rafe lifted his hand. “Nothing. I’ve just heard that women really want to hear the L word. For some of them, it’s a requirement. But if she’s not a keeper, then—”
“She’s a keeper,” Damien retorted.
Silence followed and he met Rafe’s gaze again.
Rafe lifted his eyebrows. “I think you just answered your question.”
Damien sank into a leather chair and exhaled. “It’s not that easy. I screwed it up.”
“That hasn’t stopped you from succeeding with your business or anything else you’ve wanted. Why would it stop you now?”
Damien raked his fingers through his hair. “You don’t know.”
“I don’t have to,” Rafe said. “I just know that if this woman makes you feel like you found home, then you better find a way to keep her or you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting it.”
Emma pulled her Tesla Roadster into a parking spot just outside her condominium and cut the engine. Sitting for a moment, she leaned against the steering wheel and stared out the window.
A familiar restlessness rippled through her. Maybe it was time for her to leave Las Vegas. Maybe it was time for her to leave Megalos-De Luca.
The mere notion was shocking. She’d thought she would stay at MD forever, but lately she’d felt dissatisfied and unhappy. She felt like Goldilocks, except there was no “just right.”
Sighing, she dismissed her ongoing dissatisfaction and rose from her car. She had a great job with excellent pay, a fabulous car and nice friends. She had no reason to whine.
Since Damien had completed his contract with MD, she’d been reassigned to a new VP, a nice older gentleman planning to retire in two years. Her stomach no longer knotted in apprehension as she arrived at the headquarters. Her heart didn’t race. Everything was back to normal.
Emma had never thought she’d want anything but a normal, stable life until now. She missed Damien. She missed his passion. She missed his strength. She even missed his flaws.
“You can’t have him,” she whispered to herself. “So stop thinking about him.”
Stepping inside her apartment, she closed the door behind her. She heard a scratching sound and—A bark? Seconds later, a small mass of fur with long floppy ears ran toward her barking and wagging its tail.
Emma gaped at the puppy and immediately kneeled to the floor. “Who are you? And how did you get in here?”
The white-and-caramel colored spaniel jumped into her lap. How had the dog gotten into her apartment? Emma laughed as the puppy licked her chin.
“Lucky dog,” said a low, familiar voice from the doorway.
Emma’s heart stuttered. She jerked her head upward and stared at Damien as he leaned against the doorjamb. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
“What are you—” Her chest squeezed so tightly that she couldn’t finish her question.
“Doing here?” he finished for her and pushed away from the doorjamb, walking toward her. “Some people would say I’m a glutton for punishment, but when I find something I want, I don’t like to quit.”
Emma bit the inside of her lip. “Something?” she said.
“Someone,” he said and extended his hand.
She slid her hand in his strong, warm palm and allowed him to help her stand.
“You like your new dog?” he asked, his lips lifting in a faint smile as the puppy danced at their feet.
“Mine?” she echoed. “I work all day. I shouldn’t have a dog. It’s not fair to him.” But how could she possibly resist those eyes? she thought.
“What if you didn’t need to work all day? Or what if you could bring your dog to work?”
“MD would never go for that,” she said, giving a short laugh at the idea.
“I would,” he said. “You could come to work for me. I’d double your salary.”
Emma dropped her jaw.
“Or,” he said, carefully watching her. “You could put me out of my misery and marry me.”
Emma’s head was spinning. It took her a full moment to find her voice. “Misery?” she said.
He stepped closer and slid his fingers through her hair, tilting her head so that she could see his face, the ruthless scar and dark gaze full of passion and something far deeper. “I’ve been missing a home most of my life. Being with you makes me feel like I finally found where I belong.”
Emma’s knees weakened and she felt her eyes well with tears. “Oh, Damien,” she whispered. “I never thought this was possible. I never thought you would let me into your heart.”
“Trust me, woman. You’re in,” he said in a rough voice.
Emma saw the love shining in his eyes and felt as if she needed to pinch herself.
“You think you can go the distance with me? You turned me away before.”
Emma shook her head. “I was afraid of how much I felt for you. And then you told me to leave.”
“That was pure hell. I didn’t want you to stay because I was forcing you.”
She studied his face. “And part of the reason you decided not to go after Max—”
“Was you,” he finished for her. “It just didn’t seem as important anymore.”
Emma shook her head. “We’ve both made mistakes.”
He took a deep breath and expelled it, looking away from her. “I thought you hated me.”
“I thought I should,” she said, feeling a deep stab of pain even as she said the words. “I hated myself for trying to deceive you.”
“I understood.”
Emma felt her throat knot and her eyes sting with unshed tears. If he’d come back after she’d turned him away, then she needed to bare her heart to him. It was only fair. “You’re an amazing man. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line, you became my soulmate, my rescuer. Somewhere along the line you made me belong to you.”
His nostrils flared as he drew in another breath. “Amazing, huh. Amazing enough for you to marry?”
Her heart stopped. “Do you love me?”
He closed his eyes for a moment and her heart seemed to sink into the floor.
“I don’t know much about love, but I know I love you. More than my life. More than I ever thought possible.”
Emma couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “Oh, Damien.” She slid her arms around the back of his neck, craving his closeness. “We could have given up on each other. The thought of it terrifies me.”
“It wouldn’t have happened. If I
couldn’t convince you, then I hoped the dog would.” His gaze turned serious. “More than anything, I wanted to hear you say you believe in me.”
“I do,” she said, lifting her hand to his cheek. “I’ll believe in you for the rest of our lives.”
Damien pulled her off her feet against him. “And I love you. Lord, you feel good. How do you feel about getting married in Vegas?”
She smiled, feeling giddy. “Anywhere is good.”
“And how do you feel about a honeymoon in Italy?”
She drew back slightly to look into his face. His lips turned up at the edges and his eyes glinted with happiness. “I talked with Max. He did some research into the dirty deal his grandfather did with mine and he has set aside a cottage for the Medici family forever.”
Stunned, she stared at him. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “He’s a stand-up guy just like you said.”
“You’re the most stand-up guy I’ve ever met,” she said, thinking of how many times he had already come through for her. She was the luckiest woman in the world.
“I love you,” he said simply. “And I’ll spend the rest of my life making your wishes come true.”
“I love you, too.” She knew, with all her heart, that he was telling the truth. She also knew, with all her heart, that her biggest wish had just come true.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3248-2
BILLIONAIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE
Copyright © 2009 by Leanne Banks
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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