Make Me Yours: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story

by Cher Etan

  “Oh…you're badass now huh? What, you gonna administer a beat down on me? You all gangsta up in here in your designer threads?” Meaghan said derisively.

  Both blondes glared. “You’re a crazy trashy gold digger who has no right-“ Blonde on the left said glaring at her.

  “No right? And here I thought it was a free country,” Meaghan sneered.

  “Dean will find out who you are sooner or later. Then he’ll drop you like the rubbish you are,” Blonde on the right said.

  “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see won’t we,” Meaghan said snatching up her rented bag and sweeping elegantly out of the room. The two blondes watch her go with identical glares on their faces.

  Meaghan took a deep fortifying breath as soon as she was out of the room and went in search of Bain. She’d spotted him and Daniel last at the bar so that’s the direction she went. She needed her friend right now.

  She spotted Daniel first, getting drinks from one of the bartenders and followed him back to the table where Bain was sitting, conversing with Poppy Wesson of all people. Meaghan almost turned away but Bain spotted her and waved her over.

  “Shit,” she murmured and walked slowly toward them searching with her peripheral vision to see if she could spot Dean anywhere. He’d been waltzing with a lovely old lady with long waves of butter white hair when she’d gone to the ladies. Shouldn’t be too hard to spot. But she couldn’t see anyone.

  “Bain,” she said as she walked up to the table, the strain in her voice obvious even to her. She darted a glance at Poppy and smiled slightly. “Mrs. Wesson,” she said.

  Bain reached out a hand to her and pulled her into the empty seat next to him as Daniel darted her a sympathetic glance from across the table and Poppy acted like she didn’t exist.

  “I was just telling Poppy about your wonderful project that you run in Queens helping inner city children,” Bain said.

  “Well I don’t exactly run it; I just work there,” Meaghan qualified.

  “She’s so modest,” Bain cut in even before she’d finished the sentence. “So selfless and loving. The kids love her,” he continued and Meaghan felt her face heat up. Whatever Bain thought he was doing, she appreciated it but she wished he would stop.

  Meaghan cleared her throat and looked significantly at him but he ignored her.

  “The whole thing is ran by Dr. Conrad Shelley; you’ve heard of him right?” Bain said to Poppy who was trying her best to look forbidding yet polite at the same time. Meaghan was fascinated to see that she was pulling it off quite nicely.

  “Conrad Shelley?” she repeated suddenly coming to life.

  “Yes, you know him right?” Bain said radiating satisfaction.

  “He is a doctor of good repute,” she conceded.

  “Adores Meaghan,” Bain said, drawing out the first word as he placed his hand on Poppy’s arm rather familiarly Meaghan thought. Considering how much he and Dean did not get along, she didn’t imagine he’d had the chance to get that close to Poppy.

  “Bainbury,” Poppy said and there was warning in her tone that he might just be going too far.

  “Oh come on Poppy, bend a little,” Bain said and Meaghan’s heart almost stopped. What was he doing?

  “I should get back to my table. Please remind your mother about tea on Saturday,” Poppy said standing up.

  “Will do,” Bain said quietly and she walked away. Meaghan hit him on the arm immediately.

  “What was that?” she demanded of him.

  “I was just trying to talk you up,” Bain protested and Daniel snorted a laugh. Both of them turned to glare at him and he put his hands up in surrender.

  “I didn’t even know you knew Poppy like that,” Meaghan said with a furrow of her brow.

  “Our mothers are in the DAR together. Dean and I kind of had to tolerate each other from a very early age,” Bain said grudgingly.

  “Well….I’m glad your mutual antagonism isn’t all on my account. But seriously Bain, what was that?” Meaghan said refusing to be sidetracked.

  “Look, Poppy came over here to ask me to speak to you about leaving her son alone because she’d heard we were friends. I, in turn, countered with how about she gave you a chance to show you how awesome you are? That’s when you came over,” Bain said.

  Meaghan’s heart had dropped right into her shoes; some days, like this one, she despaired of ever getting through to Dean’s mother. And if she couldn’t do that then…

  “Hey, don’t look like that,” Daniel said reaching across the table for her hand. He was dressed all in white, his suit was terribly fitting; it hugged him everywhere and put every inch of his marvelous body on display. Nevertheless it was tastefully made and clearly expensive, and Daniel was a god; so he got away with it.

  Meaghan tried to smile at him, watching his blonde hair glinting in the light from the overhead lamps but didn’t quite manage it.

  “Meaghan! Fancy meeting you here,” a male voice said from behind her and she metaphorically girded her loins to deal with this new threat. She turned around not knowing what to expect, to see Conrad Shelley smiling down at her. He had a buxom red head on his arm; she looked kind of bored but determined to see this through. Meaghan envied her, her motivation – whatever it was.

  “Conrad! This is a surprise,” she said standing up to greet him. He gave her the up and down look and smiled.

  “You clean up good,” he said and she smiled.

  “Thanks. You too.” His black and white suit did indeed look extremely good on his six foot one athletic frame. The white side burns in his jet black hair added an air of sophistication that was sure to turn every head in the room. Meaghan wondered how it was that she was surrounded by all these good looking men.

  “I didn’t know you ran in these circles,” he said inclining his head in inquiry.

  “Dean,” she said in explanation.

  “Ah, the boyfriend. Where is he?” Conrad asked.

  Meaghan looked around wondering the same thing herself but shrugged her shoulders at Conrad. “I have no idea,” she said. Conrad turned to greet Bain and Daniel seemingly more familiar with them than Meaghan realized.

  “I didn’t know you’d met Daniel,” she said to him.

  “Oh he came down to the site with Bain one time while we were there. He brought sandwiches that he’d made. They were delicious,” Conrad informed her with a smile.

  “Site?” Meaghan asked curiously.

  “Yeah you know, the site for the recreation center your boyfriend’s foundation is building for us silly,” Conrad said clearly expecting that Meaghan knew exactly what he was talking about. She raised her eyebrows so high they were almost touching her hair.

  “My boyfriend what?” she asked and then Bain pulled her aside, suddenly claiming that he needed her to remove something from his eye…urgently.

  “Dean is funding the recreation center y’all are building on Hallet’s Point. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” he whispered and then she blew enthusiastically into his eye for effect and they went back to the conversation with Conrad.

  The band began a new song, an upbeat samba beat and Conrad asked her if she’d like to dance.

  “Sure. Dancing with one’s boss; not awkward at all,” she murmured. Conrad laughed and swept her into his arm, leading her onto the dance floor while doing the steps. She couldn’t help smiling her enjoyment and tossed all her worries away as she enjoyed the music.

  *****

  “Why is that man dancing with my girlfriend?” Dean said and was surprised when Daniel answered him. He hadn’t been aware he was speaking out loud.

  “Oh Dean lighten up; he’s her boss and it's always a good thing to be friendly with your boss,” Daniel said.

  Dean turned to look at him. “Are you friendly with your boss?” he asked snarkily.

  “I’m an independent contractor,” Daniel said impassively.

  “Oh right”, Dean said nodding. “So really, why are they dancing?”

&nbs
p; Meaghan and Conrad were cutting a swath across the dance floor. Her flowered purple dress was perfect for this dance; she seemed to have been born to dance the Samba. She and Conrad looked like they were in perfect sync as he tossed her this way and that, bending her over his arm in the classic pose. For one horrified second Dean was afraid he was going to kiss her. But he just flipped her back up and twirled her around as she laughed delightedly. Dean took a step toward them even before he was aware he’d decided to cut in but Daniel’s hand closed tightly on his arm.

  “It’s just a dance Dean,” he said. “Let’s not make it more than that.”

  Dean continued to glare at the couple.

  “Hey Dean, meet Daneel; she’s Conrad’s date,” Daniel said tugging him around to introduce him to a buxom red head standing nearby. She turned to greet him with a shy smile and then looked back at the dance floor. They were not the only ones watching the dancing couple. At least half the room had an eye on them.

  “Your so-called girlfriend is making a spectacle of herself,” a smug voice said from his other side as Samantha slipped into the spot next to him. He ignored her but she continued to speak to him.

  “I really seriously don’t know what you see in that attention whore. Obviously she’ll slut it out for anyone who’ll give her a leg up,” she said. Dean wanted to reach a hand out and sock her in the jaw. Instead he ground his teeth and moved to the other side of the table putting Daniel between them. Bain stood up from where he was sitting and went to stand beside Samantha.

  “Can I help you with something?” he asked her. She sneered at him.

  “Oh look who it is; the attention whore’s fag pimp”, she said.

  Bain smiled. “Happy now? Or haven’t you used up your quota of offensive words yet?”

  Samantha glared at him and then stalked off leaving the three men with the unwelcome feeling of presenting a united front. Unwelcome at least for Dean and Bain. Daniel liked everybody.

  The dance came to an end. Spontaneous applause from the watching crowd for Conrad and Meaghan and they took a bow before heading back to Bain’s table. Meaghan was smiling at Dean, glad to have located him at last and Conrad was watching her smile at him with a slight furrow to his brow but a smile playing around his lips as well.

  “Hey you,” Meaghan said coming up to Dean and taking his hands delightedly.

  “Hey,” Dean replied pulling her until she was flush against him. “I didn’t know you could samba like that.”

  “Viva Brazil,” she said grinning at him. “Where were you? I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

  “Is that why you decided to ditch me for the doc there?”

  “Nah, that was actually to distract me from the mean girls I met in the ladies’ followed by the impromptu mediation session Bain tried to hold with your mother right after.”

  “What?” Dean asked in puzzlement.

  “Long story. Tell you later?” she said.

  “Okay,” Dean said holding her even closer if that was possible.

  “And then you can tell me all about this project for Conrad’s foundation that you’re funding.”

  Dean stiffened. “Who told you?” he asked shooting a glare at Bain.

  “Conrad. He seemed to be under the impression that I already knew,” Meaghan said. Suddenly she stiffened and moved away from him. “Wait. Is that why he gave me that evaluation?” she asked staring suspiciously at him.

  Dean sighed. “Megs…really? You really think I would do that?”

  Meaghan stared at him a bit more. “I…guess not,” she said quietly though she didn’t sound a hundred per cent sure.

  “I wouldn’t,” he clarified forcefully.

  “Then why keep the project a secret?” she asked.

  “Can we talk about this later?” he asked trying to pull her nearer again.

  Meaghan studied him. “Sure but at this rate we’re going to have to make a to-do list of Things to Discuss Later.”

  Dean smiled. “I’ll get right on that,” he said and then his face got serious. “I promise Megs as soon as we get home, we’ll talk about this. This just isn’t the right time or place.”

  “Okay,” Meaghan said moving back into his arms. She was perturbed by all this secrecy but acknowledged that now wasn’t the time to hash it out.

  “My mother didn’t say anything to you, did she?” he asked her.

  “Nah. Bain was too busy talking me up for her to get a word in edgewise. I got the feeling she would have liked to though,” she said.

  “That’s too bad. I was hoping she was coming around. She’s been much happier since the whole improved ability to converse with dad now. In spite of the fact that it was your idea.”

  Meaghan smiled. “Let’s not push it too hard. Whatever is going on with her, she needs to work it out for herself.”

  Dean looked down at her and smiled. “Do you want to dance?” he asked.

  “Thought you’d never ask,” Meaghan replied.

  *****

  Adriana sat by Jan feeling a little disappointed in how the evening had turned out. Rumor had it that Dean Wesson was single and she’d been hoping to take their budding business relationship to a whole other personal level starting with the killer red dress she was wearing tonight that outlined her every curve and caused her dusky complexion to shine. Her long legs encased in black Jimmy Choos with the red bottoms were the most ‘fuck-me’ shoes she’d ever seen but Dean had hardly spared her so much as a glance. All of his attention was for the purple clad black woman he’d come with. She was shorter than Adriana though not by much and her body was curvier but in the looks stakes, Adriana would definitely bet on herself being hotter than that nappy haired dark skinned…girl. Sure her skin was clear and unblemished and she had some real moves on the dance floor. She knew how to move her body to definite advantage and even Adriana could admit that ass she had on her was just perfect.

  Still, all things considered, Adriana did not understand what it was that this woman had that she didn’t. She sauntered casually up to the blonde that she’d seen the girl exchanging words with earlier and smiled at her, holding out her hand to be shook.

  “Adriana Stuijt,” she said cordially.

  “Samantha Crawford,” the blonde replied shaking her hand a bit grumpily.

  “Would you mind if I ask you something?” she asked.

  “Shoot,” Samantha said.

  “The girl in the purple dress…” Adriana began. Samantha made an annoyed sound.

  “Not you too,” she complained.

  “Not me too…what?” Adriana inclined her head forward to inquire.

  “Don’t tell me you’re one of her legion of fans,” Samantha said.

  “Not really. I just wondered what her relationship was to Dean Wesson,” Adriana said.

  “Tuh,” Samantha exhaled her face reddening. “Relationship indeed,” she said bitterly.

  Adriana just looked at her; she knew that the best way to get information out of people was to keep silent and let them fill it.

  “She’s an attention whore who stole my boyfriend,” Samantha said. “She seduced him with her differences and turned his head, taking advantage of the fact that he was freaking out about taking the helm at the family firm.”

  Adriana thought it sounded very much like a story Samantha told herself to soothe her wounded ego but she wasn’t about to say so. She looked thoughtfully at Dean; so he liked that dark meat did he? That might work to her advantage. She was here for the long game and once he tired of his little rebellion with lil miss sunshine over there…

  “That’s too bad,” she said in encouragement.

  “I can’t wait for the day he comes crawling back,” Samantha said smugly. “He’ll have to really work for my forgiveness.”

  Adriana wanted to ask her if she really thought Dean would be coming back. Judging by the way he was wrapped around the new girl; he didn’t seem to be missing her at all. She didn’t think pointing that out would earn her any brownie points
so she kept her mouth shut.

  “Men,” she said instead.

  “Yeah,” Samantha said smiling at her in shared commiseration. “Can’t live with them, can’t kill them.”

  Adriana laughed obligingly and then walked away. She had a lot to think about.

  *****

  “We would like to thank everyone for coming tonight,” Jan Van der Roodt said in his vote of thanks and then announced how many millions had been raised for the victims of the Blood Diamond trade to raucous applause. He then wished everyone a lovely evening and announced that they were free to leave at their leisure.

  Daniel came up to Meaghan and Dean as they sat talking at their tables, heads close together.

  “Hey girlfriend, you haven’t danced with me tonight,” he said holding out his hand. Meaghan looked at Dean for permission to leave him and then smiled and reached out to take Daniel’s proffered hand.

  “So this has been fun,” she ventured.

  “It hasn’t been too bad”, he shrugged.

  “Hey, Bain brought you to a function where his friends, colleagues, peers and family are in attendance. It’s a good day.”

  “He hasn’t danced with me once,” Daniel said sadly.

  “I think that’s more about him than you. Just being here with you is a statement, you know? He probably didn’t want to bombard people’s faces with your over the top gayness,” she consoled.

  “There are other homosexuals in this room,” Daniel pointed out.

  “Maybe. But one thing I learned pretty fast in this life is that you can never compare your situation to other people’s situations. That way lies madness,” she advised Daniel.

  “I know that. And normally I don’t even think about it – but normally Bain doesn’t treat me like just another friend he happened to bring to the event and not his boyfriend,” Daniel’s piercing gray eyes were shiny with unshed tears.

  “You’ll get there Danny; I promise you – you will,” Meaghan said making a mental note to give Bain a piece of her mind.

  “I know,” he said but not like he meant it. He looked down at her with a pained smile. “I’m so glad we have you to talk to.”