Billionaire's Fake Fiancé (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (Billionaires - Book #10)

by Claire Adams

  At home, I turned on the news and wasn’t surprised to see my mother standing in the Bears’ stadium office giving the press a statement. She was wearing a black skirt and a gold blouse and her hair and makeup were, as usual, impeccable, but when I looked closer, I could see dark circles under her eyes and lines around her mouth that hadn’t been as pronounced the last time I’d seen her. She was stressed. I sat down on the edge of the sofa, turned up the sound, and watched my mother do what she did best — spin the story.

  “Today we witnessed a tragic clash between fans of the beloved Chicago Bears and the new NFL franchise. This incident is yet another in a long list of attempts by wealthy outsiders to undermine the deep abiding loyalty that Chicago fans have for the Bears. I have spoken with Commissioner Goodell and voiced my opinion, and the opinion of many other long-time Chicago residents, that the Storm should be sanctioned for its fans’ behavior. He told me he is considering action against the team, but will need some time to read the reports from the CPD and the security team at Soldier Field. I would like to appeal to the better nature of the Bears’ fans, and urge them not to engage in any activity that is unbefitting of the Bears. I would also like to tell the outsiders who have brought this thuggish violence into the heart of our beautiful city that we will not stand for this kind of behavior or violence. I would also like to call on Mr. Connor, the owner of the Storm, to step up and take responsibility for the actions of Storm fans by absorbing the cost of the damage done to the stadium during the game. When you are a guest in someone else’s home, you try to leave it exactly as you found it, and I’m sure Mr. Connor’s sense of honor will enable him to do the right thing.”

  I shut off the television and turned to find Dax staring at the blank screen. He didn’t say a word, and when I stood up, he turned and walked into his office, slamming the door behind him. I sunk back down on the couch and held my head in my hands as I tried to understand what just happened.

  Bit by bit, my own mother was destroying my chance at happiness.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Dax

  “That vindictive bitch is going to ruin everything!” Finn shouted as I motioned for him to tone it down. I’d agreed to meet with him at a diner near the stadium, but I hadn’t expected this outpouring of rage.

  “Chill out, man,” I said as the waitress shot us a look and held up the coffee pot. I shook my head and turned my attention back to Finn. “Look, I don’t give a shit what that woman says; the whole thing was about the fans, not about the teams or anything I’ve — we’ve done. I’m not apologizing and I’m not paying for damages; that’s why you buy insurance.”

  “It’s not the money, Dax,” Finn said shooting me the old side eye. “It’s the principle of the thing! She’s damaging the brand!”

  “Oh bullshit,” I scoffed. “You can’t damage a football brand with a brawl. Besides, this whole thing isn’t even about football.”

  “Then what the hell is it about?” he demanded.

  “Ownership of her daughter,” I said. “She’s mad because Payton chose me over her and now she’s going to make me pay for it. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Bullshit. That bitch has ice water running through her veins,” Finn said as he picked up a knife and began tapping the table with it in a steady rhythm.

  “Cut it out,” I said, irritated by the noise. “Just because she’s cold doesn’t mean she won’t try and exact revenge. Her own daughter has publicly rejected her and now she’s holding the bag for the entire Bears’ organization. I’m sure she’s sweating knowing that the only heir to the Halas legacy is on the side of the new guy.”

  “You could be right,” he agreed, dropping the knife and signaling the waitress for coffee. “What’s your lady love going to do about it?”

  “Dunno, she’s not really talking to me right now,” I said as I watched the waitress pour a stream of hot coffee into each of our mugs. “I don’t want to fuck it up, though.”

  “Watch out, Dax,” Finn warned. “You’re not supposed to fall for her. She’s a means to an end, man. Eyes on the prize.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said, staring out the window, thinking about how good it felt to wake up next to Payton’s warm body and how much I’d miss our evenings out if she decided to cut the contract and leave.

  “You’re getting all moon-eyed, man,” he said. “Knock that shit off. We have work to do.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said, taking a gulp of the hot coffee and then swearing as it burned my tongue. My phone buzzed and when I pulled it out and checked the screen, I saw a message from Nick Wilcox entitled “Call me - 911.” I looked at Finn and said, “I gotta go. Wilcox has an emergency.”

  “I’ll call you when I have the details on the offices finalized,” he nodded as I got up and tossed a couple of twenties on the table. Finn shook his head as he swore, “Jesus, Connor, I’ve got the fuckin’ check.”

  “Then add that to the tip,” I said, walking out to the waiting car.

  The meeting with Nick did not go well from the start. I found him down in his office raging about the mess at Soldier Field, but as he vented his frustrations, I quickly realized he was more pissed about the fact that the team doctor was refusing to clear Johnny for play. The doctor had done a series of scans and had found several small bleeds in Johnny’s brain and said he wanted him to rest for six weeks before they scanned him again to see whether the damage would heal itself.

  “I can’t have a team without a goddamn quarterback!” Nick shouted.

  “What about Gaddis? You put him in the Bears game and he did okay,” I said wondering why Nick was getting pissed at me about a problem I couldn’t solve.

  “Gaddis is a rookie! He won’t be at his full potential for another couple years,” Nick replied with thinly veiled disgust. “Riggs was our go-to guy. Healthy as a fucking horse and seemingly indestructible. Gaddis was brought in as quarterback in training. Now what the fuck are we going to do?”

  “I have no idea; what do you suggest?” I asked as I felt completely out of my element. Tony Butler had handled all of the player requests and issues, while I’d steered clear of all of it.

  “Getting your thumb out of your ass and hiring a goddamn GM would be a great start!” Nick shouted. His face was red and he gestured wildly as he read me the riot act about how much I was fucking up his team. I stared at him without saying a word until finally his frustration ran its course and he cooled down. He dropped heavily into his chair and rested his hand on his forehead as he sighed, “I’m sorry, Dax. I just got my hopes up early on and watching them get dashed is fucking killing me.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I said as I left the office and took the elevator up to my office. I walked past the front desk and asked the receptionist if Payton had come in yet, and when she said yes, I changed my course and walked down to her office.

  I stood in the doorway watching her work and marveling at how confident she looked sitting behind the desk. She had dressed more casually than normal, wearing a Storm jersey over jeans and boots with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, and she looked much younger than her age. There was a softness to her I hadn’t realized was there when I met her, but the longer I knew her and the more I learned about her, the easier it became to see it. I still thought she was bossy, but I’d grown fond of her straight-forward way of dealing with things — even the most difficult things.

  “Hey, how’s it going?” she called, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the real world. “Did you need something?”

  “Yeah, I just got done talking with Nick and I wanted to run something by you,” I said stepping into the office and closing the door behind me. “They said that Riggs took a hard hit on Sunday that caused some brain bleeds. He’s out for six weeks, but Nick doesn’t want Gaddis playing first string. I thought you’d know what to do.”

  “So, Mr. Big Shot doesn’t know what he’s doing and wants help?” she asked. There was a sharp edge in her voice that I hadn’t he
ard since the fight we’d had at training camp, and aside from the obvious fact that I hadn’t made her the new GM, I couldn’t figure out why she was angry.

  “I just want some advice,” I shrugged.

  “Ah, yes, I believe you were the one who once said, ‘Nothing says I don’t give a shit like a shrug,’” she said sharply.

  “What is wrong with you?”

  “Me? What is wrong with me?” she asked incredulously. “Buddy, you have a serious blind spot when it comes to who I am and what I do, and I’m sick and tired of you telling me no and then turn around and come running to me for advice because you know nothing about the game!”

  “Lower your voice,” I said sternly. “We’re having a discussion here.”

  “Don’t tell me to lower my voice,” she said doing just that. “You need to get your head out of your ass and figure this shit out on your own, Connor.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said holding up my hand. “I thought we were a team here.”

  “Yeah, we’re a team until you decide you don’t need what I’m offering,” she retorted. “Then you run back to the boys’ club and choose them.”

  “Look, there are all kinds of reason why I’m doing what I’m doing,” I began.

  “I know, I know,” she said cutting me off. “I’m not old enough or experienced enough or have enough testosterone coursing through my veins. I heard you the first 10 times!”

  I could feel my frustration level rising as her anger increased and the accusations flew fast and furious. I’d done my level best to try and meet her expectations, but suddenly I realized that she’d changed the rules midstream.

  “Lady, I’m coming to you for help and you’re telling me to fuck off,” I said. “So be it, but just understand that there are consequences for that. I’m not going to continue to be your whipping boy!”

  “Oh right, as if,” she said, rolling her eyes. That did it. I knew I was dangerously close to lashing out at her, but I was still cognizant enough to know that it might not entirely be her fault. I shook my head and then turned and yanked open the door.

  “I think we should have dinner out tonight,” I said as calmly as I could. “Given the situation over the weekend and the fact that your mother is blaming me for it.”

  “Fine, I’ll meet you at The Purple Pig at six,” she said, turning back to the computer and typing so fast that I was pretty sure she was just striking random keys.

  I closed the door as quietly as I could and then went back to my office to try and figure out how quickly I could hire the new GM and get him in here making all of these decisions.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Payton

  By the time I finished the scouting report I’d been working on for the past several weeks, I didn’t have time to go home and change clothes before Dax and I were supposed to meet for dinner. I grabbed my bags and headed out not long before we were supposed to meet, and I knew I was likely to be late. I thought about calling, but decided to let him sweat it out a little.

  There was no question we’d grown closer over the past few months and that, in the past few weeks, we’d crossed a line I hadn’t anticipated or even wanted to cross. I liked him. A lot. There was no doubt in my mind that we had an intense physical connection; one that I’d never had with anyone else before, but right now I was mad at Dax for failing to see how valuable I was to the Storm organization. I knew I had a lot to offer and I knew he knew it, too, but I also knew that our sexual relationship had made it difficult for him to separate the business from pleasure, and it meant I was going to have to do it for him.

  When I walked into the restaurant, the hostess greeted me with a big smile and handed me a large bouquet of brilliantly colored fall flowers before leading me to a table tucked far in the back of the restaurant where Dax stood waiting with a serious look on his face. I couldn’t help but smile when I thought about how Gram had told me how he’d developed the habit of brining her flowers whenever he’d done something bad — as if it would soften the blow of disappointment. I didn’t want to be mad, but I didn’t know how to get through to him how I felt about the Storm and football. I didn’t expect him to understand, but I did expect that he’d treat my passion with respect.

  “Payton,” he said as I sat down at the table. I pretended to fuss with the flowers as I tried to hide the fact that every time I looked at him, I felt a wave of desire ripple through me. I wanted things to go back to being easy between us, but then I remembered that there was no us. We were a deal. A contract signed so we could each get something we needed. We’d been lucky to be so physically attracted to one another, but I had to keep reminding myself it was just lust and the rest was business.

  “Yes?” I said as I looked up and felt my heart beat faster as he sat down across from me and reached out to take my hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I don’t understand your love of the game, and I’m sorry that I haven’t taken you seriously. I’m also sorry that I have to make decisions about the business that feel hurtful to you.”

  “I understand,” I said, swallowing my disappointment. A part of me had come to dinner hoping that he had somehow seen the light and was going to tell me he had chosen me for the GM position. I knew it was a long shot, but the fragment of hope I’d kept alive now withered as he spoke.

  “After we spoke, I realized it was unfair to keep asking you to do a job that you weren’t going to get,” he said. “So I called Al Mendoza and offered him the GM position.”

  “I see,” I said fighting hard to hold back the tears that were threatening to flow as my appetite abandoned me. “I understand. Thank you for being honest and telling me yourself.”

  Hearing the news was much harder than I’d anticipated, and as the reality of it hit me, I felt a deep sadness wash over me. I stood up and excused myself from the table, and made a break for the ladies’ room. I heard Dax calling my name, but the urge to escape was stronger and I fled. I locked myself in a stall on the far end of the bathroom and covered my face with my hands as I choked back the sobs of disappointment. I hadn’t realized just how much I’d wanted the job or how completely I’d thrown myself into it as I’d waited for Dax to make a decision. I thought that if I’d done it right, he’d notice and do what my mother refused to do.

  Now, as reality came crashing in, I realized I was a 28-year-old woman who had defied her mother, gotten herself disinherited over a stubborn refusal to tow the family line, and now had nothing to show for it.

  “Ma’am?” a voice called from the doorway. “Ma’am, are you okay? Do you need medical attention?”

  “No,” I said choking back a sob. “I’m fine. Please tell my companion I’ll be out in a minute.”

  I heard the door close, then murmuring on the other side followed by someone entering the room. I held my breath, not wanting to call any more attention to myself than I already had.

  “Payton,” Dax said and I gasped loudly. “Payton, for such a smart woman, you really do miss out on the big things sometimes. You shouldn’t be so quick to draw conclusions.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked reluctant to come out of my hiding place.

  “I was trying to tell you what happened today, but you didn’t hear me out,” he said tapping on the door. “Can you open up so I can tell you face-to-face?”

  “You can tell me just like this,” I said stubbornly refusing to let him watch me break down while he told me about the new GM.

  “Woman, you drive me crazy!” he said raising his voice. I could hear him moving on the other side of the stall and when he spoke again, he was looking down over the wall between us. “Listen to me, will you?”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked. “Why are you torturing me this way? Isn’t it enough that I know I’m not in the running even though you and I both know I’m perfectly capable of doing the job? Do you really have to shove the new guy down my throat?”

  “If you would stop shooting your mouth off and listen to me
, you’d know that Mendoza isn’t going to be our new GM,” he said in exasperation. “What I was trying to tell you is that I offered the job to Mendoza and he turned me down. And when I asked why, he said it was because he’d gotten a better offer from the Cardinals and even if he hadn’t, he didn’t want to work for someone like me.”

  “What?” I said, stunned by this revelation.

  “Yeah, he said I’ve been informally blackballed by the league owners and that no self-respecting executive who wants a career in the NFL will ever consider working for me,” he continued as a smile spread across his lips.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “Because this means I can do what I wanted to do all along and say: fuck ‘em!” he replied smiling even wider. He asked, “Could you please come out of that stall and talk to me face-to-face?”

  I opened the door and walked out, wiping my nose with a wad of toilet paper. I kept my back to the mirror on the wall, not wanting to see my swollen eyes and mascara-streaked cheeks, and when Dax came toward me, I ducked my head and backed away.

  “Payton, I realized I’ve been an idiot. I’ve been trying to play the game by their rules and they don’t want me,” he said as he stepped forward and slipped his hand beneath my chin to lift my face. “I did a shitty job of setting this up, but I wanted to ask you if you’d accept the job as the Storm’s new general manager.”

  “You’re shitting me,” I said and then watched as Dax let out a loud laugh as he shook his head. “You’re asking me to be the GM?”

  “Indeed, I am,” he nodded. “Will you accept the offer?”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Payton,” he said in a tone that told me he was.

  “Of course I’ll take the offer, you idiot!” I shouted as I flung my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Dax wrapped his arms around me and pulled me off the ground as I raised my hands to signal a touchdown and whooped loudly before I grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him hard.