Hayley laughed. ‘Would you calm down, she’s not even dilated ten centimeters yet. Oh ha ha, Skandar just gagged. Every time I say ‘dilated’…yep, there it is again.’ She giggled, and Quilla heard Skandar muttering in the background. She smiled.
‘Well, no-one expected her to go into labor this soon…are Flori and Grady there?’
‘Flori – Grady's acting all ‘man of the 1950’s’about it. It’s for the best, after all, we don’t want Grady getting emotional and telling the baby ‘Dude, I tapped your mom first’.’
‘Hayley! That’s so gross,’ but Quilla giggled, rolling her eyes at Jakob.
‘How’s the move going?’
‘My slave keeps moaning about how many books I’ve got. I’m just enjoying watching using that fine body lifting my stuff.’
‘Oh, that’s right. Tonight’s the night…you get yours; I know what a horny witch you’ve been of late.’
Quilla laughed again. ‘Why do I put up with you?’
‘Because I’m your boo.’
‘Oh, that’s it,’ and Quilla was still laughing when she ended the call. Jakob, fresh from lugging another one of her book boxes down to the van, appeared, his hair disheveled.
‘Why did I marry a woman who reads?’ He moaned and then laughed. Quilla skipped over to him and threw her arms around his neck.
‘Because you’re not Joey Tribianni,’ she said, kissing him.
‘You watch too much Friends,’ he grinned down at her. Quilla tilted her head back to look at him, her eyes sleepy with desire.
‘As much as I’m looking forward to moving into our new…palace,’ she grinned, thinking of their new home on Bainbridge Island, ‘I feel we should say a proper goodbye to this place.’
She pressed her body against his, grinding her hips against his groin. A smile spread across Jakob’s face.
‘I think that’s a very, very good idea, sweetheart…’
Quilla leaped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. ‘Just so happens, if Sir would like to put his hands under my skirt….’
Jakob slid his hands under her dress, and his eyes widened as they met bare flesh. ‘Commando, hey?’
‘Just for you, always for you, my man, my Jakob,’ she kissed his tenderly then looked him in the eyes, ‘Now….fuck me good, nail me to the floor, Jakob Mallory…’
And without another moment’s hesitation, he did just that...
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PREVIEW OF BILLIONAIRE’S QUARRY
By Michelle Love
The Prey
Billionaire’s Quarry
By Michelle Love
Intrigue. Indifference. In Denial.
Mercy Noland is a twenty-six-year-old luxury spa manager with a couple of secrets she keeps from most people. She inherited her young niece and nephew after a car accident took their parents. Her life revolves around her job and her kids, and nothing else.
Jude Hurst is thirty and a spoiled oil billionaire. Born into money, he’s never worked a day in his life for anything. Other than when he learned to hunt with his maternal grandfather. He meets Mercy and sets his sights on her from the beginning.
Mercy has no room in her life for any man, much less a man who is not only out of her league but also on the dangerous side. With the loss of not only her sister but her parents, as well, to a tragic auto accident, Jude’s careless behavior isn’t a thing she sees working in her little family.
Can Jude make her see life is more than work and responsibilities? Or will Mercy make Jude see she isn’t up to the task of being with any man? Find out how their story begins in the first book of, ‘The Billionaire’s Quarry.’
Chapter 1
MERCY
When a two and a half-year-old little girl gets pissed everyone knows it. She makes sure of it. I inherited my niece and nephew two years ago when their parents, their mom was my sister, and my parents were going out for a night on the town while I stayed home to babysit the two little ones. A terrible auto accident claimed all four lives that were in my father’s car that night. The accident changed me from the fun aunt to the responsible mother in the blink of an eye.
I’ve taken to it well, I think. It made me hurry up and figure out what’s real in this life. I was twenty-four when that happened. Still young and free, single and alone. With the responsibility of the kids, I grew up overnight.
It became apparent that I needed to start making money. I had my business degree and had done nothing with it at that time. With a few interviews I managed to gain a managerial position at a Dallas luxury spa and I’ve done well in that position.
I have to say the hardest part of being a parent is dropping the kids off at daycare. They just never seem to want to go. I suppose because it’s so early and they’d much rather be sleeping. I know I would.
I have to get up an extra hour early every day to get them to their daycare so I can get to work. At times I do wish I had help. A man to even out some of the chores that come along with taking care of a feisty four-year-old boy and a two and a half-year-old girl might be nice. But then again he might just get in my way.
Mia holds on tight to the car door as Carter stands in a sleepy daze, waiting for me to drag his sister away from the car and into the little building which they call home every Monday through Friday, from six in the morning until six at night.
I wish there was another way but so far I haven’t found it.
“Mia, Baby, please come on. Let go of the door, Honey. You’re going to have fun. You always do,” I beg her.
“No! I want to go with you!” she screams at the top of her lungs.
Another mother passes by as she takes her sleeping kids past us as quickly as she can. One crying kid can set off a chain reaction. No one wants that!
She gives me the stink eye and I duck my head with feelings of inadequacy and continue to beg my niece to stop being a drama queen. “Mia, how about we make a deal? I promise to take you kids to the pizza place when I pick you up. You can play in the ball pit and I’ll give you all the tokens you want. Please!”
“Do it, Mia,” Carter says with an air of authority in his four-year-old southern drawl with a slight lisp.
Miraculously, she stops crying and screaming and says, “K.” Her hands release the car door and she turns to hang onto me, slipping her arms around my neck. “I wuv you, Aunt Mercy.”
Running my hand over her disheveled blonde locks, I try to tame them a little. With her tantrum, one would never know I not only brushed her hair but ran my straightener through it too to calm her unruly curls into some type of submission. Now they’re everywhere like a wild child’s.
Carter slips his hand into mine as we finally make our way up the sidewalk to the front door of the yellow building with a red roof. That’s how I initially got the kids to come inside of the building when we first came here, two years ago. It resembled a McDonald’s, and they didn’t cry one bit. Until I left them here that is.
The kids suffer a bit from separation anxiety. We’ve been in counseling to help with that. When one’s parents walk out the door with a kiss and a hug and a promise to return but never do, it can leave a scar on your brain and your soul.
Since I lost my mother, father, and only other sibling in the accident, I can empathize with the kids. It’s not easy to take each day as it comes. Sometimes you just want to kick something or someone because life doesn’t seem fair.
Life is hard and you have to become hard to deal with it. I try not to let that philosophy of mine rub off on the kids. Mostly because our therapist told me not to. She’s pretty strict with me. She lets me know that I can grieve and feel somewhat sorry for myself now and then, but my main responsibility to the children my sister left behind is bigger than anything else.
She’s right and I know that. My sister, Hope, and I w
ere only two years apart. She was the oldest, and I was the baby, though not treated very much like one. We were treated like twins. She and I looked a lot alike. And we wore the same size. I inherited her wardrobe as well as her kids so that was a plus as her husband kept her in the latest styles, a thing I couldn’t afford on a part-time salary as a waitress at that time.
I spot the teacher for my niece’s room and hand her over. Mia is all smiles now as she goes to the older woman. “Hi, Mrs. Jensen. Guess what?”
The woman smiles and tweaks her nose as she holds her on her hip. “What do you have to tell me, Mia?”
With a huge grin, she says, “Aunt Mercy is taking us to get pizza and play games after school today.”
“How nice of her,” she says then puts Mia down and sends her off to put her little backpack, filled with her things, away. “So, being a Friday, have you made any fun weekend plans?”
I shake my head as I watch Carter go to his room down the hallway. “Bye, Carter. See you at six,” I call out after him.
Just before he goes into the door he looks back at me and waves. My heart melts a little as I see he’s smiling as I guess he’s thinking about tonight and how much fun he’s going to have playing the games at the restaurant.
Such little things can make them so happy, it’s amazing!
Mrs. Jensen takes my attention as she says, “You know, Mia, my daughter is taking some childhood development courses. She could use the practice and would babysit for free if you’d like to make some plans anytime. She’s free most every night. It would actually be a help to her as she has to clock a lot of hours with one-on-one time with children of various ages. It would help her a lot if you let her babysit even a couple of weekends a month.”
“The kids already have to spend so much time away from me because of work. I hate to do that to them,” I say as I turn to leave. “But thanks for telling me, anyway.”
“Mia, you need a life, young lady,” she calls out after me.
I wave back at her and walk away. No one knows what it’s like to have so much on your shoulders and be all alone with it. My life is with those kids. I am their life now and there’s really no room for anyone else, anyway.
I suppose this is how spinsters are made!
Chapter 2
JUDE
The shrill sound of Ariel’s voice as she yells at the woman doing her pedicure has me flinching. I look at the phone in my hand as I sit in the chair across from her and try to act as if she’s not with me.
“You’re a fucking moron!” she shouts.
Briefly, I glance up and see the poor woman who has the misfortune of getting Ariel as her client today seems to be upset. Her hands are shaking and her face is pale. I should say something to Ariel about not treating people so harshly but then she might turn that nasty temper on me and I’d rather not deal with that.
Ariel is from a wealthy family just like I am. Rich from birth has us a little less tolerable of people. I can’t explain it. It just is that way.
I’m not as bad as she is, but then again I’m from Texas and she’s from New York. The south demands a certain amount of hospitality and manners whereas the New York socialites don’t seem to care too much about such things.
I live in a monstrous mansion my grandfather had built when they discovered oil on his ranch. Since that time, some sixty years ago, he managed to buy several more properties where oil was discovered and now we are rolling in the dough.
I’ve lived a carefree life full of the things which come along with an endless supply of money. I’ve been to the best schools for reasons I do not know. College is where I met my occasional gal-pal, Ariel, she was an Art major. She nor I do anything with the degrees we’ve earned. I’m never going to do anything but live off the money that goes straight into accounts for me.
My degree is nearly useless. To me it is, anyway. I hold a Masters in Kinesiology. I know every muscle and every way to get them in the best possible shape they can be in. I use the information I have acquired for myself and that’s about it.
I’ve built a home gym others can only dream about. I also have a body most others can only dream about.
Some might call me arrogant, but I think I’m just being honest about my fantastic attributes. I do work hard on making my body this buff after all. Why not be proud of basically the only achievement I’ve ever really made?
I’m the oldest in my family of six. Mom and Dad are still together by some miracle and they had the four of us each three years apart. I just turned thirty a couple of months ago and we all went to Greece for the occasion.
To say I’m spoiled is just a matter of opinion. Do I get anything I ask for?
Well, yes I do. Do I ask for a lot of things?
Again, the answer is yes. I want the latest things just like anyone else does. A robot butler, an expensive drone, expensive watches that I never wear, those are things I like to call eccentric collections.
They’re fun to purchase and mess with now and then. It makes life interesting. Much like Ariel is making the lives of the staff here at the Luxurious Dallas Day Spa interesting on this Friday afternoon.
With another quick glance at the shrieking Ariel, I see another young woman has joined the poor older woman who was doing Ariel’s toes. She seems as upset as the other woman and I don’t see how anyone will be able to calm the mad hen of a woman down.
This is frustrating for me as I had high hopes this little spa day would settle her a bit. She’s had jet lag since she flew in last night and has been unable to satisfy my sexual needs.
I foresee leaving her at the mansion on her own this evening and finding a hot night club full of women who’ve drunk away their inhibitions and are ready to get down and dirty with me. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
“I want to speak to someone in management!” Ariel yells, drawing more little women out of their private little cubicles to see who is causing all this racket. “I will not tolerate being handled like a piece of crap!” She points at the shaking woman in front of her. “You have no business touching anyone’s feet! None, what so ever!”
“I am so sorry, Mam. I didn’t even know I nicked your big toe. There’s no blood. There’s not even a red spot where you say I did that,” the woman says.
I put my phone down to watch Ariel’s reaction to anyone telling her such a thing. This should be good!
“Listen to me, you little nitwit!” she shrieks at the top of her lungs. “How dare you tell me that I’m lying.”
“No, Mam!” the woman says as she shakes her head and wrings her hands. “I did not say that, Mam! I never would say that.”
“How can you say you didn’t call me a liar?” Ariel asks as loud as she can. “You told me there’s no blood or even a red mark. Do you think I can’t feel my own body? Do you think I can’t feel the horrible pain at the tip of my big toe where you cut it?”
“I didn’t say that,” the poor woman mutters as she looks around for help. Her eyes land on me and I quickly pull my phone up to avoid any eye contact.
She knows Ariel is with me and I can see her asking for my help. But shit will hit the fan if I get involved. Ariel will make sure of that.
“I’m not about to pay for this. You can be sure of that. This entire day will have to be comped,” Ariel says with a huff. “Your little mistake just cost your company thousands of dollars as my friend and I have both had massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and the deep skin treatment that costs three thousand dollars each on their very own. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
A hush falls over the group of employees who have gathered together to ease the situation with Ariel. I find myself looking up to see why.
“May I ask what the problem is here?” I hear a sweet feminine voice with a delicate southern drawl say. She’s coming down the hallway and I’ve yet to see the woman behind the voice. “Back to work, please.”
The others disperse quickly as the woman who is being accused of mutilating Ariel�
�s big toe stands still with her head down. “Miss Harmsworth says I cut the tip of her big toe. There is no cut or even a red mark there.”
Ariel turns up the volume as she shouts, “I will not…”
The woman emerges from the hallway and lays one hand on Ariel’s shoulder. I find I can’t breathe as I look at the woman. She’s absolutely gorgeous!
Thick blonde hair hangs to her waist in a satin sheet. Her curves have curves and they are perfectly accentuated by the form fitting white suit she’s wearing. With a skirt that goes to just above a beautiful set of knees.
Knees aren’t always beautiful but hers are. Her lips are a shade of pastel pink that matches the blush on her high cheekbones then her deep blue eyes make my heart skip a beat. Thick, lush dark lashes surround those brilliant blue eyes and set them off perfectly.
She turns a little and her profile shows me her nose is a little turned up on the end and so cute I could just kiss it. “Now, now, Miss Harmsworth. No need to shout. I will be happy to take care of things for you.”
I watch Ariel’s face go from red to pink as she seems to calm down immediately with the young woman’s touch and words.
This lady is a miracle worker!
Chapter 3
MERCY
The red-head in the pedicure chair has flames coming out of her head, but she seems to be calming down as I touch her shoulder. It’s a technique my therapist taught me to calm people down, I find it often works well.
The lady who looks to be about thirty or so holds up her right foot as she wiggles her big toe. “See,” she says with a little whimper following it. “She just about took the end of my toe off.”
Although I don’t see a thing to collaborate her accusation, I pat her shoulder and say, “My, that does look painful.”
“It’s excruciating,” she moans. “I doubt I’ll be able to wear closed toed shoes for a month with this horrific injury.”
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