Billionaire's Princess: A Standalone Novel (A Royal Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (Billionaires Book 2)

by Claire Adams

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I wanted to see if you had time for lunch today.”

  I thought about Emma again. She turned her phone off; obviously she didn’t want to see me just yet. “Sure, Sal, I could do lunch.” We arranged to meet at a sandwich shop near his office and before he hung up I asked him, “Hey, does Jessie ever get emotional on you out of the blue for no reason?”

  He laughed, “Well, it seems like she does, but she always tells me that she has plenty of reasons.”

  Sighing, I said, “So what do you do?”

  He gave me the same answer that Lynn had. “Apologize.”

  “But what if I don’t know what I did?”

  “It doesn’t matter, just say you’re sorry. It’s the only way you’ll ever get back in that pussy.”

  “You’re a pig.”

  “I know. I’ll see you at lunch.” I hung up shaking my head. I’d apologize tonight. Hopefully, she doesn’t want me to list out what I did to offend her because I was still utterly clueless.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  EMMA

  The first week my family was in town was the longest of my life. It was longer even than being locked away in a room away from the world and unable to escape. The press followed us everywhere; it was like a circus.

  My mother complained and looked down her nose at everything. Elena was her usual drama queen self. Victor stayed immersed in his video games to drown the rest of us out and my father acted like he’d rather be anywhere but there. I suppose that was a theme for the men in our family because Nick acted the same way. That first night after they got here and we all had dinner out and chatted until after midnight he tried to talk to me about why I’d been upset with him. He started out by saying,

  “Emma, I’m sorry.” I was taking off my make-up and getting ready for bed. I looked up at him in the mirror. He was standing behind me with no shirt on. His blue eyes were shining and his chest and arms were begging to have my hands and fingers on them. Somehow, none of that was enough to keep that meanness I’d been feeling lately from rearing its ugly head.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Everything, whatever I did to upset you.”

  I rolled my eyes and finished wiping my face. As I massaged my night cream into my skin, I said, “So this is a generic apology.”

  “Emma, please.”

  “Please what, Nick? Please accept your apology for something you don’t know you’re apologizing for and obviously don’t know or care that you did wrong?”

  “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t even be trying.”

  With a sigh, I washed and dried my hands and then as I fixed my toothbrush with paste I asked, “Do you know what you did to upset me?”

  “I didn’t, but Lynn explained it to me and now—”

  “Wait a minute...Lynn explained it? You talked to Lynn about our personal issues?”

  “Why does that upset you? You talk to Lynn about everything.”

  “Because she’s my best friend. Don’t you have your own friends to talk to?”

  “I just can’t win with you lately, can I?”

  “Let’s just drop it, Nick. I’m exhausted and have to get some sleep. Mother will be dragging me around tomorrow to look at the venues and show me how she wants them set up.”

  Nicholas was about to get himself into deeper shit. Sometimes I wondered how such a smart man could be so stupid. “This damned wedding is getting out of control, Emma. Did you hear her say over five hundred people were coming? Who invites five hundred people to their wedding? I just don’t think I even want to go through with this.”

  “Really? Are you planning on leaving me at the altar?”

  “Of course not. But, Emma, get real. We’re already married and we have a three-year-old son. Yet, we’re throwing the party of the century and inviting way too many people to it in order to make your mother happy.”

  “What about me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did you ever ask me if I regretted giving up my wedding? Do you know that little girls dream of their weddings from the time they’re old enough to know what one is?” I didn’t even know where those words were coming from. I didn’t want this wedding any more than he did, but for some reason, I wanted him to want it. What the hell is wrong with me?

  He ran a hand through his hair and said, “Okay, Emma. I just don’t want to fight anymore.”

  “Then stop being an ass.” As soon as I said it I saw the hurt in his eyes. He turned to leave the bathroom and I said, “Nick, wait.” He didn’t stop. He slept in the guestroom that night. He’d come back to our bed since, but he hadn’t touched me and fearing rejection, I hadn’t touched him, either.

  My family, my mother in particular, wouldn’t stop asking questions about why he wasn’t involved in the wedding plans and why he hadn’t taken a vacation from his work while they were there and most of all, why he and I seemed strained around each other.

  I did my best to keep her entertained and engaged in conversations about the wedding and keep her mind off that. I had no idea why we were suddenly so strained around each other and even if I did, my mother would have been the last person I’d talk to about it.

  The days passed, and I spent most of them with my family. I had my final fitting for a dress that cost more than most people make in a year, the final tasting for a cake that could pay someone’s mortgage for three months, and a final look at the venue that I didn’t even want to know what it cost.

  The only time in my life that I ever really had to think about money was when I was living above the studio and working as a photographer. Even then, I always had my trust fund as a back-up plan.

  I’d been thinking about it a lot lately, however, as we walked and drove the Las Vegas Strip and I’d see the homeless lying about on the hot sidewalk and the people hustling and bustling to get to work just so they can pay their bills and be broke for the rest of the month. It made me feel guilty for the way we threw money around and I started wondering if there was more that I could do.

  For some reason, my emotions had just been all over the place lately and I wondered if it was because of the guilt I felt for having so much while others had so little.

  It was about a week before the big event and while my parents enjoyed lunch and a movie with one of the richest casino owners in the world and Elena shopped, as usual, and Victor and my son bonded over video games, I decided to take a walk. Normally when I walk, I stay on the Strip or I end up at the park.

  Today, I left the Strip and headed toward North Las Vegas. I was never afraid when I was out walking because I always knew that although I couldn’t see him, Brandon’s man was tailing me wherever I went. I was used to it because it was how I’d grown up.

  I walked and walked until suddenly, I found myself in front of a homeless shelter. I knew it was there – I’d passed it dozens of times and looked at it from the back seat of a fancy car with tinted windows. But I’d never seen it up close and personal like this.

  As I watched people in torn and dirty clothing going in and out, I became curious and went inside. Some people looked at me like I was an alien in a foreign land and others stared right through me like I wasn’t even there. One clean, neatly dressed, and harried looking young man noticed me and said, “The kitchen is in the back. I think they already started serving, though, so you might want to hurry.”

  “Serving?”

  “Lunch?” he said. “You’re here to help serve, right?”

  On a whim, I said, “Yes, I am, right.” I followed the directions he gave me. They led to a small cafeteria attached to the back of the building. The smell of beans was overwhelming as I walked inside. I saw two people, a black man and an older, white woman, serving lunch and looking slightly overwhelmed at the line that just kept forming. I walked over and asked, “What should I do?”

  Without even looking up the man said, “Can you serve the cake?”

  “Of course.” I stepped down to the pa
rt of the table where the cake was and emulating the man and woman, I slid on the hair net and plastic gloves there on the cart. As one person after the other came through the line, I’d pick up a tiny piece of the chocolate cake and sit it on their tray.

  Some of them didn’t make eye contact, some seemed to be internally preoccupied, and some left me with “thank you,” and “God bless you.” I didn’t really feel I deserved any of it since the cake I was serving to close to a thousand people was ten times smaller than the one people would be feasting on at my wedding next week right after they stuffed their faces with Alaskan crab, rice pilaf, and all the trimmings.

  I texted my brother when I got a break to check on him and Gabriel. He told me that Nicholas was home and they were all playing together, so I didn’t worry when my hour break turned into two hours of serving cake.

  When we finished the line at last, there was not a crumb left. My arm hurt and my lower back was aching, but I truly felt better on the inside than I had for a long time.

  I suddenly had a wild idea. It was an idea that I’d have to share with Nicholas, but I was sure he’d go along with it. It was an idea that would make my mother and sister’s heads explode, but that was kind of like icing on my cake.

  It would be my final, sweet revenge for everything they ever did to me and it would be something that I could not only live with, but feel good about. I couldn’t wait to get home then and talk to Nicholas. I thanked the people at the shelter for letting me help and hurried home, more excited than I’d been since the day Nick and I got married.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  NICHOLAS

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” Sal was lounging in the groom’s room of the church with me. He had his tuxedo only half on, his shoes off, and his feet resting on the coffee table in front of him as he sipped a highball.

  I nodded. “But I can blame my wife, she made me that way.”

  He nodded. “You’re both crazy. I can’t believe you didn’t tell anyone about this. I can see the media storm already.”

  “It’ll be good publicity for what Emma has planned next.”

  He chuckled. “There’s my friend, the businessman.”

  “I’m still me, Sal. You know this extravagant stuff has never been for me. I like being comfortable and I enjoy thinking of ways to make money, but the money has always just been the end result, not the main goal.”

  “I know. You’re a strange breed, you and that wayward princess of yours. What is her family going to say?”

  I laughed. “Her mother’s head will probably explode. Truth be told, I’m kind of looking forward to seeing it.”

  He laughed, too. “I’m glad Jessie still gets to wear her dress. She was pretty excited about it, and she looks hot, too.”

  “I’m glad you finally settled down and started appreciating Jessie for the good woman she is. For a while there, I was afraid you’d do something stupid and screw it all up.”

  He grinned. “Even old, Italian leopards can change their spots.”

  There was a tap on the door and then it was pushed open. Les, the excitable wedding planner that Emma’s mother hired, poked his blond head in and said, “You’re on in five…why aren’t you dressed?”

  “I’m just going to throw my tux on now. I’ll be there.” He looked at my hair and then dragged his dark-green eyes over the rest of my body. I’d had a suspicion since we met that he had a little thing for me. When he licked his lips, I was convinced.

  I was trying not to think about that when he said, “You should touch up your face.”

  He closed the door then and Sal was laughing. “What’s so funny?”

  “He wants you. He was probably straight before he met you.”

  Laughing, too, I said, “Shut the hell up and straighten your tie, you have a groom to stand up for.”

  I finished helping Sal get ready and sent him out to the altar. Once he was gone, I slipped out the back door to find my own bride.

  ********

  Emma was all the way in the back of the church taking photos of Jessie and the woman in the bridal gown I had yet to meet. Emma told me that her name was Heidi and she had three children.

  Heidi had been a stripper until her third child was born. At that time, she was severely addicted to drugs and child services had taken her children away from her. Heidi voluntarily entered rehab and spent almost a year getting drug free. Once she was discharged from rehab, she spent another year getting her children back.

  Since then, life had been an almost constant struggle for her financially. She got a job working in a fast food restaurant, but between her bills and feeding three kids, things were more than tight. The family ate at the shelter about three meals a week and very scantily at home.

  Heidi had been out of rehab for almost a year when she met a young man at the shelter. His name was Bryce and he was medically retired from the army. Bryce had lost both his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan and came home to divorce papers from his wife and a home that had been cleaned out of all his possessions.

  He had been given prosthetics at the VA, but they didn’t fit right, so for the most part, he used a wheelchair. He couldn’t get a job, so he existed on disability and a paltry amount the army gave him every month. He’d only been in for a few months before he was injured, so it wasn’t much.

  Heidi had told Emma that despite all of that, he had the most positive outlook on life of anyone she’d ever met. He was great with her kids and even in his own predicament, he went out of his way to help anyone that he could. She fell in love with him quickly and when Emma met them, they were planning to go to the courthouse as soon as they raised the fifty-six dollars to get married. My beautiful, generous wife had other ideas.

  Proving that she was a true princess at heart, she offered them our wedding. I almost died laughing when she told me that she wasn’t going to warn her family. I hoped that my gorgeous, little photographer got a good shot of her mother’s face when Heidi walked down the aisle in that hundred-thousand-dollar dress.

  I snuck into the back of the church and looked past the packed house toward the altar. Sal stood there looking like a million bucks in his tux, and a few seconds later, the real fun began. Bryce was wheeled out in his chair and parked next to Sal. He looked great all cleaned up and in my tux.

  I could hear the low rumble of confused voices in the audience before the music began. Jessie kissed Emma and then me on the cheek and began the procession. The rumble began again as soon as the music stopped. I’m sure the main question was, “Where is the groom?”

  Emma’s parents probably thought I’d bailed by now. The wedding march began and everyone fell silent again and stood up. Every jaw in the place dropped as the short, petite blonde walked in wearing Emma’s dress and carrying Emma’s bouquet. Three small children dressed in brand new clothes followed behind her, holding up the train of her dress. When she reached the altar and Bryce took her hand, you could have heard a pin drop in the audience. I slipped my arm around my wife and kissed the side of her face. “God, I love you,” I told her. She smiled and said,

  “I love you, too, so much. I’ve never been so happy.”

  “Are you nervous about facing your parents at the reception?”

  “Not even a little bit.”

  ********

  The wedding reception may have been the most fun I’ve ever had. That night as I was in bed with Emma in my arms, I chuckled to myself. “What are you laughing at?” she asked me.

  “I just can’t get that look your mother had on her face out of my head. First at the wedding it was hilarious, but then after at the reception when you opened that side door and filled those five tables with people from the shelter. I’d give a million dollars to have a picture of it.”

  She laughed. “Well, shell out the cash to Lynn because she got some great shots of it all.”

  When we stopped laughing, I kissed her softly and said, “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  “No, just
finally growing up and realizing what I should have known all along – being a princess is not about the money and the prestige. It’s about power. The power to do what you can to help your fellow man. I want Gabriel to learn that young so if someday he decides to accept the throne, he will be the kindest most generous king our people have ever known.”

  I smiled and pulled her in tighter. “I don’t think you have to worry. He’s already there. Tonight I saw him feeding his chocolate cake to Heidi’s youngest one.”

  She giggled. “I know, it was so cute. They both had chocolate all over them. Hey, Nick, can I ask you a favor?”

  “Anything.”

  “Will you hire me that cook and housekeeper you keep offering?”

  I was confused. She’d been so adamantly against it and now that she’d decided to get into philanthropy it just seemed like an odd time for her to suddenly agree to it. “Of course I will, baby; what changed your mind?”

  She shrugged and said, “A little of everything I guess. Heidi and Bryce need jobs. Heidi had been cleaning houses on the side to make extra money. I think she’d make an awesome housekeeper…and Bryce was a cook in the army.”

  “You amaze me.”

  “Nah, I’m doing it for me, too.”

  “Tired of being my domestic goddess?”

  “Never, but I do think I may need a little more help soon. I figured out what was going on with my emotions.”

  “What?”

  “Well, I finally went to see the doctor…” My heart stopped beating and I could hardly catch my breath. If she was sick, if I ever lost her, I don’t think I could bear it.

  I raised up so that I could look down at her face. “Are you okay?”

  She smiled brightly and said, “I’m better than okay. I hope you will be, too. We’re pregnant.”