The Reluctant Billionaire's Temporary Bride: Love is worth fighting for (Las Vegas Brides of Convenience Book 1)

by Anne Martin

  “It’s still at the research stage, but there’s a clinic in Nevada where they’re getting real results. It’s not consistent, there’s risk, of course, but it’s worth the chance.”

  My head was spinning. “Why wouldn’t she take a chance at life? No one loves life as much as Kitten.”

  “She’s not a kitten. It’s expensive. I’ll pay for it. It’ll take embezzlement, but it’s worth it.”

  I stared at Daniel, this paragon of virtue who was ready to break laws to save the girl. “How much?”

  “Three million? That’s to start.”

  That was a chunk of change. “She wouldn’t approve of you paying for nothing more than a chance. What else? There’s something else.”

  He glanced away and shrugged. “Her dad was one of those who helped create the cure. The final treatments, they weren’t pretty. They didn’t kill him, but they made his life horrible.”

  “Quality versus quantity.”

  “If the treatment works, it’s a cure, a complete rewiring of the genetic code, sending different signals, it’s a cure. She’ll be safe.”

  “But she could still get hit by a bus.”

  He scowled at me. I really shouldn’t have said that, but I was trying to not think too hard about it. He shook his head and backed away from me. “You really don’t care? I’ve seen the way you look at her. She’s not just another good bet.”

  “Since when have I ever made a good bet? She’s too sweet to play with, Daniel. She’s terrified of destroying someone’s life like she thinks her mother destroyed her father. She wants to live in the moment and accept death with grace. Putting the ones she loves in debt on a chance that will take personal torture to get through, those are high stakes. She’d have to be a hardened gambler to put other people’s lives on the line like that. She’s a kitten.”

  He handed me a card. “It’s the doctor’s name. She’s always wanted to help Sunny because of what her dad did for the research, giving his life so Sunny could be saved. That’s what he wanted.”

  “Did he have three million stashed away somewhere?”

  Daniel shook his head and turned away. “If you talk her into it, I’ll bring the money.”

  I grabbed his shoulder and spun him back around. “First of all, no you aren’t. You’d make a terrible criminal. Prison would not be good for your pretty face. Second, if I somehow convince Kitten to submit to torture so she has the possibility of her happily-ever-after, she’s spending it with me.”

  He stared at me for a long time before nodding. “I knew no one could spend so much time with her and not fall in love.”

  Love? I shook my head. It definitely wasn’t love, was it? If there was a way to save her, that’s what I’d do, whatever the price. That wasn’t love, just common sense.

  Later that day when I saw her lying on the hood of her Camaro, enjoying the sun while she sketched, I lay next to her, my heart pounding like a drum.

  “Kitten, I’m in the mood for some PDA. Do you want to kiss me?”

  She laughed and leaned over to press her soft lips against mine. I caught her head and kept her close while I explored her lips pushing a little harder than usual. Her lips parted and I tasted tongue, soft, sweet, before she pulled back.

  I didn’t want to pull back. I wanted more. Everything. I rolled off the car and got in the driver’s seat.

  “Don’t you ask permission? It’s still my car,” she said with a teasing smile as she got into the passenger’s seat.

  I leaned over and kissed her again, deeply, sweetly but with a growing urgency. She responded like she always did, sliding her hands up my face and tugging me closer.

  Her body was as soft and welcoming as she’d been skittish the first time I’d touched her. I trailed my hands over her sides, down to her hips then back up her sides. She shifted but didn’t pull away from me.

  Someone knocked sharply on the window. Sunny gasped while I pulled back and saw the teacher frowning and trying not to notice us while she got into her own car and drove away.

  “She’s gone,” I said and leaned back over her.

  She put her hands on my chest and shook her head. “I want to take the next step in our relationship.” She bounced a little bit, the way she did when she was nervous.

  “Are you talking about second base?”

  “What?” She looked blank for a second before she frowned. “Didn’t you just kind of… No. No baseball. I mean, maybe. I’m talking about making you an official beau’s dinner.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “The next step is you making me dinner? You’ve already done that.”

  “Not an official beau’s dinner. I’m talking about seven courses and wine.”

  “Seven courses? Lobster?”

  She nodded soberly. “Lobster and foie gras.”

  I frowned at her. “Beau’s dinner, that’s to entice the boyfriend to propose, isn’t it?”

  She blushed. “Would you mind? I could get a ring. I have my mother’s, and my grandmother’s.”

  She was proposing a fake engagement to me. I studied her for a long time. “I absolutely cannot be engaged to someone without first getting to second base. It’s a matter of pride.”

  “That’s the only problem you have with it?”

  I shrugged. “It’ll have to be a short engagement for obvious reasons.”

  She nodded and pressed her hands to her stomach as she took deep, even breaths. Her chest rose and fell and I remembered the way she’d looked in that leather corset. It was ridiculous on her because she didn’t need it to be absolutely breathtaking.

  “What’s second base?” she asked in a small voice.

  I brushed her hair back from her face. “I’ll show you later.”

  She definitely blushed. I kissed her, soft and sweet before I pulled on my seatbelt and drove home. We didn’t spend much time at my house. Aunt Willie worried if she didn’t know where Sunny was, not that she didn’t worry anyway.

  I took her into my room and climbed on my motorcycle.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, a funny smile on her beautiful mouth.

  “Second base,” I said with a wink. “Come here.” I patted the gas tank in front of me.

  She perched there with my hands on the bars. “Now what?”

  “Now I kiss you for a long time. If I ever go too far, say the word.” I kissed her neck.

  “What’s the word?” she asked.

  “Out, probably. Strike would work too.” I kissed her lips and her hands came around my neck. I tugged her closer to me. She was so soft, melting against me like butter in the sun. Milk. Sunshine. A cure for my Kitten.

  I kissed her deeper, pulling her against me. I needed more. She needed more. I pulled away and stared at her. “You are a beautiful woman.”

  She smiled kind of shy and sweet before I started kissing her again. My hands ran over her working on instinct. She needed to be touched here, caressed there, squeezed ever so gently. She sighed against me and I had this moment of blinding rage that was eclipsed by desire so intense and aching, it made me tremble.

  I pulled away. “Kitten?”

  She blinked at me, all sweet and lost in my kisses. “Brute?”

  What could I say that wouldn’t make her bolt? “I can eat a lot of lobster.”

  Chapter 9

  Sunshine Wilson

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Aunt Willie said, polishing the crystal glasses until they sparkled.

  I didn’t look up from the table where I was arranging dishes just so. “I’ve always wanted to. He doesn’t mind.”

  “You aren’t really trying to marry him, are you?”

  I shrugged. “Of course not, but it’s been really nice to have him around. I really do like him.”

  “I know you do. I think you might even love him.”

  I shot her a frown. “What would be the purpose of that?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Sunshine Wilson, if you don’t know, then maybe I should tell you. Love makes
life bearable.”

  “Unless it kills you.”

  She brushed my hair out of my face. I’d curled it, but the fine strands weren’t going to stay that way much longer, no matter how much hairspray I used. “I’ve been grateful for the chance I had to love you, like your dad, my brother loved you and your mother. These are the things that make life worth living. Your Nix is a strange boy if he can’t see that you’re worth loving.”

  “Please,” I said, turning to get the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge. I’d squeezed a million lemons for that. Nix was very sweet, surprisingly so, but he couldn’t love me. That was the rule. If he loved me, it would destroy him when I died. I hoped he’d be a little sad, but he’d have no trouble moving on.

  “Daniel called. He asked if you heard from Doctor Fuller recently.”

  “How is that any of his business?”

  “Honey,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “He’s spent years worrying about you.”

  I pulled away, but gave her a smile. “It’s time for him to stop. Only you’re allowed to worry about me.” I kissed her cheek and gave her a quick hug before I finished setting the table.

  The doorbell rang right on time. I opened the door and there was Nix, wearing a black suit and carrying a bouquet of flowers, roses mixed with wild flowers.

  “Thank you, they’re beautiful,” I said, taking them, but staring at him. He looked so good in a suit.

  “They were until I saw you. You put the stars to shame.” He winked at me and gave me that grin that was all sin before he followed me into the dining room. The truth was, he was really far from sin. In fact, he’d barely brushed second base. Maybe he was putting me on the doll shelf like Daniel. Maybe I wasn’t the good time girl but the nice girl.

  I was definitely the nice girl, but maybe I wanted to be the good time too. Was that possible?

  All through dinner I kept smiling, but when I looked at Nix, my stomach tangled up. Was he falling in love with me? Is that why he didn’t want me? How did that make sense? Also, he did want me. He wouldn’t kiss me so often and with such obvious ease and pleasure if he didn’t. Would he? I couldn’t make sense of my tangled thoughts. The one thing I knew was that dinner was perfect. I was exhausted from the hours spent in preparation, but with every bite he took, it was more and more worth it.

  There was something so pleasurable about feeding a man far too much food. At the end of the demolished meal, he sat back and sighed. “That, my dear, was perfection. Give me a few minutes to digest before I start on the dishes.”

  I glanced at my aunt before I tugged him with me to my room. I didn’t usually have people in there. Every surface was covered in sketches and paintings, people and objects, a mess of yellow, green and blue around the bed where I spent so much of my life.

  “Am I supposed to digest in here?” he asked, nodding to my double bed. His bed was bigger.

  I closed the door behind me and walked into his arms. He held me and ran his hand over my hair.

  “Kitten, can I take off my jacket?”

  I took it off him and then after a pause, I started on the buttons of his shirt.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Really? Do you want me to reciprocate?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know what I’m doing. Why haven’t you seduced me? Isn’t that what you do? Aren’t I a good time? Maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m just the good girl.”

  He pulled me close and kissed me. He kissed me and kissed me and kissed me until I was breathless. When he pulled away, he cupped my face and gazed into my eyes. “I’m afraid, Kitten, you’re entirely respectable. You made me a beau’s dinner, not a fast food meal. You’re a feast, not a quick and frenzied feeding. You can’t help but turn even the worst rakes into gentlemen. That doesn’t mean you aren’t a good time, just that you aren’t only a good time, and you’re worth taking some time to make sure you stay good.”

  I wrinkled my nose at him. “So you’re saying yes, I’m too good to be fun.”

  “I’m saying,” he growled all low and sexy, while his thumb rubbed across my bottom lip, “that I don’t want to rub off on you more than you rub on me.”

  I cocked my head and smiled sweetly. “All this theoretical rubbing isn’t less interesting than the literal kind?”

  He laughed and touched my throat, up and down, so soft, so feather-light. “This is more interesting for me in its novelty. Having a nice girl? Not something I do under normal circumstances. Let me enjoy it.”

  He kissed me again, and pulled me into his arms, as he caressed me every appropriate place. I touched him back and let it be okay that he wanted to keep me good.

  I fell asleep too quickly. When I woke up, there was a note on the pillow next to me.

  I’m taking you on a bike ride tonight. Wear something warm.

  I smiled and felt a rush of shocked delight rush through me. A date. He wasn’t going to kiss me and run. Maybe I wasn’t his usual good time, but maybe he still liked me. I was waiting on the porch in jeans and a sweater, my jacket over my knees as he pushed his bike over the grass towards me.

  “Kitten, are you ready for a ride?” Something about the way he said that made me blush.

  “The question is, are you?” I batted my eyelashes at him while he laughed and held out his hand for me.

  He put a helmet on me and then pulled a leather jacket around my shoulders. It was my size.

  “Where did you get this?” I asked, bending and straightening my arms in the stiff leather.

  “Sexy, right? Trix must have left it in my stuff. I found it while I was looking for my extra helmet.” He kissed my hand before he put on his helmet and started the bike. It wasn’t quite as snuggly with the leather and helmets, but when my aunt looked out the window, I could wave at her feeling like we were a little bit responsible.

  Once we’d left our street I leaned close to his ear. “Faster!”

  He laughed and hit the gas. We went too fast, weaving through cars like they were standing still until we got to the outskirts of town. We rode for about twenty minutes before pulling off on a dirt pad. He got off and helped me off the back, his hands lingering on my hips.

  “Let’s walk,” he said, unbuckling my helmet.

  I unbuckled his and said, “Let’s. Do you know where we are? This is lover’s falls. Are we going to do something shocking in the moonlight?”

  He wiggled his eyebrows and laughed. “I hope so. You’ll have to let me know if I’ve shocked you properly. Come on.” He took my hand and we walked down the trail in the near darkness. I laughed, stumbling into him until he finally took out a flashlight.

  It was fun hiking in the dark with Nix. When we got to the clearing beneath the falls, he turned off the flashlight and took my hands.

  “All right, Kitten. Now that we’ve gotten to the most romantic spot within a hundred miles of your house, it’s time for the really exciting part. Ready? This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, so I hope you brought your camera.”

  I pulled out my phone. “Are you going to show me your abs?”

  His eyes glimmered. “You’ve already seen that. No, I’m going to show you something much more shocking. I think you’ll like it. Ready?”

  I laughed even though I was starting to get nervous. What kinky thing did he think we were going to do? It could be anything. When he dropped down to his knees, I didn’t know what to do but then he pulled out a box, small, like the kind you put engagement rings in.

  I lifted my phone and snapped a picture.

  He winced from the flash.

  “Sorry. I’m just… Is that an engagement ring?”

  He nodded. “I got it at a pawn shop. Real silver the guy said, and only a few bucks. The diamond looks real, don’t you think?”

  I stood there while he knelt in front of me talking about the fake ring. Fake ring. Why was I disappointed? I couldn’t marry him for real, but this was fun and perfect.

  I laughed and pulled him up so I could kiss him. When I pulled away I tried to keep my h
and steady while he put on the ring.

  “You almost looked disappointed when I pulled out the ring, Kitten. What did you think I was going to do on my knees?”

  I blushed, but he couldn’t have seen in the darkness. He touched my cheek then ran his hand down my neck, his touch sending a shaft of lightning through me.

  “Nix, this ring is beautiful,” I said, staring at it. Even in the shadows beneath the full moon, it sparkled. I wasn’t sure how I felt, knowing that this wasn’t real. Why would he want to pretend to be with me when he could be with someone else for real? Maybe he couldn’t be.

  “No, you’re beautiful,” he said in a low growl. “Thing is, I’ve been thinking about your dilemma between being good and being a good time. Seems to me a quick and easy marriage is just the thing. I’d rather not deflower a sweet little girl like you, even if you’re terminal. It makes me feel guilty just thinking about it.”

  I glanced at him. “You think about deflowering me?” I was definitely blushing.

  He cleared his throat. “Let’s talk about Vegas.”

  I sat down abruptly on the grass. “Las Vegas?”

  “The very same,” he said, sitting next to me, leaning back on his hands as he stared at the falling water. He was right there and I wanted to touch him.

  “The climate is very extreme,” I said.

  “I have a job offer there. I was going to stick this semester out, maybe another depending on how things were going, but running off to Vegas to get married would be kind of fun.”

  I just sat there staring at him. Was this an actual proposal? No, he’d gotten a fake diamond. Not that diamonds actually determined how much you were loved. “What do you do for work?” I asked, mostly to delay talking about the other thing.

  “I’m a stunt double on sets.”

  “Movies?”

  He nodded and shrugged. “That’s what all those bumps on my stomach are for. They look good on film.”

  “They look good off film too.”

  He laughed. “Thanks, Kitten. What do you think? You want to run to Vegas with me, temporarily be married for a few months in a desolate land? Maybe you’d rather stay with your aunt.”