Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (98 page)

“It’s impossible not to, she makes sure
of that.
 
If you turn the other
cheek when my mother slaps you, she’ll make sure to pull out a knife for the
next assault.”

“Are you angry with me?” Nicole asked
him, afraid that this awful visit might have sent him into a psychological
tailspin.

He looked up at her and now his eyes were
soft, concerned.
 
“Angry with
you?
 
My angel?
 
Never.”
 
He walked to her and took her in his
arms, his face pressed to her hair, whispering in her ear.
 
“I love you, Nicole, and I’ll protect
you above anyone or anything else in this world.
 
No matter what.”

A few minutes later, Red was on the phone
arranging for car service to drive his mother to the hotel, and Nicole thought
she should at least try to make one last effort at smoothing things over.
 
So she decided to see if Erica needed
help with her bags.

But when she went to the guest room where
Red’s mother was staying, she found the room empty and the suitcases still
lying on the floor, one of them opened with clothes hanging out of it.

And the door to the bathroom was wide
open, so Erica wasn’t in there either.

Puzzled, but with a slightly uneasy
feeling in her gut, Nicole walked out of the guest room and started for the
master bedroom upstairs.
 
As she
went, it occurred to her that it really would have been nearly impossible for
Red’s mother to have overheard their lovemaking unless she’d been in the master
bedroom snooping around.

This mansion was enormous, and despite
how loud they’d been, Nicole felt confident that Erica must have already been
creeping around the house, listening to them, and eventually even going so far
as to intrude on their privacy by entering the bedroom while they were in the
bathroom together.

What else was she doing in the bedroom?
Nicole thought, her heart starting to race.
 
Her gut told her that the woman was
angry, offended at having been kicked out—god only knew what she’d do
next.

The truth was, Erica Jameson was mentally
unhinged.

Climbing the stairs to the master
bedroom, Nicole was surprised but also vindicated to find that her suspicions
were correct.
 
She bumped into Erica
as Erica was exiting the master bedroom, her eyes downcast, as she seemed to be
rummaging through her purse.

“Can I help you with something?” Nicole
said loudly.

Erica glanced up, her expression
betraying her guilt as she fumbled with closing her purse.
 

She’s got something in there, Nicole
thought.
 
She stole something from
the bedroom.

“You know what?” Erica said.
 
“I wanted to apologize to Red for this
misunderstanding, and I thought he’d gone up to his room.
 
I was wrong, he wasn’t there.”
 
She smiled briefly and continued walking
past Nicole and down the stairs.

“What were you doing in our bedroom?”
Nicole said, turning and looking after her.

Erica looked up and made a face.
 
“What do you think I’d be doing in your
bedroom, for god’s sake?
 
What on
earth do you take me for?
 
For your
information young lady, some people still have a sense of class and dignity in
this world.”

Yes, and you’re not one of those people,
Nicole wanted to shout after her.
 
But she bit her tongue and watched as the older woman made her way back
to her guest room, presumably to gather her things and leave.

Good riddance, Nicole thought.
 
But she couldn’t shake the terrible
suspicion that Red’s mother had found whatever she’d been looking for in the
master bedroom.

***

After Red’s mother left, Red finally took
a business call, and when he was done, his mood had gone south.
 
His eyes were set, grim, and his mouth
downturned.
 

They took a walk around the estate,
because Red told her he wanted some fresh air and a different perspective.
 
As they walked along the beautiful
property, she saw some of the caretakers mowing the lawn and clipping
hedges.
 

Red waved and tried to appear happy, but
it was probably only convincing from a few dozen yards away.

He wasn’t speaking much to Nicole, so she
tried to stay quiet and just be with him.
 
Occasionally he pointed out one of the more subtle qualities of the
land, or explained why the bridge over the pond was designed the way it was.

Other than that, there was little real
conversation about everything that was happening.
 
Nicole desperately wanted to tell him
her suspicions about his mother taking something from their bedroom, but she
didn’t think it was a good time to further burden him.
 
Especially since there was no proof,
just a hunch she had.

Finally, as they made their way back over
the bridge and toward the house, Red stopped and turned to her.
 
“I’ve been thinking about the wedding,”
he said, his face still deadly serious.

Her stomach did a double backflip.
 
Was he going to break off their
engagement for some reason?

“Okay,” she said, trying to steady her
nerves.

“I’m thinking we should get married
immediately upon our return from Germany.”

“Our return?” she said, doubly
confused.
 

“Yes,” he said, turning to look out at
the water.
 
The duck family was
paddling around just a few feet from shore.
 
“I want you to come with me to
Germany.
 
I want you by my side,
Nicole.”

“What would I be doing in Germany?” she
asked.
 
Of course she’d go if he
needed her, but she couldn’t imagine what purpose there would be for her
overseas dealing with this new, complicated business acquisition.

“You’d assist me,” Red told her, glancing
at her briefly.
 
“I need someone I
can trust over there.”

“I’m still not sure what you mean.”

His head drooped forward a little
bit.
 
“I just got a very, very bad
call from my overseas liaison.
 
Word
on the street is that tomorrow morning is going to be bloodbath for Jameson
International in the markets.
 
The
stock’s going to hit rock bottom.
 
All the rats will scurry to leave the sinking ship.”

“Are we really sinking?”

He just shrugged.
 
“Not if we can salvage this company.”

Nicole swallowed.
 
“I’m just a glorified intern,” she said,
and then laughed.
 
“This is a big
assignment to bring me along for. Isn’t there someone better qualified, like
Edward or someone from the marketing department?”

Red shook his head and grabbed her hands
in his own.
 
“You’re the one that I
trust, Nicole.
 
I have one hundred
percent faith in your ability to work hard and be smart under pressure.”

She smiled, feeling her cheeks turn
red.
 
“Thanks for saying that.
 
Of course I’ll come with you.”

“And then,” he said, squeezing her hands
and looking into her eyes, “we come home and get married straight away.”

For the first time in the conversation,
she broke from his gaze and looked into the distance.
 
“Red, I don’t know about getting married
so quickly.”

His voice took on a flat quality.
 
“What’s wrong with getting married
sooner?”

“What would we do,” she said, “just go to
some justice of the peace and do a five minute ceremony?”

He looked at her and she could tell he
was wounded.
 
“All I want is to
marry you, Nicole.”

“And I want to get married, too.
 
But I want to do it the right way. Why
the rush all of a sudden?”

Red shoved his hands in his pockets and
started walking again.
 
“Forget I
said anything about it,” he said, quickly accelerating his stride toward the
mansion.

“Hold on, where are you going so fast?”
she cried, trying to keep up with him.

He didn’t respond, just kept
walking.
 

“Red!” she yelled, and then ran the extra
few steps to catch up.
 
“Will you
stop for one minute and let me explain myself?”

He stopped, folding his arms and staring
at her with his hardened, guarded expression.
 
“Go ahead, then.”

“Don’t do this,” she told him, breathing
heavily.
 

“Do what?”

“Don’t push me away because I said
something that hurt you.”

His stare grew more intense and his jaw
tightened.
 
“What am I supposed to
do, Nicole?
 
I put my heart on a
plate for you.”

She tried to touch him, but he pulled away.

“Red,” she said, “I already told you I
want to get married.
 
But I’d like
to have our family and friends there, witnessing it.
 
I want to tell the world that we’re together.”

He snickered.
 
“You mean you want it in the papers and
on TMZ.”

She felt a flash of anger course though
her veins.
 
“How dare you accuse me
of being all about fame and the media?
 
You’re the one who’s made us a public spectacle!”

Now it was her turn to try and walk away
from him.
 
She couldn’t believe he’d
say something like that about her.
 

But Red grabbed her by the
shoulders.
 
“Wait.
 
I’m sorry, Nicole.
 
Please come back.”

She spun on him.
 
“What do you want from me?
 
I’m here.
 
I’m with you even though your life is
crazy.
 
But I love you, I love you
more than anything in this world and so I’m going to stick it out with you no
matter what.”

He was laughing a little, which only made
Nicole more furious. She slapped at his hands, and then he grabbed her and
pulled her close.
 
Suddenly he was
kissing her hard on the mouth, even though she resisted at first.

But Nicole could never resist Red Jameson
for long, and soon she was melting into him, into his kiss, and the warmth and
passion that radiated from him.

When they finally broke off, he smiled
into her eyes.
 
“I’m a fool.
 
Please forgive me.”

“You are a fool,” she said, shaking her
head.

“I know.
 
But I’m smart enough to know that I’ll
do whatever it takes to make you happy.
 
I wanted to get married sooner because I know that people are going to
try and tear us apart.
 
People like my
mother…”

“Don’t let her get in the way of living
our lives the way we want to,” Nicole told him.

He nodded.
 
“Of course you’re right.”

“And besides, nobody’s going to stop us
from getting married and being together.”

He grinned wider.
 
“When did you get so incredibly wise?”

“I just know what we have, Red.
 
You taught me that what we have is
stronger than all of the drama and silliness surrounding us.”

They kissed again, longer and just as
passionate, if somewhat restrained by earlier standards they’d set.
 
When he was done showing her just how
much he loved her with his warm lips, Red grabbed her hand.
 
“Come on, we better get a good meal in
and hit the sack early tonight.
 
We’ve got an early flight to Berlin tomorrow morning.”

***

It was strange but also kind of beautiful
to be travelling to Berlin with Red Jameson.
 
Sometimes, like when they were sitting
in first class on the airplane (no private jet today), Nicole looked over at
her future husband and wanted to pinch herself.

This was the man she’d spent months and
months idolizing, reading about—setting him up as a kind of god on
earth.
 
In the end, she’d found that
he really was just a man, but quite an extraordinary man with more layers than
she’d ever imagined.

Staring out the window of the plane at
thirty-five thousand feet, all she could see were clouds beneath the plane, and
the plane’s shadow trailing along on the puffy white surface of them.
 
It was like a dream, an exciting but
sometimes terrifying dream where she’d gotten everything she could ever have
imagined—but there monsters she couldn’t yet see who wanted to rip it all
away from her.