Boxed Set: Dominated by a Billionaire - Part 10-12: Irresistible Billionaire (19 page)

"Alma, you know that your father is on his way," my mother quietly tells me. "It turns out he’s making the effort to come."

"Yeah, I got his message. He’s coming alone. That was the condition."

Marie smiles at me sadly. I take her in my arms and for a minute or two, we stay like that, wrapped in a gentle hug. My mother has never skimped on affection. Her children have never lacked hugs… and have never stopped asking for more.

"Did you manage to make your husband talk?" she says, smiling as she gazes at Vadim. "Do you know what he’s got planned for the big day?"

"No idea," I say, sighing, as I feel my secret-keeper’s hand slip up my leg. Something tells me that I haven’t had the last of my surprises yet…

How can I make him talk? Blackmail? Threats? Vodka? Striptease…

Two days away!

The Day.

Don’t cry. Whatever you do, don’t cry. Not yet.

Blindfolded, dressed in my perfect dress with my hair in a braided bun, I let my King’s hand guide me. All around me, I can hear stifled whispers, excited giggles. And the enchanting notes of the
Adagio for strings
, played to perfection by several violinists. My heart beats wildly. I try to concentrate on the task at hand: putting one foot in front of the other. Without slipping and falling on my face.

Whose idea was it to make such a dangerous gown?!

Hmm… Vera Wang…

Vadim’s hands are on my waist, right now, and I’m sitting on a kind of little bench that rocks slightly back and forth. My billionaire joins me, settling down right next to me and squeezes my hand a little when we take off into the air. I let out a little high-pitched squeal of surprise, and laughs burst out among those gathered – nearly two hundred people, including friends, family, co-workers and a whole collection of billionaires – all of whom are apparently still on the ground.

All of a sudden, I get it: the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier. I try to take off my blindfold, already feeling a tear making its way down my cheek. But the man in charge of these millions of emotions doesn't let me, forcing my hands back down nice and easy:

"Not yet, my love," he whispers.

I obey, encouraged by the tenderness in his voice. A few seconds later, our gondola comes to a standstill. Vadim leans towards me to recover the blindfold, I bite my lip to keep from breaking down into tears. I breathe deeply to summon up some courage, and then open my eyes.

The time has come. I open my eyelids. Everything around me is utterly enthralling and beautiful. The gray of his eyes. The natural highlights in his hair. His smile overflowing with love and emotion. His timeless, classic 3-piece suit. The ocean at our feet. The millions of little sparkles that appear on the surface of the water, with the languorous ebb and flow of the waves. The sunset that paints the horizon pale pink. All the people that I love, for a billion reasons, whether right or wrong, lift their heads up towards us, probably with lumps in their throats.

What I feel inside is indescribable. The flawless happiness, the feeling that is so raw and so pure that it is almost painful. When we raise our palms and hold them one against the other, when our hands meet, when our fingers intertwine, when our eyes embrace each other, we are alone in the world again. I let out a violent sob. Just one, from very faraway. From the bottom of my heart.

"You were my dream, Alma," Vadim whispers, his voice trembling slightly. "You are my dream and will always be. My reason for living. You proved I didn’t fight in vain. You healed me, you woke me up, you saved me… I love you like I never thought possible. I love you when you smile, when you cry, when you sleep, when you drive too fast, when you twirl that little strand of hair around your finger, when you blow on your coffee even though it went lukewarm long ago, when you aren’t hungry anymore but you have to have that last mouthful, when you look at Clovis doe-eyed, when you look at me with those eyes that carry me away and make me shudder."

My hot, plump tears roll down my cheeks, I listen to each of his words. I print and engrave them in my mind. I immerse myself in them. I let them ring out inside me, my eyes glued to the man of my dreams. Shivers run down my spine when the symphony orchestra, located down below, starts in on a heartrending version of
Unchained Melody
, the title song from the movie
Ghost
.

"Tell me you aren’t planning on vanishing into thin air after all this?" I say, admiring his little grin.

"No, but we definitely have to see this movie again together. I remember a scene… a beautiful scene," he says, staring at me with his fiery gaze – his eyes reflecting the colors of the setting sun.

"I used to think life was always better in the movies," I say, bringing my lips close to his. "You showed me otherwise, Vadim."

Down below, whistles and cheerful protests make the rounds. Apparently, our guests want more of a show… My King smiles at me, thinking of something, then holds out his hand and motions for me to stand up.

"You’ve got to be crazy, it’s way too high! And we’re not wearing a safety harness…" I say, panicking.

"We don't need one. The gondola is perfectly stable. Hold on to the guardrail. It's totally safe. Alma, trust me," he says, still holding his hand out to me.

Once again, I give in to his reassuring eyes, his killer smile and I get up in slow motion, trying to ignore the dizziness coming over me.

I don’t know if it’s because of the height… or the almost otherworldly love I feel for him…

"We’ve already promised each other eternity, so I had to come up with something else," my Russian goes on, placing one hand delicately on my cheek.

"Louder!" Felix’s voice shouts out, reaching us from down below.

Alonso, I’m going to cut off your tongue…

Vadim laughs, then begins again:

"This time, I’m going to give you my soul and I hope that in exchange, you’ll give me yours. I want to breathe what you breathe, see what you see, smell what you smell, Alma. I don’t want to just live alongside you, I want to live inside you – (gruff laughs from below) – I want to learn everything, know everything, find out everything. Because our differences almost got us, years ago, but that will never, ever happen again. Because now those differences are our strength. You and me were day and night… But I want this sunset that brings us back together to last a lifetime."

"Vadim, you have all my love, my trust, my admiration, my desire, my devotion. Right from the start, you saw what no one else had ever seen in me. You gave me the taste for freedom, the will to be myself, to fight alongside you. My heart has belonged to you ever since it found yours. You gave me your soul, I’m giving you mine," I say in a trembling voice. "Take care of it, I only have one." (More laughter.)

His lips press softly against mine, then more passionately. I rejoice inside, my butterflies are dancing, as if drunk with joy. The prodigious orchestra plays faster. From the sky, Vadim and I raise our intertwined hands, to the applause of our guests, our palms drawn like magnets once again, and tattooed inside both our wrists:

YOU + ME

VIII X MMI

October 8, 2001 in Roman numerals…

The day when everything changed… When our fates crossed paths.

The day since when I’ve never stopped loving him.

The party that followed the ceremony in the air was clearly up to our expectations. My husband – that word will end up sounding right – used his fortune and pulled strings. He managed to privatize the whole pier overlooking the ocean, including the amusement park! The security team stayed on watch while all our guests frolicked cheerfully about. No paparazzi in sight – not even aboard helicopters – the photographers there were all official ones. They were ordered to take a billion pictures! So that we wouldn’t miss a thing, so that everything would be captured for immortality. Children’s laughter, grown-ups’ tears, summer dresses, tight bowties, smiles and eyes full of promises. My first wedding was wonderfully intimate. This one is wildly, deliciously and obscenely festive.

We raised toasts of pink champagne and tasted the most deliciously refined dishes until the wee-hours of the morning, surrounded by our dearest – and “adorably” unpredictable friends, not to mention Felix Alonso. And that’s not all – we ate cotton candy (I've never been able to that stuff down!), we laughed, danced, flirted – I with my husband of course. And need I say – cried. Lily, Basile, Clémentine, Niels, Alistair and Felix all made speeches that got a good thousand tears out of me – even though I had to clench my teeth during the last one. When Edward got up after the meal, I thought he was going to say a few words, too. Wrong. He came and kissed me, wished me a good night and left.

A blessing in disguise, in the end.

The party didn’t suffer from his absence. Just the opposite…

Halfway through the night, I pulled Vadim behind a shooting booth and handed him a bunch of sheets of paper, carefully folded in half. The letters, addressed to him, that I had never sent. Written every year while we were separated – over a decade lost, but wonderfully made up for since. My dark, shiny-eyed hunk read the first few lines, then looked at me, stunned. I kissed him with all the love in the world, then left him to take that trip into the past alone. Those moments to be experienced in solitude, then shared afterwards.

When Vadim resurfaced, about half an hour later, I knew he had shed a tear or two. His arms pulled me against him and my proud CEO dragged me onto the dance floor, to drown out his emotions – and mine – in a steamy slow dance.

The wedding night will see the dawn… making it that much sweeter…

As the sun is about to rise, only the diehards are still here. Clémentine and Clarence. Niels and Basile. Lily and Pippa. Alistair and Felix. Vadim and me. I’m about to leave – and give them each a kiss to remind them how much I love them – when my best friend orders me to sit down in front of the movie screen. It had been set up for the screening of
All about Alma
, Lily’s wonderful film we'd all watched earlier in the night.

"You can wait 15 minutes to conceive your first heir, but first, here’s my last present to you, Mr. and Mrs. King-Lancaster!" the redhead chirps, motioning to the technician behind the projector.

The short film begins. It's the film I made at the UCLA film school nearby. Here is Vadim, as I captured him on film back then. His sassy good looks. The gut fear of losing him. His gaze that pierced through the movie camera, as if he were piercing through me. The desire, the absence, the memories, all the places we went together: campus, Paris, Santa Monica, the streets of L.A., the classroom, my bedroom, his tiny apartment, the park, the carved bench, the deserted cafés, the square, the little steps we wore out.

It’s the real thing. No touch-ups, simple, stripped back, almost rough – but all the faces around me seem captivated by those images, just like people were back then. I cry again, deeply affected by that awe-inspiring, unconditional love I already felt for him so many years ago. Next to me, Vadim is perfectly focused and motionless. His eyes don’t leave the screen for a second. But the slight tremor of his hand, held tight in mine, betrays how moved he is.

Warmed by the little flame that burns for him, deep in my stomach, I snuggle up against his shoulder. I nest my head in his neck and watch the images scroll by for a few more minutes, undeniable proof that Him + Me was in the cards from the very start.

We did it. We got married. And now, the whole world knows.

"This is the first time I’ve ever slept with a
billionairess
," Vadim whispers, giving me his naughty boy smile.

"Just wait and see, you quickly get used to it. There are even some perks…"

"Should I conclude that you married me for my fortune?" he replies, with mock-surprise.

"No, for your godlike body… And your pretty face," I add, laughing.

"And what’ll happen when I’m old and decrepit?"

His deep, impressive voice echoes through the huge hallway of the Californian luxury hotel. Vadim catches me quickly by the waist and I have just enough time to answer:

"I guess I'll just have to be content with your billions!" I giggle, as I feel my feet being swept off the floor.

I land in his arms, immediately light-headed with his musky scent. My gown's perfect train slides to the polished floor as we enter the presidential suite at the
Santa Monica Ermitage
. Cuddled up in his arms, with my head snuggled in the hollow of his neck, I try to fight the fatigue. Our wedding – or rather, our ceremony of vows – stretched out until dawn and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. Only the idea of letting myself go in the arms of this divinely sexy man has kept me awake. He is so… Appetizing. Sensual. Stunning…

Those muscles that flex under his skin when he exerts himself, those strong arms that carry me, that hard-as-rock chest that I so happily fall back on…

Eyelids definitely open. I no longer feel like closing them one little bit…

Contemporary entryway and hall, in light shades, little cozy sitting room, multicolor bar, big living room… I am blown away! I hold my breath as I see the real-life décor facing us – it's like an artist's photograph, in panoramic format. The first rays of sunlight come through the plate-glass windows on the hotel's top floor – the view overlooking the Pacific Ocean is awesome, I press up against Vadim a little more as he remains at a standstill, as if under a spell.

And yet… It’s not easy to astonish a billionaire!

"We can't forget a thing," he whispers, still staring straight ahead.

"I won’t forget, Vadim. Ever…" I murmur, forcing him to plunge his gray eyes into my green ones. "It’s the happiest day of my life."

"It’s the first day of my life," he says in a raspy voice, after a brief pause.

I’ve rarely seen him so moved…

Our eyes mingle, as we stand leaning against each other for several seconds, inhabited by a mutual feeling, a perfectly pure emotion of boundless, immense love. But before long, our sweet little romantic bubble bursts and the two insatiable beasts that lie dormant within us take the upper hand again.