I Married a Billionaire (11 page)

"Now, where does Dan keep his laptop?" she wanted to know.

Oh, 
shit
.

"Um…it's hard to say, he kind of takes it all over the place with him," I fibbed. God, I had no idea.

"Well, we'll just have to search then. Why don't you check the bedroom? I'll look down here."

I was halfway up the stairs before I remembered the very obviously lived-in guest room down there.

Shit, shit, 
shit
.

I had to keep going. I couldn't act suspicious, or like we were hiding anything. If she said something, I'd just explain that I wasn't…used to sleeping in a bed with someone else? Maybe? Oh God, would I be able to say it with a straight face? My face was already burning.

I searched through the bedroom blindly. There could have been ten laptops in there and I might not have noticed. I came back down the stairs slowly, empty-handed of course, and saw Lindsey standing the middle of the hallway, looking confused. Hopefully just because she couldn’t find anything.

Or…not.

"Hey," she said. "So did you guys - have someone over recently?"

I tried to pretend like I was confused for a moment. "Oh! You mean, in the guest room? That's my stuff." My own voice sounded like a strange, distant echo in my head. My heart was pounding. "I'm just not used to sleeping in the same bed with somebody, you know?"

There was a beat of silence.

"Oh, of course," said Lindsey. "I was the same way with Ray at first. I'd never spend the night with him when we first got together, it drove him crazy."

"I'm glad you know what I'm talking about," I said, feeling my anxiety level ratchet down a few notches. "Some people would think it's weird."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Whatever you've got to do. Did you have any luck up there?"

"No," I said. "But, I'll go look again. I actually forgot to check in the closet. He keeps his laptop bag in there, maybe it's still packed up."

I had no idea if any of this was true, but I needed an excuse to go back and actually check the bedroom now that my brain was functioning again.

And a good thing, too - it was sitting on the dresser, in plain sight. Lindsey would have thought I was the biggest flake in the world.

"Found it," I called out, coming down the stairs.

"Oh, fantastic. Let's see what we can find."

Pretty soon, we'd pulled up every wedding vendor list, registry, and search result in the entire city. My head was swimming, but Lindsey seemed to be digesting the information just fine, taking copious notes in a little pad that she'd produced from somewhere. Another family trait, it seemed.

"All right," she said, after what felt like hours. "So I've eliminated every place that we definitely don't want, which leaves us with about twenty choices. Personally, I'm a big fan of the art gallery. Have you ever been there?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, my God, we 
have
 to go," she said. "They're closed today, but soon. It's absolutely gorgeous. Of course you have to hire their overpriced caterers, but they'll take care of absolutely everything. And there's no cake-cutting fee." She rolled her eyes.

"Cake-cutting fee?" I stared at her. "Is that…is that a thing?"

"Trust me," she said. "They'll nickel and dime you for everything in this industry. You've got to keep your wits about you."

There was so much I didn't know, and simply didn't have the desire or motivation to figure out. I didn't know what I would have done without Lindsey. Hire a wedding planner, I supposed. I'd almost forgotten for a moment that it was easy enough to solve these sorts of problems just by tossing more money at them.

"Lindsey," I said, straightening up on the sofa, "can I ask you something about what we were discussing earlier?"

"Sure," she said. "What do you want to know?"

"You said, growing up…there wasn't a lot of money. So what changed?"

She chuckled a little. "You won't believe me when I tell you. Dad hit it big at the casino. I mean, really big. I still think he was trying his damnedest to gamble away everything he had…mom had just passed, and in spite of everything I guess he just didn't know what to do without her. But instead of losing, he won the biggest jackpot they'd ever had. His picture's still on the wall, if you go there - a sad sack in flannel and overalls, just holding up this novelty sized check like it's a death sentence. After that, he turned everything around. He could have squandered it all, but instead he went downtown and handed a pile of cash to a financial planner. I never knew him to be like that - but I guess something about having all that money just scared him." She let out a long breath. "A few good investments later, we found ourselves moving into a nicer house in a much better neighborhood, and suddenly we weren't hoping and praying for scholarships and applying for tiny scraps of federal aid anymore. We could go to any college we wanted. After all these years, I still think back on that time and how strange it was. It was like a waking dream. You know?"

I did know. I knew all too well.

"Wow," I said.

"Wow is right." She stood up. "I'm guessing you're more than a little bit familiar with the feeling, though."

"Yeah," I said. "Going from all my credit cards maxed out and bills overdue, to this…"

Speaking of which, my credit cards were still maxed out, and quite a few of my bills remained overdue. I'd been so busy focusing on adjusting to my new life that I had completely forgotten to ask Daniel about the possibility of taking care of a few of my immediate financial needs. I should probably get on that.

"I know," she said, resting a hand on my shoulder. "It'll feel strange at first, but eventually you'll adjust to it. And you don't have to become one of those obnoxious Old Money-type people who wear skirt suits to the country club and yell at their cleaning ladies. Just keep your head on straight, you'll be fine."

I smiled at the mental image. "Thanks," I said. "But can I at least get a little dog to carry around with me?"

"Whatever you like, hon." She grinned. "The world' s your oyster now."

Ray had to get back to work, so all four of us visited the art gallery on Monday morning, and then we bid them goodbye. Lindsey had been right - it was gorgeous, with a massive hall of historical sculptures and statues that they recommended for the ceremony. They were surprised when Daniel said he wanted to book it "as soon as possible," but they were able to get us a date in a month. He put down a deposit, but he wouldn't let me look at the full quote.

Lindsey left me with pages and pages of notes. Daniel had already put Emma on the task of finding me a dress, and I'd picked a bakery whose cake was both beautiful 
and
 edible. Even with all of the preparations that were underway, the whole thing still didn't quite feel like real life. But I was sure I would adjust to it. Eventually.

I put in my last day of work on Friday, and Daniel asked me over lunch if I wanted him to hire a moving service. As usual, he was ten steps ahead. In the flurry of wedding preparations, I forgot that I'd also be expected to move in with him immediately afterwards.

"No, I'm fine," I said. "I don't really like strangers touching my stuff."

"At least let me come over and help you pack." He sounded genuinely concerned.

"All right, sure. Thanks." He wasn't a stranger, after all. He was my fiancé. A thought occurred to me. "Hey, are we like…going to go on a honeymoon, or something?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up into a secretive smile. "Just leave that to me," he said.

-

Between shoving all of my worldly belongings into boxes and returning vendors' phone calls, the next few weeks went by in a blur. I finally heard back from Emma, sounding almost breathlessly excited, telling me she had the perfect dress. She refused to text me a photo, insisting that I see it in person first. So I came by as quickly as I could, in the car that still didn't feel quite like mine, feeling intensely awkward as I parked it in front of the boutique. It was hardly nice enough to be conspicuous, but it was so far from anything I'd ever driven that I couldn't get used to it.

Emma looked like she was about to go nuclear from happiness.

"Come on, come on!" She put her arm around my shoulders and herded me into the dressing rooms as soon as I stepped through the door. "I've got it hiding back here, I didn't want anyone else asking about it. And God forbid Daniel should drop in and see it."

"I'm not superstitious," I said.

"Oh, honey." She shook her head at me. "Everyone is superstitious when it comes to weddings. You might as well get on board."

I rolled my eyes, but she was too elated to notice. "Look at it!"

The dress was hanging up in front of me. It was sleek and elegant, without all the taffeta and usual trappings of a typical wedding dress. Yet, at the same time, I felt I would be recognizable as a bride when I put it on. It was a lovely cream color, with deep red accents, including a sash around the waist.

"I figured something short would be best for a summer wedding," Emma said. "So? Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," I said, reaching out to feel the material. "I just…none of this feels real to me yet, you know?"

"I know," she said. "Come on. I can't wait to see it on you."

She helped me into it, having me step into a pair of complementing shoes after she zipped me up. I stared at myself.

This was what I'd be married in.

Emma gasped. She looked more emotional about this than I felt.

"It's really nice," I said, lamely. "Thanks, Emma. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Doesn't even need a single alteration," she murmured, walking around in me in circles and touching and tugging at various parts of the dress. "Even
 I
 didn't think it would be this perfect."

"And you're so humble, too." I smoothed the dress over my hips one more time, as if it would somehow cement the idea that this was really happening.

"Shut up. You love it." She turned towards the door. "Don't move, I'm going to find you some accessories."

She came back with some lovely silver pieces that matched the red accents - 
were those real rubies
? - and before long I was out the door, and on my way to the hairdresser's to settle on a style for the "big day." I hated that phrase, but with everyone around me using it at least three times per hour, it was inevitable that it would become a regular part of my vocabulary.

I hadn't had a hot iron in my hair since prom, and I almost wanted to choke on the smell of all the hairspray. But at the end of it, with all my hair piled on my head and my tiara on top, I actually looked like a bride.

As time went on, it was even starting to feel real.

The weekend before the wedding, Daniel came over to help me pack, as he'd insisted. Mostly everything was in boxes already, and I was going to send over everything I didn't absolutely need for the next few days. Together we spent the better part of the morning loading up a U-Haul, and every time he hefted a box I felt bad for not just letting him hire a moving service. But he didn't even show a hint of complaint or frustration with the process, even when I did.

I ordered pizza for lunch. I was becoming a lot less self-conscious about my choice of eating establishments, which was nice. He seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, and while we sat holding our slices on my empty living room floor, I figured it was as good a time as any to bring up my faltering finances. It was more awkward than I had expected - then again, with me, everything usually was.

I talked circles around it for ages, until he finally prodded me to just spit out what was on my mind.

"I have a few bills…" I started, and he raised his hand to tell me I'd said enough.

"Just give everything to me," he said. "I'll see that it's taken care of."

"Some of them aren't…small," I said. "And when I called to cancel my utilities, they threatened collections if I didn't take care of everything within 30 days."

"Don't worry," he said. "It's going to be all right."

And suddenly, I knew that it was.

Until that moment I hadn't realized how much I'd worried about this - even though it was ridiculous to do so, I'd fretted over how he might respond, how he'd feel about the fact that I was being so needy and demanding before we were even technically married. Not to mention how many sleepless nights I'd spent before he came along, wondering how the hell I'd ever manage to pay everything off by myself. I could actually feel the muscles in my shoulders relax slightly, after being held tense for God knows how long.

"Thank you," I said, perhaps a little too fervently, judging by the surprised look on his face.

"Maddy," he said. "This was part of our arrangement. I'd take care of you financially during this time. It's the least I can do, you don't have to thank me."

"It's just…I've been so worried for so long, wondering how I was going to ever get out of debt. And now it's gone. I don't have to worry anymore."

"That's right," he said, smiling. "No more worrying."

I still have no idea why I thought it was a good idea to lean over and kiss him. Perhaps it was meant to be a friendly peck, or maybe in the back of my mind I thought someone might be peering in through the window.

Or maybe, just maybe, I couldn't help myself.

For a moment, he was still; surprised, I supposed, at my forwardness. But the hesitation only lasted for split second before I felt his hand slide around the back of my head, pulling me in aggressively, and it seemed the only appropriate response was to let my lips part against his.

He took the invitation immediately, his tongue slipping into my mouth and exploring the territory, and I felt a shiver of pure bliss run down my spine. Within moments, I was completely lost in him - forgetting where I was, and why I was here. I was throbbing. I needed him more than I had ever needed anything.

I leaned into him, deepening the kiss even further. When we broke apart to catch our breath, I expected him to say something - to object, even if it was just half-hearted - but his eyes were dark and fierce and single-minded. There was nothing in his face but pure lust.