Mr. Handsome: A Billionaire Romance (20 page)

“So you and Christina are doing pretty well then, huh?” Victor gestured towards the kitchen with his chin. I smiled and then nodded. We were trying, she was what made me happy.

“I love her. Sometimes she can be really insecure and it hinders her from letting herself feel what she already feels for me,” I said with a sigh. Christina’s insecurities had never been a real issue for me. It simply made me want to protect her and cherish her that much more.

“Maybe you just have to show her how you feel in a way that she can’t over-analyze and second guess,” Victor suggested.

The man was a genius, he really was.

“Like a romantic gesture, but how? What the hell do I do to convince her?” I asked him. 

He shrugged. I guessed it was only a halfway advice kind of night.

“Victor, seriously, short of asking her to marry me, what could I possibly do?”

Victor snorted and I rolled my eyes. It’s not like the thought of marrying Christina hasn’t crossed my mind. I wanted to marry her one day, but I knew it was
way
too soon for that question and she’d most likely say no if I asked.

“You have that interview with Vanity Fair coming up, tell them you’re in a serious relationship with her. You know they’ll ask. It’ll make your relationship public and your intentions clear, as well as send a message to the women like Roxanna in the countless other previous affairs you’ve had.

“Once it comes out in Vanity Fair it’ll be like breaking news. ‘One of the world’s most eligible is taken.’ I can see it now.” Victor chuckled. “Women from all over will shed a tear that day.”

“Okay, that’s one thing, but I need something else, too…something more in your face…” I said as I tried to brainstorm.

“Tell her that you love her, have it written in the sky or some shit,” Victor suggested jokingly.

I rolled my eyes, he wasn’t taking things seriously. I’d have to mull over some ideas.

“Dude, how’d you manage to get into a serious relationship so quickly with Vanessa?” I asked him.

Victor slowly turned his head towards me as he mulled that over.

“Well…actually we started dating way back when she first began working at Stargate…”

My eyes popped. I was shocked, upset he had hidden it from me, though I understood why. I would have let Vanessa go at the time.

“Fucking idiot…” I sighed and simply shook my head. “So how’d you guys end up working out?”

Victor pursed his lips and jumped into his explanation. I thought he was relieved that I didn’t chew him out more about lying to me for about two fucking years.

“Well, at first it was just all instant attraction, lots of passion, lots of heat. Which there still is…but we have managed to control it so we can get work done during the day…” Victor looked at me knowingly and I gestured for him to continue, a small smirk on my face.

“Everything was so intense we just clung onto each other and then life started getting in the way and we had to learn to be normal, yet still manage to be together where we weren’t completely destroying each other. It’s simply a balance you have to find between love life and everything else.

“Of course, you want to put Christina on a pedestal above all else, and she
will
come before nearly everything, but you both have to be secure in your love. She, most importantly, needs to recognize that you love her and she loves you. That way her insecurities will start to dissipate and more trust will be built between you guys.

“It’s all just coming to terms with the fact that holy shit, you’re the only person who has ever made me feel like this; after that, the rest will be history.”

Victor was like the fucking love guru and before I could express how much great advice he gave me, of course I had to crack up.

Victor rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m only trying to give you insightful information. It’s the only fucking way, so laugh it off if you want,” Victor said in annoyance.

I sobered myself and wiped the mirth from my eyes.

“It’s great, no really, you gave great advice. I will tell her how I feel, it’s the only way that makes sense, then I’ll try and get her to recognize her feelings for me,” I said resolutely, Victor nodded and then we stopped talking about our fucking love lives and watched the game like men. Soon, the women were calling us over to the eat-in kitchen table for dinner.

“Everything smells amazing as usual, Ma, thank you.” I kissed my mom on the cheek and she gave me a one armed hug before rubbing my back and gesturing for me to sit next to Christina.

“I’m just so happy my son has finally found someone he truly cares about. Also, I can’t help but be excited about the
gorgeous
grandbabies I will be having within the next year hopefully.”

I covered my face with my hand, mortified at my mother, but honestly it would have been odd if she hadn’t brought it up. Everyone laughed and Christina nudged me in the side lightly. I looked over at her and she smirked.

“We
would
have beautiful babies,” Christina said and my mother smiled like the damn Cheshire cat and then kissed Christina on both cheeks before she took a seat in between Christina and Vanessa at the round kitchen table. We were towards the back of the room and the eat-in was tucked into a circular little family sized dining area. There was a surround of picturesque windows that looked out at the garden in the back. I committed that moment to memory because I felt everyone at that table was my family.

Dinner went great, my mom obviously adored Christina and I realized that Christina and Vanessa had become friends over the past few days. Even Victor liked her and he was the toughest when it came to leaving a good impression. Victor usually found some flaw, but he got all of her jokes and references and if someone could make Victor laugh, they were pretty much an amazing person.

By the time we got back to the car, both Christina and I were stuffed full of fajitas and my mom’s special pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. The combination was oddly delicious, yet the food was filling because it was addicting and had you going back for more.

“I haven’t had a home cooked meal in so long,” Christina said, her voice soft with introspection and I laced my fingers with hers. Carl began the drive back to my place and I brought Christina’s knuckles to my mouth to press a kiss to each one.

“My mom was in love with you…she
is
in love with you,” I said and Christina smiled.

“Yeah, you were right, she is pretty great.” Christina’s smile held as I was sure she thought about my crazy mother’s antics. “Hey what are your roots? Where is your mom from?” Christina asked curiously.

“Her family came from Croatia a long time ago, and my dad was born in England. His family moved to the United States when he was only two years old,” I said.

Christina nodded.

“Wow, Croatia. Has your mom ever visited?” Christina asked curiously.

I nodded.

“Yeah, my dad would make sure we all knew our roots and where our family stemmed from. We visited Croatia as a family three times while he was alive, we visited England a lot more because I have actual extended family from his side still there,” I explained.

“Wow that’s awesome. Both of my parents are Jamaican, I’ve never been there, though. It’s not like we didn’t have the means or resources; my parents just didn’t have an interest in returning. Sometimes my father would tell me stories of how poor his family and that he felt the streets were more his home than any geographical barrier.

They both grew up poor there and I think they just never wanted to go back because it brought back really bad memories…” Christina trailed off as she thought about her parents.

“Have
you
ever wanted to visit the country?” I asked her curiously.

Christina shrugged, her expression told me that she really hadn’t thought about it before.

“My parents didn’t bring much of the Jamaican culture into our house so I never had that need to know my roots. I’m sure it would be pretty to visit the touristy parts, of course,” she said and I made a mental note. I knew where we’d have our honeymoon, or maybe simply a vacation. Perhaps in the winter when it got too cold in the city we could go.

“You know, the more you reveal about your parents, the more I think they must have been amazing people, especially for having given the world you.” I smiled at Christina and she laughed.

“You make me sound like God’s gift to the Earth or something.” Christina chuckled and I looked at her with complete sincerity and a smile touched my lips.

“Christina, you’re God’s gift to
me
,” I said and she bit her lip to try and hide her shy smile. I leaned over to kiss her just as we pulled up to my house.

We got out of the car and I didn’t even notice anything was wrong until Christina stopped walking.  I had been solely focused on her. I studied her blank expression and followed her gaze to my front steps.

Roxanna was seated there and she smiled sheepishly up at me. I could tell she was drunk just by the swimming of her eyes as they swung between Christina and I.

“This must be your girlfriend.” Roxanna stood up and teetered on her feet for a second before she held on to the stone railing and leaned against it for support.

“Yes she is. What are you doing here, Roxanna?” I asked her. I tried to rein in my anger, but I didn’t want her to upset Christina because she refused to get the help I was offering to her. There was only so much I could do.

“I thought you made her up…she was never around and when I was inside the other day she wasn’t home…but you were…” Roxanna sounded like she made some drunken discovery. I tensed up though. Christina didn’t know that Roxanna threw herself at me and had my fucking cock in her hands in under a second. I screwed up by not telling Christina everything and I feared with every breath that Roxanna was going to put it out in the open.

“Yah, why don’t I get you a cab? Take a seat,” I directed her, but I stayed where I was beside a silent and observing Christina. I let go of her hand to place a call to a car company.

“I don’t want a cab; I want to come inside with you, Jeffrey. You wanted me the other day. You got hard for me, I know it.”

My head snapped around to Roxanna, she was focusing all her energy in concentrating on me. Roxanna’s eyes swam over to Christina and she smiled lazily.

“I had his cock in my hand and he got hard like that…” Roxanna paused to snap her fingers and then a giggle bubbled up from her chest.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. I wanted to throw the phone at Roxanna and then gag her and throw her into any passing cab and have it take her to fucking Mexico.

“I kissed him again too. He acts like he doesn’t want me, but I know he still loves me.” Roxanna smiled, it was the evil little icing on the cake and I knew she had hit each and every one of Christina’s worst fears when it came to me.

“You…she—Jeffrey…” Christina was trying to make sense of it all in her head and I could see the confusion, looming devastation and hurt, and anger in her eyes. “Is she telling the truth? Please tell me she’s too drunk and is just making stuff up right now.” Christina put distance between us and crossed her arms over her chest.

All I could think about was how much I should have told her the entire fucking truth when I had the chance. I just didn’t want to hurt her, but now I’ve managed to hurt her ten times worse.

“It’s true. Yeah. I didn’t want to tell you the full story because I didn’t want to hurt you. She came in and just fucking attacked me, Christina. One second she was outside and then the next her hand was down my pants.”

It all sounded like a horrible, piss poor excuse, but it was the truth. Roxanna wasn’t in her right mind.