ROMANCE: Badass Boss (Billionaire Alpha Bad Boy Romance) (Western Mail Order Bride Calendar Contemporary) (51 page)

Ruefully shaking her head at how he had seemed to think of everything, Laurel put on the earrings and couldn’t help but admire how well they suited the dress. With her busy schedule, she didn’t often get the chance to dress up and lived in a uniform of sorts, which consisted of suits, skirts and blazers with solid colored tops. In this beautiful dress with the sparkling jewelry she felt like a princess.

After spending a few more minutes primping in front of the mirror, she left her apartment and showed up at the restaurant at 7pm on the dot. When she gave her name to the Maître D’ a wide smile lit up his cherubic face.

“Ah Mizz Laurel, Mr. Daniel is already here, waiting for you,” he said enthusiastically as he ushered her forward.

Seeing the notoriously tardy Daniel Connor already seated at the small, intimate table made her realize how very important this evening was to him. His eyes lit up as he took her in from head to toe and a devilish grin spread across his handsome features.

“You look good enough to eat.”

Flushing at the indirect compliment, Laurel dismissed him immediately, “I’m not one of your airheads Daniel, it’s not me, it’s the dress.”

“Whatever it is, I’m really digging it.”

“Daniel,” she said with mock severity, “if you can’t behave courteously, I’m going to leave right now.”

“Okay okay, I’ll behave and be a total gentleman.” He took a sip of his wine and leaned back comfortably against his chair, “Tell me about your day.”

Chapter 5

The Good Surprise

Dinner progressed more smoothly than Laurel had anticipated, and she found Daniel was a surprisingly easy to talk to and to her utter shock, she discovered they had a few things in common when it came to their favorite authors and works of arts. As the last plates were cleared away from the table and they waited for their coffee and dessert, Laurel finally asked him why he had set up this dinner.

“What am I really doing here Daniel?”

“What do you mean?” he asked giving her an innocent look.

“Don’t toy with me, I know you better than to believe all of this is just out of the goodness of your heart.” She said pointing out her dress and earrings.

“Okay fine, there is a reason why but it’s a surprise.”

“A good surprise?” she said warily, thinking back to all the other surprises he’d sprung on her over the years, the scandal involving a group of escorts found partying with drugs and booze galore, late into the night in an upscale hotel in Australia had been a particularly good surprise.

Seeing the concerned look in her eyes, he rushed to assure her it was a good surprise.

“I promised I would never lie to you remember?”

Left with little choice in the matter, she put it out of her head and dug into the delectable piece of chocolate cake placed in front of her knowing she would have to pay for this moment of weakness at the gym the next day.

And then suddenly Daniel stood up and started to go down on one knee and Laurel knew instantly what his surprise would be. Her mouth formed into an “O” as he held out the most stunning diamond ring she had ever seen and uttered the words every girl dreamed of hearing, “Laurel, will you marry me?”

Somewhere in the restaurant, she heard a girl shriek and within seconds she felt cell phones being pulled out and pictures being snapped but she sat frozen in her chair unable to move or say anything.

“Laurel?” Daniel prompted her through the smile plastered on his face, “You need to smile and say yes.” He whispered urgently. Suddenly remembering the charade she had agreed to be a part of she gave him a brilliant smile and exclaimed, “Yes, yes, of course I will!”

The restaurant broke out in a thunderous applause as Daniel got to his feet after slipping the ring on Laurel’s finger and swept her into a passionate kiss. As his lips molded on to hers, Laurel felt a jolt of electric shock dart through her body.

She knew it was all for show but couldn’t help the heated passion his kiss evoked within her and it was with considerable effort she managed to gently pull herself away from him, feeling embarrassed. Daniel pulled her close against him in a hug and whispered, “That was beautifully done.”

Chapter 6

Mr. Vice President

Within an hour, word had spread that New York City’s most eligible and most handsome bachelor was officially off the market. Laurel was up by 5am the next morning, put her PR skills at work as she strategically passed along anonymous rumors and stories about her and Daniel’s supposed secret relationship designed to fuel the fire and add credence to the surprise engagement.

Knowing everyone would be buzzing about their relationship and asking a million questions she deliberately kept her phone turned off and sent a quick email to Alice letting her know she was meeting various clients and wouldn’t be in the office.

Daniel was also up very early the next morning but it wasn’t by choice. The continued vibration of his cell phone roused him from a deep and satisfied sleep.  When he looked at the flashing screen of his phone he saw it was his father. He had obviously heard the news. With a wide grin, Daniel picked up the call, for the first time in a very long time he actually felt eager to speak to him.

“Daniel.” His father’s strong, powerful voice boomed through.

“Good morning Father.”

“What’s this I hear about you engaged to Laurel?”

Daniel feigned innocence, “Oh you heard?”

“Of course, I heard! The whole city is talking about it. Why is this the first time your mother and I are hearing about all of this?”

Sitting up on the bed, Daniel explained his well-rehearsed story; he was fully prepared for this moment.

“You know how private Laurel is about everything, I spent months pursuing her and when she finally agreed, she made me promise we would keep it a secret and nobody could know about it. Something about not wanting her face on every magazine or her life scrutinized.

His father cleared his throat approvingly, “Always knew she was a smart girl.” But then his voice dropped and he asked suspiciously, “This is very sudden and…”

But before he could continue any further, Daniel cut in smoothly, “Yes Father, that’s the beauty of keeping things to yourself. Believe me, if I could have it my way, I would have told the world but Laurel insisted.”

“So all your numerous affairs these last few years?”

“Well we’ve only been dating for one year and PR genius that she is, Laurel thought it would be best if I kept my rakish, bachelor persona intact, but it’s been hard to be like that when all I want is to be with her every waking moment. You know…. I really love her Dad, she’s this amazing woman and I can’t wait to marry her and settle down.”

He stopped talking before he went overboard, he didn’t need his father to voice any more suspicions.  After a pause, his father let out a delighted laugh.

“You love her that much eh, you’re finally turning into the man I always knew you were. I like Laurel, she’s a good girl. Too good for you so you make sure to treat her right. Congratulations dear boy. Why don’t the two of you come for supper tomorrow night and stop by the office this morning so we can discuss a proper role for you in the company eh?”

After thanking his father for his wishes and confirming dinner plans for the evening he hung up the phone feeling immensely pleased with himself. If he was lucky he could use the new role his father was about to hand to him to easily get a loan from the bank and kiss Amber goodbye once and for all.

When he walked into the office later that morning, people began to congratulate him left and right while his father, a stern man not one to easily give in to emotions pulled him into a tight hug and said gruffly how proud he was of him. By the end of the day it had become an established fact Daniel would be taking on the role of vice-president, working with and alongside his father.

It took exactly two phone calls at 6pm to have $5 million wired into his account and one more call to Amber to arrange for the drop off. He agreed to meet her at her hotel room at 9pm that night.

When he arrived, she opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of lacy underwear. Seeing her smooth, tanned, tight half naked body gave him an instant hard on and when she grabbed him by the head and pulled him down into a passionate kiss, he felt could feel his resolve wavering as he allowed her to drag him through the living room and into the bedroom.

Lips still pressed firmly against his, Amber pushed him on the bed while her hands roamed his hard, muscular body, frantically pulling at his belt and yanking off the buttons on his shirt. With a groan, he grabbed her breasts and massaged them while his tongue explored her mouth. But as her hands travelled down and wrapped themselves warmly against his swollen member his senses came back and he pushed her away leaping to his feet.

“No!” he said emphatically, “I don’t think so. No.” he repeated. He pointed towards the suitcase which had been left by the bedroom door, “There’s your money, now get out of my life.”

All of a sudden, the sweet, seductive Amber was gone replaced by a shrill angry woman, she jabbed him on the chest with her sharp nails, “I’m not good enough for you? Not like Ms. Hoity Toity Laurel huh?”

“I don’t have time to deal with you anymore Amber, you got your money, now get the fuck out of my life.” He said calmly as he headed out of the bedroom.

But before he had taken another step, she leaped across the room and grabbed his arm so tightly her nails broke the skin on his arm, drawing blood as she angrily screeched, “You bastard, you absolute bastard! How dare you announce an engagement when I’m pregnant with your child? I’ll see you ruined Daniel, you and that whore you just got engaged to.”

“Be very careful of what you say Amber and who you threaten. I’m going to ask for a paternity test. And if that kid is not mine, I’m taking back every penny.”

Manic laughter trickled out through her lips, “I don’t think so Daniel, when I’m through with you, there’s not much you’ll be getting from anyone. You dared to turn me down and I’m going to make you pay.”

At her words, Daniel’s eyes glittered with cold fury and he could feel a powerful rage spreading through his veins. Amber must have sensed his anger and felt the shift in the air because suddenly she looked frightened. Her taunting words died abruptly on her lips and she nervously took a step back and away from Daniel. But as his eyes narrowed to hard, angry slits, she knew she had gone too far.

Chapter 7

Amber’s Ploys

Later that night Laurel tried Daniel’s cell phone again, it was her fourth time calling him. To her relief he finally picked up the call sounding odd.

“Everything okay Laurel? I’m sorry I left my phone in the car.”

“Oh, that’s alright. I just wanted to let you know your Mom called me earlier, I didn’t pick up obviously but she left a message asking to meet for lunch tomorrow morning and I wanted to run it by you first before I call her back.” She looked at her watch, it was almost 10pm, “Although it’s probably too late to call her back now anyways.”

“Don’t worry about lunch, we’ll be going over for dinner.”

“Oh okay.”

“Look Laurel, don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it okay?”

It struck her again that he didn’t sound like his usual self, “Daniel are you okay?”

“Yes, of course. Why?”

“You just sound odd.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“You would tell me if something was wrong right? We promised no lies remember?”

“Of course. Nothing is wrong Laurel, I’ll see you tomorrow okay? And don’t worry about my mom.”

“Alright, if you say so. Good night Daniel.”

As she hung up the phone, the conversation with Daniel kept re-playing in her head and as she prepared for bed, she realized what had been bothering her, his words didn’t have the ring of truth in them.

She had no way of knowing that just before he had called her, Daniel had taken a scorching hot shower trying to dispel the anger he had felt towards Amber while he scrubbed at the dried flakes of blood coating his hands and fingers. She couldn’t have known that as he tightly wrapped a gauze bandage around the large knife wound on his arm he kept replaying the events in the hotel room over and over again regretting the day he had ever fallen for Amber’s ploys.