Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (24 page)

The thought made her even happier. Has she always missed her parents this bad but convinced herself otherwise? It was a hurtful thing to realize, but it was better realized now than later on, when it was too late.

“Yes,” she said, kissing him again. “One thing first, though,” she said after pulling away.

“Anything. What is it?”

“The whole making out in the backseat of a car thing,” she said. “Let’s go ahead and take care of that, shall we?”

As if he had any choice in the matter, Lauren took him by the hand and led him back to the car.

As dusk fell over the pond and the ruined farmland, they did much more than make out.

***

Darkness had fallen and despite pulling a muscle in her leg while being intimate in the back of his car, things couldn’t have been more perfect. The crickets and tree frogs of her youth were beginning to converse in the forests around the fields and it calmed Lauren in a way that startled her. She had gone away, gotten successful (in a sense), and met a man that she still couldn’t believe. Yet this place, somehow, was still home.

“Are you sure this is how you want to spend the night we get engaged?” Lauren asked him. She was lying against him, her back to his chest. They were partially naked, the windows of the car rolled down.

“I’m fine with it,” he said. “I’d rather not sleep in the car, though.”

“Well, is the Sunshine Lodge really much better?”

“Just a smidge,” he said. “By the way…what are the chances of getting caught?”

She shrugged. “There’s not much of a police force in Brenton. And I never heard of kids getting busted for this sort of thing in high school. I think we’re okay.”

“Well, if you want to make it back to see your parents, I think we probably need to get going.”

“Yeah, good point,” she said.

They slowly managed to get dressed, laughing like giddy teenagers as they did so. A few minutes later, they were back in the front of the car. Riley had to cut the headlights on this time and the dirt road looked beautiful rather than meaning in the glow.

“Can I ask you something?” Lauren asked.

“Sure.”

“You understand how this all seems too good to be true for me, right?”

“No,” he said. “I understand how snotty people that are far too enriched in our culture might think so, but no…I personally don’t see that.”

“Well, I feel like a very lucky woman. I’m still waiting to wake up.”

“Why?” he asked.

“You’re gorgeous and wealthy. You’re also extremely kind and loving. I keep looking for flaws, but—,”

“Oh, there are flaws,” he said. “But you drove out the largest ones. And that’s one of the many reasons I love you. It’s one of the many reasons I placed that ring on your finger tonight.”

She had always needed reassurances; it had gotten worse when she’d put on the weight. But with Riley, the extra weight never really bothered her. Sure, she wanted to get in shape for him, but he never even mentioned it. Either he truly didn’t care about her weight or he was doing a very good job of pretending. Still, seeing him with his shirt off made her want to drop about forty or fifty pounds. And even though he didn’t make her feel inferior because of her weight, she still needed his reassurances. And having gotten them in the form of the engagement ring and the brief conversation they’d just had, she’d gotten that and much more.

They held hands over the console as Riley crept the car back down the dirt road.

Nine hours away, their busy lives were waiting for them in tall, cluttered buildings and streets crammed with traffic and blaring horns.

But tonight, there were only the crickets and the cool country air. It was like another world and for the night, Lauren felt as if she were the queen of it all. She had come back home to just visit but had found the rest of her life instead.

***

THREE WEEKS LATER

On a humid August afternoon, a white pickup truck pulled into a dusty parking lot just outside of the small town of Brenton, Virginia. The lot was empty, as was the concrete building that occupied it. Faded paint on the side of the building read HUDSON TEXTILES, but those letters were old, speaking of a business that had gone under in the early eighties.

The truck parked and three people got out—two men and one woman. One of the men carried a toolbox and the other carried a briefcase. The woman carried a laptop case. In the afternoon sun, a passerby might have seen the slight flicker on the ring finger of her left hand. The engagement ring that was placed there three weeks ago looked just as shiny and new as it had when it had first been placed there.

The three of them walked into the building, using the side door, as the front door consisted of a rolling workshop garage-type door that had been rusted shut for more than twenty years. Once they were inside, they went their own ways. They’d visited twice before and this would likely be the last visit before the building was swarmed with construction crews, estimators, and other busy-bodies.

Cam Hughes went around the open workspace of the old warehouse, measuring certain areas with a tape measure and taking notes. Riley set up a makeshift desk with an old sawhorse and a mildewed piece of plywood. He opened his briefcase and started sorting through contracts and spreadsheets. Lauren stood by him, powering up her laptop on the same piece of plywood.

“This is the biggest office I’ve ever had,” Riley joked.

“The maid sucks, though,” Lauren said.

They all set about their own tasks; Riley made a few calls as he looked through everything and Lauren asked her dad a few questions as he looked around, the answers to which she placed into various e-mails and working documents.

After half an hour or so, Cam closed up his toolbox and headed over to Riley and Lauren. He waited a beat and then asked Riley a question that, unknown to him, his daughter had also asked him three weeks ago while standing by a pond from her childhood.

“Are you sure?”

Riley smiled as he started putting an assortment of paperwork back into his briefcase. “I am,” he said. “Based on the research, it’s a no-brainer. You’ll have no competition within a range of about seventy miles. Also, websites for custom furniture are a hot ticket item, mostly for wealthy well-to-do people. And the last bit of proof is the photos I showed my experts. They loved your furniture and believe that the same coffee table you previously sold for five hundred dollars could fetch as much as fifteen hundred dollars in larger cities.”

“Also,” Lauren added, “this place was dirt cheap. It’ll cost another ten grand to get it fixed up the way we need it, and even then it’s a steal.”

“Mr. Hughes, I’ve been doing this for nearly fifteen years and, if I do say so myself, I am very good at it. All signs predict that I will make back my original investment within the first year. And you will make nearly three times more than you did at the old furniture plant within that year.”

“I don’t even know what to say,” he said.

“There’s no need to say anything. If you want, you can call the carpenters and the masonry workers and set up their schedules for next week. Say something to them. Make sure they’re here on time and all of that.”

“Also, Dad,” Lauren said. “Don’t forget that your first batch of interviews starts tomorrow. Do you need help with that?”

“No, I think I’m good. Thanks, though.”

“Then I think we’re done here,” Riley said. “For today, anyway. Now…one thing you can do for me, Mr. Hughes…”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Can you please call your wife and ask her if she has the time to whip up some of that amazing chicken salad for dinner?”

***

Lauren sat on the front porch and looked out to the little two-lane road. The traffic was non-existent. In fact, the only traffic to be seen was two pre-teen boys driving their bikes. She was looking out onto Mayflower Street, one of the most picturesque streets in the town of Harper Heights, a quaint little town that sat fifteen miles to the east of Brenton.

She looked out to the yard of the house that she was currently sitting in front of. From the cozy little rocking chair, she could see the FOR SALE sign sitting at the end of the paved driveway. She guessed that sign would be coming up in the next day or so.

Beside her, the front door opened and Riley stepped out. “You know,” he said, “I think we could finish that attic and it could make a really sweet double office.”

“You’re sounding pretty certain that everything is going to work out,” she said.

“Everything already has…for the most part.”

He was right. On the week following the reunion and his proposal, they had both returned to New York. Riley had spent most of that week in meetings, pulling sixteen hour days. When Friday came, he’d had several surprises waiting for Lauren.

The first had been that he had located a great property that could potentially be her father’s future furniture shop and storefront. It sat thirty miles away from Brenton, closer to the little town of Harper Heights. This was perfect, as Cam Hughes had called Riley on Wednesday to accept his offer to invest in a future business.

The second surprise was that he had organized things where he would be able to work remotely easier than before. When Lauren hadn’t understood this at first, Riley explained it all to her. And when he did, she was floored. She had no idea that he had been thinking such things. Furthermore, she had continued to fall more and more in love with him.

“I saw how you were around your parents last weekend,” he’d said. “And no offense, but you won’t stop talking about them. I think deep down you were eager to leave home because of the nastiness of high school and the stereotypes of a small town. But I saw the yearning in you when you were with your parents. You’ve missed them, haven’t you?”

She started crying then and only nodded.

“Well, I’m in a career position where I can pretty much work wherever I want. So here’s what I think. I think we should go back to Brenton this weekend. Maybe Harper Heights, too. I think we should look at some houses, look into real estate down there. Now…I’m not saying we move down there for good…not at all. I’m a city boy and I need the noise and busy-ness. But we can find a cute little house and use it as a second home. I don’t see any reason why we can’t spend a week or so out of every month down there. Maybe even a month or so at a time over the summer and holidays.”

“Riley…you’re amazing and I love you for this. But there’s no way I can pull that off with my job.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have even proposed this if I hadn’t already figured that out. So I made some calls. Maybe you forget just who pulled the strings to get your initial interview. But it’s not a problem. They say as long as you are present for the monthly status reports and can be available to travel with a decent notice, they don’t care.”

Lauren had wept then, throwing herself at him and embracing him. What did I ever do to deserve this life? She had wondered. What did I do to deserve this man?

Maybe she was finally getting some sort of well-deserved break for the fat jokes and the snickers from the skinny girls in high school and through college. Maybe this was the universal definition of karma.

Lauren thought of that night as she and Riley sat on the front porch of the house that, when the paperwork was filed, would be theirs. She still felt a little spoiled, especially when she thought of how Riley had been able to pay for it by just pulling out his checkbook and writing the check. Yet, when she had asked him if he was doing too much to try to make all of her dreams come true, he had simply smiled at her.

“I’ve got dreams, too, you know,” he’d said.

Thinking about that, Lauren reached out and grabbed his hand. They rocked back and forth and she was awed by how normal it seemed—how perfect.

“So you’re sure this is one of your dreams?” she asked him.

“I think it is,” he said. “Honestly, I think I could live anywhere with you and be happy. I know that this small town life was once a part of you. And I know you miss your folks. So if this is where the other part of you is happy, then yes…dream come true.”

“And you’re sure?”

He got up from his rocking chair and took both of her hands in his. He looked her in the eyes so strongly that it felt like he was looking into her. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone,” he said. “It feels like it was just yesterday that I saw you in the shoe store yet, at the same time, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. When I’m with you, work takes a back seat…and that’s never happened. I love you, Lauren. Sometimes it scares me but that’s a good thing. Going through this adventure with you—this house, your dad’s business, getting to see the work-side of you, all of it—is incredible. I love you and yes, I have never been so absolutely sure of anything in my life.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Okay.”

“Now let’s get out of here and start looking for a good moving company to bring some of our stuff down from New York. Also…there’s your mom’s chicken salad waiting for us.”

“That’s really why you wanted to have a second home here, isn’t it?”

“Damn. Am I that obvious?”