Escorting the Billionaire by Leigh James
James
“Can you do my cufflink?” I asked. I could manage on my own, but I wanted her to touch me.
Audrey clasped it and straightened my tuxedo jacket. “You look amazing,” she said, beaming at me. “I didn’t think you could look any hotter than you do in a suit. But wow.”
I laughed and ran my fingers down the pale lace of her dress. “You look stunning. I never knew I liked yellow until now.” Her hair was up in an elegant bun. Her gown was long and strapless, with beading along the waist. She looked like a princess. You would never know that she lived in a piss-poor tenement apartment in Southie. She wore the gown, jewelry, and flawless makeup regally, as if they were hers from the beginning, not some borrowed finery from her madam.
My gut twisted at the thought.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said, more casually than I felt.
“Are you nervous about the ceremony?”
“Not really—it’s more like adrenaline.”
She nodded and let out a shaky breath. “Me too.”
“Are you ready?” I asked, and she nodded. “Oh wait—I have something for you.” I grabbed a turquoise jewelry box from my dresser and handed it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked. Her voice was a little shaky.
“Just a necklace,” I said, watching her face. “I saw it yesterday when we were walking down Newbury Street. I had the concierge pick it up for me.” I’d seen it in the window, and I’d immediately wanted to buy it. It was beautiful and understated. It was a gift, but it was a selfish one: I wanted her to have something on her body from me. So I would always be touching her.
“I thought you might like to wear it today.” She opened the box and pulled out the delicate gold chain. There was a pendant attached, with two interlocking diamond-encrusted gold rings.
“It’s so beautiful.” She sounded touched.
I went behind her and fastened it around her neck. “I just wanted you to have something from me.” I came around to face her, and I was suddenly embarrassed. My emotional boner was at full mast.
I was going to kill Cole for ever saying that to me.
She reached out and stroked my hot cheek. “James—I love it. I’ll never take it off.”
“It’s beautiful on you.” I smiled at her, pleased. “We should go. Happy occasions in my family don’t come around that often—we don’t want to miss any of it.”
The attendants in the lobby stopped and stared at us. “You look amazing, Miss Reynolds,” one of the girls called. Audrey smiled back at her shyly, pleased.
“I figured they’d be saying that to you,” she said.
“No one’s even bothering to look at me, babe,” I said. “You’re too stunning.”
Kai was waiting for us outside. It was a beautiful June day, the weather lustrous and bright. I held Audrey’s hand and led her to the car, careful of her long gown.
“If I may say so, Mr. Preston, Miss Reynolds is looking particularly lovely this afternoon,” Kai said stiffly.
I smiled at him. “You may say so, Kai,” I said, “and I agree.”
When I slid into the car next to her, I looked at her smooth skin in the sunlight, her hand clasped around the necklace I’d given her.
My whole world was centered around her now. Everything else—everything that had seemed crucial to me only last week—was muted in the distance. The thought had been creeping up on me, but now I knew it all at once, sitting and watching her like that.
She smiled. “What?”
“What do you want to do after next week?” I asked her bluntly. I hadn’t planned on asking it, but there it was.
“What do you mean?”
I tightened my grip on her hand. “What do you want to do when we get back from the Bahamas? About us.”
She looked down, and I could see how flustered she was. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say.”
“Do you want to keep seeing me?” I asked. My temples were pounding hard. Fuck. What if she said no? Why the fuck was I doing this to myself?
The thing was, women never said no to me. Never. As in not once. But that was for a different reason than the one I was looking for from Audrey.
“Of course I do,” she said, the words coming out of her all in a rush.
I felt relieved until she looked up at me, her eyes dark and sad. “I just don’t know if we should.”
“Because of your mother?” I asked.
She nodded miserably. “Yours, too.”
“What did she say to you yesterday?”
“Honestly, you don’t want to know right now.”
Anger flashed through me. “I don’t even care anymore,” I said flatly. I could pay Audrey’s mother off, and I would shield Audrey from mine.
If that was what she even wanted.
“I’m tired of them both. We’re adults. We can handle them.”
The car pulled up at Trinity Church; it was unfortunately close to my apartment. Now that I’d finally started it, I wasn’t ready to let the conversation end. I wanted to know where I stood. But we had to go in. The ceremony was going to start soon, and I had to go out back with my brother.
“We’ll finish this later.” I watched her until she nodded her assent.
“Audrey.” She looked up at me, her face a mask. “Smile.”
I depositedher with Cole and Jenny, who were both looking very fancy and freshly fucked, in a pew toward the front of the church. I headed back toward the rectory, giving curt nods to my mother and father.
“There he is,” Todd said when I came around the corner. “I was hoping you weren’t going to jilt me.”
“Ha ha,” I said. I pushed all the bullshit in my head to the side and smiled at my brother. “This is your day. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good,” he said. There were nine of us back here; Evie had wanted an insane number of bridesmaids so Todd had to ask as many cousins and friends as he could, just to match her.
“Are you ready?” I asked, slapping him on the back.
“I’m past ready,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to marry her since the day I met her. I just want her to be my wife, already. I can’t wait.”
“You get to be married forever,” I reminded him.
“I know. But when you finally figure out what you want, you’re pretty ready for forever. You know what I mean?”
The enormous churchwas packed with guests. “How many people are here?” I whispered to Todd. We were waiting in the front of the church for Evie and her bridesmaids to come out.
“I think Evie said it was close to five hundred.”
I let out a low whistle. “Jesus, Todd.”
He smiled at me. “That’s another good thing about not being involved in the planning. Just one more thing I didn’t want to know.”
I winced a little at that, thinking about what I’d told him about Evie. I’d never apologized to him about it.
“Todd, we never talked about that night again—”
“Jesus, James. Stop.” He looked at me, incredulous. “Not only is now not a good time, but speaking of timing—look, I’m here, right? I’m obviously over it. You should be, too.”
I laughed a little, and then I grinned at him, impressed. “Did you just out-big-brother me?”
“Yes,” he said, grinning back at me. “Yes, I did. Now shut up and let me get married, already.”
The music started. My parents had gone back and walked down the aisle first, followed by Evie’s mom. Then one after another, Evie’s sinewy cousins and friends came down the aisle. I was relieved and grateful that Todd had spared his groomsmen that tradition; we’d been able to enter through the side door and stand with him at the front. I could see Audrey in her pew. I smiled at her, fighting the overwhelming urge I had to wave.
She smiled back at me, making my heart stop. Cole saw us and grinned at me from farther down the bench—I really had to stop being such a little bitch. He was going to be relentless on this trip otherwise.
Finally, the wedding processional started. Everyone stood. Todd clasped his hands in front of him, looking expectant and happy. I admired him. He knew what he wanted, and he was going for it—no matter what I or anyone else had said.
My little brother had bigger balls than I’d thought.
Then came Evie, in an enormous crystal-encrusted dress. I was surprised she could lug it down the aisle, bony as she was. Her father walked beside her, tall and proud, ready to give her away to one of the richest families in Massachusetts.
Evie reached us and beamed at Todd from behind her veil. He clasped her hands. She looked absolutely thrilled. Maybe she really was sincere, I thought.
If Todd could forgive her, maybe I should, too.
The priest started speaking, and I turned my attention to him. Until a few moments later, when I saw a flash of pale yellow.
And I turned to see Audrey hustling down the aisle and out of the church just as fast as she could go.
