Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (22 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR

Epilogue

"
No
,
no, no! Do not pull the doggy's tail, Cassidy!" I said as I moved across
the patio to where the two-year-old with sticky hands and face was yanking on
Tesla's thick tail. The big, yellow lab turned and began licking her face as
she screamed with delighted laughter. I couldn't help but stand back and laugh
as the two of them enjoyed each other's company.

"Cam, are you keeping an
eye on those burgers?" I yelled through the open door, as I smelled the
scent of burning meat wafting from the other side of the patio.

"I'm on it!" he
shouted as he barged through the door carrying a tub of beer. "We still
need ice, though."

"I called Leo and let
him know," I said as I grabbed the small person who had pulled off her
shirt and was now running toward the yard, ostensibly to roll in the grass just
like her buddy, Tesla, was doing. I looked down at the curly haired little
angel and said, "What are you doing, missy?"

"Esla!" she
shrieked as she ran toward her four-legged playmate. "Doggy!"

"Yes, she is a
doggy," I laughed. Cassidy was the spitting image of her father with the
curly red locks and bright green eyes that flashed with mischievousness more
often than I liked to acknowledge.

"What are you doing,
Peanut?" Cam asked in a deep booming voice that never failed to send her
into shrieking laughter. We stood and watched as the two friends rolled on the
lawn enjoying the coolness of the grass on a warm summer evening.

We were celebrating our fifth
wedding anniversary with a barbecue for all of the friends who had been in our
wedding party, and a few other people who'd become integral to our life. The
memory of our special day was on display all over the house and Cam had built
small replica of the gazebo we'd stood on when we'd said our vows. The wedding
had been a small affair because we hadn't wanted to draw a lot of attention to
ourselves and because I was in the middle of starting my new nursing job.

Cam had promised that we'd
make the celebration of our anniversary a yearly event, and so far he'd made
good on his promise. I looked over at my husband who was laughing loudly as he
watched our two-year-old rolling on the lawn with his beloved dog, and wondered
how I could have ever doubted his sincerity and love.

He'd retired from the fire
department not long after I'd graduated from nursing school. He'd said it no
longer made sense to him to spend his time running into burning buildings when
he could be at home with me. I knew his reasons ran much deeper than that, but
I never pushed him for them. After all, I'd been there that fateful day, and I
knew the price he'd paid for coming to my rescue. I was just glad we'd all
survived it.

"Hey there,
minion!" a familiar voice called to Cassidy. "What are you
doing?"

"Tee Tee Izzy!"
Cassidy yelled as she popped up off of the lawn and went running on chubby legs
toward her favorite aunt, Liz. Liz met her half way and swept her up into a big
hug as she kissed every inch of the baby's face making her laugh wildly before
setting her down so she could run back to where Tesla lay in the grass.

"She's getting so
big!" Liz said as she grabbed me and hugged me tightly. "I can't
believe she's two now."

"I know, it's crazy,
isn't it?" I said, as I held tight to my friend.

The past few years hadn't
been easy for Liz. Losing her place in the nursing program had been a blow that
she'd had a hard time recovering from, and while she'd come out of rehab strong
and determined, she'd relapsed twice and now was living in a group recovery
home where she found that the order and rules helped her manage her addiction.
I knew she was going to have a lifelong struggle ahead of her, but I wasn't
about to abandon her.

Cassidy's first birthday
seemed to have been a turning point for her since she'd been sober ever since.
I crossed my fingers and hoped that Liz would be able to maintain her sobriety
and that some day she'd be able to have a family of her own. Maybe some day our
girls would become lifelong friends like their mothers were.

Leo showed up a short time
later with more ice than we knew what to do with and a surprise for Cassidy.
When he led his gift in on a leash, I looked at Cam, but he grinned and
shrugged letting me know he'd approved this. I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I
raised a fist at my secret-loving husband, but I also knew that he'd thought
about this long and hard because Tesla was starting to show signs of senility
and we knew she wasn't going to be with us forever.

Cam had worked with Leo at
the office for several years after we got married as he started his new
business, a home renovation company called CAC Designs. He and Danny Newsome
worked together flipping houses and doing renovations for folks who had more
money than they knew what to do with. Cam had used our initials as the acronym
for the company, but when Cassidy had come along he'd started to claim that it
was Cam Alex Cassidy Designs. I asked him what he was going to do when the
family expanded, and he told me that he'd have to start another business
venture to accommodate the new child. I'd rolled my eyes and laughed knowing
that there was no stopping him if he decided to do it.

As the
house began to fill with all the people we loved, we were reminded of how far we'd
come and how arduous the road had been. As I looked around at all the different
people we'd brought together through our love, I realized that we'd done our
very best to shape a life that didn't deny the past, but, instead, embraced the
future with love and hope.

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The
Boss Box Set

The
Complete Boss Romance Series

By
Claire Adams

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Claire Adams

THE
BOSS #1

CHAPTER
1

ARIA

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the
heartfelt and endlessly awkward confession of romantic allegiance that one of
my customers was currently delivering. Would he notice if I stealthily put my
headphones on?

On a normal day, I let men down easy. An
eight-hour shift at the bank immediately following forty-eight hours of no sleep
and two very difficult midterms does not constitute a normal day. I squinted at
the gentleman in front of me, who seemed mesmerized by the palms of his hands
based on the way he was staring at them. Mitch? Mark?

“And, you know, I come here, like, every
day at the same time because, you know, like, that’s when your shift is,” he
was mumbling, eyes firmly on his palm. “Sometimes I, like, just come and
deposit some cash only to withdraw it the very next day for no other reason
other than to see you.”

Really? I could have never guessed. It’s
pretty normal for people around here to make daily deposits and withdrawals of
exactly $200 without fail for a whole month. Moron.

“Listen,” I said finally. He looked up and
made eye-contact just for a split second—long enough for me to notice the
droplets on his horn-rimmed glasses. Sweat? Oh God. “I am really flattered
but-”

“But girls like you don’t go out with guys
like me.” I could almost hear the whimper in his voice now. “I get it.”

Shit.

“No no no no! I’m engaged,” I blurted
without thinking. “To – to…” Surveying the room frantically, I pointed at the
only logical direction, cringing with fear and embarrassment at the thought
that this interaction might have an audience. “To him. My boss. He is very
possessive so you should be careful. He owns the bank and he is well connected.
If he learns of this he has the power to ruin your credit, and believe me, he
will do it. You should find a different branch to go to from now on to be safe
– switch banks even if you have to! It’s in your best interest.”

The man I was pointing at flashed a
crooked smile, his eyes firmly rested on his computer, and I felt my chest
fall. Don’t be silly Aria, there is no way he can hear you. He was at least
fifty feet across the hall, inside his office behind a solid glass door. He
would have to have superhuman hearing abilities to be able to hear this
conversation. Although, it would hardly surprise me if he did possess such a
skill; almost everything about Zayden Sinclair was a notch above the average
human.

At thirty-two he was the owner and CEO of
the Southern National Bank empire, but you didn’t need to know about his
economic stature to feel the power that he exuded through sheer physical
presence. He had the tendency to command the attention of anybody within a
five-mile-radius without so much as saying a word. Women of all ages gravitated
towards him, and his dashing looks and defined physique were only partially
responsible for the effect. In fact, dashing did not begin to accurately describe
his rare combination of piercing blue eyes, perfectly chiseled jawline, and
dark, wavy hair straight out of a men’s shampoo commercial. Sometimes I could
swear I saw his six-packs defined through his shirt, or even his sweater. Maybe
my imagination interfered at that point.

And my imagination is where Zayden’s
shirtless body should remain. I had seen too many girls fall prey to his charms
and had no interest in losing the job that kept me in college just because I
couldn’t control the desire to touch whatever was underneath that shirt. This
branch went through tellers faster than the days of the week, and I wasn’t
going to become a number in the statistical chart of Zayden’s conquests.

***

Half an hour later I was thankful for the
clock to indicate it was my lunch break. After my admiring customer left
holding back tears, there was a sudden stream of traffic in the teller’s booth,
and I had to deal with an old woman who accused the bank of stealing from her.
It shouldn’t be that difficult to convince somebody that a multi-million dollar
corporation would gain nothing from robbing an old lady of fifty bucks.

I was relieved to find that the pantry in
the back end of the bank was empty. Normally I enjoy some commotion but today I
was just really tired, mentally and physically. And hungry. I hadn’t realized
how hungry I was.
 
I sat down on the
first table looking away from the door and removed the box of leftover sushi
from my bag. Before I could open it, however, I heard a very familiar voice.

“So when’s our wedding?”

Shit. I could hear the thudding sound of
my chest as though it were adjacent to my ears. It must have been a whole
minute before I gathered the courage to slowly turn around, ignoring the chills
in my fingers.

“You heard that?” I laughed. Thank you
Acting 101 Gen-Ed requirements. “Spying on your tellers now? The NSA would be
so proud.”

Zayden’s lips crooked very slightly. Was
that a smile? Was he amused? Angry? Oh God, I really couldn’t tell.

“We keep a microphone at the tellers’
booth in every branch for surveillance, in case there is any suspicious
activity from a customer. Handling money is serious business.”

I actually knew that. How could I have
been so stupid?

“Which is why I made up that little story
about us, so that guys like that don’t continue to distract me from my very
serious job of handling your money.”

I was quite surprised by the confidence in
my own voice.

He laughed. Phew. It was an adorable laugh
and I wouldn’t mind kissing him while he did it. No wonder the other tellers
couldn’t keep their hands off of him with his dashing looks. Men this powerful
are hard to turn down.

He was fumbling with a button on his coat
and I tried hard not to wish that my nipples were his buttons. I should have
been embarrassed; he had heard me claim I was engaged to him, and imply he was
connected to the mob. If embarrassment was the socially acceptable reaction to
such a situation, then why the hell was I so aroused? He was coming closer and
I momentarily forgot how to breathe.

“Let me make you a proposition,” he said
as he sat down across from me. “We will never have to speak about of your
encounter with that bespectacled guy if you let me take you out to lunch
tomorrow.”