Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (135 page)

“Hey!
 
Did I say something wrong, Nic?” she
cried, moving closer and putting a hand on Nicole’s shoulder.
 
“What is it?
 
What’s wrong?”

Nicole’s whole body shook, she was
wracked with sobs.
 
And then it was
as if a part of her was standing to one side and watching the fiasco and seeing
how ridiculous this whole scene was.
 
So she began to laugh.
 
And
that made her seem even crazier.

Danielle was mystified.
 
“I’m so sorry, whatever it was I
did.
 
Nicole, tell me what’s going
on.
 
I’m…you’re freaking me out!”

Nicole tried to talk between laughing and
crying.
 
“It’s not your fault,” she
finally was able to say.

“It sure seems like it’s my fault.
 
Are you all right?
 
Do you want to go back to the house?”

Nicole shook her head.
 
“No.”
 
She was catching her breath now.
 
The storm of crying had started to pass.

“No, you’re not all right, or no, you
don’t want to go back to the house?”

“Both.”

“What’s wrong?
 
Is it something to do with Red?
 
Is it about Kane coming to the
wedding?
 
I can tell him not to,
Nicole.
 
If it really freaks you out
that much…”

Nicole began laughing again, wiping the
tears from her eyes.
 
“It’s not
about Kane at all.”
 
She
sniffled.
 
“I wish that were all it
was.
 
Something as silly as a
wedding invitation.”

Danielle’s expression became grave.
 
“You’re not…sick or something, are you?”

“No.
 
It’s not like that.”

 
“Come on.
 
I told you about my prenup drama, the
least you can do is tell me what’s going on that’s got you so upset.”

Nicole swallowed.
 
“I—I was pregnant and I had a
miscarriage.”

Danielle just stared at her.
 
“Oh, Nicole.
 
I had no idea.”

“I wanted to keep it quiet for a little
while, obviously.
 
It was early in
the pregnancy.”

“And Red knew?”

Nicole nodded.
 
Felt her eyes fill up for the millionth
time.
 
She wiped the tears away with
her sleeve.
 
“He knew and he wanted
the baby.
 
We were so excited.”

Danielle sat up.
 
“Nicole, I’m so sorry for your
loss.
 
Can I give you a hug?”

“Sure.”

The two friends hugged, and Nicole
realized that it actually helped a little bit.
 
She still felt the emptiness and the
sadness and all of it—but having someone genuinely empathize with her,
someone besides Red—made a difference.

They sat in silence for a long time and
ate and drank wine.
 
It wasn’t an
uncomfortable silence though.
 

“I’m really glad you told me,” Danielle
said.
 
“You know, I’m so proud to
call you my friend and I want to be here for you if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Nicole said.
 
“You’re an awesome friend to me.
 
And I want to be a better friend to you
too.
 
I know I always say that…”

Danielle laughed.
 
“You do!
 
It’s true.
 
But I don’t need you to anything
different, Nic.
 
You’re too hard on
yourself.”

“I want the four of us to get together,”
Nicole told her.
 
“You’re right that
it’s ridiculous for Red and Kane to be at one another’s throats because of
business.
 
It’s not like Kane tried
to have Red assassinated or something.
 
They’re both rich guys who had competing businesses and so it got a
little bit rough.”

“Exactly,” Danielle said, excited
now.
 
“It reminds me of two star
baseball players on different teams.
 
They have a rivalry but they can still be friends off season, right?”

“Right,” Nicole said.
 
“I’m not sure that Red sees it that way,
but I’ll work on him.”

“Speaking of Red,” Danielle said, “I
think he’s home.”
 
She pointed to
the private road, which was visible in the near distance.
 

Nicole looked and saw that he was indeed
driving back to the house.
 
“I guess
that’s my cue,” she sighed.

“You’re really brave,” Danielle told her.

“No, I’m not,” Nicole replied.
 
“That’s the problem.”

They gathered their things and set off
for home.
 
It was only a few minutes
walk and neither of them said much.
 
It was enough to just be together and for Nicole to know that Danielle understood
what she was going through and hadn’t tried to talk her out of being sad about
it.

When they arrived home, Red was already
inside.
 
They found him in the
foyer, standing and looking at his phone.
 
When he saw Nicole, his face lit up with a huge smile.

“Come here,” he said, and scooped her
into his arms, hugging her tightly and kissing her on the head.
 
“How are you doing?” he said softly.

“Good,” she said, giving him a smile to
let him know she meant it.

“Hey Danielle,” he said, nodding to
Danielle, who stood awkwardly in the entrance to the foyer.
 

“Hey,” she said, giving a small wave.

Red looked at the blanket and
cooler.
 
“What’s with the
stuff?
 
You two go camping?”

“Picnic,” Nicole said.
 
“We had some much needed wine and
discussed the fact that it’s silly for you and Kane to hate each other so
much.”

Red gave her a look.
 
“You had too much wine, maybe.”

“We should all get together.
 
I promised Danielle we would.”

Red’s jaw tightened.
 
“You’re kind of putting me on the spot
here.”

“Actually, it’s really not a big deal,”
Danielle said.
 
“So don’t feel put
on the spot.
 
Nicole and I were just
having some girl talk, you know how it is.”

“Not really,” Red replied.

“Well, sometimes girls can get chatty and
silly, especially when wine is involved.”

Red nodded.
 
“So, I actually wanted to show Nicole
the new office space I found in Hartford.
 
You’re welcome to come with us, Danielle.”

Nicole looked at him.
 
“You found something?”

He grinned.
 
“And it’s perfect.
 
I really want to sign a contract ASAP
but I need to show my partner first.”

“Wait, you guys are business partners
now?” Danielle said.

“I didn’t talk to her about the new
company,” Nicole replied quietly.
 
She was surprised that Red would openly discuss it in front of her,
knowing she might tell Kane.

But he seemed totally unconcerned about
that.
 
“We’re going to start a
business,” he said, “and I need Nicole’s approval for every step we take.”
 
He grabbed Nicole’s hand and squeezed
it.
 
“Which is why I really want to
drag her to this building.
 
I know
she’s going to love it.”

“I don’t know if I’m up to it right now,”
Nicole said.
 
She was already
feeling a slight comedown from her wine buzz.

“I should go, anyway,” Danielle told
them.
 
“My driver’s been waiting and
I told Kane I’d be back for dinner.”

“You sure?” Red asked her.
 
“You’re welcome to hang with us.”

“I’m sure.”
 
Danielle came and gave Nicole another
tight squeeze.
 
“It was great seeing
you and catching up,” she said softly.
 
“Call me anytime.”

“Of course,” Nicole told her.
 
“And thanks for always being there.”

Danielle nodded and waved goodbye to Red,
and then she left.
 
They stood at
the front door and watched her get in her limousine and ride off.

“Did you have a nice time?” Red asked,
putting a hand on Nicole’s back and gently rubbing.

“Yes, actually.
 
I was pretty emotional though.”

He turned and looked at her.
 
“You have every right to be emotional.”

She nodded, wanting to cry yet
again.
 
But this time she was able
to not cry for once.
 
Maybe that was
progress.
 
“You really want to show
me the new space?”

“I really do,” he said.

“Okay then.
 
I’m game.”

They left the house immediately and got
in Red’s car, setting off down the private way as the sun started to dip in the
sky.

Red asked her about Danielle, and Nicole
told him about the prenuptial agreement and how Danielle felt weird about
it.
 

“Most very wealthy people should have an
agreement like that when they marry,” he said.

“She got really sad when I told her that
you’ve never asked me to sign anything.”

Red just shrugged.
 
“Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic, but I
don’t have any urge to protect myself financially when it comes to you.
 
I never want to lose you, but if somehow
I was dumb enough to screw this up—then I want you to get whatever you
need and then some.”

Nicole looked at him.
 
“Well of course you’re saying that
now.
 
Most people don’t feel so
charitable by the time they’re getting divorced.”

“Anyway, it’s a silly topic because you
and I are never going down that road, Nicole.
 
You’re stuck with me now.”

“I love that I’m stuck with you,” she
said, and then glanced at a passing sign.
 
“What I’m not sure about, is being stuck in this car right now.
 
I don’t see any signs for Hartford.”

“It’s not exactly in Hartford,” Red
replied.

“I thought that’s where you went to
look.”

“Yeah, it was.
 
But I kind of stumbled across an even
more perfect place.
 
You’ll
see.”
 
He gave her an enigmatic
smile.

They kept driving and the sun continued
its descent in the sky.
 
Soon, the
horizon was turning a marvelous shade of pink and the view was beautiful.
 

Nicole couldn’t help but think how much
more she’d have appreciated this moment if she could touch her belly and know
that her child was there, growing inside of her, experiencing this right along
her.

And then they were getting off the
highway and Red was perking up—Nicole could tell they were very close to
wherever he planned to take her.

As they went down a narrow street, she
noticed that they were heading towards the ocean.
 
She could see the water briefly as they
crested a hill, and then it disappeared again behind the houses as they drove
down the hill again.

“Red, where the heck are you taking me?”
she asked.
 
“Is there actually an
office building here?”

“Just be patient,” he told her.

Not much longer after that, they parked
across from the beach in a nearly empty lot.
 
The entire street beside the beachfront
was quiet, although cars passed by on occasion.
 

Red started to get out of the car.

“This is it?” she asked, incredulous.

“Come on, don’t ask so many questions,”
he laughed.

They both got out and Red came around her
side, throwing his arm over her shoulders and squeezing her close to his warm
body.
 

“It’s beautiful here,” she marveled.
 
The breeze from the water was exquisite,
and the sunset was lighting up the sky with brilliant shades of purple and
pink.
 
Nicole felt tears come to her
eyes for no particular reason.

“I want you to walk across the street,
take off your sandals, and go wait for me by the water,” he said.
 
“Okay?”