Good Girls Do It Well (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) (14 page)

“What are your plans for the day?” Christian asked.

“I don’t really have any. Did you have something in mind?”

“Well, it’s actually pretty nice out today. Not as cold as usual. You think you might want to hang around here with me for a while. We can go for a walk and then maybe out for lunch?”

“That sounds good to me.”

“Great! Let me go and get washed up and we’ll head outside. There're a few things I’d like to show you out there.”

Christian went off to jump in the shower while I sat at the table sipping my coffee and reading the entertainment section of the newspaper. Some good movies were coming out that I really wanted to see and wondered if Christian would be up for seeing them. I’ve always been a fan of horror movies but everyone in my life hates them. No matter how much I beg, I can never get anyone to go see one with me. My sister is the worst. She wants everyone to think she’s tough as nails but if you put her inside a movie theater while a horror flick is on, you’ll find her watching the movie while hiding her face behind her fingers. It’s hilarious really. Maybe my boyfriend wouldn’t be a wuss and would actually take me.

Once Christian got out of the shower and got dressed, I grabbed my jacket and we went out to walk around the property. I have always been amazed at the size of his estate. Much of the land, although nicely taken care of and well manicured, was left relatively unused. Christian had a lot of ideas for it and he wanted my opinion on a lot of it. One thing that he was interested in was horses. Apparently his sisters had always wanted horses when they were little but could never have one because they lived in a house with no land and they didn’t have any money. He thought it would be a nice gesture to buy some horses and let his sisters train them and ride them whenever they wanted. He also had a number of ideas of ways he could use other parts of his land to generate income, although he was torn on doing so because he didn’t want to mix his personal space with business. We were having a nice conversation when his cell phone began to ring.

“Of course my phone would ring now,” he said as he looked at the caller ID. “Shit, this is a very important client. I really need to take this. Can you give me a few minutes?”

“Sure,” I replied.

He gave me a kiss on the cheek before walking back towards the house to take his call. It must have been one of his big clients because he usually lets calls go to voice mail when the two of us are together. I figured he would be back out shortly so I continued my walk, knowing he would come find me when he was done. I was smelling some of the flowers that were planted when I came across some honeysuckle. I loved them when I was a kid. My sister and I used to pull out the pistil of the flower and rest it on our tongue, enjoying the sweet taste on a hot summer afternoon. The memory made me smile and had me yearning for the good old days of my youth. The days before my parents were gone and my family was happy. As I turned around to walk back to the house, I was surprised to find myself face to face with a woman.

“What do we have here? You must be the new flavor of the week, aren’t you darling?” she said, sounding more condescending than genuine.

“Excuse me? Who are you?” I asked, extremely confused.

“I’m Raina. Who else were you expecting?”

“Raina? Do I know you?”

“Play your games little girl. I’m sure Christian has mentioned my name to you many times.”

“I’m sorry but I’ve never heard of you. Do you need to see him? I can get him for you.”

“I don’t need you to get him for me. I’m more than capable of going in there and getting him myself. I do have a key to the house after all.”

“Okay?” I said, growing more confused by the second. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Sweetie, there’s nothing you can do for me at all. I just wanted to let you know that you are no different than all the other girls that end up in Christian’s bed. Before you know it, he’ll grow tired of you and toss you to the side. When that happens, he’ll be coming right back to me. You just watch. He will always come back to me. He loves me and I love him. He’s mine. We belong together and the faster you realize that, the better it will be for everyone involved.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Every time I started to allow myself to get close to this man, something would happen that would suggest that I was making a huge mistake. The thing with his sister was an obvious miscommunication but this? A woman was standing right in front me telling me that she had a key to Christian’s house and that I would be tossed to the side just like the others. I tried to be strong but ultimately broke down and started to cry.

“You’re pathetic,” the woman said to me. “Christian needs a strong woman in his life. I can’t believe you could actually think he would want to be with someone like you long-term. Look at you crying and wallowing in your self-pity. Why not save yourself some heartache and just leave now? I’ll even call a driver to pick you up.”

I wanted to argue and tell her she was wrong but was she? Every word she said suddenly made a lot of sense to me. Could I really expect to keep Christian happy? I wasn’t one of these wild girls that he usually hung around with. Maybe this Raina was on to something. If he was just going to get tired of me eventually and run back to her, I might as well let them be together and step out of the picture.

Raina called a car for me and it was there within five minutes. I debated what I should do but ultimately chose to get into the car and head for home. I left in tears, sure that my relationship with Christian was over.

CHAPTER 16

Christian

I was on the phone a lot longer than I wanted to be. The client on the phone was one of those types of guys who needed to psychoanalyze every detail. I had to pull out his file and go through his portfolio stock by stock to make sure he had the most up to date information before trade opening the next morning. The worst thing about that particular client was that the information was entirely unnecessary. He doesn’t do any trading on his own. He has never done any trading on his own. We have a financial adviser assigned specifically to him. If he were any other client, I wouldn’t have taken so much time on the phone with him but he is what we refer to as a high roller. He brings in so much money to the company in the way of commissions that spending an hour on the phone with him here and there is more than worth it.

When I finally got him off the phone and ensured him that his adviser would be calling him in the morning with an update, which was always the case, I put my phone on vibrate and went back outside to continue my day with Sarabelle. Unfortunately, when I got back to where I left her, she was nowhere to be found. I figured that she must have wandered off, looking around the property but that wasn’t the case. She was gone. At first, I thought maybe she was messing with me. I thought she had to be hiding from me. For all I knew, she was watching me look all around for her and was having a good laugh at my expense. I had an idea that would blow her little game out of the water. I’d call her from my cell phone and the sound of her ringtone would give her location away. Pressing the screen over her name, I put the phone down at my side and listened quietly, waiting for the sound of her phone to put an end to this little game. No matter how long I stood there waiting, I could never hear her phone. She was no longer there.

I had no idea where she could have gone and hoped that there was nothing wrong. I had a feeling that she would have come into the house and let me know if there had been an emergency and she had to leave. It couldn’t see her leaving for some reason, so her sudden disappearance started to make me worry. I walked around a bit more while trying to call her. I kept calling her but her phone went to voice mail each time. I hate leaving messages for people but I finally left one because I wanted to hear from her. I kept it short and sweet, mentioning that I noticed she left and hoped everything was okay. Not knowing what else to do, I started making my way back to the house where I would wait to hear from her.

I begun to piece things together when I made it to the front of the house and saw Raina sitting on my steps. She smiled when she saw me but it wasn’t a smile of happiness; it was her typical resting bitch smile that was always plastered across her hardened face. It didn’t take a genius to put together that she had something to do with the fact that Sarabelle was no longer at my house.

“What do you want now?” I asked, annoyed that he was invading my personal space.

“That’s no way to greet a lady,” she replied. “Aren’t you going to invite me in for a drink?”

“I wasn’t planning on it. I thought I made it clear at my office that I wanted you to leave me alone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you just didn’t want me coming to your office anymore. I was just stopping by to talk to you as friends for a few minutes. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

Raina had a serious look on her face and I thought maybe she had accepted the fact that I was involved with Sarabelle and really just wanted to be my friend. If that were the case, I would look like an enormous asshole if I turned her away. Besides, maybe she was having a hard time with the fact that I basically told her there was no hope in she and I ever being together and if she needed someone to talk to, the least I could do was lend her an ear.

“Okay, come on in and we can talk as friends. I’ll grab us some wine.”

She seemed satisfied with my response as she got up off the stairs and followed me into the house.

“Red or white?” I asked.

“Red, please.”

I shouldn’t have bothered asking because I already knew the answer. She always drank red wine. In fact, she liked red everything. Red lipstick, red dresses, red gloves, a red coat. If she could find it in red, she would buy it. I went into the wine cellar and opened a bottle of 100 Casanova di Neri 2001 Cerretalto. I took in the aroma of dark fruit and chocolate as I pulled the cork before pouring us both a glass. Handing her a glass, I asked her what it was that she wanted to talk about.

“I wasn’t happy with the way our conversation ended at your office. I didn’t mean to intrude into your relationship but we’ve been through far too much to end things that way.”

“I’m sorry you weren’t happy but that’s the way things had to be. You weren’t listening to me when I told you I was with someone and didn’t intend on changing it.”

“Yeah, but what about everything we’ve been through together? What about all of the experiences we’ve had together?”

“Which experiences are you referring to exactly?”

“Nothing in particular. We’ve just been through a lot since we met so many years ago. We basically grew up together. We were each other’s one and only before most people were even thinking about dating.”

“That’s true. We were so into each other back then. I loved you. I loved you with all my heart but when I think back in time, my brain doesn’t want to remember all those good times. My mind goes right to our prom night when you humiliated me because I didn’t spend more money to buy you a better ring.”

“I’m sorry you’re still caught up on that but don’t you think I deserved something nicer? I mean, if you were as crazy about me as you claimed to be, wouldn’t you have wanted to put a better ring on my finger?”

“Yes Raina, I would have loved to but that wasn’t possible at the time. I saved every penny I made for more than a year so I could buy you that ring. I literally had no money left after I bought it for you. With the money I had, it was the nicest one I could get for you. I don’t know what more you wanted from me.”

“I wanted you to try harder, I guess. I’m not exactly sure what I wanted. I was lost and confused back then. I’m not the same person now that I was back then. I’ve grown up a lot and realize what a mistake I made when I let you get away from me.”

“That’s great to hear and all, and I’m really happy that you’ve worked on improving yourself but you’re not the only person who has changed. I’ve changed as well and I’m with someone else.”

“Come on, Christian. She’s a cute girl and all but how long is that really going to last? You know that you need a woman like me to keep you happy. She can never do what I can do.”

“She makes me smile. She makes me laugh. She actually makes me happy. What more do I need?”

“You need someone who can make you cum in ways that little girl could never even dream of. If you need a little reminder of what I’m talking about, we can go back to your room and I can give you a refresher.”

I couldn’t believe that after everything, Raina was in my kitchen trying to seduce me. What I couldn’t believe even more was how much trouble I was having saying no to her. When it came to sex, I’d never found anyone who could satisfy me the way that she did. She was a freak in the bedroom and it was hard to find someone like that. I wanted her badly. Every atom of my bad boy being was screaming at me to take her into my bedroom and fuck the shit out of her. I was about to give in to my wants but I couldn’t do it. Something inside of me had changed since I met Sarabelle and no other woman could compare to her. I knew that and it wasn’t worth putting what she and I had at risk for an hour of fun.