The Billionaire Falls (Billionaire Bachelors - Book Three) (14 page)

“You’re not allowed to see Mark at all today. His brothers have whisked him off for a bachelor party, to an unknown location. The kids are all over at my house and will be tended to and we are off on the company jet to Las Vegas,” Amy said, as she came bursting into Emily’s room first thing in the morning.

“What?” Emily questioned her, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes.

“It’s the day before your wedding, which means it’s time for your bachelorette party,” Jessica said, as the two girls jumped on her bed.

“I really hope you aren’t wearing one of your sexy lingerie pieces,” Amy added with a giggle.

“Me too,” Jessica said and then ripped the covers off of her. Luckily Emily had not been feeling sexy and was wearing her favorite old t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts.

“Hurry up and get ready, we are leaving for the airport in one hour,” Amy said and then the two girls gave her some privacy.

Emily groggily got up and obeyed the two women. She was downstairs in thirty minutes and incredibly grateful for the fresh brewed coffee sitting on the counter. She poured herself a large mug and burned her tongue with her first drink.

“Are you excited?” Amy asked.

“We are staying at the Mirage,” Jessica added.

Emily thought about it for a few moments and found she was actually excited. “I have never been there before,” she said shyly.

“Oh I wish it were for more than one day. There’s so much to do. I went there a couple years ago, for the first time with Lucas and had such an amazing time he let us stay a few extra days. We saw so many shows and I hate to admit it but I got hooked on black jack and ended up playing till it got light out one night. It was so much fun. I’m excited to have some girls to go shopping with this time. I love Lucas to pieces but he can’t understand the joy of shopping,” she finished off excitedly.

“Well let’s quit talking about it and go,” Jessica said.

“Don’t we need to pack anything?” Emily asked.

“Not a chance. We’ll buy whatever we need there. We don’t want to take anything with us, cause then that’s less room for bringing our purchases back,” Amy said.

“Sounds good to me,” Emily admitted. The three women headed out the door to the awaiting limo and drank some sparkling cider on the way to the airport.

They boarded the company jet and Emily looked around in awe. It was more beautiful than any of the hotels she’d been in. The luxuriously big seats were comfortable and there was even a flight attendant on board.

“Hello ladies. My name is Lana and I’ll be helping you on your short trip,” the far too perky blonde said.

“Hi Lana,” the three girls chimed together.

“What would you like to drink?” she asked them.

The girls put in their orders and Lana went off to get them their drinks. When she returned she told them breakfast would be served once they were at cruising altitude. Emily stared out the window, filled with excitement as the jet picked up speed and lifted off into the air.

“This is just too amazing,” Emily exclaimed.

“That was my reaction the first time too,” Amy said with a smile. “To tell you the truth it all still amazes me,” she added.

Emily smiled at her gratefully. They reached a certain altitude and the perky flight attendant came back with some fresh fruit and croissants. “The hot breakfast will be out in a few moments,” she said and left them again.

The girls ate their breakfast and made plans for the day. The first thing they were doing was some major shopping and then some gambling, followed by a couple of shows. Emily couldn’t wait until the luxurious jet ride ended.

They landed in no time and were whisked off from the airport in another limo. They drove down the strip and Emily’s eyes were glued to the window. She was looking everywhere she could. She wished they were going slower so she could see more of the area.

They pulled into the Mirage and were taken to their luxury suite. “Mark made the reservation for us. I told him it was silly to get such an expensive room, considering we weren’t going to be spending much time in it but he insisted on only the best for his bride,” Jessica said to Emily.

Emily was so awed by the amazing suite she had tears in her eyes. The room was bigger than her old apartment, by twice the size. There was a huge living room area and three bedrooms. Fresh fruit, chocolate and flowers were displayed on the table. She wished she had an entire week to spend in the suite alone.

“Time to go,” Amy said, barely able to contain her excitement.

“I agree, there’s a lot of shopping to do and very little time to do it,” Jessica added.

“Okay,” Emily reluctantly agreed and followed her two friends out.

Emily may have been reluctant to leave the luxurious suite but soon found herself glad she did. The strip was phenomenal and she wanted to stop and look at everything. When they reached Caesars Palace and started shopping, she was hooked.

She’d never been a materialistic person and was still reluctant to use the credit card Amy had placed in her hand but it was hard not to enjoy the gorgeous mall they were traversing through.

“Mark said if you didn’t come home with several bags, he wasn’t going to be happy,” Amy said as she pulled Emily towards an exclusive lingerie boutique. “I think this would be a great place to start,” she said with a giggle.

They shopped for several hours, then had their items taken back to the suite, while they enjoyed a buffet lunch. “I think I’m going to gain ten pounds on this trip,” Amy said, as she sat back, rubbing her very flat stomach.

“I agree,” moaned Jessica.

“I’m not going to fit into my own wedding dress,” Emily added with a satisfied smile.

“Well we better go walk off all this food then,” Amy said and they were off to explore some more of the city.

They watched a pirate fight in front of Treasure Island and a volcano explode on the strip. They took a gondola ride and walked so much Emily’s feet were killing her by the end of the night.

The girls finally stopped in the casino and played some blackjack, which they were horribly unsuccessful with, then crawled back to their room as dawn was breaking, to catch a few hours of sleep.

When their car picked them up at noon, they were all much quieter on the trip home and fell asleep the entire jet ride back. Soon they were picked up from the airport, heading back to the ranch to be pampered and dressed for the evening wedding.

Emily didn’t even have time for her nerves to get the better part of her. Before she knew it she was standing behind a set of closed doors, waiting for her time to walk down the aisle. Her panic started to set in at that moment.

Chapter Eight

Jessica and Amy were fussing with Emily’s dress, making sure everything was perfect. She was breathing deeply in and out, trying to calm herself, as the music began. She couldn’t calm the rapid beat of her heart.

She reached up her hand to rub the pounding. She was scared to death. Her son was already out there, looking so handsome in his little tuxedo. She’d been so proud when he’d told her he was standing up with Mark as one of his best men.

“It will be okay, take some more deep breaths. Jessica and I will walk down the aisle and then you’ll follow us out in about two minutes okay,” Amy said to her.

Emily felt instant panic at the thought of walking down that aisle on her own. She didn’t think she’d be able to do it.

“Wait,” she said in a panic. “We don’t have to do it the traditional way, we can all walk together,” she begged the girls.

They looked at each other like she had lost her mind, saw the panic in her eyes and then shrugged. “Sure,” they said in unison.

“Thank you.” She started to feel a little bit better.

“Hey it’s our job as your maids of honor to get you down the aisle. We wouldn’t be doing it right if you ran in the other direction,” Amy said with a smile.

“You guys are the best.”

“Don’t you dare ruin your make-up,” Jessica said as she wiped at her own eye.

The three women laughed and then threw their arms around each other. Emily could feel her pulse start to slow down.

There was knocking at the door. “Is everything okay in there?” Joseph asked through the doorway.

“Everything is fine. We are coming out in a moment,” Jessica said.

“Good to hear,” Joseph said and then they heard his footsteps start to retreat.

Jessica stepped out of the doorway, with her two new sisters on either side of her. There was a gasp from the audience as the three beautiful women made their way towards the stage. Not one of them realized the stunning picture they made.

The men standing at the end of the aisle couldn’t take their eyes off the glorious women. The sight of them was enough to stop traffic, or cause a riot.

Mark’s chest puffed out in pride, as he realized in just a few short moments, the beautiful vision walking towards him would be his wife. He wanted to run to her and pull her into his arms. It took everything he had to stand there and wait for her to reach him.

The ceremony went by in a blur and before Emily knew it the preacher was pronouncing them man and wife. Mark took her in his arms and pressed his lips gently to hers. It was slow and sweet and took her breath away.

She felt like she was floating on a cloud as they made their way back down the aisle and then stood there greeting guests. She was on autopilot as they cut the cake and sipped champagne. She wouldn’t be able to repeat a word that was said during the toasts. She had ears and eyes for nothing but her husband.

When it was finally time for the dancing to begin, Emily melted into Mark’s arms and laid her head against his chest. He gently rubbed her back, soothing her nerves completely. He was the most magnificent man she could have ever hoped for.

He sang along to the country tune that was being played by the live band and she glided along the star lit dance floor, like a true princess, being courted by her prince charming. She couldn’t believe a wedding could be so magical or she was Mark’s bride.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look?” he asked her.

“Only about a hundred times tonight.”

“You’re always gorgeous but seeing you walking down the aisle in that dress has taken all rational thoughts from my head,” he said as he spun her around.

“Seeing you in that tuxedo, looking so striking has made me want to strip it from you piece by piece,” she whispered.

Mark’s whole body tensed at her softly spoken words. He pulled her tightly against his body and even through the layers of silk and lace she could feel how her words had affected him.

“Let’s get out of here,” he pled with her.

“That sounds perfect to me,” she responded and took his hand as he started to lead her off the dance floor.

They both heard a commotion over by the caterer’s station and turned to find out what was going on. They heard one of the security guards on staff tell someone to leave immediately, before there were consequences.

They both walked towards the commotion to find out what was going on. Emily gasped when she discovered who was causing all the turmoil. She spotted them about two seconds before they saw her.

“Do you really think the judge is going to believe this sham of a marriage you little slut?” a middle aged woman spat at Emily.

“What are you doing here?” Emily asked them in complete shock.

“We came to get our grandson. You stole him from us and with your husband barely in the grave, it looks like you found yourself a new man to throw his money at you. You always were a gold digger. We begged our son not to marry you. We even told him the boy wasn’t his. We were shocked when the DNA results came in,” the woman continued to throw insults at Emily.

“You had my son tested without my knowledge,” Emily raged at her. Mark was impressed the only thing she even bothered to comment on was the violation against her son.

“Of course we did. You didn’t think we were going to take the word of some tramp the boy was really our son’s did you?” the woman spit out.

“If you don’t want anything to do with him, then why would you fight for custody?” Emily asked the horrible woman.

“You took our son from us, now we will take yours from you,” the woman said in explanation.

Mark was stunned by the hatred coming from the woman who used to be Emily’s mother-in-law. He didn’t know someone could be that cruel and evil. He’d never been tempted to hit a woman in his life but had to fight like hell not to slap her.

“You won’t come near my son. You never wanted him and you won’t use him as some pawn in a game I don’t want to play,” Emily said, with the full force of a mother’s protectiveness in her voice.

“You stupid little girl, you can’t beat us,” the woman spat.

“You try and take my son and you’ll see how I beat you,” Emily said, deliberately misinterpreting her meaning.

“We’re taking Trevor tonight. Where is he?” the woman said and started moving towards the wedding reception area.

“Over my dead body,” Mark told the woman, stepping in front of her.

She sneered at Mark and then stumbled backwards, as he was flanked on either side by his brothers. The three of them standing there made an intimidating sight.