Authors: Deanna Roy,JJ Knight,Lucy Riot
Tags: #Romance, #novella, #Dance
The Billionaire's Ballet: A Contemporary Billionaire Friends to Lovers Romance (Friends with Benefits)
The Billionaire’s Ballet
From the
Friends with Benefits
series
And an introduction to the
Lover’s Dance
series
The next romance series by Deanna Roy
By Deanna Roy
Six-time USA Today bestselling author of the
Forever
series
Author’s Note:
I first saw the Audrey Hepburn movie
Sabrina
as an impressionable young girl. Having grown up in a tiny town and feeling incredibly naive and unsophisticated, I loved the idea that maybe I, too, could go away for a few years and return to be the belle of the ball. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.)
While the tale of Quinn, Bennett, and Juliet’s love triangle is from my own heart and imagination, I hope you will spot a few homages to the film in this story.
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Copyright © 2016 by Deanna Roy. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Casey Shay Press
PO Box 160116
Austin, TX 78716
E-ISBN: 9781938150586
Also available in paperback: ISBN: 9781938150593
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016908824
eBook version 1.1
For Janice Roy
January 1953 - May 2016
My Mom
My Biggest Fan
Sorry I didn’t finish this one quite in time.
I know how much you loved
Sabrina
.
(Although I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to read it anyway.)
Chapter 1
San Antonio, Texas
August 2010
When they wrote that song about the stars being big and bright in Texas, they were definitely talking about a night like this.
The rough edge of limestone scraped my shins as I moved along the garden wall to get a better look at the party. Above me, the summer sky was clear and bursting with stars. The Big Dipper stood out, ready to serve up something cool and refreshing from the water below.
The night was hot enough that I longed to take a dip myself. The cascading swimming pools at the back of the Claremont estate sparkled like a reflection of the sky. Magnolias as big as dinner plates floated on the surface. And around the edges, women in shimmery dresses and men in Texas tuxedos of blue jeans and suit jackets held each other close as they danced.
I hung on to the ledge as I scanned the crowd for the face I wanted to see. It might be the last time I got to look at him before I left town tomorrow. And I wanted to take a big long drink of his presence, something to hold me over in the lonely nights in New York, where I didn’t know a soul.
The double French doors at the back of the house opened wide, like someone wanted to make an entrance. I knew who it would be. Of course.
Quinn.
My breath caught when I saw him. His unruly hair looked like someone had just raked their fingers through it. His jaw was scruffy and hard-edged. Even from this distance, I could see the mischief in his hazel eyes.
The party seemed to pause and take a breath with his appearance. The band finished the slow song and counted into a number with a lot more pep. The laughter seemed brighter and the noise level kicked up a notch as people greeted him.
Quinn had that effect on everything. Parties. Women. Definitely me.
I had known him all my life.
He was three years old when I was born in one of the guest cottages on this estate. My mom was the family’s full-time dance instructor.
I’d seen each expression he’d made since. I could close my eyes and picture every single one.
Quinn, eyes dancing as he sprinted ahead of me across the lawns. His laughter as we rode horses on the back trail. His happy eagerness as we jumped off a stack of bales in the barn into a pile of loose hay. When we were young, our friendship had been easy and fun.
He had even kissed me once, on my tenth birthday. His father had bought a new horse for the stable, a blue-gray mare for me to ride. She wasn’t quite broken for riding, but in my excitement, I saddled her anyway.
We didn’t make it four steps before she bucked, and I landed on my rear end in the dust.
Quinn rushed out to the ring and lifted me up. I had tears in my eyes and he’d kissed my lids, first one, then the other.
I’m pretty sure that’s the moment it happened.
I fell in love.
He’d been my obsession. The boy no one else could ever measure up to.
Not that I’d ever let anybody try.
Down at the party, Quinn draped his arms across the shoulders of the Monroe twins. My tender heart sank a bit more. He’d never put his arm around me like that. I’d never gotten to wear something slinky and grown-up around him. Despite my debilitating crush, I worked hard to stay a friend and confidant even as he went to college and slid into the role of playboy billionaire.
Now I was eighteen and he was twenty-one. And worlds apart in every way.
So it was just as well I was leaving for New York.
A voice called from down below. “Juliet?”
Shoot, my mother. I lay as flat as possible on the top of the wall. It was close to eight feet high. Maybe she wouldn’t see me up here.
Mom wandered up the path from our little guesthouse toward the main estate. She walked with the grace of a longtime dancer, each foot placed daintily in front of the other. Her flowing skirt fluttered around her knees. The lights shined on her black hair, the same inky gloss as mine.
She had raised me to be a dancer as soon as I could walk. And I had worked hard to be as good as she wanted me to be.
But I wasn’t positive I had the talent or the drive to do the one thing she always wished for herself — a spot at a prestigious ballet company.
Tomorrow morning, I would find out. She’d take me to the airport and send me to a dance school in one of the most exciting cities in the world. There I would learn what I was made of. I had never been trained by anyone but her.
All I could do was try.
Mother hadn’t spotted me yet, so I turned back to the party.
Quinn had deserted the twins and was dancing with a girl I didn’t recognize. She was lovely, pale and blond, tall and willowy. She couldn’t dance, though. Every so often they had to pause because she lost her footing.
After a few more missteps, Quinn pulled her close and they moved together in a slow shuffle, her cheek on his chest.
I had to look away.
“I see you up there, Juliet,” Mom said. “Are you spying on another party?” She stood at the base of the wall and peered up in disapproval. “I’m sure you only had to have asked and the girls would have invited you.”
I knew who she meant by “the girls” and frowned at the mention of the Claremont sisters. I searched the party and spotted Rose and Pearl. They were hiding in a dark corner, both too young to really join the festivities. Rose was thirteen and snobby to the core. Pearl was only ten, but looked up to her sister and followed her lead.
Neither were talented dancers, but Mom always worked with what she got. Dance had been a critical component of the Claremont lifestyle, and my mother had been hired at the birth of Estelle, the eldest Claremont, and kept on full-time.
Fortunately the Claremonts had more girls, so Mother had a job here at least until Pearl grew up. By then, hopefully I would be situated somewhere that I could bring her with me.
Where was Quinn? I’d lost him in the crowd.
I had only just found him again among the partygoers when I felt my mother tug on my ankle. I looked back. She had climbed up behind me.
“It’s our last night,” she said softly. “I had hoped to spend a little time together.”
She was right. Watching Quinn flirt with girls at his social level wasn’t going to make my final moments on the estate any better.
I swung my legs around and jumped down. Mom followed with a graceful leap and put her arm around my waist. I fell in beside her and our steps naturally moved at the same gait. She had taught me well, and now was my time to shine. I had to buck up, put my past behind me, and get over Quinn.
Chapter 2
My evening with Mom had been cozy and calm, going through my bags and making sure my accounts and credit cards were in order.
But there was no way I could sleep.
I opened my window. The sounds of the party still filtered past the wall. It was winding down. I knew these events well. When they began, glasses clinked, greetings were shouted, and the music swelled.
The party would crescendo like a dramatic moment in an opera. The voices would become a wave of sound. Laughter would break out. Inevitably something would get broken or crash.
Then cars would begin to leave, one by one. The casual attendees moved on, and the smaller group of those who had settled in would remain until the wee hours. That’s where things were now.
I heard a splash and some laughter. Someone was in the pool. I pictured Quinn skinny-dipping with the blond and my throat felt thick.
He had no idea I felt this way. I had never let it show. But I couldn’t stay away, not this night, my last one. Maybe if I told him how I felt, it would change things.
Yes, maybe he was hiding it too! And I would explain it to him, and he would smile and say, “If only I had known!” And “Of course you can’t go to New York! You must stay.”
And he would kiss me. Not on my eyelids, but a real honest-to-goodness kiss on the mouth.
The feel of soft grass on my bare feet surprised me. I looked behind and realized I was out the window.
I should go back. Get my rest. Prepare for the early morning and the flight.
But I didn’t.
A line of small Malibu lights illuminated the path, but I kept away from their glow. The shrubs and trees hid me as I moved toward the main estate. I couldn’t see over the stone wall without climbing it again, but my tiny white sleep shorts and spaghetti-strap shirt might make me visible against the night sky.
God, I was walking out here in my pajamas!
I felt bold. Something hot bolted through me as I imagined Quinn seeing me in this outfit. I glanced down at the thin stretchy shirt. No bra. That was obvious. I shivered.
I walked along the wall until I came to a gate. I peeked through the iron bars. A few people sat around the pool, dipping their legs in. A girl in a bra and panties was in the water splashing around.
But Quinn wasn’t part of the group.
His older brother Bennett stood alone near the door of the house, drinking something from a short glass. His face shifted my way and I jumped behind the stone wall, praying he hadn’t seen me. He was the type to investigate if he thought something was awry.
When I looked again, though, he had turned to go inside.
He paused to talk to someone just beyond the outer door, then moved aside. It was Quinn! The brothers nodded at each other, and Quinn headed out to the patio. He was holding a bottle of wine and two glasses. A white towel was draped over his arm.
No! Surely not the girl in the pool.
But he only tossed a towel to her. I let out a long breath. The blond girl was still there in her shimmery dress. She smiled shyly as he handed her a glass.
They walked toward the back gate, the one that led to the barn. I couldn’t help myself, but hurried along the wall until I reached the corner.
I peeked around. Quinn and the girl were moving toward the stables. My heart clenched.
Quinn often took girls back to the horse barn. I had heard him joke about “a roll in the hay.” This was not something I ever spied on, but tonight was different. I felt pulled by an invisible force.
The two of them were oblivious to me. I sprinted from tree to tree, keeping to the shadows. Quinn opened the door and stepped aside to let the girl enter ahead of him.
I rushed to the opposite side of the barn where the feed was loaded in. After a quick fumble with the combination lock, I ducked inside, feeling my way in the dark.