The Billionaire's Sextape: An Adult Billionaire Romance (14 page)

              “Oh, I am so going to regret bringing you guys over tonight,” James said. He looked over at Delilah and saw that she was smiling. She took his hand and squeezed it. They both knew that she was not the first girlfriend that he was taking home to meet his family – because she wasn’t even his girlfriend. Only Elton knew – although he was doing a very good job of hiding it.

              “And this was my room once upon a time. Which does not look like my room anymore. Martha wanted to keep it the same, but I felt too weird about that. It was time to move on.

So I took all my stuff and we turned this into a guest bedroom. As it turns out, I still end up sleeping here whenever I come over, even though there are other guest bedrooms in the house that are bigger and better.”

              “Yes, but tell Lilah the truth, James. Before it looked like this, it used to be pink and white. James was obsessed with pink when he was growing up!” Elton said.

              “And dolls! He had dolls all around the room. It was quite freaky, but he was obsessed with dressing them up,” Tom said.

              “Yeah. He had girls’ clothes in his cupboard and a drawer full of makeup, and he’d prance around the room, making us call him Jane,” Marco said.

The three guys were holding onto the wall for support they were laughing so hard, and James stood there with his hands on his hips. “Seriously? I’m not sure why I stayed friends with you guys.”

              “Because we make sure that reality is always firmly in place!”

              “Pink rooms, dolls, and makeup? That’s reality?”

              “Oh, come on – you can’t have an amazing house like this, more money than you know what to do with, and now a gorgeous girlfriend too. We have to at least pretend you were a bit of an oddball growing up,” Marco said.

Then he looked at Delilah. “His room was perfect. It was dark blue, and he had a guitar propped up against the wall even though he didn’t know how to play. He had ‘90s rock posters on his wall and a massive beanbag in the corner. Now, wasn’t our version better?”

              “Oh I totally believe your version,” Delilah said, and James stuck out his tongue at her.

              “I agree! I can totally picture you in a pink room,” Ashley said, and Elton grinned at her.

              “Is this pick-on-James night? You’re lucky my father and Martha like you all so much, otherwise I would’ve thrown you out ages ago. Well Elton, I bet you can’t wait to have this bunch at your place to show Ashley around,” James said.

              “That’s okay. Ashley knows all my secrets.”

They all laughed at that. “We’ll be the judge of that.”

They walked downstairs and joined Martha and James’s father around the table. Martha had made two dishes – a chicken and pesto pasta and a chicken stew. James had a small bowl of each. So did Delilah.

              “Oh, thank goodness. I didn’t want to be the only one having both!” Ashley exclaimed, and James noticed that she and Delilah were grinning at each other. When they started talking, James was pleased to see that they got along great.

Halfway through the meal, Elton gave him a big thumbs up. After dinner, James decided to be the one to fetch the dessert. He asked Elton to help him in the kitchen.

              “Hey, I just wanted to get you alone quickly. Do you think I should tell everyone what’s going on? I feel so bad. They all think she’s my girlfriend. Maybe I should make a big announcement or something. I don’t know. I mean, they all believe what I’ve told them.”

              “Well, that was the plan, wasn’t it? You two would pretend to go out and then you’d break up and the whole tape thing could be forgotten.”

              “Yeah, I guess. I just feel bad that they don’t know.”

              “Nah. Don’t tell them. Remember what we said in the beginning – the more people that know, the more chance there is of the outside world finding out. I haven’t even told Ashley about it.”

              “You haven’t?” That surprised James. Elton was an even better friend than James had thought.

              “No. I told you I wouldn’t tell anyone. But it looks like it’s going well. I mean, it doesn’t look like the two of you are even battling to pretend.”

James considered this. “I guess you’re right. I think we just get along. She’s really easy to be around. And I hate to admit it – but I’m almost enjoying not going out and getting drunk every night.”

              “Who would’ve thought – James has a normal side. Well, that makes this whole thing easier then. Imagine if the two of you hated each other? She seems very nice.”

              “She is. Thanks, Elton. You got me out of this mess. Somehow my reputation has remained intact after the whole sex tape debacle. In fact, I think people might actually like me more. It seems everyone just wants to see people in love. Speaking of which… Ashley is cool.”

              “I know. It’s going so well! Like really, really well.”

              “Hey, you two, what’s taking so long?” A voice came from the living room. They quickly got the plates and the cake and took them to the table. Then there was another round of trying to explain that he had actually made the cake. They looked at him as if he were a completely different person than the James that they had grown up with. But it was a good kind of look. His father looked like he might even cry.

              “I’m proud of you, James.”

              “Me to, my boy,” Martha echoed.

              “Well, wait until you taste it before you say that,” James said. But as he dished up a slice for everyone, he knew that they meant it. And for the first time – he felt like he might even deserve it.

Chapter8

James couldn’t stop thinking about the praise that he had gotten the night before from his chocolate cake. It wasn’t the kind of praise that family members sometimes give just because they’re family.

You know the type – “You’re brilliant at singing!”

“Really? So should I go and sing on American Idol? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. You’re amazing. Go out there and sing your heart out and we’ll support you.”

And the person promptly goes on to make a fool of himself in front of the whole world. This was different. James could tell that they truly meant it. Even his friends, who weren’t the type to praise easily, had said that he was talented.

He thought about that word: talented. He had never considered himself to be talented at anything before. And the last thing he would’ve thought was that he would be good in the kitchen.

Although, as Martha said, it almost made sense. He had grown up sitting in that kitchen with her and watching her cook. But still, he didn’t actually think that he had taken anything in. He held her lasagna recipe in his hands. He had promised to make it and invite her over the following week. And that’s when a thought occurred to him: he had never invited her over before. She had never even seen his house. What was wrong with him?

He looked at the recipe and read the ingredients over and over again, trying to figure out what made it so different from all the other lasagnas in the world. But he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. “It’s love,” she always said with a twinkle in her eye.

James laughed at the words in front of him – either she really did add love or she had left out her secret ingredient altogether. He was almost certain that his lasagna wouldn’t come out as well as hers.

He put the recipe away and made his way out. Delilah and Melissa were coming over for breakfast that morning. They were going to all meet at a nearby café, but then he changed his mind and invited them to his place instead.

Melissa knew all about the fact that they were just pretending, and he felt a little strange pretending out in public with her knowing the truth. He wasn’t sure why, but he also felt a bit nervous at the thought of having Delilah’s friend over. The doorbell rang and he went to open for them, wiping his hands on the back of his jeans.

              “Good morning! Hey Lilah, nice to see you again. And you must be Melissa!” He didn’t recognize her from Betsy’s, but he knew that was because he’d had eyes only for Delilah that night.

              “Nice to meet you, James. Wow, your house is amazing! Although, son to entrepreneurial genius, Jason Elton – I expected nothing less.”

              “I must tell my father that people are going around calling him that. He’d be mortified!”

              “Really? I thought he’d love that. I certainly would love to be called that.”

              “Oh no! Not my father. For someone who is so well-known, he sure hates the limelight.”

              “Well James, your house is lovely. It really is.” Melissa was very confident and had a very easy way about her that immediately put James at ease.             

              “Thank you. Uh… can I offer you anything to drink? Coffee? Tea? It’s a bit early for champagne, but I do have it if you want some.”

              “COFFEE! Trust me, try the coffee!” Delilah exclaimed and James laughed.

              “Okay… now you have me intrigued. I’ll take a coffee then.”

James showed Melissa the coffee machine, and she squealed with delight.

“Melissa. Meet Mrs. Bean. The best coffee maker in the world.”

“Oh, come on, you two… why don’t you just go out for real? Then I can come over every morning for a cup of coffee from Mrs. Bean.”

              “The two of you are always welcome – whether we’re ‘dating’ or not.”

              “Ah, so is the breakup going to a nice one then? Are the two of you going to pretend it’s a mutual thing and then stay friends?”

James looked over at Delilah. They hadn’t actually decided on that yet. But James liked the idea. He hadn’t known Delilah for very long, but he didn’t like the idea of not seeing her again. “Uh… yeah. I think so. I’d love to stay friends. Also, Lilah was a huge hit at my family dinner last night. I have a feeling they would be very upset if I suddenly didn’t speak to her again.”

              “Well, it’s hard not to fall in love with Lilah,” Melissa said. James quickly looked away and finished making the coffee.  He could feel his cheeks burning. Was he blushing? James couldn’t remember the last time that he had blushed. He needed to get a grip on himself. He handed them each a cup.

              “Okay, Melissa, I am going to make breakfast now. But I have to warn you – I’ve only made bacon and eggs once before. Yes – I do realize that I’m a spoiled rich kid who grew up with a cook of my own. No need to tell me what I already know. But I’m trying here – so there is no guarantee how this is going to come out.”

Melissa laughed. “That’s okay – I know many men that don’t know how to cook, and they don’t have the excuse that you have. Personally – I’m a terrible cook myself. I make oats in the morning – and sometimes I even mess that up. But… having said all that… can we help you?”

              “Oh no! You’re my guests! You two sit back and relax. It shouldn’t be too long. And there’s plenty of coffee while you wait.”

              “Now, this is the life,” Melissa said.

              “Tell me about it. I quite like having a fake boyfriend,” Delilah said. James noticed that she was looking more and more relaxed. He thought back to that first day when he had met her in the club. There had been a sadness in her eyes that was unmistakable. But it had almost disappeared now.

Melissa still seemed to harbor a bit of that sadness. She hid it under layers of smiles and a lot of humor – but it was still there. He got to work and listened as the two of them spoke about people that he didn’t know.

They were obviously very close, and it was easy to see why. They seemed similar in so many ways. Delilah excused herself to go to the bathroom, and Melissa quickly used the opportunity to talk to him alone.

              “Thanks for getting her out of Betsy’s. It’s what we’ve both wanted for so long, but we just didn’t have the guts to do it ourselves. I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. She’s one of the best people I know, that Lilah.”

              “She’s great. But I didn’t do anything. In fact, I was the stupid guy who took a video of us and let the whole world find out what she did. She’s been so nice to me about it, but I’m sure a part of her hates me for it.”

              “Lilah couldn’t hate anyone. She’s just not built that way. And yeah… you probably shouldn’t have filmed her. It’s a little creepy. But we all make mistakes, and we’ve all done things we’re not proud of. And you actually seem very nice.

But let’s take it as a blessing in disguise. She’s so much happier now. It might not have been the best way for her to get out of it – but it doesn’t matter. James, I’m just going to say this quickly before she gets out, but don’t hurt her, okay?”

              “What do you mean? Why would I hurt her?”

              “I mean, you seem like a great guy. But I’ve heard stories. I know I shouldn’t listen to what the media says. But I’ve heard how you use women – how you see them as your play things. And I’ve seen so many pictures of you with pretty girls on your arm. Do whatever you want when the two of you ‘break up,’ but please, just be a gentleman while you are with her. She’s my best friend.”

James smiled sadly at Melissa. He was well aware of the reputation he had. And he knew that it wasn’t just ‘media talk’ – it was all true. “I will, Melissa. I promise you. She’s one of the best girls I know.” And it was true – second to Martha, Delilah had suddenly become something very special to him. But what? What was she to him? And why did he feel so different around her?

Delilah came back and grinned, “Something smells great in here!”

              “Yeah, it really does actually,” Melissa agreed.

              “You sound surprised. Everyone has been so surprised lately when I somehow manage not to burn anything in the kitchen. I never knew people thought so poorly of me. Then again, I never knew I could actually cook. I didn’t realize the kitchen was such a fun place to be.”

              “Seriously? I hate the kitchen. You’ve obviously found your ‘thing,’ James!”

              “My thing?”

              “Yeah… you know… everyone has something that they are good at. Delilah is good with words. You’re obviously good with cooking.”

She wasn’t the first person to tell him that these past few days. Could it be true? Had he really found his thing?
“And how about you?”

              “Me? I’m good at eating.”

              “No wonder you and Lilah are such good friends!”

They high-fived each other and told him not to be stingy with the food.

They left a few hours later after helping James with the cleaning up. He had insisted that he would do it, but they had insisted even harder on helping. And he was secretly glad. He enjoyed the cooking, but he did not enjoy the cleaning. Thankfully, the dishwasher meant that they didn’t have to do all that much to get the place looking good again. They had a final cup of coffee and then left.

James felt satisfied with how the morning had gone. Even though Melissa’s warning ran through his mind – he had a feeling that she did actually like him. And for some reason, that meant something to him.

James opened up his social media accounts – something he had been avoiding the last week – and saw that he had hundreds of messages asking him about Delilah. He went into Google, typed in his name, and the first thing that came up was:

Where is party boy James Elton these days? The love-struck billionaire has found comfort in the arms of ex-stripper Delilah Turner. Are his party days over? Or will he soon get bored with her too? Ex-girlfriends have spoken up to say that James is a two-week-maximum relationship type of guy. As the two-week mark looms – will we see him falling into his same routine?

Sources say that he has never looked happier. But only time will tell. And is Delilah Turner really in love with him, or is she just after his money? Again, time will tell. All we know is that for the moment – they really do seem happily in love.

James wasn’t sure if he was happy with that or not. He looked at his Twitter and Facebook accounts and saw that he had messages from girls, all asking him out. Some had sent pictures of themselves – showing off far too much than was necessary. He wasn’t surprised.

His accounts had always looked this way. He always had women throwing themselves at him. Begging him to take them out. Promising him that they would show him a good time.

He’d always found it easy to meet the next ‘hot thing,’ and he also found it just as easy to discard them once he was bored with them. He had never once worried about how it had made him look. He had always used the excuse of him being carefree and young.

He hadn’t always been that way. For a while he was just a regular boy attending a regular school with regular friends. Of course, when he went to their houses, he knew that he was not really regular at all.

But still, his father had managed to instill a sense of normalcy into his life, and Martha had made sure that he had remained as grounded as possible. He wasn’t sure when all that started to change. Probably once he had finished school and all his friends had gone to college or found jobs.

He had stayed at home with no idea what to do with his life and no sense of urgency to find out. What was the point? His father gave him money whenever he wanted. And when he had turned twenty-five and became a billionaire himself – well, the urgency of doing something with his life became even smaller. But he’d always felt that he was missing out on something, even though he pretended as if he had it all.

When the doorbell rang, he immediately thought it must be Delilah again, and he couldn’t help but smile at the thought. Melissa was right – there was no way he was going to be able to not see her after the looming breakup. He grinned as he opened the door, but his smile immediately faltered. It wasn’t Delilah.

              “Tammy?”

              “What? Did you think I was your little stripper girl?” Tammy pushed her way inside and immediately made herself comfortable on the couch.

James sighed and closed the door, hoping that there were no photographers following her. “Tammy, what do you want?”

              “What? No how are you? No nice to see you? God, what did I see you in anyway? You’re so damn rude. I deserve so much better than you.”

              “Then why are you here? Did you really think I’d be nice to you after what you did? I know it was you who took the tape. Obviously. You’re just bitter about the breakup. But you really didn’t have to do that. I certainly don’t know what I ever saw in you.”

James looked at her as if she were an alien. He actually felt a little bit repulsed by her in that moment, and he wished he had never been with her in the first place. A small part of him realized that if it weren’t for her, his fake romance with Delilah wouldn’t have happened either. So in a weird and twisted way, he was somewhat grateful to her. Of course, there was no way he was going to tell her that.