Episode 16
Episode 16
Say Yes
GIOVANNI
I leaned against the wall waiting for the remaining four bidders to exit. Alana approached me, and I held up my hand. “I do not want to hear how she convinced you to put her in the auction,” I snapped before turning to Julianne who was rubbing her arms as though she was cold. She seemed small and vulnerable. There were only two times I’d seen her look that way. One was at her parents’ funeral. The other was the day after I took her innocence and pretended it never happened.
“What in the fuck were you thinking?” I barked, my focus on Julianne.
Her shoulders fell, but her eyes narrowed and shimmered with white-hot rage at my outburst.
“Why are you even here?” she fired back.
I spread my arms out wide, gesturing to the empty bidding room. “To make sure you didn’t make the biggest mistake of your life!”
“It wasn’t a mistake. And even if it was, it was mine to make,” she sneered.
“What on Earth would give you the idea to put yourself up for auction? You don’t need money. You have means.”
“Really?” She laughed dryly and crossed her arms. “You must not have gotten the memo. Brenden fired me as VP of FM Enterprises. Told me to pack my bags and never come back.”
“What?” I pushed off the wall, anger fueling my every step.
“Excuse me.” Alana clapped, the sharp sound echoing around the empty room. “I’m going to need you both to sign the final contract. Julianne, as previously discussed, the commission has been waived and added to your deposit. It will be entered into your account tonight. But only once the contract is signed. I must leave for the next auction. I’ll touch base with you both after. Good luck, my darlings,” she cooed and left the room.
“I’m not signing anything,” I stated with conviction. “If it’s money you want, I’ll back you in whatever it is you need.”
“I need the thirty million you bid.” Julianne snapped. “And if you’re not going to sign that contract,” she pointed to the document Alana had placed on the podium, “I’m going to go hunt me down a cowboy who was willing to marry me for twenty-four million.”
I watched as she hiked up the swaths of fabric around her legs, and headed toward the door.
Over my dead body would that cowboy put his hands on her.
When she moved close, I hooked her around the waist and plastered her against my much larger one. Julianne wasn’t a petite woman by any means. Actually, most would consider her full-figured or plus-sized. To me, the more curves the merrier. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous. Large, full tits, a soft, nipped-in waist, hips that were made to be grabbed, and an ass that begged to be bitten. All I wanted to do was run my hands over every inch of those succulent curves. Which was when my mind reminded me that Julianne had always been off-limits.
“The fuck you are,” I hissed, my breath making the fiery hair around her face shift slightly. “Just talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
Julianne sighed and dropped her head to my chest, all the piss and vinegar leaving her as she clung to me.
I soaked in the comfort of her familiar presence and the beauty of physically touching another human being. Since I’d walked away from my life, I hadn’t hugged anyone, preferring to stay alone and shut out the world at the lake house.
“She’s ruined everything. I have nothing.” she whispered as tears filled her eyes and fell down those creamy, pearlescent cheeks.
I cupped the back of her neck with one hand and embraced her fully against my chest, wanting her to know I was there and she wasn’t alone. Dipping my head, I rested it to the top of hers. “Who has?”
“Bianca!” she bitched, moving away from me suddenly.
“What did my ex do now?” I scowled. Even hearing her name was like a knife to my gut.
Jules huffed, then wiped at her eyes angrily. “Besides all that she did to you, she got my brother to fire me.”
“He can’t fire you,” I stated flatly. “Not legally, nor without my written consent. Besides, you’re an owner. I assume you received a quarter of their shares—as he did—after Lewis and Rachel passed, right? I’m my parents’ only heir, so I was left all of theirs in the company.”
She laughed haughtily as though I was missing out on some big joke as she paced the room. “God, you really have no clue what’s been happening in your absence, do you?”
“Enlighten me.” I crossed my arms and waited her out.
She approached an empty chair and slumped into it. “Hmm, let’s see if I can bring you up to date since you disappeared off the face of the planet after the funeral.”
“You know why I had to get away,” I grated through my teeth. “I couldn’t look my fiancée or my best friend in the eyes after what they’d done. Not after losing my parents too.”
“Yeah, well, while you’ve been hiding wherever it is you went, your ex has been very busy. Not only did she get my brother to marry her in a quicker-than-quick wedding I wasn’t invited to, but my parents’ will was also read. Let me give you the Cliff Notes version. They didn’t leave me any of their shares in the company.”
“You’re joking,” I deadpanned, shock and disbelief threading through my tone.
She shook her head. “I wish I was. They left me their estate and half the money they had in their accounts and investments.”
That was unbelievable and beyond what I could even imagine. The Myers had been devoted to both their children. And they knew that Julianne was responsible for most of the business’s recent success and the boon in the high-paying clientele. The woman was a beast in the real estate industry.
“You’ve worked at FM Enterprises your entire working life. You love it more than anyone,” I managed to croak.
Her bottom lip trembled as she nodded. “Which is why I’m contesting the will.”
A bomb going off couldn’t have been more of a surprise. “No,” I gasped. “That will tie things up for years to come.”
“I have no choice! Neither Brenden nor my folks left me any option. I still can’t wrap my mind around why they would do this to me. My entire life is in that company.” She sniffed, her eyes shimmering with tears that fell in perfect streaks down her cheeks. “Dammit all to hell!” She lifted her face to the ceiling as if to stem the flow, but it wasn’t working.
There was no way I could let this continue. I approached and sat in the chair next to her, then reached out and put my hand to her knee in support. “We’ll fix this. I’ll help you.”
“The thirty million you promised would help me,” was her sassy reply.
I ran my hand through my hair and leaned an elbow on my knee so I could face her. “You know thirty million is a drop in the bucket for me. If you need that money, Jules, I’ll give it to you.” There was a tendril of unruly dark-red hair that had fallen in front of her left eye. I reached out and gently pushed it behind her ear, then caressed her face with the tips of my fingers as I let go.
She shivered at the featherlight touch to her jawline, and I felt that response below the belt. My cock started to harden behind my slacks and I shifted my legs to allow for more room. I calmly started thinking of cats, old ladies knitting, dirty socks, and whatever else I could conjure so that I wasn’t focused on Julianne and how fantastic she looked in that white dress.
“I don’t want or need a handout, Gio. I want a partner. I want fucking revenge against Bianca and Brenden. Don’t you?”
I inhaled sharply. “I do, but it’s not healthy.”
“Says the man who’s independently wealthy with more money than you could ever spend in a hundred lifetimes. FM Enterprises may be just one of many successful companies you now own, not to mention the generational wealth your family has accumulated, but this was my livelihood . My passion. My living, breathing dream job. And for all intents and purposes, it is my birthright. I don’t know why my parents signed the business away to Brenden, but I’m going to find out.”
What she wasn’t saying was that she believed there was more going on than them leaving her out of the will. And after knowing her parents for the thirty-one years I’d been alive, I’d have to agree with her. “Besides the fact that it is incredibly strange that Lewis and Rachel didn’t split the percentage they owned between you and your brother, what makes you think there’s more to it?”
“Because they changed their will only a week before they went on the trip that ended their lives. Coincidence?” She tilted her head. “I think not.”
My heart pounded a million beats a minute. “Wait, you think something nefarious went on with our parents’ deaths?” I scoffed.
She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. All I do know is that my parents knew how much the company meant to me. It would have made more sense to leave the company shares to me instead of Brenden. I’m the one who loves it.”
I nodded, then rubbed my fingers over the scruff at my jaw. It wasn’t quite a beard or full mustache, more a fine shading of hair over both those areas. It was a look I’d perfected over the years. One Bianca had asked me to do away with. So when I left her, Brenden, and the business in the rearview mirror, I brought it back. Almost as if it was my own way of saying “fuck you” to her. Not that she’d care.
“So why the auction? What was the goal?” I asked, bringing it back to the matter at hand.
“Well, my plan was to get a boatload of money tonight. After, I would start a competing company. Then because I was fired without cause, I’d file a wrongful termination lawsuit as well as the legal proceedings to contest the will. Next, I planned to steal every last client I brought in and watch the entire company fall. Brenden would have to crawl on his hands and knees to get me back.” She grinned wickedly.
“Because you would want to go back?” I clarified, trying to figure out why she would do so.
“I mean...” she let her words trail off before she spoke again. “You know, that’s a good question. If I created my own successful business, why would I want to go back to working with my asshole brother and his gold-digging, nasty wife?” She made a sour expression that was rather adorable.
“Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to not need him at all?” I added.
“Yeah, I guess. It’s just...our parents built the company together. Four best friends. It’s part of their legacy.”
“So are you,” I said. “Anything you do in life is also a reflection of the good they created. Never forget that, Jules.”
She frowned. “What about you? Don’t you want to get revenge on my brother and your ex?”
I clamped my mouth shut so tight my teeth clanked together while I fisted my hands. “It’s uncouth and not the type of behavior my parents would have championed,” I reasoned.
“Fuck that! Bianca cheated on you with your best friend the night before you were supposed to get married. Your best man, business partner, and lifelong friend fucked you over. Now they are both screwing me over. And to add insult to injury, they rushed a quickie wedding. All of it stinks to high heaven, and I’m not going to go away quietly. Bianca ruined everything.”
“Brenden is no saint in this either,” I growled, remembering the very moment I walked into that room and found him plowing into my fiancée from behind, her body bent over as she moaned like the hussy she was.
“Then help me stick it to them!” She pleaded with determination.
“By funding your new company?” I asked.
“Absolutely. And by marrying me. Tonight.”
Marrying her.
My eyebrows rose up toward my hairline as shock rolled through me like a brutal heat wave. “You can’t be serious, Jules. I came here this evening to save you from yourself. Not dig a deeper hole between our families.”
She grinned wickedly. “Imagine how angry Brenden and Bianca will be when they find out that not only am I starting up a new company, but that you and I got married.”
I couldn’t help the small smile that appeared at the visual. “He would be enraged. Ever since we were kids, he made me swear you were not to be touched or he’d never so much as talk to me again.”
“And what did he go and do behind your back? Fuck your fiancée and ruin your friendship. Now they’re ruining my life. I think they both need a dose of their own medicine.”
“Hmm...” I imagined the look on his face when he learned I’d married his baby sister. He’d lose his mind. The same way I had when he betrayed me.
Julianne abruptly stood and put her hand out for me to take. “What do you say, Gio? Will you marry me and fund my startup company and lawsuits while we seek the ultimate revenge on my brother and your ex?”
“Marriage?” I whispered, my response filled with uncertainty. “How would that even work?”
Julianne tilted her head and looked at me as though I’d grown horns. “When a man and a woman want to share their lives, they stand in front of an officiant and—”
I waved my hand for her to stop. “Don’t be a brat.”
“I make no promises,” she taunted with a smile.
My nostrils flared as her sweet strawberries-and-cream scent filled my nose, making my pants tight once more.
“When I get married, Julianne, I want it to be real. That means sharing our secrets, our highs and lows. It means sharing a life and... a bed. ” I watched her eyes light with excitement but tried to ignore it. “I won’t enter into a sexless marriage with you or a loveless marriage like I was headed into with Bianca.”
Suddenly, Jules licked her lips, hiked up her dress, and promptly straddled my lap.
“Oomph!” I let out a surprised breath when her lush, round ass hit my thighs. Before I could speak, she cupped my cheeks, lowered her head, and kissed me. Hard.
I went completely still, until the heat of her body, and the plump, delicious press of her lips to mine, wove through my mind informing me of what was happening. I moaned as I wrapped my arms around her body tightly and kissed her back, glorying in her minty taste.
She teased the seam of my lips with her nimble tongue and I opened instantly. Our tongues tangled and danced, flicking delicately one moment and sinking deep the next. Before I knew what was happening, one of my hands was cupping her breast, the other gripping her ass as she wantonly ground against my erection.
I ripped my mouth away. “Jesus!” I let out a harsh breath and rested my face against the tops of her heaving, beautiful tits.
Julianne ran her fingers through my hair, scraping her nails down my scalp. I arched toward her and the blissful sensation as I lifted my face and traced every last one of her gorgeous features with my eyes.
She smiled from her perch in my lap. “I never said there’d be no sex, Gio. And based on Mr. Happy I feel prodding my ass, I don’t see desire being a problem between us. And I already care for you. I’ve loved you my entire life.”
Love. A fickle, meaningless word if not said with the right intention and breadth of meaning behind it.
“Yeah, as extended family.” I removed the hand from her breast and placed both to her hips. They were so plush I couldn’t help kneading the curves there.
“I have never looked at you as family. Remember back when we were kids? You were my first kiss. A girl doesn’t kiss her extended family, Gio. Then Brenden caught us and made a big deal of me being ‘off limits’ and you backed off right away. I just assumed you didn’t truly like me that way. At the time, it actually hurt my feelings.”
“Really?” I asked, hope and shock threading through the single word.
“Yeah, really. I was into you big time.” She smiled and then stood, pushing off my lap and putting some much-needed space between us.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” I blustered, not having any idea how to respond after everything she’d shared.
“Say you’ll work with me on getting revenge against Brenden and Bianca.” Her gaze was pleading as she held out her hand. “Say yes to marrying me.”