Epilogue
“Campers,” I screamed into the megaphone. “I need all the theater kids over by the Birch building. All the painters by the Elk building. All the equestrian campers by the Myer’s building. We have to get through registration before the fun can begin.”
“Clyde, can you take this little girl over to the Birch building? She’s here for theater camp,” Kelsi said as she came up to Clyde and I as we looked out over the large group of kids.
“This is it. We are official,” I said to Kelsi. “Can you believe we sold out for our first official year?”
“I can believe it. Our camp is kick ass. Kids don’t have to choose between one thing or another; they get it all here. They get outdoor fun, theater, and art all in one location. When I was a kid, I would have begged my parents for the entire year to send me someplace like this.”
Kelsi was right. Her dream for the ranch had turned into a niche in the market that I couldn’t have seen. Kids did want it all. They wanted to do theater, but still canoe in a lake. They wanted to learn how to paint, but still ride horses. If our first camping season was any sign of what was to come, we were going to have one hell of a ride with our new camp.
“Guys, I was going to take the four-wheeler out to the Decker-end of the property to check on the theater and make sure it was finished. Is there anything else you need while I’m out there?” Hannah asked.
“Actually, I’d really like to take a look at it myself. Do you think you and the counselors could wrangle everyone up and Kelsi and I can meet you in a little bit?”
“Sure, it’s going to take a few hours to get everyone settled. You two have a fun ride; I’ll keep Clyde with me here.”
“Are you up for a ride?” Kelsi asked me as she tried to grab the keys from Hannah.
“Oh, no, I’m driving,” I said firmly as I took the keys before she could get to them. “We don’t have time to get coated in mud.”
“Fine, I’ll let you drive this time,” she said. “But I get to drive next time, without any arguments from you.”
“I’ll try not to argue with you, but you’re so adorable when you’re angry with me.”
“You know that is ridiculous that you actually like it when I’m angry. You know that’s weird, right?” She laughed.
“Yep, and you’ll just have to learn to live with it. Forever and ever,” I said as we climbed onto the four-wheeler to head over to the construction site. “No mud puddles this time. I don’t want to end up naked and in the river.”
“So many rules.” She laughed as we took off.
The Decker property was being turned into our huge theater performance area. The main theater was almost complete and would house up to 500 people. It was our hope that at the end of camp, families could come to see their children’s performances, but we also wanted kids to get to know the inner workings of a real theater. We had room for sets, dressing rooms, and even a building area for what we hoped would be a new woodworking part of our program.
I couldn’t take credit for much of the theater plans or programming, though; it was all Kelsi. She envisioned the kids getting to learn about everything from lighting to directing while they were at camp.
“Look at it, wow,” I said as we climbed off the four-wheeler and walked up to the main entrance. “It’s so professional. We might have to start doing some community theater shows out here.”
“That’s a great idea! We could do that during the winter months. Look who’s coming up with ideas now,” she teased me.
“I’m not just a handsome checkbook.”
“Nope, you’re much more than that. Can we go in and walk around? I’d like to see how close we are to being finished.”
“Crap, I forgot the keys.”
“We could drive back I guess. But we’d have to come back tomorrow because I need to be there for dinner to talk with the campers.”
“It’s an hour back home; I’m not waiting. Let’s just find a way in,” I said as I started jiggling the doors.
“Why do they even lock this thing? We are in the middle of the country; no one’s going to break in out here.”
“Like we didn’t break into a house out here once?” I teased her. “I think it’s a good idea we keep things locked up, especially with all the kids here. We don’t want them sneaking in and causing trouble.”
“It’s like we have hundreds of our own teenagers. That’s some serious parenting skills we need to have.” She laughed. “Don’t break a window please.”
“I wouldn’t do that. These windows were really expensive.”
We moved around to the back of the theater where there was a door cracked open a bit. It was the door I had instructed the workers to leave open because I had planned this visit out all along. Kelsi didn’t know it, but the theater was complete, and she and I were going to be the first official couple on the stage.
I had to take my time getting her up onto the stage, though. There was a big surprise that we were trying to arrange and they were going to need some time to make it happen. So, Kelsi and I walked through all the rooms backstage until I got a text message saying we were cleared to go onto the stage.
“It smells new in here,” she said as we walked through the backstage area toward the main stage.
“I’ve got a surprise for you. Close your eyes,” I said as I held onto her hands and walked with her onto the stage. “Kelsi Lynn Sullivan,” I said as I kneeled down. “Open your eyes, silly.”
“Oh, sorry, wait…what are you doing?”
“You know you’re the love of my life and this ranch isn’t just your dream, it’s become my dream, too. I love you. I love Clyde, and I think we should make this official. Will you marry me?”
Kelsi stood still for a moment and looked out over the empty seats of the theater. Her beautiful red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her green eyes sparkled in the spotlight of the stage. She looked even more beautiful than the day I first met her.
“Yes,” she said as she flung her arms around me and knocked me to the ground. “Yes, yes, yes.”
It had been two long years of building the ranch and Kelsi putting off the idea of us getting married. Two years of us dedicating every last bit of energy to this dream we were developing together. But I had waited. I willingly waited for the moment when Kelsi and I could take the next big step in our life. It was finally here; we were finally going to be official.
“Did she say yes?” I heard Mike yell from up at the spotlight stand. “It’s scary up here. I need to come down.”
“I said yes, Mike,” Kelsi yelled up at him.
“Thank God. Okay, I’m coming down.”
“You got Mike to run the spotlight?” Kelsi laughed.
“He wanted to be part of it. There’s a little bit more of a surprise,” I said as Mike flipped the spotlight off and started to climb down. “Now, guys!” I yelled.
The auditorium erupted in applause as we looked out and saw all the kids from the ranch filing in through the doors at the back of the auditorium. Not only had I arranged to have Hannah and the team bring all the kids over, but our parents and family were out in the audience as well.
“Oh, wow,” Kelsi said as she grabbed her mouth and her eyes filled with tears.
“She said yes!” I screamed out to them so they could hear me over all the noise. “She’s going to marry me, finally!”
That’s the end of the Billionaire’s Bet. Below I included 4 of my previous books to read as a free bonus.
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THE BOSS
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Claire Adams
THE BOSS #1
Chapter One
ARIA
I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the heartfelt and endlessly awkward confession of romantic allegiance that one of my customers was currently delivering. Would he notice if I stealthily put my headphones on?
On a normal day, I let men down easy. An 8-hour shift at the bank immediately following 48 hours of no sleep and two very difficult midterms does not constitute a normal day. I squinted at the gentleman in front of me, who seemed mesmerized by the palms of his hands based on the way he was staring at them. Mitch? Mark?
“And, you know, I come here, like, every day at the same time because, you know, like, that’s when your shift is,” he was mumbling, eyes firmly on his palm. “Sometimes I, like, just come and deposit some cash only to withdraw it the very next day for no other reason than to see you.”
Really? I could have never guessed. It’s pretty normal for people around here to make daily deposits and withdrawals of exactly $200 without fail for a whole month. Moron.
“Listen,” I said finally. He looked up and made eye contact just for a split second—long enough for me to notice the droplets on his horn-rimmed glasses. Sweat? Oh God. “I am really flattered but-”
“But girls like you don’t go out with guys like me.” I could almost hear the whimper in his voice now. “I get it.”
Shit.
“No, no, no, no! I’m engaged,” I blurted without thinking. “To – to…” Surveying the room frantically, I pointed at the only logical direction, cringing with fear and embarrassment at the thought that this interaction might have an audience. “To him. My boss. He is very possessive, so you should be careful. He owns the bank and he is well-connected. If he learns of this, he has the power to ruin your credit, and believe me, he will do it. You should find a different branch to go to from now on to be safe – switch banks if you have to! It’s in your best interest.”
The man I was pointing at flashed a crooked smile, his eyes firmly rested on his computer, and I felt my chest fall. Don’t be silly Aria, there is no way he can hear you. He was at least 50 feet across the hall, inside his office,
behind a solid glass door. He would have to have superhuman hearing abilities to be able to hear this conversation. Although, it would hardly surprise me if he did possess such a skill; almost everything about Zayden Sinclair was a notch above the average human.
At 32, he was the owner and CEO of the Southern National Bank empire, but you didn’t need to know about his economic stature to feel the power that he exuded through sheer physical presence. He had the tendency to command the attention of anybody within a 5-mile radius without so much as saying a word. Women of all ages gravitated towards him, and his dashing looks and defined physique were only partially responsible for the effect. In fact, dashing did not begin to accurately describe his rare combination of piercing blue eyes, perfectly chiseled jawline, and dark, wavy hair straight out of a men’s shampoo commercial. Sometimes I could swear I saw his six-pack defined through his shirt, or even his sweater. Maybe my imagination interfered at that point.
And my imagination is where Zayden’s shirtless body should remain. I had seen too many girls fall prey to his charms and had no interest in losing the job that kept me in college just because I couldn’t control the desire to touch whatever was underneath that shirt. This branch went through tellers faster than the days of the week, and I wasn’t going to become a number in the statistical chart of Zayden’s conquests.
***
Half an hour later, I was thankful for the clock to indicate it was my lunch break. After my admiring customer left holding back tears, there was a sudden stream of traffic in the teller’s booth, and I had to deal with an old woman who accused the bank of stealing from her. It shouldn’t be that difficult to convince somebody that a multimillion-dollar corporation would gain nothing from robbing an old lady of 50 bucks.
I was relieved to find that the pantry in the back end of the bank was empty. Normally, I enjoy some commotion, but today I was just really tired, mentally and physically. And hungry. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. I sat down on the first table looking away from the door and removed the box of leftover sushi from my bag. Before I could open it, however, I heard a very familiar voice.
“So, when’s our wedding?”
Shit. I could hear the thudding sound of my chest as though it were adjacent to my ears. It must have been a whole minute before I gathered the courage to slowly turn around, ignoring the chills in my fingers.
“You heard that?” I laughed. Thank you, Acting 101 Gen-Ed requirements. “Spying on your tellers now? The NSA would be so proud.”
Zayden’s lips crooked very slightly. Was that a smile? Was he amused? Angry? Oh God, I really couldn’t tell.
“We keep a microphone at the teller’s booth in every branch for surveillance, in case there is any suspicious activity from a customer. Handling money is serious business.”
I actually knew that. How could I have been so stupid?
“Which is why I made up that little story about us, so that guys like that don’t continue to distract me from my very serious job of handling your money.”
I was quite surprised by the confidence in my own voice.
He laughed. Phew. It was an adorable laugh, and I wouldn’t mind kissing him while he did it. No wonder the other tellers couldn’t keep their hands off of him, with his dashing looks. Men this powerful are hard to turn down.
He was fumbling with a button on his coat and I tried hard not to wish that my nipples were his buttons. I should have been embarrassed; he had heard me claim I was engaged to him, and imply he was connected to the mob. If embarrassment was the socially acceptable reaction to such a situation, then why the hell was I so aroused? He was coming closer and I momentarily forgot how to breathe.
“Let me make you a proposition,” he said as he sat down across from me. “We will never have to speak about of your encounter with that bespectacled guy if you let me take you out to lunch tomorrow.”
“I have to work,” I said automatically.
Was I even breathing? I couldn’t be sure.
“I’ll pay you to take the whole day off. And maybe after lunch we can spend the whole day in my apartment being, you know, ‘married’ for the day.”
He winked. I felt my pulse rising. Right now I couldn’t think of a single reason to turn his offer down, but I had to get ahold of myself. This was what Zayden did, and I was smarter than the women who fell for it.
“Sure, we can meet each other’s parents and raise some children after,” I laughed. It wasn’t convincing laughter. I got up before things could get out of hand. “I’ll eat this later. Have a nice day, Mr. Sinclair,” I said and walked away without looking back.
This must have been what a tornado felt like.
Chapter Two
ZAYDEN
I looked at the girl lying next to me with a mixture of confusion and amusement. I was pretty sure she was faking sleep. Just like last night, she had pretended to be too intoxicated to go home, even when I suggested I would have my chauffeur drive her in one of the limos. Girls like this got on my nerves, and I was starting to regret taking her back to my place.
Not that I wasn’t used to girls clinging on like this; usually, however, after a good fuck I would just tell them that I was “emotionally unavailable.” There would be some crying, but eventually those words would drive women to flee without much egging on my part. I let out an involuntary snort. Women. All I knew was it worked. Anything worked. Everything worked.
Most of the time, anyway. Very rarely did women deny my advances, and Aria Roberts had been the first in countless years to so casually turn me down. It excited me to maddening degrees; it had gotten far too easy for me to get women and I needed a good challenge. But last night, I was so frustrated that I picked up the first pair of sexy boobs that flashed in my face at the Tavern. Boring personality, if she had one at all, and an even more boring lay. I had half the mind to finish myself off in the middle of it, but felt sorry for the poor soul. Another reason it pissed me off that she was still lying comfortably in my king-sized bed.
“Wake up!” I tapped her shoulders. “Quick! It’s time to go home.”
She opened her eyes slowly and got out of the covers, still naked. She did have nice breasts; maybe it wasn’t the worst pick-up ever after all.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, ruffling her hair. Trying to be cute. Women. “I didn’t realize I overslept. I was…”
Yeah, the breasts were really something. She was rambling on but I didn’t catch a single word, or care to. I felt myself get harder watching her nipples and just threw her back into the bed. She seemed way too excited about it; I’d have to deal with it later, but for now, I just grabbed her and closed my eyes.
I thrust myself deep inside her, picturing Aria Roberts’ tiny body and perfect little ass in my mind. Fuck.
***
“Mrs. Sinclair asked me about your whereabouts this morning,” my driver Ned said.
I grunted. My mother had a way of getting on my nerves.
“Tell her I’m in Bali for the rest of the month.”
“I think she plans to surprise you with a visit,” he said apologetically.
Ned was one of the only people in the world I would trust with my life. He had been with our family for over two decades, and helped me keep it together when my dad passed away, six years ago today. It was the day of my MBA graduation, and I was supposed to leave for a vacation to Spain that night; I had no real plans, no rush to hurry into a career. He had a stroke, and all of a sudden I was left without a father and without my youth, and with the South National Bank empire as compensation for my loss. Every single day of my life since that day six years ago has been dedicated to growing what my dad had built, to honor his legacy, to take his company further than his wildest imagination.
This left no room for friends or any kind of social life outside of what the business demanded, and I couldn’t be happier about it. There would be parties and overseas cruises and models in penthouses, but all for the business, all to convince shareholders and investors that I made them happy and that their money was best suited in my expert hands. The models in penthouses were the only mildly pleasurable part. Generally, though, any social situation was an arena for manipulation and cunning, and just another way to build on my dad’s empire. People tended to hold me back and there was no room in my life for a pause.
Ned was, in some ways, my only friend.
“It’s okay. I’ll take care of it, Ned.” I sighed. “You don’t worry about it.”
When I got to my desk, I was welcomed by a slew of emails. The union in the Nashville branch was organizing a third strike this year and had closed up for business. What a bunch of fucking babies. I was all for fair wages and benefits; so much so that I had been invited to a local TED talk to address the importance of solidarity and understanding between company executives and the lowest level employees. I turned down the invite – only people who don’t practice have time to preach – but was subsequently featured in ZEN magazine for running the only set of banks in the nation that paid even the cleaning staff over twice the minimum wage. The first union strike hadn’t phased me—it would have almost moved me if I were capable of such a thing—and I had raised companywide salary. The second time and onwards it had just started to look like they were testing how far they could push me. I felt a tremor of anger as I dialed Tom, the Nashville VP.
“Shut it down,” I said sharply.
Tom huffed and puffed some words that faintly resembled coherence, but my attention drifted away from the problem at hand as I saw Aria Roberts walk into the building and towards the teller’s booth. She had a fascinating body. Not stunning in any traditional sense. I had fucked far too many supermodels to be excited by infinite legs and plastic breasts. Aria was what could only be defined as cute. Cute in the sexiest way possible. She had a petite figure and couldn’t be much taller than 5 foot 3, if that, and it suited her heart-shaped face and bright, brown eyes. Her long red hair covered half of her tiny body, ending slightly above her lower back. Her breasts were on the smaller side, but all I needed was a mouthful. There was a mouthful there for sure, and plenty to spare. What really stood out was her perfectly round ass. It was bigger than most of her and I wasn’t sure how she could fit that curve in her small body and still walk with a stride. I was getting hard just looking at her through my glass door.
“Zay? You there?”
I snapped out of it. “What? Uh… I don’t wanna hear it Tom, I don’t wanna hear any of it. Just shut it down, alright?”
My eyes drifted towards Aria again. When would I get the opportunity to throw that little body into the air and fuck her brains out? Would I ever? The fact that I had to ask myself that question surprised me. Never before had it been a question of if but when, with any woman: actresses, models, athletes—they all gave in eventually. But I couldn’t seduce a teller in my own bank! They usually begged me to take them any way I liked, anywhere I liked. Some just gave in right after their first interview here – they never actually made it to work afterwards, though. I didn’t do repeats and I didn’t like the idea of employing girls that would be too distracted fantasizing about me to get their jobs done. I usually sent them to work for a business partner or another shareholder with the highest recommendations, so I wasn’t exactly making them suffer. That would be Aria’s fate too, and perhaps the knowledge of that made her shy away from me.
Or maybe she really, truly, genuinely had no interest in sleeping with me. The way she shrugged off all my advances with confident scorn and polite laughter surely suggested that was the case. That fascinated me endlessly. She had told me she was single, yet she seemed to turn men down right and left. I knew she was a junior in college. Perhaps between the coursework and working almost full-time hours at the bank she simply did not have time for some fun. Maybe if I gave her the right kind of incentive and somehow assured her that she will be compensated for her company more generously than she was for her job…
But I realized I had already tried that, and she was still not interested. I was back at square one, at a complete loss. I had unions to deal with, people to fire, emails to respond to, but all I could focus on was a 20-year-old girl’s ass. All I cared about was finding a way to get her into my bed.
I was hovering on dangerous territory, but I loved a good challenge. I picked up the phone again and watched her answer from the teller’s booth.
“South National Bank, how may I help you?”
She was looking towards me. She knew.
“I can think of so many ways.” I grinned. “None that would require your clothes, though.”
She chuckled, flashing her dimples. It was a nervous laugh. I made everyone around me nervous; it was the natural reaction I had come to expect from people over the years. The reaction coming from her was a source of thrill because she hadn’t given into me yet.
“Did you need something, Mr. Sinclair?”
“Well, first of all, I need you to call me Zayden. Zay is fine too. Can you do that for me?”
“Okay, Zayden,” she sighed heavily. “You’re watching, so you know that took everything out of me. I like to be professional.”
Mrs. Brian, the other teller on duty, looked at Aria disapprovingly. She had worked for this bank for many years, and had seen my shenanigans with many different women.
“I could take so many things out of you, Aria.” My face was serious now. Wanting. “Just give me a chance to show you. I’ll make you feel things you never thought you were capable of feeling.”
She looked away. I was beginning to get irritated that I couldn’t get through to her.
“Thank you for the very generous offer, Mr. Sinclair, but I think I’ll pass for now. Please let me know if you need anything.” She paused for a second. “Anything else, I mean.”
She hung up, leaving me more ridden with desire than before.