Accidentally Married to the Billionaire - Part 2 (The Billionaire's Touch) - Sierra Rose
Chapter 1
Marjorie Cates, nee Reynolds, sat on the bed in her suite. They weren’t at the resort in Las Vegas any longer. This was the suite in her new husband’s luxurious Manhattan townhouse that was appointed for her use. Everything was very cream-colored and elegant—not her taste exactly but not too shabby altogether. There was a chandelier, the kind with the faceted crystal drops that dangle off of it and bend sunlight into rainbows along the walls. Marj had always wanted a chandelier or five of her very own. Not that her former fifth-floor walkup would have had room for even one tiny crystal chandelier. It was only in the last seventy-two hours since she met and married Brandon Cates that chandeliers had become a realistic option.
It was a sweet deal if she didn’t think about it too hard. Less than a week ago, she’d been a chronically single marketing drone at a company that was being taken over by Power Regions Ltd. Marj was on the team dispatched to Vegas for the confab and PR push about how this was supposed to be a positive step for the company being swallowed up. The wine was good, but the meetings were boring, and she wound up in a club at the casino drinking with a hot guy. A hot guy who turned out to be the head of Power Regions for the moment.
He had been the CEO for the last five years, but that was about to end on his thirtieth birthday thanks to his dad’s will. A will which stipulated that Brandon Cates had to be married by his thirtieth birthday or hand over the company and all its assets to his wicked stepmother, the social climbing Lena. Having exhausted all legal inroads, he was desperate for a solution. So obviously Marj, full of great ideas and expensive booze, had proposed to him. He’d keep his company, and she’d get a temporary rich husband instead of loneliness and rent and utilities.
I’d been so lonely. And I was so loaded. I guess the two don’t mix.
There were diamonds and vows and some mind-blowing sex, and morning after amnesia of who exactly he was and why they were together. She secretly wished that awkward period of confusion was as complicated as their relationship would get, but she knew better than to hope. Because the bastard was thoughtful and gorgeous and great with his hands. And thanks to the vicious Lena, he trusted women about as far as he could spit. Which meant that she was out of the frying pan of being heartbroken when her recent ex dumped her for his secretary and into the fire of trying hard not to fall for her husband.
It was only for six months, for the will to probate, and then she’d be free with a settlement of several million dollars Brandon had stipulated in their nuptial agreement, and he’d have his father’s business. Marj was determined to walk away with a smile on her face, hopefully, a strong friendship with her ex-husband, and enough money to live wherever she wanted and maybe get her brother into rehab once he finished his hitch in prison. She didn’t want to walk away with a broken heart, but she was already concerned that her heart was on the table, whether she’d intended it to be part of the deal or not.
First off, Brandon Cates had made sure she knew there was something (a settlement) in the arrangement for her, that it wasn’t just Marj doing a highly personal favor for her boss. Then, he’d ordered this incredible cake, chocolate mocha, for her to celebrate the ceremony. There were a hundred other thoughtful little things he’d done, like trolling her Pinterest boards to make sure everything was to her taste from the food to the Titanic style pendant he’d give her. Who wouldn’t fall in love with someone like that? She was trying not to. She was trying her damnedest, but some things were out of her control. Like the way her breath caught every time he smiled at her, which was happening more often.
He’d gone straight to his office, and the driver had taken her to his townhome. It had one of those grand entryways with the marble floors and the chandelier and the gilt-framed paintings on the walls. A housekeeper had shown Marj the suite designated for her use. So here she was, soaking up the light, jasmine scent of entitlement, sitting on a four-poster bed that cost, she was sure, more than any car she’d ever owned. She admired the red dress she was going to wear for dinner with the Wicked Queen that evening. Then she looked down at her chipped off nail polish and decided that wouldn’t look too good for the new bride of the fabulously rich guy to have sleazy looking undone nails. She dug through her purse, realizing too late that she hadn’t packed polish because the TSA didn’t let liquids on the plane. Marj was not a woman who paid for manicures, thank you very much, so she needed to find a bottle of nail lacquer, something classy.