The Billionaire’s Burden
Key to My Heart Book 2
Ella Cari
Chapter One
Outside my window, I could hear the soft hooting of an owl. Its wings fluttered as it slowly dropped from its branch, scouring the vast green lands that made up the huge Davis estate for a tasty dinner.
How long had I been here already? It felt like a millennia. It felt like it would never end. To be honest I was a little lonely. Billionaire Sebastian Davis and I were married, that was true, but we had yet to define the strange parameters of our relationship.
We’d married for money and convenience, not even for a hint of love, but was it silly of me to dream of a romantic future?
With a saddened chuckle, I dragged my pillow over my face to drown out the shine of the moon spilling onto the elegant floorboards beside my king size bed.
Two months ago, I never would have even imagined living a place like this. It was more grand than the finest hotel I’d ever slept in, though that was probably a Motel 8. It was more large than anything I could have ever dreamed of.
It was also cold. Not the kind of chill that kept you wrapped tight in a blanket at night, shivering away. But, the kind of cold where you never quite feel at home or safe, even with the high tech security cameras everywhere.
I curled my left hand fingers into a ball, noting the tight metal band that clung to my finger. A matching ring sat on the hand of my husband, wherever he was now, assuming that he kept it on when he wasn’t around me. I had no idea what that handsome man did when I wasn’t around.
Sebastian Davis, sexy beyond measure, intelligent beyond belief, and my husband. He and I barely even knew each other.
It’d only been two months past that he came into my bakery in hopes of seeing my parents again. Instead, he only got me. That quaint little shop they owned had been the highlight of his boring, wealthy childhood.
Had it really been over an entire year since my mother and father had passed away? It felt like generations ago, it felt like yesterday. The ache was still there, clinging to my heart. I wanted so very badly to make them proud, I wanted so very badly to keep their dream alive.
To do that, I had to make a compromise with Sebastian that day he walked into the shop.
We both needed each other, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I needed money, and he needed a wife in order to keep control of his vast business empire.
And so, we did what we had to. We stood there at the altar, gazing at each other, barely knowing even the slightest about each other. I couldn’t tell you Sebastian’s favorite food or his middle name.
I could tell you, however, that his ocean eyes are the kindest I have ever seen. I could tell you that his heart is good and his shoulders strong.
I could also tell you that his family is bat shit crazy.
Karina Davis, mother bear extraordinaire, cared for only one thing in her life – her handsome son. She hated the fact that it was myself who married Sebastian. Imagine, gasp, a woman without pedigree, a college degree, or a famous last name marrying into the Davis clan.
She herself had married George Davis, the patriarch of the family, in a situation very similar to mine and Sebastian’s. It was their vows that helped seal the Davis name in entrepreneurial hall of fame, which I strongly suspected did actually exist.
Unfortunately for Karina, George lust long and strong over their Sebastian’s personal assistant, sexy redheaded Alissa Grant. There was nothing secret about their torrid affair, they all but flaunted their lust for one another in all of our faces.
Alissa wasn’t happy with just George on her hook, however. She also wanted Sebastian, and had no problem making that claim equally well known. Alissa was not a woman of subtlety.
Sebastian and I were only just beginning to discover our relationship. Though we were married, we were not in love. There were days when I believed that spark would never light within our souls. Our wedding had never been consummated, we shared only a single kiss on that day, in front of all the people watching.
There were days I dreamed about that kiss.
That surge of heat, boiling through veins as his perfect, soft mouth pressed against mine. The barest hint of his tongue brushed delicately against my lips.
A shudder rolled slow and long up my back, pressing the pillow just a bit more firmly against my face as though I could force myself into slumber.
He was far, far away this evening, his private jet had been sure of that. Sent back overseas to his London branch, Alissa had pointedly told me of her attendance as well.
I’d almost asked Sebastian if I could come with them, but we’d only just begun this bizarre liaison and I didn’t want to smother him, despite the ] growing need inside of me to get to know my husband.