The Billion Dollar Pact: Waking Up with the Boss (Billionaire Brothers Club) / Single Mom, Billionaire Boss / Paper Wedding, Best-Friend Bride

“I’ll tip a waiter to pack it up for us. I’ll ask him to supply a blanket or some towels or something, too.” He flashed a silly grin. “Then again, maybe we can just use your dress.”

She smacked his shoulder, and they both burst out laughing. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to be preparing for a picnic, too. Even if it was at night. On a tropical island.

With no one else around.

* * *

Carol walked along the beach, carrying her shoes and enjoying the sand between her toes. She looked over at Jake. His pant legs were rolled up, and he was carrying his shoes and a big square basket, filled to the brim. The waiter had even tossed in a candle from one of the tables.

“How far out are we going to go?” she asked.

“How about here?” Jake chose a spot on the other side of the estate, close enough to provide light from the mansion, but still far enough away so that the party didn’t interfere.

“It’s perfect.” Being around so many other people, with all of that sexy activity, had been taking its toll. She was grateful for the reprieve.

Jake spread out a big fluffy beach towel and placed the basket beside it. He removed the candle, stuck it in the sand and lit the wick.

Carol sat on the towel. He joined her and handed her a champagne glass. He uncorked the Dom Pérignon and poured it.

“To peace and quiet,” he said.

“The solitude is wonderful.” She sipped her drink and glanced at the wax figurines. “Who was that candle fashioned after?”

“I don’t know, but it smells like vanilla.”

“Yes, I noticed that, too.” It was a nice, pleasant aroma, mixed with the sea.

“Let’s find out who they are.” He lifted it up and squinted at the names across the bottom of it. “Oh, here we go. It’s Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I don’t know much about them, do you?”

“Not really. Other than he was a playwright and they were both poets. Oh, and that they were married. I think they met through letters they exchanged.”

“That’s more than I knew.”

“I took an English literature class in college, and I guess some of it stuck with me.” Carol had a business degree from a state college that she’d funded with student loans. “It was weird, being a foster kid and trying to figure out my education. As soon as I turned eighteen, I didn’t even have a place to live. But thank goodness the laws are changing now and some kids are able to stay in their foster homes until they’re twenty-one.”

“That’s definitely a change that needed to happen. But it only involves a handful of states. Lots of foster youth are still homeless at eighteen. But I was lucky in that I was able to crash on Garrett’s couch. He was back with his mom by then.”

Carol nodded. Garrett wasn’t orphaned like her and Jake. He’d bounced in and out of foster care because his single mother had gotten terribly ill from an infectious disease and wasn’t able to care for him. At the time, she’d already been struggling with an autoimmune disorder. Although she recovered from the infection, the chronic illness continued to plague her, even now.

Jake added, “Without Garrett and his mom, I would have been totally displaced, graduating from high school with nowhere to go.”

“Where was Max?”

“He was still in foster care.”

“Oh, that’s right. He’s a little younger than you and Garrett. But you’ve all come a long way.”

“That’s for sure. Max made it first, though, being the nerd that he is.”

Carol smiled, amused by Jake’s description of his foster brother. Max was a self-taught software designer and internet entrepreneur who’d become a billionaire in his early twenties. But even so, she thought he was too handsome to be called a nerd. Then again, he did seem a bit socially awkward at times.

Jake said, “Max loaned Garrett and me the money to get our businesses off the ground. We couldn’t have done it without him.”

“The bond between the three of you is amazing.” Max’s childhood had been especially troubling, from what she understood. “Where is he? I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“He went on a long holiday or sabbatical or whatever he’s choosing to call it. I guess he needed some time alone. He can be elusive when he wants to be.”

Unlike Jake, she thought, who lived his life out in the open.

“Are you cold?” he asked as a breeze kicked up. “I can give you my jacket.”

She wasn’t freezing by any means, but there was a bit of a chill in the air. “That would be great. Thank you.”

He removed the garment and draped it around her shoulders.

Then he unpacked the food and made up a plate for her. “This looks good, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does.” She balanced the china on her lap, feeling warm and cozy with his jacket against her body.

Jake filled his plate, too, and they nibbled on an assortment of fancy appetizers and decadent desserts.

“It’s a yummy combination,” she said.

He met her gaze. “And we couldn’t ask for a nicer setting, surrounded by the moon and the stars. You sure look pretty out here. But you’ve looked pretty all night.”

“Even when I was a nervous wreck in the cage?”

“Yes, even then. I shouldn’t have suggested that we dance in there.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know how it would turn out.” She polished off her champagne. She had no intention of getting drunk, but a little buzz wouldn’t hurt, especially with the way Jake was staring at her. She was curious to know more about him. Things she shouldn’t want to know. Things she shouldn’t ask. But she questioned him, anyway. “Do you do that type of stuff?”

He put his plate aside. “What stuff?”

“Like what was in the video.” She refilled her glass, waiting to see what he would say. She’d heard that he was wild in bed, but no one had ever said just how wild. Not even the starlet who’d blogged about him had included those types of details.

“Bondage? No, I’m not into that.” Without taking his eyes off her, he added, “Why...are you a secret dominatrix or something?”

If she wasn’t so enraptured with him, she would have laughed. “Are you kidding? Me being a secret anything is preposterous. I just like regular sex.”

“Truthfully, I was kidding. But I like it regular, too. Only, I think they call it vanilla in that lifestyle.” He gestured to the vanilla-scented candle. “Like that.”

Had she actually started this conversation? She put down her champagne and reached for a scone that was glazed with white icing. “This is vanilla.”

Jake shifted on the towel, moving a little closer to her. “I don’t think I got one of those.”

“I can share it with you.” She held it out to him, caught in a trap of her own making.

He took it from her, his fingertips touching hers, creating a soft stream of electricity between them.