Page 23 of Untamed Billionaire
He grinned as he opened the passenger side door. “You love milk chocolate truffles, the kind of chocolate that melts in your mouth. But you hate chocolate cake.”
She blinked up at him, one of her delicate hands resting on the top of his car, the other against his chest. “How do you know that? I never eat anything with sugar!”
He chuckled. “I saw the way you looked at the dessert tray at the Emory dinner party a few days ago. The chocolate cake didn’t tempt you at all. Whereas the lemon cake…” he grinned and started to kiss her but pulled back. “No, I can’t kiss you here. I suspect that your mother is watching us, plus we’re going to be late if I kiss you now.”
“Is that so?” she asked, a slow, sensuous smile curling her lips.
He chuckled, delighted with her confidence. “Any other day, and I’d take you up on that challenge. But people are waiting. We have to hurry.”
That caught her attention as Marco knew it would. Chloe hated to keep anyone waiting. With a gasp, she straightened away from the car and hurriedly ducked inside. By the time he was on his side of the car, her seatbelt was already attached and she was sitting primly in the seat, her hands clasped together as if she had to control her anxiousness. “What are we late for? I’m so sorry if I missed an appointment. It’s just that my mother has me running all over the place. I didn’t think that we-“
“You look beautiful, Chloe. You’re literally glowing, did you know that?”
He couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and kissed her. But today was too important and he pulled back quickly, then started the car. “Just sit back and relax. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Where? Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. This is your day, Chloe.”
“I thought Saturday was ‘my’ day,” she replied with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
“No, Saturday is for your mother. From what I’ve heard, she hasn’t taken any of your preferences into account. So today, this is all about you.”
“That sounds…”
“I know,” he replied, shaking his head and reaching over to take her hand in his. “You’re not used to being the center of attention. But today, you will relax and have fun. I command it!”
She laughed, shaking her head so that her soft, brown hair swished around her shoulders. He couldn’t wait to see all of that soft hair spread out on his pillow as he moved inside of her. Marco stopped that line of thinking. He’d never make it through the afternoon if he didn’t stop. And today was vitally important. For both her and for him.
He pulled into the parking lot of one of the local beaches, but this one was a bit more out of the way. There were fewer tourists here, especially during the fall months and on a weekday. It was perfect!
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing towards a group of people standing in the sand. There were flowers everywhere, in buckets by the chairs, covering a wooden arch, and attached to the small cluster of chairs that had been set out on the sand.
“Come with me,” he said and stepped out of the vehicle. Marco hurried around the hood of the car and took Chloe’s hand when she stepped out.
“Marco, what’s going on?”
He led her to the trunk of his car and took out a large white box. “Put this on,” he said. “Please?” He moved closer to her, taking one of her hands in his. “Your mother has hijacked our wedding day to suit herself. This,” he said and gestured to the beach and the people standing there, “this is for us. This is for you. Will you marry me?” he asked, and pulled out a yellow diamond ring. “I want to marry you today. This will be our wedding day. Just the two of us and the people that are important.” He jerked his head towards the group that were now waiting and watching. “Those are my friends, my real family. They are also my grooms-people for the wedding on Saturday, but they all agreed to come here today to witness our wedding. Just the two of us.”
Chloe didn’t know what to say. As she looked out at the group, she noticed that they were all wearing yellow. The flowers were yellow and white with crisp green accents. The chairs had soft yellow ribbons that were dancing in the wind coming off of the water and there was just the sound of the waves. “You…” she choked and started again. “You did all this?”
“Yes. I wanted our wedding to be special. Something that’s just between us and not about Charleston society.” He paused and bent down so that he could see into her eyes. “Chloe, will you marry me?” he asked again. “Today? Just the two of us saying our vows together without all of the other crap that goes along with a society wedding?”
Chloe sniffled, trying to stop the tears. She loved this man! She truly loved him! She knew that he didn’t want her love. He was doing this for her connections, for the people she could introduce him to and make his headquarters move into Charleston smoother and easier. But this…she couldn’t believe that he’d done this. For her!
She glanced over at the strangers and…! “Emma?” she gasped, surprise in her voice as she looked over at one of the residence nurses who was holding Emma’s hand. Emma was also dressed in a filmy, yellow dress, her dark hair lifting with the wind. Chloe’s beautiful sister was standing there by the ocean, a huge, wonderful, excited grin on her lovely features. Chloe turned and looked up at Marco. “You brought my sister here as a witness?”
He shrugged. “I suspected that she’s the only family that you really care about. So, of course I arranged to have your sister come to our wedding.”
Chloe burst into tears, then threw her arms around Marco’s shoulders, so stunned and surprised that she could barely talk. For several long moments, she wept against his neck, her heart aching with the love that she knew she had to keep hidden.
“Chloe?”
Chloe lifted her head and stared into the dark, worried eyes of her sister.
“Oh, Emma!” she gasped, rushing over to her sister. “It’s so good to see you!”
Chloe and Emma embraced, but Emma’s smile was gone. “You’re crying! Marco told me that you’d be happy but you’re crying!”
