A Billionaire With Benefits

This was a repeat of that. It was something significant then. I’m just thankful, he told himself again and again. He was making a big deal out of a tiny peck on the cheek, something she wouldn’t even have felt. It was the last thing he wanted, to be bothered by a person who didn’t mean much to his life, a person who couldn’t give him something in return, aside from being bound by the contract. There was a slight regret to his thoughts.

I never regret, he thought savagely.

An hour after Mikaela boarded that flight back to California, Louisa called him up while he was in the midst of making a civil, yet angry email.

“Yes?” he said curtly.

“Bad day?” Louisa began.

“Yes.”

“We had Mikaela dropped off at the airport earlier.”

“Oh, thanks,” he said distractedly.

“I like her,” she pressed on.

“I’m sure you do. We all do. She did help Aunt Vicky.”

“Help? She saved Aunt Vicky.”

“Same thing. Where are you off to, now?”

“Oh, I’m waiting for Beatrice at the designer’s studio. She’s getting her dress drawn today or something. I told her to get something off the web but she wouldn’t hear of it.”

Justin found himself laughing. It wasn’t like they couldn’t afford a wedding gown. Hell, his budget for this wedding was sky’s the limit, even if he knew the Murray family would commit to half of the expenses. He just didn’t want them to. He had however, successfully persuaded Beatrice into making a prenup agreement.

“Let her be, it’s her wedding. Just wait for yours, then you can demand for what you want,” he told her.

“Justin, you don’t want her to get married, do you?” she suddenly said.

“Who told you that? Have you been eavesdropping on me and Mum again?”

“No!” she said in a shrill voice. “It just seems like it. I know you think she’s too young.”

“Of course she is. She hasn’t even finished uni.”

“She really is in love, and I hope I find someone who loves me the way Gregory loves Bea,” Louisa admitted.

He rolled his eyes a little but smiled. It was amusing to hear about his sister’s feelings. She was a romantic one, in fact all the women in his family was. Hell, his father wasn’t shy to show how he loved his wife, showering her with attention, kisses and embraces, gifts and vacations.

It was a love he had thought was ideal, something he couldn’t have with the women he was dating. There was a reason why he had never found the ideal woman. She was too ideal, some fantasy he hadn’t grasped yet. Perhaps Mikaela was the closest one to being ideal, but she was a far cry from all the women he had previously dated. She wasn’t cultured, she didn’t have connections, she barely had any sense of fashion until she met him and he brusquely commented on her style.

“You’ll find someone, Lou,” he told her.

“And you?” she teased.

“Not my time yet.”

“Because the tabloids say so?”

“Are you pressuring me to stay in a stable relationship right now?”

“No, but Mum isn’t getting any younger.”

“Please don’t remind me. Mum still looks fabulous for her age.”

“Honestly, Justin. We’d think you’d have settled down by now.”