All of Me (The Billionaire Next Door Book 7) Read online

  ALL OF ME

  (The Billionaire Next Door #7)

  By Violette Paradis

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  © 2014 Violette Paradis

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and characters are a product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, places, or people is entirely coincidental.

  ~Chapter 1~

  “If Louis can’t fix it, then I’m afraid you’ll have to buy a whole new machine. I know it’ll be expensive, but you won’t be able to run your practice without it. Uh-huh… Mmmhmm… Okay. Not a problem. You too.”

  I hung up the phone and looked up. I was sitting by the fountain in the Jacksonville mall. Glittering but tasteful holiday ornaments decorated the interior of the mall, contrasting fiercely with the sun and palm trees which could be seen from the large windows and skylights.

  “What was that about?” Jason asked, startling me. He had gone into the sporting goods store while I took a call.

  “One of the followers of my blog. She’s from Miami. Her x-ray machine broke and she was asking for some advice on fixing it.” I furrowed my brow as I tried to figure out what Jason was hiding behind his back. “What’s that?”

  “You’re nosy.” Jason smirked as he tried, but failed, to hide two large stick-like objects behind his back.

  “Nosy?” I raised my eyebrows. “It’s not like you’re doing a good job of hiding those - whatever they are.”

  “It’s the holidays - you shouldn’t be asking me what I bought. For all you know, it might be a gift for you.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Only a fool would go Christmas shopping for his girlfriend with his girlfriend.”

  “I guess I’m a fool then.” Jason smirked and pulled the stick-like objects out from behind his back.

  “What are those?” I screwed up my face.

  Jason laughed. “They’re skis.”

  “Whats?”

  “Skis,” Jason repeated. “You strap them to your feet and glide down the side of snowy mountains with them.”

  “That sounds absolutely terrifying.”

  “Terrifying? No way. It’s fun! But you can find that out for yourself because these are yours.” He held the skis out in front of me. They were bright red, shiny, and incredibly intimidating.

  “M-mine?” My eyes were wide as I looked at the skis, making no effort to touch them.

  “Take them!”

  Without saying anything, I shook my head. My face was pale white. “When would I ever use those? I’m a Florida girl!”

  “Well, I thought maybe as a holiday treat we could head out west and hit the slopes.”

  “Hit the slopes?”

  “Yeah! Colorado has some awesome ski hills this time of year.”

  “But - I can’t ski.”

  “I’ll teach you.” There was confidence in his face and demeanor.

  “But - I’ve never even made a snowball. I’ve never even touched snow! The heaviest thing I own is a rain jacket.”

  Jason laughed. He put his arm around my shoulder. “That’s okay. We’ll get you what you need. Now if only there was a giant place which would sell us everything we needed.” He put a finger on his chin and looked up, as if lost in deep thought.

  “Jason.” I pushed him and he laughed.

  “Let me put these in the car, and we can shop for you, okay?” Jason held up the skis, which looked monstrously large and intimidating.

  Letting out a sharp exhale, I crossed my arms. “Fine. But don’t take too long or I might buy you a surf board.”

  He smirked and balanced the skis on his shoulder before heading off towards the parking lot.

  ***

  “You’re going to need this, this, and this.” Jason piled a winter coat, some gloves and a pair of goggles into my arms.

  “Goggles? What are we going to do - science experiments?”

  “They’re so you keep your vision clear, and so your eyes don’t get cold.”

  “So my eyes… don’t get… cold? You do realize I’m from Jacksonville, don’t you?”

  Jason smirked and his devilish eyes suggested that he was planning something naughty - evil even.

  “I want to get this Jacksonville girl out on the slopes. Oh! You’ll definitely need this.”

  He put some thick wool socks on top of the pile.

  I wrinkled my nose. “I’m pretty sure my grandpa used to wear those.”

  “Oh come on, you’ll look sexy in them,” Jason joked.

  Looking at the giant pile of stuff in my arms, I wondered if I’d be able to make it to the cashier without tripping.

  “You sure know a lot about this,” I said.

  “Skiing and hanging out in the snow was my life back when I was growing up in Montana. I can’t wait to get out in the snow again.” Jason looked at the rack of gloves and picked out a black pair for himself.

  “Sounds to me like you were a bit of a daredevil.” I looked at him and saw the reckless teenager behind his eyes.

  “Who says I’m not still?” He smirked as he grabbed the pile of stuff out of my hands. His eyes drifted down over my body, then back up. “You’re going to be the hottest snow bunny on the slopes.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “Snow bunny?”

  “That’s what they call someone hot like you.”

  I smirked. “Are you one too?”

  Jason thought about it for a second before his devious smile reappeared. “If it means we can do it like bunnies, then sure.”

  I rolled my eyes and pushed him away for the second time that evening before walking towards the cash register. As I walked away I couldn’t help but smile.

  After we paid for all our ski stuff, we walked through the mall. It was my first time really enjoying Jason’s new Jacksonville mall and it was comforting to see shops that belonged to old friends. As I walked by Ellie’s dress shop, I peeked in. She wasn’t there but I could tell the shop was doing well. The store was full of shoppers trying on dresses and getting fitted.

  Jason held my hand firmly as we walked through the mall and at one point he pulled me into a store.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Trying to figure out what you want for Christmas.”

  I eyed him skeptically.

  He picked up a large purse. “Here, what do you think of this?”

  “Oh, it’s beautiful!” I grabbed it and touched the material. It had that delicious new smell that expensive things had. Instinctively, I looked at the price. I immediately put the purse down. I was sure my face was whiter than Colorado snow because Jason looked concerned.

  “Are you okay? You look sick.” He touched my shoulder, keeping me steady.

  “This is crazy,” I said, looking up into his eyes. “Have you seen this?” I showed him the price of the purse. He looked at it as if he didn’t understand.

  “What’s wrong? I was going to get this for you as a gift.”

  I shook my head. “No, you can’t do that.”

  Jason furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

  “This is almost three month’s rent!”

  “Sophia, you don’t have to worry about money.” He took my hand, but I quickly retracted it, still in shock that a purse could be that expensive.

  “It’s not that.” I looked into Jason’s eyes. His lips were parted.

  Oh no.

  I realized that I might have hurt his feelings. He was trying to buy me a gift, after all.

 
“I just don’t think I’d be very comfortable carrying around such a valuable purse. It doesn’t make sense to me. If you want, we can go to that store and you can buy me a purse from there.” I pointed to a much more affordable store across the hall.

  “But I want to spend my money on you.” Jason held my hand in his.

  I tightened my lips and exhaled sharply.

  “Well, if you want to spend your money on me, spend it on something that will make me happy.”

  “Like?”

  “Like the vet from Miami - she needs a new x-ray machine and this would cover it.” I held up the price tag, careful not to touch the purse in case I stained it accidentally.

  “You sure?”

  I nodded. “A hundred percent.” I kept my eyes steady on him.

  Jason looked deep into my eyes before cracking a smile. “You really are incredible, you know that?”

  I smiled, knowing that Jason understood.

  Jason pushed a strand of hair back behind my ear. “If that’s what will make you happy - then consider it done.”

  “Really?” My eyes grew wide. “Oh, thank you, Jason! Thank you, thank you!” I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me. He rubbed my back and I inhaled the scent of fabric softener which lingered on his fitted sweater. The intoxicating scent riled me up for a few seconds.

  “Anything for you, Sophia,” he whispered into my ear. “Anything.”

  Reveling in the moment, I closed my eyes, deeply inhaling his scent until it was so ingrained within me that I could no longer smell it.

  “Anything?” I whispered.

  Jason pulled back and nodded.

  “Does that mean you’ll buy me some crispy chicken over at the food court?”

  Jason raised his eyebrow and cracked a smile. He shook his head and shrugged. “I guess I did say anything. Let me drop our bags off at the car and we can grab something to eat.”

  “By the time we leave, there won’t be any room left in the car for us!”

  “We took the limo,” he reminded me.

  “My point stands.”

  Jason smirked. “See you at the fast food court in ten?”

  I nodded.

  As soon as Jason was out of sight, I walked down the hallway towards a lingerie shop a few stores down. While passing it earlier, I noticed a black, see-through night gown that was very short and left very little to the imagination. Along with it, I bought a black lacy thong. After buying it, I discretely shoved it into my purse. The material was so small that it fit effortlessly - Jason wouldn’t suspect a thing.

  Merry Christmas, Jason, I thought.

  A few minutes later I met Jason at the food court, where we ate greasy, crispy chicken and I listened to him talk about work. The naughty woman in me smirked because I knew what I had in store for him.

  ~Chapter 2~

  Jason and I sat in his private jet as I looked out the window at all the snow coming down.

  “That’s a lot of snow.” My voice was weak and shaky.

  “Good.” Jason snapped his laptop shut. “That means the conditions will be just right once we land.”

  I swallowed hard and sat back in my chair, ignoring the severe peaks of the mountains looming just beyond the window.

  In order to distract myself, I checked the messages on my phone.

  “Holy-”

  My eyes grew wide, looking at all the new messages.

  Jason looked up at me with a question on his face.

  “My inbox - I must have over a hundred new messages!” I opened one.

  Sophia Fletcher,

  Thank you so much for your generous contribution. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to hire a new veterinarian for the New Year.

  Again, many thanks and happy holidays.

  - Jaclyn Nomar, Philadelphia

  I clicked on the next email - someone from North Carolina was also thanking me for my “generous contribution”.

  “I don’t understand.” I shook my head.

  “What is it?”

  “All these emails, they’re thanking me for donations. I didn’t make any donations.” I looked up at Jason with a furrowed brow.

  “Oh, right,” he said, as if remembering something that was trivial to him. “Remember when we were at the mall and you said you’d rather buy a new x-ray machine for that woman from Miami than get a new purse?”

  I nodded. “Yes…”

  “Well, after seeking her out and buying the machine, it didn’t seem like enough. So I sought out all the clinics and shelters associated with your followers online and donated a sum to each and every one of them.”

  My mouth dropped.

  “It’s pretty neat,” he continued, smiling slyly. “You have followers from each state.”

  “You - you donated money to a clinic in each state?” I looked at him in amazement. “Including Hawaii?”

  Jason nodded, a proud grin on his face. “Clinics and shelters. You have a lot of followers!”

  I opened my mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say. “Jason, I’m speechless!”

  “I just thought, hey, why not. It’s the holidays, right?”

  I shook my head. “Jason, you’re insane.”

  “Thank you?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “No, what I meant was - this is crazy! I hope you didn’t go over-budget or…”

  Jason laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Sophia. I wanted to donate to those places. I want to do good things in the world, like you do. Now that I’m with you, there’s nothing that money can buy that will satisfy me the way you satisfy me.”

  It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

  “You do realize you said that while flying in your private jet, right?”

  Jason nodded. “The irony is not lost on me. Champagne?” He held up a bottle.

  I giggled and shook my head. “No thanks.” I let out a sigh. “Thank you, Jason, truly, from the bottom of my heart. This makes me happier than anything else you could’ve given me. All the people and animals you’ve helped - thank you.”

  Jason grabbed the armrest which jutted out awkwardly between us and lifted it up so that he could shift closer to me, holding me in a tight embrace.

  I kissed him on his soft lips, and he touched my cheek with his delicate fingers.

  Pulling back, I looked up into his dark, sparkling eyes. “Now all I have to do is figure out what to get you.”

  “No pressure or anything.” He chuckled.

  “Hmm, what to get the man who has everything?” My eyebrow shot up as I surveyed him.

  Jason laughed and pulled me in tighter. His lips grazed my ear. “All I want is you.” He pulled me in tighter, kissing me softly.

  Lucky you, I thought, losing my fingers in his hair. Little did Jason realize that he would have me - all of me.

  ***

  Not fifteen minutes later, the small jet landed and a car shuttled us to the chalet where we’d be staying. In my head I was preparing the sequence of events that would follow - we’d settle in, Jason would make us drinks as I changed into my naughty lingerie, then I’d seduce him. But as the car followed the curvy road up the mountain I couldn’t help but get distracted.

  “Are you okay?” Jason asked.

  I nodded, but there were snakes squirming in my stomach. The mountains were much taller from this point of view. I looked out the window up at the menacing peaks.

  “Hey,” Jason put his arm around me. “I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?”

  I gulped. “But what if I hit a tree, or trip over my ski? What if I’m too cold?”

  Jason laughed. “None of those things are going to happen to you, okay? I’ll teach you how to ski without hitting a tree or tripping. And I’ll keep you warm.” His deep voice reassured me. “Okay?” He looked deep into my eyes. I nodded. He hugged me tighter. “I’ll take good care of you.”

  The car pulled up next to a large chalet built of warm-colored wood. Through the windows I could see a warm fireplace. Just th
e sight of those orange flames made me feel warm and cozy already, despite the fact that I was still standing out in the snow where large, fluffy flakes fell from the sky, dusting me in snow.

  Jason handed the driver some money and before I knew it, the car was gone. I gulped.

  Here we were, alone on the mountain.

  I smiled and my momentary anxiousness eased up. There was something sexy about being alone out here.

  “Come on.” Jason took my hand and we took large, careful steps through the deep snow up to the chalet. Once we were there we hit our boots against the door frame and shook off the excess snow.

  Looking around the inside cabin, I was amazed at how spacious it was. Windows on all sides showed off the beautiful mountain ranges in the distance and the warm wooden architecture absolutely sparkled under the gleam of the fire. A hot tub sat on the far side of the room, looking out towards the view, and on the opposite side of the room was a bar where several people sat.

  Several people?

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “Ellie?”

  My best friend turned around with a wide grin on her face. “Sophia! You guys made it!” She came rushing towards us with her arms open, ready to give us each a big hug.

  “But - how is this happening? Why are you here?” I looked beyond her at the other people at the bar. Ellie’s tall, dark-haired boyfriend Ty sat at the bar drinking what looked to be a glass of whiskey. Next to him sat a man and a woman. I searched my brain for their names, because I recognized them. The man was tall and bearded, and I remembered him interviewing Jason when we were in New York City. What was his name? Simon! Simon Trotman. And the woman was - oh my. My heart stopped. Was it? It couldn’t be - it was…

  “Sophia, you remember Simon.”

  I nodded as I put my hand out to shake his.

  “And this is Julia.”

  “Julia Stein,” I said, with wide eyes. I was sure my mouth was hanging open. “Wow, what a pleasure.” I put my shaky hand out and shook hers, a little bit too enthusiastically.

  “Likewise,” she smiled, as if this happened all the time.

  Julia Stein was the It girl in Hollywood.

  “Your performance in The Heart Beats Again was simply amazing.”