Wild Billionaire Romance - Chapter 72: Chapter 72

MEREDITH
I sat beside Josef in the back of the enormous SUV, my hand clenched against the cool leather seats.
He was on the phone, making arrangements for our wedding and Franklin’s funeral simultaneously. Both of which were jobs I’d gladly allowed him to handle.
“Do you have your ID with you?” he asked.
“Me? Yeah,” I replied, glancing down at my scuffed handbag.
“Yes.,” he said to whoever was on the phone. “Prepare the paperwork and email it to me. I’ll print it on the plane. We will be at the airport in fifteen minutes.”
“Plane?” I asked, my mouth going dry.
“Yes. We’re flying to Las Vegas, getting married, and we’ll be back by tomorrow night. Did you want a wake and a funeral or just the latter for your father—stepfather?” Josef asked, his voice businesslike.
The way he said it made me wonder if he still didn’t believe me, but the truth was it didn’t matter.
It was the truth.
“Oh, um, I know he had friends who might want to see him. Maybe the VP of Gray Corps, ugh, Richard Hamilton. He called me after Franklin had the heart attack and I spoke to the lawyers,” I explained.
“But as for me, I really don’t feel up to a whole circus of a funeral or anything like that where he’s concerned.”
Josef nodded. Relief filled me he didn’t make me voice the real reason I would not be attending that man’s funeral.
“Alright,” Josef told me before turning his attention back to the person speaking on his cell phone.
“Tell the funeral director it will be a private affair. Yeah, he can tell the press the family will hold an exclusive service. No outsiders. Any mourners are welcome to visit the mausoleum afterwards. No, no flowers. And finish the report on Richard Hamilton for me. Yeah, I want a new contract drafted for him. Yep, him and all the managers and admins at Gray Corps. Today. I want it done today,” he said.
I exhaled, closing my eyes for a moment. Everything was moving so fast. It was barely one o’clock. The deadline for the loan had passed, but I guess my agreeing to Josef’s terms negated that.
He really was a sight to behold. This new Josef. But he’d always been the kind of man to step up and take over where it was needed.
Images of my stepfather ran through my head.
That time I’d disappointed him when I wouldn’t continue studying dance.
The time he promised to come to my recital, but never showed up.
The time I refused anymore of his etiquette lessons.
I always wondered why he seemed irritated by my presence when I was younger. The nannies he hired never stuck around more than a year or two.
I’d felt their pitying eyes on me when we celebrated Christmases and birthdays all alone in that cold house of his. Franklin was usually off gallivanting with his latest romantic entanglement or finishing some business deal.
The truth was, he was no kind of father at all. We never talked. He didn’t know me.
I had no one growing up.
When I was in my senior year, Franklin made one too many enemies. We’d received threats. The house had been broken into and my room was one of the ones ransacked.
The perpetrator had scrawled “the princess will choke on her cake” in red paint across my walls.
It was terrible.
A gross violation and invasion of privacy. For the first time in my sheltered life, I remembered feeling afraid.
Next thing I knew, I was told I would have a bodyguard shadowing me at school and at home.
God, I’d been so fucking mad.
It was bad enough being the only natural redhead in my entire school. I stuck out like a sore thumb as it was. I thought having some mercenary following me was going to be torture.
And it was. Just not the kind I’d expected.
My poor teenaged heart never stood a chance. Josef was this enormous man, tall, muscular, and devastating. He was so quiet at first. So serious.
I’d never wanted anyone the way I wanted him.
“Wait there,” Josef said, exiting the vehicle and snapping me out of my reverie.
I jumped, startled.
“Easy, Little Red,” he murmured, and I wondered if he knew he’d said it before closing his door.
I hadn’t realized we’d arrived at the private airport. Before I could regulate my breathing, Josef was there, opening my door.
The spicy scent of his cologne filled my lungs with my next inhale, and I swooned.
Goddamn, why did he have to smell so good?
I cleared my throat, wishing like hell that I had the right to lean into him and just breathe. I ignored his hand and slid off the seat, pretending not to see the way he clenched his jaw.
My feet dropped to the dusty asphalt, and I landed with a slight wobble.
I was still slightly off my game after fainting, but I appreciated the hospital slippers I still had on my feet.
High heels weren’t a possibility just yet, but I had mine in the small bag I’d brought from the hospital room.
“Oh, what about an overnight bag?”
“Everything you need will be waiting for you in the hotel room. I’ve already arranged it,” he said.
“You mean clothes and toiletries?” I asked, biting my lip.
“Yes. Toiletries, clothes, shoes, and if there is anything else you want, just ask.”
“But how would you know my size⁠—”
“You removed your things in the hospital, remember? I checked your sizes, but if something doesn’t fit, we’ll just order something else. Okay?”
I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased I didn’t have to deal with all that or pissed that he now knew my dress size.
I’d always been a curvy girl, but I was a helluva lot curvier now that I was in my thirties. Should I be embarrassed or ashamed?
I mean, it was stupid. He had eyes. Clearly, he could see me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, taking my elbow this time as we walked up the boarding stairs and entered the private airplane.
“Nothing. It’s just men don’t usually paw through my clothes,” I muttered, feeling ornery.
“First, I’m not men, Little Red. I’ll be your husband this time tomorrow. But you got that right,” he said, his voice rough.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that men won’t be pawing through your clothes or any part of you! Are you dating someone?” he asked.
Stunned, I had no idea how to answer. But I must have shaken my head no because he replied with a growly sort of hum. Like he approved.
“Good. Because even if you were, Meredith, it’s all over now. No dating. No guy friends. Nothing like that. And no fucking men pawing through your goddamn drawers. Anyone who tries it will lose their fucking limbs. I’ll see to it personally,” he growled, dragging me down the aisle before nudging me into a seat.
I sat down. Quietly.
What could I possibly have said to whatever the heck that was?
He sounded angry. Jealous even. But that wasn’t possible. And I wasn’t about to ask him to clarify. I just kept my mouth closed and squirmed a little in my seat.
I expected Josef to move to another row, but of course, he didn’t. And I supposed he was going to just sit there, broody, handsome as sin, and smelling exactly how you’d expect the hero of your favorite smuttiest romance novel to smell.
Spicy, Exotic. Masculine. Divine.