Kisses for the Billionaire: Promised Kiss (David and Carrie Book 1) Page 2

  “Once it’s over we can leave.”

  It was his turn to nod and he plastered a grim smile on his face.

  “I just need to keep reminding myself of that,” he said.

  “That’s what I’m here for.” I waggled my eyebrows at him as suggestively as I could. I could only imagine how utterly unsexy I looked but David started to laugh and that was all I’d been aiming for.

  Holding my hand, he started down the hall towards the ballroom and I followed him.

  * * *

  We reached the ballroom as the announcer handed out the first award.

  David paused near the back of the room and I could practically feel the waves of discomfort rolling from him.

  He was usually so in control, and what others thought of him never seemed to matter. It was alien to see him so bothered by something, as he’d called it, ‘shallow.’

  I watched as men in tuxedos were called onto the stage, their self-satisfied smiles telling me that their winning of the awards wasn’t unexpected.

  “This year has been filled with sadness and loss for many of our members. And I’d like to take a moment to remember those we’ve lost.”

  I watched as pictures and names began to appear on the screen behind the announcer.

  David’s hand on mine tightened noticeably as soon as the last picture scrolled across the screen and I cast him a sideways look. His expression was dark and I could see the anger in his eyes.

  “And now, I’ll announce the winner of Business Owner of the Year, as voted for by our members of course.” The announcer laughed as though he’d told some sort of wonderful joke.

  “We need to leave,” David said, his voice coming out through gritted teeth.

  “But there’s still one more award to go,” I answered, turning to face him.

  “I already know I haven’t won, I don’t need to stay here and listen to any more of their crap.”

  He sounded so angry, so bitter. It wasn’t the David I knew and loved. There was obviously much more going on but I had no idea what it was.

  “I’d like to call Tomas Gunderson and David Ashcroft to the stage please,” the announcer said.

  I shot a glance back up towards the stage, the fake smile worn by the man handing out the awards making me uneasy.

  “They called your name, David,” I said, the confusion in my voice plain to hear.

  Clearly this was a world I did not understand and yet I was standing slap bang in the middle of it all.

  David’s jaw was clenched tight; the last time I’d seen him so worked up had been after his father’s betrayal. But that was long over and Henry was dead, and David had laid his demons to rest with his father long ago.

  Tension sang down in his arm and through his hand into mine. For something that should have been cause for celebration, David certainly wasn’t treating it that way.

  He released his grip on me and started for the steps that led up to the stage. I followed a couple of paces behind. I wanted him to know that, no matter what, I was there for him.

  He climbed onto the stage and the announcer reached out to shake his hand vigourously. Another man climbed onto the stage next to David. I’d never seen him before, but I could only assume it was Tomas Gunderson, the other contender for the award.

  “This is highly unusual. We’ve never had two people come so close together in the votes and for a little while I was beginning to wonder if this would be a tie. However Anthony, the head of the council, has decided to cast the deciding vote.”

  And older man stepped up to the podium, his grey hair catching the lights. He wore a simple, smart navy suit but everything about it screamed money and prestige. This was a man in control, and as I stared up at him from my position near the stage I couldn’t help but think that he looked a lot like Henry.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my great privilege to announce the winner of the Business Owner of the Year award.” Anthony paused for dramatic effect and I switched my attention back to David.

  He stood, his back ramrod straight and his shoulders rigid. He looked like a man on a razor’s edge. The grim set of his lips telling me he would rather have been anywhere but where he stood.

  “Tomas Gunderson!” Anthony announced, his smile lighting his face with a sort of sadistic glee.

  My heart ached for the man I loved on the stage. It was stupid to feel his loss so keenly and it wasn’t that I cared about the award, but it was the fact that David had known he wouldn’t win it. There had been something about it all, something that didn’t sit right with me. And if I were honest, it’d had the feel of a spectacle, but that didn’t make any sense.

  David turned and shook hands with Tomas, leaning in towards the other man and whispering something to him that no one else could hear.

  Tomas’s smile was frozen in place as he nodded at David and released him from his grip. But even from where I stood in the audience, I could tell from the hardening in his eyes that whatever David had said didn’t sit well with him.

  David made his way down from the stage, shaking the hands of those who crowded around him to commiserate.

  I remained in my place, studying him from afar as he moved through the crowd towards me.

  People clapped him on the back, commiserating with him, and their expressions seemed genuine enough.

  From where I stood I watched as Anthony approached David, their exchange cordial but cold. Anthony gestured for David to follow him and he did so without a backwards glance, leaving me alone to watch after him as he disappeared into one of the back rooms.

  I scanned the crowd for a familiar face but everyone was suddenly alien to me and I tightened my grip on my clutch bag.

  I started in the direction David had taken and had only made it a few steps when he reappeared, his blazing anger barely held in check as he searched the sea of faces before him.

  His gaze came to rest on mine and with a few quick strides he reached my side and the look in his eyes caused my heartache to spread.

  He leaned down and whispered against my ear, “Now we can leave.”

  “What happened back there?” I asked, but David shook his head.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  He started past me, his stride long enough that I practically had to run to keep up with him.

  “David, you’re not leaving already?” A voice cut through the noise of the crowd and I watched as David paused mid stride.

  Glancing back over my shoulder I watched Tomas Gunderson weaving his way towards us both, the same hard look in his eyes.

  “You haven’t introduced me to your beautiful companion,” he continued, with all the practiced smoothness of a man who was used to getting his own way.

  “I have an early start in the morning, Tomas. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was to congratulate you on the win. Which I believe I’ve done.” David’s voice was cold and curt and completely out of character.

  My gaze darted between both men as hostility choked the air.

  He turned his attention to me, and took my hand in his. “My name is Tomas. And you are?” His blue eyes raked down over my body, taking in my appearance. I felt his gaze close in on the imprint of David’s teeth on my neck and a knowing smile curled his lips.

  “I’m Carrie Ashcroft, David’s wife.” I gave him my best icy smile despite the heat I could feel spreading up my neck and into my cheeks.

  The announcement seemed to honestly take him by surprise and I felt a small measure of triumph as he reluctantly released my hand.

  “Wife? Ah, I had not realised you had married, David. I’d never imagined you would ever settle down to such a…” He trailed off and gestured with his hand, as though he were struggling to find the correct words and then continued, “Mundane existence.” His smile was far from friendly and his blue eyes had taken on an icy appearance.

  “I take it you haven’t found someone to share your life with then? No woman enough of a bimbo to tolerate your boorish temperament
?” David smiled as though that would be enough to soften his words but it was a predator’s smile and it only seemed to escalate the issue.

  Tomas straightened his shoulders and returned his gaze to my face.

  “I do so hope you’ve made the right choice by marrying him. I pray for your sake that he is nothing like his late father, because when I knew him they were both cut from the same cloth.”

  Tomas turned on his heel and strode away.

  David balled his hands into fists, his entire body rippling with unspent energy as he started to follow him.

  Placing my hand on the centre of his chest, I pressed him back, but it took all of my might just to gain his attention once more.

  “David, please, he’s not worth it.”

  “I’m supposed to just let him insult my family after everything that’s happened tonight?”

  “What happened tonight? You didn’t win an award, but you already knew you wouldn’t. I can’t help but feel you know more than you’re telling me.”

  “Don’t.” His tone was filled with warning, but as hard as I tried I couldn’t work out the reason for it.

  He dropped his gaze to me, the fierce expression in his eyes making me nervous. I hadn’t felt the same emotions around David since our first screwed-up date and my hand dropped away from his chest as though he’d burned me.

  “Even if you’re not, I’m leaving and going home to our son.” My voice was strong and for that I was grateful.

  Whatever had happened with the award ceremony and the situation on the stage, it had brought out a side to David that I wasn’t willing to deal with.

  If he wanted to behave like an idiot and be a sore loser then that was his business, but he would do it without me to witness it.

  I stormed past him, my heels clicking over the marble floor of the ballroom.

  How had it all changed so quickly? It wasn’t all that long ago that he had brought me screaming to orgasm. And now, from what I could see, because he hadn’t won a stupid award he was behaving like a spoiled child.

  I knew David and it wasn’t like him. As he’d already said, he didn’t care about such shallow nonsense, and yet something had obviously occurred.

  Chapter 4

  I reached the private car before David caught up to me and I climbed into the back seat.

  Marcus sat in the front along with the driver and I watched him shoot me a wide smile in the rear-view mirror before catching sight of David’s thunderous expression.

  “Close the partition,” David barked as soon as he was settled into the car.

  Marcus didn’t say a word as the blacked-out partition buzzed into place and sealed us into the back of the car.

  I folded my arms and turned my attention to my reflection in the passenger-side window. I tried to stare past the glass to the world beyond but the darkness beyond the window was so complete that I couldn’t see anything at all.

  “So you’re just going to ignore me then?” David said, his voice a little softer than earlier but it still held an edge.

  “I’m not ignoring you, I’m ignoring your behaviour,” I said, keeping my voice as emotionless as I could.

  “I’m not a child, Carrie. I’m not Jenson and I won’t be taught a lesson by someone who has no idea of what they’re doing.”

  His words hurt, but they were accurate. I had no idea about what going on. I wanted to understand but I also knew I wasn’t going to put up with his petty attitude.

  “Then tell me, instead of all the stupid secrecy, just tell me. I thought we were past all of this, David. I thought this kind of crap was behind us!” I turned to face him, anger causing my eyes to sting with tears.

  “Every year Henry would attend the gala and every year he would win the award of businessman of the year. Hands down he would beat out all the other competition.”

  “But you said yourself that it’s nothing more than a way to show off who has the most money, a shallow expression. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  David shook his head. “My father made a lot of mistakes in his lifetime, he did things I will always feel ashamed about, but the one thing he got right was business. Nobody else even came close and those bastards in there idolised him.”

  “David, I don’t understand…”

  “They played out a list of men who were members but who had passed away in the last year. Their pictures, names and achievements. Henry’s name was nowhere on the list…”

  “You think they deliberately left his name off the list?”

  “I know they did, and then to have me compete against Tomas Gunderson, it was just another way to knock the Ashcroft name down a couple of notches.”

  “David, why would they do that?”

  “Because they can, because they’re a bunch of petty pricks intent on running the Ashcroft name into the dirt.”

  I nodded and closed my eyes as I sucked in a deep breath. Part of me wished I still didn’t understand the situation, that I could continue to claim ignorance.

  The politics of the business world continued to baffle me. They were worse than a bunch of high-school mean girls, and yet they were supposed to be the leaders of the modern world.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

  “No, you assumed I was behaving like a sore loser over something so ridiculous.”

  “Well, can you blame me? What was I supposed to think?”

  “You’re supposed to know me better than that, Carrie, you’re supposed to be the one in my corner no matter what happens.”

  “And I am, but I don’t read minds and I certainly won’t stand for you taking your frustrations out on me.”

  That shut him up and I watched his expression change in the reflection of the window as he struggled to come up with something to say.

  “That’s not what I’m doing and you know it,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.

  “Do I? Because with the way you’ve behaved you could have fooled me. I’ve told you before that I won’t put up with any more of your brooding temper tantrums.”

  I was being deliberately provocative and I didn’t care. He needed to know that I was more than just a plus one on an invitation. I wouldn’t allow him to keep me in the dark all the time. We’d done it before and it had come very close to being the end of us.

  The car pulled up in front of the house and I didn’t wait for the driver to open the car door.

  Flinging it open, I hopped out and stormed up the front steps to the house, anger coursing through my veins.

  The sound of him racing up the steps after me as I pushed the door open and strode into the front hall had my heart racing in my chest.

  “I didn’t expect you back so early.” Isabel’s voice caught me off guard and I spun around to face her.

  She stood on the steps leading upstairs, an empty bottle in her hands and a quizzical look on her face.

  “Carrie!” David’s voice was filled with barely controlled anger as he raced in the door after me.

  “We left early, it was a little tedious,” I said, a smile on my face in an attempt to conceal the truth, but David’s entrance had piqued Isabel’s interest.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked, her curiosity unmistakable.

  “Is Jenson settled? Was everything okay?” I said, changing the topic as David came to a standstill next to me.

  His arm brushed against mine and I could practically feel the anger rolling off his body in waves.

  “Yeah, he was a dream, no issues whatsoever,” she said, her gaze darting back and forth between David and me.

  “I’ll have Marcus drop you home,” David spoke up. To anyone on the outside they would never have known that he was furious. It was one of his gifts, his ability to conceal his true feelings. But I knew what he was thinking, I knew the thoughts that raced through his mind.

  I was the one person on Earth that he couldn’t hide from and yet he still tried.

  “Oh, well if you’re sure. I could stay if you wanted me to…”
Isabel trailed off as I shook my head.

  “It’s fine, really. I’ll go up and check on Jenson,” I said, moving away from David.

  If he thought for one second that I was going to listen to his tirade as soon as Isabel was out of earshot then he had another thing coming.

  I could feel the heat from his gaze boring into my back as I crossed the hall and started up the stairs. Isabel didn’t say another word to me as I passed her on the stairs.

  * * *

  As I walked towards Jenson’s room I could hear David and Isabel’s voices from downstairs. Their murmured conversation made me smile.

  I could already imagine how David would be, his anger and irritation mounting as each second ticked by.

  But it was good enough for him, I was done with always being the one to pick up the pieces of some situation that went wrong. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair and I wasn’t going to stand for it any longer.

  Of course there was a part of me that felt for him. What they had done to him wasn’t right, it was downright pathetic on their part. I didn’t understand and I never would.

  Why take so much pleasure in wanting to tear down other people?

  Reaching the door to Jenson’s room I carefully turned the door handle and stepped inside. His nightlight cast a warm glow across the ceiling and the tiny animals that paraded around in circles made me smile.

  The tension I’d felt over the evening quickly melted away and my body slowly loosened. This was where I was happiest.

  It was a strange feeling. Before I’d met David I’d never pictured myself so content with domestic bliss, and yet here I was, staring down at my son’s beatific face as he snored contentedly.

  He was so unaware of the things that went on around him, so untouched by everything David and I had been through together and for that I was grateful. To think we had come so close to losing everything… To losing Jenson.

  Closing my eyes I swallowed back the emotions that welled in my chest. He was fine, safe and loved. I had nothing to worry about and the child I carried now would be the same.