RULES OF LOVE (A Navy SEALs Romance) (31 page)

“You want to be surprised,” Amy said, laughing.

“Maybe so. I just don’t want to get to know him like that or I won’t go to this event at all. Besides, his voice is intimidating enough.”

“You spoke to Nick Saunders? Did you tell him about the error? Please tell me you didn’t because I’ll kill you if you did.”

“I called him.”

“What!”

“Relax. I didn’t leave a message. I mean, I called the number on the card. It was his private cell phone, so I froze up. I didn’t know what to say.”

“Good thing you didn’t make a fool of yourself! That man dates rich-ass girls. He’s probably used to girls who have gone to etiquette schools or whatever.”

I didn’t speak. She was right. He was used to polished girls, and I was nowhere near polished. Then again, she could be wrong. Mr. Rich from the deli didn’t seem to care if I was polished.

“The most I know about etiquette was from my Girl Scout experiences. How am I going to pull this off?”

“By being you,” Amy said, then continued scrolling on her phone. “So I’ve been checking out your date online.”

“He’s not my date,” I said.

“Well, he’s my computer screensaver. He’s that cute.”

“Eww…Amy! What is wrong with you? Maybe you should go to this ball.”

“Maybe. But I’m not as elegant as you, Sara, and I couldn’t pull it off.”

Amy, with all her confidence and assertiveness, had a way of putting herself down that I didn’t really like. But everyone had their faults and that was hers.

“You know that’s not true, Amy,” I said, turning to hug her. “If you went to the ball, you’d knock the pants off Nick Saunders, so yes, maybe you shouldn’t go.”

Amy smiled. “He’s really cute. Better than you’d ever imagine. Brown, sexy eyes that can see through you. Strong and powerful, but also very arrogant.”

“Sounds like your guy.” I was being sarcastic, but I was still laughing. I had no interest in getting to know him anymore, but my remarks opened up the flood gates for Amy. She began to recount every detail she read online about Nick Saunders. I heard about his business shrewdness, his playboy hobby, his million girlfriends, his favorite food, his workout regimen, and other countless details she remembered.

“He sounds like God sent him as a gift to women,” I said dryly when she finally ran out of breath.

“Gosh, Sara. You’re the only girl in the world who could be so lukewarm about dating a billionaire.”

“I’m not dating him. The real Sara Nolles is. I’m the fake one, remember?”

“Fake or not fake, you’re the Sara who’s going to be there. Make the best of it.”

“Yeah,” I said, unsure. I was tired of talking about Nick Saunders. “Can we please go find me a nice dress and get some lunch? I’m Nicked out.”

Thirty minutes later, we found the perfect dress, a red strapless that framed my waist and flattered my curvy hips. Red was a color I would never have thought of wearing, but with Amy’s persuasion, I tried it on and knew it was the one. If I dared to wear the necklace, it would be perfect. I glanced at the dressing mirror as I played with taking my hair up and out of the way. I looked good. Really good. With a nice pair of shoes and decent makeup, I’d pass for more than the maid. I might actually look elite and all that. A couple more rounds at the stores and we were able to find some silver, sleek but comfortable heels and a matching silver bag.

NICK

The doorbell woke Nick up the next morning at seven. Normally, he wouldn’t have been the one opening the door, but given the fact that he had given most of his staff the day off, he had to get out of bed. Besides he knew only one person in the world who would wake him up that early – Zia. He walked down the stairs slowly, half-dressed, his head clouded with thoughts of Sara. The doorbell persisted and he took the stairs two at a time.

“Geez, Zia. What the hell?” he asked as he opened the door to let his sister in. She looked perfectly groomed for that early in the morning – a pink pants suit and heels, and makeup as well.

“Good morning, brother,” Zia said, smiling wildly and pushing past him into the foyer. “Did I wake you up?”

“What do you think? Why can’t I ever sleep around here?” Nick asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Sleep is overrated. Besides, if you had a permanent woman, you wouldn’t be sleeping now, you’d be fucking her.”

“Oh my God, Zia, you’re so filthy. How do men ever date you with that mouth?” Nick asked with a smile. “You’re worse than me, and I know women find me vulgar sometimes.”

“You, vulgar? Maybe in bed, but you’re hardly the big bad wolf,” Zia said as she kissed her brother on the cheek and pushed past him. “Get over yourself.”

“Zia, you do know I’m a grown man, right? You may be the older one, but that doesn’t give you the right to barge into my house whenever you want.”

“Come on, bro, chill. It’s not like you have a woman upstairs. Or do you?” She looked past him, pretending to look for someone upstairs. “I don’t see anyone, so I guess you’re by yourself again.”

“Zia, you do know what privacy means, right? It’s something I deserve and something you have to work on giving me,” Nick said.

“Sure, I will. Right after I go over some paperwork with you. Why the soreness anyways?” She dropped her bag on a nearby table and sank into a couch. “Are you going to sit with me or what?”

“Well, can I put on some clothes first? As you can see, I’m half-naked,” Nick said, rubbing his eyes again and pointing to the fact that he didn’t have a shirt on.

“Eww. Please go put on a shirt. I don’t want to see all that,” Zia said. “You should go to the gym more often.”

“Are you jealous?” Nick grinned, trying to flex his muscles. “I guess your men don’t look this good.”

“You wish. Nick, you’ve got nothing on my men. Pity how those girls you hang out with don’t see you’re not all that. I guess money does talk.”

Nick smirked at her and flexed his muscles again. “You’re simply jealous.”

“Whatever. Please put on a shirt and stop acting like your God’s gift to women. I’ll be waiting down here. Make it fast. I have a date waiting for me.”

“In your dreams,” Nick said, giggling as he went back to his room to change into some day clothes. A few minutes later, he came down with some sweats and a tee-shirt on.

“Much better, bro,” she said. “Now, can we talk some business?”

“This early?” Nick said, frowning. “Can’t it wait until later?”

“Why would I be here this morning? Booty call?”

“Ewww, Zia. That’s so disgusting,” Nick said, wrinkling his nose.

“Exactly. It is disgusting. Can we focus on business? I have a date.”

“Sure, if you say so,” Nick teased. “I wonder who the unlucky man is.”

“Nick Saunders! You better watch your mouth. I can still whoop your ass, you know,” Zia said as she hit her brother playfully on the chest. “Can we please discuss the preservation and the ball?”

“She said please! The mighty Zia said please,” Nick grinned. “Sure.”

“Seriously, Nick. You’re full of it. But luckily for you, I have business on my mind,” Zia said as she pulled some papers from her bag and laid them on the table. The atmosphere turned from jovial to serious as Zia shuffled papers.

“I really wish we could maintain the preservation without this ball. It is stressful,” Nick said.

“Yes, it can be, but it’s a good way to get everyone who is someone to care about something bigger than themselves,” Zia said.

“Did you reach out to the state again? Maybe they might be interested in acquiring the property?” Nick said.

“I’ve already been in touch with everyone that matters, and the general consensus is that if the state gets the land, we might as well say bye bye to that land the way God intended it to be. The state will turn it into a mall.”

“Sad,” Nick said. “Well, a mall is not going to work. We might as well keep doing things the way we’ve done them for years.”

“That’s the plan,” she said as she pulled binders out of her bag, each binder color-coded. She was incredibly organized when it came to financial matters. Anything else just fell by the wayside for her. He chuckled as he imagined what kind of life she would have had as a homemaker thousands of years ago.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, not wishing to get into an argument with her. She always claimed that if she ever had to make a home, she’d be just fine.

“I think we can find ways of reducing expenses next year so we don’t have to depend so heavily on donors,” Zia said after a moment of silence. “I don’t know how much longer our donors will be this generous, especially if they have nothing to gain from it. At a point, we might need to reconsider our options.”

Nick didn’t say a word. He knew what she was referring to. They had discussed letting go of the preservation that had been part of the family for centuries. But Nick would never let that happen, and Zia knew his opinion of it but occasionally still pushed it. The preservation, which was a few thousand acres, was tucked away in the Shenandoah valleys of Virginia. It had been in their family for years, just like Saunders Empire had been a family legacy from his great-grandfather. A few years ago, the man they had trusted with managing the preservation embezzled the money they had entrusted in his care, and as such, they ran a risk of running down the preservation.

This was their third year raising funds by leveraging their contacts and marketing the fundraising as a way to preserve nature for generations to come. The people on his guest list usually had so much money to donate they didn’t even care to know where the preservation was located.

Now Sara was on his guest list, and he didn’t want to tell his sister that she might not be getting ten million from her.

In that instant, Nick felt bad. He hadn’t thought what inviting Sara meant to the preservation he cared so much to protect. The dinner was strictly for twenty people who always gave them at least ten million dollars. They didn’t always have the same guest list every year because they didn’t want people feeling bothered about donating, but each of them was responsible for inviting ten guests guaranteed to give a hefty donation.

When he had invited Sara, all he cared about was seeing her again and being in her company. He hadn’t given her ability to donate much thought. Sara was going to cost him ten million without knowing it. He didn’t mind paying her donation in secret, but if Zia found out, she’d eat him alive. Nick knew enough not to get on Zia’s bad side. She would bite his head off, even in public.

“Oh, I’m looking through your guest list, and I recognize most of the names, except this one.” Zia pointed to a name on the list.

He didn’t have to look to know who she meant, but he wanted to play it safe until she said something. “Who?”

“Sara Nolles?”

“Yes, Sara. She’ll be a good donor. I met her some time ago. I think she’s someone we want on our side.”

Zia looked at Nick in a way that told him she knew he was lying, but she didn’t press it. That was the other good thing about Zia; she knew when to back down and Nick loved her even more for that. Zia let the topic drop and moved on to the rest of her agenda.

After discussing a few more details about the ball –food, flowers, seating, agenda– things that Nick didn’t care much about, Zia announced she was ready to leave.

“Well, I’ll see you at the office tomorrow,” Nick said.

“Hopefully you’ll be able to concentrate better,” Zia said, winking at him.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked. “The fact that I don’t care what roses we use for decoration doesn’t mean I’m inattentive.”

“That has nothing to do with anything, Nick. I know you very well. I dare say maybe there’s a girl on your mind,” Zia said.

“Well, maybe you need to mind your business,” he said, smiling at her.

“You’re getting defensive. You always get this way when you’re after a girl you can’t have.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“You know exactly what I’m saying. Whatever girl you got on your mind is screwing with it. You barely heard half of what I said now. You need to fuck this girl and get over with it so I can plan this ball.”

“Zia!”

Zia had already risen and was heading to the door. Nick walked behind her again, letting his little sister take the lead as always.

SARA

The rest of the week dragged on, and Saturday couldn’t come fast enough. I went to work every day, hoping Mr. Rich would show up, but he never did, to my disappointment. Maybe I should have been nicer to him. He truly seemed to be a decent guy, even with his Rolex and limo.

In the evening after work, I played dress up, trying on my dress a million times. It was still as perfect as the first time I’d tried it on. My shoes fit perfectly even though they were a tad bit too high and sexy for me. And the diamond necklace looked fabulous with it. Sadly, I knew I couldn’t wear it. It was one thing accepting someone else’s invitation, but I could not accept someone else’s present. I would simply return the box to Mr. Saunders on Saturday and thank him for inviting me to the ball. And if the real Sara Nolles showed up, I’d slip away.