Billionaire's Forced Love Read online

  She moved little away from him, but he came closer again! Finally, she turned towards him and looked him hard in his blue orbs which shone with amusement.

  He just shrugged in response still looking at her, provoking her to do or say something.

  Kara wanted to get away from him, but it was not possible at the moment. She couldn’t get closer to Amelia because she would also move away. If it was any other occasion, she would hold Amelia’s hand.

  All this time, Amelia was busy looking at the screens for her order.

  “It is such a hard choice. They are putting me in tough situation. I want to eat everything, but I can’t. What should I do, Jasper?” she said in dramatic way and turned towards Jasper with puppy dog frowning face.

  He smiled at her actions, “Why don’t you ask Kara? She would help you to decide,” he tried to be an arbitrator once again.

  Amelia looked at Kara for a brief moment then turned back to screen when Kara was about to say something.

  “No, it is fine. I know what I want to eat,” she punched her order on the touch screen and stepped aside.

  “Your turn,” Amelia said.

  Kara went to the screen half-heartedly. She was about to tap on her meal when she smelled an overly familiar cologne. This made her step back, and she collided with a hard wall; it was not wall but Jasper who also startled with her sudden movement. His hands went to grab her. When he touched her, she turned around looking here and there as if she was finding someone, as if someone she knew was there. There he saw emptiness; her green eyes void of any emotion seemed distant and lifeless. Her face turned pale, and lips trembled. He felt the shiver that ran through her body.

  A wave of nausea hit her, and she stepped away. Coming to her senses she walked to a customer and asked for bathroom. She could not have an episode of her breakdown in front of a huge crowd. She couldn’t afford any gossip article in tabloids! Being a daughter of a wealthy business tycoon and mourning fiancée of a world-famous author had their drawbacks.

  She walked in bathroom and luckily there was no one, she thanked her lucky stars for the privacy. She dropped to her knees in front of toilet, and then reality hit her. She smelled his cologne; he was here. But it was impossible. How could he? No, it was her brain that was playing tricks with her. She was fighting a mental battle.

  She started heaving. Someone grabbed her hair gently, and stroked her back calming her. Hand seemed small and soft.

  She didn’t vomit, and it was a little relief. After few minutes she calmed a bit and turned towards the person who was helping her.

  Upon seeing Amelia there, her tears started falling down on their own accord. A little sob escaped her lips. Amelia’s face fell when she saw her sister’s condition, her eyes also glistened with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. She had to be strong for her sister.

  Amelia cupped Kara’s face in her hands and wiped her tears with her little thumbs.

  “What happened, Kara?” she sounded worried and her voice was shaken.

  Kara was about to say something when a series of sobs shook her body and Amelia hugged her sister tightly. It was painful for her to see her bigger sister like this, but she knew it was not going to change anytime sooner.

  A couple of minutes later Kara composed herself and straightened. She gave a week smile to Amelia and got up before going back to washbasin.

  There she started at her reflection in front mirror and cringed. She looked bad, puffy red eyes were gave away that she was crying her heart out.

  Amelia came nearer and placed her hand on her lower back, staring at her in the mirror.

  Kara was about to say something when door opened and three women entered, and this made Kara to shut her mouth; however, she knew she’d to talk to someone, and at this moment she only trusted Amelia. After all, Amelia had seen her at her worst.

  The women noticed them and they had this I-know-what-you were-doing look on their faces.

  One of them approached them and asked if she were okay.

  Unable to answer her question, Kara remained silent, but the blonde woman was being adamant to get some answer.

  “She is fine, just having a bad day. You know, girls get all emotional over everything when they are pregnant,” finally Amelia spoke and the women’s eyes widened.

  Kara gave Amelia a pointed look to keep quiet, but damage was done. She told a complete stranger about her pregnancy. She didn’t know how it was going to end. Being famous was not easy.

  “Congratulations,” blonde said.

  “Thanks,” Kara gave a week smile, and took Amelia’s hand and went out of the door.

  When this night is going to end, she thought.

  CHAPTER 9

  The D-day had come, and Kara was ball of nerves. Few life altering events had happened since when she went McDonald’s with Jasper. First was when he gave her the engagement ring the same day, and that was their last encounter. Kara would be fooling herself if she said she didn’t miss him. But that brute didn’t call her once.

  The second event was that press got to know about her marriage; seemed like Amelia’s slip in McDonald’s bathroom was seriously big. The girl she spoke to was actually a journalist, and that explained that why she had a strange look on her face when she found out that Kara was pregnant. And media made all sorts of stories about her, William and their child. She didn’t release any press statement, and the paparazzi were not leaving her alone. Her grandparents’ mansion was now surrounded by these journalists, and they were traying everything to get inside for scoop. Thanks to the tight security, no one had been successful yet. The consequence of this was that she locked herself in her home, and she worked from home these last three weeks. She had finished illustrations for Maya Simone, and the first edition of her book was set to release in a week and Kara was expected to attend some of the events to explain the thoughts behind her illustrations, and she was not ready to go in front of public yet because she knew the conversation will shift to her personal life.

  The third event was that Kara started receiving all sorts of flowers from an admirer, and a familiar scent was always sprayed on those which had triggered so may dark memories. And those flowers were not from Jasper, she was sure about it. When she received those for the third time, she instructed her staff not to deliver those to her, but throw in dustbin every time. But the damage was done, she started having nightmares, and her insecurities came back. She was back to square one. Nobody knew she was disturbed, not even Amelia. She couldn’t make herself to drag her little sister in this mess again; it was her fight and only she was to fight it.

  Kara was almost ready, her makeup and hair were done. She only had to put her dress on. Kara didn’t like this dress much but she had no other choice. Since she decided not to go out of her house, she bought this dress online, and asked one of her designer friends to come over to her home to alter it.

  She was about to pick the dress when Amelia entered, “Kara, how do I look?”

  “You’re the prettiest little girl,” she looked at her sister and replied with a smile.

  Amelia came inside the room sipping cranberry juice, she was wearing the same dress she bought from Lauren’s Boutique.

  “Thanks,” Amelia giggled a little. She was on cloud nine that her favorite couple was about to get married.

  “This dress has the best fall. See, it twirls beautifully,” she twirled to demonstrate it, but this caused her to lose her balance and the juice spilled on Kara’s wedding dress.

  Loud gasps escaped from their lips.

  “I’m so sorry Kara, I didn’t mean to do it,” Amelia’s voice shook a little.

  At that time girl’s mother entered the room, and when her eyes landed on the dress, she rushed to them. She took the dress carefully and she stared dabbing on the juice with towel which was already on the bed.

  But dress was ruined.

  “This is a bad sign. Where would we arrange new dress from. Wedding is going to start in an hour. What co
uld be done now? It is impossible to get a new dress in an hour. Amelia, you should’ve been more careful. Why you were drinking this juice in the first place,” Maratha Smith started rambling and scolded her youngest daughter.

  “Mom, it was an accident. Don’t say anything to her. I’ll find something else to wear. Any white dress would do, and I have so many,” Kara came to Amelia’s defense.

  “Actually, no. it is my fault, and I will fix this. Just wait here,” Amelia said and hurried out of the room.

  Martha sighed and sat down on bed. She held her face in her hands, and her shoulders sagged.

  Kara sat beside her and side hugged her.

  “Don’t overthink, mom. Everything is fine,” they sat like this for a while.

  Martha straightened and took Kara’s hand in hers, and shook her head slowly, “this is not fine Kara, and I’m pissed that why God is doing this to my girl. You deserve happiness, hon,” she said in trembling voice.

  Martha hugged her.

  “Don’t cry. You’ll ruin your make up,” she said in light voice to ease the tension as the last thing Martha wanted was to upset her girl.

  This made Kara chuckle a little.

  Inside, Kara was mess. Ruined wedding dress was another sign that nothing was fine. She felt as if this was the way of God to tell her not to hope. One more shock, she would faint. Things were too much for her to comprehend and handle.

  She couldn’t ponder over her thoughts as Amelia entered the room, and she had a bag in her hand. The bag was not much surprising, it was her big mischievous smile. She definitely had some solid solution.

  Amelia gave the bag to Kara, and she took it with a confused look.

  “What is this Am?”

  “I don’t know. Open it and see.” Amelia tried to be serious but her expressions said some another story.

  “Why do I feel like you know everything,” Kara said in light tone while opening the zipper of the bag.

  Kara sucked in breath, she felt like as if her emotions were squeezing the her heart when she saw the same wedding dress which she tried in the trial room with Jasper.

  She liked this dress, but it didn’t fit her. But the question was, who bought this dress ; Amelia or Jasper. And she was certain it was her soon-to-be husband, but she wanted to be sure.

  “Who bought this?” she asked her sister with the tone overwhelmed with emotions.

  “I don’t know; it was in my room, and ask the person who gave it to me,” Amelia shrugged.

  “You don’t know. And the dress was in your room, and some person gave it to you, right?” Martha asked, still not understanding what was happening.

  “Yes, absolutely right, mom.” Amelia replied in not-so-sure tone.

  “You’re a terrible liar, Amelia. This not how lies work.” Her mother smiled at her, and Amelia scrunched her nose when she understood her slip.

  “Amelia, tell me the truth, now,” Kara spoke.

  “Okay fine. It was Jasper who bought this and I gave your measurements to him. He got this dress a week ago. He also wanted to give it to you on the same day, but I requested him not to because I wanted to surprise you! This was my idea.” Amelia giggled a lot and flopped down on bed with satisfaction.

  “You mean to say, you spilled this juice on purpose?”

  “Yup, sissy, and it was worth the trouble because I know you loved this dress, and hated that one.” Amelia replied gesturing towards the ruined dress.

  “Wow, he is a good man, he’d take care of you, Kara. Just give him a chance.” Martha said while caressing the fabric of the new gown.

  Tears brimmed in Kara’s eyes, and she felt happy after so long. There was someone who cared about her likes and dislikes. She didn’t expect that Jasper would do anything for her since he didn’t call her after that day. He didn’t come to her rescue when media was harassing her over the wedding.

  “No Kara, don’t cry otherwise you’ll ruin your makeup. We don’t have much time, ceremony is going to start in less than an hour. Besides, Jasper has zero skills at make-up,” Amelia teased.

  Her comment made everyone giggle. Kara dragged her sister off of the bed and hugged her tightly.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “It’s okay Kara. Go and put it on,” Amelia untangled herself and ushered her to the bathroom.

  “Now you may kiss the bride,” said the minister.

  Kiss was the part; Kara was dreading the most. It was not an uncomfortable thought but she felt excited to have this. A part of her yearned it, and that terrified her because her conscious was making her ashamed.

  An hour ago she was stressing about her ruined dress, but now she was about to kiss her husband to seal the deal. Whole wedding ceremony went well, and Jasper smiled at her when she appeared at the door. It was a genuine smile. His eyes raked over her body, not in lust but with admiration. He seemed content seeing her in this wedding gown.

  Assuring her father that he would take care of her, he took her hand and made her stand beside him. During the ceremony, he kept her hand in his, squeezing from time to time–to assure her– when he felt she was getting anxious. This small gesture was enough to melt some of the ice around her heart. All the insecurities fled away.

  Saying ‘I do’ didn’t seem forced. The words rolled on their own as if they were meant to get married all along, whereas a few weeks ago she was requesting the same man to call this wedding off.

  Jasper turned towards her. He lift her veil and Kara looked in his blue eyes which shone with a different feeling. In that moment, she felt hypnotized.

  He cupped her chin and leaned down, his other hand went to her waist. Jasper tilted her head a little and brought his face closer to her. He brushed his lips on hers, and a jolt of sensation went down her spine. Jasper also experienced this.

  He, then, grabbed her upper lip in his and put some pressure, as a reflex action Kara’s lips sucked his lower lip. For a couple of seconds–which seemed like hours– they remained like this. The hand with which he cupped her chin, moved to her nape and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss. He started sucking her lip, he darted his tongue and Kara opened her mouth to give him access. The moment his tongue touched hers, a low groan escaped from his mouth. Kara’s arms encircled his neck and stood on her tip-toes, her body instinctively coming closer to his. He explored insides of her mouth boldly. Although Kara was trying to be bold by stroking his tongue with hers, her strokes were rather shy and inexperienced. This was the type of kiss she never experienced; William never kissed her like this.

  A loud cheer of crowd brought them back to the reality. It was shocking for both, that how one kiss made them to forget all about the guests. Kara’s cheeks reddened with crude blush, but Jasper seemed unaffected. He glanced towards the guests and flashed a charming smile. He didn’t step away from her, but he kept her in his arms, and she was thankful for this because her legs had turned to jelly. She would’ve fallen down if he had let her go.

  Jasper turned towards her, and smiled at her. This made her smile as well. The leaned down and joined their foreheads before his eyes.

  “Congratulations, man,” a masculine voice made him stand straighter. One of his two best-men greeted.

  “Thanks, Arron,” Jasper replied with a smile.

  “Kara, this is Arron Matthews, and he is Ethan Reynolds– my two best friends slash brothers of honor and best men,” Jasper stepped aside still keeping her close, and he introduced the two muscular and tall men to his wife.

  “Hey,” he said– unsure what else to say.

  “Congratulations, and welcome to the family,” Ethan said with a slight nod.

  “Thanks,” Kara replied.

  “Congratulations,” a cheerful voice got their attention. Amelia walked towards them with a little jump in her walk. She came closer and spreading her little arms she hugged both Kara and Jasper at the same time. And the couple also hugged their biggest fan.

  Then other guests came and congratulated the couple including
their parents. Amelia kept standing with them. She smiled every time they got a wish and blessing.

  “I’m so happy,” she sighed when everyone congratulated them. The newlyweds were back to in company of both Aaron and Ethan.

  “Of course, she is fangirling you,” a male voice came from a little distance. All turned to the source of the voice, it belonged to one of Jasper’s cousins: Noah Fox, who just turned seventeen two months ago.

  “She just talked my ear off with her fangirling talk. After every ten seconds, she was awing and oohing with some cheesy lines, and I was one step closer to shut her mouth with a duct tape,” Noah replied.

  “Jasper, please keep your cousin away from me or I’ll paint his face.”

  “And how’d you do this? You’re a little pixie and I’m bigger than you.”

  “Hello, don’t you see? My sister just got married to Jasper, and that makes me his sister as well, so my wish is his command. Plus he got two best friends who can easily pin you down. You don’t stand a chance against three.” Amelia smirked at him.

  “And also, most of the ladies are carrying make-up in their purses, so I won’t have to go anywhere to get the paint.” She air-quoted the word ‘paint’.

  Everyone was taken a back, and it was amusing to see a twelve year old girl threatening a seventeen year muscular guy.

  “Keep on dreaming, he is my cousin. He would never do that,” Noah tried to reason with her, but the expressions on the men’s faces told him that he was alone in this.

  “You want to try it?” Aaron asked with a challenge in his tone.

  This made Noah shut up, and Amelia giggled while placing her hands on her waist and tipped her head proudly.

  Jasper dragged Noah towards him, and encircled his arm around his neck squeezing a little, “don’t bother my sister, or I’ll beat you. Understood?” he said in soft brotherly tone.

  “Fine, I’ll not bother her today,” Noah struggled a bit to get away from his hold.

  Jasper let him go. Noah straightened his suit when a plate fell on floor and everyone turned towards the noise.