Free The Billionaire's Ball: BBW Billionaire Boss Erotic Romance (Vivian's Desire) by Fiona Wells Page B

devour the second entrée the waiter had brought to the table.
     
    The masquerade was scheduled for tomorrow night. It was supposed to be one of the big events to kick off the maiden voyage and passengers had been required to either purchase special tickets before the event or receive them complements of the Captain, whom she knew had personally gifted a pair to Alex. It wasn’t only due to the company’s investment status; they were old friends from boarding school. She wondered if she could get any funny stories out of the Captain about Ben, who had attended the same school a few grades below them.
     
    Unless that’s when he started with his old womanizing ways. Ew. No thank you. She drained her wine glass and politely asked for a refill. 
     
    As the cute young waiter filled her glass with a sneaky glance at the cleavage peaking out of her dress neckline, she let her gaze roam across the crowd. A familiar unnerving grin greeted her and she whipped her head back to the portfolio with renewed interest and a disgusted groan.
     
    Alex had noticed this time though. His eyes darted over towards the man from earlier and she saw him clench his jaw tightly.
     
    “Is he the one that creeped you out earlier?” perhaps her boss was more perceptive than she gave him credit for. She nodded with a groan.
     
    “I hate creeps.”
     
    “He’s from a rival company.”
     
    She jerked her head towards him. “What?” her hoarse whisper summoned a few curious glances from the nearby table.
     
    “He’s a scammer. A lower man on the totem pole sent by his scheming bosses probably. It’s not unusual, to be honest. Rival companies hear about your investment and rush to get in on it,” he said with a shrug at the last bit. “Jokes on them though. Our investment is largely due to the Captain being a family friend.”
     
    “You went to boarding school together, right?” she asked. He nodded.
     
    “Yeah, we’ll see him tomorrow night. He’s a great guy. He’s the one who introduced me to Adriana. We played lacrosse together.”
     
    Oh, lacrosse. Of course, they played lacrosse at boarding school. She held back a sarcastic quip as he leaned in and lowered his voice.
     
    “Just please try to never be alone with that guy. I don’t trust him. He gives off a bad vibe.”
     
    “You don’t have to tell me twice,” she promised.
     
    What was the likeliness that she would ever be alone with him? She and Alex parted ways on their floor. She checked the hallway before entering her suite and immediately locked the door behind her.
     
    Her suite was small, but elegant. She ran a grateful hand over the soft comforter of the bed. Her fingers slid underneath the pillow where they ran across something hard. She yanked herself upward and pulled the pillow off the bed.
     
    There was a small box wrapped in black paper and red ribbon. A tiny cream tag was tied onto the ribbon. She ran her eyes over the scrawled handwriting: “For my little love.”
     
    Ben! She tried to be patient taking off the bow since it was so beautifully done, but soon she was ripping off the paper. Underneath the wrapping was a white jewelry box. She lifted the lid.
     
    “A key?” she asked aloud. It was a small golden key, the kind that looked like it was used to unlock antique chests. She ran a fingernail over the glittering object. It rested, a comforting weight, in her palm.
     
    Why on earth had Ben sent her a key? The ship groaned slightly and she looked out of the window into the darkness of the night. The waves of the sea were a lullaby that she couldn’t resist. She fell asleep in her dress on top of the bed with the key resting in her tight grip.
     
    She may not have had Ben near her physically, but it was enough to know that he was thinking of her.
     
    It was around midnight that she suddenly awoke to the frigid air conditioning gone unchecked. She rolled off the bed to turn it off, but stopped suddenly.
     
    Shadows of footsteps had