Besting the Billionaire – First Epilogue

One year and six months later…

Weddings. When romance, passion, and unbelievable floral arrangements are everywhere. When emotions run high. When taking a risk on love seems especially poignant and right…

Easiest time in the world to get laid. 

If Alexi was interested. Which he was. 

Desperately. 

Especially since this was the first time he’d get to touch Lily as his wife.

“It’s time for you to get the hell out,” he growled.

Eaton and Morales didn’t even blink. 

“Invitation didn’t specify an end time.” His CFO tapped his toes to the big band beat while Morales listed violently from side to side in what was probably meant to be a sway. The man was way more graceful when actually pummeling someone. 

“Yes,” agreed Alexi, “but if you go, others will get the message and leave, too.”

“Good point.” Eaton stayed where he was. Morales, too.

Assholes. 

Lily had been so busy since her company, the newly renamed ARM enterprise—short for Armageddon—had taken off, his time with her had slowed to a drip. 

The board had turned into a bunch of whiny babies, always wanting to meet to discuss the latest plans, hear the latest profit numbers, get a glimpse of what she had planned next. Personally, he thought they were even more annoying now that they’d embraced her as their CEO, but Lily was thrilled. 

She seemed to like meeting with them. 

He’d tried like hell to harden her, but she really did seem to want them to be happy with her. 

Especially after they’d put together a special press conference and stood with her while she spoon-fed the press about her past. Of course, they’d spun it just right and the media had loved it. Rags to riches, victim to shark, and all that bullshit. It was the kind of publicity you couldn’t buy. Lily’s name recognition and that of the company’s had gone through the roof. After that, even the last of the naysayers on the board had had no choice but to shut the hell up.

Which was good, except that it meant more of her time eaten up with work. 

She was determined to honor Anastasia and Lena’s birthright by making the company into something truly extraordinary. She’d placed a plaque honoring the Orlov name and its history in the lobby of her building— the one Lena had once ordered defaced—and had pictures of the two women, as well as Lena’s parents, hung in a newly designed gallery. 

Which touched the hell out of him. 

But his wife’s determination also sucked, since he was a greedy bastard who just wanted to spend his life holding the woman who’d turned his world upside down and changed everything. 

Hence his impatience for the wedding to end and the honeymoon to start. 

“Better smile,” taunted Morales, his lips turning upward in a scary replica of a grin, “your wife is looking this way. If she finds out you’re trying to throw us out she’ll slap on that fake smile and start hissing in the sexy drawl so fast your head will spin—and I’ll love every minute of it.” 

His security guard was now his wife’s number one fan. 

Turning, Alexi found her easily, even in the crowd. 

As always, the sight of her hit like a punch to the gut. Just like that first time.  

Dressed in a simple white gown that hugged every gorgeous curve, she was magnificent. Inside and out. Brilliant. Smart. Ruthless. And she was his. 

Finally. 

Lily Bennett Kazankov. 

More precious, more essential, than anything else in his life.

His wife. 

They’d agreed to wait a year to marry out of respect to Russell. Then Lena had gone into serious decline and their focus had been on making her comfortable. She’d died six months ago—not ever having totally forgiven him, but resigned—and the reality of that loss and his failure with her still seared his chest like hot coals. 

Still, she’d done a lot he could never fully forgive, either. Turned out Russell hadn’t so much tricked her into signing away those properties as she’d signed them over in a desperate bid to gain his love. But those lies paled into comparison to her attempt to harm the woman who was his everything. Still, despite all that, he’d loved that snarky, tough old woman. Always would. 

For that reason—and the fact that Lily was with him one hundred percent of the way—he’d done everything humanly possible to honor her and make her death as easy and painless and dignified as possible.

And when she died, he’d walked into Lily’s arms and lost himself inside her love. 

Then, she’d called his friends. They brought vodka and gotten shit-faced drunk.

Because family and redemption happened where you made it. And he’d been lucky enough to find both where he least expected. 

Across the room, Lily turned to give someone a hug and Alexi hid a grimace. 

Jim. More family. 

Russell’s family. But, as Lily had made clear, her kin, too. 

So Alexi dealt.  

Because there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his woman. 

Their eyes locked from across the room, that familiar electricity crackling between them. 

Which was the only reason he might have flinched slightly when a voice sounded right at his shoulder.

“Your wife sent me over.” His wife’s old assistant, Jessie, was still changing her hair color every few months, but now she ran her own marketing division within ARM enterprise and, from what Lily said, was only getting started up the corporate ladder. “She said to quit scowling.” 

“Done.” Gaze still locked with his wife’s, he smoothed out his expression, ignoring the obnoxious snickers of his friends. It was kind of nice though how Eaton choked for a second on the cheese puff he’d stuffed into his mouth. “Anything else?”

“Yes.”

He braced himself. It was their wedding day, after all, and it wasn’t exactly a hardship just watching her, especially since she was sexy as hell looking back at him, chin tipped upward, a challenging half-smile playing at the corners of her mouth. He could be patient. He would be patient. Later, he’d strip her bare and ravage that smart mouth while he drove deep and…

“She also wondered why you hadn’t kicked everyone out yet?” reported Jessie. “She’s ready for some one-on-one time with her husband.”

Even now, his ex-rival continued to surprise him. 

Yanking the cheese puff from Eaton’s hand, Alexi roared, “Everybody out.”

He was striding her way in the next heartbeat. 

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