Her Forbidden Billionaire

The both of them giggled. “Don’t think that I forgot you!” Veronica said and went to her purse. She brought out a rectangle-shaped box wrapped in red and green.

Raina with shaking fingers tore the ribbon and opened the box. It revealed the same lingerie she bought Veronica.

They looked at each other and laughed whole-heartedly. How could the both of them buy the same present?

“I thought that you, too, should have some action during the holidays,” Veronica managed to utter between laughs. She wiped her eyes while the other hand held her stomach. Again a booming laughter escaped her lips and the both of them laughed some more. They were absolutely crazy.

Eventually, Veronica left and Raina was left alone with a wide grin as she closed the door. She sat on the sofa and took the computer into her lap. She browsed through Dean’s profile. He was, understandably, a star with more than ten thousand likes on his pictures. All of his pictures were equally amazing and she found out that he often posed with girls. The comments revealed that he was a favorite among the girl population. But all of that was in vain since among all those people, he didn’t have anyone to celebrate Christmas with. It was sad. She put down the lid, putting the computer on sleep mode.

She watched some TV and read a few chapters of a new book she picked up and decided that she liked it before going to bed. Snuggled under the blanket, she felt her heart pacing. It was from excitement for tomorrow. Yes. Definitely.

It felt as if right after her eyelids shut, they opened and it was morning. Raina guessed that it was from tiredness and running across the streets the previous day. She looked at the cell’s screen to see the clock. It was 10 a.m. That lifted her spirit at once as she stood up with a smile, put on some coffee and went to the bathroom to have a shower.

Humming Santa Claus is coming to town, she spent two whole hours to make her look the best. Finally she stepped barefoot on the living room floor dressed into a red button-down shirt and white pants.

Almost simultaneously, her cell rang. The screen read ‘Dean Franklin’. She had put him in her short contacts list.

“Hey.” She picked up.

“Hi, Raina. I just called to tell you that I am in town. There were some delays at the airport, but I am here. How are you?” His rusty voice sent goosebumps again down her spine.

“Amazing. I expected your call.”

“Well, I wanted to check if you are home. I am not the type of guy who appears on your door uninvited.”

Raina giggled. “Sure. I’m home, if you want you can stop by.”

“I don’t want to bother you so early, you know. I will check into the hotel – I am feeling a bit of jetlag, but everything is going to be okay. Can you please tell me the address of your apartment once more?” He asked, pleasantly.

“Yeah, absolutely.” She told him her address. “I hope you have some nice rest and I am expecting you for dinner.”

“Definitely. And please don’t pain yourself with preparing so many meals. I am fine just to have someone to talk to,” he said and that made her heart melt in a blend of pity and sadness. He was such a dear.

“Leave that up to me. See you tonight,” she spoke in a warm tone.

“Okay,” she sensed that he smiled. “See you.” They hung up.

Raina honestly didn’t know how she would spend the rest of the day. She turned up the volume of the radio and went into the kitchen to prepare the meals for the dinner. Looking at the stuffed fridge, she couldn’t make up her mind what to do. After much thinking she decided for the first course to go with an apple and celeriac soup together with a roasted squash and beef carpaccio. Then for the actual dinner she opted for the turkey with baked potatoes and other vegetables around it for aroma and a better taste. The dessert really gave her some headaches, but in the end while she sliced the apple for the soup, she remembered to serve some pudding on the table, just as the Christmas song suggested, and a special Christmas ice cream sundae.

All of that promised to occupy her whole day, but she knew that it would be worth it in the end. This was the ultimate Raina Christmas dinner and it represented a true challenge for her. However, nothing was impossible with the help of some good music. The speakers were set on the loudest mode as she sang her heart out while putting everything into dishes or pots or pans.

The hands of the clock were spinning like mad, but Raina didn’t even notice them. Standing in the kitchen all the time and sometimes taking short breaks to bury her head into the screen on her cell, she didn’t witness the change of the light outside.

It had been a chilly day. Typical for the season. However, the thing Raina wanted most to happen on Christmas Eve was snow. She wanted it to snow so badly that it wouldn’t be possible to walk on the streets. She wanted to spend the holidays watching the small snowflakes dance their way to the ground, each and every one of them unique, special and unlike any other.

Suddenly, the song on the radio ended and the DJ announced that it was seven on the dot. At first Raina couldn’t believe that, but her cell phone or her laptop couldn’t lie. It was indeed night outside. Luckily, the dinner was almost ready. Only the ice cream remained.

Pulling off the apron she hurried to take another shower. She didn’t plan to smell of oil the whole night. Although she was supposed to smell like that. It was dinner, for God’s sake, not a date with Dean Franklin, but apparently that didn’t make a difference to Raina. As she was going to her bedroom, she stopped to look at the city outside. It was dark. Night had settled in. There were very few cars outside. Everyone had gone home to have dinner with their families. The city was unimaginably beautiful during the night. The whole chaos and hastiness of the day gave way to peace and tranquility. The tall, massive, black buildings were the silent witnesses of the whereabouts of the citizens, carefully observing the everyday routines of the people who looked like ants with their small lives. Lives, which they held onto tightly and looked at them as the most important thing. Small soft lights blinked outside as Raina stepped into her bedroom and opened her wardrobe. Her eyes scanned through every clothes hanger, through every shelf. The outfit choice was as vital as the dinner itself.