ALL THAT HE WANTS (Volume 1 The Billionaire's Seduction) (22 page)

I don’t think he’d looked at me that intently the entire… um… 16 hours I’d known him.

…if you don’t count the last time we had sex.

After I was finished, he walked over to me, put his arms around me, and pulled me in tight.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” I said, and leaned my head against his chest. I could hear his heartbeat – a deep, powerful pulse that made me feel comforted and safe, and at the same time made my own heart speed up.

I would have given anything just to stay there for hours, nestled protected in his arms.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said into my hair. Then his voice changed, and I could tell he wasn’t talking to me anymore. “That being said… I don’t think it was anything to worry about.”

That got Johnny
all
wound up.

“Don’t brush this shit off, man. He knew Lily was staying with you – he was obviously keeping tabs on you – ”

“She was in the penthouse cabana,” Connor said in a
Come on, gimme a break
kind of voice. “Not only that, but the whole staff knows she’s staying with me.”

I blushed a little.
Great.

“And as far as threats,” Connor continued, “that was about as mild as they come.”

“Of
course
it was mild – if we caught him, all he has to say is that he wasn’t
threatening
you, he was just pissed off and telling you to be
nice
.”

Connor grinned. “Maybe he was.”

I pulled away from his arms. “Are you saying that was
nothing?”

I was a little frightened he was treating it so cavalierly – and I was a little pissed, too. It had scared the hell out of
me,
that was for sure.

He put his hands softly against me face as he looked into my eyes, and I felt my fear and irritation melt away.

“No, I’m not saying it was nothing. I know it was scary, and I’m sorry you got pulled into it. It’s just… this sort of thing happens a lot. People trying to spook me. It doesn’t mean anything, because nothing ever happens.”

“Bullshit,” Johnny snapped. “You know what happened at Davos.”

“Johnny,” Connor warned. There was something dark and steely in his eyes.

“What? What happened at Davos?” I asked fearfully – and then, a bit more confused, “…uh… what’s Davos?”

Connor grinned. “Little town in the Swiss Alps, hosts the World Economic Forum. There was an incident two years back when I went there… a kook with a gun. Johnny took care of it.”

“Damn straight I took care of it,” Johnny seethed.

“And I appreciate that, I do – ”

“He wasn’t a kook, either.”

“Can we talk about this later?” Connor asked, though it was a lot closer to a command.

“What about your father?” I asked.

“What about him?”

“You said he was kidnapped five years ago in Mexico.”

“
Yeah,
” Johnny said, like a kid getting backup in a playground fight.

Connor sighed. “With him, there was no warning, there were no vague threats beforehand, it was a straight-up snatch and grab for cash, that’s all. No thugs in sunglasses, no kooks with guns.”

“That doesn’t diminish this,” Johnny warned. “Would you at least wear the bulletproof vest?”

My eyes bugged out. “You have a bulletproof
vest?”

“It’s nothing – it goes under a shirt – I wear it sometimes when he’s being too much of a nag – dammit!” Connor wheeled on Johnny angrily. “Thanks for freaking her out, asshole!”

“Don’t be mean to Johnny!” I snapped.

“Yeah, don’t be mean to Johnny,” the bodyguard smirked.

Connor rolled his eyes. “
Fine.
We’ll eat lunch up here. Is that okay with you?” he asked Johnny mockingly.

“Connor, this isn’t something to take lightly – ”

Connor cut him off. “If this guy is such a threat, what are you going to do about him?”

“I already talked to Pete. I’m going to go look at the security tapes, see if I can get a picture of him.”

“Pete?” I asked.

“The manager,” Connor explained, then turned back to Johnny. “Alright, well, why don’t you go do that, and Lily and I will have lunch up here.”

“You promise you’re not going to go pull some crazy dumbass stunt, like disappearing on me?” Johnny prodded.

“I promise.”

Johnny grumbled, then relented. “Fine.”

He started for the door, then turned back to Connor. “Oh, Lily was upset because she couldn’t pay the waitress for her Bloody Mary.”

Connor looked at me with a grin, like,
Is that so?

I frowned. “I didn’t want her to get stuck with the tab.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get stuck with the tab,” Connor reassured me, amused, then fluttered one hand at Johnny. “Shoo, shoo. Go make the world a safer place.”

“I get no respect,” Johnny muttered to himself as he let himself out of the penthouse.

Connor looked at me. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m
starving.
”

“Me, too, but… um…”

“…yes?”

“I
really
need to call my roommate Anh.”

While we were waiting for the breakfast to arrive – the ordering of which I left entirely in Connor’s hands – I dialed Anh’s cell from the phone in the penthouse bedroom.

She answered on the second ring, hesitancy in her voice.
“…hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good, because AAAAHHH!”
she screamed,
“I am going to KILL you!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry – ”

“I thought you were DEAD, or in the HOSPITAL or something! I called you four times and texted you, too – GOD, Lily!”

Anh is usually the most mild-mannered girl in the world. She must have
really
been worried to react this way. I immediately felt sick with guilt.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry – ”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?!”

“I left it at work.”

“Why’d you leave it at work?!”

“Um… it’s complicated…”

“This had better be good.”

I thought about saying,
Well, is sleeping with a billionaire good enough?
but I thought that sounded golddigging and skanky… so I toned it down a bit.

“Well… I met this guy…”

There was silence on the other end.

Then she laughed.

“Yeah, RIGHT. No, really, what happened?”

“Excuse me,” I said haughtily, “I could have met someone.”

“Where, in the crazy afterhours club that is the 23rd floor of Exerton Consulting? No, really, what happened?”

“Um… actually… yeah, that
is
where I met him… well, I guess, technically I met him in the lobby, and then we went up to the 23rd floor…”

More silence on the other end.

“You’re SERIOUS,”
she said, astounded.

“Yup.”

“HOW?!”

“I’ll tell you later. I just needed to let you know I’m okay.”

More silence.

Then she whispered,
“Did you do it?!”

“Anh!”

“OH MY GOSH,”
she squealed,
“you TOTALLY did it! OH MY GOSH! Wait – are you at his place?”

“Um… sorta kinda…”

“Then why does my phone say the Dubai Hotel?”

“Uh… ‘cause that’s where he’s staying…?”

More silence.

“You had better start from the beginning and tell me everything,”
 she instructed.
“And I mean EVERYTHING.”

I winced. “I can’t… I’ve got to go… but I promise I’ll – ”

“Lily, oh my GOSH I am going to KILL you – you can’t just run off and have mysterious sex with some mysterious stranger and not – is he mysterious?”

“Kind of, yeah. Actually, pretty mysterious, yeah.”

I could almost hear her swoon on the other end.

“Is he cute?”

“You wouldn’t
believe
how cute.”

She squealed.
“You have to tell me EVERYTHING!”

“When I get home, I will, I promise.”

“Are you coming home soon?”

“Um… I don’t know.”

“Are you coming home TODAY?”

“I hope not.”

“Oh my GOSH, Lily, I am so freakin’ jealous!”
she squealed, though I could tell she was happy for me. Then she turned somber.
“You’re being safe, right?”

“YES, Mom,” I said, though I felt a pang of guilt because, no, I wasn’t, not really – and by that I mean condoms, not bald thugs in sunglasses.

“Fine. Just… come home safe, okay?”

“I will.”

“If for no other reason than I have to hear how the hell you, Lily Ross, did something as crazy as shacking up with a mysterious cute guy you met last night.”

“I’ll tell you everything, I promise.”

“Okay… thanks for calling.”

“I’m sorry I made you worry.”

“Yeah, YOU’RE going to be the one buying the Haagen Dazs for a month after this crap.”

“Deal,” I said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay… have fun!”

“I will,” I grinned, and meant it.

We had breakfast by the penthouse pool, just Connor and me. Johnny had gone to talk to the manager about surveillance tapes and see if he could identify Mr. Clean.

The spread laid out on the white linen tablecloth and expensive china was magnificent: eggs, bacon, every type of fruit imaginable, croissants, pastries, a pot of fragrant coffee, carafes of freshly-squeeze orange juice and ice-cold milk…

…and a piece of sourdough toast, a cup of strawberry yogurt, and a Bloody Mary.

“I made sure they brought your favorites,” Connor said as he tucked into a massive helping of bacon and eggs.

“Ha ha,” I said without laughing as I crunched into the toast.

He gave me a mischievous smile. “Those
must
be your favorites, seeing as how you could have ordered anything
on the menu and you still chose those.”

“I didn’t want to freeload,” I said, taking a sip of the Bloody Mary. “By the way, thank you.”

Mm. Nice.

It was probably entirely psychological, but I could feel my hangover begin to recede.

“You’re welcome. And it’s not freeloading, it’s letting me do something nice for you. I
like
doing nice things for people I care about.”

I blushed slightly at the
People I care about
part, and my heart pitter-pattered a little.

“You’ve done plenty of nice things for me,” I murmured.

“I meant besides orgasms,” he grinned.

The slight blush turned into bright crimson.

He continued to stare seductively into my eyes. “And you’ve more than returned
those
nice things – ”

“SOOOO, who was that guy?” I said loudly.

He grinned at my discomfort – and then decided to let me off the hook. “Who knows. A disgruntled shareholder. A disgruntled former employee. A disgruntled something or other.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

“I know this is hard to believe, seeing as you probably don’t have to deal with assholes making vague threats against you on a daily basis – ”

“Other than Herr Klaus?” I said, and immediately regretted it.

He laughed. “Herr Klaus? That’s what you call him?”

“Yeah.”

“It fits. Yes, besides Herr Klaus, you probably don’t have too many assholes making threats against you, whereas mine are legion. That guy was a piker. He might as well have been threatening to de-friend me on Facebook. You should hear what people say about me in
board
meetings.”

“You’re on Facebook?” For some reason that surprised me.

“Somebody somewhere in one of my organizations runs it for me,” he said, waving a fork. “It’s for publicity more than anything else.”

“You weren’t there, though. He was creepy.”

Connor reached across and took my hand. “I’m sure he was, and I’m sorry you had to go through that… but his tactics were strictly Bad Guy 101. No, not even that – Remedial Bad Guy Basics. Bad Guy For Dummies.”

I giggled a little in spite of myself, then made myself stop.

“I want you to be careful,” I insisted.

He used a finger to cross his heart in an ‘X.’ “Promise. I’m just sorry you didn’t get to enjoy the pool while you were down there.”

“I like the company at this one better.”

He smiled, and looked down at the robe still tightly clasped around me. “Are you going to open that up and get some sun, or what?”

I hesitated… mostly because I was self-conscious of my body, and nervous about exposing myself to him out here in the unforgiving daylight… but then I untied the belt, shrugged my way out of the robe, and let it stay under me like a slipcover over the chair.

His eyes moved up and down my body, pausing especially long on my breasts.

I blushed a little. The bikini top felt even smaller than before, and I could almost feel him caressing me with his eyes.

I liked it.

I liked that he was looking at me, openly, lustfully.

He certainly wasn’t interested in his breakfast anymore.

I sat back, rested my hands on the arms of the chair, and let him look some more.

His eyes moved up to mine and tried to hold there – but he kept darting a quick glance down at my breasts, my legs, then back up to my face.

I could feel myself getting very turned on.

Especially when he shifted, crossed his legs with one ankle on his thigh, and rummaged in his pocket, as though rearranging something.

He’s getting turned on, too,
I thought, and the idea that
I
was the one responsible made me feel more confident – and even more turned on.

“I have to say,” he murmured, his voice hoarse and thick, “I’m glad you kept the robe on downstairs.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, my voice almost a whisper.

“Because I want
this,
” he said, gesturing to my body, “all for myself.”