How to Seduce a Billionaire (14 page)

“I don’t know,” Sally said, looking a little puzzled. “She seemed to be concerned about not being here when you showed up.”

“Not being here?” Now it was Brandon’s turn to be puzzled. “Why wouldn’t she want to be here when I got here?”

“She said that she wasn’t part of the family, so she thought it best if she left.”

“What?” he said in disbelief, then muttered, “Well, that’s dumb.”

“Is it?” she asked.

“Okay, Mom, what are you getting at?”

“We talked about this before, Brandon,” she said. “I thought we were in agreement. But now I have to ask you, are you involved with Kelly?”

“Why? What did she say?”

Sally rolled her eyes. “She didn’t say a word, but she seemed uncomfortable sticking around. And you didn’t answer the question.”

“Come on, Mom, let it go.”

But his mother gave him “the look,” and he capitulated.

“Okay, fine, but it’s not like we’re really involved. We’re just having a good time.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Sally shook her head. “I don’t think Kelly is that kind of girl.”

“You’ve said that before,” he said, rubbing his jaw in frustration. “I’m not even sure I know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. She’s not as sophisticated as most of the women you date. She doesn’t know the rules of the game like those women do. Kelly’s sensitive and sweet. She wants to meet a nice guy and fall in love and settle down. And we both know that’s not you.”

“Hey, I’m a nice guy.”

She patted his arm. “Yes, you are, and I know you wouldn’t hurt her deliberately. But if you don’t stop seeing her, you’re going to break her heart.”

Trish gave birth to an eight-pound baby boy at two o’clock the following morning. They named the baby Tyler Jackson Duke. Despite the late hour, Adam passed out cigars to his brothers and the whole family celebrated with champagne and apple juice for Trish. Brandon snapped a picture with his phone and sent it along with a text message to Kelly, announcing the birth. A few hours later, he received a two-word message back from her. “Congratulations, Uncle!”

So at least she was communicating with him again, Brandon thought with relief. He decided not to press her any further, knowing he would see her on Tuesday, less than two days from now. By then, she would be long over Roger and back to being her old self. Then she and Brandon could talk about a few things. Meanwhile, as long as he was in Dunsmuir Bay, he’d planned a busy day for himself that centered on finding new and creative ways to spoil his brand-new bouncing baby nephew.

Ten

T
uesday morning, Brandon walked across the wide terrace toward his office, amused to find he had a spring in his step. He knew where it had come from.

Kelly would be back in the office today and he was really looking forward to seeing her again.

But when he walked into the office, she wasn’t at her desk, and he felt a trickle of panic seep down his spine. He ruthlessly shoved the feeling away. It was no big deal. In fact, it was still early. She would be here any minute.

He walked into his inner office, took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his door. Sitting at his desk, he pulled up his calendar to study what was in store for the week. Meetings, conference calls and the start of organizing the move back to headquarters in Dunsmuir Bay. The brief visit home over the weekend had reminded him just how much he missed his family and all the amazing advantages there were to living on the California coast.

It was a full ten minutes later when he finally heard Kelly walk in. A part of him he hadn’t even realized was tense began to relax.

“Morning, Kelly,” he called. “Come on in when you’re settled.”

“Okay.”

A few minutes later, after starting the coffee and powering up her computer, she walked in.

Brandon looked up and started to grin, then felt his mouth drop open. She was dressed in an old, dull gray pantsuit with a black turtleneck underneath. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore the thick horned-rim glasses he thought she’d destroyed.

“What happened to you?” he asked before he could stop himself, then quickly shook his head. “I mean, did you lose your contact lenses?”

“No, the glasses are just easier,” she explained. “Now that Roger’s gone, I thought I’d go back to wearing some of my more comfortable outfits. This looks okay, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, stymied by her decision.

“Good.” She hesitated, then sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “We need to talk, Brandon.”

“Okay, let’s talk,” he said, and watched her take her glasses off and fiddle with them nervously.

Studying her, he realized she looked even better than ever, without any makeup on. True, those pants she wore were too damned baggy and the color did nothing to complement her complexion, but Brandon knew that underneath all that material was a stunning pair of world-class legs. The sudden image of her naked thighs caused his groin to stiffen instantly. With a silent groan, he wheeled his chair closer to his desk to mask the problem.

She took a deep breath and finally started talking. “Don’t be angry, but I have to thank you.”

He scowled at her. “I thought we’d agreed you wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it,” she said. “Just let me get through this, okay?”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

“Okay.” After another deep breath, she said, “First, I have to thank you for helping me prepare for Roger’s visit. I think you know what I mean by that. And second, thank you for coming to his hotel room door when you did. Your timing was perfect and it was nice to know that you had my back while I was in there sparring with Roger.”

He grinned. “Right. You’re welcome.”

“Good,” she said with a nod of her head. “I’m happy to say that I’ve kept my original bargain not to fall for you, and now I’m ready to go back to life as we knew it before my ex-boyfriend’s name was ever mentioned in this office.”

“And what does that mean, exactly, Kelly?”

She refused to meet his gaze as she clutched her hands together in her lap. “It means, you know, we’ll no longer be sleeping together.”

“Sleeping together.”

“Oh, you know.” She looked up and her smile was shaky. “Not that I didn’t enjoy every moment, I really did. You know I did. But…I’m sorry, Brandon, it’s time to end things, once and for all. It was wonderful, but I’m…so sorry.” With that, she bolted out of the chair and walked briskly out of his office, closing the door behind her.

As he watched her go, he pondered her words. Part of him was highly dissatisfied with her decision not to continue with their sexual arrangement.

On second thought,
all
of him was dissatisfied. Hell, he wanted her right now. Even in that ugly suit of hers, she was hotter than any woman he’d known in a long time.

Leaning his elbows on the desk, he thought about his next move. Maybe he would let her stew for a few hours, then ask her to have dinner with him tonight. A great meal, a few glasses of wine, and he was confident they’d end up back in his bed again.

His mother’s words suddenly echoed in his brain. Damn, that was the problem with having a conscience. He knew Sally was right. Kelly was sweet and sensitive and deserved to find love some day. If Brandon had his way and their affair continued, Kelly would wind up being hurt eventually. If he wasn’t careful, he might just break her heart.

But what about Brandon’s heart?

He sat back in his chair and rubbed his chest thoughtfully. Maybe he’d pulled a muscle because for some strange reason, he felt an aching twinge that felt almost like grief.

Brandon asked her out to dinner that night and she politely refused.

The next day, he asked her to join him for lunch and she said she had other plans.

Finally, he asked her if she’d like to come to his room later that evening.

“You know I can’t do that, Brandon,” she said and tried to smile.

“I figured it was worth a shot,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” she said, staring up at him from her desk chair. “This whole situation is my fault.”

“How’s that?”

“It was completely unprofessional of me to drag you into my problems in the first place. But now I’m just anxious for everything to return to business as usual. I hope you can help me do that.”

“Right. Okay. Sure.” He nodded and walked back into his office, and Kelly had to take great gulping breaths to keep from bursting into tears.

She wasn’t sure she could continue working in the same office with him every day. But the alternative was to never see him again and there’s no way she could go through that.

She simply had to stop thinking about kissing him and touching him. She had to stop thinking about the way he had touched her and made her laugh. She just had to stop thinking! And she would.

It might take another thirty or forty years, but she was absolutely positive she would get over him.

“It’s your mother on line two,” Kelly announced over the intercom line.

“Thanks, Kelly,” he said, and pressed the button. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetie, I haven’t heard from you all week so I’m calling to make sure you’re all right.”

“I’m fine. How are you doing?”

“Oh, everything is wonderful. The baby is so beautiful.” She went on for five minutes about the joy of baby Tyler. When she finally exhausted that subject, she said, “How’s Kelly?”

“She’s fine,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“You sound a little irritated. Is everything all right?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?” Brandon snapped. “Kelly seems to have forgotten that we ever had sex with each other in the first place, so things are just dandy.”

“Ah,” she said.

What the hell? Did he really just say that out loud? Great. Now if only he could kick himself in the ass, everything would be fan-freaking-tastic. “Sorry, Mom, I’m just a little busy right now.”

But she wasn’t buying that line. “Brandon, are you in love with Kelly?”

“What?” he shouted.

“No need to yell,” she said softly. “Sweetie, why else would you be so upset that she doesn’t want to sleep with you?”

“Who said I was upset?”

She started laughing, which just annoyed him more.

“Look, Mom, I really don’t have time for—”

“Now you listen to me, Brandon Duke. It’s as clear as the nose on your face that you’re in love with that girl, and I expect you to marry her.”

“Mom, what’ve you been smoking?”

“Very funny, Brandon,” she said drily. “You can deny it all you want but I know you better than you know yourself.”

He sighed. “I really have to go. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, son. Call me later and tell me how it went. Bye-bye.”

He hung up the phone and rubbed his neck. Damn, between his mother’s wild assumptions and Kelly’s stiff-shirted business competence, he was likely to go insane.

For the past three days, he’d managed to put up with Kelly’s firm need to work professionally and reliably in his office. She was the ultimate assistant, always answering his phones, making his coffee, transcribing his calls, typing his letters, being polite and businesslike at all times.

It was enough to make him spit nails.

He’d made it clear when she returned from Dunsmuir Bay that he would be more than happy to continue their sexual relationship. But Kelly had refused him. He might’ve asked her again once or twice, maybe three times more during the week. Okay, maybe four times, max.

All of a sudden, she’d turned on him and accused him of being attracted to her only because she’d gotten her makeover!

He’d attempted to deny it, but she’d seen right through him. She’d asked him point-blank, how could she trust his feelings for her now if that was the only reason he’d originally been interested in her?

It seemed an unfair question given his almost constant state of arousal these past few days. Because the irony was, even though she’d gone back to wearing her drab and dowdy pantsuits, he was still getting turned on whenever she walked into the room. But now that he could safely admit that her getting a makeover had nothing to do with his attraction to her, she didn’t want to hear him out.

And ever since she’d asked the question, Brandon had seriously wondered why he’d never realized how sexy she was before. Because now it was so damned obvious.

She was a beautiful woman in every way and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her whenever she walked into a room. And if he didn’t see her right away, he would catch a whiff of her scent, and it drove him wild with desire. But when he accused her of wearing too much perfume, she had the audacity to claim that she never wore perfume.

So maybe he really was going crazy. Maybe he needed a vacation. But where would he go? He already lived in a beautiful part of California and that was pretty close to paradise. He didn’t know where to go or what to do and he didn’t care. All he knew was that he couldn’t keep seeing Kelly every hour of every day and not hold her in his arms again.

“I’ll be back in a while,” he said to her and rushed out of the office. He headed for his room and once he was there, he decided to go for a run. It would be good to work off some of this insanity. Maybe he’d eaten some bad mushrooms and his brain was filled with toxins. It could happen. Exercise was the answer.

As he ran, he contemplated the situation objectively. He had to admit that breaking up with Kelly had been the best for both of them. She was his employee, after all, and he shouldn’t have taken advantage of her in the first place. Of course, that wasn’t really fair because, after all, the whole affair had been her idea.

He smiled at the thought, then chuckled. Okay, he was willing to admit that maybe he’d nudged her in the right direction. But nothing changed the fact that it was still best if they didn’t sleep together again. But damn, he missed her, and not just in bed. She had a savvy business mind and it was fun to bounce ideas back and forth with her. She made him laugh. How many women had ever made him laugh?

But that didn’t matter, because his mother was right about one thing, much as he hated to admit it. Kelly had “white picket fence” practically tattooed across her forehead. She deserved a good man who would love her and treat her right, give her a couple of kids, plus a dog, a couple of hamsters and a fish bowl.

The fact that he hated to picture another man in her bed was something he didn’t dwell on too deeply.

Somewhere during his fifth mile, as his breath wheezed out and he had to sweep the sweat from his eyes, Brandon figured out the solution to his problem. It was so simple. He just needed to get laid.

Tonight he would make a few calls to some women he knew, arrange a date or two for the weekend, and participate in some mind-blowing sex. And maybe then this out-of-control desire for Kelly would disappear.

Kelly adjusted her glasses and continued typing the letter Brandon had dictated. She hated these old eyeglasses but she knew it was better to wear them and look drab, if only to keep Brandon at a distance.

Today, she wore the dark purple pantsuit she’d owned forever. It was so old, it still had lumpy shoulder pads sewn into the jacket. With her sensible brown shoes and her hair pulled back, she looked like someone’s maiden aunt. But she could live with that.

It helped to stare at herself in the mirror each morning after she was dressed and ready to go and realize she truly had no business falling in love with her handsome boss.
You are a total cliché,
she would repeat to herself daily. But no matter how many times she had scolded herself, she still hadn’t been able to keep from rushing right toward that cliff.

Every time she saw him, she had to fight to ignore her feelings. After all, it wasn’t as if he would ever ask her to marry him, for God’s sake. So who was she trying to fool? He would never settle down, certainly not with her. A woman would have to be a blithering idiot to think that he would, and Kelly had never been an idiot. Well, not until recently, anyway.

The door swung open and an absolutely beautiful woman walked into the office. She was tall and willowy, with long flowing blond hair and the bluest eyes Kelly had ever seen. Were those contact lenses? No, they had to be real. She was too perfect, too ethereal, not to be completely real.

Kelly shook her head in defeat as she recognized the woman. This was Bianca Stephens, the beautiful wicked witch of her nightmares. Live and in person. And she was the most stunning woman Kelly had ever seen.

“You must be Karen,” she said haughtily. “I’m here to see Brandon. He’s expecting me.”

Kelly didn’t have the strength or interest to correct her name again, nor did she care to have the unpleasant woman standing around glaring at her while she checked with Brandon.