One Night With the Billionaire: Book One (2 page)

After a few beats of silence, she looks up. The man is watching her in a way that makes her want to explain herself.

“Sorry, I’m rambling.”
 

“I like it.”
 

He gives Kaia a smile that makes her knees weak, and she bites her lip to keep herself from smiling as a blush rises to her cheeks.
 

“I’ll just take this,” Kaia says, reaching out for her laptop. As much as she likes being in this man’s proximity, she figures it’s best to get out of here before she does or says something stupid.
 

“Absolutely not. I told you I would replace it.”
 

Kaia shakes her head. “It’s my fault for carrying it around without a bag.”
 

The man stands, tucks Kaia’s busted laptop under his arm, and holds out his hand.
 

“Come on,” he says, helping Kaia up. His touch makes her skin tingle. “You said you have a big presentation this morning. How much time do you have?”
 

Kaia looks down at her watch. “Forty five minutes or so.”
 

“Plenty of time.” He pulls out his phone and starts making arrangements with someone who clearly knows about computers. When he hangs up, he starts walking toward the door of the office building they’re standing outside of. “Are you coming?”
 

“You want me to just follow you inside?”
 

He grins at her, and that look is like a weapon. “That’s the idea, yes.”
 

“How do I know there’s not some kind of evil operation in there, and this is a trick?”
 

He laughs this time, and that’s even deadlier.
 

“Is there something about me that screams evil?”
 

He’s flirting with her, and it unleashes an army of butterflies in Kaia’s stomach.
 

“Not sure yet. The most evil people are the ones who look…” She has to stop herself from saying something ridiculous.

“Who look what?”
 

She shrugs, and takes a chance. “Like you do.”
 

The smile melts away, and he stands there looking at Kaia like…like he wants to
devour
her.
 

She’s not all that surprised to find that she wants to be devoured by him.
 

“Not evil,” he says, after licking his lips. “I want you to ace this presentation.”
 

Kaia walks toward him, she can’t resist. “Why’s that?”
 

“So I can take you out to celebrate.”
 

Warmth and excitement spreads through her chest.
 

“Okay.”
 

“What’s your name?”
 

“Kaia,” she replies. “And yours?”
 

“Jason.”
 

Kaia bites her lip, and smiles at the ground.
 

“Come inside, Kaia,” he replies with a knowing grin. “Please.”

Kaia walks through the door, and into the building’s lobby. She gets the feeling she’ll do anything he asks.
 

This isn’t how Jason Turner usually meets women. At a bar, at a party, sure. On the sidewalk out in front of his building, when he wasn’t even looking?
 

Never.
 

He has to admit that this run-in is the most pleasant of surprises.
 

He follows Kaia into the lobby, and a security guard is waiting at the executive elevator, where the doors are already open.

“Good morning, Mister Turner,” he says with a smile. He looks at Kaia and tips his hat. “Good morning, Ma’am.”

Usually stoic but polite, Jason can’t help but return the man’s grin. It’s been a pretty good morning so far.
 

“Morning.”
 

Usually the guard would accompany him upstairs, but Jason gives him a look that lets him know he can stay put. The guard understands. Jason tries not to think about the implication of that look, about what the guard thinks is going to go on in this elevator, given Jason’s reputation.
 

Still gripping Kaia’s computer, Jason takes some time to look at her. She’s standing relatively close to him, her hands clasped behind her back.
 

She’s beautiful. Gorgeous. Jason has difficulty taking his eyes off of her. Long, wavy blonde hair falls over her shoulders. Her red blouse sets off her light eyes, and the outfit she chose to wear today shows off every single one of her luscious curves.
 

Kaia is intently looking at the elevator doors. She seems nervous, which Jason finds incredibly charming. It’s cute how flustered she seems to be by him. He wants to kiss that shy smile off of her lips, wants to slide his hand down the neck of her blouse to see how far down her blush goes.
 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” he begins, wanting to bridge the silence during the long ride. “What is it that you do, Kaia?”
 

She looks up, her eyelashes fanning over her lids.
 

“I’m a graphic designer,” she replies.
 

“Which company do you work for?”
 

“The company of me, myself, and I.” She straightens up when she relays that information, standing tall and clasping her hands in front of her. Judging by the defiant look in her eye, Jason realizes that she must’ve encountered a lot of opposition to that idea, and she’s just daring him to doubt her.
 

Little does she know, that confidence? It turns him on.
 

Jason holds up her laptop. “This is an especially egregious error, then.”
 

“How so?”
 

“This is your business,” he says. “Your lifeline. You can’t be successful without your lifeline.”
 

She gives him a soft smile. “That is very true. Somehow I doubt your lifeline involves a single laptop, though.”

“It doesn’t,” he agrees. “I’m sure at some point yours won’t either. Are you just starting out?”

Kaia nods. “Yes. When I graduated from college, all my friends were lining-up these entry level jobs, and don’t get me wrong, I think security is important. I just knew that if I started out in the corporate world, I’d probably never leave it, and I didn’t want to live the rest of my life working for someone else. It’s fanciful, I know.”
 

Jason shakes his head. “Not fanciful. Smart. You’re gaining a lot of experience all at once, and whether this venture works out or not, that experience will go with you for whatever you do next.”
 

Jason has years of experience of reading people, and he’s positive by the proud look Kaia gives him that he’s just repeated back to her an argument she’s used with her friends and family.
 

“I think so, too. If you don’t mind me asking,” she says, reaching up and tucking a strand of silken hair behind her ear, “what is it that you do?”
 

“I own an investment firm.”

“And you own this building.”
 

He nods. “I do. How did you know that?”
 

“I didn’t, until you just said it. But peons don’t have private elevators, so it wasn’t a huge leap.”
 

She’s teasing him, and god help him, he likes it.
 

Jason is a serious man, focused and intent on handling his business, but he’s no stranger to pleasure. He takes it as he finds it, from a one night stand with a woman he meets in a bar, or a quickie in a coat closet with a hot cocktail waitress at a party. They are flings that never last more than a single night, just the way he likes them.
 

Then, he’s usually the one teasing. He’s enjoying the tables being turned.
 

“Do you enjoy your job?” she asks, which is, quite honestly, the very last question Jason expects.
 

He has to think for a moment, and purses his lips. Kaia watches him intently, her eyes alight.
 

“I enjoy being the boss,” he says heavily, watching the way her chest rises just before her breath catches. “I like being in control, making sure things go my way. Whether it’s here or somewhere else, I think I would enjoy whatever I did as long as my name was on the door and at the end of the day I could make sure things go my way.”
 

Kaia bites her lip and backs up against the wall, a movement that makes her breasts stick out. For a split second, Jason considers reaching out and pressing the emergency stop, so he can find out what Kaia’s lips taste like, and feel the velvet of her tongue against his.
 

But, as Jason gets older, he begins to appreciate delayed gratification. It would be sweet to kiss her now, but even sweeter to do it later, after he’s let his imagination run away with him a few times. Imagined the way her breath will feel against his mouth.
 

He can wait. He’s formulating a plan.
 

Too soon, the elevator reaches his floor, and he steps forward, holding his arm out to keep the doors from shutting while Kaia exits.
 

“Wow,” she breathes, as she looks around the lobby.
 

Jason has to fight a smile, even though he’s pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to hear that.
 

He leads her through a maze of cubicles, ignoring the curious stares of his employees.
 

When they reach Jason's office, he smiles at his assistant, Ellie, and offers her a pleasant good morning.
 

"Good morning, Mister Turner," she replies. She hands him a small stack of papers—contracts he needs to sign, he's sure—and gives Kaia a friendly greeting.
 

Kaia smiles in return.
 

"Call Clark, please," he instructs Ellie. "Tell him we're here. He knows what this is about."
 

Ellie nods as she picks up her receiver. Even though Jason can tell she's curious about what's going on and why there's a woman she's never met standing in their office, she doesn't question him, which is one of the reasons he's kept her on for so long, and why he makes sure that her holiday bonus is a generous one.
 

"After you," Jason says, his hand hovering near the small of Kaia's back.
 

He watches her intently as she steps into his office. She's immediately drawn to the floor-to-ceiling windows, which offer a gorgeous view of the city's skyline.
 

"Wow," she replies, looking down with a furrowed brow.
 

"What is it?"
 

She shrugs slightly, then turns a small smile on Jason. "I don't think I've ever been up this high in the city before. I knew it was gorgeous, but seeing it is something else."
 

Jason grins. He understands the feeling.
 

Kaia turns toward him, looking apprehensive. "Is it okay if I take a picture?"
 

A warmth spreads in his chest at the fact that she wants to do that, that she'd even ask if she could. He nods, thinking that he could never tell her no.
 

"Sure. Would you like something to drink?" he asks as she slides her phone out of her skirt pocket.
 

"No thank you. I'm too nervous."
 

He can't help but watch her as she frames the picture perfectly on her phone, the corners of her mouth turning up in muted amazement.
 

She bites her lip as she slips her phone back into her pocket. "I'm nervous about the presentation, by the way. Not nervous about being here with you."
 

He can tell she wants to say something else, probably to clarify another statement, but there's a soft knock on the door that gets their attention.
 

"Clark," Jason says warmly. "Come in."
 

The head of his IT department walks into his office with a loaner laptop under his arm. Rich and powerful as he is, Jason isn't a miracle worker, and this is his best option on such short notice.
 

"Clark, this is Kaia," he says, as Clark reaches out and shakes her hand.
 

"Nice to meet you," Clark says.
 

Kaia replies with, "Likewise."
 

"Kaia and I ran into each other this morning," Jason explains, holding out her shattered laptop toward Clark. "As you can see, it didn't end well for one of us."
 

Clark's eyes go wide. "Not sure there's any fixing that."
 

Kaia grumbles a little, and the only reason Jason manages to resist a smile is because he knows that she's on edge.

"That's where this comes in." Jason points to the laptop Clark has cradled under his arm. "She has a very important presentation this morning. This will get her through it?"