Resisting the Billionaire Collection (36 page)

There was a small round of applause from the
women on bus.

"Amen to that." One woman said.

"It is getting
hot
in here!" A second
said.

"Mm hmm." Said another. "Gotta get me some
of that."

"You giving those out for free?" A third
said. "Cuz I'll take one too."

Sebastian didn't hear a word, his intense
gaze held Alison's as he let her slide back to the ground and then
they sat together holding hands for the rest of the journey.

Alison was baffled. Turned on like a set of
Christmas lights yes, but also totally confused. The previous night
he had pulled away from her. She had been ready to give herself to
him and he had been rock-hard and ready for her downstairs. But
when she had reached for his zipper he had lifted her up. He kissed
her so passionately that she had nearly climaxed on the spot and
then he insisted that he had to go.

She wondered if he was religious, or if he
had some sexual hang-up he needed to overcome.

Or worse, something medical.

Everything seemed to be working down there
though, and from her rough estimation, size definitely wasn't a
problem. And now this morning he was all passion and affection,
surrounding her like an alpha male claiming his mate. It didn’t
make sense.

She saw their stop coming up.

"Get off at the next stop, Daniel." She
said.

"Huh? Are you serious?" He knew what she
meant.

"I need to let them know in my own
time."

"I'll tell them, sweetheart. Right now --
this morning if you want. I have no problem with that at all."

"I know Daniel, and I love that you are so
ready to do that. But they’re my friends, not yours, and they know
I was on a date last night. They're going to be waiting like
vultures to hear all about it and I just need to let them know in
my own way that it didn't work out with the millionaire they set me
up with."

"Yeah, that Bryant asshole."

"Their hearts are in the right place,
Daniel. I don’t want to lose them as friends."

"So that means you can’t tell them about
us?"

"Not at all. I’ll tell them, of course I
will. And I know they'll come around to the idea eventually. But if
you march in there and confront them like it's some kind of battle
you've won against them, then it will only make things difficult
for everyone. Especially for me."

He took a deep breath to contain his
frustration. Luckily, she hadn't noticed his slip up about her
date's name. There was no way he could have known it but it seemed
he had gotten lucky again.

As it happened, he already had a raging
hard-on for her. It would actually make better sense to stay on the
bus one more stop and get the damn thing under control, instead of
getting off the bus with her and struggling to walk straight with
an emperor sized rocket in his pocket.

She got up to go but he took her hand
firmly. When she tried to pull away, he kissed it with his eyes
closed and then looked straight up at her, his lips still pressed
to her flesh, with his hot, intense, possessive eyes burning into
her. Her temperature rose and her heart began to beat faster.

"Goddamn girl, if you don't take him I
will." A buff and manicured young man said behind them.

He let her go and watched her get off the
bus. Then he followed her intently with his eyes until she turned a
corner and went out of sight.

Sure enough, when Alison arrived at
Tête-á-Tête, MJ and Olivia were hovering in silence waiting for her
to arrive. When she walked through the café door and just mumbled
'hi', they quickly exchanged a glance and then fell in behind her
as she walked out back to the locker room.

"Hey, baby face." MJ said, "What gives? I
must have called you ten times last night for an update. Why didn't
you answer your phone?"

The three of them were alone in the back
room.

Alison gave them a smug, secretive smile
over her shoulder.

"An update about what?"

"Don't you play hard to get young lady, your
fairy godmothers MJ and Olivia went through a lot of trouble to set
you up with that prime specimen last night, and now we want the
goods."

"Damn right we do." Olivia concurred.

Alison pulled on her apron and gave a long,
wide yawn.

MJ and Olivia's jaws dropped.

"What?" Alison said.

"You've been up all night, you slut." MJ
said with a lascivious smile on her face.

"No, I have not." Alison replied coyly.

"Did you even take a shower this morning, mi
amor?" Olivia said. "Because I think I can smell millionaire in
here."

"There's really nothing to tell, girls."
Alison walked past them and out into the café. They followed close
behind but customers were already waiting and Alison jumped
straight in to shorten the lines.

Their debriefing would have to wait.

Shortly afterwards, Sebastian arrived for
work and nodded his good morning to the girls in the café. He was
just barely on time and sure enough, MJ and Olivia were hovering
like the carrion birds Alison had compared them to. He couldn't
have felt more smug having thwarted their plans and stolen Alison
from under their very noses. He did his best to hide the huge
beaming smile he wanted to send to his angel.

Just you wait,
ladies.
He thought as he gave MJ and
Olivia a casual nod.

"You're late." MJ said.

He checked his watch. "It's 7:55. My shift
doesn't start until 8:00."

"Employees need to arrive 10 minutes before
their shift begins. It's in the rulebook. Check it out, lover
boy."

He shrugged and hurried past them into the
locker room.

Just you wait.
He thought.

Two of his flirtier workmates were getting
changed in the back room when he entered in.

"Hello ladies." He said. "And may I say just
how stunning you both are looking today."

The reaction was subdued.

"Thanks Daniel." One of them said. The other
just gave him a sad, disappointed look and said nothing.

When he returned he took up his position
next to Alison. He could feel that stupid hard-on returning
instantly. It was going to be a long day. Heaven and hell combined:
set of blue balls to end all blue balls sent straight from the
angels. One angel in particular.

"Ah, ah, lover boy. You are officially
trained as of today. Now you are ready to fly solo and I need you
to take over for Ms. Alison here. I have something I need to speak
to her about. Urgently."

"Yeah, me too." Olivia piped up.

"Sorry Olivia, you need to stay here. Take
care of Lover Boy and make sure he doesn't screw anything up."

MJ hustled Alison away with her into the
back office.

"Hey Olivia, how are you today?" Sebastian
said.

The sexy Latina replied with a huge, lewd
suggestive smile on her face and a luscious display of ample
cleavage squeezed up front and centre by her Wonder Bra. "I'm
good," she said, "now that you're here."

Chapter Fifteen

MJ hustled Alison away, pushed her inside the
manager’s office, locked the door behind them, and then sat down
directly in front of her friend.

"Now," she said, "I'm ready. Tell all or so
help me I will set fire to this place right here and now." She was
grinning from ear to ear.

Alison tried to play it cool, as though it
were all just girl talk but inside she had butterflies, nearly as
bad as the nerves that made her pass out in the restaurant the
night before. Her hands were shaking just thinking about how
furious her friend would be if she told her she had totally screwed
up the millionaire date and instead ended up with the rookie
barista that she despised.

"I'm
waiting
." MJ repeated more
intensely.

“
Okay. Well, it's like
this--"

"Good, tell me more." MJ scooched in closer,
locking Alison’s gaze down with her big round eyes.

Alison’s nerves got the better of her and
she started to giggle inanely. What the hell was she even going to
say? She hated lying and this was her best friend.

MJ watched with the intensity of boa
constrictor, wearing a tense grin on her face while she waited for
the giggling to stop.

"Jesus Christ girl, what did this guy do to
you? I swear to God I want to see the sex tape for this one when it
comes out."

Alison continued giggling until finally MJ
really did get angry.

"Oh my God, I am so going to kill you,
Alison. Come on, pull yourself together and give me something here
before I actually slap you."

“
Okay, okay, okay." Alison
took deep breaths to calm herself. "Can you bring me some water
please?"

MJ rolled her gorgeous green eyes to heaven
and then went to the water cooler. She slammed the plastic cup down
next to Alison, spilling half of it onto the floor.

"Now tell me what the hell was so great
about this guy?"

“
Okay. Well, it was like
nothing I could ever have expected."

"Go on. More."

"He is totally drop-dead gorgeous."

"Just like the picture, right?"

"Even better."

"Oh my God. I think I'm having an orgasm
right here, right now. Tell me more."

"Gorgeous body. All muscle."

"I knew it. Jesus, I'm going to need new
panties for the afternoon rush."

"And his eyes, God, his eyes are what make
it. Even if he was short and bald with a wiener like a thimble,
Jesus, those eyes are so intense they make you moist just thinking
about them."

"Oh. My. God. Tell me about the place. What
was it like, over-the-top gorgeous?"

"No, nothing as obvious as that. We went to
this awesome little place down in Little Italy."

"One of those highiend Italian places?"

"Not really, no. More boutique; authentic,
you know?"

MJ's face changed.

"Is this guy some kind of millionaire
cheapskate? He didn’t save his million dollars by clipping coupons,
did he?"

"Not at all, no, it was a perfect choice.
Relaxed, great food, family-run business, the real deal."

“
Okay."

"So things began to get a little hot right
off the bat."

"Now you're talking."

"He just gave me this crazy look, like kind
of intense but with a half-smile and with those gorgeous eyes and
all that dark hair."

"I thought he was more blonde?"

"It was dimly lit. Romantic, you know?
Anyway, I just couldn't control myself, I started giggling, and I
couldn't stop."

"You did not."

"I did. Nearly fell off the damn chair."

"And what did he do?"

"He just smiled for a while. That damn sexy
smile of his and then he started giggling too."

"He did not!"

"He sure did."

MJ's mouth was hanging open. "That is just
so damn sexy."

"I know. Crazy, isn't it? I just wanted
to... you know..."

"Jump his bones right then and there?"

"No. Melt. I wanted to melt. So dinner came
and we didn't speak too much."

"Sounds like dinner was just getting in the
way of more important things."

"Not at all. It was the most sensuous meal
I've ever had."

"Shut. Up. You goddamn whore."

"I nearly... God, I've never been so turned
on by any guy. Just watching him eat and having him next to me,
watching me eat... God, I was getting kind of hot."

"Damn right you were. What was he
wearing?"

Alison thought for a minute.

"All designer. High-end stuff, but casual.
Like a movie star dressed down. And he had on this watch that I
swear to God must have been worth about $50,000."

"No way."

Alison nodded. She knew her friend would
love that even though it was the last thing in the world that would
cross her own mind.

"Didn't you guys talk about anything at all?
Or was it all just hot looks over the meatballs and marinara?"

"Oh, we talked alright, but it was kind of
intimate."

"Like sex talk? Jesus Christ, already? On
the first date?"

"No, MJ! Jesus Christ. Not sex talk, I mean
intimate as in about relationships and honesty and all that."

"Now you're boring me. It was awesome up to
now."

"He told me he's been hurt in the past."

"Yadda, yadda, yadda, my heart bleeds, poor
little Mr. Millionaire."

"His rich brother stole the love of his life
from him."

"His rich brother? I thought he was the rich
one."

"His brother is way richer."

"Can you get me his number?"

"He did everything to keep her."

"Yawn. Fast forward."

"Things he's ashamed of now."

“
Okay, slow down. This I
can be interested in."

"But he wouldn't speak about them."

"Your mission; find out the unspeakable
things he did to keep his woman."

"Stop it, MJ."

"And then beg him to do the same unspeakable
things to me. I mean, God damn it, to you, do them to you."

"You just don't quit, do you?"

"Not for sexy millionaire bad boys I
don't."

"Who said he was a bad boy?"

"'Unspeakable things'? Huh? You said
'unspeakable'."

"No. You said unspeakable, I said ‘thing’s
he’s ashamed of now’."

"Whatever. Did he give a hint of what those
things of which he would not speak may have been?"

"No. But whatever it was, he said it changed
him forever. He said all he cares about now is finding the right
girl and falling in love with her, making her fall in love with
him."

"Oh, for crying out loud. Where's my barf
bag?" MJ was finishing off a donut she had scooped up from the shop
on her way in.