Resisting the Billionaire Collection (58 page)

"How the hell did you know
she was evicted? I asked you to deliver a package to her, not sweet
talk her into your bed. I thought I could trust you God damn it,
that's why I asked
you
. But you double-crossed me and now I want you gone. No more
of your bullshit. Get your shit and go."

"Just hear me out, Blake. It's like this:
after I delivered your package -- which I did exactly as you asked
-- I saw her bag get pickpocketed by someone. She didn't even know
what had happened. I ran after the thief and caught her--"

"Her?"

"Yeah, an old homeless lady. She gave me
this." He pointed to the gash on his forehead.

"No kidding."

"Yeah. So then I found out her address and
went to return her wallet and phone. When I got there, her landlord
was at the door basically evicting her. I didn't do anything, I
swear to you, but I did give her my number and told her she could
call if she needed me."

"Call if she needed, right. If she needed
boning."

"It's not like that. Come on, I lost my damn
bike over this. When I was chasing the thief, someone stole my ride
and all of my deliveries. I caught up with him, but the bike went
under a damn truck and it was destroyed."

"You mean
my
bike, Adam.
My
bike was destroyed.
The bike
I
paid
for with
my
money."

"Okay, technically yes, your bike."

"Not technically. Just mine."

"Okay, whatever. I had to go and get another
one and then work the whole day for free to finish up delivering
what I missed yesterday. Plus I had to pay for stuff that was lost
or damaged while I was trying to get my bike back. I'm flat broke,
bro. That Thai meal was the last money I had."

Joshua took a deep breath, rolled his eyes
and gave a long sigh.

"Jesus Christ, Adam. When are you going to
sort yourself out, dude? You are so in the hole right now."

"I know it, buddy. I know it. But you know
it won't be for much longer. I'll be back out there on Monday and
start paying you back right away."

"Look, you know I could care less about the
money, but I trusted you with her. I asked you to deliver that
package because I didn't want her to trace me--"

"Yeah, what's up with that bro? I mean, do
you have some kind of crazy crush on her that you can't just ask
her out?"

"Something like that. Just tell me that you
haven't been hitting on her already."

Adam looked sheepishly at the ground.

"Ah shit, Adam. God damn it. What have you
done?"

"Nothing dude, really. Nothing
happened."

"Nothing? So how come she
was wearing
nothing
but
your
damn t-shirt this morning when she came out of
your
bedroom?"

"I couldn't leave her on the sofa and she
wouldn't let me sleep there either, so I slept on the floor."

"Don't bullshit me or I will throw the two
of you out of here right now." His voice was raising again.

"I'm not. You can ask her if you want. Go
ahead, be my guest."

Joshua thought about it for a moment but
then decided against it. He needed to keep his cool. If he barged
in there acting like a jealous boyfriend, it could all backfire. If
he threw the two of them out, he was beaten right away, so that
threat had always been completely empty. Adam probably knew that as
well; he wasn't stupid.

No, his only way to stay in the game was to
let them stay and then start working on her. Adam was a lovable
screwball but he was in this for keeps. He had spent a lot of time
getting to this point and he was damned if he was going to let that
adorable, sexy girl slip through his fingers, and most certainly
not to an irresponsible flake like Adam Hamilton. Not after all
Alison had told him about her: her father letting her down, her
time as a child without a home on the streets of New York, her bad
luck with men, and then his own brother screwing up her career in a
job she loved. Adam would just take her further down that crazy
road to nowhere.

Blake had to keep the pair where he could
keep an eye on them both.

"Okay." He said. "I'm an idiot I know, but
she can stay and so can you. Just don't fuck her or you really are
out of here. Understand me?"

Adam nodded, smiled and put his arms around
Blake in a big warm bear hug.

"You are the best, bro." He set Blake down
again. "Thanks man, I so owe you one. Gotta go though. Let MJ know
the good news. She is going to so love you, man."

"Say you won't fuck her." Blake hissed, but
Adam was gone.

He went straight into the room and sat down
on the bed next to MJ with a huge grin on his face.

"What's happening?" She asked anxiously.
"Are we out of here?"

"Are you kidding me? I told you the guy was
a big pussy cat. All he needs is his belly rubbed. Besides, how
could he resist having beautiful girl like you in the house? He'd
have to be crazy to throw something a good as you out of this empty
bachelor pad."

"Stop kidding around. He was deadly serious.
What did you say to make him change his mind?"

"Don't worry about that. You can stay as
long as you like. He'll get used to you and trust me, he loves
cats. Blake and Blackjack will be best buddies before you know
it."

"I don't know, Adam. You're one hell of a
guy, but I don't trust you." she said playfully.

"Don't worry. I'm ready to earn that trust,
MJ. You're worth it." He smiled, relaxed as ever, gazing deeply
into her eyes, just long enough to make her drop her gaze.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

With his meetings in DC taken over by his second in
command, Joshua was now free not only to work his volunteer night
at the Sacred Heart Mission, but also to take part in the handing
over of the million-dollar check ceremony that had been
planned.

While it was true that he had taken to
volunteering at the Mission house because it was a way to get
closer to this woman who fascinated him, the Drummond family had
always been a family very firmly rooted the American spirit of
philanthropy. Joshua hated to see people in poverty or homeless,
especially children. When he compared it to his own incredibly
wealthy upbringing, he was lost for words.

Now that he had finally gotten up close to
the homeless of one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the
world and to the selfless people who served them, he had been
deeply touched. His personal million-dollar donation came directly
from the heart.

If it happened to put MJ directly into his
bed as well, then so be it. But that was not the only goal.

Is that really
true?
He asked himself.
Since when does Joshua Drummond second guess his
own motives anyway?

When he arrived downtown, there was a small
group of local reporters waiting together with the homeless. There
had been no general press release but he had consented to some of
the smaller local papers being told as a help and a courtesy to the
local community. They also tended to be much more polite and
friendly than the larger media organizations.

Besides, by using his middle name and
mother’s maiden name, he was a virtual unknown. If anyone heard the
Drummond name, then it would be a very different story.

Dan came out to meet him. He was a small man
in his mid 50s and a retired New York City police officer who now
dedicated his life to serving the city's homeless.

"Blake, great to see you buddy. Taking all
that dough off you just didn’t feel right without you being here.
You have no idea--"

Joshua cut him off.

"Save it for the speech, Dan. You know
there’s no need. It’s the least I can do. Do we have a good
turnout? Will everyone be here?"

"You got it. We got the whole crew!"

"Everyone? You got
everyone?"
MJ is going to be here
too?
"Are you sure?"

"Yes, indeed. No hold on, just got one more
to confirm. One of our best went AWOL last night, but we got word
that she’s okay and hoping to make it down here for the award. Just
got off the phone with her."

"Maybe we should wait for
her to get here."
Bad idea.

"She shouldn’t be too long. But Blake, we
got a lot of people here and we got the regulars to feed, so I
don’t know if we should wait around just for one person."

"Of course not. Come on, let’s get this over
with."

Dan nodded and the two men headed in. Joshua
looked over his shoulder one last time, willing MJ to be there.

God, why the hell can’t I
think straight anymore?
He
thought.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

This is it. This is it. Come on dude, take your
chance.

MJ had looked down for a moment when he had
told her he was willing to earn her trust. When she looked up at
him again, he saw the girl he believed he was falling in love
with.

Then her phone rang and she grabbed for it
as though it had saved her life.

God, why the hell can’t I
just do things anymore?
Adam berated
himself as he saw his moment pass.

"Yes, yes of course. Dan, I’m so sorry. Who?
Who’ll be there? Who’s Mr. Murray? A million bucks? Wow, that’s
great! Yes, of course I’ll be there. I’m so sorry about last night.
Give me about forty-five minutes. Will he be there that long? Okay.
I’ll do my best, I’d like to be there anyway, even just to help
clean up." She hung up.

"Who was that?" Adam asked.

"The homeless shelter I volunteer at."

Adam was
speechless.
I’m falling in love with an
angel. A real angel.
He thought.
I need to get her in the sack tonight.

An ominous shadow suddenly crossed over his
thoughts.

"Which one?" He asked, trying to sound
casual.

"The Sacred Heart Mission, downtown. Some
mysterious benefactor by the name of Murray is donating a million
dollars to the organization and he’s going to be there in person
tonight, so we’re all invited."

Adam froze with his
perpetual easy, ‘I’m okay with everything’ smile stuck on his
face.
That sneaky son of a bitch!
He thought.
That’s his
shelter. No wonder he’s been so damn interested in the homeless all
of the sudden.

"That’s uh… that’s a real shame, MJ."

"I’m sorry Adam, but I’ve really got to get
ready and run. Would you mind?"

He looked at her blankly.

"Would you mind leaving me so I can get
changed?" She said.

"Oh yeah, sure. Of course. No problem." He
didn’t move.

"Like, now?"

"Yeah, yeah of course. I’m gone." He left
the room and sat down on the couch with Blackjack on his knees.

"What the hell am I going to do, buddy?" He
addressed the cat. "I can’t let Blake outplay me. Come on my furry
friend, you gotta give me some ideas here."

Minutes later, MJ was ready to go.

When she stepped from the bedroom, Adam
stood in front of her holding Blackjack.

"MJ." He said, as though awestruck. "You
look amazing."

She looked down at the plain, ordinary jeans
and sweater she had pulled hurriedly on.

"All I did was put pants on." She said.

"Uh… yeah sure. Hey you know, I’m not sure
Blackjack is doing okay. He might be sick."

"Really? Let me have him." She held him up
and as she did so he executed a perfect leap from Adam’s arms to
the couch landing deftly on all fours. He was purring.

"Seems pretty good to me. I gotta go."

"Wait, I’ll give you a lift downtown. I’m
going that way anyway."

"I thought you were staying in tonight?"

"I was but as no one else is staying in, I
might head downtown and have a few beers or something."

"Okay, great. Maybe if you’re still around
when I’m done at the Mission, then we can hang out."

"That would be great." Adam gave a huge
smile. "Let me just go and get my keys, I still have the van for
another night. I’ll be right with you."

This was great. With wheels, MJ reckoned she
could knock ten to fifteen minutes off her journey. She might have
a chance of seeing the awesome guy who was donating one million
dollars of his own cash to the homeless shelter.

She sat waiting while Adam rummaged noisily
around in his bedroom.

She waited nearly ten minutes.

"Hey Adam, are you okay? I kind of need to
get going if I’m going to make it there in time."

"Uh, yeah. No worries. I just can’t quite
seem to find the key of the van. I know I left it here last night.
Damn thing. Just give me a minute, I know I’ll find it."

She got up and looked around the doorway.
Adam was in the process of tearing the room up.

"Is that it in your pocket?" She asked.

He looked down at the bulge in his right
pocket.

"No." He said.

"Aren’t you going to check?"

He hesitated.

"I’m sorry Adam, but I really need to go
already."

"Oh my God. You’re so totally right. Those
are the keys. How could I be so stupid? Come on, let’s make
tracks."

It took a few goes to get the van started
but eventually they were heading downtown and the traffic was
light. MJ looked tense as they hit red light after red light.

"I’m so sorry, MJ. This is just crazy." Adam
said as he secretly thanked the gods for every stop light he did
his best to slow down and be caught by.

"Don’t worry about it, Adam." MJ was
becoming resigned to arriving late. "It’s just some ceremony that
has nothing to do with me anyway. I just felt bad not going because
I missed my shift on Thursday night. What with the house move and
you being so kind to me taking me in, I totally forgot about
it."