Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (57 page)

Chapter
Seventy-One

Austin

After
dinner, we said goodbye to Bax and Anna and headed home to our condo at 530
Park Avenue. I'd bought the place just after Emily had accepted my proposal,
thinking that we'd need something better than a string of hotel rooms to settle
down in. I wanted to provide her with everything she ever wanted, but she said
all she wanted was me.

I looked at my wife as we rode the
elevator up to the top floor. She was beautiful in every way imaginable and the
day that she'd walked down the aisle and said yes to me was still the best day
of my life. Despite my protests, Emily had continued to fly for Marks Air after
we were married. It drove me crazy that she was working, but she insisted that
she needed something to do, otherwise she'd go stir crazy. I'd hired a security
firm to fly on every one of her hops, and while it had cost more than what she
made, it made me feel more confident knowing that she was always safe. I had
never told her about it, though.

We'd introduced our mothers as soon as
we'd returned from the island. Emily's mother took a bit longer to come around
because she was worried about what Tommy was going to do now that she knew the
extent he would go. I assured her that it was all taken care of and that Emily
would never have to worry about him again. I'd sent Tommy off to work with Buck
in Sydney and the change had actually done him good. He'd quit drinking and
with his gambling debts paid off and a generous nest egg buffering his shift in
careers, he'd done very nicely for himself down under.

"Austin? I'm asking you a
question," Emily said as she tugged on my sleeve. "Did you call your
mother?"

"I did not," I said as I checked
my phone and found several text messages from Bax. "Do you want me
to?"

"No silly," she laughed.
"We're almost home, so it won't matter now!"

"Sorry, Em," I said sheepishly
scanning the messages.

"You're such an absent-minded
professor, sometimes," she teased as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed
me. I let the messages go and wrapped one arm around her before dipping her
slow and low right there in the elevator. She let out a shriek of glee and faux
terror as I held her parallel to the floor before kissing her deeply.

"You are crazy, Mr. Morning!"
she laughed as she swatted me after I'd set her back on her feet. "You
shouldn't do such dangerous things in an elevator!"

"Oh, so I should do safer
things?" I said as I slid one hand up her thigh and under her skirt.
"Like this?"

"Be careful," she said with a
knowing grin. "That's what got us into this mess in the first place."

"Mmmmm," I murmured as I bent to
nuzzle her neck my insistent hand inching up just a little further. "I
like the mess we're in just fine."

"Yeah, but you're not the one who has
to pay the price, now are you?" she laughed as she pressed her pelvis
against my hand before the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

"No, I am certainly not," I
agreed. We held hands as we walked down the hall and when we turned the key, I
heard my mother's footsteps crossing the foyer. "We're home!" I
called.

"Well, now that was quick!" my
mother said as she hugged both of us.

"Everything go alright?" Emily
asked as she set her purse down and headed to the back bedroom.

"Oh it was just fine," my mother
called. "Slept like an angel and didn't make a sound!"

I kissed my mother and asked, "You
want me to ride home with you?"

"Don't be foolish," she told me
as she hugged me again. "Silas is downstairs waiting for me. He'll make
sure I get home safe and sound."

"Alright, well, if you say so,"
I said eyeing her. "Thank you, Mom."

"Oh, it's entirely my pleasure!"
she said as she gathered her purse and headed of the door. "I've always dreamed
of being able to do this, I just didn't know it would be like this!" she
said as she waved around at the apartment.

"Well, no matter how it is, we're so
grateful that you can," I said. "To the moon and back."

"To the moon and back, baby,"
she called as she stepped out into the hallway and headed for home.

I set my phone down and unloaded my pocket
before I joined Emily in the back bedroom. When I entered, I saw her sitting in
the rocking chair in the corner near the window that looked out over the city
singing a lullaby to our tiny daughter.

"You two make such a beautiful
picture," I said.

"Well, it's easy when you have a baby
who takes after her father," Emily smiled then cooed, "Isn't it,
little Sydney? Do you want to hold her?"

"I will in a minute, I need to take
care of some business first," I said as I looked at my wife and my
daughter and felt my heart swell with love.

#

"
Hey
Bax, what's up?" I said as my friend picked up the phone.

"Austin, we need to talk about this
Barcelona deal," Bax said in a tired voice. "It's not going smoothly
and I'm not sure I can fix the problems from here."

"So, go there," I said
matter-of-factly.

"I can't," he reminded me.
"Anna is due in the next couple of weeks and if I leave, she'll kill me.
Plus, there's rebellion afoot in the IT pool, and I need to deal with that.
Unless you want to manage that little skirmish?"

"Oh hell, no," I said. "You
know how I hate having to deal with those code-breakers and their
nerditry."

"That's what I thought," he
laughed. "So, what do you want to do? Go over there?"

"Let me check with Em and see what
her flight schedule looks like," I said. "I'll let you know when I
can get there."

"Austin, have you ever considered
selling the business to someone bigger and letting them deal with these
skirmishes?" Bax asked in a very tired voice. He had been run ragged by
the Paris-Berlin projects and although we'd gotten rid of Daniel Wentworth by
letting him know we were on to his Camorra, the work that had to be done landed
squarely on Bax's shoulders.

This wasn't a problem until Anna had
pegged him as her Mr. Right and convinced him of this fact. It was truly a
match made in some kind of alternate universe – prom queen marries the AV nerd
– but for some reason, it worked. Now, they were expecting their own bundle of
joy and Anna was in charge of everything. Bax loved it, but it was putting a
strain on our ability to do business.

"I have not," I said. "Why,
do you think I should?"

"I think it's worth exploring,"
he said. "I've got someone in mind. Someone who will let us run the
company, but who will pick up the slack so we can actually live our lives, you
know?"

"Yeah, I do know," I sighed.
"Okay, put me in touch with him and I'll see what I can do about a
deal."

"I knew you'd see things my way,
boss," Bax said. I could hear him smiling into the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said.
"Not a word of this to the wives, you hear me?"

"Aye aye, captain," Bax said.

Three nights later, I was sitting across
the table from Reginald Harrison Beaufort laughing as his wife, the beautiful
Honey, poured us a couple of whiskeys and then told us to take ourselves out on
the balcony if we intended to smoke the disgusting cigars Reggie had tucked in
his pocket. He gave her a sheepish grin and then ushered me outside.

"I never know how she knows as much
as she does about what I intend to do," he drawled. "But I'll tell
you one thing, son, it's kept me an honest man for the past thirty years!"

"Oh, how's that, sir?" I asked.

"I knew that with that sense of smell
and her woman's intuition," he said as he cut the ends off of both cigars
and handed one to me. "If I ever cheated, she'd know immediately and with
her upbringing, I'd be castrated faster than a loose thread in a garment
factory!"

I burst out laughing. I'd only known
Reggie for a few hours, but already I liked him immensely.

"Son, here's the deal," he said
getting serious for a moment. "I'm not going to beat around the bush about
this. I want to buy your company, but I want you to keep running it. You'll
have free reign to do what you do best, you'll just have my pockets and my
muscle to back you up. What do you say?"

"I say we have a deal, sir," I
said as I held out my hand and shook his firmly.

"Son, stop with the sir
bullshit," he said as he lit the end of his cigar and then offered me the
lighter. "It makes me feel older than I am. Just call me Reggie and we'll
be fine."

"Yes, si-Reggie!" I said as I
flicked the Zippo and lit my cigar. The end burned brightly as I looked out
over Central Park and smiled.

"Now, about this mess in
Barcelona," he said. "Can you go out there for a few weeks and smooth
it over? Hell, take your wife and call it a second honeymoon, for all I care.
Just get them to stop threatening to strike!"

"I think I can take care of that for
you, Reggie," I said.

"Excellent, that's what I like to
hear," he said as he raised his glass and declared, "Here's to
productive new partners and the barrels of cash they bring with them!"

"To new partners," I echoed as I
clinked my glass against his.

"And cash!" he laughed.
"Don't forget about the cash, son!"

Chapter
Seventy-Two

Emily

We
settled into the cabin of Marks Air's private jet and smiled at each other. I
had wanted to take a commercial flight, but Austin had pointed out that if we
were traveling with Sydney, we'd be smarter to utilize the privacy of the jet.
I couldn't disagree with him, so I'd packed our bags and gotten us ready for
the trip to Barcelona.

Austin had told me about the plan to sell
Marks Enterprises to Reggie Beaufort, and once I'd met him and Honey, I'd
agreed wholeheartedly with the plan. I'd also seen the look of relief on Bax's
face and had realized that the pressures of running the entire show while
Austin put out fires around the globe had really taken its toll on him. Anna
would be glad to have him home at night for dinner and in town when the baby
arrived.

As Austin secured Sydney's carrier in the
seat closest to him, I smiled and felt incredibly grateful that fate had thrown
us together and that we'd decided to give in and let it do it's magic.

"Are you ready, Mrs. Marks?" he
smiled.

"I'm ready, Mr. Marks," I smiled
back. "With you, I'm always ready."

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BILLIONAIRE
SEAL

By
Alexa Davis and Claire Adams

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2016 Alexa Davis

CHAPTER
ONE

 
Ryan

It's
an hour before dawn and I'm laying on my stomach in the dirt behind an
outcropping of rock waiting for the signal. I survey the landscape, trying to
determine exactly how our SEAL team is going to secure the village below
without air support. Our mission is to take the village and find the leader of
the rogue gang that is holding fourteen servicemen hostage. We'd parachuted in
under the cover of darkness and had been humping across the desolate mountain
terrain by night for almost a week. This position had been our destination and
now all we could do was wait.

"Opie,"
I whisper. "What's command saying?"

"Nothing but
silence, Pow," he replied. "Not sure what's going on."

"We've got an
hour before the sun starts to come up," I said looking at the sky. "I
guess we sit tight and wait."

"Badger and
Rock just said they saw movement down below," he said. I could hear the
faint buzz of the radio signal coming from his direction. "Said we might
need to be prepared to attract before light."

"Tell them to
fuck off," I said knowing that starting a fight before the helicopters
could see us was asking for trouble. "We stay put until the Lieutenant
orders us to move."

Opie whispered my
order into his headset and waited. Jonathan Michael Morgan had earned the
nickname "Opie" because he looked like a young Ron Howard - red hair,
freckles and a gap between his teeth that was so wide that we joked about
flying a Tomahawk missile through it. He was like my younger brother, but then
all the SEALs were my brothers. I just had a soft spot for Opie, and like any
younger brother, he did his best to exploit my weakness in order to get what he
wanted, which was usually some part of my food. He, and the rest of the team,
called me Pow, short for Powell, my last name, as well as for the reputation
I'd earned by punching my way out of situations when I'd had one too many to
drink. We all had nicknames; it was part of building the brotherhood that kept
us alive.

"What'd they
say?" I whispered.

"Told you to
fuck off, too," he said. I could hear the grin in his voice. It was too
dark to see my hand in front of my face, and I was starting to get antsy for
the sun to rise. I ran though the mission in my mind's eye again, and tried to
pinpoint any potential weak spots. The worst that could happen would be that we
all got killed and the warlord executed the prisoners, but since we SEALs had
no intention of dying, I knew that could be checked off the list.

I could see the
sun beginning to creep up into the eastern horizon and knew that we didn't have
long to wait. I watched as people began to emerge from the front of the
compound and change guard duties. The two guys in track jackets and Nike's
handed their weapons to the two coming on duty. They looked even younger than
the other two and that worried me. Young guys tended to panic and make rookie
mistakes; they were the most dangerous members of any team no matter how well
they'd been trained. I turned and caught a glimpse of Opie as he watched the
changing of the guard. He was young, too. A well-trained SEAL, for sure, but
still young.

"Pow, command
says we should get into position and prepare to engage," Opie whispered.
"The copters are within range and the sun will be up in ten."

"Pass it
on," I replied and listened as Opie repeated command's orders to Badger
and Rock. I watched as the sun edged its way up toward the line that divided
night from day giving us just enough light to check our weapons and ammunition.
With any luck we wouldn't need to go in shooting since the copters were
scheduled to drop bombs on the outer rim of the compound and create a diversion
as well as taking out a few of the captors. If their coordinates were right the
bombing would be precise and leave few survivors that we'd have to fight. If
they were wrong, we'd have one hell of a firefight on our hands.

"Five
minutes," Opie whispered. I nodded and ran though the plan one last time.
Coppers bomb, we rush the compound, secure the building where our soldiers were
being held, prepare for extraction and then get them to the copters that would
be waiting just outside of the compound before the SEAL team would slip back
into the mountainous terrain. There wouldn't be enough room in the copters for
us, so we'd have to hike fifteen miles to the pick up spot. If all went
according to plan, we'd be back at the base drinking bear and exerting our
bragging rights by dinner.

"Two
minutes," Opie whispered. I grabbed my rifle and focused on the activity
down at the base of the hill. It looked like the kids guarding the perimeter
were carrying semi-automatics. They scanned the hills above the compound and
then finding nothing, they kept moving.

"Thirty-seconds,"
Opie said as we heard the first sound of approaching helicopters. I knew we
were on target so I waited for the copters to drop their bombs and prepped
myself to head straight down the hill toward the compound entry.

A whooshing sound
filled the air and I watched as a missile flew through the air moving in the
wrong direction. It cut through the air so quickly that in the second it took
Opie and I to turn and follow it's trajectory it hit its mark. The copter
exploded in mid-air raining metal down onto the mountainside.

"Anti-aircraft!
Anti-aircraft!" Opie shouted into his headset.

"Son of a
bitch!" I yelled as I turned and began firing at the men gathered at the
front of the compound. Our fire hit its mark and took out several of our
opponents, then was quickly returned as the rest retreated back behind the
walls. I watched as the second copter veered off course and narrowly missed a
missile that had been fired in its direction. No bombs had been dropped on the
compound.

"What now,
Pow?" Opie hollered over the sound of weapons firing.

"We save our
guys!" I shouted. "That's what the hell we do!"

"Command says
back off and wait!" he shouted back. "They are sending another
copter, it'll be here in ten!"

"Bullshit!"
I yelled. "Where are Badger and Rock?"

"Other side
of the ridge!"

"Tell them to
haul their lazy asses down to the back and blow a hole in the wall while we
cover!" I yelled.

Opie radioed the
other two SEALs and told them my plan. I knew it was a big risk, but I also
knew that if we didn't take control of the situation these guys would kill us
and then execute the prisoners. There was no way we were going to let that
happen.

I trained my rifle
on the front gate and fired at anything that moved. Next to me, Opie was doing
the same. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins as I worked to draw enemy
fire and give the guys a chance to blow the backside. I could feel the rhythmic
stream of bullets leaving my weapon and found their mark.

I was so focused
on the task at hand that when the explosives were detonated the noise pulled my
attention away briefly. I heard the bullet whizz by my left ear as I ducked and
reloaded. The familiar roar of a Blackhawk filled the air seconds before I
heard the swoosh of a missile fly straight into the center of the compound,
sending dirt and concrete flying into the air. I ducked to avoid he debris and
then quickly poked my head up over the rock we were covered by to make sure the
missile had hit its mark.

"We're clear!
We're clear!" Opie shouted as the Blackhawk banked and headed toward its
landing spot to await the freed soldiers.

"Let's get
'em!" I yelled over my shoulder as I headed down the hill. Opie followed
me, shooting at anything that moved. I was fairly certain that the missile had
caught most of the compound’s inhabitants unaware, but I didn't bank on it. I
kept an eye out for movement as I plotted our path straight to the building
where the prisoners were being held. As we rounded a corner, the two young guys
who'd taken over guard duty were frantically trying to dig a third man out from
under the rubble. When they saw us, they dropped their weapons and raised their
hands over their heads in surrender, as they repeated over and over, “No shoot
No shoot!"

Opie and I aimed
our rifles at them as we moved forward and kicked their weapons out of reach,
and then we motioned for them to lay face down on the ground so we could secure
their arms behind their backs. If we had enough room in the copter, we'd bring
these two along for the commander to interrogate. For that happen it would mean
not all of our soldiers would be coming home alive.

We rounded the
corner of the building where our guys were being held with weapons aimed and
ready to fire at the slightest threat.
 
I
signaled to Opie to cover me as I quickly navigated my way around chunks of
concrete and dirt looking for a way into the building. I found a door on the
backside and quickly shot the padlock off of the frame before kicking it in.
Inside on the cement floor laid ten of the fourteen missing men. They were
hungry and dehydrated, but they were alive. I signaled to Opie to get the
commander on the radio and order a copter for evacuation.

"Where are
the rest of the guys?" I asked as I squatted next to a soldier propped up
against the wall. He grimaced and shook his head. I said, "Bring 'em
home?"

He shook his head
and closed his eyes, as I fought to keep my anger at bay. There was no worse
feeling than having to leave a man behind.

"Opie!
Where's the copter?" I called as I stood up and surveyed the room. For as
bad of shape as they were in, most of the guys would be able to get to the
copter on their own. "Badger! Rock! Where the hell are you guys?"

"Five minutes
out, Pow!" he replied as I pulled the first soldier to his feet and then
turned to help the next one up. As I did, the sound of automatic gunfire filled
the air and I heard Opie shout," Enemy incoming! Enemy in—!"

The explosion was
deafening and it knocked me back against the wall where I struggled to draw air
into my lungs before pushing myself up and running to the door. Outside I could
see Opie lying on the ground looking straight up at the sky as he struggled to
breathe. I swore under my breath as I yanked my gun around and shot at two
enemies positioned on the roof across the way. Once I did, the gunfire stopped.
I waited knowing that there was a good chance that the enemy was using the
silence as a way to lure us out from our hiding spot.

"I'm coming,
Opie," I called from the doorway as quietly as I could. Then scanning the
surrounding buildings I dashed toward him, grabbed him under his arms and
hauled him back to the safety of our concrete enclosure. His breath came in
ragged gasps as I ripped open his flack jacket to see where he'd been shot. The
bullets had torn a path across his abdomen and blood was pouring from the
wounds. I yanked open my emergency pack and did what I could to staunch the
flow. "Hang in there, Opie. Help's on its way and we'll get you out of
here in no time. Hang on, man. You hear me?"

"Yeah Pow, I
hear you," he smiled weakly. "It's not good, is it?"

"Well, it
could be much better, to tell you the truth," I said. "But it could
also be a hell of a lot worse."