S*x and Secrets: Alpha Billionaire Forbidden Romance (4 page)

I refilled my coffee cup during the commercials. The caffeine from the first two coffees I’d had already made me a bit jittery, but I needed something to drink for my dry throat.

Relax. Don’t get ahead of yourself and worry unnecessarily.

I rolled my shoulders a few times until the tension eased. I had nothing to worry about. Montana wouldn’t fall into Jake’s traps. She was too smart for that.

Montana Marx had a reputation for not taking bullshit from anyone and I admired that about her as well as her business acumen. That woman worked as hard as any guy in the Communications business world.

When we first met her uniqueness intrigued the hell out of me. Intelligent and beautiful and sexy as fuck, she was an extraordinary woman. Montana was like a rare diamond and I decided pretty much immediately that I had to have her, and once I’d made up my mind nothing was going to stop me.

It had taken me a while to get her to agree, because initially she wanted no man at all in her life. But then I’d outlined the benefits she’d derive from a mutual agreement to stick to sex only and she was hooked. Turned out her sex drive was as high as mine and she was sick of replacing vibrators.

The commercial break ended and I turned back to the big screen.

“So Montana, is there a man in your life? You can’t tell me you aren’t hearing your biological clock ticking.” Jake looked down at his clipboard then back at her. “It’s your thirty-third birthday in a few days, and most women would be worried about running out of time to start a family.”

Damn Jake and his probing questions. What did that have to do with anything?

Suddenly everything about him annoyed me—his smooth voice, his good looks, his glistening white teeth.

Montana shook her head and laughed, but not before flinching for a millisecond. I doubted anyone else would even have noticed it, but it was there, together with a light blush on her cheeks.

“I’m not most women, Jake. I have no desire to have children. So you can scratch that off your list of questions.”

“Rumor has it that Beckham Drake is looking for a wife, and I’ve heard that the two of you are possibly an item since you were seen on his arm at the Reach For A Dream ball you attended recently. Any chance of surprising us with a ring on your finger soon?”

“Well, if you must know, Beckham and I have a healthy working relationship, he’s a great boss and we really get along very well. But I can’t tell you any more than that, I’m afraid.”

“Getting hitched to the eldest son of the Drake clan would be a very smart move, Miss Marx. Your career would be secured.”

Damn, I wished I could wipe that fucking smirk off his face. Montana uncrossed her legs and then re-crossed them in the other direction, pointing away from the asshole.

“Jake, if you’re implying I’d ever marry a man for his position or money, I’m going to have to disappoint you. I’m not the marrying kind; I have far too many ambitions to even contemplate tying myself down.”

My stomach churned for the umpteenth time since I’d started watching the interview. Why were her answers bothering me so much? Montana had treated our agreement like just another business deal from the start. I shouldn’t be surprised that she was married to her career or else she’d never have wanted a fuck buddy arrangement in the first place.

Jake raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe her. “Stronger women than you have succumbed when they fell in love. Maybe you just haven’t met the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?”

Montana shifted around in her chair. Her agitation was evident by the frown between her brows and the way her lips pulled into a thin line. She drummed her fingers on her armrest and glared at Jake.

“Jake, this interview isn’t supposed to be twenty questions about my private life. Nobody is interested in that anyway. Let’s stick to what I’m here for, okay? To talk about the growth of Drake and Sons and the role we have in the continued evolution of American industry.”

Jake’s eyes widened slightly, then a slow smile spread across his lips. “Wow, I can’t believe how you make boring business sound so sexy.”

What the fuck? Was Jake hitting on Montana? He wasn’t her type. Not at all.
At least I hope not.
As for Drake, yeah, I could see her falling for him. He ticked all the boxes of great husband material—even I realized that. What’s more, the guy had access to her on a daily basis, something I didn’t have. And she didn’t have to sneak around to spend time with him.

I’d heard that old man Drake had hinted at wanting grandchildren to take over his legacy. From the file I’d read on their company I already knew a bit about Beckham Drake. It was no secret he was ready to get hitched, and who better to snag than the most gorgeous, smartest woman in the country?

I kept watching, but my mind was in a whirl. Fortunately, the rest of the interview went off without Jake stirring up any more shit. Montana held her ground, staying friendly but firm.

That’s my girl.

The interview ended a few minutes later and I poured myself a strong cup of coffee while the advertisements ran, mulling Montana’s words over in my mind. She was hell-bent on never getting married or having kids. At first when she’d told me, I hadn’t quite believed her. But the joke was on me: Montana had stuck to her beliefs, and now I was even more intrigued than ever to find out what made her that way.

A familiar face flashed across the screen. I set my cup down and smiled.

“Tune in next week for our interview with Tyler Sinclair, stockbroker extraordinaire, or, as he’s better known on Wall Street, Mr. Debonair. You won’t want to miss this, so tune in at seven thirty A.M. EST.”

I hadn’t spoken to my cousin in months. As kids we’d been pretty close, but then our families had issues and we’d stopped seeing one another. I kind of followed Tyler’s progress on Wall Street and even got him to invest some money for me. He’d gone from nobody to someone everyone trusted with billions of their hard-earned dollars in a few short years.

Tyler knew a few things about the opposite sex. Maybe he could answer a few questions I had running through my mind. I reached for my phone and dialed his number.

Damn. Voicemail. I left a message for him to call me back and hoped he would soon.

A
lone in my own bed that night, drained after the interview, I let my mind drift and found it going back in time, something I hated with a passion because of how it made me feel. I didn’t allow myself to go to the past often, but Levi’s questions the night before about my childhood had unlocked the forbidden door, and then Jake had stirred the slumbering emotions even further.

The past was over. Done. I hated evoking memories, feeling regret or remorse. They were wasted emotions, ones I didn’t often indulge in.

Punching the pillow out of frustration, I closed my eyes and prayed for sleep to take over, but I was too wired to relax enough to nod off.

I’d come a long way from being the poorest girl in the neighborhood. After I’d graduated from college, I’d placed my mother in the best mental-care facility I could find. Not that I could exactly afford it at the time, especially when I’d added my student loans to the other debts I owed, but I’d been determined to make it work.

A day later, I’d packed my few belongings, kissed Mom goodbye, and moved to the city where I’d started a new life. For three years I’d worked two jobs without ever taking weekends off, and often covering double shifts and doing extra hours when possible to pay for Mom’s care and my own apartment. I’d survived by eating baked beans on toast. Damn, there were days when even that was a luxury. But it had been worth it, because I’d shaken the dust and shame of that sleepy town off and never looked back.

Restless and thirsty, I rolled out of bed and padded my way to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of sparkling water. I cracked the top open and drank the cool liquid down until my thirst was satisfied. Setting the bottle on the counter, I held my stomach and let out a burp.

What would Levi say if he saw me now?

The real Montana wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as the woman I’d trained myself to become. I missed parts of the old me—the me who didn’t care about etiquette or wouldn’t kiss anyone’s ass just so they would like me. But hey, if I wanted the life I now had, a few sacrifices were to be expected, and they were a small price to pay for the perfectly orchestrated and privileged life I now had.

In the city, nobody knew who I was or where I came from. Frankly, nobody really cared. Most people I met were wrapped up in their own little bubbles, just trying to make it from pay-check to pay-check and stay alive.

New York treated me better than I’d expected. It had taken time to adjust to the never-ending stream of people and the constant bustle, but once I’d gotten the hang of it, I could blend into the eclectic mix of people without feeling too awkward.

Still restless, I pulled an oversized T-shirt over my head, shook out my hair, and went to the living room. I lay down on the sofa and pulled a soft cashmere throw over my legs. Before long, I drifted in and out of a light, twitchy sleep. I hated when that happened the day before an important meeting because it meant I wouldn’t be at my sharpest the next day, and that was as big no-no in my book.

Waking in a cold sweat, I was confused by my weird dreams. It messed with my mind seeing images of Levi mixed in with my past life. It was so realistic that I had to put the light on to wake up properly and remind myself that it was only a dream.

He can’t ever find out what happened. Nobody can.

Especially now that my life was close to perfect. I’d worked so damn hard all those years, and I truly believed that I’d put it all behind me.

Clearly not. Somewhere in my subconscious mind I was still plagued by something that had happened nearly eighteen years earlier. How fucked up was that?

Since there was no point in trying to get back to sleep, I padded to the kitchen and made a mug of extra strong coffee. Funny how caffeine helped solve so many problems.

I sipped the steaming beverage while reading my emails, but my mind kept wandering back to Levi’s words. Why had he asked me to stay over? A year ago, he’d been the one who insisted we should add the stipulation of no sleepovers to our agreement.

What would it feel like to wake up in his arms? How would we be with one another in the morning? I allowed myself to picture us as a real couple and imagine what it would be like to come home to him every day. As much as I fought the idea, a part of me really liked it.

Damn it. It was never going to happen. I didn’t have time for this BS. I’d known for a long time I’d never have a normal relationship, so why was I feeling like this now?

Face up to reality, Montana. Levi will never be anything more than a fuck buddy
.

That was exactly how I wanted it, right?

With a deep sigh, I placed the mug in the dishwasher and went for a shower. Streams of water over my body always settled me down and helped me become rational and logical again.

It was only five-fifteen in the morning, and the sun was just pushing the darkness away. I wasn’t a stranger to early mornings or long hours at the office; it was the only way I’d managed to steadily work my way up the corporate ladder.

After drying myself and slipping into underwear, I sat at the dressing table to fix my hair and face. I brushed my hair with exactly forty strokes before I rolled it into a chignon. Dark puffy circles were evident under my eyes, so I applied a layer of concealer to hide them. I leaned back and dripped eye-drops into both corners. The redness disappeared like magic. What would I do without my beauty tricks?

I quickly dressed in a blue shirt, cream Armani pants and a matching jacket, and made my way to the door.

“Good morning, Miss Marx,” the doorman, Albert James, greeted me with a warm smile as he held the door open. “You’re up bright and early today. It’s not many women I see work as hard as you, my dear.”

I quirked an eyebrow at the greying man and flashed him a smile. Mr. James reminded me so much of my grandfather that we’d become quite friendly.

“You know what they say—”

“The early bird catches the worm?” he said, before I could finish my sentence.

I laughed. “My granddad always used to say that. Believe it or not, I hated waking early when I was a kid.”

“Yeah, but just look at you now. You’re smart and doing so well for yourself, and I’m sure your grandfather would be proud of you, Miss Marx.”

I blinked back the wetness that came to my eyes. What the hell? I never got teary, not even when I was under enormous pressure. I’d used up a lifetime’s worth of tears already and vowed never to be that vulnerable again. Tears hadn’t helped me then, and they sure as hell were useless now.

The minute I got to the office, I lost myself in work. Ah, that was so much better than dwelling in the past or fretting about the future, yet I missed my wise granddad and his clever sayings more than usual.

One thing I absolutely lived by was his mantra of living in the moment. He’d tell me that the past was done and the future hadn’t yet been written, so there wasn’t any point in wasting energy on things I had no control over.

All the reasons why I tried never to think about
that
day.

“Morning, boss lady.”

I looked up from my computer to see Hailey, my personal assistant, standing in the doorway with two steaming cups of coffee in her hand. It was our ritual that she’d bring coffee and we’d start by going over the agenda of the day, reorganizing my schedule if necessary and putting out fires before they burst into flames.

“Hey, Hailey. You’re early,” I said, as I looked at the marble-faced clock hanging on the wall above her head.

She shook her head and laughed. “Damn, I thought I’d get some paperwork done before you came in today, but you still managed to beat me.” Hailey was two years older than me and the most organized person I’d ever known. If it weren’t for her, I would’ve been stark raving mad by now. She kept me on track and took care of those pesky little things that if left unattended became big things. I trusted her with my life.