The Billionaire Princess (5 page)

Phillip ignored her words and reached for her hand.  Ice-cold fear shot through her, and she glanced around for the Secret Service agents assigned to her.  She'd asked them to hold back tonight.  After all, everyone in the room had gone through security on their way in and the event was by invitation only.

“Let’s put the past behind us, Sara.  We're both here alone tonight.” Ignoring her response, he pulled her toward him.

It's a room full of people, I'm safe
.  Sara tried to pull her arm away without making a scene. If she made a lot of commotion other people would notice.  If possible she wanted to keep her run-in with Phillip under the radar.

“She's not alone.”

Sara whipped her head around fast enough to give herself whiplash at the sound of Christopher’s voice.

“Sorry I was gone so long.  Congressman Roberts stopped me.  You know how he can go on.”  Christopher took her free hand and pulled her possessively against his side.  With no other choice, Phillip released her hand.

Sara felt Christopher drape his arm around her shoulder.  The feel of his hand on her bare shoulder sent shivers of excitement down her arm, extinguishing the fear she'd felt moments earlier.

“Is there a problem here, Sara?” Although Christopher asked her the question, she noticed that he never looked away from Phillip.

“Phillip Young,” Phillip said extending his hand.  “We were just catching up.  Sara and I are old friends.”

Sara counted the seconds that passed as Phillip stood with his hand extended and Christopher made no move to accept it.  She wanted to smile at the cut by Christopher.  Phillip wasn't used to being ignored.  He thought highly of himself and figured everyone else should too.

“It didn't look that way to me,” Christopher said coldly.

When he looked over at her, Sara shook her head hoping he'd get the hint she wanted to drop the issue.

“Everything is fine.  I was wondering where you were, but if Roberts got a hold of  you that explains it.”  On impulse Sara dropped a brief kiss on Christopher's cheek hoping the tiny display of affection would add to the charade.

The second her lips left his cheek Christopher turned his head toward her, his chocolate brown eyes taking everything in.

“Aren't you going to introduce us?” Phillip asked letting his hand fall back to his side.

Phillip’s voice pulled her attention away from Christopher.  Before she answered she snaked her arm around his waist comforted by the feel of his body next to hers.

“Phillip, I'm sure you've heard of Christopher Hall of Hall Technology.”

Sara forced herself to contain her smirk as the demeanor of the man before her changed.  His eyes became the size of saucers, and he pulled his attention off her and turned it toward Christopher.

“Yes, I have.  It's nice to meet you.  I've heard great things about your company.”

Sara half expected Phillip to fall to his knees and worship Christopher.
  It was all about money and power to him.  All he cared about was who could help him get the most of both.

“Senator Healy wanted to see us before we leave, and I'm ready to go now.”  Christopher infused just the right amount of seduction in his tone.

“I better find him then.  Goodnight Phillip.”

She didn't wait for an answer.  Instead she allowed Christopher to lead her toward the other end of the grand ballroom where tables had been set for dinner.

“Thank you.”  Sara stopped at an empty table in a far corner.  “You arrived at just the right time.”

Without saying a word, he pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit.  “Who was that anyway?”

“My ex.  I don't know what he's doing here.  I don't remember seeing him on the guest list.”  Sara heard the contempt in her voice but couldn't do anything about it.  “Speaking of which, what are you doing here?” Now that a scene with Phillip had been avoided, it dawned on her that Christopher shouldn't be there either.

Christopher sat across the table from her and leaned back in his chair. He appeared to be a man without a care in the world and completely comfortable in her presence, despite the night they'd shared weeks ago.

The memory of waking up with his arm draped across her stomach filled her head.  Over the past few weeks her memories of that night popped up time and time again, but only when she was alone.  A fact she was grateful for.  No such luck tonight. Warmth spread across her face and she hoped the lighting in the ballroom kept Christopher from seeing her blush.

“I've known David Healy for a few years.  We belong to the same country club.  We played golf right before Jake's wedding, and he invited me.”

During their next meeting she would remind David to keep her apprised of who he issued invites to. As his chief of staff she needed to be in the loop on all things.  Not to mention it would've been helpful to know Christopher was coming tonight.

“You did make it,” Senator Healy said, approaching their table. 

A man in his mid-forties, Senator Healy was the type who most would overlook in a crowd.  A graduate of Columbia University, he'd built his entire life around one goal, making it to the United States Senate despite the fact he didn't have any family connections.  She admired him for that.  Accomplishing exactly what he'd achieved was her ultimate goal for the future.

The Senator pulled a chair out from the table and joined them.  “And I see you've met my talented Chief of Staff.  She came to work for me instead of the President himself,” he said chuckling at his usual joke.

“We've known each other a long time.  Christopher and my brother were roommates in college.”

“I didn't realize there
was a connection between you two,” the Senator said pointing a finger back and forth between them.  “So have you thought anymore about what we discussed?” Senator Healy asked before turning his attention to Sara.  “I told him about the education initiative we want to get though.”

Christopher nodded.  “That's one of the reasons I am here tonight.”

One of the reasons?  What were his other reasons?  She wanted to ask but knew it wasn't any of her business.  Besides asking might give him the wrong impression.

“Excellent.  That's what I wanted to hear,” the senator said.  “Sara, set up a meeting for us with Christopher.”  Pushing his chair back, he came to his feet.  “I look forward to our meeting.” The senator shook hands with Christopher before rejoining the guests in the ballroom.

Sara gripped her hands together, her nails digging into her skin.  A meeting with her boss and her brother's best friend, with whom she'd had a one-night stand—could anything be more awkward? Doubtful, but stranger things happened.  “I'm staying in Providence for the weekend, so I'll call your assistant on Monday to arrange a meeting.”  If she avoided talking about anything personal tonight perhaps he would too.

“Call me directly.  There's no need for you to go through Caroline.”  Christopher rested both elbows on the table and leaned closer.

Before she could stop herself, her eyes dropped to his large hands sprawled on the table and her skin tingled at the memory of them on her body.  Immediately, her pulse quickened.  “Okay,” she said, sounding a little breathless.

“I thought I would spend a few days here myself.  I haven't been on the East Coast in a while.  What are your plans for tomorrow?”

She could lie.  If she told him she had a previous engagement, he'd never know the difference.  Sara opened her mouth, an excuse on the tip of her tongue, but the words wouldn't come.  Although people in Washington were rumored to lie left and right to suit their own needs and agendas, she wasn't able to.  Never had been in fact.  For as long as she could remember her mom drilled into her that a true lady never lied.  Omitting details was one thing, like not telling her brother about her one-night stand, but out and out lying just felt wrong. 
A true lady doesn't have one-night stands either.

“Nothing specific,” the words slid from her mouth. She hadn't lied.

“How about dinner then?  You can tell me more about this initiative David wants me to support.”

Sara nodded in agreement. Perhaps working with Christopher would be the best way to get over her awkward feelings about Hawaii.

On the other side of the glass elevator, the city lights twinkled in the evening sky.  Rolling her neck she tried to work out the tension that had settled there hours earlier.  Normally these events gave her an adrenaline boost, but not tonight.  While the evening had started out like any other, it had gone downhill fast, picking up speed along the way.

“What a night,” she said to herself as the elevator reached her floor.  The doors opened to a deserted hallway.  She had the entire floor to herself, Secret Service made sure of that.  Not that it would've been a problem, anyway considering the hotel belonged to Sherbrooke Enterprises.

Slipping her keycard into the lock, she pushed open the door, kicked off her Christian
Louboutin heels, and headed straight for the bathroom with its oversized tub.  She needed a long soak in the tub to wash away her stress.  Her entire body felt tight as if it was about to snap, since she'd heard first Phillip's and then Christopher's voice.  Not that she wasn't grateful for Christopher's interference.  When he'd wrapped his arm around her waist anchoring her to his side, her fear disappeared.

Yet she'd hoped not to see Christopher for a very long time. Mortification, along with several other emotions, set in every time she thought of her behavior that night in Hawaii.  If David had told her about his invitation to Christopher maybe she could have prepared herself for seeing him again.

To top off the weekend, now she was going to have dinner with him.  Sara slid into the water, the heat immediately easing the tension in her body.  Too bad it couldn't do the same for her warring emotions.  Inhaling and exhaling slow measured breaths, Sara pushed Christopher from her mind.  Tomorrow there would be enough time to deal with all her feelings he evoked.  Tonight she needed to relax then get a good night's sleep.

***

With a hand towel, Christopher cleared the steam from the bathroom mirror.  Then he reached for his contact lenses.  Without those he ran the risk of slitting his own throat when he shaved the stubble that had grown since he shaved that morning.  Two shaves in the same day wasn't his norm.  When he could get away with it, he didn't even shave every day, but tonight there was no way around it.

Using his shaving brush, he covered his cheeks with a layer of shaving soap and reached for the straight edge razor he favored.  While an electric razor would be quicker, he preferred the extra close shave the old-fashioned tool gave him.  His sister, Caroline, loved to give him a hard time about the fact that his life revolved around the state-of-the-art in technology, yet he shaved with an instrument some men wouldn't even recognize.

As he scraped away the five o'clock shadow, his mind wandered to the evening ahead and a sharp pang of uneasiness pierced his gut.  On so many levels taking Sara out tonight was wrong.  Yeah, sure he'd asked her out, under the ruse that they could discuss the senator's new education plan while they ate, something that could wait until he met with them in Washington.  The real reason he'd asked her was to spend time with her and get a sense of her feelings toward him.  If that night in Hawaii hadn't happened, he'd never even entertain the idea that there might be something between them.  Hawaii had happened, though, and he couldn't get it out of his mind.  And he'd tried. Man, how he'd tried.  He'd been out on dates with two different women since then, but neither had even remotely turned him on the way Sara had.  On both occasions he'd dropped his date off at her place and had gone home alone.

After wiping any remaining shaving soap from his face, Christopher ran a hand through his damp hair, satisfied with the image looking back at him.  It was an image that had taken years to develop.  The self-assured man gazing back at him now hadn't always existed.  In fact until college, he'd been the exact opposite, and he had his friendship with Jake to thank for much of that.

And how do I repay the guy?
 
By sleeping with his sister.
  Even worse if the opportunity arose again, he didn't know if he'd be able to pass it up.  Sara had intrigued him since the minute she walked into their dorm room freshman year.  Back then she hadn't given the geeky nerd with the coke-bottle glasses a second look.  Yet after her brother's wedding, she'd done so much more than that.  Afterward she brushed it off as no big deal, yet he didn't completely believe her.  Sure she showed up in magazine headlines from time to time with her name attached to a man, but nothing like her brother had before meeting Charlie.

Regardless of what type of life she led, she was supposed to be off-limits to him.  You just didn't get involved with your friend's sister… period.  Despite knowing this, he still planned to have dinner with her tonight.  He just couldn't pass up the opportunity and if Jake found out he'd be able to say it'd been a business meeting.

“As long as I keep it out of the bedroom, it'll be okay,” Christopher said to the image in the mirror as he buttoned his shirt.  “How hard can that be?” Switching off the light he left, eager for the night ahead.

The candle in the center of the table flickered, casting Sara's face in a warm glow.  What had he been thinking when he made these reservations?  A private candle-lit room at Lucerne was not the place to bring a beautiful woman you had no business getting involved with.  A better choice would've been a family friendly restaurant with bright lights and lots of loud music. 
Too late now.