The Billionaire's Curvy Conquest - Complete (12 page)

What in the hell was he talking about?

“The problem is, now that we are....
here
...I’m not quite sure how to proceed.”

Was ‘here’ the hospital room I was in, or a metaphor for the state of our relationship now that I knew his secrets? Oh, how I wished I could open my mouth and just ask him!

“I negotiate billion dollar business deals with a clear head and without hesitation, Miss James, but negotiating relationship boundaries with you may prove to be my undoing.”

He must be talking about the boundary I crossed when I dug into his background behind his back.

“In the ambulance, when you said you loved me...”

Oh, dear god, that wasn’t a dream? But that would mean that he loves me, too. He said so himself!

Even though I still couldn’t move, speak or open my eyes, I felt my heart soar deep inside my chest.

“...I felt compelled to respond in kind. After all, I thought I was losing you, Miss James...”

Just like that, my heart crashed to the ground at the harsh reality of his words. He had said
I love you, too,
because he thought I was dying, not because it was the truth. And now, with this bedside confession, he was taking it back.

I felt a single tear slip down my cheek.

“Cassie, I—” Mr. Reed dropped my hand and I sensed him moving away from the bed. “Nurse!” I heard him call out. “I believe she’s waking up!”

“Y
ou didn’t eat much of your lunch.” Mr. Reed’s housekeeper scolded me with a cluck of her tongue. “You don’t like my cooking?”

“I love your cooking, Maria,” I assured her. “I just don’t have much of an appetite today.”

“I understand. You’ve been through a lot, Miss Cassie. Maybe you will feel hungry by dinnertime.”

“Maybe.” I smiled weakly. “Um, speaking of dinner, do you know if Mr. Reed will be home?”

“I don’t think so. He mentioned that he would be staying in the city tonight.”

“I think he’s avoiding me,” I blurted out. I had been camped out in Mr. Reed’s guest room for nearly a week and hadn’t seen him since he and his driver had brought me home from the hospital.

“Don’t be silly. Mr. Reed is a very busy man. It’s not unusual for him to spend the majority of his nights at the penthouse.”

Maria avoided looking in my eyes, which told me she didn’t believe her reassurances any more than I did. But I decided to let it go. After all, it wasn’t her fault that he didn’t want to see me.

Really, who could blame him? After nearly dying from a burst appendix, I wasn’t exactly looking my best.

What I didn’t understand was why he brought me to his country house to recover when he had no intention of spending time with me.

He could have let me go home with my parents, like they had wanted. Instead, he somehow convinced them that staying closer to my doctor would be better in case I developed post-op complications.

He had Alice arrange for a private nurse to check on me twice a day, and put Maria in charge of things like meals, laundry and tidying up my room.

It’s almost like taking care of me was another mundane task to outsource, just like every other boring detail of his life. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had put his Special Projects team in charge of my post-op care.

“I’m sure you’re right,” I told Maria, blinking away the salty tears that stung my eyes.

“It’s a beautiful day, Miss Cassie. Why don’t you spend some time in the garden? A little sunshine and fresh air would be good for you.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“If you need anything, please let me know.”

“I will, Maria. Thank you.”

After she left my room, I let the tears fall freely down my cheeks. When I was finally cried out, I splashed my face with cold water, brushed my hair and covered my nightgown with a matching robe. Maria was right; a little sunshine and fresh air
would
be good for me.

I sat on a little stone bench surrounded by flowers and wondered if Mr. Reed had ever taken the time to enjoy the beauty of his estate.

Doubtful.

David Reed hadn’t become a self-made billionaire by hanging out in the garden and admiring the scenery. He was a man of action, not reflection!

It was time for me to stop moping around. I could either sit around and idly wait for Mr. Reed to pay me a visit, or I could be bold and go to him directly.

My first hurdle was getting out of his house; the second was getting to the Reed Technologies building. I was under the doctor’s orders not to leave until he gave me clearance. But who knew when that would be?

In all honesty, I felt pretty good. Definitely well enough to get dressed and leave the house as long as someone else was doing the driving. I almost wondered if the doctor keeping me homebound had less to do with my postop recovery and more to do with Mr. Reed’s wishes.

After soaking up the sun for another 30 minutes while making plans to confront my billionaire boss, I went back in the house, took a shower and got dressed. If I was going to go see Mr. Reed, I wanted to look good
and
be comfortable.

I chose a flowing, empire waist dress that made me feel pretty and didn’t rub on my large incision. I took time styling my hair, and applying enough makeup to hide the dark circles under my eyes and add a little color to my pale cheeks.

Then I called Henry.

I would have preferred calling a taxi over Mr. Reed’s driver, who would undoubtedly report my actions to him, but I didn’t want a stranger knowing where I was staying and where I wanted to go.

“Hi Henry, it’s Cassie.”

“Good afternoon, Miss James. What can I do for you?”

“I need a ride. My doctor cleared me for a short outing, so I thought I would go into the office for a little while,” I lied.

“Can you give me 30 minutes?”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting out front.”

Maria liked to take an afternoon siesta. I left her a note on my bedside table in case she came looking for me and slipped out the front door. I was weaker than I originally thought, so I sat on the front steps to wait for Henry.

Blessedly, the drive into the office was a quiet one. Henry was a pretty perceptive man; he must have realized I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. He parked in front of the building and opened the passenger door to let me out.

“Give me a call when you’re done here, Miss James. I’d be happy to drive you back to Mr. Reed’s home when you’re ready.”

I smiled and nodded. “I’ll do that, Henry. Thanks.”

Instead of heading to my office, I went directly to Mr. Reed’s private elevator. Without question, the elevator operator delivered me to the top floor of the Reed Technologies building. My status as Mr. Reed’s pretend girlfriend gave me carte blanche access to his office.

I wasn’t in the mood to field questions from Mr. Reed’s executive assistant, so I was relieved to see that Alice wasn’t at her desk. As I passed by the desk, I nearly bumped into a beautiful woman who was walking toward the elevator. There was only one occupied office down the corridor and it belonged to Mr. Reed.

The woman was wearing a short red skirt with matching lipstick and three-inch heels, and carried a black leather briefcase. She was my opposite in every way: tall, slender, classy, leggy, brunette. 

The kind of woman I would expect Mr. Reed to be with.

Her hair was slicked back in a neat and tidy bun that looked damp, almost as if it had been freshly styled. She smiled as we passed each other in the hallway, her perfect red lips turning up just enough to be polite while her eyes looked me up and down, almost like she was sizing up the competition.

On impulse, I turned around and watched as she walked away. Her slim hips swayed from side to side like a runway model. In my loose, knee-length dress and ballet flats, I suddenly felt plump and dumpy instead of pretty.

When the brunette disappeared into the elevator, I gathered my nerves, marched down the hallway and knocked on Mr. Reed’s door.

“Enter.”

When I heard his muffled command, I realized this was a very bad idea, although I had come too far to abandon my plan. I turned the knob and walked inside just as Mr. Reed was locking something away in his desk drawer.

My pale face paled even more.

It was the same desk drawer that held his blindfolds, paddles and other...tools...used during our afternoon sex sessions. What’s more, his jacket was off, his tie was loose and his face looked slightly flushed.

While trying not to jump to conclusions, I walked toward his desk to get a better look at what had been going on before I got there. But based on my own history with Mr. Reed, there was little doubt about what the tall brunette had been doing in his office.

I knew we weren’t a real couple. Still, knowing that he was likely having sex with another woman while I recovered from major surgery was a slap in the face.

“Miss James, what are you doing here?” Mr. Reed asked sharply.

When my legs started to shake, I locked my knees so I wouldn’t collapse. I felt so many emotions. Hurt, betrayal, jealousy, shame, anger.

If the brunette was still here, I probably would have tried to claw her eyes out.

I channeled my anger into strength and held my head high. “I’ve come to give you my two weeks’ notice.”

Mr. Reed’s face registered surprise and he got up from behind his desk. “You what?”

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. “On second thought, you don’t deserve any notice. I’m resigning from my position as your Personal Communications Assistant. Effective immediately!”

He walked toward me and I fought the urge to back away. “Cassie, what is this all about?”

“You’ve been avoiding me so I came to see why. Now that I have an answer, I can’t continue working for you...and I can’t keep pretending to be your girlfriend.”

“You’re not making any sense. I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been working on a very important business deal. Besides, my staff has kept me informed about the status of your recovery.”

Did he even realize how cold and detached that sounded?

The backs of his fingers caressed my cheek and my clenched fists went limp. He pulled me close and I couldn’t help but lean into him.

“You should really be in bed, my sweet. You’re recovering from major abdominal surgery and the pain medication you’re taking is very powerful.”

The tone of his voice softened and I sighed. I let my cheek rest against his warm, strong chest. His heart thumped, hard and fast, against my flattened ear.

Was it the rapid heartbeat of a man who was concerned for the welfare of his fake girlfriend?

Or the heartbeat of a man who had just gone several rounds in the sex ring with one of Robert Palmer’s
Addicted to Love
back-up dancers?

I inhaled his signature scent and got a whiff of something new mixed with it. Notes of something sweeter, floral and feminine. I lifted my head to ask him about it and that’s when I saw it.

The smallest smudge of red lipstick at the corner of Mr. Reed’s mouth.

I pulled away and clutched my stomach, afraid that I was about to be sick. I took a few steps backwards and sunk into a chair, trembling with barely-checked emotion.

Mr. Reed kneeled beside me, his face etched with concern. “Cassie, coming here was a bad idea.”

You have no idea how bad, Mr. Reed.

He took my hand and I fought the urge to pull it away. “Let’s pretend that your little outburst never happened. I’m going to call Henry to take you home.” The tone in his voice left no room for argument. 

Not that I would have resisted at this point. I had seen enough and needed to put some distance between myself and my patronizing boss.

“I’d like that, Mr. Reed. I can see that it was too soon for me to be up and around. Would you be terribly disappointed if I went home to my apartment instead of your mansion?”

The expression on his face went blank. “I’m sure you’d be more comfortable at my home where Maria can look after you.”

“I don’t really need twenty-four-hour care anymore,” I argued. “I just need more rest. And I think I would rest better in my own bed.”

“I’m certainly not going to
force
you to return to my home, Miss James. You may have Henry take you wherever you wish.”

“Thank you,” I said, smiling as sweetly as I could with my teeth clenched like a vise.

He made the call to Henry and led me down the hall, into the elevator and out to the curb in front of the building. I clutched his arm the whole time, not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. I didn’t trust my own legs to carry me the distance.

When Henry pulled up, Mr. Reed opened the passenger door and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Get some rest, Miss James. We’ll talk soon.”

Again, Henry and I rode in silence. He offered to walk me to my apartment, but I declined. I lived on the ground floor and didn’t need help getting up the few steps to my door.

To my surprise, sitting on my welcome mat was a giant vase filled with two dozen long-stemmed red roses. I carried the vase into the kitchen, and opened the tiny card. It read:

~~~

F
eel better soon, my sweet.

Yours Truly,

David Reed

~~~

“A
rhhh!” I screamed in frustration before turning on the water and hitting the switch on the garbage disposal.

I had no idea how he had managed to get roses delivered before I got home. But after what he had done, David Reed couldn’t buy my forgiveness, even if he had sent the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers I had ever seen.

One-by-one, I fed the stems down the drain, where they churned and sputtered as they were ground to a pulp. Just like my feelings.

I had hoped that when I was done, I would feel some sense of satisfaction.

Instead, all I felt was empty and numb.

W
e’ll talk soon.

Those were the last words Mr. Reed had said to me before I drove away in his town car and returned to my small, quiet apartment.

Yet, as it turned out,
soon
meant
not at all
.