The Romance Challenge, Complete Series Box Set: BBW Hot Alpha Billionaire Romance (11 page)

"That traumatic incident that
happened to my sister, Michelle? She was attacked in our home one night. A
thief came in, bashed her on the head, and stole a statue. The police pretty much
quit looking for the guy, but this one detective, Chuck Taylor, he said he
still was. I thought he was lying to me, but I guess not."

My text chime sounded and I checked,
pulling up the picture Chuck sent, then enlarging it.

"Is that the statue?" Nathan
flicked the light on and leaned across the bed to look.

"I think so. I can't tell." I
turned the phone. It
looked
like the one Dad gave Michelle, an angel
posed on a base.

Hitting the redial, I called Chuck.
"I think that's it. Can you buy it?  I'll pay you back. How much?"

"Eighty bucks. I've got your address.
I'll send it to you."

"I'm not home. I'm working out of
state." I stood. Oh damn, I was bare-ass naked.

"Have him send it here. As soon as
possible. I'll pay for it, and shipping," Nathan said in a low tone.

I bit my lip. I didn't want Nathan doing
favors for me.

I put my hand over the phone speaker.
"No, that's okay, I'll take care of it. I'll have it sent to my house and
look at it when I get home."

But I wanted that statue, now. And I
wasn't sure my almost-drained bank account could handle the cost, or a shipping
fee.

Nathan was already out of bed and grabbing
his wallet. He waved a credit card at me. "Please. Let me."

Time to swallow my pride.

I uncovered the phone speaker. "I'll
give you another address, in Key Largo. And my, um, my friend will give you a
credit card number."

"Sounds good. I'll hand my phone to
Max, the guy who owns Pawn Castle. Give him all the info. He can ship it right
from here so you'll get it ASAP."

"Chuck, you're awesome. I thought you'd
given up on me." Tears pricked behind my eyes. "I don't know how to
thank you."

"I gave it a once over. The cover on
the bottom is torn, and the base is kind of loose. You check it, let me know if
anything jumps out at you, why someone would steal it. I'll talk to Max, see if
he knows who brought it here. You can thank me when we catch the guy."

I handed my phone to Nathan and went into
the bathroom. He probably didn't want me hearing his account info. Anyway, I needed
to catch my breath. Between that mind-blowing sex and news from Chuck, my brain
hit overload. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, at my reddened lips and
wild hair.

What have I done?

I had sex with Nathan Cameron that's what.
The owner of the company I worked for. My boss. And not just any old sex. Hot,
smoking,' burn up the sheets sex. OMG. This would change everything. What if he
regretted his actions? Got mad at me? No, he wasn't a man who gave in to a
lustful urge and then got all repentant. He wanted to go again, he said, and unless
he was an award-winning actor, he totally got into our lovemaking.

But shit. That news from Chuck got my
heart drumming. Could this be the statue that was stolen from us? Why on earth would
it be in a pawn shop? Even in the knick-knack section. I don't remember it
being valuable.  Our father told Michelle it was special, and to keep it safe. Honestly,
it didn't look all that special to me. An angel, standing on top of a base that
looked like a rock. Bronze, or some other metal. Heavy enough to knock out a
young girl when it hit her on the head.

I shuddered, suddenly cold. I had to call
Michelle. Crap, and Mom too. Picturing
that
conversation made my eyelid
twitch and about obliterated my happy tingle. But after all this time, finding
a clue about Michelle's attacker sparked hope for me, and I had to share with
my family.

I pulled a robe off the hook on the door,
suddenly shy. Nathan just spent a good long while looking at and touching my
body, but I wasn't ready to let him see me totally naked, in anything other
than candlelight. What should I do now? Should I play it cool and flirty, or
let him know how freaking awesome I felt? The Earth moved for him too, right?

A light tap sounded on the door. "You
okay?"

"Fine. I'll be out in a minute."
Okay. I'd let him take the lead, see what his post-coital style looked like. He
had a lot more experience than me.

When I came out of the bathroom, Nathan had
his shorts on. The sight of him standing there, bare-chested, with a relaxed
smile on his face, brought a fresh flood of wet to my pussy.

"You like red wine, correct? I'll go
get us a bottle from the bar. I thought we'd have a drink and continue."
He crossed to where I stood.

"Did you give Max your info? Any
problems?"

"Yes, and no problems. He'll ship the
statue and it should arrive tomorrow."

"Thank you, so much. I'll repay you
as soon as I get back home. I have a wad of cash put aside for
emergencies."

He waved his hand. "Consider it part
of your bonus. If I can help you with anything else, tell me. Now, about
this." He slipped a finger inside my robe and ran it along my breasts.

More wet. Part of me desperately wanted to
hop back into that bed and go for another round, but a different kind of
excitement coursed through me like white-water rapids. The kind that left
churning waves in its wake. I put my hand over his. "I'm sorry, I'm too
distracted right now. And I need to make phone calls."

"At two o'clock in the morning?"

"I need to think about the calls. And
for Michelle, it sometimes works better if I email her first."

A flash of disappointment crossed his
face, but he smiled and removed his hand. "Okay, make sure to get some rest,
too. I want more of you. Plan on dinner with me tonight."

I reached out and grabbed his hand again, then
closed my eyes for a second, willing everything except Nathan to go away. What could
I say? There were no words to let him know how much I enjoyed our time
together. I felt it, felt that magic and love we'd stirred up. What in the
whole world could be better than this? With a sigh, I opened my eyes and
released his hand.

He looked at me, his mouth curled into one
of those special smiles that only lovers share. "Call me when you wake up." 

He put on his shirt and shoes and left.

I plunked back on the bed, my heart a
tangle of emotions. Nathan. I made love with Nathan. Not just sex. The way we
moved together, like two musical notes creating perfect harmony. Now what? He
wanted to have dinner with me. That's what regular people did. They went out,
spent time together, on dates. But Nathan and I weren't regular people. He was
a billionaire, and I worked for him. And I had a skeleton in my closet I didn't
want him to meet.

 I needed to get my mind off Nathan. Had
to work on this new development with the statue. I would write out a plan, of
what I needed to ask Mom and Michelle and how much I would tell them. Grabbing
my notebook, I scribbled away. Once I put my questions on paper, I breathed
easier. I sent Michelle an email, telling her I'd be calling and that I wanted
more information about the statue. Mom, I'd tackle her later.

I dimmed all the lights and climbed back
into bed. Really, I should sleep. There was nothing more I could do tonight.
This morning. Lord, I was mixed up.

 Anyway, I wanted to enjoy the scent of
Nathan on my sheets, and to hold onto that small sliver of absolute joy I'd
experienced. For a brief time, I'd been in heaven. Making love with him was
totally different than with my other boyfriends. They'd tried to make it good, sort
of, but none of the three were terribly experienced. So, not like I had a lot
to compare Nathan to, but I know what I felt, and what just happened between us
was special.

With my other partners, I always had a
vague sense, they thought I should be grateful to be having sex with them, to be
thankful that they were going out with me, the big girl. Maybe I was paranoid,
but when each relationship ended, the dude started dating a skinny woman. I checked
them out; I knew. Social media told me every little detail.

Except my last boyfriend, John, who I told
to get the hell out of my life forever. I never looked him up to see who he was
dating. I didn't want any reminders of that awful night.

I curled up in bed, hugging the pillow
that smelled of Nathan. My exhausted mind finally tired of running on the
hamster wheel and I drifted off to a restless sleep.

Thursday

Jen answered on the third ring, the sound
of children laughing in the background, as always. "Howdy! I've actually got
a few minutes to talk. We're at a pizza party. Let me get another mom to watch
these monsters for a minute. Hey, I'm going outside," she yelled to
someone. The noise disappeared. "Okay, baby-cakes, tell me what's going on
down there in the land of sunshine."

"I slept with Nathan."

Not quite how I planned to lead the
conversation, but is slipped out.

"Holy shit! It's okay, I can say
that, no kids around. So you looked and touched. How was it? Totally amazeballs?"

"Mostly, yeah."

"But? I hear a but, and not the good
kind, like a firm, manly one, naked on top of you. That you dig your heels into
while you…"

"Stop." I couldn't help
grinning. "
But
, it's a one-time thing. Just a hook-up, while we're
here on this job."

"Did he say that? The slime."

"No, he didn't. He wants to go to
dinner tonight."

"Well, heck, sounds like he's kind of
into you. Right? Dinner? At a restaurant and all?"

"I assume."

"So maybe it's not just a hook-up. Could
be, he recognizes a true gem when he sees one. I wasn't going to say I told you
so, but, yeah, I am. Told you so. He's a decent dude, right? He has a car
without rust, all his own teeth, good income?"

"Yeah, you could say that. He probably
has a fleet of cars in many styles and colors. He's a billionaire, owns a large
company, remember?"

"Slipped my mind for a minute. He's
being nice to you?"

 "He loaned me money for a statue at
a pawn shop."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story and I know you'll
need to chase after your kiddos before I can finish it. But you remember I told
you, this detective was following up on leads from Michelle's attack? Well, he
found a clue. I'll send you an email when I have a few minutes with more
details."

"That's great! You think it might
help you find that dude?"

"I hope. So, I have to focus on that
right now. I can't start anything with Nathan. I'll be too busy working with
this lead on Michelle."

A pause. I grit my teeth. I could hear the
sermon gearing up. Why did I call Jennifer first this morning? Because she'd be
the easiest call to make. And because I was bursting to tell
someone
about
Nathan. I sure didn't plan on spilling my guts and discussing my sex life with
Mom or Michelle.

"You can't or you won't start anything?
Sweetie, you've got to stop blaming yourself. What happened to your sister is
not your fault. You need to live your own life. You're doing enough for
Michelle. Good Lord! You've got this the opportunity to have fun, maybe start
something, with a guy you've liked for a year."

"I like him as a boss. Long-distance.
I never said I wanted to get intimate with him."

"Yet you just had super-hot sex with
the dude."

"How do you know it was
super-hot?"

"I can hear it in your voice. That
well-fucked tone."

I tried not to laugh but I couldn't help it.
We both cracked up. I absolutely love Jen.

"Seriously, you sound happy. You need
to ditch that misplaced guilt. Get on with your life. Oh shit. I'm getting the
signal from a mom. One of my guys probably puked or something. Gotta run.
Listen, you enjoy your man and don't put limits on what might happen. Just roll
with it. Love ya."

Roll with it. Right. First call down. I
padded to the kitchen area. I'd bought vanilla flavored coffee as a treat, so I
made a small pot now. I didn't start work until two. A couple of hours to ease slowly
into this day. But I needed to keep my mind active. I didn't want to slip into
memories of my time with Nathan. Didn't want to remember that look in his eyes
when he entered me. Or how his hands touched me just right. Or the sound of his
moan when he came.

Crap. The smell of spicy musk lingered on
my skin. I ran my hand through my hair. I'd take a shower while the coffee
perked, wash away his scent, get my thoughts focused where they should be.

Half-hour later, I made my next phone
call. "Hello Mom. It's Amber. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. A detective
found the statue that was stolen from Michelle. Possibly. He's going to send it
to me to take a look."

Silence. Maybe I shouldn't have blurted the
news, without any preamble. We never talked about the possibility of Michelle's
attacker being caught. My mission to find him was my secret. I didn't want to
involve Mom, but she might remember something she'd never shared.