The Virgin and the Billionaires: The Complete Series (18 page)

***

In the morning, Alexander
gently woke Dana up and told her to start packing. Their flight back to Los
Angeles was to leave at 11:30. They enjoyed a quick but delicious breakfast
before packing their bags.

After she had loaded up her
bags – of which there were several more than when she had arrived –
Dana took one last walk around their penthouse suite. Alexander came in to find
her.

“Our car is waiting
downstairs,” he said.

“Okay,” Dana replied. She
paused for a moment. “Thank you, Alexander. This has been an amazing trip.”

“My pleasure,” he replied.
“I was glad to have your company. Let’s go.”

They met the bellhop by the
elevator. Together, they all rode down to the ground floor. Dana waited while
Alexander checked out, and together they headed out to the Limousine that was
waiting for them on the street. Alexander tipped the bellhop and they were off.

Dana’s nose pressed against
the window the entire ride. The car took a different route back to the airport,
and she was able to see some of the quieter, prettier areas of the Upper East
Side. In that moment, Dana hoped that she would one day come back for a longer
visit – but in the spring or summer. The grey and drizzle dampened her
mood.

The limo sat in traffic for
a while. Dana tried to engage Alexander in conversation, but he was glued to
his phone.

“Business correspondence,”
he had said. “I’m sorry to be bad company. I have to get these things done by
tomorrow morning, unfortunately.”

“I understand,” Dana said.

Just like at LAX, the limo
drove past the commercial terminals, where enormous crowds of people were
unloading their cars and checking in. Dana and Alexander were let off in front
of a small, modern building and into a private waiting area that was
significantly smaller than the one they’d been in at LAX. Alexander still
wasn’t feeling particularly talkative. Dana noticed that he was making
spreadsheets on his laptop.

I guess no amount of money can release you from the reality of
Microsoft Excel
, she lamented to herself as she enjoyed a complimentary
parfait and mimosa. It was only a few more hours until she returned to her
workaday life, but she was grateful for the taste of luxury she’d experienced
on Alexander’s dime.

Before long, they boarded
Alexander’s jet. Dana sat at one of the tabled seats, and Alexander sat on the
other side. He immediately pulled out his laptop and got back to work. Dana
decided that she was going to read. After the plane took off, however, she
found herself glued to the giant window of the plane, staring down at the changing
landscape below. She hadn’t gotten to see it the first time around. For some
reason, six hours flew by when she kept her eyes out the window.

As the green farmland
turned into brown plateaus and then enormous mountains, Dana decided to take
her camera out and snap a few pictures of the ground. She took several, then
pointed her camera at Alexander, who promptly put his hand in front of his
face.

“No candids,” he said
without a hint of humor and barely looking up from his computer.

Dana apologized.
He is in some mood today.
Dana realized
at that moment that Alexander was a fundamentally moody man.

She stared out the window
until she recognized the landscape below: the barren desert of Death Valley,
the oasis of Palm Springs, the sprawl of San Bernardino County, and then the
sprawl of Los Angeles. The plane descended and Dana watched the city and
coastline come closer into view.

Fifteen minutes later, the
plane had landed. Alexander wiped his brow in exasperation and shut the lid of
his laptop.

“I’m glad to be back,” he
said.

“Me too,” Dana replied,
feeling slightly disoriented from the trip and the time change.

“Let’s get you a car home.”

They descended the steps of
the plane and hopped into a car that took them back to the private terminal.
There, Alexander spoke with the concierge and arranged a car ride home for
Dana.

“Come, I’ll walk you to the
door,” Alexander said.

A bellhop had loaded Dana’s
bags onto a cart. He pushed them out behind her.

“Thank you for coming with
me,” Alexander said, taking Dana in an embrace.

“Thank you for
taking
me,” Dana said. “I never thought
I’d experience anything like that.”

“Well, that’s our deal,
isn’t it?” Alexander smirked.

Dana hesitated.

“Yeah, it is.” She felt a
little strange. It was as if she had to keep reminding herself of the
relationship’s boundaries – to stop her mind before it started going
other places.

“I’ll be in touch.”
Alexander smiled as Dana climbed into her car and headed home to Burbank.

The driver had just helped
Dana unload her bags onto the sidewalk in front of her apartment building.
Before she had advanced three feet toward the stairs, Dana’s phone began to
ring. It was Jessica.

“Hello?” Dana said, trying
not to sound exhausted.

“Dana! I meant to call you
earlier and tell you that James Blake’s show was postponed! He got stuck at the
airport and they had to push the show back to tomorrow night. I still have that
extra ticket. Do you want to go?”

“Sure, sounds fun.”

“Great! See you tomorrow at
the Airliner.”

Dana hung up her phone,
lugged her bags just barely into her apartment, and crashed in her bed for the
rest of the afternoon.

I wonder what William’s been up to?
She thought as she drifted off.

***

On her way to the Airliner
the next night, Dana was singing along to ‘We Are the Champions’ at the top of
her lungs. Work had been pretty uneventful until Graciela had approached her
desk at the end of the day and given her a raise.

“I can’t justify paying you
your current salary for the caliber of work you’ve been doing,” she had said.
“Consider this an advance on a promotion a little further down the road.”

Dana was glad that she had
made plans to go out, because she planned on celebrating her good fortune. She
arrived at the club, found some street parking, and looked for Jessica outside.

Dana recognized Jessica’s
delicate, leggy frame waving at her from the confines of a tiny white bandage
dress. They greeted each other with a hug.

“Thank you so much for this
ticket! How’ve you been?” Dana asked as she released Jessica from her embrace.

“I’ve been great!
Everything is going well.” Dana admitted that she did look particularly
glowing.

“I’m so glad that I agreed
to come! I just found out today that I got a raise.”

Jessica’s eyes widened and
her face opened into a huge smile.

“Oh my God! I’m so happy
for you!” She hugged Dana again. “Let me buy you a drink – even though
you
should probably buy
me
a drink.” She laughed.

Dana laughed and thanked
Jessica as they presented their tickets and walked inside the dim nightclub.

Dana heard the dance music
thumping upstairs as Jessica grabbed them some cocktails.

“So, what did you do this
weekend?” Jessica asked as they made their way upstairs into the main room.

Dana thought quickly to
come up with a suitable lie.

“Well, I decided to go
decompress in Joshua Tree with my brother. He was down from San Francisco for
the weekend. I’d never been before. We just got a little room at an inn and sat
by the pool.”

“You don’t look any
tanner,” Jessica replied.

“Oh! Well, I used super
high SPF sunblock. Yeah. I burn easily. Gotta be super careful. But yeah,
Joshua Tree was really nice.” Dana tried to change the subject. “Anyway, I
listened to James Blake’s music and I really liked it. I’m excited for the
show.”

Jessica took Dana’s cue and
dropped the subject. “Yeah, it’s going to be really fun -” Jessica was
interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and shrieked with
delight at the sight of the equally tall, beautiful girl who had come up behind
her. They exchanged a fierce embrace and started chatting. Jessica pointed to
Dana.

“This is my friend, Dana.
She’s new to the city and I’ve been showing her some fun stuff to do. Dana,
this is my old friend, Brittany. We haven’t seen each other for like, two
years!” Jessica shrieked and embraced her friend again.

“Nice to meet you.” Dana
extended her hand out to Brittany, who took it delicately.

“Dana’s a
fashion photographer
!” Jessica
exclaimed. Brittany’s eyes widened.

“
Cool
!”

“The show’s probably not
going to start for a while. Will you be cool if Britt and I go out back and
have a few cigarettes?” Jessica looked slightly guilty.

“Oh, yeah – I’ll be
fine,” Dana said, not wanting to make a big deal. She hated being alone in a
crowded room.

Jessica and Brittany
disappeared to the back patio of the club. Anxious, Dana sucked down the last
of her drink and immediately went back down to the bar to order another. She
took her place in the three-deep throng that had accumulated.

Dana’s feet were starting
to get sore from waiting, until she felt a gentle but firm hand on her
shoulder. She turned around and saw none other than William Levy, the man she’d
put at the back of her mind all weekend, standing in front of her.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he
smiled.

Dana felt a surge of joy at
the sight of William’s shiny, toothy smile. She gave him a hug.

“Do you like James Blake?”
she asked.

“I wouldn’t be here if I
didn’t.” He smiled and looked into Dana’s eyes. “Let me buy that next drink for
you.” Before Dana could object, William had thrown his card down on the counter
and captured the bartender’s attention.

 
Dana had never seen William so dressed
down. He looked positively ‘normal’ in a clean, striped t-shirt and straight
leg jeans. His hair was a little messy, and Dana concluded that she had never
seen him quite so handsome.

Drinks in hand, William led
Dana to the corner of the dimly lit room and backed her into the wall. Not
feeling the need to converse first, he began to lightly kiss her lips and neck.
Dana’s concern at the PDA slipped away as she caved to the gentle, warm softness
of his lips on hers. She closed her eyes and lost herself in William’s kisses.

Dana heard the heavy door
click open a few feet away. She opened one eye to see who was coming in. Two
tall men entered first, and Dana was relieved that it was nobody. A few seconds
later, she caught sight of two familiar-looking girls trailing behind.

Oh God,
Dana thought as she saw Brittany and Jessica follow the two
men inside. Before she could shuffle herself away from William, it was already
too late. Jessica stood in the doorway, mouth agape, and let out a laugh of
pure disbelief.

---

Part 5:
An Irresistible Opportunity

“Oh. My God.” Jessica nearly dropped her drink on the ground
where she stood, mouth agape, blinking in disbelief at the sight of Dana Jacobs
pinned against the wall of the Airliner night club by William Levy.

Dana froze. She was completely at a loss for what to do, so
she forced herself out from under William and ran toward the club exit. William
stood for a moment, flabbergasted. He looked over at Jessica, maintaining his
cool.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said over the blare of the music,
conveying disapproval with his eyes.

Jessica didn’t move. She only blinked in acknowledgement as
William ran out of the club in search of Dana.

He found her standing in the parking lot, leaning on her car
and crying softly. She looked up and saw William, his face displaying
unmistakable exasperation. Dana sighed.

“My life is over, isn’t it?” she asked.

“What makes you say that?” William asked. He wrapped his
arms around her in a calming embrace.

Dana realized that she couldn’t say anymore. William didn’t
know about her affair with Alexander – at least, she didn’t think he did.

“Don’t worry about
her
.
I’ll take care of it at the office tomorrow.”

Dana forced a smile through her anxious tears. She
appreciated William’s ability to figure out what she meant without her having
to say it. William pulled her closer.

“Come on; let’s get out of here. Where would you like to go?
I’ll go with you.” He stroked Dana’s hair.

“Anywhere but here,” Dana cried.

“Would you like to go my house? We can stop at Millie’s
Diner on the way – if you’re hungry, that is.”

“Let’s go to your house.” Dana nearly cut him off. “Do you
have food there?”