Womanizer (A Standalone Novel) (A Steamy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (10 page)

Once we
had placed our things into lockers and I had changed, we walked up to the
entrance of the trampoline room. When I say room, I mean a very large area that
was filled with giant trampolines. They were all along the ground and even the
walls. Each of them placed together with padding around the edges. I couldn’t
help but smile. It actually looked like a lot of fun.

I watched
for a minute as Alicia bounced into the room and made her way to the other
side.

“Come on,
Evan,” she yelled toward me.

“I’m
pretty sure I’m going to kill myself in here,” I yelled back as I tried to walk
into the room.

Soon after
walking a few steps on the trampolines I decided to put a little more bounce
into my steps. Before I knew it I was jumping along just like a teenager. It
was fun. It was exhilarating. I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Now,
isn’t this more fun than dinner and drinks?” Alicia asked as she bounced as
high as she could in front of me.

“I do like
to watch you bounce.”

“I really
needed a stress reliever today. Thanks for coming with me.”

“Sure
thing. I always wanted to bounce myself to death with a beautiful woman. It’s
one of those things that I just had to do before I die of a heart attack from
the market.”

I bounced
myself over toward Alicia and we took turns on the trampoline. As one of us
bounced up, the other came down. We had the giant apparatus to ourselves and
continued to take turns as we talked.

“Thanks
again,” she said.

“You are
more than welcome. I’m actually having fun. This is a great workout. I think we
should come here in the mornings before work.”

“I think
they actually have a workout class in the mornings. We should totally come. I
bet it’s filled with busty moms in spandex bouncing up and down for an hour.
You would have a blast.”

“Yeah,
just what I need; a morning hard on before going to work.”

Alicia
laughed and I couldn’t help but stop and stare at her. She was truly beautiful
when she laughed. It stopped my breath.

“Why are
you staring at me?”

I couldn’t
help it. As I watched her, Alicia looked happy. She looked like this was her
normal self. I wanted to see more of this woman. I wanted to see her happy. I
liked to see her happy. I liked this side of her.

“You are
beautiful.”

No games,
no bullshit. She was beautiful. The way her hair bounced with her as she moved
up and down. Her smile, damn that smile was amazing. She brightened up the
entire room as her vibrant energy filled it. I was mesmerized.

“You’re
staring,” she said as she continued to bounce.

“I can’t
help myself.”

“Well stop
it,” Alicia stuck out her tongue and proceeded to bounce all the way to the
other side of the room.

She
bounced up against the wall and then bounced her way back over toward me.

“I’ll race
you to the other side. Whoever wins gets to decide what we do next,” I said as
we both leaned against the edge of the trampolines.

“Ready,
set, go!” Alicia yelled and then took off bouncing toward the other side.

“That’s
cheating,” I said as I took off after her.

She was
much more experienced and I could tell, but I had more strength in my bounce
than her and I quickly overtook her. In just a couple bounces, I had made it to
the other side of the room and waited for her to get there.

I smiled
ear to ear as she bounced up to me.

“Oh, you
have some secret skills; I see how it is.”

“Yes, I’m
secretly a trampoline ninja. I just use my investing persona to cover up my
real identity.”

“Oh, I
normally hate it when people lie to me, but a bouncing trampoline ninja is
probably something you should keep on the down low.”

I grabbed
her and pulled Alicia toward me. By this time both of us had stopped bouncing
and we were smack dab in the middle of a moment. Her eyes locked onto mine and
I felt the electricity between us. It was undeniable; she couldn’t fight it,
neither could I.

“I’ll try
not to overpower you with my ninja skills.”

“Mmm, yes
keep those ninja skills to yourself,” Alicia said as she leaned in even closer
to me.

I couldn’t
resist another second. I grabbed her and lifted her up off the ground.

Alicia
wrapped her legs around me and I held onto her. My hands gripped her ass and we
looked into each other’s eyes. If I could have fucked her right there, I would
have. But instead I decided to take a different approach.

My lips
made a move toward her neck and I just tucked them in there. Gently I kissed
her, but then just held onto her and hugged her tight. It felt good. She felt
good. I wanted to stay like that for as long as she would allow.

Alicia
wrapped her arms around my neck and held on.

We stayed
wrapped in each other’s arms for longer than I had ever held a woman before. It
was a weird feeling, yet it felt so right. She had just had one of the most
exhausting days of her life, maybe that was why she held on so tight. I wasn’t
sure, but for whatever reason, it was perfect.

“So, where
should we go next?” Alicia asked.

“Ice
cream. I think we need ice cream,” I said.

“Really,
ice cream. That’s where you want to go?”

“Yes.”

“Nowhere
else?”

I had to laugh.
I did want to take her back to my house, but there was something else going on
between us and I needed to explore it some more. I needed to take her someplace
where we could relax and really get to know each other.

“Nope. I’d
really like to take you for some ice cream,” I smiled as I let Alicia down so
she could stand up.

“Ok, let’s
go get some ice cream.”

I grabbed
her hand and pulled her out of the trampoline room and toward the locker rooms.
As we each went to the locker room to change, I felt like I was giddy like a
teenager.

With a
quick change we were on our way toward the local ice cream parlor.

My normal
dating game had already been totally blown up; there was no coming back from it
now. I had just spent the last hour bouncing on trampolines, which was for sure
nothing I would have taken a woman to do.

“I haven’t
gone for ice cream in years,” Alicia said as we walked down the boardwalk
toward the ice cream parlor near the ocean.

“Neither
have I. So are you excited that today is almost over and you survived your
IPO?”

“Oh yes! I
haven’t slept in days as I prepared for this. I can’t wait to get a good
night’s sleep.”

“I bet you
are exhausted. How are your employees? Were they really excited about today?”

“Not
really, most of my employees don’t understand the idea of stocks. To be honest
I don’t even fully understand. That’s why I have Bill.”

“Oh, the
guy you ran from?”

Alicia
laughed as she remembered the other day when we took off down the hallway away
from her financial VP. It was quiet the scene and still made me laugh to think
about it also.

“Yes. He’s
such a stick in the mud. Never wants to let me have any fun.”

“Why would
he let you? Aren’t you in charge?”

“It’s a
figure of speech, Evan. He’s in charge of the money and always trying to keep
me on track. He’s really good at his job.”

I wanted
to ask so many questions. I wanted to delve deep into the information about her
past company and how Bill had been involved in that one too. But I had to be
careful, I couldn’t scare her off now; we had started to build up a good
relationship.

“How long
has he worked with you?”

“Oh he’s
been around forever. He was hired on with my first company and then moved to
this one when things went wrong.”

“What
happened?”

“Oh,
nothing too crazy. But Bill was the one who got me out of some bad situations
and made it so I could restart with this company. I’m forever indebted to him,”
Alicia said as she looked off toward the ocean.

She seemed
to think of Bill as more than just her Vice President. She admired him, I could
see it in her eyes. But what I didn’t know was why she looked up to him so
much. If he had been in charge of her finances back in the previous company, he
had done a poor job. Didn’t she see that he should have made sure no money
laundering had happened? Why couldn’t she see that this Bill guy was the best
target for who was in charge of the money at her old company. Bill Yobi
probably knew exactly what had happened there and he likely knew exactly what
was going on with Alicia’s current company as well.

“It’s good
you have someone you can trust,” I said as we finally arrived at the ice cream
parlor.

There was
no need for me to try and pit Alicia against her VP—at least at that moment
there wasn’t. But the second I could prove he was doing something wrong, I was
going to have to show Alicia. I knew for a fact that she had no idea about
anything wrong with her company financials. My gut told me that she ran her
business on the up and up. If there was wrong doing going on then she didn’t
know about it.

“How do
you feel about a banana split?” Alicia asked as we looked over the menu.

“I feel
good about it.”

I wrapped
my arms around her as I stood behind Alicia. We ordered at the window and then
sat down to wait. I couldn’t stop smiling. I had not smiled that much in years.
There was just something about being there with Alicia that had my mouth stuck
in a permanent smile.

As we sat
and ate our banana split, I had to think that it was the first real date I had
had in such a long time. Most of my dates consisted of me taking a girl to
dinner before fucking her. Typically I wasn’t interested in getting to know
them. I wasn’t interested in anything about them, but I knew that I had to at
least take them to dinner if we were going to fuck. Not all girls, of course,
but most of them.

But as I
shoved pieces of banana and ice cream into my mouth, I felt like I was on a
true date. I had butterflies in my stomach when I asked her questions and I
couldn’t help but want to make her laugh over and over again. It was a nice
feeling, a genuine feeling, and I wanted to see Alicia again very soon.

“How’s
date number four looking?” I said with a wink as I walked Alicia to her taxi.

“Oh, yes.
I think number four sounds like your opportunity to get lucky,” Alicia mocked
me, but I didn’t mind.

“A friend
of mine has a gallery opening in a couple days. Would you be interested?
Nothing fancy, just a low key event.”

“I’d love
to, text me the information.”

Without
warning Alicia got up on her tippy toes and kissed me. I was shocked and tried
to reach for her but she was already on her way into the cab. It wasn’t a
passionate kiss, more like a friendly kiss on the lips. Certainly nothing like
what I wanted to give her.

I wanted
to bring her back to my bed. I wanted to feel her naked body underneath me as I
slid inside of her. I wanted to hear her scream out my name as her body
orgasmed with pleasure. But instead, I was left standing on the curb with a
stomach full of sugary ice cream and a goofy smile on my face.

Chapter 16

I couldn’t
get over how easy Alicia was to talk to. It wasn’t something I was use to
having when I was around a woman. I didn’t feel like I had to pretend, well
only a little. I did still have to leave out the details about my work. I
didn’t want her to think I was only dating her because of her company.
Although, technically that was the truth, if she wasn’t the CEO of ALL Warren
clothing then I never would have gone to find her.

Tuesday
was an exhausting day. I could barely keep my eyes opened when I arrived at
work. My late night hadn’t been because of my date though, just my thoughts of
Alicia. After spending time with her on our date I couldn’t imagine that she
was involved in hiding financial information. But I also couldn’t imagine that
she didn’t know. How could someone run a company and not know where all of the
money came from or went out to? It didn’t make sense.

The other
thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was her creamy soft skin and how it would
feel pressed up against my body. Time after time she had refused me, more than
any other woman had ever done. It wasn’t something I was use to and certainly I
wasn’t alright with it. I knew I would have her eventually, I just didn’t know
how long I would have to wait for her.

My typical
theory of just moving on to the next one wouldn’t work in Alicia’s case. I
needed to wait her out. I needed to figure out what it was that would drive her
wild and get her to finally give in to her desire for me.

I knew she
wanted me. Everything about the way she interacted with me told me she wanted
me. The way her eyes looked at me. The feeling I got in the pit of my stomach
when she was near. The electricity between us when we touched. It was all a
sign that we needed to get naked and let our bodies play with each other.

By lunch
time I had finished all my research for the day and made my necessary trades.
There was no need to stick around so I decided to try stopping by Alicia’s
temporary office building down the street. She had set up shop for the months
leading up to her IPO and they were preparing for New York Fashion Week which
was only another month away.

Stopping
by her office wasn’t something I had planned to do, but as the idea developed,
I thought it might be a unique way to show her I was indeed very interested in
her.

My plan
was to stop by and take her to a quick lunch and that was it. Nothing more and
nothing less, we could have a nice conversation and just relax a little bit.

“Hi, I’m
here to see Alicia,” I said as I stood in front of the secretary at the front
desk.

“Is Ms.
Warren expecting you?” The mocha skinned secretary said with a smile.

“No ma’am,
I’m here to surprise her.”

“Oh, I’m
sorry darling. Ms. Warren doesn’t accept guests without a scheduled
appointment.”

“Could you
just give her a call? We are friends.”

I flashed
the receptionist a grin and my magic had her calling up to Alicia. She motioned
for me to sit down and wait for a minute while she talked on the phone.

It wasn’t
long before Alicia made her way down from her office to come talk to me. She
looked incredibly sexy in her short floral dress and heels. I wanted to pick
her up and feel her legs wrapped around me in that very moment. But instead I
just leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

“Evan,
what are you doing here?” She asked.

“Well I
was just in the neighborhood and thought we could go out to lunch,” I said as I
pulled out the smile again.

My boyish
grin had single handedly been responsible for getting things that I wanted
throughout my life. Surely I could get Alicia to go out to lunch with me.

“I’m
sorry, I don’t have much free time while I’m working; let’s just plan on
meeting up at the gallery opened. Would that work?”

“You can
sneak away for twenty minutes to grab some food, can’t you? Everyone needs to
eat.”

“Sorry,
Evan, I really can’t. I’m meeting with my buyer to look at some new fabrics.”

“So you
just won’t eat today?”

“I’ll
probably shove a sandwich down my throat right before the meeting.”

Alicia
smiled and was extremely pleasant, but she was visibly uncomfortable with me
being at her office. I watched as she looked around with a paranoid look on her
face.

“Can I use
the restroom really quick?”

I couldn’t
waste a visit to Alicia’s office. Surely there must be a file room with some of
her financial information somewhere around the office. I just needed a clue,
any sort of clue that would give me an idea of where I could be looking for
more information.

“Yes, come
with me.” Alicia led the way down the hall and she seemed extremely annoyed
with me.

My
priority had switched from taking her out to lunch to finding where the files
might be stored. Even if I couldn’t get into the files yet, at least I could
get a better idea of where they were.

I paid
close attention as we walked behind the receptionist and made our way toward
the end of the hallway. My eyes darted from one door to the next, but I
couldn’t find a room that looked like it had the company records in it.

Finally,
when we reached the restroom I saw an unmarked room across the way that
appeared to be filled with boxes of files.

“Thanks,
Alicia, I know you’re busy I’m sure I can find my way out from here.”

“It’s
alright. I’ll wait for you just down the hall, third door on the right. Come
grab me and I’ll walk you out.”

The first
thing that came through my mind was to try and figure out how long I could look
in the file room and not seem totally creepy about being in the bathroom so
long. Two minutes to four minutes was all I could risk.

I waited
for Alicia to go
in to
the office down
the hall and then I slowly came out of the restroom and made my way to the file
room. I could see the files through the class in the door and with one quick
turn of the
doorknob,
I was in the room
and face to face with boxes and boxes of files.

There were
files on how much fabric cost. There were files on how much employees got paid.
I even came across a
box full
recipes.

Certainly
I could have spent days working my way through the boxes, but none of them
appeared to be what I was looking for. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was that I
needed to find, but I did have a feeling the files I wanted wouldn’t be left
out in the open like these boxes. .

I closed
the door behind me and made my way down to where Alicia was at.

She sat in
the corner of a small office and flipped through a stack of papers which had
just been printed.

“
Well,
that’s a large stack you have there,” I
said as I tried to use my most suggestive voice possible.

She
laughed and then looked absolutely miserable. It looked like she was about to
cry as she looked at the stack of papers and then over toward me.

“I don’t
know what to do. I have all these orders and absolutely zero inventory.”

“How is
that possible?”

“I don’t
know. We keep filling up warehouses with the
product
,
yet I still can’t get my orders filled
in a
timely manner
.”

“Problems
every growing company has I’m sure.”

“It is
stressing me out beyond words.”

“We will
discuss ways I can relieve your stress after date number four,” I winked.

“Thanks
for stopping by, Evan. I appreciate the offer for lunch.”

“No
problem, anytime you want some free food just give me a call and I’ll come
running. Just think of me like
Superman
without the ability to fly.”

“So I can
think of you in tights?”

Alicia
laughed as she walked me out of the hallway and back toward the front door.

“You can’t
think of me
any way
you would like,” I
said as I walked toward the door.

I knew she
wouldn’t have allowed a kiss or any other public displays of affection. She was
much to paranoid that someone would see her in the lobby talking to me.

I wasn’t
sure if it
was
me that had her paranoid
or just the amount of stress she was under from her IPO, but she definitely did
not want me in her office.

While I
made my way back to my
office,
I felt a
twinge of concern. How could she have warehouses full of
product
yet not be able to fulfill orders on
time? There was something going on there and it just fueled my concern about
the finances
of
her company. According to
the public numbers I had seen, there really were warehouses full of
product
just waiting to ship out. There should
not have been any worries about supplying the orders to her customers.

My brain
made a mental note to talk it over with Rebecca the next time I talked
with
her. Rebecca was acutely aware of the
financials of ALL Warren clothing and I knew she would be able to tell if I was
on the right track or not.