Womanizer (A Standalone Novel) (A Steamy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (12 page)

Chapter 19

Unfortunately,
Alicia
hadn’t called or text me since we had seen each other at her office last. This
girl was either extremely
busy
or playing
the ultimate game of hard to get; I wasn’t sure which it was just yet.

To be
honest, I didn’t know if she was even going to show up at the gallery event
that we had planned to meet up at. She was obviously a very independent woman
and didn’t need a man on her side, but I couldn’t help but think she wanted a
man around.

The way
she looked at me when we were alone together made me think she wanted me to be
the man she kept around. It was near impossible to get a read from her when we
were around other
people,
though. Or
maybe it was just when we were
around
people she knew?

It wasn’t
really my kind of thing to call a woman and ask if she was going to be at an
event, especially if we had already planned to meet there. Typically women
didn’t stand me up, they were eager to show up to spend time with me.

When I
arrived at the
gallery,
I instantly
realized that I was very much underdressed for the evening. My expensive jeans
and black t-shirt made me feel like I was one of those hipster guys who didn’t
feel the need to conform to traditional dress codes. Yet, I was very much the
kind of guy who conformed to dress codes. I loved dress codes! It made me feel
secure in both my work and private life; so I felt very exposed as I stood in
the gallery in my casual attire.

Logically,
I knew that no one really cared about what I had on. Men just weren’t the
center of attention when it came to clothing, but as I looked around at the
evening gowns that the women had on; I wanted to hide.

My
instinct guided me toward the corner of the room where I was not as visible,
yet I could see everything that was going on. I kept my eyes peeled for Alicia
and hoped she wouldn’t just leave when she realized the dress was so much more
formal than I had thought.

Then I saw
her.

She had on
a short green dress, which was casual but looked appropriate enough for the
event. In fact, with her hair pulled up in a bun, Alicia could have pulled off
any look she wanted in that dress.

“You
showed up,” she said to me after she made her way across the room.

“Me? Of
course I did. I wouldn’t give up the opportunity for date number four.”

“Yep,
maybe this time you’ll get lucky,” Alicia leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

The funny
thing was, I felt pretty damn lucky already. I grabbed her and pulled her up
against me and took her mouth with mine. I didn’t wait until the end of the
date. I didn’t want to. I wanted to kiss her and I was going to do exactly
that.

She pulled
back from me at first, but then quickly gave in to her desire for me. It felt
like we were the only two people in the room as I held
onto
her and our bodies worked together to entice each other.

Slowly, I
moved my hands from her hips down to her ass, but Alicia grabbed them and
pulled them back up. While she kept kissing me.

Then I
tried to do it again, but she held onto my hands and pressed them into her back
so I couldn’t moved them. I wiggled my hips so she could feel my cock as it
hardened. That’s what she did to me. She needed to know that just her lips
against mine made my body react like that. Her body and my body were like
electricity when they were together. The voltage was high and the more I kissed
her,
the more I was drawn to kiss her
more and more.

“I think
you dressed up a little too much,” Alicia said as she pulled her lips away from
mine.

“You
think?” I said as I shrugged and smiled.

“Good
thing you’re so damn good looking, I doubt anyone will notice your clothes.”

Alicia was
happy again. It was like a switch that turned on when she was away from work or
the people she worked with. The Alicia that stood in front of me at that moment
was the same one that had been at the trampoline place before.

This
Alicia, she was the one I liked. She was happy and confident. Her genuineness
overpowered me and made me want to do anything I could to make her life easier.
She wasn’t guarded or sad, she wasn’t evasive or worried; this Alicia needed to
come out much more often.

“You look
amazing,” I replied as I tried to take the attention off of me.

My hands
moved up and down her hips as I felt the fabric of her green dress under my
fingers. I could have fucked her right there. Everything about the moment had
my body on high alert and I wanted to bring her to a back room and screw her
until she screamed and screamed with desire.

Alicia
played it so cool between us; I had to wonder when the last time was that she
had even had sex. She was so distant, I wondered if she had ever had a man and
had her heart broken. That seemed like a huge possibility.

“
Thanks,
Evan,” she kissed me again but this
time on the check. “Let’s go take a look at these paintings. Should we?”

“Yep,
that’s what we are here for. Let’s do it.”

Alicia
grabbed onto my arm and let me lead her around the room as we looked at each of
the paintings. She was utterly entertained by the artwork and seemed enthralled
with all the details. It was so enjoyable to watch when we met up with the
artist and Alicia and her were able to talk about creativity and working as
independent artists.

I noticed
Alicia got bashful when it came to talking about the success of her company.
She didn’t tell the artist just how large her clothing line had gotten, most
likely because she liked to identify herself as an artist.

To me,
Alicia certainly was an artist. It didn’t matter how big her company had grown
to. Alicia still enjoyed the creative aspect of designing new clothes. I could
tell it
on
her face as she talked about
her new designs, she was passionate about them. Her life revolved around the
creative aspect of her company and she appeared to hate the business side of
things. This made me feel like she was ripe for the taking when it came to
being swindled by Bill or anyone else who was trying to control her financials.
Alicia just didn’t understand how quickly someone could control her entire
company if she
wasn’t
careful.

My heart
ached for Alicia. I knew there was something shady going on with her company
and I wanted to just come out and tell her. But the problem was that I didn’t
have firm evidence yet. I didn’t have anything more than a suspicion that
something was going on. I also didn’t have a clear idea if Alicia was part of
the problem or not. Although I didn’t think it was possible, Alicia could have
been the best actress ever and could have been deceiving me the entire time. I
had no proof one way or the other.

“You want
to take me home tonight?” Alicia asked as she sipped on her fourth glass of
champagne.

“Of course
I do.”

I had
waited over a week to hear those words from her mouth.
Yes,
I wanted to take her home. I wanted to take her right into her
bed. My body wanted to do things to her that would make her scream out in pleasure.
It was the only solution to the thoughts that I constantly had in my head of
Alicia.

“Let’s go
then,” she winked at me.

I grabbed
her hand and lead her out of the gallery and to a cab that was out front. As we
got into the c
ab
Alicia blurted out her address
and we didn’t waste any time. I leaned over and met her tender lips with mine
and let my hand move slowly between her thighs.

My body
wanted to take her right there, but my brain didn’t want to scare her away. She
was finally interested in moving things
along
a little so I didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize that. I wanted
to be the man she needed me to be so I could have her.

At her
place,
she let me come upstairs with her and I
felt my body react with excitement. It was finally here. I could have her naked
in her bed and then maybe find the financial information
some time
during the middle of the night.
Somehow I would make it work, I knew I would.

At her
door, Alicia stopped and I felt like she had a devil on one shoulder and an angel
on the other. She went back and forth and contemplated me and the relationship
we had so far.

“You are
so beautiful,” I said as my lips touched hers gently.

It was the
truth, Alicia was insanely pretty. Both in the traditional sense and the
non-traditional sense. She was quirky, yet fashionable. She was shy, yet
strong. Alicia was the whole package and my mind kept thinking about that.

“Thank you
for a fun night.”

“You are
very welcome,” I said as I used my hands to pull her body tight against mine.

“I’d
invite you in, but I can’t.”

And there
it was! The explosion, the
letdown
, the
most devastating news of the night. I wanted in that apartment. I wanted in her
bed. I wanted
in
her. It was devastating
to hear her say that there was no way for me to come inside with her that
night. My need to have her grew with every visit and I didn’t know how much
longer I would be able to hold out. Sooner or later, I needed to be with her. I
had to.

Without
much pushing, I decided to just give Alicia one last kiss and then head home
for the night. I knew her well enough to know that if she said no that it
wouldn’t happen that night, then she meant it.

Alicia was
honest and sweet and incredibly sexy.
 
It
just solidified my thoughts that someone else was at the bottom of my search
for the fraud in her company. Alicia couldn’t be behind it, she was just too
genuine.

“I
understand,” I said as I gave her one last kiss.

“How would
you like to go to my friends clothing line fashion show tomorrow?”

“Well
fashion is obviously my thing,” I said as I pointed to my jeans. “I would love
to attend their show. What kind of clothing do they have?”

“It’s a
mix between classic American and grunge, you’ll love it.”

I didn’t
want to tell her that I probably would hate it. Although men’s fashion was
somewhat interesting to me, women’s fashion just didn’t have a spot in my
heart. But since it was clear that I would not be getting to have my way with
Alicia that night; I had to move forward with a plan for another day.

As I left
the
building,
I felt a twinge of anger
build up inside of me. As sweet and innocent as Alicia seemed, it was odd that
she continued to avoid us having a night together. Women just didn’t do that to
me. I knew it sounded like I was a chauvinist pig, but I really couldn’t figure
out why Alicia kept denying me.

She
obviously found me attractive; we had a
chemistry
that almost electrified us when we were near each other. There was no
explanation for her turning me down over
and
over.

Then there
was her reasoning or lack of reasoning when she didn’t invite me inside. She
simply said she couldn't.

What did
that mean? Why couldn’t she?

Alicia was
a grown woman; she could do whatever she wanted. If she had wanted to invite me
to
her place she certainly could have. As
we had made our way up to her
apartment,
I thought for sure she was going to invite me in, and then there was a pause
just as we got there. Something made her change her mind at the last minute and
I had no idea what it was, but I was going to find out.

I wasn’t
going to quit that easily. I needed those financial records and I wanted
Alicia, both of them would be mine very soon. I was sure of it.

Chapter 20

Another
night without sleep and I
was
a zombie as
I showed up to work. The temporary assistant was there and she handed me my
coffee
exactly as
I wanted it. She came
in a moment later and gave me the numbers for the day.

“Darla?
Was that your name?” I asked as she turned to leave the room.

“Yes, Mr.
Gade.”

“Oh for
God’s sake, call me Evan.”

“Alright.
Evan
it is. You look like you had a rough
night. Anything I can help you with?”

“Not
unless you can tell me the secret to women,” I
laughed,
but I was actually very serious. I would kill for a woman to just let me in on
the secrets.

Especially
the secrets a woman like Alicia kept. Those were obviously so well hidden that
I couldn’t even begin to scrape them away from her. The closer I got to Alicia,
the farther away I felt. There were moments when I saw it in her eyes, she was
distant and somewhere totally different than in that moment with me. Other
times I felt totally connected to her. The problem was, I couldn’t tell when I
had the distant version of Alicia or when I had the other version.

“
Oh,
I can’t tell you much about women. I still
haven’t figured them out myself. My wife is constantly an enigma to me.”

I froze
solid in my seat as Darla talked. Did she just say her wife?

“You’re a
lesbian?” I blurted out in the most
unacceptable
socially awkward way.

She
laughed and then came back into the room and sat across from me. I felt like
people probably asked her that question a lot out of shock when she told them
she had a wife. First of all, she was so drop dead beautiful that it didn’t
seem like the universe should give her to another woman. But I wasn’t against
lesbianism, I was a huge fan; especially when I got to be involved in their
intimate time.

“Yes, I
am. I’m married,” she flashed her ring at me. “We have two children, also.”

“Wow.”

I couldn’t
respond with anything else. I was mind blown by the revelation that Darla, with
tattoos all over and a shy personality, was a lesbian mother. It was a new age
for sure and I was all for equality. I just had not ever had the chance to meet
such a progressive woman; most likely because I spent my days in the most
traditional of places, the stock market. Although I estimated that many of the
women who worked in my field could be lesbians, or at least told a lot of men
off by telling them they were.

“Is it so
shocking to meet a lesbian in this day and age?”

“No. I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. You are beautiful and I bet your wife is
as well.”

“No, we
won’t have a threesome with you,” Darla said as she smiled at me.

“I bet you
get asked that a lot.”

“Every
time someone finds out I like women.”

“It’s one
of a man’s biggest fantasies. We can’t help but ask a pretty woman to give it a
go. Especially if you have another pretty woman at home.”

“So let’s
get back to you understanding women. What’s up? Do you have women troubles?”

I didn’t
want to delve into my issues too much, but I did like the idea of bouncing
around my thoughts with another woman.

“I’ve been
on four dates with this woman and we haven’t slept together yet.”

As the
words came out of my
mouth,
I heard how
ridiculous I sounded. Had I really become so accustomed to instant
gratification that I didn’t even know what normal dating was?

Darla
laughed as she thought I was joking with her, but when she noticed the look on
my
face,
she realized I was unfortunately
very serious.

“Come on,
four dates is nothing. You want to get to know her don’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m
sorry that sounded like I was a jerk.”

“
Oh,
Natasha tells me you are one of the biggest
jerks around.”

I paused
at that revelation. It was true, I really couldn’t contest it. From a woman’s
point of
view,
I loved them and left
them. But I wasn’t a jerk about things. I was a
stand-up
guy and did my best to make every night mutually enjoyable.

“Evan, can
we
talk,
” Rebecca said from the door.

“Hey,
Rebecca, this is Darla. She is filling in for Natasha.”

“Hi,
Rebecca, so nice to meet you,” Darla said as she shook Rebecca’s hand.

I could
see the look in Rebecca’s eyes of judgment over how Darla looked, but she
quickly got over it and smiled at her.

“Can you
give me five minutes? I’ll come find you when we are done,” I said as I pointed
to some work on my desk.

“Sure,”
Rebecca said as she turned and left the office.

“Is that
the woman you are trying to fuck?” Darla asked.

“What? No.
Why would you say that?”

“Oh, you
have already screwed that one,” Darla said as she watched me.

“What are
you, some sort of mind reader? How would you know that?”
 

I had to
laugh. Of course, Darla was right. But it still shocked me to be called out
like that for having sex with a co-worker. Even my boss went about it a more
politically correct way.

“I could
tell by the way she looked at you.”

“
Well,
it was
a
while
ago. We are just friends now,” I said as I tried to change the
subject.

“She doesn’t
seem like your type.”

“Why?
Because she’s voluptuous? I like all women. I think every size is beautiful.”

Darla
laughed.

“No, I
meant because she’s really smart and has her life together. You seem more
into
the women who need to be rescued.”

Damn,
she was right on the
money.

“Yeah,
that’s me. Just call me Superman.”

“It’s a
defense mechanism that many people use when they are afraid to go after a
person who is a true match for them.”

This was
getting serious. Darla was a wise woman. Much wiser than I and I wanted to sit
and talk to her
more, but
I also didn’t
want her delving into all the deepest darkest areas of my life.

“Let’s
continue this conversation later,” I said
light-heartedly
.
“I need to go catch up with that
smart,
independent woman because I had her doing some research for me.”

“We can
talk anytime.”

Darla took
the cue and move back out to her desk outside of my office. It was weird to
have just met someone who knew my secrets already. She certainly could tell I
was a player with the ladies, a womanizer for sure. It was nice to not have to
hide behind my usual mask around the temps, it was also nice to not have the
need to chase after her and fuck her like I normally did.

I looked
for Rebecca at her
desk,
but she wasn’t
there. It annoyed me to have to go look for her, but I really did need to talk
about the research. I didn’t like to have to look for, or wait for, anyone.
Typically I didn’t have to.

She was in
the break room reading the Wall Street Journal when I finally found her. Not
many people actually sat in the break room. Most of us were too busy trying to
make money and we never wanted to take a break from our money making long
enough to sit in a different room.

“What did
you find out? Did you find the payroll information?” Rebecca said as she looked
up from the paper.

“The files
were moved.”

“Evan,
that’s huge. Why would they move the files if they weren’t trying to hide
something?”

“I don’t
know. Maybe they just needed the room for other things?” I said as I tried to
be as optimistic as possible.

“No. This
woman is in on it and she knew you were fishing around so she hid the files.”

The idea
that Alicia knew what was going on did not sit well with me at all. I really
liked her, I enjoyed our time together, there was no way I could think of her
as a criminal. Surely, even if she was involved a little, she didn’t understand
the extent of illegal behavior she was contributing to. At least, that is what
I hoped.

My brain
just couldn’t imagine that Alicia would knowingly, and willingly, do something
illegal. She was sweet, nice and seemed very law
abiding to
me.

“I really
don’t think she knows what is going on; if there is anything going on at all.
Maybe we are looking for something that isn’t even there. Have we stopped to
think that her company might actually be on the up and up? There could be no
illegal money laundering or anything going on. This could just be a really good
investment.”

“Ah, fuck
Evan. You like this woman, don’t you?”

“No, I mean…yes.
But what if the company is legitimate?”

It was
possible we had all this concern about Alicia’s company and there wasn’t
anything illegal going on. I knew in my head that it wasn’t probably, but there
was a possibility. I needed to hold onto that. I couldn’t imagine that Alicia
was
involved in
defrauding all the people
who had just purchased stock through her IPO.

“Evan, you
are always the first one to say, ‘if it looks fishy it is fishy.’ Don’t let
your judgment get clouded by a pretty woman. The pretty once are often the best
at hiding their illegal shit.”

“Anyways,
I wasn’t able to get the documents. The files were moved offsite.”

“Where?”

I cringed.
I didn’t want to have to tell Rebecca where the files had been moved.

“Her
house,” I said quietly.

“What?
Wait a minute; did you just say the files were moved to the CEO’s house?”

“Yes,” I
winced at the look on Rebecca’s face.

“So you’re
protecting this woman even though she obviously was involved.
She…had…the…files…moved…to …her…house! Even come on, this woman is in this big
time.”

I shook my
head back and forth, there was no way I could believe that Alicia was involved
in anything illegal. She wasn’t the type. Somehow I needed to figure out what
was going on before she got
into
trouble,
though
because deep down I knew Rebecca was right. If it smelled
fishy,
it was fishy and I didn’t want Alicia to
be caught up in something that could ruin her career.

Hopefully,
she
didn’t actually know anything about illegal actively and hopefully she wasn’t
involved in any of it.

“I know. I
know. I can’t explain it, but I don’t think she knows what is going on. I just
need to get to know her better, get her to open up to
me
so I can help her. I think her finance VP is making these
decisions and putting her company at risk.”

“She’s had
the guy around for a long time, I’m pretty sure she knows what decisions he’s
making. But if you want to live in a fantasy land where pretty women don’t make
mistakes, it’s your prerogative.”

“I
appreciate you helping me Rebecca, you are the best.”

“I am
pretty damn good, you should stop by my house sometime and I’ll show you again
just how good I am.”

Rebecca
grabbed my tie and pulled me in for a kiss. It was the first time she had been
so forward with me at work and I felt like I might have crossed over to the
wrong side of the thin line I walked with her.

I wanted
Rebecca to keep working with
me,
and I
was fine with sleeping with her again. But I was also perfectly fine with not
sleeping with her. My brain was on Alicia and not sex with anyone else.
 

The
thought shocked me. I didn’t want to sleep with her? Something had changed in
me and my thoughts were consumed by Alicia. I didn’t want to sleep with Rebecca
or anyone else. I did really want to see Alicia again. It was a surprising
thought that I couldn’t remember having with any other girl in my past.