Womanizer (A Standalone Novel) (A Steamy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (18 page)

Suddenly I went from feeling like an asshole for sleeping with the girl
to feeling like a total loser. What the hell had just happened? I didn’t need
to sleep with a prostitute. I had plenty of women I could call at
anytime
. Was I really so worried about having a
connection with a woman that I ended up sleeping with a working girl?

I instantly send a text to Alicia, “Lunch tomorrow?”

It was well after midnight, but she responded right away, “Sure.”

I got into the shower and then fell asleep fast. I needed a fresh start.
I needed to make some serious changes.

Chapter 28

I woke up with that feeling of remorse that I hated. Not very often did I
actually get such a feeling but it had happened twice in the last week; so I
paid more attention. My gym was the best place to go when I needed to clear my
head so I was up and on a treadmill before six am.

Faster and faster I ran in the hopes that I would finally clear my mind.
There was so much racing through my thoughts that I ended up running for a
whole 60 minutes. My body was exhausted, but my mind continued to race when I
finally got off the treadmill.

As I walked to the locker room, that hot blonde from a few weeks before
ran right into me. My initial instinct was to just turn around and ignore her,
but I decided to just talk to her. I didn’t want to have to switch gyms again
all because of a woman.

“Oh hey,” she said. “Did you end up buying into ALL Warren Clothing?”

“Yeah, I did. How about you?”

“Nope, I got a bad feeling after reading through their financials. But it
looks like they are doing well. Best of luck to you.”

“Thanks.”

She took off pretty quickly in the opposite direction. Most likely
because she had given me her number and I had never called. Most girls in my
neighborhood didn’t waste their time on guys who wouldn’t call them. They were
efficient women who worked hard and didn’t have time for games. Luckily our
interaction had not been too awkward.

My mind couldn’t concentrate at work and I needed to see Alicia and talk
to her. Finally when lunch time
came,
I
rushed out the door to the nearby restaurant that I had agreed to meet Alicia
at. It wasn’t anything special, just a normal local place that many of us went
to over lunch. Although, admittedly, we typically didn’t take very many actual
lunch breaks.

As I sat and waited for her I needed to figure out what to say when
Alicia arrived. But as she walked ,in all my worries disappeared and I felt
that calmness of familiarity.

She walked in with a casual sway of her hips and the white
sundress
she had on moved gingerly back and
forth. Her crimson hair was curled slightly and wrapped behind her ears. She
looked beautiful, confident and innocent. My heart calmed down instantly.

“Hello there, pretty lady,” I said as I stood up and pulled her chair
out.

“Hello back.”

“You are looking radiant,” I couldn’t help but realize just how beautiful
she was.

It was a different realization than
normal,
though. I could see the obvious outer beauty, I had always been easily able to
see that in a woman. But as Alicia sat across from me I saw so much more. I saw
a hardworking woman who would stop at nothing to get ahead in the world. I
liked that determination and thought it helped Alicia to be the best person she
could be.

She was such a strong woman who had built her company from the ground up.
Independent women had always been my weak point. Strong looked so sexy on a
woman. I never liked the women who wanted a man to take care of them. If I was
ever going to actually settle
down,
it
was going to be with a woman who could be my equal. A woman who had her
head set
on goals and worked her ass off to get
them.

I didn’t even care if Alicia was mixed up in the illegal stuff that might
be going on with her company. At that moment, all I cared about was really
getting to know her. I wanted to know what made her tick, I wanted to hear
about her childhood, her family; all of it. Well I did care if she was actually
doing something illegal, I couldn’t stand the thought of people judging me for
being with a woman who had committed such atrocious money acts against people.

“Thank
you,
Evan. You seem in a
particularly good mood today. Did you make a lot of money on the market today?”

“Well I didn’t really work much, I was thinking about our date.”

“Oh is this a date?”

“Hell
yeah,
it is. It’s like date
number eight,” I said with a smile.

“So we are keeping track of the dates?”

“Not on purpose.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I had actually counted the number of times I
had seen Alicia in the last couple of weeks. Two things were very strange about
that. First off: I had seen her multiple times in the last few weeks. Secondly:
I had not fucked her yet.

My brain constantly went back to the idea of having Alicia all to myself
to enjoy every last curve of her body. My brain wanted that feeling and my body
wanted to figure out how to make it happen.

The humor in the situation was not lost on me. I had never been out with
a woman long enough that I could count the number of dates we had been on.

“So, what’s good here?” Alicia asked as she looked through the menu.

“Oh pretty much everything, take your pick. I particularly like the
caesar
salad. But don’t get it if you don’t
love artichokes. There is a ton in there.”

“My mom’s second husband used to make the best salads. I wish she
wouldn’t have divorced him just because he always made such good food.”

“How many times was your mother married?”

“She is on her fourth right now.”

“Wow
she’s having
a rough time
finding her match,” I said.

“Yeah, she’s in love with the idea of
love
but doesn’t really pick her guys very well. When I was
younger,
I had three different last names before I graduated from
high school. I sort of lost my identity throughout that process.”

“Wow, that’s pretty wild. So which last name do you use now?”

“Warren is my father’s last name. I went back to it because it helped me
feel comfortable again. It’s the name I like most.”

“That’s a pretty good last name. I mean, considering it’s your company
name and all,” I joked.

“Yeah, well my last name was Mankenstark when I had my first company. It
wasn’t nearly as sexy.”

I had to laugh. I wasn’t even sure how to spell that last name. It really
didn’t seem like a good choice to use for a company.

Suddenly, it hit me. That was why I hadn’t been able to find any
information on Alicia when I tried to pull all the old records.
 
She had all the information under a different
last name. I wanted to rush back to my office and send off a new request for
information.

“So, how is your office coming along? Do you think you’ll stay in New
York for awhile?”

“Yeah, it seems to be where all the action is.”

“I agree. Lots of action in New York. But Illinois was nice and quiet, a
great place to grow up.”

“Yes, certainly a great place to grow up.”

My mind wondered as our food arrived and we both dug in. I felt
comfortable sitting with Alicia. Like the kind of
comfortable,
you had with a friend. As much as I wanted to find out
more about her company, the moment was too perfect to screw it up by leaving
her.

“So how did your first company end up? I mean I guess it didn’t work out
since you have a second company.”

“Ha, yes. It didn’t turn out very well. Way too young and I made very
poor choices in who I hired. I did better this time. My company is solid and I
feel like it’s going to be around for the long haul.”

“What’s with that Bill guy? Is he your Dad?”

I didn’t know where the question had come from, I hadn’t actually thought
of him as her father before that conversation. But it did make sense that she
would keep the guy around if he
were
her
father.

“Oh my gosh, no! He’s not my Dad.”

She laughed so hard she had to stop drinking her water. Soon tears of
laughter filled her eyes and I couldn’t help but laugh also. Apparently it was
pretty darn hilarious to consider Bill
Yobi
as her father.

He was a pretty scary looking guy, maybe he was so opposite of her father
that Alicia didn’t feel like it was even a possibility that they were similar
to each other. Either way, it was obvious that Bill was not her father.

“I’m sorry, I just thought since you didn’t like
him,
but you kept him around he must be related to you or
something.”

“He got helped save my first company when some people that worked for me
started screwing things up. I trust him. Although he does have a very dry sense
of humor.”

“I guess he’s a finance guy; they aren’t supposed to be the life of the
party,” I said as I did a little dance in my seat.

She laughed again.

Oh, how I loved to watch her laugh. I could literally just sit and watch
her laugh for a whole entire day. Yes, that seemed a bit creepy. But my point
was, she looked amazing when she laughed.

“Yeah, I’m supposed to be the life of the party. Bill is just in charge
of paying the bill.”

We continued on with our flirting, talking and eating for over an hour. I
was lost in conversation and couldn’t imagine anyplace else I wanted to be.
Teasing and flirting with Alicia made me smile.

Instead of trying to figure out what illegal thing her company was doing,
I now wanted to make sure no one else was doing anything illegal without her
knowing it. I wanted to help her, I just had to figure out the best way to go
about making it happen. My intentions were pure, but even the best intentions
didn’t always workout for someone.

“So who else works with you, besides mister no personality?”

“We have quite a few people in our main office. Almost thirty now. Plus
four warehouses with about two dozen employees at each of them. At my main
office,
I have two of my closest confidants,
Ryan and Isabella; they were with me at the old company too. Top notch in
purchasing and distribution. I wouldn’t know what to do without them.”

My ears were on fire with all the information I was getting. Alicia had
just admitted that there were over one hundred employees at her company. A far
greater number than we had seen on the payroll. So how were all these other
people getting paid?

“Did you say you had four warehouses?”

The number seemed odd to me. I had only seen two on the research that I
had found when I originally reviewed her company.

“Yep, our fourth one was just purchased out here in New York. It’s in the
middle of the
state,
though. Kind of out
of the way, but apparently the community really needed some jobs, so I’m happy
we have a warehouse there.”

“Hmm, in the middle of the state? That seems like an odd place.”

“I know, but Isabella and Ryan assured me since it’s on a direct
interstate it’s no extra cost.”

“That’s great Alicia. I’m really happy for you and all your expansions.
It sounds like you are about to take over the world.”

We finished up our lunch and I walked her to her car. As we
walked,
she hooked her arm into mine and held
onto me. It felt like she trusted me, like maybe she had finally let down her
wall just a little for me. I didn’t want to fuck it up.

If she found
out,
I was
investigating her company all of this would be gone. She would assume the only
reason I had asked her out over and over again was because I wanted more
information on her company. It was true, sort of.

Yes, I did want more information on her company. But it wasn’t the only
reason I asked her out. I liked Alicia. I wanted to know more about her and I
wanted to spend more time with her. She was the first woman in a very long time
that I hadn’t fucked, besides Natasha. I had started to adjust to the idea of
really getting to know Alicia and I liked it.

As we reached her
car,
I pulled her
up against me and she moved her lips to meet mine. It was sweet and comforting
and it felt exactly right. Slowly we moved our lips to explore each other as we
held on tightly. My mind knew that this girl was different. This girl was
something special and I had to think long and hard about how far I wanted to
take the whole investigation thing.

It was possible I needed to choose between Alicia and the investigation
into her company. As of that moment, with her arms wrapped around me, I was
willing to give up the investigation
altogether
.

We said our goodbyes and I made my way back to my office. As much as I
wanted to just drop the investigation, my curiosity overwhelmed me and I knew I
had to figure out if someone in her company was setting her up to fail again.