Affair With The Billionaire_Episode One Read online

  I use my thumb to circle her clit, keeping my fingers inside her. Leaning into her shoves my hand harder against her and the way she jumps against me makes me groan again.

  “Come home with me,” I say to her hair.

  Her head whips up, nearly hitting the wall, and her eyes are the size of saucers as she stares at me like she’s never seen me before. Something shifts in her eyes.

  “I…I have to go,” she stammers and lets go of my neck, pushing me from her. Stunned, I don’t protest and take a step back, removing my hand from her and causing her to slide down the wall a little.

  “No. No…I have to get…” She doesn’t finish her sentence as she pulls down her skirt and begins to try and tidy up what we’d just done.

  “Lilian, please.” I reach for her, and she moves away. It’s not harsh, or abrupt, just decisive. I let my hand fall.

  She’s taking a few deep breaths, and then looks at me, and I see the woman I met at lunch. “I’d appreciate it if we kept this between ourselves, Mr. Kairis.”

  How did she pull herself together so fast? My heart is racing like I’ve been running a race, and I can’t think straight.

  I don’t know what to say, so I nod. She gives me the barest of smiles and then walks to where she dropped her attaché case and purse when we’d moved into the alley. She knelt to pick them up, and then turned and looked at me. Her mouth opened, but she doesn’t speak. Closing her mouth, she turned away, and left the alley.

  What had just happened? I wasn’t a creep. I knew when women wanted me, which was often. I didn’t have to force anyone to be with me. I hadn’t forced her.

  Would you have taken no for an answer? My inner voice jeered at me.

  “Shut the fuck up,” I muttered. I stood for a moment, and tried to pull myself together. I couldn’t walk out of the alley looking like this—ready for sex like a marauding Viking. It didn’t help that I was rattled. I hadn’t wanted to let her go. I wondered if I had the stones to call her and make an appointment. You know, after I’d dragged her off like the aforementioned Viking. While that was big in the romance movies old girlfriends had dragged me to, I wasn’t sure it was as much of a hit in real life.

  Shit. This was not the way to start off any relationship, professional or otherwise. Would I call her? I didn’t know. I filed that under future business and headed towards…what? Home?

  Well, to what used to be home. My parents’ brownstone. They had left so quickly, and then being the one who discovered them, I hadn’t had the stomach to go through their home. I’d avoided coming back here outside of the funeral. But now, since I was back, no sense in paying rent elsewhere. I’d just have to pay the price of living with ghosts.

  “Hell of a homecoming you’re making for yourself, son. The cops will be on your doorstep shortly if you keep this up.”

  And talking to myself wasn’t going to help. I smoothed back my hair and tried to make myself presentable for the world. Just get home without fucking up anything else.

  Chapter Two

  Dane

  I waited for a few more minutes and then left. I didn’t want to run into her again. I kept my head down and my eyes lowered. I didn’t want to meet anyone I knew. I shoved my hands in my pockets, and found…her panties. That’s right. I had ripped them off her. Shit. I hoped she wouldn’t call the cops. I would deserve it if she did.

  That fun thought worried me all the way back to the brownstone.

  Once I reached it, I looked up. It looked the same as it always did. Old. Solid. Quiet. I inhaled and ran lightly up the steps. I still had keys, so I unlocked the outer door, and walked in.

  Opening the inner door, I stood, one foot over the threshold, and listened. I could hear the tick, tock, of the clock in my father’s study. Someone moved around towards the back of the house, probably in the kitchen. Funny that I stood poised and unsure as to what to do next.

  “Hello?” I called out. No need to give anyone here a coronary.

  The footsteps shuffled closer, and from the back, Stuart, my parents’ butler—former butler—hurried out towards the foyer.

  “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you need to leave or I shall call the police,” he said.

  “Well, they’d probably like it if you called. It might even make their day.” I was a prime suspect in their deaths initially, and while I’d been cleared, there were plenty who thought I’d bought my way out of it. You know, suspicion of being a murderer on top of everything else.

  He skidded to a stop. “Dane! You’re back! I’m sorry! Why didn’t you let us know you’d be returning?”

  His stiff manner totally disappeared as he continued. “I am so sorry about Mr. and Mrs. Kairis. We all are. I spoke with your father only the day before.” He hung his head. “We had no idea they were in such danger.”

  I looked at him for a moment. He’d been with my parents before I was born. I took two steps inside the door and threw my arms around him. “It’s all right, Stuart. They knew that they had to get away. They thought they’d gone far enough, but apparently not.”

  I could tell I had surprised him, but he reached up and hugged me. “What are your plans, Dane? And why didn’t you call us, boy? Or stay, after the funeral?”

  I stepped back. “I don’t know. I…I just couldn’t. What’s been done here?” Something was off. I could feel it.

  Stuart’s lips tightened. “Your parents’ attorney has been here numerous times.”

  That was odd. “Is that a bad thing?”

  “Why don’t you come back into the kitchen? Let’s have something to eat.”

  Crap. Shit. Fuck. Stuart only offered food when he wanted to offer something I didn’t want to hear. I knew there was a reason I’d avoided coming back here. It wasn’t just because my dad had tossed me out on my ass before everything went to hell.

  The kitchen was exactly as I’d remembered. Bright and sunny, white, yellow and blue, appliances gleaming. Rachel May, the cook, housekeeper, and all-around general who ran things with Stuart, was doing something in the pantry.

  “Rachel, look who it is.” Stuart sounded satisfied.

  She turned around, and her mouth dropped into an ‘O’ but no words came out. She inhaled deeply, and then came towards me, arms open.

  “Dane Kairis, it’s about time you came back here!” She enveloped me in a hug to her substantial bosom, and I could smell that she’d been baking. Like Stuart, she’d been here for ages. She smelled like home.

  “I guess I am. Nowhere else to go,” I said.

  “Nowhere else to go?” She put her hands on her hips. “Where else would you go? With your parents gone, may they rest in peace, this is the place you should be.” She peered at me, leaning back and forth. “You look like hell. Haven’t been eating, been drinking too much, right?”

  I shrugged. “Probably.”

  “And couldn’t even stay after the funeral—”

  “The lawyers told me they were taking care of everything,” I interrupted the beginning of what I knew would be a serious scolding.

  “The lawyers!” She snorted, and looked over at Stuart.

  He shook his head, which was…interesting.

  Rachel returned her gaze to me. “Sit.” She waved towards the large island in the center of the kitchen. “I made bread this morning. Let’s have a sandwich. You, too,” she motioned to Stuart.

  When Rachel May ordered, you listened. We both sat.

  As she bustled around putting together sandwiches, I turned to Stuart. “What did the lawyer want? Which one was it?” My parents had an army of lawyers. I’d been contacted by one right after they died, assuring me that my presence wasn’t needed to keep things moving along, and I was to take all the time I needed to grieve.

  “Asa Carpenter. You know they took him on in the last few years, correct?”

  It sounded lippy, coming from someone who worked for my parents, but given the fact that by the time I got tossed out, my dad and I had been at odds for a while, it wa
s a legitimate question. At that point, Dad and I weren’t in one another’s confidences like we used to be. Rachel and Stuart both knew that.

  “I do. Smarmy bastard, isn’t he?”

  Rachel set plates down in front of us, and then brought a third for herself. “Indeed he is. Smug bastard, too.”

  “What’d he want?” I asked around a mouthful of chicken salad goodness.

  “Wanted to do an inventory. To make it easier on the executor, so he said,” Stuart answered. “You are the executor. Since I’m just the help,” he gave me a grin, “I didn’t say anything other than I would be happy to follow the wishes of the executor, and could he please show me his documentation of all such communication from you, and we’d get right to it.”

  “He threw a right fit, he did,” added Rachel. “I came out because he was starting to yell, and he called us names, stomped around like a wet hen, and slammed out of here muttering we’d rue the day, or something equally damning.”

  “For a man of law, he didn’t want to hear that I had to follow legal procedures. I told him that if I were to act on the instruction of anyone but the executor I’d be setting myself up for legal hell. He didn’t seem to care.” Stuart frowned.

  “Are you telling me you think he’s dirty somehow?”

  Rachel cuffed me on the head. “What do you think we’re saying? Something isn’t right. Mister and Missus gone, and you just took off, and then this man in a bad suit turns up wanting this and that? That seem right to you?”

  “No, it doesn’t. Thank you.” I looked down at my sandwich, the unexpected feeling of shame washing over me. These people had cared for me even when I wasn’t here to appreciate it. They’d cared for my parents, their estate—everything.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Stuart said. “What else would we do?”

  Lilian

  I walked away, feeling like crying. The thing was, I didn’t think I was crying from anger, or hurt, or anything that involved calling the police. My body was crying. I wanted that man more than I’d ever wanted anyone in my life. I had let him nearly have his way with me in an alley right off the street in broad daylight! It took everything I had not to run back to him and go wherever he wanted. The response I’d had to him in the restaurant had nothing on this. I had never, ever responded to anyone like I had with him, just now. I felt gobsmacked. This wasn’t like me.

  What the hell was wrong with me? If anyone had seen me, I’d be ruined. The thought of someone seeing me with that man, almost-having-sex with him in an alley made me wet all over again. Unfortunately, I didn’t have panties to stop it, and I could feel the inside of my thighs get wet from my thoughts. The thought of him keeping my panties was just as sexy as everything else that had occurred.

  Dear and holy lord.

  And how the hell was I supposed to explain my skirt? Or my ‘just had sex’ look? I was sure I had it, because I felt it. I risked a glance over my shoulder, and saw him at the entrance to the alley, head down. He looked very alone.

  That made my heart jump in a way I was…well, not entirely comfortable with.

  I hoped he’d call. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be hoping to hear from him. His parents had been suspects in an embezzling and fraud scandal before they died. They’d fled. Their attorney, Asa Carpenter, put it about that they had done so against his advice. He shook his head and looked mournful as he said it. And he said it a lot.

  He’d also said that Dane was involved somehow. Well, not said it, but implied, in that manner that we attorneys are so good at. I didn’t like Carpenter. He felt like a weasel to me. Plus, he always addressed my chest when I had the misfortune to work with him. I took the word of a creep with a couple of grains of salt.

  All my residual tingling aside, I’d probably be better off if Dane Kairis lost my card. You know, because apparently I lost all sense around this man. Which made for a tough working relationship.

  When I arrived back at my office, Holly, my assistant, waved frantically at me. I veered right toward her desk. I knew I still looked a mess, but I’d calmed myself. She looked like a crisis was looming. I could handle this, like I did everything else.

  “What’s up, Hol?”

  “Kit’s here!” She hissed. “I told him you were with clients, but he said he’d wait.” She stopped and looked at me. “What in the hell happened to you?” I could tell by the way she eyed me I didn’t look good.

  It must be worse than I thought. Shit. “Oh. I had a…uh…accident. No, I don’t have time for details.” I shook my head as I saw her open her mouth to ask questions. “Get my glass breaker bag, would you? Tell Kit I’m here, but that I spilled coffee on myself and I’ll be with him as soon as I change.” I set my attaché on her desk and hurried to the ladies’ room. I ignored the fact her eyes were huge.

  Thank god I keep what I call the glass breaker bag at work at all times. You know, like those old movies and cartoons had the ‘Break Glass in Case of Emergency’ boxes on the walls? This felt like an emergency for sure.

  More like a ten alarm fire. I could still feel the heat from Dane’s touch, his lips on mine. Stop it! I told myself. Focus! You got this.

  Ten minutes later, I was in my spare clothes, with panties, thank god, and had pretty much repaired the damage of Alley Affair. I didn’t even want to think about what that five-minute period would mean for me later. Nothing is ever just one small thing. “Thanks, Holly,” I said as I walked into the outer office.

  “You’d better tell!” I heard her behind me.

  I stepped into my office and closed the door behind me.

  Standing at the window was Kit Sandersen. One of the most handsome men I’d ever seen in my life. I thought that every time I saw him.

  And my boyfriend.

  He turned when he heard me come in. “Lil! You’re back!” He walked to me and kissed me on the lips. Letting me go, he gave me a piercing look. When I didn’t say anything, he said, “I wish I’d known you were going out. We could have had lunch.”

  “No, we could not have. My lunch was all business today, Kit.”

  “Then you could have taken a longer lunch.” He grabbed my waist as I moved toward my desk, pulling me close to him. “We might have had a midday interlude.” He waggled his brows suggestively.

  He looked so silly, I had to laugh. His sense of humor made him even more attractive to me. For such a classically handsome man, he tended towards the silly. I also wanted to ignore the fact I only just barely turned down a longer lunch not thirty minutes ago.

  “Some of us have to work,” I patted his cheek. “I might have picked up a new client.”

  “Really? Whom might that be? Do tell!” He twirled me around, making me laugh again, and I pushed him away as I set my things on my desk. “Who did you charm this time?”

  “I don’t think I charmed anyone at all,” I said, thinking back on lunch. “You remember Dane Kairis?” Better to tell someone that I saw him, rather than hide it. I still wasn’t sure we’d gone unseen.

  His brow furrowed. “He’s the son of Seth and Daniella Kairis? Kairis Holdings?”

  I nodded.

  “I thought he left town before his parents did, before they died. Didn’t the three of them have a falling out or something?”

  Lord. The gossip in this town was very thorough. Or maybe I just didn’t listen to it. Everyone seemed more informed than me.

  “I don’t know. I know I did some consulting for the parents a couple of years ago. My lunch client introduced him. I offered to help. I liked his parents.”

  “They were about to be indicted.” His tone was stern.

  “Indicted and guilty are two separate entities, as you are well aware,” I tapped his arm, and untangled myself. “Besides, I always liked them. I never have believed they were guilty of anything.”

  Kit worked in corporate law, so we often overlapped in the people we worked with and for. It was how we’d met, consulting on a case.

  “Why’d they run, then?” He pouted as I moved
to the other side of my desk. “I always wondered that. They went to the ends of the earth, and then they died. All very mysterious,” he said, twirling an imaginary mustache as he sat down across from me.

  “I don’t know. I guess the rumors were pretty bad, but they never said anything publicly, other than they needed a vacation. At least, not that I heard. Did you have scotch with lunch?” I asked. He seemed more lighthearted than usual.

  “No, just intoxicated with the thought of your presence, my love,” he said, placing a hand on his heart.

  That was another thing about Kit. He seemed so goofy, and lacking in substance, and un-lawyerlike. It was his secret weapon. That goofy smile hid laser sharp eyes and a mind that forgot nothing. He had an impeccable and impressive record. I found it very appealing. Not today, however. Today, I wanted that focus elsewhere. I could still smell Dane Kairis on me. A heady, male scent layered with what he’d been drinking at lunch.

  In spite of not wanting to think about it, I couldn’t help comparing Kit with Dane Kairis’ brooding manners, and intense eyes. I could feel a shiver at the thought of those eyes on me, and I shook my head.

  Kit caught it. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

  “No, I was just going over some of the things I need to do. It’s not you at all,” I smiled at him.

  “She wounds me so,” he said dramatically, hand over his heart again.

  “Don’t you have work?” I asked. “Your clients are even more demanding than mine.”

  “I told you, I was looking to see you for lunch today. Since you’ve denied me, I’ll have to whisk you away for an early happy hour.”

  “No, Kit, I can’t. I really have to get some things done today.” Normally, I’d jump at the chance to play hooky with him. What was wrong with me?

  I knew what was wrong with me. But maybe, just this once, if I ignored it, it would go away.

  Because that plan of action always turns out well.