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THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 179
“How was your trip?” I asked, playing the dutiful not-wife.He sighed and settled down into the sofa. “I don’t think that’s really what you want to talk about, is it?”No.No, it wasn’t.“Have you eaten yet?” I asked.“Yes, on the plane,” Connor answered. “You?”“I had something earlier… since I didn’t know when you would show up,” I said, trying (but failing) to keep the accusatory tone out of my voice.We watched each other in silence. It reminded me of the first night we’d spent here, before we played cards and he made me crawl towards him on the floor.But whereas that silence had been a prelude to seduction, this was just painful, with no happy ending in sight.Pun intended.He sighed and settled back into the sofa. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?” Then he added, with a mixture of resentment and annoyance, “Seeing as you blackmailed me into coming back early.”I laughed once, cold and bloodless. “I blackmailed you?”He seemed to realize he’d gone too far. “Bad choic
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 180
It was the most painful time that we made love… and also the sweetest.He kissed me so softly, his lips barely touching my own. His hands ran down my bare shoulders and arms, encircled my waist, drew me close to him.I kissed him back softly at first, then passionately, wanting this time to last for the rest of my life if need be. Or at least not leave me with any regrets of holding back.His hands caressed my bare skin as his lips kissed my ears, my neck, my chest.My head tilted back and I moaned as he tugged down the front of my dress and kissed my breasts, caressing them, licking them, sucking at them.He bent down and picked me up, then carried me willingly to the bedroom, where he placed me delicately on the mattress.I reached up and fumbled with his clothes as his hands circled around me and unzipped my dress.Our clothes were off before I knew it, and then he was beside me on the bed, his body hard and muscular, his hands warm and tender as they touched me on my belly, my th
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 181
They were still out there by the elevator, the two massive guys in suits. They watched me curiously as I walked across the hall to the only other door and knocked on it softly.It took maybe three seconds before it opened.Sebastian was standing there, eyebrows arched in a question. Johnny was a few feet behind him, his face grave and worried.I burst into tears.Sebastian pulled me into the room and put his arms around me. “There, there,” he murmured. “There, there.”After about thirty seconds I pulled away. Johnny handed me a box of tissues.I smiled shyly at him and took a couple. “Thanks.”“So I’m guessing it didn’t go so well,” Sebastian said.“It didn’t go badly,” I said with a half-suppressed sob. “But… it pretty much went the way I thought it would.”“You drew the line in the sand?”“Yes.”He nodded approvingly. “Then that’s all you can do but wait.”I looked over at Johnny. “Sorry to keep you up. I know you must be tired.”He shrugged and gave me a sheepish smile. “Sebastian
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 182
I made it inside the front door of my apartment before I burst into tears.Anh came out of her bedroom in her pajamas, wide-eyed, with her keyring canister of mace at the ready. “Lily?!”“Hey, Anh,” I sniffled – and then started crying again.She ran over and hugged me, then led me to the couch.I told her between crying jags what had happened. She made chamomile tea for us as she tried to follow my disjointed narrative. Once I calmed down, she pulled back the vertical blinds on our main window and pointed to a bunch of paneled vans out in the darkness, parked along the curb. “There’s not many of them at night, but just wait until the morning.”Try as I might, though, I couldn’t quite explain to her why I had left. At least, not to her satisfaction.“So… he said he loved you… but then he said he said it too early… and then you said you guys should take a break…”“He was avoiding me.”“So he was avoiding you… because you were all like, ‘Tell me you love me – ’”“I didn’t tell him to s
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 183
Days passed, then weeks passed, and the pain dulled a bit. Not much, but enough that I was only looking at the phone every hour instead of every ten minutes.Anh had to take care of the groceries and shopping. She even had to pick up my Nuvaring birth control prescription for me.I’m sure the paparazzi would have loved getting pictures of that.The vans gradually dwindled out front. I thought they might finally be gone, and I went out for a walk one morning through the backdoor where Johnny had dropped me off.Bad idea.Three men saw me and ran around the corner, snapping pictures and filming video. One of them thrust a mic in my face and yelled questions like, “Lily Ross, did you extort Connor Templeton for the $50,000? Is it true that you and Miranda Lockwood are lesbian lovers? Is it true that Lifetime is buying the rights to your story?”I ran back inside the apartment building, screaming at them to leave me alone. For the next thirty minutes, people pounded on my door until I cal
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 184
Turns out he was.He called again that afternoon.“So, did you think of a name for your consulting business?”“Sebastian, this is really nice of you, but – ”“No, actually it’s not, this is just what I do. Did you come up with a name yet?”“No, not yet.”“Apparently what YOU do is dither and procrastinate. Think of something in the next ten seconds. Go.”“Why?” I asked, irritated. “What does it matter?”“Legal needs the name so they can file with the state and get everything in motion. We’ll be expediting it, but it will probably still take a week or two – ”“You’re serious,” I realized, and my heart constricted in fear.“Of course I’m serious. Well, what’s the name?”“Sebastian, I can’t do this – ”“You COULD, it would just take you months to figure it all out and get the paperwork in, IF you actually stayed the course, which I doubt you would, so it makes more sense for our legal department to do it. They’re going to create an S corporation for you, so you’ll need bookkeeping and ta
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 184
Turns out he was.He called again that afternoon.“So, did you think of a name for your consulting business?”“Sebastian, this is really nice of you, but – ”“No, actually it’s not, this is just what I do. Did you come up with a name yet?”“No, not yet.”“Apparently what YOU do is dither and procrastinate. Think of something in the next ten seconds. Go.”“Why?” I asked, irritated. “What does it matter?”“Legal needs the name so they can file with the state and get everything in motion. We’ll be expediting it, but it will probably still take a week or two – ”“You’re serious,” I realized, and my heart constricted in fear.“Of course I’m serious. Well, what’s the name?”“Sebastian, I can’t do this – ”“You COULD, it would just take you months to figure it all out and get the paperwork in, IF you actually stayed the course, which I doubt you would, so it makes more sense for our legal department to do it. They’re going to create an S corporation for you, so you’ll need bookkeeping and ta
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 185
By 5:00 PM, I’d gotten over three dozen emails from various managers talking about availability.Eff my life.The only good thing was that most of the managers were wary of me, and most had wanted to schedule their interviews for later in the week, probably so they could get the gossip on me. I’m sure most (if not all) of them considered me a threat. Like the advance scout for the Hatchet Man.Anh helped me cram, just like the olden days in college when I was woefully unprepared for tests. “Okay, what questions are you going to ask them?”“What’s the top three problems they see in the business on a day-to-day basis… what they would change if they could…” I put my forehead down on our IKEA kitchen table. I was way past the hand-flapping panic stage, and well into the ‘total collapse and defeated resignation’ phase. “Oh God, this is going to be a disaster…”Anh smacked my arm with a sheaf of papers. “Stop being defeatist. Come on, you can do this.”“No I can’t…”“Connor set this up f
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