Billionaire: Billionaire Boss Romance: What the Boss Wants, He Gets (Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Boss Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Older Man Romance)

by Tia Siren

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Is she alright?” he heard the man ask as he alighted from the car. “She came out of nowhere.”

  “Yes, she is fine,” Eric said, holding her to him and smiling. “Everything is fine now.”

  Kimberly was shaking like a leaf as she clung to him like a cat on a light pole. He smoothed her hair back as he tried to lead her inside. The driver, reassured that she was doing alright, nodded and returned to his car. Eric was halfway to the door when Kimberly suddenly pushed him away.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked, fury overtaking her.

  “What the hell was what?” he asked her as if he didn’t know what she was talking about. “You tripped and fell into the street, and I pulled you back.”

  “I tripped?!” she cried. “You knocked me into the street. Why would you do that? Just so you could pull me back in?”

  This was not the end he had foreseen. He had expected there to be some heavenly chorus being sung by now, and for her to have love in her eyes. Instead, all he saw was anger. “Forget it, sorry,” he said. He walked back inside. She did not follow.

  Eric spent the rest of the day nursing his dejection until he left the office a half hour earlier than usual. He had to get something strong into his system. And strong meant Connors’.

  “Hey, Eric! Over here!” he heard someone call from across the room, signalling him to the booth he occupied every week at his favourite drinking spot. He skirted some waitresses who batted their lashes at him and nodded while trying to appear normal. But he was far from it.

  “Isn’t it a little too early for booze?” Simon asked as Eric sat down.

  “Are you asking me or telling yourself?” Eric asked. He caught the glass as Simon slid over.

  “What’s got you all riled up?” Matt asked while he sipped beer from his mug.

  “Who said I was riled up?” Eric asked. He then downed the contents of the glass, and his face contorted as he did. “What was that?”

  “Brandy,” Matt said and laughed. “Grown men stuff.”

  “Tastes like ass,” Eric said as he tried to get the taste out of his mouth. “I’ll have some beers instead.”

  “So, really man, what’s eating you?” Simon followed up.

  “Nah, I’m good. Plus, if something was eating me up I came here to get away from it; not to discuss it,” he said. He reached for the mug the woman had just set down. “So let’s drink.”

  And for the rest of the evening they did just that. By the time Eric was ready to leave, he couldn’t even stand straight. “I gotta get home.”

  “Would you like me to call you a cab?” the waitress asked just then.

  “No, I’m good,” Eric replied. “I’ve got this.” The way he staggered when he tried to stand did not convince anyone of it.

  “No, I think I should drive. I didn’t have as much as this crazy ass man,” Matt offered. “Give me the keys, dude.”

  “I think I need to get outside,” Eric replied. He could feel everything he had consumed errupppting to the surface. He gripped the booths, hurrying past the other patrons before he hurled on anyone. He was barely outside when everything came out on the pavement. He was still slouched over retching when Matt came out.

  “Like I said, give me the keys,” Matt told him. He had his hand outstretched as he waited for Eric to oblige him.

  “They’re in my pocket,” Eric said, and another wave of nausea hit him, sending more of the beer onto the street. “At least I have something else on my mind now, right?” he laughed.

  “You really packed it in there,” Matt said. “Come on, let’s go. Where are you parked?”

  “Across the street,” Eric replied.

  The two were just getting to the corner when they heard a car screech, and then there was a loud crash. “What was that?” Matt asked while running forward. There was a car wrapped around a utility pole, steam coming from the engine. “Someone is in there,” he said and ran off.

  Eric ran after him with as much energy as he could find, until they got to the car. “Come on, what are you waiting for? Give me a hand.” Matt s opened the door then to get to the driver.

  Eric hesitated as he tried to get a look at what the woman looked like. There was no way he was saving an ugly girl. “Turn her over,” he told Matt. “Check if she is still breathing or something. We don’t want to make a bad situation worse by moving her.”

  “Just give me a hand man,” Matt called, but Eric was resolute.

  “You take her out and then we can check...”

  Matt looked at him incredulously as he reached into the car and pulled the woman out. Eric’s fear and paranoia had returned, and he backed away; he tried to distance himself from saving anyone he didn’t choose. He didn’t realise how quickly he was moving, or how far he had drifted until he bumped into someone. He wheeled around, uncertain of what was happening, and that was when he saw a woman toppling into the street. Instinctively he reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the pavement.

  Her eyes popped out as fear gripped her. Her hand gripped her breast, and her breaths came out in gasps as she saw the car fly by. “Oh my God,” she said breathlessly. “You saved me.”

  And all Eric saw at the time was an oversized woman with messy hair and freckles. He backed away and stumbled to where Matt still rested on the ground.

  “What happened, man?” he asked him. “I could have used your help.”

  Eric looked over at the woman on the ground. She was slim built, African American, and strikingly beautiful. She had blood coming from her nose, but she was breathing still. Then he looked back at the woman still standing at the curb looking at him with gratitude, as if she was compelled to stare.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Eric said. He kicked a can from his path and fell to the ground, his face now buried in his hands.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “But Michael, it was an accident,” Eric pleaded as he followed his leader around the reservation. “Surely, there must be a clause somewhere against this kind of meeting.”

  “You mean like the clause that forbids manipulation?” Michael asked and turned to look at him. “I know about the stunt you pulled before.”

  “Wait,” Eric said and rushed after him. “I’m sorry, but I panicked. I don’t deserve punishment, especially of this kind. I mean, come on, look at her. She and I won’t ever get along.”

  “And you can tell all of that just by looking at her shell?” Michael stopped abruptly and turned.

  “Michael, please. Just this one time,” Eric pleaded.

  “And what if you don’t like the second woman or the third? Do we keep going until you decide you want to keep the woman? This is serious Eric, and not something we take lightly. Things are the way they are and have been for centuries. As it is, the woman is already fixated on you, so if you neglect her, then you break her heart, and you do not want to endure the consequences of that. I suggest you get to know her. The sooner you come to terms, the better. You will be expected to wed by the third moon after your save.”

  “So, that’s it then?” Eric asked as he backed up against a tree. “My life is over.”

  “Don’t be so melodramatic Eric. She may very well be everything you need,” he told him and walked away.

  “Yeah, I doubt that,” Eric said and retreated to his familiar place by the boulder. He turned when he heard someone coming closer. It was Bradley. He turned around again and faced the water. “Still think it will end well?”

  “Yeah,” Bradley said as he sat down next to him. “Sometimes things aren’t as bad as they appear.”

  “Enough with the crap Bradley,” Eric rebutted. “I’m done hearing all the motivational speeches that get said in my presence. I know everyone is laughing at me, and I don’t blame them. I’d laugh at me too if I didn’t get to be the one to see that face for the rest of my life.” He stood up then and walked off.

  “I didn’t love Eva right away you know,” Bradley said
. “I just eventually grew to love her after spending time with her.”

  Eric refused to comment after that. Instead, he dragged his way to his impending doom and towards the one person he would rather not spend an eternity with.

  He didn’t even need to make an effort to find her. It seemed she was inevitably drawn to him, for when he got to his door, she was already there waiting for him. He looked at her in her oversized t-shirt and baggy jeans, her hair rolled up at her nape, with most of it still falling from whatever it was she had used to pin it together. He rolled his eyes and pretended as if not to see her. But she would not be ignored. “Mr. Colburn,” she said as she hurried up to him.

  “What is it?” he spat.

  She jumped, not expecting the harshness in his tone, and then fastened her eyes to the floor as she twiddled her thumbs behind her. “I just wanted to tell you thanks for saving me. I haven’t had many saviours in my life, and I just wanted you to know how much I appreciated it.”

  There was something in the way she said the words that made Eric sympathetic to her. “It was nothing,” he said and attempted to smile at her. If only briefly.

  “It was something. It was my life, and now I owe you,” she persisted.

  “You don’t owe me anything, ma’am,” he said to her. “Just doing my civic duty.”

  “It’s Marissa,” she told him. And then she walked away. Her shoulders slouched as she hurried from the lobby, and Eric groaned as he started feeling the pangs of guilt gnawing at him.

  “Marissa, wait,” he said to her. Shut up! He could hear the voices in his head screaming, but he was unable to bend to their will. “Have you already eaten?” He could see that what he had done meant a lot to her, even if it was by accident, and he didn’t want to be the source of bitter karma. He could hear Michael’s words echoing in his head, and as much as he had tried before to manipulate the choice, he now sought to avert a lifetime of misery if he inflicted heartbreak on her.

  “You don’t have to buy me dinner,” she smiled.

  “I insist,” he said and hurried to catch up with her. “There is a lovely restaurant out back.”

  “Okay then,” she said. She walked next to him in the direction he had indicated.

  Eric could feel the stares as he walked next to her, and how uncomfortable she appeared being there. She never made eye contact with anyone but hurried along to their chosen place. She seemed lost in a public place, and Eric wondered how much she had personally sacrificed to find him and thank him for saving her life.

  “I have a better idea,” he said to her. She stopped and peered at him with large brown eyes that reminded him of a pup. All that was left for her to do now was wag her tail.

  “Yes?” she replied.

  “How about we go somewhere more private,” he suggested.

  She smiled and nodded, and he was almost sure he saw the relief as it escaped her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Eric could not quite explain it, but his level of intrigue increased the longer she was in his presence. She seemed to prefer the shadows, but she smiled a lot, uncomfortably, almost as if she was hiding behind it. She shuffled in her seat as she looked around uncomfortably, her hands clasped between her legs and her eyes searching for something.

  “Are you alright?” Eric asked as he observed her.

  “Mmhmm,” she nodded and smiled. She looked at him, but only briefly before her eyes started searching again. “I think I need to go,” she said and sprang from the chair. “I’m sorry.”

  “But...” Eric began, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything else before she disappeared outside. Now he was really confused. She had been the one to approach him, and now that she had his attention she retracted into her shell. Something was wrong. This did not feel like fate got it right. But that wouldn’t be such a bad thing either.

  *****

  “I don’t understand,” he said to Michael. “I would have thought she would be drooling at the sight of me. Instead, she runs and hides, yet she keeps turning up where I am.”

  “When has love ever been simple?” he asked Eric.

  “Wait, what, love? No, this isn’t love. This is a mess,” Eric shot back.

  “Love usually starts with confusion when emotions set in; no one can comprehend. Just give it time.”

  “Last I heard I had no time. I have until the third moon,” Eric sighed.

  Michael smiled and slapped him on the shoulder. “You will be fine, and you won’t need more time than that.”

  Eric lay in bed that night remembering the face of the woman he had saved. She was as simple as they came; always in baggy clothes, with shifting eyes and messy hair. But for some reason she was always smiling. Her image plagued him all night, and he tried to exorcise her from his mind, but all he ended up doing was wrinkling the sheets as he tossed and turned.

  He was sure he would see her the following day, as usual, but this time she didn’t turn up. Neither did she the day after that. Eric was beginning to get concerned. He didn’t even know where to find her.

  ****

  “Excuse me,” he heard a small voice say. He was standing outside his office one evening two days later, looking across the street at nothing in particular.

  “Yes?” he responded. He turned to face a young woman he did not recognise.

  “Are you the man who saved Marissa?” the girl asked.

  Eric raised his brow and looked the woman up and down. “Yes,” he grunted and looked around uncomfortably.

  “She may need your help again,” the girl said while squinting against the evening sun.

  “Why? What happened?”

  The girl turned and looked down the street. “See that building there? These men mess with her, call her names and insult her. She has to go that way to get into her building, so now she is embarrassed to pass them. I don’t know if there is much you can do, but she doesn’t have anyone to stick up for her. I just thought you might, since you saved her and all.”

  Eric stood there as the woman rambled on, and he suddenly felt as if he had been deliberately thrust into this woman’s life. “What does she do for a living?” he asked the woman.

  “She works over at the shelter. You will find her there most times. Otherwise, she is at the thrift store or the hospital.”

  “The hospital?” he asked curiously.

  “Nurse’s aide or something of the sort. Listen, just check on her. She doesn’t have anyone else.”

  And now Eric felt like he was just invited to the pity party. “Thanks,” he said as the girl waved and walked off. He didn’t know where to find her, but he felt he needed to keep a look out. After all, minus the red face and sweaty palms, baggy jeans and insecurity, she didn’t seem all that bad. She didn’t seem like wife material either. Maybe they didn’t need to get married; there may have been a mess up, and he simply needed to be her guardian until the third moon. Then, when it passed, he would be free.

  The next day he lingered inside the coffee shop facing the shelter. This time she showed up, looking more dishevelled than ever. Eric clasped his hands on the table and watched her. She was working with the line staff, spooning food onto foam plates for the homeless and needy. She moved carefully, smiling all the time, and seemed to say something to everyone she encountered. Eric could hear nothing, so he ventured closer to her while avoiding her.

  “Good day, Sir,” she said as she handed a cup to an old man in ragged clothing. “You look nice today.”

  “Something must be wrong with your eyes,” the man grunted as he took the cup.

  “Your clothes ain’t you. Have a good one,” she said and then moved along to the other in line. And for each one she encountered she had something nice to say and offered words of encouragement.

  Until the line thinned and the food disappeared, and she grew nervous again. “Do you want me to follow you?” a large black man asked.

  “No Cedric, I’ll be fine,” she answered as she removed the apron from around her middle. “
I’m used to it by now.”

  “Well, if you need my help, just call,” the man said with a concerned look on his face.

  Eric watched as she smiled and nodded and took her purse from the table. “See you tomorrow,” she said and walked away.

  She hadn’t gone one hundred feet when he saw a man reach out and grab her purse. “Hey give me that,” she said, but she made no attempt to get it back.

  “Why don’t you come and get it, Miss Piggy,” another voice said.

  “Where’d you get them clothes?” the one who had taken the bag asked. “The thrift shop?”

  Then they all started laughing as they made fun of her. She stood there quietly, still asking for her bag when Eric intervened.

  “Marissa, wait up,” he said as he walked over to her. “What’s going on?”

  “She dropped her purse,” the man said and handed it back to her.

  There was no need for words as he walked by her side to the thrift shop. After only a few glimpses of her, he had seen right through her to her very core. And the sight wasn’t a displeasing one.

  CHAPTER SIX

  He sat with her in the coffee shop, but she didn’t offer any words. And he didn’t ask. Not yet anyway. He allowed her to eat, and she picked at the club sandwich she had ordered.

  “You must think me an idiot right?” she asked as she pushed it aside. “I know you saw what happened.”

  “Then why would I blame you if I did? Those men were jerks. That’s what I saw,” he told her. “What I don’t get is why you let them get away with it? You don’t even have to walk that way to get to the thrift shop.”

  Marissa looked at him suspiciously. “Have you been following me?”

  “Not any more than you have been following me since I “saved” your life. Your friend told me,” he said as he sat back in the chair.

  “I’m going to kill that wench,” Marissa spat and gritted her teeth.

  “Hey, she thought she was doing you a favour. It’s not on her,” Eric said.

  Then her face grew sad. “My life sucks,” she said and stood to leave. “It probably would have been better if you hadn’t saved me.”