The Billionaire Affair

by Parker, Ali

  We kept talking until the restaurant started emptying out, bonding about our shared experiences growing up. About not fitting into the molds our parents crafted for us. Laughing about all the trouble we’d gotten into along the way.

  I was comfortable with her in a way I wasn’t with many people. Along with my comfort level increasing, so did my attraction to her. By the time we left the restaurant, it sure as hell didn’t feel like this had been a casual dinner between boss and employee.

  Chapter 32

  STEPHANIE

  “It’s right over there,” I told Jeremiah, pointing out my apartment building. It wasn’t a fancy place. In fact, it was quite simple. An old square brick building with four apartments on each of its six floors.

  He pulled into an empty spot outside. A loading zone, but he wouldn’t be leaving the car. Unfortunately. As much as I wanted to invite him up, I knew it wasn’t a good idea.

  I turned to him, all hot and bothered from our fancy dinner. It was so out of my comfort zone, the place, the company. And the way he’d treated me all night had me feeling like a princess.

  It started with the stuff about chivalry at the office, getting all the doors and then taking me to the nicest restaurant I’d eaten in for a long time. But it was more than that.

  “Dinner was delicious, thank you so much for taking me,” I said. A part of me wanted to thank him for also restoring some of my faith in the male species. He’d been such a perfect gentleman all night.

  And he opened up to me. I could see it wasn’t always easy for him to talk about the things we did, but he pushed through, and I appreciated it. It gave me as much insight into him as a man as the things he said.

  Leaning forward slightly, he turned in his seat and smiled a smile that made my big girl panties wish they were something sexier. And possibly capable of walking themselves into his hands.

  “My pleasure,” he said. His voice was lazy, husky. It had none of the clipped, businesslike tones I heard him use most of the time and none of the cocky lilt that accompanied it. “Thanks for coming with me. I wasn’t sure you would, but I had a great time.”

  “So did I,” I said. A couple of times during dinner I’d had to remind myself we weren’t on a date. He certainly made me feel special—like I was the only girl in the room. There were some knock-outs in the restaurant, model lookalikes who cast sidelong glances at him. I didn’t even know if he’d noticed.

  If he did, I hadn’t picked up on it. It was like he only had eyes for me. A heady feeling I shouldn’t get used to. He was my boss, after all.

  “Remember,” he said sternly, capturing my gaze with his warm brown eyes. “I’ll be back on Monday morning to pick you up.”

  “You really don’t need to do that.” I had no idea how he’d known I was planning on asking Tiana to give to me rides when she could or to share her car with me until the Jannie situation blew over. He’d been right on the money when he guessed it. “I really can make another plan. My roommate has a car. I’m sure we can figure something out.”

  A line appeared between his dark eyebrows as he frowned. “We’ve been through this, Steph. I’m your ride for the time being.”

  “I know we talked about it, but you have your hands full. You really don’t need to act as a chaperone for your secretary. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

  Sighing, he gave me a pointed look. “You will be fine because I’ll be back on Monday morning to pick you up. Are you really going to refuse the jacket even though you’re cold?”

  I thought back to everything he’d said earlier in the evening. He was trying to do right by me. Be a gentleman because it was hardwired into his DNA and he felt responsible for me, something like that.

  “Okay,” I said. “If you put it that way, I guess I’d be contributing to the female species killing chivalry if I refuse.”

  I didn’t want to get out of his fancy car. It smelled like Jeremiah and leather, and the seats were softer than baby blankets. The dull lights from his dashboard lit up his gorgeous face in dark contours. He was still looking at me like I was all he could see.

  Finally, after a tiny sigh escaped his lips, he exited the car and came over to open my door. He offered me his hand to help me get out. His hand was warm and strong. I didn’t want to let go.

  He stood for a moment holding my hand. “Sleep well, Stephanie. I’ll be here at seven on Monday morning unless you wanted to go in earlier.”

  “Seven’s fine,” I said immediately. This arrangement was going to have the added benefit of letting me sleep in a little while longer in the mornings. It was hard to argue with that. “Good night, Jeremiah. See you on Monday.”

  I reluctantly withdrew my hand from his grasp before I lost control of my senses. His touch was making my knees wobbly and lessening my resolve to not throw myself into his arms. I could feel his eyes on my body as I walked to the building. When I reached the front door, I turned with a cheeky smile and waved at him.

  He smiled and returned my wave before he drove off. I watched until his lights blended with the others on the road and wondered how on earth I managed to get myself into a situation like this. The man I was more attracted to than I’d ever been to anyone in my life was my boss, and the last person I kissed, and the best date I’d ever been on. It was so unfair.

  Jeremiah and I clicked. I didn’t know how or why, but we just did. How sucky was it that the first person I ever felt that kind of chemistry with was totally off-limits? Not to mention out of my league.

  I stood outside my apartment building, wrapping my hands around my biceps to warm them and about to go inside when my skin started to tingle. Almost as if someone was watching me. I looked around, but I didn’t see anyone.

  It was dark out, and some of our streetlights flickered while others didn’t work at all. The poor light made it hard to see very far, but I was pretty sure there was no one watching me. It had to be my imagination. Or maybe someone just opened their curtains and happened to spot me standing there like an idiot.

  It was late and dark. I had a couple of those divine glasses of red wine over dinner. My paranoia about Jannie was just acting up now that I was alone and exposed for the first time today.

  Still, it was probably best to get inside. I let myself in and jogged up the stairs, trying to burn off some of the excess energy Jeremiah left me with. He made me feel like I could take on the world, and win.

  Alcohol and arousal were buzzing in my veins. An intoxicating mix that made me want to go up to the rooftop and shout something from it. I didn’t know what, just something. Perhaps something about Jeremiah. The way I was feeling was like I was in that romantic comedy I told Tiana my life wasn’t just days ago.

  Fucking Jeremiah. The guy really messed with my head. And my body. I had to do something to relax. I was exhausted before we left the office, but I would never be able to sleep in this state.

  Tiana wasn’t home yet, but that wasn’t a surprise. Weekends were the restaurant’s busiest time, and she almost always had to work. I flipped on the lights in our apartment, still not completely at ease after the tingling feeling from downstairs and collapsed on the couch.

  After reaching for the remote, I decided watching television wasn’t going to work. I needed to wind down. The best way I knew to do that, my favorite way, was to take a hot bubble bath.

  Tiana and I were usually careful about the hot water since we both generally needed to get through showering one after the other. Without her here and knowing she wasn’t going to be home until early morning hours, I didn’t have anything to worry about.

  I ran the bath until it was almost spilling over, leaving just enough space for myself and fetched my most comfortable pajamas from my room. This was exactly what I needed.

  Lighting the round purple candles I bought at the going-out-of-business sale of an aromatherapy shop, I breathed in the smell of lavender and stripped off my clothes. Our bathroom was tiny, already completely steamed up.

  I shut off the light in
the bathroom but left the rest on to quell my nerves and paranoia. Once I was resting with my hair floating around me in the hot water, I leaned my head back and allowed my thoughts to drift back to Jeremiah Williams. I’d been wrong about him at first.

  Half and half. There was a lot more to him than I initially thought.

  There was the suave sex-on-a-stick guy I danced with at that club back on my birthday. That man drove me out of my mind with lust in thirty seconds flat in his arms. He moved like a champion dancer—like he was in touch with every single muscle in his body at all times and would fuck using each one to his advantage.

  Then there was the guy I met after my first interview with Nick. The quintessential rich bastard who acted like he ruled the world and everybody in it. He was rude, arrogant and left a bitter taste in my mouth.

  I thought that was who he really was until he’d allowed me to see another side of him. A more human side. I would’ve thought of it as his softer side if I thought there was a side of him that was actually soft, but if there was, I hadn’t seen it yet.

  This more human side though, it captivated me. When he was being that guy… Wow. Girls hang on to your panties.

  Boss. Hunk. Total dreamboat. He had every quality I could want in a man, minus the tendency to turn into a total asshole sometimes.

  Chapter 33

  JEREMIAH

  The city blurred by me at a speed that would probably earn me another arrest if a cop jumped out at me now. The Chiron purred, handling like a damn dream. I pushed down on the gas just a little more.

  Soon I would hit rush-hour traffic and slow down to a crawl until I got to Stephanie’s. I wanted to take advantage of the speed while I could. It helped clear my head.

  This was going to be a busy week, and I refused to start with my head up my ass. Or more accurately, thinking about Stephanie’s ass. After dinner on Friday, I dropped her off at home and got the hell out of there before I hauled her over my shoulder and carried her to her bedroom.

  I hadn’t seen or heard from her since. I wondered if I took things too far. Between all the flirting on Friday, the heated looks, the brushed touches and the dinner at George’s, there was every possibility I’d overdone it.

  All my best intentions of keeping my relationship with her strictly professional had shriveled up and died. There was something about Stephanie that had me making stupid decisions. The right thing to do would’ve been to stay away from her. Send Louis to get her and drive her around instead of doing it myself.

  Instead, I was speeding to her apartment like a bat out of hell. Why I was doing it, I didn’t fucking know. She would’ve been safe with Louis too, but I wanted to do this myself. There was an annoying little voice in my head telling me she would be safe with Louis, but safer with me.

  God knew why I thought that. I would never admit it, but Louis was a better driver than I was. Decades of experience and evasive driving maneuvers training would do that, and Louis had it all under his belt.

  The truth was that he was perfectly capable of playing chauffeur to Stephanie. There was no reason for me to do it myself, but I was too selfish about any time I could get alone with her. Even if keeping my distance was what I should’ve been doing if I had any hope of getting back to the professionalism I promised myself I could maintain with her.

  A thousand little things kept me from keeping my promise. Her charm, her wit, her curves. She was the perfect package. Throw in her intelligence, her dedication to doing a good job and working her way up in the world because it was what she wanted and not what was expected of her. Add a dash of her independence, her spirit and her understanding, gentle way of getting me to open up, and I was fucked. Unable to stay away.

  At ten minutes to seven, I pulled up to her curb. She was already there, waiting under the faded awning outside her building. Smiling brightly when she saw me, she waved and walked over to my car.

  That fucking smile was going to be the death of me. Another reason I wanted to drive her myself. When she smiled at me, I didn’t feel like the piece of shit I was. I didn’t feel like the spare, the disappointment or the tabloid’s favorite playboy.

  I felt like she saw the better version I was trying to be. Like she was smiling at a guy so deep inside me not even I was sure he was in there most of the time. I’d heard people say they wanted to be better for others, but it wasn’t until she smiled at me like that that I really felt it.

  As she neared the car, I hit the button for my hazards and jumped out, rounding the hood to get her door. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning, boss. Have a good weekend?” Her gaze was soft on mine, caring.

  “I did.” Except for yesterday’s golf game with my father. I really needed to get out of the Sunday afternoon golf tradition somehow. “You?”

  “Same,” she said, lowering herself into the car. When I settled next to her, she turned in her seat. “You have any entertaining stories about the weekend antics of the rich and famous to entertain us on the way to work?”

  I smirked. If she asked me that question a couple of years ago, I would’ve been able to fill a novel’s worth of pages about what Bart, Shawn, Tanner and I would’ve gotten up to over the weekend. “Nothing entertaining. Sorry. Turns out the lifestyles of the rich and famous also go through dips.”

  She sat back in her seat. “Pity. Want to hear about my weekend then?”

  “Sure.” It sounded much better than rehashing the party I went to with Shawn on Saturday or that Neil and I spent Sunday working until we had to go to the golf course. “Entertain away.”

  “It’s not entertaining, really.” She launched into a description of her weekend, giving me a small peek at her life when she wasn’t with me or at the office.

  Speaking in her easygoing manner, she told about coffee to catch up with some of her friends from college, fixing the dryer in their building—but not before she shrunk some of her clothes, and listening to some podcasts she thought I might find interesting by her former statistics professor.

  “Do people actually listen to those things?” I asked her, trying to imagine why anyone would willingly sit through more hours of a lecturer droning on about stats.

  She winked, shaking her head. “Nope. I was just checking to make sure you were listening to me. The podcasts I actually listened to were true crime stories by an investigative journalist.”

  “Thank god,” I said, clutching my heart like she’d really scared me. “I thought I might have to have you institutionalized.”

  Sticking out her tongue at me in a playful gesture that made me want to pull over and yank her into my arms, she laughed. “Nah, not necessary today. It might be by this afternoon though. We’ve both got busy days ahead.”

  Seamlessly, she switched to her role as my secretary. She pulled up my calendar for the week on her phone and took the rest of the drive to update me on my meetings for the day. I was pulling into my parking spot at Williams Tower when she finished.

  “Last but not least, someone named Bart wanted me to add drinks at Lucky’s and dinner at Tokiso to your schedule for tonight. The message came through early this morning. It’s at seven thirty. Do you want me to confirm?”

  “Please.” Drinks at our local hangout and Japanese with the guys sounded great. Early as it was, the day loomed ahead of me. I would need a couple of beers by the time it was over, especially since one of my meetings was with a friend of Dad’s and one of our biggest investors.

  The man liked the sound of his own voice as much as Dad did and judged as loudly and freely. “Remind me to text Bart later and tell him to order enough tequila before I get there.”

  Steph smiled until she saw I was serious. “We just got to the office. What could possibly be that bad already?”

  “We just got to the office,” I stated simply. There was nothing she could do about my shitty meeting, no point in mentioning it to her. “You go on up. I’ll watch to make sure you get into the elevator ok. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”


  She gave me a long look but nodded and hopped out of the car. “See you later.”

  “See you,” I said, but she had already closed her door and was walking to the elevator. The black dress she was wearing clung to the curve between her hips and her breasts, showing off her voluptuous figure.

  More than a few of the men who were waiting by the bank of elevators noticed her as she approached them. Couldn’t say I blamed them, though I hated seeing them looking at her like that.

  Almost immediately, she started chatting to a vaguely familiar looking guy I thought might work on our floor. He was wearing a purple beret and a dotted bow tie, making wild gestures with his hands as he talked and piled into the elevator with her and half a dozen others.

  I breathed out a deep sigh when they were out of sight. My head needed to be screwed on right today. Where Evan was, my father was sure to put in an appearance. I would undoubtedly be seeing him today when I had my meeting with his friend.

  As expected, my day was an endless stream of meetings that very easily could’ve been emails. But everyone wanted face time with the boss, and in this chain of command, I was it. Neil and I slogged through it, but he left me alone for the meeting with Evan—and my dad. They had me seeing red twenty seconds into the hour-long meeting, and the feeling stuck with me for the rest of the day.

  When I was done with my last meeting, I headed straight for Stephanie’s office. “You ready to go?”

  She looked up, surprised to see me there. Glancing down at her watch, she frowned. “If you are. Your last meeting ended two minutes ago, are you sure you’re done? I don’t mind waiting.”

  “I’m done,” I said decisively. Monday had kicked my ass, and I was ready to kick it right back. “Let’s go.”

  Stephanie talked a bit on the way to her place, but I didn’t respond much. I needed some time to decompress after this day. I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I was going to do or say something I would regret.