The Billionaire Affair

by Parker, Ali

  “If you survive,” she whispered, her eyes huge and round.

  “I’m faster,” I said, my own voice barely above a whisper. “I can run if I have to. I’ll be fine.”

  My father didn’t waste any time when I walked in, closing the door firmly behind me. I knew some of his opinions about Stephanie, and I really didn’t want her hearing them.

  “Why are you showing up to work at the same time as your secretary, Jeremiah? Did you not learn your lesson after the last one?”

  “I’m not sleeping with Stephanie,” I said, rounding my desk to drop into my chair. Even sitting on this side of my desk with my father perched in one of the visitor’s chairs, I felt like I was in the principal’s office at fifteen.

  “Care to explain why you’re arriving at the same time as her then? It certainly looks like you two arrived together.” He pressed his palms together in front of him, steepling his fingers.

  “We did arrive together.” There was no reason not to tell him the truth. He probably wouldn’t believe it anyway, but I didn’t have either the inclination or the energy to lie to him about this. Steph and I weren’t doing anything wrong, as much as I wanted us to be.

  “Stephanie doesn’t have a car at the moment. I have the means to give her a lift to work rather than to make her transit. It shaves about half an hour off her commute each way.” I didn’t tell him why we’d come up with this arrangement.

  Jannie was my mess to clean up, not his. Plus, he would almost certainly read something into my wanting to protect Steph from Jannie.

  He gave me a long look, his gaze unwavering on mine. It took everything I had, but I didn’t turn away from his eyes. Didn’t fidget.

  Fuck him. I had nothing to hide and nothing to confess under his glare of truth, as Jack and I used to refer to it. “In saving her half an hour, are you not adding about that amount of travel time to your own commute?”

  “No.” It was close, but not quite a full thirty minutes. I turned my wrist, checking the time on my watch. “We’re both here on time, so what’s the problem?”

  “I’m priming you to take over one of the largest oil conglomerate companies in the country. You won’t be successful hosting a driving carpool for your secretary.” He basically spat the words, as acidic and harsh as he could make them sound. “Besides, the walk would probably do a girl like her some good.”

  My blood boiled, shooting through my veins so fast I could hear it roaring in my ears. Forming fists at my sides, my hands trembled in anger.

  I didn’t know what my father’s obsession with putting Stephanie down was, but I’d just about had enough of it. A thousand scathing retorts jumped to the tip of my tongue. Rage blurred my vision and tinted the edges of it red.

  I was standing on the precipice, about to finally go flying off the edge when I looked into my father’s eyes. His weathered skin was so much more wrinkled than just the crow’s-feet that used to be there. Though his shoulders were still broad and his gaze burning with self-righteous anger and determination, I knew what a knock he took when Jack passed away.

  His heir, his star pupil, his firstborn son. The fight fled out of me and left me without any wind under my sails. I didn’t have the nerve to stand up to my father, not knowing what he’d been through and still faced every day. A man who had never been the same since his eldest child passed away.

  It went against every fiber of my being to walk away from the battle, but I did. Gritting my teeth, I decided to let it go and focus on work instead. I pulled a file containing the latest projections on the mall closer and pushed it across my desk. “Be that as it may, should we talk about the engineering costs projected for the next phase?”

  Chapter 36

  STEPHANIE

  “Welcome back Friday, you beautiful thing you!” I said under my breath when I got to the office and pulled up my calendar, ready to put the last few things for this week to rest. “How I’ve missed you.”

  Friday, of course, didn’t answer but that didn’t matter. My tasks for the day loomed in brightly color-coded blotches on the calendar on my computer screen, but that didn’t matter either.

  Nothing was going to get me down today. It’d been a long, hard week, and I was looking forward to the weekend. Jeremiah’s father, Jance, had been in the office a lot over this last week. And it was safe to say he was the reason the week felt so long and awful.

  He made me really uncomfortable. I didn’t know why. The man hardly spoke to me. He’d never said or done anything to warrant the feeling, but being around him made my skin feel like there were tiny bugs crawling around underneath it.

  I couldn’t wait for two whole days without the possibility of seeing him. Why he’d been hanging around Jer’s office, I didn’t know. When I started working here, I only saw him for maybe a minute a week. Now he was around all the time.

  The two of us just didn’t gel. I could tell Jance didn’t like me either, though I had no idea why. I didn’t speak to him much, so there was no real reason for him to dislike me any more than I had to dislike him. Yet I was quite sure we were both firmly rooted in our mutual, non-sensical dislike.

  And I was fine with it. Really. I wasn’t one of those people who were in constant need of approval from everyone they met.

  If Jeremiah was anything more to me than my boss, I might’ve been worried about his father’s dismissiveness of me. Since we were keeping things totally professional, I wasn’t too worried about it.

  My job was to work for Jeremiah, and I did my job well. When Jance was around, I simply tried to keep my head down and to not ruffle any feathers. As much as I usually enjoyed ruffling, it didn’t seem worth the risk of attracting his wrath or attention.

  I’d heard him on the phone a few times. The man could be brutal. Ruffling his feathers felt like a surefire way to get fired. Staying under his radar and keeping my mouth shut wasn’t always easy though, which was why I was glad the week was over.

  Next week, I hoped Jance would stick to his own office again and leave Jeremiah’s alone. Even Jeremiah seemed out of sorts by his father’s continuous presence. He still drove me every morning and every night. We still spoke and joked around in the car, but he seemed more distant. Especially once we arrived at the office.

  My new normal was still very new to me, with my new job, boss and commute situation, but I liked it. I wanted it back. Fingers crossed next week would bring with it the return of my new routine.

  Until then, I would just have to stick it out.

  Thinking of the devil, Jance emerged from Jeremiah’s office. His suit jacket, which probably cost more than my non-functioning car, was hanging neatly over one arm. Intimidating for a man of his age, he was as tall and broad as his son.

  Once near black hair now flecked with gray, on his head and in his eyebrows, he had the air of a man who ran a country and physique of one who could still run marathons. Ignoring my existence, he paused in the door between my office and Jeremiah’s, turning to look back at Jer. “Just get it done. I’ll expect an update by Sunday.”

  Without a word of goodbye to either of us, Jance marched out of the office. As soon as my door slammed behind him, I breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. His parting words to Jer made it sound like he wasn’t coming back today, so it looked like my Jance-free time was starting earlier than expected.

  I did a little happy jiggle in my chair, queuing up a feel-good playlist and reaching for my earbuds—a luxury I denied myself whenever Jance was around because I was sure it would be a mortal sin to listen to music on the job when he was around.

  A soft chuckle from the doorway between my office and Jer’s caught my attention. I looked up to find my boss leaning with his shoulder against the frame, amusement skittering in his eyes as the noon light caught them. He had one thumb hooked in his pocket and looked relaxed, comfortable.

  “Don’t stop on my account,” he said when I froze, forcing my butt to stop its victory dance. “I was enjoying the show.”

  Heat
crept onto my cheeks, but I ignored my obvious blush. How had I not realized he was still standing there? “I was just, uh… I thought I heard a squeak in my chair. I was trying to make it do it again so I could figure out where it was coming from.”

  “Sure.” His lips twisted into a knowing grin. “I’ll have someone from maintenance come check it out next week.”

  Waving off his concern, I felt the heat in my cheeks intensify. I was so busted. “That’s not necessary. It was probably my imagination. Besides, I’m the secretary. If maintenance needs to be called, I’ll deal with it.”

  “It’s no problem. Really.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started pulling up a number.

  “Did you need something, Jeremiah?” I asked, stopping him from making the call with a glare. “Or do you just like watching people in their private workspaces?”

  He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “It’s hardly private. My office is right there.”

  “Even so.” I leaned forward, crossing my arms on my desk. “Was there something I could do for you?”

  “Do you have any plans after work?” he asked, giving me a sheepish smile that made my heart flutter like a newborn butterfly trying out its wings. Definitely not a passing crush, damn it.

  Tiana and I planned on staying in again and doing laundry, but that hardly classified as plans. She would be thrilled if I told her we could do it tomorrow instead. “I don’t, why?”

  A brilliant smile lifted his lips. Straightening up, he met my gaze dead on. “You do now.”

  There was something in his eyes. Heat and… victory? “Why? What did you have in mind?”

  “You’ll see,” he said mysteriously and went back into his office, closing his door behind him. I stared at it, wondering if he was about to come back out and clear up his invitation. He didn’t.

  I looked down at my clothes. It was hard to know whether I was dressed for whatever he had in mind if I didn’t know where we were going. I was wearing the plain black dress again, from the promo work. Paired with silver jewelry and a pair of Tiana’s turquoise heels, it was pretty multi-functional. For normal people, that is, which Jeremiah was not.

  A billionaire’s Friday evenings probably didn’t consist of going to the local bar down the street or grabbing a bite to eat from the kind of restaurant I could go to dressed like this. Nerves tittered in my stomach.

  This was what you wanted, wasn’t it?

  It was. Just a couple of days ago I told Tiana how disappointed I was that Jeremiah hadn’t asked me to spend time with him outside of work again. Too bad I hadn’t dressed, or shopped, for success.

  I considered putting in a call to Tiana. We were totally different sizes, but I could pull off some of her stuff. At the very least, she would have a plan. Deciding to do it when I took my lunch, a little later today because of Jance hanging around, I got back to work.

  My feel-good playlist worked miracles on my mood. And knowing I was going to be spending the evening with Jeremiah didn’t hurt either, even if I might be doing it severely underdressed.

  Later in the day, a knock at my door had me taking out my earbuds. I paused, not sure if the knock was in the background of the song I was listening to or not. Then it came again.

  “Come in,” I called out.

  The doorknob twisted open to reveal a man carrying a large white box with a black ribbon tied around it. I’d only ever seen boxes like it being wrapped up in stores. The kind of stores I couldn’t afford to purchase anything at. The man glanced down at the clipboard he was carrying.

  “I’m looking for a Ms. Donavan?”

  “You found her,” I said, confused about why he was bringing a box like that to my office. “Stephanie Donavan?”

  It didn’t hurt to check. The man looked down again, then nodded. “I’ll need you to sign right here, please.”

  He walked into my office and set the box down on my desk before handing me the clipboard. He pulled a clicky pen from his pocket and offered that to me too. Still confused, I checked my name again when I signed his delivery receipt. It wasn’t a mistake though. My name was printed on the receipt in bold, black letters.

  “Thanks.” I handed back his pen and clipboard, then waited for him to leave before placing my hands on the side of the box and pulling it closer.

  The ribbon tied around the box was thick and heavy. Fancy with a paisley pattern on it. It was almost too pretty to open, but my curiosity quickly overcame any notions of trying to open the box without undoing the ribbon.

  I twined the ends around my fingers and pulled, letting it fall to my desk. My breath caught in my throat as I lifted the lid off the box, finding gray and white tissue paper nestled around royal blue fabric. Standing up, I lifted the fabric and nearly fainted when I realized it was a dress.

  Not just any kind of dress, but the kind of dress princesses went to fairytale balls in. In exactly the right size, a fact I tried very hard not to be embarrassed about. I was proud to have curves. I just didn’t really want to think about Jeremiah knowing what my size was.

  Because there was no doubt in my mind that that was who this dress was from. An embossed card from the store that fluttered down from the dress when I held it up against me confirmed as much.

  I wished there was a full-length mirror in my office, but I managed to get a good enough idea from the mirror mounted above the side table in the corner. The dress was going to look fantastic. Like a million dollars.

  It had a fitted top that would accentuate my waist while covering up the lumps and bumps that no woman wanted on display. Just holding it against me made me feel like royalty or one of those women in one of those books on my bookshelf. The women who were pampered by millionaire men who didn’t exist in the real world.

  Except this is the real world. I was in awe of the dress, and the realization that my real life now actually involved an insanely handsome man buying me expensive dresses. Proud of my independence, I never wanted to be a kept woman, but the dress made me feel spoiled, thought about. Any woman who said she didn’t like the man she was crushing on thinking about her enough to send her such a stunning gift in the right size and a color matching the flecks in her eyes was lying.

  Reaching behind me blindly, unable to tear my eyes from the dress in the reflection of the mirror, I tapped around my desk for my phone. When my fingers finally closed around its hard case, I snapped a picture and sent it to Tiana.

  After staring at my reflection for too long, I finally hung the dress carefully over the side of my couch. Walking back to my desk to collect the ribbon and the tissue paper to return it all to the box, I noticed another layer of tissue paper that had been hidden by the dress.

  My pulse kicked into gear. No way. There can’t be more.

  But there was more. My lower lip broke away from the top one when I pulled the next layer of tissue paper away. Underneath it was a protective insert and two more boxes.

  One was definitely a shoe box while the other was much smaller. Jewelry?

  Almost scared to see what was in the boxes, my hands trembled when I opened the shoe box first. This time, my lips didn’t only part. My mouth fell open.

  Inside the box was a pair of crystal-studded shoes, again in exactly the right size. How is that even possible?

  I slipped my heels off immediately and swapped them for these new ones. One by one, I held my feet up and rotated them, admiring the shoes from every angle. They fit snugly but weren’t too tight. Wow.

  Last but not least, the smaller white box stared at me from where it was nestled in more tissue paper. There was being spoiled—then there was this. This was incredible. So incredible I was getting a little afraid of touching all this stuff. Surely it couldn’t all be for me.

  The card from the store winked at me from my desk, reminding me that it was, in fact, all mine. All from the man next door. Jeez. It was too much.

  And I hadn’t even opened the last box yet. When I did, I gasped audibly. Sitting on top of a deep purple velvet
cushion was a pair of dangly diamond earrings. They were breathtaking, and way, way too expensive.

  They were the kind of earrings I saw celebrities wearing to award shows and in ads for the most exclusive shops in the city. Which begged the question, “Where on earth is he taking me?”

  Chapter 37

  JEREMIAH

  “Another shitty day done and dusted,” I murmured to myself, walking into the private bathroom in my office. The only upside to the day was Stephanie agreeing to come with me tonight. My father had been breathing down my neck all week, which was bad enough.

  But then he told me this morning one of our investors was a benefactor to some charity in the city. They were hosting a fundraising event tonight, and dear old dad took the liberty of confirming my attendance without bothering to tell me about it. Apparently, one of us had to be there, and he already had plans.

  The only reason I wasn’t trying to get out of it was because Stephanie said she’d come with me. A fact my father probably wouldn’t be happy about once he found out. But she was the only woman I wanted on my arm.

  Jack told me once, long before I owned more suits than I could count and actually wore them on a regular basis, to always keep at least one tuxedo on hand for last minute black tie events. At the time, I thought he was full of shit.

  But now, as I opened the slim closet tucked beside my cramped shower in the office and withdrew a tailored, laundered tuxedo from it, I was grateful for his advice. Sometimes it felt like he imparted all these tidbits to me knowing I would need them one day.

  Impossible, but I couldn’t totally shake the feeling that he’d known somehow. I shoved the thought back into the compartment it came from and took a quick shower, looking forward to seeing Stephanie in the dress I chose for her.

  It had been an easy choice once I had the personal shopper I used send me some options. As soon as I saw it, I was dying to see her in it. If the color in the picture held true, it should be the same color as the rims around her pupil and iris, the same as the diamond-like patterns the flecks between the rims formed.