Billionaires and Bad Boys: The Complete 7-Book Box Set

by Nikki Chase

  “Hey, this is serious, okay? It's creepy,” I say, taking a big bite of my ham sandwich.

  “It's the twenty-first century. Live with it,” she says. “Why were you shopping in the first place?”

  “That’s in the past.” I shrug. “What's important is right now. And right now I’m working. I’m looking for the tickets and hotel for the Seattle conference.”

  “Oh, for Cole and Steffi?”

  “Yup.”

  “Oh. They're not taking the private jet?” Lily sounds surprised. “Trouble in paradise.”

  I raise my eyebrows at Lily, widening my eyes.

  “Are you saying… Are they…” The question is right at the tip of my tongue, but for some reason, I can't quite spit the words out.

  “That's what I heard,” Lily says, lowering her voice and looking around the empty office. As she leans closer, her dark hair tumbles forward to partially cover her face. “You know how private Cole is. I'm his personal assistant and I don't know much about the guy.”

  “Uh-huh,” I say, urging her to continue. I put down my brown paper bag on the desk and pay attention.

  “Well, Brian from accounting told me that a bunch of people from the office went out for a drink one time,” Lily says in a low, conspiratorial tone. “And they saw Cole and Steffi going home together.”

  I gasp.

  “Right? Shocking.” She smiles, her eyes dancing with excitement. “They say those two are actually living together, but they’re just really secretive about it. They always arrive and leave separately.”

  My chest tightens at the thought of Cole and Steffi secretly ducking in and out of his car together, going home together. I think about how to respond to this news, but my own emotions surprise me. Why should I care who goes home with him?

  “Oh, speaking of the devil,” Lily says, glancing toward the elevator doors. I hear the familiar clicking and clacking of Steffi’s stilettos getting closer.

  Who wears stilettos to the office anyway?

  “Steffi,” I say.

  She keeps walking, her eyes looking straight ahead, her wavy brown hair swishing against her back.

  “Steffi,” I say louder.

  “Huh?” Steffi stops and scans the office with a confused expression on her face, like she can't comprehend why there would be people in the office during lunch. Well, sorry I don't have a rich boyfriend to take me out for expensive meals every day.

  “Oh, Emily,” Steffi says finally. She looks annoyed already. “What do you need?”

  Wow. Sorry for trying to help you.

  “I need your frequent flier number and some other details,” I say.

  Steffi continues to stare at me like I’ve barged into her living room in the middle of the night and she can't understand why.

  “You know, to book the flight? Seattle?” If that doesn't jog her memory, I don't know what will.

  “Right.” She continues her march and says, “Just email me,” before she disappears into her office.

  I look at Lily and roll my eyes. I open my notes on the computer, copy the list of personal details I need from Steffi, and paste it into my email composer.

  “Wow,” Lily says.

  “Yeah,” I say while I hit the Send button. “Welcome to my life. I'm doing her work and whatever work her nonexistent personal assistant is supposed to do.”

  “Wow,” she repeats.

  “You’ve already said that.”

  “Well.” Lily puts her fork down and leans back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest. “Now you know why.”

  “Why what?”

  “Why she's so mean to you, dummy. She's Cole’s girlfriend, you're...you, and she's jealous.”

  “Whoa, back up a little.” I raise both my hands, palms facing Lily. “What do you mean I’m me?”

  “You obviously have something going on with Cole,” Lily says, raising one eyebrow at me.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “He interviewed you personally. At first, I thought you were management, but you're not. So there must be something between the two of you. I know Cole doesn't do interviews for junior positions,” she says, drawing confident conclusions like she's Sherlock Holmes.

  “But you obviously didn't know he has a girlfriend before I told you,” she continues, rubbing her chin like she’s in deep thought. Suddenly, she gasps. “Did he lie to you and tell you he was single?”

  It's my turn now to narrow my eyes at her.

  “Seriously? Would Cole Foster’s mistress eat bagged lunch to save five bucks a day?”

  “You have a point there.” Lily purses her lips and nods.

  I sigh in exasperation.

  “So this whole time you’ve been thinking I’m Cole’s mistress and never thought to ask me?”

  “Well… Now that you put it that way, it sounds kinda bad,” she smiles sheepishly. “But, in my defense, if you were Cole’s mistress and you got offended when I asked, I could’ve ended up in deep doo-doo.”

  I laugh. Lily has to censor her language at home so sometimes she uses some ridiculous words.

  Lily may be the office gossip, but she's also kind, funny, and helpful. Maybe she's just bored out of her mind. With a young kid in the house, real life is probably the only kind of adult drama she gets to watch anymore.

  Or maybe I’m just fooled by those damn bangs and saucepan eyes that make her look all cute and innocent even though we're about the same age.

  “I’m not the only one who thinks there's something between you and Cole,” Lily says. “There are benefits, you know. Like, for example, Parker pesters all the single girls but you.”

  “Ugh.” I cringe as I think about the five different girls in the office Parker has awkwardly asked out over the past month alone.

  “I know. Trust me. He only leaves me alone because I made him believe Aiden’s Dad is still in the picture,” Lily says.

  “Last week, he asked Fiona out for drinks after work and she said no. Then he walked to the next table and asked Deandra! Unbelievable.”

  “Yup, that's Parker,” Lily says. “Your ring threw me off, though.”

  “My ring?”

  “The first few days you were working here, you were wearing something that looked like an engagement ring.”

  “Oh, that.”

  “Yeah. I thought Cole was leaving Steffi to marry you,” Lily says with a straight face.

  “Are you serious?” I laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

  “I am,” Lily says. Slowly she realizes how impossible her scenarios are and starts to laugh. Gasping between peals of laughter, she says, “I probably need a life.”

  “You probably do.”

  As people start streaming back into the office, Lily packs up her stuff.

  “He is nicer to you, though, for some reason. That's why I asked you to stay behind for me the other day and not someone else.” Lily winks and walks away toward her desk, not giving me a chance to protest.

  I have to say I’m relieved. I was getting worried she might ask questions about rings and engagements.

  I mean, I have plenty of questions myself. Like, does it count as being engaged if the paramedics found a diamond ring in the pocket of my boyfriend-slash-fiancé, but he didn't get a chance to actually pop the question?

  Either way, it's not something I want to share with the office gossip, no matter how nice she is or how much she makes me laugh.

  I crumple up my brown lunch bag and throw it into the trash. On the computer screen, Google Flights is still showing me the airfare options for Cole and Steffi’s trip to Seattle.

  One First Class ticket for Cole and one economy ticket for Steffi. Two deluxe suites at the hotel.

  If these two really turn out to be an item, they must have the strangest relationship dynamics ever. Or there may really be trouble in paradise, as Lily puts it.

  I wonder if there could be any truth to what Lily says. Could Cole possibly be treating me special? There was some flirtin
g last night, but he probably does that with many girls.

  And for all the fuss people make over the interview, it can probably be explained by my having Marco on my side. Marco has always been persuasive. He probably put in a really good word for me, so good the CEO himself wanted to meet me.

  I softly shake my head as I click around to see the details of the flights available. It’s crazy to suggest I’m involved with Cole in that way. Sure, he’s hot as hell, but I'd be nuts to even think about us being together in that way.

  Firstly, if I want to get ahead in my career, I need my boss to take me seriously.

  Secondly, yeah he's filthy rich, but so what? I make enough to support myself, and I take pride in that. I’m not going to sell my soul — and my body — just to be some guy’s arm candy and be dependent on his wealth for the rest of my life

  Thirdly, Cole Foster is like the most eligible bachelor in the whole city. He’s hot, successful, and charming when he wants to be — I’ve seen him work his magic on the most difficult business clients. I’m not ready to take on half the single girls in San Fransisco as my competition.

  Lastly, he probably has slept with half the single girls in San Fransisco. He keeps a lower profile these days, but the tabloids used to print pictures of him with a new girl hanging on his arm every week.

  I’m not interested in just getting laid. I want a real, deep, enduring connection with someone who really gets me. And I’m not going to find that in Cole Foster.

  I mean, what would we even have in common?

  He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and I've had to struggle my whole life.

  Sure, they say Cole has worked his ass off to make Foster Hotels the success that it is today.

  But with his wealthy family and powerful network behind him, how can it possibly fail? I've come across Foster Senior at the office a few times, probably providing priceless business advice to his son.

  And how much of a workaholic can he be if he goes home before I do most nights?

  Wait. Where was I?

  Right. Cole Foster. Rich spoiled brat. Not going to happen.

  I open my email window and sigh when I still don't see Steffi's reply to my message.

  Is it really so hard to quickly type out her information in an email? This is not part of my job description, so it’s bad enough she’s making me do this. Now she's deliberately turning it into a difficult task.

  It's probably going to be faster if I just try asking her in person again.

  I scribble the flight times available on a piece of paper and take it to Steffi's office.

  I knock on her door. There's no response.

  "Steffi," I say, knocking harder.

  When I only hear silence from inside, I grab the door handle and slowly open it.

  She's not here. Strange. I didn't see her leave the office, but then I was busy daydreaming about her hot alleged boyfriend.

  There's a plain envelope on the desk. There's no writing on it, but the bulk suggests that it contains something.

  I wonder if Steffi's personal details are in that envelope. Maybe she’s already written down all the information I need and left it on her desk for me to find. Perhaps Steffi is not the monster I've built her up to be in my head.

  I pick up the envelope and find a folded piece of paper inside. As I read it, my hands grow shaky. It becomes harder and harder for me to read the letters.

  This doesn't make any sense. I was wrong. Steffi is worse than the monster I've built her up to be in my head.

  Emily

  “Lily, Cole’s in his office, right?”

  “Yes, but—“

  Before she can finish, my knuckles are already rapping on the big solid wooden door. My whole body is shaking.

  “What are you doing?” Lily stands up and leaves her desk to approach me. “He’s busy.”

  “I don’t care how busy he is. He’s going to want to hear this,” I say without even turning my head to look at her. I raise my hand up and knock again, a little louder this time.

  “Are you crazy?” Lowering her volume to a loud whisper, she says, “Foster Senior is in there!”

  As if my heart weren’t already beating hard enough. Sometimes Cole’s father comes into the office and they spend some time alone. Nobody ever dares to interrupt them because if people are scared of Cole, they’re terrified of his father.

  Well, it’s probably too late to back down now anyway.

  Just when I’m about to knock again, the door cracks open a few inches. The part of Cole’s annoyed face that I can see through the gap tells me this is indeed a bad time. And with my hand still frozen in the air obviously about to knock again, I’m pretty much caught in the act.

  “Can’t this wait?” His thick eyebrows furrow, telling me I’m not wanted.

  “You’ll want to see this,” I say, offering him the piece of paper I found inside the unmarked envelope on Steffi’s desk.

  He grabs the letter impatiently, glancing behind his back before he unfolds it. All I can see of his father is his back and his full head of silver hair.

  “Fuck,” Cole curses. Then he looks behind him again. Is he…is he worried about cursing in front of his father? Because that would be adorable.

  “Alright,” the older man says as he gets up from his chair. “What’s happening here?”

  The closer he gets, the faster my heart beats. Despite his age, he’s an intimidating man. He looks like the kind of person who has seen and done a lot of things in his life, and not all of them are good things.

  I know now why Lily panicked over me interfering with their precious father-son bonding time. Even the tough guys in the ghetto would think twice before messing with Foster Senior.

  “It’s nothing,” Cole says.

  “Let me see.” Mr. Foster takes the letter from Cole’s hands.

  “Our marketing manager just quit,” Cole says while the three of us stand around by the door, which Mr. Foster has swung wide open.

  “So hire another one,” Mr. Foster says.

  “It’s not that simple,” Cole says. “She was supposed to deliver the presentation at the conference in Seattle next week.”

  Cole suddenly glares at me. He places a hand on the door and pushes it like he’s about to shut me out.

  “Let’s talk inside,” Mr. Foster says, walking back toward the desk. “And have the girl come in as well. I want to hear what she has to say.”

  Cole seems irritated, but he lets me in anyway. Is he angry at me? Could he actually be blaming me for Steffi’s resignation?

  Maybe the rumors are true. Perhaps they’re dating and they’re having problems because of me.

  Really? Cole Foster sabotages his own relationship for me?

  One can dream, of course. But there are limits to how seriously one takes that dream if one doesn’t want to be labeled completely batshit crazy.

  “Thank you, Mr. Foster,” I say.

  “Sit down,” he says, gesturing at the empty chair beside him. “And tell me what happened.”

  “Uh, there’s not much to tell, really,” I say a little too quickly. Have I mentioned I may be nervous? “I found the resignation letter on her desk when I went into her office for something else.”

  “Something else?”

  “I was about to book the flight tickets for the trip to Seattle and I needed her details.”

  “Book the flight tickets?” Mr. Foster raises his eyebrows. They’re just as thick as Coles’ are, except they’re white. He looks across the desk at Cole, who is now sitting down in his leather chair. “You’re not taking the private jet?”

  “Just trying to improve the bottom line,” Cole says. He seems calm on the surface, but the way his fingers lightly tap on the desk betrays his restlessness.

  “There’s no need for this to be a big problem,” Mr. Foster says. “Can’t you do the presentation yourself?”

  “I haven’t prepared anything. I don’t even know what she was planning to speak about,” Co
le says.

  “Um, I do.” As soon as the words come out of my mouth, both men fix their dark eyes at me, urging me to continue. I look at Cole and say, “Remember when I was staying behind to work on something?”

  “Yes,” Cole says. He purses his lips, looking unhappy.

  “Well, I was working on the presentation.”

  “How much of it did you work on?” Mr. Foster looks at me intensely.

  “I did the research and I put together the slides,” I say. “The only thing left to do is the actual presentation script.”

  “That’s solved, then,” Mr. Foster clasps his hands together, as if concluding the conversation. “You can go to Seattle with Cole and I’m sure the two of you can come up with something.”

  “Me?” I ask incredulously. “I’m just a junior marketer, Mr. Foster.”

  “Who cares? You were the one who prepared the presentation, weren’t you?”

  “Yes,” I say.

  “Then you probably even know it better than the manager who resigned.” He has a way of talking that makes it feel more like he’s issuing orders rather than having a conversation, even though he’s perfectly polite about it.

  I turn toward Cole. He’s still silently tapping his desk. What is he thinking about?

  I didn’t expect this turn of events at all. I personally would love to go to Seattle and play a part in this presentation. It’s a big opportunity that can lead to bigger and better things for my career.

  But in the end, it’s Cole’s decision, him being my boss and all. I have a feeling Mr. Foster is the one who actually calls the shots here, though.

  “That’s settled, then,” Mr. Foster says. “Why don’t you go and book the tickets for the two of you, Miss…?”

  “Webb. Emily Webb.”

  “Right. Miss Webb.” Mr. Foster’s eyes dart toward Cole and I think I see a hint of anger or at least irritation in his eyes, but he quickly regains his composure. “Perhaps you can make arrangements for the trip now.”

  Something has changed. Mr. Foster is not a friendly man, not by any stretch of the imagination. But he has impeccable manners that can make him seem almost warm. Now, though, it feels like the temperature has dropped by twenty degrees.