The Billionaire's Package (Thirsty Thursday Book 1)

by Autumn, Kyle

  Starting with our first date tonight.

  Chapter 14

  Shiree

  When my doorbell rings, I rush over to answer it. Then I take a breather to slow my rapidly beating heart and calm myself down before I open the door. When I do, Chaz is on the other side, holding a bouquet of flowers he clearly picked from a garden or someone’s yard…

  “Please tell me you didn’t steal those from someone’s yard,” I warn, extending a hand out in a come-inside gesture.

  He steps over the threshold and holds the flowers out. “These flowers grow in a garden on the side of my house.”

  “You mean your mansion.”

  But he ignores my comment. “I picked them for you. You aren’t the type of woman who wants what can be bought.”

  His thoughtfulness touches my heart. Though I calmed it a little before I let him in, it’s racing again. Because he’s right. He knows that about me and actually did something about it. He seems to be trying, and I appreciate that. So I smile and thank him before taking them into the kitchen so I can put them in a vase.

  “Your dress is lovely,” he tells me as I put water in the glass vase. “You look incredible.” He comes up behind me, brushes my curls over one shoulder, places his hands on my hips, and kisses the bare skin of my neck.

  I roll my head to the side so he has more access, but then I moan. “You may want to stop or we’ll never go to dinner.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” he asks playfully between kisses on my shoulder.

  I shut the water off and scoot out of his reach. “We should probably go on at least one date to get to know each other better if we’re really going to pull this off on Friday,” I say, smiling.

  He grunts his disapproval, but it’s all in good fun. “Hey. You promise you’ll be there on Friday, right? I have a lot riding on your being there, so I want to make sure.”

  His question reminds me of what Lyra had to say this afternoon. Am I just being used? I can believe him when he says that this is real, right? Now that he’s here, asking me to promise to be there, I almost feel like I can’t be sure. But last night was so amazing. He couldn’t be playing me that well. Right?

  I take a deep breath and decide to go with it. It’s only two more days. If it really doesn’t work out, then I’ll get over it. Because let’s get real here. How far can a person possibly fall in a week?

  When I look up at him, I realize just how far. All the way.

  Fuck, I’m so screwed.

  No, no, no. I believe him. I have more reasons to believe him than I have reasons not to believe him. I think. Arg! I’m so confused. I thought I had a handle on all of this, but I guess I don’t. It’s too late now though. I put the vase of flowers on the kitchen table and decide to let this date speak for itself. A person can only keep an act up for so long before true colors bleed through. And I know what my true colors are, so I’m not afraid of being honest.

  “I agreed to do it, so I’ll be there. I don’t break my word,” I tell him.

  He smiles, and it lights the room up. I hope to see more of his smiles. As long as they’re genuine.

  “Wonderful,” he replies. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me. I’ll owe you big time.”

  I wave a dismissive hand as if this isn’t the exact thing Lyra mentioned earlier. I told her that we were a quid pro quo couple. But I’m not going to go so far as to ask him if he’d marry me just to see what he’d say. Not because I don’t want to know the answer, either. We’ve been an official couple for less than twenty-four hours. There’s no need to speed through this.

  “Good,” I say. “I’m sure I can think of a few things you can do for me.”

  “A few?” he teasingly asks, slipping his hands around my middle.

  “Of course a few.” I snake my arms around his neck and grin at him. “You’re not asking to borrow a pen. You’re asking me to pretend in front of a lot of people to want to marry you.”

  His own grin slides right off his lips, and his eyes narrow at me. “Pretend to want to marry me?”

  I open my mouth to speak but close it right up. Then I try again. “Okay, that came out wrong.”

  But he’s already retreating. So I reach out to him and pull him back to me.

  “Seriously,” I say, staring him in the eyes—eyes that look genuinely hurt by my words. “It’s not pretend. I just meant that, before we decided to give this a real go, you asked me to say we are engaged and go to a party for it. I’m not saying that it’s pretend now.” Then I think about what I said. “Well, I guess I did, but that’s not what I meant. And I’ll gladly be there on your arm.”

  His smile returns, but it’s small.

  So I joke with him. “And I’ll gladly accept a few favors in return.” Then I wink.

  “Well,” he says, stepping out of my hold and offering me his arm, “we can start with a date. How about that?”

  “That’s not exactly a hardship,” I reply, grinning and taking his proffered arm by looping mine through it. I grab my purse on the way to the door.

  He holds the door open for me. “That isn’t the tune you were singing a week ago.”

  In the middle of the doorway, with a hopeful tone, I say, “People change, don’t they?”

  He smirks with only one side of his mouth before kissing mine. “That they do.”

  ***

  Chaz

  I’m nervous as we pull up to a dive of a restaurant outside of town. While I didn’t want to take her to an expensive restaurant that wouldn’t be in her taste, I also don’t want her to think I don’t want to be seen with her. My intention is to keep her comfortable. And I thought this place would achieve that. Hopefully, I’m right.

  “I’ve never been here before,” she says, gazing out her window as I put her car in park. “Have you?” Then she looks over at me. “That was probably a stupid question.”

  “No question is stupid,” I tell her. “But no, I haven’t. I thought you’d like a more low-key place than somewhere you’d expect me to take a date.”

  Her smile brightens the car. “That was very thoughtful. A far cry from the demanding caveman you were when we first met.”

  “Like I said, people can change,” I say through a smirk.

  She hesitates for a moment. “Wanna know a secret?” she asks, her lids partially lowered.

  I nod once. “I always want to know your secrets.”

  With her hand on the door handle, she says, “I kinda like the demanding caveman.” Then she gets out of the car, leaving me a little shocked and a lot pleased.

  “Does that mean I should order dinner for you?” I ask over the top of the car.

  She peeks at me over her shoulder, and she winks. “Try me and find out.”

  ~~~

  When I finish giving the waiter our orders, Shiree gazes at me, a brilliance shining in her eyes. Her lips are turned up in a naughty grin, and I can’t wait to get those lips around my cock later. In fact, I wonder if she’d be turned on if I demanded that when we get back to her place. Hmm…

  “You must be thinking about something good,” she says, which bursts the blowjob thought bubble.

  “Indeed.” I give her a small smirk and reach across the table for her hand. Once she takes it, I loosely link our finger and say, “Tell me something I don’t know about you.” No hint of a question in my tone.

  She shrugs, still smiling. “That could be just about anything, really.”

  “That’s the point. We have a lot of learning to do.”

  She tilts her head, her smile faltering a little. “What if you don’t like what you learn though?”

  “Impossible.” I shake my head and squeeze her fingers.

  Her head shakes back at me. “I don’t think so.”

  “Try me and find out,” I say, throwing her words back at her.

  After a deep breath, she says, “Okay, then. I don’t talk to my family, which is why they aren’t invited to the party on Friday,” without looking at me. The
n she tucks some of her curls behind her ear with her free hand and peeks at me.

  I tip my head down in a half nod. “And my family’s dead, so they won’t be there, either.”

  We don’t exchange apologies or “what happened” questions. We accept it and move on.

  “I like country music,” she admits.

  I laugh slightly. “I can work with that.”

  “Good,” she says. “Your turn.”

  It takes me a moment to think of something. But then I go all in. “I love my company and the business I’ve built from the ground up, but I’m ready to settle down.”

  “Really,” she deadpans. “I never would have pegged you as a family man the first time we met.”

  “Well,” I start, almost unsure if I should go here or not. I do though, holding her stare the entire time. “I wasn’t ready until I met you.”

  A slow smile spreads across her face, reaching her twinkling eyes. Then she squeezes my fingers before her smile fades away. “I’ve been ready for a long time,” she tells me, a seriousness to her tone. Looking away, she continues. “My life may be simple and inexpensive compared to yours, but the only thing missing is a partnership. One full of love and passion. Understanding and teamwork. I don’t need money, vacations, or jewelry. I need connection.” Now, she finds my gaze. “Know what I mean?”

  With my eyes trained on her, I firmly tell her, “One hundred percent.” I tighten my grip on her hand in mine and nod.

  Our food shows up, and the waiter sets it in front of us.

  “Can I get you anything else?” he asks.

  We both shake our heads and thank him before he leaves, which makes us smile at each other. But then, as she digs into her food, I pick my knife and my fork up and bring some seriousness to the table.

  “I do,” I say as she’s about to take a bite of her meal.

  Her food freezes near her lips, and she closes her mouth, taking my words in. She puts her food back down on her plate, staring at me.

  “And no,” I continue, lifting my own mouth in a half smirk. “That won’t be the last time you hear those words.” Then I cut into my food and let what I said settle over her.

  If her smile is anything to go by, I should keep some of my caveman side and carry her fireman-style to the nearest courthouse. She deserves more but desires less, and I think I can come around to that. Which is exactly what I’ll do for this woman.

  Whatever she wants, she’ll get. Even if it’s not me.

  And that’s how I know I already love her.

  Chapter 15

  Chaz

  If I could put into words how well dinner went last night, I would. But I can’t. It was just that amazing. She is just that amazing. We have way more in common than I thought, even though we seem so different. But I didn’t tell her what I realized last night. And I even dropped her off at home and only gave her a goodnight kiss. Sure, my dick was pissed as it throbbed all the way home, but there will be plenty of time for that. Shiree deserves to be treated better than that. One night won’t kill me.

  And it didn’t. I’m alive. At work. And ready to blow. I didn’t realize how often I was taking women home, how addicted I was to losing myself inside whichever woman was willing to give me that escape. But I simply adjust myself and remind myself that Shiree’s worth it. She was honest with me and told me what she wants. And I want to be the man to give it to her. Because thinking about any other man giving her what I can makes my blood boil. She’s mine and that’s all there is to it.

  She’s going out with her girls tonight, she said. Every Thursday is “Thirsty Thursday,” and she has a standing date with her friends Lyra, Patti, and Zo at the bar. My hands curl into fists when I think about other men looking at her, but I trust my woman. She’s fiercely loyal, so I don’t think I have anything to worry about. But I’ll worry anyway. I know how men think, and they’re not to be trusted.

  I’ll be taking a lot of deep breaths tonight. Blake might have to keep me in check. In fact, I decide to ask him to do that for me just in case. I knock on his office door before I walk right in.

  “That’s fine. I’ll let him know,” Blake says into his phone. Then he puts it down. “Chaz,” he says to me. “I was just about to come find you. I was hoping to catch you before you left.” He walks around his desk and gestures to a chair.

  I take a seat. “Who was that on the phone?”

  He sits on the edge of his desk. “That was Simon. The board just wanted to confirm that you’re ready for tomorrow.”

  With an elbow on the chair, I put my head in the palm of my hand. “First of all,” I say, slouching back in my seat, “they already sent out the invitations and plenty of people are on the RSVP list. I’m not going to lose my company over something so stupid. Of course I’m ready.”

  “I know that,” he says, folding his arms over his chest. “Second of all?”

  “Second of all, why are they calling you?” I ask. “Why aren’t they calling and asking me? I’m still the CEO.”

  “I know that too,” he confirms, holding himself up with his palms over the edge of his desk. “But they want to speak with me until all of this blows over and you prove you’re a changed man.”

  I shake my head. “I shouldn’t have to do that.”

  “But you made the company public, so this kind of thing is a concern to the board members. I know that you understand, but I know that that doesn’t make it any easier.”

  Sitting up straighter, I say, “You know what does make it easier?”

  “That stupid grin on your face gives away what you’re about to say,” he answers, getting back up and sitting behind his desk.

  “We went out on a real date last night. I kissed her goodnight at her door and everything.”

  “I didn’t ask for details,” he clarifies, smoothing his tie down.

  “I won’t give you any more than that.” I shift to the other side of the chair. “But she makes this easier, man. I actually want to be the man they want me to be. Can you believe that?” I raise my eyebrows and look at him earnestly.

  He’s still for a moment, watching me closely. He’s been there for me through everything the board accurately accused me of. He’s seen the revolving door of blondes, brunettes, redheads, and raven-haired beauties I’ve scored with. Heard about the late nights, the early mornings, and the afternoon quickies. And he knows everything there is to know about my time with Shannon. So I can understand why he might not believe me. That doesn’t mean it’s not true though.

  “And,” I say slowly, really stressing the word, “she secretly likes when I go all caveman on her.”

  That breaks his silence. “Did she explicitly tell you that, or are you reading into the situation more than you should?”

  “She told me at dinner last night.”

  “And you don’t think she’s telling you what you want to hear so she can get to your money?” he questions. Which makes me want to punch him in the face.

  I don’t do that, but I do stand up, anger running through my veins. “Fuck no. She’s not like that. Not at all. And, if you knew her, you’d know that.”

  He puts his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m sure you know what you’re doing. But you need to keep your eye on the prize here. That’s your company, not the girl. You have one more day—that’s it. Just one more day. So don’t screw it up by going too far with her right now, okay?”

  “You’re right. I know what I’m doing,” I tell him firmly. “I built this company from nothing. Of course I know what I’m doing.”

  “Of course,” he repeats. Then he sits back in his chair. “I’m just not sure you want to do it anymore.”

  I flex my fingers so they don’t curl into fists. Blake is my friend, my right-hand man. I don’t know why he’s questioning me and what I want, and I won’t admit right now that it’s something I should think about because I’m too angry. That he’s right that I’m focusing more on my woman and not focusing at all on my job. But they wa
nted me to find a woman, and I have. I did what they asked of me. Which is apparently not enough. So I leave his office before I explode.

  Though I’ve spent only a few days with her, I already know how deep my feelings for her go. And they’re only going to get more intense the more I get to know her. When you know, you know. And I know she’s incredible. A once-in-a-lifetime find I’d be a fool to pass up. It doesn’t matter that we come from two different worlds. What happens when we come together is nothing less than magical. And that—love and passion, understanding and teamwork, a partnership—is way more important than a job.

  Is that really how I feel? Or am I just upset with Blake’s words? Yes, I’ve done what I set out to accomplish. I wanted to build a successful company, and most would call a Fortune 500 tech company successful. And I got everything that comes with that: money, fame, and women. I never wanted the fame, so that can go. And the money will last if I’m smart, which I am. Though, with Shiree on my arm, I don’t need what it can buy. Or the women. I only need one now, and she wants me. It’d be beyond moronic to let that go for a job I don’t need. Not when she can more than fill that void and provide me with a happiness that I never knew existed.

  With that on my mind, I go back to my office and look around. Could I give this up? Absolutely. Do I want to? The answer is that I don’t have to. Shiree isn’t asking me to, so why should I have to choose? I shouldn’t. But it isn’t lost on me that the board’s request for me to appear more like a family man is what led me to her. Yet the board exists because I built this company. The choices I’ve made steered me down this path, and it’s been a successful one. So I don’t owe anyone anything.

  Too many questions are swirling around in my head. Too many thoughts are fighting for dominance. So I shut my door and stare at the tangible signs of my success. The plaques on the wall. The expensive furniture and decorations. All the “things” I’ve collected throughout the years.