Possess Me: A Billionaire Romance (Intensity Book 1)

by TN King

  “Thanks to you? Yes,” Ellie assured, grinning affably up at him and trying to seem like her world wasn’t circling the drain as they spoke. He had a meeting, and for her part, she didn’t want to fall into a hopeless mess of tears in front of him after everything else. “I’m just going to start my vacation a little early… maybe have a Pina colada to offset the nerves and kick it off,” she joked, forcing the brightness to stay on her face. She didn’t need to worry him and he needed to leave, it was like a mantra running through her head as she forced a larger grin.

  The reality was going to be her crying over whatever the change in her pocket could afford her a bus ride home for the evening.

  Morgan seemed to buy it though, flashing that perfect set of white teeth back at her in a grin. “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”

  She almost choked on the laughter that she held back, there wasn’t even the opportunity for him to come back to the diner to seek her out, it would be out of commission for who knew how long. And as he had already made very clear, they ran in very different societal circles. She ran a better chance of seeing him on a magazine cover than running into him again. But he had places to be and she didn’t need to worry him. So she sucked in a breath and played along. “Yeah. Absolutely.”

  He stood for another moment, lingering in place and staring at her,

  A she stared right back at him. As she’d just made note of they were unlikely to ever see one another again and she felt, because of that, slightly bolder. He took one step back, lifting his hand in a wave, and then turned, walking off towards what she could only assume was his car. Again, she didn’t have any sort of knowledge to know for sure but it looked like some fancy, latest model sports car, as expensive and flashy as the suit that he wore. What struck her most though was the bright grey paint job that matched his eye coloring.

  Ellie forced that bright smile to stay in place, waving him off as he pulled carefully out of the now crowded parking lot. As hard as she tried to squash it, she couldn’t help wishing he would turn back around and take her up in his arms again. It was irrational and silly but it had been the safest she had felt in a very long time. With the diner looming behind her security seemed like something she was about to lose even more of. The car sped further and further away as it hit the highway, her hand lifting to shield her eyes against the sunlight as it became a mere speck on the horizon.

  Finally, after even that speck disappeared Ellie was forced to acknowledge that her angel-savior had disappeared. With a sigh, she turned back to face the soggy, burnt diner, looking over the damages and still trying to fight the overwhelming despair. “Now what?” She sighed. Was she supposed to just stand here? Should she be trying some sort of clean up? Filing some sort of loss report? Calling her boss? There was no protocol that taught you how to act after being the victim of a workplace fire. Even the pamphlet still in her back pocket was going to be self-care for medical after-treatment, not the basic day to day what to do now.

  Her body slipped aside as the side of her shoe bumping idly against something and nervously, she peered down to see what it was. She’d been expecting something from the wreckage, some heart wrenching item that would remind her how the diner had looked earlier this morning. She hadn’t been expecting some shiny, slightly ash covered phone nestled in a crack of the parking lot. She bent down, retrieving it then turning it over in her palm confusedly. It definitely wasn’t her phone. Her phone was an old, outdated, slide phone still nestled in her jeans pocket. It was, in fact, much more expensive than she could ever afford.

  Oh, my god, I bet this is his phone.

  Slowly, she moved her thumb to the side, turning the phone’s screen on and staring at the intricate slide-lock pattern screen. Of course, it wouldn’t be so easy to determine if it was his… Really, she should have just found the nearest officer that was there for the fire and turned it in. Told them that it could have possibly belonged to Morgan Hunt, she knew his full name and everything… but instead, she was fiddling with it, trying a couple of different patterns and getting that last try message in red lettering at the top of the phone screen. No way would just sliding her thumb all the way across the phone screen, would have worked…

  Yet only seconds after the screen shifted, a Hunt Group logo flashing brightly in the background. Which meant that her hunch had been correct, this was indeed Morgan Hunt’s phone. Again, the niggling thought to turn it in and focus more on what she needed to be doing occurred. However, there was also the thought of returning it herself. Which would take time out of her day, require hunting him down, and mean that she would be seeing him again. Only one of those was very appealing, but it also meant that maybe it would provide a welcome distraction from the hell her life was about to delve into.

  All of those commercials on the TV in the diner were always advertising self care and this had to count as that right? It was trivial, something she didn’t actually need in her life, but it was going to provide entertainment and distraction. The worst that could happen would be her showing up to only get to see him for another five or ten minutes and then going on with her life, but even that would be the most excitement that she had in years….

  Morgan

  Morgan spent far too much of his drive on the way to the Lacroix Restaurant thinking about the fire he had just encountered, and even more about the beautiful girl he’d pulled out of it. He had never expected to see a living person running into a burning building, but he couldn’t exactly fault her for her reasoning, he’d been genuine in telling her he could sympathize. He knew, even handing his keys over the valet as he got out of the vehicle, that he was running a few minutes late for his meeting. It’d been worth it, and he was more than sure his charisma to put his clients at ease would save this meeting even still. He didn’t, despite his desire to have the time to be considering Ellie White with her eccentric quirks and attractive features. He had business to conduct.

  Which was the exact frame of mind he set himself in as he followed the maître d’ to the table that the Yamato group was already sitting at, perusing their menus and speaking amongst themselves. He further collected himself and approached the table, stopping just short of his Japanese clients and bowing before them as they glanced his way. “Yamato-san,” he greeted politely, slowly rising as the two serious looking men in black suits stood themselves.

  The both of them bowed in return, standing now at the edge of the table just as Morgan himself was. It had been something of a culture shock when his father had delivered him to his first international clients, undergoing all of the etiquette classes that he had. He had always been sure to never cross those lines into offensive territory and was fighting doing so now by remaining standing.

  “Ah, Hunt-san,” Mr. Yamato greeted easily, his face held carefully neutral, but his near-black irises sparking. “I was just telling Hitori-san about the American issue with time. You do not seem to have regard for it.” His words seemed affable enough, the forced laugh at the end of his sentence clearly meant to paint them as a joke of sorts, but his facial features seemed to hint otherwise. He was, understandably, not very happy with Morgan’s tardiness.

  Ouch. Morgan winced internally, careful to keep his own features even as well. He had known, even before coming inside that this would prove to be an issue. He was just confident in his own abilities to make it less of one. “Yes, we can lose track of time sometimes. However, I think it should be international protocol to stop and help when we see a burning building. My apologies for being late, gentlemen, but I had to go into a burning building to save a young lady.” He shrugged, gesturing in front of him for the two men to take their seats, which they did while eying him speculatively.

  A beautiful young lady who’s phone number I should have gotten. Too little, too late it occurred to him that he had gotten no more than her name, internalizing such thought processing as he dusted some left-over soot from his suit jacket off of himself before sitting as well. Both Mr. Yamato and his partner’s ey
es followed the soot trail to the ground and then glanced back up once more, questions clear on their features but their own societal rules keeping them from asking any further than Morgan had offered.

  He couldn’t believe he had been dense enough to not have gotten Ellie’s number, but then he hadn’t been nearly as clear of mind as he should have been. Despite his much shorter stint inhaling that smoke he had to fight coughing more than once on the way to this very meeting. Uncomfortable silence stretched for a few moments, Morgan allowing them to stew in their guilt just long enough to ensure that he would be forgiven for his late arrival.

  “Ah. Well, perhaps we should start the meeting,” Mr. Hitori said after clearing his throat, obviously trying to move past their brief blunder in decorum.

  “Of course.” Morgan agreed, settling himself more firmly in his chair and grinning charmingly over at the both of them. It was business after all, their blunder or his, neither one of them were going to be willing to pass the deal that they had been working on for the past few months.

  Morgan, for his own part, was great at closing the deal. He was, in fact, great at everything concerning the deals. He was great at negotiating the opening of one, at walking a client through the deal, schmoozing, etc. He was just best at closing them. He smiled easily as Yamato and his partner spoke, his thoughts on Ellie. Yes, that would be a lucrative deal indeed. Her eyes and that smile? They’d been striking, even covered in ash and debris as she had been. She was the kind of deal that one took their time closing, and he was sure to enjoy all of the time it took to close it.

  Only now, the deal that he needed to be focusing on sat across the table from him, and while he wasn’t going to say that Yamato and Hiatori were unattractive, they weren’t his type. They were just who he needed to sell the closing of the deal to. Not that he was terribly worried about it, he knew that he would do so. He had once convinced a subsection of Homeland Security that they would be toast without his cyber-security. Wherein, they signed up with a ten year contract. He could sell ice to Eskimos, given the chance. He hadn’t risen in ranks within the company by being wishy-washy, nor had he done so off of his surname alone, that was for sure.

  He forcefully put his thoughts of Ellie and all of the things that he wanted to do to her out of his mind so that he could treat his two Japanese clients to a taste of American hospitality at one of the finest five star restaurants in all of Philadelphia. His knowledge of firewalls and cyber security impressed Yamato and his partner, especially once he started informing them of the advantages that came with signing with Hunt Group through him specifically. He more than knew his craft, something that came in handy throughout all of the meal. And when it came time to seal the deal, Morgan dazzled them with an unbeatable price. All that was left was for him to forward them the contract, so they could electronically sign it. Something that, very obviously, they were actually looking forward to.

  His hand dropped to his side, fingers fishing in his jacket pocket for his phone, and switching to the other side when they came up empty. When that left-side yielded the same fruit, which was to say none, he realized his phone wasn’t on him. His brows lowered, lips thinning in a scowl of displeasure.

  “Is something wrong, Mr. Hunt?” Yamato asked, looking to his partner concernedly.

  This wasn’t what he needed, Morgan needed to close the deal, and concerning the two partners was the opposite of doing so smoothly. Morgan switched to checking the pockets of his trousers on the off chance, despite never doing so before, that he had stored it there instead. It was a last-ditch hope just in case. One that, like the others, turned up with nothing. “I seem to have left my phone somewhere,” he finally explained, being sure to lace some note of apology into his words.

  He immediately retraced his steps in his mind, trying to deduce where he could have left it. He hadn’t had it in his hand since … Oh, fucking hell. He nearly scowled again, his irritation rising. He hadn’t had it in his hand since he had pulled into the diner’s parking lot, getting out of his car and staring after the woman he had seen rushing back into the fire even as he dialed emergency services to report it. Which meant that his phone had probably fallen out of his pocket, where he had returned it before dashing in after Ellie when she didn’t return after a moment, when he had been inside of the building either trying to navigate the wreckage or when he had bent to pick her up off of the ground.

  The likelihood of it surviving the fire itself was slim to none. Even if it had, the firemen had doused the entire building with what had to be close to two tons of water from their tanks, which meant that it would have received the same treatment… if not both disasters. Fuck! That phone had all of his most important contacts, business documents, and notes. Not to mention the encrypted information that he stored within it. It was more than just a phone, it was more valuable to him than his actual assistant. The realization was devastating. Not that he could allow it to interfere with the deal that he was closing, it only meant that he had to work just that much harder at charming the pair in front of him, and stemming his frustration until after he had left.

  “No worries, gentlemen. I’ll just have my secretary forward you the contract. We’ll be in business at the close of business today,” he promised, extending his hand to the both of them with a winning smile.

  Yamato and Hitori could do little else but smile back and shake his hand—which was huge in comparison. Their assurances of understanding were also starkly different from their reception to his lateness, but he liked to think that was because of how he had won them over during dinner. He knew that he could close it, he just needed the opportunity to be given to allow him to do so.

  Morgan walked Yamato and Hitori out of the restaurant and to the limousine his company had provided them, bowed deeply to them both and said goodbye. Between the promising dinner and the extra incentives that they would be receiving both in the limousine on the way to the hotel, and at the hotel itself, he was confident that they were going to be more than ready to electronically sign the paperwork that they needed.

  He waved the limo off only so long as he felt that the other two men might be paying attention before signaling for his own vehicle- waving at the valet and waiting impatiently by the curb. He needed to get back to the site of the fire and find his phone. As much as he had been reassuring Yamato and his business partner, it wasn’t something that he could easily afford to lose. The loss of his phone was going to cost him more than just monetary value. Replacing it, honestly, was going to be the easiest out of all of it. It was replacing what the phone contained that would be the biggest dilemma.

  A dilemma that his mind was far too focused on throughout the whole drive from the restaurant to what used to be a diner. He barely remembered getting the car from the valet, much less the actual drive, a series of turns and GPS navigation that he was only half-assed listening to. It was a miracle that he had made it as far as he actually had. Pulling off onto the gravel of the diner’s parking lot was almost surreal, the smoke still hanging in the sky about the place like an ominous cloud. The crowd of people that had filled the space earlier was long dispersed, all of the emergency vehicles as well. The diner looked sad and abandoned, nestled out in the middle of nowhere like it was, a burnt remnant of the building that it had been before.

  Why didn’t he back it up? Being in the line of work he was in, not backing it up was the kind of oversight that only a rookie made, and he was far from a rookie. He could hear his father now, stern disapproval and glittering eyes watching his every move with judgement along with it. This was just the sort of thing that he got on his own underlings about, just the sort of mistake that could set him back weeks, if not months, in his work schedule.

  He was startled to realize that he had half expecting Ellie to have still been at the site, no matter the hours that had lapsed between him leaving her there and coming back. Idiot! It really didn’t even make sense, and he had so many more pressing things to be considering… only the thought of her f
ace lifted up to him covered in ash, her teeth flashing out from behind a stifled grin, was more where his attention wanted to be focused. He could find her again, he did know her name, it would just take a bit of work. Work that he couldn’t do from the destroyed remnants of the diner parking lot anyway. Which meant that he really ought to be focusing on that phone.

  The diner was sealed off with yellow tape all about the perimeter of it, posted warnings on what was left of the mortar and brick. Not that it stopped him, long legs picking over the tape easily and his eyes scouring the path that he was sure he had taken earlier for any sign of his phone. He was desperate, looking for anything even resembling technology of any kind, but nothing littered that path at all even similar.

  I’ll just have to get another one.

  The thought wasn’t comforting, if anything it was even more frustrating. Buying the new phone wasn’t the biggest problem, again, it would be the information on it, and he couldn’t help but get stuck on that. He didn’t even know how to begin explaining to his team that they were going to have to recover files from the past few months, and make new ones where they had already done the work… it was going to be a grueling few weeks because of this oversight.

  Although, now he knew, that if ever a phone prompted him to backup his information and storage within the cloud he wouldn’t be as paranoid to do so. The threat of a possible hacker was so much less relevant now in the face of losing his information as entirely as he just had.

  He sighed dejectedly, slinging his jacket over his shoulder and turning back out of the diner. He didn’t need to be in that ash and destruction any more than he already had been for one day anyways. Defeated, he slung his jacket over his shoulder and headed back to his car. All he could focus on doing now was leaving, his offices would be closed for the day, which meant that the missing phone business would become tomorrow’s problem. For now, all he wanted to do was head back to his penthouse at the Hunt Hotel and shower, wash the grime and stress of the day off of his skin. That and think about Ellie… and the deal that he wanted to work on closing with her as well. Another problem, one he was much more willing to tackle, for the next day.