by Lauren Wood
Billionaire Crave
Lauren Wood
Contents
Billionaire Crave
1. FREE BOOK OFFER
2. Red
3. Kristin
4. Red
5. Kristin
6. Red
7. Kristin
8. Red
9. Kristin
10. Red
11. Kristin
12. Red
13. Kristin
14. Red
15. Kristin
16. Red
17. Kristin
18. Red
19. Kristin
20. Red
21. Kristin
22. Red
23. Kristin
24. Red
25. Kristin
26. Red
ACCIDENTALLY MET HER (SAMPLE)
Blurb:
27. Candy
A Note From The Author
How to connect with me –
Billionaire Crave
A CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE AUTHOR
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Red
“It is good to see you Red. I didn't think you were going to show up, not yourself anyways.”
“I told you I would be here, so here I am.”
“Yes Red, you always keep your promises and I want to make sure that you know that I keep mine too.”
I wasn't sure what Goff was talking about. He was a problem that I wasn't sure how to solve yet, but I had to play the game to get what I wanted from him. I had dealt with him a couple of times before and I knew that I wasn't going to like the price. I never did when it came to Goff. Price was almost always too high and the circumstances always changed.
“So, let me see it.”
Goff opened the box and I could see clearly that it was the weapon that I was looking for. He had come up with his part of the bargain, so I made a movement towards the car behind me and my assistant came out with the briefcase, my end of the deal.
“What are you going to do with this?”
“Does it really matter?”
Goff said that it didn't and told me that he was just curious.
“I have always wondered what rich men like you do, with all the toys that you buy. What makes you tick?”
I just shook my head at him and told him that I wasn't telling him shit. I had already said enough to him and I was ready to get away from him and his ilk.
“Our deal was not to chat, our deal was for the weapon and that was it. Here is your payment, so give me the box and we will part ways. Nice and clean, just like we planned.”
“Don’t you not even want to know what I've taken from you, just in case you screwed me out of this deal?”
I didn't know what he was talking about and I told him that he didn't have anything of mine. I would have known if he did.
“But you are wrong Red. I do have something that belongs to you. I find it funny that you didn't realize that I had it. I would have thought that she would have been more worth more to you than that. You should keep your loved ones closer.
Now he had me intrigued and I wanted to know what it was he was going on about, or more specifically who he was talking about. Goff was known to get in circumstances that he shouldn't have, and I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. I just wanted to give him the money and walk away. I hated doing business with men like him, but in my line of work, I had to meet people like him on a daily basis.
“What have you done?”
“It is not what I have done Red. It is who I have taken. Do you really not know?”
“No, I don't know who you have taken. Tell me now or I walk away, and I take my briefcase with me. You are not the only one that can get ahold of this type of weaponry.”
“You know that isn't true, Red or you wouldn't be here talking to me. I am the only one that can get this, and you know it. It is the only one that is left.”
I knew what he said was true and that is why I was dealing with him to begin with, but his poorly veiled threats were starting to bother me. Goff got under my skin and he was doing so now.
“Who do you have?”
“I have a woman that I think is yours Red. Aren't you worried that she isn't safe?”
The thing was I didn't have a girlfriend. I had a lot of lady friends, but none of them were more than just that. Whoever he had, was most likely someone that I had met on occasion. Goff knew nothing about me, no one really did, and I just wanted him to come out with it. I had things to do and I didn't want to spend all night with this man.
“Once again Goff, you have overstated your position. You always think that you have more than you do. The only thing that you have a value for me as the weapon. That’s it. If you have picked up one of the girls at left my house in the last few months, I don't even know her name.”
Goff smiled at me and for some reason that was worse than his threats. When a man like Goff smiled, nothing good was ever going to come from it. I knew that I had to figure out why he was looking at me like that. I knew that I wasn’t going to like the answer, but I had to play his game. The whole time was mind was searching for the link that he thought he had. Who did he have?
The one woman that I could think of that would have really bothered me was my sister that was on the other side of the world. He wouldn’t have had enough time to get to her since I had spoken to him yesterday about this.
“Come now, Red, that can’t be true. You have to love someone in that black heart of yours. I know that there aren’t many people that you care for, but this one, I think you might actually love her.”
I was starting to get angry and I wished now that I had brought a different kind of security. I wanted to know who he had, and I wanted to know now. My temper was getting the best of me and I knew that my face was the color of my namesake.
“Tell me who it is that you have and what you want.”
“I want double the price the price that we agreed upon.”
That wasn’t going to happen. There was no way that I was going to add another ten.
“Double? You must really think that you have something Goff. I have showed my hand, now show me yours.”
He smiled at me again, the sort of smile that made me feel a little cold inside. I should have known that there was going to be consequences for working with him, but it was for the greater good. I wanted the weapon out of his hands. Now I had gotten myself into another mess because of it. This never worked out the way it was planned, never.
Goff made a motion to the vehicle that he had brought with him and a girl got out. Her face was covered with a black bag and I couldn't tell if it was Anna or not. It was someone that could have been her and my heart started to beat a little faster.
“Who is this?”
He had someone take the bag off and smiled at me in that way again, sure that he knew he had me over a barrel.
“It is your sister. Do you not recognize your own flesh and blood?
When I saw the woman's face, I knew that it wasn't my sister at all. She looked a bit like her, same color hair, same dark features, slim body, but definitely not Anna.
“It seems you can't do anything right. That is not my sister.”
The old Russian thought that I was just messing with him and he smacked her across the face. I didn't react in the same way that I would have if it was Anna, but I told him to get his hands off of her.
“This is not how we do business
Goff. This is not the way to do it.”
“This is how I do business. I want double. I will give you an hour, but she is going to stay with me until then. She is my assurance that you will do the right thing and she is good to sweeten the pot as well.”
I wanted to explain to him that she wasn't my sister at all and that he was wasting both of our time, but the look in the woman's eyes told me that she needed help. I may have been a lot of things, but I wasn't a person that could just turn someone away like that. I had to help her, even if it was going to cost me.
“I will be back Goff. You are going to regret this.”
“Maybe so Red, but I will be richer while living with that regret.”
I just shook my head and got my man back in the car with the briefcase. I didn’t want to have to do this, but I was not going to be able to live with myself if I let something happen to the girl he had taken. I told the driver to take me back to the house and I made a call to Anna.
“You need to get out of there, Anna. Go on vacation for a couple of weeks, my treat.”
“What have you done now, brother?”
The question bothered me because it was assumed that it was my fault. The worse part was the fact that she was right. It was my fault, and this wasn’t the first time that Anna had to take an impromptu trip because of me. I knew that she was not going to be happy. She had a life that she was trying to lead, and my navigation of murky waters brought her into it with me from time to time.
“Can’t talk now. Just go, please. I will repay you somehow.”
“You can’t Red. You always think you can buy your way out of everything. One day you will realize that you can’t. Then what will you do?”
“Please just go. I will do what I can do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“I’ve heard it before. Hope it is worth it.”
Anna will never realize that I was trying to be the good guy now. She would never see the truth and I didn’t want her to. I just wanted her safe, hating me if she must.
“It’s not. It never is.”
I hung up and sighed out loud. This was not turning into the day that I was expecting at all.
Kristin
I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I knew that I was going to have to keep calm, even though everything inside of me was going a little crazy.
I had been grabbed by Goff the day before at a job, flown to America and now what I heard was nonsense. This Goff guy thought that I was someone else. I had tried to tell him who I was, many times, but he didn’t want to hear it and claimed I was lying. Eventually he had put a piece of tape over my mouth to shut me up.
The man he had met, the one he called Red, looked to be about the same. They both were businessmen of some sort, but I knew that it wasn’t the sort of guy that worked on Wall Street. They were the sort that walked into a place and cleared it out.
They’d mentioned a weapon and though I didn’t get to see it, I had heard enough to know that I didn’t want to be around any of these people. If I ever got out of here, I never wanted to see another man in a business suit ever again. I wanted to take my mind off of everything and I hoped that it would somehow all turn out, but I knew the likelihood was small. I didn’t understand why Red didn’t come clean about who I was, but I didn’t expect him to come back. Why would he?
The hour that I had to wait for the guy to come back was too long. It felt like forever. This whole night and day had been an eternity. I almost wanted a conclusion to this story, good or bad. I was that sick of waiting for the next shoe to drop. It was torturous at best and since I wasn’t who Goff thought I was, I knew what the outcome was going to be. No amount of hope was going to change the fact that once they realized that I wasn’t this Anna they kept mentioning, I was going to be dead. I wasn’t going to be any use to them.
“Come on Anna. Get out. We are going to see your brother. I guess you’re about to find out how much you are worth to him.”
I sighed and let the man pull me from the SUV. I would have gotten out myself, but that didn’t seem to be an option. They had been pulling and dragging me around for days and not once had they been nice about it.
Since I had tried to tell them several times that I wasn’t Anna and they didn’t listen, I didn’t waste my time doing it now. I knew that there was no point. This was how it was going to be and there was nothing that I could do about it. I was a pawn between two men that didn’t care what happened to me.
When the bag was taken off of my head again, I was in the same place, looking at the same people. I don’t know why I felt the way I did, but doom had taken over all other feelings and emotions.
“Do you have the money?”
Red asked Goff again to do the right thing. The man that had been holding me laughed, the first time I’d heard it, but it didn’t make me feel better. It just sent a shiver up my spine.
“I do. If you go through with this Goff, you will never do business here again.”
He waved the dark-haired man off and I could tell that Red was annoyed. I met his gaze and I didn’t want to let the hope flood my eyes, but it did. I wanted so badly to think that everything would be okay. That I would be okay somehow and the man in front of me going to save me. He didn’t need to, didn’t know me, but he was my only hope.
“Why would I need to come back to this shit hole? You Americans think everyone wants to be here. I will take your money and live a good life in my country. I have no more need to work. This is the last sale I will do here or anywhere. You have helped me in my retirement, thank you Red.”
The man he called Red grimaced and I was hoping that he wasn’t going to back down. The hope that I had tried to bury was coming to life and I wanted it to be true.
There was an exchange. A box was put into the trunk of the blue sedan and then I was handed off to Red. He motioned for his tall associate with pale eyes that were almost white, to put me into the vehicle. I wanted to protest, but I knew that this wasn’t the time. Let me get away from this place first and then I would be able to figure something out. Red seemed easier to negotiate with and he seemed like the lesser evil, the one I didn’t know.
The car smelled new and I waited in the back of it, afraid to look at the two men that were quarrelling. They were both threatening each other, but I didn’t know how it was going to end. The deal was done, and Red was getting into the backseat with me.
I couldn’t breathe as the door was opened and I scooched over as far as I could when he was getting in. I didn’t want to show it, but I was afraid, and I didn’t think that there was anything that I could do about it. This was the man that had saved me, or he was the one that was going to take me. I wasn’t sure which one.
He didn’t say anything as he shut the door and the car started to leave. I’d watched a lot of movies where these back-alley deals went down, and I could only just imagine that someone was going to start shooting at us any minute. I don’t know why, but there was a part of me that wanted to say something, anything, but then again, what could I say, in a situation like this? I had seen too much and if what I heard was true, the man done paid a small fortune for me, knowing that I wasn’t the sister that he cared about. I was nothing to him and I didn’t understand why he would do that.
We were driving further away, getting on the interstate and it looked like he was taking me into the city. I didn’t live there, but it gave me another sprig of hope. There were lots of people in the city, ones that could help me. Getting away from the sticks, where people disappeared without a trace, was all I could think about.
“So, tell me your name girl. I want to know who has cost me so much money.”
His voice was gruff, and I jumped a little bit because it sliced through the silence in such a fashion as to feel like an attack, in and of itself.
“My name in Kristin.”
“Well Kristin, it looks like you owe me. A lot.”
I didn’t like the sound of that at all, but I agreed with a nod of
my head. Now the question was, what did he want for saving me? How could I ever repay such a thing, to a man like this?
Red
For what had just happened to her, the woman seemed rather calm. Kristin didn’t seem like she had been held captive for the last couple of days. She was handling it really well and I was going to take that as a good sign. I wanted to see it that way, because she had a lot to go.
“Owe you? I don’t even know you and I think that you are the one that owes me an explanation. Who are you?”
“I am a business man.”
“You guys are not trading stocks on the market. I wouldn’t quite call yourself that.”
She had spunk, even though her eyes showed that she was quite tired.
“And I wouldn’t be getting sassy with the man that just paid millions of dollars to save your ass. Do you have any idea what Goff would have done to you if he knew that you weren’t Anna?”
That seemed to get her thinking. I didn’t want to use that fact, but I always reserved the right to use what I had at my disposal. I was hoping that she didn’t know much about my dealings, but I should have known that Goff had a big mouth. He never could keep a secret to himself. It just wasn’t in him to do it.
“I don't know for certain, but I have a pretty good idea. I thank you for helping me, but I have no idea what I could do for you to repay the debt. I do interior design, so I will never see that sort of money in all of my days.”