I can see she wants to refuse.
“Just try it for a few days,” Jim suggests. “Let the police work through the case before you move home.”
She starts to weep. “What am I going to tell my roommates?”
“I’ll call them,” I assure her as I gather her in my arms. “Once the police release the scene, I’ll have a crew come in and clean it up, and I’ll replace any of the furniture, clothes, and items that were damaged.”
She pulls away from me. “No. You can’t do that. I’ll get it picked up and see what I can get repaired.”
“Really, let me take care of this. You work hard for me, and it isn’t a hardship.” I take out the photos and show them to her again. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is salvageable. Please let me do this for you.”
With a big sigh and a cringe, she nods as she pores over the images. “Why didn’t one of my neighbors call the police? Someone had to have heard something.”
Jim shakes his head. “It seems Mrs. Collins from downstairs was at a doctor’s appointment, and the rest of your neighbors were at work.”
Corrine sighs. “Figures. She owns the building and is always home. I still should call my dad.”
She needs to be doing something—she’s struggling right now. “Let’s do that together, so your dad can feel assured someone is looking out for you.” I pull out my phone and hand it to her.
She dials and places the phone between us on speaker.
“Woods residence.”
“Hey, Monica, it’s me. Is my father available?”
“Just a moment. Let me check.”
Wow. So formal. I may need to go back and review Corrine’s background check. What’s going on there?
“Sunshine,” booms through the speaker on the phone.
That’s more of what I was expecting.
“Daddy!” Corrine’s shoulders tense. “Sorry to bother you. There’s been a problem here.” She slips into the most delicious southern drawl.
“Worse than what happened earlier this week?” he asks.
I can hear the stress rising in his voice and the fluster in Corrine’s.
“Mr. Woods?” I interject. “This is Jackson Graham. I’m standing with Corrine and Jim Adelson, the head of my security team and owner of Clear Security. Today, while Corrine and I were at Cecelia Lancaster’s funeral, someone broke into Corrine’s apartment. The home was ransacked. Anything that could be broken was. The police are investigating, so we need Corrine to remain here in San Francisco. I wanted to let you know, I’ve offered her a guest suite in my apartment. Jim’s team has been on duty with her since Wednesday. She’s safe with us.”
“I see.” There’s a small moment of silence, and I know he must be trying to determine the best way to protect his daughter. “Corrine? Can you pick up the phone?”
“Yes, Daddy?”
I can still hear his question. “What do you want to do?”
She looks at me and gives me a half-smile. “I don’t know. Jim can probably watch me here better than if I’m in a hotel.”
I hear him say, “I’d like to talk to Jackson again.”
“Yes, Daddy.” She hands me my phone.
I take a deep breath, ready for the wrath of a protective father.
“Mr. Graham,” he says in a deep baritone. “Look, I checked you out when my little girl went to work for you. If this is a player move to get her into your bed, you’ll regret this.”
I chuckle. Corrine has heard every word. She blushes and covers her eyes.
“No, sir, it’s not. As you know, your daughter is very proud, but we believe this is a real threat, and it’s easier on Jim and his team for her to be here.”
He sighs. “I never liked that apartment. She literally lived in a closet. All that fit in her damn room was a silly twin bed. There certainly isn’t room for anyone else at her current place.”
Twin bed? Closet? I’ve got to get her out of there.
“I promise to look out for her,” I assure him.
“Thank you. May I speak with Corrine again?”
“Of course.” I hand her my phone, and she walks away. I don’t know what to do without my phone.
“He’s my boss,” I hear her say. “Yes, I know that’s how you and Monica met. Trust me, Daddy. I’m not his type.”
That stings worse than anything she could’ve said. She’s exactly my type—beautiful, smart, a wicked sense of humor, and most importantly, she doesn’t care about my money. Then I remember she refers to my dates as Barbies—all beautiful women when naked, but that’s it. Nothing more. I have no doubt Corrine would look delectable naked, and she’s everything I want in a woman.
But I can’t go there. She works for me. That’s a horrible idea, especially right now. Someone needs to tell my dick that.
“I’m going to check on Detective Lenning. This is taking too long. I’ll be back,” Jim tells me.
I really am lost without my phone. It occurs to me that Corrine needs to eat. I go over to the stack of takeout menus I have and order Chinese from my landline. It’s getting late, and I’m sure she must be hungry. Plus, this could show her I’m not entirely inept at taking care of things myself.
As I wait for my phone and Corrine, I watch the game on TV. After a few minutes she walks out in her bare feet, and she’s pulled her hair up. The curls that have fallen from her updo look sexy. She really doesn’t know what she does to men.
She’s in my apartment, and she looks stunning. She’s my assistant. I need to stop thinking like this.
“I ordered dinner,” I tell her.
“Oh, right. Thank you. I forgot it was late.”
She looks out the window. It’s dark outside.
“Jim went back to your apartment to find out what’s keeping the detective.”
“I can wait in my room and be out of your way.”
That’s not what I want. “No, that’s silly. Please, I want you to feel at home here.”
Her brow knits.
I’m trying too hard, and it’s glaringly obvious.
“Let me give you a tour.” It’s all I can think of to pass the time and fill the awkward silence. I walk her around the apartment. It’s enormous, even by non-San Francisco standards.
“What made you buy such a palatial space?” she asks, her eyes wide as we walk from room to room.
“My mom used to work in real estate, and she talked me into it. It was the first thing I bought when my first company went public.”
“She has excellent taste.”
“She’d love that you think that. It’s so much more house than I need, but I think she hopes I’ll grow into it.”
“Not likely,” she mutters.
“I have nothing against marriage. Look at what Nate and Cecelia had. If I can find that kind of love, I’d go for it and have as big a family as she wants.”
“I guess you need to look for it.”
That comment has a ring of truth. Her honesty stops me cold. “I suppose I do.”
The bell rings, and our dinner has arrived. I’m saved.
As we sit down to eat, I’m very proud that I knew Corrine’s favorite Chinese dish—kung pao chicken. She always chooses it when she orders Chinese for lunch at the office.
Corrine clears her throat. “I’m sorry. I have a terrible habit of being too honest. Who you date is none of my business. You’re my boss, and I do what I’m told. I apologize for what I said.”
I shake my head. “Your honesty is always appreciated and is important for me to hear. Don’t ever change.”
I’m almost ready to ask her some personal questions, to get to know her a little better when I hear Jim arrive—and he’s talking to someone. As they round the corner, I see it’s Detective Lenning.
“I hope we’re not interrupting,” Detective Lenning says.
“No, I’m just making sure Corrine eats something today,” I tell him.
He nods and opens a folder. He places several crime-scene photos on the t
able in front of her.
She looks at them mid-bite. I see tears in her eyes. “Everything is destroyed,” she whispers.
There’s blue spray paint on the walls.
I warned you. Next time will be worse.
Whore
Bitch
Keep your hands off my man
She can’t look any of us in the eyes. “I haven’t contacted Bobby, nor have I contacted his girlfriend. You can check my cell phone records, the landline phone records, and the office phone numbers. I’m telling the truth.”
Detective Lenning sighs. “We’ve already checked, and you’re correct. We’ve also reached out to Mr. Sanders and spoken to his current girlfriend, Collette. They both have good, strong alibis for today. We’re looking at some of the women who’ve sent him pictures and other women from his past. He shared with us the name of a woman he was seeing while you were dating, but he doesn’t think any of the women who send him fan mail would go this far. We have collected the letters and photos, and we’ll go through those.”
I can tell by the pained look on Corrine’s face that she didn’t know he was seeing anyone else while they were together. Jackass.
I look down at the pictures of her bedroom. Every article of clothing she owns has been cut and sliced, and they’re all in a pile on her trashed bed. I can see the coils of the bed springs. There is a picture of her with a man and a woman, probably her parents. It’s destroyed. The glass is shattered. The frame is no longer square. In another picture, the plants in the living room have been dumped and the dirt spread across the carpet. There is nothing here that’s salvageable.
Detective Lenning asks Corrine more questions about possible women who may be upset over Bobby Sanders. He then asks about women who may be upset about me.
“Jackson?” she asks, alarmed.
My head whips up. “Detective, I… I don’t really have any…any real girlfriends.”
“So, you’re a love-them-and-leave-them kind of guy?” he presses.
He doesn’t like me much.
I’m feeling a little attacked, but I know they’re just trying to find out who’s behind this.
I clear my throat. “No, I date women, and I may date them for a while, but it’s never serious, and I’m very clear about that upfront. I run a multinational company, and I’m in the process of starting a new venture. I don’t have any time for a serious relationship.”
“And what about women who contact you that you’ve never met?”
“I have a phone log in the office,” Corrine offers. “Jackson gets about two dozen or so dinner invites a day and probably a marriage proposal once a week.”
I do?
The detective nods. “I’d like that phone log and a list of the women you’ve dated so we can make sure to cross them off our list.”
“Of course.”
Detective Lenning asks Corrine a few more questions about where she was today and what we were doing.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your friend,” he says.
She nods and looks weepy again.
Detective Lenning excuses himself, and we agree to have the items he’s asking for sent over. Jim remains for a few moments.
“Corrine, are you okay to stay here tonight?” he asks.
She nods, and I feel a great sense of relief. “It’s not like I have any other choice.”
“We can cover you wherever you want to go,” Jim assures her. “If you don’t want to stay here, you let me know.”
She shakes her head. “I’m fine. I’m already inconveniencing everyone.”
“You’re not inconveniencing me. In fact, quite the opposite,” I tell her. “You’re just fine.”
I walk Jim to the elevator. “Is she going to be okay?” I ask.
He looks over at her. “I imagine at this point she feels highly violated. Anything she had in that apartment of any value to her personally is absolutely destroyed. Detective Lenning and I both agree that someone is incredibly angry with her, and she is not safe by herself.”
“Her roommates return in the next few days. Do I need to put them up in hotel rooms away from the apartment?”
“I think that’s not a bad idea. Maybe if you frame it as you’re fixing the apartment after the break-in, it’ll feel less intrusive to them.”
I nod. “I’ll call them tonight.”
***
There’s a sudden scream in the darkness. I sit straight up, and I’m out of bed before I know what’s going on.
“Corrine?” I run down the hall to her bedroom. Usually I sleep naked, so I’m grateful I thought to sleep in boxers tonight.
I swing her bedroom door open. She’s thrashing back and forth in the bed and whimpering. Her exposed thigh distracts me.
I realize she’s having a nightmare. I walk over and shake her shoulder lightly. “Corrine?”
She wakes up, startled. She looks around and recognizes me after a moment, but she pulls the covers up tight.
“It’s okay,” I say in a soothing voice. “You were having a nightmare.”
“I forgot where I was.” She begins to whimper.
“Please don’t cry. You’re just fine. I’m here for you.”
She sniffs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I don’t sleep well anyway.”
I sit down at the edge of her bed and the neck of the T-shirt I lent her slips over her shoulder. My cock pays attention. I try to concentrate on her nightmare and not her beautiful alabaster skin.
“It’s nothing. Really.”
The light from the hall casts this beautiful glow on her, and despite her disheveled hair, I’ve never seen her look so lovely. I reach for her and pull her close. She collapses into me. Her arms snake around my waist, and I take in her smell. She wears a perfume I can’t quite name, but I recognize the scent. You have to be close to smell it, and she smells so good.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m reacting like this,” she says through tears.
Usually, tears have me running to the hills, but I want her to feel better. I want her to feel safe.
“You can stay here as long as you need.”
I start to stand, but she doesn’t let go. “Please don’t leave me.” Her tears begin to fall. “He’s hurt me so badly. Not only did he say those awful things, but he was cheating on me, too. What did I ever see in that guy? Why is my picker so bad?”
We lean back against the headboard, and I hold her tight. Her arms remain around me, and I feel content as we sit in silence.
After some time, I hear the rhythmic sound of her breathing. She’s fallen asleep curled up against me. I almost never want to spend the night with women, but I’m shocked at how right this feels.
Sometime later, when I wake to the sunlight, I can tell instantly that it’s much later than I usually wake. We’re spooning, and my cock is nestled against Corrine’s backside, pulsing and begging for entry. My hand is holding her soft breast. I should let it go, but I don’t want to. I smell her floral-scented shampoo. I want her.
She rolls over. My hand falls away, but my cock is still obviously as hard as a steel rod.
“We should probably get into the office,” she says.
“I know.” I enjoy a few more moments lying next to her. I don’t want this to end. Then it occurs to me. “My flight to Maui is tomorrow after work, right?”
“Yes. I should be able to move back into my place by then. I have a lot of cleaning up to do before my roommates get home.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I already told you I’ll have somebody come in and clean up the apartment, but I think you should come with me to Maui.”
I say that last part quickly, so I can’t change my mind.
She sits up and turns to me. “What? Why on Earth would I do that?”
I try not to notice her pebbled nipples beneath the T-shirt, but I’ve never been so sure of anything. “I don’t want you staying alone, and you could use some time away
. When was the last time you took any vacation?”
“It’s been a while, but we already discussed that Detective Lenning needs me to be close by.”
That was really just my excuse to get her to stay at my place. “You’ll have the jet at your disposal, so if he needs you back, you can come back.” I look into her caramel-colored eyes, noticing their gold flecks. I could get lost in there forever. “Please come with me to Maui.”
“What will people at the office think?” she asks as she begins to bite her thumbnail.
“Who cares?”
She takes a big breath. “I truly appreciate your offer. Maui sounds amazing, but people already think I’ve gotten on my knees to keep my job. If I go with you to Maui, that will only reinforce that rumor.”
“All that matters is that we know the truth,” I tell her.
Her shoulders fall, and I know I’ve said the wrong thing.
I try again. “Look, you’re my assistant. The house has multiple bedrooms with their own bathrooms. Just because I take my admin doesn’t mean you get on your knees for me. It means I work a lot, and together, we are assessing whether the house should remain in my portfolio.”
A smile crosses her face that finally reaches her eyes. “If my boss requires my assistance for a work-related trip, then I must go.”
I can’t wait. What is this ridiculous giddiness I feel?
She sighs. “I should warn you, though, my bathing suit was in my apartment, and I’ll need to do some shopping.”
“You have access to my personal card. Buy whatever you need.”
“I can afford a bathing suit,” she informs me.
“I know you can, but I want to do this for you.”
The idea of four days away with Corrine with her in a bathing suit does something to me. But for now, I need to get to work. I still need to get a meeting with Hydro before they start producing my solar film with stolen plans.
Chapter 10
Corrine
Maui. I’m so excited. Time away from this place has never, ever sounded better than it does right now. I have nothing to pack, and I’m not even sure where to start.
I’ll worry about that later. Right now, I need to make it through my day. I look around my desk for the next task I need to tackle.
Royally Flushed: Tech Billionaires Page 8