Billionaire Erotic Romance Boxed Set: 7 Steamy Full-Length Novels

by Priscilla West

  “Yes.” I take a deep breath, trying to imagine just what we could do that would challenge me more than he already has. “I’m ready for whatever’s next.”

  “Good.” He nods as we endure an awkward silence so painful I start yammering to fill the room with something besides static.

  “It’s been tough, you know. Submitting. I’m so used to being in charge of everything. To be told, and to do what you’re told—hasn’t been in my world for a long time. In fact, it wasn’t really a part of my world even when I was young. My dad always encouraged me to challenge the system. My mom always wanted me to beat it.”

  “That’s part of the problem. It’s good to know when to take, but it’s crucial to know how to give. Pushing people around isn’t the same as relating to them.”

  “In college they drill it into you that reporters have to be aggressive. You have to take what you want, you have to rip the story out of the shadows, and you have to control your environment. I thought I was doing my job. I actually thought it was a compliment when I found out the staff secretly called me Miss Shark.”

  “Miss Shark?” He laughs at the nickname.

  “Yes.” I blush. “But lately I’ve realized it’s not who I want to be. When Kenneth Allen referred to that name in my office I actually cringed. Hearing it come out of his mouth just showed me what an ugly image it could be.”

  “The line between aggressive and assertive is blurry.” He leans back against the headboard to wax philosophic.

  “I suppose so, maybe it was too blurry for me and I crossed the line a long time ago. I was just afraid, I think. Afraid of being seen as weak, being walked over, so I did anything I could to appear strong.”

  He is silent. I’m not sure if he heard me or if his mind is somewhere else. He sits straight up and looks at me. “Wait a minute. When did Kenneth Allen call you Miss Shark?”

  I blink, unsure of where he’s going with this question. “The day he fired me. He sat right behind my desk and mentioned how the staff refers to me as Miss Shark.”

  “But how did he know that?” Mark grows urgent in his questioning, his eyes lighting up. “He’s Blake’s lawyer. He never worked with you after the acquisition until recently. How would he know what they call you?”

  His tone with this line of questioning sets me on edge and I prop my back against the headboard, “Blake probably told him, I assumed.”

  “And how would Blake know?” Mark says in a stern, direct fashion. He isn’t accusing me but it was clear he senses something is wrong.

  “I don’t know,” I say, climbing out of bed and putting a robe on. My body feels delicious after the night together but this line of questioning is dramatically increasing my tension. “I don’t know how Blake knows my nickname, how he stole from my company or how he knows what stories we ran. All I know is he took my world away!”

  “I think those questions all have the same answer. How did you find out they called you Miss Shark? I mean, I’m sure they didn’t call you that to your face.”

  “Janice told me over tea one day. At first it was just a few employees. But when I started reviewing their inter-office communication I noticed it all over. I’d see things that said, ‘Miss Shark is going to yell when she sees my word count’ or ‘Meeting with Miss Shark, scary!’ and I would smile. They don’t know I can see their inter-office IM’s so I just pretend I don’t know what’s happening.”

  “How do you see the messages?”

  “Through the software from you guys. About a year or so ago the IT guy from Sandstone Ventures came by and put software on my computer. He said the company had a policy that all properties have to use it and monitor the online activities of staff. So, I can actually open up anyone’s computer from my office and see what they’re doing, or what they’re writing. When I started seeing ‘MS’ and realizing what it meant, it made me laugh.”

  “We don’t have any software like that! And we don’t set policy for our properties. We just handle the capital.” Mark jumps out of bed and starts frantically looking for his clothes. “That’s it! That’s how he did it.”

  He gets dressed and heads toward the door mumbling about techs and codes and backdoors. I jump in front of him to stop him from leaving without saying goodbye.

  “Breakfast will have to wait.” He pats my shoulder, attempting to push me to the side. “I need to get to the office. Better yet, I need to get to your office.”

  “What are you talking about?” I block the door until I get some kind of reasonable response.

  “That’s how Blake’s been embezzling money. He’s using your system, your software. The program that lets you see into your staff’s computers is letting him into yours. It’s got a backdoor that links him to you. He got more money than Lynx has, but I’m sure with the right records, we could track his transactions through your office.”

  “Let’s call the cops, now!” I say knowing I’ll lose this argument for the three-hundredth time.

  “It’s not enough to know it Julia, we have to prove it. I need to get inside your office.”

  “Impossible. I’m sure they changed the locks when they threw me out and my contact says they have all new codes and passwords. Besides, if they catch you in my office, it’s going to tip them off you know.”

  “Then I need someone on the inside. I need to meet your contact.”

  At Mark’s sudden desire to meet Janice, I stall. She’s the one piece of the puzzle that I still control. Do I trust Mark enough to give her up to him? If it came down to a choice between the survival of Sandstone Ventures or Lynx, which would he choose? What would it mean for Janice and for me, if he betrays us all? My mind jumps back to the anonymous text I received weeks ago: “Do not trust him.” How would Janice take the news that I am sleeping with Mark? What would she think of my deal with him? Would she think that I am making a serious mistake?

  “I need to think about it. I can’t just risk my contact for a whim,” I say with a little more defiance than I need to display right now. Mark’s jaws lock and his eyes narrow for a moment.

  “That’s a pretty curious attitude for a woman who runs around assaulting people and whose whims have made my attempts to get to the truth a nightmare.” He grumbles. I soften my features and let him know I’m not trying to be difficult, just safe. “Fine, you think about it. But don’t take too long. The clock hasn’t stopped to consider the consequences.”

  Mark doesn’t slam the door, but he closes it sharply enough for me to know he’s not happy with my stalling. I grab my purse and head out for a bagel and some groceries, my mind consumed with the pros and cons of allowing Mark and Janice to meet. If it weren’t for that stupid text, putting doubts into my head.

  Chapter 13

  I stop by the hospital to sit with Dad. That’s what the nurse calls it–sitting. He hasn’t really opened his eyes or communicated with more than a few hand squeezes since I left last night. I ask the nurse if this is normal.

  “For him it is,” she says gently. I watched her come in with a cloth and some lotion. She washed his skin and then rubbed the lotion into his hands, arm and cheeks. “No matter how much fluid we give them, people tend to dry out in the hospital.”

  “I feel so helpless,” I confess. I don’t know who this nurse is, but I make a vow that when I get Lynx back, I’m going to assign my best feature writer to do a story about ICU nurses and what an amazing job they do. She nods empathetically. “Is there anything I can do to help him?”

  The nurse hands me the lotion and wash cloth.

  “I meant isn’t there something I can do to change the situation for him? Help him wake up or get him to move around more? I know there’s really nothing I can do.”

  “My experience is that when there’s nothing you can do,” she says gently squeezing the lotion into my hand and placing it on Dad’s arm. “Small things are sometimes all you can do.”

  She’s right. I finish with Dad’s arm and reach for my cell phone.

  “Mark, i
t’s Julia,” I say to the voice mail prompt, thankful I don’t have to speak to him in person. “Saturday at noon, Café San Carlo in the Village. Be prepared to pay for three.”

  ~~~

  I sit with Dad most of the morning. He’s still breathing, but largely unresponsive. His grip is getting weaker. Yet, he did signal that he knows I’m there.

  I tell Janice to meet me at 11:30 so I can catch her up with what’s happening and explain why I am allowing Mark to meet with both of us. I probably don’t need thirty minutes to get Janice into the swing of this meeting, but I have to give her at least some clues because I have no idea what’s going to come up.

  “Café San Carlo?” Janice says as she sits down looking at the beautiful Italian décor. “Don’t you think this is a little pricey for a woman who just lost her job and a woman who is probably going to in a few weeks?”

  “We aren’t paying. Order anything you want,” I reply, keeping pace with my friend. It’s nice to be talking about anything that isn’t serious. Of course, that’ll change soon. “I’m ordering the Seabass Marichiara and a nice glass of Lambrusco.”

  “Really? Then I’ll just have one of everything and a bottle of something red,” she laughs. “Seriously, who’s coming to meet us, Rupert Murdoch?”

  “Think local, less famous, better looking and much more stamina in the sack.”

  “Um… wow… if he wasn’t rich I’d say the UPS guy who delivers in the afternoons, but I’m pretty sure he’s not eating here before hauling our packages up from the street. Who is it?”

  “Okay, okay. It’s Mark. We’ve hit a break, or a snag–I’m not sure which–with his plan and we need your help.”

  “Mark Stone? You got it. Anything to get his asshole brother out of your office and off my ass.” She holds up a glass to get the waiter’s attention and orders a spicy Malbec.

  “I hear you. The plan is to get Lynx back before the papers—”

  “Hey! Wait a minute,” she interrupts me in mid-sentence, giggling like a schoolgirl. “How do you know Mark Stone is good in the sack?”

  I blush as I realize this is not going to be as easy or smooth as I had hoped if I don’t cough up at least a few details. I plunge into the part of the speech I rehearsed, hoping Janice’s questioning mind doesn’t take me too far off the planned path.

  “Okay, look. That’s why I asked you here early. I need you to know something and keep it to yourself. If anyone finds out this information, it could be bad for all of us–you included.”

  “Tick, a lock,” she says, pretending to lock her lips and throw away the key.

  “I’m… well… I’m kinda,” I stammer and play with napkin. Finally, I blurt it out like someone who is possessed. “I’m sleeping with Mark. It’s not a big thing, or a relationship and we aren’t moving in, getting hitched or planning kids. It’s just sex.”

  “Wow.” Janice sits there with her mouth hanging open. I’m not sure if it is because of my revelation or the blurting, convulsive way I made it. “You and Mr. Stone? Wow.”

  “Don’t mention it to him,” I say nervously.

  “Why? Doesn’t he know you’re having sex?”

  “No! I mean, yes! He knows we are having sex. I just don’t know if he wants you to know.”

  “Oh. But I do know.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Okay.”

  “But if he mentions it, don’t act shocked about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “And don’t deny it.”

  “Are you sure he knows you two are having sex?”

  “Shut up!” We both are laughing so hard tears are falling from our eyes. It feels so good to laugh again.

  “Lovely ladies on a pretty day. Boy, am I a lucky man or what?” Mark says as he sits down beside me. He reaches under the table and puts his hand on my thigh. The feeling of his strength on my body grounds me. For the first time all day I’m not nervous, tense or giddy.

  “Mark, I don’t think you’ve met Janice. She’s my assistant at Lynx and my best friend.”

  “I’ve talked to you on the phone several times.” Mark smiles while Janice appears to be melting. “It’s wonderful to meet you. I want to thank you for being so brave. Staying at Lynx while my brother runs amok can’t be easy.”

  “Blake’s not as nerve-wracking as Valerie James. Every time she comes in, I get the shivers.” Janice leans toward Mark as she talks, opening her body stance. My anthropology professor would have said she was “inviting the mate.” “If you ask me, you’re the brave one, Mr. Stone.”

  “Oh, how so?” Mark asks. I reach my leg over and give Janice a good swift kick in the shin under the table. She blinks, but never shows her pain. Good woman.

  “For taking on your brother and putting your own position at risk to defend Julia,” Janice makes up a good cover. “I’m happy someone has taken an interest in her, ah, helping her! Taken an interest in helping her.”

  Mark smiles politely. He asks what I’m planning for lunch and browses the menu. We listen to Janice babble on about running the office without me, and how the tension is high when Blake or Kenneth show up to lock themselves in my office, but people actually find excuses to leave the room when Valerie is there. The waiter appears and Mark flags his attention.

  “The lady will have Seabass Marichiara with house vinaigrette on the side and a glass of Sorbara Lambrusco, and I will have the shrimp scampi with Mosel Riesling,” he says and gestures to Janice for her order. She’s so shocked she stumbles through her decisions and I’m not sure she even got what she wanted.

  I have to admit that I have never been ordered for since I’ve become an adult. There’s something old fashioned and quaint about it, yet I blush, thinking that Janice is probably about to pass out. Lord knows if Greg had ever tried a stunt like that I would have lectured him until his ears bled. But with Mark, it didn’t seem like a “stunt”–he genuinely likes to care for me.

  “Why does Valerie keep coming to the office?” Mark asks Janice once the waiter leaves.

  “Why does a lioness stalk her prey?” I answer.

  “But Lynx isn’t prey anymore,” Mark responds. “She’s already got it. If we can’t file a rejoinder with the court in time, it’s a done deal.”

  “Yes, you’re right.” I agree, looking at his face–so earnest and masculine. I catch Janice out of the corner of my eye still staring at me. I’m sure she’s thinking the old me would have argued with him, even though he’s right, just to make sure my voice was the dominant one. But I don’t need to argue all the time anymore. I really am happier just letting myself be me. “Janice, why is Valerie there?”

  “She’s looking for something,” Janice says, ever guarded. “She spent the first week or so in your office going through every folder, every paper, and every computer file. She would spend hours in front of your computer. Then she started talking to staff, using the notes Blake and Kenneth provided from their ‘interviews’ with us. She keeps asking what we worked on in the past year, and what we’re working on now. She pretends she’s just getting info to merge us into Ladies World, but it’s clear she’s not getting the answer she wants.”

  “If she was on Julia’s computer, she did more than talk to the staff. She’s been searching their files,” Mark says.

  “We figured it out. Well actually, Mark figured it out. When that IT guy from Sandstone came and put that management software on my computer he was actually installing a way for my computer to see every file on staff computers, and a way Blake could interact with our network.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Janice responds. I’m not sure if she’s reacting to the idea of Blake being in our system or the fact that I gave Mark credit for the idea. “If Blake can access our network, he can see everything–our emails, our contact lists, and our finances. He would have access to everything!”

  “We need to shut the network down,” I say reacting to Janice’s energy and the thought of Blake Stone’s slimy finger rummaging through the files
of my company.

  Mark shakes his head. “We need to keep it open and get the records of what he’s done. We also need to find a way into his system.”

  “You’re right,” I say to Mark. “But how do we do that? Can you get your IT guy to come back and change the program? If you can see us, why can’t we see you?”

  “No, he would complain to Blake that he had to do off site work, and Blake would catch us. If he thinks we have a clue about what he’s been doing, he will destroy the evidence. And, with Valerie all over the place, she’s sure to notice a change. She’s got a good eye for things like that.”

  “How do you know that?” I ask, completely distracted from the real issue for a moment. His hand squeezes my thigh teasingly.

  “Because she’s one of our largest properties, remember?” he says nonchalantly. “Does Lynx have its own IT person?”

  “Kevin. He’s a good kid. Runs the network and the website,” I say when I notice Janice shaking her head.

  “Kevin’s gone. They fired him the same day they fired you. Kenneth said we wouldn’t need any more IT help because Ladies World had a whole department for IT.”

  “They’re definitely using the computer for their scheme,” Mark confirms.

  “Good news is that Kevin got a job with R&C Associates on the next floor. They were looking for a good IT guy. Maybe I can get him to come down when Blake and Company aren’t around. I’m sure he’d love to help us get back at those jerks.”

  The food came and it was delicious. I have good taste in places when someone else is paying the tab. Mark continued with his gentlemanly manners, offering me more wine, picking up my napkin when it fell.

  This is actually the first meal we have had in public together. In all the chaos, we skipped the dating and went straight to the heart of the matter. This dating thing is kind of nice, and yet–I keep looking down at his lap as we sit here, imagining myself just leaning over impulsively and taking him in my mouth. When did I start having sex fantasies over lunch?