Played by the Billionaire

by Alexia Adams

  Picking up her drink with a smile for the barista, she settled the straps of her handbag on her shoulder and strode toward the door. The ditherer, who had been in the lineup in front of her, turned and walked straight into her. Lorelei’s coffee fell to the floor with a sickening splat.

  “Oh sorry, miss.” He stared at the growing brown puddle, stepping back before it soiled his suede shoes. He slid toward the door, as though trying to distance himself from the disaster.

  Lorelei counted backward from one hundred in Spanish. Great, now she’d have to either line up again and be late for work or settle for the crappy coffee at the office.

  The guy with the beard and intense eyes from the corner table appeared at her elbow. He reached behind her and grabbed another cup, complete with lid, off the counter. When Lorelei turned to her, the friendly barista gave her a thumbs-up. “I made an extra, by accident,” she said.

  “Enjoy your day,” the tall man said as he handed her the coffee. His voice was deep and silky, and she forced her gaze from the liquid chocolate eyes that smiled into hers. Giving herself a mental shake, she glanced at her watch again. Damn, now she was late.

  She stepped around the spilled coffee as a mop-wielding man arrived on the scene.

  “Thank you,” she called over her shoulder. The man who had knocked her drink from her hand stood in the doorway as if trying to decide which way to go.

  Maybe her mother had the right idea. At least with Internet dating she could hopefully filter out some of the weirdoes.

  …

  Liam stood at the front of the packed conference room, knowing there were just as many people listening via conference call. All eyes were focused on him, the only sound a faint static from the telephone line. He rarely called all his staff together, as most programmers hated meetings as much as he did. But it was vital that rumors be kept to a minimum and the only way to do that was to make sure everyone had the same information and from an accurate source.

  “I want to reassure you all that I am still in full control of the company. When I founded IWC Security, it was just David and me. Now we have over three hundred employees in six countries. I built this company. And it will be an encryption-free day on the Darknet before I let someone else take over. However, for the next two months I will be working on an important project away from the office. When it’s done, I’ll be back. In the meantime, I’m delegating the day-to-day management of the company to the Chief Operating Officer, Cal Johnson. David Winston, as Director of Technical Operations, will remain your go-to guy for programming issues. Are there any questions?”

  “Does this means we won’t be getting emails from you at four in the morning telling us to fix a vulnerability only you could have found? Can I finally sleep through the night?” someone at the back of the room joked.

  “I wouldn’t count on it. I’ll still be hands-on with client systems.” His reply was met with a few groans and some nervous laughter. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his staff, but the core technical work was likely the only thing to keep him sane in the next couple of weeks.

  He answered a few more questions about general office management, then called the meeting to a close. As the staff filed out, David sauntered over to him.

  “Let’s get down to the important questions. Am I going to have to eat my sister’s cooking?” David made a gagging motion and clutched his stomach.

  Liam had eaten a dinner Helen had prepared once. It wasn’t something he’d willingly do a second time. “I’m giving up the commute to the office and the endless meetings, not my personal chef.” He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of meetings, I’ve got two more before I’m done for the day. I’ll see you at home.” He strode from the room and back toward his corner office.

  …

  Three hours later, Liam unlocked the door to his apartment and hung his raincoat on the stand. Kicking off his wet shoes, he grabbed a handful of peanut M&M’s from the bowl on the entryway table before heading into the kitchen. David was already perched on a barstool, chatting with Jason, the cook.

  David poured a measure of whiskey from the bottle next to him and slid the tumbler toward Liam. “How’d the Board take your announcement?”

  Liam took a swig of the whiskey, letting the warmth ease his tension. “Not well. That’s one thing I won’t miss. Meetings are hell.” The Board had quizzed him endlessly on the nature of the “special project” he would be working on. Until he reminded them he held the majority of the company shares and he was informing them of his temporary leave, not asking their permission. Their concerns were valid. They probably worried he was dealing with a medical issue that could potentially impact the profit margin. He could only imagine their reaction if he told them he was taking a break to write his brother’s book.

  He leaned against the counter and watched Jason stir a white sauce. The aroma of the cooking was heavenly. He’d existed mostly on takeout or microwave dinners until he’d stopped one day to talk to Jason, who was living on the street outside his building. Liam had invited the young homeless man for a burger and discovered he’d trained in culinary arts. Unfortunately, Jason had turned to drugs to cope with the long hours and exhausting work in the kitchen of one of the city’s top hotels. Within six months he’d lost his job, his apartment, and his self-respect.

  Liam had paid for Jason to go into a private rehab clinic on the promise he’d then work as his personal chef. David and his sister often came over, and the four of them ate gourmet meals in the comfort of his home.

  Although David and his sister Helen had their own apartment across the hall, they spent more time at Liam’s place than their own. Especially now with Marcus gone, Liam was happy he didn’t have to spend too much time in an empty apartment.

  “How long till we eat, Jason?” Liam slung back the last of his whiskey and put the glass on the counter with a clunk.

  “About twenty minutes. Will Helen be joining us?” Jason’s voice softened on David’s sister’s name and Liam shot him a look. Was his chef falling for his best friend’s sister? Maybe he could observe their romance and save himself the effort. As soon as the thought crossed his mind he heard Marcus’s voice saying the experience had to be personal.

  “Not tonight. She’s working late,” David said. “Hey, I wanted to ask if you arranged that whole ‘knocking the drink out of your future girlfriend’s hand’?”

  “You should know by now I don’t leave things to chance. I wanted to see her up close. So I called ahead and when I preordered our coffees I told the barista to make a second one for the woman I indicated. Hundred bucks goes a long way at a coffee shop. My secretary got her brother to play the bumbling fool.”

  “Sweet.”

  “As it’s just us men for dinner, I need some advice on how to be a regular guy. First, though, I’m going to take a shower.” Liam tossed back another handful of M&M’s and headed for his bedroom.

  “Regular guys don’t drive Aston Martins or Maseratis,” David said as Liam stepped out of the kitchen.

  He whirled around. “Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. What should I drive?”

  “A Ford. Or Toyota Corolla.” An evil laugh followed David’s words.

  “Or if you’re an environmentally conscious regular guy, then drive a Prius,” Jason said.

  “Now you’re being cruel,” Liam said with a shudder.

  “Welcome to your new hell.”

  David’s words rang in his ears as Liam stomped off to his bedroom.

  Chapter Two

  Lorelei rubbed her hands over her eyes and tried to focus on the event plan. It was so much easier in Buffalo where she knew everyone with money—what they liked and disliked, and how much cash they could expect to part with at a gala fundraiser. Here, every selection was a gamble and the success or failure of the evening rested on research, gossip, and blind luck.

  Lorelei’s office door creaked open and her assistant appeared. Mandy had two steaming cups of coffee in one hand and four huge files clutched t
o her chest. Lorelei hurried around the desk to relieve Mandy of the burden.

  Her vivacious assistant had also become her first friend in San Francisco. It was impossible to resist Mandy’s charm and outgoing personality. They had a lot in common, both having Mexican mothers and American fathers. But in contrast to Lorelei, Mandy wore bright, vivid clothes. And her red lipstick left a crimson stain on her coffee cup, making it easy to distinguish from Lorelei’s.

  “How’s it going?” Mandy gestured at the plan.

  “Not bad. I’ve decided on the decorations, menu, and entertainment. I’m just waiting for the list of attendees from the Fundraising Department. I wish we knew how much we could expect to make out of this dinner. Why hasn’t the charity hosted one of these here before?”

  “Dustin prefers to concentrate fundraising efforts at the family level. We do a lot of smaller events, a booth at local sporting activities, that sort of thing. This would be too much work for him.”

  Organizing an elaborate dinner took a lot of effort, but fortunately it was something Lorelei was good at. She’d put on two themed dinners a year in Buffalo and they’d become society’s must-attend events. Of course there she’d had half a year to prepare, not a measly six weeks. And back east she knew exactly how much people could be expected to donate. With no past galas to base an estimate on, it was anyone’s guess how much they could hope to make here. If she wasn’t careful, she could spend way too much and wind up losing money.

  A new email notification flashed up on Lorelei’s computer. As it was from Dustin, the Director of Fundraising, she opened it. “So far there are about one hundred who’ve RSVP’d that they’re coming,” she informed Mandy. “Dustin’s going to give me the official list of names a couple of days before the dinner. It would be so much easier if he told us who was coming instead of who’s declined. Evidently, IWC Security sent a donation but isn’t going to send anyone. While it’s great to get the money, it’s better to get a butt in a chair. Then they participate in the silent auctions and generally give more once they’ve seen the work we do. Who heads up that company? Maybe if I contacted them personally we could get someone to come?”

  She held back a sigh. Dustin had been a pain in ass since she’d started. And he definitely hadn’t been happy when the charity’s Chairman had called telling them to hold a gala dinner within six weeks of her arrival. Dustin had insisted on sending out the invitations and controlling the guest list, but refused to discuss with her any other arrangements, saying it was her job to plan the event, his job to get people to show up.

  Mandy pulled up the IWC Security website on Lorelei’s laptop. “Some guy named William Manning is the CEO and Chairman. Must be a real uggo—there’s not even a photo of him on his own company website.” She surfed a couple more sites. “This gossip site says he was seen with a model named Iliana a year ago, but again there’s no picture,” Mandy said.

  “An uggo who dates supermodels? He must have a huge—”

  “—bank account,” they both said at once before dissolving into fits of laughter.

  Two minutes later Lorelei wiped her eyes; the good laugh had helped ease some of the tension. “As they’ve already sent a donation I guess we’ll leave it for this time. Dustin would probably flip his lid if I went behind his back. We’ll just have to work with what we’ve got.”

  “I think he’s intimidated by you. He’s not very good at his job. Rumor has it he’s somehow related to the Chairman and that’s the only reason he’s still here. When he heard Head Office was appointing an Event Director he lost it. He started spreading rumors about you even before you arrived.” Mandy flushed a little and Lorelei could tell she wanted to ask if the story was true.

  “What kind of rumors?” Lorelei held her breath.

  “Oh, something about you getting the job here because you had to leave Buffalo. Evidently you were caught sleeping with some other woman’s husband and the charity was afraid your reputation would damage their image.”

  Lorelei’s stomach sank to her knees. The whole office knew. No wonder the staff had looked at her strangely. She knew the Fundraising Department hadn’t been pleased at her appointment, considering her job part of their remit. But to be labeled a home-wrecker as well…

  “Having spent the last four weeks working with you,” Mandy said, “I have to say, you don’t seem the type to have an affair with a married man.”

  “I’m not. I had no idea Barry was married. I thought we were on our way to wedded bliss. We’d dated for almost a year and I never once suspected. In hindsight I can see the signs—we only went out on weekdays and only to small restaurants nowhere near where either of us worked. He only gave me his cell number and we always went back to my place—he said his apartment was too far away. He was such a charmer, he made everything sound believable.” She’d always been too trusting, always thinking the best of people. That, plus her crushing need to be loved, had blinded her to Barry’s real situation.

  “How’d you find out?”

  “My mom sprained her ankle one Saturday night and I took her to the ER. Barry was sitting there with his wife and three-year-old boy who’d shoved a marble up his nose.”

  “The dog!”

  “Well, that wasn’t what I called him. And after my little tirade, his wife added a few more names I’d never even thought of, and my mother would have slapped me silly if I’d said them in public.”

  “How’d the big cheese find out?”

  “Barry’s wife made a complaint to the charity, threatened to go public if they didn’t do something about me. It wasn’t really grounds for dismissal but the Chairman felt it would be better if I stepped out of the limelight as he called it, for a period of time.”

  “So you got shipped out here.”

  “Yeah. I had no idea about the dynamics of the office here. Dustin is sure not happy to see me.”

  “No, but the rest of us are. It’s time things got a shake-up around here. And I for one will be ecstatic if I don’t have to attend another Little League baseball game. Fancy dinners are much more my scene. Hey, can I expense my shoes and dresses?”

  “Unfortunately, we don’t have our own budget yet and have to get all expenses approved by Fundraising. I’ve already had a run-in with Dustin about the cost of the flowers. Can you believe he actually asked if we could use plastic ones? And what’s with not giving us the guest list until two days before the event?”

  Mandy’s laugh rang through the office. “I think he’s paranoid. He guards his contact list like it’s a state secret. Only he and his secretary have access to it. I was more than happy to leave his department. I like working with you—coming to work is fun again.”

  “Same here. You’ve made the transition from Buffalo so much easier. Speaking of transitions, any news on your fiancé’s visa?”

  “No, nothing yet. It’s been almost a year.” Mandy twirled the small diamond ring on her left hand.

  “I never got a chance to ask, how’d you two meet?”

  “I’d broken up with my last dog boyfriend and decided to treat myself to a holiday in Italy. I’ve always wanted to go there. So I sold my car and off I went for two weeks. I met Antonio on my first night in Rome and we’ve been in love ever since.”

  “Don’t you worry he’s just after a green card?”

  “No. We’re in love. I can tell.”

  Díos mío, was that how I sounded when I was dating Barry? She’d been a complete idiot to trust him, so desperate to be in a relationship that she’d been a blind fool. It was a good thing she was better at her job than choosing men. Although…

  “Do you think I’ve been set up to fail?” Lorelei asked the question that had been bugging her since she’d taken the call from the charity’s Chairman instructing her to hold a gala fundraising dinner.

  “I don’t know. We’ve never raised a million dollars in six months before, never mind one night. Another rumor I heard is that Head Office is looking to consolidate and the San Fran branch mig
ht be disbanded with everything run out of L.A.”

  The sinking feeling in Lorelei’s stomach doubled. If this event flopped, she’d be taking the blame. And now she not only had her job on the line, but the entire staff’s. “Well, then we’re going to make this an epic night. All of San Francisco will hear about it and be begging to come to our next one,” she said with more confidence than she felt.

  Two hours later, Mandy tapped the table with her crimson fingernails. “I think this is going to be spectacular. Now if Dustin can fill the place, the guests will be so amazed the money will leap out of their wallets. Shall we go get a drink to celebrate?”

  “I can’t tonight. I have a date.”

  “Wow, you go, girl. Not even in the city a month and you’ve already met someone.”

  “We haven’t really met. My mom, who is the Supreme Ruler of Interfering Mothers, signed me up with an Internet dating site. There was actually one guy who seemed a bit interesting. He’s an architect who’s traveled the world and now wants to share his life and love of travel with the right woman.”

  “Is that your dream? To travel the world?”

  “Actually, my dreams are bit more home-based. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted a big family. I had ten dolls I used to call my babies. I took those dolls everywhere. It was quite a sight.”

  “You can’t want ten children! That’s barbaric.”

  “I’d settle for four or five now. Of course, my mother keeps reminding me I’ve left things rather late.”

  “Do you have lots of brothers and sisters?”

  “No, it was only me and my mom. My dad…well…he wasn’t around. I do have tons of cousins—one of my aunts had eight kids. I was so jealous. They were always laughing and yelling. It was so quiet at my house. I wanted brothers and sisters to play and fight with.”

  “Well, there are ways these days to do that without a man.”