Played by the Billionaire

by Alexia Adams

  Lorelei clutched Liam’s jacket to her chest as she pressed the doorbell. He’d been so concerned about her after her episode he’d forgotten to take it home. In the pocket was a receipt for a laptop. The recipient was IWC Security, but according to a Google map search, the delivery address was for a converted warehouse and not the head office. As Liam said he worked from home she’d taken a gamble that it was his place. For all she knew she could be calling on a client. She wasn’t quite sure how she would explain her presence if that was the case, but hopefully something would come to mind.

  And if it was Liam’s place, at the very least she’d know if he was married or not. Every time she thought she was getting to know him, he’d shift the conversation away from himself. What could be worse than a wife and kid? She had to know. So, with eyes closed, she pressed the doorbell.

  Despite the loud pealing of the bell, all she got in response was the faint babble of a radio or television set. She was about to walk away when she heard a woman’s voice call out Liam’s name. A red haze stopped rational brain function and she pressed the bell again, holding it down for maximum annoyance.

  Light footsteps ran to the door and it was wrenched open.

  “All right, already. Keep your shirt on!” a petite blond woman said.

  Lorelei was about to thrust Liam’s jacket in her face and turn on her heel when the woman exclaimed, “Oh, you must be Lorelei. Come in.”

  Confused, Lorelei stepped into the apartment after the woman. What wife would welcome her husband’s new girlfriend into their apartment?

  “Liam, your woman’s here!” the blonde yelled.

  Unsure whether she should follow the woman back to the sofa where she’d retreated, or stay where she was, Lorelei surveyed her surroundings. The apartment was a loft style, the floor all polished hardwood. Off to the right, the door to the kitchen was open and she could see top-of-the-range appliances. Several pots were bubbling away on the stove and a heavenly smell permeated the air. The warm, wood-filled apartment was not the place she’d imagined Liam lived in. She’d figured him for a chrome-and-leather kind of guy. This place was airy, yet had an atmosphere of cozy comfort.

  Opposite the door where she stood was a huge flat-screen TV mounted on the wall surrounded by three plush, overstuffed sofas arranged in a U-shape. Over to the left, next to a wall of windows, was another seating area with a round table between two high-backed chairs.

  Liam appeared from around the corner on the far left of the sofas, followed by a much smaller man who seemed vaguely familiar.

  “Lorelei, how are you?” He rushed over to her side but didn’t kiss her. After the last kiss he was probably as nervous as she was. Besides, they had an audience.

  “I’m fine. Thanks for the flowers and for calling. You should have let Mandy wake me up.”

  “I didn’t want to disturb you, just make sure you were okay.” He stared into her eyes. His hand shook slightly as his thumb brushed across her lips before he dropped it to his side again.

  “You forgot your jacket at my place.” Now that she was face-to-face with him again, her knees started to quiver. She shouldn’t have come. If he’d wanted to see her, he would have called.

  Someone coughed and he whirled around as though he’d forgotten they were being watched. Who were all these people? He’d said all he had to go home to was an empty house and a frozen dinner. Maybe he was having a party. She quelled a sense of disappointment he hadn’t invited her.

  He cleared his throat. “Oh, thanks. Come on in, we were just about to eat. Join us?”

  “It looks like you’re having a party. I didn’t mean to intrude.” She backed toward the door.

  “Ha! If I was having a party I wouldn’t invite any of these people,” Liam said with a laugh. He reached for her hand and gently pulled her into the room. “Let me introduce you to Helen and her brother, David. They live in the apartment across the hall, but as they are here more than there I think I should be charging them rent. David and I work together.” He gestured at the man who had retreated to the kitchen. “That’s Jason. He’s a chef, so he gets volunteered to cook when we’re all together. It’s a long story.”

  “Oh, pleased to meet you,” was all she could think to say. At least he wasn’t married.

  Lorelei glanced up at Liam, who shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He threw his jacket toward the hat rack, not bothering to pick it up when it fell short.

  “I was going to call you again, but this work assignment got out of control and I lost track of time.”

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt. If you have work to do, go ahead,” she said.

  “David can finish it. Come, sit down.” He motioned to the smaller man, who retreated toward the back of the apartment.

  Lorelei sank into the comfy sofa. Liam sat next to her, although not close enough so they were touching. He was wearing a pair of well-worn jeans and an old, faded navy-blue T-shirt, and socks. He was casual, comfortable, and so sexy Lorelei had to dig her fingernails into her palms to stop herself from reaching out to run her fingers through his tousled hair. His friends obviously knew about their relationship, whatever it was, but she wasn’t sure how he would feel about public displays of affection.

  Helen continued to stare at her and Lorelei had to fight the urge to run her tongue over her teeth in case she had something stuck in them. The smile the other woman gave her never reached her eyes. She switched her gaze to Liam and was surprised at the intensity on his face. Meeting his obviously tight-knit circle of friends, she was very aware of how little she knew about this man—and how much she was coming to care for him.

  “How did you find my home?” Liam sounded nonchalant, yet there was steel hidden beneath his words.

  “There was a receipt in one of the pockets. I’m sorry, Liam. I should have called first. But after Barry…”

  “I understand. You needed to make sure I wasn’t married.” He smiled and the much-loved dimple reappeared.

  “Really, if you need to finish your project, I don’t mind. Helen and I can talk.” Lorelei sent a smile toward the other woman that wasn’t returned.

  “If you’re sure? It will only take a couple more minutes. Then we can all have dinner and watch a movie. It’s Helen’s night to choose again so it will undoubtedly be a romance.”

  “I’ve gone with a classic this time, Casablanca,” Helen said.

  “Oh, that’s one of my favorites,” Lorelei said.

  “Sounds as though you have a lot in common. Make yourself at home. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Liam kissed her hand before almost running toward the back room.

  “What are they doing back there?” Lorelei turned to Helen, who had also watched Liam’s retreat, a look of longing on her face.

  “I don’t know. Probably cracking into some pizza joint’s computer system to send a hundred pepperoni pizzas to a college dorm.” Helen ran a hand over her hair.

  Lorelei froze. Did Liam engage in illegal activity on the side? He had deflected her question as to whether he hacked into non-client systems when they were at Stow Lake. It would be so typical of her to go from an adulterous boyfriend to a criminal one. She stared at Helen to see if she was joking, but there was no smile on her face. Still, IWC Security was a prestigious company. Would they hire people who hadn’t passed a rigorous background check? Maybe she should consider requiring that before she agreed to go out with someone.

  Helen cleared her throat and Lorelei realized she’d been staring. Self-consciously, Helen ran her hand again over her stringy blond hair, which seemed to want to fly away. With a good haircut it could be rather attractive. She had nice blue eyes, but were hidden under bushy eyebrows and thick-rimmed glasses. In a blind rage when she’d first opened the door, Lorelei hadn’t noticed her figure. However, with the baggy gray sweatshirt and formless brown sweatpants she wore, it was probably a moot point.

  “Is that the kind of thing they do often?” Lorelei struggled to keep her tone bright and bre
ezy. Her job was already on shaky ground; another bad boyfriend and she’d be out of work.

  “I really wouldn’t know. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get something.” Helen raced across the room and out another door, which shut behind her with a definite thud.

  …

  “What the hell’s she doing here?” David asked.

  “Shush, she’ll hear you. Her last boyfriend hid the fact that he was married. She obviously wanted to make sure I wasn’t.” Liam tried to concentrate on the monitor, but he kept waiting for Lorelei to storm in and demand to know who he was and what he was doing. His stomach felt like he’d swallowed a bag of rocks.

  “Ha, a wife would be the least of your worries.”

  “Just behave yourself. Play along with the regular guy thing and no one gets hurt, especially you.”

  “No one gets hurt?” David picked up the dating site profile photo of Lorelei that Liam had on his desk and put it against his own face.

  “Come on, man. I need your support on this. Just play along, please.” Liam grabbed the photo and the background information he’d printed out and shoved it into a folder. “I’m going back out there before Helen tells her something she shouldn’t.”

  Liam stormed out of the computer room, leaving his friend to finish the penetration test. Lorelei’s invading his sanctuary was not part of the plan. She’d found a way into enough of his life, and heart, finding out about his father and Marcus. Having her here, where he had no defenses, was too risky.

  He returned to the front of the apartment to find Lorelei alone, flipping through a copy of Wired. His heart rate accelerated and his mouth went dry. She was so beautiful; for a moment his legs went weak.

  “Where did Helen go?”

  “She said she forgot something and left,” Lorelei said. She flashed a quick smile and flipped a few more pages in the magazine without looking at it. “You have a beautiful home.”

  “Thank you. I haven’t read that issue yet. Anything interesting?”

  She tossed the magazine back on the coffee table and lounged against the sofa cushions. Liam couldn’t deny she belonged right there. If the others would go home they could retry the kiss they’d started at her place.

  “It says hemlines and going up next spring.”

  “Ah, that must be the Wired, Fashion Edition. Glad to hear about the hemlines, though. I appreciate a great pair of legs.” His gaze roved over her body. He could imagine her legs around his waist, urging him on. The lower half of his body clenched at the image.

  “I was reading about programming. I wanted to know what you do. It’s amazing. Can you really read all those languages?”

  “Most of them. However, they’re not very good for communicating between people.”

  He couldn’t help staring at her mouth; her lips fascinated him. Her cheeks turned pink as he continued to stare.

  “I shouldn’t have come unannounced. I’m sorry, my insecurities got the better of me.” She fiddled with her silver necklace, no longer meeting his eyes.

  He stepped around the table and took her hands in his, waiting until she gazed up at him.

  “You’re welcome here anytime. It’s just that I’m working. I’ve got a big project, otherwise I’d have invited you over. I wasn’t sure how long it would take and didn’t want to end up ignoring you. But I’m so glad you came. You’re safe here, by the way. I got rid of anything with peanuts in it and have banned them from the apartment.”

  “I’ll go. We can meet for dinner when you’re not so busy.” She made a move to stand.

  “Lorelei, this is the best surprise I’ve had in weeks. You’re here now—please don’t go. Join my friends and me for dinner. Then I’ll finish the work on my laptop while the movie is on and after it’s done I’ll drive you home.”

  “If you’re sure…”

  He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She smelled of flowers and sunshine, and he had to resist turning her face so he could ravage her mouth. As it was, the tiny, intimate gesture lit a flame in the pit of his stomach. Maybe he should tell her to go, come back when he was more in control. “I’m sure.”

  Her cheeks had turned pink when he pulled back and only a noise at the other end of the room prevented him from trying to deepen her blush.

  Jason had set a steaming casserole dish on the table and called out that the meal was ready. Liam escorted her to the table as Helen slipped back into the apartment.

  “Jason’s an excellent chef. He used to work at a top-end hotel. He’s experimenting with Mexican tonight.”

  “Wonderful, it will be like eating at home. My mother is Mexican and it’s pretty much all she cooks.”

  “Hear that, Jason? You’ve got an expert in the house.”

  “My cooking speaks for itself,” Jason called back.

  Liam led her to the seat next to his. As he sat, his leg brushed against hers, setting off another avalanche of desire. Her eyes widened and her tongue peeked out from between her luscious lips. Ten minutes ago he’d been starving. Now all he wanted was to carry her from the room and feast on her voluptuous body. Except this relationship wasn’t about sex; it was about finishing Marcus’s damn book. His stomach rolled but he forced a smile onto his face and dug into the food on his plate.

  The meal started quietly. David seemed nervous about blurting out the wrong thing. Helen seemed annoyed there was another woman there, and Jason seemed overly concerned about Lorelei’s opinion on his dishes, asking several times if they were authentic enough.

  When Lorelei told them an amusing incident about her first trip to Mexico, it broke the ice, and after that his friends warmed to her. She teased David about his quirky habit of smelling each forkful of food and handed out easy compliments to Jason, who then begged to know if she had any secret recipes she was willing to divulge. By the time dessert was on the table it was as though she ate dinner with them every night.

  The ease with which she fit into his life sent a chill through him. He couldn’t get comfortable, because once she found out about his deception it would be all over. Honest women like Lorelei didn’t stay with frauds like him. A burning sensation in his chest made eating the last few bites of dinner impossible.

  “Can I help with the dishes?” she asked Jason as David and Helen finished eating and headed to the sofas.

  “No, it’s okay. I’ve got them,” Jason said.

  “Nonsense, it will take half the time with two of us. Then you can watch the whole movie next to Helen.”

  Amazed at the rapport Lorelei had managed to develop with the normally reserved chef in so short a time, Liam grabbed a couple of dirty dishes and followed them into the kitchen.

  “Thanks, Lorelei.” Jason grinned at her and the megawatt smile she gave him set Liam’s teeth on edge.

  Liam put the dishes down on the counter with more force than he intended. The clatter caused Lorelei and Jason to jump. Was his chef flirting with his…his what? He clenched his jaw before he could say something he regretted.

  “Don’t worry, Liam. Jason and I can get the dishes. Why don’t you go back to your computer and we’ll call you when we’re ready to watch the film?”

  He lingered a moment longer, watching Lorelei and Jason work together in the kitchen like an old married couple. The flame of jealousy was as intense as it was unwanted. He didn’t have time for this.

  …

  Liam stopped his car in front of her apartment building and shut off the engine. He wasn’t driving the old Ford anymore; this was a newer model Toyota. It was almost one o’clock in the morning and the street was deserted. One movie had turned into three, and the group had laughed and joked until Helen had fallen asleep on the sofa, her head on Jason’s shoulder.

  “What happened to the other car?” She broke the silence that loomed between them. Liam seemed deep in thought, as though weighing the pros and cons of his next action.

  “It died, and as it had a ‘do not resuscitate’ bumper sticker, I let it go. At least with this one
I can be fairly sure I’ll get to my destination.”

  “It’s still not quite you, though, is it?” Maybe Liam was one of those men who weren’t all that into cars.

  “What kind of car do you see me in?” Liam raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t know. Something sporty, a Mustang maybe?”

  “Hmm, never really considered myself a Mustang man, but for you I’d try anything.”

  The dimple was back. God, she loved that dimple.

  “I’d rather you were true to yourself. I’ve had enough lying in my past relationships to last me a lifetime,” she said.

  The dimple disappeared.

  “I have to go back to Washington this week, but I should be back by Friday night. Can we get together then?”

  She tried to hide her disappointment at another whole week without him. “The fundraising gala I’ve been organizing is Friday night. It’s my first foray into the San Francisco charity world. I’m a bit nervous. Would you…would you like to attend? You don’t have to donate, but it would be nice to see at least one friendly face who isn’t paid to be there.”

  Liam hesitated. “If you’ll be working, I don’t want to distract you. We can meet up on Saturday.”

  “No, really. I’d love it if you would come. Everything is all set up. The Chairman of the charity is flying in from New York and will be doing all the speeches. I’m kind of on probation. If this doesn’t go well, if we don’t hit our target donations, I may be out of a job.” She thrust the thought aside. She didn’t want to think of her work issues now. Not when Liam was inches from her, looking like he might kiss her any minute. Her body tingled all over, anticipating his touch.

  He gazed into her eyes, still undecided.

  “Okay, I’ll come, but only to be with you. Galas aren’t really my thing.”

  “It’ll be fun, I promise. Oh, it’s a black-tie event, so you’ll need to rent a tuxedo. Is that okay?” Actually, the thought of seeing Liam in formal attire would keep her going all week. He had the height and build to really make the suit sexy. He’d be like James Bond without the license to kill.

  He shifted in the seat, resting his left arm on the top of the steering wheel. “I think that’ll be okay.” He smiled again and her heart fluttered. He was so handsome. What was he doing with her and why wasn’t he already taken? For the moment, however, she was going to revel in the knowledge he wasn’t married and for some reason was interested in spending time with her.