“But – ”
“Lily. Calm down. Just walk out with me.”
I got a hold of myself, nodded, and we proceeded to walk across the lobby. As we went, Connor pulled out his smart phone.
My heart skipped a beat. Maybe this was where he was going to ask for my number?
But that was bad – not in front of Stanley! –
…and then he tapped out a text on the screen, sent it, and popped the cell back in his pocket.
So much for him getting my number.
My heart sank.
“Night, Stan,” Connor said as we walked by.
Stanley smiled and raised his hand again.
Then we walked out of the lobby doors and onto the street.
17
Downtown Los Angeles is a ghost town at night. During the day, it’s a bustling metropolis with people walking through the canyons of glass and steel. Once the sun sets, though, it’s like all the pedestrians are afraid of vampires, and they mostly just vanish. (Not the cars, though. Cars are omnipresent in Los Angeles, no matter where you go.)
We stood out on the almost-deserted street. I looked in both directions, but the towing people had apparently worked their evil magic.
“Oh no, your car!” I cried out, scanning past the rush of traffic to the empty curbs.
“Quit worrying about it. I have a question to ask you.”
“But – ”
“Lily. Focus,” he said, and touched his fingers to my chin so that I had to look at him.
I suppose I should have been worried about Stanley seeing Connor make such an intimate gesture, but the warmth of his touch – and the memory of what he had done to me earlier – made me go all limp inside. I stared into his crystal blue eyes.
“Did you mean what you said earlier about this being the best night of your life?” he asked.
Oh God.
Lie, Lily – he’s just looking to inflate his ego – LIE, dammit –
“Yes,” I whispered.
He leaned forward and kissed me.
I flinched for a split second – Stanley’s going to see! I’m going to get fired! – and then I thought, Screw it. This is probably the last time I’m going to see this guy.
I want to savor every last second.
So I kissed him back.
It was soft, sweet… and romantic. The whole world fell away, leaving only the two of us.
He pulled away first. As I gradually opened my eyes again, I became aware of a shape moving off to my side. A car pulling up to the curb beside us.
“Come with me,” Connor said.
“What?” I asked, still dreamy from the kiss.
“You said this was the best night of your life. So let’s keep it going. Maybe even make it the best weekend of your life. Come with me.”
Two different emotions wrestled inside me: panic… and elation.
“I… I can’t… what are you talking about?!” I asked, confused. My head was spinning.
He took both my hands in his, his skin warm against mine.
“Come with me,” he repeated, more urgently this time.
“But – the reports – ”
“Are crap. A fake test Klaus didn’t pass anyway. Forget them. Come with me.”
This is crazy! I wanted to protest, but I was slowly drowning in his sparkling blue eyes.
“The office – I left everything on – ”
“Who cares? Leave it and come with me.”
I couldn’t.
I was already going to be fired for unbecoming conduct, or whatever you call it when you have wild sex on the boardroom floor.
If I didn’t get those reports to Klaus, I might as well leave a letter of resignation on his desk.
I had to finish those reports.
Those reports on a fake account…
…for a boss who belittled and hated me, and went out of his way to make me miserable…
…while the most gorgeous man I’d ever been with was pleading with me to join him.
To do what he asked, I’d have to risk throwing away my job.
A job I hated, true, but the only one I had.
And for what?
To be blissfully, incredibly happy –
For what, another hour?
Another night?
Maybe another two?
“Take a chance,” Connor whispered. “Be that woman I made love to just now. Come with me.”
I shivered when he said ‘made love.’ I thought of us up there in the boardroom, his lips on mine, his body inside me.
The pleasure he had given me.
The amazing connection we had shared.
I could feel that again…
…or I could give it up and be miserable tonight and the rest of the weekend, lose my job anyway, and wonder what I’d missed out on for the rest of my life.
“Screw it,” I breathed. “Let’s go.”
Connor burst into an enormous grin.
He turned to the car by the curb and opened the rear door.
I had thought it was a taxi, or – actually, no, I hadn’t been thinking about it at all. I’d been too wrapped up in kissing Connor, and then in worrying about whether I should go with him or not.
So when I saw a black Bentley – apparently some sort of limo, since it was shorter than a stretch, but longer than a regular sedan – I was a little bit thrown, to say the least.
I looked over at Connor. He seemed incredibly pleased with himself as he opened the back door for me.
“What the hell is this?” I asked in shock.
“Just get in.”
This guy wasn’t just some mid-level executive at a consulting firm. Mid-level executives didn’t normally tool around in Bentley limos.
Who is he?
A stranger. A man I hardly knew.
I could feel the fear rise in me… but then I remembered his touch up in the penthouse. The way he had kissed me.
And the fear dissolved.
Who is he, though?
I didn’t know… but more than anything, I wanted to find out.
And I wanted what we’d shared up in the penthouse.
Again and again, as much as I could get, in whatever time we had left.
I stepped into the car, Connor got in after me, and he closed the door behind us.
The Story Continues In
ALL THAT HE DESIRES
(The Billionaire's Seduction Part 2),
available on Amazon right now!
See the next few pages
for a brief word from the author
and other books she has available!
Afterword
Hello there! Thank you for reading ALL THAT HE WANTS!
If you enjoyed it, would you mind leaving a review on Amazon? It can be simple, nothing fancy. Good reviews really do help authors out – especially indie authors like me – so if you don’t mind, I would be very grateful!
Some of you may know me from a historical romance novel I wrote called PASSION AND PRIDE, which I wrote under the pen name Amelia Nolan. If you enjoy historical romances (especially Regency romances or anything having to do with the French Revolution), give it a try – I think you’ll enjoy it! And to all my readers who left reviews on PASSION, thank you, thank you, thank you!
ALL THAT HE WANTS is a very unusual project for me. Number one, it’s only my second book, and I’m kind of ‘learning as I go.’ Number two, I’m a bit of a control freak, and I tend to plot out my stories from beginning to end. As of right now, I have only the barest notion of where Lily and Connor will wind up. I can see the destination far off in the distance – I think – but I have no idea what roads will lead them there. It’s pretty scary (for me, anyway).
I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that this is a serial novel, meaning it will be published in parts – and not all of them are written. As of December 2012, I’ve only finished two installments, and I’m not entirely sure when the next one will be done.
ALL THAT HE DESIRES (The Bi
llionaire’s Seduction Part 2) is available right now. I’m hoping to have Part 3 ready in early 2013, but I’m not sure exactly when that will be.
If you would like to notified when the next installment is available, please email me at [email protected] and just let me know you want to be added to the mailing list. And if you just want to say ‘Hey there, Olivia,’ please do – I love hearing from readers! Trust me, when you slave over a keyboard wondering, ‘Is anybody ever going to read this?’ it’s a godsend to hear from people who enjoyed it. Like little messages in bottles washing up on the shores of my lonely writer’s island.
Thank you again for reading the book – I hope you enjoyed it, and if you decide to keep reading the next installment, I hope you enjoy Part 2 even more!
Olivia Thorne
[email protected]
Books By Oliva Thorne
Contemporary Erotic Romance
ALL THAT HE WANTS
The Billionaire's Seduction Part 1
ALL THAT HE DESIRES
The Billionaire's Seduction Part 2
ALL THAT HE DEMANDS
The Billionaire's Seduction Part 3
Part 3 Coming Soon! Email [email protected] to be notified when Part 3 is available!
Historical Romance
(Pen Name Amelia Nolan)
PASSION AND PRIDE
Master and servant, aristocrat and commoner... Passion brings them together, but pride will tear them apart. When Marian is in danger, will Evan risk everything - his fortune, his title, his life - to save the woman he loves?
All That He Wants (The Billionaire's Seduction Part 1)
Copyright 2012 Olivia Thorne
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com (or another online retailer of ebooks) and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, used, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Olivia Thorne.
Edition: December 2012
All That He Wants Page 7