One Night with the Billionaire (A BWWM Romance)

by Tiana Cole

  She took in his half smile and the dimness in his eyes and nodded. Then she left because there was no reason to stay.

  ~

  Weeks later, David couldn’t sleep and couldn’t concentrate on work. He could only see that hurt expression on Ebony’s face, and he’d done it on purpose. Their night together had been more than he’d anticipated. More intense. Hotter and more sensual than he could have possibly thought. And when he’d woken up that morning he’d needed to have her again, and that was unacceptable. He didn’t need women. He wanted them at his disposal when he wanted them but that was it. And he only dated, if what he did could be called that, women who knew the score. Ebony wasn’t one of those women, but he’d learned that too late. She wasn’t jaded and cynical about sex and the opposite sex. After his behavior she was probably jaded about it now.

  He’d lost his taste for other women. Of course he still spent time with women because a man had needs, but he didn’t even bother with the pretense of dinner or a night at the theater. These days he preferred the women who only wanted him sexually because he couldn’t bear to disappoint another woman the way he had Ebony.

  Who seemed to have vanished off the face of the planet. A month after their night together he’d gone back to Club Escape to talk to her. She hadn’t been there that night, or any other night as far as he could tell. He never asked but he knew she had quit. She’d paid a steep price for that money and he was glad she’d quickly used it to improve her life. Still, he regretted his harsh words that morning and wanted to take them back. To apologize.

  He smiled at that thought. If his friends could hear him now, even considering apologizing, especially to a woman…but he owed her that much. That evening had been special and she’d been more passionate than he could have hoped for. She could have easily given less of herself to their night together, to him. But she wasn’t practiced enough to know that she could do that. Should do that with a guy like him. But he hadn’t been able to find her and he didn’t have her full name. He could get it if he wanted, that was one of the perks of being a billionaire, there was nothing money couldn’t buy you. Almost. But he figured if she wanted to see him again, she would have found a way to make it happen.

  Instead, she’d disappeared and so did he, back into his business ventures. He’d bought a tech company in town that kept him busy enough that he only thought about his night with Ebony about a hundred times a day.

  He just needed more time to forget her. He would give it a few more weeks and then find another piece of arm candy to unwrap for a month or two.

  Chapter Four

  One year later

  “Hey, Mama. Thanks.” Ebony kissed her mother on the cheek and kicked her shoes off. “You’re the best.”

  Tonya Angel looked at her daughter with raised eyebrows. “I am the best and everybody knows it, but you never have to thank me for taking care of my grandbaby.”

  Ebony smiled and accepted the squiggling bundle of warmth and sunshine now in her arms. “Hey, Kimmy, Mommy missed you today.” She held her daughter close, kissing both of her chubby little cheeks. Just three months old and already so much like her father, specifically the wickedly stormy golden green eyes now smiling up at her. Her cinnamon curls were held back by an adorable pink bow. “How was she today?”

  “Ebony, you were gone for three hours. She played, she slept, she ate and I changed her. Rinse and repeat.” Tonya shook her head and gave her daughter an affectionate smile. “She did fuss a little right after you left, then she remembered Grandma brings frozen peaches.” She smiled at the baby flapping in her mother’s arms. “How did things go at the Trattoria?”

  Ebony sighed and rolled her eyes. “It went pretty well for the most part, but I’m pretty sure a table of mobsters had lunch there today.” She shivered thinking about the multi-cultural table of men dressed like gangbangers and mobsters, speaking in whispered hushes to keep their business quiet. There’d been a moment she thought she spotted Lexington, but she had to be hallucinating, which wouldn’t be unheard of considering the odd hours Kim chose to wake up.

  Tonya gave a weary sigh. “I’m sorry, baby. You should keep looking. I think that Leonardo is up to no good and I don’t know why he hired you for your internship, but I guarantee it’s not because he needed the help.”

  She had to physically steel herself against groaning and rolling her eyes. “Mama, I don’t know why you think Lex cares enough to go through all that trouble. He just wanted to have sex with me and now that I’m not at the club or living in the neighborhood, I’m sure he’s forgotten all about me.” She really, really hoped that was true.

  “Girl, don’t be naïve. How do you think guns and drugs get in the hood? Through the Gangster Network, that’s how. You’re a favor so he can keep an eye on you. Get out while you can.”

  “You’re paranoid, Mama. If he had done that, why hasn’t he let me know?” That on its own was out of character for Lex, who tried his damnedest to make sure he was always owed a favor by women.

  “He’s biding his time. But hey, what do I know?”

  No other words could have doused her frustration. Mama had fallen for a bad boy who couldn’t reform, had a baby and then miscarried a couple before her husband was sent to prison for a life sentence. Ebony’s only memories of her father were brief flashes from early childhood because he’d gone away when she was young and she’d never seen him before he died. “I know you know, but I’m telling you that Lex can do what he wants, it has nothing to do with me. I still don’t want him.”

  “I know that, but now he knows where you are. Again.”

  That gave Ebony pause. Lexington was one of the main reasons she’d left her old neighborhood, but the crime and poverty were other reasons. When she’d found out she was pregnant she knew she couldn’t raise a child in that area, so she’d found a small house to buy and moved in before she’d begun to show. She’d tried to get her mama to come with, but Tonya was happy where she was. Ebony had cut up all but one credit card with the threat of bodily harm if her mother paid anyone else’s bills with it again. “I am not moving again. He has no legitimate reason to be in this neighborhood, and if he shows up, I’ll call the police.”

  “What about Kim’s father? Couldn’t he help you out with this?”

  “You know he can’t, Ma. I only know his first name and that’s it.” She hadn’t exactly told her mother how the night with David had come about, but she somehow knew he’d been the source of her windfall.

  “You could go back to the club, see if he still comes around.”

  She’d thought about that but she didn’t want to deflect or answer questions about where she was living and how she was earning a living. “It won’t make a difference Mama. He was very clear that he had no desire to see me again.” She hated to say that aloud and to hear how resolved she was about it. But there was nothing to be done about it. She’d tried to find him when she found out she was pregnant but there were millions of Davids in the city and surrounding area. And that was only if David was his first name, or his real name.

  “It couldn’t hurt to try, that’s all I’m saying.”

  Only my pride and dignity. Ebony knew what her mother would have to say about that so she kept it to herself. “I’m resolved to do this on my own. If I start hoping and wishing that David was around to help, I’ll just be setting myself up for disappointment.” He’d been crystal clear about their future, or lack of one, that next morning. He’d played his game, gotten a fantastic night that left her body trembling with desire and no lasting effects. Typical rich guy.

  “But if there’s even a possibility that he would want to be involved, you have to try. For Kim. Don’t let her be another black child growing up without a father. Try.”

  Ebony nodded to placate her mother. She agreed that Kim deserved a father, but not just any father. She knew biology was no guarantee of a loving and involved father, and she’d rather wait to find a nice man in the future. David wouldn’t be interes
ted. Definitely not. She drilled that thought into her head because she needed to hear it as much as she needed her mama to. He wouldn’t want to know, he wouldn’t care. Not about Ebony and not about their daughter. It was better for everyone if she and David never crossed paths again.

  ~

  “I don’t want to do this shit,” David groused to his publicist. She wanted him to do a walk on cameo role on the new series being shot in town. “Disorderlies is a shit show with bad acting and thin plot lines. Not interested.”

  “Maybe so, but the ratings are through the roof and the first season is only half over.” She paused and gave him a condescending smile. “It’s just a sixty-second spot with two sentences, what could it hurt?”

  David glared. “I said no.” He gave his best intimidating stare, known to make grown men cower in fear.

  But Sarah just glowered back. “You don’t scare me, Davey.”

  He groaned in agony. This was the problem with hiring relatives, particularly annoying younger siblings. “Fine, but I still don’t want to do this. Make it go away.”

  She shook her thick blonde waves. “No can do. I’ve already told them you’d do it. Think about it, they average fifteen million viewers each week, which means you appearing as yourself gets us tons of free advertising.”

  “We don’t need advertising, Sarah, our products speak for themselves.” He didn’t become one of the youngest billionaires in the country by relying on such antiquated notions as commercial advertising. “People know who we are and why our products are superior.”

  “Even the new solar battery with sales that could generously be called…sluggish?”

  Dammit. “Fine. But I’m only giving up one hour of my time. They go beyond that and I’m out of there.” He hated stupid shit like this and he especially hated having to put on his game face and play nice with people who were completely irrelevant to his life.

  Sarah’s smile dimmed. “Are you okay, Davey? You’ve been even grumpier than normal lately.”

  Hell no, he wasn’t okay. He’d tried to find Ebony after their night together and he hadn’t been able to. The first few weeks after their tryst he’d been anxious and impatient. Slowly he’d turned sullen and had forced himself back into his regular life of attending lavish parties with some underfed diva on his arm and nights filled with mutual pleasure. Though if her were being honest with himself, those nights hadn’t been all that pleasurable. The sex had achieved its main goal, but he found himself enjoying it less and less. “I’m fine, Sarah. Stop worrying.”

  “I don’t believe you, but I’ll let it go for now since you’re doing Disorderlies.”

  “How generous,” he said drily.

  Sarah’s laughter was melodic and drew a smile from David. “I am known for my generosity.” Her smile was smug. “Besides, you could snag a date with Bonnie Mason.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  “No, thank you, Sarah, and dammit, don’t mess around with your matchmaking. I’m not kidding.”

  “But—”

  He held up a hand. “If you do, I’ll back out of the cameo. I mean it.”

  “Fine,” she conceded with a pout. “They shoot your episode next week. I’ll get the details to you soon.”

  Chapter Five

  Today was one of Ebony’s busy days. Two more semesters and she would finally have that hospitality management degree she’d been working so hard for, and with it the ability to give her daughter the best life possible. But today was also one of the days where her morning was filled with class and her afternoon with work at the restaurant. It would be hours still before she could kick off her shoes and cuddle on the sofa with her baby girl. It’s totally worth it, she thought as she took in the image of her smiling daughter with her father’s eyes.

  She slid the phone back into her pocket and looked around. At work and school she kept her private life to herself. No one knew where she lived or that she’d given birth to a child in the past few months. It was her business and the fewer people who knew about it, the better. Waiting at the bus stop, she stared into the distance and saw a future when her only responsibilities would be her career and her family. Kim would be walking around and talking nonstop as she came home from a long day of work. Maybe there would even be a man to greet her with a hot kiss and a warm hug. She shrugged and released a sigh. A daydream for another day.

  “Fine ass Ebony. I thought that was you.”

  She clenched her teeth and looked in the direction of the voice she recognized all too well, even if it was a little gravellier than it was a year ago. “Lexington.” She should have driven to class but her mama refused to let Ebony buy her a car so she left hers at home on her long days.

  “Is that all you have to say to an old friend?”

  “We were never friends.” Not even when they were younger because Lexington was more concerned with looking tougher than everyone else. It wasn’t an endearing quality for a girl with romantic dreams.

  “Maybe not. But we could be now.” He licked his dry lips, a sign to her that he was doing more sampling of his supply than selling it. He stepped from the large vintage car and she could see the changes in his body over the past year. Gone were the muscles he’d gained in prison, now he was gaunt with sunken eyes and a tattoo across his throat. “I always wanted to be friends with you, Ebony.”

  “No, Lexington, you’ve always wanted to fuck me.”

  “That’s friendly. Let me show you how friendly I can be.” He smiled but it looked more like a grimace as he stroked a lock that had fallen from the clip that kept her hair tidy.

  Ebony took a wary step back. “No, thanks. I’m not interested in dating anyone right now.”

  He frowned and lifted his shirt so she could see the shiny silver handle of the gun tucked in his waistband. “You’re never interested. Maybe I don’t have the right parts, maybe you’re a carpet-muncher.” His laugh was more of a sneer and it left her cold.

  “Maybe I am.” She refused to stand here and argue with an unstable gangbanger. He’d probably shoot her or shove her in his car to have his way with her. Neither option was worth the time or the hassle. So she continued to wait for the bus, drawing in a sigh of relief when it finally came into view.

  “I could be so good to you, Ebony, if you let me.”

  She gave him a wary smile. “I’m not cut out for your life, Lex. I’ll finish school and move away so I can find a job.”

  “If you were my girl, you’d never have to work,” he told her.

  Ebony fought not to roll her eyes. His hood mentality was exactly why she worked so hard to get away. She didn’t mind a little hard work if it meant she could have a safe and happy life with her family. “I like to work.”

  He laughed in that cocky way that was meant to make his posse join in, but today it was just him. “Well, you can earn your keep in other ways.”

  She shuddered at the thought. Never again. While she was grateful that the money she’d earned with David was enough to get her out of her old neighborhood and not worry about work while she was pregnant, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth. “No, thank you. Have a good day, Lexington,” she told him as she boarded the bus and took her seat. Once she was seated, Ebony popped one earbud in tapped the video on her news app.

  “In local news, tech billionaire David Henderson’s people have just confirmed that we can see him in his very first acting role on the hit local series Disorderlies. He’ll be playing—what else?—a tech billionaire worried about the implications of a cyber security breach. We’re told this has to do with the case of the week, but producers have been tight-lipped on details. We’ll have more entertainment and celebrity news when we return.”

  Ebony stared at her tablet screen, transfixed by the image on the screen. David. Her David was actually David Henderson, mega wealthy techie and one of the youngest billionaires in the country. She’d heard of him of course, but she’d never seen him because she didn’t follow tech, business or financial news. However, sh
e had invested some of her money and now had a keen interest in how it was growing for Kim and her.

  David. He was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen and his presence on the screen was magnetic. He could have been an actor, but it would have been a waste of his genius as far as she could tell. She felt the telltale pull of arousal and had to remind herself that her attraction to him was irrelevant. He’d made his feelings more than clear the last time they saw each other. But circumstances have changed and he deserves to know he has a child in this world. Her mama’s words rang in her ear, clearer than a bell. No matter how many excuses she tried to make, they were no longer valid since she knew exactly who he was.

  “We’ve just heard from an inside source that David is single and looking for Ms. Right! So, ladies, get on your best duds and get on down to Camelot Studios, Lot C, and you might just catch the attention of a tech billionaire!”

  And now she also knew exactly how to find him. She was all out of excuses.

  ~

  “Thanks for coming over today, Mama. I know this is your day off but this is the only day I know where he’s staying and it’s my only chance to see him.” Her nerves were raw, her stomach full of butterflies at the very thought of seeing David again. Would he welcome her with open arms or would he roar at her to get out of his sight? There was no way to tell so she’d just have to deal with whatever happened.

  “No problem, sweet pea. I’m glad you’re doing this, but don’t lead with the baby thing right away.”

  Hazel eyes swirled with confusion. “What? That was the whole point of seeking him out.”

  “Maybe, but if you don’t catch up first and find some common ground outside the bedroom, he’ll run as fast as his feet will take him or worse, he might fulfill his obligation and nothing more.”

  She frowned. “But that’s exactly what I want if he’s interested in being a father. If not, then I’ve done my part to tell him and we go our separate ways.” Her mama didn’t need to know that deep in her heart of hearts she was hopeful that her and David could be more.