The Billionaire's Final Stand

by Melody Anne

  Katherine heard her sixty-four year old neighbor gasp. Her face flamed as the humiliation got worse. What was he trying to do to her? She knew he’d take it to any level to win, but this was going too far.

  “Really, he’s not feeling well. I’m so sorry about this,” she apologized. “Come with me now, Joseph,” she growled as she grabbed his hand and tugged him toward her open door. She had to get him inside before he said anything else, especially something that would make her have to move from the apartments, even the city, for that matter.

  “You forgive me then, baby? I need you,” he cried, his words still slurred as he went from obnoxious to pathetic.

  She was seriously thinking about murder. A life in prison couldn’t be worse than the humiliation she was feeling at that moment.

  “Of course, Joseph. Now come inside!”

  “Ah, baby, I’ll rock your world,” he gasped as he flashed a lopsided grin and added another stagger for effect.

  She heard the couple in 5B laugh at the display. She sent them a glare, and the woman winked at her. Katherine was thrilled her misery was entertainment for her neighbors.

  She got to her door and pulled on him, but he leaned against the frame, his sharp eyes looking right into hers, the neighbors unable to see he was anything but drunk.

  “Are you sure you want me to come inside?” he mocked her.

  “Yes, please, Joseph. It would please me greatly if you’d just get in here,” she whispered in a deadly voice.

  “Ah, you’re so good to me,” he slurred as he leaned toward her. She held her hand against his chest, stopping his lips from touching hers by only a couple inches.

  “Round one goes to you, okay? Can you stop humiliating me and just come inside,” she demanded, hoping her voice was low enough not to carry to her neighbors.

  “Yeah, baby, I’ll do the striptease for you,” he said loudly. She was going to kill him. No doubt about it.

  She kicked him hard in the shin, hoping it caused him to stagger for real this time. When he winced, she shoved him through the door and slammed it shut.

  She stood two feet away, steam practically shooting out of her ears. She couldn’t ever remember being so angry. He’d straightened with his back to the door, not even looking like her kick had affected him in the least, though her own foot was throbbing. There was no way she’d admit it, though.

  He seemed to know, as he knew everything else. With a quick movement, he was at her side and lifting her into his arms.

  “I warned you, by any means necessary,” he said as he carried her to the couch.

  “How dare you. Are you trying to ruin my life? Will that make you happy? Because you’re doing one hell of a fine job of it. I won’t be able to look into any of their eyes again. They think, not only am I some pathetic loser, but that I abuse you, too.”

  She balled her hand up and punched him in the chest, not affecting him in the least. Now her foot and hand hurt. He sat on the couch with her on his lap.

  She struggled against him for a moment before figuring out it was useless. When she felt his arousal pressing into her hip, she knew she’d lost.

  She met his eyes to find intense desire darkening their depths.

  She was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.

  He closed the small gap between them, his lips taking hers. Anger, frustration, and pure need mixed as his tongue delved into her mouth, claiming her as his as if no time had passed.

  She grabbed his hair, intending to push him away, stop the seduction. But when his hand gripped her bare leg, desire shot through her, and she started falling into an abyss of pleasure. She couldn’t fight him. It was impossible.

  His kiss turned from angry passion, to tender seduction and she was gone. Her body melted against his, and she caved. She’d lost the second he’d shown up at her door, so what was the use of fighting it anymore?

  “I could have saved a lot of arguing had I just kissed you immediately. Your body knows what it wants. It’s your mind that’s trying to confuse you. We’re meant to be together,” he gasped before all talking ended and he kissed her again.

  She didn’t know how it happened, but soon she was lying on the couch with him stretched out above her. It felt right. Everything was perfect. Just one night, she promised herself.

  Just as his hand was reaching for the tie on her robe, the doorbell rang. Katherine tried to acknowledge it, but she couldn’t think past the haze of desire swarming her.

  It rang again and suddenly Joseph was standing, several inappropriate words leaving his mouth. He stomped to the door and yanked it open.

  It took Katherine several moments to realize she was spread out on the couch while he was opening her front door.

  “Is…Katherine home?” a voice asked. She tensed as she sat up.

  Her humiliation was complete. Her brother was there, and she knew her hair had the just-climbed-out-of-bed look. Heck, her neighbors had probably still been in the hall and filled him in on the whole scene already.

  “She’s busy,” Joseph snapped. She knew he recognized Aaron.

  “I’m here, Aaron. Come on in,” she called as she dashed toward her bathroom. She was going to take a few minutes to compose herself. Hopefully, Joseph would be gone when she came back out.

  When she finally did reappear she was wearing wool slacks and a thick sweater. She was geared up for protection. She entered the living room to the sound of laughter. Her brother had his head thrown back at something Joseph had said, and Joseph was smirking.

  When she approached, Joseph’s eyes pierced her own, desire still simmering underneath the surface.

  “Walk me to the door, Katherine,” he commanded. She followed him on auto pilot. He said goodbye to her brother, then bent down and whispered in her ear.

  “This is far from over,” he promised. With that, he turned and strode away. A shiver of trepidation raced through her. She had a bad feeling he was right…

  “I don’t know whether to be appalled at or smitten with my father-in-law,” Jessica said with a horrified laugh.

  Katherine once again returned to the present and looked around the room. She agreed with Jessica. Thinking back to those days, she didn’t know how the two of them ever managed to come to an agreement of any kind.

  Their early days were full of passion and anger. Misunderstandings and assumptions. It was so long ago, but it was the beginning.

  The beginning of the greatest love she’d ever known.

  “We’ll have to continue the story later. Thank you for listening. It actually helps ease the pain of missing him so much,” Katherine said.

  “It helps us, too, Mom. It’s hard to imagine the perfect couple as ever having problems, but wow, just wow,” Mark said.

  “Your father was a stubborn man. He still is. But that stubbornness is what will help him come home to me,” Katherine sighed.

  The family all left the hospital together. Katherine would return soon, and once again, lay beside her husband and draw on the immense strength he carried even while in a coma.

  Chapter Nine

  “I think we have enough information to agree it’s time to fire Jack. The question is, are we going to press charges?” Max asked.

  “Fire him, yes, but I think we’re wasting everyone’s time if we press charges. Yes, we know it’s him, but it’s all eye witness reports and suspicions. He’s done well at covering his tracks,” Trenton said.

  “I agree with both of you. We’ll let him go, but I think it’s already going to be messy, and pressing charges is just going to drag too many people into it, who would rather he just leave, so they can get on with their jobs,” Austin said.

  Austin despised dishonest employees. His family treated their staff with the utmost respect, gave them good benefits, time off, helped their families and invested time and money into them. That’s why, even though it was business, it felt more personal to him when an employee stole from them.

  Jack was paid well, and had been with them for ye
ars. There wasn’t a good reason for theft other than pure greed.

  “It looks like Dean did a great job of gathering all the information we needed, plus he spoke to all the receivers who had suspicions. Jack got away with about fifty-thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. He doesn’t have a banking account, so where the money has gone is anyone’s guess,” Max said.

  “Well, let’s just fire him and write it off. It could’ve been a whole lot worse,” Austin said with a sigh. He wanted to press charges just because it burned him that the guy was going to get off with nothing more than a job loss. He had to let it go, though.

  The family was going through enough stress with Joseph still in a coma and his own life was filled to the brink with personal issues. It had been a couple weeks since he’d last had a moment alone with Kinsey. He was getting tired of her avoiding tactics.

  One way or the other, they were coming to a showdown. He could hardly wait.

  “All right, guys, that’s the last of the business. Now, tell me about your hot, or should I say, cold, romance with Kinsey,” Trenton demanded, snapping Austin out of his musings.

  Austin sent his brother a glare. He was a grown man and shouldn’t have his brothers ragging on him about his love life.

  “My relationship with Kinsey is… well hell, it’s… complicated,” he lamely finished.

  Max and Trenton started laughing at his frustrated tone. He guessed he deserved it with the amount of grief he’d given both of them when they were having relationship issues. It didn’t feel so good being on the receiving end.

  “Are you losing your swagger, little brother? I’ve never seen you crawl before, but it seems to be a constant thing with Kinsey,” Trenton mocked.

  “My swagger is just fine. As a matter of fact, I have a list of available women just waiting by the phone for my call,” he snapped. The thought of calling even one of them left him feeling empty.

  “Yeah, but the one you actually want seems to think you’re about as appealing as salmonella,” Max added.

  “You know, I seem to remember when Cassie had you crawling on your hands and knees, so you’re not one to mock. And before you interrupt, Trenton, Jennifer was making you chase her all over the place,” Austin smugly reminded his brothers.

  They both just flashed goofy grins at him. They were so sickeningly in love, his comments didn’t affect them in the least.

  “Yeah, and look at me now. That unbelievably beautiful woman is mine,” Max said, his chest puffing out. It was more than obvious Max would walk on water for her.

  “Making Jennifer my wife is the best thing I’ve ever done. She and the kids make me realize why dad wanted us to find someone so badly. If you think Kinsey is the one, you need to hold nothing back. Don’t let her get away because, trust me, it will haunt you forever,” Trenton warned.

  Austin sat back and waited while Trenton talked. He knew his brother’s heart was in the right place, but he was sick of people telling him what to do. What was wrong with wanting to just live for the moment? As he saw it, nothing. He liked Kinsey. Big deal. Females came and went. Yes, he wanted to be with her, but not for the rest of his life.

  He grabbed a beer and took a long swallow as Max joined in and said something inaudible. Austin decided he just needed to tune both of them out. Since they’d gotten married, they’d become too sentimental. The thing that scared the living crap out of him was he wasn’t so emphatic in his bachelorhood convictions anymore.

  Another large drink of cool liquid went down his throat. His brothers were messing with his head. He had to get out of there. Maybe he’d better go have a chat with Kinsey. Yes, that seemed like the thing to do.

  “Look, both of you,” Austin finally interrupted, stopping Max mid-sentence. “I don’t know what I’m doing right now, but I like her, okay? It’s not like I’m planning on bedding her at some cheap hotel, then throwing a fifty on her pillow. She’s pig-headed, irrational, over-emotional, and a royal pain in the ass, but for some reason, I can’t quit thinking about her. When I next need your opinion on the status of my dating life, I’ll ask, but for now…”

  “Okay, okay, we get it. Butt out,” Max said, his lips turning up at the corners.

  “Paybacks a bit-” Trenton tried to say.

  “I get it. I’m sorry for all the grief I caused while you were chasing Jennifer,” Austin interrupted.

  “Hey, I wasn’t chasing her. She wanted me,” Trenton said, though they all knew the truth. Jennifer had taken one look at him and ran the other way. Trenton had quickly followed. It seemed all of the brothers had gone from running as fast as they could from anything that even resembled wedding bells, to sprinting down the aisle.

  Was it their age? Was their mortality catching up to them? Austin didn’t even want to think about that. He was only thirty-four, certainly didn’t have one foot in the grave yet. It has to be stress, that’s all, he reasoned with himself.

  One thing he did know for sure, though, was that no matter how irritated he became with his brothers, sister, or even cousins, he would still always love them. He’d also be there for any of them in a heartbeat, so it went to reason that he’d also put up with their ribbing, and their long-winded advice.

  That’s what families did for each other. Take ‘em or leave ‘em.

  “I gotta run,” Austin said as he jumped to his feet. He had to see her, talk to her. He had to be with her again. Then his life would go back to normal.

  Trenton and Max said nothing as he left the room. He was sure they’d start talking about their insane brother as soon as he was out of earshot, though. He didn’t even care.

  Austin made a beeline for the hospital. He looked at the employee parking lot and breathed a sigh of relief when he found her car in its usual place. He knew her shift had ended a half hour ago, but this was her on-call night.

  Since Joseph’s condition was steady and George was home, she was only on call at the hospital two nights a week, though also working five twelve-hour day shifts. Still, it made it difficult to track her down, try and get her alone.

  Austin strode inside and made his way down the quiet hallway. He preferred the hospital late at night. There wasn’t as much chaos as the lights were dimmed, the staff lighter, and the halls quiet.

  He found her room and knocked.

  No answer.

  He knocked again and waited. Still, no answer. He tried the knob and found it unlocked so he peaked inside the incredibly small space.

  A rush of relief filled him when he saw her curled up on the small bed with a book in her hand, a dim reading light illuminating the side of her face. She wore a pair of headphones, probably hoping to drown out any noise from the hallway.

  Expectation.

  Hunger.

  Need.

  They all filled him as his gaze took in her fragile frame. She was wearing her scrubs, but from the look of her damp hair, she must have recently climbed from the shower. He could just smell a hint of mint in the air, making his nostrils flair.

  He didn’t want to desire her, but he couldn’t deny that he did. His body urged him to move forward, while his mind reasoned for him to slow down. He was too involved, too mixed up over her.

  His desire won out.

  He couldn’t tear his gaze from her naturally pink lips, the hint of cleavage barely showing, her shapely legs curled beneath her. He knew what was underneath the unflattering scrubs, and his fingers itched to remove any barrier from their path. Her long, dark hair was resting across her shoulders. He loved it when she wore it down, the thick waves acting like a curtain. He wanted her on top of him, her hair falling forward and rubbing against his chest.

  His body tightened more.

  He stepped inside and closed the door, waiting for her to look up and notice him. When she did, her eyes widened as she clutched at her chest.

  “You startled me,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “Sorry.”

  “My pager hasn’t gone off. Is there something wrong wi
th Joseph?” She looked concerned as she rose from the bed, her book set aside as her instincts took over and she went into nurse mode.

  He was impressed with how quickly she responded. He knew if something were to happen to Joseph, she was the one he’d want to help him. She was good at what she did - she’d already proven that.

  “Joseph’s fine. I wanted to talk to you,” he said as he leaned closer.

  She finally realized they were alone in her private room. She glanced at the closed door behind him and her eyes widened. He waited until she nervously looked back at him, and then he smiled.

  There was desire burning in her eyes, and he knew it wasn’t him she was afraid of. It was herself. Piece by piece, he was tearing apart her self-built walls of protection. She was going to succumb to him. She was finally going to give in to her own desires.

  He knew the waiting had ended.

  ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

  Kinsey looked into the predatory eyes of Austin, feeling like a cornered mouse. She fought the trembling in her body, knowing if she let her guard down even the tiniest notch more, he’d have her on her back.

  She tried telling herself it wasn’t worth it. She was already too used to him, looking for him each time she stepped into a room, listening for the sound of his laughter, wanting him with a burning need.

  If she let him seduce her, she’d be a goner, too attached to let go of him. Their one night together had been fantastic, but their tension filled days had been… too memorable. He was carving a place for himself in her heart, and she couldn’t afford to let him do that.

  “I should go and check on him,” she finally said after an uncomfortably long silence. It was taking all of her wits to remember they were talking about Joseph.

  “I just checked. He’s in good hands right now. Katherine is asleep beside him. You don’t want to disturb her, do you?”

  “Of course not.” But I want to get the heck out of this room before I make a monumental mistake, she silently added.

  “Good. Now, let’s chat,” he said as he took a step forward. She automatically retreated.