Seven-frickin’-thirty. Gen was often in the office by that time, but she wasn’t usually conscious yet.
When they parted in the kitchen for the night, Arthur held out his hand for their ardent handshake, as usual. She grabbed his hand to shake on it, but he paused, the slightly drunken merriness leaving his silver eyes.
While he held Gen’s hand, he tugged her and enclosed her in his arms.
Her bones locked up, but his arms and body wrapped her snugly in a warm cocoon. He smoothed her arms around him.
Gen grabbed Arthur around his muscular waist and hung on. Yeah, being so tightly pinned against him freaked her out a little, but it was Arthur, not just some guy. Arthur wouldn’t hurt her.
Well, not unless they had talked about it ahead of time and she was into it, evidently.
She almost giggled. It came out as a hiccup.
Near her ear, Arthur whispered, “If you ever want to sleep in a bed, sleep in mine.”
His voice was tight, practically strangled in his throat.
“Arthur?” she asked, leaning back to look at him.
His silvery-blue eyes had turned steely, so serious. “I don’t want to let you go tonight, but what are we going to do, sleep here on the kitchen counter?”
“Yeah, no. That granite gets pretty cold on the bare tushie,” she said.
Hey, it was true.
He chuckled, but he stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “I’m serious, though. If you can, when you can, just walk in. I’ll be waiting.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Arthur cradled her head in his hand. “This is difficult for me because I’m British. We don’t discuss such things.”
“Yeah, y’all have really pretty, shiny boxes around your hearts,” Gen said. She snuggled more deeply into his arms “I don’t know how y’all ever have children.”
Arthur said, “But I think we’ve gotten to be friends, good friends. Haven’t we, Gen?”
Her head ducked. Evidently, she’d gotten British enough to feel the weirdness creeping up. “Um, yeah? I think so?”
He stroked her arm, his large palm warming her shoulder and down to her elbow. “And now we’re more than friends.”
“Friends with benefits, I guess.”
He was still stroking her arm. “Yes, I suppose you could call us that.”
Us.
The word shook Gen.
The casual way that he had used it suggested so much. He had been thinking about the two of them as an us. There was an us to think about.
Us meant more than friends.
She asked, “What would you call—what we are?”
He adjusted his arms around her, holding her more tightly to his chest. “I would call us—”
Gen waited. He was staring at the ceiling, his eyes open.
“—I would introduce you as ‘my very close friend.’”
She tightened her arms around his neck. To the British, that essentially meant that she was invited to Christmas supper.
“Would you be all right with that?” he asked.
“You’re already introducing me like that,” Gen said, forcing the words through her clenching throat, “because I’m posing as your girlfriend.”
“Yes, but what if I meant it?”
Gen found his hand and twined her fingers in his. Holding his hand this way, palm to palm, felt more intimate than just his arms around her. She said, “Then I’d say it and mean it, too.”
He tilted her chin up and kissed her, a long, slow kiss that melted her all the way down to her toes.
His arms loosened around her. “Good night, pet.”
“Good night.” She paused. “Okay, I did some reading. You call me pet, but I’m supposed to call you something, right?”
Arthur shrugged. “Since it’s not a true Dom and sub relationship, we don’t have to go that far.”
“But most people do, right?”
He raised one dark eyebrow. “Some people use Sir. Or Master.”
She looked away. Those were both so staid and had weird historical overtones for an American. “Yeah?”
He tilted his head. “I liked it when you called me ‘my lord.’”
“Yeah, you would,” she snarked.
“If we lose the case, you’ll be the only person who calls me that ever again.”
She laughed. “You’d better be careful. You’re going to give me an incentive to lose the case.”
“If you asked to be my sub, it would be worth it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Might be worth losing your earldom, your private plane, and Spencer House?”
He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I suppose you wouldn’t be interested in me without all those things, anyway.”
She couldn’t let that go unanswered. “Arthur, I’m your friend. We are friends. Very close friends. After this case is over, no matter how it ends, no matter what we do, I’ll still be your friend. Never doubt that.”
He nodded. “I didn’t mean it that way. No one would be interested in me if I lose everything. None of these charities would reserve tickets for me if I were not able to afford to drop tens of thousands of pounds for an evening’s amusements. Certain friends would doubtlessly find me no longer useful.”
“That’s sad, Arthur. You shouldn’t hang around fake people like that.” She held his upper arms. “You shouldn’t let people like that use you.”
“I am of use to them for my connections. I can call certain people on the phone—”
Like a freaking prince.
“—or see them at events—”
Like High Court judges whom he called by their first names or any of the countless Lords and Duchesses and Baronets and Ladies that Arthur had introduced her to at the charity balls.
“—and it’s the right thing to do. It’s important to me, Gen.”
“Schmoozing?”
“Not a particularly charitable description of what I do, but yes.”
She stroked his arm. “Then we have to make sure that you can keep doing that. We have an early meeting with Octavia tomorrow morning to ensure it, and then we have to plan how to schmooze all those people on the House of Lords committee to make sure they vote the right way.”
“It will be quite the strategic operation,” he agreed.
“Let’s get some shut-eye so that we’re as fresh as rattlesnakes tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “A most excellent proposition.”
“Nah,” Gen said. “A most excellent proposition would mean that you wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.”
She left him in the kitchen, grinning and shaking his head.
NEEDED
Arthur was just turning in for the night, alone in his big bed except for Ruckus, who lay balls-up near the footboard and was already snoring.
He glanced at the pillow on the other side and considered what it would be like if Gen were sleeping there, her dark hair spread across his pillow.
Of course, he imagined her soft skin naked in his bed, the sheets molding to her curves as she rolled over, warm and sleepy, next to him.
If he were going to imagine it, he might as well make it a good fantasy.
His phone buzzed on his nightstand, and the screen said that the number was unidentified.
He sighed and picked up the phone. “Yes?”
Elizabeth’s rough voice said, “You’re needed.”
Damn. “Where?”
“Geneva.”
He groaned. “Don’t make the dead drop on a stripper’s ass this time. It’s not funny anymore.”
“You’ll be informed where to go when you get there. Call the usual number.” The phone clicked as she hung up.
Arthur sighed and considered whether he should punch the wall or his phone.
He called Pippa. “Sorry. Late-night jaunt to the airport. I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” He hung up.
Yes, it was better that Gen had a separate bedroom so Arthur didn’t have to explain where he jetted off to at a moment’
s notice in the middle of the night.
Ah, there it was, the secrecy that poisoned all his relationships.
It was better they didn’t know. It truly was. After the inevitable breakup, there were no problems with retribution in the form of exposure.
And the break-up was inevitable, even with Gen.
His other life, the secrecy and walls, would eventually drive her away. He’d already warned her.
Arthur swung his feet off the side of the bed.
Time to save England.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Arthur’s not done yet.
When you need a stiff drink, it had better be hard liquor.
Click here to see
Hard Liquor (Runaway Billionaires #3, Arthur Duet, Part 2)
on Amazon.
Trial lawyer Gen has managed to corral that randy colt His Lordship Arthur Finch-Hatten, the Earl of Severn, at least as far as anyone knows. In public, he seems to be behaving himself, but she’s kind of gotten involved with her client in a way that the Bar’s Ethics Committee would totally not approve of. With Arthur’s impending trial in the House of Lords and the constant backstabbing in her law office, the last thing Gen needs is for Arthur to whisk her off to Paris for the social wedding of the century to schmooze the people who will decide his fate.
Gen has broken all the rules, and she could very well end up with a broken heart.
She needs a stiff drink, and it had better be hard liquor.
Click here to see
Hard Liquor (Runaway Billionaires #3, Arthur Duet, Part 2)
on Amazon.
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BILLIONAIRES IN DISGUISE SERIES
READING ORDER
Working Stiff (Runaway Billionaires #1, Casimir)
Stiff Drink (Runaway Billionaires #2, Arthur Duet, Part 1)
Hard Liquor (Runaway Billionaires #3, Arthur Duet, Part 2)
Rae Falling (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae) (The first, free part of Billionaires in Disguise: Rae) ~FREE!
Billionaires in Disguise: Rae, Complete Omnibus Edition (includes “Rae Falling”)
An Extravagant Proposal (Billionaires in Disguise: Charley) (A Side Story for Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
Falling Hard (Billionaires in Disguise, Lizzy #1) - FREE!
Playing Rough (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #2)
Breaking Rules (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #3)
Burning Bright (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #4)
“Alwaysland” (A Prequel to Rock Stars in Disguise:Xan)
What A Girl Wants (Rock Stars in Disguise: Rhiannon)
Somebody to Love (Rock Stars in Disguise: Tryp)
Every Breath You Take (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie / Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #1) - FREE!
Wild Thing (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #2)
“Skiing in June, A Rae and Wulf Epilogue #1” (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
“Kidnapped, A Rae and Wulf Epilogue #2” (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
“Rae and Wulf: At the Hospital” (Interval scenes available only to newsletter subscribers. Sign up here and get it immediately for FREE: CLICK HERE or type “http://smarturl.it/Babylon-Email” into your browser.)
Lay Your Hands On Me (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #3)
Nothing Else Matters (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, #4)
“Montreux, A Rae and Wulf Epilogue #3” (Billionaires in Disguise: Rae)
The Rock Star’s Secret Baby (Rock Stars in Disguise: Cadell)
“Dream On” (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and Rock Stars in Disguise: Xan, Epilogue #1)
Runaway Princess Bride (Billionaires in Disguise: Flicka)
Stiff Competition (Runaway Billionaires #4, Maxence)
You don’t have to read everything perfectly in this order. I try to recap or make books as standalone as possible. The mini-series within this overall list, such as the Lizzy books or the Georgie books, should be read in order. ~BB
Also, just so you know what you’re getting up there, novel-length books are in italics, like this, but “short forms,” like short stories and novellas, are in “quotation marks.”
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COPYRIGHT AND NOTICES
Copyright 2017 by Malachite Publishing LLC
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s wild and naughty imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission from the author or publisher.
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