Reuniting with the Billionaire

by Lori Ryan

  Andrew stepped out into the entry.

  “Hi, sweetheart,” he said as he stepped up and put an arm around Jill. He felt her jump in surprise. “Who’s this?”

  The asshole at the door looked every bit as surprised as Jill to see him in the house.

  “Um, uh,” stammered Jill.

  Andrew smiled at her, amused by the stunned look on her face. He was enjoying this way more than he should be.

  He stuck out his hand to the ex standing on the doorstep. “Hi. I’m Andrew. You must be Jason. Wait, that’s not right, John? Jarrod? What’s his name, honey?” Andrew asked, turning back to look at Jill, who now appeared to understand his game plan.

  “Jake. I’m her husband,” Jake said.

  Jill gasped audibly at the description and Andrew’s amusement went out the window.

  “I think you mean ex-husband. And I think Jill asked you to leave.”

  Andrew pulled her closer to him, snuggling her body against his as he kept his gaze firmly on Jake. The man looked like he might argue for a second or two but then backed down.

  “Fine. Jill, I’ll talk to you soon,” Jake said tightly as he turned on his heel and walked down the front steps.

  Andrew slammed the door with a little more force than was probably necessary but it felt really good. Turning Jill in his arms, he studied her face. She still wore the same stunned, confused look. Damn, she felt so good in his arms. So right pressed up against his body.

  “Sorry, I probably should have let you handle that. It just didn’t sound like he was gonna leave any time soon and your eggs were burning,” Andrew said.

  Fuck he probably shouldn’t have presumed to jump in there and handle that for her. He was almost as big a dick as her ex. She was handling it and he should have let her do that. Should have respected her.

  But why should she have to handle everything on her own when he was there to support her?

  He couldn’t seem to let Jill go. The bewildered look on her face was just too damn cute.

  “My eggs? Oh! My eggs. Oh, crap!” She broke out of his hold and rushed back to the kitchen, leaving Andrew with a disturbingly empty feeling where she’d been.

  He walked into the kitchen to find Jill dumping eggs in the garbage can.

  “I hate that he still gets me flustered. But, what the hell is he doing showing up this early in the morning, unannounced, now that I live forty minutes away from him. Who does that?”

  She looked up at Andrew as if she expected him to be able to explain her ex’s behavior.

  “You handled him just fine. You stood your ground and told him to go away. I wouldn’t call that flustered.” Andrew watched as Rev tried to get into the garbage can for the trashed eggs.

  “I tell him that every time he comes around. So far, the words are completely ineffective.”

  Andrew watched her crack more eggs into a bowl and begin to scramble them as he tried to figure out how to ask his next question.

  “When you say he doesn’t listen, you don’t mean... I mean, he doesn't ever force his way in, does he?” He could feel the tightness in his jaw as he asked the question. He clenched his fists at his sides, holding his breath as he waited for Jill to answer.

  She busied her hands with cooking the eggs as he waited and tried not to let his fury at the thought of her ex-husband pushing his way in, or worse, show.

  “No, no. Nothing like that. He just doesn’t listen, you know? What I don’t get is why he keeps coming around. He’s the one who left.” Jill gestured Andrew toward the kitchen island as she slid scrambled eggs onto two plates. “Here, you earned breakfast.”

  She smiled and pulled two pieces of toast from the toaster, buttering them and placing one on her plate and one on Andrew’s.

  He was quiet for a minute while he thought about Jill’s question.

  “Only two reasons he’d keep coming around,” he said slowly. “Either he really is an arrogant ass who thinks you can’t live without him or he still wants to sleep with you.”

  Her head shot up. “What? No! I mean, no. He’s...he left me. He’s living with his mistress. He doesn’t want... I mean, we don’t. He’s not...”

  He laughed. “Okay, then he’s an arrogant ass who thinks you can’t live without him.”

  Jill frowned at her eggs. “Well, yes. Actually, that sounds exactly like him.”

  They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence. Jill seemed to be a million miles away and Andrew was busy having a little internal conversation with his dick about its reaction to Jill in her pajamas.

  She wore men’s pajama bottoms and a thin cami top that beautifully outlined the round curve of her breasts and hard peaks of her nipples.

  If Andrew expected to keep his head around his tempting new friend, he really had to stop coming around first thing in the morning. Jill in pajamas with her hair mussed from sleep was way too tempting.

  Andrew walked into Jack’s office for their morning meeting and found Chad and Jack were already there drinking coffee, waiting for him.

  “Sorry, guys. Got a late start this morning,” he said as he picked up the coffee that waited for him in front of his usual chair.

  “No problem. We don’t have much to go over today. A few details for the investors we have coming in and someone who’s looking for a spot on your team, Andrew. Chad, you have anything else to go over?”

  “Just a few employee raises,” Chad said. This earned him puzzled looks from Jack and Andrew.

  “We don’t need to review raises for your people. We never have before,” Andrew said.

  He watched Chad squirm, not something you normally see from a guy like Chad, and instantly Andrew knew this had something to do with Jennie.

  Chad was head over heels in love with Jennie, but she reported to Chad. In Chad’s mind, that meant she was off limits. It also made him anal about being objective where she was concerned.

  “One of them is Jennie’s. I want you guys to review and approve all of the raises so there’s no question about... Well, you know,” Chad finished, trying to act casual about his nervousness where Jennie was concerned.

  “Aw, look at the big guy, Jack. He’s growing up so fast…all hot for a girl,” Andrew said with fake wistfulness and a big grin.

  “He’s not our little boy anymore,” Jack said.

  Chad was two years younger than Jack and Andrew and they never tired of reminding him.

  “Very funny, guys. Just review the damn raises,” Chad said and tossed a stack of papers on Jack’s desk.

  It only took a minute for Andrew and Jack to review the raises. Chad had been meticulous when it came to his supervisory role of Jennie. He never touched her, never treated her differently than any other employee, and it was no surprise that he had clearly documented the grounds for giving a raise to each of the three employees in question, including Jennie.

  “Looks good to me, Chad,” Andrew said and Jack echoed his approval.

  “You know, Chad, there isn’t technically any non-fraternization policy at Sutton. You can date Jennie if you want. I mean, I’m not saying I want you to run out and date just anyone in your division, but we both know Jennie’s not just anyone. And, we can file a mutual consent form with human resources for the record. Maybe it’s time for you to see where this goes,” Jack said.

  “Not happening. Next topic.” Chad’s tone left no room for discussion.

  Andrew shrugged at Jack in a silent agreement to drop the topic for now. This had been going on for months and clearly Chad was still hoping his feelings would go away with time.

  Andrew would normally have agreed with that plan, but he had to wonder if his feelings for Jill would diminish with time. When she was ready to start dating again now that her divorce was final, would he be okay with watching her date other men?

  A big, “Hell, fucking no!” was what came to mind at that thought. And he didn’t think time would do anything to dull that response.

  “All right, here’s the agenda for the inves
tors from New York. They’ll be here for two days and we’re packing a lot in with them. Any questions on the packets you got on the agenda for the visit earlier?” Jack asked.

  Chad and Andrew glanced through the sheet Jack handed them and both shook their heads.

  “Okay, last item,” Jack said. “Andrew, there’s an administrative assistant in legal who requested a transfer over to financial. Uh…” Jack looked down at his notes. “Theresa Martin. She gets good reports, seems to do her work, but she doesn’t have any particular legal training so there’s really no reason for us to keep her in legal if she’d rather join finance. Do you have anything open?”

  “I might. Jason and Katelyn have been sharing an assistant for a while because neither had a full workload. They’re getting to the point where they need more support. I’ll double check and get back to you later today,” Andrew answered, jotting a note to himself.

  He was still busy catching up on everything he’d missed while he was out and was impressed with how much Jason and Katelyn had handled on their own. He might let them keep some of the added responsibilities they’d taken on.

  “That’s it, then,” Jack said, standing.

  For the next two days, by the time Andrew pulled himself in late at night, he was exhausted so it made resisting Jill a little easier. He kept telling himself it was better if he didn’t go see her. It would make keeping whatever this thing was between them at bay.

  By the third day, work had eased up and he couldn’t stay away any longer. He missed her.

  The last time that had happened was with Blair but he shoved away the reminder. Things with Jill were different. They were friends and friends checked on each other from time to time, didn’t they?

  He should go make sure her ex hadn’t come back around.

  Before going to work he cut through the backyards to see if she was awake. As he walked up to the back door of Jill’s house, he could see her sipping a cup of coffee and reading something on her laptop at her kitchen island. He tapped on the door and let himself in when she waved in response.

  “Hi.” Jill greeted him with a genuine smile and he felt himself smile back.

  “Hey, stranger. Wanted to see if you felt like getting together tonight.” He raised his hands in a gesture of goodwill. “Just as friends. I promise. We sent our investors back to New York this afternoon so I’ve got nothing going on and I could use a break.”

  Not that I should be taking that break with you, but I’m a glutton for fucking punishment, apparently.

  Jill nodded, but he noticed a wary light in her eye. He would bet she was also thinking through the consequences of the two of them spending more time together.

  Jill got up to get a cup of coffee for Andrew and appeared to make a decision.

  “Okay. I could use a break, too. I’ve been knee deep in the website for the past few days and now it’s all up to the designers to finish their end of things before we go live.”

  “Pick you up at seven and we’ll go out to dinner?” He took the cup of coffee, using the gesture as an excuse to let his fingers brush along Jill’s.

  Warm. Just like he knew she’d feel.

  He knew taking Jill to a restaurant was too much like a date but staying in seemed too dangerous. At least in public, he couldn’t strip her clothes off and use his mouth to see how many times he could make her come.

  Fuck.

  Needing a distraction, Andrew bent to Rev and rubbed the dog’s belly. The curly-haired monkey rolled over and stretched, reveling in the touch and Andrew had to grin as he gave him a few extra scratches.

  “Sounds perfect,” Jill said.

  “Great, I’ll see you tonight,” he said.

  Andrew slipped back out the door and cut back through the yards to Nora’s house.

  The whole way, he told himself he was playing with fire by seeing Jill this way, but he didn’t have the strength to resist.

  Jill watched Andrew as he jogged through the backyards to go back to his grandmother’s house.

  Oh, what a pair of jeans did for that man’s ass. It should be a crime to look that good.

  She couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy, because she already knew they shouldn’t get as close as they were. It was one thing to spend time with a group of friends together. Tonight would feel more like a date.

  She sighed. She’d just have to keep reminding herself that Andrew was only a friend. And that he could only ever be a friend. Simple in plan, but tough in execution when every second around Andrew was compelling torture.

  When he looked at her, she felt flames run through her body. When he brushed her arm or touched her in a casual, friendly way, her body burst to life and a needy ache burned in her core. And so far, Jill couldn’t figure out how to stop her response.

  She knelt down and threaded her fingers through the curly hair of Rev’s side, scratching him as she shared her secret worries with him, in the face of his unconditional love. Dogs were the best.

  “I think I may be in over my head, baby. Mommy might get hurt when this is over.”

  Rev raised his head and looked at her.

  She lowered her voice to a whisper to answer his unspoken question. “I think I might really like him. As in ‘like him’ like him, you know?”

  Rev laid his head on his paws and stared up at her with big brown eyes that held no answers for her. She sighed and stood and shook her head at the dog before she crossed the room to the treat cabinet.

  “All right, how about a Laughing Puppers Biscuit since you don’t seem to have any answers for me, little man?”

  Rev jumped up at the name of his favorite treat and offered her a prim and proper sit. Rev was wearing his most innocent look and had straightened himself into his best form to try to win more than one cookie.

  The dog knew how to work her.

  “You don’t fool me,” Jill said wryly as she handed him his treat. “I know you’re a devil dog.” She paused and watched Rev gobble up the treat. “But you like him, too, huh?”

  Chapter Twelve

  “How does Italian sound?” Andrew asked Jill as they walked to his car.

  Jill was appalled to hear her stomach grumble loudly at the mention of Italian food. Andrew turned and threw her a grin.

  “Guess that’s a ‘yes’?”

  “Sorry. I forgot lunch and breakfast was pretty small.” She blushed. “I tend to get sucked into my work.”

  She buckled her seatbelt as he steered the car down the drive, pausing at the end before turning onto the road.

  “Well, we can fix that. There’s a small family-owned place that Nora used to take me to when I was younger. Best gnocchi you’ve ever tasted. It just melts in your mouth, and the sauce... You’ll dream about the sauce for weeks.”

  Andrew sounded positively wistful as he described the restaurant and Jill knew right away he was talking about Nonna Alda’s.

  “I haven’t been to Nonna Alda’s in years!” Her stomach grumbled again. “Oh, the homemade bread. I can’t wait for the bread.”

  He laughed. “Your grandparents took you?”

  “At least once every visit. I’m surprised I haven’t thought of it since I got back.”

  Andrew pulled into the parking lot of the small restaurant. She felt the hot wave of attraction she had come to expect when he placed his hand on the small of her back to walk her into the restaurant. It began at her back, but spread through her whole body, curling her toes.

  “Andrew!” A small woman with grey-streaked black hair tied in a braid opened her arms for a hug and kiss. “Joseph, come. Andrew is here.”

  A very robust man came out of the kitchen and Andrew and Jill were quickly engulfed in hugs and kisses.

  The quartet spent a few minutes catching up before Alda showed them to a small booth in a corner. The cozy fireplace near the booth cast a gentle glow on the table.

  Jill opened the menu and tried to ignore the lingering feeling she was on a date. She reminded herself repeatedly that Andrew wa
s gregarious and charming with all of his friends. She just needed to ignore the feeling that his attention was all for her. Only for her.

  This is not a date. This is not a date. This is not a date. Sigh.

  Her chant was having little effect on the date-like atmosphere that hung over their table.

  “What are you getting?” she asked him.

  “Definitely the gnocchi. Should probably try something else but I can never resist it. What about you?”

  “I don’t know. I’m torn between the gnocchi and the lasagna. I don’t know which one I want more,” Jill said and then watched as a grin took over Andrew’s handsome face.

  “I have a great idea. Get both. I’ll get two things, too. That way, I’ll be trying something new but still have my gnocchi and you get exactly what you want, too,” he announced.

  Andrew looked like he was completely serious. Most people would suggest sharing two entrées, but he was suggesting an enormous buffet instead.

  “I can’t do that!” She shook her head. “I can’t eat two meals.”

  “Why not? Who says you’re only allowed to have one entrée? I don’t remember there being any rules. We’ll get appetizers and two entrées each, and we’ll get dessert,” he said as he waved down their waiter. “We’ll just take home whatever we don’t eat.”

  As Jill looked on laughing, he proceeded to order an enormous amount of food and a bottle of Chianti.

  “You’re crazy.” She laughed as she said the words. This man was so different than anyone she’d been with in the past.

  It was a dangerous thought. She wasn’t with him.

  He raised a shoulder in an easy shrug. “So, I’ll bring a movie over tomorrow night and we’ll gorge on leftovers.”

  Jill’s mind immediately flashed to images of the two of them in her house drinking wine. A great deal of wine. At night. Alone.

  Her mouth was suddenly dry and her palms began to sweat. How on earth would she resist the pull of Andrew Weston if they were alone? Resisting him was harder and harder, even tonight, with people around them.