“Okay!” Abby flicked a few drops of ice water at Becca’s face, trying to cool her down. “I get the picture.”
“I don’t think you do. Look at this man.” She turned the paper so that Abby could get a better look. “Cole Kerrigan, I would let you do such dirty things to me.”
Cole Kerrigan? Abby thought, her heart beating faster.
“What did you say?” Just the mention of his name made Abby forget her manners, and she grabbed the paper from Becca and examined it closer than she probably should have. It was him. Most of the country knew him as a 29-year-old billionaire and the city’s most eligible bachelor. And even though he was those things, Abby couldn’t help but see him as a little something more: the object of her out-of-control lust and a Grade A pain in her ass.
You see, Cole Kerrigan was her boss.
She had been working as his assistant at Kerrigan Corp. for six months, and had wanted him ever since she walked through the door for her interview. Cole made it difficult for her to like him most of the time, but it was never difficult to think about what he would look like half-naked. Thanks to Becca’s obsession with gossip and the photographers at The City Whisper, Abby didn’t have to imagine anymore.
Paparazzi, blessed be thy name.
Looking at his picture made him seem more unattainable than ever. If the size of his bank account didn’t make his life completely unfair already, he had to be gorgeous, too. Rich and gorgeous men didn’t usually go for women like Abby. At least not according to her. She wasn’t ugly, that’s for sure. She was pretty in that plain, girl-next-door kind of way. With wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, and a fairly average body, she thought she was the kind of girl that a guy hit on in high school while he was lifeguarding for the summer, then quickly forgot about once he went off to college and realized that there was a whole world full of blondes and redheads to be had.
Cole had perfectly tanned skin and chestnut hair that Abby dreamed about running her fingers through. Clear, bluish-green eyes, like the water on an island shore. Most of the female population of the Eastern seaboard had a thing for him, and Abby certainly couldn’t blame them, although she might’ve been able to put an end to those crushes by arranging for those lovelorn women to spend one day doing her job. She dealt with constant pressure, work that was never good enough, and nightly phone calls regarding all kinds of “emergencies” that just had to be tended to when all Abby really wanted to do was get some damn sleep. Sleep during which Abby would inevitably dream about Cole doing all the things to her that Becca just described.
Abby had only seen Cole shirtless once, and that vision fueled all the aforementioned dreaming. That day, she walked into his office to have him sign a few contracts, and he was changing into his gym clothes. Abby stood there, mouth agape, and Cole said nothing. He just looked at her with humor in his eyes and his lips quirked up into a smile because he knew she was appreciating the view.
He was correct.
“See, you know what I mean now, don’t you?” Becca shoved a forkful of lettuce into her mouth. Truth be told, Abby had completely forgotten that Becca was even sitting there while she was dreaming about Cole’s half-nakedness. At that point, Abby was kind of wishing she was alone.
Fortunately she had signed a non-disclosure agreement when she started working for Kerrigan Corp. No one in Abby’s life knew that she worked for Cole, not even Becca. Especially not Becca.
“Yeah, yeah,” Abby replied, examining the picture.
Cole had just climbed out of a pool, dripping wet, dark swim trunks clinging to his muscular thighs. Beads of water glistened on his chest and in the shallow valleys of his perfectly shaped abs. His hair was flung haphazardly across his forehead, like he’d shaken his head when he stepped out of the water. He was smiling in the photo, something he rarely did at work, and Abby would’ve given anything to know who he was smiling at. She was jealous of that woman already. Given Cole’s reputation, Abby was certain that it was a woman.
The smile lit up his eyes and carved out a cute dimple in his cheek. Abby never had the chance to really look at Cole without worrying that he’d catch her staring. She was so fixated on him that it took her a while to realize that there was someone else in the corner of the picture. The someone Cole was smiling at, who was conveniently not named in the caption.
“Who is this?” Abby turned the paper toward Becca and pointed at the woman with the long blonde hair in the skimpy white bikini. She looked like she was having a blast, and never in her entire life had Abby been so irrationally jealous of another human being.
Cole’s level of beauty usually attracted the same level of beauty. Models, actresses, people you only saw in magazines. Girls like Abby—short ones with unruly hair and a need for concealer—were usually the ones Cole asked to arrange romantic weekend getaways in Paris, not the ones he asked to go with him.
“I think that’s a model. Her name is Kalia or something,” Becca replied, sounding half as interested as she did earlier. She had an incredibly short attention span.
“Kalia what?”
“I don’t know, she just goes by one name.”
“Can you imagine the kind of confidence you have to have to go by one name?”
Becca shrugged. “If you looked like that, you’d have confidence too.”
“Maybe she just has a horrible last name. Like…Funderbunk.”
Becca looked at Abby, her brown eyes full of sympathy as she reached over and patted Abby’s hand. “If that makes you feel better, sweetie.”
For a moment, it did.
* * *
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About the Author
Cassie Cross is a Maryland native and a romantic at heart, who lives outside of Baltimore with her two dogs and a closet full of shoes. Cassie's fondness for swoon-worthy men and strong women are the inspiration for most of her stories, and when she's not busy writing a book, you’ll probably find her eating takeout and indulging in her love of 80's sitcoms.
Cassie loves hearing from her readers, so please follow her on Twitter or leave a review for this book on the site you purchased it from. Thank you!
www.cassiecross.com
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One Night With The Billionaire Too Page 17