The Billionaire Possession Series: The Complete Boxed Set

by Amelia Wilde

  10

  Levi

  The words aren’t out of her mouth for an instant when Ruby closes her mouth with a sharp click of her teeth, breaking my gaze.

  I am rock hard. I don’t know what possessed her to take it that far, when I was barely scratching the surface of flirting, but she did, and now her face is the picture of embarrassment.

  “I mean—” She tries to walk it back, her shoulders tensing. “You might learn more about me than you bargained for today.”

  I want to reach across the seat and pull her close into me, press my lips against hers, and tell Phillip to keep driving until I’ve had the chance to fuck her until she comes. My grip on my phone is so tight I’m worried it might shatter in my hand, so I put it down on the seat next to me.

  “I’ll try to keep it professional.”

  She takes in a big breath and lets it out slowly, which only serves to make it more obvious how hard her nipples are beneath her bra and tank top. Her hands flutter toward the zipper of the hoodie she’s wearing along with yoga pants that hug her ass so closely that it looks like they were made for her and no other woman on the planet, but she doesn’t zip it.

  “Me too. That—” I freeze, waiting for the next words out of her mouth. “That wasn’t very professional. I’m sorry,” she says.

  “I’m not.”

  She flicks her blue eyes toward me. “I am.” This woman is all over the place. “This is—this is too important to be distracted with…”

  “You’re absolutely right.” There’s no denying that there’s something between us. There is no way she could look me in the eye right now and tell me she doesn’t feel the heat that’s making the back of the town car feel like an inferno. But I have the sense that if I press her now, she’ll go running in the opposite direction. “So, when we get there, where should I start?”

  Ruby looks out the window at the traffic making its way alongside us. “I’d start downstairs. Everything is tagged from the last company I used, so it should give you an idea of what they thought.”

  Then she turns back to me and smiles.

  That’s a good sign.

  Right?

  Ruby is frowning by the time we pull up in front of the house. It’s an incredible piece of architecture, one that could easily be mistaken for a palace. Still, it fits in with the neighborhood, which says more about the people who live here than anything else. If I didn’t want to live in the city, I’d fit right in.

  She gets out of the car without waiting for me or Phillip to open the door and climbs the stairs in front, digging for something in her purse along the way. I catch up in time to watch her shove the keys into the lock and twist them, hard.

  I don’t ask.

  “Here we are.” Her voice has gone cold, and a shiver runs down my spine. “The formal living room is to the left. There are a lot of furniture pieces there.”

  This time, I see everything with new eyes. There are quite a few pieces of furniture that will need a once-over by my appraiser. The previous company did an excellent job of tagging everything, though I disagree with their assessment more than once.

  I make my way through the formal living room and into what seems to be a well-appointed den. “What do you think—”

  I turn to ask Ruby the question, but she’s not there any longer.

  Strange.

  I suppose it would be a little odd to watch someone walk through your childhood home and deciding whether the value on endless price tags were correct, so I keep going. She doesn’t need to be here for this.

  When I walked into her house yesterday morning, I made my offer not realizing how much the house contained. She was right. Negotiation is absolutely necessary.

  It takes an hour to give a cursory glance to most of the things on the first floor, and then I head up to the second. There’s less here, but only slightly. It’s clear that some of the bedrooms are guest rooms and a few were for exclusive use of the family. At the end of one hallway, I open the door, and I know instantly that I’m in what used to be Ruby’s room.

  The first clue is an elaborately painted script of her name. It’s worked into a painting designed to surround a mirror. It looks like some kind of fairytale doorway around the outside of the glass, and at the top, there’s her name, as if it had been chiseled there in the painted stone.

  The second clue is that her scent has settled into the carpet. It’s a pure, clean scent that reminds me of roses.

  There’s almost nothing left in the room—no books or papers or other things, only a four-poster bed and a small matching desk—but I can’t help wishing she was with me now so I could ask her...anything, really.

  Her big windows overlook the sprawling lawn in the back of the property, and when I glance down into the backyard, I see her for the first time since we got here.

  She’s standing at the edge of a flower bed, looking out to where the property slopes down into a wooded area. Her arms are crossed over her chest, her hip cocked to one side, and she’s totally still—all except for her head. She looks left, then right again, watching. Or taking it in—I don’t know which. But if things are really as bad as she says, this entire property might be gone soon after the things inside are.

  That’s when it hits me. No matter how much I want Ruby, it’s unlikely that I’m ever going to get her. She loves this place. She’s breathing it in right now with what I’d expect is a mixture of pain and love, because it’s never going to be hers. Her inheritance is about to be yanked out from under her.

  And I’m going to be the one to do it.

  11

  Ruby

  I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

  I don’t know what the hell I was doing, letting Levi talk to me like that in his car. I don’t know why I ever agreed to ride in his car in the first place.

  By the time we pulled up to the house, I’d made a fool of myself. And now he’s in there with an appraising look in his gray eyes that makes my skin crawl.

  The moment he walked through the door, I could practically see the prices moving rapid-fire through his brain, on everything. It made me remember why I hated him in the first place, and I can’t fathom why I’ve been fantasizing about him since then.

  Because he’s unbelievably hot.

  The thought is a foul one, and I try to push it out of my mind. I fail. It’s true—he is unbelievably gorgeous, like nobody I’ve ever seen, but waking up in the middle of the night and rushing off to retrieve a card I never should have thought twice about is clearly affecting my ability to make good choices. There are any number of people in New York City who could have arranged this entire affair without resorting to being a relentless flirt. Totally unprofessional. Totally unacceptable.

  I stand in the yard for as long as I can, breathing in the freshly cut grass. This time of day is my favorite at my parents’ house. Everything is still and serene, and it’s like something out of a storybook.

  One day, this house was going to be mine. When I was small, I thought of the property in back as my kingdom. And I know it’s stupid and selfish to be distraught about this—my brother barely escaped that accident with his life. I shouldn’t be hung up on the fact that I won’t one day inherit my childhood home. I shouldn’t have taken it for granted, anyway. Nobody I knew in college—all right, very few people—had come from families where something on this scale was an option.

  I take one last deep breath. If I stand out here much longer, I’m going to get a sunburn, and then I’ll look like even more of an idiot.

  Levi is standing at the back door when I turn around, looking at me. I give him a tight-lipped smile, but the sight of him—which was so intoxicating this morning—turns my stomach.

  I go across the grass, and then across the flagstone tiles that make up the wide patio. My parents haven’t put out the awning yet. I’m not sure why—since they’re going to end up selling the house, potential buyers should be able to see it at its best—but maybe they have plans I don’t kno
w about.

  “Do you have everything you need?”

  A smile flickers across Levi’s face, but when he speaks, it’s all business. “I was able to make an initial assessment, yes.”

  I stop several steps away from him, putting a clear distance between us. Any closer, and I might fall into the trap of thinking that a man like Levi could ever become a cornerstone of my life. At the very least, I have to keep him far enough away that I won’t be consumed by the heat generated from every one of his flawless muscles, that tight waist, the powerful arms, the powerful hands...

  Focus.

  “What did you decide?”

  He levels his silvery gaze at me. “You were right. My initial offer was insulting.”

  I smile at him again. I was right to kick him to the curb when he showed up acting like a cocky bastard. I can’t let myself forget that he is that cocky bastard, even if he seems far more harmless while he’s sitting across from me eating pancakes. Of course, he’ll never be harmless. He’s the kind of man who will make you want to straddle him on the nearest bed, and then he’ll take you for all you’re worth.

  “Go on.”

  “Three hundred thousand.”

  That’s a far better offer, but I narrow my eyes. “That’s all?”

  He shakes his head. “No. That’s what I’m willing to pay out now. I expect to find pieces that exceed that value while I’m liquidating the property. If and when I do, I’ll add them to the collection and find buyers that will pay prices you’ll be pleased with.”

  I narrow my eyes. “That’s not how this works.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No.” Shame curdles in my gut. It was easier to face this in the city, when it wasn’t right in front of me, but now that I’m standing here again... “How it works is that you pay, and I take what you can give me. I can’t stand the thought of having people parade through the house again. It makes me sick enough that you’re here.”

  The words rush out of me faster than I can stop them, but Levi doesn’t flinch. He looks at me, his expression neutral. “I can understand that.” He takes in a breath and lets it out again, his shoulders rising and falling underneath his hoodie. I want to take that thing off of him. I should have conducted this conversation from the other end of the patio. “But you’re wrong about...it’s a small thing, really.”

  Jesus. He is relentless with reminding me how much I don’t want him to be here right now, and it’s almost too much for my mind to handle. I want him, and I want him gone. Can both those things even be true at once?

  I guess so.

  “What am I wrong about? Please, enlighten me.”

  “That’s how it would work if I were here as a buyer for an estate sale. That’s not what I’m offering. That’s off the table.”

  My heart drops straight to the flagstones. “What is on the table, then?” It’s a bold question, and I know it, given what I’ve said to Levi.

  “I’m not offering to run an estate sale, or buy out what’s left of the previous sale. I’m offering three hundred thousand against the eventual sale of the pieces here. An estate sale? No.” He scoffs at the thought. “I’m offering to conduct an auction.”

  12

  Levi

  Ruby’s eyes go wide, and the pink in her cheeks deepens to red. “An auction?”

  “Yes.”

  “I thought you were…a collector. A buyer.”

  “With a showroom and a building?” I crack a smile to see what she’ll do. She’s still too surprised to do anything other than stare at me. “No, I do a lot more than collect. I have an auction space in my building, and a showroom for individual pieces I have for sale. I don’t curate everything into the auctions.”

  Ruby furrows her brow, looking down at the tile beneath our feet. It’s warm, the heat collected from the previous days radiating upward, and while she’s thinking I extend her the courtesy of looking around. As I suspected, there’s a pool at the far end of the patio. I’d love to stretch out on a lounge chair right now and watch the light reflect off the waves. It would be far more relaxing than waiting to see what Ruby’s next move is.

  The look on her face when she turned around and came back toward the house was pinched and tight, with none of the heat from in the town car. I don’t know what the hell happened. Maybe she’s embarrassed about what she said, and she thinks the only way to keep this professional is to walk it back by acting cold.

  “The other company—the man I met with never recommended an auction.”

  “That man is not very good at his job. And unless you were ready to contact Sotheby’s, which I suspect you probably weren’t, there was no reason for anyone to suggest it to you. It’s far more work to host an auction.”

  “Then why are you offering to do it?” She looks back into my eyes, her expression overflowing with suspicion. “Why would you want to spend your time on something you’ll make less money from?”

  “How do you know I’ll make less money?”

  “Won’t you make more if I—” She smiles, a bitter laugh on her lips. “If I accept your offer and give you everything?”

  Do I tell her the truth? My heart hammers against my chest as the seconds tick by. I could make up some convoluted story about how it’s possible that because of the aggressive marketing I’ll do for an auction, I may earn more from the seller’s commission, but if she finds the time and the courage to research this further, she’ll know it’s a lie.

  It doesn’t make any sense for me to offer this. And I know it.

  “Yes.”

  Ruby’s mouth drops open an inch. “Then why?”

  The reasons that rush through my mind have nothing to do with making the kind of profit I normally aim for—that I’ve been spending the last near-decade of my life aiming for.

  Again, the truth tumbles out. “Because of the way you looked when I offered you a hundred thousand yesterday.”

  Her eyes flash with anger. Shit. “Because you feel sorry for me?”

  “I don’t feel sorry for you.”

  “Then what the hell?” The red spots high on Ruby’s cheeks darken even more.

  “Does it really matter?” I step closer to her, a single step, and she sucks in her breath. “Does it really matter why I’m offering to do this for you? Isn’t it more important that your parents get the money that they need?”

  Her jaw works. “Of course it is.”

  “Then why put up a fight?”

  “Because...” She looks to the side, bites her lip. When her eyes meet mine again, they’re shining with a layer of tears that she refuses to let fall. “I can’t stand it. I can’t stand the thought of you going through everything here that was supposed to be mine. I especially can’t stand the thought of you doing all this extra work because I—because you pitied me yesterday. Or you thought I was gullible enough to take that offer. Or—” Something changes in her expression. “Are you doing this because it’s a splashier way to make money? Is that it? You want to take revenge on me for not letting you walk away with everything yesterday?”

  I shove down the growing irritation in my chest. Ruby is obviously tired. She’s obviously upset. “I don’t need the money.”

  She narrows her eyes at me. “You don’t?”

  “No. It doesn’t make a difference, at least in this instance, whether I buy it all or help you by arranging an auction. Not to me.”

  Ruby presses her lips together. “Why not?”

  “Ruby, I have all the money I could ever need. My father was a multi-billionaire. I might have undersold his role in the banking industry before, but trust me when I say that he was highly successful. When I turned twenty-one, he gave me the startup money for any business that I wanted, with the caveat that I paid it back to him, with interest. I could have paid him back tens of times by now.”

  I don’t say it. If I’m right about the look on her face, I don’t have to. Of course I’m a billionaire in my own right.

  She’s silent, her eyes wide, so
I keep going. “You need the money, even if you hate it—and even if you hate me for being the one to get it for you.” I straighten my back. “Anyway, I’m not doing this without some strings attached.”

  “What strings?” Her voice is soft, disbelieving.

  “I’m going to need access to this property for the next several weeks.”

  “Why?”

  It comes to me in a flash, the idea fully formed. It’s not conventional at all. The awful truth is that even though Ruby has completely changed her attitude since we got in the car, I still want her badly enough that I’m willing to do anything to stay by her side. Even if that means dragging this out. Even if this means an upfront payment I would never offer anyone else. Even if this means taking all of this into my own hands—something I haven’t done since I founded the business.

  “Because I’m going to handle your family’s estate personally. I’m going to go through this entire house by hand, selecting the items for the auction.”

  “What is wrong with you?” Ruby asks the question with a bewildered look on her face. “If you don’t need the money, I don’t understand why you would…”

  I can’t resist any longer. I step forward and raise both of my hands to her face, tilting her chin up so that she’s looking into my eyes. “I haven’t told you what the catch is yet.”

  Her breaths are shallow, and under my touch her skin is warm, verging on hot. “What’s the catch?”

  “I’m going to need your help.” Her lips part, but she doesn’t push my hands away. “I need you to be here with me, at least some of the time.”

  It’s underhanded as hell, and I know it. I have the seed of an idea in the back of my mind, but the real reason I want her with me is because I can’t get enough of her. And more time together will give me more chances to show her that I’m not the scumbag she seems to think I am. Although....maybe I am, because I’m about to twist the knife.