Confronted (Beauty And The Billionaire Geek Book 1)

My borrowed designer heels clicked onto the pavement as I descended from the passenger seat of Stacy’s pickup truck. Arriving at a formal event in a beat up, old farm truck didn’t look good, but it couldn’t be helped. I adjusted the borrowed black gown and swept my strawberry blond tresses over my shoulder. 

Stacy trotted around from the driver’s side in a shimmering, silver mini-dress that accentuated her ample curves. Her bleach blond hair curled around her shoulders, making her look like Marilyn Monroe.              

We strutted, arm in arm, down the sidewalk, under the glowing streetlights of downtown Seattle. We’d parked a long way from the Space Needle, and by the time we made it to the elevators of the monument, my feet already hurt.

Lines of well-dressed socialites surged toward the narrow entrance. When we finally had our turn in the elevator, we shot upward a hundred feet to emerge far above the city. The skyline twinkled around us. Stacy gasped at the view, but I took her hand, drawing her toward the entrance to the restaurant. We didn’t have time for gawking. I was already late.

Inside, I stood on my tiptoes looking over the crowd to find Markus. Several of his photographs would be auctioned off tonight, and he wanted me to accompany him for better publicity.

After five years as a top erotic art and fetish model, I shouldn’t be borrowing clothes or arriving in Stacy’s old truck. But I hadn’t made the best choices, with guys in particular.

I spotted Marcus’s crimson dreadlocks and made a beeline for his location with Stacy in tow. We made it to the round banquet table and collapsed into the two empty chairs waiting for us.

“Welcome, darling!” Marcus said in his over animated, high-pitched voice. Marcus had a tendency to overdo it. He had a nice body and face for a man in his mid-forties. His creamy brown skin looked youthful, and his full mouth had a vibrant pink hue. I curved my perfectly lined red lips into a slow smile and winked at him.

“Marcus,” I said, leaning to air kiss his cheek. “When does the auction start?”

“After dinner, Zoe. What’s your rush? Enjoy yourself. Here, have a glass of champagne. On the house.” He laughed. “Well, it’s on William Black really. Remember him girls?”

“Billy?” Stacy said bringing her attention back from staring at the diamond clad crowd.

“William Black has hosted this function since OpenPortal went public two years ago,” said the middle-aged woman across the table. She fingered the silver pearls at her throat and sipped champagne while eyeing Stacy’s cleavage. “His charity organization has done wonders for inner-city youth. Wouldn’t you agree Lorenzo?”

The well-built young Latino to her right wore a youthfully cut tuxedo that accentuated his toned body. He shifted in his chair and flashed his date a smile. “Absolutely, Camille. Entire neighborhoods have been revitalized. It’s done wonders for the underprivileged youth of our city.”

While the rest of the table chatted about William Black’s philanthropic work, my head writhed like a boat tossed at sea, until it spiraled downward and settled like a lump of salt in my stomach. I felt faint and looked at Stacy, who had a massive grin on her face.

I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want him to see me! I had to get out of there. I stood from the table, nearly toppling over the chair behind me. A deep frown dug into my face. Stacy looked up at me. Her dazzling smile turned into an expression of concern.

“Do you need to find the restroom, hun?” she asked, under her breath.

“I have to leave, Stacy. I can’t be here.”

“Oh come on, Zoe. It was a long time ago. Just sit down and enjoy the party. He probably doesn’t remember you anyway.” She shoved a glass of champagne in my face.

Her words stung. How could he not remember me? Of course, William Black had gone on to found a multibillion-dollar company around his revolutionary social media integration website. I was still doing exactly the same thing I was doing five years ago; the very thing that broke us apart. A cold shiver plunged down my spine as I sank back in my chair. I took the glass from Stacy and drank it in one quick gulp.

Marcus laughed from across the table and stood up to pour me another glass. “Our boy’s done well for himself, hasn’t he, Zoe?”

“Why didn’t you tell me who hosted this event, Marcus?”

“I thought you knew,” he said innocently. I glared at him, and he chuckled. “Oh relax, Zoe. No one cares about ancient history.”

The wait staff brought out the first course and set it in front of us. By the time the dessert course arrived, I’d polished off a bottle of champagne myself. With all the Cristal in my system, I felt warm and languid. Being satisfyingly smashed made it easier to face the chance that William Black would see me.

Then I realized that if he did see me, I would be drunk. It didn’t quite register in my mind as I tried to put two and two together. Then the waiter brought me some kind of chocolate mousse thing. It tasted freaking amazing.

As my taste buds exploded with orgasmic glee over the sweet confection, the sound of silverware on crystal tinged through the banquet hall. I looked toward the stage at the head of the room. There he stood. He looked taller and about seven billion dollars richer. Crap. I shielded my face with my hand.

Applause broke out around me. I had no idea what he’d just said. I could only hear the beating of my heart in my ears and my blood as it pulsed through my veins. I needed to get out of there. My lungs felt clenched by my tight dress. I should have left as soon as I heard it was his charity. I scanned the back of the hall for a line of escape.

Dim blue light glowed from the tables, allowing for the 365-degree view of the Seattle night skyline to dominate the room. Maybe I could sneak out through the shadows that lingered near the kitchen door. The cooks wouldn’t mind if I crept through. There had to be some kind of service exit.

I made my plan and bolted from my chair. Just as I took a step toward the kitchen, I heard someone say Marcus’s name through the microphone.
Applause.
I scanned the room, and everyone was looking in my direction. Slowly turning around, I dropped back in my chair.

I didn’t want to look up. Everything in me told me not to, but I did anyway. He stood on the stage staring straight at me. Billy.
Oh Billy.
My heart pounded, and I felt a painful tear threatening to fill my eye. I stared back, defiantly and plastered a look on my face like none of this mattered to me and clapped for Marcus.

They brought the massive framed photographs onto the stage. The black-and-white  studio photos came from a series of shots I’d done last year. Marcus saved these images for limited editions. These were the only prints available, and from an artist like Marcus, they were worth a lot.

Billy, I mean William Black, examined the photographs and said something complementary into the microphone before sitting back down. I couldn’t hear over the sirens wailing in my head. The photos were full nudes. While they weren’t pornographic, they left little to the imagination as far as my body was concerned.

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that I’d wake up from this nightmare. When I opened my eyes, I still sat at the banquet table, wholly mortified. The bidding started. The price skyrocketed.

The final image was of me leaning on my back over a twin sized brass bed, under a window. The curtains fluttered behind me, and goose bumps rose on my pale skin. I’d propped myself up on my elbows and had on nothing but a pair of heeled sandals with my legs slightly apart. I looked melancholy and thoughtful, and sexy as hell.

The bidding went wild, pushing past the bounds of what I made in a good year. I gulped. To my complete horror, William won the bid. My chest burned and acid churned in my stomach. I wanted to vomit. He looked right at me from his table near the stage, clapping and grinning.

I told myself to stay cool. Smile. It wasn’t a big deal. This kind of thing happens all the time, and people get past it. No biggy. Just my ex-boyfriend turned super billionaire bought a naked picture of me in a room full of people. That’s totally normal. I could so handle this.

Everyone turned to look at me, Zoe Parker. I put on a massive practiced smile, showing my teeth up to my guns and waved at the crowd. Someone please shoot me. Just get it over with now.

Finally, the bidding went on to items ranging from antique books to custom motorcycles and other original art pieces by local and international artists.

Apparently, William had a wide influence. And why wouldn’t he? He was the new technology wunderkind, up there with Zuckerberg and Gates. Billy had always been wicked smart. A genius really. But when we were alone together, it seemed as though the entire world melted away and there was only him and me.

Searing pain sliced my heart. No matter how much I denied it all these years; it still hurt. I still loved him. Even after my other boyfriends, it only ever was him. Not that my taste in men had been particularly good since then.

After the auction wound down, and a band set on the banquet stage, I bowed out. I told Marcus I felt drunk and needed to leave. He didn’t want me embarrassing him, and my part had been played in this whole little fiasco. I’d lost Stacy to a handsome stockbroker who worked out as much as she did. I was on my own.

I waded through the crowd, feeling woozy and light headed until I came to the exit that led out onto the balcony wrapped around the Space Needle. Out in the night, the air blew in cool gusts over my bare shoulders. I approached the railing and looked over. Instant vertigo made me draw backward until I found a bench to catch my breath.

“It really is a gorgeous portrait,” said a velvety deep voice. I looked to my right and saw the outline of a man sitting beside me. Cigar smoke wafted through the air around him. I knew that voice. I tried to make sense of things in my addled brain. He leaned toward me, and his face came into the light.
Billy.

“Thanks,” I croaked. “But I thought you didn’t approve of that kind of thing.”

“There is a lot you don’t know about me, Zoe. I’ve changed. And I have you to thank for it.”

“I seriously doubt that.” I felt so light headed. I might have passed out at any moment. I needed to get out of there. The smell of his cigar smoke caused my stomach to twist. Being beside him brought up all the old shame like unburied ghosts. “Well, anyway. Congrats on winning the photo and the multibillion dollar company and all. I’d love to stay and catch up, but I’ve got to go.”

I bolted from the bench and marched toward the elevator. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him sauntering behind me, his smoke wafting in the light breeze. An attendant opened the elevator door, and I climbed in. William stared at me from outside as the door slid shut, a smirking grim plastered on his face under the glaring light.

The image of him burned behind my eyes like some sort of film negative. Every time I blinked, I saw him. I stepped backward until my back rested against the cool wall of the elevator.

When I emerged, on the ground level, I couldn’t remember why I’d run away from William in the first place. He should be running from me. I decided. Stumbling down the damp lawn, my heels poked through the soil. How had I managed to get on the grass? Somehow, I found my way to the pavement and out onto the street.

Shame and repulsion had overtaken the devastating urge to fall into his arms as if nothing bad could ever happen again. I so didn’t want to feel those feelings, even if Billy Black had been my first and only true love.

I stood on the balcony of my high-rise penthouse looking out on the Seattle skyline. Rich Cuban cigar smoke wafted around my manicured hands that lay folded over the railing. A hard thud echoed through the sliding glass doors behind me. I crushed my cigar in a steel ashtray and snapped my head around to shout at the incompetent movers who’d dropped her photograph.