Greene's Riches (A Billionaire Romance - Vol. 2) (2 page)

He hugged her there in the middle of the walkway and they were quiet. She noticed just before closing her eyes and smelling his scent that they had attracted the gaze of several people during the altercation. She hoped that when she opened her eyes again they would have moved on.

She pulled away, smiling slightly up at him. “I’ve just never seen the Brandon that was here today. We really have been done for months. And I loved him back then. But he was not the same person today. In some ways, he has changed for the better, I guess, but the Brandon I knew would never have said something like that to me.” She paused. “And I don’t love that you hit him, but thank you.”

“What do you mean?” Richard asked, alarmed.

“I’m just surprised, I think. I just never would have expected you to hit him. I guess he deserved it, but—“

“Alexis,” he interrupted. “He did deserve it. As long as I am around, no one will talk to you that way. It may not have been right to him, and it was honestly unlike me, but there’s no question of whether or not he deserved it.”

In that moment, the bizarre instances of the day quieted in her mind and all she wanted to do was be alone with this man. She kissed him, holding him tightly, as she let go internally. Afterwards, he held her for a while, as they still stood in the same place on the sidewalk.

As they made their way back to her hotel, she told Richard more about her relationship with Brandon and how ending it had changed her. She told him about how she had really ended up traveling through Europe; her work had not initiated this plan, it was her idea to be a traveling journalist so that she could actually just get away and see the world like she had always wanted to. She explained that she had been bored with Brandon, and that before things got way too serious she had decided to end things with him. He listened intently as they walked hand-in-hand and she opened up to him.

“But now you know so much about me, and I still barely know anything about you.” She said, looking over at him. He grinned slightly, but remained serious. “For example, how is it that I’m seeing you before Paris? I thought you were busy all week. The note said, ‘See you for Paris,’ remember?” She questioned lightly after such an intense conversation. She thought he seemed relieved.

“I was worried you would run off with another man if I made you wait too long. Looks like I was right to worry,” he said, smiling.

She sighed over-emphatically, looking at her wrist as if there were a watch there. “Well, you’ve already ruined the next three long, exhausting talks I was supposed to have with my other crazy exes. Now I’m out of men to run off with.”

He squinted his eyes at her. “Very funny. I’m not as worried about the men of the past as I am of the men of the present. You’d be surprised how few women are intellectually worth talking to and traveling alone and drop-dead gorgeous. You seem to have created a category of your own.”

She felt her face begin to flush at his complement, and before she could brush it off with a witty comment as she so often tried to, he changed the subject.

*****

“So, where shall we dine, my dear?”

She laughed at his eloquence. “I don’t know, good sir. What did you have in mind?” She had thought they were on their way back to her hotel, but now that he mentioned food she realized she was starving. It had been a long time since breakfast.

“Let’s see. There’s a nice little Indian place a few blocks from here. How’s that sound?”

After sharing a variety of spiced and curried dishes that Alexis would have never ventured to try on her own, or been able to afford, she noted, Logan pulled up to the curb outside the restaurant. Richard held open the door for her, letting his driver off his normal duties.

Once they were both in the back of the car, Alexis reached for Richard’s hand, taking some initiative of her own this time. He looked up and smiled at her as he felt her touch. This seemed to spark a new excitement between them.

“I don’t know what you have done to me, Alexis Black.” Richard began, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. “You’ve got me skipping out on business meetings, ignoring calls, hitting people. If you keep this up, I’ll go broke.”

She laughed loudly before she could stop herself. “That’s a good one. I think America really would lose hope in its economy if it got out that Richard Greene went bankrupt,” she said jokingly.

“Maybe he thought it was more important to pursue other interests,” he said, grinning the grin that made her melt.

Before she could respond, he had leaned in to kiss her. She felt his warm hand on the side of her neck and his soft tongue play lightly with hers. Everything he did felt exactly right to her.

She boldly sucked his lip, biting softly every now and then as they kissed without shame in the back of the car. Richard sighed longingly once as her hand traveled down the front of his blue button-down shirt to the top of his belt. She almost felt satisfied just to have heard him make such an enticing sound, but just almost. Logan was very good at keeping his eyes on the road, she thought.

Too soon, they had reached her hotel once more. Before she could invite him up to her room, Richard explained that he actually must attend meetings and catch up on some phone calls for the rest of the afternoon. He promised her that he would try to see her one night during the week before their trip to Paris.

“I doubt I can stay away from you for too long,” he whispered in her ear seductively as they embraced and kissed one last time before parting.

“I sure hope not,” she answered back, still tense with excitement from their ride.

Richard winked, grinning just enough to remind her how much she wanted him as he got back in the car.

As she watched his car drive away, Alexis wondered how she could feel so close to a man that she had only heard about in the news a few days before. She felt somewhat ashamed of herself for moving so quickly, before reminding herself that there was nothing to be ashamed of. She was a grown woman on an adventure and no matter what she did, she was exploring and learning and she would not put herself down about it, she decided.

Besides, she thought, there was nothing to feel wrong about with Richard. He treated her well, better than she had ever been treated, in fact; although, she had not expected Brandon to misrepresent himself so much today. It made breaking things off with him easier for her, but she wished that he wouldn’t have ruined things between them in the area of friendship.

*****

Finally making it to her room for the first time today, she realized that she had not checked in with work in a couple of days. Surely her boss, Jacob, would have emailed her ten times by now.

Before sitting down to her laptop, she decided to treat herself to a bubble bath in large tub that came with the suite Richard had reserved for her for the week.
With her mind full of thoughts from such an eventful morning and the time change in her favor, she relaxed for the next hour, replaying her entire experience with Richard up until this point.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that Richard was unable to spend time with her until Wednesday evening. Jacob actually had sent her more than ten emails attempting to figure out what her next big story would be, to inform her how the last had been so well received, and then a few extra asking where the hell she was. After assuring him that she had not run off or been kidnapped, she got to work distracting him with the fact that she would be in Paris for the weekend and that she had something big for him from there. Not that she had any idea what that would be yet, of course.

In the meantime, he sent her on several missions that he had thought of to get another story in before Paris. He had this brilliant idea for her to scope out all of the airports and train stations in the London area and highlight the best places for the businesswomen that read their magazine to stop and refresh themselves in some way. She made her way from one transportation facility’s amenities to the next, visiting nail salons, spas, juice bars, cafes, boutiques, and more. She was surprised how mall like so many of them were. Once Jacob was finally satisfied sometime late Tuesday afternoon, it was all she could do to push through and write the article, although once she received a message from the concierge that Richard would be picking her up at six thirty the next evening, she managed to type a little faster.

After taking longer than ever to get ready for the evening, she finally took one last look in the mirror. She had spent all day primping in some way. Especially after the research she had done for Jacob’s article, she had felt that she needed to rework herself from top to bottom, so she had gotten her hair done, bought new eye shadow and lipstick, gotten a manicure and pedicure, and purchased a new dress. Fortunately, she had received her stipend from the magazine into her bank account, making all of these activities slightly more affordable.

She looked over her new sleek asymmetrical haircut and complemented herself for being brave and changing up her long brown locks into a cute shoulder length bob. She hoped Richard would like it, but also reminded herself that it was a little early to let his influence affect her style, ignoring the fact that she had gone shopping for every day she spent with him basically.

She was startled by a rhythmic knock on the door. She checked her watch. It was only six twenty.

“Who is it?” she sang out, almost certain it was her date.

“It is ‘ousekeeping, Madame,” a strangely accented high male voice responded.

She laughed and opened the door. “You’re not quite the French maid stereotype, I must say.”

He put his hand over his chest and took a step back. “You look amazing. Wow.” He made a spinning moving with his hand, so she twirled for him, trying not to blush.

“I guess I couldn’t ask for a much better reaction than that,” she said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

“You even smell intoxicating,” he said, his voice deep.

“Thank you,” she said, trying to keep herself from pulling him into the room right away. “Let me get my things.”

He leaned in the doorway watching her intently as she gathered her phone and keys and placed them in her clutch. She liked that she could feel his eyes on her, exploring her flowing white dress with the intricate cutouts in the back.

“You’re going to put every other woman to shame tonight,” he said, shaking his head as she took his arm, closing the door softly behind her.

“Oh, stop,” she said, playfully. “I’m just trying to keep up with your looks.”

He laughed. “Well, you win this one, kid.”

She giggled at his response and then held him close as they walked down the stairs slowly to his car.

“So, how were all of your meetings this week?” she asked.

“Fruitful,” he answered with a smile. “I might own two new corporations than I did when I saw you last.”

“Oh, fruitful, indeed then!”

“But let’s not talk about work tonight. Tell me what you want to do in Paris,” he said as he relieved Logan of his door-opening duties once more for her.

*****

As she waited for him to get in, she realized how much more calm she was this time than she had been with him before. She knew she was a long way away from being totally comfortable with him, but this felt nice so far. She at least felt cared for and trusting of him and that was an improvement from what she had felt with anyone in a very long time.

“So, what will it be?” he said with winning smile as he got in the car, immediately reaching for her hand.

“Crepes, wine, and shopping, right? Isn’t that what the Parisians do?” she answered with a smile.

He laughed and as the car moved forward slowly, he began telling her all of the ideas he had for the weekend.