The Billionaire's Masquerade (The Friendship Series) (11 page)

After six hours of meetings and research, trying to keep up with Emerson and anticipate his next move, Rachel could only contemplate settling down with a glass of wine and a long, hot bubble bath. She couldn’t think any longer, couldn’t react to Emerson’s tough words or his sharp demands another moment. She just wanted to sink down and not think about anything.

“Time to go,” he said when the last of the staff members had exited the conference room.

The possibility of a bubble bath popped cruelly out of her mind. She quickly gathered up her things and raced out of the room in his wake. “Where are we going now?” she asked, speeding to keep up with his longer legs. Her feet were aching from the high heeled shoes she’d put on this morning, her mind was numb and her heart was still angry and muddled by all that had happened today.

“There’s the gala tonight,” he told her as he pressed the elevator button, “and I doubt you have anything appropriate to wear so I’ve taken the liberty of having something delivered for you. After that, we are having dinner with the Warricks. Have you memorized the biographies that Jennifer gave you before lunch?”

Rachel panicked. “I’d forgotten about that,” she replied, feeling defeated but trying to hide it. She’d just finished stuffing everything into her leather bag but she pulled it back off of her shoulder, digging through the documents people had given her until she found the blue file folder his assistant had handed her as they were walking out of the building for lunch. At the time, Rachel hadn’t had any clue what was contained in the folder and Jack…she shook her head…Emerson hadn’t given her time to even open it up as they’d moved out of the building to the waiting limousine. He’d been giving her instructions that she’d been frantically trying to write down. Come to think of it, she hadn’t had time to even follow through on any of those instructions.

“When was I supposed to get all of this stuff done?” she asked, holding out her notebook with all of her scribbled directives, her heart in her throat with the fear that she’d failed him on her first day.

Emerson looked down at the instructions but smothered his concern. He looked into her bag and pulled out the cell phone Jennifer had also handed her. “Call Jennifer. Tell her you need a bigger bag. Also tell her she should organize this one for you so that you can find things more easily. She should figure out some sort of method that works for you.”

She held the cell phone in her hand, not sure why she would ask someone else to organize her work for her. “But Jennifer works for you. I can’t…”

He quickly interrupted her. “Jennifer is your assistant. Mine is Emily and she keeps all of my files with her so I don’t have to keep up with them. She hands me only the information I need, when I need it. She’s worked for me long enough that she knows what I need ahead of when I need it so she’s prepared.”

Rachel stared at him, dumbfounded. “Jennifer has already left for the day,” she said stupidly.

He refrained from chuckling at her horrified expression. “Then get her on the phone so she gets in early enough tomorrow morning. She needs to have things ready for you by the time you walk in for your first meeting. You’re already confused and behind on too many issues. You can’t let that happen two days in a row.”

Rachel sighed and stuffed the phone back into her bag. “I’m not calling her at home.”

He waited for a moment, concerned that she was already being too soft. She had to be tough, had to use the people at her disposal. There was no work/life balance in this business and Jennifer already knew that. It was time Rachel learned that as well. “Then you will fail,” was all he said.

Rachel glared at him in the dim light of the limousine. Mentally, she was thinking of all the things she wanted to do to him but in the end, she grabbed the phone one more time and found Jennifer’s number already on one of the speed dials. She spoke quickly to Jennifer, telling her what she would need to do by the morning, apologizing for disturbing her evening.

When she hung up, she shoved the phone back into her bag, refusing to even look at him. “So that’s your precious secret?” she asked, her voice steeped in sarcasm and disdain. “Drive everyone crazy with your horrible demands?”

The deep, sexy chuckle was her only warning. A fraction of a second later, she was lifted out of her seat and plunked down on his lap. This time, there wasn’t any comfort in his touch. She gasped when she felt his strong hands slide up underneath her skirt, caressing her and causing lightning to shoot all over her body. “It isn’t so much a secret, but a mandatory rule. Always surround yourself with people who know what you want,” he said and bent to capture her lips with his.

She tried to resist. She honestly did. She didn’t like this side of Jack…or Emerson! She didn’t like who he was and how he treated others. But she couldn’t deny the way he made her feel. His hands were touching her, sliding upwards. He might not be the same man she knew in Maine, but he knew her body intimately and captured her gasps of pleasure in his mouth as his hands moved up, cupping her breasts, nibbling on her neck before sliding down her back and pressing her body against his. When his teeth nipped at her breast through the silk of her blouse, she couldn’t hold back the scream of need. Her hands dove into his hair, holding him in place while he brought her body higher.

She shifted on his lap, smiling when she heard his groan but then he moved to her other breast and she closed her eyes as the waves of pleasure washed over her.

She was startled when he stopped. Looking around, she suddenly realized that they were stopped in front of a tall, high-rise building with a doorman coming towards them.

“Oh!” she gasped and slipped off of his lap, smoothing down her tight skirt quickly and trying to button her jacket with shaking fingers. It wouldn’t do for this stranger to see the spots on her silk blouse where Emerson’s mouth had been.

And Emerson didn’t help much either. He just sat there and she could feel his amusement as he looked down at her.

Emerson waited for Rachel to pull herself together, relieved that he could still have that kind of an impact on her. Throughout the day, he’d watched her during their meetings, gauging how much she was absorbing versus the important points she might be missing while frantically taking notes. When she’d put her clothes back in order, he smiled and signaled to the doorman. “Good evening, Mr. Watson,” the doorman said as soon as they stepped out.

“Good evening, George,” Emerson said smoothly, buttoning his own jacket as he stepped out beside Rachel. “This is Rachel Ward and she’ll be staying with me for a while.”

“Very good, sir,” the doorman said swiftly, bowing as he pushed the limousine door closed. He then hurried to the front door of the building to hold that one open.

Rachel didn’t understand what was going on, but she hurried after Emerson, her body still shaking from his touch a moment ago. When he stepped into a waiting elevator, she followed, but couldn’t ask him any questions since he was on the phone with someone.

When the elevator doors opened up, her mouth dropped open with the opulence of the decor in front of her.

Emerson didn’t even blink but stepped forward and walked towards the massive living room. There was a huge sectional that sat in front of a stone fireplace, beyond which was the Manhattan skyline that could be viewed from the floor to ceiling windows. It was spectacular!

“Where are we?” she gasped, feeling numb as she twirled around.

He went through the cards that had been set out on the marble topped table, then tossed them down as if they were uninteresting. He glanced at the latest text message that came in front his phone while, chuckling at whatever it said, then turned to face her. “This is where I live when I’m in New York,” he explained, slipping the phone back into his breast pocket.

She took in the industrial-style staircase off to the side and the elaborate dining room table on the other side of the room that could easily seat seven or eight people on each side. “You’re kidding, right?”

“About what?” he asked, taking her hand and pulling her along down a black and white parquet hallway.

“About all this,” she said, gesturing to the place that was enormous. “Does it take up the whole floor?”

“I have the top four floors,” he told her as he led her into a large master bedroom. “I believe my housekeeper put your clothes for tonight in that closet,” he said, placing her in front of a set of double doors. From behind her, he lifted the leather bag off of her shoulder and dumped it onto the floor by the bed. “Want some help getting ready?” he asked, his long, strong arms reaching around her so he could unbutton the jacket she’d so recently buttoned. He slipped it off her shoulders as well, then started on the zipper to her skirt.

She suddenly realized what was happening and spun around. “What are you doing?” she gasped, so confused and overwhelmed she didn’t know which was right and left.

He smiled slightly, looking down into her pretty green eyes. “I’m helping you undress,” he replied as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. “We have several parties to attend tonight.”

She shivered as his hands touched her skin but she shook her head, grabbing his wrists. “Tonight?” she asked, wishing she could just sink into that bed behind him and sleep for the next ten hours.

He raised one dark eyebrow. “The gala and the dinner party,” he clarified. “I mentioned them in the car a few moments ago.”

She sighed and looked down, her hands losing all her strength. “I’d forgotten.” She glanced up at him, wide with yet another concern. “I don’t have anything to wear!”

Emerson took pity on her and pulled his hands away, knowing that she didn’t have the energy to either fight him or participate in what he had in mind. “You do. I just mentioned that my housekeeper put your clothes in that closet.”

Rachel’s head spun around and she looked at the double doors. “Clothes?”

“Yes. You’ll need a cocktail dress for tonight’s events.”

“Cocktail dress?”

He chuckled even as he slipped his tie off. “The night is going to be long if you’re going to repeat everything I say.”

She bit her lip as she glanced back at him. He was taking off his shirt and all those feelings he’d ignited in the car moments ago…or was it hours…came right back to her full force as she ached to touch all those extraordinary muscles in his back and on his arms.

She turned her head away and looked at the double doors. For some reason, she didn’t want to open them. She didn’t want to see what was inside. It was a Pandora’s closet. Whatever was inside would be very, very bad.

Inhaling, she took the two steps closer and rested her hand on the cold, metal of the doorknob. Waiting a heartbeat, she let her breath go, closing her eyes and opened the doors. There wasn’t a dead body behind the door, probably not even something ugly. From what she could see of his shockingly huge penthouse, the man had excellent taste. But the possibility of what she would find still scared her. It represented yet another layer of confusion to this incredibly insane day.

Inside the closet, there wasn’t a single cocktail dress hanging innocently on one of the hangers. There weren’t even a few dresses. What the man referred to as “clothes” was actually an entire rainbow of dresses and suits. Two sides of the closet, filled with fabulous, elegant clothing, all still with their tags on them. The sleeves were dangling down, her eyes almost hurting from the sparkles on the evening gowns.

“What is all this?” she whispered, her fingers running over the expensive material of several dresses.

“That’s your power wardrobe,” Emerson called out from the doorway.

She spun around, her eyes catching on his wet hair and bare chest. He was wearing tuxedo slacks already and pulled the tuxedo shirt over his shoulders.

“I need a ‘power wardrobe’?” she asked, her eyes wide, her mouth dry with the expanse of all that delectable skin showing. It reminded her of the first time she’d seen him, which, unfortunately, he was buttoning up the shirt, hiding away what she most wanted to see.

“Everyone needs a power wardrobe. Isn’t that why you wore the red shoes the first time you tried to meet me?” he asked, those black eyebrows rising in challenge. He lifted a dress off of the rack. “Wear this one tonight. You’ll look perfect.”

She took the dress he handed to her without even looking at it, feeling like she wanted to scream. Although she wasn’t sure if the screaming-hissy-fit-melt-down was due to him telling her what to wear or her fatigue. Probably both, not to mention her entire day.

In the end, she couldn’t think well enough to figure it out and she went into autopilot mode. She slipped her skirt and blouse off then pulled the dress up, not really aware of what she was doing or even the color of the dress. When she turned around, she caught herself in the mirror and was stunned by the way the forest green dress sparkled around her figure, making her eyes look even more green than normal.

“Wow!” she whispered to her reflection, sliding her hands down her hips in amazement. The cut of the dress made her waist look several inches smaller while her hips, not necessarily bigger, were definitely sexier although she couldn’t really put her finger on how the simple dress accomplished such a feat.

“Wow!” Emerson said from directly behind her.

She spun around and took in his large, imposing physique in the sophisticated tuxedo. “Wow,” she inadvertently parroted, drinking in all the details. “You look very…nice,” she finally said, feeling shy all of a sudden which didn’t make any sense. She’d been intimate with this man for weeks but he felt like a stranger now. This day just continued to feel surreal.

He looked down into her eyes, his blue ones assessing her state of mind. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.

Rachel wasn’t sure what he was asking her and didn’t want to give away any weakness. She didn’t understand everything, but she knew that the old Jack and the new Emerson were trying to give her a test on whether she could handle this life. And she was going to give it her best shot so no fragility was allowed, take the opportunities, try everything local and live in the moment. Those were the things he’d taught her over the past few weeks and she would apply them to tonight.