The TROUBLE with BILLIONAIRES: Book 3 (12 page)

“Okay then,” he said, the tone of his voice sparking something like fear deep in my heart. He crossed the room and took my hand, not even looking at me as he led the way up the stairs.

***

Mellissa

“There you are.”

I considered pretending I was asleep, but the hurt I’d been nursing since I left Conrad’s wouldn’t let me. I rolled over and sat up a little, staring at him as he stood in the dim light coming from the stairwell.

“Where else would I be?”

“I had thought you would be at my place, in my bed.”

“You weren’t there.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled his fingers through his hair as he crossed the room and settled with a harsh sigh on the edge of the bed. “I saw the stew in the refrigerator. I looked really good.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

He reached over to stroke my cheek, but I pulled back, not really interested in letting him gloss over the situation with the distraction of his touch. He frowned as he let his hand fall, landing somewhere on the comforter between his body and mine.

“You’re mad.”

“I made dinner for you, and you promised you would be home in time to eat it.”

“I know, but Aurora needed me. She was upset, irrational. It took both Christy and I to get her settled down enough to sleep.”

“I’m sure.”

“Mellissa, you know Aurora was an important part of my life. And she’s sick. She needs all the support and help she can get.”

“I know that. But sometimes I need you.” I pulled the blankets up to my chest, feeling a little exposed lying there in nothing but a pair of panties and a t-shirt. I kind of wished he would have waited until morning so that we could argue about this fully dressed. “I’ve been planning this meal all week, trying to pin you down to an appropriate time. And you promised.”

“To be accurate, I never really said the word promise.”

My jaw tightened almost painfully as anger burst through my chest. “I’m from the south, and in the south, when a man says he’s going to be somewhere at a certain time, he’s there.”

Conrad stood in something of a huff. “I don’t want to argue with you.”

“I don’t either. But I don’t think you understand how important this dinner was to me.”

“Why? Why did we need to have this dinner? Isn’t there enough going on around us to keep us occupied?”

I climbed out of bed and tugged on a pair of sweat pants that were crumpled on the floor. Then, I brushed past him and headed down the stairs.

“Mellissa!”

He didn’t follow me at first. I was in the kitchen before I heard his footsteps on the stairs. I filled the tea pot and set it on the stove, lighting the burner with my back to the living room as he came stomping across it.

“Will you just tell me why you’re so angry?”

“Because you’re constantly making everyone, but me, a priority.”

“Then, this isn’t just about one dinner. This is about the time I spend with Aurora.”

“It’s not just Aurora.”

“It is. It’s your inability to accept the fact that I still have a relationship with my ex-wife.”

I groaned, shaking my head as I crossed to the cabinet and grabbed a coffee cup from the collection stored there.

“We talked about this before,” Conrad said. “You know that Aurora needs my help. Her parents are ill-equipped to deal with her problems. She needs someone to be an advocate for her.”

“I understand that.”

“Yet, you’re angry with me.”

“Because I…” I stopped myself before I could blurt out my secret. I didn’t want to do it like this; I didn’t want to say the words aloud for the first time in anger. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go through with this, to tell him and deal with the aftermath—the lifetime my secret would commit us to.

I just turned away, busying myself by pulling a tea bag from its box and placing it in the cup.

Conrad moved up behind me and laid a hand on my shoulder. I stiffened, turning slightly so that his hand fell.

“Things are crazy right now. But they’ll settle down soon, and we’ll have more time for romantic dinners.”

“Maybe until then it would be better if you stay over at your house.”

The words fell between us like a wall that suddenly divided us.

“Do you really think that’s going to change anything? Do you really think it will make this better?”

“I don’t know.” I turned, trying to bite back my tears as I took in the hurt written all over his face. “But I think it will give us the space we need to decide if this is really what we want.”

“What does that mean?” He raised his hand to touch me, but he stopped mid-movement. “You aren’t sure you want to be with me?”

“We barely know each other. We’ve known each other less than two months and that…maybe we’re rushing this thing a little too much.”

He shook his head. “I don’t need time. I know what I want.” He stepped back, anger flashing in his eyes. “Maybe you’re the one who needs the time.”

“Maybe.”

There was so much anger in his expression, mixed with hurt and confusion, and so many things I couldn’t define that when he stared at me I felt my soul shrink. He shook his head as he turned, not saying a word as he slammed out of the house.

***

Annie

His bedroom was massive, clearly designed with a woman in mind. The walls were lavender, the carpet a faded pink. But all that seemed to register from the moment he led me through the door was the massive, four-poster bed, a pale canopy draped over the top and down each of the four legs. It was set on a pedestal that did nothing but enhance its massive presence. It was unmade, the impression his head had made in the pillows the night before still evident. If he hadn’t been standing right there, I might have picked up one of those pillows and pressed it to my face, allowing his sent to surround me.

But he was there.

Logan moved close to me, his lips on my neck, as he tugged at the tiny buttons holding my dress together at my waist. I tilted my head, offering him all the access he could possibly want. I reached back, resting my hands on his hips, as his fingers found access to the dimples on either side of my spine. Tingles ran up and down the length of my spine, a sweet tightness burning right around my tailbone.

“Your skin is so perfect,” he sighed against my shoulder.

My dress began to fall as he spoke, peeling from my breasts as he slid his hand under one edge of the bodice, his palm pressing almost roughly against my nipple. I leaned back against him, my hands moving from his hips to his ass, tugging him as close to me as we could physically manage. I could feel his arousal, the roughness of his breathing. It excited me almost as much as the feel of his hands sliding down my bare belly. When his finger brushed the top edge of my panties, I thought all the strength would disappear from my legs.

I twisted in his arms, my fingers immediately seeking the buttons and clips that kept his shirt in place even as his lips found mine. There were so many…things to his tuxedo, it would have taken hours to get it off at the rate I was going. But he seemed as anxious to feel my touch as I was to offer it. He pushed me back, moving me until the raised platform that held the bed hit the back of my three-inch heels. I moved reluctantly from his kiss and climbed up onto that impressive display piece, sitting on the edge of the bed to watch him remove tie, cummerbund, shirt, and that thin, erotic undershirt.

In turn, I slipped my heels from my feet, unclasping each of the tiny garter clips and rolled my stockings into tiny balls that slipped from my body with ease. I started to tug at the garters, but Logan shook his head, so I left them. And then he was up on the bed with me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. After our conversation downstairs, I was almost afraid he would be rough, inconsiderate. But I should have known better. I wasn’t sure Logan even knew how to be inconsiderate.

He explored my body with a gentle touch that thrilled as deeply as it made my heart ache with the realization that this was likely the only time I would know this completeness, this touch that was so much more than anything I had ever known before. He peeled away my panties, careful not to move the garters, his lips burning a trail along the inside of my thighs before he moved back up the length of my body, tiny kisses tattooing my skin from hip to breast. His weight seemed perfect when he lay atop me, his hand working to release his slacks as his mouth again sought to explore mine.

He pulled back as he entered me, the emotion dancing in his eyes as our bodies came together for the first time seared through me more intensely than a branding iron could have done. There was something more to our coupling than just the movement of two bodies, the pleasure of physical touch. As we touched and kissed, as we found our own rhythm, I knew that I would never be the same. I knew now what it was that drew Madison to Rawn, what Mellissa saw when she looked across a room at Conrad. I knew what it meant to find the one who is different from all the rest.

And I knew is that when he sent me packing, I would never find this again.

Madison

“Who are you?”

I was back in that little house, sitting in a folding chair, one of those cheap ones that schools use for parent seating at assemblies. My hands were tied behind my back, my ankles now strapped to the legs of the chair. The gag and blindfold were gone. A tall man, different from the one who had grabbed me at the outlet mall, was leaning close to me, his spittle washing over my face every time he spoke.

“Answer me, damn it!”

“Who do you think I am?” I finally asked.

And was rewarded with a sound slap across the face.

“Madison,” another voice, a disembodied one that seemed somewhat familiar, came from the darkness behind the first man. “Her name is Madison.”

“Madison.” The first man stared into my face for a long moment, and then he began to laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned. You fucking idiots grabbed the wrong girl, but you also managed to save yourselves by grabbing a bigger fish. Do you know who this is?”

No one answered, if there was anyone else in the dark room to speak.

“This,” the man drew out on a long, slow breath, “is Rawn Jackman’s new assistant.” He laughed again. “This, my friends, is dynamite.”

He was still laughing, as he pressed the gag back into my mouth.

What did he mean, dynamite?

The entire scene played itself over and over again in my mind as I slept. It kept going back to that man’s voice, the one who first spoke my name. I knew that voice; I knew it because he was someone who had been in my life before, before I was kidnapped, before my life was turned upside down, and I lost something I had always taken for granted. My mind needed to untangle this nightmare. I needed to identify that voice so that I might get back something…something that was mine and no one else’s. Something that would fix these nightmares, this darkness that seemed to surround me since the moment that man approached me at the outlet mall.

And then…

My eyes popped open, and I just knew.

There was something else, a clue that I should have recognized immediately and didn’t. But now…

I knew.

I sat up in the darkness, aware of Rawn’s deep breathing beside me. I carefully climbed out of bed and tugged on the jeans I had discarded before we climbed into bed and slipped out into the living room.

We were at my place again—mine and Annie’s. I went into her bedroom, needing to voice the thoughts spinning around in my head. I always went to her in moments like this before. But she was in Los Angeles with Logan…God, I hoped she was being smart! There were textbooks scattered on her desk, an open notebook on which she had scrawled Logan’s name over and over again on a blank sheet of paper, like she was a high schooler with a crush. It only made the fear in my chest grow.

I needed to get out of there. I needed to get some air and figure things out. I couldn’t just point my finger at someone who could be innocent unless I had proof. The fact that I had heard his voice and that I had the vague impression that he wore glasses was not enough. And a fascination with sun dials didn’t really prove anything either. I needed something more.

I grabbed my keys, my wallet, and cellphone and headed out the door. I sent Rawn a quick text as I sat behind the wheel of the car he insisted on giving me shortly after the kidnapping, saying that it would safer than taking the bus everywhere. Normally I would be offended by him doing something so high handed, but when he played the safety card, I couldn’t ignore him. The funny thing was, though, he picked me up for work most mornings and dropped me of wherever I was spending the night, which was usually with him. Annie got more use out of the car than I did—she even had her own set of keys after she misplaced mine half a dozen times.

I drove to the park, the same park where I met Rawn that fateful summer afternoon, and walked the trails for a while, trying to get all my thoughts straight. I even wandered into the quiet meadow where I met Rawn that night…the memory of our quick, erotic lovemaking exciting something inside of me that had begun to wither from lack of attention.

It was funny how I already felt a little more like myself just from the idea that I might know who was doing this to me…to us.

The why still eluded me, but maybe that would come with time.

My cellphone rang as I headed back to the car in the early morning light. I expected Rawn, but it was Mellissa’s voice that filled my ear.

“Hey,” she said, her voice raw, like she had been crying. “Could you come over for a while? I need someone to talk to.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Conrad and I had a fight and I just—”

“I’m on my way.”

***

Mellissa’s face was streaked with tears, her eyes swollen. I hugged her the moment she opened the door, sliding my hand over the back of her head, smoothing down the tangles and the wild curls.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said as we made our way into the living room. She sank onto the couch and grabbed a box of tissues, wiping at her nose as she stared miserably at the floor. “I think we broke up.”

“I doubt that.” I brushed a few used tissues onto the floor and sat down beside her. “You and Conrad love each other. I don’t think it would be that easy to break you up.”

“He didn’t show up for a dinner I cooked last night. I told him we needed time to think things over, and he left.”

“He’ll be back.”

She shook her head. “He hasn’t texted. I’ve checked my phone a million times, but there’s nothing.”

“It’s seven o’clock in the morning, Mellissa. You have to give him a chance to wake up.”

She looked at me and tears spilled over the bottom edge of her eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Madison. There’s so much going on, and it’s like he doesn’t even notice me if I don’t go to the office with him and position myself right in front of him.”

“That’s not true. I see the way he looks at you. If you weren’t there at the office, he would be distracted and useless until he spoke to you or came to you.”

She denied my words with another shake of her head.

I brushed a piece of hair out of her face. “He loves you. He’ll be back.”

She bit her lip to keep a sob in. And then she suddenly sprang up off the couch and rushed to the small powder room under the stairs. I thought for a minute that she was embarrassed by her emotional outburst, but then I heard the distinct sounds of someone being sick.

I went into the kitchen and put a kettle on to boil, searching through the cabinets for mint tea. My mother always said that mint was the best thing for nausea. By the time Mellissa came back out, paler than before, the water was boiling.

“Drink this,” I said, taking a mug of hot tea to her. “It’ll help.”

She held it under her nose and took a deep breath. “I’ve been sucking this stuff down for a week, but it only seems to keep it at bay for a little while.”

I opened my mouth to ask…and then closed it.

Another secret. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know this one.

“What you need,” I said instead, “is a day of relaxation. Why don’t you go visit your grandma and then hang out at my place, watch a few of Annie’s cheesy movies or something?”

She rested her head on my shoulder. “I might take you up on that.”

We sat there in silence for a little while, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I wanted to ask her about my suspicions, to see if she could verify my recollections. But she was already under so much stress, I didn’t want to add more to it.

And then my phone rang.

“It’s Rawn,” I said, slipping away from Mellissa and standing. “I left before he was up this morning. He’s probably wondering where the hell I am.”

Mellissa attempted a smile, but her bottom lip quivered so much that it didn’t quite make it.

“Hey,” I said, quietly into the phone as I walked to the kitchen. “Are you at the office? I’m going to be late; I need to go back to the apartment and—”

“I just got a call. My father’s in the hospital.”

“Oh, Rawn. I’m sorry!”

“My mother didn’t have much information. All she kept saying was that he was having some sort of chest pains.”

“You should go.”

“I want you to come with me.”

“I’m with Mellissa. I don’t think I should leave her right now,” I said as I glanced over at her. She was crying again. “But I’ll drive down. I can be there by this evening.”

“It’s a long drive, Madison. I don’t think I like the idea—”

“You need to be with your father and mother. And I need the time alone to think.”

“About?”

I groaned. “Things are crazy right now, Rawn. I have a lot on my mind. The drive would be a nice change of pace. So go be with your family, and I can meet you at a hotel or something tonight.”

He was quiet for a minute, but then he said tersely, “Okay.”

He hung up, and I found myself wondering if I was going to be a quivering mess like Mellissa this time tomorrow.

***

Annie

Logan’s first call Friday morning wasn’t until eleven, so we were able to sleep in for the first time all week. When I woke, surrounded by the luxury of a down comforter and Egyptian cotton sheets, I almost didn’t want to move. But then I felt his hand slide over my naked hip, and I most definitely wanted to be completely awake and aware.

I rolled into him and pressed my lips against his throat, loving the feel of his pulse quickening under my touch. Morning sex had never been my thing. The morning breath alone was enough to send me home long before the guy I was seeing could even consider initiating anything first thing in the morning. But this was Logan; this was the man who had played my body like a fine fiddle all night. This was my fantasy come true.

We moved together almost as though there hadn’t been an interlude, as though the hours we had spent asleep in each other’s arms had never happened. His touch was just as new and different this time as it had been before. I was curious—when I could think—my hands exploring places they already knew, finding new places and new responses, learning what made my lover cry out in pain and what made him cry in ecstasy.

When our bodies were satisfied once again—for the moment, at least—we lay curled in each other’s arms and whispered about things so insignificant that I would not remember them an hour later, let alone days, weeks, and months. But it was easy, the way we were with each other. We didn’t have to talk about anything heavy or important. It was enough just to be together, to be silly and not be judged.

He was reluctant to get up when the alarm went off on his phone, but when I offered to join him in the shower, he was a little more willing. It fascinated me to watch him wash himself, and he seemed to find it erotic to watch me use his soap to cover my body in suds. I had just begun when he pushed me back against the cool tiles of the wall and stole the soap from my hand. His hands replaced mine, the soap quickly forgotten, as his fingers explored places that were growing sore but were still so willing to accept anything he was offering.

We were wrapped in thick, white towels a while later, and I was perched on the edge of the sink watching him shave when my cellphone rang. I might have ignored it if it wasn’t Madison’s ring tone.

“Hi, chick,” I said into the phone, settling on the end of the bed where I could still watch Logan. “What’s going on?”

“Rawn’s dad is in the hospital. He’s flying down to LA, and I’m driving.”

“LA? I didn’t know his parents lived here.”

“Yeah. One of those suburbs in the valley, I think.”

“Tell him I’m sorry and I hope his dad recovers.”

“I will.”

“Whose dad?” Logan called from the bathroom.

“Rawn’s. He and Madison are headed down here.”

“Tell them to come over for dinner tonight. I have a late call, so it’ll have to be like nine or ten if that works for them.”

“Logan wants you to come for dinner,” I relayed into the phone. “If you can. We understand if Rawn needs to stay at the hospital.”

“I’ll tell him, and we can see how things are this afternoon.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“Yeah, you too,” she said, a new edge to her voice. “You aren’t doing anything you shouldn’t, are you, Annie?”

“Everything’s perfect, Madison. You’ll see when you get here.”

***

Madison

I left Mellissa not long after Rawn’s phone call, but not before I convinced her to get into the shower and take a key to my apartment. I also made her promise not to stare at her phone all day, waiting for Conrad’s call. She agreed, but I saw her glance at it as she walked me to the door.

I hoped it wouldn’t be long before Conrad finally called.

I dropped by my apartment and threw some things into a bag and was on my way within the hour. I like to drive. I didn’t have much experience at it, though, because with the MS and Allison, my parents were reluctant to encourage me to get behind the wheel of a ton of steel. And I agreed with them to a certain extent, but the feel of racing down the highway at sixty, seventy, even eighty miles an hour was more freeing than anything I had ever felt before. And the scenery was amazing.