Billionaire Beast (Billionaire Bikers MC #2) (6 page)

Fuck!

Shit!

He hadn’t read the signs in her, and now he could lose her to a fucking
billionaire. It wasn’t going to happen, even if he was a biker. Even as he
thought about it, he couldn’t deny how turned on he was at the thought of
sharing her. That brief passionate exchange had only served to heighten a need
within him once again.

Jay hadn’t tempted her for fear she’d try to cut him out of her life if
he made her uncomfortable.

I’m not going to miss my shot.

He wouldn’t let Richard win, and if he got the chance to share her, then
he’d take it. Jay would do anything for Temperance, and as he thought about it,
sharing her would be really fucking hot.

Even as he started to run out of breath, running downstairs, Jay didn’t
give up. He only hoped the elevators weren’t fast.

“I’ve got to catch a break sometime.”

His future was riding down that elevator, and he intended to be part of
it.

****

 
Temperance was
so embarrassed, and angry with herself. She couldn’t believe she allowed it to
go on. When she saw Richard rushing toward her, she clicked the button
repeatedly in the hope of not having this confrontation with him.

It didn’t work. The elevator doors closed just as she
saw Jay rushing toward them. Tears filled her eyes, and she felt disgusted with
herself. She’d almost caved even though she had heard them planning her own
life.

“Baby, what’s the problem?” Richard asked.

He made to touch her. She flinched away from him, not
wanting his hands on her.

“Shit, you don’t have to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you.” She wiped the tears away, not
wanting the memory of their touch.

The bad thing was she wanted it so bad, but she
refused. She wasn’t going to allow herself to cave to two men.

“Which one of you came up with the idea?” she asked.

“Tempe?”

“No. I wanted to be alone, and you’ve forced your way
into this elevator.” She looked at him. “Well, tell me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your apologies. I want to know what the
hell you were both doing?” She kept her arms folded. “I heard everything. You
were arranging my time. What I was going to being doing, and neither of you
even gave a thought to ask me.”

“Do you want Jay?”

“No,” she said.

“Are you sure?”

She went to say yes, and stopped. Jay was her best
friend.

He took a step toward her, and she backed away. The
wall of the elevator stopped her from going anywhere else. “What are you
doing?” she asked.

“I want you, Temperance. This thing between us, it has
been building for some time. I also believe that you’ve got feelings for your
best friend.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” She had put
Jay in the best friend department. She didn’t want him that way, did she? No,
it couldn’t be. He was a horn dog who treated women appallingly, yet she
couldn’t deny the spark of arousal. Was that because of Richard though? “I care
about Jay. I always have.”

“Are you in love with him?”

She paused, thinking about her feelings. “I don’t
know.”

He captured her face. “You’ve been in my life for a
long time, Tempe.”

“You’re my boss.” She couldn’t help but touch him,
holding onto his sides.

“I want to be more.”

“You’re breaking your rules.”

“That I am. What I don’t want is for you to doubt what
you want.”

Temperance stared at his chest, wondering what the
hell he wanted from her.

The elevator door pinged open, and she turned to see
Jay standing there, panting for breath. “Fuck me, I’m an accountant, I sit on
my ass all day. I shouldn’t be forced to do this.”

She walked out of the elevator, already prepared to
leave, but Richard caught her arm, stopping her.

“How about we go to breakfast and talk about this?”

“We could go back to our place,” Jay said.

“No,” she said. The last thing she wanted was to go
back to her place as she would cave between the two of them. They would be
naked in no time, and she wasn’t interested in getting naked just yet. “I’ll
take breakfast. I’ve not eaten this morning.” She’d had every intention of no
longer having a job at the end of the day. Richard had torn up her resignation.

“I want where we go to be safe where no one will be
watching.” He pulled his cell phone out. “I’ve got the place, but I’m making
sure I can take you two.”

Temperance frowned.

“Hey, Russ, how is Anna? Good, good. I’ve got to
conduct a personal meeting in private, and I don’t want to risk the press
catching sight of us. I wanted to make sure we didn’t have any security issues,
or threats.”

She watched as he started to nod. Seconds later he
hung up.

“We’re going to the club house. We can talk without
the risk of being interrupted, and it offers us privacy.”

“A diner can do that.”

“Tempe, I’m a billionaire businessman surrounded by a
lot of rumors. I’m not left alone.”

She’d never been to his clubhouse, and until recently
she had kept her knowledge of his biking life a secret.

Richard grabbed her hand, and before she knew what was
happening, she was in the passenger seat of his luxury car with Jay behind
them. Richard was driving.

“Are you okay, Tempe?” Jay asked.

“Am I okay? Tell me, Jay, what do I have to be okay
about?” She turned toward her best friend. “I heard you negotiated your terms
of fucking use of me. How do you think I’m feeling? I’ll give you a clue. It’s
far from okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Jay said.

“You’re feisty today,” Richard said.

“Don’t even start. I don’t want to talk to you.”

She never should have fucked her boss. That was the
problem.

“You know most women are really happy to have two men
chasing after them?”

Temperance laughed. “You’re not chasing after me
though. You’re organizing when I’m allowed to spend time with you. You’re
talking about sharing me, and even sharing me with both of you in the room. Do
you know how absurd it sounds?”

“It doesn’t sound it to me, to be honest,” Richard
said. “It’s quite common for two men to share a woman.”

“Maybe in porn—”

Richard shook his head. “It’s not just in porn. Jay
wants you. I want you, and we both came up with an agreement to suit us.”

“So romantic. Get the girl by pushing her into a tight
little schedule.” She was going to fall apart if she wasn’t careful.

“It’s not like that.”

“I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the romance of two
guys setting out their week to have a woman in their life.”

“In our bed. We’re going to want alone time as much as
time with you.”

Richard was like a completely different being from what
she was used to. He never shared, and he never did anything like this as far as
she knew.

“Have you shared many women?”

“I’ve shared some, never on a permanent basis. You’re
also going to meet Anna. She told me you both spoke on the phone before.”

“Yes, we have.” She liked Anna. They had only ever
spoken, but she seemed nice.

“You’ll like Anna. She’s a strong woman, and she’s
pregnant right now. There’s a few complications, so don’t try to upset her.”

“I wouldn’t dream of trying to upset her.”

Temperance let out a breath, and she folded her arms,
trying to rub the wet patch on her shirt. The last thing she wanted to do was
enter a clubhouse with a clear nipple sucking mark.

You almost caved.

You wanted it.

She looked in the mirror and saw Jay staring at her.
He gave her a reassuring smile, and she returned it with one of her own.

Letting out a breath, she ran fingers through her
hair, which she’d left down. That morning, she’d woken up, gotten dressed, and
gone straight to work without even trying to take care of her appearance. She
figured Jay had left so they didn’t have that awkward after morning crap from
the revelation of the night before.

He loved her, and Richard wanted her.

She had gone from no men wanting her to suddenly two
wanting her.

It seemed almost too surreal to her to even think
about it.

Staring out of the window, she watched the people they
were driving by, wondering if they ever suffered, or were confused by what was
going on.

“Tempe,” Jay said.

She looked at him, waiting. “Do you have any feelings
for me?”

“You know I do, Jay.”

Richard cupped her knee, rubbing her flesh.

She found comfort in that touch, and she also found it
in the way Jay squeezed her shoulder. Maybe they were right, and she needed to
give them both a chance. This a chance.

Richard turned off on a busy road and went down a
large parking lot. She was surprised by the security, but when she saw the
other expensive cars, she knew they had come to what the rich considered a
clubhouse.

Her boss certainly lived a strange life.

“This is not what I imagined at all,” Jay said.

They all got out of the car.

Jay whistled at the cars. “Damn, are these all
classics?”

“Yep,” Richard said. “This is what we love to spend
our money on. That and other things of course.”

They made their way to the elevator, and he typed in a
code.

“This is much better than the movies or television.”

“You can’t compare the two,” she said. “Richard is a
billionaire, so everything has to be luxury, while the ones on television break
the law. It’s small time stuff, or whatever.”

“I tell you, we can compete against some of the MCs
out there. We just do everything a bit differently.”

“Do you break the law?” Jay asked.

“No.”

“Can I join?”

“Do you have a billion dollar company I don’t know
about?” Richard asked.

“Nope.”

“Then no.”

“Wait, that you know about?” Jay asked.

“You ran a check on him, didn’t you?” she asked.

“I run checks on everyone. You know that.”

Richard stepped off the elevator first, and he held
her hand.

They made their way into the main clubhouse, and came
to a stop at the screaming they were greeted with.

Temperance paused, recognizing the fear and panic
attack. She used to get them growing up, and her brother talking to her used to
pull her out of them.

Taking in the room, she saw several large men were
surrounding a woman who was gripping her head, screaming as she stared at them.
Another man was kneeling beside her, trying to soothe her.

It was chaos everywhere.

Without even thinking, she grabbed the men and started
tugging them away. “Leave her alone, move out of the way.”

“Temperance?” Richard said, trying to stop her.

“No, Richard, let her do this. She knows what she is
doing.”

Grabbing the arm of the man who was kneeling, she
forced him to move, and then, rushed to grab something to use as a marker,
finding some lipstick.

The woman had started to go quiet.

“What is her name?” she asked.

“Mandy.”

Making sure there was enough space, Temperance marked
the space in a semi-circle for the woman.

The woman was still whimpering, and she had now
covered her face.

“It’s okay, Mandy. You’re in your safe place right
now. Look, no one will cross this line right here.” She pointed at the dark red
line that separated Mandy from them. “This is your space. No one will come near
you. Mandy, it’s okay. Mandy, you’re safe now.” She kept repeating those words,
keeping her voice steady. When someone behind her went to talk, she held her
hand up, keeping up her calmness, not showing any sign of faltering.

Time passed, Temperance didn’t know how much, but
Mandy stopped whimpering and her hands fell to her side.

The woman looked so pale, and so thin, so frail.

“Hello, Mandy, you’re safe here.”

“I’m safe here?”

“Yes, you’re safe here.”

“I don’t like being scared.”

“Me neither.”

“I don’t know you.”

Temperance nodded. “We don’t know each other. I’m
Temperance.” She held her hand out but also made sure that she didn’t cross
that line.

Mandy looked at her hand, and then at the carpet. “You
made a mess of the carpet.”