Billionaire Erotic Romance Boxed Set: 7 Steamy Full-Length Novels (33 page)

“I’m so sorry,” April began explaining.

“Why don’t you go grab some lunch, it’s my treat today. Take at least an hour. And when you come back, bring me something, please.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and thanked me profusely. She looked at Stills with mild anger and then let herself out of my office. I heard the front door open and close. Stills and I were alone. I eyed him carefully.

“And how may I help you?” I asked, letting the annoyance come through my voice.

“I’m sorry to barge in here like this, really, but your secretary told me you weren’t taking any calls and I needed to see you. I needed to apologize to you again about last night,” Stills said. He sounded genuine, and his eyes looked pleadingly at me for my acceptance of his apology.

“Well, you paid me to meet you there last night. It only took a half hour of my time, even with the commute, so I suppose I don’t have much to complain about.”

“I know that Leon was really rude to you, and it wasn’t sitting right with me.” He paused and turned around to look at April’s empty desk. “Hey, is your secretary single? She’s real cute.”

“Consider your apology accepted, Stills. I can’t imagine you barged in here so brazenly just to apologize and find out if my secretary is available for a date.”

“Uh, no. Not exactly. Look, I wanted to just tell you a little bit about Leon. He’s not the guy that you talked to last night. I mean, sure, of course you talked to the guy last night, but I kind of messed things up with not telling him and trying to maneuver this whole thing.

“When I was sixteen, Leon saved my life. A bookie took a baseball bat and knocked the living shit out of me. I mean, I know I’m not a small guy right now, but when I was sixteen, I was six inches shorter and a hundred pounds lighter. I was a little kid who didn’t stand a chance against a wise guy with a bat and a bad attitude. It wasn’t even close to a fair fight. The bookie was sending a message to my dad,” Stills said. His voice lowered when he said the part about his dad, as if he was ashamed.

“Anyway, Leon found me. He brought me to the hospital, got me cleaned up, and took me home. He gave me and my pops a safe place to stay and even gave me a job. The guy cleared my dad’s debts and even got the old man a job. I mean, the old man screwed that up eventually, but still, he saved our lives man. That bookie took a bat to a sixteen year old kid to send a message to an old man, who knows what would’ve happened next.”

I listened to the story, amazed at his sincerity. As he told me his tale, it was as though the sixteen-year old Stills was in front of me, holding his hat and pleading a case for a friend. I felt my heart warm slightly towards Leon. He had still been an asshole to me the previous night, but there was obviously something deep inside a guy who had saved a random kid from a brutal fate.

“He’s that kind of guy. The kind of guy who would save some deadbeat stranger and his kid. I owe the guy everything,” Stills said, pausing. “Look, he needs a good woman. I’m worried about him and you’re the best. I’ve already done all the research. Just meet him one more time.”

I paused and considered this. Leon Christensen was already a problem case of the worst kind. Yet while it seemed impossible, I couldn’t help my desire to take it on. If I could fix up this client, then I really was the best. I could prove to myself just how successful and competent I was at selling fantasies. What was better than selling a fantasy to a nonbeliever?

“People say it’s impossible for that guy to love, but I don’t believe that. My friend deserves love.”

“I’ll meet with him one more time,” I said. “On one condition.”

“Of course, you name it.”

“Leon has to be aware of our meeting and he has to agree to it. If he agrees to meet with me and is capable of being professional, I’ll agree to the meeting. You get him to call my secretary and set up a meeting.”

Stills assured me he’d have everything taken care of. He let himself out quietly, thanking me as he left. I sat back down at my desk and returned to the hotel chain heir’s folder.

~~~

A few days passed before Leon called the office. When April asked me if I’d be available to meet with him the following night, I was mildly surprised. While I had thought of Stills and Leon a few times since Stills had barged into my office, I hadn’t expected Leon to actually call and set up our meeting.

I was to meet him at another club of his, The Poisoned Lily, at ten the following night. I marked it in my calendar. I thought about meeting Leon again and I wondered idly just how it would go. Well, it couldn’t be much worse than our first meeting.

The night of our meeting came. I dressed myself in a black business suit that made me look both professional and sexy. If this meeting with Leon didn’t go well, I could at least salvage the night and maybe enjoy myself at an upscale lounge where I might meet a nice gentleman. I wasn’t in the habit of going to bars to pick up men, but I felt like having some company for the night and didn’t want to make picking up guys at the gym a regular thing.

I pulled up to The Poisoned Lily. It wasn’t a club that I was familiar with, but I could tell that it was upscale. I wasn’t surprised since his other club had been elegant and classy. Also, Leon came from old money. Old money didn’t translate to tacky establishments.

I pulled up to the valet and stepped out of my car. There were groups of people standing outside, enjoying the warmth of the night as they smoked cigarettes and talked to one another. I handed my keys to the young man with dark bags under his eyes as if he had stayed up all night playing video games, and surveyed the crowd. As I approached the club, my intentions to go inside were very clear to anybody paying attention, and I noticed that many of the groups seemed to be giving me looks that I couldn’t decipher. A pang of uneasiness struck me and I felt like I was on a stage in my underwear giving a speech to an auditorium of silent, judging faces.

I adjusted my suit coat slightly, becoming ever more aware of my attire. Had I dressed just a tad too provocative? No, that was impossible. While my business suit was form fitting and showed off my curves, there’d be no way anyone would think it made me look slutty. The groups of people all wore long coats and jackets that covered them down to their knees. Maybe I was getting odd looks because I wasn’t following the dress code on mandatory trench coat night.

I walked through a cloud of cigarette smoke hanging around the entrance and pushed my way inside past a group of people who barely acknowledged my existence. When my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness of the, shock stabbed my heart.

It was a cataclysm of lights and people. Bodies moved in and out of each other through the dance floor. There was a heartbeat thumping through the sound system that vibrated through every fiber of my bones, rattling my chest. A man clad in a leather thong and a dog collar walked by me, no, he
was walked
by me, along a leash held by a woman who wore an entire suit of leather and a hat that looked like she could’ve been a general in the dominatrix army. My mouth hung ajar.

Another woman walked by in nothing more than a thong and nipple tassels. She carried a whip that dragged on the floor behind her. When she passed, she licked her lips as she looked me up and down. I saw that her ass cheeks were bright red before she disappeared into the crowd.

Stills appeared from behind a man who had two girls on either side of him in chains and leather that barely covered their breasts. Stills didn’t seem to notice them and waved as he hurried over to me. He was wearing a suit again and I breathed a sigh of relief. If he had walked up to me with a ball gag and a leather thong on, I woud’ve turned and walked out immediately.

“Hey, thanks for coming. I know this place is a little,” he said, pausing to find the right word. “Um, eccentric. But Leon would only agree to meet you if it was here, so once again, thank you for coming. You must feel pretty weird here.”

“I’m fine,” I contested. “Can I meet with Leon now?”

Stills led me through the crowd towards the bar. Amazed by the unique activity all around, my legs moved me forward through the crowd to the bar. A woman was seated at the bar when I noticed that she had her legs propped up on a young girl who was on all fours, a ball-gag in her mouth and a horse tail strapped to her. Distracted, I walked right into the bar and let out a gasp of pain and surprise.

Leon Christensen was behind the bar, tossing up bottles over his head and catching them mid-air before pouring drinks for the leather-clad patrons. He was wearing a tight black dress shirt and skinny black pants. The sloppy hair that had been so carefully messy was now slicked back against his head, giving him a sharp, predatory look every time he smiled.

A martini glass appeared in front of me. I looked up to see Leon leaning on the bar before me.

“Gin martini, extra dirty,” Leon said loudly over the music.

I lifted the glass and nodded politely to him as I took a drink. It went down smoothly and I felt a wave of gratitude towards the existence of alcohol.

Leon waved a hand to Stills and Stills walked over to him, leaning in closely to hear him. He nodded quickly and then ran off through the crowd. I followed Stills with my eyes and then turned back to Leon.

“Shall we begin? I’m billing you by the hour, but if you want to pay me to drink I’m perfectly fine with that.”

Leon smiled and walked out from behind the bar. He motioned for me to follow him. The leather army that infested the club paid us no mind, their eyes all focused on something else. We walked the same way that Stills had disappeared to and soon enough we were at a part of the club where there were numerous tables placed before a large stage. This is what everyone was staring at.

There was a man on stage, wearing leather chaps and no shirt. Taut muscles stood rigid on every inch of his skin. His arms hung like tree trunks against his side before he lifted them and crossed them against his chest, the biceps bulging out with big, pulsing veins. He looked as though he had been oiled and greased before he had taken the stage.

Before him, on her knees, was a woman who was completely naked except for a thick leather collar that looked as though it had been torn from a straight jacket and strapped to her neck. She was lifting her ass in the air towards the crowd, and when I saw her stark nakedness, I felt a pang in my heart. She was bending down, kissing the muscular man’s feet, rubbing her face against them and running her hands up and down his calves under the pants. The guy looked down at her with a mix of satisfaction and disapproval.

I averted my eyes, feeling a little ashamed at being so drawn to watching them. Leon paid them no attention as he pulled out a chair for me to sit down in. I nodded in gratitude and sat down with my legs crossed and my back rigid, trying to seem professional while hiding the embarrassment I was feeling. I sipped my martini that was nearing empty.

After placing my drink down, I looked at Leon, trying with all my might to maintain my composure. Every fiber of my being wanted to squirm out of my chair and bolt for the door. But Leon’s smug smile told me that he was reading my shock and embarrassment as though it were tattooed all over me. I steadied myself. I wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction.

Stills was back. He leaned to talk to Leon and then he kneeled down next to me.

“Would you like another drink?” he asked, his mouth next to my ear to compensate for the loud music. “There’s also great food here, believe it or not. Want anything?”

“Another drink would be fine,” I yelled. Stills nodded and then walked away, leaving me and Leon alone.

He moved his chair close to mine. If we were in any other place where the smell of leather and fog machines didn’t dominate everyone’s sense of smell, I would’ve been able to tell exactly what type of cologne he wore.

“You know, I had no interest in meeting with you again,” he said into my ear. I grew more uncomfortable. Surrounded by people strapped with leather and bounded with chains, and this man talking so close to my ear that I could feel his breath tickle my earlobes with every word he said—I was being pushed to my limit.

“Oh really,” I said into his ear, loudly. I hoped it hurt his eardrums. “Then why did you agree?”

“Stills. I promised him that if you accepted me as a client, I’d let you set me up. If you refuse, which you probably will, I’m off the hook and he doesn’t try to meddle in my love life anymore.” His voice remained constant, and I fought back the urge to rub my ear as his words tickled me.

Stills returned. I felt a new wave of embarrassment when he saw how closely Leon was sitting with me, whispering into my ear. All I had to do was unbutton a few buttons on my blouse and start giggling and Stills would be certain that I had fallen into Leon’s grasp like I imagined every other silly woman he flirted with.

I wanted to stand up and tell the DJ to shut the fucking music off, but I sat politely and thanked Stills for the drink with a courteous smile and a head-nod. He put down a drink in front of Leon, a whiskey on the rocks by the look of the amber liquid in ice, and before he left, he squeezed the top of Leon’s shoulder in an amicable way.

“Oh, you must think you’re such a challenge, don’t you?” I asked, leaning back into his ear. “Well, I’m great at challenges and you’re in no way the biggest challenge that I’ve had this year, let alone in my professional life. I’m sure I can find you the absolute love of your life.”

Leon leaned back from me. He smiled at me and the predatory sexuality of his earlier smiles was gone. He raised the glass and took a large swallow of whiskey, placing the glass down carefully, as though it were a delicate piece of china.

His eyes studied me for a full minute. Then they moved to the stage and watched the show that had progressed much further than simple foot kissing. I wondered if he was getting aroused by the scene before us that I was desperately trying to avoid watching. It was dark in the nightclub, and Leon wore black pants, so it was impossible to see if he had an erection but I caught myself looking at his crotch anyway.