Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (2 page)

As we sat down and pulled out
our books, I looked over at Liz who was staring down at the textbook on the
desk with a look of mixed anger and sadness. I grabbed her hand and squeezed
gently as she reached up and wiped away a stray tear that had escaped her eye.

"I'm going to kick her
ass someday," Liz said fiercely.

"Let's work on doing it
in a way that doesn't end up with you being booked for assault, okay?" I
whispered as Liz flashed me a grateful smile.

If I was honest, I, too,
wanted wipe that smug grin off of Violet Metzler's face. I just didn't know if
it could be done.

CHAPTER
THREE

Cam

When
Tesla and I arrived at the station for my
shift, I saw that Danny and the new guy, Victor, were cooking breakfast for the
squad. Once everyone had said good morning to Tesla, she settled down in her
usual spot next to the television and proceeded to chew on a bone that Mike
Kelly had brought from his father's butcher shop down in Pilsen.

"What's up,
Connor?" Victor asked as he stirred the scrambled eggs in the pan.
"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Not sure why;, I've
been here," I shrugged as I picked up a copy of the Tribune and read the
headlines. "Where have you been?"

"Around," Victor
said concentrating intently on the eggs. "Just making friendly
conversation, no need to get your boxers in a twist."

"They're not," I
said over my shoulder.

"Guys, c'mon!"
Kelly said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.
"We're all in this together today. No need to pound chests or engage in
insults, right Connor?"

"Whatever," I
shrugged again. "He started it."

"What did I start?"
Victor asked raising his voice. "I was just commenting on the fact that I
hadn't seen you in a while!"

"Aw, c'mon,
Vangel," I said irritated that he was forcing me to acknowledge him this
way. "You're a prick on a good day and you know you are, so let's just get
that out of the way and move on with our day."

"How am I a prick?"
Victor demanded. "You're the one who broke the rules and forced the Chief
to discipline us!"

"That, my friend, was
not my fault," I replied without looking up from the newspaper. "And
you know it as well as I do."

"God, you are such an
ass, Connor," Victor said shaking his head. "You refuse to take
responsibility for anything."

"I am more than willing
to take responsibility for what I actually do," I said. "But I made a
judgment call and lives were saved. I think you're forgetting that you went
along with me."

"Did I have a
choice?" he spat.

"Guys! Knock it
off!" Danny said as he slapped butter on the last two slices of toast and
brought the plate to the table. "Cam. Victor. It's over and done with. Why
can't you two let it go?"

"He's the one making a
big deal of nothing," I shrugged again. "Not my fault."

"Fuck you, Connor,"
Victor said as he dumped the eggs into the serving dish in a heaping pile and
turned to yell, "Breakfast is served! Come and get it!"

The dining area quickly
filled with hungry firefighters coming on shift and soon the conversation
turned from the grudge between Victor and me to speculation on who was going to
win the World Series this season.

"Spring training just
began," Mike said with a mouth full of eggs. "You can't possibly know
whose going to win."

"I do," Danny said
confidently. "I'm positive the Cubs are gonna take it to the series this
year. They were ready last year, they just couldn't catch a break."

"Is that what you call
it?" Mike laughed. "I'd say they were out of their league!"

After breakfast, Chief Riley
called a meeting and explained that there were some big changes coming, but
that the brass downtown hadn't given him a lot of information about it.

"If you guys hear rumors
about a shake up, just know that there are changes coming," Chief said as
he looked down at an official memo from his superiors. "But a lot of the
rumors are going to be false, so make sure you check with me before you spread
them, okay? It's bad enough that we can't get the whole story, but to have you
guys spreading stuff that's totally untrue is only going to hurt us all.
Okay?"

"Aye, aye, Chief,"
Mike nodded as he pointed toward the kitchen and said, "Cam, Danny, you
guys are on breakfast clean up. Hop to it before we get a call!"

"Crack the whip, why
don't you?" Danny grumbled good-naturedly as he and I did our kitchen
duty. As I washed and he dried, Danny talked about his plans for his small
construction business. "You know, I've got a few contracts that I'm
working on this year. Business is up from last year, and I can see that I might
have a chance at some bigger contracts later this fall. You should come work
for me, Cam. I can hook you up with some good jobs that pay really well if you
need some extra cash for the house and all."

"Thanks, man," I
nodded as I focused my attention on scrubbing the eggs out of the frying pan
Victor had used. I didn't want to turn Danny down, but I couldn't take on any
more work than I already had and the problem was that I couldn't tell anyone
about what I was doing; not even Danny. I laughed as I said, "I'm not that
great with tools, so I'm probably not the guy you want working on million
dollar houses."

"Awww, c'mon, Cam, I'll
teach you," Danny pleaded. "I need good reliable guys on my team and
you're one of my best friends."

"Alright, I'll think
about it," I promised as I handed him the dripping wet frying pan. "I
promise."

"I'll work on your team,
Danny!" Victor called from the other room. "I can always stand to
make a few extra bucks now and again."

"Yeah, okay, thanks
Victor," Danny replied with a weak smile. None of us liked Victor Vangel.
He was a cocky, arrogant jerk who took more than he gave and spent a lot of
time grand standing and taking credit for things someone else had done. He had
a huge chip on his shoulder and was so unpopular in the department that the
brass had been unable to assign him to one fire house, so he ended up bouncing
around and filing in for call-outs or sick leaves. Right now, he was filling in
for Brent Jacoby who was out on paternity leave with his newborn twin
daughters. Danny had a calendar in his locker where we marked off the days
until Brent returned to work.

As of that day, we had
twenty-seven days to go, and we were anxiously awaiting his return.

#

"
Engine
One, Truck One, Ambulance Fifty-Five, fire at Canal and Taylor in the Southern
Market," the voice over the intercom announced as the alarm blared and we
ran to grab our gear. Kelly was the first to the truck and was yelling at us to
hurry up as he slammed the driver side door shut and cranked the engine. I
hopped on with Danny not far behind, and before we knew it, we were flying down
Wells on our way to the fire.

"Man, I hope it's not
bad; I love that market," Danny said. "They have the best coffee
beans and Italian sausages."

"That sounds like a
disgusting combination, Newsome," I laughed as we sped down the street.

"Nah, man, it's the best
breakfast ever! Fresh ground coffee beans, eggs and those sausages," he
said smacking his lips. "My mom makes them for Sunday morning breakfast
sometimes. Man, I'd cut off my right arm for those sausages."

"Be careful what you
wish for, Newsome!" Mike called from the front seat as he hit the siren
and turned on to Canal.

The building was definitely
on fire, but it looked like a contained burn at the moment. We hopped out of
the truck and started pulling hoses out as Mike hollered at the rest of the
guys to grab gear and get ready to go in.

"You got this,
Connor?" he yelled as he pulled on his helmet and strapped it below his
chin. I nodded and he gave me the thumbs up. Despite the frigid temperatures,
Danny and I knocked the ice off the hydrant and quickly hooked up the hose
before hauling it to the entry of the building. Mike and Victor were quickly
pulling out the employees who had barricaded themselves in the back room with a
fire extinguisher rather than having exited into the freezing cold Chicago
winter day. Mike waved me inside and I yelled at Danny to let her rip.

I shook my head, knowing that
the most dangerous place in a building that was on fire was to be locked in a
back room. Personal experience had taught me that the hard way, and the
devastating loss had been my reminder every since.

One huge crank of the hydrant
and the water shot out of the nozzle, dousing the flames as we moved forward.
The rest of the guys focused on making sure that the flames hadn't spread into
the walls or air ducts, and by the time we were done, the ground floor of the
Southern Market, while saved from major structural damage, was a chaotic mess.

"All right, guys, the
fire's out!" Mike yelled as he gestured toward the front door. "Shut
down the hose!"

Danny ran outside and cranked
the hydrant into the off position as I tugged the length of hose back out the
door, feeling grateful that this hadn't been worse. Once Chief Riley had given
the okay for vendors to return to the building to assess the damage, a wave of
people went flooding through the doors. Danny and I finished packing up the
hose and storing equipment before we swung ourselves back up into the truck and
waited for Mike to rev the engine and take us home.

"You know, sometimes I
think we're just the luckiest sons of bitches on the planet," Danny said
shaking his head. "We live the life of Riley, you know?"

"Shut the hell up,
Newsome," Mike yelled. "You're gonna jinx us if you talk about how
damn lucky we are!"

Back at the fire house, I
took Tesla out for a short walk and threw a ball for her a few times in the
small, snow covered yard we had next to the station as I thought about
everything I’d lost in the past decade. Tesla looked up at me and whined as I
held the ball in my hand lost in deep thought. I threw it one more time, then I
headed back inside to help check the gear, shower and then start cooking.

Newsome and I were scheduled
for the lunch shift and were making spaghetti and meatballs for the crew, and
after all the work we'd done, I was hungry enough to eat a whole pan of
meatballs all by myself.

As I walked into the kitchen
and rolled up my sleeves, my cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket
and saw a message from my best friend, Leo Marini, that said, "BIG CSC
contract in the works. Call me or stop by after shift."

"Shit," I muttered
as I stuffed the phone back in my pocket and turned my attention to making
dinner.

"Something wrong,
Cam?" Danny asked as he dumped package after package of ground beef into a
bowl before adding eggs, breadcrumbs, fresh parsley and onions to the mix.

"Nah, all good," I
said as I cranked the oven on and pulled out the baking sheets we'd use to cook
the meatballs. "Leo just needs some help. That's all."

"Man, that dude needs to
get a life," Danny said shaking his head. "Doesn't he have a job
yet?"

"Yeah, he's working for
some security company downtown," I said as I reached into the meat mixture
and began shaping the meat into balls before putting them on the baking sheets.
I shrugged, "He's got a lot of shit to work through."

"I'll say," Danny
said. "That guy's got more baggage than an American Airlines check in
counter!"

"You think that one up
yourself?" I scoffed.

"Yeah, what do you
think?" he asked. "I think I got a shot at open mic this month. I've
been working on my material."

"Well, don't quit your
day job, Danny," I chuckled as I focused on the task at hand and quietly
wondered what Leo was up to now. I just hoped it wasn't something that was
going to put me in the spotlight.

That was the last thing I
needed right now.

CHAPTER
FOUR

Alex

Two
days
later, Liz and I were scheduled to report at seven in the morning for our first
full day of our internship. I'd taken great care to make sure I'd bought the
right scrubs and shoes, and I'd spent a long time the night before
experimenting with hairstyles that were functional, but still moderately
attractive. I'd settled on pulling my long blonde hair back into a low bun at
the back of my head after reading about how patients who were in pain might
grab a ponytail and pull. I'd also decided to leave all jewelry at home after
I'd read a horrible story about a nurse who'd had her earrings pulled out by a
patient on drugs.

I was pretty sure we weren't
going to be getting near any out of control patients on our first day, but I
wanted to start out on the right foot, and after the scolding from Mrs. Rikka
the day before, so I wasn't taking any chances.

"Liz, what are you
wearing?" I laughed as we hung up our coats and put our things in our
assigned lockers down in the nurse's locker room.

"I want to maintain my
individuality," Liz sniffed as she tugged at the hem of her scrubs. The
bottoms were unremarkable, but the tan top was covered in incredibly realistic
looking slices of Chicago style pizza. She shrugged, "When in
Chicago!"

"You're crazy, you know
that, don't you?" I laughed as we headed up to the conference room where
we would get our assignments.

"You may be right,"
she said breaking into a little Billy Joel as she danced her way to the
conference room, "I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're
looking for!"

Once inside, we found our
seats and waited for Mrs. Rikka to appear. Violet was ensconced in the corner
with three of her best friends from the class—all girls who were not quite as
rich as she was, but still passed muster with her parents. Violet was wearing
blue scrubs that looked like they'd been custom made since they dipped and
curved in all the right places, whereas the rest of us looked like we'd been
fitted at Boxes R Us. A headband that matched her scrubs held her perfectly
blow-dried hair away from her face, which was precisely contoured and powdered
so that she looked like she was ready to step onto the set of Grey's Anatomy.

"Good morning, nursing
candidates," Mrs. Rikka said as she entered the room holding a clipboard
in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. The mug that held the coffee was
so white and pristine that I wondered if she used a brand new mug every time
she had a cup. She looked around the table and said, "Ladies, I'm sure I
need not remind you that when you are in Chicago General, you are to wear your
security badges at all times."

“Mrs. Rikka,” Violet said as
she half raised her hand before speaking. “I’d like to say that it’s really a
pleasure to be working with someone as accomplished and highly regarded in the
administrative world as you are.”

“Miss Metzler,” Mrs. Rikka
said as she looked over the top of her glasses. “Do not suck up to me. It’s
unattractive and entirely unprofessional.”

Violet turned a shade of
crimson that I didn’t think I’d ever seen before. Beside me, Liz chuckled
softly as she watched her nemesis be brought to heel. She elbowed me and I shot
her a look as I whispered, “Behave.”
 

I reached down into the
pocket of my scrubs, pulled out my badge and clipped it to my front pocket
before looking up. Mrs. Rikka was frowning in my direction, but before I could
ask if I'd gotten it right, she spoke.

"Miss Burke, your badge
should be clipped to the front pocket of your scrubs so that staff members and
patients can readily see it," she instructed then raising an eyebrow, she
added, "And your scrub top should never interfere with that ability."
 

"I like to have a little
fun with my scrubs," Liz said as she shifted her badge to the right place.

"Yes, well..." Mrs.
Rikka trailed off looking around the table and stopping at Violet and her
friends and she said, "Miss Metzler, Miss Watkins, and Miss Drake, your
uniforms are impeccable."

"Thank you, Mrs.
Rikka," the three girls said in unison and then giggled. A faint smile
that looked more like toleration than actual joy, crossed Mrs. Rikka's lips and
then quickly disappeared. I couldn't tell if she liked the girls or not and
made a mental note to watch more closely so I'd know.

"Ladies, today you are
starting your internship here at Chicago General," Mrs. Rikka began.
"We have very high expectations given the fact that you are coming out of one
of the top nursing programs in the country, so before you begin, I want you to
understand that all eyes are on you, and by association, on me as well. I
expect you to behave in a way that reflects well on this program, and if there
are any infractions, rest assured, they will be dealt with swiftly. Am I making
myself clear?"

"Yes, Mrs. Rikka,"
we all replied solemnly. Liz reached under the table and pinched my thigh
causing me to jump in my seat.

"Is there a problem,
Miss Pierce?" Mrs. Rikka asked. I shook my head and she continued,
"I'm going to assign you a department today. You will work there for three
weeks before you rotate to a new department. By the time you finish your
internship, you will have rotated through all of the major departments in the
hospital and will be familiar with the protocols for each one."

She quickly began reading off
the list of assignments and I was happy to find that Liz and I had been
assigned to the ER on the first rotation.
 
Violet and her group had been assigned to the maternity ward, and were
oohing and ahhing over how fun it was going to be to be around all those
babies.

"Ladies, the maternity
ward is more that just baby sitting," Mrs. Rikka said looking at them
pointedly. "There are as many unpleasant things that happen on the ward as
there are pleasant, so please be aware of the possibility that you might be
assisting with some sad moments in people's lives as well as the happy
ones."

"Yes, ma'am,"
Violet's friends said.

"And you two," she
said looking at Liz and I with one eyebrow raised. "I'm sure you're
familiar with the general nature of the ER."

"Yes, ma'am," I
nodded.

"Sure," Liz said as
she bounced a little in her seat. "It's like on television, right? Always
busy and bustling with activity, and tons of interesting characters."

"You'll be observing and
doing basic work down there, Miss Baker," Mrs. Rikka said. "Our ER is
not a television program."

"That's a darn
shame," Liz grinned up at her.

"Miss Baker, need I
remind you that this is a hospital, not a game show?" Mrs. Rikka said
disapprovingly. "If you can't behave appropriately, I'll have no problem
removing you from the internship and telling your advisor you're not ready for
this portion of your education. Do I need to do that?"

"No, ma'am," Liz
said looking down at the table sufficiently chastised. I’d long ago learned not
to feel embarrassed by Liz’s outbursts or her somewhat uncouth behavior. I knew
she had the best of intentions, even when people misunderstood her actions.

After she'd finished filling
us in on the expectation of our internship, she sent us off to the departments
we'd been assigned to. Liz and I were quickly assigned mentors and were
absorbed into the flow of the ER department. The morning passed much quicker
than I'd expected and after lunch, we'd headed back down to find our mentors
had clocked out and gone home. Liz and I still had a couple of hours left until
we could punch out, so we busied ourselves helping stock and clean.

Around four, we heard some
shouting out in the main area of the ER. Liz grabbed my hand and yanked me away
from the shelf of gauze pads I was organizing and restocking and pulled me to
the nurse's station. A group of firemen were standing around a gurney yelling
at the nurse to do something, and do something fast.

"He's in pain, can't you
see that?" a tall guy in a Chicago FD baseball cap pleaded with the head
nurse. "Can't you do something?"

"I'm waiting on the
doctor," the nurse said as she typed something into the computer and then
ordered the man moved to Exam 2. "She'll be right down and deal with
this."

"What's going on?"
I whispered to the nurse standing next to me.

"Firefighter cooking
accident," she said rolling her eyes. "We get these every so often.
Good guys, but a lot of them are idiots when it comes to kitchen safety.
Sometimes I feel like we ought to go into every fire station in the city and
give lessons on cooking techniques as a public safety."

"What'd he do?" Liz
asked.

"Took his shirt off
while frying meatballs," the nurse said with another eye roll. "He's
probably got some second degree grease burns."

I winced as she told us what
happened, and when I turned back around, I found myself standing in front of a
tall man with broad shoulders, unruly rust-colored curls and piercing green
eyes.

"You must be new around
here," he said smiling down at me. "I haven't seen you here
before."

"It's...um...my first
day," I said trying to look away but completely unable to stop myself from
staring. "I'm a nursing student...new...it's my first day."

"So you said," he
grinned. "What's your name, newbie?"

"Me?" I asked
pointing to my chest.

"Well, yes, you,"
he said as he sunk his teeth into his lower lip.

"Alexandra," I said
thrusting my hand forward as I tried to remember my manners. "Pierce. Alex
Pierce."

"Well, Alexandra Alex
Pierce," he said taking my hand and shaking it warmly. "I'm Cameron
Conner, but most people call me Cam."

"Hi, Cam," I said
as I stared up at him, trying hard to control my breathing. If there was such a
thing as a beautiful man, Cam Connor was it, and I had no idea how to act
around him. Suddenly I remembered why I was there in the first place and
sputtered, "Do you need some help? I mean, are you hurt, too?"

"I'm not as bad as Danny
over there, but I do think I got some grease on me," he said as he held on
to my hand still shaking it. "Do you think you could give me a gauze pad
or two to cover it up?"

"Gauze! Yes! I can do
that!" I cried remembering that I'd been stocking the supplies just before
he'd come in. "I'll get some!"

"I'll just come with
you, if you don't mind," he said following me back to the back storage
area in the trauma room.

Once inside the room, I
became even more unsettled as he pulled his shirt up and revealed his bare
torso. He had a lightly hairy chest and abdominal muscles that I would have
killed for. The fire department logo was tattooed all the way around his upper
bicep.

"Nice tattoo," I
said as I wiped off the small area that had been hit by grease with an alcohol
wipe. He winced, but said nothing. "Did that hurt?"

"A little," he said
watching me closely. "So, Alex Pierce, what made you decide to work
here?"

"It's part of my nursing
program internship," I said looking up at him and noticing that in
addition to being mesmerizingly green his eyes were flecked with gold.

"I see; so technically
you probably shouldn't be treating me?" he grinned.

"Oh my God, no, I
shouldn't be!" I said as I stepped away ready to go get a real nurse.
"You probably need a licensed professional to look at that burn."

"Nah, it's all good,
I've had worse burns that I didn't get treated," he shrugged back into his
shirt and stood up. He smiled at me and said, "I just wanted a few minutes
alone with a pretty girl."

"Do you use that line on
every woman you meet?" I asked, suddenly aware of the fact that a man this
handsome was probably used to the constant attention, and that I was most
likely acting like every other woman he came in contact with. Now it was his
turn to be surprised.

"No, actually I've never
used that line before in my life," he laughed. "And I'm not sure why
I thought it was a good idea now."

"I see," I said
turning toward the door. "Well, it'll probably work if you try it again,
on someone else."

I walked out of the exam room
and headed back to the nurse's station where Liz stood chatting with the charge
nurse as they watched the doctor examine Danny.

"Where have you
been?" Liz asked.

"Stocking the exam room
in the back," I said looking away as Cam walked past the desk. "We
needed more gauze and tape."

"Uh huh," Liz said
as she looked at Cam and then back at me. "You'll have to tell me all
about it on the way home."

"Nothing to tell,"
I shrugged. "Gauze and tape really aren't that interesting."

But Cam Connor was and I knew
it was going to be hard to get him out of my mind.