Capture Me: Alpha Billionaire Romance (Hollywood Dreams) (5 page)

Betsy had big lips, bigger hair, and even bigger boobs. The kind of woman who, if my father wasn’t totally in love with Mom, I’d say there could be something there. If anyone really looked at it, Dad let Betsy influence enough around here that could make people wonder, but everything she did was spot on.

“You know my dad—better to be early.” I’d spent yesterday afternoon at home in Greenwich, helping Dani study. Dad had made sure I knew I’d see him again at 8:30 this morning, if not earlier.

She chuckled and her fluffy hair bounced as she shook her head. “Don’t I know it.”

I opened the Italian bag Sadie had insisted I get for my promotion that cost a month’s worth of pay—according to my old salary— and dug around for my cell to make sure Betsy’s clock wasn’t fast. It wasn’t like Dad to come in this close to a meeting. I reminded myself that he was the boss, and I was the one who had to be here early for our 8:30 appointment.

“Nervous?” Betsy had a sweet, old lady’s voice in a middle-aged woman’s body. Like her boobs, I didn’t know if her voice was completely natural or if she was just giving us a good show.

I looked up at Betsy grinning at me.

“You’ve pulled the hem of your suit down five times in the last two minutes.”

I shrugged, still trying to sort everything out. After digging through my bag for a few more moments, I concluded that I’d definitely left my phone at home.

Another clear sign Betsy could be right about me being nervous.

“Okay.” Betsy’s eyes went wide like she’d just seen the most delicious piece of chocolate cake. “I’ve got just the thing for you.” She scooted from her desk and hopped up on her four inch heels, which between those and her Texas hair, maybe gave her the final clearance of just over five feet.

I couldn’t imagine what she had in store, but she shuffled out in a hurry.

I yawned and wished I’d slept more last night. Instead, I’d kept thinking that if I fell asleep, I would never hear my alarm—the worst feeling when you needed to be somewhere.

Who was I kidding? I couldn’t stop thinking about Liam and our date Saturday, either. I still didn’t know how I’d found the willpower to break off that kiss. I’d stuck to my three-date rule, but I so didn’t want to. I’d never met another man I’d been so attracted to.

Just thinking about him made me close my eyes and picture him here. I had a few minutes so I let my imagination run wild.

“Don’t talk, Tessa.” I could hear Liam’s low voice in my head. The sexy hint of an accent stroking his every word. I nodded as he took my tote from my hand and set it on the ground. “You won’t be needing this.”

“I—” I caught myself.

I enjoyed this game and didn’t want to do anything to make him stop. I didn’t need to wait on any number of dates to imagine my fantasy right now.

“Good girl.” He ran his hands up my thighs as he said it. My breath puffed out the higher he went. “Don’t make a sound. You wouldn’t want Betsy to hear the pleasure I’m about to give you.”

I shook my head.

Liam gave me a long mischievous look before inching my skirt to my hips. He groaned. “Very nice. Do you always wear panties that say the day of the week?”

I giggled to myself, breaking my trance. As soon as I found my phone I’d have to make a reminder to go shopping with Sadie. As dangerous as that probably was, she’d know what would look best. Given that most everything I knew about Liam’s tastes was from his photos, there wasn’t much he hadn’t seen.

After reliving every detail of Saturday’s date last night with Sadie, I knew she’d be more than willing to help me find the perfect
third date
outfit.

I closed my eyes.

Liam was in front of me again. He slipped up my skirt. “I see you were expecting me. No panties?”

I figured I could lose them with just a thought. It was my fantasy, after all.

“I’m working on that.”

He pressed his finger to his lip, reminding me not to talk. I giggled again—as quietly as I could. He took his finger from his mouth and traced it along my inner thigh.

Painfully slowly.

I wanted to tell him to hurry up, that we didn’t have much time. But that’d be against the rules. He kept his eyes on mine as he kissed one leg, then the other. All the way to the hem of my skirt. I sucked in a breath, tipped my head back, ready for him.

He stopped.

I gasped, but he quickly rose to face me and tamped down my frustration with a kiss. As passionate as Saturday’s.

I spread my legs, aching and exposed. I wanted his tongue elsewhere but my words were lost in the moment. Liam’s hand touched my inner thigh and I caught my breath when his thumb first brushed my clit. He pulled away just long enough to remind me to stay silent. As he came back for a kiss, his fingers entered me. I moaned into his mouth and moved my hips with the pressure. His thumb sent jolts of pleasure up and down my body.

I leaned back in the chair to give him a better angle.

“That the right spot?” he said.

It wasn’t a question. Not really. Liam knew exactly what he was doing to me. I forced myself not to whimper as he pumped his fingers. He had control of me and I couldn’t say anything or someone would hear. My breath came quicker and I wanted to let myself go. I needed this. Craved this. Craved Liam.

“Let go. Let go.”

The pressure released. I didn’t.

I never could “let go.”

Liam—my fantasy Liam at least—was gone and I found myself a bit more excited than before. My skirt actually had hiked up a few inches. I smoothed it out and cleared my throat.

“Finally found it.” Betsy’s voice made me jump. “Oh heavens, Dear, are you okay?”

“Sorry. It’s just so quiet in here.”

Betsy held up a gold nameplate that read
Tessa Douglas
in formal lettering. She was about to peel off the plastic covering that made it all shiny when she looked down at me.

“I take it you want to do the honors?” She handed it over and this time I wasn’t dreaming. I was here, holding my own nameplate.

I’d wanted more of a break after classes ended and real life began, like most of the other graduates would get. But then, I was also not scouring the internet right now, frantically trying to find a job. Instead, I was set for life at my father’s company with full benefits and four weeks of vacation.

Sadie had always given me a hard time about following my dad’s plan. She still didn’t get that I wanted all this. No normal person would be this excited about numbers, but here I was. There was never a question that my part-time job here wouldn’t become more, but I wasn’t expecting a corner office with windows. Dad had showed me the setup on Friday. I had an amazing view of downtown New York, but nothing compared to my dad’s. Or Liam’s.

How did everything come back to him? Even the way that I fantasized about him minutes ago. This had never been like me, but it made me smile.

“Glad to see you’re less nervous now,” Betsy said. “I knew this waterfall was perfect for this room.”

I chuckled to myself. There was no chance I’d tell her what had actually helped me relax, even if just a little. I thought back to Fantasy-Liam telling me to let go, and even though I wasn’t able to completely, it still felt good.

He felt right.

I still didn’t know what came over me at his car. The moment he kissed me . . . it was like something ignited.

I had it bad for Liam, and thinking about the dozens of models he photographed every week made me wonder if I could enter his world.

Or if in the end he would burn me.

I wanted to go back to the fantasy but so much was about to happen that I needed to be here. I glanced at the clock behind Betsy and dropped the nameplate on my lap. It was already 8:50. I had never once known my father to be late. If I came in early, he would’ve been even earlier.

“Have you heard from my dad yet?”

Betsy frowned and looked behind her. “Oh good Lord. Where the devil could he be?”

I wanted to tell her that those were two very interesting sentiments to be said together, but now was not the time. The fact that I even noticed that right now showed that I was not thinking clearly.

I closed my eyes, this time to steady myself. Things rarely felt “off” for me. “I have no idea. Have you tried to reach him?” I asked.

“I sent a message to his car service but haven’t heard back.”

“I take it that’s unusual?”

“Honey, in the twenty years I’ve worked for your father, none of this is usual for him.”

I could feel my heart pumping harder and I hadn’t realized until this moment but I’d been twisting the handle of my outrageously expensive bag until my hands ached.

I tried to let the water of the fountain behind Betsy’s desk do its damnedest to calm my nerves. The last thing I wanted was to be so hyped up that when he came walking in here, I wouldn’t be able to function in our meeting.

He’d tell me something like, “Use your logic,” and we’d get on with the meeting right there, regardless of how frazzled I was. My dad could make sense out of everything. Even if it was completely illogical, he always found the empathy to see it from the other person’s perspective.

That was just one of the many things my mother loved so much about him. My parents had always been completely precious together, something I’d only fantasized about having . . . though never nearly as intense as today.

Right now, I tried to find the logic in my dad being late. Though he’d come up with a million explanations that ranged from car trouble to a spontaneous trip around the world, no matter what reason popped into my head, if there was one thing I knew about my father it was that he’d never let me down. He had always been there for me, and him not being here right now, on my very first day as a full-time employee . . .

I just didn’t know.

“Try the house.” I stood. My nerves wouldn’t let me just sit around. I wanted to do something. To go look for him. Something.

“I already did.” Betsy looked as lost as I felt.

“Try again.” The words came out sharper than I’d intended but she knew where I was coming from and nodded.

My phone rang and it surprised me so much I dropped my bag. “Oh crap!” I dug through it, wondering how the hell I’d already managed to put so much in here after only having it one week. So much, in fact, that I couldn’t find my phone earlier and was sure I’d left it.

“Come on. Come on.”

“It’s just ringing through.” Betsy held up the receiver from her desk.

I snagged the phone from some inside pocket I didn’t even know existed and saw
Dad
on the indicator. “That’s probably because he’s calling me on here.” I pressed
accept
and held my cell to my ear.

“Tessa?” It took me a moment to recognize the voice, and when I did, everything went cold.

“Dani, why do you have Dad’s phone?”

CHAPTER 8

Liam

The curve of her hip looked unbelievably sexy wrapped in my silk sheets.

I couldn’t ask for a better view. The way her back narrowed then flared out made me want to pull her naked body against me and stay here all day.

Tessa filled my mind and I smiled seeing her resting peacefully in my bed. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, traced my fingers down the curve of her left breast, and followed it all the way down her abs. She moaned, and as I kissed my way down her arm, the morning haze began to clear for me like the lens of a camera focusing in my hand.

The tousled mane of black hair slid down the pillow as she turned toward me.

“Hey you,” Paisley said.

“Morning,” I replied through a painted smile.

“What a fabulous night. It’s been a while for us.”

“Few weeks.”

She stretched, extending her legs across my bed, exposing dark nipples that had been in my mouth hours ago.

I felt sick. After having such an amazing time with Tessa, Paisley ended up in my bed only a day later. I should have never tried to make up for canceling on her.

Her eyes flashed and she rested her hand on my bicep. I didn’t like the way she touched me. All possessive and wanting. “Ready for another round?”

“I think we better start the day.”
Separately
.

She sat up fully exposed, uncaring that my blinds were half-open. Giving a show was the kind of thing Paisley lived for. “Well, if you want to come and join me in the shower, I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

I put my head in my hands the moment I heard the shower turn on. The rush of water flooded my nerves and I ran my fingers through my hair. It had some tangles, thanks to last night, and was about as jacked up as I’d made things.

The scattering of clothes across the room would lead anyone to think last night had been passionate and would be followed up by some breakfast in bed. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of here and go to work.

I’d canceled with Paisley on Saturday and thought I’d make up for it by taking her out last night. Big fucking mistake. There was a reason I’d gone with Tessa without hesitation. I should have remembered those instincts.