Passion and Surrender (The Billionaire's Temptation Book 6) (7 page)

“Marshall…I can’t.” A week in his bed would guarantee her nothing but a world of trouble and heartache when she was already so close to falling for him. It’d be one thing if they’d just met, but they hadn’t—she’d had nine months to develop feelings for him, feelings that were now amplified by the dangerous little game they were playing.

“You can and you will, Ms. Jones. Because I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Chapter Nine

Marshall swore Harper was making it so he couldn’t think straight. What had started as a bit of a fun distraction with a gorgeous and smart woman was quickly becoming a need that refused to be extinguished or ignored. And though she hadn’t agreed to give him this week together, he was a determined man.

Not having her again just wasn’t an option
.

Maybe Claire had left him completely fucked up. But he was starting to think that his need for Harper had absolutely nothing to do with his other problems. Because it was clear that there was more to it than her simply being a distraction from his divorce and the trouble Claire was stirring up.

Harper stifled a scream as the plane took a dip and shook as they hit some turbulence. With her still in his arms, he held her tightly to him. “It’s okay, love. It’s just a bit of bad weather. It’ll pass.”

“I know…” She took a deep breath, though she was so tense, he swore she’d be sore for days if he couldn’t get her to relax. “It’s silly, but…I just had a bad experience, I guess.”

“It’s not silly. Everyone has issues from their past that they have to deal with.” Just like he had to deal with the fact that he always had to be the best, because no matter what he did, his father always saw his kids as disappointments, as not good enough, and had no problem voicing his feelings on the matter. “Which is exactly why you should let me distract you, Harper.”

She sat up out of his arms and ran her hands down her face, looking exasperated. “I can’t give you a week, Marshall…things between us are already so complicated—at least it feels that way on my end. And a week with you would only leave my life even more messed up than it already it is.”

“Harper…I know I don’t know you well at all, but if you have issues you’re dealing with and I can somehow help, then I’m happy to.” He had more money than he’d ever be able to spend, and if her problems were money-related, then he’d do whatever he could to take care of the matter for her.

“It’s just…personal stuff. And it’s nothing I want to talk about. Besides, you have enough problems of your own with your ex wreaking havoc and making your life miserable.” She chewed her bottom lip, her grey eyes darkening. “Were you at least happy at one point?”

Marshall wasn’t quite sure how she’d turned things around on him, but he supposed that if he wanted her to open up to him, then he needed to do the same. “I was—or at least I
thought
I was. But the truth is that I don’t think she ever loved me, and the person I fell in love with didn’t ever really exist. It was all an act. I was never anything but a meal ticket to her, and I don’t think there was ever a time in our relationship when she
wasn’t
cheating on me.”

And yet, despite having his heart betrayed, he was still looking for happiness.

“You deserved better than that, Marshall.” She slipped her hand into his, and nestled in against his side. “I’ve never understood people like that. It’s so hard to find happiness. You’d think that once you have it in your grasp, you’d do all you could to hold onto it.”

“I suppose she wasn’t ever happy—though I doubt she was really looking for happiness anyway. I was just too stupid not to see it.” It was the one and only time he’d fallen for someone’s lies. Never again, though. “It’s why you don’t have to worry about this becoming serious, Harper. I know you’re worried about that—but you don’t need to be. I’ll admit that I want you something fierce, but it’s just a hunger that’s looking to be fed. I’m not looking for anything more from you—especially if you’re also not looking for anything serious.”

“I’m not, Marshall. But…” She took a huge breath and let it out with a shake of her head. “But you’re sexy, and charming, and you’re really sweet, and that can be a dangerous combination. It’s been awhile since I was…involved with anyone seriously. And I’m not looking for any sort of relationship, but…it doesn’t mean that I don’t run the risk of falling for you if I give in to what you’re asking for. And that’s not a chance I’m willing to take. This trip needs to be about work. Nothing more.”

“It’s just one week, Harper. I swear, I can almost guarantee I’ll manage to be a big enough jerk and push your buttons enough to make sure you’re happy to be rid of me.” He bit her lip, doing all he could to hold himself back and not drag her into the private suite at the back of the plane. “One week, Ms. Jones. I’m a determined man. And then we can both go back to denying the attraction between us.”

She all but groaned in frustration as she tried to push him away. “I can’t, Marshall. I’m sorry, but there’s no way this will work, even if it is just a week. And when we get back from the conference, I want my old job back.”

“And I want you as my assistant—as my muse—and I won’t take no for an answer.” No fucking way. Why did it suddenly feel like instead of things moving forward between them, they were instead moving back? But if it was about work, then that’s what he’d try to appeal to. “I’m offering you an amazing opportunity, Harper. You’d be able to pick and choose the projects you want to work on, help me decide the direction to take our product lines in.”

“But not because I’ve put my time in with the company and proved myself, but rather because you want to fuck me.” She let out a groan of frustration. “Don’t you see the problem?”

“What I see is an engineer who came to me with an amazing idea, and probably has plenty more ideas where that one came from. No one else has done that. No one else has taken the initiative to develop a project they weren’t assigned to and has come up with something that’s completely out of the box.” Didn’t she see how incredible she was? What an asset she could be? “I’m not saying I don’t want to fuck you, Harper—because clearly I do. Once was nowhere near enough. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not remarkable at your job and that you’d be a bigger asset to Clio if you were working with me on innovating our products.”

“I’m grateful for the opportunity, Marshall, but…” Her shoulders slumped as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m still not sure I’m the right person for that particular job.”

He couldn’t believe he was going to voice his suspicions about the mole, but he had to get her to see just what was at stake. “What if I told you there was more to it? What if I told you that I needed someone I could trust with the innovations we’d be working on, because I suspect someone is leaking information to our competitors?”

“You can’t be serious, Marshall.
Really?
” Her eyes went wide and then she slowly shook her head to clear it. “Who would do such a thing?”

“I wish I knew. But it’s why I need to try to figure out what’s happening. If I can take control of where we take our product lines, and limit who comes in contact with the designs until we’re ready for production, I can try to contain this.” The problem was he had no real proof—just one too many design similarities. It had gone from feeling like bad luck to something that occurred too frequently to be simple coincidence.

“So…not to put me under a magnifying glass, but…how do you know you can trust me?” When she chewed her lip, he couldn’t help but steal a kiss.

“The truth is I don’t know that I can trust you—even though I do.” Before Claire, he’d thought himself a pretty good judge of character. He swore Harper wouldn’t betray him, even though a part of him—the part of him that had gotten burned by a cheating, lying spouse—left him questioning how trustworthy anyone really was, when there were few people who didn’t have a price. “That said, if there’s just the two of us working on a design, and it shows up elsewhere, then at the very least we’ve narrowed the field considerably.”

“I don’t know if I want that sort of responsibility, Marshall. And no offense, but I don’t know what lengths your competitors will go to for that sort of information. I know we’re not exactly dealing with world-changing technology, or nuclear weapons and such, but there’s a lot of money to be made in this industry, and…people get greedy.” She let out a deep breath and shifted her gaze, refusing to let it settle on him for too long. “And that’s all the more reason why I can’t sleep with you again, Marshall.”

“One has nothing to do with the other, Ms. Jones—and this discussion isn’t over. Like I’ve said before—I’m a determined man.”

***

It was late by the time they got to the hotel in London, but their suite was perfect, though he wondered just how smart it was to stay in the hotel the conference was actually being held in. It was already bustling with people, though the conference didn’t start for another day, with tomorrow being a soft open, allowing the vendors to get set up while people continued to fly in.

“Why is there only one bed?” Harper spun on him and pinned him with a glare as he tipped the porter and locked the door.

“There’s only one bed because originally I was going to be the only one coming to this event.” Granted, he probably could have found a way to change it afterwards, but it wouldn’t have been easy. “With the hotel already fully booked for the conference, I figured it’d be easier for me to sleep on the pullout sofa if it came to that.”

“
If it came to that?
You’re unbelievable.” With a hand on her hip, she shook her head, her eyes narrowing as he closed the distance between them. “This is not going to work.”

“Well, it’s going to have to, since there aren’t any other rooms available.” If he only had a week with her, then he was going to make the most of it, even if they were there for work. “I promise to behave myself. Cross my heart and hope—”

“
Don’t
say it, Marshall.” He swore the color drained from her face, making him wonder if there was more to it than just keeping him out of her bed.

“Hey…” Concerned, he crossed to her side and ran a hand down her arm, hoping to reassure her. “The sofa should be a pullout, okay? I’ll sleep there.”

She nodded though her gaze refused to meet his. And then she was stepping away from him to get her suitcase. “Do we have a set schedule of when and where we need to be? And will we be manning a booth or table?”

“We use a distributor in Europe, and they’ll be the ones highlighting our products at the show and manning the booth. I do have a panel I’m speaking on in a few days, but I’m here primarily to get a feel for upcoming trends.” He couldn’t tell if she was worried about something or just upset, but it was making him crazy to see her upset. And as skittish as she was looking, he didn’t want to push her, suspecting that if he didn’t give her a bit of space, he’d kill any chance he had to make things work between them, professionally and otherwise. “Why don’t we go grab some dinner and then we can go over the schedule once we get back? There’s a party we might have to hit too, since our distributor is the one hosting it.”

She looked a little nervous at the prospect of going to the party—and she was probably right to think it was going to be pretty risqué. But she managed a brave smile anyway. “Sounds good.”

Instead of ordering takeout or heading to some fancy restaurant with pretentious food, they ended up at this mom-and-pop Indian place that Marshall had been to on some previous visits to London. “I know it’s a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, but I swear this place has some of the tastiest curries I’ve ever eaten.”

She took a few bites of the different dishes she spooned onto her plate, and gave him a look of ecstasy. “This is really amazing, Marshall. Thanks for bringing me along, even though I fought you every step of the way.”

“I’d happily do it all again. Believe me. I hate coming to these things alone.” He helped himself to some more lamb Vindaloo and fragrant basmati rice.

“So, what else is scheduled for the week? Anything in particular you want to accomplish?” Clearly she was determined to keep him focused on work. And that was fine. The night was still young, there was only one bed in their room, and he still had the whole week ahead of him, if she needed more time.

“I just want us to get inspired…get a feel for where the market and our competitors are headed. There might be some panels worth sitting in on, and other than that, there are a few parties we’ve been invited to. I’d prefer to give them a miss, but I need to, at the very least, make an appearance.” Most of the parties would likely be too extreme and crazy for Harper, but there were still a few he’d need to attend.

“I can just imagine the sort of parties that happen at these sorts of conventions.” Of course, she was right, especially since the convention wasn’t just sex toys, but
everything
sex related, from BDSM equipment to adult movies and entertainment.

“Honestly, I don’t think your imagination could dream up half the stuff that goes on at these things, and frankly I think it’s best kept that way.” She was already so standoffish, and he didn’t want to push her over the edge with the sort of things that bore no relevance to his life or business.

“I’m not some prude, Marshall.” She gave him an annoyed glare. “And my motto’s always been
‘to each their own.’
I don’t judge people for what turns them on as long as everyone involved has fully consented to the activities. So don’t go assuming I’m some sort of close-minded and sheltered nun who needs her virtue and purity protected.”

He barked out a laugh and gave her a sly smile. “Fair enough. Does that mean you’ll share the bed with me tonight?”

She shook her head with a smile. “I swear, you have a one-track mind.”