Resisting the Billionaire Collection (39 page)

But if a job is worth
doing, it's worth doing well, right?
She
thought.

"I'll send you copies of the best ones." She
said.

"The best copy is right here in front of
me." The waiter said with a sleazy smile, his hand still on the
camera. Olivia had a weakness for hot young guys with sleazy
smiles. She quickly scanned around her. They were out of sight.

"What the hell. Knock yourself out
kiddo."

She pushed her tight cleavage up into his
face and the spotlessly attired young man rubbed his hands together
in satisfied glee.

Chapter
Nineteen

The following day, Sebastian arrived at his bus stop
groggy and tired. He hadn't slept well night before and had been up
late. His knees were weak and sore. In fact he was beginning to
feel pretty much all-around exhausted. He got on the bus and when
it approached her stop and searched the crowd for her perfect face.
One glance from those beautiful eyes and he would be in heaven
again. His cock was stiffening again just thinking about it.
Luckily, this morning he had it strapped well in place with tight
underwear so he could be as close to her as he wanted without
raising a horn in public.

As the last few passengers lined up to get
on, he realized that she wasn't anywhere in the crowd.

"What the hell?" He jumped out of his seat
and pushed his way towards the driver. "Hey, hold the bus, there's
someone else coming."

"The bus don't 'hold',
Mack
.
We got a
schedule to work on. What do think this is? A rented
limo?"

He reached into his pocket and took out a
$100 bill. "How's this for rent?" He offered.

"The limo is all yours, sir." The driver
pinched the bill from his hand.

Sebastian pulled out his phone and called
his guy.

"What's going on? Where the hell is
she?"

"Alison is on her way, sir. She received a
text and then stopped to make a phone call. She's got an ETA of two
minutes to the bus stop."

Sebastian was enraged.

"Why the hell wasn't I informed?"

"This was like 30 seconds ago--"

"God damn it, what the hell am I paying you
for?"

"Come on already, get this bus moving!"
Passengers were becoming restless.

"She’s moving now sir, but not in direction
of her bus stop. She's turned around."

Sebastian went to get off the bus.

"Hold on, no -- she's
turned around again and
is
headed for the bus stop."

"That's it, buddy." The driver said. "We got
people here who need to be places. This bus is leaving."

Sebastian's mind was racing. If he got off
the bus, how would he be able to explain finding her? The bus
pulled out from the curb and lurched into traffic. Sebastian shoved
another hundred at the driver.

"Sorry buddy, but I just can't do it."

He shoved yet another hundred dollar bill at
him. The bus had stopped halfway into a lane of busy New York
traffic. Horns were honking.

"Jesus buddy, how many of those things you
got there anyway?"

Bus passengers were gesticulating and
swearing. A tall angry man in a crazy yellow jumpsuit with equally
crazy hair marched towards him.

"Some of us got fuckin' places to be,
asshole!"

Sebastian held up a hundred-dollar bill and
stuck it into the front of the jumpsuit.

"Here’s one hundred reasons to have some
patience, asshole." He said.

"Make it two hundred reasons and we can sit
here all day."

He was about to respond when he saw Alison
in the crush of the office crowd. She was pure perfection, her
delicate form and full breasts like heaven in the morning
sunshine.

"Open the doors!" Sebastian shouted. "There
she is." The doors opened and he waved at her to run for the
bus.

"Alison, come on, the whole bus waiting for
you."

She froze when she saw him.

"Alison, come on. Hurry!"

She turned around and began to half walk,
half run in the opposite direction. He felt a hand shove him from
behind and he spilled out onto the street.

"She ain't coming, asshole. Fuck off." It
was the man in the yellow jumpsuit, one of New York's many
eccentrics. The doors closed and the bus pulled away. Sebastian ran
through the crowded streets trying to follow her. He saw his guy
and gave him a harsh look to back off.

"Alison!" He shouted. "Come back.
Please!"

She hurried away from him, looked briefly
over her shoulder, and then began to run.

What the hell has happened? Surely not that
idiot Olivia already?

Although he was fast, Sebastian was too big
to catch up easily with Alison's slight form. She was able to slip
between the bodies of the thick Manhattan early morning throng.

But then suddenly someone was directly in
front of her. The man was burly and wore a suit, but didn't look
like an office worker. She tried to sidestep him but he blocked her
again. With an awkward smile he said; "I'm sorry miss, please
excuse me." She tried to sidestep him again but he instantly
blocked her and with another goofy smile said, "Shall we
dance?"

"For Christ's sake." Alison hissed. But it
was too late. Sebastian's hand was on her shoulder. "Don't touch
me." She said. Sebastian nodded to his guy who instantly melted
into the crowd again, drifting away to a safe distance.

Good work.
He thought.
Not a
complete screw-up.

"What is it, Alison? Please tell me."

"You know what it is. Don't play dumb with
me, you two-timing asshole."

He stood back from her.

"Alison. I would never do that to you. I
swear to you by everything I hold dear."

"Take it somewhere else, assholes." The New
York crowd didn't take kindly to the interruption in pedestrian
traffic flow.

But the pair was oblivious.

They might have been standing on a
mountaintop or in the middle of the Gobi desert. Their eyes were
locked together, hers full of pain and anger, his full of pain and
desperation.

She held up her phone and showed him a
picture of himself with Olivia, gazing into her eyes, his hand
resting on the sexy Latina's forearm. It was intimate, sexual.

"That's not me." He said.

Alison swiped to the next picture. They were
kissing. To the next one, his hand under the table, her head thrown
back.

"It's not me. I would never do that." He
held her gaze as he said so.

"How can you look me in the eye and say
that, you stinking lowlife? How can you dare lie to me with these
pictures right here in my hand? You’re a bigger asshole than even
Brad was."

"I'm not. Alison, please, you have to
believe me. I can prove that's not me."

"Prove that that guys isn’t you? What kind
of idiot do you take me for?"

"Come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you
tell me where you were last night."

"Come with me and I'll show you. Please.
Just trust me this one time only and if you don't believe me when
I'm done then--" he choked up, "then I'll quit my job at
Tête-á-Tête and you will never see me again."

He went to take her arm but she pulled it
away. The throng pushed angrily past them, strangers giving them
angry stares and harsh words.

"Please." He said, his beautiful dark eyes
met hers for just a moment and then fell to the ground.

“
Okay. This is your one
and only chance, Daniel. This has to be the truth. No lies and I
mean none or I never want to see you again. I've been hurt too much
already."

He knew that. He still felt like pounding
Brad into dust. He took her hand, led her into the morning traffic,
and hailed down a cab. They got in and he gave a downtown address
to the driver. Then they sat in silence as the car made its way
through the busy streets of New York City.

When they arrived, the Sacred Heart Mission
Soup Kitchen was already open for morning service. Sebastian walked
in as though he owned the place, just as he did in the Tête-á-Tête
café. Several homeless people eating simple breakfasts and drinking
coffee at communal tables greeted him.

He approached the serving counter and an
elderly man smiled with surprise.

"Daniel, what are you doing here again so
early? Didn't you stay late enough last night already?"

"You know me Ron, just can't get enough of
this place."

"And who's this beautiful young lady? We got
another volunteer?"

"No, uh yes. I mean no." She said. "I would
love to, yes, one day."

Ron handed her an apron.

"Sorry Ron," Sebastian said, "but we've got
to get to work as soon as we leave here, but would you mind telling
Alison here where I was last night?"

"Sure thing, Dan. He was right here, just
like he is every Thursday night, serving hot meals to some of the
finest people you will meet in New York City. We could use more
like him, so if the spirit ever calls you to volunteer, we'd be
honored to have you. Any friend of Daniel’s is a friend of
ours."

Alison's mind was reeling. She had seen the
pictures and spoken to MJ and to Olivia. Her friends assured her
that Olivia had been on a hot date with Daniel last night from 8:00
until early that morning when they went back to his place. Olivia
wouldn't say what happened there but she was probably just trying
to spare her feelings. Knowing Olivia, she would have reduced the
man to tears and then left him broken and begging for more.

"What time did he get here last night?"

"What are you, NYPD?" Ron laughed. "He got
here about 7:30 p.m. and left about 1:00 a.m. I can show you CCTV
footage if you need it."

"Uh... thanks Ron. No, that won't be
necessary. Thank you."

Sebastian smiled at Ron. "Thanks Ron, see
you next week." He said.

When they stepped out onto the pavement, he
went to hail a taxi. "We are so gonna get canned by MJ if we don't
move our asses uptown fast."

She pushed his hand down.

"Forget MJ." She said.

"What?"

"Forget her. We need to talk. They won't
fire you. I can guarantee it."

Sebastian didn't care a hoot one way or the
other about the job but he didn't want to lose his daily proximity
to Alison. He was addicted to having her near him every day. If he
was reduced to paying for cups of coffee to be near her, he didn’t
know how he would be able to stand it.

"I really think we should go." He said.

"Not until we talk. I need to understand
what's going on here. If you were here, then who was with
Olivia?"

Sebastian didn't move. For a man so
habitually sure of himself it was paralyzing to have to
second-guess his every move. He was so close to having her. The
woman he wanted was right there in front of him, pouting her sweet
perfect cherry lips, her shining blonde hair neatly bound up for
work, her slim form almost shivering with anger, confusion and hurt
in front of him.

She might as well be on the other side of
the universe if he couldn’t explain adequately what had happened
last night.

He had come this far but any word out of
place would ruin things and all the money in the vast Drummond
world couldn't make it right again.

"It was my brother." He said.

"Your who?"

"My brother Alex. My twin brother; identical
twins. Identical in every discernible way except in success. The
one who gave me this watch." He held it up to show her.
"Remember?"

She did remember. He had told her about an
ultra-successful twin brother who had gifted him his obviously
expensive watch.

"I don’t get it, Daniel. You have to explain
to me exactly why your rich twin brother was on a date with Olivia
last night. Are they suddenly an item now?"

"No. They aren’t. It’s more complicated than
that but you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

He took her by the elbow and led her to a
doorway where they sat down in the morning sun.

"Do you remember what MJ did with Brad?"

She looked pained, embarrassed.

"Forget it. Stupid question. But look, that
guy deserved it. In fact, he deserved a lot worse." He said,
bunching his fists at the painful memory. "Your best friend MJ was
looking out for you when she did that, right?"

Alison was close to tears as she nodded her
head. Sebastian hated making her feel that way but he needed to
continue. He couldn't lose her. He refused to let go.

"Olivia tried to do the same thing to me.
She told the other girls in the café that we had already been
together. It's a stupid lie of course, but that was her way to get
me into a date with her. She said she would lie to you that we had
been together if I didn't go on a date with her."

"I can't believe this." Alison was
struggling to hold herself together. Sebastian was so close to her,
struggling to communicate, intoxicated by her presence, desperate
to put his arms around her, but knowing it was too soon.

"So I told her I would go. She said it had
to be last night, no arguments. So I called my brother and asked
him to take her. He flew all the way in from LA and put on a show
for her."

"And did he do it? Did he 'put on a show'?
Did he fuck her?"

"Not a chance in hell. He's getting married
next week and he would never do that. You have no idea how much in
love that guy is."

Alison began to shudder visibly as the tears
came.

"He's just like me. When he knows he's found
the right one, he'll never let her go." He whispered the words into
her ear and at last, she turned to him. He took her face in his big
right hand and drew her to him. The kiss he gave her electrified
her body and sent shivers of excitement to the core of her soul.
She would do anything for this wonderful man that the universe had
conspired to send her.