Resisting the Billionaire (18 page)

“Screw the meeting. Let’s go back to my apartment for the
rest of the day.”

I hopped off his lap. Even after all the things we did, I
still blushed when I felt our wetness on my thighs. “Nope, you have to go.
Let’s get cleaned up in your bathroom.” I bent down to pick up his trousers.

He moaned and grabbed my ass. “Screw the meeting.”

“Jake!” I laughingly scolded as I jumped out of the way. I
handed him his pants. Luckily, they weren’t too wrinkled. “You have to go. It’s
to discuss the bid for the new project in Dubai.”

He grumbled, but allowed me to drag him into the private
bathroom to clean up. We almost got sidetracked again, but in fifteen minutes,
I pushed him out of his office. Both of us were presentable, but if anyone
looked closely, they’d notice the flushed skin and swollen lips.

The afternoon passed in a dreamy haze. I probably smiled indiscriminately
at everyone like an idiot, but I didn’t care.

I could tell something was wrong when Jake came back from
the meeting. I tried to find out why he was upset, but he shook off his bad
mood. By the end of the day, he seemed to have recovered completely and wanted
to take Marcus and me out to dinner. To celebrate, he said. I had never seen
him look so carefree. His eyes were sparkling and his dimple seemed to have
taken up permanent residence. I didn’t recognize him as the imperious boss I met
over a month ago.

When we were about to leave the office, he tensed, his face
somber again.

Instantly, I knew why. Smiling at him, I laced our fingers
together. The look of surprise and joy on his face was worth any ugly rumors
that might start. Walking hand-in-hand, we left the office and walked to the
elevators.

Most of the staff had left, but we got a few speculative
glances from those who were still working. To my surprise, it didn’t bother me
as much as I thought it would.

Alana got into the elevator with us. Her eyebrows almost met
her hairline when she saw our clasped hands. But when she got off on the ground
floor, she winked at me over her shoulder.

I smiled.

On Saturday morning, Jake showed up early with pastries and
coffee. Marcus had already left for the day to hang out with his school friends
and Jake and I were looking forward to having some alone time. We were expected
at his parents’ house again for dinner and I needed to bake two pies for the
hungry Weston men.

I had just bitten into my Danish when my doorbell rang. “Who
in the world could it be?” I didn’t get many visitors. I glanced at Jake and he
had an oh-shit look on his face.

“Baby, let me get it. It’s probably someone who got the
wrong house.” He stood and headed toward the intercom.

I followed closely on his heels. This whole situation
smelled fishy.

He looked over his shoulder, “Um…baby, seriously, go finish
your breakfast.”

Narrowing my eyes, I said sweetly, “No, I want to make sure
it’s not a neighbor who forgot their keys. You wouldn’t recognize their voice.”

Muttering something under his breath, he sighed and pressed
the button.

A brusque voice came over the speaker. “This is Antonio from
City Movers. We’re here to help you move.”

I raised an eyebrow at Jake.

Jake cleared his throat. “Uh…you must have the wrong address.”

“Is this the residence of Cora
Branton
?”
Antonio rattled off my address.

I swallowed my laugh at Jake’s shame-faced look. My man was
definitely persistent. I leaned closer to the intercom. “Hi Antonio. This is
Cora
Branton
. I’m not moving, but the man who hired
you will be paying in full for your troubles today. I’ll send him down right
now to sign the invoice. If I move, I’ll be sure to hire your wonderful
service.”

There were a few cheers in the background.

I flashed a look at Jake and he went downstairs, grumbling
about my pig-headedness. He opened the door and signed the invoice. Taking out
his wallet, he gave each of the guys a tip. Antonio, who was a burly
dark-haired man, gave me a thumbs-up and a huge grin.

When he climbed back up the stairs, Jake regarded me warily.

My voice was measured. “I take it you arranged this after
you said, ‘I’m tired of being Mr. Considerate’ and then hung up on me?”

He grimaced and ran his fingers through his hair, making a
tuft stick up. He looked adorable. “Yes.”

“And you weren’t going to tell me? Or let me pack? Were they
going to drag me kicking and screaming out of my apartment?”

“I was going to tell you yesterday, but I forgot. You
distracted me.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Baby, I know you value your independence, but I worry about
you and Marcus walking around here at night. If you live in the same building,
I could look after you. And we’d get to spend more time together.” He hauled me
into his arms and whispered into my ear. “You could drop by my apartment for a
quickie without worrying about leaving Marcus alone for too long.”

I tugged the recalcitrant tuft of hair back into place and
said solemnly, “Oh, why didn’t you say so in the first place? That’s incentive
enough for me.”

He jerked his head back in shock at my easy acquiescence.
“Really? You’ll move?”

“Let’s have Marcus look at the apartment first. Then I need
to give notice to my landlord. But don’t send a crew of moving men here before
I’m ready. And don’t think strong-arming me is going to work for anything else.”
I walked back to the counter and picked up my coffee.

“You got it, babe,” he said, grinning widely.

“And I insist on paying for part of the rent.” I blew on the
hot brew and took a sip. I kept telling myself not to freak out about moving.

“Of course, baby. Besides, we won’t be there for long. We
should really look into getting a big house. One with a big yard for when we
have kids.”

I choked and Jake thumped my back, laughing at me. When I
recovered, his eyes dared me to approach the subject, but I was too much of a
coward. I was just getting used to the idea of being in love with him.

“And you’ll attend college in the fall?”

“One thing at a time. I still need to process everything.
You’re moving too fast for me.”

His smile told me he wouldn’t give up until I surrendered.

He helped me with the pies, but he kept distracting me. We
almost burned them when he decided he needed to “practice” having a quickie in
my kitchen. Only it wasn’t a quickie. He bent me over the counter and took me
from behind, pulsing unhurriedly in me until I reached a sweet slow peak. My
legs could barely hold me up by the end and it took a few moments to realize
the screeching in my ear wasn’t my own screams, but the oven timer.

“If the pies are ruined, I’m going to tell your dad it’s
your fault,” I threatened.

Jake smiled like a Cheshire cat. “Then you’ll have to tell
him what distracted you.”

I glared and he laughed. Then I had to kiss him because his
dimple was flashing at me. And that distracted us some more.

To salvage the pies, I had to cut off the slightly charred
edges.

When we arrived at his parents’, Geoffrey’s eyes gleamed greedily
at the sight of the desserts. He hugged me, proclaiming me his favorite person.
Then he headed into the kitchen with the pies. Troy trailed behind him “to make
sure he didn’t sneak a slice.” Jake
followed,
declaring that one of the pies was “his” since he had helped bake it.

Marcus ran after them, too curious about the outcome of the
pie wars.

Susan smiled knowingly at me. “There’s something different
about you and Jake. You both look… I don’t know… more settled? Did my son
finally get through?”

I nodded shyly. “Yes.”

She clapped her hands gleefully like a child. “That’s
wonderful! I knew he’d be able to get you to realize how much he loves you.
It’s a Weston trait.” Linking our arms, she walked into the house. “Did I ever
tell you I was engaged to another man when I met Geoffrey?” She nodded at my
wide-eyed look. “Weston men are very determined.”

On Sunday, Jake took us to the Adler Planetarium. Marcus was
in heaven, watching the shows and gazing at the cosmos through the telescope at
the
Doane
Observatory.

For dinner, I made lasagna and they inhaled the food. I
gawked as they ate portion after portion and decided God must be a man because
if a woman ate that much, she’d pass out in a food coma and gain ten pounds
when she woke up. Jake and Marcus didn’t even look lethargic after the meal.

The quiet evening at home with the two most important men in
my life was the perfect finale to my week.

I still had a silly smile on my face when I showed up for
work on Monday. I was about to walk into Jake’s office to give him a morning
kiss when I realized his door was closed.

Worry wiped the smile off my face when I heard raised
voices. His office was practically soundproof so someone would have to be
shouting to be heard. Not wanting to intrude on the intense Monday meeting, I
sat at my desk, glancing at the door intermittently, wondering who was in there
with him.

Midmorning, the door finally opened and a red-faced Jason
Hughes stepped out of the office. He looked harried and irritable.

“Morning, Jason,” I said hesitantly, uncertain about his
mood.

He shot me a sharp look, his eyes narrowed in contemplation
before he spit out a curt greeting.

Taken aback by the hostility emanating from him, I was about
to open my mouth to ask him what was wrong when Jake came out and said firmly,
“I’ll talk to you later, Jason.” It was clearly a dismissal.

My gaze bounced between the two of them, wondering what they
could have been fighting about.

“I’ll dig a little deeper, but I think I’m right.” Jason
stalked out of the office.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, still staring after Jason.

Jake sighed. “Yeah. We lost the bid for the hotel in Dubai.”

“What? Who won it?” I tried to recall the proposal we had
put together a few weeks back. With our company’s connections to the best suppliers,
it was unlikely that another firm could have underbid us.

“Lakeshore Industries.”

I frowned. “Why do they sound familiar?”

“They’re a local company. You’ve probably seen their signs
around. Their bid was just under ours, like
Bauen’s
for the North Side project. Jason thinks it’s the same person leaking the
information.” Jake looked haggard.

“Damn! Is he any closer to finding the culprit? This can’t
keep happening. Maybe we need to bring in the police.” I stood up, anger coursing
through me.

“We have no evidence.”

I plunked back into my seat. “Damn. Do you know who had
access to the file?”

Jake stared at me for a long moment. “Troy, Kayla, Wayne
Smythe
in legal, Tom Wexler, head of our international
division, you and me.”

I paled. Everyone on the list had been with the company for
over ten years except for me. Troy and Jake were automatically eliminated. Tom
Wexler had not worked on the
Bauen
project so he was
also off the list. Of the remaining three, I was the most likely suspect.

Did Jake think I was
the leak?

I tried to read Jake’s expression, but his face was closed
off. He turned around and walked into his office.

No smile. No kiss.

I couldn’t concentrate on work, my mind working through the
situation.

God, did Jake think I
was like Sophia Chandler?

The first leak with
Bauen
happened
right after I came on as Jake’s assistant.

My stomach cramped and I put my head in my palm. My skin
felt cold and clammy.

I walked to the bathroom and blotted my face with a wet
towel. The woman who was walking on air this morning was gone. Now I looked like
I was given a death sentence. My skin was ghostly white and my eyes looked
hollow and dull. Even though I knew I was innocent, it was killing me that Jake
thought I might be guilty.

When I walked by the front desk, Alana shot me a concerned
look, but she didn’t ask and I didn’t volunteer any information. The less
interaction I had with people, the better.

The hours in the day dragged. Jake was called into an
emergency meeting with the board before lunch, but he told me to stay in the
office.

“It’s going to take hours. Someone has a bug up their ass
about something and they’ll spend hours dithering over what to do. I’m sure
someone else can take minutes for the meeting.” He wouldn’t meet my gaze and
left.

Bile coated my tongue.
God,
didn’t he trust me to even take notes at a meeting anymore?

At lunch, I got a call from Jamie.

“Girl!!!!!” She screamed so loudly, I had to hold the receiver
away from my ear. “I heard you were seen holding hands with Jake Weston on
Friday! How could you keep this juicy bit of news away from me?”

I rolled my eyes, wondering at her sources. She was better
than the CIA at uncovering secrets. “Jamie, I haven’t even had time to process
it yet.”
Besides, it might have ended
before it started.

“You have to go to lunch with me. I want
deets
,”
she whined.

Feeling a headache begin to develop, I opened my mouth to
decline, but abruptly changed my mind. It would be good for me to clear my
head. “Okay, let’s go to our favorite deli.”

Ten minutes later, we were sitting at our usual table.

Jamie was practically twitching with inquisitiveness as she
leaned over the table. “Dish!”

I paused. My instinct was to dodge the question, but I was
tired of holding people at a distance. “There’s not that much to tell. It
happened so fast.” Omitting some of the more intimate details, I gave her a
rundown of how Jake helped me with my brother and how I started to develop
feelings for him.

Starry-eyed, Jamie breathed, “Ooh…that’s so romantic. He
must be crazy about you.”

I must have made a face because Jamie sat up and demanded,
“Why the long face? Aren’t you supposed to be on cloud nine right now?”

Swearing her to secrecy, I explained about the leak, sharing
the bare minimum of details.

“And you think Jake suspects it’s you?”

I shrugged. “Wouldn’t you?”

“No way in hell! You’re too honest and if that asshole
believes it, then he doesn’t deserve you!” She looked ready to go to battle with
Jake. “Are you sure you’re not overanalyzing?”

Her ready defense made me smile despite my misery. And it
gave me a glimmer of hope that I was reading too much into Jake’s actions.

But as the hours ticked by, that glimmer dimmed. At the end
of the day, Jake had not returned.
He texted me to leave
without him because he was still in the meeting.

The ride on the El was the longest of my life.

When I got home, I forced myself to act as normal as
possible and cooked dinner. I stared at my phone, but there was no text or call
from Jake. After picking at my food and fielding strange looks from Marcus, I
claimed I had a headache and retreated to my room.

The ache in my heart was unbearable. Curling up on my bed, I
cried into my pillow. The cold wall Jake had put between us had gutted me. He
had shut me out. How could he tell me he loved me and believe I would do
something so heinous? Didn’t he know me by now? I would never betray him!

Anger started to pump through me.
How dare he think I’d do something like this!

I sat up and pressed my fingers against my temples. “Think.
Think, Cora.”

Wiping my wet cheeks, I took out a notebook. Writing down
things always helped me see a problem clearly. I started to list all the things
that might seem incriminating.

Both bids were only
known at the highest levels.

Leaks happened after I
started working as Jake’s EA.

Remembering the look on Jason’s face, I wrote down another
item.

Jason must have found
something on my hard drive. Did someone plant something on my computer? Who?

I massaged my temples. Something about Lakeshore Industries
was niggling at the back of my mind. I turned on my laptop and looked up the
company. I gasped when I recognized the logo.

With a shaking hand, I wrote one more thing on the list.

I applied for a
position at Lakeshore Industries.

Weeks ago, after Jake and I almost had sex in his office, I
had decided the best thing to do was to look for a job at another company, and
thereby remove myself from temptation. That night I had sent out a number of
resum
e
s to various firms, but I was
careless and forgot to attach a cover letter to my application to Lakeshore. When
I remembered the next day, I had sent it from my work computer.

I never received a response and after Jake and I became a
couple, I had completely forgotten about it. An email to a rival company at the
time we placed our bid would be highly suspicious. Jason must have found it and
brought it to Jake’s attention.

But surely, had they looked closer, they would have seen
that I was applying for a low-level administrative position and not selling
secrets.

But maybe they thought
it was code for something else? After
Jake got burned by a
dishonest assistant
, would he trust another?

Eyes burning, I stared at that list.

Flipping the page, I started to list everything that would
make Jake believe I was innocent. There was only one.

Jake Weston loves Cora
Branton
.

The words looked very lonely.