The Billionaire Next Door (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) (7 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Solie dried the cup and put it away in the cupboard
overhead then she turned back to the island in the middle of kitchen and
gathered up the boxes of tea and the sugar bowl.  It had been almost a week
since she’d muscled her way into Ransom Kent’s life – the health side of it,
anyway – and she was getting to know her way around the house.  She’d just
fixed him a cup of tea and made him lie down in the den.  It was November and
the evenings were beginning to grow cool.  He’d wanted to stay on the patio but
the last thing he needed was a head cold on top of his concussion.  She’d
ordered him inside and he hadn’t been pleased…not that it bothered her in the
least.

She paused to stare out the kitchen window at Ransom’s
prized gazebo in the backyard, the source of one of their earlier arguments. 
Now it didn’t seem quite so important, not when his health was brought into the
picture.

As she thought about their past wrangles she could only
marvel.  Who would have thought she’d be in the man’s kitchen, making him tea,
bossing him around in his own home?  So far he’d complied…grudgingly…but she
knew it wouldn’t last.  As soon as the headaches disappeared he’d have her out
of his house and banned from his doorstep.  No problem.  She would climb over
the hedge and sneak in through the back door.  As long as she felt he needed
monitoring she would be there.  She and Trevor, her new buddy, had an agreement
and she was not about to let him down.

Still, that day she’d bullied him, barged in and taken
control she didn’t know what came over her.  As mild-mannered and gentle as she
always was, such behavior was really not like her.  She almost grinned at the
thought.  Okay, so maybe she wasn’t all that gentle or mild-mannered.  But anyway,
she had to admit she’d been a bit rough that day.  It was probably because,
deep down, she knew what would work.  She understood his personality.  She’d
threatened him because she’d known it was the only way he would give in.

All the tea things now tucked away, Solie decided it was
time to check on Ransom one last time and then head back home.  It was early
evening yet but she would have a long shift tomorrow and she wanted to rest up
for it.  She gave an inward sigh.  No rest for the weary, or was it no rest for
the wicked?  She couldn’t remember how the popular phrase went but either way,
where rest was concerned, she could do with a whole lot more than she’d been
getting lately.

When she got to the end of the hallway and turned the
corner she found Ransom sprawled on the massive sofa, his eyes glued to the big
screen television.  A basketball game was on and by now she’d come to learn
that when the Miami Heat basketball team was on the court you kept your mouth
shut and stayed out of his way.

She didn’t mind.  His absorption in the game gave her
the perfect opportunity to get an eyeful of the man who, strangely, had crept
his way into her life.  Or was it the other way around?  Maybe she was the one
who’d done the creeping or more accurately, the barreling in.  Whatever.  It
didn’t matter.  What did matter was that she was here, in his house, getting
her fill of some Ransom Kent eye candy.

Even as he relaxed on the sofa she could see the power
in his lean, muscled body.  He was almost as tall as a few of the basketball
players on the court, at least an inch or two over six feet, and looked just as
fit.  There was a six o’clock shadow on his jaw that made him look too sexy for
any red-blooded woman to be around.  All she wanted to do right then was climb
onto the sofa where he lay, straddle his hips and reach down to cup that
ruggedly sensual face in her hands.  Then she would lean forward and press her
lips to his…

“Did you see that shot?  Damn, LeBron’s good.”

Startled, Solie’s head jerked up at Ransom’s triumphant
shout.  When she saw his jubilant grin she couldn’t help but smile back,
confident that he had no idea what she’d just been thinking.  What was it with
men and sports?  Outside of sex, that was the one thing guaranteed to keep them
happy.

“So who’s leading?” she asked as she went to perch on
the armchair across from him.  She didn’t want to get too comfortable.  That
would make it too easy to be tempted to stay longer.  “Your team?”

He laughed.  “What do you think?  These guys are the
best.”  His eyes flashed with mirth as he settled back into the cushions.

Solie had never seen Ransom so relaxed and she liked
it.  “So do you think they’ll make it to the finals?”

The look Ransom gave her told her she should never have
asked such a stupid question.  “You know who’s on this team, right?  We’ve got
Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh-”

“And the great LeBron James,” she said drily, finishing
the statement for him.  She might not be a sports buff but she could drop a
name or two.

“The man himself.”  Ransom nodded.  “With a talented
team like this I’m already seeing championship rings for all of them.”

“Even though they’ve got two already.”

“Three,” he said, happily correcting her.  “I want them
to beat the Bulls’ record.  The way they’re playing they’ll shoot past six in
no time.” 

Solie cocked an eyebrow at him.  “I believe you.”  Then
she clapped her hands onto her knees and made to stand up.  “Anyway, I’ll leave
you to it.  I’m heading out now.”

That got her a quick frown.  “What?  So soon?”  Then his
face cleared and he gave her one of his signature Ransom Kent smiles.  Heavens,
the man could turn on the charm at the drop of a hat.  “Stay a while and watch
the rest of the game with me.” 

“No can do,” she said firmly.  If he only knew how,
right at that moment her brain had to be beating her heart into submission. 
Deep down inside she wanted to stay, not for the sake of checking up on him,
but just to be with him, get to know him.  But that was dangerous.  She would
be a fool to go there.

And so she stood by her decision.  Literally, in fact,
as no sooner had the words left her lips than she rose from the chair, shoving
her hands into her pockets as she got up.  As fidgety as she was feeling just
then, hiding her hands from view was the best thing to do.  “I’ve got a long day
ahead of me so I’m gonna go.”

“Aaw, not even twenty minutes more?”  He gave her a cute
puppy dog look that was hard to resist.

But she had to.  At this point it had little to do with
her work schedule.  Now it was all about her growing attraction to him.  She
had to get the hell out of there.

“Nope, I’m heading out.  Just make sure you don’t stay
up too late.  You need your rest.”  With those parting words Solie tore her
eyes from Ransom’s still smiling face and began to turn toward the door.

It was then that a buzzing vibration on her left butt
cheek stopped her in her tracks.  It was probably her
mamita
checking up
on her.  She dug into her back pocket and pulled out the cell phone. 

An unknown number.  A frisson of fear ran through Solie
but she swallowed and, trying hard to look casual, she clicked on the answer
button and put the phone to her ear.  “Hello?”

“Hola,
mi amor
.  Did you dream of me last night?”

At the sound of Raul’s deep voice, so soft, so silky and
so menacing, Solie felt the blood drain from her face.  Her tormentor was back.

Heart pounding, she drew in her breath, fighting to find
something biting to say but no words came.  Her mind drew a blank.

“Solie?  Is everything all right?”

Ransom’s voice snapped her out of the evil spell and she
blinked.  Before her caller could say another word she pressed the ‘end’ button
then shoved the phone back into her pocket.  “I…I’m good.  I’ve…got to go.”

Palms still clammy and her breathing shallow, Solie
didn’t trust herself to say another word.  Intent on avoiding Ransom’s eyes she
hurried out of the room, grabbed her sweater from the hallway closet and fled. 

***

Dammit.  How could he focus on the game after what had
just happened?  He’d seen the abrupt change in Solie’s face, seen the way she’d
suddenly turned pale.  Something was wrong.

It was none of his business but he wanted to know.  How
could he ignore that look of distress, especially when it marked the face of
someone who was coming to mean something to him?

That thought gave him pause.  He didn’t even react when
Chris Andersen sank a three pointer, he was so lost in thought.  Solie had
begun to mean something to him, but what?

Okay, so she was not just a neighbor anymore.  She’d
been his nurse and ever since Trevor stuck his nose in, she’d also become his
pseudo babysitter, checking up on him and making sure he didn’t exert himself,
as she put it.  More than that, she’d become a friend.

The only problem was, she was a friend to whom he was
growing more and more attracted with each passing day.

And who could blame him?  When you had a neighbor…a
friend…as sexy as Solie Felix there was little you could do to resist.  He’d be
ashamed to admit the number of times he’d grown hard each time she’d come
close.  But it wasn’t just her physical beauty that drew him in.  It was the
way she carried herself, so bold and fearless, and if necessary, so ‘in your
face’.  He actually admired that.  He’d grown so used to women fawning over him
that Solie was a refreshing change. 

So refreshing that it was disturbing.  It felt too much
like he was at the top of that slide that ended with you tumbling into love. 
Attraction he could deal with, but love?  Forget it.  Not after what he’d gone
through with Lily Caruso.

With a grunt, Ransom flung himself back into the sofa
and glared, unseeing, at the television screen.  At that moment he made a firm
decision.  He might give in to this attraction he was feeling for Solie,
probably even pursue her – he was a man, wasn’t he? – but he would never
consider bringing love into the picture.  Too debilitating, too dangerous and
way too overrated.

His mind made up, Ransom settled back into the cushions
and turned his attention back to the game.  Semi-distracted, he watched for another
twelve minutes until the Miami Heat wrapped everything up in a neat package and
were being interviewed by reporters.  It was only then that his thoughts honed
in on other matters…

…foremost of which was that renegade kid brother of
his.  Who needed concussion headaches when you had Rafe?

He decided to call Ryder to get the details.  He reached
for the phone.

His brother picked up on the second ring.  “ ‘Sup?”

“Not much,” Ransom replied, his tone casual.  “What’s
the latest news on Rafe?  Come to his senses yet?”

“Nope.  He says he’ll be out there at least a year or
two.  Says he’s got nothing to keep him on dry land.”  Although Ryder’s voice
was calm, Ransom could sense his annoyance.

“Even though he knows it bothers the heck out of Mom.”

“Even so.”

Seconds passed as Ransom mulled over the situation. 
Finally, he spoke.  “I’m going out there,” he said.  “I’ll knock some sense
into him and bring him back.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Ryder said, sounding unimpressed
with his declaration.  “You’re recovering from a serious injury.  You’ll only
make things worse, getting all stirred up by this.  Next thing you know, one of
us will have to go out there and rescue you, too.”

“Not gonna happen.  I’m good.  I’ll be back in the
office tomorrow.”

Ryder chuckled.  “Sure?  Did your bulldog babysitter
give you permission?”

Great.  That was what you got for sharing your secrets
with your brother.  “Don’t you worry about that.  I’ll be in the office tomorrow
and on the weekend I’ll be on my way to Alaska.”

“Ransom, listen to me.  You can’t make a man do what he
doesn’t want to do.  It’s not like when we were kids and you used to bully us
all.”  Ryder almost sounded exasperated.

“I said, don’t worry about it.”  Ransom was nonchalant. 
“And, for the record, I never bullied any of you.”

That made Ryder laugh.  “Let’s not go there, bro.  I
would win that debate, any time.”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Ransom shrugged it off but his brother
was right.  He’d been a tyrant of a teenager, that was for sure.  Who would
have thought he would have dropped his bossy ways and turned mellow at the
grand old age of thirty-five?

“Seriously, though, just let Rafe work out things for
himself,” Ryder said as if that should settle the matter.

“I’ll take your advice,” Ransom said, his voice smug,
“when porcelain pigs fly.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

It ended up that Ransom didn’t get a chance to confirm
his trip to Alaska until almost three weeks later.  By that time they were
already in December.

Once he’d gone back into the office he’d been so swamped
he hadn’t been able to drag himself from under the backlog of work until now. 
Heck, he hadn’t even been able to find time to make up excuses for his
self-appointed babysitter to come over and check up on him.  He’d only been
able to touch base with her a couple of times over the past few weeks, mainly
to thank her again for all her help while he’d been laid up.  Each time he’d
called she’d been gracious about it, acting like it was nothing, but he knew it
had been a lot.  She was a busy woman and yet she’d taken her precious time to
be there for him.  How could he feel anything but grateful…