The Billionaire's Terms: Prison Or Passion

BOOK: The Billionaire's Terms: Prison Or Passion
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Chapter 1

Alicia stared at her reflection in her bedroom mirror, her eyes widening in shock. “No way, Maggie. I can’t wear this,” she said to her younger sister, starting to pull the beautiful, but sexy red slipdress off her slim shoulders. She had an odd feeling something momentous was going to happen tonight and she was wondering if she wanted that to happen in such a daring dress.

Maggie put her hands on her older sister’s shoulders, laughing at the horrified expression. “Yes you can. You look fabulous and I can guarantee that other people will be wearing much more revealing dresses than this. You’ll stand out if you don’t wear something less conservative than that,” she explained, her hand waving to the boring, black crepe dress Alicia had originally been planning to wear. “Besides, you don’t have an alternative. It is the only fancy dress I have and you don’t have any. Your black dress isn’t appropriate for this kind of a function. Trust me.”

Alicia sighed. Her sister was right. She didn’t have any other option but it didn’t stop her hands from moving to the spaghetti straps to pull the bodice slightly higher. She was biting her lower lip in indecision, worrying about so many possibilities.

Sighing heavily, Alicia shook her head. “I think I’ll just skip the event,” she started to say.

“Absolutely not!” Maggie said emphatically and moved around to face her sister, blocking her view of the dress in the mirror. Looking right into Alicia’s dark blue eyes, she smiled. “Alicia, this is your big night. Go out, have a good time and just relax with your friends. It is a company party so all of your co-workers will be there. It will be seen as a slight by your peers if you don’t attend.”

Alicia’s shoulders drooped, knowing her sister was right. She wished she some sort of emergency would suddenly pop up and get her out of this professional obligation. She hated going to these kinds of functions on her own. “Yes, but they all have husbands or significant others. I’ll be all alone,” she said, worried about going as well as the consequences of not going.

Maggie smiled encouragingly. “You’ll be fine. Just pretend you’re royalty and they’ll all assume you know something they don’t. You’ll fascinate them.” Maggie chuckled at her sister. “Just consider this the beginning of your freedom from the past ten years. Good grief, you’ve been working at least three jobs for so long to help mom and me, no wonder you’re nervous about going out and just relaxing.”

Alicia ignored her sister’s comments and peered around to inspect her image again. “Are you sure this dress isn’t too risqué?” she asked nervously.

Maggie shook her head firmly. “You know it isn’t. I wore it to that dinner two weeks ago and no one even blinked. So stop worrying about it and just go out to enjoy yourself. You definitely deserve it,” she said.

Accepting that Maggie wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and her younger sister really did have a knack for style, Alicia laughed and hugged her sister. “Okay, you’ve taken away every one of my arguments. So I’ll go but I’m only going to make an appearance, then get right back out of there. I’m not the social butterfly like you are. You can talk to just about anyone and get their life history out of them. It’s why you’re so good at your job,” she said, referring to Maggie’s month-old job as an aide to a senator down in Washington, D.C.

Maggie shook her head, denying her sister’s assertion that the social aspect of work life was too hard. “You’ll be fine. Just smile occasionally and I guarantee that the men will do the rest,” she said, eyeing her sister’s beautiful, delicate features dominated by her blue, almond shaped eyes that shone like cat eyes out of a creamy complexion that a model would die for. Throw in her lustrous brown locks that hung down to her waist, and Alicia was a stunning woman. And what’s more, she didn’t know it, nor did she care. A more selfless woman, Maggie had never known.

Snapping out of her inspection, she picked up a brush. “Let’s do something with that hair, shall we?” she said and pushed Alicia into a chair so she could tackle her thick, long, brown hair that curled just slightly at the ends.

“Good luck,” Alicia said grimly, but gave in to the tender ministrations of Maggie.

 

After a half hour, Maggie had achieved a miracle. “How’s that?” she asked, stepping out of the way so Alicia could see her hair in the mirror.

Instead of the thick hair that just fell in waves down her back, Maggie had pulled it all into a pony tail then curled the ends so they twirled in corkscrews down her back leaving small tendrils floating around her face.

Alicia’s mouth almost feel open at the image staring back at her from the mirror. “Maggie, I can’t believe you! This is amazing,” she said, turning her face to the right and left to see the effect. “I feel like a supermodel,” she said, laughing easily. “Where did you learn to do this?”

Maggie smiled and tossed the brush down onto the beaten dressing table. “In college, our study group would do each other’s hair while quizzing each other. We got into some serious competitions on both hair and grades.”

Maggie was being humble. She’d received straight A’s throughout college in every single class. “Well, it worked. You’re brilliance is evident with your skills at hair styles as well as academically.”
“And to top it off, here’s cab fare,” Maggie said.

Alicia stared at the cash, instantly uncomfortable. “Maggie….”

Her younger sister took Alicia’s hand and stuffed the bills into it, closing the fingers over it immediately. “Don’t even try it,” she admonished. “You’re not going to mess up this hairstyle by walking and I’m not letting you take the New York city subway at night, not dressed like that,” she admonished. “Besides, you put me through college and now I have a great job. Allow me to pay back some of what you sacrificed all those years for me.”

Alicia opened her fingers and stared at the money, swallowing the lump in her throat as her emotions threatened to overwhelm her. “You don’t have to do this,” she said.

Maggie smiled gently. “Neither did you, but you did it anyway. For ten years you supported me and mom after dad’s…..” she stopped, leaving an uncomfortable pause as the two sisters pushed painful memories aside. “Well, you know,” she finished weakly. “Please, let me do this small thing for you. Take the money and have a great time tonight.”

Alicia relented, grateful to her sister, hugging Maggie to show her how much she loved her. “I’ll be back early,” she said. “We’ll go out for breakfast tomorrow morning to splurge before you have to head back to Washington, D.C.”

“Deal,” Maggie said, smiling broadly. Chapter 2

Adam Meyers laughed at the poor joke that had just been told while at the same time surveying the crowd, assessing the party-goers with a critical eye. The party was apparently a huge success and he should congratulate the coordinators. This year’s company spring ball had turned out nicely.

Moving away from the group he’d been in to circulate further, he was scanning the crowd in search of Nancy Yost, head of Human Relations, and this year’s coordinator when his eyes flew by a knockout figure encased in a stunning red dress. For a long time, Adam’s eyes just took in the luscious figure, amazed that he hadn’t seen her before now. She was surrounded by several other men so perhaps that’s the reason. He wondered which one was her date for the night. Whoever it was, the man was certainly lucky, he thought to himself.

“What’s the news on the latest proposal, Adam?” Jim Lewis asked, Vice President of Business Development.

Adam ignored the man talking to him, knowing that the other man was just schmoozing. Having built up his company from nothing into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, he had no patience for people trying to flatter their way into his good graces. Actions and accomplishments were what he recognized in people. A few moments ago, Adam had been only mildly amused at the man’s ambitions but he had no problem cutting him off by turning his back on the man without any further pleasantries when the man started schmoozing. Adam rarely had time for petty chit chat. There was always something more important to discuss. He had no remorse for the man or his fawning. The woman in the red dress was all that held his interest now.

Adam watched as the woman thanked her latest partner and walked off the floor. He was so transfixed by the woman’s movements, it took him a long time to realize that she was actually trying to leave.

“Oh, no,” Adam said under his breath. “You put yourself out there, looking incredibly lovely and way too tempting. There’s no way you’re going to leave now.”

Adam quickly picked up two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and moved toward the woman with single minded purpose. His employees knew better than to stop him in this mode so he was able to move towards the door unencumbered.

Alicia glanced around, feeling less awkward than she had anticipated, but still wanting to leave quickly. She had arrived two hours ago and found her co-workers. They were a fun group, constantly pushing a glass of wine or champagne in her hands and filling up her plate. Unfortunately, Alicia was too nervous to eat but the wine was wonderful and she sipped it just to have something to do with her hands. Now, her head was feeling a little fuzzy and she knew it was time to leave.
“Leaving so soon?” a deep voice said from behind her.

Alicia turned around, smiling gently and ready to excuse herself but her mind stopped functioning when she looked up into the stranger’s face. He was, without doubt, the most gorgeous man she’d ever met in her life. He smiled down at her with dark, almost black eyes from a height of well over six feet. His shoulders were so broad, he blocked out her view of the rest of the ballroom but his smile was what caught her attention the most. It was devastating.

He placed one hand under her elbow, maneuvering her so they were blocked by the wall on one side and his broad shoulders on the other. “Please say you’re not leaving. It isn’t even midnight,” he joked. “Even Cinderella stayed until then.”

Alicia flushed, wishing she could come up with a witty reply. But all she could manage was a breathless, “Cinderella wasn’t up at five-thirty this morning.”

He raised one eyebrow in question at her response. “What on earth were you doing up that early in the morning?” he asked, putting a hand on her arm as a couple moved by them.

Each time he touched her, an electric jolt shot right through her, straight to her stomach. Alicia’s arm was on fire with his simple touch. Her skin tingled and she could only stare at his hands, wondering how she could feel so much from just a gentle, protective gesture.

She looked up into his face and noticed that his eyes were waiting on a response. “Oh, just cleaning my apartment,” she said quickly, filling in the silence.

One dark eyebrow went up at her reply in astonishment. “At five-thirty in the morning?” he asked. “Surely someone as beautiful as you had something much better to do that early in the morning,” he said, flashing another charming, sexy smile that instantly increased Alicia’s heartrate tenfold.

Alicia told herself to snap out of her trance. She flushed, wondering what he was thinking she should be doing so early in the morning. “Well, um….not really,” she said awkwardly and took a long swallow of the ice cold champagne he’d handed her a moment ago, hoping the cold liquid would quench her suddenly dry throat.

“Come dance with me,” he said, and put their glasses on a passing waiter’s tray. He didn’t wait for a response, but simply put his hand to the small of her back and guided her onto the dance floor.

Alicia didn’t have the will to say no. Nor did she want to, she realized when he enfolded her gently in his strong, muscular arms. He danced wonderfully, she thought as he guided her to the music, the wine she’d drunk over the past couple of hours was relaxing her enough so she wasn’t making a complete cake of herself as this overwhelmingly gorgeous man smiled down at her.

“You’re a good dancer,” she said, trying to come up with something to say.

 

He smiled down at her, his chuckle indicating his surprise at her tone. “Why do you sound surprised?”

She laughed softly. “You wouldn’t ask me that if you were my feet.” Leaning forward conspiratorially, she whispered, “The other men here tonight aren’t as talented,” she explained.

“I noticed you had a large sample of them,” he said.

 

Alicia was surprised that he’d noticed her dancing with the other men.

 

“Yes, well, everyone has been very nice,” she said, looking over his shoulder awkwardly.

Adam chuckled. “I don’t think any man holding you in his arms would like to be considered ‘nice’,” he said, his dark eyes looking into her blue ones, seeming to be able to see into her soul and know how he was affecting her blood pressure and her racing heart.

Alicia blushed. “Well, you know what I mean,” she said, almost stuttering now that he was looking at her so intensely. She started to pull out of his arms. But his arms stopped her.

“Oh, no, lovely one. I finally have you in my arms, I’m going to keep you here for at least one song.”

Alicia smiled shyly and stopped trying to pull away. What harm could one dance have? And it was so nice to be held in his strong arms. Her fingers were lightly touching the soft material of his tuxedo but she could feel the muscles regardless. Not only was he tall and handsome, but he was built too!

BOOK: The Billionaire's Terms: Prison Or Passion
4.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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