The Billionaire's Terms: Prison Or Passion (8 page)

“Yes, those convenient devices that allow others to reach you when you are out shopping or whatever it is you do,” he explained, a tinge of impatience in his tone.

 

Alicia closed her eyes, squeezing them shut before answering. “Adam, I had it shut off.”

 

“Why the hell would you do that?” he asked after a moment of stunned silence.

She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. “I had to shut it off because I don’t have any money,” she finally admitted. “I let my apartment go as well and sold all of my furniture. Are you happy now? I’m completely penniless and dependent on you. What’s next Adam?”

He actually had the audacity to chuckle. “I told you last week that you only had to ask.”

 

“I’m not in the habit of begging for money,” she snapped back.

 

She heard the deep sigh. “Alicia, I’ll set you up with an allowance. But for now, meet me at this restaurant for lunch.”

 

She wrote down the address with the pen and paper he always kept beside the bed. “Fine. Why am I doing this?”

 

“Because I told you to,” he said.

 

Alicia shook her head. “Believe it or not, I don’t actually jump when you say jump,” she quipped.

 

“You do when I touch you in bed,” he said, his voice deep and husky. “In fact, I think there was quite a bit of jumping last night when I touched you…”

 

“Adam stop it,” she said, furious that her voice was breathy and her heartbeat had already accelerated.

 

“Stop what?” he chuckled.

 

“Stop what you were about to say. There’s no need to go into any details of what happened last night. It is over and done with,” she said, straining to sound businesslike.

 

“Ah, but that’s the thing, my dear. I’m definitely going to do it again so it isn’t really done with, now is it?” he said, his voice filled with amusement.

“What’s lunch about?” she asked, changing the subject. “You’ll see. Just be here at noon.” He was laughing when he hung up the phone and she wished she could slam it into the receiver. The man simply loved embarrassing her, didn’t he?

She pulled herself out of bed and got into the shower. Alicia wanted to be late meeting him but she arrived at the restaurant with five minutes to spare. She looked around, intimidated by the immaculate white linen table clothes and beautiful white and pale pink roses as the centerpiece for each table.

Thankfully, Adam walked in right behind her so she didn’t have to worry about how to approach the Maitre’d in her serviceable but boring navy suit which was the only thing she had to wear besides the jeans she’d been wearing for the past four or five years.

They were seated immediately and the wine steward arrived with a bottle of white wine, displaying the label to Adam who immediately nodded his head.

 

“I’ll have the usual Jim,” Adam said when the waiter walked up.

 

“Very good, sir,” he said. “And for the lady?” he asked, turning to Alicia, eyebrows raised as he waited for her order.

 

“The lady will have the salmon,” Adam said.

“She will?” Alicia asked, stepping into the conversation that had been starting around her. “Why will she have the salmon? She doesn’t like salmon,” Alicia asked, smiling hugely, feeling wonderful for some reason and more than ready to tease Adam who was trying to order for her.

Adam looked across the table at her. Mockingly he bent his head and waved to the menu that had been placed at her elbow. “By all means, please tell us what you would prefer?” he said.

Alicia quickly glanced through the menu at the lunch items. She felt uncomfortable, knowing that both the waiter and Adam were waiting. She quickly selected the first thing that sounded good. “I’ll have the strawberry salad,” she said, her mouth watering at the idea of the strawberries and blue cheese on a bed of greens described in the menu.

The waiter bowed solicitously and moved away, allowing the two of them to glare at each other across the table. Alicia was in too good of a mood to continue with the anger contest and she was the first to smile. “Did you have a good morning?” she asked.

“No. How about you?”

 

Alicia shook her head. “No. This odious man called me up and interrupted my morning sleep in. Then he tried to embarrass me.”

 

Adam leaned his forearms onto the edge of the table and lifted his glass to his lips. “Did it work?” he finally said.

Alicia laughed softly. “Nope. I figured he was just trying to wake me up faster, jealous that I was still in that big, comfortable bed while he was slaving away at some awful company. The owner is really mean,” she whispered conspiratorially.

Adam threw back his head and laughed. “Is he?” he finally asked. “Well, you should talk to him about how to manage a company. He can’t have very good employee retention, which is always bad for business.”

Alicia smiled, enjoying his laughter as much as his teasing. They spent the rest of the meal talking about nothing in particular but Alicia loved getting to know him a little more. He was more relaxed, quicker to laugh and less quick to tell her what to do for some reason.

Unfortunately, the lunch ended and Alicia stood up, prepared to leave and head back to his penthouse. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said as he signed the tab. “We have more stops.”

He stood up and put a hand to the small of her back as he led her out of the restaurant. They got into the limousine and Bill apparently already had his instructions. Alicia was overwhelmed when he led her to one of the exclusive New York boutiques. The dresses in the window were worth more than her gross monthly salary, she thought, her eyes huge as she was escorted inside.

A pretty, blond woman with a perfectly tailored suit walked up to greet them. “Good afternoon, Mr. Meyers. We’ve been expecting you. We have several selections ready for your approval.”

“Good. This is Alicia. She’ll be making the selections,” Adam said.

“Very good, sir. This way,” the lady smiled, showing Alicia to the back of the store to where a rack of dresses, slacks, skirts, shirts and evening gowns were hanging. “Mr. Meyers mentioned that he thought you were about a size six or eight,” the woman replied, looking Alicia up and down, “But I think you are closer to a size six. Am I right?”

Alicia could only nod her head, her eyes looking at the beautiful gowns.

“Wonderful. Why don’t you follow me to the dressing room and we can start with the first outfit,” she said, one arm outstretched to indicate a doorway that obviously led to a dressing room.

Alicia stared, worried about the whole expense. She turned to find Adam sitting on a satin covered chair, looking amused.

 

“Adam, could I have a word with you?” she whispered.

 

Adam glanced quickly at the sales attendant who immediately moved away, giving them privacy.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

 

Alicia ignored the amused smile flitting over his features. “Adam, you don’t need to do this,” she said. “These dresses are too expensive.”

 

“By whose standards?” he asked, the smile lighting his eyes.

 

“By everyone’s!” she gasped.

“Not mine. Besides, it is my money and I’d like to see you in those dresses.” His eyes lit over her features and his smile changed from amusement to sensuality. “And out of them,” he finished.

Alicia couldn’t help the blush that stole over her features with his comment but she tried to inject a serious note into the conversation. “Adam, this is insane. You can’t spend this much money on me. Maybe just a nice sweater or something but not from here.”

Adam couldn’t contain his laughter any longer. He took her lips gently, then pulled back, shaking his head. “Alicia, my dear, you are a strange mixture. Go try on the outfits and let me decide what I want to spend my money on.”

“No. I can’t let you do this. It isn’t right.”

Adam laughed again. “Alicia, if you don’t try them on, I’m going to simply purchase the lot of them and have them delivered for you. And if you don’t wear them, I’ll take a knife to the other outfits so you have nothing to wear.” His eyes lit up, “Just for the record, I’m not opposed to coming home to you completely naked,” he said.

Alicia ground her teeth in frustration. “You’re impossible,” she said and stood up, her hands balled at her hips. “I’m doing this out of protest,” she said and stomped off to the dressing area.

Three hours later, the trunk to the limousine was completely filled with boxes and bags as well as the passenger seat and all the available space in the back.

 

“I’m not wearing those undergarments, Adam,” she said, her arms crossed over her stomach and her face flaming to a beet red.

Adam laughed at her expression. “Alicia, you’re priceless,” he said and pulled her onto his lap. His mouth captured hers before he finally pulled away and shook his head. “I’ve never seen a woman so averse to getting new clothes,” he said, his eyes showing his confusion. “I thought all women loved getting new clothes. I didn’t mean for this afternoon to be a torturous one for you.”

Alicia had her arms wrapped around his neck but she frowned. “It isn’t that I don’t like the clothes. It’s just that they were so expensive.”

 

“So you’ve mentioned,” he said, his voice muffled because his mouth was nibbling on her earlobe.

 

“Adam, I’m serious,” she said, but then gasped when his hand slid up inside her navy coat.

“I’m serious too. I don’t want you in this suit anymore. And I’ll open up an account at those stores so you can go out and purchase anything you’d like. I have more events planned and you’ll need an appropriate dress.”

She pulled back, her face showing her shock. “You just bought me five new evening gowns. How many more will I need?” she asked, her voice weak with the idea of spending even more of his money.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to look at my calendar. But tonight, we’re dining in,” he said.

Alicia didn’t mind that at all. In fact, she was thrilled when he carried her into the bedroom and she wasn’t thinking about all the new clothes or their expense for the rest of the night.

The next two weeks were out of a story book, she thought. Adam took her to the opera, the ballet, to dinners with friends and business acquaintances. They danced and Adam showed her a world that she’d never even imagined. It was a world where people glittered and laughed and played hard after a hard day at the office.

What’s more, he talked to her more often. He called her from the office on her new cell phone that he’d had delivered, asking her to meet him for lunch. Those times, he talked to her and they argued about everything, with Alicia usually laughing at his blatant charm.

One night, she was laying in his arms while watching a movie. They were spread out over the comfortable sofa, her head resting on his arm for a pillow. The movie ended but both were reluctant to get up.

Alicia felt Adam’s hands around her waist, his fingers spread out over her stomach. “Why did your father embezzle the money?” he asked, the ending music from the movie in the background.

Alicia stiffened instantly and her mind whirled. What was he thinking? Was he actually thinking about her? Then she stopped herself. Adam was nothing if not direct. If he wanted to know about her, he’d simply ask. She had to start trusting him at some point. Why not now?

She relaxed in his arms once again and shrugged her shoulders. “I only have my theories. My mother wouldn’t let us talk to him in prison so I was never able to ask him myself.”

“What are your theories?” he asked, his fingers lightly brushing her bare skin under her shirt.

Alicia took a deep breath and considered all that she’d known growing up as a teenager. “Like I said, I don’t know if this is true or not, but my father always overspent on the budget. I remember fights with my parents yelling and screaming after Maggie and I had gone to bed. My mother was always furious with my father for spending our money on something silly or superficial. Things he obviously didn’t need.”

“Such as?” he prompted.

Alicia thought back. “A motorcycle.” She grimaced at the memory. “The neighbor across the street got a motorcycle one weekend and was driving around the streets, not even really showing off, just excited about his new toy. My father grumbled all that week, then Saturday morning he disappeared, only to come home that afternoon with a bigger and faster motorcycle. And not only that, he had a new leather jacket, a helmet, leather gloves, all of it. He’d even bought helmets for me and Maggie so we could ride on the back as well.”

“What about your mother?”

 

Alicia shook her head. “No. He must have known that she wouldn’t touch it.”

 

“So what else?”

“Hmmm…I remember one time my mother was going to throw a cookout for some friends. The week before the party, he’d come home each night with something else he absolutely needed for the party. One night it was an ice cream maker, the next, a new grill, new chairs for everyone to sit on. The list just went on and on.”

“What did your mother say?” “At that point in our lives, things weren’t so tight so she only smiled and shook her head. I was in about the third or fourth grade, I think. It took a few more years before things really got tight.”

“And then what happened?”

Alicia sat up but wouldn’t look at him. “Then things weren’t tight anymore. The bills were paid, my mother had money to buy us clothes as well as some for herself. She never worried about going to the grocery store. Things were nice for a while.”

“But then he got caught.”

Alicia stood up and moved over to the television to turn it off. “Right. Then he got caught and the police came and took so many things out of the house. They tracked many of the items back to the stolen funds. In the end, we were piled with lawyers fees and had nothing except beds, a sofa and plates. They even took the kitchen table.”

“That must have been hard.”

Alicia looked away. She’d never spoken about that time in her life or the humiliation that had come with the process of having her father carted away in handcuffs, then the trial afterwards. “At the time it was happening, I couldn’t imagine anything worse than the police coming into our house and destroying everything that made me feel secure. But then I had to go to school the next day. That was even worse. We’d lived in a small town so everyone knew about the charges and that my father was still in jail. They wouldn’t let him out on bail, knowing they hadn’t recovered all the money.”