The Deal

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2012 by
Helen Cooper

Chapter 1

Louise lay in Richard’s bed as he showered. She didn’t want to leave the room. She was so embarrassed and didn’t want to see Ben. Or David. She thought of David and groaned. She cared more about what David would think if Ben told him, then she cared about how Ben felt. She knew that was wrong but she was glad that she was finally out of that relationship. Ben was an idiot. She wasn’t sure what he was going to say and do about what he had seen but she knew that Richard was right about one thing. She was going to lose her job. There was no way that Ben was going to allow to stay at the firm and that put her in a very bad position. She wriggled in the bed and snuggled into the covers. She could smell sex in the sheets. And she could smell Richard. He had a potent musky male smell that clung to everything. She inhaled and grinned to herself. Richard had been a wonderful lover. It was a pity that his personality sucked.

“What’s up
Cheshire
Cat?” Richard interrupted her thoughts as he exited the bathroom, with nothing but a towel around his dripping wet body. She stayed at his
chest;
the water clung to his hair and shimmered like diamonds. He looked like a Greek God come to life.

“Nothing. Just thinking how best I can get out of this house and make it home without anyone seeing me.”

“Extreme measure no?” He looked at her with feigned admonishment.

“Not really. I’m not sure about your family but most families would be pretty shocked to meet their son’s girlfriend and then find out she slept with the other son as well.”

“I think you mean fucked.” He grinned at her.

“What?” She was annoyed and confused.

“I want to make sure that you are using the right words. We did more than sleep together.” He licked his lips and she shivered.

“I don’t think that point is important.” She glared at him. “I think I’ll keep the word slept.”

“Well, I don’t know about you. But I felt like I fucked last night. Not slept. But of course, that’s just me. It could be a normal night for you.”

“Yeah, I’m a slut Richard. Is that what you want to hear.” Louise stood up angrily and walked away from the bed with the white sheet wrapped around her body. She walked clumsily trying not to fall.

“So you do want money then?”

She walked up to him in anger and stopped right in front of his face. “You are an asshole Richard Beekman. A first
class asshole.” She pushed past him and walked into the bathroom, where she promptly closed and locked the door.

“Don’t take too long dear, I was hoping to get my money’s worth.” Richard laughed through the door.

“You’ll never get in my pants again ass.” She shouted through the door and looked at herself in the mirror.
She frowned at her image. She resembled someone who had spent a wild night in bed. Her hair looked like she was a scarecrow and her mascara and eye shadow was smudged all over her eyes. She looked like a hot-mess and she was surprised that Richard had even slept with her. He should be with tall leggy
blondes
, not average sized women with no money and a bad attitude. Which is what she was sure he must be thinking about her. She
stuck her tongue out in the mirror and groaned when she saw a hicky on her neck. Her body was proudly displaying the marks of their passionate night. She flushed just remembering the things he had done to her. And that Ben had seen part of it, oh the shame. She groaned out loud and turned the shower on. It was large and luxurious and the water was still hot. She got into the shower and stood there, allowing the hot water to scald her skin and wash away her transgressions.

Louise stayed in the shower for about 30 minutes. But even she knew she couldn’t hide out in there. She had to face the music and make a plan. She only had about $500 in her checking account so she knew that she had to figure something out soon. The landlord would not care about her bad luck in love when it came time to pay the rent. She stood there in the bathroom drying herself and then remembered she had no clothes in the room asides from the sexy nightdress. “Just my luck.” She mumbled to herself as she opened the door.

Richard was still in the room sitting on the bed when she left the bathroom. “Took your time didn’t you?” He smiled. “You should have let me in, I could have scrubbed your back or your butt.”

“No thanks.” She glared at him, while trying to decide what to do. She walked over to the bed to find her nightgown and he held it up in his hand.

“Looking for this?”

“Give it to me.” She snapped.

“What?” He stood up and held it above his head. She clutched on to her towel with one hand and tried to grab the nightgown with the other hand.

“Just give it to me Richard.” She snarled at him. He looked down at her and grinned. He felt himself growing hard just staring at her. She didn’t know it but her boobs were about ready to spill out of the top of the towel and he was enjoying the view.

“That’s not a nice way to talk to the man who pleasured you all night.”

“Don’t you feel bad about what you did? To your own brother?” Her voice was filled with disdain.

“Hey, he was your boyfriend. You’re the one who broke his heart.”

“He’s your brother!” She tried not to let him make her feel guilty.

“It didn’t seem to me that you were really that interested in him. I did him a favor.” He smirked at her. “I mean, let’s be realistic, if it wasn’t me you were fucking last night, it would have been David.”

She slapped him hard. “How dare you.” She forgot about her towel in her rage and it dropped to the ground. She only realized she was standing in front of him naked when she saw his pupil’s dilate and heard the intake of his breath. He dropped her nightgown to the floor and drew her towards him, crushing her lips against his.
She felt her breasts brush against his wool covered chest and she giggled.

“I’m sorry,” She laughed. “The wool in your sweater is tickling me.” She wriggled away from him and she saw something in his eyes when she laughed that looked almost like fondness.

“I’m not sure what that says about me when a naked woman laughs when I kiss her but I’m not going to examine it too deeply.” He laughed alongside her and picked up her nightgown. “Here, take this and go change. Everyone is out right now so the coast should be clear.” He reached over and kissed her long and hard. “We can talk later.”

“Talk about what?” She pulled on her nightgown quickly.

“Our deal.”

“I’m not interested in any deal.”

“We’ll talk when you get dressed.” He slapped her on the ass. “Now get out of here before I ravish you again.”

She hurried out of the room and didn’t look back when she heard him laughing at her. She didn’t know if she would be able to stop the diatribe from spouting out of her mouth once she got started.

Chapter 2

Louise got dressed quickly and packed her bags. She tried calling a cab company but hung up when she heard the cost of a cab back to New York. There was no way she could afford them. She sighed as her stomach growled. She figured she
might
as well go and get something to eat before she figured out how she was going to get out of the Beekman mansion. She felt like some sort of harlot and didn’t want to stay around to find out exactly what the family had been told by Ben.

She wandered down the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. She saw David eating an apple as she walked in and her heart jumped into her throat. What would he think of
her?

“Morning Louise, have a good night.” He smiled at her while chewing.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks. I was just looking for some breakfast.”

“You must be starving. You and Richard were the only ones who missed the meal.”

“Oh?” She studied his face to see if he knew.

“Yeah, but Richard usually doesn’t deign us with his presence anyways.” He laughed. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

She followed him to the pantry and the cook asked her what she wanted.

“Just some scrambled eggs and toast please.” She
relaxed a little bit and they went and sat on the back patio. It was overlooking an Olympic sized pool and a vast garden. “Wow, it’s so pretty out today.”

“Yeah, it is nice.
” He sat down and she tried not to stare at his face. He was just so handsome. “So what happened last night? I thought we were going to hang out.”

“Uh, I fell asleep.” She blushed and looked away.

“Oh, okay.” He pouted. “I hope we could get to know each other a bit better.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice.”

“What would have been nice?” Richard’s voice came from behi
nd her and it made Louise jump. He had her plate of food in his hand and he placed it on the table in front of her before giving her a kiss on the cheek. She gave him a death stare and then turned back to David who hadn’t seemed to notice anything amiss.

“If I hadn’t fallen asleep last night.” She spoke before taking a bite of food. “Hmm, this is good.” She licked her lips and flicked her long black hair behind her. She noticed both David and Richard staring at her and she tried not to feel flustered. She had never had two
good-looking
guys pay
her so much attention before.

“Oh, you slept well last night?” Richard grinned at her, his brown eyes sparkling with the secret he held.

“Yes, thanks. Quite well.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“I’m glad. I didn’t get much sleep myself.”

“Why was that bro?” David raised an eyebrow.

“I felt very sticky last night. Not sure why.” He winked at Louise and laughed at her blush.

“So do you guys want to head out to the beach?” David continued talking, with obviously no clue as to what had happened the night before.
“Today is perfect for the ocean.”

“Oh sounds nice but I think I have to get home.”

“What?” David looked disappointed. “Why.”

“Well I need to get some work stuff done.” She smiled regretfully.

“That’s okay Louise. I’m not a slave driver. You can wait until next week.” Richard’s voice was smooth as the lies tripped off of his tongue.

“What?” Louise and David exclaimed at the same time.

“Oh, didn’t Louise tell you David? She popped by my room last night before she went to sleep and expressed an interested in working for Beekman Corporation. So I signed her on
as my new PA, you know that Gladys retired a few weeks ago.”