Billionaire's Tragedy (Standalone Book) (Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (20 page)

She was smiling at me as
she lowered her mouth to mine and just before she kissed me she whispered,
"You want this, don't you?" as she dropped down and pushed me deep
inside before I knew what had happened.

The rush of sensation
made my head spin as she grabbed my shoulders and braced herself as she rode
me. She gyrated her hips a bit before she pushed back up, leaving only the tip
of me inside her and then slammed back down, taking my breath away. My hands
found her hips and I held on to them as she continued her rhythmic movements,
driving us both closer and closer to the edge. Her eyes were locked to mine as
she bucked and thrust against me, and neither of us could hold back the moans
of pleasure. I slid one hand between our bodies and found her hard little bud
and began stroking it with my finger. She cried out as I flicked it lightly and
then pressed it.

"Yes, yes! Oh yes,
baby!" she cried as my hips rose to meet hers and she ground down into me.
I could feel her beginning to spasm and the sensation made me thrust up into
her harder and faster as we climbed to greater heights. Suddenly, she screamed
and I felt her pulsing as I firmly pressed my finger against her clit and
thrust into her faster and faster. It was only seconds before I felt the
familiar flood of release flowing through my body, and I moaned loudly as I
pushed deep inside of her and felt my thick, warm liquid filling her.

Olivia fell against me
with her arms wrapped around my neck and her cheek resting against my forehead
as her hips continued moving, milking the last of the sensation out of me. I
wrapped my arms around her tightly and felt her warm body pressed against me. I
breathed in her sent as I tried to memorize every detail.

"Redding," she
whispered. "You're amazing."

"I don't think that
was me," I replied.

"Yeah, I think it
was," she laughed softly, then more seriously. "I don't want to get
up."

"So, don't," I
said as I stroked her hair and turned to kiss her cheek.

"But what about our
dinner reservations?" she said in a tired voice.

"Screw them, we'll
order in," I said and smiled when she laughed in response.

Once the heat of the
moment had worn off, it got cold, so I pulled Olivia into my arms and grabbed a
throw from the back of the couch to cover us. She was fast asleep moments after
she had laid her head on my chest, and as I watched her sleeping, I wondered if
today would be the thing that would keep Olivia Moore in my life.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

Olivia

The
next morning,
after a whirlwind date that left me slightly confused but more attracted to
Lincoln Redding than before, Linc and I flew back to D.C. He dropped me off at
my apartment and as he kissed me goodbye, he said, "Have dinner with me
tonight?"

"I would love to,
Mr. Redding," I smiled as I returned the kiss, knowing I wanted more.

"I'll call and let
you know where," he said as I got out of the car and waved goodbye.

Back in my apartment, I
quickly showered and changed, knowing that I needed to get to the newsroom and
find out what was going on with the Russo story. I was concerned that my day
off had left me too far out of the loop and that Frank might have assigned
another reporter to follow up on it.

An hour later when I
walked into the deserted newsroom, I thought my worst fears had come true until
I saw the stack of papers sitting on my desk and a note from Carl that read,
"
New info on Russo and Bangor. Read
this and let me know what you think. Fact finding road trip?"

I sat down and began
reading, and as I did, I realized that the relationship between Russo and
Bangor went a lot deeper than either of them had previously admitted. The files
that Carl had uncovered went all the way back to the 1970s and told a tale of two
friends who had taken two very different paths later in life. I could now see
why Bangor was so angry with Russo for betraying his trust, but I couldn't put
together why either one of them would want the senators dead or if they had
even had anything to do with it.

I'd kicked around the
idea that the shootings might actually be unrelated to the bill. Maybe the
committee had just had the bad luck of being on the Hill when the shooter had
decided to act on his paranoid delusions. It was possible, and because the
police still had no idea who the man was or where he'd come from, none of those
questions could be answered and we were still in the dark.

I sat back in my chair,
turning over the pieces of the puzzle as I tried to connect Russo and Bangor to
the shooting. The evidence was slim, but I wondered what would happen if I went
down to Virginia and asked some questions about their connection in Richmond. I
had a feeling that this would open up some avenues that we hadn't yet
considered.

As I was thinking, my
phone rang, and when I picked it up, I smiled.

"Olivia Moore, what
are you doing for dinner tonight?" Linc asked.

"Hmmm, I don't know;
you?" I replied in a sassy tone.

"That can be arranged,
lady," he laughed. "How's your day going?"

"Well, considering
that I've had very little sleep and a lot of caffeine, and I'm still doing my
job, I'd say I'm doing quite well. How are you doing?"

"Well, considering
that I had the same amount of sleep and caffeine, but that I'm sitting in a hot
tub in the middle of my living room being fed peeled grapes by a bevy of harem
girls, I'd say I'm doing fantastic," he deadpanned.

"Ah, I see, a hot
tub, harem girls, and grapes – perhaps that's what we need to liven up this
newsroom," I replied as a smile spread across my face. "I'll have to
talk to Frank about that as part of my next benefits package."

"You really
should," he said before he started laughing. "Are you still on dinner
tonight?"

"Why, what's the
plan?"

"We could go out or
I could arrange for delivery," he offered. "I don't care which one so
long as I get to see you."

"My, my, my,
Redding, you sound like you've got a thing for me," I chuckled.

"I believe maybe I
do," he said and I could hear his smile through the phone. "You okay
with that?"

"Yeah, it's
fine," I said. "Just as long as you keep feeding me. I get grumpy
when I'm hungry."

"Olivia, you are a
piece of work," he laughed. "I'll be happy to feed you, if it means I
get to keep seeing you."

"It can be arranged,"
I said as I felt a warmth spread through my body. "What time?"

"How about I bring
food over to your place around seven?
".

"Sounds like a
perfect evening; I'll cue up Netflix and we'll chill," I said
suggestively.

"Piece of work,
lady," he laughed. "I'll look forward to seeing you at seven."

"Me, too," I
smiled as I disconnected. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about this moving
so fast, but I also knew that Bix was right: I needed to stop living in the
past and focus on the present. Lincoln Redding wasn't the man who betrayed me –
that man was dead.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

Linc

I
arrived
at Olivia’s just ahead of the delivery services I'd arranged. One brought an
elaborate Italian dinner complete with wine and tiramisu for dessert, and the
other was there to install a brand new television set with surround sound. I
smiled as I watched the delivery people unload the cargo and then led them to
Olivia's door. The response we received was not at all what I had expected.

"What are you doing,
Redding?" she asked as I stood in the doorway waiting for her to invite me
in.

"I'm bringing you
dinner and a movie," I said gesturing to the delivery people flanking me.

"No, dinner and a
movie is a bag of take out and a small plastic box containing a DVD," she
said eyeing the crowd in the hallway.

"I do things a
little bigger than that. Can we come in?"

"I don't think
so," she said shaking her head as she moved to close the door.

"Wait," I said
sticking my foot between the door and the frame, afraid she'd close it before I
got a chance to find out why she had changed her mind. "Why are you
upset?"

"Because you don't
listen, Redding," she said as she leaned on the door. I winced as the
pressure pinched my foot, but I didn't back up.

"I don't listen?
What do you mean?"

"I mean, I told you
in New York that I'm not impressed by your money," she said waving at the
crew with the television. "I don't want that and I don't need it. So, you
can take your bribery and install it at your own home."

"Bribery?" I was
stunned by her accusation. "This isn't bribery! This is simply a way for
us to enjoy the evening!"

"You really don't
get it do you?" she said, shaking her head.

"What I get is that
you're refusing to have dinner with me because I arranged for dinner and a
movie," I said.

"No, I'm refusing to
have dinner with you because you've gone way over the top and are trying to
bribe me with expensive gifts," she objected. "You can't buy me,
Redding."

"I'm not buying you!
I'm just trying to do what you asked!" I said, raising my voice. She
leaned heavily on the door, causing me to pull my foot back before it got
crushed. "Olivia! Why are you being so unreasonable?"

"I'm not being
unreasonable, at all," she said, looking up at me with a sad smile.
"I'm just not someone who can be bought. Goodnight, Mr. Redding."

She gently closed the
door and a moment later, I heard the click of a deadbolt followed by the sound
of a security chain being slid into place. I sighed and gestured toward the
elevator. I paid for the food and carried the bags back into the lobby of
Olivia's building. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. Her phone went
to voicemail the first two times, but the third time was the charm.

"What do you want,
Redding?" she said when she picked up.

"Hello, it's nice of
you to answer your phone."

"Well, I figured
that you were just going to keep annoying me until I did, so I thought I'd cut
to the chase," she replied in an irritated voice.

"I'm sorry I
offended you," I said and then waited.

"What?"

"I'm sorry I
offended you," I repeated.

"I'm not
offended," she replied calmly.

"Then why did you
shut the door and send me away?"

"Because you don't
listen," she said. "I told that I'm not impressed by your money, and
yet you tried to use it to gain the upper hand tonight."

"God, are you always
this defensive and suspicious?" I blurt out. "What if I was just
trying to be nice?"

"Were you?"

"Was I trying to be
nice? Yes! I was simply trying to provide dinner and a movie."

"Why did you have to
go overboard? Why not just show up with take out?"

"Because I have
money and I feel like if I have it, why not use it?" I said, raising my
voice and getting a sharp look from the doorman. I lowered my voice, "I
just feel like having money makes things that were previously out of my reach
possible. So, I do them. I'm not trying to prove anything or bribe
anyone,"

"I see," she
said.

"What does that
mean?"

"It just means, I
see," she said calmly.

"Do you still want
to have dinner?"

"Do you?" she
asked.

"I do, and I have
bags of take out here in the lobby of your building," I said, looking at
them, and then adding, "But I sent the television set back to the
store."

"Well, I am rather
hungry," she said.

"I would be happy to
bring the food up and have dinner with you," I said. "Or leave it by
your door and go away."

"That's a little
extreme, don't you think, Mr. Redding?" I could tell she was smiling as
she said it.

"Perhaps, but you
seem to deal in extremes, Ms. Moore," I replied with a smile that I hoped
matched hers.

"Fine, let's have
dinner," she agreed.

Five minutes later, I was
knocking on her door again, and when she opened it, I held up the bags in mock
surrender. She laughed as she stood aside and welcomed me into her apartment. I
set the bags on the table, shed my coat, and lay it across the back of one of
the chairs at the table, then turned to Olivia and said, "Where are the
plates and silverware so I can set the table?

Her laughter let me know
I'd made the right choice.