Bought: A Billionaire Romance (3 page)

Well isn’t this just a stroke of good fortune. I decide to hit up a bar I’ve never been to before in my life, get a couple of beers, maybe chat to some beautiful woman; if I can find one that is. The moment I walk in I see a familiar face: Clara Young is sitting at the bar with a friend, and she’s all dressed up. I’m not a great believer in destiny but, damn, the universe really does throw you a bone every now and then.

“So are you out celebrating your new job, Clara?”

I’ve got a thing for the hot nerdy girl look she has in her work clothes but holy hell does she look good in that tight black dress.

“More like drowning my sorrows actually.”

She scowls at me. Somehow she’s even more cute when she’s annoyed.

“So you’re telling me you don’t want to be part of a project that’s going to reduce carbon emissions worldwide? I thought you were an environmentalist.”

“More like the project that’s going to save your profit margins so you can invest even more in destroying the environment. When the new carbon tax system is announced in six months you’ll be hemorrhaging money unless you bring your emissions down.”

I continue to underestimate Clara, she always seems to be a step ahead of where I think she is.

“Do you think I’m that greedy? That I only care about my profits?

“Yes.”

Blunt, beautiful, and good with numbers. I think I’ve found the perfect assistant. All I have to do is make sure she says ‘yes’ to the opportunity I’m offering to her. After that maybe I can work on getting her to say ‘yes’ to a few other things.

“So are you going to introduce me to your friend?” I ask. I can tell that talking about the deal is only going to annoy her. For some girls, I just need to flash a smile, maybe offer them a ride in the Lamborghini, and they’ll let me do anything I want to them. But the ones I have the most fun with take a bit of a long-term investment, they like the chase and so do I. Either way, I always get what I want.

“Kyan, this is Kelly. Kelly, this is Kyan,” drones Clara unenthusiastically.

“I am SO excited to meet you,” says Kelly.

Those girls who will let me do anything to them after a smile and a ride in the Lambo? Yeah, Kelly is definitely one of those. On any other day I would have her back at my penthouse in half an hour, but today I’ve got my eye on a better prize.

“So, do you like, have any other jobs? I’ve got a finance degree just like Clara,” continues the excited Kelly. I swear one of her tits is going to pop out of her dress if she leans any further towards me.

“Well we’re not hiring at the moment, but I can always find something for a beautiful woman to do around the office,” I say with a wink.

Dammit Kyan, can’t you control yourself for one minute? What is Clara going to think of you if you start hitting on her friend right in front of her?
I scold myself. I can see Clara rolling her eyes next to me.

“So, what can I get you two ladies to drink?”

“Cocktails!” replies Kelly, her eyes lighting up.

I get the bartender’s attention and order us some fruity cocktails for the girls and a mojito for me, making sure to give him a healthy tip so that next time I get served faster.

When I come back to Clara and her friend they instantly stop talking. I wonder what they were saying about me.

“So is it true your first business was selling tractor parts?” asks Kelly.

“It sure is. You know, I think that was the most fun I ever had in business. Going farm to farm, getting all oily and dirty with the machinery. Sometimes I think about selling the business to just go back and sell tractor parts again. Live the simple life.”

“Yeah. That’s so great,” says Kelly, eyes wide and drinking up every word I say.

“Bullshit,” says Clara, “As if someone like you would ever give up your tailor-made suits and your penthouse apartment. I don’t buy the whole folksy charm thing you’re trying to sell.”

Ouch. The shy, nervous Clara from earlier is disappearing more with each drink. This one is going to be a tough nut to crack. I take another sip of my drink and decide my plan of action. Should have gone for something stronger.

“You know…if I had your money,” slurs Clara, “I mean, there’s so much…so much you could do to help people. If I was a billionaire I wouldn’t be such a jerk is what I’m saying.”

“Seems to me like you hardly know me, what makes you think I’m a jerk?”

“Err
1
, let me see. You’re trying to buy me in a business deal? Not to mention you lied to me in the coffee shop.”

“I saw how good you were with those calculations and decided I need someone like you on my team.”

“And when you want something, you buy it, right?”

“Exactly. Maybe I should have been honest with you in the coffee shop, though.”

“Huh, wow, I almost believe you’re sorry.”             

“Would another round of shots help you come to terms with it?”

“Shots!” yells Kelly.

I’ve got a feeling this could be a fun night.

I’m woken up when the thin beam of light cutting between my curtains falls over my eyes. My head feels like a thousand tiny construction workers are going to town on it with sledgehammers and pneumatic drills.

Before I have time to wait for the room to stop spinning, Kelly bursts in through my bedroom door and throws open the curtains.

“Murghurgh, blah!” I try to form coherent words but my mouth just isn’t up to it yet. I blink in the bright sunshine and try to will my churning stomach not to empty its contents all over the room.

“Wake up sleepyhead!” says Kelly, “I brought you a glass of water and a black coffee.”

How is she always so damn peppy after a night of drinking?
I wonder. It doesn’t matter, I’m hungover enough for the both of us and grateful that she is alive enough to take care of me.

“So, do you remember last night?”              

I’m too preoccupied trying to stop myself hurling all over my clean bedsheets to think about last night. It’s a blur. One minute we were in The Cellar chatting, then…

“Urgh,” I mumble, “Kyan showed up when we were in The Cellar.”

“That’s right. But there’s more, so much more.”

The night is coming back to me in pieces. I remember drinking…and then more drinking. Then…dancing?

“Did we go to a nightclub?” I ask, putting a hand up to my thumping head as if I’m checking it’s all still there.

“Now you’re starting to remember! That’s not all, though. Oh no, you’ve got a lot more to remember.”

I remember the thumping music. No wonder my ears are ringing this morning. A lot more to remember though? What else could there possibly be?

“Just tell me,” I beg.

“No, that’s no fun. You have to work it out!”

“I hate you.” I throw a pillow at her but it misses completely.

I close my eyes. The darkness of the nightclub comes back to me, the pumping bassline of the music. I’m dancing with a guy. Then, lips. A mouth against mine. A tongue. One rough hand against the back of my neck while we kiss and another on my hip, holding my body close to him. The musky scent of his cologne and the heat of the dance floor. Hot, but who the hell was he?

“Who was he?” I ask, wondering if Kelly knows who my mystery kisser is.

“Ooh, you’re so close now. Just think a little bit harder.”

I close my eyes and try to pierce through the drunken haze of the night before. The face of the man I’m kissing pulls back away. The perfect hair, the arrogant half-smile…it’s…he’s…

“I made out with Kyan Ellis!?”

“Yay! I knew you’d get it in the end. If you didn’t, I’d be annoyed at you for forgetting that you managed to get with such a hottie.”

“I can’t believe you let me do that.”

“Err, you can’t believe that I let you make out with a hot billionaire? Do you even hear yourself sometimes?”

I pull a pillow over my head to block out the light. Kelly’s heart is in the right place but I know there is no way I can make her understand how I feel.

“Anyway, it’s 8:30. Aren’t you supposed to be going to work?”

“8:30!? I’m supposed to be AT work.”

SHIT. It’s my second day. I’ve got a crazy-important meeting about my future and I’m going to be SO LATE even if I don’t spend half an hour trying to make my hungover self look even vaguely presentable.

“Have you decided whether you’re going to take that job with Kyan yet?”

I pull the pillow back over my head. Every bone in my body is telling me just to get under the covers and never come out. If I take the job I have to spend two torturous years working with Kyan Ellis, if I don’t it could mean the end of my career. It could even mean the end of Greene Earth if Kyan is prepared to call off the deal over it.

“I’ll see how I feel when I get there. IF I get there.”

“Rough night?” asks Mark Greene as I slump into the luxurious leather chair in the plush fiftieth-floor meeting room. The same room we had met in yesterday.

“Great night, well, what I can remember of it anyway. It’s the morning that’s been rough. Is it that obvious?” I say, rubbing my pounding head and wishing I had some stronger painkillers.

“You look and smell like you were up all night being waterboarded with vodka.”

“Thanks,” I reply. I know there’s no love lost between Greene and me, but I’m too tired to engage with his insults.

I pour a glass of water from the fine crystal jug that sits on the table between us and scratch my unshaven chin.

“You didn’t have to get out your best glassware just for me.”

“Sorry, if I’d known how you were going to show up to this meeting I would have got some malt liquor in a brown paper bag for you,” replies Greene with a smug smile. He’s loving how messed up I am right now.

Why the hell did you stay out so late?
I scold myself. It isn’t even like I have any great memories from the night. I remember being at The Cellar and the next thing the doorman is helping me up to my apartment.

One thing I do remember is Clara being pissed off with me. Then I started hitting on her friend like an idiot. Did we go to a club after that?

Vague memories start to float back into the soup that is my brain. Pumping music. The darkness. Some girl. Wait, some girl kissed me even though I was trying to push her away. I hope it wasn’t Clara’s friend. If it was, I might have blown my chance with her. I say ‘might have’ because when you’re me, you’ve always got a chance.

I check my watch. It’s already after nine.

“Isn’t Clara supposed to be here by now?”

“Yeah. She knows what time the meeting was supposed to start. If this is how she acts on her second day, I’ll be glad to get rid of her,” says Greene, “I had high hopes for that girl. Top of her class you know, but if she thinks it’s OK to show up late you’re welcome to her.”

“I wouldn’t be too harsh on her,” I say, knowing that she likely feels as bad as I do this morning. It was only thanks to the power of strong coffee that I managed to get here at all.

“I know you’re a busy man, Ellis, so if you want to postpone this meeting until later I’m more than happy to—“

“No. She’ll show up. I’m sure of it.”

At that moment the door swings open and a very disheveled looking Clara shambles into the room. Even though she’s tried her best to hide it, she still looks like a zombie that’s fallen out of a tree. So why do I still think she looks amazing?

Snap out of it, Kyan, this is a business meeting.

“Sorry I’m late,” she says, flashing me a scowl.

I think it’s the hair. She’s tried to tame it and get it into a bun but I suppose she didn’t have enough time to do it properly. Like me, she probably woke up with no time to spare and decided she had to just come here even if it meant looking and feeling like death. So even though she’s tried, her hair is still as tangled as Grandma’s yarn. It gives her a bit of a wild look, the way she’d look if she came back to mine and we fucked all night long. I guess that’s why I can’t take my eyes off her.

“Christ,” says Greene as she walks past him to take a seat, “Did the two of you spend the night hosing each other down with whiskey? I think I’m getting drunk just from the vapor.”

Our eyes meet and we quickly look sheepishly down at the table like a couple of kids caught with hands in the cookie jar. I half expect her to point at me and say “It was his fault! He bought me shots!” but luckily she just stays quiet.

“Huh, well that’s interesting,” says Green, “You know what? I don’t want to know. Let’s just get on with the meeting. The meeting that was supposed to start half an hour ago.”

“So have you come to a decision? Are you going to come work with me?”

Clara takes a deep breath like she’s about to dive underwater. I suspect she’s about to make her decision then and there.