Heat Exchange (The Alpha Billionaire's Virgin Book 1) (17 page)

"I know what it would take for me to stay with you this week so I don't feel like I'm taking advantage of you," she told him with a little shiver of dread and hope.

He hooked a leg over hers and turned her, looking at her intently. "What's that? Something to do with marriage, Janey?"

She nodded, pretty sure he was worried Janey had grandiose ideas for herself. It only confirmed her sentiments that Nyall was out of her league. She rushed to placate him.

"Definitely something to do with marriage," she said reassuringly. "You know how when you suggested to me you could help me with my virginity problem, I agreed almost right away? Well, I want you to do the same with me and trust me. You see, I don't have too many special skills, but one thing I am really, really good at is matchmaking. I've set my own sisters up on dates with guys they've even married! So Nyall, if you agree, what I'll do is I'll go ahead and help you get that normal life you want by finding you the perfect wife!"

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

SUBJECT: Resynthesis

Amy, next time I wish for something idly while texting, remind me to be careful what I wish for. Your man gets paid for this crap?

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

SUBJECT: Re: Resynthesis

Hey, she's staying with you, isn't she? Mission accomplished. Her cheesecake was outstanding, by the way.

Is she seriously gonna do it though? Find you a wife?

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

She's dead serious. The moment you guys left she was all over me with this insanity. She's going to throw me a fucking charity ball. She calls it a Prince Charming ball or Cinderella ball or whatever the fuck it is. For fucking Halloween. And I get to pay for it.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

Not getting the connection. How does that find you a wife? Are you supposed to meet a wife there?

BTW, you're pissy today. You need to get laid.

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

Thanks, Einstein.

Everyone who comes to the ball is going to be dressed as a Cinderella character. Dozens of princes and princesses. She's going to blast through her "upper class" (her phrase) connections via her catering gigs to find eligible women.

Eligible fucking women, Amy. From which she plans to hand-pick the very best—her words, the very best—and auction them off to the highest bidder. I'm supposed to pick somebody to get engaged to. She's lost her sweet little mind.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

You're not agreeing to this?

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

Of course I damn well am. I get her this week if I do.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

Out of morbid curiosity, what does she mean by the very best of femalekind?

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

From the names she rattled off, heiresses mostly. But also rich divorcées, businesswomen, celebrities, political daughters.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

Preening.

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

Yeah, you're invited, you heiress/businesswoman, you.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

But when the party rolls around you're going to be a slime and dash the hopes of dozens of women?

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

You laugh, but this is not fucking funny. By party time, she'll be a fixture in my bed and those women will know it.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

Geez, why are you sitting there emailing me if you're so gone about the chick? You should be fucking her.

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

She's scribbling out plans. She gets ten more minutes before I remind her why she's here.

Oh, and I'm not just twiddling my thumbs, Winch. This is a warning. If this actually goes down, you're going to inform every hopeful female you see there that counter to rumor, I am not wife-seeking, so leave me the fuck alone. (No arrogance intended.)

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

Don't even go there. You're arrogant as hell and you know it.

Roger as to rumors. I guess I should put a lid on psych guy, too.

Speaking of which, go away, it's time for me to bang him. Tonight was like watching a porn shoot. That girl's hot for you and your dick was pointing at her the whole time.

Amy

TO: Amy Ellen Winch

FROM: Nyall Anderson

Subtle, Amy, real subtle.

Let me know if there's fallout with the vomiting boss for taking you away tonight.

Nyall Anderson

CEO

Sonneman Anderson Research Group

TO: Nyall Anderson

FROM: Amy Ellen Winch

Nah, I'm good. Server's back up, nobody's fired, bribes to janitorial. I expect rum balls soon.

Amy

***

Marriage Candidates for Nyall Anderson

Charlene (Char) Johnson-Forks (daughter of Dad's orth surgeon & on Board of Directors St. Danes Medical Ctr, also ex-wife former governor)

Monica Broome (Broome trust fund—mega$$$ & leg model)

Alisha Scarbrough (best friend to wife of CEO Sumwun2luuv.com)

Sonya Woznyak (daughter of Woznyak Doors & Windows Int. also genius IQ)

Evelyn Saunders-Gleason (ex-wife of founder Redmond New Tech College—redhead like Amy)

Lize Zimmer (starred in Friends in a Fishbowl reality TV, also best friend of Monica Broome above)

Pamela (Pammi) Matarino (sister of somebody to do with car manufacturing can't remember who)

Bethany Ginsburg (CEO of Ginsburg Elegance)

Amy Winch (granddaughter of Nancy Penne who married into broadcasting fortune)

Cyn Chan (star of Play Me For a Lollipop, Sucker)

Sheila Joy Waters (CEO Bodi Bodi Fitness Clubbes)

Tamara Alison (Ally) Stulz (MD. Oncology, PhD @UW, Tineesoft heiress)

Who else? Janey nibbled the back of her pencil as she hunched over her notepad and tried to recall all the various well-heeled female connections she had. Any of the women already on her list she thought Nyall would like, but you never knew. Nyall was hot enough, charming enough, and rich enough to have his pick of pretty much anyone, so the more choices, the better.

She made a note to quiz him about his spousal preferences.

Vaguely she became aware of muted sounds from elsewhere in the condo. That had to be Nyall moving around. She tried not to think about being alone with him in his home again. In the hour that Amy and Oliver had been gone, he'd left her alone to do her brainstorming. Concentrating on finding a match for Nyall was better than thinking about their fight.

It reminded her that they lived in different worlds. But thanks to a stroke of fate, Janey's world skirted his in that in her capacity as caterer, her contacts knew his contacts. Janey's role in Nyall's life after this week was over was becoming clear.

She would be his friend and matchmaker.

It made sense. Janey was good at being both a friend and a matchmaker. Going by what his women had said, Nyall was good at switching mistresses over to friendship with no hard feelings.

Meeting Amy tonight had brought it all into focus. Amy didn't seem to be so much a sex partner anymore as Nyall's friend. That was very encouraging. That's what Janey wanted to be after the week of his teaching her how to have sex was over.

After all, friendships could cross money lines without too many issues.

Janey chewed her lip. One of her good friends had a cousin who knew the mother of a Pilates instructor for a prominent female celebrity lawyer who hosted a talk show. If she wasn't mistaken, that lawyer was single…

"Janey."

Janey looked up and blinked. Nyall was standing over her, so tall it was almost intimidating, his expression impatient. She gave him a beaming smile.

"Hi, Nyall. I have twelve candidates so far—no, thirteen now. I don't think you'll need to worry at all. These are all nice ladies. You're going to have so many choices at the Charming Cinderella Ball."

"Terrific. We're done in here. Let's go."

"Done? Go?" Janey said confusedly. She was still in the universe of débutante names, party planners, and fundraisers. There was so little time to plan an event of this magnitude. It was overwhelming. She was glad Nyall had agreed to let her hire anyone she wished. She might even need to hire another caterer. Her small staff wasn't equipped to handle this scale of event if Janey was also going to be involved in the planning of it.

Nyall gestured to the dirty dishes on the table, the food containers on the counter and the nearly half-gone cheesecake dripping with pink sauce. "We're done eating and socializing. You've had your hour."

"Oh," she said. It hit her that the kitchen was a disaster. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten it. "We need to clean up and put everything away."

"I'll do it later," Nyall said tersely.

"You?"

"I canceled maid service for this week, so yes, me."

"Let's do it together," Janey said and stood up. That brought her a little too close to Nyall, so she stepped back hastily.

She felt him watching her while she covered the cheesecake and stuck it in the fridge. When she started moving dishes, though, he stopped her. "Later, Janey. Bed now."

Janey's eyes widened. "Bed? Is it that late? I'm not sleepy."

"Not to sleep."

"Um. I see. By the way, thanks for ordering the dinner. It was delicious. I can't remember the last time I've had real French onion soup baked by somebody else. And the cilantro lamb was perfect. I think Amy and Oliver liked it, too. What did you think of the cheesecake? Was the strawberry sauce too much? Maybe raspberry would have been a better choice after—"

"It was fine, Janey. Are you nervous?"

"Well, I'm not really in sex mode right now," she said, staring at his hand, which was dexterously popping out the top buttons of her blouse. "I'm thinking about what we talked about tonight."

"I can tell." Now he was grasping the hem of her blouse.

"Uh…hold on a sec, Nyall. What are you doing?"

"Undressing you. Remember? Naked when we're alone. You had your gratis time. It's up."

She wiggled away. "But…let's talk about this."

He sighed. "What else have we been doing? We've settled this. You're staying with me. Nothing has changed from our original plan. Except for a party at the end of the month."

She licked her lips. "Right. But I think we should talk about it anyway. I mean, we haven't talked about it while we're alone. It's an intimate topic."

He cupped her cheeks. "Janey, I'm sorry for jumping on you when you caressed me while I was on the phone. I'm begging you to do it again in fact. You can do any the fuck thing to my body you want any time you fucking want. Have I made myself clear?"

Her jaw fell. "Uh-huh."

His voice gentled. "I'm also sorry about the rule that work always has priority. I don't know what to do about it now, but we'll work on it, all right? Now forgive me for all that crap and let's get to bed."

Her arms flew up as he pulled off the blouse. "I do forgive you," she said in a muffled voice. Then the shirt was gone and now Nyall was disposing of her bra. Janey's hands went to the cups to keep the undergarment from falling down. "Nyall, wait. Please slow down."

He muttered something under his breath. "You're not backing out of this again."

"I don't want to back out of this anymore," she admitted. "I still want you…I still want you to show me all about it. Sex, I mean."

"Good. Because if you'd decided to leave after I've waited all this time to be with you, I'd have come after you."

She swallowed. "You want me that much?" Her brain still had a hard time wrapping around that fact.

"I'm crazy for you, Janey," he said on a laugh-groan.

"But
why
?"

"I don't know—ask my cock. It's been hard for you since that day in the elevator. I can't stop thinking about doing this." Her blouse was gone, her shoes were gone, and now he was sliding down her pants and underwear. She clutched the bra over her breasts like a lifeline.