Mr. Handsome: A Billionaire Romance (16 page)

* * *

I got home exhausted. I was ready to bury myself in Christina and then bury myself in bed.

“You look tired, babe,” Christina said as I walked through the front door.

“
Babe
? Did you just call me babe?” I asked with a silly boyish grin on my face, she could call me babe all day long.

Christina smiled after she rolled her eyes at me.

“Yes I did. You are a
babe
. How was work? You looked like you wanted to get into a bar fight just now.”

I snorted. I did want to crack a bottle over someone’s head and pretend it was the entire Greywing Corporation.

“You won’t believe what happened today, it was ridiculous.”

I stopped my entry into the house at the foot of the stairs in the foyer to give Christina a once over. She had changed into jeans and a cute t-shirt.

“Vanessa told me all about it, she had to cancel our nail date today. So Greywing, huh?” Christina took my hand and finished leading me up the stairs to the second floor family room where we plopped down on the couch.

“Yeah, I want to crush them. It’s past time for Stargate to start broadening our horizons and growing our company even further.”

Christina looked like she approved of my resolve.

“Show them your war cry, Jeffrey, you’re just as fierce as the next guy.”

I snorted, oh how little she knew.

“I’m even fiercer than the next guy. Don’t worry, Greywing is going to be sorry they poked a beast.” 

Christina smirked at me and I knew she was laughing over my choice of words.

“You’re such a kid,” I teased her and she pouted while crossing her arms over her chest.

“I am not, I’m an adult. Especially now that I’m working at my chosen career.” Christina stuck her tongue out at me and I laughed.

“You’re ten years younger than me, Christina, technically you’ll always be a baby to me. That’s a full decade you haven’t been on this Earth when I have.”

Christina rolled her eyes; yeah, she couldn’t deny it.

“Well when you put it that way…maybe I shouldn’t be dating such an old man.” She stuck her tongue out at me and I bit it before she could pull the soft muscle back into her mouth.

“Hey…can we talk about today in the office?” Christina asked me tentatively and I looked down at her with a slightly wary expression.

I knew I had deeper feelings for her than I was willing to explore at the moment. I didn’t want to lose her, though, so if she wanted to talk about it then I would.

“Sure, I’m all yours.” I gave her my best adorable smile and she leaned back against the couch, her gaze intent on mine.

“I just want to know, how much I should be feeling for you right now…if we’re on the same page, that sort of thing.”

I nodded. I was pretty damn sure I was head over heels, but I knew she was slower to recognize how she felt.

“I…I don’t want to lose you, share you, or be away from you. So I guess that means I’m pretty wrapped up in you, Christina, if that’s not obvious enough.” I chuckled and she smiled.

“Yeah, it’s obvious. I…I feel exactly the same, but it scares me a little, you know?”

I shook my head; she shouldn’t be scared about anything. I took her hand in mine and then kissed her palm.

“Don’t let it, please, I won’t ever hurt you, I promise. It would kill me if I did, I just want to make you happy,” I said and Christina nodded. She sighed almost as if in relief and then pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

“Okay, so what are we having for dinner?” I had to laugh, she was a girl, but she didn’t really like talking about her feelings much, that was for sure.

“I’m not sure, we’d have to see what I have here. Would you like to make something together with me?” I asked her and she nodded eagerly.

Christina and I went down to the kitchen to make spaghetti and meatballs; we made the meatballs from scratch and everything turned out great.

The more and more Christina stayed over, the more I wanted to ask her to move in with me. I knew it was a bit soon, but I simply wanted to be with her as much as possible. She fell asleep in my arms again that night and I started thinking of ways to politely tell her that she was moving in with me.

The following morning Christina had to go into Six Fountain to fill out her new hire paperwork so that she could start working. I loved that she was excited for her new job. Christina promised to visit me at work after she was done at Six Fountain and then I headed off to work. I had to put on my game face to deal with everything that was going on with the investigation and our pending deal. Hopefully, Vanessa had gotten somewhere with the US Air Force.

“He’s here! Thank goodness, we need you to sign a bunch of stuff, Jeff, also Vanessa wants to see you in her office ASAP.”

I hurried into my office while Victor fell into step behind me. I listened to any updates he had for me and then took a look at the legal documents I had to sign and went through them with Victor. Just going through all of them took up half of my morning. Afterwards, I went to meet with Vanessa who had rather hopeful news to share with me.

“The Air Force is interested in buying in on a supplier contract with us…though it’s pending with the all clear concerning Ireland,” Vanessa said bluntly shortly after I walked into her office.

“That’s fine, it’ll harden the blow once it’s been proven that we’re clean and our deal with Ireland is corruption free.”  I smiled at the thought of those Greywing bastards reading about our deal with USAF.

I sent a text to Victor, on a whim, to set up a lunch with the CEO of Greywing, Robert Kline. I wanted to talk to the man face to face and see why the hell he was interfering with Stargate’s business endeavors.

Victor sent back a strange text about my needing to take an early lunch. I called him and he answered on the second ring.

“What was that about lunch?” I asked and checked my watch, it was only eleven o’clock.

“Yes, you should go out for an early lunch.”

“Victor, we’re in the middle of an investigation and pending lawsuit, since when do I even
eat
lunch in tense situations like this?”

Something was up. Vanessa was looking at me curiously; she was wondering just as much as I was.

“Okay fine, forget the lunch. Just don’t come up to your office. There’s been a gas leak…you could die…”

I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily.

“Just tell me what the problem is, Victor,” I said impatiently.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line and I wondered if he had hung up the phone.

“It’s Roxanna. She’s here in your office waiting to speak with you.” 

My eyebrows furrowed and I wondered what the fuck she was doing there.

“Why is she there?” I asked and glanced at Vanessa like she would know her face was a question mark and she waited to be informed of what was going on.

“Why the fuck should I know? She just showed up and breezed right in all, ‘I need to speak with Jeff, I’ll wait until he gets back,’ piece of work that one is,” Victor said.

He did not like Roxanna at all, especially not after how she left me. I had thought I really loved her and she simply up and decided she did not want me anymore.

“I’m coming up there,” I said on a heavy sigh. I hung up the phone on Victor, who was advising against it, and strode out of Vanessa’s office. I heard her pick up the phone, probably to call Victor and ask what the hell was going on. I tried to keep calm while on the elevator ride up to my office.

All I could think about was how much I wanted to kick Roxanna out and tell her not to bother me again. I kept that happy thought in mind as I made my way down the hall and to my office. I passed by Victor’s office and he was simply shaking his head at me while on the phone with Vanessa.

I strode into the office and there she was. Roxanna was beautiful. She always had been, she was tall with the perfect hourglass figure. She was slender, though, and had creamy alabaster skin. Her face was flawless and she had the biggest chocolate brown eyes. Her hair was the color of mahogany and fell in artful waves down her back and over her shoulders. I hated her for being there and bringing up memories of the past.

“Jeff! Look at you, sexy as usual, though you aren’t my little engineer anymore.” Roxanna smiled as if she was pleased to see me and strode over from her perch on my desk. She pulled me into a hug and kissed me lingeringly on the cheek. Why was she there? What was she after?

“Hey Roxanna…why the sudden visit?” I asked, my tone bored. Roxanna pouted and walked back to my desk so she could shimmy onto the edge and have a seat. She wore a form fitting black dress that stopped at her knees. Of course the damn thing rode up as she perched at the edge of my desk. She wore black heels with bright red bottoms.

“I’ve seen your pictures and have wondered how you’ve been…I also saw you decided to take on the responsibilities of running Stargate and not simply be one of its engineers.”  Roxanna smiled almost smugly. I would bet much of what I held dear on the fact that she left me because I was getting paid as an engineer instead of as the boss. 

“I needed to step up for the company and for my father, so I did. You would have known that if you stuck around long enough,” I said sarcastically. Roxanna neatly sidestepped my comment and leaned forward a fraction, clearly showing off her breasts.

“I’m sorry for the way I left, I was hoping we could maybe grab lunch together, or plan dinner to catch up.” She smiled at me hopefully, her expression deceptively innocent and shy. I knew what she was after, what she must have been after. My money.

“I can’t, I have a girlfriend,” I said. Roxanna simply pouted, not phased in the slightest by what I just shared.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you catching up with an old friend,” she said. She was being persistent and I was getting tired of her game already. I walked over to the desk and sat down in my chair, ready to dismiss her.

“I have work to get back to, Roxanna. It’s been a lovely chat, but I don’t see us having lunch or dinner any time soon…or ever,” I made myself clear and Roxanna simply rolled her eyes, she was not to be deterred. She slid down from my desk and walked towards the door to leave. Before she did she glanced back at me and looked at me expectantly.

“Will you at least walk me out?” I sighed heavily and got up to walk her the ten fucking steps to the door. “Before I go…” Roxanna pulled out a business card from her small clutch purse with her name and number printed on it. I took it from her and she surprised me by leaning against me and pressing her lips to mine.

The few seconds of surprise would not let me function, until thoughts of Christina snapped me out of it and I placed my hands on Roxanna’s shoulders to push her away. Her hands came around me in an embrace and her lips moved against mine but I pushed on her shoulders and broke the kiss.

“Why would you do that?” I asked her, infuriated. I heard a hiccupped gasp and then my head swung towards the open door to my office, where Christina stood, looking absolutely amazing, though she was staring at me with nothing but hurt in her eyes.

“Shit, Christina, she’s nothing. She kissed me, I didn’t kiss her.” I walked over to her and she turned her head away from me as I reached her.

“I have to go…” she said and then quickly turned and hurried down the hall towards the elevators. Of course with Roxanna came fucking trouble. I hurried after Christina and managed to squeeze into the elevator with her alone. I pressed the stop button and Christina simply stared straight ahead at the metal doors, her arms crossed over her chest protectively.