The Billionaire & The Barfly (Coming Home) (26 page)

His pacing stopped, but the irritation etched on his face grew
into rage. His quiet angered words were nothing compared to the bark that came out next. “Tell that bitch that she will never work for Maximus. I don’t care if you already hired her, fire her, and pack your own desk while you’re at it!”

Henry stabbed at the screen of his phone with his finger before throwing it across the room into the chair that held his clothing. He sat back on the bed and ran both hands through his hair, gripping and pulling when he had a handful.

“So I take it Maximus Gaming had an interesting day at the office, too?”

“
It was Jenna. She made a deal with my acquisition’s guy for a job if she could get Keith to switch companies. She called him last night, and he set up the teleconference for this morning. I am so sorry, Aubrey. I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but I will. Over and over. I wonder how many other deals we made that weren’t on the up and up. I thought he was a better person than that.”

“
It isn’t your fault. It’s Jenna’s. I can’t believe I worked with her for so long and didn’t know how vile she could be. She thought I was after her job. I didn’t want her job even though I could do it ten times better than she could. I like doing the research and coming up with fun ideas for marketing. I thought I was pretty good at it, too. Too bad both companies I was able to pitch to didn’t sign with us.”

Henry let out a sigh
. “Again, sorry about that.”

“
Don’t. I knew working at Viola and you owning our biggest competition would cause problems. I just thought it would be a relationship issue, ya know, not being able to talk about the biggest part of our day could really kill the communication and all. I supposed I should go grab the damn paper and start looking through the want ads.”

“
Or we could stay right here for a while and pretend that the only problem we have is the limited amount of time before your brother and Mackenna get home.” Henry hovered over her on the bed and leaned down slowly, hovering with his lips just above hers.

“
I think that’s doable,” she said then pressed her lips against his.

Henry
’s hands worked her body into a frenzy, bringing her to the brink only to tease her by pulling back. He tickled and licked her ribs, causing her to crumble in a fit of erotic giggles before he finally pinned her hands above her head and looked at her with such passion and want in his eyes that even he could no longer fight it.

Aubrey opened her legs, letting Henry
’s body fall between them. With a swift movement of his hips, he sank himself deep within her, eliciting a moan from deep in her chest. With her arms positioned above her, all she could do was stare at him, feel him. He leaned in again, kissing her and at the same time released her hands. Aubrey quickly wrapped them around his body, caressing his back and touching him wherever she could reach as he rhythmically brought their hips together. The passion built inside of her with every wave of his hips like an ocean lapping at the sand in a storm, getting faster and stronger as every second passed until it finally crashed.

Aubrey
’s scream tore through the apartment and both of their breaths were labored as their bodies calmed from the storm. He leaned in again, kissing her softly, and something in the way he looked at her made Aubrey’s heart soar.

“
I suppose we should get up. Things to do and all,” he said while still hovering over her.

“
I suppose we should,” Aubrey looked at the clock and saw they still had hours until Ben and Mackenna came home, “or we could go back to sleep for an hour.”

“
You mean lay here with you wrapped up in my arms for another hour and pretend that the world outside that door doesn’t exist? Let me think about that,” he said with a grin then rolled off her. Henry’s arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her to him. The paper would still be there in an hour, Ben and Mackenna still would be at school, and Henry was there, in her bed, holding her close. She was going to take every little bit of happy she could get. She hated the feeling gnawing in her gut that said to enjoy it now, because just like everything else, it wouldn’t last.

~*~

When Aubrey woke, her arms instinctively reached over to the space beside her. When she felt the cool cotton beneath her fingers instead of Henry’s warm skin, her heart raced. Had he left already? She knew it was too good to be true, but she at least expected him to wait to say goodbye.

A tear slipped from her eye as she thought about everything that had happened between them that day. What had she done? She lost her job and created a PR nightmare. Maybe she was more trouble than he thought she was worth. Aubrey looked over to her dresser to see the box that held Henry
’s comic book. She still hadn’t been able to give it to him. Now she never would. What a waste of money. Money that she realized should have been saved for a rainy day because it sure as hell was storming.

The ache inside of her was all consuming. A little monster was digging at her chest with razor sharp claws from the inside out. It was shouting at her, over powering her mind with words like failure, stupid, idiot. She threw away her career for a man. A man that threw her away when things got tough.

The single tear that had rolled down her cheek was soon accompanied by another and another until Aubrey sat, naked and alone in her bed, sobbing.

Her bedroom door was thrown open, and much to her surprise, Henry ran in, jumping onto the bed, only to envelop her in his arms. The two rocked back and forth, her still sobbing even knowing that Henry was still there, and him shushing her and caressing anywhere he could reach.

Once she had calmed down, Henry pulled back and looked her in the eyes with such gentle worry. “What happened, baby?”

“
I thought you—”

Only she couldn
’t finish the sentence. She looked away, ashamed of her reaction. She had thought the worst in him instead of taking the time to actually look for him. She was an idiot.

“
You thought I what? Left?”

She nodded in response
, and Henry sighed.

“
Aubrey, look at me.” When she didn’t comply, Henry moved his position to put himself in front of her. “I am not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

She nodded again, still unsure of her voice, and hugged him. She had been wrong, but that heart wrenching
, stomach clenching feeling wasn’t something she ever wanted to feel again. She couldn’t let him get any closer than he already was.

“
Come on, I ordered lunch. There’s pizza and wings in the kitchen. There’s supposed to be a Batman marathon on the cartoon channel today. I can introduce you to one of my past times while we eat.”

Aubrey looked up to see the hopefulness etched on his face.

“I guess we can do that. Or you can watch your men in tights, and I will scan the want ads.”

“
I figured you might say that. The table also has four different newspapers covering a twenty mile radius.”

“
Thank you.”

Aubrey gathered her clothing and got dressed again. She wanted to stay in the city. She wanted to find another job that day, but knowing her luck, and the parade of paparazzi that had been following her, job hunting might not go so well.

She grabbed the comic book off the top of her dresser and turned to Henry. “Here, I got this for you,” she said and handed it over, and then walked out of the bedroom. She still wanted him to have it, but she didn’t want to make it a big emotional scene like the one she originally envisioned. They had had enough heart to hearts in last few days, and she didn’t need another that would put Henry Maximus any deeper under her skin or in her heart.

Chapter Eighteen

Aubrey had started to plate their lunch on the paper plates she kept in the kitchen cabinet. They hadn
’t gotten any real dishes yet except for a pot and a frying pan. She was perfectly okay with disposable. It cut down on dishes and arguments in the house over whose turn it was to clean them.

“
Thank you,” Henry said from the doorway. She turned to him and saw that he wore a guarded smile. He could tell she was pulling away, she just knew it. She was actually a little glad he had noticed. That way he could protect himself from the inevitable, too. She never wanted to see him hurting. She never wanted to be the cause of his pain. It would crush her. Better if they both keep enough distance to protect their hearts, but stay close enough to be happy. There had to be a way.

“
You’re welcome. Here, have some lunch.” She smiled at him and handed the plate over. She didn’t want to end what they had. She hoped he understood that. Henry walked forward with a slight look of worry and took the plate from her. She leaned over and kissed his cheek as he went by.

“
Do you want me to call Mr. Fredrickson? I can explain what happened. Maybe he will hire you back.”

“
No. It wouldn’t do any good.”

“
Shouldn’t they know about Jenna? Shouldn’t they know that you didn’t sell the company out? You don’t want that on your resume. It isn’t true.”

“
We both know it isn’t. This is just how my life goes, Henry. I’m used to it. If you plan on sticking around, you should get used to it to. Nothing good lasts long when I’m involved. Nothing.”

“
Bullshit. Stop the pity party and get angry. You got screwed over by Jenna. You should want her to pay for it. And what we have is good. And hear me when I say, I. Am. Not. Going. Anywhere.”

“
Pity party? Great. Thanks. Call him if you want, but don’t be surprised when he tells you to pound salt.”

“
One day you will realize that this isn’t your life. Failure isn’t what or who you are. You only fail if you stop trying and stop picking yourself back up. Are you at least going to call Bridgette?”

“
What is there to say? We weren’t as close as I thought. She would have come to say goodbye if we were. She didn’t. I’m not going to call and beg her to be my friend. It hurt enough realizing she wasn’t. Why put myself through that again?”

“
Have you learned nothing? Don’t push her away, too. Maybe she has a good reason. Give her a chance. Give yourself a chance, Aubrey.”

“
Fine.” Aubrey agreed and walked back into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She sat on the edge of the bed with her phone in her hands. She would call because she told Henry she would, and she wanted to be the person he believed her to be. But first, she had to get her head and heart in a place where no matter what Bridgette had to say wouldn’t hurt her. The longer she sat there, the more she realized she wasn’t going to be able to do that. With a deep breath, she scrolled through her contacts and pressed call.

The phone rang once, twice, and a third time. Maybe Bridgette wouldn
’t answer. That would give her an answer and keep the embarrassment to a minimum. But then, on the fifth ring, she picked up.

“
Hey,” Bridgette said in a soft voice.

“
Hey,” Aubrey replied.

“
Look”—

“
Wait, just listen, okay? I need to know why you bailed on me. I need to know if we were actually friends or just co-workers who hung out once in a while. Where were you?” Aubrey asked, barely holding the tears back. Damn it, she hadn’t wanted to get emotional.

“
I couldn’t. When the floor went crazy with the news, I tried to get down to the conference room but when Mike came up he gave me a ton of phone calls and told me if I stepped foot in the conference room I was as good as fired, too. I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t risk that. I wanted to call you, but he was watching me the whole day, and then I saw all the news clips and stuff, and I thought that maybe you would want to be left alone. Aubrey, please know I don’t believe what they are saying. You believe me, right?”

Relief flooded through her. Bridgette hadn
’t given up on her. “I do. What the hell am I going to do now?”

“
I don’t know, but you will figure it out. You worked your way up faster than anyone I have ever seen. You will do it again. And now you have a hot ass man by your side to be a shoulder when you need to scream and cry about starting over. And you can call me whenever, and we can still go dancing together. Just because we don’t work together doesn’t mean we’re done. You’re stuck with me now,” she said with a laugh.

Aubrey thanked her and told her once her life settled down they would get together and hung up. She walked out of the room with a smile. She knew she should thank Henry for making her call, but the smile he gave her when they locked eyes told her no thanks
was needed. He understood.

“
Come on, I have an entire series to introduce you to.” He motioned with his head to follow him into the living room.

Aubrey grabbed her plate
off the table and one of the papers. She followed him over to the newly finished futon couch that Ben and Mackenna had been fighting over. It was actually quite comfortable. “Guess Mackenna can do something right,” she said with an eye roll.