The Billionaire's Secret Boxed Set (3 page)

“Yes, very much.
  I’m not much for small town life.”

“Are you interested in travel?”

“Yes, though I haven’t been to very many places.  I spent a semester in London during college, and traveled a bit through Europe after that, but that’s about all.” She blushed again, feeling very unsophisticated and un-cultured next to this man who had clearly seen and accomplished so much. “I hope I’m able to travel more widely in the future.”

“I make quite a few business trips during the year, and it’s often helpful to have my assistant accompany me.  I’ll be traveling to Switzerland next month for a meeting.  Would you be able to come with me?”

“Oh, yes!” Miranda exclaimed excitedly, forgetting for a moment to be distant and bouncing in her chair a little.  Regaining her composure, she continued: “I mean, of course I’d be willing to travel whenever necessary.”

Liam smiled at her reaction, and his eyes softened for a moment. “I’m glad to hear it, Miranda,” he said, and the sound of her name in his mouth felt like velvet against her skin.  “You have a valid passport, then?”

“Yes, definitely!” she replied.

“Good.  You’ll need to make the travel arrangements for both of us.  See Ms. Hathaway to get information about the travel agent we use and the corporate account to charge this to.  By the way, you’ll need to get yourself a corporate card for your own expenses while we’re gone.  The dates of the trip and location of the meeting are in this folder,” he said, handing her a file. 
“Once you’ve contacted the travel agent and made the flight and hotel reservations, you may go for the day.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Mr. Blake,” she said sincerely.

“Please. Call me Liam,” he replied, looking into her eyes with an unreadable expression.

“Liam,” she replied, saying his name out loud for the first time.

Miranda left his office in a daze, closing his door.  He was so unpredictable, so mercurial.
  And so sexy -- when he actually looks at me
.  Something in his gaze shot straight through her like electricity.  Miranda.  She went to Ms. Hathaway and got the information regarding the travel agent and corporate charges, then came back to her desk and began making calls.  A little less than an hour later, she was finished.  She looked up at the clock: 3:40. 
So early to be leaving
, she worried.  She almost knocked on his door to make sure it was alright, but hesitated.  Their last interaction had been so pleasant, she wanted to leave things on a good note today.  So, with a slight frown, she shut down her computer, put the documents she’d been working on in a drawer, and grabbed her bag.  As she walked through the main lobby, Jen the receptionist remarked with a smirk, “You’re leaving early.”

“Yes,” Miranda replied. “
Liam
suggested I take the rest of the afternoon off.”  With a slight bounce in her step, she walked out the doors, leaving Jen to gape at her.

The next day was relatively uneventful, with Miranda spending much of the morning learning more from Ms. Hathaway about the various electronic calendar systems and the company intranet.  She had lunch with Kim again, the latter as chatty and animated as ever.  Miranda’s afternoon was taken up typing up the minutes of the day before and doing some research that Liam had requested for the upcoming trip to Switzerland.  Around four o’clock, his door opened and Liam appeared in the doorway.

“Miranda, I wonder if you’d be able to stay a bit late tonight.  I have some deadlines that need to be met, and it would be easier if you were here to take dictation for me on some reports that need to be sent out tomorrow.  I can fill you in on the details of the firms in question so that you’ll be better able to finish typing the reports for tomorrow’s deadline.”  Miranda didn’t fail to notice that he asked her rather than telling her.  His demeanor toward her seemed to have softened since yesterday.  It was a welcome change, and she hoped it would last.

“Certainly.
Would you like me to have dinner brought in?” she replied.

“Yes, that’s a good idea.  In your desk you’ll find a list of the places that deliver nearby.  Order me something with red meat.”  Liam’s head disappeared and the door closed.

Later that evening found Miranda sitting in Liam’s spacious office, facing him on one of the two long leather couches, a large glass coffee table between them.  On the table were two stacks of folders and the remains of their takeout food from Manfred’s Steak House.  They had been working for close to three hours, and were about half an hour from being ready to wrap up for the night.  Liam stretched his arms and groaned mightily, saying, “Okay, let’s take five and then come back and wrap this up.  I’ll be back in a few.” He stood up, stretching again, and strolled out the door toward the break room. Miranda got up, stifled a yawn, and then set about cleaning up the takeout containers.  Closing all the lids and tying the plastic bags closed, she looked around the room, her eyes stopping on a large metal lidded trash bin by the bar area.  She wandered over to the can and pressed on the foot pedal to open the lid.  Miranda was about to throw the trash inside when she caught a glimpse of something red. Peering inside, she gingerly reached in to grasp what looked to be a large piece of fabric.  Pulling it out of the bin, she saw with shock and confusion that it was a men’s white dress shirt, blood staining the sleeves. 
What in the world…
she thought, and then stopped.  Slowly, the blood drained from her face as as an unbelievable thought came unbidden into her mind. 
But… could the dog from last night… could that have been him? But how…?  It’s impossible!

Just
then, Liam came back with two bottles of water from the break room fridge.  “I thought you’d like…  Miranda, what’s wrong?”  He stopped in his tracks when he saw her turn shocked expression towards him. Looking down at her hands, he saw the bloodied shirt she held, and involuntarily, his hand moved toward the scratch on his face. “Miranda…” he began, then stopped.  His expression turning to one of resignation, his voice softened, and he said, “I would tell you it’s not what it looks like, but the truth is, it may very well be what you think it looks like.”

“It can’t be,” she whispered.  “What it looks like is impossible!”

“Ah,” he said sadly.  “Well, then. That tells me you have indeed figured it out.”

“Mr. Blake…  Liam… Are you… were you… the
dog
… that saved me last night?”

“Not dog,” he replied grimly. “Wolf.” 

Miranda gaped at him, speechless. Liam walked toward her and gently took the stained shirt from her. “Sit, Miranda,” he said, motioning to the couches.  She sat down shakily on one, and he sat beside her.

“I should have known after last night that it would only be a matter of time before you found out.  I’ve managed to keep this a secret from all of my professional contacts throughout my entire career.” He half-chuckled and said ruefully, “Then you come along, and in three days you’ve figured it out.”

“I haven’t figured
anything
out,” she protested.  “Can you please, please explain to me what is going on?”

Liam sighed.  “As I said: not dog, wolf.  I’m a shifter.  What humans generally call a
werewolf.”

Miranda stared at him in disbelief.  “What?” she replied
dully.

“Miranda, there are… things… that you don’t understand – that humans generally don’t understand about the world.  Things
that remain hidden to almost every person who isn’t two-natured.  I am, I always have been, a two-natured being.  A man who is capable of shifting into a large wolf.  I am human, just like you, with human feelings and human desires.  But I also have instincts, desires, needs… that are those of my other nature.  I shift at will, when I desire to run, to hunt… or to fight, to protect.  Last night, I shifted to protect.” 

Liam had been staring into the near distance as he spoke, but here he turned to look at Miranda.  “I needed to protect you.”

“Needed? I mean, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.  You saved me from something horrible, maybe even death.  But it wasn’t your responsibility to do so.” Miranda found herself blushing under the intensity of his gaze.

“No, Miranda.  You don’t understand.”  Liam sighed again, casting his eyes downward.  “I may as well explain everything to you.” He blinked and then raised his eyes back to hers.  “I needed to protect you. My instinct, my animal instinct, gave me no choice.  Miranda, have you ever heard of imprinting?”

“Yes, vaguely, I guess. It’s what some animals do who mate for life.” Miranda frowned at him in incomprehension.

“Yes, that’s right.  Like wolves.  And, like shifter wolves.  As I said, I have both human and wolf needs.  My human side is… desperately attracted to you.  My wolf nature…” he paused.  “My wolf nature… wants you as my mate.”

“Your…
mate
?!” she spluttered, hardly believing her ears. “But… you’ve been so cold and distant since I started! I mean, except for today, kind of.  You’ve been nicer today.”

His brow shot up quizzically, one side of his mouth lifting into a smirk. “I wasn’t nice at first?”

“No, are you kidding me? You’ve barely talked to me, and when you have talked to me, half the time you’ve barked at me. Oh, sorry. No offense,” she said, flustered.

Liam laughed out loud.
“A very appropriate choice of word.  No offense taken.  But,” he said, growing serious. “Miranda. Do you really think I have been distant with you because I dislike you?”

“Well,” she began dubiously.  “You have been really short with me a lot of the time, and you slam your door shut when you’re in your office like you can’t stand to be near me.  And I know I don’t exactly correspond to the type of women who work in this office.  I mean, look at them all.  They’re thin, gorgeous, put together…  I’m nothing like that.  I just thought… I was a disappointment to you.” 
His mate?
she thought, stunned.  A twinge of confusion laced with fear shot through her. 

“Miranda, don’t you know what a luscious, curvy woman like you does to a man like me? You’re stunning.  Your beautiful hair, your hips, your breasts, your legs…  It’s been only three days, and I’ve been in agony this whole time.  I couldn’t afford to have someone from the office
know my true self, so I have avoided hiring the type of women I was attracted to.  Hence, the stick-thin women who populate this office,” he concluded, his voice tinged with distain.  “But I have been traveling a lot recently, and I needed a personal assistant very quickly.  Ms. Hathaway took over the final interview process on my behalf.  I guess she thought that she was hiring someone who wouldn’t compete for her attentions.” He laughed.  “Little did she know she had hired someone I would find nearly impossible to resist.  Hence my cold demeanor toward you.”

Miranda was silent, digesting all that Liam had said.  “This is all so… I mean, I can barely believe you don’t
hate
me.  Now you’re telling me you’re not only a werewolf, not only are you attracted to me… you want me to be your…”

“Mate.
  Yes.” Liam stopped, and carefully moved several inches further away from her, as if wanting to give her space.  “I’m sure this is confusing to you.  But Miranda, I have waited my whole life for the one who would be my mate.  I always assumed she would be one of my kind.  But the moment I met you, both sides of me were irrevocably drawn to you.  Your scent is intoxicating to me, so much so that it was all I could do not to take you then and there.  I’ve had to keep my distance from you until I could regain my composure and learn to control myself around you.  My seeming hostility was only proof of the intensity of my desire.”

Miranda’s body was reacting against her will to his words.  This gorgeous man, proclaiming desperate attraction –
need
– for
her
!  It was almost unbelievable.  But she could feel the heat building between them. Her body ached for him as much as he said he ached for her.  She wanted him, badly – wanted him to engulf her in his muscled arms, to take her, to make her his.  The strength of her need surprised her, the heat growing between her legs set her every nerve ending on edge, as if every cell in her body was reaching out to him. 

With supreme force of will, she continued in a strangled voice, “I believe you.”  She could feel herself tremble. 

“Miranda,” he whispered.  “I want you.”  His eyes glowed, looking deeply into hers.  Without another word, he moved slowly toward her.  His hand raised up and twined in her hair, and he pulled her forward, dipping his lips to hers in a long, searching kiss.  When he pulled away, Miranda was breathless, the heat between her legs growing to a raging fire that coursed through her, filling her with need.  Her gaze met his, and her lips parted, as if an invitation.  Liam groaned and brought his mouth down on hers again, crushing him to her.  Miranda closed her eyes as he opened her mouth with his.  His tongue sought hers insistently, and hers met his as steams of heat began flowing through her body. The heat between her legs began to pulse and spread, and she moaned her desire into his mouth.  He continued kissing her hungrily as he began to undo the buttons on her blouse one by one.  Her breasts tingled with desire as she waited impatiently for him to touch her.  He drew her blouse apart and his lips broke apart from hers.  Rearing back to look at her, he growled, his jaw clenching with desire.  His eyes were dark with passion as he took in the soft, creamy mounds of her breasts nestled inside the cups of her bra.