The Escort Series (Billionaire Bachelors) - Complete Collection (16 page)

Lisa
sighed heavily. “I told him last week that I couldn’t be his escort anymore.
That he had to find someone else. The next time he needed someone on his arm at
some fancy “do”, or just some female companionship as he goes on his wheeling
and dealing trips, then he would just have to replace me. I guess…I guess I did
it to force his hand. I wanted him to make his move, give me a reason to stay.
I was hoping he’d say he loved me and couldn’t let me go. But he didn’t.”

Lisa
shrugged, and for the first time, Bea saw the somber side of Lisa. She was
always so fun, the life of the party. Nothing seemed to ever bring her down but
Bea was getting a glimpse of the fact that Lisa had bitten off more than she
could chew with this Adam guy and now she was hurting.

“I
don’t know,” Lisa finally sighed. “Maybe he’s actually married or something. Or
maybe he doesn’t really like the idea of hooking up for real with an escort
chick. After all, some women out there make the term ‘escort’ stand for more
than just female company. Anyway…what I’m trying to say, babe, is that it’s
better this way. At least, now I know. I could have been nursing hope in my
heart where Adam was concerned but the moment I took the risk, I finally
realized where I stood. He didn’t love me and never would. Or else, he’d have
made me stay.”

She
squeezed hard on Bea’s fingers. “So basically…I’m trying to say that maybe you
should have taken the plunge. Maybe you should have gone to Scotland with those
two sexy billionaire brothers. Because
not
knowing, is almost as bad as trying it out and failing. I know which one
I’d rather pick if I was in your shoes.”

“Yes,
well the decision may have well be taken from my hands,” Bea said with a shaky
smile. “Because they haven’t tried to get in touch with me since that day. For
all I know, they’re back in their Highland paradise with a more willing female
seeing to their every wish. They’ve probably forgotten all about me.”

Lisa
regarded her thoughtfully. “I know you spent just a few days, give or take,
around those two…but I don’t think they sounded like the fickle type. I don’t
think this is the end, Bea.”

“And
what about you and Adam?” Bea asked gently. “What if it isn’t the end for you
two as well?”

Lisa
smile was lop-sided. “I’m not going to hold my breath, sweetie. And unlike you,
I see no qualms in using what’s available to make up for what’s unavailable. So
I’m about to go get ready for my hot date with Ronaldo tonight. Not a client,
but a real date. Sure you don’t want to come along? He’s got a hot best friend
named Arman. Two Brazilian hotties with dark chocolate eyes that smolder for
days.
” She grinned when she saw Bea’s
face. “Okay, okay, I’m just kidding. I know you’d rather stay home and daydream
about your two Scottish gents.”

That
had happened days ago. Finding out that Lisa had fallen hard for one of her
clients had made Bea feel less bad about her feelings for Ryan and Jason. Okay,
they were never really her actual clients but it was almost the same kind of
situation.
Except there were
two
of them which made the pain of walking away and losing them
doubly difficult to bear.

Chapter Five

Bea
looked around in surprise as she stepped out of the elevator and into the
reception area of her workplace. There were so many co-workers moving about in
a rush that she
was
suddenly racked by alarm.

She
hurried up to Holly at the secretary’s desk. Holly’s hand was flying busily
over the keys of her computer while her other hand was lifting the phone and
talking quickly into it for a moment before threw it down and started working
fast with both hands on the keyboard.

“What’s
going on, Holly?” Bea asked worriedly, and Holly barely looked up. Her normally
well kept
blond hair seemed ready to collapse from its
heavy chignon.

“I
can’t really talk now. But you might as well go ask Kirk, your boss. Your former
boss,” Holly said hurriedly, finally looking up to glance at Bea’s shocked
face. “It’s nothing so bad, honey. NeuTech just got bought over by some new
owners. No one’s getting fired but there’s some major restructuring going on.
Now I’ve got a report to prepare in readiness for the new owners arriving this
morning so excuse me if I can’t chat more.”

“Okay,
thanks,” Bea said slowly, turning around as if in a daze and almost getting
bowled over by one of the guys from Marketing. He called out a “sorry!” before
hurrying off. Shaking her head at what a crazy Monday it was turning out to be,
Bea made her way through the equally busy corridors till she was in the section
meant for the executive director for whom she worked as his assistant. She
knocked on his door and heard him call for her to come in.

“It’s
total mayhem, Bea, but in a good way if one can call it that,” Kirk Barnes
said, sending her a smile of encouragement as he gathered up some files atop
his desk. “I didn’t find out about it myself till this morning. The management
saw it fit to sell the company and now we’re having a total overhaul of the top
executive positions. This means, my dear that you’ll be having new bosses.”

“But
Holly said you weren’t fired!” Bea protested, thinking about his wife and
teenage kids. Kirk Barnes was a middle-aged IT whiz and she couldn’t imagine
the new owners letting him go.

“No,
I’m fine. Just moving a few floors up. But you, Bea, get to stay and handle the
incoming owners. Basically you’ll be working for them.”

“Do we
know who they are?”

“Not
yet. The sale was done through an investment company so we can’t know for sure
till they arrive today. From what I hear they’re some big-shot entrepreneurs
interested in breaking into the IT market.”

Bea was
too shocked to really process anything, but she suddenly shook herself into
action as she stood up to lean helpfully over the disarray that was Kirk’s
desk. “Do you need me to assist you with anything?”

He was
already waving her away. “No, I’ve got this, thanks. You just go into your
office and try to get prepared for your meeting with the new owners. They’re
arriving around 10 am.”

***

Bea had
no idea why the new owners would want to have a meeting with her. Sure, she’d
worked for a top-level exec but there were far more vital employees worthy of
note so why her?

She was
summoned into the boardroom at exactly ten a.m. As always she was dressed
elegantly if not somewhat primly. Her skirt suit was simple yet flattered her
with its shade and style. Her long dark brown hair was swept in a delicate
updo. She hardly wore makeup to work so her heart-shaped face was mostly bare.
She felt she looked presentable enough. But when she walked into the boardroom
and saw the other two occupants standing there, her feeling of poise vanished.

Ryan
and Jason Wallace rose from the table when she appeared. Two pairs of piercing
eyes seemed to peel the very every inch of clothing from her trembling frame.

“Shut
the door Bea, and sit down. Please,” Ryan said calmly, indicating the chair
opposite them at the boardroom table.

Not
thinking to argue but obeying first, Bea’s laden feet carried her to the chair
and she fell back into it. She looked from Ryan to Jason and they seemed to be
smiling at her obvious shock.

“You
bought Neutech,” she finally said accusingly to them both as they smirked at
her. “But why?”

“We
told you. We’ve been broadening our US base. Real estate, engineering, stocks
– and now, IT and software marketing,” Jason said mildly.

They
looked freaking hot in their impeccable bespoke suits, the total image of
masculine panache. Having them in her own environment was so surreal and Bea
still had a hard time connecting the dots.

“Yes,
but
why
?” she asked again, staring at
them both.

Ryan
let out a breath, saying gruffly, “You didn’t call.”

“Neither
did you,” she shot back.

“We
wanted you to get all the time you needed.” It was Jason who spoke this time.

“So why
are you here now?” prodded Bea, before she exclaimed, “No, don’t bother
answering that. I actually don’t believe this! You both will do anything to get
your way. This is just another way of expressing your insurmountable need to
control. You buy me a whole freaking trailer load of clothes without my
permission. You intended to train me into your sex slave without a thought to
what I wanted. And now, you buy over the company I work for just to get to me.
Don’t you see this is just going to drive me further away?”

Her
outburst ended with angry tears misting her eyes. Damn they drove her crazy!
She was wildly happy to see them and yet a part of her was feeling trapped,
like they were closing her in
their
net and weren’t
giving her the choice to stay or leave.

“Okay,
admittedly, we haven’t given you much say in the matter, not since the first
day we met,” Ryan said wryly. “But at least now, as your bosses you’ll have to
do what we ask.”

Despite
herself, a frisson of excitement trailed down her spine at Ryan’s words. As
always the sight of them made her knees weak and the moisture drip in the apex
of her thighs. They smiled at her in that knowing way of hers and she was sure
they could tell how hard her nipples had become beneath her suit.

“I may
be good at taking orders from my superiors but if you think I’m just going to
bend over for you two…” Her words were spoken quite seriously but she couldn’t
keep the wicked glint from her eyes. Damn this irresistible pair! She couldn’t
count how many times she’d picked up the phone only to throw it back down in
regret. She’d felt so sure they’d have found her replacement already. Men as
rich and gorgeous as them didn’t need to ask twice for any woman’s attention.
They wouldn’t even have to ask, period.

“I
think you’ve taken orders from us – and bent over for us – quite
well in the past,” Ryan reminded her, eyes narrowing to thin slits of carnal
purpose. Right there and then, if she was asked to spread out on the desk to be
taken by them, there was a part of her that would comply without delay. And
yet…

Coming
to her senses, Bea shook her head with a start. “I don’t need to be told that
you both are powerful enough to get anything you set your sights on. But I’m
not about to do something that I don’t believe is in my best interests.”

“Do you
trust us?” Jason asked lightly.

“You
know I do,” she said, turning to him and replying with a fierce tone.

“And do
you think we’d ever want to hurt you?” asked Ryan, his voice kind. She sighed,
her eyes spinning in his direction.

“Maybe
not intentionally. Maybe not in the way you’d think,” she said softly, her gaze
falling to look down at her hands wringing in her lap.

“Come
here, Bea.”

Ryan’s
voice had the same kindness but with the steel of command at its edges. Oh no,
I’m going. I’m actually rising to my feet and going straight to where they were
sitting.

Ryan
reached out, and pulled her unto his lap, facing her towards Jason so she could
view them both. Needless to say, she was just a mass of nerves thinking about
how the time and place was far from appropriate. But maybe that was part of the
thrill…

“We
could do this the hard way, or the easy way,” Ryan said mildly, his hands
around her waist keeping her pinned to him. Her knees were brushing Jason’s as
he was seated right next to them. Ryan had a look on his face that foretold
dark, tingling tidings.

“You
have the choice of being bent over my knee and given a good, hard spanking. You
knew we missed you, right?” Ryan asked.

Bea’s
lashes fell, her heartbeat accelerating as she said in a hushed voice, “I
missed you both, as well. I wanted to call, but…”

Ryan
grabbed her chin and made her look at him. “If you can’t tell us exactly what
you’re thinking, then how can we do anything to allay your fears?”

Bea
drew in a bracing breath, and then blurted out, “I was scared, okay?
Of getting in too deep.
You two…you could have any woman you
wanted. And I…I was starting to place too much importance to what we shared
when all I really am to you is your…”

“Our
what?” Jason asked, his left eyebrow quirking. Bea worried her bottom lip,
forcing her brain to function even when she felt Jason lift one of her legs,
clad in dark tights, upon his lap. He took her by the ankle, tugging off her
sensible black pump and cupping her in sole. She hissed in a breath.

“Your…your
plaything, your…”

“Sex
slave?” Jason added, his firm, well shaped fingers pressing into her sole in a
gentle yet sensual massage. Bea melted, clutching on Ryan’s shoulder for
support.

“Is
that all you thought we wanted? You think that’s all you mean to us?” Ryan
asked, a pained look on his face. “I could take my belt to you right now for
believing so little in our feelings.”

Bea
gulped, and felt her chin being tugged so she could look into Ryan’s blazing
gaze. “We could seduce you right here and we know you’ll give in to us. You’ve
never been able to resist us, Bea. And it’s the same with us.
Right from the start.
And we’re determined not to let you
go. The trip to Scotland…it was going to be more than just a pleasure trip. You
weren’t going to come along as simply our little fuck toy. We were hoping you’d
like to meet our family. Our mother and sister, for one, have been dying to
meet the girl who’s made us so crazy we’ve neglected our business and family
concerns back home for longer than we ever had.”