WIFE WANTED (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (16 page)

He peeked down the hall, but Anna was still out of sight. He reached for his cell, which they’d brought into the living room earlier for some music, and called Ben. “Dude, where the hell have you been?” Ben whispered. “I’ve been fielding questions all weekend for you. Did you get kidnapped or something?”

“Why are you whispering?”

“Because normal people are asleep at this time. It’s almost two…that, and Linda may have slept over last night.”

“And you’re giving me a hard time about spending a little time with my girl.”

“Your girl,” Ben said just as Riley realized what he’d said. “You’ve only seen her, what, three times?” He heard another voice in the background and figured Linda had woken up from Ben’s sudden high pitched voice. “It’s Riley. Think he’s getting ready to propose.”

“I never said that,” Riley snapped, then glanced down the hall again. Still clear. “Look, I need you to do me a favor. Anna is turning out to be a bit more helpful in another area than just the marriage issue.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that? Was someone having shy guy problems? You know…” Ben said, and Riley could picture him smirking as he waggled his eyebrows. “Below the belt?”

Riley gripped the phone harder. “Do you want to be fired?”

Linda yelled at Ben to stop being an idiot or she’d smack him herself.

“All right, what do you need at this time of morning?”

“Remember those files, the research notes Yancey claimed he had?”

“Yeah? What about them?”

He picked one up and skimmed through the pages. “I think Anna just dropped them in my lap.”

Chapter 16

Phoebe stirred in bed but was too warm to bother getting up. It was Sunday morning, she knew that, at least. What time exactly, she didn’t care. There was a naked man next to her with his arms wrapped around her, and she really didn’t want this weekend to end. It had been the best two nights of her life. If only she could have a few more like it, to figure out what this was.

Before she had to settle with Mitch Harper to save her mom’s life.

That thought brought her back to reality, but she still didn’t move besides fluttering her eyes open. Something else woke her. A knock? Nope, it was Sunday. No one was coming over today. But she guessed she should probably get up at some point and see what state her apartment was in. There was another noise and she sat up, glancing at her bedroom door. Ben muttered something in his sleep and wrapped his arm around her a bit tighter, pulling her to his side.

“Back to bed,” he muttered.

“It’s gotta be pretty late,” she laughed.

“So? Still Sunday.” He pulled her close and kissed the tip of her nose. “We still have a few more hours.”

“Thought I heard something.”

“Nope, you didn’t hear anything.”

She laid back down, giggling as his fingers found her ticklish sides—until she distinctly heard the front door open and Charlotte yell her name. Phoebe shot up in bed, trying to cover herself as Ben cursed. Charlotte appeared in the doorway a second later.

“There you are! Why haven’t you texted me back—is there a man in that bed with you?”

Phoebe was about to answer when Ben sat up straight, blankets covering his vital parts, and held out a hand. “Ben, at your service.”

Phoebe’s head fell into her open palm as she watched Charlotte slowly reach a hand out and shake his, her eyes grazing over what parts of his body she could see. “Nice to meet you, I guess. What the hell is going on?”

“Pretty sure I don’t need to explain,” she muttered, hoping her friend would take the hint and disappear, but she just stood there, arms crossed over her chest, brow raised, tapping her foot. “What? Can’t a girl have a good weekend with a guy? Jeez, you’re always telling me to get a life, so I did.” She clutched the sheet tighter to her chest until finally, Charlotte burst out laughing.

“I can see you did. But someone else has been texting me all weekend, trying to figure out what’s wrong with you,” she said. “Made it sound like you were dying.”

Phoebe’s face scrunched. “Sorry about that…I may have lied to said person.”

“Got it. Well, I guess I’ll just wait out here to fill you in on other stuff,” Charlotte said as she winked at Ben.

But she kept standing there until Ben cleared his throat, pulling the sheet a bit tighter around his waist. “Charlotte, you mind?” Phoebe snapped.

“What? Oh, yeah, sorry. Wait, out here, just…sorry.” She pulled the door shut behind her, and Phoebe fell back on her pillows as Ben started to laugh. This was a nightmare ending to their perfect weekend. Her best friend crashing in on them to remind her that she had to call Mitch at some point today to make plans for their next date.

Why couldn’t she just keep Ben? Tell him what was going on?

But he didn’t have the money she needed. Probably made the same as she did, and there was no way she could ask him for a favor like that. They’d just met and spent a fantastic weekend together. Asking for something like that just didn’t feel right.

Nothing about this situation feels right
, she thought.
Except when I’m with Ben.

“She seems great,” Ben said as he got out of bed and stretched.

“Yeah, she has her moments,” Phoebe said as she watched him pick up his clothes from the floor. “I wish it didn’t have to end like this.”

“End? I plan on seeing you this week, my dear, sweet Anna,” he told her.

Phoebe felt her heart flutter at the sincerity in his eyes. “You do?”

“Yes. This weekend was great. Think we both needed it.”

She grinned as he walked around the bed, jeans on but still unbuttoned, then leaned in and kissed her. The kiss deepened, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back down with her on the bed.

A few minutes later, they both finally left her bedroom to find Charlotte grinning as she sat at the breakfast bar, nursing a cup of coffee. “Well, don’t you two just look smashing?”

Phoebe shot her a warning look as Ben made his way to the front door. He picked up the suit jacket still hanging there and told Phoebe he’d call her tomorrow to see what her plans were for the week. He gave her one last, toe-curling kiss, then left. Phoebe closed the door, leaning against it and feeling as if she was waking up from some crazy fantasy.

“So, that was the guy the jacket belonged to? Damn, Phoebe. How the hell did you find him?”

“That’s the pirate,” she said lightly as she headed into the kitchen to make breakfast. Check that, it was nearly three in the afternoon. Maybe she’d start making dinner instead. “We…ah, found each other again.”

“I want all the dirty details since you’re obviously no longer a virgin!”

“Seriously?” she asked, but couldn’t even be mad about it. It had been magical. As cheesy as that sounded, it was the only way she could accurately describe what being with Ben was like. As if she’d found her pirate prince, and he’d taken her on this incredible journey for a few nights. If only it could last…

“What’s with that face?” Charlotte interrupted her thoughts.

“Nothing, it’s just…I obviously can’t keep dating him.”

“Why? ‘Cause of Mitch? Oh, please, Phoebe, you can dump him.”

“Yeah, I can, but what happens when Mom wakes up? I need the money. You heard Doctor Chambers. She’s going to need it the second she’s cleared for surgery, otherwise…I’ll be burying another parent, and I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

Charlotte laid her hand over her friend’s on the counter and held it tight as tears started to slip from Phoebe’s eyes. She didn’t wipe them away. Couldn’t bear to raise a hand to do it. They were a harsh reminder of what she had to do soon. What her life was about to become, all because of the love she had for her mother. Besides, there was the issue at work now, too. Files that she needed to explore to see what the hell Yancey was up to and to save her ass from whatever he was about to do.

***

Riley unlocked his penthouse door, still smiling as he tossed his suit jacket and the files on the nearby couch. Clapping sounded and he glanced up to find Ben and Linda sitting in his kitchen, eating takeout Chinese. “Seriously? I’m going to take away your key.”

“What? We wanted to be here to congratulate you on your victory.”

Linda smacked Ben on the shoulder as Riley headed over and picked up a container of fried rice. “It was a pretty great weekend.”

“Yeah, and you even got some dirt on Yancey.”

“Did we? All I have are those files Anna gave me. They’re over there with my jacket.”

“She just gave them to you?”

Riley dug around in the container and didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure what Anna had intended with the files, but he needed them to figure out what the hell Yancey was doing, poking around his company research and trying to pass it off as belonging to Yancey Securities.

“You didn’t just take them, did you?” Linda scolded. “Riley, she’s going to be pissed when she finds out!”

“If she finds out, you mean.”

Linda glanced between him and Ben, who was currently laughing into his own container of rice. “As much time as you spend around women, you really don’t understand us, do you?” She muttered something else under her breath, but Riley chose to ignore it.

“Did you get a chance to find anything on those files yet?”

Ben shrugged. “Yes and no. I can tell you that the originals are still with us. However, there are records of several copies being made and sent to an outside source. Tried to trace them but couldn’t get it, so tech’s working to see what they can dig up.”

“At least Yancey can’t fully claim the research is his, then.”

“Yes and no,” Ben said. “It’s a bit of a grey area. We’re going to have to tread lightly. You might have the upper hand, but we still don’t know what Yancey’s end game is. Whatever he’s planning with Chandler, we’re going to have to get on top of it.”

“The only way to shut this down completely is for me to marry and be done with it.”

Linda grinned as she leaned across the counter. “Then what are you waiting for?”

“What do you mean?”

“You just spent the entire weekend with Anna. You obviously feel pretty damn close to her, more so than any other woman since Meredith died. Ask her and get it over with!”

Riley choked on his rice and pounded his chest to clear his throat. “I can’t just ask her to marry me! You remember how long it took me to ask Meredith? And then we never even got the chance…” He trailed off, remembering how he’d only proposed to her a few weeks before the accident. His heart sank in his chest, and suddenly, he wasn’t hungry any more. He set the container down and told them he was going to shower and change. They could talk more about what to do with Yancey when he was done.

He heard Linda telling Ben she should go apologize and him telling her to just give Riley a minute. He’d be fine. But would he? Riley wasn’t even sure himself. The weekend had been great and Anna was incredible, but was he really ready to take the next step this fast? Four years was a long time, but there were days he still talked to Meredith when no one else was around. When he felt her beside him as he slept. She had been his world, and she’d been ripped away from him.

Riley picked up the picture on his dresser of the two of them together. They’d been laughing about something when the picture was taken. He couldn’t even remember what it was anymore. His fingers brushed the glass over her face, and he felt a single tear slip down his cheek.

“What do I do, Meredith?” he whispered. “What am I supposed to do?”

But she didn’t answer. Riley set the picture down so he could change. As he pulled his shirt off, he caught the scent of Anna’s perfume. Vanilla and something else…cinnamon? He breathed it in, but his face fell. How could he ask her to marry him when she didn’t even know his real name? She needed to know the truth, and if that meant the next time they met he had to come clean, then that was what he’d do.

He just hoped he still thought the same thing when he saw her again.

Chapter 17

Phoebe avoided everyone she could at the office on Monday and kept to herself in the archives. Her stacks of files had somehow grown over the weekend, so she put her head down and went to work. Her eyes kept glancing back at the file cabinets behind her, wanting to dig through and see what else she could find that Yancey had screwed up. Thankfully, he hadn’t stopped by at all yet today, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t messed with anything else while she was gone.

“Just get through your work,” she muttered to herself. “You’re meeting with Mitch tonight, so you have to be in a good mood.”

They were meeting for dinner at her place, mostly for a date but also to get a better game plan for what to do with the files. She needed to document everything she’d found before she took it to anyone on the board. If they would even listen to her. Yancey had power in this company, influence.

She was just the girl from the archives room.

Her desk phone rang, and she jumped, shrieking quietly. “Damn it,” she whispered, then tried to calm herself before she answered. “Ms. Baron in archives.”