ALL THAT HE WANTS (Volume 1 The Billionaire's Seduction) (31 page)

There’s a set of adult-sized jungle gym rings near the Santa Monica pier. I egged Connor on until he finally attempted to swing from ring to ring. It took him a couple of tries, but he made it down all eight rings and then back. I just enjoyed the view of his forearms flexing and his pecs bulging at the neck of his shirt.

Then we continued down to Santa Monica pier. It’s huge and gaudy, but incredibly fun, with a giant ferris wheel as the centerpiece. The lights had already come on in the dusk, and the massive circle of orange and yellow lights turned slowly against the purple sky.

We ate corndogs, drank sodas, played Whack-a-Mole at one of the video arcades, walked along and watched the ocean churning twenty feet below us, and then turned to the rides. First the rollercoaster, which is small but kind of fun, owing to the amazing view more than the ride itself. And then we stood in line for the ferris wheel.

“This is a new sensation,” Connor commented.

“What?”

“Standing in line.”

“Ha! See, normal
sucks.
”

“Actually,” he said, “this day has been one of the most fun I can remember… in years. My entire life, maybe.”

I blushed a little, and my heart melted.

“Except for last night,” he added with a grin. “And yesterday afternoon by the pool. And the night before that…”

I blushed furiously and smacked his arm as he laughed.

Finally we got on the ride and rode up into sky, watching the sea stretch out in front of us, with the sun halfway below the horizon, and the sky on fire with orange and red clouds. I clutched his arm tighter and tighter the higher we went.

“You’re not scared of heights, are you?”

“Yes!” I half cried out, half laughed.

“Then why’d you want to come up here?”

“Because it’s worth it.”

After several times around, the ride stopped with us at the very top so people could get off and on at the bottom of the wheel. As we were hanging there, suspended midair, he turned to me, brushed back my hair from my face, and kissed me.

And kissed me.

And kissed me.

The warm breeze blew over us, and the sun dipped below the horizon, and the world faded away as we kissed the entire time, until the wheel started again and the ride was finally over.

Johnny refused to leave us there unprotected while he went and got the limo, so we took a cab back to the parking lot.

“You’re kind of the third wheel here, man,” Connor joked as we all sat scrunched in the back of the taxi.

“After what you put me through today, you and I are not talking,” Johnny said. I thought he was seriously angry, but then I caught his eye, and he gave me a wink and a quick smile before turning his face to stone again.

We got in the limo and started back towards Los Angeles. Now the feelings that I’d been trying to push away the entire day suddenly reared their ugly head in full force.

It was coming to an end.

I didn’t have him for much longer.

In fact, I would probably never see him again.

I snuggled in tight beside him, with his arm wrapped around me, and I tried to be happy, thinking about all the amazing things I’d done and felt in the last 48 hours…

…but all I could think of was how much I was going to be hurting very, very soon.

Connor noticed I was glum, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he chattered on as though nothing was wrong.

Which depressed me a little bit more.

It seemed like he wasn’t that sad to see the weekend end…

…which just made me feel alone.

“That was incredible,” he said as he held me close.

“You never did anything like that?”

“No. Not my entire life.”

“You’ve never been on a ferris wheel before?” I asked, my surprise overwhelming my sad mood.

“Well, yeah… but I never got to kiss a beautiful girl at the top of one.”

I smiled and rested my head against his chest, the sadness turning bittersweet.

“Where do you live?” he asked.

“Oh… it’s near Hollywood and Vine. But I left my work clothes back at the hotel – ”

“Johnny already got them dry-cleaned at the Dubai. They’re in the trunk.”

“…oh.”

For some reason that only made me more upset. Like he was so eager to get rid of me that he had made sure there was no reason to return to the hotel.

No last night together.

I almost started crying.

We pulled up in front of my apartment building in relative silence. Connor seemed to sense how distraught I was. I don’t know if he really knew how I felt – maybe he thought I was moody.

In reality, I was already grieving for what I was about to lose.

Connor hit the intercom button. “Johnny, could you just wait in here and pop the trunk?”

“I don’t think – ”

“If I survived the day at Venice Beach, I think I’ll be okay here.”

“Fine,”
Johnny grumbled.

I got out of the door on my own, and Connor followed me out.

“Can I say goodbye to him?” I asked.

“Who, Johnny?” Connor asked, shocked. “Yeah… sure.”

I walked around to the driver’s side window and tapped on the glass. The window rolled down, and Johnny looked up at me, a little puzzled. “Did you need anything?”

“I just wanted to say it was really nice meeting you, and I’m sorry we made your job harder,” I said with an awkward smile.

He looked at me with the same shocked expression as Connor. “Uh… that’s okay, Lily.” Then he smiled. “I’m glad you had fun. You had fun, right?”

I nodded and smiled. I didn’t speak, because I was afraid I might start crying.

“By the way,” he said, “I think you might need this.”

He leaned over to the passenger seat, then turned back around and handed me Klaus’s badge.

The one I’d used to get into the boardroom.

My eyes bugged out. I’d forgotten all about it.

That
would have been a disaster.

And quite possibly still
would
be a disaster.

“It was… with your clothes,” he said apologetically.

“Thank you,” I said. And then I stuck out my hand.

He smiled even broader and shook my hand through the window. “I’ll see you around.”

We both knew that wasn’t true. But I let it go.

“Bye,” I whispered, and went around to the back of the car.

I was steeling myself, preparing for the ‘It was great, babe, see ya’ speech I was sure was coming. A last kiss on the sidewalk, and then me walking back alone to my apartment.

Instead, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Connor there holding a bunch of fancy paper shopping bags stuffed with clothes. Over his right arm hung my work clothes, encased in plastic wrap.

“Can you get the trunk? My hands are kind of full,” he said.

I stared at him, then at the clothes.

They were the designer stuff that had been hanging on the rack – 90% of which I hadn’t even worn.

“I can’t take those!” I cried out.

“Why not? I can’t wear them.”

“You can return them!”

“Whatever,” he said, and rolled his eyes. “Get the trunk and come on. The button’s down there by the latch, on the inside.”

I pushed the button and the trunk whirred closed on its own. I was annoyed by how non-mushy he was being until he turned around and stepped up onto the sidewalk with the bags.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

He turned back around. “You live here, right?”

“Yyyeah…”

“I’m walking you to your apartment.”

My heart did a somersault in my chest, and lots of mixed emotions coursed through me.

Joy that he wasn’t dumping me out there on the sidewalk…

Hope that maybe this wasn’t the very end…

And embarrassment – because billionaire Connor Templeton was about to see my grungy little apartment.

“Um… okay… just know that it’s not as fancy as what you’re used to…”

“It’s normal, right?” he grinned. “This is Normal Day.”

“You’re going native, huh?”

“Damn straight. All the way.”

I smiled in spite of myself, and led him up to the gate of my apartment building.

And then I realized I didn’t have a key.

“Ohhh, man…”

I went over to the call box with a silent prayer for my roomie to be home. There was no reason she wouldn’t be – despite the Friday clubbing, Anh was more of a homebody. Quiet, dependable, even-keeled.

She probably would have said the same about me just a couple of days ago.

She answered the intercom cautiously.
“Hello?”

“Hey Anh, it’s me. I’m here with… my friend…”

I saw Connor’s smirk out of the corner of my eye.

“…and I don’t have my key. Can you let us in?”

“Sure!”

BZZZZT. I opened the gate and led the way.

Anh met me at the door, eyes wide with curiosity. “Hey!”

“Hey,” I said, and gave her a little hug.

And then Connor walked up behind me, carrying the bags.

Anh’s face went from happy and curious to dumbfounded.

I knew why. With his wind-tousled locks and glowing tan, and his gorgeous face and ripped muscles, Connor looked like a movie star out of one of our romantic comedy DVDs.

He didn’t belong in our dumpy little two-bedroom apartment.

And yet, here he was.

“Hi, you must be Anh,” he smiled, correctly pronouncing her name ‘On.’

I was surprised. I’d talked about her a few times over the last couple of days, but I usually called her ‘my roommate.’ I think I had only mentioned her name a couple of times – but he’d been listening.

“H-hi,” she stuttered. Connor set down a couple of bags and moved to shake her hand.

As she took it, I could see the stars in her eyes.

I turned back to look at him.

Yup, he was giving her the panty-dropping smile.

“Lily’s told me a lot about you,” he said.

“Oh… th-that’s nice,” she managed.

I looked around at the apartment, and saw the place I lived with new eyes. It wasn’t
ugly
, and our furniture wasn’t any worse than that of most other twenty-somethings just starting out in their first jobs… but after a weekend in the glitziest hotel in Los Angeles, I was struck by how drab it was.

How ordinary.

How normal.

“I’m… did you have fun?” Anh asked, turning her attention to me because she was too shy to say anything else to Connor.

“Very nice. We’re just gonna go to my room for a minute.”

“Okay,” she said with a stunned nod.

“Nice meeting you,” Connor said as he picked up the bags and walked past her.

“You too.”

“Where’s your room?” Connor asked me.

“Down the hall and on the right.”

As he stepped out of sight, I turned back to look at Anh.

She stood there in shock until he disappeared, and then she put on a face like
AAAAAAAHHH!
and silently mouthed,
OH MY GOD!

I put a finger up to my mouth in a silent
Shhhh,
and she gestured me along like
Go, go!
with a huge, goofy smile on her face.

He walked into my bedroom and switched on the light, and I immediately felt self-conscious: what did he think of it? Was it too plain?

Duh, he was a billionaire. Of
course
it was too plain.

There wasn’t much in the room – a bed, a cheap IKEA desk with my laptop, a wall mirror, another IKEA nightstand, and piles of unwashed clothes everywhere. The bed was a single, with a pink comforter with roses on it and pale pink sheets underneath. I hadn’t made it when I left for work on Friday, so everything looked extra slovenly.

Great.

“Uh… please ignore the mess,” I said as I kicked clothes over into the corner.

I didn’t touch the bed, though. I was afraid that doing so might be seen as some sort of… invitation, I guess.

And I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about that.

He put the bags on the floor and looked around. “Nice.”

“It’s very sweet of you to lie,” I said with an obviously fake smile.

He laughed. “It’s very…
normal.
”

“Greaaaaat.”

He moved over to the desk and picked up a framed picture of me at graduation with my brother and parents. “Is this your family?”

“Yeah.”

“You look… happy. Like you love each other.”

It was such a strange thing for him to say…

I frowned, perplexed. “We do.”

“That’s good,” he nodded, and replaced the picture.

There was an open bank register on the desk with several checks still in the pack. He looked down at them for a second, then tapped them. “Don’t forget to pay your rent.”

“Ha! You don’t have to remind me of
that
.”

He smiled and stood there, silent and gorgeous, taking in the room.

I stood there, shy and miserable, with my arms wrapped around me, shielding myself from the pain I knew was coming.

I wanted it to end quick. I could feel the sadness rising up in me, and I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to stay in control.

And yet, on the other hand… I wanted him to stay there with me forever.

He looked at me. There was several feet between us.

“Lily,” he said softly.

I gazed into his blue eyes, and my heart started to break as I realized this might be the last time I ever got to look into them.

No, not ‘might be.’

This
was
the last time.

“I had a wonderful, wonderful time,” I said, with a smile that was right on the verge of tears.

“I did, too,” he said, and stood there looking at me.

I waited for him to bridge the gap between us – to come over and hug me, or give me one last kiss, or
something
– but he just stood there.

“Well…” I said, hoping he would pick up from there and say something. Not only was this horribly sad, it was awkward and uncomfortable and downright excruciating.

I looked over at the bed. Maybe he wanted to sleep with me one last time, but didn’t want to seem cheap or tacky about it.