Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (18 page)

CHAPTER 22

Lilah

I woke up with a smile on my face and feeling…well…amazing.
There was no other way to put it. The night of passion I'd shared with Asher
had been mind-blowing. It had been physically exhausting and each time had been
an experience, but despite this, it had recharged me and left me feeling
invigorated. I was positively giddy, in fact.

So, when I opened my eyes to the sunlight streaming in
through the half-open drapes, expecting to see the glorious, sculpted form of
Asher lying next to me, anticipating yet another bout of intense lovemaking, I
was disappointed.

The other side of the vast canopy bed was empty, with
only ruffled sheets and a strewn pillow to indicate that anyone had actually
been there. On the floor, where our clothes had ended up in a pile, only my
clothes remained.

For a few panicked moments, I had extremely urgent
doubts about the reality of the whole situation. I rubbed my eyes. Had the
whole thing been a dream?

I stretched, and climbed out of bed. That’s when I
saw, positioned neatly on the ornate antique bedside table, a note written in
Asher's untidy scrawl.

My heart sank as I read it. Asher had also left a
credit card for me to use and had organized a chauffeur for me. He'd instructed
me to buy a plane ticket back: first class. And, he'd said that all of this
would be covered by him.

So, there I sat on the edge of the bed, alone. Again.
Just like the morning after the last time we’d been together. Why hadn't he
simply woken me up to tell me in person about this? And, why hadn't he been
specific about what this supposed “emergency” was? After all, he knew I cared
about the company, as well, even if I was a new member to the team, rather than
the CEO.

Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful he'd left me a car
and the credit card, but the whole night, between bouts of lovemaking, he'd
said how much he was looking forward to seeing Paris with me. How he couldn't
wait to see the museums, the galleries, the cafés, and the Eiffel Tower with
me.

And yet, he had just up and left without a word, like
a phantom in the night. Without even telling me clearly what the “emergency”
was.

I fell back onto the bed. Despite the lingering
ecstasy of the previous evening, I was beginning to wonder if Asher was someone
I could completely trust. While a part of me wanted to give in to him and give
all of me over to him in a way that I hadn't opened up to anyone since Jacob,
another part of me was hearing warning bells and seeing red flags waving all
around.

Maybe my reaction before was right; maybe I was just
another conquest. Even though he'd done all these great things for me, he
was
a billionaire. This weekend, this hotel, the luxury car and chauffeur he'd
organized, all of those would be far beyond the means of even a moderately rich
man, but for such a spectacularly wealthy man as him, such expenses amounted to
little more than chump change.

He’d probably treated his models and actresses to
similar luxuries before booting them to the curb and moving on to his next
prize. I inhaled deeply, trying to reason with myself. I knew there was more to
Asher than just that.

There had been the way he'd opened up to me about his
dark and tragic family secrets. Surely that wasn't something he usually did
with his Hollywood starlets. If he had, there would likely be more about him in
the press. There’s no way he could keep those types of secrets out of the media
after a break-up if anyone knew about them.

Damn him. My mind was really in a mess with so many
conflicting thoughts bouncing around it. The only thing left to do was take a
trip around the city in an effort to clear my head and distract myself from all
of questions. I got up, ordered some breakfast, and showered while I was
waiting.

Once it arrived, I ate quickly and then called the
chauffeur. There were plenty of places I wanted to see, and nothing was going
to stop me from seeing them. I grabbed my purse and headed out into the bright
sunlight of the Paris morning. My first stop would by my original hotel, so
that I could put on a fresh outfit. My second stop: all of Paris.

CHAPTER 23

Asher

I managed to sleep well on the flight home, which was
fortunate
because I'd hardly had any chance to
sleep at the hotel. Not that I was complaining. Not in the least. I’d give up
sleep for a night with Lilah any time, even if it meant being woken up at four
and having to leave immediately.

One of the perks of having my own jet was having a
bed. So, on the
flight,
I'd simply laid
down and fallen asleep almost as soon as my head had hit the pillow. Therefore,
I was refreshed and energized when we touched down, especially after a hearty,
wholesome breakfast.

I called Alan Weiss, my head of security, and told him
I'd arrived the moment I could use my phone. My driver was waiting to pick me
up in the Maserati, but when I got to the car, I took the wheel.

“I need to get to the building fast. So, I'm going to
drive,” I informed him.

I raced through the streets, pushing the car hard and
scaring Alfred in the process, but I got to my building in record time. Alan
was there waiting for me, a stern expression on his face, but that was nothing
unusual. He always had a rather serious nature. He did seem to be in a better
mood than when I'd spoken to him on the phone in Paris, though.

“Would you like the good news first or the bad news,
sir?”

I scratched at my chin. “Bad news.”

“Most of the computers are trashed. The intruder did
his best to hack into your system, and when he couldn't, he simply destroyed
the hard drives instead.”

“Wait, he couldn't get in?”

“That's the good news, sir. Your data is safe.”

I exhaled, a huge wave of relief washing over me. I
knew I'd done the right thing by hiring the most expensive–and
best
–data encryption company in the country. It
had turned out to be money well spent.

“Yeah, the perp was obviously an expert. According to
the guys in tech, h
e
hacked pretty deep
into the system, but still couldn't get past the final security features, the
ones protecting the highly sensitive data. So, I guess he just got
pissed
and decided to destroy the computers
instead.”

“That doesn't matter, computers can be replaced, and
we've got backup of all of our data. Was anything else stolen?”

“Nothing that we can tell, sir. It appears they were
only after data.”

I nodded. “Any leads in the investigation?”

“Nothing concrete yet,” Alan responded.

“I have an idea who's behind this. Unfortunately, I
have no way to prove it unless you can bring me something.”

“Let me guess. Brendan Savage?”

As soon as I heard the name, a shudder of disgust and
anger rippled through me. Brendan Savage was my fiercest competitor. Over the
course of the last decade, his firm Savage Inc. had come perilously close to
toppling mine from the leading spot.

If he were behind this break in, as I suspected, this
wouldn't have been the first time he'd tried to get ahead of me using less than
legal means. He wanted that top spot more than anything and was prepared to do
whatever it would take to get there—legal or not.

Savage was charming, suave, sophisticated, and
narcissistic. He was also without a shred of conscience. In other words, he was
the perfect psychopath, granted (as far as I knew, anyway) his psychopathy
hadn't extended as far as actually murdering anyone. Yet.

Despite having the best investigators on the case, I
suspected it would be a futile exercise to try to pin it on him. He was far too
intelligent and cunning to leave a trail connecting this crime with himself or
his company. Still, I knew he was behind it. Call it a gut feeling.

“What would you have us do now?” Alan asked.

“There isn't much we can do. We just have to let the
PI do his job and see if he comes up with anything.
Meanwhile
, I think it's time for a security upgrade.”

“I was thinking so, too, sir.”

“Use whatever funds you need, Alan. Make this place
impenetrable. I don't want this happening again.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Excellent. Now, I'll have to make sure all of our
employees know that they've got an unexpected day off on Monday. And then, I'll
have to order a whole new set of computers and arrange for those to be brought
in and set up on Monday.”

“It's gonna cost a packet, huh?”

I sighed. “Yeah. But it's going to cost way more
in terms of
lost productivity. Still, there's
nothing else we can do, really.”

“
All right,
sir.
I'll go meet up with the
PI,
and we'll
report back to you if we discover anything.”

“
Thanks,
Alan,”
I replied. “I appreciate all your hard work.”

“No problem, sir.”

I watched as he hurried off, and despite the severity
of the current situation; I couldn't help but think of Lilah. I checked my
phone, hoping for some message from her. The night we'd spent together had been
incredible. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so passionate, so
intense, so in tune with anyone. She'd awoken something within me–something
glorious, joyous, and full of life and energy.

I calculated the time difference in my head. It would
be late in the day in Paris, surely she would have been up and about. I
wondered why she hadn’t messaged me. Was she still concerned that romantic
feelings between her and I would get in the way of our working relationship?
That she wouldn’t be able to get the most out of her career if she got involved
with me?

They were valid
concerns
considering that she was a very driven, ambitious woman, who was focused on her
career; but still, what was happening between us didn't feel like a fling, not
to me at least. It felt…
real.

With everything that had just happened, I had enough
on my plate. The last thing I needed was to play cat and mouse. So, I typed out
a message to her.

Hi,
Lilah. I trust you got the note I left in the hotel
room. I'm sure you must be cruising around Paris by now, taking in all the
sights and sounds and tastes…everything awesome about that wonderful city.

I don't know if you've booked your ticket back yet,
but no need to be in a hurry. There's been a situation at the office and all
the computers are out. It's going to take at least a day to get new ones
installed and ready for Tuesday morning.

Anyway, I was just thinking about you. Last night was
amazing, and I can't get you off my mind. I really wish I'd been able to stay
and enjoy Paris with you, but this was a genuine emergency–I really had to get
back. Looking forward to seeing you when you return, and I hope you enjoy the
rest of the trip.

I hit send, then stood around waiting to see that the
message had been read. And for every second that I stood waiting, it seemed
time was dragging more and more slowly. Eventually, the delivery showed that
she'd seen the message and was typing a response.

I waited anxiously.

The message came through after a few seconds. I read
it with eager eyes.

Hi, Asher. Thanks so much for organizing the driver
and car. I've been all over Paris to a bunch of museums and cafés and more.
I'll sort out the flight later tonight. Thanks again, see you at the office on
Tuesday.

I frowned. Her tone almost seemed cold. I knew it
could sometimes be tough to decipher tones from text messages, but she hadn't
mentioned anything about the night we'd spent together or said anything that
indicated she was thinking about me. It was just a short, matter-of-fact
message, something that one might write to a friend, perhaps.

I started typing out a reply, but then stopped. I
shook my head and trudged over to the car, where my driver was waiting for me.

“Are you going to drive again, sir?” he asked.

“Not now. I'm… I'm not in the mood.”

“Very well. Where shall I take you, sir?”

“Home.”

“Of course,” Alfred reached to open my door.

I paused. “Actually, no, not home. I don't want to go
back home and mope. Let me call up a friend quickly.”

I whizzed through my contacts on my phone, found
Bryce’s number, and dialed.

“Bryce speaking, what can I do ya for?”

The moment I heard the voice of my personal trainer,
my resolve was set. The ex-marine would surely be up for just the sort of fix I
needed at the moment to help relieve me of the frustration of the break-in and
Lilah's cold attitude.

“Hey, Bryce. It's Asher.”

“I thought you were in France, son?!”

“Just got back. There was an emergency at the office.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, but don't worry about that. I was just
wondering, you up for heading out to the shooting range?”

I heard him chuckle slowly on the other side of the
line.

“You got some angst you wanna get out?”

“I do.”

“I'll bring the automatic rifles.”

“Great. I’ll be there in forty-five.”

“See you there, soldier! Lock and load!”

“See you there, Bryce.”

I turned to Alfred. “You heard that, right? Take me to
the hills.”