Boss With Benefits (Billion-Dollar Bet, #2)

CHAPTER SIX

E LLA BURST OUT of Adam’s building into the warm evening air, her breathing choppy, her heart banging frantically in her chest, while the only thought whipping round her head was, what had she done? What had she done ?

How could she have lost control like that? What had she been thinking? She’d turned up at his door all professional guns blazing, on a mission from which she’d sworn she would not deviate. She’d ignored the flicker of concern she’d felt at how tired and drawn he’d looked. She’d noted that he hadn’t seemed quite as in control of himself as usual but had immediately quashed the curiosity. With superhuman effort, she’d even managed to contain the surge of desire that had nearly taken out her knees. She’d kept to the plan and stuck determinedly to the script—until he’d told her that she drove him insane and all hell had let loose.

It was one thing giving him a potted version of her background to justify the persistence that annoyed him so much, she thought, hailing a cab with a hand that was still trembling, her head still whirling as if she were on a Waltzer. But she should never have told him that she’d once made a mistake that had messed up her career. She should never have revealed that she was dependent on this audit for a promotion when she’d already provided her upcoming leave as a perfectly valid reason for her desire to get things wrapped up on time. And she should never ever have kissed him.

Yet, once again, his nearness had destroyed her brain. With all that dark powerful energy swirling around them, all she’d been able to think with the one brain cell that hadn’t been paralysed with shock was that despite his outward composure, he wanted her. As much as she wanted him. Her struggles with the electrifying attraction were also his. Contrary to what she’d thought, he wasn’t unaffected by her at all.

That mind-blowing realisation, along with the heat that had burned in his gaze, had crushed what few defences she had against him to dust. The wave of need that had thundered through her had driven out all rational thought. She’d never craved a kiss so much. For days, she’d secretly wondered how it would be. Well, now she knew. He felt like strength and security and he tasted like fire and whisky.

But she’d crossed a line. For all the promises she’d made to herself not to mix business with pleasure, she just had. Even though her conscience had woken up in time to stop things going any further, she’d created a conflict of interest that was very much not negligible. As if she simply could not resist the lure of self-sabotage, she’d put everything she’d worked for into jeopardy. Again. She’d let herself down. Again.

This was so bad, she thought, breaking out in a cold sweat as a cab pulled up and she climbed into it. So very, very bad. Maybe even terminal. Once more she’d indulged the chemistry that raged whenever they were close, but this time they were no longer two strangers in a bar with nothing to lose. They were colleagues. And she was halfway through a career-defining assignment with everything to lose.

But she was not going to go down without a fight. She wasn’t going to go down at all if she could help it. She had the entire weekend to think of a way to fix the situation and reset the status quo, and that was precisely what she would do.

Adam did not have a good weekend. So much for the opportunity to recover from his knackering dash across the Atlantic. Despite working his way through the bottle of whisky in the aftermath of Ella’s flight from his apartment, sleep eluded him. Every time he closed his eyes, the memory of the kiss crashed into his head. Such heat. Such eagerness. Then such distress and regret, no doubt caused by the fact that with his confession, he’d shifted their relationship from the professional to the personal.

This was why he fought so hard for control, he thought as he tossed and turned in the early hours of Saturday morning. Because without it he was wild and unpredictable, no better than his father, and he knew the devastation such conduct could cause. He’d behaved impulsively. Selfishly. He’d provoked Ella into doing something she’d never have done otherwise.

Extreme exhaustion, bitter resentment that she’d encountered him in such a febrile state and severe sexual frustration blackened his mood over the course of the day, and it did not go unnoticed.

‘For God’s sake, smile,’ Annabel muttered to him at one point during the white-tie charity gala he’d escorted her to. ‘No one’s going to believe we’re madly in love if you insist on looking like thunder.’

He snapped a smile to his face and forced the tension from his jaw, but his mood did not improve. Not even a Sunday spent pouring over a pile of Helberg Holdings data soothed the rumblings of deep unease.

The only moment of respite he had was a phone call from his sister that he received at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, by which time—having yet again woken early and been unable to get back to sleep—he was already showered, dressed and debating whether to wait for his driver to show up at seven or call a cab.

‘I thought you’d like to know I was at tech billionaire Luke Broussard’s fifth of July bash in Marin County last weekend,’ Charley said, packing in the detail as if she thought it would impress him. ‘The photos I posted of me wearing one of my designs are already going viral, which is going to be invaluable publicity for my business. Free publicity. Organic publicity. Plus, I picked up four new commissions while I was there. So I’ve decided to expand my operation.’

Expand her operation? Adam thought with a frown as, ditching the idea of a cab, he entered the kitchen and pressed yet another espresso capsule into the coffee machine. On the back of some pictures and a handful of new commissions? Was that wise? Should he tell her that? Perhaps she was calling for advice. ‘Let me take a look.’

He stalked through the apartment to his study while the machine did its thing and sat down at his desk. After switching on his laptop, he pulled up one of the social media sites he knew she used. There were three photos in total, all showing his sister in a dress that was the colour of bronze and looked great, although he was no expert. But it wasn’t the dress that had caught his eye. No. What caught his eye and set off great clanging alarm bells in his head was the man she appeared to be dancing with.

Who was none other than his squash buddy and Helberg rival, Cade Landry.

Adam nearly fell off his chair in shock. He hadn’t even been aware they knew each other. But Charley was looking up at Cade with such adoration it was blatantly obvious that they now knew each other extremely well indeed, and a wholly unfamiliar protective instinct kicked in. Could the man have deliberately targeted his sister to win the bet? Had he been unable to resist the opportunity to needle Adam in the process?

As an older brother who’d failed his sister before, Adam felt it his duty to point out these facts. Unsurprisingly, Charley did not take the news well.

‘Are you serious?’ she said in response to the revelation that he, Cade and Zane had vowed to date one woman only for the summer in order to decide who won Helberg and that she was now part of it.

He told her that he didn’t joke about Montague’s and tried to explain the situation again, even offering to fix it, but Charley didn’t want his help.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in this.’

‘I need you to release fifty thousand pounds from my trust fund,’ she said coolly, ignoring his apology entirely.

Pinching the bridge of his nose and suppressing the guilt, Adam relented. ‘I’ll speak to the bank.’

The conversation provided distraction for a full half hour. Ruminating on the fact that this could be an excellent place to start trusting his sister—who might lack his commercial experience but, unlike him, had set up her own company, kept it going and sounded as though she knew what she was doing—mopped another ten minutes.

Then it occurred to him that with these photos going viral, Cade had effectively been knocked out of the competition for Helberg. The rules of the bet would force him to stick with Charley, and she’d made it clear that because of it, she didn’t want him anywhere near her, and this was another brief but pleasing diversion.

But he refused to be blindsided like this again—by anything date or bet related—so he emailed Maggie with instructions to cultivate contacts at Blush magazine. He didn’t care how she did it. Bribery using beauty products. The promise of a dozen full page adverts. It was all good to him. But he needed advance warning of any further updates to the site before they went live.

Now, as he sat in the back of his car on the way to his office, staring unseeingly through the blacked-out windows, Ella was back in his head. How was he going to handle seeing her today? The strength of his desire for her remained a concern. It was inappropriate on too many levels to count.

Could he trust himself to control it? Could he be certain that she would do the same? She’d clearly been as horrified as he was by what they’d done—which was encouraging if they were to forget it had happened—but what if she’d had a rethink over the weekend and decided to pursue the chemistry? What if she wanted more?

An icy chill ran down his spine and his chest tightened as if in a vice. More could not happen. It didn’t even bear thinking about. For one thing, the recklessness she aroused in him must not be allowed to return. For another, to the world at large, he was still dating Annabel. If he were seen with Ella too—either two-timing both women or ditching one for another—not only would his reputation take a hit and interest in him spike, but he’d also be forfeiting everything that he’d worked so hard to achieve.

Losing Helberg and, by extension, Montague’s wasn’t an option. He’d waited too long and it meant too much. Who knew when he might get another chance for redemption? This might be his one shot. And as for the reaction of his rivals should he fail, he could virtually see the crowing now. Cade and Zane would be insufferable. He’d never hear the end of it.

Unless, of course, they didn’t find out.

As that thought darted through Adam’s head, every atom in his body froze. His pulse skipped a beat and his breath caught in his lungs. Was that even possible? It would be if he saw Ella in secret. She’d mentioned she had three weeks’ leave coming up. He could match it. Business was winding down for the summer. He was the boss. Besides, he’d dedicated the last four years to restoring the fortunes of the company, working sixteen-hour days seven days a week, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken a break. He could take her to his private island in the Caribbean. They’d be unseen and undiscovered there. He could make the travel arrangements himself and ask Annabel to keep a lower profile for a while. Who else would ever need know?

But, no, he thought, shaking his head to rid it of the mad idea. It was out of the question. Secrecy wouldn’t address the risk of his control unravelling and the fallout that might ensue. Besides, such subterfuge would be insanely stressful, not to mention cheating. He’d sacrificed far too many of his principles recently to squander what few he had left. He wouldn’t compromise his integrity any further. He just had to harness his formidable willpower and focus on the endgame for what was, after all, only another five days.

Although, would it really be cheating? He knew he wasn’t genuinely dating Annabel and, with regards to his conscience, surely that was all that mattered. She’d set the public record straight if required, not that he would trust either Cade or Zane to believe her if it suited them better not to. But even if he were to cheat, the end would justify the means. Business could be brutal. Just look at how Cade had gone about targeting Charley. Had he had any qualms about her identity? Adam suspected not.

And how much damage could be done in three short weeks? It wasn’t as if Ella would develop expectations he couldn’t meet. He could still recall the shudder with which she’d assured him in that bar that she’d never be after anyone’s heart, and he didn’t think she’d been lying.

So what exactly was he worrying about? If what went on the island stayed on the island, there’d be no repercussions. He had no reason to believe that succumbing to the physical chemistry might lead to anything deeper. It never had before. He would never be tempted to tell Ella the gory details of his journey to CEO. He would never share with her his ugly selfishness as a teen, his guilt, his self-loathing and his desperate need for absolution.

The details of his mother’s overdose and his role in it were for his thoughts alone. Quite apart from the visceral horror of it, spilling his guts and leaving them exposed and bleeding for her to pick through would create a dangerous emotional connection that he’d sworn never to create with anyone in case he failed them and destroyed them too.

He couldn’t rely on his desire for Ella suddenly disappearing the minute the audit was over. It might have taken him only days to recover from the incident in the cocktail bar bathroom, but she’d been a stranger to him then. This time round, he’d know where to find her. He’d get no peace. He needed to get her out of his system so he could focus on the takeover. He needed to sort it now so he could get through the next week without losing his mind.

It would mean having to come clean about the bet, of course. His integrity might never recover if he took her to the Caribbean under false pretences. There was also every chance he might be forced to talk about Helberg. But for the sake of the audit, he’d have to disclose his interest in the company at some point, so why not now? He wouldn’t need to go into detail. He wouldn’t be exposing parts of himself that had never seen the light of day. It would be fine.

The key point here was that he wanted her and he wanted Helberg, and with a little deception, some careful planning and a few tricks up his sleeve to neutralise any objections she may raise, he could have both.