Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set (10 Book Bundle) (62 page)

“Heidi!” It was Kaiser. Oh god. What was she going to tell him?

“I’m sorry.” She was apologizing before she even turned around to face him. “I don’t—”

“Come with me,” he ordered, taking her hand and literally pulling her with him. “I’ve been calling you for fifteen minutes! Don’t you answer your phone?”

She looked down at the cell in her han
d—the reception wasn’t the best—it was blinking with more messages. She hadn’t quite gotten that far. Kaiser led her up a flight of stairs—she nearly fell twice trying to keep up with his long strides—and down another hallway. The sound of the crowd was almost deafening as he pushed her in front of him down the front row, putting her into one of two empty seats.

“Stay,” he directed, sitting beside her as the crowd applauded again enthusiastically. A model—tall, blonde and quite familiar—came out wearing one of Andrea’s dresses and Heidi gasped. Daniella! She hadn’t seen her since that photo shoot on the beach a million years ago. She was so surprised she almost didn’t hear the announcer’s words.

“Kaiser’s debut line by new designer, Heidi Bauer!”

The crowd’s applause turned thunde
rous. She turned to Kaiser, eyes wide, and he smiled, reaching for and squeezing her hand. Across the catwalk, Carvel sprang up from his chair, his face a cloud of anger, but it was too loud for anyone to hear what he might be saying. His wife, Eve, pulled him back to sitting and Heidi’s attention shifted again as another of her designs, a stunning midnight blue, floated by.

“Happy?” Kaiser leaned over to ask.

“Beyond,” she replied, the rest of the show a stunning blur, but she still didn’t understand. When they announced her at the end and Kaiser led her down the catwalk—now she knew why he had insisted she wear the Rene Lacoste!—raising her hand in triumph, she looked up at him through tears.

She thought she couldn’t be any more surpris
ed, until Lenny appeared in an Armani suit, handing her a dozen red roses from the end of the catwalk. Leaning down to take them, she immediately understood and hissed, “You told him!”

He grinned, shrugged, and gave Kaiser a little salute as he stepped back into the applauding crowd.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take another flash bulb, Kaiser led her off the catwalk to more thunderous applause.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her ear, hugging her close. “I wanted it to be such a surprise.”

She laughed. “You succeeded!”

“Kaiser!”
Carvel stormed toward them, red-faced. “What the hell is this nonsense? Those are Andrea Paxton’s designs!”

“I’m afraid they aren’t,” Kaiser replied coldly, keeping Heidi beside him even though she was trying to melt into the floor. “I received definitive proof that they were stolen from Miss Bauer. Andrea even admitted as much to me.”

Both Carvel and Heidi stared at him, aghast.

“I assume this means you’re sticking with Kaiser?”
Carvel asked, frowning at Heidi.

“Like glue,” she agreed, linking her arm through Kaiser’s.

“She’s a willing little whore, but not worth my time. You can have her,” Carvel scoffed, turning to leave, and Heidi gasped when Kaiser grabbed the old man’s shoulder. Neither she nor Carvel had any idea Kaiser had such a hard right hook, not until Carvel was picking himself up off the floor.

“You didn’t have to do that!” Heidi hissed as Kaiser pulled her down the hall.

“I didn’t have to,” he agreed, grinning. “I wanted to.”

She stopped then, throwing her arms around him, and kissing him wordless. When they broke off, both of them breathless, she whispered the words she’d said last night, this time looking into his eyes and know
ing he heard them.

“I love you, Kaiser.”

He blinked, frowning, touching her mouth with his fingers and then quickly kissing her again.

“You didn’t have to say that,” he murmured
against her ear, pulling her close.

“I didn’t have to,” she agreed happily, letting him hold her so tight she could barely breathe. “I wanted to.”

Epilogue

“I think Paris must have been a dream.”

“He hasn’t said a word about it since you got back?” Lenny asked, incredulous.

“Nothing.” Heidi sighed, pushing the “doo
r close” button on the elevator and crooking her cell phone against her ear. “It’s like nothing ever happened. I’m still just… a secretary.”

“But your designs, your dresses…”

“I know!” She pouted, leaning against the back of the elevator as she rode up. “I don’t know what I expected. My own office, maybe? Something. I mean, there are things to do, decisions to make…I mean, I think there are…”

Honestly, she hadn’t really thought much past the design aspect of her dresses. The business end of the business had never really interested her.

“Well… maybe he’s got something else up his sleeve,” Lenny said, giving Kaiser the benefit of the doubt. He’d been doing that since Paris and it was driving Heidi crazy! “He really isn’t such a bad guy, you know.”

“So you keep saying,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Has Saint Kaiser knighted you yet for your selfless deeds?”

“Hey!” He sounded genuinely hurt and she was instantly sorry and said so.

“I really do appreciate what you did,” she went on. Of course she did. Never in a million years could she have gotten into Andrea Paxton’s apartment, found her old sketchbook, and smuggled it out. But somehow, Lenny had.

And then, of course, he’d presented it to Kaiser as “proof” of Andrea’s deception.

“You better,” he mumbled. “You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through. That Andrea is a wildcat in bed. She had me—”

“Lenny!” Heidi admonished. “Please! I really don’t need the details.”

He laughed. “All right, all right.”

“Listen, I’m here, I gotta go.” She clicked “end” on her cell phone and pocketed it as the elevator doors opened. She noted the time with a sinking feeling in her belly—nine-oh-five. She was five minutes late.

She barely had time to stash her purse under her desk before he called her.

“Heidi, come into my office.”

Standing beside his desk, she waited as he finished writing something and turned toward her.

“Get on your knees.”

Heidi sank down, head bowed, her heart hammering. What sort of punishment would this be? She felt his hand in her hair, stroking gently, and she looked up at him in wonder. He hadn’t touched her since Paris—even to punish her. What was this, then?

“We have a great deal of work to do.” His eyes were soft as he studied her face. “And I’m afraid the way we do it is going to have to change.”

She blinked at him, giving him a puzzled look, but not speaking.

“This is where you belong, Heidi.” His hand bowed her head, easily. “We both know it.”

A lump grew in her throat, and she did, she did know. She would be on her knees for him, in front of him, worshipping him, forever if he let her. It’s all she’d ever wanted, and she wanted it even now.

When Kaiser sank to his knees beside her, Heidi gasped, her eyes growing wide. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something delicate and beautiful—a silver choker.

“I want you to wear this.”

She bowed her head, letting him put it around her neck and fasten the clasp. Her heart swelled when she realized his hands were trembling.

“To remind you, and me, whenever we have to stand shoulder to shoulder and work side by side. Do you understand?”

Tears filled her eyes and she nodded, touching the collar at her throat.

“I think it’s the most important thing,” he murmured, reaching into his pocket again. “Even more important than this.”

The velvet box contained an antique platinum ring and Heidi’s tears began to fall then, making fat, wet spots on her Marc Jacob skirt.

“Kaiser?” she asked, looking at him
through her tears, questioning.

“I want you to be
come my wife.”

It wasn’t a question. Of course it wasn’t. Kaiser didn’t ask
her questions. Kaiser gave her directives. And Heidi, the girl they said would do anything, did, as always, exactly what he told her to do.

The End

ABOUT SELENA KITT

Selena Kitt is a bestselling and award-winning author of erotic and romance fiction. She is one of the highest selling erotic writers in the business with over a million books sold!

Her writing embodies everything from the spicy to the scandalous, but watch out-this kitty also has sharp claws and her stories often include intriguing edges and twists that take readers to new, thought-provoking depths.

When she's not pawing away at her keyboard, Selena runs an innovative publishing company (excessica.com) and in her spare time, she devotes herself to her family--a husband and four children--and her growing organic garden. She does bellydancing and photography, and she loves four poster beds, tattoos, voyeurism, blindfolds, velvet, baby oil, the smell of leather, and playing kitty cat.

Her books EcoErotica (2009), The Real Mother Goose (2010) and Heidi and the Kaiser (2011) were all Epic Award Finalists. Her only gay male romance, Second Chance, won the Epic Award in Erotica in 2011. Her story, Connections, was one of the runners-up for the 2006 Rauxa Prize, given annually to an erotic short story of "exceptional literary quality," out of over 1,000 nominees, where awards are judged by a select jury and all entries are read "blind" (without author's name available.)

She can be reached on her website at
www.selenakitt.com

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A Twisted Bard's Tale

Hannah's Choice

Sibling Lust: In the Barn

Connections

Taken

Moxie

“Rien ne pèse tant qu’un secret.”

—Jean de La Fontaine

PROLOGUE

Fifteen years earlier…

Darkness shrouds us. We prowl like two cats, my eyes darting left and right, my ears attuned to even the slightest sound.

I nervously tap my partner in crime’s shoulder. Like me, he’s clad in black sweats and a hoodie, along with black gloves and athletic shoes. Identical black ski masks cover our faces. We blend into the thick opaque air, only the whites of our eyes visible.

“Kev, I’m scared. Maybe we should back out,” I whisper. My heart’s thudding in my ears, and I can feel sweat beads clustering on my flesh.

He squeezes my hand. It’s cold and clammy beneath my gloves. “Glorious, we’ve come this far. There’s no turning back.”

Something scuttles across my shoes. I jump. Kevin beams the flashlight he’s holding onto the floor. Phew! It’s only a mouse.

The seconds feel like hours. The safe, Kevin assures me, is only steps away. It feels like miles. Kevin swings the flashlight until it lands on the huge vault in front of us. All slick, polished steel, it’s bigger than I imagined—a massive, towering fortress.

“Hold this.” Kevin hands me the flashlight. I try hard to calm my trembling hands as I watch Kevin rotate the fist-size combination lock.

Right.
Click
. Right again.
Click
. Left.
Click.
Right.
Click.

“Bingo!”

My thundering heart practically leaps out of my chest when the heavy door springs open. My eyes grow round, filling the apertures of the ski mask. Bundles of one hundred dollar bills are stashed inside, stuffing the safe to the hilt.

Kevin instantly starts shoveling them into his large satchel. I’m paralyzed with shock and fear.

“Glorious, what are you waiting for?”

No matter how much I will them, I can’t get my hands to move. The stacks of green bills beckon me, but this feels wrong. So, so wrong.
What am I doing here?

Kevin continues to recklessly shovel handfuls of the neatly tied up green bundles into his canvas bag.

“C’mon, we’ve gotta work fast.” His voice sounds frantic.

Reluctantly, I crouch down and extend a trembling hand into the safe. The touch of the raw money burns my fingertips.
I can’t do this! I can’t!

An ear-deafening siren sounds. Hot infrared lights flash. The effect is dizzying. An inner panic button goes off inside me as all air leaves my lungs.

“Fuck!” shouts Kevin. “We’ve gotta get of here.”

“Leave the money,” I plead.

“No. It’s ours.
Yours.”

No choice. Each grabbing a handle of the heavy, money-laden satchel, we sprint toward the exit.

Heavy footsteps. Not ours. The glaring ray of a flashlight beams into my eyes, blinding me. “What the fuck are you doing here?” The booming, accented voice echoes in the chamber. We’re doomed!

“Nobody steals from Boris Borofsky.”

“Fuck you,” Kevin shouts back.

A powerful arm grips my neck. I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. The other hand rips off my ski mask. My platinum tresses tumble out.

He fists a handful of my hair, yanking my head back. His wretched pink eyes clash with mine, one blue and the other brown.

“You little cunt!” growls the accented voice through clenched teeth. “You’re going to pay for this
, seka!

“And so are you, bitch,” spits Kevin.

Something hard presses into my chest, just above my heart.

Kevin wrenches me free from my assailant but not before a deafening boom explodes in my ear. A scorching white fire shoots through my body.
Oh the pain!

“You mother fucker.” My Kevin.

I feel my body sag as another shot is fired.

“FUUUUUUCK!” A roar like a wounded lion, not mine.

“Oh, Glorious!” cries Kevin as he lifts me in his arms.

The world inside my head fades to black.