Dinner with the Billionaire (Erotic Romance) (Rendezvous with the Billionaire Book 2) (7 page)

Her voice sounded sarcastic, "Well, I kind of figured that."

It got a little laugh out of me and I swatted at the outside of her thigh. "You can't tell anyone, okay?" Now I did turn over and sit up. I was going to break my promise to Evan, but I needed to keep it private. "I mean anyone at all."

Andrea's face was serious. "Cross my heart."

I trusted her. We'd been friends for years, and I should have told her long before this. "I slept with my boss."

Her eyes widened and she almost grinned but squelched it before it could completely blossom. She looked ready to explode with excitement. "What? When? Why didn't you tell me?"

I took a deep breath and when I didn't share her enthusiasm, the look leeched off her face. "There's more." She nodded without speaking. "Have you heard of Nicholas Bitterman?"

She shook her head and I wanted to get up and pace. I didn't. I'd been so wrapped up in my own drama in the past few weeks that I couldn't imagine someone not knowing about the investigation. But it was New York, murders weren't completely unheard of. And Andrea didn't watch the news.

"He died the same night me and Evan..." I trailed off but continued before she could prompt me for a play by play. "And it was in the same hotel. And he had pictures of me on his phone, and it turns out Evan knew the guy. And he has a fiancée, and I think he ditched her to sleep with me again, and I have no idea what to do." I started rambling and I knew some of what I said didn't make sense, but she just hugged me again when the tears pricked once more. "The cops questioned me too. And I thought Evan provided me with a lawyer, but it wasn't him, and I have no idea who paid for her. And I'm scared..." I didn't finish the thought, I couldn't.

"How long has this been going on?" Andrea asked, her voice was tight, like she was holding something back from me. I didn't blame her.

"Um, a couple of weeks." I pulled back from the hug and clutched her shoulders. "I couldn't tell you, it was a condition of hooking up with Evan, but that was before everything, I promise!"

She almost looked angry, hurt. Her mouth hung open the tiniest fraction and her eyes were narrowed as she analyzed everything I said. And I just felt worse and worse. I should have told her long before this, just have come clean and dealt with the consequences. But I didn't think that Andrea would actually be angry at me. This had nothing to do with her.

"Did you not think I would help you?" She kept her words even, precise.

My stomach dropped and then I did stand and pace, keeping my arms wrapped around my midsection. "This wasn't about you! I'm kind of freaking out right now and I need a friend."

Her face cleared, the anger fading. "I am your friend, it's just a lot to take in. You said you were scared of something? What is it? Are you in danger?"

I had to tell her, even if just so she would dismiss my fear as irrational. "Evan knew the guy that died, Nicholas Bitterman. I saw them in an old photo together and they looked like friends." It was easier to say it once I started talking. "And early that morning Evan wasn't in the room, he said he went to make a phone call, but he could have been lying. And now that I know they knew each other, well..."

"You think he killed that guy?" She said it so easily.

"I'm being crazy, right?" I really hoped so, "I mean, it's just coincidence. Why would Evan kill that guy? Or anyone?"

"You said that the guy had your pictures?"

I nodded, no longer pacing.

"Maybe Evan didn't want them getting out? You said he was engaged?" She let out a breath and held a hand to her forehead. "Even I'm getting a headache. I can see why you freaked."

"You think?" I let out a relieved laugh.

"Is Evan the kind of guy to commit murder?" She asked.

And there it was, the question I hadn't asked myself. I turned it over in my head, using everything I knew about him to try and figure out the answer. I sat back down next to Andrea before answering. "I don't know."

She took it in stride, as if every day she had a best friend admit that she'd slept with a potential murderer. "Maybe try not to be alone with him anymore?" She suggested. And then she met my eyes, stabbing me with her glance. "And don't keep this shit from me anymore. You need someone in your corner. Otherwise you're going to go crazy."

I hugged her, laying my head on her shoulder. "You take good care of me."

I don’t know how I went back into work. But I didn’t see any other option so I did it. I was going to take Andrea’s advice and avoid Evan as much as I could and just do my best to stay out of the situation. If he wasn’t a murderer, he was still a liar and I couldn’t have anything to do with him outside of work.

That bastard told me that he didn’t do relationships!

I wanted to slam my laptop lid down and storm into his office to confront him about it. I was so pissed. But as I didn’t actually want a relationship and I was concerned that he’d killed a guy in between bouts of sex with me, I was able to hold myself back.

Or at least I was able to keep myself out of his office until just before lunch.

And then one of my coworkers gave me a stack of reports to turn in to him. And when I asked why she couldn’t do it, she just sort of shrugged and hustled away.

Evan had been in the office all day and there was no way I was walking in there to talk to him. But if I waited just a few minutes I figured he would go to lunch and I could just dump the reports on his desk before he got back. Not a fool proof method, but better than the alternative.

A few minutes before noon he exited his office and left the door open. I made my move and hefted up the stack of folders and marched to the office. In my haste to get in and out as quickly as possible I didn’t see the blonde woman sitting at the small table in the office before I nearly tripped over her.

“Oh!” she said as I bumped into a binder lying next to the desk. “Can I help you with that?” She asked.

I set the folders on the desk and watched them topple over, the contents falling everywhere. The blonde woman rushed over and crouched beside the desk, helping to sort out the mess. She looked vaguely familiar, with long blond hair hanging half-way down her back and bright brown eyes set in a pale, expertly made up face. She looked tall, though I couldn’t really tell when we were crouched over, and as her hands moved in front of me I caught site of the huge rock on her finger.

My stomach dropped.

This was the fiancée.

But it was too late to reject her help so I tried to keep my head down and work as quickly as possible. “I’m Amanda,” she said. “Ev and I are just going for lunch later. Did you need to speak with him?”

She sounded nice, concerned, and I felt like even more of a dick. If she moved about six inches to the right she’d be standing in the spot where Evan and I had sex just a few days before.

I shook my head and looked up to meet her eyes. “I just needed to drop these off. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

She smiled and we may as well have turned off all the lights in the building, we didn’t need them when she gave that expression. “Oh, it’s no trouble! I know Ev gets so busy that I understand stuff like this happens.”

I looked down at the haphazard pile of reports and back up to her. “I don’t usually make a mess of the papers.” I said.

She laughed and waved a hand around. “No, just business.” She ducked her head into the hallway and took a quick glance. And then she leaned in closer to me and lowered her voice. “Is this anything that’s an emergency? That he’ll need to see to before we go to eat?” She sounded worried.

It must have happened a lot.

I shook my head, “I don’t think so, just some account summaries.”

“Oh, good.” She sat back down at the table and thumped her fingers against it for a moment. I wanted to leave, but she seemed to have something more to say. She looked back at me and offered a sheepish smile. “Could you stay and tell that to Ev?” She asked. “I came in specifically for lunch and I want to make sure that we actually go this—that we go.”

I nodded, no matter how much I didn’t want to see Evan. I’d wronged this woman, even if she didn’t know it, so I could try to make it up to her by doing this one tiny thing.

“Thanks!” She fidgeted in the chair and stood once more to look out the window. “What did you say your name was?”

“It’s Amy.” I didn’t want to talk and found myself praying that Evan would show up. My how the tides had turned quickly on that one.

She turned towards me, eyes slightly narrowed and gave me a quick look up and down. Somehow she’d turned from her sunshine and rainbows smile to making me feel like an insect under a magnifying glass. But the expression resolved itself and she shook her head without saying anything and turned back to the window.

“Have you worked here long?”

“A few years.” I picked up the first report and flipped through it, anything to make myself look busy enough to stop the stilted conversation.

Evan walked in before Amanda could ask me anything else and I nearly hugged him in relief. Of course, that would have been a really bad way to keep the secrets between us. He looked at me for a moment and then between me and Amanda.

“Did you need something, Amy?” He asked, his voice cold, distant. It was like the guy from a few nights ago had never existed. Like I’d imagined him being a real person instead of a jerk.

I almost said no and then remembered the report I was holding. I set the manila folder on top of the stack and gestured to them. “I was just dropping off some account status updates. Nothing too important.”

He walked up and stood right next to me, picking up the report that I had just set down. “I think I should be the one to judge importance.”

He was standing too close and I took a tiny step away to put a little distance between us. When I did, he glanced up from the folder and raised an eyebrow. But I had nothing to say about that, and as far as I was concerned, I’d fulfilled my promise to Amanda.

“I just wanted to make sure you saw those. Bye!” The farewell came out a little too loudly for my liking, but there was nothing to be done. I was careful not to knock anything else over and gave Amanda a little wave as I left.

Unfortunately none of the people sitting near me had gone to lunch yet so I couldn’t put my head down and take a moment to myself. So I did the next best thing, blindly opening my email to stare at the screen while I put my thoughts back in order.

I’d only gotten one message in the ten or so minutes I’d been standing in Evan’s office. I didn’t recognize the sender and the subject line: Hi, Amy, an offer for you! made me think it was spam. But I clicked on it to make sure.

And without thinking I clicked on the link in the email. A page loaded with only a video and no other content. It started and I slammed the laptop shut, letting out a sound somewhere between a gasp and a yell. My desk mates glanced at me and one or two looked concerned, but they all looked away when I didn’t say anything else.

I unplugged my computer from the desk and found an unoccupied office. I closed the door and sat on the floor against it. After taking a few deep breaths I opened up the lid of the laptop once more and loaded the page. 

The video had been shot from a strange angle, like it was looking down over us from the ceiling or a high shelf and it was slightly tilted. But that didn’t mean the picture wasn’t crystal clear. Thankfully there was no sound.

But I didn’t need my speakers to tell me what we were saying. At the edge of the frame I could see the remnants of our dinner from that night, but I didn’t think anyone who saw the video would notice. No, they’d be pretty focused on me, kneeling in front of Evan, sucking his cock.

I gulped in a breath and my vision blurred from the tears that gathered in my eyes. I was sweating and wanted to slam the computer shut once more and chuck it out the window. If anyone saw this, my career, my life in New York, it would all be over. Good things did not happen to girls who got caught blowing their bosses.

After only a few seconds, the video faded to black and a little message popped up. “Keep your mouth shut and reply to the message and this can stay our little secret.”

The video started to replay after that and I shut the browser before I had to watch it again.

I went back into my email and opened up the message. The address didn't have a name and it was from one of the major email providers, so I didn’t even have a clue about where whoever sent this worked. But I didn’t have a choice about what I did next. I needed to protect myself.

I opened up a reply message and typed in these simple words.
What do you want me to do?

###

Kelly Shaw should have spent more time researching the bar and less time making sure her notes were perfectly assembled for ease of readability. The exterior of Cafe Merge did little to suggest the loud interior that didn't look like any cafe that Kelly had ever seen. The room felt clustered and loud. Dark red curtains hung from the walls, interspersed only by metal light fixtures which barely cast illumination worthy of the room. A few tables dotted the corners of the room, but a massive bar overtook one of the walls and the mainstay of the room was the dance floor  full of writhing bodies of men and women. None of the brochures had made Boise seem like a place with much nightlife, especially of the hedonistic variety, so surely this must have been one of the few bars of its kind in the city. How on Earth had Kelly managed to choose this one?