Claimed by the Billionaire: Lust #2 Read online

  Claimed by the Billionaire

  #2

  Lust

  Danielle Jamesen

  Copyright © 2014 by Danielle Jamesen. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form without the prior written consent of the author.

  Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places, incidents and events are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 1

  I watched the rain fall through the window that was closest to my desk. It splattered against the window, the clouds dark and angry. It was day four of this endless rain and it made me tired. It made Greg cranky too, I realized, having dealt with one of his temper tantrums this morning about going to school.

  Mr. Gable had been in his office all day, as usual. It had been a full two weeks since our almost kiss in his office and me finding out his “date” had really been him just meeting about his divorce. Things had been strictly professional since then although he was a nightly fixture in all my fantasies. In fact, what I had for him before — a crush, a flame, whatever word you wanted to use — had seemingly grown tenfold since he distanced himself from me.

  Gone was his invites to lunch or offers to do a meeting on Monday morning. He was clearly avoiding me. If I hadn’t known he had been meeting about his divorce two weeks ago, I would have thought he despised me.

  But I knew better and being alone had made me abnormally confident. (Most likely due to the fact that I didn’t actually have to speak to him or interact with him in any manner that would test this new found confidence.) Mr. Gable had a meeting in ten minutes with some investors but I had everything already prepared in the meeting room that was down the hallway at my right. I yawned, which I quickly stifled as the door behind me opened.

  “Serena,” Mr. Gable said and I turned around to look at him, “Can you sit in the meeting today? I’ll need someone to take down notes and clear the calendar.”

  “Of course.” I said, nodding.

  He looked extra good today, I thought to myself. His hair was slicked back which was the only thing I didn’t care for. I liked it better when he had his hair messy and tousled, like the day of my interview. But other than that, Mr. Gable wore a perfectly tailored suit with a tie that looked like something I could have afforded back before I became poor. He carried himself with such an easy confidence that usually would have been off putting, but in his way was more entrancing than anything else.

  He headed off towards the meeting room, “Show him in when he gets here.”

  “Yes, sir.” I said after him but he didn’t turn back around.

  It was ten minutes later on the dot when the man showed up, Mr. Stevens, from some investor company that wanted to meet with Mr. Gable directly. I have to admit it that I hadn’t paid much attention when I set up the meeting. I just didn’t find it interesting and I was discovering that I had a talent for catching the most important details with the smallest amount of effort.

  I led Mr. Stevens to the meeting room, with a large mahogany table, a flat screen TV over it and a mini bar off to the side, like something from the 1950s. Mr. Gable had his tablet in front of him, as well as one phone off to one side (his business phone, he told me) and another one he was slipping in his pocket (his personal phone, wonder what he was doing on that one?).

  I sat down next to Mr. Gable, who slid the tablet to me. I brought up his calendar and on it as well as a section for notes and got ready.

  Mr. Gable cleared his throat and leaned over to me as Mr. Stevens sat down, “Mrs. Warden?”

  “Yeah?” I replied, flicking my gaze up to him.

  “Would you like to see if Mr. Stevens would like a drink?”

  Oops. I stood up quickly, almost dropping the tablet, asking Mr. Stevens if he’d like a drink. He said no and smiled kindly at me, like I was the daft girls they hired back when he was staring out, which, judging by his age, was roughly eighty years ago. The meeting began and I began to tune out. Very carefully tune out. I made the applicable notes and kept track of what I could but most of what the two of them were discussing went deftly over my head.

  “…And we were wondering if you and your assistant could come to our convention in Las Vegas next week…” Mr. Stevens was saying when I tuned back in.

  I almost blurted out “What?” but at the last second remembered to be quiet. I glanced over at Mr. Gable.

  “That is short notice.” Was all he said.

  I hadn’t been to Vegas in about eleven years when my husband and I had gone for a trip right before Greg had been born. We hadn’t even gotten married yet, but I had already known I was pregnant, therefore left out of all the fun stuff to do in Vegas. I hadn’t had a vacation since my honeymoon. Any trips I had taken was purely for business, which meant I had been alone in strange places while my husband had attended business.

  “I know, Mr. Gable, but if you were to speak at our convention, I feel as though we could come to terms on this agreement you want more easily.”

  My eyes darted back to him hopefully, “So, in short, you want me to speak at your convention free of charge for you to agree to what I want in order for our partnership to grow?”

  Mr. Stevens paused, playing with his tie, and then spoke, “Yes, that is the short version of it.”

  “I have no time.” Mr. Gable said shortly.

  At this, Mr. Stevens laughed, “Oh, Mr. Gable, we all know you could make the time if you truly wanted to. Are you really going to be so stubborn over this? And deny your lovely assistant a trip to Las Vegas?”

  Mr. Gable’s eyes darted to me at this and I tried to look as lovely as I could, ignoring the tingles I got whenever he looked at me.

  He sighed, “Fine.” He replied.

  “Wonderful. I’ll have my assistant send the details to yours.” Mr. Stevens said, standing up.

  They both shook hands and he saw himself out, leaving me alone with Mr. Gable. I tried to keep the smile off my face. Las Vegas! I wonder how much it had changed since I had last been there. And to be frank, it would be a trip alone with him…My eyes darted over and then darted back right away, hoping he hadn’t noticed.

  “Get in touch with Mr. Steven’s assistant, please,” He said, sighing, “They should tell you what hotel needs to be booked and when our flights are.”

  “Yes, sir.” I replied, heading for the door.

  “Will you be able to find someone to take care of Greg?”

  The personal question made me stop and look at him, “Yes, I’m sure my parents would like to see him. They haven’t gotten to spend much time with him as of late…with everything going on.”

  “Okay. Have you been to Vegas before?”

  “A long time ago, when I was pregnant with Greg.”

  He raised one eyebrow, “Ah, so you’re in for a treat.”

  I tried not to make my face flush, “Isn’t it a business trip?”

  “Maybe.” He smiled and it sent shivers through me.

  I walked away with a smile on my face.

  Chapter 2

  Cathy took a sip of her coffee as Greg bounded off to watch TV, “So, a business trip to Las Vegas, huh? Fancy!”

  I shook my head, “I doubt it.”

  “Greg okay staying with your par
ents?”

  “Yeah, he was actually pretty excited.”

  Cathy glanced over at Greg who was sitting in front of the TV, trying to find his favorite cartoon, “It’ll be good for him.”

  “I think so too.”

  Cathy looked back at me, “It’ll be good for you too.”

  “How?” I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee, “It’s not like it’s a vacation.”

  “Yeah, but,” She lowered her voice as though we were kids again, about to share a secret, “I’ve heard how you talk about him.”

  My heart thumped, “Talk about who? My boss?”

  “Yeah, your boss, silly.”

  I started busying myself with cleaning up the kitchen, “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Cathy got up and walked around the counter, slinking up to me like a cat who had caught it’s prey, “Come on, Serena. You’re into Bradley, aren’t you?”

  “I have no interest in Mr. Gable.” I said stiffly.

  “It’s so obvious though. Why even call him Mr. Gable; I bet you don’t in private.”

  “I do, actually,” I said, annoyed, “Can you drop this? It’s ridiculous.”

  Cathy held her hands up as though she was surrendering, “Okay, okay.”

  It was then my phone went off. It was Mr. Gable…Bradley, I thought, tasting his first name in my mind. Cathy didn’t notice it was him, looking at her own phone. I snatched it up and walked out of the kitchen to the hallway.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “Serena, sorry to bother you so late.” He said, his voice deep.

  I looked at the clock in the hallway; it was nearing eight, “Not a problem. What’s up?”

  He paused on the other line, as though my casual tone was silly, and then spoke, “I just finished going through all your confirmation e-mails.”

  “Everything okay?” Now I was worried I had messed up somehow.

  “Everything is good. Thank you for scheduling all of that.”

  “You’re welcome.” I said, not sure at why he was calling if I hadn’t messed up something.

  He must have picked up on my tone because he spoke quickly, “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight to go over everything?”

  I blinked. Dinner to go everything? Didn’t he just say everything was okay? Was he asking me out?

  “I can’t,” I replied, “I’m watching Greg tonight and I just can’t leave him by himself. He’s only ten.” I tried to make my tone light to let him know I did want to get dinner with him, but not at the expense of my son.

  He seemed slightly abashed on the other line when he said, “Of course, of course.” And quickly ended the call, telling me good-night.

  I looked down at the phone and then glanced in the kitchen. Cathy was talking to her own husband now. I gripped my phone tightly. What was I getting myself into?

  ***

  The flight wasn’t nearly as long as ones I had been on when I had previously had money. But it felt even longer, mostly because of the close proximity I had to Bradley. Any time our knees or hands accidently touched, it felt as though an earthquake went off in me. I was hyper aware of his presence and over the flight, it drove me crazy. I had a vivid fantasy about us going to the bathroom up front and his hands all over me. I loved his hands. They were large but strong looking and the thought of them all over me made me shiver. I wanted him so badly. I ended up thinking about him lifting me up on the small counter in the bathroom, sliding up my skirt and going in me. I thought about him gripping my thighs, whispering in my ear, thrusting in me, pulling my hair…

  By the time we landed and we pulled up to the Encore at the Wynn, I felt flustered. I barely remembered our conversation in the limo. All I could think was that we were finally here and we were alone for the entire week…

  As we walked into the lobby, I fell in love. It was a dark red, with windows that opened out overlooking a garden, with the pool nearby. The floors looked like marble and as we headed towards the lobby, I could see the casino — more red with purple hues. This place was expensive and it showed. The people in the casino wore high end clothes, even though they were lounging around. For a second, I felt out of season, until a couple wearing tacky tourist shirts walked by.

  Bradley was talking to the lady behind the counter, checking in. I was still looking around, eying the lobby bar, when he called me over.

  “There’s been a mistake with the room.” He said to me quietly.

  The lady was typing away on the computer and either didn’t hear us, or was well practiced in appearing as though she was not listening, “What do you mean?”

  “They only booked one room.”

  “Can they fix it? You saw I clearly booked two.” My voice raised an octave higher, slightly panicked.

  “I showed them the confirmation e-mail. But they’re all out. They’re going to upgrade us.”

  I fiddled with my thumbs, looking back at the bar, suddenly craving a drink. Whatever I felt about Bradley aside, I still wanted to do well at this job. Messing up my first assignment, even if they said it wasn’t my fault, made me feel like a fool. I was still blaming myself when he told me the room was ready. He arranged for the bell hop to take the rest of our luggage to the room and we headed to our room. The elevators were behind the lobby bar. We rode up in silence, crammed between two other couples. When we got off on floor fifty-three, it was just us in the hallway. The hallway curved slightly, I realized, making it appear as though you weren’t in an endless hallway that just went straight. We stopped in front of our room and he slid the lock in the key. It let out a quiet beep and we walked in.

  The room was beautiful. They upgraded us to one of their suites. The room looked almost circular, with cream colors, mirrors and gorgeous lighting. A circular mirror was above the living room, with a full kitchen, and a wet bar. I walked through the suite slowly, hoping against hope that it had more than one bedroom. But after staring at the luxurious bathroom and walking back to the bedroom, I knew it only had one.

  “I’ll sleep on the couch.” Bradley said, putting down his laptop case.

  I turned around, “No, you can’t, sir. This is my mistake.”

  “No, it’s not Serena. The hotel messed up. That’s why we got this suite.”

  “I can’t let you sleep on the couch.”

  Bradley walked out of the room, waving his hand, “Its fine. Come look at the view. The sun is setting.”

  I walked back out into the main room and over to the large windows. We overlooked the strip and it took my breath away. The sun was setting, casting purple and orange shades over the sky. The lights were slowly turning on below throughout the strip.

  “It’s gorgeous.” I mumbled, entranced.

  Bradley looked at me out of the corner of his eye and our hands touched, very briefly. The touch was electric, sending shockwaves through me.

  “Are you hungry?” He asked.

  “Yes.” I admitted.

  “Let’s go eat.”

  This time I didn’t have an excuse to say no.

  Chapter 3

  I couldn’t stop giggling. The lights of the different slot machines seemed to blur together as I headed back to the room. I could feel Bradley’s fingers laced through mine. Bad Serena, I thought to myself. Both of us had had way too much to drink at dinner. I hadn’t had alcohol in a long time and it made my head fuzzy but I didn’t care. Bradley was drunk too, wavering on his feet as he hit for the elevator. Anywhere else, people would have stared, but two drunk people in Las Vegas wasn’t exactly fresh, hot off the press news.

  By the time we stumbled into our room, it was after midnight. It was foolish to drink because we both had to be up at six am. We had to attend day one of the conference for Mr. Stevens. As Bradley plopped down on the couch, I stumbled over to the wet bar.

  “Water,” I said giggling, “We both need to sober up.”

  I managed to get some water out of the sink with some ice and walked back to the couch to give it to Bradley. But he had
passed out and was fast asleep, snoring loudly. My heart dropped a little bit — I had been having such a nice time. But he was right, it had been a long day. As soon as I remembered how long of a day it was, I felt myself grow tired almost instantly. I was going to pass out, I thought dimly and I sat down on the couch next to the slumped over Bradley. I couldn’t make it to the bed. I would just curl up here. I slid down, my head landing in his lap and before I knew it, I was asleep.

  I dreamed. A drunken dream. Bradley’s hands were on me again in the airplane bathroom. I could feel my desire for him creeping up my thighs. I wanted his mouth on me, I wanted his mouth down below…

  My eyes opened. The room was pitch black and I didn’t know what time it was. There was no sunlight peaking in so it wasn’t time to get up yet. My mouth felt dry and my head ached. But Bradley was moving, moving my head slowly off his lap, as if to inch away from me. I barely remembered falling asleep on him like this.

  “I’m sorry.” I mumbled thickly.

  “It’s okay. I passed out.”

  “Me too.”

  “What time is it?” He asked me.

  I told him I didn’t know and managed to prop myself up. He looked at his phone and mumbled that it was two am. I had only been asleep a little more than an hour. Bradley started taking a sip of the water I had left on the table. In the dim lighting from the city lights and my eyes adjusting to the darkness, I suddenly craved him more than anything. If he denied me, could I excuse it? Lie and say I was still drunk?

  The madness of desire still in me, I mumbled his name and slid closer to him. I grabbed for his hand, squeezing it and then resting it on my thigh. He looked at me and I could hear his breath coming faster. Please, I silently begged, please.

  He leaned forward and kissed me, his mouth smashing against mine. I grabbed him close and kissed him back, fiercely, with a desire I never had known before. His tongue probed at my mouth and I let him in, French kissing him back. I wanted him so much that it was as though I was drunk all over again. I couldn’t even begin to think if this was right or wrong or what I was doing.