The Billionaire's Bitch

Forty

*Image of Tiffany Buchanan*

*~*~*~*~*~*

"You okay?" Adrian asked me in the car.

I glanced up at him and wondered at the depth I saw in his gaze. "Yeah. I think so. That was intense. It's like he...suspected you of something."

"He's a cop." Adrian supplied needlessly with a shrug.

I eyed him with a rueful tilt to my lips. "So how do you know him?"

"His fiancé, Sophia, is Tiffany's little sister. They dated on and off again for years. He was her personal security guard until he quit and moved out here. She followed him."

"Aww. That's kinda sweet." I said, though inside I was all clenched up at the mention of Tiffany.

Adrian gave me a small smile then. "Will you be my plus one to the wedding? It's next month."

I raised my eyebrows, trying not to give in to the urge to giggle hysterically. "Is that an order, Boss?"

"It can be." He teased me.

My smile dimmed as I felt my heart correspondingly ache. I hated when he did that to me; when he looked at me that way.

"So...how did it go?" I asked him at length. "You just...bought your way out of trouble?"

He shrugged, unrepentant. "It was purely in self-defense. I didn't do anything wrong."

I worried my lower lip between my teeth.

His phone buzzed in my lap and I jumped and looked down at the dread device.

There were two new messages for him. One was from Herman and it was asking for an ETA in response to my DELAY message, which made my lips twitch momentarily. Guess I had been right to ask, after all!

The other message, however, wiped the smirk right off my face.

It was from Tiffany Buchanan.

###

I handed Adrian his phone without a word. I didn't want to read the message that Tiffany had sent him.

He took it from me with a questioning look, then pursed his lips and sighed.

I folded my arms and stared fixedly out the window at the passing buildings of downtown.

"Tiffany wants me to watch Ty this weekend." Adrian told me and I looked over at him in mild surprise that he was sharing with me.

"Oh? You don't think all the security you have going on at the penthouse might raise some questions?" I heard myself say; it was simply my first concern.

"Hmmm, you have a fair point. Perhaps a weekend away would be best. I have a cabin on the lake."

"That sounds lovely."

"I hope you'll join us, Eve. He does like you so."

This surprised me even more and my fool heart swelled with hope. But then this sensation was quickly dampened as I realized the reality of the situation.

So I closed my mouth, swallowing down the "Yes!" that wanted to burst forth. I hardened myself to him, then I said, "You just want me there as a buffer. And I already told you-!"

"You're not a nanny." He sighed faintly. "Yes, I recall from your speech containing all the reasons I'm a terrible boss and person, including being rude, arrogant, insufferable, demanding perfection from everyone, insane, follow no rules but my own, and oh yeah, am just 'plain mean'." He concluded with a small smile.

He didn't seem angry, he was calm. He had his ankle resting across his knee and his arm extended out along the back of the seat behind me.

I pursed my lips together sheepishly as I looked up at him. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I mean...I didn't mean it. Well, not all of it."

His smile widened indulgently. "It's alright, Eve. At no point in the contract does it say you have to kiss my ass. And for the record, I will make a concerted effort to be less rude and... highhanded, shall we say?"

I reigned in my snort. I suppose I could try to be more polite, too, if he could.

"So...this weekend, huh?"

"Yep. He likes to go out to the cabin on Cedar Lake, it's only 30 minutes by helicopter."

My eyes widened. I had never been on a helicopter before. Then my eyes narrowed. "So it'll be just us then." At the "lake house".

With his kid.

"Yep. Just us and Ty's bodyguard."

"Oh...good. Kane is such a pleasant fellow."

Adrian laughed. God, that sound was sexy. It did absurdly unholy things to my insides.

"Alright, well, let me think about it." I said slowly.

"Alright." He replied, and turned his head of shaggy black hair to gaze out the window. His hair was getting longer, I noticed, sliding my eyes greedily down over him now that he wasn't looking at me.

How much I wanted him scared me.

What was I doing?

I should just quit, we both knew I should quit. This job was simply too much for me. He was too much for me.

So why couldn't I just walk away?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Happy February, dear Minions! Longest month of the year ;)

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HRH