The Billionaire's Bitch

Forty-Three

Mike rode all the way up in the elevator with me, which I thought was a bit excessive considering all the armed muscle in the lobby downstairs. Then again, I thought the whole thing was excessive.

If Adrian had really dealt with the matter of the Italian Mob then Adrian was surely just being paranoid.

Of course, if the matter was simply that he felt overprotective of me, then how could I argue with that? I was touched, I couldn't lie.

When we stepped out into the entry room of the penthouse, I was further pleased to find Adrian there, waiting for me. Waiting for us, I mean.

Mike was still on my ass like a goddamn shadow.

Adrian was in the little sitting area, folders and papers scattered across the coffee table and a mug of black coffee at his elbow, with a splash of whiskey in it, if I knew him at all.

He looked up when we entered, but of course, he didn't smile. He was still wearing his business shoes instead of being barefoot, so I knew he must be exceptionally stressed.

"Hi." I said awkwardly, wishing fervently that Mike wasn't there.

I wanted so badly to cross the room to Adrian, to sit beside him, maybe touch his hand or his shoulder; let him know it was all going to be okay, just one human to another. But Mike was here, watching and judging, and he just wouldn't understand.

"Hi." Adrian said to me, rather ruefully, I didn't fail to notice. But his eyes were dark with exhaustion and I knew he would never show even a hint of vulnerability in front of Mike. "How was dinner with your family?"

"Great. Lyndsey sends her best."

She had said something much more perverse and I wasn't about to repeat it.

"That's nice of her." Adrian said as he rose to stretch his back. "Mike, let me show you to your new living quarters."

"Wait, what?!" This was me, staring back and forth between them now.

Adrian regarded me with a dull expression. "Mike is your personal bodyguard. He'll be moving in with us."

I gulped, looking to Mike, who didn't seem at all surprised or perturbed by this.

Of course he wasn't.

###

Apparently, I had no say. In, like, anything, including where I might sleep.

Feeling helpless, I looked back and forth between Adrian and Mike. "I didn't realize there was a third apartment in here."

This penthouse was seriously a castle, I had learned, so it shouldn't have surprised me to learn there was a third apartment.

But nothing could've prepared me for what came next.

Adrian's lips thinned as he studied me. "There isn't. Mr. Barrett will be moving into your apartment and you will be moving into mine."

###

I was vaguely aware of my jaw swinging open in the breeze.

Me-? Move in-? With-?!

"Don't look so scandalized, my dear." Adrian chuckled at my expense. "We'll still have completely separate living quarters. Were you so attached to your old apartment?"

"What? No! Not really...I-I guess I'll just have to get my stuff and-and move it all-?" I glanced to Mike, looking to him to save me. But I suppose his job wasn't to protect me from the man who had hired him.