Billionaires' Secrets: Volatile Chemistry

Volatile Chemistry Part 16

The party.

Bella glanced around anxiously as she walked up to the velvet rope at the Studio 54 party in the glare of paparazzi cameras.

She'd waited for Dominic to find her and finish what he'd started in the copy room.

But he didn't.

She'd jumped each time the door opened and every time the phone rang. She checked her e-mail with bated breath. Even scanned the train platform on her evening trips back to the house, where she'd taken to staying nightly.

No Dominic.

Probably just busy, she tried to reassure herself. She certainly was. Despite her strong reservations, she'd arranged to have the nurses he'd hired bring her mom home. It would have been petty and selfish not to.

And her mom had already shown signs of making a dramatic recovery, spending hours in her beloved garden and willingly eating the food from it. The nurses, and a doctor who'd been hired to make twice-weekly visits, said it was likely she'd recuperate fully from a severe but temporary "nervous breakdown."

The startling turnaround, and the strange way in which it happened, had Bella's emotions stretched to the max, and she wasn't sure if at any moment she'd burst out laughing or collapse into tears of happy relief.

The very last thing she wanted right now was to see Dominic. He'd not only kept her betrayal secret, but now he'd brought her mom back from the brink of slow death. His actions touched her deeply, and scared her.

He held her life in the palm of his hand, when she'd always taken such pride in managing it herself. Worse yet, the uncontrollable desire she felt for him was totally inappropriate under the circumstances—or under any circumstances. And if she saw him she couldn't be sure she wouldn't jump all over him in a rush of pent-up emotion and white-hot lust.

She drew in a shaky breath as she handed her invitation to the huge bouncer at the door. The pounding beat of the music jangled her nerves as he ushered her inside. She'd barely entered the lobby when she was accosted by Tarrant's young wife.

"Oh my goodness, Bella, don't you look marvelous! Halston as well."

Bella resisted the urge to glance down at the swingy, gold vintage dress her fashion maven friend Risa had borrowed for her.

Samantha's figure-skimming white halter top did have a similar cut. "He was a genius, wasn't he? Aren't you mad that we missed the seventies the first time around?"

Bella forced a friendly laugh. The vivacious blonde appeared genuinely happy to see her, which was odd since they barely knew each other.

"Come in, let me introduce you to some people." Samantha threaded her bony, tanned arm through Bella's and pulled her into the club. Music pulsed over the sound system, and she heard Grace Jones's smoky voice singing, "I need a man."

Great.

Everywhere she turned her heart leapt with excitement at the thought that she might see Dominic—and her stomach clenched in terror at that same prospect.

Could she be any more pathetic?

"Fiona! Have you met Bella from Cosmetics?"

Samantha gestured to a petite redhead in a slinky teal dress that hung from one shoulder. Thin gold hoops swung in her ears.

"Hi, Bella." Fiona's hand was cool. "I hear you have some big-deal product coming out next week." Her voice sounded almost accusatory.

"Yes, ReNew. It restores the appearance of smooth skin."