The Billionaire's Curvy Librarian (Curvy Librarians Book 1)

by Anna Heskin

Eric’s strong grip on my hand conveyed a sense of everything being all right in the world. I couldn’t believe what started as an iffy, inconvenient date turned into one of the best evenings of my life.

  As we reached my car, I turned and looked into his gorgeous eyes, which looked dark gray to match the sky, instead of the pale blue when in bright light. “Am I to assume a second date is imminent?” I asked.

  Eric put his hand on my cheek. “Yes, I’m taking you out again.” To punctuate his statement, he pressed his face to mine, kissing me with as much passion as our first kiss, once again taking my breath away.

  “This is what… Wednesday night?” Eric asked.

  “Probably more like Thursday morning now,” I yawned.

  “I’ll take you out again Friday night,” Eric said.

  “Sounds good to me,” I said. “Call or text me. I get off work at the same time but let me go home and change first. You can pick me up at my apartment.” The prospect of seeing the buff, handsome man again made me giddy inside.

  After one more juicy, warm kiss, Eric walked around to his car. “You leave before me. I want to follow you to be sure you made it home if you don’t mind.”

  All the rules about being careful with a new, strange man went out the window. I felt secure with Eric. “Sure thing,” I said.

  As I sat in my car and closed the door, I looked over and saw Eric banging on his steering wheel. His face looked red and my lipreading caught expletives flying from his delicious mouth.

  I climbed out of my car and tapped on his window. “Car not starting?”

  He rolled the window down a crack. “No. Piece of shit.”

  I had plenty of empathy for his situation. I never knew for certain my car would start either. Too often, I had to take the city bus until a friend could fix whatever was wrong with mine. “I can give you a ride home,” I said.

  Eric snapped his neck toward me. “No,” he said firmly.

  “Well, the bus doesn’t run this late. What are you going to do, walk home?”

  “I live too far away. I’ll have my driver come get me.” After he uttered the last word, his face froze as if he’d said something he regretted.

  I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean, your ‘driver’?”

  Eric stepped out of the car and took my hands in his. “You would find this out soon anyhow, so I’ll tell you now.”

  I knew the day had been too good to be true. I braced myself for whatever confession he was about to make. “What is it, Eric?” My knees began to shake as I awaited his answer.

  “While it’s true I’m in real estate, I didn’t tell you the full story. I inherited a business when my father died. He was a billionaire real estate mogul. That title now belongs to me.” His eyes searched mine, waiting for a reply but I stood with my mouth hung open. “Kelsey?”

  “Bullshit,” I said. “You showed up here looking like a bum earlier today. And your car doesn’t run.”

  “It’s my gardener’s car.”

  “You have a gardener?”

  “Six of them, actually. The car belongs to the head gardener.”

  My mind raced back to the restaurant and how Eric acted like everything on the menu was beneath his tastes. He also had never stepped foot in a bowling alley. His tight hairstyle and the watch he wore earlier didn’t match his plain clothes.

  “Here, if you don’t believe me…” Eric said, showing me his phone screen. “Here’s a recent article about my business on a national news website.”

  I glanced at the headline which contained his name and mentioned a recent purchase of condos in Denver. “Okay, whatever,” I said, pushing his phone away. “Why the fuck are you incognito today?”

  “I don’t like to be recognized in public. I wanted to blend in,” Eric said.

  “But all that when we first met, about you being into old libraries, or history, or… dammit, I don’t even remember what you told me earlier today.” I held my head in my hands, not sure what to believe.

  “I told you…”

  I cut Eric off before he could continue. “You lied to me about who you are, I can’t handle this.” I opened my car door.

  “Don’t leave,” Eric said.

  “Watch me,” I said as I started my car, then reversed out of my space. Eric stood with a stunned look on his face as I put my window down. “Enjoy the ride from your driver, if you really have one, Eric. If that’s your real name.”

  My stomach turned in knots as I made the quiet drive to my apartment. I didn’t know what to make of the experience. The man made me feel so safe until I found out he wasn’t who he pretended to be. But why would he hide his success and true nature from me?

  Exhausted, I got a few hours of sleep after tossing and turning in my cold bed. I dragged my tired ass out of bed in the morning and got ready for work. The clock struck 9:00 as I hurried into the library from the parking lot. Eric’s car, or perhaps his head gardener’s car, no longer sat in the lot. He either got it started or had it towed during the night.

  “Please, dear Lord, don’t let another freak visit me at the library today,” I muttered under my breath as I walked into the lobby. Jenna and Dawn were waiting for me at the top of the stairs with a sullen look.

  “You two look like you already heard about the disastrous ending to my date last night,” I said.

  “They’ve called a meeting in ten minutes,” Jenna said.

  “There are rumors it could be bad news,” Dawn added.

  My heart skipped a beat. I’d received enough bullshit for one week. I wanted a normal day.

  We gathered in the conference room with management and a member of the library board. Their expressions told the grim story before their mouths.

  “Ladies,” the board member said. “I’ll get straight to the point. The city had to make budget cuts and they can no longer support this branch being open. We’ll close at the end of the fiscal year, on June 30.”

  The room stayed quiet as we processed the bad news. We only had our jobs for about three more months. I’d have to look for another library position right away. I couldn’t afford any time off work. Beads of cold sweat formed at my forehead and my hands became shaky at the prospect of being in money trouble.

  As we walked out of the meeting, Dawn nudged my shoulder. Often the one to see the humor in a situation, she said, “Our building poltergeist will get lonely. Just last night, he knocked a bunch of books off a shelf in the non-fiction section.”

  The memory of my orgasm the night before temporarily distracted from the pain. Eric took me to the brink of heaven, then sent me crashing back to Earth when he revealed his deception.

  “Hey, Kelsey, how did your date turn out last night? You look tired, so it must’ve been good,” Jenna said.

  I bowed my head and turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it yet.”

  8

  Eric

  All of my staff had a bad day on Thursday. I was the crankiest son-of-a-bitch in the western half of the United States. Kelsey didn’t see the humor in my disguise the day before. I couldn’t blame her; nobody liked to have the truth hidden from them.

  The night before, my driver rescued me from the library parking lot. His brother is a mechanic, and I paid him good money to show up in the middle of the night and take care of my gardener’s car. It turned out to only need a new starter that the mechanic retrieved from his shop and fixed right there at the library. The cops stopped by twice because it looked suspicious, but Frank got his car back in better condition than he loaned it.

  Outside a client meeting on Thursday morning, I spent the rest of the day going over plans with the team for the party I was throwing at my estate on Saturday. There wasn’t a real occasion, just an excuse to celebrate spring and entertain friends, clients, and others who made my life complete. The only person missing from the guest list was the one I wanted to see the most—Kelsey.

  I texted Kelsey several times on Thursday, hoping to patch things up and explain myself
further. We felt a deep connection the day before and I would not give up on her.

  Friday morning came without a word from Kelsey. I missed her touch, her laugh, and her smile. My body ached to experience her curves and her skin. I wanted to make her mine, to take care of her, and show her how beautiful and special she was. Kelsey made me feel things I thought were buried forever. With my money and looks, I could have any woman, but Kelsey was the first to make me feel vulnerable. Plus, we hit it off before she knew about my status.

  Around noon, I arranged the delivery of a large bouquet to the library. On the card, I asked Kelsey to forgive me and to give us a chance. I told her I had my reasons to not reveal my money right away. To close the note, I invited her to the weekend party at my estate.

  I watched the time all afternoon, hoping to hear from Kelsey. Around 5:00, I received the following text:

  Ok. I’ll go to your party and hear what you have to say.

  My mood skyrocketed. I knew if I could see Kelsey one more time, I could make her mine once and for all. I texted back:

  Great! Give me your address and I’ll have a driver out front at 6:00 p.m.

  The excitement of having Kelsey come over on Saturday was more than any business deals, vacations, toys, or anything else I’d gotten for myself over the years. My staff noticed and appreciated the extra kindness I showed all day on Saturday as they prepared for the party.

  A few minutes after 6:00, I excused myself and went to the front of the house to wait for Kelsey’s arrival. Butterflies turned in my stomach as I saw the limo carrying Kelsey pull up. The driver opened the rear door and my eyes almost popped out of my head when Kelsey stepped out. She wore a black party frock with three-quarter sleeves and a sexy hemline that showed off just enough thigh to tantalize me. The black lace on the sleeves gave a glimpse of her creamy skin underneath.

  Cock, calm down. I can’t be walking around here with you poking out.

  “Kelsey, darling, so glad you could make it,” I said as I took her hand. “You look amazing.”

  Her cheeks blushed. “Thanks. Your house looks gorgeous.”

  “Wait until you see the inside,” I said. “It’s great to see you again.”

  “Well, you look a lot different from yesterday, in your handsome gray suit,” Kelsey said. Her gorgeous green eyes sparkled as she looked me up and down. I wanted to take her somewhere private and fuck like animals but I needed to be patient and let her warm back up to me.

  “Let’s take the tour,” I said.

  “Sounds lovely,” Kelsey said.

  I started outside with the pool. We walked around the side of the estate to the area facing the mountains. “This is my pool. It’s heated, but nobody seems to want to swim yet this early in the year.”

  “Wait,” Kelsey said. “Does it extend into the indoors too?”

  “Yep,” I said. “It’s an indoor-outdoor pool.”

  Kelsey’s eyes were big and her mouth hung open. She pointed toward the garage building. “How many luxury cars do you have in there?”

  “Only six,” I said. “Cars aren’t a huge interest of mine. I have more money tied up in my personal jet.”

  “This is all the opposite of the way I’ve lived my life. I’ve only seen places like this on television,” Kelsey said.

  “Let’s step inside,” I said, leading her into the foyer. Only a handful of guests had shown up so far, so I didn’t need to entertain yet and could devote my attention to Kelsey.

  “What are all these bags on the table?” Kelsey asked in the side hallway.

  “Those are goody bags. Samples from companies who want to market to my rich clients. Feel free to take one later,” I said.

  I continued the tour in the kitchen area where the catering company busied themselves. “Every section of your house is bigger than my library,” Kelsey said.

  “Can I show you the bedrooms now?” I asked. My cock twitched, hoping to sneak in some action before more guests arrived.

  We stepped back into the front foyer area. “First,” Kelsey said. “Can you explain more why you didn’t tell me about your money on our date the other night?”

  I took Kelsey’s hand and pulled her to a quiet corner. “Kelsey, the only rough parts of my life have been in the romance area. I’ve been divorced for several years now. My ex-wife married me for my money. She used me, cheated on me, then took a huge chunk of my fortune when she left.”

  Kelsey looked horrified. “Dear God, I’m sorry.”

  “It made me jaded to love, but also suspicious of any woman who showed interest in me. Sure, I’ve had flings since then; a man has his needs. But I didn’t allow any of the relationships to progress. The possibility that a woman could love me for something other than money never crossed my mind.”

  “That sounds like a lonely way to live,” Kelsey said.

  “Yes, I’ve been closed up emotionally. Until I met you, Kelsey. Something about you spoke to me when we met in the library and dated that night. I never wanted something more in my life.”

  “Really?” Kelsey asked. “Me?”

  “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve laid eyes on. I’m impressed with your mind, and your fight to make something of yourself. My father handed all of this wealth to me, I didn’t have to work for it. I admire how you’ve successfully carved out a living for yourself.”

  “It’s not easy,” Kelsey said.

  “On our date, I wanted you to get to know the real me without the money. I didn’t want to wonder if it was my wallet or me you liked.”

  “Eric, it was you, your personality and the way you made me feel. And it doesn’t hurt you have the hottest body ever created.”

  “So now you know why I didn’t tell you on Wednesday. I’ve been burned too much in the past and wanted to enjoy you without the pretenses.”

  “I think I understand all that,” Kelsey said. “But it still felt icky to be lied to.”

  “I can see that,” I said.

  “When were you going to tell me?” Kelsey asked.

  “I didn’t think it would take long. Once I was satisfied you liked me for me. When I felt you were mine.”

  A large, loud group entered the foyer from the opposite side. Our alone time would soon end. One voice was that of Gunther and I knew he would head straight for us.

  “Wait a sec…” Kelsey said. “You’ve explained why you dressed down for our date. But why did you walk into the library wearing soiled clothes to begin with? Before you met me?”

  I held up a finger. “Hold on.” Gunther and his wife walked up.

  “Eric, great to see you,” Gunther said in his boisterous voice. He only had one volume setting on his big mouth. “Who is this young lady with you tonight?”

  “Gunther, glad you could make it. This beautiful woman is my date, Kelsey.” The two shook hands.

  “Kelsey, it’s a pleasure,” Gunther said. “This is my wife, Anne.”

  “Gunther is a good buddy of mine,” I said. “But you could also call him a rival. We’ve been on opposite bids on projects several times but it isn’t personal.”

  Gunther punched me on the arm. “Yes, our friendship remains strong. Neither of us needs any individual project to make it or break it. We co-exist in the market.”

  “It’s a small wonder,” I said.

  Gunther laughed. “Although, I’ve got my eye on that library.” He slapped me on the other arm and looked at Kelsey as he continued. “If this son-of-a-bitch gets it instead, we might have to reconsider our friendship.”

  I let out a nervous chuckle as Kelsey’s mouth dropped. “Wait,” Kelsey said. “The branch on Keeneland Crest Drive?”

  “Yeah,” Gunther said. “The government is closing it because of budget concerns.”

  I felt like puking. Kelsey grabbed my arm. “A word with you?”

  “I’ll catch you soon,” I said to Gunther and his wife as Kelsey dragged me outside.

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” Kelsey said, her face turning red. “Yo
u’re trying to get my library before it’s even shut its doors?”

  “I heard about its struggles and thought the property would be a good investment,” I said.

  “You knew about the budget running dry before I did,” Kelsey said.

  I nodded. “That’s why I was there Wednesday, to check out the building.”

  “You little shit. That’s why I spotted you inspecting the foundation and asking to tour rooms in the basement.”

  “I did say I was interested in historical buildings. I just didn’t say why,” I said.

  “So you wanted to date me, knowing my employer was shutting down. When were you going to tell me?” Kelsey asked.

  “Soon.”

  “But what the hell? I’m stressed about losing my job.”

  “Kelsey, it wouldn’t matter. I want you to be mine. I’ll take care of you. You’ve shown you like me regardless of my financial situation.”

  I tried to kiss her, but she pulled away and put her hand in my face. “I can’t handle this. I’m going home.”

  I grabbed her arm. “Stay, Kelsey. Put everything behind you and be my woman.”

  She slipped out of my grasp. “Goodbye, Eric. I’ll get my own ride home. Enjoy your new library.”

  9

  Kelsey

  My mind tried hard to reconcile the wonderful man I went on a date with versus the rich bastard who wanted to buy the library I’d grown to love in the short time I’d worked there. Sure, if the government unloaded the building, someone would buy it. But I didn’t want it to be Eric, especially after he hid the fact.

  I fumed over Eric’s actions for the rest of the weekend. With several side projects going at once, I kept busy and didn’t leave my apartment. I didn’t even bother to shower on Sunday.

  Every time my phone chimed telling me I’d received a text message, I held my breath, only to let out a sigh of relief when I saw it wasn’t Eric. I didn’t want to talk to him again after he hid his true nature from me. He must’ve known because he didn’t even try to contact me.

  Since I came from a poor background, part of me harbored curiosity about what it would be like to have all my financial needs taken care of. But I’d lived my entire life on a budget and I didn’t want to compromise my belief that a man should be straight in his dealings.