Taking on the Billionaire

by Robin Covington

  He pressed a discreet kiss to the same place he’d just been caressing. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and she knew it wasn’t the fever returning, exhaling when he dropped her hand and took a step back.

  “I’m going to go since you’ve got a very capable nurse.” Adam turned to address Mia. “She needs to finish all of her antibiotics and is due for another dose in a half hour and she needs lots more rest. Don’t let her tell you that she’s better and can go back to work or anything.”

  “Now, wait a minute,” Tess objected, not liking the teaming of these two for one second.

  Mia held up a hand to shush her. “No to work. Yes to drugs. Got it.”

  Tess continued to object. She wasn’t a child and she would know when she was ready to back to work. “He’s not a doctor, you know.”

  “I got my degree at WebMD,” Adam teased, backing toward the doorway like a man who was well versed in self-preservation. “Don’t come to the office for a couple of days, Tess. Don’t make me alert security to get you off the property. Call me.”

  “I owe you one,” she answered, never wanting to be in anyone’s debt but knowing when it was true.

  “If you insist,” he said, giving a salute as he disappeared around the corner.

  Tess watched him leave, listening to his footfalls on the hallway floors and the sound of the door closing before she turned to her sister.

  Mia beat her to the punch. “Don’t even try to bully me into letting you go back to work or to stop taking your meds. I’m your little sister but not an idiot.”

  “I’m going to take my meds.” Tess hustled by her sister, leaving the room in a huff that she didn’t try to hide.

  She was still sick, weak, flustered and confused by everything that had happened the last couple of days. And while she was glad Mia was here, she didn’t want to have the conversation her sister was going to poke and prod to have with her. It wasn’t that she wanted to hide stuff from Mia but there were lots of things that she hadn’t figured out herself. Like how to keep Adam’s trust and do what she needed to do to bring down Franklin Thornton. Like how Adam was quickly becoming important to her.

  “Tess, you can take your meds and also tell me what the hell Adam Redhawk was doing in your room all night.” Mia followed on her heels like one of those annoying yappy dogs who never gave up when they had a good bone on offer.

  She made her way around the kitchen island, automatically going for the coffee maker but rethinking it when her stomach gave a little gurgle. Juice sounded way more appealing, and she busied herself grabbing it from the refrigerator along with bread for toast, and avoided the intense stare of her sister across the island. She popped the bread into the toaster oven and reached for the antibiotic, taking one as prescribed and washing it down with the orange juice.

  “So...how long have you been sleeping with Adam Redhawk?”

  “Wow. Way to go easy on the sick person.” Tess flipped her the bird and grabbed the butter from the fridge. “He was just here to help me out. He knew you were at school.” She shrugged as she spread some butter on the toast. “He’s just a nice guy.”

  “And he’s sleeping with you.” Mia reached over and twisted a piece of bread off and popped it into her mouth. “It was obvious from the way you let him fuss all over you. You never let anyone do that.”

  “And you jumped to the sex conclusion?” Mia stared at her, her expression communicating that she could do this all day and Tess knew she could. Mia didn’t fall far from the stubborn tree in this family. Tess slid into the seat next to her sister, crunching down on the toast to buy some time. “It’s been a few weeks.”

  “A few weeks?” Mia threw her hands up and mimicked throttling her sister around the throat. “And I’m just hearing about this now? My sister is dating—”

  “Oh no.” Tess shook her head, nipping this misunderstanding in the bud. “We are not dating.”

  “So, you’re a booty call? A one-and-done?”

  Tess tossed down her toast onto the plate. “Holy crap, Mia. I know you’re in college but I don’t want to even think about the idea that you know what any of that means.”

  “Tess, I’m twenty-one and a sexually active woman. So, wrap your head around that fact and tell me that you know what you’re doing.” Mia’s hand covered hers and Tess wondered when that had happened. It was just yesterday when Mia’s tiny, sticky fingers were engulfed by Tess’s and life had been busier but a lot less complicated. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Tess swallowed hard, Mia’s words echoing the whispers that had already been circling in the back of her mind. But if she wasn’t ready to deal with them in her own head, she wasn’t ready to do it with her sister. The one she was supposed to be taking care of and not the other way around.

  Tess patted Mia’s hand, another gesture that brought back memories of earlier days. “It’s just an arrangement.” She leveled her with a stare that did nothing to wipe the all-knowing grin off her face. “Not a booty call. An arrangement between two consenting adults.”

  “Is one of those consenting adults still unaware of the vendetta the other consenting adult has aimed at his adopted father?”

  Tess picked up her toast, taking a bite and grimacing at how the butter had congealed as the bread cooled. She chewed it anyway, forcing it down with juice and scrambling for an answer that would get her sister to drop it. With a sigh, she turned and faced off with Mia.

  “Look, I know very well how this is likely to go. But it’s what needs to be done and I promise you that I’m not taking anything on that I can’t handle. Okay?”

  Mia stared her down, her eyes scanning every inch of Tess’s face for something she needed to see. But for once Tess didn’t know how to give it to her.

  Finally, Mia nodded and leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek. “You’re not invincible Tess. I saw how you two looked at each other and you’re headed for a whole lot of hurt if you insist on going after Franklin Thornton. I don’t want to be right but you know I am.”

  And Tess did know. She just didn’t have any choice.

  Twelve

  “Tess, I need to call in that favor.”

  The silence over the phone line did not bring Adam the comfort he was seeking. He was in a full-on panic and didn’t even attempt to hide the fact. He was willing to grovel for what he needed. He’d faced down irate investors and the wrath of Franklin Thornton but this shit was scary.

  “Tess, are you there?” He heard noises on the other end of the phone. A printer printing, a news program running in the background. What he didn’t hear was the woman he’d called for help.

  She was at home, where she’d been working since her illness a week ago. Adam still wanted her to rest. Tess wanted to go back to work. This was the compromise.

  “I’m trying to remember when I agreed that I owed you a favor,” Tess drawled into the line and he could picture her leaning back in her office chair, dressed in that sexy, green body-hugging dress he’d seen her in at Redhawk/Ling. She’d stopped him in his tracks, completely well and in total control of her sultry, confident and stunning beauty. Justin had laughed at him but he couldn’t have given less of a shit.

  Tess was beautiful. She was his—temporarily. And he needed her help.

  “Tess, don’t mess with me here. Sarina and Roan are coming over for dinner and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” Adam took a deep breath and willed her to help him. He hoped she wouldn’t make him beg but he wasn’t above it for this situation. “I need your help, Tess. I don’t think I can do this by myself.”

  The seconds passed by way too slowly for his heart or his mental health but eventually he heard the words he’d been dying to hear.

  “I’m on my way.”

  * * *

  Forty-five minutes later his knees almost gave out with relief when his doorbell rang. He sprinted down t
he short hallway into the foyer and ripped the door open.

  Tess stood there, now dressed in a pretty green sundress with tiny yellow flowers embroidered all over it and flower-covered flip-flops. Her creamy pale shoulders were exposed by the way she wore her long red hair pulled up in a thingy that only let stray curls cascade down over her skin. She was delectable and enticing and his entire body went on high alert.

  It had been over a week since they’d been together, her recuperation, work and his travel to Washington, DC, to vet some potential future business partners, putting up an insurmountable barrier to every need he had to taste her, touch her, make her sigh with her own pleasure around him. And now he had a bunch of family he’d not seen in fifteen years coming over and any private time reconnecting with Tess would have to wait.

  “Jesus, Tess, thanks for coming over.” He ushered her inside with hands this close to shaking. Once the door was shut behind her he clenched them into tight, almost painful fists to resist the urge to reach out and touch her.

  “Hey, Adam. Come here.” Tess took a step forward and suddenly her arms were around him and her lips were on his and the entire world stopped spinning at light speed. Her mouth was soft, lips parting under his, her breasts pressed against his chest, and he was surrounded by the sweet-sharp scent of her perfume. It was like the closest thing he had to coming home and immediately he was centered. Not calm but not ready to crawl out of his skin.

  Too soon, way too soon, she broke the contact and smiled up at him, her grin sly enough to scare him but dirty enough to distract him from the nerves hanging out on the rough edge of his sanity. She was exactly what he needed.

  “I’ve met both Sarina and Roan and I know they’re sitting somewhere right now freaking out too. You know that, right?” Tess reassured him. “This is going to be a rough night for all of you but you’ll be okay. Are you cooking?”

  “Yes.”

  “An omelet?”

  He laughed, brushing a kiss across her lips. “No, steak. The only other thing I can cook.”

  “It will be great.” She turned in his arms, gaze traveling around the interior of his home. “Nice place. Give me a tour?”

  “Sure.” Adam slid his hand down her arm, enjoying the slide of their skin together and the intertwining of their fingers as he led her through his house.

  Her bright dress and curls were a stark contrast to the various shades of gray and silver the designer had used all over the house and for the first time he understood why Justin said that it was cold. It was like the rest of his life, only a place to pass though in between work and more work. Tess’s presence made it all feel drab somehow.

  The foyer spilled over into the great room, detours leading to a home office for him just off to the left, and three bedrooms upstairs. Tess peeked inside all the rooms but he didn’t let her linger, tugging her toward the back of the house and his favorite part. The main reason why he’d bought the house in the first place.

  “You’ve got to see the best part.”

  “Oh my God, Adam. This is incredible.” Tess let go of his hand, dropping her purse on the dining table as she sprinted over to the three-story, floor-to-ceiling windows that spanned the entire width of the house.

  The El Sereno Open Space Preserve sprawled out in front of them in every possible direction. Rolling hills of green, dissected by nature trails, and flowers blooming everywhere was the view that had convinced him to buy this house. But the woman standing in front of the window eclipsed all of it.

  “Can I go outside?” Tess was looking at him over her shoulder, her hand poised on the handle for the sliding glass door that led out to the wraparound deck.

  “Of course.”

  He laughed when she gave a little hop of excitement and pulled open the door. It wasn’t a typical Tess-like reaction but he had a feeling that he’d seen the “real” Tess in that moment. The one who was buried under her loss and pain and well-earned cynicism. And if this were a real relationship, he’d look forward to coaxing out more of those moments from this fascinating woman.

  And more and more he wanted this to be a real relationship. There was a reason why he’d called Tess and it wasn’t because she owed him one.

  Adam followed her out onto the deck, past the large table and the outdoor kitchen to the railing that edged the space. Past the overly large couch and the comfortable chairs. She smiled into the waning afternoon sun, her eyes darting everywhere as she soaked it all in.

  “This is why I bought this house,” he said, leaning against the railing but watching her. He’d seen that view a million times but this one was better.

  “And you would have been crazy not to. This is just unbelievable.” Tess looked over at him, glancing back toward the interior of the house and then waving at the view. “This is more ‘Adam’ than the inside. Interior decorator?”

  “Yeah,” he answered, guessing she had the same opinion as Justin about the inside of his house. “She really liked gray.”

  “Obviously.”

  The doorbell chime brought them both up short, his smile vanishing as fast as the sun was slipping behind the mountains.

  “I got this,” Tess murmured and he didn’t even try to stop her as she headed back through his house and quickly returned into view with two strangers who should have been family all along.

  Roan was first, his swagger already recognizable from the videos of him on YouTube. Adam’s little brother was an up-and-coming name in the art circles and he was painting and sleeping his way through the male and female populations of the rich and glamorous. Adam had expected his confidence, cocky smile and open curiosity but what he wasn’t prepared for was the doubt in his gaze and that immediately made Adam relax just a little.

  He wasn’t the only one feeling ill at ease about this meeting.

  Sarina was a tougher character and everything about her posture kept everyone at arm’s length. Newly separated from the army, she stood ramrod straight, her gaze remote and her expression aloof. Adam could imagine how intimidating she’d been as a military cop and how she’d been very good at her job. Why she’d left a successful career in the military was a question he had no idea how to answer. His more immediate concern was that nothing about her said she wanted to be here and that pierced him to the core.

  “Thanks for coming to dinner.” Adam gestured awkwardly around the space, feeling as clunky as his first day in every foster home and every new school. He looked toward Tess for help and she nodded, understanding everything in the briefest of glances, taking over the situation.

  “It’s so nice. Why don’t you all sit out here? Tell me what you’d like and I’ll bring out a round of drinks and Adam can throw the steaks on the grill.”

  Drink orders relayed to Tess, they all watched her leave, the only person they had in common at this point, and the silence that erupted between them was as heavy as the fog that often coated the preserve in the mornings. In unison, Sarina and Roan slid out their chairs and took a seat and Adam busied himself pulling the steaks out of the outdoor fridge and firing up the grill.

  “I didn’t realize that you and Ms. Lynch were together,” Roan said, smooth as silk but edged with a little bit of suspicion.

  “No, we’re not together. We’re...” Adam said, eyeing Tess’s progress on the drinks through the window. It was the truth but he didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want her to think that he was dismissing her impact in his life. “We’re friends and I thought it might be good to have her here. She’s the most recent thing we all have in common.”

  “She knows all of our secrets, you mean,” Sarina stated, her tone flat but also disapproving.

  Adam and Roan exchanged a look; whether it was one of solidarity or sympathy he wasn’t sure but he was grateful for it.

  Tess emerged from the house a couple of minutes later and handed out the drinks before settling into a chair at the tabl
e. She’d had the foresight to turn on the sound system so they had some background music to accompany the world’s most painful dinner party.

  “Is this your first time in California?” she asked them in an obvious attempt to start conversation. Sarina didn’t answer, only shaking her head in the negative before bringing her glass to her lips and casting her gaze over the preserve. Adam wondered why she was here. Curiosity? Obligation? Of one thing he was certain: gone was the happy, smiling toddler who teased the edges of his fuzzy memories, and that made him unspeakably sad and angry.

  Roan took a drink from his beer before replying, “I’ve been here a couple of times. Never to this area, though. I mostly end up in LA, visiting galleries.” He gestured toward the preserve. “But I love to hike and this is gorgeous. I’ll have to come back and check it out.”

  Adam ventured a suggestion, uneasily offering a tentative connection to this stranger. “Maybe we could go out together. I’m not much of a hiker but I think I can keep up.”

  “You’re a runner, a triathlete. I’m sure you can keep up,” Roan said, his grin genuine and startlingly like his own. He turned toward Sarina, his twin, obviously trying to bring her into the conversation. They’d been separated from each other, a cut that had to run deep but you’d never know it from his brother’s demeanor. Adam envied his ease. Roan might be faking it but his charm was working on him. Not so much with their sister from the shuttered look on her face. “What about you, Sarina? Might be fun.”

  “I don’t hike. We didn’t have time for that when I was growing up and even less when I was in the army,” she said. Her tone didn’t say the conversation was closed but nothing about it kept the ball rolling.

  He mentally flipped through the report Tess had given him about his sister. She’d had it the worst of all of them: bad adoptive family, every reason to the get the hell out as soon as she could. And she’d been lucky to get out. Been lucky to last long enough to get out. Adam’s gut tightened again at the recollection of facts that he could not change and he turned back to the grill, flipping the steaks and controlling what he could.