by Bec Linder
The Billionaire’s Command
by Bec Linder
Table of Contents
PART ONE: Sasha Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
PART TWO: Alex Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Other Books by Bec Linder
Acknowledgments
PART ONE
Sasha
1
There’s something I’ve noticed about human nature: people don’t like things they don’t understand. Scarlet told me once that primitive man invented religion to explain why the sky got dark at night, and it sounded reasonable to me. If you knew why something happened, it wasn’t as scary anymore. It made sense. It happened for a reason.
So that was why I decided to blame the traffic light for everything that happened that summer.
Okay, obviously it wasn’t really the traffic light’s fault. What happened probably would have happened even if I didn’t trip on the sidewalk on my way to work. But I had to blame it on something, and the traffic light was as good a culprit as any.
That way I could tell myself it was fate. Pre-ordained. That the universe worked in mysterious ways. I could neatly sidestep any uncertainty.
I didn’t like uncertainty.
It was one of those sweltering July days that made everyone in the city feel like dropping dead. What was the cliche? Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. I wasn’t late for work—the club didn’t open for another hour—but I was later than I wanted to be. I liked taking my time getting ready, and I didn’t enjoy feeling rushed; and anyway, I didn’t want to be outside any longer than I had to be, as hot as it was. I had chosen my apartment based largely on how close it was to work, but there were some summer days when the half-mile walk seemed endless. And I was too cheap to ever take a cab.
I was almost to the intersection when the light changed. The flashing red hand on the crosswalk sign stopped flashing and shone with a steady light, and the stoplight turned yellow and then red in quick succession. Annoyed, I sighed and slowed to a stop. Traffic was too heavy to ignore the light and dart across the street. I wasn’t about to play chicken with New York City cabbies. They would run me over and not even feel bad about it.
I had lived in New York long enough that I didn’t wait obediently for the walk sign before I crossed. As soon as traffic was more or less clear, I booked it.
I forgot to check the bike lane, though.
The furious ringing of a bell alerted me to the cyclist bearing down on me, and I swore and lunged for the sidewalk. The bike passed behind me, close enough to rustle my skirt, and the cyclist yelled, “Watch where you’re going!” as he continued down Hudson Street.
I stumbled onto the sidewalk, off-balance, and then tripped on my own flip-flop and went down.
So really, if I wanted to assign blame, the cyclist probably deserved a large helping. Maybe even more than the traffic light.
Falling always seemed like it happened in slow motion. I had plenty of time to recognize that I was falling, regret my clumsiness, and hope I didn’t hurt myself too badly. And then I was down, knees and hands burning, and I just knelt there for a few long moments, embarrassed and annoyed.
I lifted my left hand to check the damage. The palm was scraped, but not badly. No blood. The right one was fine, too.
My knees, on the other hand.
I stood up and tottered to a nearby bench. Both of my knees were skinned raw and oozing blood, stuck with bits of dirt and gravel and who knew what.
Shit.
“That looks bad,” a passing woman said.
Real helpful, lady. I ignored her and started digging through my bag, hoping I had a few spare napkins crammed in there somewhere. I didn’t want to bleed down my shins all the way to work.
“You look like you could use some help,” a deep voice said, and I looked up.
And up.
Our eyes met.
Jesus, he was tall.
He was dressed like a businessman, in a dark suit and tie, but he didn’t look like a businessman. His black hair was buzzed so short that I could see his scalp, and it made him look dangerous, like he had just come back from a war. He was handsome in a sort of generic way, nothing special, but there was something about him that kept me looking. He raised one eyebrow at me and said, “That was a nasty fall. Bikes are a menace.”
I realized my mouth was hanging open a little, and hastily closed it. “It was my fault. I should have looked,” I said. “I’m okay, though.”
“You’re dripping blood,” he said. “Stay here. There’s a drugstore right across the street.”
Oh, God, was he offering to bandage my skinned knees for me, like I was a wayward toddler? “I’m really okay,” I said. “That’s totally nice of you, but I have to—work—”
“That can wait,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere.” And he turned and strode off toward the Duane Reade.
I couldn’t have said why I waited. I really did need to get to work, and I really was fine. Mostly fine. Not in any danger of dying, at least. But it wasn’t every day that incredibly handsome strangers not only spoke to me but went out of their way to help me, and I was curious. I wanted to see what would happen.
It didn’t hurt that he was really, really hot.
And that I liked the way he had swooped in and taken charge. Most men in New York were so wishy-washy.
I kind of liked being ordered around.
My mystery man emerged from the drugstore, plastic bag in hand. I watched him approach me with a feeling like I was observing myself from the outside. It was too weird to be real. Things like this didn’t happen to girls like me. Maybe I was on a television show and there were men with cameras hiding in the park behind me.
But nobody jumped out and shouted that I’d been punked, and he crouched on the sidewalk in front of me and drew a small package out of the bag.
“You’re going to ruin your suit,” I said, because the sidewalks were beyond gross.
“Nothing the dry cleaner can’t fix,” he said. He opened the package and pulled out a wet wipe, the kind that you used to clean your hands at a BBQ place. I watched, totally dumbfounded, as he began gently cleaning the blood and grit from my knees.
Get a grip, Sasha. “You don’t have to do that,” I said, wanting to draw my legs away but afraid I would sock him in the face with a kneecap. “Don’t get me wrong, this is really nice of you—like, really, really nice—but I’m sure you have way better things to do this afternoon than, like, mop the blood off some stranger’s legs—”
“You’re babbling,” he said, interrupting my word vomit, and I blushed and shut up.
He dabbed at my knees until they were clean of dirt and congealed blood. It stung, but he was careful, and every time his fingers brushed against my skin, I felt a little spark flare up my spine. Bad idea. Bad idea. He was way out of my league.
Finished, he glanced up at me, and something in his dark eyes made me blush again and look away.
“Thanks,” I said.
“I’m not finished,” he said. He pulled out a tube of antibiotic ointment and smeared it onto my scrapes, and then he took out a box of Band-Aids and covered basically the entire surface area of my knees, layering each bandage on top of the one beneath it so that no raw skin was exposed. “They didn’t have anything larger,”
he said. “This will have to do.”
“It’s, wow,” I said. “Way better than I would have done. I probably would have just taped on some paper towels and called it a day.”
“Extremely unhygienic,” he said, his eyes crinkling up at the corners.
Christ. I had to leave, now, or I was going to do something really stupid, like ask him to marry me. I cleared my throat and rearranged the straps of my bag. “So, thanks,” I said. “I’m really—I owe you. But I’m going to be super late for work, so…”
“Of course,” he said, and climbed to his feet. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper, and handed it to me. “Just in case you run into any further emergencies.” He looked down at me for a moment, tall as a statue, and then strode off down Bleecker Street.
I gazed after him, a little wistfully, and then looked down at the paper he had handed me.
It was his business card.
Right in the middle, in tiny black numbers, was phone number. That was it. I turned it over, expecting to see something more informative on the back, but it was blank.
What kind of weird guy had a business card like that? Was he a spy or something? Maybe he was so rich that he didn’t need to work. Maybe he was so famous that he expected everyone to already know who he was.
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like I was going to call him.
I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder. My knees hurt, but not too badly. I took a few tentative steps, feeling things out, and decided that walking the rest of the way to work was no big deal.
I tossed the business card into the first trash can I passed.
Dating was a bad idea. Sooner or later, they all found out what I did for a living.
And nobody wanted a stripper for a girlfriend.
* * *
Stepping into the Silver Cross Club transformed me.
I did it five times a week, sometimes six or seven: walked through the door and became someone new.
Outside of the club, I was ordinary Sasha Kilgore, who loved makeup, yoga, parrots, and brunch.
Inside the club, I was Sassy Belle.
I didn’t like Sassy very much. She wasn’t smart, for one thing. Not that I was a genius, but I could string three words together. Sassy mainly giggled.
Men liked her, though. The men at the club liked her. The clients. That was all that mattered.
Maybe someday I wouldn’t need Sassy anymore. I could shed that skin like a snake and leave it behind.
But not yet.
After my eventful commute, the club’s dim, cool lobby was a welcome relief. I took off my sunglasses and smiled at Javier, the doorman.
“You look hot,” he said.
I struck a pose, one hand on my hip, head thrown back. “Thanks!”
He chuckled. “I mean you look sweaty. Hot as the devil’s nutsack, isn’t it?”
“You shouldn’t use language like that around a lady,” I said.
“Sassy Belle, you are no lady,” he said with a wink, and held the door open for me.
I stuck my nose in the air and walked past him into the club, purposefully wiggling my hips as I went. Javier was lucky that I liked him.
The heavy door closed behind me, and I was inside the main room of the club. Things were quiet at this time of day: it was 3:00, and the club didn’t open for another hour. None of the waitresses had arrived yet, and the only other person I spotted was a fellow dancer, perched at the bar eating a sandwich out of a styrofoam container. I waved to her as I headed for the unmarked door at the back of the club that led to the private area for the dancers.
I gave myself a little shake, settling fully into Sassy’s skin.
Sassy’s sticky, clammy skin. I really needed a shower.
Germaine’s office door was open. I slowed as I passed by, peering inside—just being nosy—but she spotted me and flagged me down.
I hesitated, thinking about the glorious shower that was waiting for me, but I couldn’t exactly ignore her. I leaned against the doorframe and said, “What’s up, boss?”
There was a girl sitting at the desk who turned around and looked at me when I spoke. She had long, curly black hair and wide eyes: fresh meat.
“This is Tawny,” Germaine said. “She’s going to be dancing here now.”
I looked the girl up and down. “You don’t look much like a Tawny,” I said. “We need to pick a better stripper name for you.”
Tawny turned back to look at Germaine, who coughed, probably trying to hold back a laugh. I knew her pretty well after working at the club for two years. “Well,” Germaine said. “That’s certainly something to consider. Sassy, I’m going to ask you to show Tawny around. She’ll be observing tonight, and will begin dancing tomorrow. Please do your best to make her feel at home.”
“Sure,” I said. “That’s me. Homey. Come on, new girl, I’ll show you where to get ready.”
Tawny stood up and joined me in the doorway. I was glad to see she was wearing sensible shoes and street clothes. The ones who showed up ready to go on stage never lasted long. They wanted to make it a lifestyle, and that was the kiss of death. It was just a job.
“One other thing,” Germaine said, and I turned back to look at her. She folded her hands together on top of the desk. “The owner will be here tonight.”
Well, shit.
I led the new girl toward the back of the club, muttering to myself the whole way. Germaine was clever: she didn’t want to have to tell Poppy, so she would make me do her dirty work, and then I would have to deal with Poppy’s inevitable meltdown.
Being a team player sucked.
I slammed through the door into the dancer’s area. Scarlet called it the seraglio, and the name had stuck. She told me that it meant the private quarters where concubines lived, which I thought was appropriate. We had a pretty nice setup: a seating area with couches and a mini-fridge for snacks, nice showers, and a large dressing room with lighted mirrors. Way nicer than the last place I worked, where all the dancers shared one unisex bathroom and there were usually about five of us crammed in front of the sink trying to do our hair.
The seating area was empty, but there were enough bags and clothes strewn around that I knew I wasn’t the first one to arrive. Most of the dancers did their hair and makeup at the club, and by 3:30, everyone would be sitting around packing on eyeshadow and gossiping. I needed to talk to Poppy before that so she had some time to cope with the news about the owner, and then I needed to shower and get ready. I didn’t have time to deal with the fresh meat.
I tossed my bag on a couch and said, “Okay, new girl. Make yourself pretty. I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
Fresh Meat nodded at me, eyes wide. What was she thinking, calling herself Tawny with that hair and that skin? She looked Mediterranean as all get-out. Probably Italian. I would have to think of a better name for her.
I went into the dressing room and found Poppy in her usual spot, wrapped in a silk dressing gown and carefully applying her false eyelashes. “We need to talk,” I said.
“Well, hello to you too,” she drawled. “Is there a problem?”
I glanced around the room at the handful of other dancers working on their makeup. I didn’t want to do this with an audience. “Let’s go outside for a minute,” I said.
Poppy heaved an enormous sigh, like I was asking her to climb Mt. Everest with no oxygen, and heaved herself out of her chair. I really didn’t understand why she was head dancer. She was lazy, whiny, and not very good at interacting with the clients; but she’d been here for years, so maybe Germaine just felt sorry for her.
She followed me out into the main club, and then stopped and folded her arms over her chest. “What’s this about?”
No reason not to cut to the chase. “The owner’s coming tonight,” I said.
“Oh my God,” Poppy wailed, hands flying to her face. “Tonight?! When did this happen? Germaine didn’t say anything to me!”
“She just told
me,” I said. “It’s really not a big deal, Poppy. He always just sits in the audience, it’s not like—”
“Everything has to be perfect,” she said, and frowned at me. “You know that.”
“Sure,” I said. I didn’t agree with her, but it was easier to keep my mouth shut. “Good luck with that. I have to get in the shower.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Poppy said, seizing my arm. “You’re going to help me.”
“I can’t,” I said. “Seriously, I walked here and I’m super gross. I have to get ready, and Germaine asked me to show the new girl around.”
“Ugh,” Poppy said, utterly disgusted with me for wanting to do my job. “Fine. We’ll see what Germaine has to say about that.”
“Good luck,” I told her, and headed for the back. It was so typical that she’d go running to Germaine to tattle on me. What was Germaine going to say: Oh, Poppy, you’re right, Sassy doesn’t need to do her makeup, she can absolutely go on stage looking like something the cat dragged in!
Workplace politics: even strippers had to deal with them.
Fresh Meat was right where I had left her, sitting on the couch with that deer in the headlights look. “If you’re really that terrified, maybe you shouldn’t work here,” I told her, too annoyed for tact. I opened up my bag and dug out my toiletry kit.
“I’m not terrified,” she said. “That’s just my face.”
“Your customers like you scared?” I asked. “Sweet little girl, all alone in the big world?”
“Basically,” she said.
I laughed. Maybe there was more to this girl than met the eye. “I really need to get in the shower,” I said. “Five minutes. Then we’ll talk. I’ll come up with a better name for you.”
“I’ve already got one,” she said.
“Tawny sucks,” I said.
“Not that,” she said. “I mean I’ve got a different one.”
“Okay, lay it on me,” I said.
“Tempest,” she said.
The girl didn’t look like a storm to me any more than she looked like a Tawny, but whatever. It was better than Tawny, and it hit the right note: the clients liked trashy names because it made them feel like they were doing something naughty. “That’ll do,” I said, and went to get in the shower.
