The Billionaire's Last Fling (Scandal, Inc Book 5)

by Avery James

  “I think I’ll take a minute to look around,” he told the agent.

  “Of course. I’ll wait here,” the agent said.

  He pulled out his phone and texted Abby. He'd tried her the night before, but she hadn't responded. He was starting to think that it had been a mistake not to go upstairs with her. The one time in his life he decided to act with an eye towards the future and all he did was manage to anger the woman he couldn't stop thinking about. Or didn’t. He was in uncharted territory as far as relationships went. Usually, after a few dates, he was pushing women away, but something about Abby was different. Something about him was different. He knew it.

  Deep down, he wanted her in a way he’d never wanted anything before. It wasn’t just lust. He’d been through that plenty of times before. If it had been that, her confession that night in the restaurant about how she’d only wanted a fling would have been a relief. Instead, he’d taken it as a challenge. One last fling. Maybe she’d be his one last fling, he’d thought. The funny thing was, it hadn’t occurred to him that he needed to change until she’d said that. He’d known he was sick and tired of his lifestyle. He’d outgrown it, but he hadn’t known what the alternative was. Finding a wife of suitable lineage and living a life his parents would approve of? That held no interest for him. Neither did the whole white picket fence thing.

  Then Abby happened.

  Deep down, he’d always thought of relationships as being transactional. Two people coming together to get what they needed. Sex, money, fame, a little fantasy or denial, relationships always seemed like a means to an end for both parties. Abby had summed it up better than he ever could have. He seemed like the perfect guy for a meaningless fling. And he was. Until Abby.

  When he was with her, it wasn’t about what was next. It wasn’t about the sex or the humor or the comfort he felt when he lay next to her in bed. It was about being, simply being, living each moment for each other, with each other. A few weeks with Abby made him realize that he’d been alone his entire life.

  And suddenly he wasn’t.

  And he was ready to do whatever it took to hold onto what he had with Abby, to nurture it, to live it. All his life, he’d been working towards something. Now he had something, and it was pure and beautiful, and he wasn’t going to pretend it didn’t mean something.

  He needed to talk to her. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he knew that as soon as he saw her, the words would come, and if they didn’t, they’d come when the time was right. All he knew was he needed to be with her.

  Regretting my decision, he wrote.

  Last night? Me too, she replied.

  I meant the sweater, he wrote instead.

  I knew you'd come around.

  No, I'm regretting not buying a second one. I thought maybe we could wear a matching set.

  Is it too late to rethink my yes?

  Absolutely. You’re stuck with me.

  In that case…

  Something I need to ask you, he wrote. As soon as he sent the message, he regretted it. It wasn't the kind of thing you asked via text. It would just send entirely the wrong message. Besides, it wouldn't give him any opportunity to explain himself. "Never mind, we'll talk about it later."

  Does it have to do with sweaters? Abby asked.

  It’s nothing, he replied. We’ll talk about it later.

  How about now? was her reply.

  Great. He should have known better. She was like a dog with a bone when she only knew part of a story.

  I'll tell you later. You around tonight?

  Today, Abby replied. She sent him the address of a coffee shop. I'm here until the afternoon.

  It's a date.

  Nolan almost forgot about the leasing agent on the way out. He was wondering what exactly he was going to say to Abby. It was unlike him to be unsure of himself, especially when it came to women, but the stakes were higher now. He liked her. He was relatively sure it was much more than that, but he didn’t want to screw things up. He found himself staring down at the carpet again when the agent returned.

  “So… what’s the verdict?” the agent asked.

  “I’m going to go for it,” Nolan said. In truth, he was still thinking about Abby.

  “Wonderful, when would you like to move in?”

  Right, the office. "As soon as possible,” he said. “I’ll have someone sign the paperwork this afternoon.”

  “That was simple,” the agent said with a laugh and a look of surprise. “Usually, folks try to negotiate every last detail.”

  “You’ve got to choose your battles,” Nolan said, and a back and forth over carpet colors and office furniture was not what he had in mind for his afternoon.

  Once the office was open and the website was off the ground, he wouldn’t have an excuse to stay in D.C. any longer. When Nolan had arrived in D.C., he’d had a plan. It was simple. He was going to start his new website and flip the town on its head. He’d done the exact same thing many times before. But he hadn’t planned on Abby. He hadn’t planned on falling for her, and he had a feeling that things were going to be anything but simple.

  Chapter 15

  Abby looked down at the napkin she’d grabbed to jot down notes. Instead, she’d been doodling hearts like a love-sick teenager. After texting with him, she’d drifted off and gotten lost in thought. She kept thinking back on her trip with Nolan to the point where she was almost oblivious to the coffee shop around her. She was thinking about the trip he’d proposed to Scotland. She needed to snap out of this and get back to being herself, at least when she was at work. She looked across the street. There was still no sign of activity at Andrew Heck’s brownstone. Abby couldn’t wait for this assignment to be over. Hopefully, this would be an uneventful day.

  “What’s up?” Maggie asked. “You’re somewhere else today.” Abby looked at her. It was still hard to believe Maggie was pregnant. She was going to be one of those women who stayed thin except for a perfectly round belly, and then within of few weeks of birth, she’d be back to size zero.

  “Scotland,” Abby said without offering further explanation.

  “Ah, ancestral land of kilted men and suave media moguls?” Maggie asked.

  “Nolan wants me to go to Scotland with him,” she said.

  “Scotland?” Maggie asked. “For a weekend, or?”

  “To meet his parents.”

  Maggie’s eyes widened. “Woah. You two are getting serious. Trip to Vermont, meeting the parents. He’s going to have a ring on your finger before election day.” She held up her own engagement ring like it was proof her statement was true.

  Abby snorted and shook her head. “This is exactly why I can’t go. I like him, Maggie. But I don’t think I’m being rational. Going on that trip, work aside, would do me in. I’d never recover.” She held up the sheet of paper. “Ugh, I’m already doodling his name.”

  "What do you mean you aren't going to go?" Maggie asked. She was hungrily looking at the scone Abby had gotten for herself. Abby pushed it forward, and Maggie grabbed it and took a bite. “You're wild about him. He's wild about you,” she said as she chewed. “I’m sure Scotland is beautiful this time of year. He has a private freaking jet. You can bring me back more of these.” With another bite, the scone was almost gone. Usually, she ate like a bird, but pregnant Maggie knew how to eat. “Give me one reason why you shouldn’t.”

  “One reason? My job.”

  “This isn’t exactly our hardest case,” Maggie said. “We’re babysitting. It’s not like the insanity last fall with the senate majority leader and those two Venezuelan nuns. Thank God that the—”

  Abby raised a finger to her lips and shook her head, cutting Maggie off before she got to the really salacious details of that incident. They weren’t even supposed to discuss the details of that case or any case, really. “Those will be some beautiful children with some legitimate questions.”

  “Come on, what’s the real reason for not wanting to go? I’ve never known you not t
o trust yourself,” Maggie asked. She had turned to look at the rows of baked goods at the front counter, eyeing them as she waited for a response.

  "I don't know," Abby said. “What if the magic wears off? What if I'm just his D.C. girl, and when he brings me back to his real life, he realizes I'm not all that special." Abby was usually very self-confident, but her feelings for Nolan left her feeling more vulnerable than she had since she was a teenager wondering who would ask her to the prom.

  “I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Maggie said. "I know that look. I've seen it before. Take a chance on him. Besides, you know you’re special. Abby Love-‘em-and-Leave-’em Hardigan.”

  "I don't know," Abby said. "The election is less than a month away."

  "And everything's going fine, right?"

  "Yeah," Abby lied. "Everything's going great." How could she tell her friend that she was being blackmailed by the senator's husband and had never felt so demoralized in her life?

  "Take a long weekend. Recharge and come back. You'll thank yourself. And you'll thank me. There's no arguing with the pregnant lady," she said. “Have you tried the panini here? I could totally go for pickles right now. I won’t even tell you how much I want pickles. The important thing is that you keep your eyes on the things that matter, like the fact that we can do double dates and hang out even more."

  "You're getting ahead of yourself," Abby said. "We've only been seeing each other for a few weeks, and I don't even know how serious it is."

  "Has he been to your place?"

  "Yeah," Abby said.

  "Then it's serious."

  "Why is that the mark of it being serious?"

  "Who was the last guy you brought back to your place?"

  "I don't know," Abby said.

  “Exactly. Because it's been that long," Maggie replied. “I get it. You’re not used to actually liking the men you sleep with.”

  Abby laughed. “Well, that is true.”

  “Come on, I can’t believe I’m the one giving this advice to you, but don’t overthink it. You’re Abby Hardigan, and any guy would be lucky to have you.” Maggie drifted off in thought for a second before adding, “Oh my god, we should do a joint vacation!"

  "So pregnancy is a total rollercoaster of emotion?" Abby asked.

  Maggie shook her head. "I want to cry right now for no reason. Or maybe it's because I'm really happy for you. I don't know. No. You know what, I do know. You said you wanted to take the next step and you wanted a serious relationship, and now that your relationship is getting serious, you're starting to freak out. Don't worry. You deserve this. You deserve to be happy. And I deserve another pastry for being such a supportive friend." With that settled, Maggie got up from the table and marched up to the counter.

  Maggie was halfway through her second panini of the afternoon when the twins arrived for an afternoon check-in.

  “How did it go last night?” Maggie asked. “Liz has really stepped things up,” she told Abby.

  “He hit on me,” Liz said flatly. “The man is older than my father and he hit on me.”

  “They’re not all like this,” Abby said.

  “I know, we’re splitting time between this case and one where the guy has a tendency to say the dumbest thing at any given time.”

  “Ah, the judge,” Abby said. “Despite all the swearing, he’s a sweetheart.”

  “What should we do about him in the future?” Sam asked.

  Abby looked across the table at Maggie and wondered what to say.

  “What was that look for?” Liz asked.

  “Nothing,” Abby said.

  “They’ll hear the story eventually,” Maggie told her.

  “I once stranded a client in an elevator to keep him from doing something he’d regret.”

  “You didn’t,” Sam said. She had her hands over her face in disbelief.

  “Officially? No,” Maggie interrupted. “It never happened, if you catch my drift.”

  “Loud and clear, mama bear,” Liz said.

  Maggie shot Abby a look.

  “What happened after that?” Liz asked.

  “He came around to seeing things my way.”

  “If you pulled that one on Andrew Heck, I would have given you a medal,” Abby said.

  “She’s joking,” Maggie told them.

  “Only half,” Abby said. She scanned the coffee house for any familiar faces. She didn’t like the fact that they were tailing an uncooperative man who’d had run ins with two of them.

  “I think I’ll keep my distance,” Liz said. “I have no interest in him handcuffing me.”

  “Handcuffs?” I think we need to have a talk with this guy,” Abby said.

  “Let’s just give it a few days,” Maggie said. “Liz and Sam have agreed to take the Heck assignment on Saturday night.”

  “I can do it,” Abby said.

  “You can’t,” Maggie said, “because you and Nolan are joining Harry and me on a double date. The twins can handle it.”

  Liz and Sam looked at each other and then at Maggie in confusion.

  “You guys knew about that nickname, right?” Maggie said.

  Abby got the distinct impression they hadn’t.

  “We’ve got it,” Liz said. “If we need anything, we’ll call.” She grabbed her coffee and stood up.

  “We have that CEO to see to,” Sam added as she tagged behind. “The nickname is fine. You should hear what we call you guys.”

  Abby looked at her.

  “That’s a joke, by the way,” Sam said as she followed Liz outside.

  When they were gone, Maggie hung her head for a second. “I can’t believe I told them the nickname,” she said.

  “At least you didn’t mention it’s because I couldn’t tell them apart for the first week,” Abby said. “It’s probably just pregnancy brain.”

  Maggie’s eyes got wide. “It’s so real. The other day I forgot the word pen. The further along I get, the stranger the lapses are. I just need to get through this election, and everything will be fine.”

  “I think we all feel that way,” Abby said. She knew she did. “Hey, there’s something I need to tell you. It has to do with the case.”

  “What is it?” Maggie asked.

  Abby walked around the table and took a seat next to Maggie. She leaned in and said softly, “Andrew Heck showed up at my place the other night. I thought it was Nolan, and so I buzzed him up. He came in and threatened me.”

  “He what?” Maggie said. “Does Amy know?”

  “No, you’re the first person I’ve told,” Abby said. “I don’t want it to be a thing. I have it under control, but I thought you should know.”

  “You need to tell her,” Maggie said. “He showed up at your place?”

  “Yeah,” Abby said.

  “Does Nolan know? You said you were waiting for him.”

  “God no. If I told him, I don’t even want to think of what he’d do.”

  “You need to tell Amy,” Maggie repeated.

  “Give me a little time to figure out what to say, ok?” Abby asked.

  “If anything ever happened,” Maggie said.

  “I’d handle it,” Abby replied. “You know I would.”

  Just then, Maggie’s eyes widened, and she looked towards the door. “Nolan!” she said excitedly as she waved to him. “Over here. There’s something we need to talk about.”

  Abby shot her a look and tensed up. Maggie wasn’t really going to tell Nolan about this whole thing, was she? He’d probably jog over to Andrew Heck’s house and break down the door.

  Nolan took a seat next to Abby and slid a little closer as he addressed Maggie. “What did I do now?”

  “Abby didn’t want me to do this, but I feel like your arrival here is a sign.”

  Nolan looked from Maggie to Abby and back again. He was grinning. “Well, if Abby’s against it…” he said.

  “Do you have plans for Saturday night?” Maggie asked.

  Nolan shook his head no.
>
  Maggie was practically squirming in her seat as she smiled back at him. “Well, you do now.”

  ***

  The next day found them back at the coffee shop. Abby and Maggie had gotten so bored waiting for something to happen across the street that they were reminiscing about old cases. Maggie also talked for what felt like two hours about the possible options they had for their double date that weekend. She also talked about possible topics of conversation and ways they could foster a friendship between Nolan and her husband, Harry.

  “They’ll be fine,” Abby said. “They’re guys, and they like the two of us. Surely they have something in common.”

  “Harry doesn’t always play well with others,” Maggie said.

  “Come on, he’s a sweetheart.” Abby could only hope her relationship with Nolan was as successful as Maggie’s relationship with Harry.

  “He’s sweet, but he likes to do his own thing,” Maggie said.

  “So does Nolan. Plus they’re both rich, so they’ll have that to talk about.”

  “I’d almost forgotten,” Maggie said. “Maybe they both use the same offshore bank in the Caymans.”

  Abby looked at Maggie for a moment. “I’m not sure if you’re joking. Any offshore accounts you want to declare? We can see if there are any IRS employees around.”

  “I have no recollection,” Maggie said in a faux serious tone. Then, suddenly, her whole demeanor changed. “Incoming.”

  “The husband?” Abby asked. “He’s coming in here?” This was very not good. She still hadn’t told Maggie about what had happened with Andrew Heck. She wanted to figure out the right way to explain it. For the moment, that was under control, but it would only take one public confrontation to undo everything.

  “No, the reporter,” Maggie said.

  Over her shoulder, Abby caught a glimpse of Erin as she walked into the cafe.