by Cassie Cross
As if she knew he was thinking about her, she stood up and knocked on his door.
“Come in,” he said.
Abigail walked in, and Cole couldn’t help but stare at the curves of her body, accentuated by her form-fitting sweater and pencil skirt.
“You caused quite the stir today,” she told him, bending over as she sat down and giving Cole a good look at her luscious breasts. If there was any privacy in this place, he’d have her. Right here, right now.
“I don’t pay attention to office gossip, Abigail. And you would do well not to pay attention to it either,” Cole said, admiring the stray strand of hair that curled across her forehead.
“Do you feel bad about that? About what happened?” she asked.
“If you had to do what I just did, would you feel bad about it?”
Without hesitation, she answered. “I’d be thinking about his family. And worried about how he’d pay his mortgage.”
Cole admired her compassion. But something she would have to learn when it came to the business world was that sometimes she had to separate the person from the position. “His mortgage is not my responsibility, Abigail. I paid him—handsomely, I might add—to perform a service. He didn’t deliver. It was only a matter of time before his carelessness impacted other people in this office. Other people in this company. I have a responsibility to everyone who works here, not just him.”
Abigail nodded, understanding filling her eyes. “I guess that’s why you’re the CEO and I’m an assistant.”
Cole didn’t like the implication in her words, that she wasn’t smart enough to be in his position. He wanted to disabuse her of that notion immediately. “Nonsense,” he replied, waving his hand dismissively. “I had the benefit of a trust fund, a father with an incredible amount of business acumen and more money than he knew what to do with.”
Abigail stared at him, eyes wide.
“What?”
She shook her head as a small grin curled her lips. “I’m just surprised to hear you admit it.”
“Everyone knows my family history. It does me no good to pretend that it doesn’t exist.”
Abigail was looking at him as if she was genuinely impressed. It was a look that made Cole want to sit up straighter and stand taller. He liked what that look did to him.
“Listen,” she said, staring down at her note pad. “In the meeting Jack mentioned that he was looking at outsourcing to lower the tax burden-”
“I’m not looking for a tax break, I’m looking for a profit.”
Abigail bit her lip, a sure sign of frustration. Cole couldn’t help but grin, even as he chastised himself for interrupting her.
“You had me take a look at our real estate portfolio a few days ago. It’s true that our production is lagging in the midwest. The packaging warehouse in Kansas City is only operating at twenty-five percent of its current capacity. Couldn’t we move the production center to that warehouse and combine the operations? We’d double production for only slightly more overhead, and you’d be using space you already have in an area that needs the job growth. We all know how you feel about outsourcing.”
Cole loathed outsourcing; it seemed everyone understood that but Jack. He grinned at Abigail, feeling a sense of pride for her that he’d never experienced before. Every time he gave her a challenge, she shattered his expectations.
“I was wondering if you would figure that out,” Cole said. It was a lie, though. He never wondered if she’d figure it out. He only wondered how long it would take her. She was a beautiful, radiant, intelligent woman. One of the best he had working for him, which is why his indiscretion with her was so utterly foolish. But what was done was done, and Cole never made a habit of dwelling on the past.
“What, it was a test?” she asked.
“Perhaps,” he replied as he jotted a note to himself on his notepad.
“Did I pass?”
“Perhaps.” He grinned.
Abigail was silent for a moment, and when Cole looked up he saw her wringing her hands together, twisting her fingers into white-knuckled knots. There was a nervousness about her that he didn’t see very often.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I’m not sure how I should bring this up, because I don’t want you to think that I think we’re more than we are. But I recognize that there’s…I don’t know…something going on between you and me.”
“What are you asking me?” Cole shifted in his seat, attempting to ignore the nerves in his stomach.
“I’m friendly with one of the associates here,” she began, still twisting her fingers and looking at the floor. “He asked me out for drinks on Thursday. It’s platonic, but I…I didn’t want to ruffle your feathers, and I just thought…I don’t know.”
It was Hamilton, Cole knew that much. Conniving bastard. The thing was, Cole had come here with only a hint of a plan to somehow get the two of them together so that Josh could ask Abigail for whatever he was going to ask her for. He’d wanted to set this exact chain of events in motion, only he wasn’t such a fan of the plan now that it was Josh’s idea to ask her out. Cole didn’t have any control over the situation, and it drove him mad. What drove him madder still, was the fact that the flirtation between Josh and Abby that Cole had only seen on paper was beginning to become real to him, and it drove him crazy.
Abigail, she was his. And he would be damned if he was going to let this thief steal her from him. But he had his company to consider…
“You’re asking me for permission?” Cole said, trying to buy himself some time for an appropriate reaction.
She shook her head, grinning a little. “No. I actually don’t know what I’m asking. I just wanted you to know.”
“Who is this coworker?”
Abigail looked at him with that knowing smile, one that made him weak in the knees. “I’m not telling you that.”
“Well, now I know,” he replied. There was a bitter edge to his voice, which seemed to surprise Abigail.
“Okay then,” she said, slowly standing.
She made her way out the door, all the while Cole gripped his pen, practically bending it in half as he attempted to keep the wave of possessiveness that flooded through him at bay. In that moment, Cole would’ve let Josh Hamilton steal everything he owned to prevent him from coming within a foot of Abigail.
That’s when Cole realized that he was in way too deep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
COLE LEFT the hotel without Abby for the first time on the third day they were in Chicago. Before they had left New York, he had asked her to block off the entire afternoon on his calendar, but he didn’t tell her why. Cole had a habit of being secretive, but that sort of thing became an issue when he received emergency calls from the New York office. Particularly when one of those calls was from Charles Findlay, the owner of a small software firm that Cole had been trying to buy out for the past few weeks.
What made today particularly maddening for Abby was that for whatever reason, Cole had turned off his phone.
She called Jessica, the receptionist in the Chicago office, trying not to sound frantic.
“Have you seen Mr. Kerrigan today?” Abby asked, feeling utterly ridiculous that she just called Cole by his last name.
“No,” Jessica replied, sounding unimpressed. “He called a couple of times earlier this morning, but he hasn’t come into the office.”
“Thanks.” Abby ended the call without saying goodbye.
Tapping her phone against her knee, Abby tried to figure out what to do next. If Cole was due back in the office in an hour or so, she wouldn’t sweat it. But it was two-thirty, and Cole’s calendar was marked off until six. She knew he didn’t drive wherever it was that he went, and it wasn’t like him to take a cab. That left the car service.
Abby grabbed her bag and shoved her room key inside, then ran to the elevator. In the lobby, she asked the desk clerk to call their driver, Tony. As luck would have it, he was actually at the hotel.
&
nbsp; “Tell him I need him to take me somewhere,” Abby told the clerk breathlessly. She nodded.
Abby stood out in front of the hotel, under the huge awning that covered the driveway. Since Cole was gone most of the morning, Abby was working in a loose-fitting pair of khakis and a long-sleeved cotton v-neck. She didn’t even have any makeup on. Seeing how horribly underdressed she was even at the hotel, she wondered if she should go back up to the room and change. If she could convince Tony to take her wherever he’d taken Cole, who knew what kind of situation she would be walking into.
When Tony pulled around, he got out of the car and opened the back door for Abby. A hulking man, he seemed like a big teddy bear. Abby would see how big in just a second.
“Where to, Ms. Waters?” Tony asked.
“Wherever it is that you drove Mr. Kerrigan earlier,” Abby told him, her voice firm. She could tell that he was reluctant to take her there.
“Mr. Kerrigan told me not to come back until six-fifteen.”
Abby bit her lip, trying to figure out what to do next. Maybe the truth would work the best.
“Tony, he’s turned off his cell phone, and he has an important business deal that will fall through if I don’t reach him. We don’t have time to wait until six-fifteen. Please,” she begged. “Take me where he is and I swear you won’t get in trouble.” She really couldn’t make that kind of promise, but he didn’t need to know that.
He thought about Abby’s offer for a few seconds, and then relented. “Get in.”
She didn’t ask him where they were going, mostly because she was afraid to find out. All she could think about were a number of different scenarios, each one worse than the one before. Would she find him in a hotel room somewhere fucking his Chicago regular? Was he out on a drug run? Could he be an addict? Maybe that’s why he was so secretive all the time.
Abby, don’t be a moron. No way is Cole on drugs; he’s too obsessed with his body. He could be with his family for all you know. Maybe they live here in the city.
Abby’s mind was spinning with one ridiculous theory after another when the car finally came to a stop. She hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings while Tony was driving. They were in a neighborhood full of apartment buildings, in front of a square brick structure that looked a lot like a school.
A school? Does he have a kid here? Abby shook that thought right out of her head. He couldn’t have kept a child a secret, and even if he did have one there was no way he would’ve sent that kid to public school. She took a deep breath as Tony opened the car door for her, and she noticed the worried look in his eyes, still walking that fine line between wondering if he was doing something wrong by bringing her her, or if he’d be doing something wrong if he hadn’t. Abby tried to reassure him.
“It’s okay,” she said, smiling. “I’ll take the heat if he’s angry.” She patted his arm. “I don’t know if he’ll be glad I came here, but I do know that he’ll be angry if this deal falls through because I didn’t try to find him.” Abby realized that she sounded like she was trying to reassure herself, too.
“He went in there,” Tony said, pointing to a pair of red doors to their right, on the far side of the building.
Abby nodded, thanked him, and told him to come back at six-fifteen like Cole asked him to. Her heart was racing as she approached the building, pumping nervous electricity that vibrated throughout her body. She took a deep breath as she opened the door. The handle was cool against her fingers.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she stepped inside. It was too late to turn back now.
The story continues with
The Billionaire’s Desire #3: The Billionaire’s Secret
CHAPTER ONE
HIGH-PITCHED squeaks from the bottoms of tennis shoes on hardwood floors echoed throughout the gym as Cole dribbled the basketball, standing at least two feet taller than any of his opponents. He was so sweaty that his hair stuck to his forehead and his soaked t-shirt clung to his back, but he felt incredibly alive and was having the time of his life. He always had the time of his life when he was in this building with these kids.
“You’re cheating!” a little boy named Ramon yelled as he laughed, his tiny, crooked teeth jutting out from his huge smile.
Cole playfully placed his palm on Ramon’s forehead, preventing him from making a play for the ball.
“Here’s a life lesson for you,” Cole said to the kids gathered around him, hanging on his every word. “Using something to your advantage isn’t cheating. I’m tall, so I have long arms. Using my height and my arm length to keep the ball away from you isn’t cheating, it’s strategy. Just like being short is an advantage for you.”
“Not in basketball!” Ramon cried, is little arms flailing.
“Sure it is. If you stole this ball from me, it’d be easy for you to keep it away. You have a lower center of gravity than I do and can make plays closer to the floor,” Cole said as he dribbled the ball.
“Show us!” a girl named Alicia yelled. Cole had only met her a couple of times, but he liked her curiosity and the fact that she wasn’t afraid to take charge and ask questions.
“Okay, first-” Cole cut the sentence short when he turned and saw Abigail standing on the far side of the gym, right next to the doors. He blinked, certain she was a figment of his imagination, but she remained right where she was.
What in the hell is she doing here? Cole fought to quell the burning anger that was building inside him. He’d specifically told her to block off this time and that the appointment was private. What on earth would possess her to come looking for me?
Cole marched toward her with a furrowed brow, tension rolling off of him in waves. He knew he must’ve looked harsh when he saw the expression on Abigail’s face: wide eyes and red cheeks. She looked like she wanted to run. He never wanted to see that expression aimed at him again, so he made it a point to take a few breaths to calm himself down before he spoke to her. When he finally reached her, he felt cooler, more at ease.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice low so that the volunteers sitting on the bench a few feet away wouldn’t hear him. “I told you to block off this time. What I do with it is none of your business.” He clenched and unclenched his hands, trying to work out his annoyance. He didn’t mean to sound so harsh.
“I’m not spying on you.” Abigail explained, her words very soft.
“What are you doing then?”
“Charles Findlay called,” she said in a rush, holding her cell phone out toward Cole. “He wants to make a deal, but he gave you a deadline. I was worried you wouldn’t get back in time. I tried to call you but your phone is off.”
Cole felt like an ass. Of course she would try to find him when Findlay called; that was her job. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked to his left. The volunteers quickly shifted their eyes, pretending like they weren’t eavesdropping.
“It’s okay,” Cole replied, giving Abigail a small smile.
“I’ll go, I shouldn’t have come. I just thought you’d be angry if I waited.”
“You’re right, I would’ve been angry. You did the right thing.” Cole pinched the collar of his shirt, lifted it up, then wiped his face with it. He motioned toward the bleachers. “Have a seat over there. By the time Tony gets you back to the hotel, he’s just going to have to come back here to pick me up.”
“Please don’t be hard on him. I was adamant about coming here to find you. He was just doing what I told him to.”
Cole laughed. “You think I don’t know how you are when you’re on a mission? Tony has nothing to worry about. Just have a seat.”
Abigail turned and walked toward the bleachers, and Cole wondered if this wasn’t an opportunity after all, a chance to show her what kind of man he really was.
CHAPTER TWO
“YOU CAN sit here,” a young woman said to Abby, patting the empty space on the bench beside her. Her skin was a honeyed brown, and her hair bounced in tight spirals tha
t fell just below her shoulders. This woman was gorgeous, and if Abby had to guess, she’d say she was about twenty or so.
“I’m Michele,” the young woman said, holding out her hand. Abby shook it, noting her firm grip.
“Abigail.” Abby closed her eyes and smiled before correcting herself. “Abby, actually. Call me Abby.” She’d become accustomed to being called by her full name for the past few days. So accustomed that it was strange to hear her preferred nickname spoken aloud.
The thumping of the basketball resumed as Cole and the kids continued their game. Abby sat in silence watching them until her curiosity got the better of her.
“So, what’s going on here?” she asked Michelle.
“It’s a pickup game. We have one every afternoon.”
“But why is Cole playing?”
Michelle looked at Abby as if she had a third eye. “You don’t know?”
Abby shook her head, completely confused. “Know what?”
Michelle scooted closer to Abby, leaning in so their conversation would be a little more private. “He funds this community center. Several of them, actually. Here in Chicago and a few other cities. He comes in every once in a while to play with the kids and check up on things.”
Abby was completely shocked. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Cole had such kindness in him, but she just never imagined that it would manifest itself in this way. She watched him playing with the children, looking more alive than she’d ever seen him, looking more human than he ever had, and this tiny blossom of warmth began opening up inside of her. It started in her chest and traveled all the way down to her toes, making her legs feel like jelly.
“He funds this center?” Abby repeated. I am a complete moron.
Michelle nodded, smiling. “Yeah, you didn’t know?”
“I didn’t,” Abby admitted. She wondered how many other things like this she didn’t know about Cole, and for the first time since she started working for him, she was dying to find them all out. He was a puzzle, and now that Abby had found a few pieces, it would be little easier to put the others in place. She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips.
