Stalker CEO: BAD BOY BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE

by Helena Vera

  And my mother was the one who had gotten the brunt of it. I’d watched as she lied to people around us, to Gram, to the police about how she got the broken arm, the cracked rib, the black eye. The day she developed a brain tumor, my father skipped town. I’d watched my mother deteriorate and I’d been with her in the room at the hospital when she took her last breath

  I wash up the dishes while gram sits and scribbles on a notepad a list of items she needs from the supermarket.

  “Hmm, I’ll have to get these later when my car that Reggie brings my car over from the garage.”

  “I’ll get them for you,” I inform her. “I want to get out the house a little anyway.”

  “But what will you do for a car?”

  “I’ll just call a cab,” I tell her.

  “I can’t let you do that. It’s too expensive. We can just wait on the car to be brought around later.”

  “Gram, I insist. I’m taking a cab out anyway even if you don’t get the list.”

  “Alright,” she conceded.

  “Great. Just let me change.”

  The air outside was a bit cool but warmer than in Detroit. I ring the cab company for them to send over a cab and afterwards get dressed. I pull on a short, pleated skirt, navy blue leggings beneath and a burgundy top. I shoved my feet into a pair of booties and grab my purse just as the cab pulled up.

  “I’ve got this gram,” I tell her when she tries to give me money to buy the groceries, “I’ll see you later.”

  I kiss her on the cheek and get into the cab, asking the driver to drop me at Aldi’s supermarket. When I ask if he could wait until I get the groceries, he advises me the meter would be running so I tell him he could go. I could call another cab when I’m ready.

  Before going into the supermarket, I go over to a new clothes store I have never noticed before. I browse a bit deciding they do have some nice outfits but they were a little pricey. As I no longer have a job and couldn’t spend as much, I leave the store and stop at an ice cream shop next door. I have a caramel ice cream on a waffle cone while I stare through the glass enclosure at the people who go by.

  Birmingham isn’t like Detroit at all. It is smaller and not as many people going around. That’s one of the things I like about Birmingham. Detroit tends to be crowdy. There isn’t much to do in Birmingham though which sucks for people who would want to settle here. People around these parts do get crazy about college football though and several persons around have something that display Crimson Tide, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s football team. They wear sweaters, hats, even cars bear the team’s name.

  After spending roughly fifteen minutes eating my waffle cone, and people-watching, I head on over to Aldi’s. I insert a coin in the trolley to get it out of stack and go inside the store. Though gram gave me the list, I also buy some other items that I could use while I’m staying here.

  The queue to cash is long and I have to wait a long time before I finally get to the cashier’s desk. The supermarket is eco-friendly and only uses paperbacks that can be recycled. I pluck a couple from the pile and add it to the counter for the cashier to add it to the list of groceries. I pay with a hundred dollar bill which reminds me that I would need to watch my spending until I find a job.

  I could always stay here in Alabama with my grandmother but that isn’t fair to Jessica plus we both have lease for that apartment so I couldn’t saddle her with the responsibility alone. As soon as I get home I would start job hunting, I decide.

  I push the trolley outside and retrieve my purse to call the cab company again. I’m such a dolt. I should have called them when I was standing in the line waiting for my turn to cash.

  I startle when the phone is plucked from my hands.

  “What the…” I start to say then stare in horror. “You! What are you doing here?”

  Axel is standing beside me, my phone in his hand. He is smirking at me in that insufferable way of his.

  “How foolish of you to think you could escape me so easily,” he responds. “Foolish girl. Don’t you know wherever you go, I’ll find you?”

  My heart skips a beat at his words and I couldn’t deny the thrill that goes through my body. I am supposed to be pissed at him and I am but I’m also feeling triumphant that he has come after me. I was right after all. Now to figure out what it means that Axel would travel all the way from Detroit to find an employee who doesn’t want to be found.

  “I—”

  Before I can finish my thought, a car drives up and two men step out from the front. What the hell! They look like bodyguards.

  “Why are you here?” I ask him but he ignores my question. He opens the car door for me.

  “Get in.”

  The men move towards the trolley and ignoring my protests, load my groceries into the back of the Jaguar.

  “Don’t let me repeat myself Joyce,” he says to me with a sharp voice. “You’re already in big trouble with me. Don’t make it worse. Get in or do you want me to kidnap you. Is that what floats your boat?”

  I get it into the car, sliding over to the far corner to avoid him as he gets into the vehicle beside me. The two men who are with him, occupy the front seats.

  I stare at Axel when he rattles off the address to my grandmother’s house. How does he even know?

  7

  CHAPTER

  The drive to my grandmother’s continues on in awkward. Why doesn’t he say anything? What is he waiting on to blast me with how much he is going to sue me for abandoning my contract? Perhaps he has a summons for me to appear in court for assaulting his security guard.

  I glance surreptitiously at him from the corner of my eye. He seems quite unperturbed, very sure of himself and it scares me because I can’t read his mind. I don’t have a clue what he is thinking or what he will do when we get to our destination.

  “Why are—” I try to ask him what he is doing here but the look he gives me, has me swallowing my words. So this is how it’s going to be. The ball is in his court and I’ll have to go ahead with his leave.

  Even though he isn’t at the office, he is dressed in dark blue trousers and a dress shirt. I am not sure this man ever dresses down. I couldn’t quite picture him wearing a simple pair of jeans and T-shirt. At least he doesn’t have a tie on and had left his jacket. Unfortunately for me, the close-fitting shirt reminds me of how well-defined his chest is and plunge me into the memory of the morning I’d tried to hand in my resignation letter.

  I am appalled that the memory is causing me to get wet. I am confused about why this man who I feel threatened by can have such a profound effect on me and my senses. The smell of him, that same woodsy, earthy smell flood my nostrils until I feel I am cloaked in his essence. It is quite disturbing.

  When my grandmother’s house looms in front of us, I am relieved we are here. Now the show can begin. He would either leave me alone or say what he has to say and leave me alone. Because one thing I am certain of. This man isn’t going to bully me into returning to work for him. Not I would not be tempted. Not by his wealth and not by the deep desire I have to turn to him, unbutton his shirt and run my palms over his chest.

  Good Lord, isn’t an AC in this car? I am burning up. The car comes to a stop outside and I realize my grandmother’s car is in the half-opened garage. Drat! If only I had waited and allowed my grandmother to get the groceries instead. But what would that have changed? Nothing. One way or another Axel would have found me. If he had travelled all this way to Birmingham, nothing would have prevented him from finding me.

  I push the car door open as soon as the car comes to a stop at the porch. The trunk is popped and I go to retrieve my groceries. Axel is there ahead of me, already having most of the bags.

  “I can manage,” I tell him. “You can go back to where you’re coming from.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  He finally speaks! He walks ahead of me towards the house bold as you please. I trail after him with the two bags clutched i
n my hands. I peer at the two men sitting at the front of the car. Are they just going to sit there and wait? That means Axel couldn’t be planning on staying, is he? Foolish girl why would he be staying? The man is here only for you to squirm a bit. He cares nothing about you or are you forgetting the way he treats you?

  “Wait!” I call after Axel but he waltzes through the front door of the house as if he owns the place. Really! The man’s conceit has to be legendary. I hurry after him, not wanting him to scare my grandmother with his unexpected presence.

  “Axel, you can’t just walk into my home,” I begin to chide him but then my grandmother walks in from the back door and my heart sinks.

  “Mr. Ash, you’ve found her,” she says with a smile. “I was afraid you might miss her.”

  “Wait a minute,” I respond to her. “You knew he was coming and told him where I was?”

  She walks into the kitchen after Axel and I have to do the same. What in the world is going on?

  “Of course I didn’t know he was coming,” Gram replies. “As soon as you left Mr. Ash shows up and introduces himself. He’s such a nice man.”

  “Nice?” I exclaim, looking from a smirking Axel to her contented face. Doesn’t she see that smirk that he is wearing.

  “Yes, he’s a very nice man,” Gram continues, then scolds me. “While you’ve been very rude dear. I can’t believe you ran out on your job like that without even two weeks’ notice. That’s not very professional of you, Joyce. And when he’s just taken over the company too and needs someone familiar to work with him.”

  My mouth falls open in astonishment and I would have dropped the grocery bags, hadn’t Axel reach out and take them from me. Just what lies has he been feeding my grandmother for her to be taking his side instead of mine?

  “He and I cannot see eye to eye,” I tell her. “It’s in both our interest for me to quit.”

  “But the way you did it dear,” she insists.

  “Did he tell you—”

  “Joyce, don’t bore your grandmother with unnecessary details,” Axel interrupts me. “I’m sure whatever problem you have working for me, all we need to do is to sit and talk it out and you’ll realize I’m not such an unreasonable man after all.”

  “There’s nothing for us to talk about,” I respond in a waspish tone.

  “Joyce!” Gram continues her scolding. “Now that’s no way to talk to your boss. It would do you well to be grateful he’s still trying to let you keep your job given the way you are acting all insubordinate. This is your boss!”

  “Gram, you don’t know him!” I protest for all the good it is doing me. The man has weaved some sort of spell over her and she refuses to listen to a word I am saying.

  “I forgot to put some items on that list,” Gram remarks. “I’ll run on down to Walmart and pick them up. Also give you two some time to talk.”

  I begin to panic, wanting to ask her not to leave me here with him but that’s rather childish.

  “Thanks for being so understanding, Gram.” Axel smiles fondly at her.

  Gram? Gram? How dares he call my grandmother gram? I fume silently as my grandmother beam and starts out of the kitchen.

  “Joyce, don’t forget what we talked about this morning,” she comments before walking out.

  What we talked about this morning? How does that relate to Axel? We had spoken about relationships and the only relationship I want with Axel Ash is the one where he is my ex-employer. Nothing more.

  The front door closes, announcing gram’s departure. My whole body is rigid, ready to flee as I become conscious that I am now alone with Axel. I want to run after gram, jump into her car with her and drive away. Away from Axel and the confusing things he makes me feel for him. Even at this minute, I am furious at him but can’t help feeling a little excited at the thought that could gram be right?

  Is Axel attracted to me and I am not reading his mixed signals right? I couldn’t believe that. I sense nothing from this man but contempt for me. Why make the life of someone you are attracted to a living hell?

  “You ran out on me,” he says in a steely voice. “You thought I wouldn’t know what you were up to?”

  “I didn’t run out on you,” I refute his claim. “I resigned. You have my resignation letter on your desk to prove it.”

  “You’re forgetting something Joyce. I didn’t approve your resignation letter.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass if you do. Threaten me all you want, I won’t let you intimidate me.”

  With one long stride he has me cornered, the imposing wall of his chest to my front and the kitchen sink to my back. I think about running to the left or right but he places his hands firmly on the counter top either side of me, trapping me within the imposing box of his masculinity.

  “You’ve not begun to see intimidation yet, baby,” he hisses at me and my belly bottom drops at the term of endearment. But the way he says it, is unflattering. “I get you not showing up for work but why leave your apartment? Why leave your city and run halfway across the country? Are we playing Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf?”

  He does seem like the Big Bad Wold right this minute the way he is staring at me like he is going to snap my head off my body.

  “I- I wanted to see my grandmother,” I respond, licking my lip nervously. He is too close and I am not sure how much longer I could manage breathing with him so close to me. We are almost chest to chest.

  “You’re lying. Honesty isn’t your strong suit, is it Joyce?”

  I confirm his prognosis by blushing bright red.

  “By the way you should know Joyce, anywhere you go I’ll find you,” he threatens in a quiet voice. “It might not be as quickly as I found you today because you were dumb enough to leave your computer screen up with your flight information on it. But even if it takes me a whole damn year, if you run to the ends of the earth, I’ll find you and bring you back.”

  Fear runs through me and I shudder. I would think he is joking but the look in his eyes says he is dead serious. His face is hard and unreadable.

  I snap and push hard against his chest. “You’re insane. Please go away.”

  He takes both my hands in his and holds them to his chest. “Be honest with yourself Joyce. You don’t really want me to go away do you? There was a part of you waiting for me to find you, wasn’t there? Weren’t you disappointed for the last couple of days when I didn’t call you and demand you return to your job?”

  I swallow hard and try to pull my hands out of his but he isn’t about to let that happen. Suddenly he lets go and I feel disappointed but before I could register why I feel that way, he takes my face between his hands and his lips claim mine.

  The touch of his lips against mine is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. His lips are softer than they seem when you look at them. They cling to mine, sucking on my bottom lip, teasing my mouth open. On a gasp, I involuntarily part my lips and he plunge his tongue into my mouth. Waves of ecstasy roil around in my belly. I feel myself falling so I grab hold of his shoulders as he deepen the kiss.

  Axel crushes me to his chest while pressing me back into the kitchen counter. He cups my round bottom, lifting me slightly, fitting our pelvis together and his arousal presses between the V of my legs. Breathless, I dig my fingers into the hard muscles of his shoulders and tentatively insert my tongue into his mouth. He sucks on the tip of my tongue and each tugging motion pulls at my womb.

  I run my hands down his chest, gasping at the rigid muscles I come in contact with. Oh God, what is this man doing to me? I can’t think. My brain scrambles from the myriad of sensation he is creating inside me. I want to feel him more intimately against me. My breasts ache and the nipples are hard, seeking for attention.

  “Axel,” I moan into his mouth.

  He wrenches himself away from me so suddenly, I almost fall from the loss of contact. I clutch at the counter behind my back to support the weakness in my knees. He looks unperturbed while I am quite shattered by the kiss we
just share.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow at ten,” he announces. “Be ready for us to leave for Detroit. And Joyce, don’t think about running. Next time, I’ll not be so understanding.”

  He walks out of the house and I sag against the counter, my hand going to my kiss-swollen lips. Axel kissed me. And I kissed him right back. The ache between my legs and in my breasts remind me of his body press up against mine. I plunge trembling fingers through my hair, my body shaking.

  Just what have I gotten myself into?

  8

  CHAPTER

  Five minutes after ten. I sigh in relief. I’d been stupid for packing and he isn’t here. I didn’t take him for someone who disregards time which means he probably had time to think last night and realized how ridiculous he was being for insisting I return with him to Detroit. A pang of disappointment makes my heart heavy. I’d thought…

  I push the thought from my mind. I’d thought nothing. Axel had kissed me yesterday. So what? He must have kissed dozens of women in his lifetime and he is still a single man. Why should I think that kiss yesterday means anything to him? It doesn’t mean anything to me either.

  But I am lying to myself. I’d never been kissed like that before and last night as I lay in bed, I’d relived it, my body aching so much that I’d had to pleasure myself. I’d not done anything of the sort since being a teenager but las night, pent up with sexual frustration I’d had to.

  I go over to the mirror and scowl at myself for taking extra care with my appearance this morning. The black and white sleeveless polka dot dress with pleated skirts and V-neck reaches mid-thigh. With It, I am wearing a pair of black wedges. I’d plaited my hair in a single French braid over one shoulder and curled the tendrils of the hair that escaped from the braid about my heart-shaped face.