Catching Fire: Educating Ellie (Billionaire Romance Series Book 1)

by T. N. King

  The first board member to arrive after him was his good buddy and golf partner, Chance Givens.

  “Morgan,” he said with a smile and extended a handshake. “Has it been a month already?”

  Morgan looked up from his laptop and smiled. “Chance. I guess it has.” He stood to shake his hand and offer his friend the seat next to him.

  “You’re here early,” Chance noted.

  “Yeah,” Morgan agreed. “I just kind of want to make my appearance and then—disappear for the next few days.”

  “Got big plans, huh?”

  “Kind of,” Morgan said as he returned to his laptop. Something big planned with a little woman that seemed to loom large in his mind. Visions kept appearing in his mind of her face when he finally entered her after having her beg him to do so. He shoved away the erotic fantasy. BIG plans.

  “Do tell,” Chance urged and leaned in close to see what Morgan was doing.

  Morgan minimized his screen and swiveled his chair around to face him. “Oh, you know, just a business opportunity I’ve discovered in good ole’ Philly.” He folded his hands and rested them on his abs as he reclined a bit in his seat.

  “Business opportunity, huh?” Chance looked doubtful, he knew him better than most

  “Yeah,” Morgan continued. “An old diner burned down earlier this week. I’ve donated the materials and labor to fix it. Might open up some doors in that area. I’m going down there today to check it out.”

  “An old diner, huh?” Chance regarded him with a suspicious glance. “Sounds like there might be more to it,” he added and raised a brow at him.

  Morgan shrugged. “There’s always something more to it.”

  Chance laughed. “If I know you, I bet there’s a girl down there that you’re trying to impress.”

  Morgan chuckled. “Do you really think I need to try to impress anyone, Chance?”

  “I suppose $4.2 billion does most of that for you, huh?”

  Morgan scowled. Chance was a longtime friend. They regularly joked with each other about everything, but this last comment left a sour taste in Morgan’s mouth. It wasn’t his money that Ellie was impressed with, was it? And why should he care? After all, he only wanted to have sex with her. Or so, he tried to convince himself. Just get a taste and be satiated, right? Before he had time to respond to Chance’s observations, two more board members arrived with coffee and donuts.

  So what? Even if it were his money that impressed her, he’d still be able to seal the deal with her and have her in his bed tomorrow night at the latest. Then he could go back to focusing on business. Morgan returned his thoughts to his plans for his date with Ellie.

  Ellie

  He was so close that she could see his smile. Her skin tingled and she felt more beautiful than she ever had. She stood in front of Morgan wearing not a stich.

  He circled her and grabbed her ass cheeks with both hands.

  The feeling was so decadent, she almost came right then. She caught his scent and it made her breathless.

  He reached around her and grasped her breasts, playing with her nipples.

  She felt so wet and he had just started.

  “Do you want me,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  He then walked her to his large bed and laid her down.

  Gazing up, she felt excited to see him without his suit, anticipating a fine body above her. Blinking her eyes, all she saw was that some silhouette the day he’d saved her. Light lit up around him and his face was obscured. What the…?

  “I’m sorry but I cannot stay,” he said as a fire loomed behind him.

  Panicked, she tried to warn him of the flames at his back, but he never saw them.

  As if they were alive, the flames roared up and covered him.

  “NO!” Ellie screamed as she bolted up in her bed, in her apartment. Her breathing was heavy and she instantly felt the stickiness between her thighs. A wet dream and fire? Him catching fire? Why? Was it that he had been nothing but kind and had saved her, all while she lusted after him and thought about how rich he was? Guilt? “Dammit!” she yelled and got out of bed.

  She stood in her room, panting. A fantasy turned nightmare. She headed to her shower, hoping to wash away the stickiness and the feeling that she should not have lusted after the man who’d save her life.

  She needed a job. If she didn’t do something, the thought of Morgan was going to eat her up alive.

  Apparently, the damage to the diner wasn’t as bad as it looked and Joanna had called Ellie a few days after the fire to let her know that she could come back to work soon. Relief was the only word that could describe how Ellie felt and she couldn’t wait to go back because, since her date with Morgan, she’d done nothing but think about him. Then her search for a temporary job hadn’t turned up a thing. She needed something to take her mind off of things and she needed to start paying some bills, which were rapidly pilling up.

  Joanna told her she could come over right now, to help set up and said she could even pay her an hourly rate for the day if she did.

  “Yes!” Ellie said into her phone as she shot up from her bed.

  Joanna explained that part of the back where the lockers were was still undergoing minor repairs, but the front was in good working order and they would be ready to open on Friday.

  “I’ll be there,” she’d said. “But how did you manage to make all of the repairs so quickly? I thought an insurance adjuster had to come first and appraise the damages and it hasn’t even been a week.”

  “Some anonymous philanthropist donated the materials and labor out of the blue,” Joanna answered,

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. A work crew showed up here yesterday and started working. I didn’t ask too many questions and just let them work. It would have taken the insurance company weeks probably, to sort everything out and cut a check. Now it’s some rich guy’s tax write-off and I can by-pass all that insurance nonsense. Isn’t that great?”

  Hmm. There was something fishy about this. She just hoped it wasn’t some gangster thing to take over the diner. It’d happened before in the north side. “Yeah,” she said, and agreed to see Joanna shortly, just the same.

  After she got off the phone with her, Ellie rolled off of her bed. She’d been moping for days now and was still in her sleep shirt and shorts at a quarter ‘til noon. It was time to snap out of it. She did some jumping jacks to shake off her sluggishness before heading in to the shower. This would be a great day. She couldn’t sit around and let some fantasy about Morgan swooping in and taking her away from all of her troubles to ruin her life. Then the nightmare and dreams. He was a great guy—sexy and just wonderful—but he was gone and surely wasn’t coming back. Why would he? It was time for her to get back to the real world. Her real world.

  After her shower, she threw on a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, put her hair up in a ponytail, and dug some bus fare out of the change jar on her kitchen counter. After lacing up a comfortable pair of sneakers, she left her little apartment in North Philly and caught the bus that would take her to Center City, where the Liberty Bell Diner was located.

  On the way there, the bus drove by the Hunt Hotel. It was the first time she’d been down this way since her breakfast with Morgan. Ellie sighed, then quickly looked away. Time to move on. Get with the way it really was and try to smile while doing it. Other people had it worse than she did and self pity would get you nothing but more pity. Another thing her dad used to say. She needed to buck it up and keep trying.

  The next stop was where she got off. The diner was only a short walk away from the Hunt Hotel. She’d never been so aware of its presence. Why would she? Not like she could afford to even breathe the air inside the place. She needed to stop thinking about it or him. As she stepped off the bus, she tried hard to locate Morgan’s balcony from where she stood, but concluded that it was on the opposite side of the building. She drew a deep breath and again, reminded herself that this wou
ld be a great day and she needed to forget that balcony. That man, his smile, his beautiful face and that bod. Oh great, now she had a list of the things she would be missing.

  As she walked towards the diner, she realized that the hotel’s towering silhouette would forever remind her of Morgan. She would never be able to go to work without thinking about him.

  “Crap!”

  No matter, because she was being silly. It’s not like there had been anything between them. It was all in her head. He was just a nice guy that treated her to breakfast—and saved her life—twice.

  “Dammit!” So much for this being a great day. She was ruining it herself too. A trap. A circle of his presence making her life brighter. Like she needed him for sunlight or some silly notion.

  Now she would be moody and depressed when she got to the diner. Just what Joanna needed—a moody employee. She tried to shake off the bad vibes because she was rapidly beginning to feel like she should have just stayed home, when she really needed to get back to work.

  When she turned the corner, she saw Joanna talking to a tall, sharply dressed man. She was still too far to see who it was and the man had his back towards her. It was probably some insurance guy or something, she thought, but she didn’t take her eyes off of him. The closer she got, the faster her heart beat. When she was just within feet of them—she knew.

  It was Morgan.

  When she came a little closer, she heard Morgan’s voice as he spoke to Joanna.

  “The crew should be done no later than tomorrow. You should be good to go for Friday,” he said.

  Joanna had a big smile on her face and nodded. When she saw Ellie, she waved her over. “Ellie, come here! I want you to meet our anonymous donor.”

  Morgan turned around and looked as sexy as ever in his dark grey suit and crisp white shirt.

  Ellie felt her cheeks heat up as the first thought to cross her mind was that out of everyone there, only she knew what kind of hot, sexy, body he had under that suit and tie. Only due to his state of undress when he’d first answered his door, and not for the reason most might guess. Her eyes widened when they caught his and she was at a loss for words. No, he sure wasn’t anonymous to her. The man had literally haunted her dreams and her waking thoughts too.

  “Hello, Ellie,” he said casually and pulled his hand out from his pocket to offer her a handshake.

  “Hi,” she responded shyly and shook his hand. She felt tingles go all the way up her arm. She trembled just a bit and fought to act casual.

  Joanna stared at the two for a moment before asking, “Do you two know each other?”

  Morgan gave Joanna a firm, “Yes,” and Ellie reluctantly answered, “Kind of,” at the same time.

  Morgan pierced her with his sharp, grey eyes and gave her a broad grin as if insinuating that there was some secret between the two of them.

  Ellie felt flustered as she smiled and looked down at her sneakers. Yes, like some dufus. No guts. Just cannot meet his gaze.

  Joanna kept staring at both of them with a slightly confused look on her face.

  Finally, Morgan spoke, “I met Ellie the day of the fire. I believe you weren’t here that day, Joanna,” he said very matter-of-factly.

  Ellie looked up. “Yeah, that’s what happened. Morgan happened to be driving by that day,” she said, wanting to avoid having to explain to Joanna what a huge liability she might have been for her had she died in that fire. Joanna tended to worry about those kinds of things.

  “Oh,” Joanna said, but kept staring. She furrowed her brow and placed a hand under her plump chin before adding, “Well, I’m gonna go put my office back together. Ellie, I’ll let you and Morgan catch up, okay?” She winked at Ellie and walked back into the diner.

  It was Ellie’s turn to dawn a confused look. “What are you doing here?” she asked Morgan, realizing that her question came out harsher than she meant it to. “Not that it’s a bad thing,” she added shaking her head. Yes, here goes with the nerves again, but she did feel stunned to actually be standing here with him.

  Morgan chuckled then crossed his arm over his chest and raised a finger up to his chin. “Checking on the progress of my donated resources,” he said quite assuredly.

  “Joanna told me about an anonymous donor, but why? I mean, why did you do that? You didn’t have to. The diner had insurance.”

  “Yeah, but I made a few calls and realized that going through the insurance company would have meant that it would have taken weeks before the diner could reopen. And I am the head of a charitable trust that gives money to worthy individuals and businesses all the time. So, I just made that happen. No big deal.”

  “Well, that’s nice of you, but, why do you care?” Ellie asked. “It’s just a diner.”

  Morgan locked eyes with her and shrugged. “It’s business. I’m a businessman. That’s what I do.”

  This only confused Ellie more, but she smiled anyway. “Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I know Joanna does.”

  “Why don’t you thank me later tonight, at dinner?”

  “Dinner?” She almost winced as her voice just might have squeaked. Talk about shocks today!

  “Yeah. I take it you came to help, so why don’t you stay and work, and I’ll send my car by here later to pick you up? Maybe around, eightish?”

  Ellie looked down at her t-shirt and jeans and said, “Umm—”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Morgan added. “It will all be taken care of, okay?”

  How could she say no? He was quite the negotiator. After all, it is what he did as he said before. She nodded. “Okay,” she said. “See you then.”

  Morgan smiled and let his gaze linger.

  His intense gaze made Ellie’s stomach feel funny, but in a good way. Is this the way he would look at her if he kissed her? If he—

  “Well, I have some pressing matters to attend to. You have a great day at work, and I’ll see you later.”

  Ellie watched him walk to the curb and get into his sports car. As she watched him drive off, she realized that she was left standing in the exact same place she was the last time she’d watched him drive off, and she’d felt just as confused. It was a total mystery and she would have bet her very last dollar…for real, it would be her last‒she rolled her eyes‒that she would never see this man again.

  Then as if it was a delayed reaction, Ellie blinked her eyes several times. She was going to have dinner with him! She jumped and clapped before going back inside the diner to inevitably tell Joanna, who she knew would be curious.

  Morgan

  He’d left wondering if Ellie saw right through him. It’s just business. Ha! Way to seal the deal, moron. You can’t ask a girl out by implying that it’s just business.

  But she said yes. He’d make it all right at dinner. He had it all planned. His driver would take her up to his penthouse and instruct her to shower and change into any one of an assortment of beautiful evening gowns he’d had his own personal fashion consultant choose based on his descriptions of her and his taste in alluring gowns. He would be waiting outside on the balcony for her with a seductive view of the Philadelphia night skyline. A bottle of champagne would be chilling then after a few drinks and provocative conversation, he’d suggest some after dinner activities—activities that required the both of them to take their clothes off.

  For days, all he’d done was work this plan. Business that he’d loved before seemed to be something that now got in his way. He’d tried to sort through why this had happened. He’d gone through many paths of logic. He’d rescued her, so now he felt obligated…no, he’d dismissed that one. How about that he’d allowed her unique eyes and that petite bod, her sweet looks, and that innocence to capture him? Yes, that was the closest description he could come up with.

  For a while, he’d had fantasies about her. No, not the bad dreams, these were in the middle of the damn day. She would in the throes of lust that he’d built up. Bringing her to the peak, then holding off till he made her beg for him to
take her. He would come so hard and then he would get up, shower her, and fuck her again. Then get her dressed and have his driver take her home. Then he would feel so relieved.

  What was it about this girl? He just couldn’t figure it out. And this, he certainly did not like. Always in control…always directing everything around him. Yet, he could not even control his fantasies of this slip of a girl? He’d been disgusted with himself. Berated himself for this obsession as he’d come to realize it might be. He would try to run it off, to work it off. All to no avail. It was driving him up a wall and soon, he would be useless in the board room simply because he did not have Ellie White in his bedroom.

  Yes, disgust was a light word for the state he’d been in.

  He would definitely have her tonight. He almost had to, so he could get her out of his mind. It was the only way. She was seriously interfering with his life—all he’d done since meeting her was think about her. He needed to just bed her and be done. The sooner, the better, so he could go back to being himself, the carefree Morgan that didn’t get emotionally attached to women. After tonight…he would be done with Philadelphia and done with Ellie.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Ellie…

  Eight o’clock rolled around sooner than Ellie would have liked. She’d felt worried about her dinner with Morgan. It didn’t feel like the same kind of nervous when she went to his penthouse the first time to deliver his phone. What she felt now, just felt—different. Like she kept remembering the look in his eyes before he turned and got into his car. It gave the hot shivers. He’d asked her out. She’d kept repeating this statement the entire time she was setting the diner up today.

  Joanna had done nothing but probe Ellie for answers about Morgan’s sudden interest in the diner.

  Ellie told her repeatedly that she didn’t know about any of it, that Morgan was a business man, and this was probably just a business opportunity for him, or a tax write-off, just like she had said earlier.

  Now, as she waited for Morgan to pick her up, Joanna probed some more, “But he’s taking you out to dinner,” she said.