by Eden Proctor
In Bed with the Billionaire
Eden Proctor
Contents
Copyright
Eden’s Newest Books
In Bed with the Billionaire
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
In Bed with the Billionaire Copyright © 2016 by Eden Proctor
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book contains mature content intended for adults only.
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In Bed with the Billionaire
This isn’t real.
I keep telling myself that.
My job as Daniel Stone’s fake fiancée is simple: camouflage his ruthless bad-boy image (and just so you know, he’s earned that image) long enough for him to close the deal of a lifetime.
Then I’ll get a promotion and he’ll go off and be rich.
Falling in love? Was definitely not part of the deal.
Chapter 1
“Are you ready to sign?”
Daniel Stone phrased the words as a question. Still, even though Emily hadn’t often heard him speak, she knew it was anything but.
Daniel didn’t ask questions.
He demanded compliance. It was how he had built his billion-dollar fortune.
Or at least that was what Emily had read in the news or heard secondhand. She was a low-level HR assistant, so she didn’t know Daniel personally, but stories of his business prowess—and his wild affairs—had made it down to her office.
For the most part, Emily tried to ignore the gossip. It wouldn’t help her get ahead and getting ahead was her main focus, her only focus, really. But, she could admit that she’d read some stories about him, and been more than impressed those few times she’d caught fleeting glimpses of him.
She had every reason to be impressed.
Daniel always stood out in the crowd.
If his height, which was at least six foot five didn’t draw the eye, his physique would. Even when he wore expertly crafted suits, there was no way to miss the finely cut muscles of his body. Long, strong limbs, broad shoulders. And there was Emily’s personal favorite, midnight-black hair that was always a little longer than she would have expected from a businessman.
And it wasn’t just his looks. He was handsome, intimidatingly so, but even more, he exuded strength, command, had an aura that demanded attention, and, as Emily was learning, compliance. So, while she tried to keep her head down, she was quite intrigued by being so close to him. She’d worked with his company for two years, but had only gotten fleeting glimpses of the man, so she was eager to see him up close.
In this moment, she watched as Daniel stared at the older man sitting across from him, his expression calm, almost placid. He had no reason to be anything but, and he seemed certain of the outcome.
“No. I’m not ready to sign.”
Emily’s eyes widened, and she only barely managed to bite back her shocked exhale. She’d spent no time with Daniel, but from the subtle change in his expression, she could see how surprised, how displeased, he was. Emily found herself torn, wanting to leave the room but intrigued to see how this would play out. She felt like she was eavesdropping, but there was no way she was leaving.
“We’ve agreed on terms. What other issue could there be?” Daniel said.
Though his expression hadn’t changed, Emily heard the exaggerated patience in his voice. Charlie Green, the man who sat across from Daniel heard it as well, as Emily could see from the slight smile that crept across his face.
Emily was impressed.
Neither man had looked in her direction, and she was sick with nerves, while he had the fortitude to smile.
“Yes, Mr. Stone, we’ve agreed on numbers, but you know that’s not all I care about,” the other man said.
Emily knew that Mr. Green was the owner of a large company that Daniel had set his sights on acquiring. It had been her understanding that terms had been reached and this meeting was intended to finalize the deal. Apparently, there was still an open topic, though. She hazarded a look at Daniel and saw that he kept the same expression, though his startlingly dark blue eyes had darkened ever so slightly.
“I’m well aware of how you operate. I’ve made it clear that all of your employees will be taken care of and that none of the values that your company stood for will change,” Daniel said.
He had, which was why Emily was even hearing this conversation. Last night her boss, the director of human resources, had dropped a stack of documents on her desk, and told Emily they needed to be on Daniel’s desk at nine a.m. sharp. And then the man had proceeded to leave.
Emily had been annoyed but not surprised. The same thing happened all the time, and she’d gotten used to her boss giving her an unreasonable amount of work. But she knew her hard work would pay off, so Emily kept her head down, working and waiting, sacrificing sleep and any semblance of a personal life to get ahead.
“I know you promised, and we wouldn’t have even gotten this far if you hadn’t. But I’m more concerned about you,” Charlie said, looking at Daniel pointedly.
“Me?” Daniel asked. The tone of his voice gave away his annoyance and impatience, as did his next words. “What do you need to know about me other than the size of my bank account?”
Emily’s eyes widened as she listened. Daniel had a reputation for cutting to the chase, but she was still shocked he’d been so direct, though she supposed she shouldn’t have been.
“I need to know what kind of person you are, whether you are worthy of having my company in your hands. It’s my legacy, my life’s work, and I built it from the ground up. I won’t sell it to just anyone, especially not because they have a big bank account. I want to make sure it will be seen after.”
“Charlie, I told you. I’ll take care of your business,” Daniel said.
Emily sensed that Daniel was being honest, but the barely contained anger in his voice was not reassuring.
Apparently, Charlie didn’t think so either. “I heard what you’ve said. But now I want to see who you are. See if there’s more to you than what they write in the papers.”
Emily felt herself beginning to smile before she stopped the expression. He didn’t seem like the type to read tabloids, but maybe she had been mistaken.
“Tell me you don’t pay attention to that garbage?” Daniel said.
“I know some of it’s not true.”
“Most of it,” Daniel interjected.
“Maybe most of it. But some of it is true, and that’s cause for concern.”
“Mr. Green, I’m going to be direct with you. I want your business. I’m ready to pay. The rest of this is nonsense. Are we going to make a deal or not?”
“That’s a good development,” Charlie said.
“What?” Daniel replied, voice low and almost lethal.
“That’s as honest as you’ve been with me during this whole process. And that’s what I want to see more of. I want to know what kind of man you are, what kind of family you have.”
“What kind of man I am?” Daniel asked, his lips dropping ever so slightly before he quickly move
d back to his neutral expression.
Charlie nodded. “Yes, what kind of man you are.”
A second passed, then another, but then suddenly Daniel flashed a bright smile, one that had Emily’s heart pounding.
“Let Emily tell you,” Daniel said.
Both pairs of eyes in the room turned to her, and Emily wanted to sink through her chair. The feeling only intensified when she looked at Daniel. His dark blue eyes felt like they were going to burn through her, though his expression hadn’t changed. Still, she got his message loud and clear.
“Mr. Stone is great. Wonderful…” she said.
She trailed off and then looked from Daniel to Charlie.
“I’m sure he is. But that doesn’t tell me anything,” Charlie said.
“Well… Um… He’s great to the employees. Very fair.”
And he was. At least as far as she had seen.
“Come on, Emily. Don’t be shy,” Daniel said.
He reached for her hand then, and Emily’s mouth dropped open. Both from the action and the shock of having his warm, surprisingly rough fingers on hers.
“What?” she managed to choke out a few seconds later, though she had no doubt that her face was reflecting the confusion in her mind.
Daniel had no such confusion.
He smiled, the expression genuine, warm. “It’s okay. We can tell Charlie.”
“We can?” Emily said.
She wasn’t sure why she’d said that, but she also wasn’t sure what they were talking about. Again, Daniel didn’t seem to share her confusion.
“Yes,” Daniel said.
He smiled at her again and then looked at Charlie, but Emily kept staring at him, frowning, her mind swimming too fast for her to do anything else.
She had no idea where this conversation was going, and the fact that Daniel still held her hand, his calloused thumb working against the skin of her palm, made it impossible for her to focus.
“We tried to keep this quiet, but since it’s so important to you, Charlie, I can share. Some of the stories about me in the tabloids were true. I…dated…my fair share, didn’t want to settle down. But that’s all behind me.”
“Really?” Charlie asked, his bushy gray eyebrows lowering. “Why?”
Emily finally looked at Daniel again, but his serene expression didn’t give anything away. When she glanced at Charlie again, she got the sense that he was confused and skeptical, just as she was.
“It’s like you said yourself, what’s important is family, and I found the person I’m going to build mine with,” Daniel said.
“You did?”
Emily had looked at him and uttered the words before she could stop them from coming out.
Daniel frowned deeply, but his face instantly relaxed and he even added in a low-pitched laughed. “It’s one of the reasons I love her so much. She’s so funny,” he said, looking back at Charlie.
Then he looked at Emily again, his eyes intensifying for a moment before his face went calm again. “Come on, Emily,” he said, hitting her with a smile so dazzling she almost forgot where she was. “I know we said we were going to keep this quiet at work, but we can share with Charlie.”
“We can?” Emily said, her ability to form more complex sentences seeming to have been lost.
“We can,” Daniel said, hitting her with that blinding smile again. He held her hand a little bit tighter, his expression suddenly urgent. But he covered it quickly, and then he looked back at Charlie.
“You’re the first to know, Charlie, but I asked Emily to marry me, and she said yes.”
Emily thought she would faint.
An hour ago she had come to drop off a stack of papers, and now Daniel Stone, her billionaire boss was announcing their engagement. And all the while she sat there like a spectator, her mouth dropped open.
But what could she say?
One look at Daniel told her it wouldn’t be a great idea to contradict him, and when she looked at Charlie and saw how brightly he smiled, she didn’t have the heart to do so.
“That’s wonderful! I wish you had told me sooner,” Charlie said.
Daniel smiled but then quickly turned back to business. “So,” he said, “are you ready to sign?”
Charlie scoffed, though he still had a pleasant smile on his face and pleased twinkle in his eye. “In time. Business can wait, but this is worthy of celebration,” he said.
“Yes, well,” Daniel cleared his throat, faltering for just a moment before he again refocused. “Celebrate. We will, but we don’t want this to get out. It probably wouldn’t look good with me owning the company and all.”
Emily could now clearly see that Daniel strove for patience, and she knew his words were crap. Even before, she’d known the man couldn’t care less how things would look or what anyone would think. Charlie didn’t seem to notice.
“I understand. But this would be a small gathering. Let my wife and I host you for dinner. I won’t hear of anything else,” Charlie said.
He kept his eyes on Daniel, and though he still looked pleased, pleasant, Emily could see that he wouldn’t budge.
Apparently Daniel could too. “Fine,” he said with a curt nod that he covered with a slight smile.
Daniel finally let go of her hand and then stood. Emily instantly missed the warmth of his fingers against hers, but her mind was racing, pressing her to do something besides sit there.
Charlie stood as well, and then finally, probably because she didn’t want to draw any more attention, Emily stood. Her legs wobbled, but she was pleased that she managed to stand without stumbling.
Then she frowned, wondering why Daniel seemed so unaffected. He smoothly walked around his desk, his strides long, confident, and not showing any of her nerves, and extended his hand to Charlie.
“Please contact me with arrangements. Emily and I will be there,” he said.
They shook hands and then Charlie looked at her and reached out to shake her hand as well. “It was wonderful to meet you, Emily. I can’t wait to introduce you to my wife. She’s going to love you. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.”
“Um…thanks. Thank you, Mr. Green. I can’t wait to meet your wife either,” Emily said, proud of herself for being able to speak but wondering why she had said such a thing.
He nodded, then looked at his watch. “If you’ll excuse me, I have another appointment.”
Emily simply smiled and Daniel nodded.
“Let me walk you out,” he said.
Daniel and Charlie began walking toward the door, talking, though Emily didn’t bother to listen to what they said.
She slowly sank back down into her chair, her mind replaying the last minutes, looking for some explanation for what had happened. She couldn’t come up with one. No matter how she looked at it, Emily kept coming to the same conclusion.
Her boss, a handsome, ruthless billionaire, had just made her his pretend fiancée.
Fuck.
Chapter 2
Fuck.
Daniel had been moments away from closing the deal, and then Charlie had thrown a damn curveball.
He hated curveballs.
But he hated to lose even more. And not closing this deal would be a defeat he couldn’t accept.
Charlie’s company was good, and it would make him a lot of money. But he already had plenty of that, so money wasn’t his motivator, nor was it the point.
Living up to his reputation as an unparalleled businessman wasn’t the point either.
Winning.
That was the point. Winning was always the point, and closing this deal would be the next in his string of victories.
For years, people, those far wealthier, more established than him, had tried to buy Charlie’s company. He’d turned them all away.
None of them, not one had gotten as close as Daniel was now. But close wasn’t done, and Daniel never left a deal undone.
This one, it seemed, would have some complications though. Daniel didn’t care. He’d
get it done, just like he got all the others done.
Except this time, he’d need some help.
Daniel brooded for the entire ride back up to the top floor. He’d been reactionary, but he’d have to make the best of it. He stepped through his office door and closed it behind him and then he looked at Emily, glad she was still there.
They had things to discuss.
She didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge his presence in any way as he got closer to her.
He looked at her, trying to remember everything he could about her. Which wasn’t much. He tried to meet all the employees, but he sometimes lost track of names. He’d research Emily more in detail later, but for now, they needed to talk.
“Emily,” he said.
He sat across from her in the chair Charlie had vacated and when she looked at him, he felt an odd tug in his chest.
Her brown eyes were flecked through with hints of amber, and they were currently flashing with anger and a touch of fear.
“What the hell was that?”
Her voice was calm, a contrast to her flashing eyes. Daniel found he appreciated her fire, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate the compliment.
“Damage control,” Daniel finally said.
She glared at him, and Daniel found himself strangely amused. It had been a long time, a very long time, since anyone had questioned him, let alone glared at him with such open scorn. That amusement he’d initially felt became something else. It had been a long time since he’d seen someone so passionate, and he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if that passion spread to other areas of her life.
Another glance at her and Daniel decided it did. Almost instantly, he conjured a picture of those eyes in a different moment, one with heated whispers and sighs of pleasure. He began responding to the thought, to the woman across from him, frowning at his body’s reaction. This was the second time today he’d lost control of the situation, and he didn’t like that one bit. That awareness cooled some of his sudden arousal. Not completely but enough that he was able to regain his focus.
