Acquired: A Billionaire Auction Romance

by Charlotte Byrd

  When he was done he came up and kissed me gently on the mouth and I felt as if I was going to melt all over again. Then he grinned, “Well that was nice, Jane.” Again, I loved how he said my name.

  I felt immediately aware of my surroundings and what I had done and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself or how I even felt about it. “Great lunch break. One of my better ones this week.” I said and hoped that my voice sounded light and carefree.

  “Better than pickles?” He grinned.

  “Oh way better than pickles.”

  Just then his phone rang and I heard him say. “Hi Alison. Yes, yes. Okay no problem. Yes that is fine. Sure, give me five minutes and then send them right in.” Five minutes?

  Chapter 20 - Sebastian

  “Sorry Jane, I have people coming in for a meeting. That was Alison on the phone. They just turned up unexpectedly but I really do need to see them. Unfortunately of course. I’d way rather carry on with this. ” I chuckled as I watched her scramble, looking everywhere for her bra. “But anyway, thank God she didn’t call five minutes earlier.”

  “Trust me, I wouldn’t have let you answer.” Jane said. She was on the floor looking under my desk. I considered asking her to stay under my desk for the duration of the meeting. Now that would be an interesting meeting.

  “Are you looking for this?” I asked and dangled her bra in my fingers. It had been on top of the desk all along. She smiled gratefully and quickly put it back on. She seemed suddenly shy to have her breasts exposed. But I didn’t look away. I watched as she took her blouse off and put her bra back on. I watched as she put her blouse back on and then put her panties back on and arranged her clothes to what she hoped was orderly. I watched as she tried to untangle her hair without a brush and how she looked in her little compact mirror to make sure that her makeup was still fine. I couldn’t stop looking at her. When the door knocked I laughed as she ran to my desk and began packing away all the food. Then when I opened the door to let in the clients I laughed as she almost tripped walking out. It was good to see that I had that effect on her. For a while I thought she might not be interested in me at all. My walking contradiction.

  “Working through lunch I see?” John said.

  “Always.” I replied and motioned for them to come in.

  “Thank you for seeing us on such short notice. We happened to be in the area and thought we might as well try our luck. You’re a very busy man so we were very surprised when your secretary said you could see us.” John and Spencer were two very important clients of mine. I had done a lot of business with them in the past and had taken on board a lot of their suggestions. We’d been planning on meeting up again for a long time now but something kept coming up for either them or myself. I was glad to see them even though they had come at a rather unfortunate time. Perhaps only twenty minutes later and Jane could’ve returned the favor to me. I wonder how it would feel to have her lips on my –

  “Yeah,” Spencer interrupted me out of my thoughts, “I told John it was pointless coming in to see you like this, but I was wrong.”

  “Ah I’ve wanted to meet with you for a while now anyway. We have lots to discuss so I’m very glad that you were in the area. What do you think of the changes in the casino? Did you get a chance to see any of them? You haven’t been here in what, six months? A lot has changed since then and a lot of the changes were because of all your suggestions.” I was sure that they would be happy with everything that I had done since last seeing them.

  “We briefly saw when we were coming in and I have to say Sebastian. We liked what we saw. We liked it a lot. I think we make a good team.”

  “I think so too. Well, there are going to be even more changes. And hopefully we can work towards getting the two of you on board. You’ll also be happy to know that we have finally gotten someone to deal with our social media. I know that it was something that you mentioned before and you were right – we are very far behind in that department. Anyway, before we start, would you like some coffee? I know that I can sure do with some.”

  “That would be great, thank you.”

  I picked up the phone and called Alison. But it wasn’t Alison that answered, it was Jane. I was so used to hearing Alison’s gruff cigarette voice that the sweet voice that came through took me by surprise. “Jane, why you are picking up Alison’s phone?” I asked.

  “Sorry, Alison needed to go get some lunch and she asked if I could monitor the phone while she was out. She should be back in about half an hour or so.”

  “Okay, well that’s no problem. You have reminded me that I need to make a plan to get someone to cover for her during lunch times. I keep forgetting. Don’t tell her that though. I was actually phoning to ask Alison if she could bring three coffees into my office. Would you be able to do that for us?”

  “Uh… yes. Sure. I’ll be right there.” I put the phone down and was glad that I’d be seeing Jane again.

  When she walked in she was nervously carrying a tray with three coffees and then with snail-like speed she placed it on the table. I thought she was going to spill coffees over everyone the way she was carrying on. I tried not to laugh at the thought.

  “I’m sorry. As you can see, this is why I’m in the marketing department and not serving drinks at the bar or restaurant. I was always a terrible waitress. It’s like I’m super confident with everything and then the moment I have to serve someone something I turn into a nervous wreck.”

  John and Spencer laughed and smiled at her. That’s when I noticed that her one button was still undone and that her breasts were hanging out when she bent over. The men could not stop staring. I literally saw Spencer blink and quickly compose himself. “Not too worry at all. I was an awful waiter too. Awful. It’s not a job that everyone can do well, that’s for sure. But I think it’s something that everyone should do. You have so much more respect for waiters once you’ve done it yourself. Thanks for the coffee. It’s great.”

  Jane was beaming at him and looked more relaxed. “I agree. And yeah, the coffee is amazing here, a very big perk of my job. Have a great meeting and just call if you need anything else.”

  “Thanks Jane.” As she turned around to walk out I noticed that the back of her skirt was tucked into her panties. Thankfully the two men were facing me and hadn’t noticed. I wanted to burst out laughing. Jane. She was a strange mixture of nerves and confidence that I just didn’t understand.

  “She’s nice.” John said.

  “Yeah, she’s very sweet. She’s actually new, only been here a week now. She’s actually the one that I hired to do our social media. I ran a contest and got people to send in their best ideas. And she was the one that we liked the most. She’s already doing a great job. Like she said, she’s far better at her job than she is at serving people.”

  “She’s nice.” John said again.

  “Please excuse me. I just have to send a quick message to someone.” I said to John and Spencer and then quickly typed up a message to Jane.

  Jane, check your skirt. Don’t worry. They didn’t see. I’m glad I did though. God, I wish you were still here. I want more.

  I smiled back up at the men. “Right, then where were we.”

  But the whole way through the conversation my mind kept wandering back to Jane. The way her breasts had felt, the way her nipples had hardened and the delicious way that she had tasted. I suddenly couldn’t remember what I had seen in Susie the Cutie or any other girl that I had slept with in the casino. Those girls suddenly seemed so silly and childish to me. Jane was a real woman. She was someone that I would never thought I would’ve been with, and yet I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I wondered how she felt about me. I knew she liked me – that part was obvious. Although there were times when I also thought that she despised me. Also, I was her boss and I knew that complicated things. It didn’t complicate anything for me. I had no trouble with sleeping with my staff. But it always seemed to get in the way. That was why I had hired Alison. She was older a
nd not someone I was attracted to, and because of that she was able to do her job well without me constantly harassing her. I wondered how it was going to be with Jane now. Whether this was just going to be a one off thing. But I knew that more was coming. I wanted her again and I was going to have to do everything in my power to make that happen. Today’s meeting with her was simply not enough.

  Chapter 21 - Jane

  “Jane, where are you?” Danielle’s voice came drifting into the house.

  “I’m coming! I’m coming! I’m just getting a drink. Can I get you something?”

  “Yeah, whatever you’re having.”

  I looked around in the kitchen, poking my head through cupboards and fridges – amazed again at how much Danielle had when it came to anything alcohol related. Eventually I decided on a gin and tonic and headed outside to the pool.

  “Gin and tonic? Nice! Perfect for this weather.” Danielle said, grinning at me. Danielle was lying by the pool in a bright yellow bikini that barely covered her body. I almost asked her what the point was but I was worried that she’d just agree with me and take it right off. She was uninhibited like that. Not me.

  “Danielle,” I said while gingerly taking off my towel and climbing into the pool. I was wearing a black bikini with small white flowers that I had thought to be quite cute when first buying it. Now, I was just worried that I looked frumpy next to her. “Can I ask you something?”

  She sat up, taking a huge sip of her gin and tonic, “Of course you can. Ask away. But if it’s about the birds and the bees I should hope you know the answer to that one.”

  “How did you get so confident about yourself? I mean, I know you’re gorgeous. Which helps. Easy to be confident when you look so good, right? But you were always like this. Even when you didn’t have the body of a goddess. You were always so confident. It’s the one thing that I always remember about you from back in the day. It was something that I always admired and honestly it was something I was always quite jealous of. I still am really. I’m just tired of always running scared. It must be nice to be so carefree.”

  She stared at me open mouthed for several moments, surprised by my question and then lay back down. “Well, firstly thank you for the compliments. My inner goddess thanks you. But to be honest I’m not nearly as confident as you may think I am. I still get nervous around cute guys. Hell, I get nervous around any guy. I still sometimes want to kick myself for the stupid things that come out of my mouth when I’m in an awkward situation. And I definitely still look at myself in the mirror and think, “You could do better.” But I don’t think that’s a good way to lead a life. It doesn’t make me feel good to constantly be that way and it’s not fun for those around me if I’m always beating myself up. Everyone wants to be around someone that’s positive and happy. So… I pretend.”

  I gawked at her… “You… you pretend? What do you mean?”

  “Well, at first I did. I mean, I just kept it to myself. I started acting more confident. I didn’t tell people how much I cringed at the way I looked or the things that I said. I kept it to myself. The only thing that I portrayed was confidence. And you know what? Well, slowly but surely I started believing it myself. And… I started to like it. I started to realize just how much I shouldn’t really give a damn. Life gets taken far too seriously. Where’s the fun in that?”

  “So basically, it’s the whole fake it until you make it thing?” I asked.

  “Absolutely. Most people do it in business but it works just as well when you do it with yourself. But why are you asking all this Jane? What’s on your mind?”

  “Well… something happened.” I said awkwardly, unsure of where to start.

  She sat up. “Something happened? What? Does it have to do with a guy? Oh I do hope you have some good gossip for me Greiner.”

  “Uh… yeah.” Then I went underwater for several seconds and came back up.

  She laughed, “Jane! You can’t run away under water. Thankfully you need to come up for a breath eventually. Okay… spill it. Who is this mystery man that’s getting you so tongue tied?”

  “Sebastian Taylor.”

  I could see the cogs turning in her brain before she gasped, “Wait! THE Sebastian Taylor. As in the guy who runs your casino? As in the hot billionaire? As in… YOUR BOSS? Are you talking about that guy?”

  I grinned and then went under water again. When I came back up she cried out, “Jane! Stop that!”

  I giggled. “Sorry. Yeah. That guy. My boss. The one and only.”

  “And what happened? And don’t think you can get away with just telling me ‘oh not much’ – I want details Jane. DETAILS.”

  I got out the pool, wrapped my towel around me and went to lie next to her.

  “I had a meeting in his office yesterday. Okay, no that’s not it really. Uh… okay so he asked me out for lunch. It was all through text message and the whole thing seemed a bit flirty. I said no. He kept pushing and I kept saying no. I told him that he was my boss and that it would be strange. Hey why are you rolling your eyes?”

  “You turned down a free lunch with a super cute guy? Crazy girl.”

  That made me laugh, “Yeah, it does sound a bit crazy out loud. Anyway so, after a bit of back and forth, he restructured the message and told me that he was getting food ordered into his office. He said that he wanted me to come in to do some work and that I was welcome to have some of the food on offer but I also didn’t have to.”

  “Clever man. I like the sound of him.”

  “Yeah, so I had to go. And for a little while we really did discuss work. And we ate from this huge array of food that he had ordered. But then… well then he started getting a bit flirty again and I started flirting back. Before I knew it he was kissing me. Like proper kissing.”

  She burst out laughing, “As opposed to un-proper kissing?”

  “Stop mocking me! This is the first time I’ve ever kissed my boss, you know!”

  “Well, that’s a good thing. Anyway, then what happened?”

  “He locked the door. And obviously that’s when I knew that things were going to go further. And I let it happen. There was just no way that I could turn away from him then. The most gorgeous man in the world was kissing me and I wanted him to do it again and again and again. Then he took off my bra. I was still wearing my blouse, but it was open at the front. And then, he… uh…” I found that I was blushing and I stared longingly at the pool.

  “Jane, don’t you dare jump back in that pool. What happened next?”

  I took a sip of my drink. Liquid courage and all that. I took another sip. “Uh… well then he took off my panties and went down on me against his desk.”

  “JANE! I cannot believe I saw you last night and this morning and you didn’t say a word to me. No wonder you were acting all weird. I thought you were just tired from work. You naughty little scoundrel. So… this beautiful man didn’t ask anything in return?”

  “No. But after that happened his phone rang and the secretary said there were people to see him. So I had to quickly sort myself out before they came in. I was on my hands and knees searching for my bra.”

  Danielle was laughing and now so was I. “Oh what I would’ve given to see that moment.”

  “I had like five minutes to find my bra, put on my bra and then put on my panties. And then make myself look presentable. It didn’t help that ten minutes later he called and asked me to bring in coffee for them all. That’s not normally my job but the receptionist was on her lunch break.”

  “So you had to go back in?”

  “Yep. And only after did I realize that my skirt was still tucked into my panties. Thankfully the men didn’t see it but Sebastian did.”

  Tears were falling down Danielle’s face now. “How do you know he saw it?”

  “Because he sent me a text message afterwards letting me know.”

  “HE SENT YOU A TEXT MESSAGE. Oh Jane, you’re killing me. This is like a movie.”

  “Also, my one button on my blouse
hadn’t been done up. The top button. And I did bend down to give those men coffees. I have no idea if they noticed. But yeah… that’s my life.”

  “Which is why you asked me about the confidence thing?”

  “Pretty much. I’m a bubbling idiot as I’ve now proven to you.”

  “You’re confident where it counts Jane. And anyway, you must be doing something right for that thing to happen with Sebastian.”

  “I guess. But what am I going to do now? I can’t face him again after what happened. I’m going to die of embarrassment.”

  “Why? He obviously likes you. I don’t understand what the problem is. It’s also quite obvious that you like him too.”

  “But… he’s my boss Danielle. And anyway, that’s beside the point. I’m not dating anyone anymore. Not for a while anyway. I promised myself that I’d be off men for this year. So nothing more can happen with this.”

  “Why? Because of that asshole who left you for your best friend? You do realize he’s your ex-boyfriend? You do realize he cheated on you? So you’re just going to deny yourself because of him?”

  “But it’s more than that. I owe it to myself.”

  “Exactly. You owe it to yourself.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I can’t be with another man like that again. Not now.”

  “So you’ll deny yourself a hot billionaire who practically gave you the best orgasm of your life?” Danielle said to me, grinning at that last bit as if she were very pleased with herself.

  I was flushed and I suddenly had no idea what to do with my hands or where to look, “I never said it was the best orgasm of my life!”