Fugitive Millionaire (Fugitive Millionaire Book One)

by Brooks, Jaclyn

“Where?”

  “The upcoming charity bash at our place, the Cooper estate. I heard that all Cooper Enterprises employees were invited.”

  Claire searches for the right words to say. “Um, to be honest, I wasn’t planning on going. I’d be out of my comfort zone among that crowd.”

  “You mean rich people?”

  “Look. I don’t mean to be rude or anything, Fabian. It’s just not my scene. Besides, only top management is invited. The rest of us working stiffs have to sit on the sidelines and listen to the privileged few talk about how great it was.”

  Fabian leans in closely so that no one else can hear. “I need you to come, Claire. Gray’s making me attend and I need someone cool to talk to. You’d be a breath of fresh air among that stuffy crowd.”

  “Aw, I can tell you’re being straight with me,” Claire says with genuine feeling. “You sure are making it hard to say no. Oh, alright. You’ve completely changed my mind. Do you always have this effect on people?”

  “Nah, just very attractive ladies like you.”

  Claire blushes again. “What do we do about my lack of executive status?”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure you’re on the guest list.”

  Fabian’s good mood has been restored by his brief chat with Claire. The only way to keep this good feeling going is to put distance between him and Sloane. He knows he’ll be pissed all over again as soon as she steps out that office door.

  “Hey, Claire. I’m gonna go for a walk and wait for Nathan to buzz me. I probably won’t see you again until that charity thing. So, I guess this is goodbye until then.”

  Claire’s body language reveals she is warmly receptive to him. He’s made a potential hookup. Now all that’s left is to see if they can connect on a deeper level. Fabian wasn’t planning on going steady with anyone so soon, but there’s something about Claire Decker that he finds irresistibly appealing. Her vibes are strong and he’s not sure what he likes so much about her. But, he intends to find out as soon as he gets her alone.

  Claire waves goodbye. “See you then.”

  P1.Chapter 2

  Claire watches the hunky Fabian Cooper saunter away from her desk and out of her portion of the office. He’s so cool and sexy in his tight jeans and black shirt. She’s glad he took off his sunglasses so she could see his eyes. It was all she could do to prevent herself from melting into a warm puddle of goo each time his sensual gaze landed on her. The universe must be paying her back for some good deed she did in a past life, because up until now she’s never had the good fortune of attracting a hot guy like him. And, he’s rich too?

  Wow.

  Ring!

  Claire jumps at the sound of the phone. She quickly snaps out of her daydream and answers the call. “Hello? Yes, he’s in a meeting at the moment. Okay. I’ll let him know you need to speak to him. I’m putting you on hold.”

  Claire regrets not having more time to think about Fabian, but she’s got a job to do. She’ll have plenty of time tonight to think about what she’ll say to Fabian Cooper when they meet up at the charity event.

  Claire knocks a few times on Nathan’s office door to alert him that she’s about to peek inside. She only does this when she knows it’s okay to interrupt him. Her boss always lets her know when he’s not to be disturbed.

  “Nathan, Paul Ruben is on the line and…Oh, I’m sorry.”

  Claire is shocked to see Sloane Cooper sitting on her boss’s lap. Sloane and Nathan are making out hot and heavy. They are oblivious to her staring as their entwined bodies bounce up and down on the luxuriously supple leather couch that is a part of Nathan’s office décor. The lovers quickly untangle when they realize she is there.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in.” Claire can’t think of anything else to say. She’s just caught her boss getting it on with the Chairman’s wife. What can she say? It’s not like there’s a Cooper Enterprises instruction manual that explains to employees how to respond after catching your boss fooling around at work.

  Please don’t let this cost me my job.

  Nathan is clearly embarrassed as well to be caught in this compromising position. His tie is undone. His shirt unbuttoned at the top. His hair is mussed. As for Sloane, she avoids looking at Claire and starts reapplying makeup.

  “Claire, come in here and shut the door. Quickly, before someone else sees us,” Nathan says with hushed urgency.

  Claire follows her boss’s order. She stands just inside his office with her back leaning tightly against the door. She is hoping to beat a hasty retreat after Nathan lets her know what to expect next.

  Nathan stands up and nervously runs his fingers through his hair. Claire can see he’s trying to think of the right words to say. Claire is sucking in shallow pockets of air as she waits for Nathan to speak.

  “I’m sorry you had to see us like this, Claire. I know it puts you in an awkward position.”

  Claire stares blankly at Nathan. She’s afraid of uttering the wrong words.

  Nathan begins pacing the floor like a cornered big cat. “I realize this goes beyond our normal working relationship. Geez. I feel like such an idiot. I should have told you not to bother me. Anyway, I have to come up with a fast solution to this little problem.”

  Claire braces herself for bad news. “Are you going to fire me?”

  Nathan looks at Claire with surprise. “No, of course not. You’re the best assistant I’ve ever had. I’m asking you a big favor, though. Promise me you won’t ever say a word to anyone, including Fabian, about what you saw here just now.”

  Claire eagerly nods her acceptance of these terms. “Absolutely. I’ll pretend it never happened. You have my word as a loyal employee and friend.”

  Nathan seems relieved that he’s gotten a verbal commitment of silence from Claire. He smiles and winks at her, which signals she is now a part of their big, fat secret. “Okay, you can go now. Wait. Why don’t you go ahead and take the rest of the day off with full pay. My treat.”

  Nathan is blatantly kissing her butt to ensure her silence, but Claire is in no position to refuse his generous offer. She’ll simply take the rest of her work home.

  “Thanks, Nathan. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Claire retreats to the sanctuary of her glass-walled cubicle. “What a crazy day,” she whispers to no one but herself.

  *****

  Claire steps out of the black Lincoln town car that was sent to pick her up and bring her to the Cooper estate. It was a long, scenic drive from her tiny city apartment to the suburbs, but she enjoyed every minute of it. Right now she feels like a princess in one of those fairy tales she loved reading as a kid.

  Claire has never seen the Cooper estate in person. To her delight the mansion is much grander in real life than what the photos depict. A man dressed in formal attire greets her at the main front gate. “Your name?”

  “Claire Decker.”

  Claire waits with baited breath as the man checks the guest registry for her name. “Okay, you’re all set. Welcome to Cooper manor.”

  The gate opens wide and Claire walks into another world. She is now in the midst of extremely rich women who all look like a million bucks in their designer gowns. These ladies are blinged out in what Claire assumes are real diamonds, gemstones and pearls. Meanwhile, here she is wearing her off the rack Macy’s little black dress. Since she doesn’t have expensive jewelry, she decided to go light on the accessories. Her diamond stud earrings are real, but they are tiny in comparison to the large rocks dangling from these lady’s ears.

  A servant walks up to her holding out a tray of champagne poured into elegant glasses. She politely waves him off. “No thanks.”

  Claire refuses to drink a drop of alcohol until after she is safely with Fabian. She has no clue what to say to these rich people. As soon as she opens her mouth, it will be obvious that she’s not one of them. The last thing she wants to do is to get tipsy and look like a fool. Plus, she doesn’t want to do anything to embarra
ss Nathan.

  After she witnessed that little episode in his office between him and Sloane Cooper, her boss has bent over backwards to be nice. He’s even delegated her tedious tasks out to other office workers. So, now she has her own assistants. Guilt is making her working life a breeze.

  Claire spots Fabian standing alone near the mansion’s main entrance. She just can’t stop herself from grinning like a love struck fool. She is crushing so hard on him it’s not even funny. But, she is going to contain her giddiness long enough to make him try a bit harder to win her over. Guys like Fabian get hit on all the time. She’s not going to be just another eager beaver that fawns over him as if he were a rock star. Sure, he’s hot, but he needs to earn her respect first before she’ll let him have what he wants.

  Fabian’s face lights up when he spots Claire. “Claire! Over here.”

  Claire makes her way over to the handsome Cooper heir. “Hi. Wow. You look great in that suit.”

  Fabian is wearing a dapper black suit, white dress shirt and no tie. She figures he’s not into ties that much. She’s not sure if she likes his casual or dressed up look better. One thing is for sure, if they sold boyfriends through catalogues, she’d order Fabian by express delivery.

  “Thanks. You look absolutely stunning. I love your sexy legs.”

  “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

  Fabian takes Claire’s arm and escorts her inside the mansion where he lives. Claire is in awe of the high ceilings, marble floors, classic Greek statues and the collection of fine art paintings that hang on the walls. The place even smells wealthy.

  “Oh, Fabian. I can’t believe you live here. It’s beautiful.”

  “Not as beautiful as you, Claire.”

  Claire suppresses the urge to blab out a giddy thank you. Instead, she makes herself stick to playing it cool. “Okay, that’s enough flattery. You’re making me feel awkward.”

  Fabian reacts like a true gentleman. “Sorry. That’s the last thing I wanna do. Um, I would take you on a tour, but there’s all these rich people roaming around. Let’s head out to the garden where we can spend some quality time alone.”

  “Sounds great.”

  Claire’s mind keeps drifting back to the princess scenario. She’s still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that Fabian Cooper is showing so much interest in her. He can have his pick of any pretty girl at their office—and there are several stunners. Why is she the lucky one that gets to be invited to this fabulous mansion to hobnob among the elite?

  For the life of her, Claire cannot remember saying or doing anything special to win his affections. She’s a very down-to-earth person and what you see is what you get. She doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body. Maybe that’s what he likes?

  Whatever it is, she is happy to be here with him right now strolling arm-in-arm in the garden on a warm summer night. She is truly swept up in this moment and is sure she’ll dream about it—that is, if she can even fall asleep after all this excitement.

  Fabian leads her to a stone bench in a secluded area of the garden.

  “This is where I escape to when I need to temporarily get away from my family. Well, mainly it’s my old man these days.”

  Claire detects a hint of sadness in Fabian’s voice. Maybe things aren’t as fabulous for him as she thought they were. She empathizes with him by revealing her own less than ideal living arrangement.

  “Wish I had a place to escape from my neighbors when they get too noisy. I usually turn up the TV to drown them out. Sometimes we have noise wars.”

  “Noise wars? What’s that?”

  “It’s like this unspoken challenge to see who can be the most annoyingly noisy neighbor. It doesn’t happen too often, but it can get crazy at times.”

  “I’ve never had that problem. Fortunate, I guess.”

  Claire can see why Fabian likes it here. The garden has a peaceful serenity that is calming. She can hear the party chatter and music in the distance, but it isn’t ruining her enjoyment of the garden’s charm.

  “Must be nice having all this space to yourself. Without a care in the world you can simply hang out and play loud music or curl up and quietly read a book. Wanna trade places? I’ll move in here and you can get a taste of my neighborhood.”

  “Nah, that’s alright. The old man gets on my nerves, but you’re right. There’s plenty of space between the two of us. Sometimes we don’t even see each other for days at a time. It’s always been that way with Gray.”

  Fabian looks out into the distance. His mood has turned somber. Mentioning his father seems to have brought on this change. Claire is now curious about their father son relationship.

  “I’ve only seen your father in pictures, but I always imagined he was this fun, adventurous type of dad that comes back from trips telling interesting stories and bringing the family cool gifts.”

  “Well, that’s partly true. Gray can be generous when he wants. We’ve all gotten some pretty nice gifts over the years.”

  Claire wants Fabian to lay it all out there. “But…”

  “But…he and I always seem to clash. We’ve never had a close, loving relationship.”

  Claire is both glad and sad that Fabian was able to make this painful admission to her. On the one hand, it shows that he already trusts her enough to reveal this intimate detail about is life. However, she feels bad for him. Fabian has never enjoyed the kind of relationship she has with her dad. Scott Decker is the epitome of the doting father. He’s always been interested in what she does and showers her with plenty of affection.

  “I’m sure he loves you, regardless,” Claire reassures him. “Some people have a hard time expressing their feelings.”

  Fabian shakes his head. “That’s not his problem. We’re just polar opposites. I’m a free-spirited guy that loves doing my own thing. Gray finds that disappointing and lets me know every chance he gets.”

  “Well, he’s really missing out on something special.”

  She’s glad to see Fabian crack a smile.

  “Is your free-spirited lifestyle the reason why you don’t have a girlfriend?”

  Fabian is more than happy to answer. “That probably has something to do with it. I’m not ready to settle down just yet. Haven’t found the right person that makes me wanna do the whole house and kids thing. What about you? Why are you single?”

  Claire shrugs. She could go into a long spiel about how hard it is to meet the right guy when you’re in a city of millions, but is sure she would bore him to death. “Career is more important right now.”

  Fabian reacts with surprise. “Oh, so you’re focused on climbing the ladder of success at CE?”

  Now it’s her time to open up. “You know, before I got there I wasn’t ambitious at all. I just wanted a decent job that would let me move out of my parent’s place. Now, though, I’m seeing that I can have a real path to better things working there.”

  Fabian is studying Claire intensely. She wonders if she’s letting the air out of the relationship balloon before it even starts. Oh well, she’s always going to be honest about her life, regardless of the consequences.

  “Is that a turn off for you? I mean the idea that I might want to pursue success at your dad’s company?”

  Fabian clasps his hands between his legs. “No, but I just didn’t expect you to be all that into corporate culture. I stay far away from that success ladder crap. It’s stifling to the soul.”

  “Some of us don’t have the freedom to jump around pursuing different interests. I feel blessed to have landed a job at CE. I really like my job and my co-workers. Sorry to be a disappointment.”

  Fabian gives her a weird look. She knows she hit him hard with that last bit. She just wants to make a point that he’s judging her choice like his father does to him.

  “Look, you can do what you want for a living, Claire. If CE is your thing, more power to ya.”

  “Yeah, it’s my thing, for now. Hope we can still be friends anyway.”
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  “Friends? Is that all you want to be?”

  “Um, I don’t know. We just met. Friends is a good place to start, don’t you think?”

  “Sure. Consider me your close friend now, Claire.”

  “Okay, I will.” There’s a pause in their conversation. Claire thinks she might have rubbed Fabian the wrong way by bringing up the family business. She desires to get back on his good side. “Maybe we should go back inside. You can introduce me to your mom and dad.”

  Fabian shoots her another weird look. Has she stuck her foot in her mouth again? “My parents are happily divorced and estranged. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid each other. Mom spends most of her time at the Connecticut home or at our retreat at Martha’s Vineyard.”

  “Wow. I feel dumb. Nathan mentioned your mom might be here, so I just assumed…”

  “That’s okay. Don’t sweat it.”

  Claire wishes she had taken time to do some research on the Cooper family—too late now. “Are you on good terms with your mom?”

  “Actually, we used to be very close when I was growing up. She’s warm and loving, just like your dad. Unfortunately, the divorce screwed everything up. Mom turned to my sister for support during that time. I guess she assumed that I’d naturally take Gray’s side, but that’s never been the case. Mom and I still talk from time to time.”

  “You see? I’m still learning stuff about you. I didn’t know you had a sister.”

  “Yep. She’s married and lives near mom in Connecticut. She is not on speaking terms with Gray, so he’s lucky I’m even making an effort to stay in his life.”

  “I always wanted a sister. I’m an only child.”

  “Really? I’ll definitely take you to meet, Jocelyn. We call her Josie. I think you two would get along great.”

  “I would love to meet her.”

  Claire stands up. “I want to go in and thank your stepmother for inviting me. It’s the classy thing to do since I’m not even supposed to be here.”

  Fabian reluctantly follows her lead. “You’re way classier than Sloane.”