The Virgin and the Billionaires: The Complete Series

by K. J. Diamond

  Downtown LA was surprisingly calm. Dana parked her car near the towering City Hall and walked over to Little Tokyo in the beautiful weather. She browsed through a few shops on one of the smaller blocks and found a contemporary print that she liked enough to buy.

  As she walked over to the next block, she passed by some brand new construction at an intersection with a small park in the middle. A big banner hung down the side advertising apartments for rent at prices Dana found pretty reasonable. She thought about how much nicer it would be to live in this neighborhood than in Burbank, which was practically the middle of nowhere (by LA standards). Dana briefly contemplated walking inside and asking to tour a unit, but decided against it. It wouldn’t do her any good to get excited over a new place when she was still 11 months away from the end of her lease, but Dana knew then that she wanted to get out of Burbank as soon as she could.

  Five shops later and Dana had purchased four posters and prints, already in frames, that she was going to put on her wall. She hauled her bounty back to her Honda Civic and made the long drive back to her apartment, where she realized she had spent all of her energy shopping and didn’t have enough to put her new prints on the wall just yet. She turned the TV back on and vegged out in front of The Real Housewives of Atlanta for the rest of the day.

  ***

  The next morning, Dana was hanging her new prints on the wall. She’d already hung the two sumi-e landscapes she had bought and was about to nail in a painting of a curvy bathing lady when her phone rang. Dana was surprised when she saw Jessica’s number on the screen. Dana cleared her throat.

  “Hi Jessica!” she said, uncomfortably.

  “Hey, Dana. I’m about to take my dog to Griffith Park. Do you want to come along?”

  Dana thought for a second. “Uh –“

  “You’ll really like my dog. He’s super cute. Plus, have you even been there yet? It’s an amazing place.”

  Dana did like the idea of getting some exercise and exploring the city a little more. “When are you going?”

  “I’d like to get there in an hour.”

  “Alright. I’m not doing anything super important over here. I’d be happy to join you. It’s a nice day outside, anyway.”

  “You’re in LA, Dana. It’s always a nice day here!” Jessica laughed.

  “See you soon, then.”

  Dana pulled a pair of sneakers out of her closet and laced them up on her feet. She rummaged through an unpacked suitcase and found her only baseball cap before setting out for Los Feliz.

  ***

  Dana met Jessica at the base of a large hill on the west side of the park. She could see Jessica’s chocolate lab jumping around on its leash as she approached them.

  “Hey!” Jessica smiled as Dana came closer. They shared a quick hug. “This is Scout,” she said, pointing to her dog. “She’s the one who had the idea to come here.” They both smiled before setting off on a long walk through the park’s hilly terrain.

  “I can’t believe we ran into each other at the Poisson d’Or on Friday!” Jessica remarked.

  Dana’s stomach flipped. “I know - what a coincidence, right?” She tried to sound unfazed. Now that she was confronted with Jessica’s presence, she kept thinking about her fantasy a few nights earlier.

  “Seeing you reminded me that we hadn’t hung out in a while.”

  Seeing you reminds me of Alexander drilling his cock into your wet pussy while you’re bent over on all fours. Oh god, I’m so embarrassed. “Yeah.” Dana’s heart was beginning to beat faster. The steep slope of the hill coupled with Jessica and Scout’s fast walking pace was making Dana winded. “Thanks for calling me.”

  They walked in silence for a few seconds before Jessica continued. “How has the city been treating you since we last hung out?”

  “It’s been pretty crazy. I love my job, but I’ve never been so busy. I’m just starting to get my apartment together. Pretty soon it’ll be ready for guests.”

  “I’ll be your first!”

  “Uh, sure!” Dana tried to sound enthusiastic. They were silent for a moment. “What was the occasion for your dinner with Alexander?”

  “I wanted to ask you the same thing.”

  “William invited me out to celebrate the fashion spread’s success.”

  “I see. That makes sense – William had asked me to make a reservation there for two earlier in the week. I didn’t know that you were the other.”

  Dana was surprised. William had told her that Alexander was invited.

  “Alexander and I were just celebrating the end of the week, I suppose. They sometimes take me out for dinners and outings. It’s like a bonus, but they don’t to pay me.” Jessica laughed.

  “You guys looked like you were going out for a night on the town!” Dana piped.

  “Well, we were at the Poisson, were we not?” Jessica replied smartly. “I’ve been working for those guys for over a year. We joke around enough in the office that we sometimes enjoy joking around on the town, too. Perk of being a Price-Levy investments employee, I suppose. You get treated to the guys’ lifestyle every once in a while!”

  Dana was baffled at the contrast between Jessica’s current nonchalance and her behavior toward Alexander on Friday. Yet Jessica spoke convincingly enough that Dana was satisfied with her answer.

  “I feel very lucky to work with two men that I actually like. That’s not to say that you don’t have to have a thick skin to hang with them. You do.”

  Dana chortled, thinking back to the dumb, crude guys that she used to work with at her high school waitressing job. “Yeah, that’s a good thing.” Dana relaxed and changed the subject.

  ***

  It was Monday and Dana was settling back into her typical routine of photographing assorted products in front of a white backdrop. The drama of the weekend had migrated to the back of her mind as she focused on her work. She was expending too much mental energy trying to get Amy and Emily, who’d been assigned to assist her, to properly position the lights for each item. They were proving to be more of a burden than a help, and she was tempted to tell them to go back to the office and handle everything herself.

  Dana was in the middle of photographing an embroidered handbag when her cell phone buzzed in her back pocket.

  A blocked number again. Dana picked it up without hesitating.

  “Hello?”

  “I’m not done with you yet,” a familiar, throaty voice responded from the other end.

  Dana stood, frozen. She didn’t know what to say.

  “Come to dinner with me tomorrow.”

  “Uh –“

  “Meet me at Nobu in Malibu. 7:30. Dinner’s on me. What are you wearing?”

  Was he serious? “Uh, a black wrap dress?” Amy and Emily’s faces perked up in the corner.

  “Wear that.” Click.

  Dana stood with her arm still to her ear. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

  She was going to dinner with Alexander tomorrow night.

  She paced around the tiny studio frantically for a minute before she noticed Amy and Emily standing in the corner, staring at her and giggling.

  “Who was that?” Amy asked.

  Dana shook her head. “None of your business. Do you two always use other people’s phone calls as an excuse to stop working?”

  “Sorry,” Emily mumbled. “We were just curious.” She began fiddling with the photography umbrella but turned it the wrong way so that it fell over on the floor. She flashed Dana an uncomfortable grin.

  Dana sighed. “Don’t you guys have things to do in the office? I can handle the rest of this myself.”

  Amy and Emily looked at each other, then to Dana. They shrugged their shoulders and walked out of the studio.

  “That’s a relief,” Dana muttered. The interns had good intentions, but Dana wasn’t in the mood to put up with their goofiness today. Dana returned to her work and began to think.

  Alexander must have a motive. Why else would he go from ‘come to my o
ffice’ to ‘I’m taking you out to dinner?’ It was like he had caught a glimpse inside her head and had decided to start speaking her language, in his own authoritative way. Dana wondered if Alexander felt threatened by William’s dinner gesture.

  She didn’t trust him. She knew that he was a smart guy, and Dana was almost mad at herself for being so confused by Alexander’s apparent manipulation. She was still convinced that he only wanted her for sex. Why did he only appear when he wanted something?

  The situation was distracting Dana, and she couldn’t afford to miss her project deadline. She took a deep breath and tried to get back to work. The thoughts plagued her all day, but she did her best to ignore them.

  ***

  Dana’s distracted mind had slowed her workflow, and the next day she found herself rushing to get her boxes of items photographed before she had to send them all to the editor at the end of the day. She never thought that working alone with inanimate objects could be so stressful. Usually it was the models – and the extra staff that went along with them – that made for difficult shoots, but Dana’s mind was her own worst enemy this week.

  She almost regretted getting herself into the messy situation she now found herself in. She didn’t have to obey Alexander when he called her that first time, but how could she not have indulged her incredible intrigue? It was too difficult to resist the attention of somebody gorgeous and rich. Anybody in a situation like mine would do the same thing, she thought. What other chance am I going to get?

  It was almost six o’clock. Most of the office had gone home and Dana easily had two more hours of work ahead of her. She had to meet Alexander in Malibu at 7:30, and she didn’t see any way she could get everything done and still get to dinner on time.

  The interns, who were required to be at the office for a specific number of hours, were sitting around in the office, looking bored. Dana had refused to let them back into the shoot after their general unhelpfulness yesterday, but felt like she had been a little harsh. She knew that Amy and Emily were both competent photographers and that her moody presence yesterday probably made them more than a little nervous. What better way to get to dinner on time and get back on Amy and Emily’s good sides than to pawn off the last of her work to them? Dana praised herself for her quick thinking and walked out into the office.

  “Hey, girls.”

  Amy and Emily looked up from their desk, where they were browsing Pinterest together.

  “Listen. I know I was a little harsh on you guys these last couple of days, but I’m going to make it up to you.”

  The girls stared at her like she was strange.

  “Don’t look at me like that!” Dana joked. “Do you two want to shoot the rest of my items? I have to be somewhere and I’m running a little behind.

  Amy and Emily’s eyes lit up as they nodded their heads.

  “It’ll be our little secret. I trust you guys to do a good job. I know you’re capable. But if you don’t, my ass is on the line.”

  “Don’t worry,” Emily replied. “We’ve got it under control.”

  The girls sauntered off to the studio, grinning ear to ear.

  Dana, happy the day was working in her favor, set off for the Pacific Coast Highway.

  ***

  Traffic was insane.

  Dana had totally underestimated how long it would take her to get to Malibu in 6 o’clock traffic. By the time her GPS told her she was a mile away, she was already 15 minutes late to dinner. It was going to take her another five or ten to get to the restaurant. She had no way of calling Alexander to tell him. She prayed out loud that he wouldn’t think she had stood him up.

  She cursed the stop-and-go traffic that kept her crawling at 10 miles an hour. The beautiful ocean view to her left did nothing to calm her down. Dana fixed her makeup in the visor mirror as she waited to move. She had worn her other black wrap dress to work that day. She had made sure to put on the strappy black heels that she kept in the back of her car before she started driving. Dana thought she looked good relative to the amount of effort she was able to put in.

  Dana had finally reached the restaurant parking lot. She handed the valet her keys, straightened out her dress, and walked toward the door. Her anger and frustration at the traffic melted into anxiety and nerves. She hadn’t been alone with Alexander since she was lying on his boardroom table a week earlier.

  She walked into the restaurant. The hostess approached Dana before she’d had the chance to announce herself.

  “Good evening, ma’am. Your party is waiting for you on the patio. Please follow me.”

  The hostess ushered Dana out to a beautiful deck that sat directly on top of the beach. At a small table in the corner was Alexander, enjoying an Old Fashioned and staring at the ocean waves. Though it had only been a few days since she had seen him, Dana had forgotten how handsome Alexander was. His perfectly tailored grey wool suit highlighted his tall, slender physique. Underneath, he wore a collared shirt with no tie, unbuttoned only slightly so a small tuft of chest hair peeked out. His perfectly manicured hair framed his golden face.

  Dana couldn’t believe she had fantasized about this man fucking his secretary. It should have been her. Dana reminded herself that it almost was.

  The hostess motioned toward the table. Dana approached the corner slowly. Alexander remained absorbed in the view.

  As Dana’s heels made their final click on the floorboards of the patio, Alexander looked up and combed her body with his eyes. His gaze fell on the curve of her round waist, accentuated and smoothed by her wrap dress.

  “I am so sorry I’m late. I got held up at work and then –”

  Alexander extended his palm, signaling her to stop. “Shhh. Let me look at you for a moment.” He continued to run his eyes up and down Dana’s curvy frame but expressed nothing. Finally, he motioned for her to sit down.

  Dana pulled her chair out and situated herself, taking care to avoid eye contact. A waitress came to the table.

  Alexander spoke for Dana before she could speak for herself. “A glass of Riesling for the lady, please.”

  Dana looked confusedly at Alexander, but didn’t question him.

  “It pairs well with sushi. Trust me.”

  Dana wanted to ask him about Friday night with Jessica, but decided that she didn’t want to risk spoiling their dinner before it had even started. She trusted Jessica’s explanation enough to feel comfortable letting the whole thing go. It wasn’t like she had any claim over Alexander, anyway.

  She continued to sit in silence, feeling embarrassed, uncomfortable, and at a loss for anything interesting to say. This is awkward, she thought. He’s so gorgeous, he’s asked me to come eat with him, and all I can do is sit here frozen with my mouth shut. What great company I am. I can see why he keeps calling me.

  Dana was relieved when the waitress returned with her Riesling. She presented them with food menus and left to refill Alexander’s Old Fashioned. Alexander cleared his throat, having returned his attention to the ocean and the people walking by.

  Great. Now he’s not even paying attention to me. What am I doing here?

  “What are you going to get, Dana?” Alexander didn’t shift his gaze.

  Dana snapped out of her thoughts. “Uh,” she muttered, looking at the menu. “I was thinking – ”

  “Get as many things as you would like. Remember, it’s all on me.”

  Dana flashed a faint smile. Alexander’s cold affect was confusing and upsetting. Why did he ask her to dinner if he wasn’t going to act like he was the least bit happy to see her?

  After another moment of silence, Alexander finally turned toward Dana.

  “How was your dinner with William the other night?”

  Dana could feel her stomach sink. She hoped that she didn’t turn visibly white. “Oh – it was –” She struggled for a word. “It was good.”

  “I’m glad to hear that you two enjoyed yourselves. I only wonder why I wasn’t invited.”

  “Well, Wil
liam was the one who proposed dinner, so – ”

  “I know. He didn’t think to invite me. It would have been appropriate, considering that we both own Price-Levy Investments.”

  Dana was taken aback. William had led her to believe that Alexander was invited, but couldn’t make it. Now two people had told her that he hadn’t bothered to invite anybody else. Had William really lied to her?

  “You are free to do what you want, Dana, but I must say that I was surprised to see the two of you there. I hope that you aren’t dipping your toes too far into a mess you’d really rather not get into.”

  Was that a threat? Dana defended herself. “Don’t misunderstand. I was under the impression that it was a business dinner. That’s why I went.”

  The waitress returned to take their order and left for the kitchen.

  “All I’m saying is that may not have been William’s impression or intention.”

  Dana didn’t want to take the conversation any further, but Alexander continued on.

  “Look. The reason I asked you to come to dinner was because – ” Alexander shifted in his seat and adjusted his lapels. “Because I think you need to learn to trust me.”

  Dana was intrigued.

  “I am aware that my manner is intense and probably pretty aggressive. What I do have going for me is that I’m honest. I’m practically incapable of lying. I’ll either tell you the truth – however unpleasant it may be – or nothing at all.”

  Was Alexander getting real with her? Dana, pleasantly shocked by Alexander’s words, tried her best to look like her insides weren’t a melting mess of nerves.

  “Regardless of how I may present myself, you need to believe me when I say that – if we are ever to actually go there again – I will not do anything to actually harm you. It’s all a game to me, and you can choose not to play.”

  Dana did feel better hearing Alexander say this, but she feared that he was misinterpreting her behavior. “The other week, when I ran out – that wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, though maybe in hindsight, I didn’t. It’s because I’m –” She looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then lowered her voice. “It’s because I’m a virgin.”