I tried not to show that I was actually kind of nervous about it as I gave a single nod, stepping out of the car and meeting him on the sidewalk.
He looked around as he took my hand and led me down the street.
“They are going to be expensive, aren’t they?”
“Depends on what you consider expensive.” He gave me a smile.
“Um—”
“Kathrine said a couple of the stores have very good quality items, items that have lasted her years, although she had to pay a little more for them, she hasn’t had to buy coats for years. Sometimes, paying a little more saves in the long run.”
I caught him looking at me from the corner of my eye. “You guys have so much money to spend, do you really care if something saves in the long run?” It came out snarkier than I had meant it to. His family was all very kind to me, and despite the fact I wasn’t half as well put together as them, they had all been very welcoming.
“Of course we do.” He laughed softly. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have the money that we have. We invest in good items so we don’t have to waste money on crap. And, sometimes the cheap items are good, so that’s a win/win for us.”
Wow.
I’d never heard him talk that responsibly about money. He normally just waved it away, insisting he could afford whatever he wanted. I have to admit, it kind of shocked me. But I liked it.
He came to a stop in front of one store and motioned for me to go inside. I kept hold of his hand as I led the way to the back of the store—the sale section.
Even if he did have lots of money to spend on clothes, it didn’t make sense not to look at the sales before anything else.
I was sure he could agree with me on that. His fingers tightened against mine, squeezing my hand gently.
I turned, giving him a smile. His eyes glowed as he pulled me to a stop and reached for a pure white dress. “What about this?”
“Oh no, I’ll get that one stained.”
He laughed. “Alright, fine. I guess we can’t get you that.” He smiled as he put it back.
“Um, excuse me.” A girl stepped forward and stared at Adam. “Adam, is that you?”
“Um, yeah. Hi.”
“Wow, it’s so good to see you,” her arms wrapped around him quickly, almost pushing me out of the way, “I haven’t seen you since graduation.” She laughed softly.
“Yea, I know right.” He grinned widely, running his fingers through his hair.
“So how have you been?” She glanced over at me for a fraction of a second.
“I’ve been good. Actually,” he pulled me closer, “my girlfriend and I are looking for a dress for her.”
Finally, the girl actually turned her attention to me. She looked me up and down, in my cheap jeans and my $10 top. I gave her a wide grin, looking her over. I could see her nose wrinkle, and the truth was, I didn’t care at all.
“She’s your girlfriend? I didn’t realize … I mean, I know your family always has such nice outfits, I thought …” she trailed off. Maybe it was because she couldn’t actually think of an insult, or maybe it was just because she wanted me to think of them all myself.
Honestly, what she said didn’t hurt me. I barked out a laugh, turned away from the girl and reached for a simple red dress. I wasn’t really one for statement colors, but I pulled it out and handed it to her. “Could you get me a room started, please? We’ve got … a long night planned, and I’d like to make sure shopping doesn’t cut into that too much.” My eyes sparkled as I glanced over at Adam, whose cheeks flushed.
“Are you sure that isn’t a little too small?” The girl looked me up and down, sneering.
I studied the tag, biting my lip. “You know … I’m not sure. I think it will be fine. It can be so hard to tell; honestly, I’ve got such a big butt and boobs.” I lowered my voice, but still said it loud enough I was sure she could hear. “It can make sizing so difficult.” I pouted, then looked her up and down. I could think of such snarky things to say, but I didn’t say anything. Because I wanted to prove in some way that I was the better person. Does that really make me better? I wondered.
“So nothing white?” Adam’s voice snapped me back to reality.
“No. Nothing white.” I grinned.
“Alright, I’ll go look for a couple other things.” He returned my grin.
I grabbed a simple black dress and a green kimono style one before rushing after the girl who had gone to get my room ready.
I found her by the change room. She glanced past me, no doubt looking at Adam, then she turned her attention back to me.
“So how did you and Adam meet?”
The question took me back a little.
“Fiona,” his voice was silky smooth as he came to a stop in front of me, “we need to talk.”
My heart skipped a beat. Had I done something wrong?
“About what?”
“What are you doing this weekend?”
“Um, excuse me?”
Was he trying to ask me out or something? I turned to see him standing there. His cheeks turned a shade of pink as he looked away from me. Oh God, he is asking me out?
“I’m attending a family event on the weekend and it would be best for me if I had… someone with me. I figured … you’re … reasonable looking.”
Honestly, it kind of made me laugh. But I didn’t think giving her the truth was the best idea.
“We met through a friend.”
It wasn’t a lie at all, really. The reason I met him was because of Josh, my brother—his friend.
And brothers were kind of like friends.
“That’s sweet.” She didn’t sound like she meant it.
“You two went to school together, right?”
“Yes. We were in math class together.”
That was it? She wasn’t going to expand on it any more than that? Well, he hadn’t really looked like he knew her when she recognized him.
“I bet he was smart. Anyways, thank you so much for getting the room set up for me. I think Adam was going to try and find a couple suggestions, too.” I slipped past her and headed into the room without saying another word and closed the door behind me.
I padded over to the dressing rooms with three dresses in my hand.
“How’s it going?” I called.
“It’s alright.” She sighed. Clearly it was not alright. I didn’t have a lot of experience with this girlfriend thing, but I wasn’t stupid.
“What’s wrong?”
“It seems your girlfriend is having some trouble finding the right dress.” The girl from before said. I glanced over at her. Who is she? Obviously, she was from school, but I couldn’t picture who she had been. Did we share a class? Was she a friend’s girlfriend? Was she a cheerleader? Being on the football team meant I hung out with them a little … but I never bothered getting to know them.
I cracked my neck, sighing.
“They all just look … wrong …” I could hear the defeat in her voice.
“What do you have on now?”
“Er … nothing.”
I barked out a laugh. “Well, that’s got my vote.”
I heard the soft giggle.
“Put something on and get out here.”
Seconds later, the door opened and she stepped out in a green kimono style dress. She crossed her arms over her chest letting out a huff of frustration. “Look at it!”
Oh, I was looking alright. My head tilted to the left. Her breasts pressed against the top, the tie held her in at the smallest point of her waist. I took a deep breath. “Well, I’m not much of a fashionista—”
“Don’t you think it’s a little …” The girl beside me motioned towards her breasts. My brow furrowed. She didn’t finish her sentence, she just kept … circling with her hands over her boobs. My frown deepened. I didn’t like it.
“I think it’s hot,” I said without taking my eyes from Fiona.
Her eyes widened.
My heart did a double backflip.
“You’re getting it.” I wasn’t a huge fan of the bossy attitude, and I raised an eyebrow. He laughed softly. “You can get something else if you want, but I think you’ll regret it if you don’t.” I knew he was right.
“Fine.” I muttered. I hated admitting he was right, though I wasn’t going to say it out loud.
I slipped back into the change room and stripped. I can’t believe this. It was all so crazy.
“So, you’re living around here?”
“Yes.”
“Cool, we should hook up some time.”
Anger tugged at the pit of my stomach when I heard her say it. I hated it. I hated that she would say something like that, but whatever. It wasn’t any of my business, right? Other than the fact that she’s talking to my boyfriend.
Wait, when did he become my boyfriend? I mean, sure we’d been pretending for a while now, and he had already called me his girlfriend several times, but … I bit my lip. This was the first time I'd actually thought of him as my boyfriend, and honestly, that was a little freaky. Now there was a chance for us to actually make this work, but there was also a major chance I was going to get my heart broken, and I didn’t like that one bit. I didn’t want to take that risk, but he made me want to. He made me want to give us a shot.
“That sounds great.” His words made my heart skip a beat. “I’m sure Fee would love to make some more female friends. I know she works so much she hardly has any time to get out and make friends.”
“Oh, Fee … yeah, she’s …” I could hear the disappointment in her voice, and as bad as it was, I loved it.
I grinned as I slipped into the clothes I’d been wearing when we got here, grabbed the dress, and headed out of the change room.
“Are you trying anything else on?”
“No.” I smiled widely.
“I thought—”
“I’ll trust you.” My eyes locked on his. She’d had something negative to say about every dress I’d stepped out in while looking for Adam. The truth is, maybe it wasn’t me or the dresses, and maybe it was her being a sneaky bitch. I don’t think I’ll be wanting to ‘hook up’ with her, that’s for fucking sure.
Adam reached out and took the dress from me. His smile widened as he turned on his heel and headed for the til.
“So, should we get you some new shoes?”
“I think I’ll survive wearing some shoes that I have.” As much as I loved the idea of getting new shoes, I knew I would never really need them. So I resisted.
“Well, what do you want to go with the outfit?” he asked, his sole focus on me as the girl rang up the total for the dress.
I have to admit, as bad as it was, it made me happy that Adam’s attention was on me and not this girl. I bit my lip, mulling it over.
I guess it wouldn’t kill me to get something else. Maybe a purse?
“I don’t know …” I mean, I didn’t want to spend all his money. I knew he had a lot saved up, but that didn’t mean I should just go spending it like crazy. Right?
He handed his credit card over to the girl without even looking at her, and his eyes locked on me as he gave me a smile. “Come on, there must be something you want.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, this dress should be more than enough. Anyways, there is no point in wasting your money on something that I’m just going to use once.”
“Are you sure? I like spoiling you, Fiona.”
My cheeks turned a deep shade of pink.
“Ahem.” The girl behind the counter cleared her throat. She held out a plastic bag for us. “Your dress. And if you could, maybe, get out of the way of the counter, in case other people want to use it.”
I looked around. WE were the only ones in here, but I didn’t point it out.
Adam took the bag from her without giving her a second glance. “Come on, let’s go see what else we can buy you.” And for a split second, I could have sworn he actually sounded happy about it.
78. Chapter Twenty-six
A grin spread over his lips as we reached the top of the stairs.
I followed his gaze to see him staring at a large box and raised an eyebrow. It was big.
“Looks like your toys have arrived,” he said, his voice low.
“My … toys?”
“The links you sent me last night.”
“I …” I stared at the box. “It was two things.” That must have been a lot of packaging.
“I ordered a couple other things as well.” His eyes sparkled as he handed me the bags from our shopping trip and bent down, scooping the box up into his arms before pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the door. My jaw dropped the second I looked inside.
It was all … perfect. The kitchen was spotless and so was the living room it opened into.
“It’s a lot cleaner than I would have expected,” I teased.
“Well, it’s not like I could have you come clean for me, now could I?” His eyes shone as he headed for the table. I followed him.
“It’s because I’m in love with you, Fiona.”
I still couldn’t believe it.
“The only way I could see you was to call you in here and pretend the office needed cleaning. So I did. I found ways to make sure it needed to be cleaned daily. I struggled trying to decide if I should ask you out, but you’re Josh’s sister. That is not something I easily forget, believe it or not. I hate knowing that I’m in love with my friend’s sister, my best friend probably. So I called you into my office every day with the intention of asking you out—”
My heart raced just thinking about those words. I couldn’t believe it. I still couldn’t believe that someone like him would fall in love with me. I mean, I’d thought he picked me because I was “pretty enough” for it. I thought all he cared about was the act I put on. I didn’t realize that he had actually asked me to do this because he had wanted to spend time with me.
“Well, make yourself at home. If you’re hungry, just look in the fridge, all that stuff. Get comfy, you’ll probably be spending a lot of time here, now.” His eyes sparkled.
“You mean, you don’t want to come hang out with my brother and I all the time?” I teased, following him into the living room.
“Ha!” He dropped down onto the couch. “Speaking of, what is the plan for him?”
I bit my lip. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure. “Well, we should probably tell him sooner rather than later, don’t you agree?”
“Other than that I know he will kick my ass, yeah.”
“I don’t know … I mean, he might not be super happy about it, but I think he will be happy that, at least, it’s you and not someone else. You know what I mean?”
“But he knows me.”
“Exactly, he already knows how much of a dick you are.” I grinned.
Adam barked out a laugh.
I pulled her close to me, my fingers brushing over the curves of her body ever so gently. My heart raced. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had finally told her, or if it was the idea of her brother knowing about us, but either way—she was worth it. If her brother wanted to try and kick my ass because I was in love with her, that was something I was going to risk. I was going to try and make sure I didn’t screw this up.
I just hope …
Her lips crashed against mine, making me forget about anything that had been on my mind in the first place. Her fingers tangled in my hair as her kiss became more passionate. Her teeth grazed my lower lip as my eyes locked on hers. She grinned widely between kisses as I grabbed her, pulling her closer to me. I grinned. A soft moan passed through her lips as my teeth grazed her. She sucked in a deep breath, her body arching.
I pulled away from her and gently pushed her off me. She opened her mouth to protest, but I ignored it.
“Wh—” she stammered as I headed for the kitchen table where I had left the box that had been on my doorsteps. I grinned, grabbing it and heading back to the living room.
Her eyes sparkled as she watched me sit o
n the floor. She quickly dropped off the couch.
“I have to admit, I was surprised by everything you wanted.”
Her cheeks went a deep shade of pink. “Well, I mean, I figured … I should try some new stuff.”
I grinned. I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing. I liked that she wanted to try new things and that she wanted to find her kinks.
I really liked that I was going to be the one to help her.
My pulse raced a little as blood shifted in my body. I could feel my cock getting hard as I pulled a knife out of my pocket and opened the box. She reached for its contents quickly. “That’s a lot of stuff.”
“I took the liberty of ordering you a couple other things.”
She’d only sent me three links; I thought it would be more fun to order a few other things as well. Anyways, it would be more fun that way.
She pulled out a black leather corset—something I had picked out for her. With her petite frame, I knew it would look perfect on her. Then again, everything I ordered would look perfect on her, or in her.
I could feel my cock getting bigger.
I set the corset aside, my heart racing. He had ordered a lot of stuff by the looks of it. Guilt tugged at me for a fraction of a second. I knew it was silly because I was sure he had wanted to buy all this stuff. But if I hadn’t told him about the things I wanted, he wouldn’t have been on the website in the first place. I did feel a little guilty about it, I have to admit. I glanced up. His grin widened as he pulled out another outfit. Okay, the look on his face made me feel a lot less guilty.
I looked at the outfit. A simple black and pink baby doll.
“Oh, I like that.”
“I thought you would look very cute in it.”
My heart skipped a beat. He wanted to see me look cute? For some reason, that made me beyond happy. I thought about the way he had treated me at the store today. He had referred to me several times as his girlfriend.
But that girl.
“So … do you plan on hooking up with that girl from earlier?” I chose my words carefully; I won’t lie. I also placed a high emphasis on the words ‘hooking up’ to see his reaction to it.
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 52
