Four Reasons to Come

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “I have a lot of work to do and I needed the help. She offered to come.”

  “Oh, I bet she did,” Liz said with a smirk.

  “Liz, babe. It’s not like that.”

  “Whatever, I’m not in the mood anymore. I’m going to get a cab and go back to my hotel.”

  “It’s not like you were honest with me. You conveniently forgot to tell me you had a Latin stud as your co-worker.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you.” Liz refused to let her anger get out of control. She didn’t want to be a crazy jealous woman and she could feel herself getting overwhelmed with angry.

  The last thing she wanted was for Harrison to see her getting angry if he really wasn’t doing anything with his secretary. Liz knew the smart decision would be to leave and cool off, then talk to Harrison tomorrow.

  Chapter 9

  At work the next day, Liz couldn’t stop thinking about the secretary that Harrison had brought with him. Her mind wandered back to that trip she had taken with Harrison and all the naughtiness that had happened in her hotel room.

  She tried to think reasonably about the situation, but she just kept coming back to the way that Sarah girl had looked at her. That girl was after Harrison and Liz could feel it. Whether Harrison knew it or not, Sarah wanted to sleep with him.

  “You alright?” Ricardo asked as he saw Liz staring off into space.

  “No. I’m kind of not.”

  “What’s up? Boyfriend troubles?” Ricardo pulled his chair to the side of his desk so he faced Liz.

  “No, not really. Well, sort of. I don’t know.”

  “Well, I happen to be a really good listener.”

  “He brought his secretary.”

  Ricardo over dramatically pushed back his chair and held his hands up to his face in shock.

  “Oh no, he didn’t,” Ricardo said with a funny accent.

  “It’s not funny. She’s really pretty.”

  “Well, it is odd that he would bring her. But he seems like a busy guy. Do you think he might actually need an assistant?”

  Liz sat and thought for a moment. The other part of her trip she had taken with Harrison when she was his secretary was that he had been extremely busy. So busy that they worked solidly for a whole week and only messed around when the week was over.

  “Yeah, I guess. He does run two huge law firms.”

  “Well, maybe he really needed an assistant. Try not to jump the gun. Don’t go crazy girlfriend on him until he gives you a reason.”

  “Thanks. I feel better already.”

  Liz really did feel better. Ricardo had a point. That Sarah girl was just a girl. She didn’t mean what Liz did to Harrison. He had flown around the world just to come spend time with her. She couldn’t let her insecurities get to her.

  “Why don’t you leave early and go hang out with him? I got this covered.”

  Liz grabbed her phone and text Harrison to see if he wanted to pick her up.

  “I’ll see when he is free. Let’s finish this section here.”

  Liz and Ricardo finished a whole section of their project and Harrison hadn’t responded back to her. Ricardo could see the worry on Liz’s face.

  “Well, if he’s busy. Why don’t you come out with the rest of us after work? We are going to a Mexican restaurant. Won’t that be fun a Mexican restaurant in Australia?” Ricardo laughed and laughed.

  Just then, Liz got a text back from Harrison that read:

  “How about you come to my room at 10pm? I’m finishing some stuff. Room 1009.”

  Liz just looked at the text.

  “What did it say?” Ricardo wonders as he looked at the sad face Liz had.

  “He said he can’t meet up until ten o’clock.”

  “Well, then you’ll have plenty of time to come out for drinks with the rest of us.”

  Liz loved how upbeat and positive Ricardo was all the time. His sense of humor really did help bring the seriousness of Liz’s thoughts back down to reality.

  “Yep, I guess I’ll just come out with you guys for a bit.”

  Liz felt a little overwhelmed by the group of people that all showed up for drinks. She didn’t know how Ricardo had made friends with so many people in the short week they had been there. He really was good at socializing.

  Liz quickly downed a drink to calm her social anxiety. As much as she liked people, she didn’t like all these new people all at once.

  Soon she was on her third drink and feeling quite numb as she began socializing more with everyone. It was neat to meet some of the people from their new office. She talked to one woman who worked in the mail room and had a fascinating story about how she had started at the company.

  “I accidently got hired here.” The woman joked.

  “How could that possibly happen?” Liz asked as she tried to contemplate the circumstances which could have someone being accidently hired.

  “Well I meant to apply to their competitor but accidently sent my resume here. When they called me for an interview, I told them about the silly mishap. They hired me. I’m pretty sure they didn’t think I would take the job. But I fooled them.” The woman giggled and snorted as she laughed.

  Liz could tell she was drunk because she caught herself snorting as she laughed just as hard as the woman.

  It felt good to finally let loose and relax after the last few days in Sydney. Liz grabbed another drink and before she knew it she could feel the room spinning. Her efforts to numb out the stress had worked perfectly. But now she could hardly stand.

  “You alright?” Ricardo said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

  “I’m sure I am, but I don’t know.” Liz stammered as she tried to talk.

  “I think I should get you back to your room. Where’s your purse?” Ricardo looked around the area where Liz was at and couldn’t find the white bag he had seen her bring in with her.

  Liz wasn’t in any shape to help with the search. She just sat there looking ahead and trying her best not to totally pass out.

  “Well, I can’t find it. I told the bartender what it looked like and gave him my number. Let’s just get you out of here for now.”

  Liz just shook her head yes because she couldn’t open her mouth to talk. She felt like it was hard enough just to sit without falling over, talking was not something she was about to try.

  Ricardo grabbed her around the waist and helped Liz stand up. He guided her out to the front of the building where they grabbed a cab to head back to the hotel.

  Chapter 10

  Liz woke up in the morning and could barely open her eyes. She held her hands over her eyes as she tried to look around and get her bearings.

  She sat straight up in bed as she looked next to her and saw Ricardo lying in the bed with her. Liz looked around and realized she was in his room.

  Oh no. How did she let this happen? Liz looked down and noticed she was still in her work clothes. That was promising, she thought. Perhaps nothing had happened between them?

  Liz got up and looked around the room quietly to find her purse. She went into the bathroom and used the toilet real quick and looked in there. She couldn’t find it anywhere. Liz didn’t want Ricardo to wake up, but she really needed to call Harrison.

  In the fog of daylight, she remembered that she was supposed to have met up with him last night. He had to be worried sick about her. Liz continued looking through the piles of things Ricardo had all over his hotel room.

  She couldn’t find it anywhere.

  Liz decided the best thing to do would be to just go over to Harrison’s hotel.

  Liz quietly opened the hotel room door and snuck out before Ricardo could wake up. She went down to the lobby to get a key to her room so she could take a quick shower and grab some money for a cab to get over to Harrison’s hotel.

  She wasn’t about to show up at his hotel looking like she had spent the night in some guys bed. Even though, that was exactly what had happened. Liz could feel the anxiety getting worse as i
t became hard for her to breath.

  Hopefully, she had not slept with Ricardo. Liz really could not remember anything after she left the bar.

  In her hotel room, Liz got together a fresh outfit and got into the shower. It felt so good to let the water run all over her body. She stood there for much longer than she had planned.

  Her hotel room phone rang and Liz jumped out of the shower to answer it.

  “Where did you go?” Ricardo said on the other end of the phone.

  “Just had to take a shower. I’ll be in late today. Cover for me.” Liz still didn’t want to know if she and Ricardo had slept together.

  She hung up the phone and dried off. Liz made a slight effort to comb her hair and make herself look more presentable. Her anxiety was still going crazy. Liz felt like it was hard to breathe.

  Harrison would be so pissed off if he knew what had happened. He had probably been calling her and trying to reach her and she wasn’t answering. Liz tried to think of a way she could explain away what had happened. What would be a reasonable excuse for her not answering his calls or coming to his hotel room as they had scheduled?

  Liz decided she would have to think while she made her way over to his hotel. It was now almost nine o’clock in the morning and Liz was sure Harrison had been worried sick about her.

  She loaded herself into a cab and practiced her deep breathing techniques as the cab drove across town to his hotel. Her deep breathing wasn’t helping much though because she still felt like the world was spinning around her.

  When she arrived at Harrison’s hotel, Liz got out and felt dizzy instantly. The bellboy grabbed her arm and helped her into the building.

  Soon there was a man standing there with a glass of water.

  This really was a five-star hotel.

  “I’m fine. I’m sorry I just am not feeling well.” Liz tried to get the man to go away, but he just continued to stay there.

  “Can I get you some crackers?” The man offered.

  Liz thought it might be the best way to get him to go away.

  “Sure.”

  The man was back within a minute with an assortment of crackers. Liz thanked him and he finally went away. But not far, as he stayed watching her from the other side of the lobby.

  Liz got her strength back and headed to the elevators. She didn’t want to waste another minute. She had to get upstairs and see Harrison. Liz knew he was going to be so worried about her.

  As she made her way to the tenth floor, she had decided she would just tell Harrison the truth. She had gotten sick from drinking and had lost her purse. He didn’t need to know what bed she had slept in.

  She knocked on the door for room 1009.

  There was no answer, but she could hear people talking inside the room.

  Liz knocked again.

  The door opened and there stood Sarah. In her pajamas.

  Harrison came up behind her quickly and opened the door further so he could see who was there.

  “Liz! I’ve been worried sick. Where have you been?” Harrison said as he moved forward and reached out for Liz.

  Liz stepped back as she took in the scene. Why was Harrison’s secretary standing in her pajamas in his room? What was going on here?

  Liz couldn’t take it. She felt like she was going to throw up. She took off down the hallway running as fast as she could.

  Why He REVEALS It

  An Alpha Billionaire Romance

  COMPLETE BOX SET

  Sarah Brooks

  Chapter 1

  Liz really didn’t feel good. Her night of drinking had her feeling really dehydrated. Running away from Harrison’s room after seeing him and Sarah standing in there, really didn’t help either.

  In the lobby, Liz had to sit down. She was sweating and feeling dizzy. The bellboy, who had brought her water and crackers before, rushed in with a fresh supply for Liz to consume. This time Liz didn’t even try to turn him away.

  She sat there trying to gather herself back together so she could go back to her hotel. The look of surprise on Harrison’s face still burned in Liz’s mind.

  Seeing Sarah and Harrison in their pajamas in his hotel room was just too much for Liz. If Harrison had really been worried about her, he could have come to her hotel and looked for her. Inviting his six-foot blonde goddess of an assistant to his room did not seem like the best way to search for someone you were worried about.

  “Liz, nothing was going on. We were trying to find you.” Harrison said from behind Liz.

  Liz just sat there. She did not turn around to address this version of his story. Partially because she didn’t want to turn or move at all because of the nausea and partially because she wasn’t sure she even believed him.

  “Liz, where were you? I called. I went to your hotel. I even called the police.” Harrison came around and sat next to Liz on the couch.

  “You came to my hotel?”

  Liz suddenly felt extremely guilty. She had been in the hotel, just in Ricardo’s room and not her own. She had been in Ricardo’s bed instead of Harrisons. Liz wanted to tell Harrison, but she didn’t want to stop being mad at him yet. Waking up next to Ricardo after a night of drinking way too much was the whole reason Harrison had been unable to find Liz. But Liz had just been so shocked when Sarah was standing in Harrison’s room.

  No woman ever wants to see her man standing next to a woman like Liz saw Sarah in a hotel room. Even if it was totally legitimate. It was just shocking.

  “I lost my phone while out with friends from work. Drank too much and fell asleep.”

  “Are you alright? You don’t look too good.” Harrison said showing an instant level of compassion that Liz suddenly wished she had remembered before yelling and running away from him earlier.

  “Just a massive hangover and dehydrated. I’ll be fine.”

  “You know I love you. Sarah really is just my assistant. I called her early this morning to get me the numbers for the local police. She brought them straight to my room so I could call them since you had not shown up last night.”

  Liz started to feel worse and worse. The guilt filling her up from the inside all the way to her pounding head. Maybe she was projecting her guilt about being in bed with Ricardo onto Harrison and his assistant. She really did not see anything that was sordid or sexy between the two of them. Actually Sarah’s pajamas were full-length pants and a t-shirt.

  “I’m sorry I worried you.” Liz finally succumbed to defeat.

  “I’m just happy you are alright. I seriously don’t know what I would do without you.”

  Harrison leaned in to kiss Liz.

  “I think we should hug it out instead of kissing, I’ve got horrible breath right now.” Liz joked as she wrapped her arms around Harrison.

  Then in one quick motion he stood up with Liz’s arms still wrapped around his neck. He swung his hands around her and lifted her up off the ground. Soon he had her fully in his arms and was carrying her off to the elevator.

  The bellboy quickly ran after them and hit the button to open the elevator. Inside, the elevator attendant knew exactly the floor they had come from and got them right back up to the tenth floor.

  “This really is a five-star hotel, isn’t it?” Liz laughed as Harrison carried her down the hallway toward his room.

  He set Liz down for a brief moment to unlock the door and then swept her off her feet again as he brought her into his room.

  Harrison’s room was much more elegant than Liz’s hotel room. He had a huge king sized bed with silk sheets and a down comforter. There was a couch and sitting area and a television on the wall that looked like it was at least six feet wide. The floor to ceiling windows were pointing out over the city and offered an amazing view that instantly hypnotized Liz. She walked over and stood staring at Sydney as the sun shown down on the city.

  Liz felt Harrison step up behind her. His body closer and closer until his hands reached out and pulled Liz toward him. He leaned down and kissed the back of her neck. T
hen reached down and pulled her shirt up over her head and threw it on the ground.

  Piece by piece Harrison rid Liz of her clothing. She was too tired to argue and too enthralled with the view to bother turning around.

  Liz stood there naked, looking out over the city.

  Harrison stepped back and watched Liz. She was obviously distracted and enjoying the view. He took off his own clothes and stood next to Liz.

  “Do you think anyone down there will notice us standing here naked?” Harrison said with a smile.

  “Let them.”

  Liz reached out and grabbed Harrison’s hand. They continued to enjoy the floor to ceiling view of the city until Liz finally decided she was tired and wanted to lie in Harrison’s fabulous bed.

  They climbing in and their body’s slid into the silk sheets. If Liz had felt better, she surely would have loved to have sex on these sheets with Harrison. But she felt ill from her night of partying and guilty about what had happened the night before with Ricardo. So instead of making love, Liz pressed her body tightly into Harrison’s arms and fell asleep.

  There was no sex. There was no love making. But Liz felt closer to Harrison than she had in a long time. Now she just hoped she hadn’t ruined everything by sleeping with Ricardo. She couldn’t wait to talk to him when she got back to work.

  Chapter 2

  Harrison felt perfectly content to have spent the entire day naked in bed with Liz. He was happy she was safe and really needed to catch up on his sleep. Harrison had been awake the entire night before as he worried about Liz.

  The next day Liz went with Harrison to the airport. He had decided it would be best to return home and Liz was alright with that. She had already missed a whole day of work because of Harrison and she had the realization that she would never be able to concentrate if he were there.

  As they walked into the terminal Liz saw Sarah standing there waiting for them. She didn’t like Sarah and she wanted to ask Harrison to get rid of her, but Liz thought she might be overreacting.