Beauty and the BOSS (Billionaire's Obsession Book 1)

by R. S. Elliot

  “Emily, will you drive?” Luke asked lightly, already moving to sit in the passenger side of the car before I had time to answer. The valet deposited the keys in my sweating hands, hardly looking at my face. He probably did this fifty times a day and didn’t bother to register the expressions of the people he passed cars onto. I couldn’t blame him. But as he left me there standing stock-still on the sidewalk with keys weighing down my hands and Luke waiting for me in the car, I felt very alone.

  How could I explain to Luke that I couldn’t drive this car? I really couldn’t? If I got behind the wheel, I might start shaking, or crying, or flinching from the images that flashed across my mind’s eye no matter where I was or what job I had to do. I would have to explain my entire carjacking, and there was no guarantee that he would understand, even if I went through all the trouble and anxiety. My mother still insisted that I was experiencing the aftereffects of trauma, that I should see a therapist, and even though I knew she was right, talking about the incident with anyone seemed too intimidating to handle. Now, it looked like I would have to.

  Taking a deep breath, I stepped off the curb and walked around to the driver's side of the car. Without saying a word to Luke, I slid into the seat and slotted my keys into the ignition. The first thin tendrils of panic rose up in my throat, making my breathing shallow, but I did my best to push them back down. This was so simple. I knew how to do this. All I had to do was turn the key and—

  I started involuntarily as the engine rumbled to life. I knew that this car was better made than any I had ever been in and had an engine that purred like a kitten, but the sound grated on my ears like the roar of a monster. My face grew hot as the walls of the car pressed in tighter and tighter, and I had to force the memory of someone wrenching open my car door and throwing me out onto the street from my mind. Luke was still tapping away at his phone, oblivious to my distress. I took a deep breath, trying to force air into my screaming lungs, and put the car into gear.

  I had to squeeze my fingers around the knob of the gearshift to keep them from shaking, but they were trembling freely as I brought them up to grip the steering wheel. I swallowed hard into my dry throat, eyes darting out onto the road. I felt sure that if I moved this car one inch panic would rise up to swallow me whole, but I had to drive, I had to get us to the hotel without breaking down, I had to—

  “Emily?”

  Luke had looked up from his phone, how long ago I wasn’t sure and was looking at me with concern in his deep green eyes. His expression was strangely grave, although I expected him to be annoyed. He blacked out the screen on his phone with a click and slid it away into his briefcase.

  “Are you alright?”

  I turned to him, doing my best to keep a stiff upper lip, but when I spoke, my voice came out in a croak.

  “I’m fine.”

  God, the tears were coming now, white-hot and irrepressible. I scrubbed the back of my hand against my eyes in an attempt to hold them back, but it was too late. The lump in my throat had grown painfully large, and I knew that it was only a matter of seconds before I was sobbing outright. In front of Luke Thorpe. In a car that probably cost more than the sum of my student loans. Oh God, why did this have to happen now?

  “No, you’re not,” he said, using the same decisive voice he had when praising me, or telling me he wanted me or telling me that we couldn’t be alone together again. “Get out of the car, Emily.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, crying freely now as I unbuckled my seat belt. I was relieved I wouldn't have to drive but devastated that I hadn’t been able to keep it together for him. I felt like I had made nothing but mistakes in our short time together and was proving myself to be a company liability again and again.

  “Why are you sorry? There’s nothing to be sorry about; I shouldn’t have asked you to drive. Here, swap with me. I’ll drive to the hotel.”

  “I can do my best to drive. I didn’t mean to get so scared, I just—”

  “It’s really alright. Please, let me drive. I hate to see you like this.”

  With that, he was out of the car and around to my side, pulling open my door. I shuddered and cried out even though I didn’t want to, pressed my eyes tight against the intrusive memories. Luke helped me out of the car with as much gentleness as he could manage and even swept one arm over my shoulders in a quick embrace before we went our separate ways. His fingers smoothed my hair down the back of my head, his green eyes tender as I cried like a fool, and in one electric moment, I realized a possibility that had only been a dim dream in my unconsciousness before now.

  His protective, tall form was standing close to me on the street while I cried, and those piercing green eyes... Luke said he shouldn’t have asked me to drive... Did that mean he knew about the carjacking and my PTSD? Was it possible that Luke was the man in black on the motorcycle that night who picked me up off the street and drove me safely home?

  I felt a little unbalanced as I walked over to my side of the car, heart still pounding with anxiety, head swimming with realizations, but in the blink of an eye the door was shut behind me, and we were pulling out into San Francisco traffic with Luke at the wheel. He kept glancing over to me every few seconds to make sure I was alright, and I dabbed at my eyes while I leaned my head back against the headrest. I had only been in California for twenty minutes, and I was already exhausted. I wanted to go home. But most of all, I wanted to know the truth.

  “I’m sorry,” I said again. Even though I knew that he would insist again that it wasn’t my fault, I didn’t know what else to say.

  “I get overwhelmed sometimes. When I get behind the wheel of a car.”

  “I can see that,” he murmured, changing lanes and taking the exit that would lead us to our hotel. “Did you... Is it alright if I ask if something happened to you in a car? A bad experience or an accident?”

  He was trying to appear as though he had no idea what could have caused my distress, but he had already shown his hand when he knew to take over driving. Luke being the man who saved me might be a crazy long shot, but everything he said in the last few minutes cemented my suspicions.

  “I was carjacked,” I said at last, letting out a shaky breath. “But I think, if I’m not wrong, that you might already know that.”

  Luke didn’t look over to me or indicate that he had been found out, or that he was surprised by my accusation. Instead, he said,

  “I’m sorry I didn’t mention anything earlier. You didn’t seem to remember me, and I didn’t want you to feel cornered.”

  The weight of realization settled over me. Luke had been there that night, he had seen me torn from my car and thrown to the ground, and he had been the one who pulled me up with his strong leather-clad hands. He was the subject of my girlish daydreams, the scorching nighttime fantasies that got me panting and writhing underneath my sheets as I urged myself on to climax. I felt stunned and half awake. This wasn’t possible; it couldn’t be. And yet here I was, sitting in a car with a man who seemed to understand my terrors and my needs instinctively. A man who I let take me in his arms and fuck me on the edge of his desk just two weeks ago.

  “God,” I breathed, bringing a hand to my forehead. It felt hot.

  Luke’s nervous eyes jumped over to me.

  “I should have told you sooner, and I’m sorry about that. Are you feeling alright? You don’t look so hot.”

  “No, no, I’m fine...” I had thrown the words out casually but was surprised to find that they were true. Despite my shock, and the jittery fear still coursing through my veins from my near-panic attack minutes ago, I felt better. More settled, as though all the disparate, jagged pieces of my life were starting to come together. “It feels good to know, finally.”

  “Did you just figure it out?”

  “Yeah... I guess that makes me pretty stupid.”

  “No, not at all. I didn’t realize who you were until we were together in the elevator for the first time, you probably don’t remember—”


  “I remember,” I said with a laugh. I certainly remembered making a fool of myself in front of him. He stared at me with such an intensity I could practically feel his eyes moving over my body. I spent the whole day beating myself up for making such a bad impression on the CEO, not realizing that he was probably spending our short ride together deliberating whether to identify himself as the man on the motorcycle.

  “God, this is all so... It’s just....”

  “A bit much, I know,” Luke said soothingly. His voice wasn’t authoritative at all. Instead, it was so soothing and gentle that I wanted to cry again. Was this how he would talk to me if I weren’t his employee, if I had invited him up to my room that night after the carjacking, or if we had met in a cafe like two ordinary people and started a conversation? I would never know, because now he was my boss, and he was driving me to an industry conference where I would be expected to keep things professional and photograph him for hours on end.

  “Yeah,” I said, sagging against the car door. “I feel like I got the wind knocked out of me. It’s not bad, though. I’m glad to know, and I guess I am happy it was you all along. But I’m... tired.”

  “The hotel is just up ahead; you’re free to go up to your room, splash some water on your face, and rest before we head out again.”

  “Actually could you just pull over, maybe? I want a few minutes to pull myself together again before I see Sonia. Is that alright?”

  “Of course,” Luke said, and swerved off towards the nearest exit. Within moments he found a quiet parking lot for us to loiter in, well away from the hustle and bustle of the busy city, and he leaned back in his seat with a sigh as he put the car in park. When he looked over at me, eyes shining, I could see he was tired too. But he also looked at me like I was the most delicate thing in the world, like I was something valuable to him, and that also made me want to cry.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Luke

  The parking lot of a value grocery store wasn’t exactly an ideal place for a heart-to-heart, but that’s where Emily and I found ourselves, taking deep breaths in the hot, quiet interior of a car. Her face was still red from crying, but now her eyes were shining with some other emotion that I couldn’t place: wonder, maybe, or fear. I was surprised to find that I was actually nervous, as nervous as I might have been taking my first date to prom. I had no idea whether Emily was upset with me for keeping this from her or not. I debated telling her countless times, but every time I convinced myself that there was no way to do it that didn’t come across as invasive and inappropriate. Then again, I suppose I had been plenty invasive and inappropriate with her in the short time that we knew each other, as Olivia could testify.

  Now I reached across the armrest and took her small hand in mine. It was clammy from fear, but she warmed under my touch as I rubbed small circles into her skin with my thumb.

  “I should have told you sooner,” I said quietly. “You deserved to know.”

  Emily fixed me with those huge blue eyes, and the sight took my breath away. Then she leaned over and kissed me sweetly on the mouth.

  Her lips were warm and flushed from crying, so gentle and exploratory on mine. This was nothing like the passionate kisses we shared in my office. This was a tender, almost chaste, a kiss of forgiveness, and I didn’t bring my hands up to touch her face for fear of ruining how perfect it was. I should have known this would happen from the moment we got into the car together, but I was still taken aback. Somehow, in all my dreams of Emily, I had never imagined her like this, so giving and so open and so absolutely vulnerable with me.

  “Emily,” I said softly, with her breath still in my mouth and her nose nudging against mine.

  “I’m not mad at you,” she said. “You were just doing what you felt was right. And honestly, I don’t know what I would have done if I had known before now.”

  “I didn’t want you to feel like I was stalking your or that I had singled you out. I tried to give you your space.”

  “I appreciate that,” she said, drawing back into her corner of the car. She had a light dusting of pink across the tops of her cheeks now like her boldness scandalized her. I loved her like this, earnest and honest about what she was feeling.

  “What were you even doing out there in Queens in the middle of the night?” She asked. “That run-down neighborhood is the last place I’d expect to see a guy like you zipping around on his fancy motorbike.”

  I leaned against my side of the car as well and glanced over to her. She wanted her space now, but she also wanted to know more about my story. This, I felt, was the next step necessary in our intimacy, whatever shape that was taking. I was willing to give it to her, and anything else she wanted or needed from me. Sonia would be arriving at the hotel soon, looking for both of us, but I didn’t care. She could check herself in and sleep off the early flight for a little while.

  “I actually grew up there. I was having dinner with a couple of old friends who still live in the area.”

  Emily’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re from my neighborhood?”

  “Not exactly. But I’m from the area. Born and raised for the first eighteen years of my life. I didn’t leave until I moved into my college dorm.”

  “That’s... not exactly what I expected from you.”

  I smiled wryly, leaning my head against the knuckles of one hand.

  “Most people don’t unless they’ve known my family for some time. They see the car and the press photos, and they assume I’ve been wealthy my whole life. But nothing could be further from the truth.”

  So I told her. I told her everything there was to know about my childhood, about my mother’s death and my father’s drinking, and the kindness of Aunt Martha. I told her about Nico and Marcus and everyone else in the neighborhood, their big Friday night meals, and raucous jokes and the games we would play in the street together. Emily told me she had grown up in the New Jersey suburbs, and she seemed enchanted about my stories of summers in the city getting in trouble for opening fire hydrants or throwing water balloons at passing cars.

  “I wish I had been brave enough to do that when I was a kid,” Emily said with a wicked smirk. “All I ever did was study and draw and text my friends.”

  “It isn’t the same anymore,” I conceded. “Kids now don’t get outside and play like they used to; they aren’t allowed. It isn’t as safe; I don’t think. God, listen to me. I’m making myself sound ancient. ‘The kids these days.’ Kill me now.”

  Emily giggled, the peal of silver bells.

  “Just a little. But I don’t mind. I like hearing about how things are different and the same.”

  “I promise you; I’m not that old.”

  “Oh, I know,” she said breezily, and then paled a little when she realized what she had given away. I smirked at her.

  “How do you know how old I am? Been doing a little after-hours research on the boss?”

  “I like to know all I can about the company I’m working for,” she said, bristling, but there was a smile threatening to break through her self-possessed veneer.

  “And about its CEO, apparently.”

  “Well.... maybe. But I don’t think 32 is very old. Not to me, anyway.”

  Her voice was soft, nervous, and I knew what she was trying to say. That she didn’t think I was too old for her. She thought we could continue with whatever was going on between us without worrying about the age difference. I wanted to gently correct her, tell her that she could do much better for herself with someone in her own age group and season of life, but her gentle invitation lit a fire in me that was hard to deny. I wanted to draw her close against me and kiss her slow and deep, to show her everything I had learned in over thirty years of life that I could use to please her. I wanted to feel her blossom like a flower under my hands while I learned the contours and particulars of her body, to watch her face color with that beautiful girlish flush.

  But I kept my hands to myself.

  “I appreciate that,” I said.


  Emily glanced down at her watch and made a distressed sound in the back of her throat.

  “I’d guess we had better get back to the hotel, huh? Sonia probably thinks we’re dead in a ditch somewhere.”

  I rolled my eyes as I put the rental car into gear. “Sonia probably had a double whiskey soda at the bar to soothe the last of her nerves from flying and is asleep in her bed, blissfully unaware that we never checked in; I’ll bet you five dollars.”

  “Deal,” Emily said with a laugh.

  I grinned as I eased the car through the parking lot and back onto the highway, and I was taken aback, not for the first time, at how easily Emily brought a smile to my face. I was generally serious, and Olivia was always chiding me to smile more in meetings, so I didn’t intimidate people so much, but it came easily when Emily was around. Everything she said delighted me, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to see her delighted.

  “Luke?” She said a few minutes later.

  “Yes?”

  “Seriously though, the neighborhood where you grew up sounds nice. I’ve never lived in a place where everyone on the street knows each other like that and helps take care of each other. I know you said that it wasn’t all roses, but I think it sounds beautiful.”

  Something inside my chest ached.

  “Well, maybe, I’ll take you there someday.”

  Emily smiled down at her hands and then looked out the window, and I could hardly believe the words coming out of my mouth. I was generally so guarded and so private, but the idea of showing Emily around the banged-up streets where I had grown up brought me genuine joy. What was this girl bringing out of me? And more importantly, was I going to be able to hide the way she affected me from the outside world for long?

  “I’d like that,” she said, and I felt like my heart was trying to crawl right out of my chest. This was definitely not optimal. I had been kissing my college intern in a rental car on a company trip, and now I was making promises to introduce her to my home turf. Worst of all, I wanted to keep those promises. I wanted to watch her smile and ask questions as we walked around my old neighborhood, and I wanted her to meet Aunt Martha, who was always calling to check in and nag me about not having settled down with anyone yet. This was very not good.