At the Billionaire's Bidding

by Trish Wylie

  Connor took a deep breath, glancing briefly around her apartment while he searched for patience. It wasn’t by any means opulent, but she’d obviously made an attempt to make a home for herself. There was even a certain quirky charm to the place that reminded him of the Shannon he used to know. Not that he particularly wanted to be reminded of that version of her when he was intent on battling with her all the way into bed.

  ‘I brought you brochures of new buildings to look at.’

  ‘I already told you I don’t want another building. I want this one.’ Her voice remained low and calm.

  Which drew his gaze back to her face—because he hadn’t expected low and calm from her, not after last time. When they had both said things that couldn’t be taken back.

  He had been fully prepared for sarcasm and anger. And to give as good as he got.

  ‘I told you it’s already sold. It’s a done deal.’

  Shannon nodded. ‘Because you’re narrowing down the amount of properties on the company’s books.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  There was a long pause while she studied his face, her long lashes blinking slowly, flickering slightly as she looked from one of his eyes to the other. Then she unfolded her arms, stretching them out to her sides and resting her hands against the wooden counter top, which allowed him to read the lettering across her breasts: ‘4 out of 3 people have trouble with fractions.’

  And Connor felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth again. One that grew when he noticed the rise and fall of her breasts increasing as her breathing sped up. Oh, she wasn’t as cool and calm as she was pretending to be, was she?

  If she was so determined not to end up horizontal with him again, then she shouldn’t have such visceral reactions to him looking at her. But then if she didn’t want anyone looking at her breasts she shouldn’t keep wearing tops with varying different amusing sayings on them either.

  She was bringing all this on herself.

  When he looked up, her eyes were darker, more irritation evident in her tone when she spoke. ‘So, it’s not because you’re trying to dismantle Devenish piece by piece?’

  His smile faded. ‘And why exactly would I do that?’

  ‘You tell me.’

  Shannon watched as he shook his head, his eyes narrowing a barely perceptible amount as he walked over to set the brochures he was holding onto the counter beside her. ‘Let your agent know which building you’re interested in and we’ll get the ball rolling.’

  Shannon frowned at him. ‘I keep telling you I don’t want another building, Connor. Not that you ever bother listening. But this isn’t just about narrowing down properties, is it?

  There’s more to this than that.’

  ‘You can think what you want…’ he leaned his head a little closer, his voice dropping to a low grumble ‘…but don’t go looking for some deep psychological reason to justify why I’m selling. It’s good business, that’s all.’

  How was she supposed to concentrate when he was so close again? He was overwhelming up close. She could see tiny paler flecks of gold in his dark eyes, could notice the small creases at the outside edges of his eyes and mouth that hinted at the constant smile he usually had close by, she could smell the scent of his expensive aftershave.

  And she could hear Barry White in her head again suggesting they ‘get it on’. Which was tempting—and it wouldn’t take much either when he was standing so close already. In fact a tilt of her head would probably do it.

  When she swiped the end of her tongue over her mouth, his intense gaze dropped, then rose, locking with hers. And for the life of her she couldn’t find anything witty or sarcastic to say to him.

  When he tilted his head a little past her face, she sucked in a gasp of air, holding it inside her chest while his gaze focused on the spiral of hair against her cheek. And while her heart thundered in her chest while she tried to keep her mind focused on how much she disliked him and not on how desperately she was physically attracted to him, his hand rose, trapping the end of the strand between his thumb and forefinger. But he didn’t tuck it back into place, he twisted it a little so that the curl was tighter, then he let go, so that the curl bobbed briefly against her skin as his gaze went back to her mouth.

  And the part of her that ached, low down inside, ignored her better judgement, so that the only thing she knew was that if he didn’t kiss her soon or leave, she was going to scream.

  The smile that slowly formed on his sensual mouth told her he knew what she wanted.

  Shannon wanted to kill him.

  She pushed her hands off the counter, attempting to move away from him, but Connor stepped in closer, pinning her in place just by standing there. Not touching, oh, no, not touching her anywhere, merely dominating her with his presence and the sexual static between them.

  Shannon’s head tilted back and she looked into his eyes with a quirk of her eyebrows.

  It was apparently all the invitation he needed.

  Because in a split second his hands rose, his thumbs tilting her chin up as his fingers slid back into her hair, caressing the nape of her neck as his head lowered and he grumbled above her mouth, ‘You’re right, though. There is more to it than that. There’s this.’

  Then his firm mouth settled on hers.

  And it was as if a ticking time bomb went off inside her. Her hands rose, her fingers grasping the lapels of his jacket into tight fists as she vented all of her anger and frustration into the kiss. There was no tenderness to it, no gentle sense of longing. All there was was the release of the sexual tension that had been building since the day he’d walked through the foyer doors. And any need to discuss the damn building, or anything else off the long, long list of issues they had standing between them, left the room—at speed.

  Connor’s hands dropped from her face as he increased the pressure of his mouth, meeting her demands with some of his own as he plundered her lips from one edge to the other.

  And those hands then grasped hold of either side of her waist, pulling her forwards, grinding her pelvis in tighter against his hard body while he inhaled, drawing in the air she exhaled as she opened her mouth to give access to his tongue.

  Shannon’s hands rose, sliding up past his shoulders to tangle in the short, coarse hair behind his neck while she stood on her toes to demand an equal amount from the kiss. It was frantic, it was hot—everything she had fantasized about of late and so much more.

  And it still damn well wasn’t enough!

  She gasped when he lifted her, as if she weighed nothing, depositing her on the counter so that she was slightly above him. So she was looking down at him when he wrenched his mouth free and looked up at her.

  And she still couldn’t speak.

  He moved his hands down to her hips, down the outside of her thighs, ran his fingers under her knees and spread her legs a little wider to step between them.

  And Shannon just let him.

  Until his eyes searched hers, his head tilted again, and his warm breath washed over her swollen lips. ‘I knew you’d be like this.’

  Never in her life had there been anyone else who could wind her this tight, make her this hot this fast or force all rational thought to leave her head until there was only one thought left there.

  ‘I’ve never kissed someone I didn’t like before.’

  He smiled, his hands moving slowly up her legs again. And the erotic suggestion of their position sent waves of moisture to Shannon’s core. They could do it like this, just exactly where they were, a few less clothes, a little more kissing. It wouldn’t take much.

  Not when they’d been dancing around this for days.

  And maybe if they just got it out of the way they could actually hold a conversation long enough to sort out a few other things.

  ‘You liked me once. You’ll learn to like me again. You’ve just got to allow yourself to.’

  Damn it. And he’d said the words with just enough softness in his voice for her to believe him, hadn’t h
e? While his hands stilled on her upper leg, fingers splaying so that his thumbs rested on the edge of the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.

  ‘We were friends before we were lovers, remember, Shannon? I remember that.’

  Shannon swallowed hard to shift the lump forming in her throat. Yes, they had been friends. They had laughed together, teased each other, spent time in each other’s company without all this bickering and tension.

  But that had been then. ‘You’re different now.’

  He straightened a little.

  But Shannon kept looking him in the eye, searching for a sign that the Connor she had known was still in there somewhere. ‘And why is it you’re so different, Connor?’

  His hands lifted from her legs, eyes narrowing again. ‘I told you not to look for some deep psychological reason behind this sale.’

  ‘And I told you that it wasn’t about the sale this time. It’s not even about this.’ She waved a hand back and forth between them.

  Connor stepped back from her, his brow furrowing into a frown, his voice clipped. ‘Oh, really? Then what is it about?’

  It would be so much easier just to leave it, to say something to push him away and then to try her damndest never to see him again before everything got even more complicated with sex. Shannon knew that.

  But she couldn’t leave it be. When it came to the subject of Connor that had always been her problem, hadn’t it?

  So, she finally asked him in a husky voice, ‘How long have you known?’

  Connor’s jaw tensed as he forced the question from between tight lips. ‘Known what?’

  ‘That Frank McMahon was your father.’

  He stepped forwards again, his face dark with anger. ‘What?’

  Shannon shimmied down off the counter so that he couldn’t pin her into the same compromising situation as before, where she might get distracted from what she needed to know. ‘I know, Connor. That’s why you own Devenish now; he left it to you because you’re his son.’

  ‘Been doing a little investigating since the other night, haven’t we?’

  Shannon felt the heat build on her cheeks, ‘I needed to know what I was dealing with.’

  ‘Well, now you know.’ The smile he aimed her way was anything but friendly.

  ‘Congratulations.’

  But before she could answer his sarcasm, he turned, and marched straight out of her apartment.

  Leaving her standing in front of the counter with her mouth gaping open in surprise.

  What? He was just going to leave? He’d just wound her tight as a drum, softly reminded her of the time they used to be friends, told her she would get to like him again if she just allowed herself to—and then, when she’d given him the opening to explain why he’d been such an ass of late, he’d just walked?

  Oh, Shannon didn’t think so!

  CHAPTER FOUR

  SHE WAS IN THE foyer in less than a minute. From behind the reception desk, Mario glanced up, smiling knowingly before he waved a hand towards the door.

  ‘He went that way.’

  Out in the street she glanced left, then right, not noticing passing cars or anybody who wasn’t Connor, until she spotted his tall frame as he held up an arm, the lights on a car slightly ahead of him flickering to signal he had opened it.

  ‘Connor—wait a minute!’

  He turned round and watched her jog down the street towards him, cautious eyes blinking slowly at her when she was standing right in front of him. While Shannon plucked the loose curl from her cheek to tuck it behind one ear before she tilted her head back.

  ‘You’re just gonna walk? You’re not going to take a second to maybe talk about this?’

  ‘There’s nothing to talk about.’

  Shannon laughed sarcastically. ‘The hell there’s not!’

  She knew the anger in her voice was laced with her frustration, but she didn’t try to disguise it. And for the first time since he had reappeared, she saw surprise on his face.

  But before she could figure out why he was surprised by it, it was swiftly replaced with yet another frown.

  ‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong.’

  When he turned she instinctively reached out for him, her fingers closing around the muscles of his upper arm, ‘Wait damn it!’

  He didn’t turn to face her full on, instead glancing over his shoulder with narrowed eyes.

  ‘Who did you speak to?’

  ‘Tess told me.’ Her hand dropped from his arm as she made the confession. ‘I e-mailed her the day you got here.’

  With a shake of his head, he slowly turned on his heel, towering over her as he asked,

  ‘And you couldn’t have tried something off the wall, like, I don’t know, just speaking to me about it, like a grown-up would?’

  Despite the stinging derision, Shannon laughed again. ‘Oh, yeah, ’cos we’ve been getting on so great, haven’t we?’

  ‘And yet the first thing you did when I left was e-mail my sister to ask all about me.’ He lowered his head a little, his dark brows rising in question. ‘Where was the reasoning in that exactly?’

  ‘What the hell else was I supposed to do?’ She swung an arm out to her side. ‘You just waltzed in after seven years and informed me that, not only were you some kind of millionaire, but that you’re going to pull the rug out from under me as well! What did you expect me to do? Nothing made any sense—I needed some answers. You weren’t the Connor I knew when I left and I wanted to know why.’

  ‘Because the Connor you used to know couldn’t possibly have made something of himself unless he won the lottery or got it handed to him on a plate?’

  Shannon was astounded by his logic. ‘No! Don’t be ridiculous, of course I didn’t think that!’

  ‘Why wouldn’t you? It wasn’t like I grew up surrounded by money, was it?’

  They both knew that the Flanaghan family hadn’t been wealthy growing up. Far from it.

  But even though Shannon had been glaringly lacking in more recent news, there were some things she had known.

  ‘And yet you still managed to build a thriving business with Rory. One that helped support the rest of the family after your dad died. That wasn’t handed to you on a platter, was it, Connor?’

  It was one of the things that had made her feel the most proud of him, even after she’d left. Connor had always been so free and easy, so reluctant to take on any kind of long-term commitment, including one with a woman. Yet together with Rory he had knuckled down, shouldering real responsibility at an age when most guys were still running around acting like kids.

  Connor stood tall again, his eyes searching hers for a long moment. ‘Well, as it turns out, he wasn’t my dad. So there you go—life’s just full of surprises.’ He smirked. ‘Spot on with the bastard analogy, though, weren’t you?’

  Shannon gasped. That was what he had meant when he had told her she had no idea how right she was? It hadn’t at all occurred to him that she had called him that because of the way he had been behaving at the time?

  Connor’s mouth twitched in response to what she knew had to be a stunned expression on her face. To a passer-by he might even have looked momentarily amused. But a passer-by wouldn’t have known to search the dark depths of his eyes for that familiar silent amusement that was so often there—and noticeably absent this time. No matter how hard Shannon looked for it.

  And now she was getting mad at him again. ‘I didn’t know. And that wasn’t what I meant when I called you that. In case you missed it, I was angry at you at the time. You were being a complete ass, pretty much like you are now, as a matter of fact!’

  He merely shrugged in answer. ‘Apt, though, wasn’t it?’

  She watched as he took a deep breath, his gaze leaving her face and focusing at a point above her head before he nodded. ‘Well. Now you know. Not that it makes any difference. I’m still selling your damn building.’

  She didn’t reach for him when he turned away a second time, but when he walked away she
was on his heel. ‘Is that why you won’t take Rory’s phone calls now? Why you haven’t spoken to Tess? Have you spoken to any of them? Or are you being this much of a moron to everyone?’

  ‘I’ll speak to them when I’m ready to speak to them.’

  ‘They’re your family.’

  Stopping at the side of his sleek car, he yanked the door open so that it acted as a barrier between them while he scowled down at her. ‘Leave it alone, Shannon. It’s got nothing to do with you.’

  He was right. In the greater scheme of things it didn’t have anything to do with her. It was none of her business. But apparently that didn’t mean she didn’t care. Because she knew how much he had to be hurting to break all contact with his family. He had to be.

  And maybe, just maybe, that was part of the reason he was so different. She could just have a sit-down later to think about why she was still so physically attracted to him when he was so different. It certainly wasn’t because she still felt anything for him.

  But the part of her heart that had felt something once wanted to believe that that was the reason he had changed—it didn’t want to believe he had turned into someone she could hate as much as she had the last few days.

  After all, the Flanaghans were the closest family she had ever known. Where one ended the other began. And Shannon knew how precious something like that was, never having had it herself. To suddenly discover that he was someone else’s son must have crushed Connor. How could it not have?

  When she found words again, her voice came out softer with perceived understanding.

  ‘How long have you known?’

  Dark eyes rose to the heavens for a brief second, as if searching for patience, before he sighed. ‘Six weeks.’

  That made it an all-too-recent wound—which gave her a glimmer of hope.

  ‘There’s no doubt about it? You spoke to your mother?’

  ‘We had a little chat, yes.’ Dark eyes locked with green. ‘You done now?’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head, ignoring the curl that worked loose again to brush against her cheek. ‘I don’t think I am. Not if you’re so keen I should allow myself to like you again.’