Wanted: Billionaire's Wife Read online

  He joined her on the king-size mattress, his erection pressing painfully against his tuxedo trousers, and turned her over. Her big green eyes flew open, dark with satisfaction. He grinned down at her. She was gorgeous, although the word was too inadequate to describe the sight before him. Who knew underneath her ponytail and always-appropriate work attire was such a responsive, passionate woman? You knew. Since the moment you kissed her. You knew she was special.

  “That was...” she breathed, her chest still rising and falling rapidly. “Can’t think.” He watched her gaze slowly focus. “You. Too many clothes. Take them off.”

  Her hands reached out, her fingers still trembling, and she tugged his shirt open. At least one button, torn free from its mooring, clattered on the hardwood floor, but he didn’t care. He needed to feel her skin against his. Then her hands moved lower and caressed him through his trousers, causing him to buck like a teenager in the back seat of a car. “Inside,” she breathed. “Want you inside.”

  He didn’t have to be asked twice. The rest of his clothes came off even faster than he could open the foil packet and avail himself of the contents. Her eyes widened when she saw him revealed for the first time, but her lips curved upward in a wide smile as she opened her arms to him.

  He couldn’t wait any longer. He had to have her. Not even as a teenager had he felt so excited yet anxious with anticipation. She was so responsive. So alive and present. He slid into her, closing his eyes and biting back a moan at the slick, tight heat.

  His control was legendary. He should have no problem holding out. But the rake of her fingers on his back inflamed his senses, her gasps urging him to go faster, deeper. The pressure built, more rapidly than he thought possible. It demanded to be brought to its inescapable conclusion, now. He gritted his teeth. He was not an inexperienced boy with his first girlfriend. But then she cried out underneath him, her vibrations shaking the bed.

  Stars exploded behind his eyelids.

  When he had recovered, he gathered her limp, pliant body to his, pressing a kiss to the soft dusting of freckles across her nose. She blinked and looked up at him, a lazy smile playing on her lips. “Best outcome to a negotiation I’ve ever had,” she said.

  Male pride expanded his chest. He pulled her closer, burying his face in those curls. Cinnamon and vanilla surrounded him, a combination sweet yet warm and spicy. Just like her.

  She sighed, her body fitting against his without any awkwardness as she fell into slumber. None of the unexpected sharp elbow or accidental knee to the groin that often occurred on a first night together. He could stay like this forever, he thought as he drifted into the kind of sleep that came only after truly satisfying sex.

  Then his eyes flew open.

  Forever?

  What kind of a thought was that?

  Sex was of the moment, experienced in the here and now. Relationships could be mutually beneficial but like most partnerships, they needed to be periodically assessed and reconfigured. Look at his parents. Their marriage lasted five years, enough time to produce him and his younger sister. His father, Jonathan, got entry into the San Francisco society that had previously rejected him for having more money than manners, while his mother, Phoebe, secured access to the Dallas fortune for the rest of her children’s lifetimes. Each of his parents’ subsequent marriages had further enhanced their financial standing, social standing or both.

  Luke raised himself on his elbow to gaze at the woman curled into his side. She wouldn’t enhance his family’s social status or their bank accounts. She was...

  She was Danica.

  He fell asleep with her name branded on his thoughts.

  * * *

  Someone shook Luke’s shoulder, soft but insistent. “Hey.”

  He opened his eyes to find Danica standing over him. She was dressed, her black shirtdress somewhat rumpled but buttoned to her collarbone. He pushed himself up on one elbow, but she started to speak before he could form coherent thoughts.

  “Hi. Sorry to wake you. But I’m going home.” Her gaze didn’t meet his. It swept the floor as if searching for something. Suddenly she bent down. When she came back up into his field of vision, he recognized the white cotton panties in her right hand. She thrust them into her dress pocket. In her other hand, she held her cell phone.

  He blinked, still struggling to make his synapses fire. “You don’t have to—”

  “Yes, I do,” she said firmly, then chased it with a quick smile her eyes didn’t reflect. “Lot of work tomorrow. We both need sleep.”

  “We were sleeping.” He stretched out a hand. “Come back to bed.”

  She stepped out of his reach. “I only wanted to tell you I was leaving.”

  “What’s wrong?” It couldn’t be the sex. No, the sex had been amazing. Mind-blowing. Call him arrogant or just experienced at these things, but he knew she’d enjoyed herself. Twice.

  She laughed, two octaves higher than her normal range. “Everything is fine. I only woke you up because it wouldn’t be right to sneak out. I mean, you’re still my client and I still owe you work. Right?”

  “Right.” He searched her gaze. She wasn’t telling the complete truth. He could sense it. But he never fought to keep a woman in his bed. If she wanted to leave, that was her choice.

  He pushed down the unexpected wave of emotion. No, he wasn’t disappointed. How could he be? This was the best possible outcome: great sex then his partner leaves. No morning awkwardness, no worrying if she will expect breakfast and especially no verbal dance around the possibility of an encore.

  He swung the covers off. “I’ll drive you.”

  “No!” She averted her gaze from his nude torso. “I called a car. You don’t need to bother.”

  “It’s not a—”

  “Look!” She thrust her phone at him. “My driver is almost here. Silver Corolla. Can’t cancel now. It would be rude.” She lowered the phone but kept her gaze riveted on its screen. “So, um, thanks for the party. And the...rest. I had a good time. I mean, I hope you had a good time. No, I mean—”

  “Danica.” He waited until she looked up and held his gaze. A deep line still creased her brow.

  He wanted to sweep the curls off her face and tell her everything would be okay. He wanted to hold her curves against him and caress that soft skin until she agreed to crawl back under the covers.

  Wait. That was wrong. He didn’t want bed partners to stay. He masked his confusion with a tight smile. “I had a great time. Thank you.”

  Her shoulders descended. “So, I’ll see you in the morning? At Ruby Hawk?”

  “Of course.”

  “Business as usual?”

  “Yes.” Good. They were each appropriately categorizing the evening as a fun, one-time experience. The sour, hollow feeling in his stomach must be hunger from skipping dinner at the party.

  Her phone buzzed. She glanced down at the screen. “The driver is outside the gate.” She took a step toward the bed, but when he reached out his arm to draw her close for a goodbye kiss, she retreated to the doorway and offered a wave of her hand instead. “Bye.”

  And she was gone.

  He leaned back against the pillows. The bed held her smell, the air quivered with her presence. He waited for the room to settle and return to being his. Still. Quiet. Orderly. He twitched the sheets back into place and punched the pillows into perfect fluffed form. The room was back to status quo, and so was he.

  When he woke again, hours before his alarm was set to ring, he was clasping the pillow she’d used tight to his chest. He tried his usual methods for dropping back into sleep, but none of them worked.

  There was only one thing to do: diagram the situation causing his insomnia and diagnose the solutions. By the time he stepped into the shower to begin his work day, he’d made three key decisions.

  Number one: the search was off. Danica was car
eful, but the odds had changed. With Cinco Jackson sniffing around, the search was no longer a calculated risk in his favor. He needed Nestor to believe the marriage commitment was real. A front-page story about his pursuit of unmarried females would call that into question.

  Number two: he still needed a wife.

  Number three: the only logical solution to his dilemma was Danica.

  Seven

  Luke pushed open the glass doors of Ruby Hawk, eager to put his plan into action. He had examined it from all angles in the hours before the sun rose, not finding a single flaw. And after discovering just how combustible they were in bed, Danica would agree with him, of course.

  “You seem chipper,” Anjuli said when she ran into him at the coffee bar. “That’s not your usual style the morning after the Peninsula Society shindig. Did you not go?”

  “I went. Have you heard of Medevco?”

  Anjuli raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of subject. “Is that a city or a company?”

  “Company. High-tech medical devices.”

  She shook her head. “No, but I haven’t been following the health-care sector too closely.”

  “Check it out, would you? Evan Fletcher is the founder. Grayson Monk is the key investor.” He saluted her with his three-shot Americano. He needed to get some work done before he took Danica to lunch to explain his stroke of genius. In fact, perhaps he should clear his schedule for the rest of the day. Just in case. The hot flare of anticipation at the thought was not unwelcome.

  He frowned as he approached the conference room he used as his office. The mechanized shades were down, turning the glass walls opaque. He was positive he had left them up. With all the rumors surrounding Ruby Hawk, it was important to project openness and confidence. He opened the door.

  And immediately wished he hadn’t.

  Irene Stavros sat behind his desk, thumbing through that blasted Silicon Valley Weekly. “Hello,” she greeted him. “I’m so sorry I missed you at the fund-raiser last night. But it looks like you had a great time despite my absence.” She turned the paper around so he could see the double-page spread. A photo of him and Danica talking to Grayson Monk occupied the center. Her manicured fingernail tapped on Danica’s face. “What I can’t figure out is why you were seen leaving with the help.”

  * * *

  What did I do? What did I do? What did I do? The refrain would not stop playing in Danica’s mind. She fell asleep listening to its rhythmic beat, and the words provided the background soundtrack for her shower, breakfast and now her journey to work. She barely noticed the scenery as she walked the six blocks from the train station to the Ruby Hawk offices. Images and sounds and scents from the night before occupied her senses.

  She slept with Luke Dallas.

  No. Strike that.

  She had sex with Luke Dallas. Mind-blowing, can’t-see-straight, volcanic sex. The kind magazines wrote headlines about. The kind appearing in books she previously filed under fantasy.

  That she and Luke had chemistry had been obvious since that first kiss outside the taqueria. But even very, very, very good sex wasn’t enough to ruin her career over. This...whatever it was...could go no further.

  And Luke was sure to agree. After all, he hired her to find him a wife, and she wasn’t on the list. Last night was impulsive madness, fueled by champagne and pent-up curiosity.

  Now they knew. It was over and done. There wouldn’t be a repeat.

  Autopilot brought her to the converted supply room that was her office. Taking a deep breath, she sat down behind her desk and wrote down her game plan. She would find Luke the third candidate, she would submit her invoice for a job completed and then she would leave Ruby Hawk and start her own search firm.

  Her phone dinged with a text message. Her mom.

  Please call when you can? Bank refuses to refinance mortgage but drs. say Matt needs 6 more months minimum of physical therapy. Would like your help to decide if we should sell the house. Love you.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” A deep male voice interrupted her text reading. A very familiar voice.

  Luke leaned against her doorway with his arms folded across his chest. It was all she could do to stop herself from staring at how the cloth skimmed and outlined his muscles.

  She tore her gaze away to focus on her computer. “It’s nine thirty. I’m obscenely early judging by the hours some of your programmers keep.” She hit a few keys. She had no idea which ones. Her concentration was shot between the message from her mother and Luke’s presence. “Do you need something?”

  He unfolded himself from the doorway and walked to her desk until he stood before it. “Just you.”

  What the—She whipped her head up, thoughts bouncing around at the speed of light. Had he hit his head sometime between now and last night? Was he on drugs? Had he been replaced by a robot with the wrong programming? Before she could come up with another explanation, his long fingers tilted her face farther up. Then his lips closed over hers.

  Shock caused her to remain still. And then the electricity that always arced between them took over, opening her mouth wide in welcome, tangling and sliding her tongue against his. Warmth began to tug deep in her belly and pool between her legs. She heard a squeak of a moan and realized it came from her. She couldn’t pull away from him if she tried.

  She didn’t want to try.

  He broke contact first. “Good morning. I didn’t get a chance to say it earlier.” His gaze burned with want. But his mouth was set in a firm line, and tension held his shoulders straight.

  “Morning,” she stammered, gathering her thoughts from where they had flown into the ionosphere. “What brought—”

  He shook his head slightly, as if in warning. “I want to introduce you to someone. An old friend. I don’t think you’ve met.” He straightened up and stepped back, and Danica realized there was a woman standing in her doorway. She barely had time to process her expensive haircut and her impeccable designer outfit when Luke spoke. “Danica, meet Irene Stavros. We went to business school together. Irene, meet Danica. My wife.”

  His...what? Danica stared at him as he sat on a corner of her desk. Nor did she resist when he picked up her left hand and held it firmly in his. She’d heard him wrong. Right?

  One glance at Irene and Danica knew, no, she had indeed heard him correctly. Irene’s face was smoothly noncommittal, but Danica’s experience as an executive recruiter meant she was rather good at reading others. Irene vibrated with curiosity.

  Luke, what are you doing? Danica tugged her left hand free and stood up, offering Irene her right to shake. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” The latter was not a lie.

  Irene’s handshake was firm, almost bruising. “Charmed,” she said. “I wish I could say the same about you. But this bad boy here never said a word. You kept this very quiet, Luke,” she chided lightly.

  “Oh, well, you know,” Danica said with a shrug, hoping to appear nonchalant on the surface. “We’re quiet types.” Underneath, a bubbling mixture of disbelief, anger and shock twisted and roiled. Besides, what else could she say? She didn’t know what Luke had told Irene or why Luke came up with such a preposterous story in the first place. What she did know is she didn’t like the amused glint in Irene’s gaze as it travelled from the top of Danica’s ponytail to her practical low-heeled pumps.

  “No, I’m afraid I don’t know,” Irene said after she finished her visual inspection, with a smile bordering on a smirk. “You’re not even wearing a ring. You must tell me sometime how this whirlwind marriage came to be. Perhaps lunch? Are you free?”

  “No,” Luke said firmly. “She’s having lunch with me. Sorry, but the reservation is only for two. You understand.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Irene continued to regard Danica with a mixture of appraisal and mirth. “And restaurants never allow reservations to be changed, of course.”
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  Danica unfolded the arms she had been hugging to her chest. For a second, she was back in middle school, her thrift-shop dress and unruly curls the target of girls with shining straight hair and the latest fashions from the mall.

  Then she remembered she had weapons of her own.

  “Sure,” she said. “Come to lunch with us.” She picked up Luke’s hand and pressed a kiss into his palm. “It would be fun, right, honey?”

  His fingers tightened on hers. “I was looking forward to having you all to myself,” he rumbled, tilting her chin up so he could press a kiss on her lips. “Irene reminded me we need to pick up our rings.”

  She was pretty sure he kissed her just to hide his smirk, but she kissed him back anyway, her eyes fluttering closed, before she remembered it was just playacting. “We have plenty of time for that. Wouldn’t it be fun getting to know Irene better?” She beamed at the other woman.

  “You two are just so adorable,” Irene said, her expression still amused. But her smile no longer met her eyes. “I’d be delighted—” A shrill buzz cut off her words. She dug into her Hermès Kelly bag and brought out a sleek new phone. “It looks like I won’t be free for lunch anyway. Duty calls.” She looked up from the device. “My father can’t wait to meet Veronica.”

  “Danica,” Luke said.

  “Right.” Irene typed the name into her phone. She pulled a business card out of her purse and handed it to Danica. “Do call me. I’d love to throw you a party to celebrate the happy occasion. Don’t worry, it will be a small gathering. But there are some people I’m sure you’re not acquainted with that you really must know.” She smiled a perfect smile of perfect teeth surrounded by perfect red lips.

  Danica was abruptly reminded she didn’t put on makeup that morning. Still, she returned Irene’s expression, bared incisor for bared incisor. “Sounds delightful,” she gushed.