“This elevator is the only way to access the apartment above my office and the underground parking garage.”
“There’s an apartment above your office?” First, she’d heard of it. The elevator came to a soft stop, and she exited before halting as a thought occurred to her.
“An apartment? Is that where you live?”
Surely not. He had enough money to live wherever he liked, why would he live above where he worked? But then, he had to travel a lot, so maybe keeping a house was pointless.
“I stay here when I’m in town. It’s easier.”
Might explain how he was always around when she was cleaning his office.
He led her towards a door.
“I hope your girlfriend won’t mind that you’re giving me a ride home.”
He opened the door, after unlocking it with another code. Really, wasn’t this overkill by now? Mind you, she was nobody, and he was a billionaire. Who knew what sort of security measures he had to take. Shouldn’t someone as rich as he was have bodyguards? She didn’t know, but she did know he had to have better things to do than give her a ride home. Suddenly, she felt guilty at how rude she’d been to him. He was doing something nice and she’d treated him with suspicion.
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
He didn’t? Part of her was surprised. Then, again, he wouldn’t be the easiest man to be with. And if he did have a girlfriend he didn’t seem to spend much time with her.
He has plenty of time to spend harassing you, though.
She shook off that thought. He was probably just keeping an eye on her because she was a new employee.
Yeah, right. Because someone as important and busy as he was followed around each new employee.
Lord, she wished she knew what he was thinking sometimes.
“I’ve seen a lot of photos of you that say otherwise,” she commented, unwisely, as she walked into a well-lit garage beneath the building.
He stopped then turned to look at her. “You’ve been looking at photos of me.”
Crap. Busted. She attempted to appear uninterested but knew she hadn’t succeeded as satisfaction filled his face. “I figured it was a good idea to know who I was working for, that’s all.”
He turned away, but not before she saw the smile on his face. Damn it. Why had she said that? It wasn’t like she was interested in him. Although there was something about him that piqued her curiosity.
She forced herself to find something to distract herself with. There were only two cars in the garage. One was a black town car with tinted windows. She looked at it as they passed it. Yep, it was a Lincoln. Jesus. How much did one of those even cost?
The next car was more to her liking. Black, again, but smaller and less imposing. It was a sleek, two-door model. She didn’t know much about cars, but she thought this one was cute.
“Cute car. What is it?”
He paused and turned to look at her. “Cute?”
“Yeah, it looks like those toy cars kids play with, only blown up.” A car big boys played with. But she didn’t say that. See, she was trying to be politer.
“This is no toy car. It’s a Maserati.”
He opened the door for her, and she climbed in. The leather seats were buttery soft and moulded to her body. As the door closed she felt like she was in a race car. She wondered what he would think if she started to make race car noises like she did for her nephews. She bit back a smile at the thought.
He climbed into the driver’s seat. Then he reached over her. She shied back. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea. But he simply grabbed her seatbelt. His arm brushed against her breasts, and a rush of pleasure flooded her body.
She stiffened, ashamed of herself. She was with Sloan. Maybe. Or maybe she’d managed to ruin what they’d had. She should have known nothing good in her life would last. It never did.
“What’s the matter?” James asked in a quiet voice. She startled, looking up at him in surprise. She hadn’t even noticed they’d driven out of the garage. The car moved smoothly, especially considering how low to the ground it was. He took the speedbumps in the parking lot slowly, going over them at an angle.
“Nothing.”