Banking the Billionaire (Billionaire Bad Boys, #2)(48)

"I can hear you, asshole," Cassie grumbled into the pillow.

"Oh, so you only sleep like the dead when I'm trying to fuck you?"

"Hey! I haven't fallen asleep on your dick in a while."

I smiled and touched my lips to her bare shoulder. "Let's keep it that way."

"Ugh. God. Where's the coffee? Is there coffee?" she asked, her eyes still closed tight.

I picked up the mug from the nightstand and held it carefully under her nose. "There's coffee."

One eye peeked open to make sure. "Thank God," she said as she grabbed the mug and pushed up to sitting.

She took three sips before bothering to speak again. "What time is it? I feel like ass."

"Don't worry about what time it is."

Her eyes narrowed and jumped to the nightstand to look for what I'd been careful to move earlier. "Where's the clock?"

"Hmm," I said, playing innocent. "Look at that. Phil must have done something with it."

"Don't you dare blame Phil!" she shouted. "What godforsaken time is it? You tell me right now, Thatcher!"

"It's not important. Just drink your coffee and wake up," I tried to say soothingly. She wasn't buying it.

Out of the bed, she jumped and ran, coffee in hand and Phil hot on her  heels. He snorted and she cursed and I pushed up and off the bed to  follow at a slow walk.

This had to be what men felt like when they were walking to their execution.

"Three a.m.?" she shrieked from the kitchen. I winced. "Three o'clock  was made as a time for going to bed, not waking up," she yelled just as I  cleared the mouth of the hall into the living room.

"Occasionally, it's a time to get up. Radio DJs do it. As do people with flights first thing in the morning."

"Do I look like any of those people to you?" she asked, and my eyes bugged out with the effort it took not to laugh.

Her hair was a fucking rat's nest of epic proportions, and her tits were  hanging there perfectly out in the open like they did so often. Mascara  smudged the creamy skin under her fierce blue eyes, and her nipples  stood at full attention.

She was the best thing I'd ever seen in my life.         

     



 

"I'm sorry about the early wake-up call," I apologized. "But I've got a surprise."

Her eyes softened a little. "I like surprises."

"I know, honey."

"All right. I'll get dressed. But Phil and I are putting you on our blacklist. Right, Phil?"

Phil didn't even look up from where he was rooting around at the bottom of the island.

"Fuck, Phil. Would it kill you to give me a little support?" Cassie asked.

"Phil's more of a guy's guy, honey. Bro code and all that. Don't feel bad."

"Well, he better get his act together and remember who brought him  here." Her voice dropped to the one women generally used with kids, but  the words she used made it creepy. "Or else someone is gonna be on a  sandwich, right little Phil boo-boo? Mommy won't hesitate to make a  little PLT." She poured more coffee into her cup and headed my  direction.

"Wear comfortable clothes," I instructed as she passed me on her way back to the bedroom.

With a little more thought, I added specifics. "And a bra."

She screeched to a stop, leaned into the wall, and turned to face me. "A bra? This better not be another fucking run, Thatcher."

"No running," I assured her. When she still looked skeptical, I broke out the big guns. "Pinkie promise."

She took the two steps back and hooked her tiniest finger with mine. I smiled at the sight of them intertwined.

I swatted her ass when she didn't move immediately. "Go on. Get a move on."

She disappeared down the hall, but she did it walking backward and gesturing one-handed threats to me the entire way.

If you think she wants to kill me now, just wait.




"Where are we?" she asked as we pulled into the airfield. Luckily for  me, it was hard to tell what it was in the pitch dark if you didn't  already have knowledge going in.

"You'll find out."

"You know, maybe I don't like surprises," she grumbled.

I chuckled. "Yes, you do. Just have a little patience. You'll find out soon enough."

You also wouldn't be this eager if you knew what it is.

"I wish Phil could have come with us," she pouted, and I barked out a laugh.

"You were just threatening to make him bacon, and now you wish he was here?"

"It's called tough love. All the good parents use it every once in a while."

God, she was cute. Ridiculous. But cute.

The gravel of the empty parking lot crunched under our tires as we came to a stop and I put the car in park. "We're here."

She rolled her eyes. "I can tell we're here. But where is here?"

I asked her for the one and only thing I needed from her. "You trust me?"

She leaned her head back into the seat and covered her face with her  hands. A groan filled the otherwise silent air. "Ah, shit. You only ask  me that before you make me do things I don't like."

"But they normally turn out well for you, right?"

"I fucking guess," she grumbled. I took her hand between mine and turned it over so I could trace the lines of her palm.

"I'll look out for you, okay? And I don't just mean right now. I'll always look out for you."

"Jesus Christ." She forced open the door, climbed out, and slammed it. I  sat stunned for a second before following her on my side. "Now I know  how Georgie feels," she went on as she rounded the hood and pushed right  into my arms. "Always dealing with that big-dicked bastard saying all  sorts of swoony shit."

I shook my head and squeezed her to me tightly. This was how Cassie  Phillips reacted when you said something she liked. Unexpected.

Bending at the neck, I kissed the top of her head and breathed in the  scent of her shampoo. Normally, I'd have been searching to place the  scent of a woman, but not her. I knew she used the pink kind of Herbal  Essences, could picture the fucking bottle in my shower, and the thought  of it made me smile. It didn't feel like the mystery was gone or some  other clichéd nonsense men told themselves they wanted to avoid. It felt  good. Like we were starting to become familiar in the best kind of way.

Like I knew things about her that other men only wished they did.

"Ready?" I asked into her hair.

"I'm guessing I don't have a choice," she muttered, pulling her head  from beneath my chin and looking up at me through her freakishly long  lashes.

I didn't answer with words. Instead, I touched my mouth to hers and  pulled away, clasping her hand in mine. A smile tipped the ends of her  lips up.
         

     



 
We walked across the parking lot in silence, the echo of crunching  gravel the only sound in the early dawn light. When we stepped inside  the hangar, she had to shield her eyes because of the sudden intrusion  of light.

Our companions were waiting across the space, already suited up. Cassie noticed them at the same time I did.

"Claire? Frankie?" She turned briefly to me and then back to them. "What are you guys doing here?"

She didn't realize she was the truly unexpected guest.

Claire stepped forward first, returning Cassie's enthusiastic hug, and Frankie followed not far behind.

Cassie turned back to me when she noticed their attire, and her eyebrows  pulled together, but she didn't put it together yet. "Do you guys know  what we're doing?"

Claire's face was a mask of trying to figure me the fuck out, but  Frankie's slightly annoyed gaze just came straight to me. "She doesn't  know what we're doing?"

"It's a surprise," Cassie said in my defense.

"Oh," Frankie mouthed. "Well, then, yes. We know what we're doing." He  hesitated, glancing to me for direction. "It's a yearly activity. We  always do this on this day."

I appreciated his attempt to cover for me, but I hadn't gone into this  with any plans to keep secrets. I'd brought her here because I wanted  her to know. I wanted her to know everything about me, and more than  that, I wanted her to be part of it. Every day I spent with her made me  want her to be part of everything I did.

"Margo was Frankie's little sister and Claire's best friend. And today  was her birthday," I told her freely. "Me, Frankie, Claire-and now  you-do this every year to celebrate her life."

Her face softened, and goddamn, I fell right into her trap. So hard, so  brash for the rest of the world. But in that moment, she didn't think  about herself and how awkward it might have been. She thought about me.

"That's amazing. Are you guys sure you're okay with me being here?" she  asked, stepping back to include all three of us in her line of sight and  questioning.

"Yes," I answered conclusively with absolutely no hesitation.

Cassie nodded. "Okay."

She smiled at me and then glanced back at Frankie and Claire. Her eyes  moved from their faces to their bodies, taking in the protective suit  and the harness. "Wait … why are they wearing that?"