Banking the Billionaire (Billionaire Bad Boys, #2)(5)

If I hadn't known I was in my apartment building, I would've thought I  had just stumbled on to a soft-core porno shoot. Since I had no desire  to be their fluffer, I grabbed the membership from Francesca and offered  a heartfelt apology for waking them up in the middle of the night,  strongly expressing that I was in a hurry.         

     



 

Because I was. I needed to get the fuck out of their doorway before Tony started stroking his baloney pony.

"No worries, girlfriend. I'm just glad we could help," she said before  they headed back inside their apartment probably to bone until someone  passed out or went numb.

Once I hit the sidewalk, I hailed a cab and instructed the driver to  head toward the Zipcar pickup that was about twenty blocks from my  apartment. Thanks to the time of night, I was hopping out and tipping  the cabbie within ten minutes.

Normally, I would've walked there, but I figured this whole bailing  Thatch out of jail situation was a sooner rather than later type of  situation. And unless you're looking to get mugged, women shouldn't be  strolling around the city by themselves after last call.

Zipcars were a pretty easy concept. Anyone with a membership could head  over to a Zipcar location, and with a simple swipe across the front  windshield of a vehicle of their choosing, they were given instant  access.

I glanced around the parking lot, taking in my options.

Jeep Cherokee … No, too much room.

Chevy Malibu … Meh. I don't like the color green.

Bright red paint glinted in the moonlight, and my eyes did the same as I  landed on the final option. "Oh, yeah. That's the one," I muttered  victoriously to myself.

Within minutes, I was heading toward Frogsneck with a grin the size of Texas smeared across my devious lips.

Yeah, he'd think twice the next time he decided to wake me up in the middle of the night to bail his ass out of jail.





Cassie had shown up at the Frogsneck Municipal Building just over two  hours after I'd called her. Sheriff Miller had flirted with her  shamelessly as she'd filled out the paperwork to bail me out on nothing  more than good faith. "Pretty ladies don't pay," he'd said, and of  course, she'd eaten it right up.

What she hadn't done was say a word in my direction, choosing instead to  wait outside while Sheriff Miller released me from the holding cell. He  hadn't said much, but his eyes had said a lot, unspoken mirth pointing  glaringly to the fact he'd found my whole ordeal more entertaining than  anything else.

The direct sunshine moistened my eyes as it peeked over the eastern  horizon, and her shadow stood leaning against one of the smallest cars  ever created. I came to a stop at the end of the sidewalk and raised my  voice across the three empty parking spaces between us. "You have got to  be shitting me. I'm going to eat my knees in that fucking thing."

"I know," she said gleefully, spinning in a half circle to stare at the  tiny red Fiat before turning to look over her shoulder at me. She  wrinkled her nose as a smirk pulled one blue eye slightly higher than  the other. "Let me know if you choke. I might pull over and try to clear  your airway."

Scratching at my beard with both hands, I shook my head and laughed.

"So I guess you're not happy about the early morning phone call." She  raised a pointed eyebrow as I walked toward her. "Or at least the  accompanying drive and circumstances."

"Perceptive of you," she murmured as I got close enough to see, for the  first time today, the tiny freckle that lived just under her right ear.  It wasn't as big or obvious as a Cindy Crawford-style beauty mark, but  I'd noticed it more than once. Maybe because I spent more time staring  at her than anyone else.

As I analyzed her appearance for the benefit of more than my overeager  cock, I realized she looked slightly disheveled, like she'd hopped right  out of bed and come straight here. I hadn't thought about it before,  but from a quick calculation of the drive time alone, I knew that's what  she must've done.

Moving my gaze from the top of her wild-haired head down to meet her  eyes, I tried to convey how thankful I was with two simple words. "I'm  sorry."

Her wildly expressive brows activated again, and their message was doubt.

"I am. Really," I promised defensively. I hated to admit the  embarrassing truth, but I owed her at least that much. "But a guy I know  from high school said some things I should have ignored but didn't, and  I didn't know who else to call. It's my parents' fortieth wedding  anniversary, and even if it wasn't, there was no way I was calling  them."

"Kline?" she suggested as she looked down and noticed my hand for the first time, her eyes widening at the open, raw knuckles.

I rolled my eyes and avoided confessing her number was the only one I  could remember. Cassie Phillips's crazy ideas didn't need that kind of  substantiation or power.

"The last time I called Kline in the middle of the night he told me he  was going to amputate my most loved appendage. I've got five inches and  at least fifty pounds on the guy, but he's clever, goddammit. He'd find a  way."         

     



 

"Wes," she pushed.

I shook my head. "On the West Coast. Some kind of recruiting trip."

Her whole body seemed to perk up, and for the first time, I noticed her  shirt. A completely ridiculous creation by a company I owned a forty  percent stake in. I smothered a smile as she asked, "Where?"

"What?" I asked, confused. She wasn't making sense, but if I was honest,  I hadn't exactly been giving all of my attention to the conversation.

"Who, how, why," she rambled as she grew frustrated. "Where, as in what college, Numbnuts?"

It felt like a quiz, and I wasn't sure she'd let me in the car if I  didn't come up with the right answer. And as much as I bitched, I wanted  inside that fucking Fiat.

"Um, I don't know?" I ventured cautiously with a mindless scratch to my  scalp. A shower definitely wouldn't be amiss at this point. "I think he  was going a couple of places."

She huffed, yanked the driver's door open, climbed into the car, and  slammed the door behind her, leaving me stunned in her wake.

Three seconds into the shock, I forced myself into motion, jumping  toward and around the car, jerking open the door, and cramming my big  body inside as quickly as possible like some form of origami. I had no  doubt this crazy woman would drive all the way out here only to leave  without me.

"What'd I do wrong?" I asked when she didn't even glance in my  direction. I wasn't an expert, but I'd seen a woman pissed a time or  two. Each time it happened I made an effort to log information so I  could prevent it the next time. Unfortunately, I'd yet to establish a  pattern.

"Called me in the middle of the night and talked me into driving to upstate New York!" she snapped.

"No," I clarified. "I got that memo loud and clear. I mean when we were talking about Wes."

"Would I have hit him?" she asked strangely.

I wasn't having any fucking luck following our conversation today. It  was like we were constantly having two completely different ones.

"Who? Wes?"

"No! The fucker you hit! Would I have hit him?"

I couldn't help but laugh while I pictured it. Cassie was far from a  heavyweight, but I imagined Johnny still would have ended up on the  ground. "Long before I did."

She nodded, resolute. "Then you're forgiven for that." She backed out of  the spot with ease and turned out of the parking lot in the direction  from which she'd come.

A smile lifted the corners of my lips at the gift of her forgiveness. I didn't bother telling her I hadn't asked for it.

"Now I just want to get back to the city and climb into my bed. I'm about eight hours short on sleep."

"Um," I mumbled as I cringed. "I actually need you to take me to the bar."

"The bar?" The car swerved slightly as she took her eyes off the road to  look at me. I fought the urge to grab on to the "Oh shit" handle.

"The scene of last night's crime," I explained with a slightly rough,  self-deprecating laugh. "I've got a car there that needs to get returned  to the Kelly residence."

She moaned, but she ultimately turned where I pointed and didn't say  anything else. We rode in silence for two minutes before she took a hand  off the wheel and ran it through her hair. Her mouth started to form a  yawn, but she did her best to stop it. The result was a hideously  unattractive facial contortion. My chest buzzed at the sight of it.

"Tired?"

She nodded for five straight seconds before speaking. "Yeah. You should  know this by now, but in case you missed it, sleep and I are really  fucking tight. Like, you know how people joke all the time about  offering up their firstborn?"

I nodded and then realized it'd be hard for her to look at me. "Yeah."

"Well, when I have kids, they will be a legitimate sacrifice before sleep."