Pawn of the Billionaire(6)

I cast a glance at the men’s room. I really hoped Sam couldn’t hear this. Rage overtook me.

“He fought for this country. All his hopes and dreams of the future lost when he was injured obeying orders, defending us!” I couldn’t help myself, all the anger at the desperate need to change things, the helplessness of the poor, the inability to make things right. Even the sadness of the parents fighting disease in their children. It all added up to a miserable existence for them and for me. I couldn’t help them.

“Now you just don’t want him in here, because his balance is gone and he makes you uncomfortable!” I suddenly realized what I was doing. I was throwing away my job here. And I needed it.

I dropped my head. “Marco, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” I looked up at him, trying to produce a tremulous smile. “I really feel sorry for our vets. Maybe I could give him that table in future, then he won’t be so much in the way?” I widened my eyes, “I’m really sorry.”

My eyes flickered over to the man sitting at that table. I couldn’t help myself. He looked as if he was trying not to grin. He’d seen through my attempts to manipulate Marco. I looked away hurriedly, feeling my breathing rasping. God, I had to concentrate on my job here.

Marco’s face was a study in indecision. He wanted to make a stand, but he didn’t want to lose me, that much I knew. “Well, girl. You’ve got to manage things better.”

I sensed a movement behind me. The sexy man brushed past me as he went to the door and a jolt of electricity made me jerk. But his face was expressionless, tight.

“No offense taken, mister. I think the girl’s right. Let the vet stay.” And he pushed out of the door. I started after him since he hadn’t paid. Then I glanced at the table. A twenty dollar bill was tucked under the mug. My eyes bulged. I heard Marco chuckle.

“Well, if you get that sort of tip, girl, you’d better watch out.”

I rounded on him, then thought better of it. I sighed, “I suppose.” The man was gone. The most attractive, sexy devil I’d seen in a long time had walked out of my life, and I had no means of ever finding him again.

I looked around. The few remaining customers eating studiously, heads down. Tables cluttered with used dishes, waiting to be cleared. The smell of greasy food in the kitchen. My life wasn’t about to change any time soon.

I went to get Sam a refill of his coffee. Marco glared at me. But he wouldn’t say anything more to me today. I knew him well enough to know that.





James





I strode down the sidewalk, my coat shrugged up over my hunched shoulders against the rain. I’d even forgotten about the car, until it slid up alongside me, and Steve leapt out to open the door.

I shook my head. “Sorry, Steve. I forgot you were waiting.” That sounded lame, even to me, so I shut up and got in the back, letting him close the door behind me. I darkened the screen between us and thought back.

What the hell had happened? I’d abso-fucking-lutely had to get out of that shit place as quickly as possible. Just one look at her had me all knotted up inside — and that had never happened before. When that stupid, bloated owner had started in on her, I’d so nearly upped and punched him. But then she’d leapt to her own defense, and her sheer mastery of him had me sitting there in gaping admiration.

I could absolutely see her controlling Edward without difficulty.

And at the thought of handing her over to my weak and ineffectual brother, my belly clenched and my heart went cold. I knew I was scowling. The car headed home. I hadn’t told Steve any different, and he was probably a bit scared of asking me. He was fairly new, and I could sense his uncertainty.

I was too deep in my thoughts to bother putting it right though, and I thought back to the diner.

She was tall, not nearly as tall as I was, but she might take an inch or so off Edward. She was ungainly, stooping with an adolescent awkwardness. But she’d grow out of that soon enough. She wasn’t quite twenty, and in a few years, with the right training, she’d have an effortless elegance and her height would be an advantage to her and us. I leaned back against the seat and shut my eyes.

How did I know her body so well? Her face was familiar to me from the photo in the dossier. But I knew how she’d feel in my arms. I could scent the luxury perfume she’d soon be using. I could tell what her creamy skin would feel like when I slid my hand down the luscious curve of her ass, the perfect handful of its rounded cheek.

My cock stiffened in my pants. I tensed. I had to control myself. She wasn’t mine. And my heart sank.

I considered her background information in the dossier that Lawrence had given me a couple of days ago. This girl was Antonia Chapman, the great great granddaughter of the Earl of Amherst.