Stolen:The Billionaire Deception(18)

I felt, before I saw Seth standing in the doorway of my office. "Hi," he said, when I looked up.



"Hey. How are you?"



He came over and sat down across from me. With a wide grin he said,   "I've been smiling like this since yesterday. I can't stop. You're as   amazing as I thought you would be. More so."



I had to smile at that. Grant had told me I looked like I slept with a   coat hanger in my mouth the night before when he got home this morning.   He knew I had sex before I was finally ribbed into admitting it. I   blushed now as I said, "I know the feeling."



"Good, I'd hate to think it's just me."



"No, not just you. You're amazing." I felt funny talking about this at   work and I felt myself blush again. I think Seth got it because he   changed the subject then.         

     



 



"The meeting went well. Deborah tells me my father was in the building   today. Sometimes he stays around for the meetings. I'm glad he decided   to skip it."



Me too. "Oh that must have been him I passed in the hall. Is he a tall man with dark hair, gray at the temples …  sharp dresser?"



"That would be Daddy," he said with a sarcastic smile.



"Can I ask you a question?"



"Sure."



"How long has Deborah worked for you?"



Seth wrinkled his brow and said, "She worked for my father for over ten   years and just sort of inherited me when he stopped working full-time.   Why?"



"Close the door." He really looked at me strangely then, but he got up   and did as I asked. When he came back he perched himself on the edge of   my desk and said, "Okay, so what's up?"



"Your father came out of the conference room this morning before I went   in there. Deborah was there and I was just talking to her about what a   good job she does around here and she started crying."



Seth looked uncomfortable as he said, "You think my father made her cry? Did she say something?"



"Not really. I mean, she didn't say anything about your father but she did say something strange to me."



"Which was?"



"She said you were a good boy and not your father …  something like that.   Then she looked me dead in the eye and said, "But be careful, don't  make  the same mistakes I did." I was about to ask her what she meant  when  everyone came in."



"She was warning you about me?"



"I don't think it was so much about you and me as it was her …  maybe her and your father …  I thought."



Seth raised both eyebrows then and said, "You think my father and Deborah are … ? Ew!"



I laughed at that. "Seth, your father is what … ? Maybe fifty-five. He's a nice looking man. You don't think he sees women?"



He shrugged and said, "I suppose. I just don't like to think about it. Especially not with Debbie."



"Why? You don't like Deborah?"



"No. It's because I do like Deborah. She's way too good for him."



"Seth!" I tried to sound incredulous, but I laughed and gave myself away.



"I'm serious," he said. "He claimed to love my mother and to this day   claims it's why he stayed single after she died …  but I was there; I saw   how he treated my mother. She deserved better too. A lot better. My   mother was an incredible woman and he treated her like dirt."



"How long ago did your mother pass away?"



"Five years ago," he said. "I miss her every day."



"Yeah, I know how you feel," I said.



"I'm sorry, Erin. You lost both of your parents and a lot younger than I   lost mine. I'm being insensitive. I got off track anyways. What was  the  point of all of this again?"



"I was just wondering how Deborah knew about us more than anything."



"I don't know. I haven't been bragging, although I think I have a right to," he grinned and waggled his eyebrows up and down.



I laughed, "You're hopeless."



"Seriously," he said. "Do you mind people knowing? I mean, I guess we   haven't talked about exclusivity but I know that I don't want to see   anyone else and I'd love to be thought of as part of a couple with you."



"You're so sweet sometimes," I said. Once again he'd made me warm all over.



"Just sometimes?"



"Yeah," I said. "Just sometimes. The rest of the time, you're still a little arrogant."



He laughed, "There's my outspoken red-head. But you didn't answer the question."



"No, I don't care that people know. I'd like to be known as half of that couple as well."



"Good," he said with a wink. "Because I was hoping to take you to the Ball this weekend."



"Oh this," I said, picking up the invitation.



"Yep, that. My father puts it on every year. It's like a thank you for   the shareholders and top performers of the company. I'd love it if you   would go with me as my official date."



How could I refuse? A night to get dressed up like a princess and debut   on Seth's arm-good! A night with the opportunity to get inside the  inner  sanctum and do a little bit of snooping-great. Coming face to  face with  James at last …  not so good, but doable. "I'd love to," I told  him.         

     



 





***





After I said yes to Seth about the ball, I was equal parts of excited   and terrified. I started out the week excited. I left work early for the   first time since I started the job at Hunter Corp. and I went  shopping.  I love to shop, but for me this trip was a nerve-wracking  experience. I  was going to be on the arm of the CEO. That alone would  put the  spotlight on me. I was also going to be meeting his father for  the first  time. That would have been nerve-wracking in and of itself.  But this  was not just any father. This was the man I had loved to hate  most of my  life, my arch nemesis.



I went from boutique to department store and even to the mall. Then I   went back to the boutique and once again to the mall for my shoes and a   purse to match the gown I had finally settled on. I'd gone back and   bought the first dress that I tried on. It was a dark green formal   evening dress. The boutique called it a "Military Ball" dress. It was a   sleeveless, sequined mermaid style dress with a brush train in the  back.  The neck was a split "V" design and it fit like a sleeve across  my  bust, waist and hips. I loved it the first time I tried it on but  was  worried that maybe it was too much. After I tried on several  others, I  decided that I wasn't going to do any better in terms of  style or a  color that would flatter my bright hair, my green eyes and  my pale skin.



When I walked into the apartment that Tuesday night, Grant was laying   shirtless on the couch watching some mindless sitcom and eating ice   cream out of the container. He actually had the container resting on his   naked stomach.



"Hey guy! What's going on?"



"Why ever would you think something was going on?" he asked, with his trademark Grant grin.



I sat down near his feet and said, "Let me see. You're watching a   syndicated comedy show on television, half-naked with a pint of ice   cream sitting on your belly as you eat it and you have Ben and Jerry's   in that one little piece of chest hair you have there."



"Hey! I have lots of chest hair. I'm a manly man!"



"Yeah, okay. I guess it's invisible."



With a mock wounded look he said, "This is what I need when I've had a bad day …  insults."



"Aw, I'm sorry. What happened? Why was the day so bad?"



His eyes looked really sad as he said, "Juniper doesn't want to see me anymore."



Her name still really bothered me, but I did my best to be mature about it as I said, "Did she say why?"



"She says we were "fun" but we weren't "going anywhere." She says she's   nearly thirty and she needs to know where her future is leading."



"Oh … "



"What? You agree with her? We've only been dating for three weeks. You   know for me that's a commitment in itself. Why does she need to know   where it's going already?"



"Let me ask you this. Why does it matter to you all of a sudden? In the   past, you would have been happy for an excuse to get out of it."



"Because I really like her. I really thought she might be the one."



I laughed and said, "Well then what's the problem? Isn't that what she wants?"



"I didn't tell her that."



"Why not crazy boy?"



"Because she might be the one, but I need to know her better before I   make that decision. I'm not going to tell her something just because   it's what she wants to hear. Then if it doesn't work out, she gets   hurt."