Tapping The Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires #1)(52)
He stood, flashing that sexy smirk of his while I removed my lipstick smudges with my fingers. I adjusted his tie and patted him on the chest. “Don’t work too hard, Mr. Brooks.”
As I turned for the door, he spanked my ass, earning a small squeal of approval from my traitorous lips.
“Don’t worry, I’ll save up my energy for later, Ms. Cummings.”
Outrageously sexy bastard. I was certain he’d be the death of me.
“Wait.” He grabbed me before I could take another step, pulling me toward him, my back against his chest. His breath was warm on my neck. “I’m not letting you out of this office until you agree to another date. A weekend date.”
“Like a whole weekend?”
“In the Hamptons, with me.”
“You have a place in the Hamptons?” I asked, then realized what a stupid question that was. Kline wasn’t a flashy kind of man, but he had made more money from one business deal than most people make in a lifetime. Hell, he could quit working today and would be set for the rest of his life.
“Yeah, baby.” He kissed my neck, teasing the sensitive skin with his lips. “So, you’ll go?”
I turned in his arms, gazing up at him. He was business Kline laced with a little messy wildness from our earlier tryst behind his desk. The adorable grin cresting his mouth had me smiling in return. “What do I get out of it?” I teased.
His grin grew wider. “You want terms and conditions for a weekend getaway I’m asking you to join me on?”
I nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“You’re like a little shark when it comes to business.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, chuckling against my skin. “I’ll make sure you have a good time. So good you’ll be doing a reenactment of my bedroom…and the pool. Who knows, maybe it’ll be like both combined.”
“Draft the contract, Brooks, but remember, I’m holding you to these terms.”
“Wonderful doing business with you, Cummings.”
When the GPS told me I was two blocks away from Georgia’s apartment on Friday night, I pulled over and put the car in park. My phone had just buzzed in the cupholder with a message, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer it once I picked her up. Ignoring the blinding red light on my mail icon, I swung my thumb directly over it before landing on the TapNext app.
TAPRoseNEXT (7:04PM): HE’S GOING TO BE HERE ANY MINUTE, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. CALM ME DOWN BEFORE HE TAKES ONE LOOK AT ME AND RUNS IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.
A smile overwhelmed me as my chuckles bounced around the echoey interior of an otherwise empty car. She was so f*cking cute, I could hardly stand it.
BAD_Ruck (7:06PM): Calm down, sweetheart. Let’s start slowly by eliminating the shouty capitals.
TAPRoseNEXT (7:07PM): FUCKING FUCK FUCKERS. Okay. FUCK. Okay, I think I’m good now. Move on to step 2 (the coddling).
I bit my lip and shook my head, smiling like a crazy person.
BAD_Ruck (7:08PM): Good job. Also, creative swearing.
TAPRoseNEXT (7:08PM): The calm is wearing off, Ruck.
BAD_Ruck (7:09PM): Okay, okay. Coddling. Got it. This guy is still talking to you after spending all that time with you last weekend and invited you on a weekend away, right? He sounds smart enough to appreciate a little nervous energy. Everything is going to be fine.
Okay, guys. I know. I can feel you judging me. But let’s talk this over.
I knew not telling her that I knew she was Rose, and that I was Ruck, was bad form.
I did, really.
It’d been a few days since I found out, and I should have told her immediately.
But God, as twisted as it was, I was having too much fun. Georgia was different with me online, no pretense or fear of saying something to her boss that he couldn’t unhear, the safety net of anonymity weaving the protective web that it did for a lot of people.
As easy as it was to be someone else online, it was equally easy to be yourself, no expectations or trepidation blinding the true artwork underneath. Knowing Georgia in both places, without her knowing that I knew, was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. She was the same yet different—honest and open and unafraid of recrimination. She wasn’t afraid to send me messages about freaking the f*ck out. She was just her, and I liked getting to be on the receiving end of twice the interaction. She was still scared to wear out her welcome with Kline Brooks. I couldn’t f*cking welcome her enough. This gave us the best of both worlds.
I even found myself sending her more goddamn messages as Ruck, just to be able to enjoy what she might say. I pushed the envelope, trying to get her even more comfortable with me, even knowing that, in her mind, she was splitting her affection between two men.
It was f*cked, but I knew if she could forgive me, her actions wouldn’t be an issue in the slightest. Love, lust, and attraction were base instincts. They were simple and finite and somehow still infinitely complicated. She liked Ruck because he was another dimension of me.
So as much as it didn’t make sense rationally, it made heart-sense. Call me a hopeless romantic, or maybe a fool, but to me, that was all that mattered.
Stowing my phone in the console, I put the car back into drive and pulled away from the curb. Cute brick-front brownstone buildings with iron-railed stairs lined the sides of each street, mature trees casting their shadows every fifty feet. Dusk threatened as the sun made its descent, already hiding behind buildings despite its place just above the horizon.