Hard Interest: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Read online

  But I didn’t have the energy to pursue her, though.

  Not after the release she’d given me that I’d dreamt about for months.

  Philomena

  I still couldn’t believe what had happened. I sat at my desk, trying to forget the events of the day before. Professionalism. I had reprimanded my employees not twenty-four hours ago for it. Professionalism and sales above all else. And I’d just screwed a client. Mixing business with pleasure was never a good idea. It was a line that couldn’t be crossed. Like doctors with their patients or college professors with their students, the relationship between real estate agent and purchaser was sacred.

  And I’d crossed that line.

  “Miss Wright?” Mitchell asked.

  “Yes?” I asked, looking up from my clenched fists.

  “You have a client on the way up. I told him your day was filled with meetings, but he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

  I knew exactly who my receptionist was talking about. And it wasn’t happening unless I deemed it so.

  “Have him wait and do not send him in until I give you the word,” I said.

  “On it,” Mitchell said, “though he doesn’t take me for the kind of guy that’ll enjoy delayed gratification. But I’ll do my best to keep him simmering on a slow boil.”

  “’Atta, boy,” I said as I grinned over at him.

  I began rifling through the printouts of other properties I’d spent all night gathering together. The one message I had received from Liam was that he wasn’t interested in the property I had originally shown him. He said it was too far out of town to enjoy the amenities of the city. He wanted to be in the heart of everything, but still far enough away that he didn’t have to worry about the city noise.

  It was a tall order, but I was determined to find him the perfect place.

  Mitchell stood in profile by the door with his physique on display. There wasn’t one woman on my staff that didn’t find him a delicious treat. He easily put a smile on their faces during the day and always made my clients feel warm and grand before they headed into my office. But despite his eye-candy status, he was damn good at his job. I paid him much more than any receptionist desired, and he earned every cent of it. He did my bidding, ran my errands, tailored my schedule, and fielded an inordinate amount of phone calls throughout the day.

  And never once broke a sweat.

  There were even moments where his sexual appeal had ensnared a client or two on the assumption that they could have him as a dessert once they purchased.

  But Michell was off limits.

  I guarded that man with my life.

  “Are you sure you want to make him wait?” Mitchell asked.

  “I know what I’m doing. This is my business and I take it very seriously. I appreciate the wise counsel, but it’s not necessary,” I said.

  He didn’t know it yet, but I was grooming him like I did Jasmine. He constantly came in early and left late, asking questions to learn about the business. Mitchell was only twenty years old, but he had that hungry glare in his eye. That want to succeed without anything distracting or getting in his way. It was more than I could say for many men I had employed over the years.

  But everyone had their downfalls, and Mitchell was no different. With Jasmine, it was her want to use her body to get what she wanted. When Jasmine first came to me, she was the kind of girl that was willing to sleep with a client in order to close a deal. It took me almost a year to teach her the art of selective gratification. A woman could use her God-given assets to entice someone into anything without having to cross a line with anyone. It was the power we wielded in the industry.

  Mitchell’s downfall was his love life.

  Specifically, the revolving door of women he had on speed dial.

  It broke my heart to see him play those games. He was better than those games. With his perfectly-tailored suits and his well-cultured tastes. It would take a lot of work on my part to unravel the conditioning he had undergone, courtesy of his parents’ divorce. I had taken it upon myself to suggest he date without thinking it was going to lead to bedroom activities. The first step in gaining a level head so it could trickle down into a level foothold of the real estate industry.

  Entice, but never give in.

  I needed to take my own fucking advice.

  I was fretting over the impending conversation. Liam hadn’t done anything wrong. I had. I was as much to blame as anybody else for what happened between the two of us on that beach. Even though it had been a delicious departure from the practiced speech I would give any prospective buyer, that didn’t make it right. Just because it felt good didn’t mean I hadn’t crossed a professional boundary.

  Just because it felt natural didn’t mean it was good.

  Hell. We didn’t even get a chance to tour the house.

  “Making him sweat it out?”

  I looked up from my desk and saw Jasmine inch by Mitchell through my door.

  “I think you enjoy doing that a little too much,” I said.

  “She is a beauty,” Mitchell said.

  “Down boy,” Jasmine said, smiling. “By the way, I see you have your hands full with someone out there.”

  “Red hair? Bright eyes? Shifting around with frustration in his seat?” I asked.

  “That would be the one. I can think of a whole lot to do with a body like that. I almost melted when he spoke. His Irish accent is luxurious to the ear.”

  “Mitchell, could you close my office door?” I asked.

  “That’ll make the simmering boil harder to contain,” he said.

  “You’re a big boy. Find a way to handle it,” I said.

  Then with a flick of my wrist I dismissed him, and he shut Jasmine and I off to the rest of the world.

  “Something wrong?” she asked.

  “I have something to tell you and I don’t want it to leave this office. I’m depending on your discretion,” I said.

  She rushed forward and put her hands on my desk with a huge grin on her face.

  “You either slept with him or you’re thinking about sleeping with him. Which one is it?”

  She was practically bouncing, and I felt embarrassed to even admit the line I’d crossed.

  “I didn’t have sex with him in the Biblical sense. I’m not wearing this smile for nothing. I’m only going to say he has a magical tongue and let you fill in the blanks for yourself. But you need to save your quips for later. I need your advice, and I don’t want to hear what you would do if the roles were reversed.”

  I motioned for her to take a seat, but I could see her curiosity bubbling over in her eyes.

  “If you want actual advice,” Jasmine began, “then you have two choices. You can chalk this up to a lack of judgment or explore the possibility that something else might be there. I know you well, Philomena. You don’t go back. Once you have a taste and get what you want, you’re gone. To hear you tell me you’re considering going back for a second taste is intriguing and a bit jarring.”

  “Trust me, if you feel that way you can only imagine how I feel,” I said.

  “Take it by ear and watch for the signs. They’re always there. You simply need to know where to look.”

  “I’ve always been partial to what I see in a man’s eyes rather than the way his cock rises. They tell a story of true feelings. It’s how I read my clients, and it’s how I read my men. But I’m a little worried. I made sure not to be too open with my affections, but the mere fact that I had to do that tells me there’s something more. And that’s not something I’ve experienced.”

  “You don’t think you’re in love, do you?” she asked.

  “After one encounter? Have you fallen and hit your head? Did you have enough Red Bull this morning?”

  “It’s worth asking, because a man’s love and a woman’s love are different. ‘Love’ is a word men say all too often to get underneath a woman’s skirt. I’ve been a victim of it many times. Every woman at one point in their lives will
have a man become the worst mistake of their lives because of it. No matter the romance and no matter the passion, it always comes down to physical attraction. Don’t let him become that man for you.”

  Her warning slapped me across the face and sobered me up quickly.

  “Not to change the subject, but I heard things went amazingly well with the client from Dubai. He called me personally to extol your virtues and hinted at the possibility of expanding his operation to other cities using this company and you as his agent. It’s going to mean an expense account and frequent flyer miles, which I’m happy to do that for this kind of contract. Keep up the good work, Jasmine, and maybe one day you can be the example to others,” I said.

  It touched me deeply to know my hard work had paid off. The investment I had in her was paying back big dividends, but the pride she had in her eyes was worth every failed day. She was a woman standing tall and proud. Who never batted down a compliment and didn’t apologize for her success. She was tenacious and played to the strengths of her sexuality without crossing the line that took me almost a year to condition her out of.

  A woman could be sensual and sexual without making it the forefront of her play.

  “I had him wrapped around my little finger from the moment we met,” she said. “I’m happy to commit to a long-term engagement with him. His money is an aphrodisiac, though I know the little gifts he’s sent me are meant to get me out of my clothes. He can keep them coming as much as he wants. So long as he keeps coming back to my expertise.”

  This was a woman after my own heart, and I could learn a few things from her youthful exuberance.

  My mind began buzzing with sentiments of Liam. The look in his eyes before his cum drenched his body. The way those white streaks painted along the freckles of his body. Visions of him bending me over my desk and fisting my hair mad my thighs aching. Images of him pinning me to my wall and fucking me against the windows that overlooked the city had my skin flushed up my neck. I had to get out of the office before it was too late. Before I gave into the whims creeping to the forefront of my mind. We had properties to go see and I had money to collect from him.

  Nothing else.

  My leather jacket hung precariously behind me on my chair, so I put it on once I stood to my feet. Jasmine stood up and walked with me out the door as my body tensed. He was sitting right there, waiting for me. Liam wore a black turtleneck that hugged his body. And the jeans he wore? Fuck. It looked as if they were painted on. It was obvious he had come to play, and I was in no mood to dance to his tune. I was setting a dangerous precedent by giving him too much power over me.

  And he was still my client.

  He was leafing through an old magazine and looked up when he heard my heels click against the floor. His smile attempted to draw me into his gravitational pull, but I managed to abort the mission before being pulled into orbit. The wings of my resistance were burning with unrestrained desire as his eyes swooped over my body, but when he stood my legs froze. Unable to work a second longer.

  How my body betrayed me was shameful, at best.

  “I spent all night combing my resources and I’ve come up with some viable options given the guidelines you phoned in to me. Let’s get going,” I said.

  I had every intention of sweeping our encounter under the rug.

  “Don’t be surprised if I reject them. I’m sure you mean well, but nobody has been able to find me what I need at this point. I’m hoping you might be the exception to the rule, but I’m not banking on it.”

  “My reputation precedes me. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll have exactly what you want.”

  “Trust me, I don’t doubt it for a second.”

  My eyes whipped up to him and I watched his stare grow dark. It was going to be a very interesting day at his side. In the back of my mind, part of me hoped he wasn’t going to snatch up the first property I showed him. Yet another way my body betrayed my necessity for professionalism.

  “We’re burning daylight,” I said, stepping past him. “Let’s get going.”

  Anything to remove us from the nosy environment of my headquarters.

  Liam

  Three Weeks Later

  “I don’t know what you believe you’re looking for, but it doesn’t exist, Mr. Walsh. We’ve been to multiple properties. I lost count after fifteen. Do you really want to settle down? Or are you pining for something outside of Boston?” Philomena asked.

  “I told you, I wasn’t easy to satisfy,” I said.

  We sat in her Jeep with the top down on the side of the highway. She flew into a fit of rage, tossing those printouts into the air to cause a snowstorm of paper to rain down on top of us. She slammed open her door and went over to the lookout point, leaning against it with her hand on the railing.

  She was so cute when flustered.

  We were alone, and the only thing I could think about was ripping open her blazer and lifting her onto my hard cock with her body lying on top of the hood. I felt bad for wasting her time, but I managed to find fault with each of the properties she showed me. I wasn’t surprised. She was one of many real estate agents that would fail in this endeavor. But deep down, her sentiment hit home. The idea that I was pining for something outside of Boston.

  Or even the idea of pining or something not found inside the walls of any of those properties.

  Spending time with Philomena and getting to know her on an intimate level without resorting to sexual theatrics was a new experience for me. She was vocal about her displeasure and had no problem showing her emotions. Something I enjoyed greatly, given my penchant for never holding back. Philomena Wright was distracting in all the right ways, and I enjoyed traveling the city with her and driving along the coastline to find what she thought was the perfect place for me.

  However, having my place ransacked and the tires on my car slashed, I still needed to find a new place to call home. I no longer felt safe in the small apartment I occupied, and I figured it was time to spend some of the money I’d stored away for a rainy day. But when someone attempted to run me down outside of my own damn place the other night, I had to start getting serious.

  I had to start taking Philomena’s questions to heart instead of making excuses to look at her ass.

  I had a meeting with Boston’s best detective as well as his partner. A duo highly revered in the community who were known for unraveling mysteries like the one I was experiencing. I knew the break-in, the vandalism to my Jaguar, and the almost-hit-and-run were all connected. What I couldn’t figure out was why.

  I watched Philomena as she gazed out over the ocean, taking the time to calm herself down. I couldn’t blame her. I was just as frustrated. I hadn’t compromised on an ounce of my life, and I didn’t want to compromise in finding a new place. It wasn’t in my bones. And when I saw her draw in a deep breath that heaved her shoulders, I started my walk towards her.

  The wind that blew off the ocean pushed open her blouse, giving me a beautiful peak down her shirt as the fabric fluttered about her skin.

  “I don’t want you to think all of your hard work hasn’t been appreciated. You’ve gone out of your way to show me properties that have been advertised, but you’ve also given me a sneak peek at those that aren’t listed yet,” I said. “You have a wealth of experience and knowledge and resources. And you’ve gone to great lengths to make my experience one I’ll remember.”

  “I’ve never had a client that was this hard to work with, Mr. Walsh. But you talk as if I’m giving up on you. As if I’ve somehow thrown in the towel. I’m not going to give up. There is a property out there with your name on it, and I will find it. I don’t care what it takes. I’ll spend long hours with you eating and breathing everything there is about you. There’s something you’re not telling me. Something that makes you tick that houses the answer to why I can’t piece your puzzle together.”

  “So, what do you suggest?” I asked.

  “I need some personal insight and I think I know exactl
y where to get it. But. you’re not going to like where that place is.”

  She turned to me with that little smirk on her face, and I knew she’d live up to every word that poured from her lips.

  “I don’t normally let anybody invade my personal space,” I said. “You’re lucky I like you, or we might be having words at this moment. To be honest, I’m not even sure what I’m looking for, but I will recognize it once I see it.”

  She kept scrolling through her phone and I kept looking at my watch. It was the first-ever splurge I made after grossing my first million. Something that I felt that I deserved for all my hard work. I had taken my father’s business and expanded it. Invested wisely. Drew upon the knowledge he left me before him and my mother departed for Ireland to retire. I was proud of my accomplishments, but I lived in an area where that extravagance could be preyed upon if people knew about it.

  “How didn’t I notice that before?” Philomena asked.

  She grabbed my wrist and raised the watch into the light for a closer look at perfection.

  “This is an Omega Constellation Baguette, Mr. Walsh.”

  “I think we’re past the point of respectable name-calling, Philomena.”

  Her eyes whipped up to me and the glare that sat behind them throbbed the veins in my groin.

  “It’s worth in the excess of $700,000. I’m feeling a little flush just standing next to it. The thirty carats of Wesselton diamonds. The baguette and trapezoidal diamonds on the dial. I didn’t know that you had this kind of taste in jewelry.”

  I expected her admiration. Those who eyed it always dropped their jaws. But her knowledge of the device surprised me. That I didn’t expect.

  A trait that seemed to define the great Philomena Wright.

  “I didn’t know you were an expert in men’s watches,” I said.

  “My grandfather was an aficionado of them,” she said mindlessly. “He made some of the finest pieces and sold them for a small fortune. The intricate details that went into each piece mimicked his appreciation for those artists in the field. I’ve seen his influence in several creations over the years. His passion was something we shared.”