His Strict Requirement: Billionaire Secrets - Book Five (5 page)

"Lie very, very still." He said and she trembled in response.

Oh my God, this is happening.
She thought.
I'm really going to let this happen.

He began to lean in towards her just as violent pounding rained down on the front door. Lindsay froze but Dale's hands continued. He was slowly drawing down her drab business pants while holding her gaze. It couldn't have been sexier than if she had been wearing the latest Parisian lingerie.

"Don't move." He repeated, clearly having no intention of letting anyone or anything get in the way of his desire

"Lindsay. Lindsay. Are you in there? Your car's outside. God damn it open up . I know you're in there."

"Shit." She Lindsay began clutching at the her pants to pull them back up. She knew that damn voice. "Get off of  me Dale." She hissed. "That's my boss."

Dale looked like he was ready to rip the pants in two with one mighty tear, but he resisted and pulled himself upright on his knees.

"Hold on Marco, I'm on my way." She hollered, fumbling with her pants and blouse. Before she could stop him Dale had stood up, strode to the door in couple of long steps and yanked it open. Marco, who had been prepared to barge straight in, stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up at the tall man in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?" He said.

"Dale Hargrave. Ms. Day is busy."

"The hell she is. She's my employee and she should be at work--" He stopped in mid sentence. Dale Hargrave. Shit. He knew the name.

"I'm coming in. Get out of my way Hargrave. Lindsay! Are you okay?"

He went to move forward but the much larger man easily blocked his way. Dale's eyes were calm but it was clear he would happily toss Marco down the steps if he gave him cause.

"Marco. I told you not to come here." Lindsay said, appearing from behind Dale, her hair still in disarray, the collar of her blouse sticking up on one side towards the ceiling.

Marco looked at her and then back to Dale, appraising the situation.

"Lindsay, are you okay? Do you need me to get rid of this guy for you?"

Dale smiled. He would like to see the little guy try.

"I'm fine Marco, I invited him here. This is work. Now get out of here and leave us alone. I'll call you later."

Marco gave one more long look at Dale and then shrugged.

"I'll be waiting." He said. "Don't make me wait too long."

He looked back at Dale again and the slight smile on the handsome face sent a wave of homicidal anger through him. He was just like the jocks at school who used to rile him for kicks, but he had his own ways of getting even now.

I bet we can find some dirt on you big guy.
He thought.
Something you might not be so damn smug about when the whole internet is talking about it.

He gave the tycoon a glare and then headed down the steps. He looked back when he reached the sidewalk but the door was still open but the couple were paying no attention to him. It was as if he didn't exist. 

A spasm of grief went through him.

Sure he could drag the big asshole's name through the mud but it would be a waste of time. It would only make Lindsay despise him even more. She had obviously been fucking the guy. He had left it too late. Again.

She was gone.

********************

Dale looked Lindsay, the door was still hanging open. Her hair was still a little wild, her jacket open and blouse not quite done up.

His cock hardened again.

"Jesus Christ." He growled. "What is it about a little messed up hair that makes women like you so damn hot?" He circled his arm around her waist and drew her in against him.

"Let go of me." She pushed herself back from his firm chest. 

"Huh? I don’t get it." He said, holding onto her.

She felt his hardness against her hip and abdomen and for a moment she hesitated, after all, what did she have to lose now? She was already compromised, Marco was pissed with her anyway, Nena was out of the house for the rest of the day and there was a hot, horny hunk of man-cake primed and ready to fuck her into heaven right there on the living room floor.

"That's better." Dale growled, feeling the hesitation. He pressed his lips to hers and with one hand to her ass, squeezed her abdomen in close against him.

Ooooh fuuuuuuuck…

She felt herself giving way. His mouth continued devouring hers and she tilted her head back, welcoming him in.

The thrill of pure, stolen, seize-this-moment passion ran through her. All she ever did was work, work, work, sleep and then whatever energy she had left was devoted to Nena.

This would her moment, just this once.

Marco would come round, he always did. Making love to Dale would leave him just as compromised as her and put them on a level playing field. His brother Clayton and Ruben Mayweather would crucify him for sleeping with an investigative journalist. He had already royally screwed up by insisting on taking them to Pape'ete and then on to Washington DC.

Shit. That's what this is about.

She stiffened against him.

"Dale. Stop. Stop it now. I can't do this."

"Yes you can." He rumbled into her neck.

"Dale. No. I mean it." She shouted at him and shoved him back.

He stopped moving, released her and then stood up straight.

"I don’t get it. I really don’t get it." He said. "You know this feels right so why hold back?"

"There's nothing right about this. Nothing at all. Not for me and certainly not for you.  I'm running this story." She said, backing away from him. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me. Nothing legal anyway. Now please leave." She opened the door but he pushed it closed again. Her heart pounded. She was playing with fire here. Sure he was no criminal but he was a very powerful man with a reputation for being absolutely ruthless in business. In reality there was a whole lot he could do to mess with her very precarious life.

She waited, readying herself to counter whatever threat or bribe he was going to make.

"Go out with me." He said, looking down at her with his dark, intense eyes. Her heart beat even faster. Had he just said what she thought he said?

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I want a date. An old fashioned date." Dale was as stunned by his proposal as the dumbstruck woman in front of him and his heart had begun to pound as well. Normally that meant that he was either ready to slug someone in the jaw or demolish them in bed, but as crazy as it was to him, this was just pure nerves.

He had to admit it - he wanted this woman. He wanted her badly and up to a few seconds ago he was sure he already had her. But now she was standing up to him like no woman ever had before and he was done screwing around with mind games - blunt and direct was more his style anyway.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lindsay said, frantically searching his eyes for what the hell this meant, what the new angle was. "I'm about to blow your story a mile high and you want to go on a date with me?"

"I'm not out of my mind and I'm going to trust you, God damn fool that I am, that you won't blow this story until at least after you've spent an evening with me. If you want to go ahead and… and… shoot yourself in the damn foot tangling with Hargrave and Mayweather Incs after that, then you can be my guest."

His eyes looked as frantic as hers for just a micro second and then sank back to impenetrable black and brown.

"But don’t expect me to come running to pick up the pieces for you if you're really that stupid." He added.

"You heard my boss, he wants this story by
today
. Is this you're last resort to keep a lid on it? Charm the silly little girl reporter out of doing her job?" She laughed. "It'll add a little texture to the story at least. The billionaire's last ditch attempt to wine and dine the journalist in a futile bid to prevent the truth from being revealed. Good one Hargrave, nice human touch."

"You really have no idea what you're getting into Ms. Day, do you?" He sounded completely calm now, his total self-confidence returned. It would have been enough to put serious doubts in most people's minds but not Lindsay. This was his shtick, his corporate poker face - he was bluffing now, she was sure of it.

"So you're doing me a favor Hargrave, is that it? You're saving me from my own foolishness in trying to publish this story."

"You could put it like that. I wouldn't, but you're a reporter so I'm sure you're very expert in twisting people's words against them."

"Nice. Insult my profession again."

"You could also say that I'm an interested single guy asking a very attractive woman out on a date."

Don’t Lindsay, don't…

He sounded so sincere, he looked so hot - just ready to eat - the little touch of vulnerability mixed with untouchable self-confidence and power.

She sighed and looked up at him. Maybe he was on the level but she just couldn't take that risk and no matter what he said,
he
was still the story and that was her highest commitment as a journalist.

Not to mention keeping her job and paying her rent.

"Look, Dale," she said, softening her tone and putting her hand to his arm. "You're a nice guy, at least I think you are, but don’t flatter yourself that you're doing me any favors here. You have no idea who I am and the reality is that it's me who's doing you a favor here. If we got involved, who do you think really stands to lose out more? I don't have a multi-billion dollar company to send down the tubes."

He looked down at her hand and she drew it away.

"Trust me." He said. "I'll be alright. It's pretty hard to lose twenty billion dollars, give or take a billion here or there. But believe me Lindsay, if you release this story it won’t be me you have to worry about and even I may not be able to protect you. Ruben Mayweather and my brother Clayton will make you and your little mom and pop news website wish you'd never heard of them." He shook his head with every appearance of genuine sympathy. "Our lawyers deal with shit like this every day of the week and your little fart of a boss Marco won't have a chance in hell of making anything stick. They'll dig up plenty about him though, they always do." He looked at her, willing her to believe that there was no malice in what he was saying. "If that happens and I can't stop it, then where exactly do you think that leaves you and Nena?"

His words chilled her. He was so cocksure. Was this the reality? Could the truth be crushed that easily by whoever had the biggest bank account, the sharpest lawyers?

No way. No fucking way.
She stared back at him with grim determination. That wasn’t what she was raised to believe. Presidents and giant corporations have been brought down in the past by individual reporters working on a shoestring, people just barely getting by. The whole Hargrave empire, no matter how inviolable it appeared now could come crashing down if she could get the witnesses and evidence she needed. Dale, Clay and their sociopathic buddy Mayweather would end up behind bars the same way as any other criminal in the United States of America.

One law for all. She had to believe in the system.

"I'm calling your bluff Hargrave." She said. "Now get out of my house. I've got nothing else to say to you."

She opened the door wider and stood back to let him leave but before she could escape his grasp he drew her in again with one strong hand to the small of her back and pressed his lips to hers. For a moment she relented but then pushed him away. Again.

"Get out Dale. Please. Just go."

"Okay Lindsay, I'm going, but here, take this." He handed her a card that had nothing on it but his name and number. "You take a rain check on that date now but when all this is over, no matter how it pans out, I'll call you and we can pick up right where we left off." He looked at her with the sexiest, most mischievous eyes imaginable, as though the whole thing, her story, his threats and warnings, were all just a silly game easily banished from his mind. "In the meantime, if you see sense and change that stubborn mule mind of yours, or if you need me for anything at all, you call me. Any time, day or night, don’t hesitate." He leaned in to kiss her but she drew away. He drew back, still holding out his card and then smiled as she snatched it from his hand. He turned and left without so much as a glance behind him. He didn't need to; her taking his card was all he needed. This story was far from over.

Closing the door behind him Lindsay leaned her back against it and then slid down to the floor. She looked at the simple card in her hand - his direct phone number. Probably there were people who would kill to have this connection with the joint boss of Hargrave Robotics.

She tore the ridiculously understated card into tiny pieces and threw them into the soil of her ficus plant beside the front door. It was a number she was never going to call.

********************

"So let me get this straight," Marco leaned back in his slightly threadbare leather chair. "Clayton Hargrave of Hargrave Robotics got involved with a fugitive from the Witness Protection Program by the name of Nadia Komerov. She was in the program for testifying against Russian Mafia kingpin Mikhail Boyevik who turns out to be her father - which even she didn’t know. He tries to kidnap her in revenge but she is rescued by secret lover Clayton Hargrave and his big brother Dale."