The Billionaire Next Door

“Lizzie?”

“Yes?”

“If I had lost that necklace…it would have killed me.”

“I’m so glad we found it.” As she hugged him, he absorbed her kindness, fed off it.

“Mac got the crosses for us right after he went through basic training and before he shipped out for the first time.” Sean kept speaking right into her ear, the only way he could continue. “I haven’t seen him in a decade and I talk to him once a year if I’m lucky…when he calls me on my birthday. So the necklace is all I have of him. Lose it, lose him.” Sean cursed as he heard what he was saying and pulled back. “Sorry, don’t mean to get melodramatic.”

Her arms tightened around his waist. “You’re not.”

Looking into her eyes, he felt as though the essential loneliness of his life was exposed, laid bare to the summer day and to her. For all the people he dealt with every hour of the week, for all the women he’d been with and the men he competed against, he was nonetheless alone.

Except he didn’t feel alone now.

He kissed Lizzie at first just in thanks for her understanding and acceptance. Then he kissed her some more because he didn’t want to stop.

As the sun fell on his bare shoulders and people walked by and cars zoomed underneath them, he dropped the bag and the blanket he was carrying, dug his hands into her hair and tilted her head back so he could go deeper into her. In response, she settled against him like warm water, flowing over his hard edges, both soothing him and exciting him.

He closed his eyes and let himself get good and lost in her. Oh, man, did he have plans for them. Tonight, he was going to go back to her apartment and make love to her. Slowly. Thoroughly. He was after the closeness, not just the orgasms, and he was going to hold her afterward until he was ready to do it again. Then he was going to sleep next to her and wake up looking into her face.

When he finally pulled back from her mouth, he brushed her lower lip with his thumb. “I can’t feel my legs. How about you?”

She laughed a little breathlessly. “I’m on fire.”

“Then we’d better cool you down.” He kissed her quick. “How’s Ben & Jerry’s sound?”

“Perfect. I’d love some of their Mint Oreo in a waffle cone.”

“Ask and ye shall receive.”

They meandered off the bridge and hooked up with Newbury Street, joining the crowd that strolled down the sidewalk. There was a line in front of Ben & Jerry’s, but the breeze was nice and soon enough their cones were being handed to them. As he pulled a twenty out of his wallet, Lizzie went for her purse.

“No, wait. Let me—”

“My treat,” he said. After he gave the bill to the kid behind the register, he nodded to the door. “Shall we?”

The kid called out, “Don’t you want your change?”

“Yeah. In the tips jar.”

“Hey, thanks, man!”

Sean smiled and followed Lizzie out into the sun.

“I really like that about you,” she said as she stuck a white spoon into her waffle cone and brought some of the chunky ice cream to her mouth.

“Like what?”

“That you tip generously. Mmm, this is so good.”

Sean watched her lick her spoon clean and had to put the blanket in front of his hips. God, men were letches, weren’t they? But man…he wanted her.

He cleared his throat. What had they been talking about? Oh, yeah…“Well, I know what it’s like to live off tips. I’ve waited a lot of tables in my day—”

“Sean? Sean O’Banyon?”

Sean frowned at the male voice and looked over his shoulder. When he saw who it was, he felt an absurd impulse to shield Lizzie, to protect their day together.

Except it was too late. As a well-dressed man headed right for them, he knew that the bubble he’d been in all afternoon was about to burst.

***

Chapter Eight

Lizzie smiled at the gentleman who was hustling up to them. He looked veryGreat Gatsby in his white linen slacks, crisp blue button-down and navy-blue blazer with a kerchief in the pocket. His loafers were shiny and tasseled and his round glasses were made of tortoiseshell.

He looked very pleased to see Sean. “Sean! How do? I haven’t seen you since—”

“Rolly, it’s good to see you.” Sean stuck his hand out. “How are you?”

“Fine, fine. And you? I’ve heard you’re doing great things with—”

“So how is it possible you’re in town on a sunny Saturday? Is the whole family here with you, too?”

“No, no. Sarah and the kids are at the house on the Vineyard, lucky devils. I had to come in for business. I’m sure you know how that—”

“I’d like you to meet my friend, Lizzie. Lizzie, this is Rolly.”

The man smiled, revealing perfect teeth. “Good Lord, where are my manners? It’s a pleasure.”

Lizzie shoved her spoon into her cone and offered her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Enjoying the day with Sean, are you?” he said as they shook.

“Very much.”

“You know, I didn’t think the great SOB ever wandered around—”

“You need to give my regards to Sarah,” Sean cut in.

“Of course, and I hope you’ll come out and visit us sometime on the Vineyard?” Rolly smiled at Lizzie. “Friends are always welcome, too. We have a big house and the more the merrier. Well, I must off to the club. I’m late, which I despise.”

As the man waved and dissolved into the pedestrian stream, Lizzie glanced at Sean. His brows were down low and his mouth set tight.

She was not surprised when he said, “How about we head home? I could use a shower.”

“Sounds good,” she said. Even though it didn’t. She wasn’t in a hurry for the day to end, but she sensed that even if they kept walking around now, it would be over anyway. Sean had gone somewhere in his head and his mood had changed. Which was odd. Rolly Whoever-he-was had seemed perfectly nice, yet Sean had been in a hurry to get rid of him.

They were quiet as they walked down Newbury then went through the Commons and down into the parking garage. Sean didn’t say much on the way home, and when they pulled up to the row house, she had a feeling he was going to make an excuse to go upstairs.

She told herself it was better this way as she could start getting her résumés out.

Yeah…right.

As they got out of the car and went up to the shallow front porch, she said, “Well, thank you for the day. I had a wonderful time.”

Sean stopped. Looked her in the eye. Took her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. About being a buzz kill.”

“Why did running into that man bother you so much?”

Sean glanced across the street, but she was sure he wasn’t seeing the other row houses. “He and I went to college together.” In a dry voice, he added, “I was on scholarship, Rolly wasn’t.”

Oh, that explained it. It must be hard to see people who were so much more successful, who had so much more.

“Money isn’t everything, Sean.”

He smiled his disagreement. “Sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes I think my whole life is about chasing the stuff.”

“I totally get that,” she said as she thought about her mom. “But come on, how much did today cost us? The two sandwiches were eight bucks. The cookies were what…four dollars? A six-pack of water was a dollar ninety…on sale, I might remind you. And the cones were nine dollars with an eleven-dollar tip. For thirty-three dollars and ninety cents, which could have been even less if you hadn’t left so much at Ben & Jerry’s, we had a perfectly lovely afternoon. After all, the sun and the Frisbee game were—”

He swooped in and kissed her, his mouth lingering on hers before he pulled back.

“—free,” she finished.