Freedom (Billionaire Secrets 2)

She shot to her feet. “I need to go to the bathroom. Let me splash some cold water on my face. That’ll make me feel better.”

Surprise flashed in his eyes. He had probably thought they were having a moment. Which they were. But she had to be strong now. She had to resist temptation. No matter what. Even if it was making her chest tighten so painfully she could hardly breathe.

“Down the hall on the right,” he finally said. “I’ll mix us a drink. Something stronger than water.”

While he busied himself at the bar, she went into the bathroom. The cold water helped a bit. Woke her up to reality. She hadn’t come over here to pine over Simon. There were documents he needed to sign, and they needed to go over plans for dealing with the press. This was a professional meeting. Nothing more.

When she walked back into the living room she found a sandwich and a glass of amber liquid with ice waiting for her on the table.

She smiled in spite of herself. “You cooked?”

“You’re funny,” he said. “No. I put a sandwich together, which is all I can do. Truth be told, I don’t even know why I have all those appliances in the kitchen. It’s not like I do anything more than order takeout and stuff ham slices between bread.”

She laughed and sat down beside him, taking a swig of the liquid. Scotch. “Remember when we were kids and we wanted to make a meal for your parents?”

He cringed. “I do remember. Dad had finally come home from working out at sea for weeks and we decided to have a surprise party for him. I think this was before he started doing factory work. Wasn’t there a cake involved?”

“Yeah, there was,” she said. “Didn’t you get some of the ingredients mixed up?”

“No, you’re not going to pin this on me,” he said. “You were the one who put salt in the cake, not me.”

“I distinctly remember you measuring out the salt,” she said.

“It looked like sugar,” he insisted with a chuckle.

“If we had tasted the batter like I suggested we probably would have realized our screw-up before serving your poor father a salted cake,” she pointed out.

“I was eleven years old—what did I know?” He grinned and finished his drink. “Why don’t you eat something while I sign those documents?”

Right. Business. Work. It was so easy to start reminiscing with him. So easy to get sidetracked.

For her, Simon represented a happy time in her life. A time when everything was simple and wonderful. And though spending time with him now as an adult wasn’t always simple, it was wonderful no matter how much her heart ached. Being around him always made her feel like she was dancing on a cloud that she might fall from.

She shoved her silly schoolgirl notions aside and reached into her briefcase to retrieve the documents. She handed them over to Simon and then took a bite out of her ham sandwich. Sure, Simon couldn’t cook, but there was something special about having a billionaire dote on her like this.

With the papers signed they started discussing ways to deal with the press.

“What if that reporter got something important?” she asked him.

“Trust me, I’ve been fending off the press for years,” he replied. “They’ve never been bad enough to go through trash before, but I’ve got a damn good disposal system and anything sensitive is well taken care off. That guy probably got a handful of old leftovers and nothing more.”

“With all the effort you put into keeping your privacy, I’m amazed the media got wind of the story,” she said.

His jaw clenched. “That’s amazed me, too. I suspect someone at the law firm the family lawyer works at had something to do with it, so I’m working on getting that looked into.”

He hadn’t told her that he had been looking into the law firm, but that probably had to stay quiet. It didn’t feel good that she hadn’t been informed, but she couldn’t afford to take things personally now. “That’s good,” she said. “It’s terrible that someone might have broken your trust like that.”

“Yes. Terrible,” he said stiffly. His face darkened.

A cloud seemed to have come over him since she had brought up his privacy. No doubt he was troubled by the way the story had gotten out. That kind of thing would unnerve anyone. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if Simon’s trust in her had eroded. Eroded enough for him to not tell her about investigating the law firm.