Counting On You (Counting the Billions 2)

Chapter 1

Daniel

I HAD TO SMILE AS I watched Abby throw back her head and laugh. Her face was absolutely radiant with joy, and even though it was far from the first time I had realized how beautiful she was, it still caught me by surprise every time, sending pulsing desire shooting straight to my center.

The club was crowded, but people seemed to flow around us, as though Abby and I were somehow separate from all of them. As though we were the only two people who mattered in the whole place. I could feel the pumping of the loud bass thrum through my feet, echoing the pulsing of my heart as Abby and I pressed up against each other.

She danced against me for a moment, swaying her hips suggestively and tossing back her loose blonde hair. But then she danced away from me again, her green eyes dark, inviting me to chase after her.

I watched her move, noting the way that her lipstick-red dress rode up just a little, revealing just a bit more of those long, shapely, tanned legs of hers. I wanted those legs wrapped around my waist right this minute, I realized. I was achingly hard already, just watching her dance, and I couldn’t help wanting to drag her out to my car and have sex with her there. Because there was no way I could make it all the way home, not like this.

The things this woman could do to me...

Abby grinned at me like she knew exactly what I was thinking. She spun back into me, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling my face down into a passionate kiss, her mouth immediately opening to mine. The kiss was heated and lewd, as was the way she continued to move her body against mine. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her ever closer as we moved in sync to the beat of the music.

But oh how she liked to tease me, dancing away from me again, her fingers brushing tantalizingly along my bare skin above my jeans as she went. I groaned, catching at her hand and pulling her back toward me, tangling my fingers in the back of her hair so I could kiss her again and again until she was breathless, until neither of us could even think of pulling away from the other.

The club faded away until it was just our bodies moving against each other’s. My whole being felt flushed with desire as she leaned into me, her breasts brushing my chest and her fingers dropping down lower and lower, until she was almost fondling me, until—

My phone rang suddenly, startling me into wakefulness. I jerked awake, looking around me in surprise. I was there in my bed, very much alone. And still very hard.

I sighed, collapsing back against the sheets as I felt around on the bedside table for my phone. I frowned at the screen and then answered the call, only to find it was a telemarketer and nothing that I really needed to hear. I groaned and rubbed at my eyes, wishing

there was some way I could get back into my dream.

Except that, no. It was probably a good thing that the phone had startled me awake when it had. I could feel a blush spreading across my cheeks. How inappropriate for me to have a dream like that about my advisor. Especially on the eve of her return to the office.

Abby had taken a couple of weeks off work to let things cool down with the media. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to do that. It was one thing for them to speculate on the fact that I had only hired her to replace Gerrard because I wanted to sleep with her. But after the second story had broken about the fight at the bar, where I had actually punched Gerrard for telling Abby I was just using her, I hadn’t been surprised when Abby said she needed a little time off.

Actually, I was still surprised that she was willing to come back to work for me at all.

The thing I hated the most about it, though, was that she had told me we had to pump the brakes on us. Things had finally been going well between the two of us. I had taken her out for drinks with my best friend, and she and Austin had gotten along great. I had been excited to start a relationship with her.

And I wasn’t the relationship kind of guy, so that was a pretty momentous step for me.

But now, it looked like I wasn’t going to get any of the things I wanted in those regards. Abby and I were strictly employer/employee. There would be no more kissing, no more dates, none of that.

Except in my dreams, apparently.

I flushed again and quickly rolled out of bed, wincing as the tip of my erection dragged sensually against the front of my silk boxers. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this turned on. Well, except for that one night that Abby and I had shared. Even then, though, I wasn’t sure I had felt quite like this. In the two weeks since I’d last seen Abby, my body hadn’t been able to forget about her. I felt as though I’d spent the whole two weeks on edge. I wouldn’t let myself cum thinking about her, though. That was a recipe for disaster, in the long run.

I headed into the bathroom and turned the shower on cold. It wasn’t a pleasant way to deal with this, but it was the only way I would allow myself. I shuddered as I stepped beneath the cold spray, my erection immediately disappearing as I focused on taking deep breaths to calm myself. I pressed my hands against the wall, dropping my head down as I counted to ten. Then, I finally turned the water to warm and grabbed the shower gel.

I tried not to think about Abby as I finished up my shower and toweled myself dry. I tried not to think about her as I headed downstairs, my footsteps echoing through the empty house, and went to make breakfast. But it was hard, knowing that she had been here once, that I had made her breakfast in this very same kitchen while she sat there wearing nothing but one of my shirts.

I missed her, and it wasn’t just about the sex. There had been something so comfortable about being there with her. That was what I missed the most. I knew that no matter what I did, I wasn’t going to get her back.

I swallowed hard as I turned on the coffee machine. Seeing her tomorrow was going to be difficult. I knew there was no going back to what we’d had before. I was going to have to keep myself in check. I wondered if it was going to be as difficult for Abby as for me.

But of course, I was deluding myself thinking that. She had made it very clear that she thought I was nothing more than trouble. And besides, she’d always had more control than I had. She’d only kissed me because I’d made a move on her first.

I sat down at the table, trying not to feel as though there should be someone else there on the other side of it from me. I had made too many eggs, I knew, as though I’d been cooking for two people instead of just one.

Which was stupid, really. I never brought women back here; Abby had been the exception. I’d been cooking for just myself for a long time now. And I’d been living here alone all that time, too. It shouldn’t feel as though the place was suddenly bigger, quieter, emptier than it had ever been before.

This was normal. The sooner I started accepting that, the better things would feel for me.

It was difficult, though. It was as though I had gotten that one brief glimpse of the way things could be, and now I was staking my whole future on things turning out that way. I couldn’t force Abby to share her life with me, though. If she thought it was best that we were strictly professional from here on out, then that was the way things had to be.

I took a bite of my eggs, trying to pretend that they didn’t taste like sawdust. Another couple of bites, and I let my fork clatter down on the edge of my plate. I wasn’t very hungry, I decided. Slowly, I cleaned up the kitchen, storing the eggs in a container in the fridge in case I got hungry later. More likely, the housekeeper would clear them out in a day or two.

I headed into my home office. It was Sunday, but there were a few projects I could get a head start on since I had the time to kill anyway. And besides, what else was I going to do with my day?

Chapter 2

Abby

I WAS GRINNING AS I walked out onto the deck at the back of my brother’s house. “Something smells good!” I told him, peeking over his shoulder at the grill. “Ooh, colorful too,” I added, looking at the array of sausages, burgers, and grilled vegetables.

Matt snorted as Leanne laughed. “I already took a ton of pictures,” Leanne told me. “Matt thinks I’m crazy.” She gave him a quick hug and then transferred her attention to me, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re late,” she said.

“I know. Traffic,” I lied. In reality, I hadn’t wanted to be the first person there, because I knew that if they could catch me on my own, before things got busy, both of them would want to try to talk me out of going back to work for McGregor Enterprises. Again. It had been a recurring topic of conversation over the past couple of weeks since the fight at the bar. And before that, they’d been cautioning me against getting involved with Daniel.

By this point, I knew all of their arguments, and they knew mine. But I was going back to work for Daniel the next day, regardless of what a terrible idea they thought it was.

I wasn’t entirely sure why I was so set on going back to work for Daniel. Part of it, I guess, was to prove to myself and to the business world that I could. That I wasn’t going to let some scandal turn me away from doing my job.

Part of it, also, was that I wasn’t sure who else would want to hire me after this, and the longer I delayed trying to find a new job, the better.

I tried not to think about any of that right now, though. Instead, I looked around the backyard. Zachary, the birthday boy, and a bunch of his friends were playing tag. Layla and her friend Maddie were climbing the apple tree in the far corner of the yard, like they wanted nothing to do with the boys’ antics. I grinned as I watched them.

“Pretty good turnout,” I commented.

Leanne grinned. “Yeah, lucky for Zach, there aren’t too many other kids in his school who have birthdays around this time of year.”

I shook my head. “I still can’t believe he’s already nine. It seems like you were just pregnant with him yesterday!”

Matt laughed. “Oh, it feels like nine years to me,” he said, smirking. “I still have nightmares about those days.” When Leanne made a noise of outrage, he gave her a quick kiss, and she subsided with a laugh. He frowned down at the grill. “Food’s almost ready; guess it’s about time to start rounding up the kids.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

“Why don’t I get the kids settled at the table, and you can hand out plates and plasticware?” Leanne suggested. “Then Matt can get them all their food, and then we’ll do drinks last so that no one spills them all over the food?”

“You know someone is bound to spill anyway.” Matt sighed.

“Well, that’s why we got the jumbo pack of paper towels,” Leanne said philosophically.

I laughed. “All right, plates and plasticware. Inside on the counter, right?”