Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
A ubrey
Just to fuck with Billy, I charge my scone and morning coffee to his Gold Card on the way to Central Park.
I can’t decide if he’s the kind of guy who is so rich he won’t even notice or enough of a control freak that he’ll try to nail my ass to the wall for it.
I strut down the sidewalk in a pair of paint-splattered ripped jean cut-offs with fishnets under them and a push-up bralette under a button-down paint shirt that I took from my dad’s discard pile years ago.
My mom saves all cast-offs for me to use as paint clothes or rags.
I’m walking along the sidewalk in front of Billy’s building when a blue Toyota pulls up to the curb. The back door opens and someone chucks a cardboard box onto the sidewalk before the car drives away.
Everyone on the sidewalk freezes, giving it the side eye. I guess we’re expecting a bomb. Or poisoned gas or something, but a little yip sounds from within the container.
Oh shit.
“Hey!” I yell at the departing car and march over.
Some assholes just abandoned their dog.
“What dicks,” I mutter to myself as I pry open the top flaps of the box. Inside is the cutest little salt and pepper puppy. He’s some kind of mutt, I’m guessing, with long matted hair covering its big brown eyes.
“Oh, baby!” I croon, picking him up.
He promptly pees a little on me. “Shit!” I mutter and hold him away from my body, angled away.
“What’s up, cute thing?”
He tries to lick my face. “Don’t you have the sweetest little floppy ears?” I use my baby-talk voice. “Did someone throw you out?”
His hind end wiggles with the force of wagging his tail.
“You’re a sweet thing. Who would want to give you up?”
I look up and down the street. His owners are long gone, not that they deserve to be pet owners. What am I going to do? I’m not taking this puppy to a shelter, and I need to find a good home for him.
My apartment doesn’t allow pets.
I’m also supposed to be at Billy’s in two minutes.
A loose plan takes shape in my head, and my lips kick up a notch.
Yes. Showing up with a puppy will make Billy White the Third flip his proverbial lid. And I definitely want to see his reaction.
I lift the pup to my shoulder and carry him with one arm, gripping my coffee with the other hand.
Let the fireworks begin.
The doorman holds the door open for me as I approach.
“Hi, Grayson.” I made a point of learning the giant burly guard’s name yesterday. I’m trying to get him past the formal phase, but he resists.
“Ms. Cook.” He gives the puppy a slightly alarmed look. “Does Mr. White know you’re bringing a dog to his premises?”
“It couldn’t be helped.” I breeze by him, straight to the elevators, even though I know he has to use his keycard for me to access Billy’s floor.
The puppy barks at Grayson, squirming in my arms to be let down.
“Nuh uh.” I turn the pup to look at me and give him a stern look. He attempts to lick me.
Grayson steps into the elevator, presses his keycard to the sensor, then hits the button for Billy’s floor.
The puppy barks at him again.
“Good luck with that.” He sounds dry, which makes me think we are actually becoming friends after all.
I flash him a broad smile. “I’m expecting the worst.”
As the doors close, I catch his brows pop in surprise, and I hear him mutter, “Oh, boy,” as the elevator ascends.
When I arrive on the upper floor, Billy’s door is open, and I waltz in, ready for him to freak out.
He’s in the kitchen, making an espresso. His hair is still wet from a shower, his pinstriped button-down shirt gaps open at the throat. A tie with black and gray stripes lies beside him on the kitchen counter.
Oh…damn. I’m unprepared for how hot this not-quite-dressed look is on him. I wonder what he’d look like stepping out of the shower. Is there hair on his chest? Or is he the kind of guy who waxes his back and chest?
I wonder what it would be like to be tied up with that tie of his…
So many unanswered questions.
The biggest one is, will I find out the answers to all of them? I know I could. The better question is, should I?
Billy’s nostrils flare as he whirls to look at me.
“What. Is. That ?” He metes his words out like punishment.
“This little guy just got thrown out of a car.” I lift the pup’s face to mine to give his head a kiss.
“And you brought it here, why?”
To torment you.
“Where else was I going to bring it?” I ask with mock innocence.
“To the pound. Where abandoned mutts belong.”
As if the little dog senses his disapproval, it tucks its little tail and whimpers.
He strides toward us, and the dog whimpers louder. “Did it pee on you?”
“What? You can smell it?” I hold the dog away to survey where the pee dribbled. It wasn’t that much–I can’t believe he can smell it.
He reaches for the dog, and I pull the little guy away to protect him.
Billy’s mask is his usual cruel visage, but he doesn’t appear any more annoyed than other times. “Give me the mutt. You go clean up.”
I hesitate. I seriously don’t trust this guy not to throw the dog off his balcony.
Well, maybe that’s too ungenerous. I hold the dog out doubtfully, and he takes it, lifting the pup eye to eye with him. “Be nice to Pepper.”
“You named him already?”
I give him a flippant why wouldn’t I? shrug.
Pepper whimpers and tries to lick Billy.
He stares at Pepper for a moment. I don’t know what in the hell he’s doing–but then he says, “that’s right,” like they’ve come to some understanding.
Since I was going for a sexy vibe and smelling like dog pee isn’t, I take his advice and head to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
When I return, I find him with his shirt sleeves rolled up, his watch on the counter by the tie. The corded muscles of his forearms flex as he washes the dog in his kitchen sink.
Oh, damn.
My ovaries just dropped an egg. Maybe two.
That should not be so sexy, but for some reason, it winds my crank. I’m not sure if it’s the view of his forearms, the semi-domestic sight of him at the sink, or seeing the normally cold, stiff asshole doing something generous for another being.
Even if that being is a little dog.
The drenched waif shivers, tail wagging, big brown eyes staring adoringly up at Billy.
He looks over at me. “What do you intend to do with this thing?”
I set my paper cup down on his glass coffee table and kick off my boots. “Honestly? I haven’t developed a plan beyond annoying you by bringing him here.”
Billy’s eyes shine in that strange silver-blue sheen they sometimes take on. “Was that your plan with the credit card, too?”
Something about being called out makes my nipples tighten. Like I want him to punish me over this. Want to see what happens when the mighty Billy Billions attempts to flex his power over me.
Which doesn’t make sense, since I spend all of my waking hours scheming about how to keep my power over him.
I cock a hip. “Is it working?”
“No.”
“Good. Because I plan to use it to buy stuff for Pepper.”
He turns off the water and grabs a kitchen towel to dry off the dog. When he finishes, he sets the sweet pup down on the floor and strides over to me. The little dog follows right at his heels, his whole butt wagging with the force of his tail.
“Good boy, Pepper!” I croon. “Are you all clean?” Yes, I’m talking to the dog to distract myself from the approaching danger.
I try not to look at Billy’s bare forearms. They’re not that sexy. They’re not sexy. Oh God– why are they so damn sexy?
Billy comes right up to me, crowding into my space. “What reaction were you looking for?” If I didn’t feel the electric magnetism pulling my body toward his, I might find him intimidating. I’m sure his employees cower when he brings this forbidding expression.
I put a hand on his chest to push him back, and he catches my wrist and twists it, spinning me until it’s pinned behind my back. It doesn’t hurt, but the agility of the move shocks me. Like this guy is some kind of Taekwondo expert or something.
He uses his grip on my wrist to pull me flush against his body. “Are you waiting for me to punish you?” His voice is a low rumble. So sexy. He’s so close I can smell his minty fresh breath. I’m acutely aware that mine probably smells like coffee. I close my lips.
His eyes track the movement.
“I had a feeling that’s what you were into,” I accuse, trying to turn it back on him. I hate how breathless I sound.
A feral smile creeps onto his face. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him smile before. It changes his entire face. Makes him twenty times more handsome. “Oh, I’m definitely that guy.”
Everything in me ignites, turning my insides to molten lava. My pussy gets wet–dripping wet. I’m close enough to examine his perfectly shaven square jaw. The divet in his chin. The patrician nose.
“I had a feeling you crave being overpowered.” The velvet bass of his voice seems to lick between my legs.
I get dizzy with the impact of his observation. It’s not something I ever identified in myself, but the words ring some internal bell so soundly it’s like every nerve ending in my body reacts.
I don’t like how out of control I feel. How exposed. “You wish.” I throw as much scorn into the words as I can.
The ghost of a smile reappears around the corners of Billy’s lips. I find it alarmingly enticing. “Silver,” he rumbles, “I watched you come in the middle of my kitchen just from me grabbing your wrist .”
A puff of breath leaves my lips. He has me off balance right now, and I hate it. God, I still can’t believe he saw that!
“I could make you come again in less than sixty seconds right now. Just say the word.”
My pulse picks up speed. Word. Word! Yes, please. Except no. I can’t give him the satisfaction.
I draw scorn around me like a cloak. “Full of yourself much?”
He gives me a cool look. I’m burning up, and he’s all calm containment. “I’m just stating facts. I think you want to know what it’s like to have all control wrested from you.”