Chapter Three
“What gorgeous flowers,” Gloria exclaimed upon catching sight of the huge bouquet of tulips as she walked inside the office.
Boasting of shabby chic décor characterized by faded floral wallpaper, quilted swivel seats, and Victorian tables, the office looked more like a tearoom straight out of a Jane Austen novel rather than the headquarters of a tour company with the rather dubious name of Glory Hall.
A quick look around the office showed that only Ilse was around, coming in half an hour early for work as was her usual.
Reaching Ilse’s table, Gloria took an appreciative whiff of the blooms, asking, “Who’s it from?”
“No one important,” Ilse answered shortly as she scooped the flowers out of her boss’ nose and marched to where the rubbish bin was. It had been over a week since she had last seen Jaak de Konigh, a week in which the billionaire had proved to be amazingly insistent in pursuing her.
He had mailed handwritten notes to her office address, all of them addressed to the pseudonym she used for work, and all of which she had torn up into pieces without reading a single one.
And now—-this!
The older woman gasped as Ilse proceeded to unceremoniously dump the bouquet in the trash. “Ilse!” Those flowers, which had come from the city’s most expensive florist shop, must have cost at least a hundred euros. How could the silly girl throw them away just like that?
Ilse only grunted. After taking a photo of the ill-fated blooms, she began punching letters on her screen, sending her first text message to the billionaire. It was a good thing she had saved his number from his business card before getting rid of it.
“Is it from a stalker?” Gloria asked as she perched herself on the edge of Ilse’s table.
“Nope.”
“A pervert?” the older woman prodded as she crossed her legs, which she was proud to note were as silky as they had been when she first came to Mokum as a starry-eyed teenager from the country.
And how life had changed since then, Gloria reminisced.
She had come to the city as an aspiring actress, but she had ended up as one of RLD’s most in-demand sex workers in her heyday.
Others would probably think her life story was far from a fairy tale, but for Gloria, being paid for sex – which she had discovered to be a really delectable pastime – was nothing to regret.
C’est la vie had always been her motto, and with the very comfortable life she had come to enjoy, Gloria considered herself much luckier than she deserved to be.
Unlike Ilse, Gloria thought, her glance straying to the beautiful woman who was staring stonily at her cellphone.
Despite her rather prickly personality, Ilse Muir was also the kindest and most hardworking person Gloria had come across.
Ilse was the one who truly deserved all the luck in the world, but as life would have it, Ilse was the one saddled with a near-impossible burden.
When Ilse swiveled her seat to face her laptop, Gloria quickly snatched the younger woman’s cellphone.
“Gloria!”
Gloria saw that the last message Ilse had sent was to a person she had labeled on her contact book as DEVIL INCARNATE.
Ilse and her big words, Gloria thought, amused, never failing to get a kick out of how smart her #1 employee was. Her glance then moved to the message Ilse had sent, and Gloria’s eyebrows went up.
Save the planet and don’t send me flowers ever again.
“So you actually know how to be rude when you want to,” Gloria remarked with faint surprise as she returned the phone to its owner.
Ilse only scowled.
“You know, if you really hate that person,” Gloria said candidly, “then you wouldn’t have bothered sending a text message. You should have just blocked his number...”
Gloria stifled her smile at the way Ilse paled, having guessed correctly that the younger woman hadn’t realized she was actually interested in the other person.
Her dear girl might look like a sexpot, Gloria thought fondly, but the truth was, Ilse was so focused on her big-sister responsibilities it had made Ilse rather dense about men.
“Who is he?” she pressed again.
“No one important,” Ilse repeated flatly.
“Can’t you even give me a name?” Gloria wheedled.
“There’s no point,” Ilse answered in the same stoic tone, “because you won’t ever get to meet him.”
But only a few hours later, and Ilse stood corrected on this.
Glory Hall received a rather unexpected visitor during lunch break, and the entire office – consisting of Gloria and her twelve tour guides – came to a standstill.
Ilse shot up to her feet. “What are you doing here?” And what business did her heart have, she wondered in consternation, to drum against her chest like she was actually excited to see Jaak de Konigh?
The billionaire, looking handsome and sophisticated in a black, handmade Italian suit, only raised a brow. “Did you truly expect it would be so easy to get rid of me?”
SO HER NAME WAS ILSE Muir, and not only was she Glory Hall’s star employee, but she had also been responsible for its turnaround, having convinced Gloria to rename and relaunch her business.
All of this was revealed by Ilse’s flamboyant and chatty boss, who – over Ilse’s silent glares – had happily invited the billionaire into her private office when she saw that he had also come bearing gifts – packed gourmet lunches together with bottles of expensive wine.
“I’m so glad my business had a hand in getting you and our Ilse to meet,” Gloria shared with a romantic sigh. “She’s a lovely girl, and she definitely deserves a man like you.”
“And yet,” the billionaire drawled in an amused tone, “she’s been ignoring all my calls and texts in the past week.”
“She’s only testing you,” Gloria answered airily even as she studied the younger man under her lashes.
While she had recognized the man by face and knew of his reputation, Gloria was also a great believer of never judging a book by its cover.
And now that she had seen him in person and had spent actual time talking to him—-
The billionaire didn’t appear to be anything like the shallow playboy gossip websites liked to paint him to be, but then...he could also be pretending. She needed to dig a little deeper, see if this man was indeed a good match for her dear girl.
“Ilse’s rather...goal-oriented,” Gloria explained carefully. “She doesn’t just let anyone into her life.”
And what an understatement that was, the older woman reflected.
Thinking of Ilse’s only two other friends outside the company – Charlene, the sex worker whom Ilse occasionally rented storage space from and Erik, her neighbor-slash-voluntary-babysitter – Gloria went on, “She only likes to spend time with people she knows she can be friends with for life.”
The billionaire simply nodded, a slight smile playing on his lips.
How difficult to read this billionaire was, Gloria thought in approval.
A deep and complex man, in other words, which should make him quite attractive to Ilse.
Whether Ilse admitted to it or not, she liked her life complicated, and could there be anything more complicated than warding off the attentions of a sexy, secretive billionaire?
“You seem like a nice young man,” Gloria murmured sweetly. “May I ask what your intentions are towards Ilse?”
Jaak’s smile turned into a full-fledged grin. “Intentions? That’s a bit archaic, don’t you think?”
Archaic? Gloria blinked. How wonderful! This man was proving to be tailor-made for Ilse, with his vocabulary as impressive as his bank account.
“If you keep talking like that,” Gloria told him truthfully, “your intentions probably wouldn’t matter.” This time, though, the older woman also chose to switch from Dutch to English, wanting to see if the billionaire would also meet Ilse’s other preferences.
“I beg your pardon?”
And he did!
Having heard the man’s perfect command of English, Gloria leaned forward, saying, “This is your lucky day, mijnheer.”
Twenty minutes later, and the billionaire walked out Ilse’s boss’ office an enlightened man. When he paused in front of Ilse’s table, she didn’t look up, her attention completely focused on her computer.
It didn’t matter.
He already knew her secrets, thanks to Gloria.
Bending down, he reached for the armrests of her chair and spun it towards him, making Ilse gasp as she faced him. A second later, and her gaze darted away from his, looking around her like she was waiting for someone to help her.
But her co-workers were only staring at her and the billionaire like they had come across an interesting live show for free.
Shit. Ilse reluctantly turned to face the billionaire, telling herself that she would just have to order him to release her. But then she met his gleaming blue eyes, and her resolve started to weaken.
It was not fair – so not fair – that this man was so perfect, even the look in his eyes alone could seduce her!
“Ilse...”
Her name on his lips was impossibly seductive, too, and Ilse barely managed to keep her body from trembling.
“I know you’re hoping to keep giving me the cold shoulder until I lose interest in you, but I’m telling you now it won’t work.”
Ha. Ilse was privately taken aback by the words, but she only let her lips purse in reaction, determined to treat him with indifference.
“Secondly, I’d like to be fair and honest with you, so I’m letting you know that Gloria’s given me a rather nice advantage.”
Ilse swung her seat around, head whipping to where her boss’ office was, and through the glass wall, she saw Gloria seated on her executive chair. The older woman beamed at her, which Ilse replied to with a scowl. Gloria, you traitor!
The billionaire walked around her table, and his powerful form suddenly blocked her line of sight, leaving her nothing to see but him.
“I’m not finished.” He suddenly bent forward, his hands settling on the armrests of her chair once more, but this time the position also had his hard body inches away from hers—-
Aaaah. In a panic to get as far away from him as possible, Ilse tried to push her chair back, but the billionaire only retaliated by pulling her seat closer, his strength easily overpowering hers.
The scent of his cologne struck her nostrils, and Ilse bit her lip hard.
Dear Lord, how can You let this happen?
Why did the billionaire have to smell as good as he looked, too?
His head moved even closer, and she stiffened as she felt his breath tickling her ear when he whispered silkily, “Do you want to know what my advantage is?”
No. Yes. No. Ilse no longer knew what to say.
“Say yes, babe.”
Her eyes widened.
B-babe?
How did he—-
The billionaire chuckled when he felt Ilse stiffen, saying wickedly, “Yes, babe. I know a favorite erotic romance of yours had you wanting to have a boyfriend who can call you babe, and it will be my pleasure to do so.”
GLORIA, YOU TRAITOR!
“And that’s not all I know, I’m afraid,” the billionaire murmured silkily. “I’m guessing you haven’t researched anything about me—-”
Ilse’s teeth gnashed. He was right, and it was all Gloria’s fault!
“But that’s okay. I’m more than happy to fill you in about myself.” He tipped her chin up. “The first thing you should know is that I graduated from Oxford...”
He...did?
“With honors,” he continued without even an ounce of modesty.
He...had?
“That’s not all.”
It...wasn’t?
“What I’m additionally about to tell you,” he murmured under his breath, “will probably turn you on—-”
This time, she could no longer keep herself from reacting, and she demanded in an outraged tone, “Excuse me?”
But the billionaire only gazed at her with hooded lids. “I only said that to give you fair warning in advance.”
“Y-you—-”
“One of my secret hobbies, babe, is reading books. All kinds of books.”
In the act of yelling at him for once again acting like an arrogant asshole, Ilse snapped her mouth shut instead. The billionaire didn’t seem the type to lie about himself, which meant—-
He truly liked to...read?
Ilse wetted her suddenly dry lips.
A gorgeous man such as Jaak de Konigh...actually liked to read?
“And lastly...”
Goodness gracious, there was more?
The billionaire moved in for the kill.
“I’m fluent in five other languages.”
Ilse’s legs snapped together.
Shit, oh, oh, shit.
Because the billionaire was right, damn him.
What he did have to say turned her on.
“And now that I know how to seduce you...”
The billionaire’s mouth touched her ear, and Ilse’s eyes squeezed shut as her entire body burned.
“Be ready, babe.”