BAD BOY BILLIONAIRE VOLUME IV
Chapter Thirty-Five
the time I got home that night I was exhausted, but also revved up about the plan to thwart Lincoln and Sloan. We'd put most of the pieces in place, and now all we had to do was wait for the two traitors to reveal themselves on their own. I knew we'd have to be careful about how we proceeded, but since Leah, Norma, and I were the only ones who knew what the plan was, I felt confident that no one would let the cat out of the bag.
The house was dark, but as I walked down the hallway to my room, I saw a sliver of light shining from under Leah's door. I stopped and listened, and then tapped lightly on the door.
"I told you to go to—oh, Jack, sorry, I thought you were Riley," Leah laughed. She pushed a strand of wet hair out of her eyes as she smiled at me and asked, "How was your day?"
"It was, um, productive," I said as I stared at her. She must have just taken a shower because she looked fresh and smelled like lavender and sage. My mind immediately recalled what it had felt like to hold her close, and I had the urge to push the door open a little wider and take her in my arms.
"Jack? Are you okay?" she asked, pulling me back to reality.
"Oh, yeah, fine," I said, shaking my head to clear the thoughts. I could feel myself being pulled to her, and every day the pull grew stronger. I wanted to tell her what I was thinking. I knew that if I did, I risked not only being rejected but also losing an incredibly valuable employee. How much longer could this go on?
"So, we figured out a way to manage the shipments that wouldn't interfere with the plan we devised," I heard her saying as I watched her mouth moving. I wanted so badly to kiss her lips.
"That's great, Leah," I said nodding as I stepped closer to the door. Leah backed up and opened the door wider.
"Do you want to come in?" she asked.
"I've been meaning to talk to you about something," I began deciding that it was now or never. I needed to say something or else I'd explode.
"I know," she said looking down at the floor as she bit her lip. "I've been thinking about it, too."
"You have been?" I said surprised that she was being this open with me.
"Yeah, I know it's probably been really difficult for you, so I've been trying to think of a way to talk to you about it," she said looking up at me. Her eyes were a shade of deep blue that reminded me of the ocean off the coast of Santorini, and I was mesmerized by them.
"You have been?" I repeated dumbly.
"I've been trying to think of a way to bring it up since the funeral, but I didn't know how to say it without scaring you off or offending you," she said as she held my gaze. "But after everything that's happened in the past few weeks, and now that Riley and I are staying here, I thought it was probably time to bring it up."
"I see," I said, feeling the blood rushing away from my brain as I anticipated her next sentence.
"Yeah, I don't know quite how to say this, but Jack…" she hesitated for a moment and then took a deep breath and let it all spill out. "I really need a raise. I'm doing a lot of work in the warehouse and taking on a lot of responsibility and with the fire and my mother and Riley. I need a raise so that I can afford to pay for Riley's tutor and move her into a better school. We need to get our own apartment because it's really nice of your mother to put us up like this, but she can't have two guests living in the house indefinitely. Plus it's kind of weird for an employee to be living with her boss, don't you think?"
I stood staring at her as the words tumbled out in rapid succession, shocked that they weren't what I thought they were going to be.
"Ah, yes," I said to hide my disappointment. "Well, then tomorrow we'll talk about what a fair raise would be. I definitely can't afford to lose you."
"Thank you, Jack," she said, smiling up at me. "I appreciate your understanding and your willingness to consider my proposal."
"No problem," I nodded as I turned and walked out the door.
"Sweet dreams!" she called as I pulled the door shut behind me. I went back to my room and took a long cold shower, hoping that it would quell the aching need. But as I climbed into bed, I realized that nothing but Leah herself was going to accomplish that.
The image of her pretty face and her curvy body under the nightclothes she wore would not leave my mind, so I lay under the sheet stroking myself. The release gave me enough relief to fall asleep, but my dreams were full of Leah.