“I’ve never had sex in an elevator either.” Her lush lips found his again and she arched against him, surrendering to him as his tongue stormed into her mouth.

The taste of her was incredible, and kissing her was so intoxicating he never wanted to stop. He swirled his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss as her small hands skimmed down his torso and stopped at his belt buckle.

Without breaking the kiss Heather unbuckled his belt and unzipped him, freeing his throbbing erection.

When she took his manhood into her hands, the pleasure from her touch forced him to end the kiss to let out a rough, desperate groan.

“Do you want me to keep going?” she asked.

“Yes,” he managed to force out. Right now he was nothing but pure, primal need. And she was the only one who could satisfy his lust.

Without needing any more prompting Heather hooked her leg around his waist, pulling him so close that he had her crushed up against the wall.

She sheathed him with the condom and guided him into her in one quick stroke.

The pleasure was so overwhelming he nearly lost his footing. He pressed one palm against the wall, and gripped her hip with the other as he steadied himself. She was so warm and tight and wet. Simon forced back a groan, refusing to give in to his primal urges. Because if he did he would come too early, and he wasn’t going to be satisfied if he didn’t give her the pleasure she deserved.

He thrust into her until he was buried so deep inside her she let out a frenzied, desperate cry. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her grip so tight her nails dug into his skin through the fabric of his shirt.

The sweet pain only enhanced the pleasure as he started to thrust rhythmically into her. She clamped down around him, her slick heat giving him more pleasure than he could stand.

Her breathless moans filled the elevator, arousing him until he was on the verge of release. Simon had never had sex like this with any other woman. Right now, buried inside her, there was nothing between them. He had never been so vulnerable with a woman the way he was with Heather, and each time they had sex it was more than just a physical act. Every part of his body was a part of hers. His heart, his mind.

She came first, a loud cry of his name, letting him know. Ecstasy exploded through him and he came right after her.

As quickly as he could, he zipped up his pants and pressed a button to get the elevator going again. Meanwhile, she reached for her bag and ran her hand through her hair in an effort to smooth it down.

She clutched his arm and he shot her a glance. Her face was flushed, her cheeks glowing in the aftermath of her pleasure. Her hair was still messy, her lips swollen from kissing. Seeing her in the aftermath of her passion always made his heart race even faster.

He forced himself to breathe as he wrapped his arm around her. “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.”

A smile. “How do you always know the right thing to say?”

The elevator doors slid open and he guided her out. “I have you for inspiration. How could I go wrong?”

They stopped at the door of his apartment and he opened the door to let her in.

She pulled his jacket tighter around her body, and for some reason he enjoyed seeing her wearing his clothes. Maybe seeing her wrapped up in something he owned brought out his possessive instincts. “Oh gosh, I’m starving.”

“I can order Chinese if you’d like,” he offered.

“I’d like that,” she said, letting out a happy sigh.

Half an hour later they were both sprawled out on his bed, eating noodles out of takeout boxes. Heather had taken off his jacket and was totally naked underneath the sheet that barely covered her rear end. She was lying on her stomach, her slender legs wrapped around one of his pillows.

Right after their food had been delivered he had gotten out of his clothes, needing to expose himself to her after what they had gotten up to in the elevator. He hadn’t even bothered covering himself with the sheet.  Heather seemed to relish it, because she was looking at him shamelessly like she was considering another round with him.

Suppressing a smile, he let his eyes wander up and down her body. He could gaze at her all day and never get tired of it. Right now, he was enjoying the endless curves of her body. Marveling at the way her hair fell about her shoulders in copper waves.

Simon set his half-finished box of takeout down on the night table beside his bed and lay down on his back beside her.

“We could cut work and stay here for the rest of the day.” He rolled over onto his side and reached out to start caressing her exposed back, following the arch of her satin-soft skin.

“I know you’re trying to get out of the interview,” she scolded. “You’re not going to throw me off that easily.”

He flashed her a lazy smile. “That’s not why I want to spend the rest of the day here with you.”

“In that case, we can finish the interview right here.” She handed him her box of takeout, gesturing for him to put it away.

Obliging, he set her box on the night table and resumed his place beside her. “What now?”

She lowered her hand to the floor, picked up her handbag, and started rifling through it. “I’m turning the tape recorder back on.”

Simon groaned. He had hoped that she would at least give him a break before firing more questions his way. “More questions already?”

“You’re not going to like what else I have to say,” she warned as she took her cell phone from her bag to glance at it. “The editor from the men’s magazine messaged me. He would like to know if you’re available for an impromptu photo shoot tomorrow.”

There was no use fighting it. She had more than kept her side of the bargain with that strip show in his office. “Fine. I can reschedule some meetings so we can get it done.”

She started texting rapidly. “Great. I’ll tell the editor to send the photographer and the journalist to your apartment tomorrow.”

“Seriously? I’ll be taking photos of my apartment for the entire world to see?” He shifted over to sit on the edge of the bed, wrapping part of the sheet around his waist.

“Taking the photos in your apartment will let the public get a private look at your life. They’ll feel like they’re finally getting to know the real you. Do you know how exciting that will be? Inside a reclusive billionaire’s home. Imagine the buzz we’ll be creating with something like that.”

That was the kind of exclusive access that most magazine editors could only dream of, but to Simon the entire setup was a nightmare. “How the hell did I let you talk me into this?”

“You let your lust get the better of you,” she teased, her eyes flashing with mischief.

He didn’t have a retort for that. Instead, he just scowled in frustration.

She straightened up to join him on the edge of the bed, her shapely legs dangling over the side, the sheet wrapping around her gorgeous body as she moved. “I’ve got another prep session with my lawyer tomorrow evening after the photo shoot. I really need to nail this because the next court hearing is on Friday. I can’t afford to make another mistake in front of the judge.”

If she was changing the subject so abruptly, her unease about the next court hearing must have been weighing even more heavily on her mind than usual. Not to mention, finding out that Gary was trying to get Dover employees to act as witnesses against her must have shaken her. It had certainly angered and disappointed Simon. Gary really would stop at nothing to destroy her, and even if he ended up losing Heather had been through hell already.

“I’ll go with you to the session.” There was no question that he was going to continue to support her through this. The fact that she was so focused on work despite the turmoil in her personal life was incredible. Anyone else would have buckled under the pressure, but not Heather. Somehow she just seemed to keep on going, and the admiration he had already had for her kept growing.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “I’m just so scared. What if I really screwed this up? What if we can’t get any dirt on Gary in time?”

“Maybe your lawyer will have some news when you meet with him tomorrow,” he said, trying to soothe her. “There’s bound to be something you can use against him. If anyone can find something, the investigators at Jones, Chang, & Associates can.”

“Well, I read up on Jones, Chang, & Associates over the weekend and they’re not the top law firm in Seattle for nothing.” She sighed. “I guess I’m just nervous. When I’m at work I feel guilty that I’m not working on the custody case. And when I’m working on the custody case I feel guilty that I’m not devoting enough time to Dover.”

“You’ve been juggling so much,” he said. “If you need a few days off, I’m more than willing to give you that.”

She eyed him suspiciously, but her lips started to twitch. “Simon Diesel, I still know what you’re up to. I won’t be taking any days off, so you can forget that. Don’t let my moping fool you. You will be doing your interviews this week.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said quickly.

Heather paused before looking deep into his eyes. “I’ve probably said this before, but I couldn’t get through this custody battle without you.”

He captured her chin in his hand and stared back. “I love you, Heather. I’m here for whatever you need.”

“I love you, too.” She gave him a faint smile. Followed by a dangerous narrowing of her eyes. “We can finish up the interview, and then after that I’ll make sure your apartment is presentable for the shoot tomorrow. The place looks great, but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a once-over beforehand.”

“I have to admit I’m in good hands with you,” he said, releasing her chin. The amount of thought she put into everything she did despite her stress was impressive, even if it was a little bit maddening.

She clutched the sheet tighter against her chest with one hand and held up the tape recorder with the other. “Are you ready to continue?” she asked, too businesslike to let his compliment slow her down.

He leaned over to kiss her bare shoulder in response. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Just make sure that you delete the recording when all of this is done.”

~~*~~

SIMON DIDN’T BOTHER going to work the next morning. With that damn photo shoot scheduled for mid-morning, he decided to just stay in to eat a quick breakfast and work on some ideas on his laptop. He wanted to make headway with the ideas he had been developing for the underwater tech he was working on with the engineers at Blue Naught.

When Heather arrived at his door an hour before the interview he let her in, narrowing his eyes at the garment bags she was holding.

“I knew you were going to bring clothes for me to wear,” he muttered in annoyance. “Where did you even get the clothes?”

“I have my ways,” she said. “Let’s just say that the board was nice enough to give me a company credit card when I updated Agnes on your interview progress yesterday. She’s thrilled that you’ll be doing this photo shoot.”

He frowned. “I’ll bet she is.”

“Why don’t you try on some of the clothes, so we can see how you look?” she said.

“What’s wrong with what I’ve got on?” he demanded.

“The jeans look great on you, but that Stanford sweatshirt has got to go.” She waved the garment bags in his face, a no-nonsense expression on her face. “We need you to look polished.”

“I thought you wanted me to seem down-to-earth,” he said.

“Down-to-earth and polished,” she said.

With a heavy sigh, he took the garment bags from her and went to go change in his bedroom. He tried on a couple of polo shirts, ties, and jackets until Heather settled on a crisp white shirt paired with a comfortable pair of jeans.

“I’m amazed you chose this,” he said with relief as he stepped towards her in the living room. “I thought for sure you’d want something that would be way more uncomfortable.”

She leaned closer to him and ran her hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t fight me on everything, Simon.”

“I’m just not used to all this,” he admitted. “I’ve kept the media at arm’s length because none of this shallow stuff matters.”

“Well, I think you look sexy.” She reached down to unbutton the top button of his shirt. “You’ve still got a tan from our trip to Florida, and your hair looks amazing.”

He had almost never given a damn about what he looked like, but Heather’s approval made him feel ten feet tall. Nobody else on earth could have gotten him to sign up to do this.

“Thanks,” he finally said.

She whipped out her phone and said, “I’m going to call the reporter to make sure he’s on his way.”

“Okay, what do I do now?”

“All you have to do is sit tight until the reporter and the photographer get here.”

Less than an hour later, Heather led the magazine reporter and the photographer into the living room. They all made their introductions, but none of the formalities eased the mounting tension in his shoulders. As grateful as he was to have Heather’s efficiency on his side, he couldn’t wait for this ordeal to be over.

“How about we take them on a tour of your building?” Heather suggested.

Neil, the reporter, smiled and nodded. “Sounds great. We’ll be able to really get a feel for who Simon is.”

Barely suppressing a sigh, Simon led them all out of his apartment and started to show them around his apartment building.

When they entered the apartment across from the photographer went crazy, taking photos of the servers that were lined up along one of the apartment’s walls.

“So these are the servers that were photographed during the break-in?” the reporter asked.

Simon frowned. “I wouldn’t quite call it a break-in, but photos of my servers were leaked without my permission.”

Neil scribbled some notes into the notepad he was holding. “So, how exactly did Everett Eastman pull off his spying on your computer system?”

“That’s confidential,” Simon said flatly. “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”

“I get it,” the reporter said. “You’ve got reputations to protect.”

“It’s not just that,” Simon said. “What happened to Dover was absolutely heartbreaking. It’s been tough on the staff to know that one of our own was trying to harm the company that we all worked so hard to build.”

“I’m guessing it’s been tough on you, too” Neil said.

Simon nodded, his gut twisting painfully. He had never thought of Everett Eastman as a friend, but he had at least believed that they were on the same side. Had the same goal of making Dover a better company with each passing year. Finding out that Everett had spied on the company, stolen his ideas, and tried to frame Heather on top of it all had been more devastating than he’d realized. The truth was he hadn’t fully come to terms with it, and this interview was forcing him to take a good hard look at what Everett had put them all through.

“It has been,” he conceded. “But it’s been tough on all of us. Dover really is a family. Even when some members of the staff move on to other companies, we make sure we stay in touch with them. We’re all still reeling from this, but as the CEO it’s my job to do what needs to be done to protect the staff. They’re my number one concern. Dover’s workers. They’ve worked too hard for me to give up on them.”

“I really appreciate your candor, Simon,” Neil said. “It’s something our readers are going to get a lot of inspiration from. A leader who genuinely cares about the human capital of their company is someone to be admired.”

With a curt nod of acknowledgement, Simon stepped away from the servers to continue with the tour. The photographer took scores of photos as he showed them the many unoccupied apartments in the luxury building while answering more of the reporter’s questions. Finally, they ended up at the heated underground swimming pool.

“How about you get your feet wet,” Heather suggested eagerly.

He raised an eyebrow at her, already dreading where this new idea was going. “What?”

“Why don’t you take your shoes off, roll up your jeans, and put your feet in the water,” she pressed.

“Yeah, how about it, Simon?” the photographer asked, holding up his camera.

Simon sighed. Might as well get this madness over with.

Before he started to take his shoes off, Heather leaned towards him to undo another one of his shirt buttons.

“Take my shirt off, why don’t you,” he said to her with a growl.

“Sure, let’s go for it,” the photographer said enthusiastically.

“That’s not going to happen,” Simon muttered as he took his shoes off.

Heather let out a trembling giggle, but she quickly composed herself as she watched him roll up his jeans.

He sank down to sit at the edge of the swimming pool, putting his feet in the water.

“You look great, Simon,” the photographer said, snapping photos. “You’re starting to look more relaxed. How about we undo one more button?”

For the rest of the tedious photo shoot, Simon forced himself to grit his teeth and bear the whole ridiculous exercise. If Heather hadn’t been around, he probably would have reverted to his old ways and tossed the reporter and the photographer out of the building.

But he didn’t, and by the time late afternoon rolled around he let the reporter and the photographer out and headed into the kitchen in his apartment with Heather.

“You did great,” she said.

“Really?” He grimaced at the memory of the poolside photos. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said. “Your answers about Everett were so real. I knew you could do it.”

“The photos weren’t over the top?” he asked.

“Not at all. I told you that you looked sexy,” she said with a grin. “The magazine says they’re going to release the photos they took in your apartment on their website with some choice quotes later this week. Social media is going to love that. The pool photos will make it to the print version of the magazine in a month or so. That way, we’ll be able to keep the buzz around you going. We’ll be keeping up all this momentum.”

He headed over to his freezer and dug out a frozen pizza. “How about some pizza before we head down to the law firm?”

“I’d like that, thanks,” she said. “You did a good job today.”

“So did you,” he said. “Organizing a photo shoot at the last minute couldn’t have been easy.” He paused. “Dealing with me probably wasn’t easy either.”

She smiled. “You billionaires really are a handful.”

“I’m just glad it’s over,” he said.

“Don’t forget, you still have to do a podcast this week,” she reminded him.

He groaned and started to tear open the package. “Don’t remind me.”

Her phone started ringing before she could respond, and she answered it quickly. “Oh, hello, Aaron. No, it’s no trouble. I’m free at the moment.”

While she talked with her lawyer, Simon turned on the oven.

“What?” Heather’s panicked voice dragged his attention from the oven. “Are you sure?” She paused, her face turning pale. Apprehension flashed in her eyes as she turned her attention to him. “Is it okay if Aaron comes over? Something has come up.”

“Of course he can come over.” Simon frowned, not liking the tremble in her voice one bit. Something was clearly wrong.

“Yes, Aaron, you can come over. Okay, see you in twenty minutes.” She hung up and stared at him, her face growing even paler.

“Heather, what is it?” he asked.

“Aaron wants to talk about what he’s managed to get on Gary,” she said.

“That’s good news, isn’t it?”

She bit her lip. “That’s just it. I don’t think they’ve found enough to help with my case, and the next hearing is in three days.”

His chest tightened. That was bad. Simon had been certain the law firm’s investigators would have found dirt on Gary. He had been certain that Gary was shady. But if there wasn’t enough evidence against him, she could lose the court case. Lose Finn for good.

He looked at her, and already he could see a crack in the brave veneer she had put up for the past several days. She was shaking, her eyes glassy.

“You need to eat something,” he said firmly. “I’ll get this pizza into the oven and then we can wait for Aaron to arrive, so that we can get the full story.”