Page 41 of Blackmailing the Bad Girl

Chapter Ten

Would she turn up this morning?

Or would he never see her again? While he’d given her the choice, he’d already decided that wasn’t an option. If she didn’t turn up, he’d go and haul her ass in here. But he thought she would.

He closed his eyes and pictured her expression when he’d said he wanted to be friends. After he’d dropped that bombshell, he’d walked away, giving her time to think. He had an idea that she hadn’t had many friends in her life. Probably her lifestyle had precluded that.

Friends.

He didn’t have many friends himself. A lot of acquaintances, but real friends? They were hard to find.

He’d dreamed of her again last night. In the dream, they hadn’t been friends. They’d been lovers. He’d been deep inside her, and he’d woken up aroused and frustrated, his mind filled with the memory of how she felt wrapped around him, his cock pumping into her, her cries as she came…

Shit. Stop thinking about sex with Summer.

It wasn’t going to happen again.

They were going to be friends.

At eight thirty, a quiet knock sounded on his door and a second later, the door opened and Summer stood there. He couldn’t believe the cool wave of relief that washed over him. He kept his expression blank.

“You came,” he said. “I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t be making my own coffee today.”

“God forbid.” She stepped into the room and came to stand in front of his desk. She was wearing what he’d come to think of as her work uniform, a plain white shirt tucked into a gray skirt and low black heels. He had to stifle the almost overwhelming urge to take her out of them. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore no makeup. She was beautiful, and something twisted in his gut. He ignored the feeling.

“Did you mean it?” she asked. “You won’t give that file to the police?”

“I meant it.”

“And you want to be friends?” He nodded and she shook her head. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“We were friends when we first met. You talked to me. I talked to you. We can do it again.”

Her brow furrowed. “You want to share our innermost secrets or something?”

“Or something. Don’t make a big deal out of it. We work together. If you have any problems, come and talk to me.”

Her brow furrowed, a little line forming. “And will you tell me your problems?”

He grinned. “I’m a billionaire. We don’t have problems. Or if we do, we pay people to make them go away.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah.”

“But I don’t believe it.” She shifted. “Okay,I’ll get to work then.” She turned and headed for the door. Halfway there, she paused, turned, and marched back. Stood in front of his desk, her hands behind her back.

He raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Summer? You clearly have something you want to say.” He hoped she wasn’t about to change her mind and walk out on him. That wasn’t an option, but he didn’t know how he would keep her now that he’d told her he wouldn’t go to the police. A pay rise?

“Just…thank you.”

And she was gone.

…

The friend thing was weird. Though Nik wasn’t being particularly friendly—that would be hard when there was usually a few thousand miles between them. Still, she was feeling twitchy. Maybe because she couldn’t get the memory of him saying he wanted her “too much” out of her head. The words echoed in her ears, making her hot and bothered at the most inappropriate times.

Nik was in New York right now. According to his schedule, he was supposedly flying back tonight. But if the past few weeks were anything to go by, he wouldn’t be around for long. Though this time, he had to stay in London at least a few days. It was his mother’s birthday, and he was going to the party on Saturday. Alone, as far as she could tell, though it was possible he’d stopped adding his dates to his schedule. Maybe he thought it was none of her business. Or maybe he thought she might be upset.

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