Page 20 of Quarantined with the Billionaire

Chapter Seven

Elise screaming in my ear made me pull my phone back from my head. “Are you kidding me?” Her words had the structure of a question, but they were yelled like an interjection. “Why you?”

I’d known my friend would be a little jealous, but I hoped she wasn’t over the top. “Dominique actually recommended me.”

“No.”

“Yeah. I was shocked, too.”

“So what’s he like?”

Ah, this was the Elise I’d expected. My co-conspirator bestie.

I told her about his mansion-esque home, Simon, the cars—but ended on the tongue-lashing. “So he confirmed what I knew all along. He’s an asshole.”

But a small part of me no longer believed it.

Elise never had, so she didn’t even address the remark directly. “Do you have to go back there tomorrow?”

“I have no idea. After today, I doubt it. I bet as soon as he dropped me off, he called Jeffrey and asked for someone else. Maybe tomorrow it’ll be your turn.”

“Wait, what? He dropped you off?”

“Yes.”

“Geez. You got lucky, girlfriend.”

I wasn’t so sure.

But at eight-thirty that night, as I was finishing up the dishes in my sink that I’d neglected for days, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I almost let it go to voicemail—but something told me to pick it up. “Hello?”

“Am I speaking with Bailey Bernard?”

Oh, God. I’d recognize that voice anywhere—that particular timbre, that deep quality. The way it grabbed me around my neck and threatened to never let go.

“Yes. Is this—Maddox?”

“It is. I didn’t mention today that I’m going to continue to need your services over the next week or so, just until my assistant is cleared for work. So I’ll send Simon over again.”

I honestly didn’t know what to say, but I was thrilled. I had to work at keeping my voice calm. “What time?”

“Seven-thirty. I want us ready to go by eight AM sharp.”

“All right.”

And this time I would bring my own food, because I didn’t want to get ensnared by his cute tricks. This was business only—and I had to protect both my head and heart from this man.

* * *

Boy, I talked a good game with myself but, when push came to shove, I was probably a typical woman, trying to get the attention of the hot, powerful guy. Maddox had said the day before that casual dress was okay while working at home—but I had to impress the boss.

And, perhaps, I wanted to look a little sexy, too.

So I’d picked out three different outfits the night before and settled on a black dress that I would never wear to the office without a jacket. The skirt pushed the dress code, because it landed mid-thigh instead of following the three-inch-above-the-knee rule. But Dominique never challenged me when I wore it, nor did any of my coworkers, likely because I hardly ever saw clients. I was good on the phone, hidden in a cubicle, so they kept me there.

The dress was snug, fitting my curves, and had long, lacy sleeves. I picked a pair of black pumps to go with and a red jacket. As I started walking down the stairs to the front of the building, I second guessed myself, considering going back into my apartment to change—but it was just a few minutes before Simon was supposed to pick me up, and I didn’t dare be late. That would be something I suspected Maddox would get very angry over, and it wasn’t something easy to fix. He’d been wrong about what I’d done the day before, and I wanted to stay on the side of right.

Maybe he wouldn’t even notice what I wore, and that would be the end of that.

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