Page 20 of Merging with the Billionaire

“What…what are you doing?” Tiffany stammered out with shock. “Someone could see us?”

“I can’t help myself. There’s nothing sexier than a woman who knows what she wants and goes for it.”

Without being able to contain himself, his mouth found hers, claiming possession without a second thought. The feel of her soft lips against his own was like caressing the softest silk. He couldn’t get enough of her.

“Hmm, hmm,” Conrad heard a male voice say from behind him. With dread, he realized the voice belonged to Roger.

Tiffany’s eyes snapped open in fear as she quickly pulled away, brushing her mouth with the back of her hand. Conrad slowly turned around to find Roger glaring at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his cheeks were red with anger.

“We need to talk, Tiffany, privately,” Roger growled out. Then turning his attention to his enemy, he added, “You should leave, Conrad. Before my fist decides to knock the living daylights out of you.”

“Roger,” Tiffany gasped with shock. “Don’t threaten him like that!”

“It’s not a threat,” Roger vowed. “If he doesn’t leave right now, I’m not responsible for what happens next.”

Realizing Roger meant what he was saying, Conrad looked over his shoulder at Tiffany and mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry’ before exiting the room. He hated leaving her there to face Roger alone, but the last thing she needed was for a fight to break out. It would surely cause a scandal that the Boswell family didn’t need on top of everything else.

* * *

Tiffany had never seenher brother look so angry. She knew if he had found out about what had been going on between her and Conrad, Roger would be furious. She just didn’t know it would be this bad.

“Go on, I know you want to comment on what you just saw,” Tiffany said, gesturing towards the door.

Roger closed it and came over to stand in front of Tiffany. “Seriously, Tiffany, Conrad Gaines? I heard you kissed him at my wedding, but I thought it wasn’t anything more than a New Year’s obligation. But after seeing the two of you together just now, I know it’s more than that. Of all the men in the world, you had to go and get involved with him. I mean, Artie Frankhurst was bad enough, but Conrad is even worse. You don’t want to get mixed up with him.”

Tiffany didn’t like Roger drawing a comparison. Though she’d only known Conrad for a short time, she was sure of one thing, he wasn’t a liar or a cheater like Artie. Her brother’s objection stemmed from his encounters with the man when they were in college together.

“If this is simply about your rivalry in college, you’ve both changed and grown up since then. You’ve asked everyone to give you a second chance, maybe you should think about doing the same for Conrad.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Roger stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

“Why not?”

“If it was isolated to when we were in our youth, I would concede you have a point, but he hit on Celeste at Bryce and Lana’s wedding,” Roger disclosed, seething anger clearly written on his face as well as heard in his voice. “I didn’t think it relevant until now, but if he’s kissing you, it’s because he thinks you’re a way to get at me like Celeste was because she was my nanny. You can’t trust him.”

Tiffany had no idea Conrad had done that to Celeste. Did that mean she didn’t know the man as well as she thought she did? Conrad didn’t seem like the sleazy type, but then, neither did Artie at first. Was she just as wrong about Conrad as she was about her ex? Was she incapable of telling a good guy from a bad one? She’d always prided herself on being a good judge of character, but maybe she shouldn’t trust her judgment when it came to romance when clearly, she kept picking the wrong men.

“Are you listening to me, Tiffany? Whatever is going on between you and Conrad, you need to stop it. If you can’t manage it, I’ll take over the energy division.”

“You can’t do that. You’d be completely lost,” Tiffany objected. “Besides it’s my project. Father put me in charge.”

“Then act like it. Be in charge, and don’t let Conrad Gaines take advantage of you.”

Tiffany’s mind drifted back to all the nice things Conrad had done for her, the kisses they shared, and the fact her father had acted like they would be a good match. Had she been mistaken about all of it? Standing up for her and bringing her coffee could have simply been a tactic to win her over, the kisses could be chalked up to attraction—nothing more, and her father had Alzheimer’s. It wasn’t fair to hold what her father said to any standard; he simply could have been mixed up about what he thought he saw between her and Conrad.

“Okay, Roger, you win,” Tiffany relented, her shoulders slumping forward with defeat. “I’ll keep everything with Conrad strictly business from this point forward.”

“I can see from your reaction, you’re upset about this, but it’s for your own good, Tiff. You’d only end up getting hurt again if you got involved with Conrad.”

Wanting to change the subject, Tiffany asked, “What are you doing here anyway, Roger? Aren’t you supposed to be heading to your honeymoon?”

Her brother nodded, handing her a Spider-man backpack. “I realized we forgot to pack a few of Marcus’ favorite toys. I wanted to bring them over to you before we left town.”

“Thank you.” She placed the backpack down on a nearby chair. “Have fun on your honeymoon.”

“We will,” Roger said, reaching out and pulling his sister into a hug. “I appreciate your taking care of Marcus for us.”

After Roger took off, Tiffany finished up a couple of things before deciding she didn’t want to be at the office any longer. Her assistant wasn’t at her desk, but it didn’t matter. Tiffany didn’t want to wait until she got back. A solid work-out was what she needed, that and a tall glass of wine, but that would have to wait until after she handled the rest of her work from her home office.

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