Page 3 of A Billionaire After Dark

“Take it all the way off,” he said.

She swallowed, then got to her feet, allowing the dress to drop to the floor. Beneath, she wore a bra and panties that had been chosen for coverage more than sex appeal. The black, fully padded bra was more similar to a bulletproof vest than a piece of lingerie, and her multicolored-heart boy shorts could’ve easily been worn for a pickup game of volleyball. Still she felt exposed and vulnerable standing under the light like a piece of fried chicken beneath a deli warming lamp. She tried to assess all the emotions racing through her so she could write them down later. Humiliation. Fear. Excitement. Excitement? Yes, it was there nibbling at the edges of her humiliation and fear.

“Now the bra and panties,” he said, “slowly.”

This was Eden’s cue to exit—to grab her dress and phone and get the hell out of there. But the shadowy man who stood so rigidly in the corner had her curiosity getting the best of her. “Why do you do this?” she asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Why do you hire women?”

There was a pause, and she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then his voice came out of the darkness, low, deep, and Southern-soaked. “Why else? Because I’m sexually deviant.”

His blatant response should’ve reinforced her belief that he was a wealthy man who enjoyed victimizing women, but somehow it did the opposite. It made her see him as a human being with flaws. And Eden had always had a weakness for flaws. Probably because she had so many herself.

“Watching a woman pleasure herself while you sit in the dark really isn’t all that deviant.” She took a step closer. “I’m sure a lot of men would want to do the same thing if they had the money.”

His laughter wasn’t filled with humor as much as derision. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“Okay, so maybe they would want to do more than watch.” They also wouldn’t worry about being seen. She squinted. Was he ugly? Disfigured? A pitiful Elephant Man shunned by society? Again she felt sympathy for the man. “If you’re worried that women won’t find you attractive, you shouldn’t be. Unlike men, women aren’t hung up on physical looks. We prefer a good personality. And with all the dating sites, you should have no trouble whatsoever finding a companion.”

“The problem isn’t finding a companion.”

It took only a moment for the truth to dawn on her. “Oh. I’m sorry. But look on the bright side. They have medicine for that now. One little pill and things are looking up. And you shouldn’t be afraid to tell a doctor. Lots of people suffer from it. Even me.”

“What?”

Eden’s face filled with heat. She had never shared that information with anyone and didn’t know why she did so now. But since it was out, she continued in hopes that, if she shared her truths, he’d share more of his.

“I don’t know if it’s called impotency with women, but it runs along the same lines. I’ve never experienced an orgasm.” Her hands gestured as she talked, something she did when she was nervous or trying to get a point across. “Weird but true. And I don’t think it’s a physical problem as much as a mental one. I just have other things besides orgasms to concentrate on right now—although I have faked a few. Men seem to get very depressed if you don’t make them think they’re good in bed.”

There was a long stretch of silence and then the light clicked off. Eden barely had time to tense before her dress was slipped over her head and within seconds, she was completely clothed.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“It’s time for you to leave.” With a hand on the small of her back, he pushed her toward the door.

“But—” Before Eden could finish, she was standing outside the closed bedroom door, listening to the click of the lock.

Obviously, faked orgasms had been the wrong subject for an escort to bring up.

CHAPTER TWO

Irealize you’ve always been a daydreamer, Nash, but lately you’ve become more of a sleepwalker. Now wake the hell up and pay attention!”

Nash Lothario Beaumont looked away from the view of the bay just in time to deflect the lingerie catalog that came sailing at his head. Once the catalog was lying at his feet, he lifted an eyebrow at his older brother, who sat behind the large desk. “You want to head to the gym and go a couple rounds, Deacon?”

Since all three of the Beaumont brothers loved to box, Deacon smiled. “I would like nothing more than to take you out in the first. But right now we’ve got to figure out why our bras aren’t selling.”

As much as Nash wanted to stay at the window and continue to ignore business, he walked to the chair across from his brother’s desk and sat down. “You do realize that if anyone back home in Louisiana could hear you, they would revoke your redneck country boy card.”

Grayson, who was sprawled out on the couch, looked up from his sketchpad. “I think those were revoked the moment we inherited a lingerie company. Do you realize that duck season came and went and neither one of you seemed to notice?”

“I noticed,” Deacon said. “But I’ve been too busy saving a company from bankruptcy to go on a hunting trip.”

“Which hasn’t stopped you from taking Olivia on numerous vacations.”

Deacon scowled. “One was our honeymoon, and the rest were business.”

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