Page 23 of Billionaire Corruption

It had been the right decision. Right now, there were not a lot of people I could trust, but he was one of them.

Another person part of that small circle was Grace.

Even though she worked on the team investigating me and my company, I instinctively felt that she was on my side.

A few days had passed since we had slept together at my place. Even though I didn’t call her the next day, I had thought about her. I wanted to call her, but I wondered if this was not the natural end to our little adventure. It seemed like it could be. And with her part of the investigation, it seemed dangerous to become involved with her.

And yet.

There was something about her, I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

But it wasn’t finished, not yet. I remembered the way she’d looked at me in the car, when I was driving her home and she told me about her family. She was not from my world at all, but even more importantly, she’d worked for everything she had. Perhaps harder than I had. I also wanted to sleep with her again. Our night together had left me wanting more.

I sent her a text, asking her to dinner.

Then I pulled some strings and had them open the Starlight Bistro for us. I picked her up from her place without telling her where we were going. I was pleased to see that she’d dressed up though. It was a simple, but well-cut black evening dress that clung to her figure and accentuated her breasts. Her hair was done up and she had put on more make-up than usual. The overall effect was one of classic elegance.

“You look lovely,” I said, getting out to open the car door for her. I had the feeling I was being watched from inside and assumed some gallantry wouldn’t be amiss. I kissed her cheek and got a whiff of expensive perfume. Grace might not have been of my world, but she knew what it smelled like. I could have taken her home to meet my parents, if I’d wanted to. The thought surprised me.

As we got into the car, she said, “I wasn’t sure I’d hear from you again.”

“Oh?”

“Didn’t you say we needed to finish what we started in the elevator that day? Well, haven’t we?”

“Have we, though?”

Our conversation was a strange one, laced as it was with flirtatiousness and innuendo. It was fun though, and I enjoyed the play of emotions on her face as she pretended to be serious. We kept up this playful banter throughout the evening, and our dinner over a bottle of wine. It was only towards the end of the night, when the plates had been cleared, that the mood changed.

“I thought you might want to avoid me, actually,” she said. “I would have thought you would be wary of me. The investigation and all.”

I nodded.

We had our own table at a window in the corner of the posh restaurant overlooking Manhattan. A candle on our table provided a warm, intimate atmosphere and I felt close to her.

“There aren’t a lot of people I can talk to right now,” I admitted. “While all of this is going on…”

“That day in the elevator…” she began. “You didn’t freak out. I remember that. You were calm, steady.”

“So were you,” I said.

I was happy to be alive, I remember. More than that, I was surprised to be alive. I had been sure this was the end.

“No, I wasn’t,” she said. “I may not have looked it, but I was freaked out. Very. But when I looked at you, I felt safe.”

She added, “Whatever happens, you will land on your feet. You will be okay.”

“You think?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Whatever that meant, I thought. I didn’t know whether I wanted to be only on my feet. I wanted to be on top of the world, my world. That was where I had always been.

“You may have to make some kind of deal.”

I shook my head.

“No deals.”

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