Page 31 of The Billionaire's Temptation

Clarissa watched as Levi nearly ran out of her bedroom. After the sweetest, most tempting kiss she’d ever experienced, the man was quite literally running away from her!

What the hell was wrong with her?

Looking around at the ugly room, she flopped back, staring up at the ceiling.

Everyone assumed that getting a load of money would solve all of their problems. In reality, it only made one’s problems more complicated! And yeah, she was hurt. Truly wounded as she remembered the way that Levi had vanished so quickly. His sweet words and that kiss…but then the rush to get away from her.

What did it all mean? Life was too complicated now. She missed the simplicity of her former life. Yeah, Clarissa hadn’t known if she’d have enough money to run the air conditioning unit or grab a pint of ice cream from the grocery store, but…she didn’t have this aching pain in her chest. She hadn’t felt as if she were some sort of leper that everyone wanted to get as far away from as they could.

With a sigh, she slipped out of the bed and padded barefoot to the bathroom. After flipping on the overhead shower, she contemplated her life. The pain in her heart was deep, but Clarissa refused to cry. One night. It had been just one night with Levi. People had one night stands all the time! She hadn’t…well, she had.

Wiping the tear from her eye, she sniffed and refused to deal with the pain. He hadn’t rejected her…not really. He’d just…run away!

After a beautiful, amazing night of the most glorious sex she’d ever experienced.

And then…he’d run away from her.

Not the best ending to a liaison.

“No!” she said to the steamy bathroom. “I’m not going to dwell on that!” Clarissa touched the fluffy towel, remembering the thin, pathetic towel she had at her old apartment. Her life had changed, but she hadn’t. “Not really,” she vowed. “Not who I am inside.”

And that was a good thing, right? Clarissa realized that focusing on something else, eased the pain of Levi’s desertion. Yes, it wasn’t a rejection, it was a desertion. Words mattered.

Straightening her shoulders, she looked around and knew that she needed to change things. Change her life and how she looked at things.

“WhatdoI want?” she whispered as she stepped under the warm water. She grabbed the shampoo and started lathering her hair. “I want to make the world a better place,” she said out loud.

Okay, that was a grandiose statement. “But how?”

She thought about her old apartment building. It was a rundown wreck. The residents there were painfully poor and, because of that poverty, were all forced to live in apartments that weren’t fully functional.

“I could buy the place.” As soon as she spoke those words, she knew that was what she wanted to do. “Yeah,” she nodded and rinsed out the shampoo. “I could buy the place and fix things up so that the whole complex was a better place to live!”

The idea tempted her. Could she do it? Did she have enough money to buy an entire apartment complex? If she didn’t have the funds, maybe she could sell this place. She hated living here. It wasn’t her style and she hated the ornate décor, as well as the monstrously oversized space. It was definitely too much for just one person. Well, three since Martha and Joseph lived here as well.

Still, if she hated the place so much, why was she living here?

First things first. She had a nice place to live. She could put off changing her living arrangements for the moment. Besides, this wasn’t just her place. It was Martha and Joseph’s home as well.

So no, she wasn’t going to sell this place, at least, not yet. She couldn’t. However, depending on how much money she had, maybe she could make a few alterations.

Later. There were too many other people who needed help first.

Finishing her shower, she dried off quickly, then walked into the closet. “New clothes!” she sighed as she surveyed the designer clothes with distaste. “I definitely need new clothes!” She touched the leopard print wrap dress with a neckline that would expose her belly button and a hemline that cut off at barely mid-thigh.

“I’ll give these away,” she whispered thoughtfully. “Maybe sell them for a few dollars, just to make people think they are thrift store finds.”

With a plan in mind, she moved to the more conservative section of the closet and found a mauve sheath dress and a pair of matching shoes. Again, the shoes were a bit large, but after shopping at thrift stores all her life, Clarissa knew how to solve that problem.

Glancing at the time on her cell phone, she realized she had about an hour and a half before her meeting with her father’s accountants.

“Breakfast!” Clarissa wondered what Martha had made for breakfast and acknowledged that having someone cook for her was a decadent luxury. One that she could easily grow used to.

“Good morning!” she called out as she stepped into the brightly lit kitchen.

“Good morning,” Martha replied but with a bit less enthusiasm. “I made you baked oatmeal with blueberries. Is that okay?”

“Sounds delicious!” Clarissa replied, smiling as she examined Martha’s features. Suddenly, she remembered Chad’s visit earlier this morning. And immediately, she knew why Martha looked so…sad. “What did Chad say to you?”

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