Secret Affair With A Billionaire Read online

  "Yes."

  "Could you put down the bag, I wouldn't want you dropping it on my foot?" He shook his head disbelievingly before slowly dropping it onto the pile. She couldn't help noticing how his biceps bulged and his torso tightened with this simple action.

  "Are you actually pleased with this dump?"

  "I don't see it as a dump, I see its potential."

  "Well at present I guess that means we agree it is a dump." He was genuinely amused and his eyes sparkled as he gave her a friendly glance. Emma wasn't amused at all so once again she took a deep breath and in her mind began counting. One, two, three... As she counted, her mind began to focus on her two objectives. First she wasn't going to be so physically attracted to this man beast in front of her, and secondly she was going to be more of an adult than he was.

  "I think it will be absolutely amazing when you and your building team have finished the job."

  "It's nice to know that your faith stretches as far as my ability."

  "I have complete faith in Toby, all you need to do is saw some bits of wood straight." Oh, she thought, and began her counting again.

  "I mean I am sure that you and your team will be excellent at bringing Toby's vision into realisation." That was quite painless she decided, being pleasant is not so difficult and she felt she was getting the upper hand.

  Daniel took a little short walk in front of her and ended in a position facing towards her. He seemed to be studying her closely and as she felt the old anger stir inside her she instead focused on her breathing and taking in his scent and the lay of his hair.

  "Is this the diplomatic you I am being treated to now? I could mistake you for being nice."

  The deep vibrations of his voice made her breasts tingle, this was even more annoying than anything he could say. God damn him, damn him. How can he have this effect on me? Once more she began her count to ten.

  "If I am nice to you, it makes it all the more difficult for you to be nasty back. In such circumstances the nastier you are the more childish you appear."

  He raised his arm and ran his fingers through his hair sweeping his dark locks backwards over the top of his head all the while keeping his eyes fixed on her face as if studying her thoughts. "Just how nice are you going to be? Are you going to keep up this being nice because my actions will usually be as a response to yours."

  "It would depend on what you think nice is," she said without thinking.

  Daniel edged closer, close enough so that she had to tilt her head backwards to maintain her gaze into his eyes. She found herself looking back down at his mouth before correcting her eyes back to his. "Now, if you were really nice..."

  Her eyes widened in synchronisation with her mouth as she gave an exaggerated display of shock. She took one pace back. "No, I really don't think so." There was a massive disparity in what she said and what her body was telling her. Her body and her subconscious were screaming yes. It was her rational mind alone which was controlling her words.

  "Emma, have you ever heard of the phrase 'kiss and make up?'"

  "Some glib phrases don't make their way into reality." She considered what he'd said some more. Maybe it would help, she thought, but then again look what had happened last time and that was before he had become this annoying, stubborn, muscle-bound, handsome... She was trying to describe him to herself with negative adjectives, but his physical description took over in her mind as she was doing so. God damn him, damn him, that Daniel!

  "It's not just a phrase. Maybe a little effort between us is all we need."

  "A little effort? I think we would need more than a little."

  "I'm not going to complain about more. I am beginning to appreciate your imaginative solution to this relationship." She felt the blood rush to her cheeks, and the tingling was beginning again yet it was mixed in a confusing way with a sense of anger that he could be so forward and so damn cheeky. Surely he wasn't aware of just how deep this physical sensation had become. She wanted to tell him just what he was doing to her, how her nights had been taken over by erotic longings. She wanted him to know precisely what was in her imagination and how she really would like to make up. There were some seriously hot and sweaty details she could describe to him, but why describe them to him when she could give him a practical demonstration. But she stayed silent. How could she let him know her innermost thoughts, he would only use them to tease her, to goad her and to torment her.

  "Get lost Daniel. There is no relationship and we don't need any kind of solution."

  He grinned, and leaned back slightly expanding his chest so it became even bigger. "I'm beginning to feel sorry for you, because I can see you really have a problem, don't you?"

  "Yes. You."

  Her eyes fluttered again in the way they did when she felt she was getting her way back to equality in the conversation. Daniel lowered his voice. "Your problem is me. You are stuck with me for the next few months and while I am around you cannot pretend that you are someone else."

  "Really? You are the one with the problem. You do not know who I am, you just think you do." She felt a sense of victory and flashed a smile in defiance and waited for his response. She wanted to say more but decided anything she said now could not beat her last few sentences. She watched him as he blinked and looked at her in one eye and then the other. He stood silently and calmly, such confidence causing her mouth to get tighter and making her feel as if she would blurt out some ridiculous sentence. Hold back, she thought to herself, just stay silent and hold your ground.

  Daniel sensed her temptation to keep speaking, so he encouraged. "You have more, I assume?"

  Emma stood upright, stretching her back, neck and head upwards to make herself as tall as possible. She felt her toes press down as she lifted her already heightened heels. Her shoulders went back slightly giving a broader look and she put her hands on her hips causing her breasts to expand and go forwards. "You need to imagine that we have never met before. Forget the past and pretend we are new acquaintances."

  "You think?"

  "I do, yes." Her head rocked to and fro as she nodded in agreement with herself, "I shall do the same with you."

  "You will?"

  "If you have a better suggestion then let me know. But we will have to work together for the time being and anything is better than constant conflict."

  "You could always stay away and I'll just get on with the work that needs doing."

  "No chance."

  "How about just being nice? And after work you could be very nice!"

  "There's no chance of that happening either."

  "You sound worried that you might enjoy being nice to me." He gave off his sexy smile in conjunction with a knowing look which sent lustful vibrations through Emma from her head to her toe and straight back up her legs. Her body was being disobedient again, but she felt calm and the tingling sensations felt pleasant when they weren't conflicting with her inner anger. "I can remember those noises you made the last time you were being nice to me. You held me and squeezed me and encouraged me to move my hand higher: But then your friends came."

  How annoying he had become again. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath because it was the only way she would have been able to speak. She had a vision of her fantasies appear in her brain and this gave a staccato edge to her speech. "You should remember who kissed who, and also remember that it was just the once."

  "I do remember. I also remember who challenged who into doing the kissing." His eyes darkened and lowered towards her mouth just as they had the day before at the house. The very act of him observing her lips made her feel as if kissing was likely to happen at any moment.

  She was torn. She rationalised that she shouldn't want it to happen yet she knew that was exactly what she wanted. Her pulse was rocketing along, her eyes were widening as she looked up at him and she ran her tongue over her lips to counter the dryness. "Those events would need to be put into context of what had gone before, you can't just begin the story at the point wh
ich suits you."

  His facial expression took on the look of a man in thought. His gaze swept towards a point over her head. "You are right." He locked his eyes onto hers, the deep vibrations of his voice seeming to jostle the air between them. "What was it we were doing before we began kissing? Remind me."

  Emma felt her heart beat so loud she thought he must be able to hear it. What did he mean? she thought briefly. The answer hit her full force. They had been arguing, yes arguing. That was the beginning of the entire scene and what had caused the reaction. It was the arguing, wasn't it?

  "Arguing." She mumbled in a meek way that Daniel didn't recognise.

  He nodded and smiled. "Indeed, that's exactly what we were doing. And as we don't seem able to do anything other than argue then perhaps it's just a matter of time."

  They were both distracted as the handle of the barn door made a crackling sound and the rusty old hinges creaked as the door opened and more light burst in. It was Toby. Emma felt genuine relief at the sight of her brother but had to turn away as she collected her thoughts and tried to calm herself down.

  "You have taken your time."

  "Sorry I'm late, the traffic is a nightmare on the bypass." He looked her in the face for an extended moment and then glanced over at Daniel. He looked back at Emma. "You okay?"

  "Sure. Are those the plans? Let's have a look."

  "We need a table or something flat to lay them out on. You're a builder Daniel, have you got something you can make a quick table with?"

  Emma stood out of the way as they assembled a makeshift table from cement bags and a large piece of flat, thin, sheet of wood. They soon gathered together in a small group huddled over the laid out plans. Emma and Daniel were side-by-side and she felt her heart beating away so that she longed for it to just get back to normal. She moved her eyes to the corner of their sockets to catch a sneaky glimpse of him, and as she did so she saw that he was looking at her in exactly the same way. She turned her head towards him and pulled a face as if to say how dare you take a sneaky look at me. At this moment she started to believe that running away and going back to Italy was probably a good option.

  The thin piece of board being used as a table started wobbling. Toby moved away in search of some small pieces of timber to wedge between the bags of cement and the wooden board. "I'm intrigued where this arguing is going to take us. Perhaps you should volunteer to kiss me sooner rather than later. Let's just get the next kiss out of the way." He gave her a warm look, smiled and then moved forwards to help Toby who had returned with a few pieces of wood.

  Emma didn't respond, rather she stepped forward and focused on the plans though her real wish was to put her hands around his throat and strangle him. "We should keep as much of the brickwork as we can. Just use plaster to cover the new walls."

  "That's the plan. We will be roughing the edges of the plaster to give it a half finished look that will contrast nicely with the aluminium, chrome and the lighting we have organised." Emma put her hand to the plan and curled a few fingers to her palm so she was pointing. "And that is the spiral staircase leading to the upper floor which should be going in that corner over there." She said waving her other hand behind her. "How long will the work take?" She continued, whilst looking at Toby.

  "You will need to ask Daniel."

  Toby cast a nod in his direction forcing Emma to look at Daniel once more. Oh how she wished he would behave the same in front of her brother as he did when they were alone. If only her brother could see that he wasn't a good guy.

  "So, how long?"

  "About seven weeks, might be even less if you are here every day. That should be a good incentive for you to help it get done faster."

  "I took out the dividing wall which we had planned for here. That will make the art meditation area brighter and roomier."

  "Good." She said. "It was just too small the way it was, it needs to be a big open space."

  "Art meditation?" Daniel said, looking at Toby. Toby shrugged his shoulders and nodded towards Emma.

  "It's her project, I just do the plans and you do the building. I guess that makes us the A team."

  Emma didn't stir. She kept her eyes on the plans and her attention on the details. She couldn't bear the thought of him laughing at her project and would find it difficult to forgive him if he did. She also couldn't bear having to explain her ideas to him and just how much it meant to her. It was so important to her future that it could become ammunition for him to tease her with.

  She stood up straight and gave her voice a professional tone. "It's a place to help people reflect on what they have done and seen in the rest of the gallery. It's where visitors will be able to create their own artistic impressions and use it as a way of dealing with their own emotional difficulties. It's going to be a major component of what the gallery is about, it's almost a kind of therapy. I was a volunteer of a similar kind of group when I was in Milan."

  "So you're becoming a part of the social services?"

  "No, not at all."

  "Do you have some kind of specialist training or are you qualified to run this type of course?"

  "It will be run mainly by volunteers, and yes they will all have passed or attended the relevant courses." She coughed a little, and continued. "But personal experience is often enough and I hope that will be the same at this gallery."

  Daniel didn't respond and that pleased Emma. She turned to Toby. "These plans are great Toby, they really are, thank you so much."

  "He smiled. I'll draw up your bill when I get back to the office. It will be in the post this afternoon."

  "Do you have an easy payment plan?"

  His smile broadened as he chuckled. "I guess I could arrange something."

  Daniel piped up. "I think this is a good time to let you know that my company prefers a cash advance."

  "Your little company wants its little cash advance?"

  "Yes please."

  "And is that with just the two workers you'll be bringing along?"

  "I've got four allocated to the job, so we can get it done quickly."

  "Four? Your company is growing fast."

  Toby interrupted. "You two really should grow up a little, perhaps meet each other sometime."

  Emma looked across at Daniel and crossed her arms. "That's what I said, but I don't think Daniel wants to play."

  "Perhaps you should exchange stories of what you have both been doing over the past seven years. I think that would help." Toby paused to give them both the opportunity to turn and stare at him. He then adopted a teacher like tone giving two naughty teenagers a talking to. "Daniel, tell Emma about your company and your business interests. And Emma, why don't you tell Daniel why your gallery is so important to you and why you're giving up so much space to the meditation area."

  "Are you taking sides?"

  "No, I wouldn't want to take a side. Daniel is one of my oldest friends and you are my sister, the only position I would take is one of being neutral."

  "It means a lot to you then, why is that?" Said Daniel.

  Emma ignored the question instead carrying on with a stare towards her brother. How could he remain neutral? She is his sister, surely that outranks a mere friendship.

  She started to forgive her brother because he did at least look apologetic. He began rolling the plans together and put them into a cardboard tube.

  "Well, you should consider a truce for the next couple of months or for as long as the work takes. I don't want to be the one in between the two of you. It just creates more problems for me."

  "More problems?" She queried. "You have always been Mr perfect, the one Hartington who breezes through life without a care. What kind of problems do you have?"

  "The same problem all men have." Daniel said. "Woman problems."

  She sent him a venomous look somewhere between total disapproval and utter disgust. "Of course, we women are the cause of all evil."

  "Just listen to yourselves. It's enough to drive us neutrals crazy." He
pointed a finger towards Daniel. "He has created a very successful building company from nothing since you've been away." He turned to Emma. "And she has been spending her time voluntarily helping others overcome abuse, neglect and self esteem issues while she-"

  "Toby!"

  "Have your own way." He said shaking his head. "But you really should try talking to one another. Things could get really messed up if you don't."

  Emma realised that the conflict between her and Daniel was actually hurting her brother and even though he had revealed a little of her inner self in front of Daniel she felt she probably should do more to stop the conflict tormenting him.

  "Some things just aren't meant to happen," said Daniel.

  "He's right,." confirmed Emma. "Some things are just the way they are."

  "Stop right there," said Toby. "I think I preferred it when you didn't agree with each other because now it sounds like you are both ganging up against me. It reminds me of when we were younger and you used to team against me then."

  "That was your own fault, if you hadn't teased me so mercilessly I wouldn't have needed anybody to protect me in the first place."

  "You are my sister, I am supposed to tease you along with all the boys. That's all we do. Until Mr Superman over there decided he was going to defend the weaker sex."

  "Well she was the youngest, I thought she needed a little help that was all." He gave out that broad, deep laugh that Emma had heard the day before when he had been playing with Leila. "And I always kept quiet about the time you hid her clothes when we went swimming in the lake."

  Emma threw her elbow into her brothers ribs. "You said that was nothing to do with you. I remember I had a cold for two weeks after that. So that's why you kept bringing me hot honey drinks every night, you were feeling guilty."

  They all laughed and for the first time since she had arrived home from Italy she actually felt at home. Though the history was something of a problem for her and Daniel there were some parts of the history which brought them all closer together. She knew that it was her own actions which had forced the changes on them, but how she hoped and longed for closeness once more.