Lover Wanted: A Billionaire Boss Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  EPILOGUE

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  A SNEAK PEEK

  MORE BY THE 1203 STORIES AUTHORS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  EPILOGUE

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  A SNEAK PEEK

  MORE BY THE 1203 STORIES AUTHORS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

  Lover Wanted

  Rylee Swann

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

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  ***

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  I’ve touched every inch of his raw masculine body. He makes me reach heights of ecstasy I’ve never known. I can scream his name in pleasure, but I can’t fall in love with him. Why? He’s my boss, and even though my job is unusual, that’s a no-no.

  Hi, I’m Kim and I’m about to be homeless, so what’s a girl to do? Browse the Casual Encounters section of Craig’s List, of course. Why not have a night of passion to help me forget my troubles for a little while?

  What I didn’t expect to find was a life-changing job opportunity.

  Passion beyond any expectation, a ridiculously hot boss, and getting paid to let a different stranger watch us blow each other’s minds. Right, that’s the catch, but what could possibly go wrong? Plenty – my boss doesn’t believe in love, has some deep dark secrets, and… yeah, I think I’ve already fallen for him.

  This has all the makings of not ending well… or does it?

  Maybe I should just stick with the sweet Adonis of a cop I just met. He seems like the safer option, but I just can’t stop thinking about my boss. The one who piledrives me to spectacular oblivion a couple times a week. While a stranger watches.

  Ah, hell. All bets are off. Especially the safe ones.

  *This is a standalone bad boy, boss billionaire romance.*

  CHAPTER 1

  Eviction.

  I yank the boldly written notice off my door just as old Mrs. Peterson shuffles down the hallway toward me. She avoids my gaze, but I can hear her mumbling something along the line of “irresponsible young safe space jackasses” and I guess, in her eyes, I fall into that category.

  I look closer at the letter. Thirty days to vacate the premises.

  I sigh. I guess she isn’t wrong.

  But dammit, she isn’t right either. I’ve tried so hard to keep up, working two jobs when I could just to make ends meet. I swipe at a tear as I stuff a key into the lock of my shabby apartment. Who gets fired from flipping burgers? Granted, I didn’t enjoy it—I’d always had a desk job—but it afforded me the privilege of living in the crap of luxury.

  Tossing the letter down on the flea market coffee table, I collapse on the sofa and stare at my six year old laptop, remembering what I heard the two college students giggling about earlier. They’d used words like Fun. Sexy. Totally legit. And the most important word… cash.

  What the hell.

  Feeling like I had a thousand pound weight on my shoulders, I shove myself into a sitting position and boot the laptop up. Opening a browser, I begin to type. Then… holy shit… an ad appears, just like the girls said it would.

  Question - For exhibitionists who possibly need some doe - m4w

  My hand hovers over the mouse before I take a deep breath and click. An even more bizarre message appears next:

  Can you fuck a fit white male while being watched for doe?

  If so, write for details and tell me if you are truly capable of doing this.

  I laugh at the typo, ready to move on to the next ad. Doe. I can’t help it. Julie Andrews singing Doe-Re-Mi pops into my head.

  Then it hits me. It isn’t a typo. This guy means dough as in money. He must have typed it the way he did because it’s against the rules or against the law or whatever to solicit for sex on Craig’s List. I don’t know. It’s not like I peruse the casual sex ads on any site every day. Or ever.

  I drop my face in my hands, glad no one is around to witness this moment of shame. Me… Kim Pond is looking for casual sex on Craig’s List. Hell, I didn’t even know there was such a thing until today. I guess that’s what people do these days when they’re horny, have no husband or even a boyfriend, and no money to prowl the bar scene.

  Straightening my shoulders, I take a deep breath and grab the guy’s alias to email him back. I’m totally anonymous. Surely it won’t hurt to just ask a question or two.

  I read your Craig’s List ad and have questions, but I think I could do this. Just give me a couple of glasses of wine. Tell me more?

  My finger hovers over the send key for a few seconds, then I just click it before I can change my mind. Email sent, and come what may. I’m nervous. What the hell am I doing?

  I check my email to see if he’s replied in the thirty seconds I haven’t looked, then make a dash for the kitchen to see what I have chilling in the fridge. Ah, my salvation. A bottle of Chardonnay.

  Is it just the cheap bottles of wine these days that are screw tops? Or does wine not come corked anymore? I wouldn’t know; I don’t have the budget for the expensive stuff. Ah, who am I kidding? I don’t have the budget for the cheap stuff either, but you have to take some pleasure out of life no matter how small.

  I enjoy a good cold glass of wine and always have a wine goblet chilling in the freezer. I grab it and pour myself a generous amount. I take a sip, then another and then another.

  The fact is I’m tired of being broke. So very tired of it. Glass of rapidly draining wine in hand, I go to the TV to lose myself in some mind-numbing sitcom. I grab the remote before remembering that I canceled my cable service a few days ago. It was either that or cancel my internet and then how would I work? How would I look for jobs? How would I connect? So yeah, cable had to go. Bon voyage, I knew you well.

  Feeling even more depressed now, I make my way back to where my laptop beckons to me. Clicking refresh on my email, I take another gulp of the sour grapes… and almost choke. I cough and
wipe tears from my eyes so I can read the reply from Mr. Doe Man.

  My name is Michael, and I’m a white, older, well educated, professional, but also have a kinky side to me. My post reflects what I’m into. Hopefully, you will be interested and want to explore this with me. Know that this is more than just about the money. You must truly love sex and must enjoy my company sexually. Vice versa, of course. I’m very unselfish in bed and find doing this incredibly hot and kinky with a female who shares my interests while making money too. Let me know if you’re still interested.

  My stomach twists as I finish reading the email and then read it again. With trembling fingers, I click reply and look to my glass of wine for some help. I’ve already finished it. When did I do that? I don’t wait to refill the glass. Pulling up my big girl panties, I place my cursor in the reply box and start to type.

  Hello, Michael. I’m still interested. Sounds like fun as long as I can have a glass or two of wine. What do we do now?

  My phone rings. I look at it and frown, my finger caught in an indecisive mid-hover over the send key. If only I had caller ID but that costs extra on a landline. I debate answering it, but in the end, my curiosity gets the better of me. It’s almost impossible to ignore a ringing phone. The moment I hear his voice, I wish I had.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, lover.”

  Oh, god. It’s my ex-fiancé.

  “What do you want, Jay?”

  “Oh, come on, lover,” he says, using his smarmy smooth tone that used to not make me want to barf. “Don’t be that way. I just wanted to hear your voice, that’s all.”

  I sigh. Same tune, different day. I need to put a stop to this, I really do.

  “You really need to stop call—”

  “I miss you, lover. I just thought, maybe we could try again.”

  I hear the drunken pleading in his voice, and I almost surrender. It’s so easy to fall back into old, self-destructive patterns, especially when your life is taking its last swirl around the toilet bowl of hope.

  I remind myself of the three years of giving in, of losing myself, of being twisted into a shape that served him much better than me, and I find my strength.

  “Jay, you’re drunk… again. You need to stop calling me.”

  His tone grows petulant. “No, I’m not.”

  I sigh and press my fingers to my temples. “Really? You’re really going with that tired old lie? Of course, you’ve been drinking, or you wouldn’t have had the courage to dial my number. You’re an alcoholic, and I can’t do this anymore. It’s why I left, remember?”

  His tone shifts into a whine. “I love you, Kim. I’ll stop drinking. I’ll do better. I promise.”

  I swallow hard. Jay and I have had this conversation many times, but it still hurts.

  I so clearly remember the day I left, how we looked at each other, hugged in a ferocious “don’t want to let go” moment. Then I walked out, got in my car, and cried. He had been crying as I left, so I don’t think he knows how I sat there and bawled my damn head off.

  I thought he’d been the great forever love of my life. I still choke up thinking about how wrong I was. Again.

  “Jay, we’re no good together. We both know this.” I take a deep, shuddering breath and plunge on. “You broke me, changed me, and I didn’t like who I became when I was with you. And, face it, you wouldn’t be able to respect me if I went back to you now. You have to let go. You have to stop calling me.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Kim. Let’s try again?”

  He’s slurring his words now, and if I hadn’t heard this all before, I wouldn’t know what he’s saying.

  But I have heard it.

  Too many times.

  “Please stop calling me. Please.”

  He mutters something else. I think he’s saying he’s sorry again as I hang up.

  I start to cry big, ugly tears that I hate. I swore I wouldn’t do this again.

  Blubbering, I go in search of tissues and find some in the bathroom. And catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

  I don’t like what I see. That’s the me Jay tore down and rebuilt to his own needy alcoholic manipulations. I’d loved him so much that I fooled myself into believing we were good together. It helped that he loved me in his own perverted way. But he was — is — sick with alcoholism, and try as he would, he just couldn’t conquer it.

  The breaking point for me came when he declared that it was all on me. My fault that he was still drinking and my responsibility to get him to stop.

  I left a week after that terrible night of his drunken proclamations. Soured on men and relationships in general, I left and promised myself that I’d take the time to heal so that I’d never be that person again. Time to make good on that promise.

  Taking a deep breath, I wipe away the tears and force them to stop flowing. And return to my computer.

  I’m at rock bottom. I need the money. I need a new life. And I’m willing to do just about anything to get it.

  I click send before I can think another depressing thought and then run to the kitchen for the wine bottle. Filling my glass, I shake my head. It’s not hypocritical that I’m drinking now. I’m not the one who’s an alcoholic, although this Michael guy might think I am. That’s two emails in a row where I’ve demanded wine.

  Mr. Doe Man/Michael responds within minutes.

  And all thoughts of Jay fly from my head. This is my life now. This is the present.

  Hello again. Now we meet. I have some time open this Thursday evening at 6 pm. Very casual, don’t go to any trouble. This is just to get to know each other, answer each other’s questions. Allegria Hotel in Long Beach, Nassau County, Long Island. Second-floor lobby bar. Are you familiar with it? Let me know. Michael

  Meet him? Meet him! What am I getting into? This is starting to become very real, very fast. Should I really do this? I stare at the screen. It’s a public place. One meeting. If I get any creep-vibes from him, I can scream for help.

  I’m seriously considering doing this. Like, plan my wardrobe serious.

  I know the area, I live in Long Beach. What a crazy strange coincidence. I suppose I should consider this a fait accompli. Nervous giggles want to erupt from me, but I swallow them down with my wine and start typing.

  Hello again to you too, Michael. I know the hotel you’re talking about. Looking forward to meeting you at 6 pm on Thursday.

  I click send, then realize I’ve left out an important question.

  Sorry for the second email, but I realized that I don’t know what you look like. How will I recognize you when I get there? Again, looking forward to it.

  Michael doesn’t make me wait for his reply. His email follows on the heels of mine.

  I’m glad you’re available on Thursday. I, too, look forward to our meeting. And I don’t even know your name. I’ll be the gentleman at the bar, facing the elevators, with a newspaper in my hand. Have a nice evening, Michael.

  Well, he sounds nice. Nice? Didn’t they say Jeffrey Dahmer was nice? Seriously, what am I doing?

  More wine is definitely called for. And today is only Tuesday. Easy enough math. Two full days to contemplate this, to change my mind again and again, and then once more.

  But, I have to be honest with myself. I’m intrigued. Besides, what do I have to lose? Well, aside from my life at the hands of the latest Craig’s List Killer?

  Oh, nothing.

  I take slow sips this time, or I’ll regret it in the morning. I already have a good buzz going, and wine gives me such a headache the next day.

  Seriously!

  What am I doing?

  Well, let’s review.

  I had a husband once upon a time, but that was years ago. Eight years of love and good times, but at the end, we’d turned from passionate lovers into roommates. He’s remarried now. I’m not.

  I had a fiancé a little more recently, but I refuse to cry over that story again. I’m not married and won’t be in the near future. That’s still a r
aw, open wound that I’d rather not talk about.

  I haven’t had sex in… well, I’m not really sure, but that says a lot about how long ago it was. I miss sex. I love it, in fact, and to have some would do a heck of a lot for all the stress I’ve been under. Jay had been useless in that department. Always so boozed up he couldn’t even get it up for me or for himself.

  Yeah, the stress. I’m jobless, and my unemployment ran out months ago. I’ve been on so many job interviews over the past year that I never, ever want to go on another one. Not even for a dream job. Not even for the promise of an amazing salary and benefits up the wazoo. It’s just no fun, and might I add, demoralizing to be told over and over that I came in second. Second place doesn’t get me a paycheck.

  I clearly don’t have enough money for rent, let alone food and other expenses. Yeah, talk about desperate. I’ll continue to eat a lot of Ramen noodles, but I will buy more bottles of wine without a cork in it. If I’m going to be homeless soon, I might as well go out comfortably numb.

  So that’s why, upon reflection, “Can you fuck a fit white male while being watched for doe?” appeals to me. Well, not so much as appeals to me as titillates me.

  Haven’t had sex in a long time? Check.

  Need money? Check.

  Want to continue eating and have a solid roof over my head? Check.

  Hey, don’t judge me. There wouldn’t be a casual sex section on Craig’s List if there wasn’t a big need for it.

  Right?

  Yeah, that’s what I’m going with.

  Wednesday morning comes and goes while I lay in bed trying to rid myself of my nasty wine hangover headache. By noon, I’ve had enough of cotton mouth and tiptoe to the kitchen and drink about a gallon of water. I also manage to gulp down a couple of aspirin.

  That’s when it hits me.

  What I’d done last night.

  My laptop is still booted up, evidence of just how drunk I’d gotten, so all I have to do is wait for it to wake up to check my email. Mere minutes later, I’m in a panic. Yeah, I’d agreed to meet some guy to talk about having sex for money. While someone else watches, no less.

  What is wrong with me?

  I take another sip of water and butt heads with the sad truth again. I need the money. And, I haven’t been laid in a long time. The two together? A perfect combination.