Chased By The Billionaire

Six

Alex gulped, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I have a crush on you!” he blurted out. At that moment, all he could think about—aside from how thankful he was that he shut off the communication between Tee and himself—was how close the other man's face was, that he could smell a hint of tobacco mixed in with his perfume.

There was complete silence in the room the next second. All he could hear was the faint sound of jazz music from the bar outside and their breathing. Slowly, Alex opened his eyes one by one, only to see Cassian’s eyebrows slightly moved upwards in surprise.

“Oh,” Cassian muttered as he finally took a step back. “Alright.”

Alright? Alex wildly thought.

“Okay, then,” Cassian said, taking another awkward step away. “I thought you were from the media or something. I apologize for being aggressive. Carry on.”

Just like that, he turned around and headed to the door. Alex was too taken aback to even think, but the next second, he found himself holding onto the other man's sleeve and exclaiming, “Wait!”

Cassian stopped and turned to look at him and where he was holding. Alex quickly pulled his hand away, not knowing why he did that. “S-sorry, I just—” he began, but even he didn’t know what excuse to tell.

Cassian frowned at him for a second, then a glint of realization flashed in his eyes. “Ah, I see,” he said, making Alex confused of what it was he “saw.” Cassian's eyes slowly moved from the top of Alex’s head to his feet, as if he was examining him. “You’ll do,” he thoughtfully said. “Fine, then.”

Alex wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but when Cassian wrapped his fingers on his wrist and pulled him out of the restroom, he finally had an idea what it was. Alex followed as Cassian led him back to the booth, where he was made to sit down. The man gracefully lifted a finger and a server came rushing to their table.

“Whatever this man drinks, and a whiskey for me,” Cassian said.

The order came faster than Alex expected, but he still wasn’t sure what exactly was happening. Cassian casually took a sip of his drink, glancing at Alex as he sat frozen in place.

“I bought you a drink,” Cassian stated, as if it wasn’t obvious.

“Y-yes, uh, thank you,” Alex stammered, looking down at the Old Fashioned in front of him. Cassian raised a thick eyebrow.

“I thought this what you wanted?” he asked.

“Not really,” Alex murmured under his breath.

Cassian stared at him again, his brown eyes which looked black in the bar's lighting, seemed like they were evaluating every inch of Alex that they could see. He checked his watch and took a swig at his drink. “Very well,” he said, standing up. “Come on.”

Alex blinked at him, confused. “Come on, what? Where?” he asked, even though he knew the answer at the back of his mind. There was only one place Cassian was known to bring people from the bar to.

“The hotel, where else?” Cassian answered, confirming Alex's guess.

Alex's eyes almost doubled in size. “Y-you’re kidding, right?” but from the look that Cassian gave him, he knew he was not in a joking mood. In fact, Alex wondered if the man even knew what humor was or had ever laughed hard in his lifetime. So, he finished his liquid courage in one go and stood up.

The entire way to the Garden Hotel was quiet. All Alex could think of was a repeated chant of “f**k, f**k, f**k. s**t,” and an endless throng of other colorful curses as he sat in the backseat next to his target, his heart going wild. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He followed Cassian as he walked into the lobby, where he was kindly greeted by employees as they made their way straight to the elevator.

At that point, Alex could feel his heart thundering against his chest as if it was about to break out and explode. And when Cassian took out his personal key card from his wallet and opened the door to the hotel room, all Alex wanted to do was press rewind on life and go back into being a baby.

“You can order room service, if you want,” were the first words Cassian had spoken ever since they left the bar. He then proceeded to take off his tie, jacket, belt and shoes, then stepped into the bathroom, leaving Alex standing around with no idea what to do with himself.

He could hear the water running. His target was about to get out of there any minute now, and...

“Get it together,” Alex muttered to himself as he paced around. He checked Cassian's jacket, but there was nothing in there. Not even his wallet.

“s**t,” Alex cursed, going out to the balcony. He could escape by climbing down the windows, but if he fell, he would surely be dead. It was always an option to just up and leave through the door, or pretend to be fast asleep.

He wildly shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, making it stick up to different directions. It wasn’t like he was a prude, or that this would be his first time sleeping with someone for a job. But even back as a regular operative, he tried to avoid this scenario as much as possible. And on the occasions he had no choice, they were usually with a woman or he was often the “top.”

Alex’s hands instinctively moved down to his backside. “f**k,” he cursed. From the way Tee described how some of Cassian's one-night stands walked the day after, he was sure that Cassian was not the type of guy to bottom. “f**k,” Alex muttered again, almost in tears. “My poor ass.”

He could only imagine how Tee would tease him. And speaking of the tech, he had probably seen the two of them from the hotel CCTV, so Alex didn’t bother turning his earpiece back on. He didn’t need Tee hearing what he had to do next. Then he dimmed down the lights a little just so Cassian wouldn’t be able to notice how nervous he was.

Spotting a bottle of wine in a cooler, Alex decided to open it up to calm himself down. He found himself pouring an entire glass full, and he chugged on it like water. He poured himself another one and finished it in one go as he loosened his tie.

The sound of running water stopped, and after a few seconds, the door opened. Alex found himself getting a third full glass as Cassian stepped out with damp hair, donning only a robe.

Damn, was the first thought he had. And not like the “damn it, why is this happening” sort of way. It was more of a “damn, he looks fine” as he couldn’t help stare at Cassian's thick neck that led to his broad shoulders, and the way the v made by the robe showed his well-built pectoral muscles. It wasn’t the time to do so, but Alex remembered that time Tee asked how much protein shakes Cassian drank to get a body like that.

“What are you staring at?” Cassian raised an eyebrow as he placed his neatly folded clothes on the table.

“N-nothing, just um, admiring,” Alex admitted in a small voice.

“Go freshen up,” Cassian commanded. “Everything’s in there.”

It took a few seconds for Alex to successfully peel off his eyes from the side view of Cassian's face, and when he did, he rushed into the bathroom.

Unsure of what “freshen up" really meant, Alex simply took a warm shower. “This isn’t so bad,” he said in an attempt to comfort himself. “He’s easy on the eyes, and he’s got a great body. I’ve done worse.” A memory of that one particular mission entered his mind that made him wince. “A lot worse.” He proceeded to wipe himself with a towel, then wrapped it across his waist. He stood in front of the full-length mirror and checked himself out.

“I guess we’re going for the seduction route, huh?” he muttered, fixing his hair and flexing his muscles. Thankfully, he never stopped working out, even after his supposed retirement.

From the corner of the reflection, he noticed a medicine cabinet, so he decided to snoop around. It was Cassian's regular hotel room anyway, so he was bound to keep some personal things here, he thought. Except, the only things he found were medicines for muscle pain, finger gloves, more condoms, lubricant, and a box of douche.

Alex's eyes widened at the very sight of them.

“Hey,” he heard Cassian call out impatiently. He shut his eyes tightly and closed the cabinet in resignation. Then, gathering all his courage, he put on a robe and stepped out of the bathroom.