Billionaire's Sweet Challenge

Chapter 4

It didn't help that he'd said the full form of her name. He rarely did that. “You know every deal has rules governing it, right?”

He was giving her that look he'd given her a year ago when she'd come for the interview applying for the position of his PA.

It'd obviously been to test how easily she was intimidated. Lexi had held her head up high, looking him in the eye every time he spoke. He'd looked visibly surprised and pleased.

Right now, her instincts kicked in, and she regarded him just as cooly. “So the rules here are?”

He took his time to answer, as if wanting to heighten her anxious curiosity as he begun tapping on his phone. His look when he spoke was very pointed.

"You and I both know the kind of reputation you have. Don't think I've not heard you've been sleeping with some other employees. Six of them to be exact." He intoned the last sentence, looking down at his phone aloofly.

Shock streaked through her, incredulity running along with it. She'd known there were rumours about her, she just hadn't known they'd gotten to that extent.

"I only slept with an assistant manager!" She retorted, more defensively than she'd intended.

Obviously sensing the barbed edge to her tone, Kris's head whipped up. "So then the rumours are true. To think all this time I'd only thought of them as some speculation. Which means you've also been having affairs with our business associates. You know how employee relationships defy the company's rules, much more relationships with our clients. But don't worry. Your job is safe. I'll just warn you to be careful."

Suddenly feeling bitter, she nearly snorted at his 'benevolence'. "Stephen and I were never in a relationship. It was just a one night thing. Besides..." She stopped herself from saying more, deciding she didn't have to explain her personal life to him.

She'd heard stuff, been called a lot of things, but she'd never cared about what people said about her. So why did Kris thinking that she was a slut like her colleagues at work did hit so hard? She had to blink away the burn in her eyes.

If he noticed her eyes get misty, he didn't say anything about it. Not wanting to seem affected by his words, she glared at him. "What the f**k has that got to do with this?"

"Tone, Lexi. I'm still your boss." He warned. Lexi balled her hand into a fist as he continued.

"I know you have an insatiable s****l appetite, but I'm afraid that appetite will have to be restrained for as long as we're putting on the show. We're in California, and my mum has a lot of acquaintances. I don't want any of them seeing you with other guys. I especially need you to keep your hands of my family members while we're there. Defy the condition, you are not getting paid."

"And you don't think my reputation is gonna spoil things over there?" She scoffed.

"I don't think your reputation carries all the way from Rockford to California.”

“What if I decide to back out?” Lexi asked, leaning back in the passenger seat, looking for her own chance to show some power.

He crushed that chance instantly. Not a muscle in his face twitched, but uncharacteristic arrogance oozed all the same. “May I remind you it was you who had the brilliant idea of supplying unwarranted help by lying to my uncle? I could've gotten any woman to take up that role.

Lexi had no doubt about the last statement. Being the son of the self made billionaire Raymond Reynolds and indirectly the owner of the multi-billion Reynolds and Associations which had several branches all over the world and dealt in textiles, construction and architecture, advertisement and almost anything business, even girls who didn't know him swooned at the mere sight of him.

Still, that gave him no right to rub it in her face.

He looked so pleased with himself that she wanted to slap the smug look off his face, but she opted for rationality. "And just how long will this pretending thing last?"

She didn't break eye contact, and she wasn't about to deny that she was a woman who loved s*x, someone who relished the blissful activity frequently.

He shrugged, the material of his suit sleeves tightening around his strong looking arms. "We'll only be spending a few days before returning to Rockford, but the pretense will have to carry through for a while. Maybe two weeks or something. Knowing my mum, she could send a PI behind us. Alexa, I'm assumimg we have a deal?”

That controlling? Lexi snorted inwardly.

Two weeks without s*x. She barely went without it once in a week and here he was talking about two weeks. Not that she could back out now. Besides, this amount was just a few thousand dollars less than half her annual salary. She'd be stupid to let it go.

"Deal." She answered finally.

“Good, let's go do some business then.” He put his phone in the inner pocket of his suit, then turned the ignition, the car purring alive.

Arrogant streak, Lexi thought as they drove off. Well she might as well go in for her last f**k tonight before the contract tied her down.

****

Kris slumped onto his bed face down, a groan tumbling from his lips as he stretched out his stiff muscles. After finally closing a business deal, he and Lexi had spent the whole evening going over details that would help them to execute their fake relationship in the most convincing way.

Lexi had known a bit about him, obviously from reading a lot of stuff and through some of the conversations they'd had over the year she'd been working with him but he hadn't known much about.

For example that her mum's name was Emery Knight and her dad's was Daniel Parker. Kris hadn't commented on the different surnames. Perhaps the woman hadn't changed her name after marriage. Her mum was the white one and her dad was black, resulting in her biracial complexion.

She had a little sister named Nicole, twenty one years of age and four years younger than Lexi. Her favourite food, as he'd already suspected, was anything prepared with chicken wings, and she had no allergies.

Grey was her favourite colour. Strange for a woman but he assumed it was because she had mostly grey eyes. Mostly because sometimes there were hues of blue. They were the most beautiful he'd ever seen.

They'd talked about the places she'd schooled at and other stuff that he already knew but needed more substantial information on.

Kris himself had shared some parts of himself that couldn't be found in tabloids. He'd told her a bit about some of his closest family members because it would appear weird that he'd told her nothing though they'd been together for four months.

Yeah, as if any of this is real.

He sighed, turning over to lie on his back and staring at the ceiling. Funny how Lexi had been no where near the top of the options he'd been considering, and yet had ended up taking the role.

He wouldn't admit it to her, but he was extremely glad she'd done that improtu agreement that they were dating in front of his uncle. One day would've been too little for him to arrange this imminent pretense with a complete stranger or an estranged acquaintance.

A grimace marred his face as he thought back to how his uncle and Lexi had looked at each other back at the cafe. Neither one of them had tried to hide the fact that they found the other attractive.

He didn't worry about his uncle because he knew the man was married and very faithful to his wife. Lexi on the other...

Getting up from the bed, Kris walked over to the glass centrepiece in the hotel room, picking up the intricate decanter and pouring himself a drink of Scotch, downing half of it and feeling it burn its way down his throat.

For the first time, he wondered whether he was making a mistake taking Lexi along. His only consolation was that she'd seemed quite enthralled with the money he was offering. Not that he had a choice right now; he'd promised his mum he would be at the reunion tomorrow.

Beisdes, no one would want to lose 50 000 dollars just to have s*x. She couldn't be that s*x-crazed, could she?

Could she?