The Billionaire's Bauble Read Online Free PDF Page B

jelly. How romantic, she couldn’t help thinking.
    “Thank you for bringing the papers today. I’ve signed them and sent them back with Nate so we could enjoy lunch. Beautiful day, isn’t it?” he said as he grabbed a bunch of grapes and began eating them. His words hit her like cold water. As his lips covered each grape, Sloane nonetheless felt her body temperature rise.
    “That was my job, Mr. Grant. I was asked to return them once you had . . .”
    “I know. I took care of it. Would you like something more—a sandwich perhaps?” He sat on the chair nearest her, and he was framed perfectly by the sunshine.
    Despite his gentlemanly airs, Sloane couldn’t refrain from becoming irritated with his presumptions, so she stood up to leave.
    “I’m going back to work now.” Sloane tried to sound cool, hold her temper in check. How dare he interfere on her very first day on the job? His rash actions might jeopardize her new position.
    “Leaving so soon? Please, let’s share this lovely luncheon Veronica prepared. Sit. Sit.” He gestured broadly to the chair she’d hastily vacated. His tone revealed no signs of urgency, while her own voice was about to rise.
    “I can’t sit here and chew cud all afternoon. Today is my first day, and you might have just lost my job for me,” she accused.
    His cordial expression didn’t waver. “Tony acted on my recommendation. You needn’t worry. He definitely won’t fire you. Sit, please, Sloane. You’re getting overheated.”
    That was it. He’d gone too far. Sloane felt her shoulders pinch down hard as she leveled her finger at him, and shook it accusingly. “My job isn’t your business. Tony, I mean, Mr. Forster, may be your nearest and dearest, but he’s my boss. I want to honor my commitment, my word. I said I would return those documents, and I didn’t, thanks to you. I need to get right back to the office, so he can see I didn’t bail out on my first assignment.”
    “I’ll call him,” David said, reaching inside his suit coat pocket for his phone.
    “Don’t you dare!” Sloane made a move to grab the phone, and David held it away from her. Playfully, he snatched her around the waist, turned her about, and sat her hard in his lap. She could feel his knees on her backside, and she felt foolish, like a chastised child.
    “Let me go,” she said between gritted teeth, trying to wriggle out of his immovable grasp.
    “Not until you forgive me.”
    His statement surprised her so much, she instantly softened.
    “Please, Sloane,” he cajoled, perhaps sensing his advantage. “I promise you won’t lose your job.”
    “That isn’t the point,” she said, still struggling to escape his hands. They held her ribcage firmly, just below her breasts, and she could feel each finger like an iron band. “Mr. Grant, again my job is not your business. Let me go, I said, or you’ll get a taste of . . .”
    “I want to taste you, Sloane.” His voice tickled her ear, and most frustratingly, she heard amusement.
    “Taste this,” she said as she jerked her elbow into his rib. The blow shocked him enough to let her go, and she jumped up and ran toward the door like a deer in flight. David was a cougar, though, and he was on her tail in an instant, smoothly inserting himself, palms up and facing her, between her and the terrace doors.
    His brown hair flopped in his face, and Sloane could see in his mischievous expression this was a fine game for him. She ran right into him, so strong was her impetus, and he captured her, holding her tight against his broad, hard chest.
    “There, there,” he soothed, as he patted her hair. “I just wanted to say hello, have a quick bite, before you returned to Forster. It’s a long time until 7 o’clock. I couldn’t wait until this evening. Does that make me the bad guy?”
    His words filled her ears and she laid her head against his breastbone, defeated for a moment. She could hear his heart beating quickly beneath the fashionable