The Price of Scandal (Bluewater Billionaires)

by Lucy Score

“I have a little business with my bros,” he said cagily. He turned the engine back on, and we lurched forward. Porn probably, I guessed. No, wait. Maybe a yacht party with underage starlets? Bath salt abuse contest?

I had a thing for unbuttoning buttons and revealing what was underneath.

Best of all, I had a shiny new puzzle to solve. And she was going to be very unhappy to see me.

“Your outfit, love. Change your outfit,” I clarified. Emily sputtered and glanced down. “My outfit?” “You do look a little ‘Easter church dinner,’” Jane observed. I was really starting to like this woman who hadn’t stun gunned me.

Her anger was… entertaining. And a little arousing. I’d expected a prim and proper, polite hostess. Finding a temperamental woman instead was a bonus.

I looped my fingers through a pair of strappy magenta heels. “Emily, love, I understand your desire to remain in control. However, while revolutionizing skin care might be your area of expertise, polishing images and managing crises is mine. This would go more efficiently if you’d just trust me.”

“You’re not very friendly in the mornings, are you?” I teased. “She needs caffeine for polite. Sugar and carbs if you want friendly,” Jane piped up from the back seat.

It was sad that giving up sugar was easier than defying my own mother.

Scars or not, you are hope.”

My client was a motherfucking genius, and if she kept smiling like that, I was going to have a problem not falling hard for her.

“I’m going to cross a professional line here,” he warned me. “It’s your fault because that in there was like witnessing a miracle.” “Cross a professional line? You?”

I should have known I was in trouble when she returned to the ring in short shorts, a sports bra, and her own headgear and gloves in hand. But I was a man. A stupid, stupid man.

The woman was a manipulative liar, and I was already half in love with her. I just needed to be patient, give her enough time with my smoldering sexiness before her resolve shattered.

I lay there on my back, staring up at the fluorescent lights that hung from the twenty-foot ceiling. What the hell had just happened to me? A peek at the real Emily Stanton. That’s what.

Be a duchess, dammit, I told myself.

Against my will, I perked up. So he didn’t turn on the charm and pheromones with every client? Was I special? For the love of strong women everywhere, pull yourself together, I told myself.

We’ll have a say over everything, we thought. It’ll be great, we thought. Turns out, we were stupid.

“I haven’t made up my mind about you. Until I do, you’re on your own. The boss is plenty impressive on paper. But the real Emily? Beyond the bank statements and the business calendar? She’s the best person I know. And anyone who doesn’t see that doesn’t deserve her.” “Fair enough.”

Everyone needed me, I thought wryly as I sat up and straightened my hair. He placed a coffee cup on my desk. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would have reflected on the oddity of how essential my mere physical presence in a room was.

“Where are we going? Also, what exactly happened?” “You fainted in your office because you’re a stubborn idiot,” I explained. “I’m taking you home.” She’d gone ghostly pale and glassy-eyed before slumping gracefully into a dead faint. It had taken five years off my life.

“Thank you for this, Derek,” she said quietly in my ear. I reached out and took her hand. She didn’t turn away from the window, didn’t snatch her hand back. Nor did she bite my head off. It was a very small, satisfying win.

“Mr. Price and I are good friends. We enjoy spending time together,” she said, her fingers landing lightly on my lapel. The camera flashes exploded in a show of fireworks. It wasn’t an ass grab. It was a classier kind of possession.

“He looks like that, and he does hair? Oh, honey, you grab him with both hands and hang on for dear life.” We laughed a little too sincerely, drawing curious glances.

Derek was indeed scanning the crowd. And when he spotted me, I felt a frisson of energy shimmer over me. He didn’t look delighted. He looked… hungry. As hungry as I felt. Was there anything sexier than those long looks across a crowded room where everyone else just melted into the wallpaper?

“I want you, Emily. But I don’t just want sex. I want to strip you down, layer by layer, and see you. Really see you.”

“Does that mean you’d be open to labeling this… thing?” I asked, skimming her jawline with my thumbs. “Always negotiating,” she sighed. “This is something special, Emily.” “Neither one of us has time for special,” she reminded me. “We’re idiots if we don’t make time,” I warned.

“There you were Friday night running around your house half-naked and needing me. And I forgot. It fell out of my head in a fog of lust and excitement and the egotistical boost of you letting me in. I’m only human, Emily. And the ‘you’ behind those monumental fucking walls is a goddamn miracle. You destroyed me.”

“Do not use this honest mistake as an excuse to stop trusting me,” he said softly. His blue eyes earnest. “I couldn’t take it. And I’m guaranteed to do something ridiculous.” Damn it. The anger drained out of me as if someone had pulled a plug. No one had ever fought for me like this before. They cracked and splintered like ice chips at my disapproval. Or, in the case of my family, they just didn’t care.

My punishment for dropping the ball: Spending more time with Emily. I found it completely acceptable.

“Derek was hired by my board to help manage the press surrounding my recent situation,” Emily said. Lona and I both waited expectantly. “As it turns out, he’s not only a consummate professional and as dedicated to his work as I am to mine, but he’s also rather…” Those blue-gray eyes skimmed me, warming significantly. “Irresistible.”

“Irresistible. Personal life. Privacy. Got it,” Lona said, weighing the non-confession. “Off the record, I’d question your intelligence if you two weren’t enjoying your off hours together. On the record, my research for this article freshened up my knowledge of chemistry, and you two have enough of it for a significant laboratory accident.”

Me: I’m disowning all of you. Mom: Fine. But we’ve taking a family vote and we’re keeping Emily. Berto: And her Porsche. Dad: Good luck, Orphan Derek.

He removed his sunglasses and pushed mine up so we were eye to eye. It was a long, loaded look. “You terrify me,” he admitted finally. “What are you talking about?” I scoffed. “You don’t need me. You don’t need anyone.” He was so serious, so broody.

“Would you rather be needed or wanted?” “I’d rather be whatever keeps me near you,” he confessed. “And that also scares the daylights out of me.”

“Yeah. About that. Are you up for a few more legal maneuvers tonight?” “Fuck yes. I’m ready to legally rearrange some people’s faces. Unleash me!”

I walked out with the delightful sound of Trey’s shrieks and Jane’s maniacal laughter ringing in my ears.

“So let me tell you guys about getting mugged,” Cam said. “What did you just say?” Luna asked,

He nodded, then kept nodding, stars in his eyes. “What an adventure we’ll have together,” he said. “Of course, we’ll have to sell your Porsche and get a bulletproof minivan.”