Page 16 of Always Mine (The Barrington Billionaires 1)
Asher wasn’t happy. Although his time in Paris with Emily had been amazing, it couldn’t last. There was too much going on with his company back in the US and abroad for him to continue to put off major decisions. He’d known that, but he hadn’t wanted to face it. Well, the truth was about to call him.
Thirty minutes earlier, Dominic Corisi’s personal assistant, Marie Duhamel, had called and provided Asher with instructions on how to download the Corisi encrypted phone app. It was designed in-house and was supposedly unhackable. Dominic had a reputation for taking security measures to the extreme, but his request didn’t bode well.
Asher answered on the first ring. “Dominic, to what do I owe the honor?”
Dominic got right to the point. “My people abroad are concerned with the stability of your site in Trundaie. What’s going on?”
Asher leaned back in his desk chair. “Nothing. The imminent risk was neutralized, and we’re moving forward with increased security measures.”
“You’re in over your head, and things are about to get ugly.”
Asher rocked forward in his chair. “That’s not what my team is reporting.”
“Then your team is either stupid, suicidal, or both. My contacts tell me the rebels are amassing weapons for a major assault. They’re recruiting mercenary soldiers from Boltatia. The man I gave you doesn’t have the manpower to fight that. You have to pull out.”
Asher slammed his hand on the table. “Not possible this late in the game. We’ve invested too much over there. We have governments all over the region watching to see how we do. I don’t have to tell you what a gamble this kind of expansion is. We succeed now, we cement our place on the global market. We fail, we might as well start looking for a domestic bailout.”
Dominic cut him off. “I’ll send you Bennett Stone. He was Special Ops in the Marine Corps. His cousin is my head of security, Marc Stone, and Ben came to work for me when he left the service. You won’t find better than either of them. He can keep your people alive long enough for you to pull out.”
Dominic’s intrusion into the dealings of B&H, along with how his view on things in Trundaie differed from what Asher had been hearing, confused and angered Asher. “I’m not pulling out and, although I appreciate your offer of help, I’ll handle this myself.”
Dominic swore then said, “Once a month I have dinner with Victor Andrade and your cousins. Maybe you don’t give a shit about that side of your family, but they care about you. They see you following in my footsteps, so to speak, and they’re worried. I promised them I’d watch out for you.”
“I have everything under control.”
“Bennett Stone will be in Trundaie by tonight.”
Asher shook his head in disbelief. Dominic was crazy if he thought Asher would let anyone handpick his team for him. “If I wanted a Marine to head my team, I’d hire my brother.”
“Would you ask him to take a bullet for you? Because that’s how ugly Trundaie is about to get. That situation will explode, and if you won’t pull out, then you damn well better surround yourself with people willing to die for you, because that’s what you’ll be asking them to do.”
Asher was silent for a moment. He had been in, and worked his way out of, politically sticky situations in the past. Rebels weren’t unique to Trundaie. He’d faced his share of them and won. He didn’t allow himself to consider failure, and that had always carried him through. This was the first time, though, that he was dealing with such a volatile opponent. Money usually paved the way to a truce. When that failed, a show of force had always proven an effective deterrent. However, if these rebels had seen his show of force as a call to arms, he might need every resource he could gather—even those sent by a side of his family he never spoke to. Asher considered himself a man who didn’t need anyone, but if Dominic Corisi was offering to watch his back, he wouldn’t let his people be slaughtered because he was too proud to accept the help.
“Tell Stone I’ll be in Trundaie by tonight. Have him contact me when he lands.”
“Done,” Dominic said. “Oh, and Asher—”
“Yes?”
“Don’t fly in on your own plane. When your enemy is taking aim, it’s best not to wear a bullseye.” With that parting piece of advice, Dominic hung up.
Asher made a few phone calls to organize his travel then tucked his phone in his pocket and stood. His mind was already racing as he put together a plan of action for the next twenty-four hours. He would meet with his team, Dominic’s man, and a couple of his local contacts who refused to speak to anyone but him. If things were as bad as Dominic thought, his security would require massive expansion. Asher had connections that could handle it, but it would mean calling in favors he’d hoped he never would have to use.
He walked over to the door of his office and hesitated before opening it. Emily was his, and the last two weeks had proven she was meant to be. She would have to understand there were parts of his life he didn’t want her involved in. He couldn’t take her with him; it was too dangerous. He also couldn’t say where he was going; any leak of information could get his people killed. He’d tell her he had urgent business to attend to, and she was welcome to stay in Paris until he returned.
That would have to be good enough.
Chapter Nine
‡
Emily’s enjoyment of her walk through the Parc Monceau, a public park she had first fallen in love with through the paintings of Claude Monet, was diminished by the memory of the conversation she’d had with Asher an hour earlier.
He had opened the door of his office and frowned when he’d seen her there. For a moment she’d thought he might accuse her of listening in, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “I’m flying out in less than an hour.”
“Where are you going?” she’d asked.
“It’s work related.”
“How long will you be gone?”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “I don’t know.”
Emily stood tensely in his embrace and tried to keep her voice calm. “Is there anything you can tell me?”
He ran his hands down her clothed back, past the hem of his shirt she was wearing, and up to cup her bare ass. “I don’t want to leave you,” he murmured against her cheek.
Emily fought the desire that welled within her. One touch from him and it was too easy to forget everything else. She had to keep her head. She ran a hand over the buttons on his shirt. “I could go with you.”
His hands ground her forward against his arousal. “If I could take you, I would.” He kissed her neck from ear to shoulder. “If I could delay my flight at all, I’d do that too.” He set her back from him with a groan. His eyes were burning with the same desire he’d lit within her. “I can’t.” He bent and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. “I have to leave—now.”
Emily pressed her lips together unhappily, then said, “What do you expect me to do? Sit around and wait to see if you come back?”
He’d pulled her roughly into his arms again and kissed her deeply until Emily clung to him. Usually she welcomed how his touch reduced her to a quivering mass of sexual need, but that was when she was confident her touch did the same to him. This time he was using it against her—to silence her—and although she was turned on, she was angry, too.
When he lifted his head, he grumbled, “I won’t be gone long, and I want you right here when I get back.” He ran a hand over her thigh and up between her legs to her bare sex. “This wet and this ready for me.”
Emily shook her head even as her eyes half closed with pleasure as he circled her clit with his middle finger. “Tell me where you’re going. You owe me that much.”
He slid a finger inside her and pumped it in and out. “I owe you nothing,” he whispered in her ear. “But you’ll be here when I return because you’re mine, Emily.” He worked his fingers magically back and forth over her aroused clit and in and out of her. “You’re angry with me, I know, but your body doesn’t care, does it? I wish
I had time for more, but why don’t you come for me before I go, Emily? I want to hear that sound you make when you can’t hold back any more.”
A part of Emily wanted to fight the hold he had over her. She told herself she should pull away from him, tell him she deserved answers, and that she belonged to no one. The words never left her lips, though, because her traitorous body was humming beneath his touch, clenching and warming as he brought her closer and closer to climax.
