Bedding the Billionaire

Sutton

You didn’t grow up the way I had around men and let some stranger put his hands on you. I was about to hand the fancy city slicker his ass when Mad Max flew across the room and held a fork to the handsome man’s neck.

Trust Max to attack with a kitchen utensil.

“Get your damn hand off of her,” Max snarled menacingly. “We don’t handle women that way.”

Because the man hadn’t let go of my arm, I was now bent at a rather strange angle. Nonetheless, I felt a surge of affection for Max. It meant a lot to me that he cared.

“I’ve got this, Max,” I said, but it was like I hadn’t even spoken.

Throughout this, the stranger didn’t even flinch despite the fact that the tines of the fork were pressed against his jugular.

“Charming,” the handsome stranger said in an even tone. “I assume this is a friend of yours?”

Max growled at him and shoved the fork harder against the stranger’s neck. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alice and Reena staring on with wide eyes. The last thing I wanted was for this to escalate any further. I tried to nudge Max to the side with my foot, but he wasn’t about to move.

Couldn’t he see that I wasn’t in any danger? In what I hoped was a calm voice, I said, “This is Max. He’s going to put the fork down now.” That elicited a growl from Max, but I kept going. “He was a friend of my daddy’s back in the day.”

The stranger’s brow rose in surprise before a look of incredulity entered his eyes. “Somehow I doubt that to be true.”

A spark of anger lit inside of me.

“Look, I don’t know why this is any of your business. I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t owe you any explanations.” I yanked my wrist to free, and this time he let it go.

I could still feel the imprint of his fingers and rubbed my wrist absentmindedly. I wondered why it hadn’t bothered me more. Usually I wasn’t a fan of people touching me.

Besides Max, the last person to hug me was Ruth Ann when my mama passed away. She hugged me so tight and whispered that one day I would understand my mama better. I understand my mama just fine, I had thought to myself. Hell, I knew her a whole lot better than most. But I just smiled and nodded appreciatively at Ruth Ann. She meant well, and besides, Ruth Ann had known Mama before she got sick, before the men, and before the drugs.

Max growled at the stranger with such vicious intent that I started to wonder if he just might fork the man after all.

“Listen punk, just who the hell are you?”

Neither man was backing down.

“Is there a problem over here?” Gabriel rushed over to see what the fuss was all about. As soon as he saw me, a look of disgust crossed his face.

Bastard.

The stranger’s cool gray eyes stared into my own. My heart thudded wildly in my chest and I felt as if I had been running. It was the strangest response that I had ever had to a man. I took a hesitant step backward.

Sutton Enterprises, and my former boss. To my knowledge he never once rode

he spoke, but Max paled and moved away from the stranger, dropping the fork to

“Max?” My voice sounded

that was the only reason my father wasn’t there to raise me himself. I knew that Max

girl…” I could hear the

the accusation rang through the air. Max was one of the good guys, one of the few people in this shitty world that

look like that.” Max’s gruff voice held a

my daddy?” I asked

weighing his words before he uttered, “No,

felt my stomach drop down past my toes.

hurriedly, “But your mama and I had a special relationship. When I found out about you, well, I

late at night. I didn’t realize that they were paying for sex until someone in the third grade happily filled me in. They told me my mama was nothing more than a prostitute, and I would grow up to be just like

They didn’t understand, nobody did. Mama wasn’t like that. She could be fun when she wasn’t high. We laughed and sang funny songs on the radio. She

“Yeah,” I whispered, “I knew what she was like.”

Max motioned toward the businessman who had been silent during this entire exchange, his eyes never

a low voice, “I want to hear what he has to say.”

puffed up, choosing now to exert his nonexistent authority, “Not now, you aren’t. You have a shift to work, Sutton. I am not paying you to sit on your ass.”

mouth looked pinched as he asked in a clipped tone,

looked confused.

will need an hour with the girl. If she sits here at this table with me for

before his eyes took on a greedy tint. “Three

“Done.” The man pulled out a money clip and peeled off three hundred-dollar bills and then handed them over to Gabriel.

a smirk. “I’d have done it for two

businessman didn’t miss a beat. “I would have paid five. Now, if you will leave us? We will need some

away, and the man motioned for me to sit across

my arms, not sure that I wanted to know whatever this man was so insistent on telling me. “Why should I?”

my valuable time. Unless you have the three hundred dollars to repay

hundred dollars. Hell, I wasn’t sure I had thirty dollars. With a sassy smirk, I saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

I liked that the was

“My name is Mark Williams,” he began. “I am the CEO of your deceased father’s company, Sutton Enterprises. You

laughed. It was probably inappropriate, but who goes around telling people to call them

sighed, but then continued on as if I hadn’t laughed in his face. “Because of certain legalities, I was forced to locate and apprise you of

kind,” I quipped

rattling off information like a census bureau official. To piss him off, I deliberately called him by his first name,

“Mr. Williams,” he bit off gruffly.

Shit, who tells someone that their daddy is dead and in the same breath insists that they call them Mr. Williams in the same statement? Why did you come anyway? If my father didn’t want

existed

This time he had really pissed me

woman, impregnated her, and then left them both in poverty. Yep,