Read Online The Long Hot Summer (Billionaire Season Book 1) by Kimball Lee - Free Book Online Page B

ship, all he had to do was step into one of the elaborate elevators and he would be at his desk in minutes. He wanted to see Allie Darling when she left for her first day on the job, that was the reason he lingered when he had more important issues to deal with and there was no denying it. It disturbed him, his undeniable attraction to a girl—a young woman, who was the polar opposite of the women he found himself attracted to sexually. He liked his women “bold and cold” as Walden had laughingly pointed out on more than one occasion. Women who shared his penchant for hot hard unemotional unattached mostly anonymous often with a hint of danger ‘hit it and forget it’ sex.
    Allie stepped out of the elevator and breezed across the lobby and was out the door as quickly as a breath of fresh air. And just that fast William’s heart had flipped over in his chest and his cock was irritatingly stiff. Fuck it all! He had known her for all of three days and just that fast emotions he had worked to suppress for the better part of his life were running rampant.
    “She refused your car and driver, sir,” the head valet stood next to William fidgeting, his eyes blinking rapidly, waiting to see what William’s response would be.
    “Did she know it was my car?” William asked, st anding and glaring down at the valet.
    “Well sir, I didn’ t tell her but she must have figured it out. I told her the car belonged to the hotel and it was at the disposal of any guest who was staying in a suite, just like you said. But she saw right through that bullshit… excuse me sir, she said, “Tell Mr. Warfield I’m just fine on my own.”
    So that was that, Alaina Darling mig ht be fairly young and less than worldly, but she was no fool. William took the elevator up to his office and stared out the large angular windows toward the French Quarter. She was out there in his city without him, what a strange thought. And she is fine, just fine, leave her alone , his inner voice cautioned. That inner monologue had not shut up since the moment Allie climbed into his car for the first time and sat wide eyed and dripping with rain and unmistakable sensuality.
    *
    “You must be Alaina, welcome to New Orleans, darlin’. That’s crazy isn’t it? Darlin’ is your last name and it’s an everyday part of our vocabulary down here in these parts! I’m Thelma Maguire and that handsome young gentleman up on the library ladder is my son, Brodie. Come on in and let me show you around our humble office here at the Southern Gothic Literary Society. Did you have any trouble finding the place? We are just a tad hidden amongst all these crumbling warehouses. I have high hopes that the Warfield Shipping Company will get around to renovating more of those old buildings soon, but I’m not complaining. They gave us a rent-free one hundred year lease on this little gem of a building and you sure can’t beat a deal like that with a stick, now can you?” Thelma Maguire took a quick breath and would have continued to talk nonstop if her son hadn’t materialized beside her.
    “Hello, Miss Darling, I’ m Brodie Maguire. How about a quick tour of your own personal office space and then we’ll grab a cup of coffee. The coffee shop on the edge of the district is not quite as good as Café Du Monde, but it’s better than the weak brew my Mother makes,” he said and he motioned for Allie to follow him through a high-ceilinged hallway to the back of the building. “How’s this? It has a better view than any of the other little rooms we use as our offices. My mother is a bit long-winded but she’s also a terrific gardener and you can see that for yourself,” he said as Allie walked to a narrow set of ancient French doors with wavy glass panes. The doors creaked as she opened them and a few flakes of the original faded delft-blue paint fluttered to the floor but she gasped when she saw the tiny courtyard beyond.
    “Call me Allie,” she said, but she couldn’t