When the Billionaire Begs novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Sponsor Call

I was still holding the phone when Stellan's arms came around my waist from behind.

"Whatever it is," he said into my hair, "it can wait ten minutes."

"They posted my address."

"Then we'll deal with it clean." He turned me around and looked at my face. "You're shaking. Come here."

He walked me into the bathroom and turned on the water.

Steam filled the room.

I stepped under it in nothing but his shirt, and he stepped in after me, and the shirt went onto the tile.

He washed the charcoal out from under my nails with his thumbs.

I put my back against the wall, and he put his palms flat on either side of my head.

"You told me once you'd ask," he said quietly.

"For what?"

"For anything."

I took his wrist and slid his hand down my stomach, and lower, and held it there.

"This," I said. "Now."

His breath stuttered.

He kissed me hard under the spray, and his fingers moved between my legs, slow and sure.

I clung to his shoulders and cried out against his mouth, and he held me up when my knees gave out.

It was quick, and it was fierce, and afterward he rested his forehead on mine and laughed.

"Five percent," he said.

"Don't push it."

At the studio, the street door had been spray-painted with the word LIAR.

My apprentice stood on the sidewalk with a mop and a face white with fury.

"Four sponsors have dropped us," she said. "The paint company is the worst. Their launch is today, and Odette is their new face."

"Where?"

"The glass atrium on Fifth."

I looked at Stellan, who was already holding the Volvo door open.

The atrium was full of cameras.

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