Bound by the Billionaire Read online

  “Nothing, Ma, sorry. I’m just overly sensitive about things at the moment. I’m tired. And I’m a bit worried. They called me from human resources at the gallery—the boss wants to see me. Last night I had to come home early as there was a break-in. I’m just wondering what they want from me.”

  “Well, I hope they don’t think you had anything to do with it. You’re the most honest woman on earth. Everyone knows that. Remember when you found the ten-dollar bill in the hallway at school and turned it in to the principal? Everyone was shocked by your honesty. Maybe you should tell that HR person that story.”

  “No, I’m sure that’s not it. They don’t think I’m involved. I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably just some forms new employees have to fill out. Or maybe the owner just likes to meet all the new employees.” Kim looked at the clock. “I need to get going.”

  ***

  At the gallery, someone else was sitting at Frank’s spot at reception, a young man with a serious look and a serious uniform to match. The ironed-in pleats looked as if they could cut your finger if you ran it along the edge.

  “I was told to come for a meeting to meet the owner of the gallery,” Kim told the man. “I work here. I clean at night.”

  “Are you Kim Davidson?” he asked, as if he’d been told to expect her.

  “Yes… yes, that’s me.”

  The man punched some buttons on the phone. “Ms. Davidson is here.” He listened, then hung up. “Ms. Lessing will be here to collect you.”

  Kim stood to the side. After a few minutes, she was surprised to see a woman that she thought she recognized from the night before. Her hair was still pulled tightly into a bun, and the red business suit was replaced with a navy blue one, but the woman looked just like Robert’s PA, Debra.

  “Hello again, Ms. Davidson. If you’ll follow me.” It was Debra, just as Kim had thought. What was going on?

  They went to the fourth floor and down the hall, and Debra opened the door to reveal an empty apartment. Kim looked at Debra, confused about what was happening.

  “Go in. He’ll be with you shortly.”

  Kim went inside. She walked to the large windows at the back of the apartment that looked out over Lake Michigan. She tried to be patient and not let her mind jump to any conclusions. Was Robert the owner of Rive Gauche? If so, what did all of this mean?

  She heard the door close behind her and turned to see Robert. His tuxedo was replaced with jeans and a casual shirt, but he was just as handsome, and her heart quivered looking at him.

  “So you like looking at the lake too?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’ve always loved the lake with its complex moods.” She started to ask him about what was going on, but he held up his hand.

  “Let me explain. I know it must seem crazy to you. It’s crazy to me.”

  “What’s going on, Robert? Who are you really? I really don’t like this kind of behavior, these sorts of games. Why are you being so deceptive?”

  “Am I?” he asked. “Maybe I am. I do own the gallery; I bought a few galleries after my parents died. I’ve always loved art, and I wanted to be more involved with it. But I didn’t want the artists to know. I’m tired of being judged and interacted with in a way that always involves my money and the power it gives me. I wanted to meet these artists free of all of that, at least as much as I can. So I own the gallery, but no one knows. Debra is the owner as far as people know.”

  “And the painting? Why steal it?” Kim was still very confused.

  “Kim, you don’t know how my life is. After my parents’ death, I suddenly had so much money, but I was still very young. Everything went crazy. All I did was party. I’ve lived a meaningless, hedonistic life, and I’m so tired of it. It’s relentlessly boring. I know you think I’m crazy; I know you work very hard to provide for your son, and money is always tight. But sometimes walking in another person’s shoes can make you see that things are not that wonderful on the other side of the fence either.

  “I’ve been searching for something, but I didn’t know what. For some crazy, stupid moment I thought it might be exciting to try to steal a painting. It sounds ridiculous just saying it—I see that now. But I wanted to know if I could do it. That’s why I was in the janitor’s closet. Really. I wasn’t waiting there for you. I was waiting for everyone to leave so I could sneak into the gallery. And then suddenly you were there, this extraordinary woman who I’d just met only a few hours before and then had lost—or thought I’d lost. When I came back, you were gone.”

  Kim couldn’t deny she was annoyed about his complaints regarding being too rich and too carefree. She would do anything for such a life—anyone would. But now he wanted everything. He wanted to commit crimes without consequence; he wanted to take the woman he wanted. It wasn’t right. Just because he had money didn’t mean he owned her. It didn’t mean he owned the world and could live without consequences. No one had that right.

  “So then you thought since I was there you could just tie me up and have your way with me?” Kim asked angrily. “What? Is that how you get the women you want, then?”

  “No, God no, don’t think of it like that, Kim, I beg of you. I don’t know what happened to me… or maybe I do. From the moment I saw you across the gallery I knew. You were someone different, someone special. You were so beautiful and unpretentious, so free of all of the social games most women play. But I thought you were gone. And then you weren’t … you were there. I felt something come over me. Like nothing before. I knew I had to be with you. I’m sorry if I messed everything up last night. I never wanted that, ever.”

  Kim heard the honesty in his words, and she recognized the feelings he described because they were the same feelings she felt for him.

  “No, don’t feel bad about what happened. If I had wanted it to stop, I would have said so, but I didn’t,” Kim said. “I felt that energy too, from across the gallery as well. And when you were near… well, it was palpable.”

  Robert came nearer to her but made no move to touch her. She wasn’t sure what might have happened if he had.

  “Can we start over?” he asked. He held out his hand and she shook it. “Would you let me take you out for dinner tonight?”

  “I can’t. I have to work.”

  “I’ll get someone to cover for you. I own the gallery, remember?”

  Kim laughed. “I don’t know. I don’t think this thing can work.”

  “Please don’t make me beg. A billionaire on his knees is something you really don’t want to see.”

  Kim laughed. On top of everything, he also had a good sense of humor. “No, I suppose not.”

  “So?” Robert asked.

  “Okay… yes. Should I meet you here?”

  “No, I’ll have someone collect you.”

  Chapter 8

  “Gosh! What’s that now?” Kim’s mother said, looking out the window. Kim and Derek joined her to see what she was talking about. There was a long black stretch limousine parked in front of their house. A man came out of the driver’s seat wearing a black suit and matching cap, like someone from a movie.

  “Close the curtains!” Kim said. “He’ll think we’re gawking at him.”

  “We are gawking at him,” her mother said. “What sort of man is this one taking you to dinner?”

  Seeing the limousine made Kim even more nervous than she already was. What was she doing? This was not her life. Robert was a billionaire; she worked minimum-wage jobs. There was no way anything permanent would ever come out of any of this. They were too different, like an ant being in love with an elephant. It couldn’t happen. She felt like telling the driver to go away.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Oh my God, what am I going to do?” Kim said to her mother. She could hear Derek opening the door and talking to the limousine driver. “I can’t do this. I’m Kim Davidson. I’m not someone who gets picked up by limos.”

  “You are now. Look at you! You look beautiful, Kimmy. What you are going to do i
s you’re going to pull yourself together, get your purse, and get yourself in that fancy limousine outside. Pay good attention because I expect a complete report when you get back.”

  She hugged her mother and did exactly what she told her to do. Stepping inside of the vehicle was like stepping into a room. It didn’t feel anything like being in a car. There were long white leather seats on each side. In the middle was an oak table with a permanently fixed ice bucket with an open bottle of champagne inside, glasses to the left of it. Kim felt out of place and sat at the very end of the seat, touching nothing.

  She’d asked the driver where Mr. Miller was, and he said that they would pick him up on the way.

  “On the way where?” she asked.

  “I think Mr. Miller will inform you of that, madam.”

  After some time, they stopped and the door opened to reveal Robert. He wore tight black jeans and a white shirt open at the neck. Kim felt her body betray her yet again with its sudden jump in sexual tension. What was wrong with her? Yes, he was handsome, but many men were handsome. What was it about Robert?

  “Good evening, Kim,” Robert said sitting next to her on the leather seat. “You look amazing in red—you should wear it more often.”

  Kim had left the gallery after the meeting with Robert in the morning, and on her way to her lunch shift at Joe’s she stopped at the mall and splurged on a new outfit, a red wrap dress with a plunging neckline. She’d bought new red lingerie to match. She wasn’t sure why, because her head told her that nothing was going to happen between them tonight. It was dinner—dinner only. That time in the closet was a fluke, a mistake. This was only dinner. But still she’d bought the lingerie.

  He poured two glasses of the champagne and handed one to Kim.

  “To new beginnings,” he said, holding his glass up.

  Kim clinked her glass against his and smiled. “New beginnings.”

  The glass partition lowered, and the driver announced, “We’re arriving, sir.”

  The limousine stopped and Robert helped her out. She was surprised to see that they were at the shore. The stormy day had morphed into a gorgeous summer night.

  “Here we are,” Robert said. He pointed at a huge yacht docked at the end of the pier. “I thought we’d have dinner out on the water. Do you mind?”

  “I’d love it!”

  They climbed up the steps onto the yacht. A line of people stood waiting for them, all greeting Robert with, “Good evening, sir.”

  Kim had initially thought they were going out on one of the tourist boats that took visitors around the shore to look at the mansions while they ate a two-course meal on deck. But she sensed that this was something different.

  “Is this… your yacht?” Kim asked when she saw the always-ready-and-waiting Debra at the end of the line of people.

  “Yes, what did you think?” Robert asked.

  “Well, in my world people don’t own yachts, so I certainly didn’t think that.”

  For Robert, either you owned your own yacht or you did not. She doubted he even knew about the tourist boats, and she would put money down that he didn’t know a single person who had been on one. It was far more likely that Robert’s friends were the owners of the very mansions the tourists took photos of. She suspected he owned his own airplane too. Where she thought really rich people flew first-class, that wasn’t even an option for Robert. Their lives didn’t overlap on even the simplest things. The more she learned about him, the farther and farther they grew apart.

  Robert gave her a tour of the yacht as the yacht’s captain maneuvered the boat out of the dock and out to the middle of the lake. There were three main bedrooms, two bedrooms for visitors, and the sleeping quarters for staff. The formal dining room was on the second floor, attached to a full professional kitchen where a chef and two sous chefs were busy working on their dinner. The pass through the kitchen got her stomach rumbling with all of the myriad smells. Kim had been so nervous all day about this date that she hadn’t eaten a thing.

  Robert took her to the top deck where the city’s skyline could be seen in all of its glory as they headed out. The lake was calm and accommodating tonight; even the stars had come out, and only a sliver of a waning moon could be seen in the western sky.

  Robert held her around the waist from behind and kissed her neck. It was the first time he’d touched her since that night. She tried to control her body’s reaction but was failing.

  She stepped away from him, but he said nothing. “It’s so amazing up here.”

  “I love Lake Michigan. My father always wondered why I chose to live in Chicago when I could have lived anywhere in the world. But it was the lake—its wild moods suit me, its secrets.”

  Kim said nothing, but she agreed with him too. Whenever she was upset or feeling scared or unsettled, slipping away to the lake and sitting high up on one of the boulders along the shore, just feeling the rhythmic movement and the ancient permanence, calmed her. It was different from the sea; the lake had a different feeling. It was not about adventure and being gone traveling, as the sea seemed to ask of a person. The lake was only about itself. It did not set up a yearning to be gone in a person, rather it let you feel a connection to it, a long historical link that calmed you in its steadiness. That held you firmly.

  In her quiet way, Debra was suddenly there. “Excuse me, sir. Chef says the starter is ready.”

  “Yes, thank you, Debra.” Robert kissed Kim chastely on the lips and took her hand in his. “Shall we go, then?”

  ***

  At the back of the yacht, there was a small alcove where a table with a linen cloth had been arranged. Out on the lake the wind had picked up, and the glass panels shielded them from the worst of it. The fire in the corner wood burner made for a cozy dining room. Still, where they sat Kim could watch her city retreating behind them.

  White wine and jumbo shrimp were the starter. Though Kim did not often have money to eat out, being a waitress, sometimes in top-class restaurants, had taught her about good food. She knew what they were eating was Michelin-star quality. Though still conscious of how she really didn’t belong here, she tried to take her time and enjoy the amazing tastes. She had an assignment from her mother to report back about everything, and at least she knew the food was something she could tell her mother about.

  “Kim, tell me a bit about your life. Despite… things… we don’t really know each other,” Robert said.

  “There’s not much to tell really. I don’t live a life like this, of course. I live with my mother and my son, Derek. He’s five.” She smiled thinking about him. “I’m divorced.”

  “What happened?” Robert asked.

  “I think it’s less about what happened—it was just a mistake from the beginning. Bruce and I were far too young to know anything about marriage. He was just not suited for any of it, and he let me know it.”

  Robert looked at her for a moment, his face a mask of concern. “Was he abusive?”

  Kim was surprised that Robert was so intuitive to have caught that. “Yes… yes, he was. It was difficult, but I survived. I left Montana with nearly nothing though, and I managed to get back to Chicago. I could take a lot from Bruce, but I was not going to raise Derek in a place like that.”

  “I’m sorry you had to go through such difficult things, Kim,” Robert said. “So your ex-husband, he’s still in Montana?”

  “Yes. He’s doing what he loves, and he’s glad to be rid of me, I think. He’s not good with responsibility. But I think most men are like that. They like the idea of a wife, having someone to take care of everything, but in practice, in the end, they blame the wife for everything they gave up and the loss of their freedom, as if she gave up nothing.”

  Robert covered her hand with his. “What did you give up, Kim?”

  “Me? I don’t know.”

  “Certainly you had dreams beyond being a wife and mother,” Robert said.

  Kim didn’t like the way he said that—was it such a terrible thing t
o raise a child and take care of a partner? Weren’t those jobs the most important ones that existed?

  She said nothing and ate the amazing beef Wellington the waiter had set before her. The crust was crisp and flaky, the filet perfectly cooked, melting in her mouth with each bite. The red wine enhanced the beef’s flavor in an explosion in her mouth. This really was amazing food.

  “Did I say something wrong?” he asked.

  “Yes, actually. I’m a mother and that’s the most important thing to me. Yes, maybe before Derek I thought I was going to be other things, and maybe those things will arrive one day, but I’d be happy on my deathbed if I did nothing else but raise a fine man.”

  “No, I didn’t mean that. Of course being a parent is the most important job. I hope one day to have the chance to be one too. Please, don’t take my words in that way—I never meant them like that.” He seemed earnest in his apology.

  Kim calmed a bit. But she also had some questions for him. “What is so wrong with your life? You have your own yacht for goodness’ sake. But yet you’re still not satisfied.”

  “You know, Kim, people treat you differently when you have a lot of money.”

  “They treat you differently when you’re broke too!” Kim said.

  “Yes, of course. I don’t know your life, but you also don’t know mine. I just feel like there’s no one around me that I can trust. Everyone has a reason to be with me. None are there just because they like me; they like to be around me. I guess it was easier when my parents were alive, but now I feel so alone and yet people are always around me. Crowded around me. People willing to do anything I ask of them. But I feel so lonely most of the time.”

  “I understand that, Robert. Being surrounded by people who only like you for your money would be dispiriting,” Kim said. “And of course you should be missing your parents. I think we never really stop missing the people we lose.”

  Robert smiled. “I knew you’d understand. I knew you were different… special.”