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chapter 18
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One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 19
“It’s kinda romantic,” Victoria says. “And fucking stupid at the same time.”I glower. “I’ve asked her out pretty much every month for ten years. She won’t go out with me. What was I supposed to do?”“Give up?” Victoria suggests. “Accept you’ve lost?”“Yeah, that sounds like something I’d do.”“How are you feeling?” Mack asks.“Fucking terrified.”“But you’re still going through with it?”I shrug and give him a helpless look. “I can’t think what else to do.”He meets my eyes for a moment, and then we both smile. Now he’s got Sidnie, he understands the stupid things you do for the woman you love.“So if you jump, she’s agreed to give you one night?” Victoria asks. “What happens after that?”“I’ll be so absolutely amazing in bed that she’ll beg to see me again.”She lifts an eyebrow.“Yeah,” I say, “it’s a stretch, I know. I’m going to have to pull out all the stops.”“You mean you’ll actually have to do some foreplay for a change?”“And pay for the pizza at the end.”They all snort.Ma
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 20
ElizabethI watch Huxley walk off and chuckle. “He’s positively green. Bless him. I meant it though. I’m proud of him for turning up. I was convinced I’d get a call on the way here to say he’d chickened out.”I look back at Mack. He’s standing there with his hands on his hips. Whoa. That’s not a good sign.“I need a word with you,” he says.“Okay…”“That guy,” and he points briefly at the disappearing Huxley, “is so in love with you that he’s prepared to jump off a fucking building. He’s absolutely terrified. And I’m not going to let him put himself through this unless you tell me right now that you’re prepared to follow through with the bet. If he does, if he jumps, are you going to do it?”I’m so shocked that I can only stare at him. “He told you about our bet?”“Yeah. And I think it’s fucking crazy, but hey, whatever makes the two of you pull your heads out of your arses and get your act together.”I glare at him. “He’s not in love with me. He just wants to get in my knickers.”“Eli
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 21
HuxleyThe elevator doors open, and Mack and I step out into the spacious room. Jamie has stayed down with Elizabeth.I catch a glimpse of tiled floors, large pillars, big fans, and a waiting area with seats. Then all I can focus on are the huge panes of glass, looking out at the cloudless blue sky.“You okay?” Mack asks. “You’ve lost all color in your face.”“I might need the bathroom.”“Over here.” He steers me toward the Gents’. I push open the door, go into one of the cubicles, and promptly vomit up the contents of my stomach into the toilet.“Ah, Jesus.” I wait to make sure I’m done, then flush it and go out.Mack’s leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets. He watches as I wash my hands and splash my face with cold water. I wait for him to sayYou don’t have to do this, Hux.He doesn’t. When I eventually straighten and take a couple of paper towels, he smiles and hands me a mint from the box in his pocket, then says, “You ready now?”I toss the paper towels in the bin, pop t
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 22
ElizabethI stare in shock as Huxley lands on the mat near the assistant. Oh my God. He actually did it.“Wooooooo!” he yells, fists pumping the air. The assistant unclips him from the wire, then helps him out of the harness, laughing as Huxley bounces all over the place, refusing to stand still.“He fucking did it,” Jamie says beside me, “Jesus! I really didn’t think he’d go through with it.”“Me neither,” I whisper.I know what it’s taken for him to do this. I’ve been with him many times when he’s been faced with heights. He can’t go up ladders or outside stairs even if they have a railing, and he won’t look out of airplane windows, or any window in a building that’s more than a few floors off the ground.So for him to jump off a tiny platform six hundred feet in the air, with only a wire to keep him safe, will have taken immense courage.Did he really do it for me?He thanks the assistant and shakes his hand, then leaves the landing area and walks over to us.“Dude!” Jamie runs up
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 23
“He knows how to incentivize me.” His gaze is warm.I take a deep breath. “And now I suppose I have to follow through with the bet. Mack didn’t quite manage to make me sign a contract, but it was as near as dammit. He told me he wouldn’t speak to me again if I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain.” I smile.He doesn’t return it, and studies me thoughtfully. He’s wearing jeans and Converses, and a blue polo shirt that I’m pretty sure I bought him for his birthday last year. He’s so incredibly gorgeous. And the way his biceps stretching the sleeves of his top makes me quiver. How come he’s even more sexy now than he was at nineteen? It makes all this so much more complicated.“Forget Mack,” he says eventually, putting his hands on his hips exactly the way Mack did about twenty minutes ago when he berated me. “I appreciate his help, but I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. I don’t force women to sleep with me.”My face flushes. “I know.”“And I don’t want to have t
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 24
HuxleyI’m convinced it’s going to be the longest ten days of my life, but in the end the time passes pretty quickly. We’re having some renovations carried out on two of the meeting rooms at the club, and we also close the restaurant for two days to have it completely repainted. Even though it’s an obvious loss in revenue, the result is stunning, a vast improvement on the original, and Victoria and I are really pleased with it.Despite the work going on, the club is busy. The available meeting rooms are mostly booked all day, the workrooms are bustling, the bars are packed in the evenings, and the calendar for functions is becoming nicely full. We get a great review on one of the top New Zealand business websites, and the biggest bank in the city contacts us to say they’re interested in using us for their international AGM in September, which would mean huge business for us.Although I’m cautious about jinxing it, I have to admit that the club has been successful, more than I’d hoped,
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 25
We put our bags in, get into our seats, and buckle ourselves in. Then we both pull on our headsets and adjust the microphones. I run through the safety procedures and standard checks, and then when we’re all ready, turn the helicopter on.Some people might find it strange that I don’t mind flying when I’m afraid of heights, but as long as I don’t look directly down, for some reason I’m absolutely fine, and I actually enjoy it. Titus, Mack, and I took helicopter flying lessons a couple of years ago, and I fly regularly enough that I’m comfortable doing it now. I open the throttle to increase the speed of the rotor, pull up on the collective, and depress the left foot pedal to counteract the torque as the pitch of the blades changes. When it gets light on its skids, I grip the cyclic and nudge the helicopter forward, and slowly we rise, head out over Waitemata Harbour, and fly east.“Are we going to Waiheke Island?” Elizabeth asks. I’d kept it a secret up until now.“Yep.”“Oh…” Her fac
Last Updated : 2024-03-06One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss chapter 26
She comes to stand beside me. “It’s a gorgeous place. Thank you so much for organizing it.”“My pleasure.” I turn and slip my arms around her waist. She rests her hands on my chest again, and she gives a little shiver. “Are you cold?” I ask.“No.”Aw. I kiss her forehead. Then her nose. Then, finally, her mouth.She sighs and lifts her face to me, and we exchange a slow, gentle kiss that sends a frisson running down my back. It would be so easy to turn and direct her back into the bedroom, strip off her clothes, and throw her straight onto the bed, but I don’t want to do that. Even though that’s why we’re here, and we’re not strictly on a date, I want to romance her a little.“Come on,” I say. “Let’s walk slowly down to the vineyard. We can have a drink before we eat.”She blows out what I think is a relieved breath. “Okay.”We lock up the villa and head out into the sunshine. The path leads around the buildings and then along the top of the ridge, with the Pacific sparkling to our le
Last Updated : 2024-03-06
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One Night Stand With The Billionaire Boss Epilogue
June 21st (two months later)KipIt’s the winter solstice, exactly six months after I met Alice, and Mum and Dad’s house is full of people who’ve come to celebrate the renewal of Saxon and Catie’s vows and their baby-naming ceremony. Saxon sprung a wedding on her after Christmas while they were on holiday, because he wanted to marry her but knew she’d be overwhelmed by having to say her vows in front of lots of people. However, six months have gone by now, and she’s settled down a lot, to the extent that when he suggested they combine a naming ceremony with a vow renewal ceremony, she jumped at the idea.Dad’s twin brother, Brandon, and my aunt, Jenny, are chatting to Mum and Alice’s mum. Penny has been spending a lot of time with Mum, and I’m so pleased that they genuinely seem to get on well. Penny’s holding one of Catie’s twins and Mum’s holding the other, and the two of them are clearly enjoying themselves.Kennedy’s helping Catie get ready. Her husband, Jackson, with baby Eddie, i
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He holds out a hand to me. “Let’s go outside.”Meekly, my head whirling, I let him pull me up and lead me out into the garden. It’s dark now, and a couple of moths are fluttering around the kitchen window, but there’s enough light for us to see each other clearly, and it’s not cold.Still standing, he turns me to face him. “What do you think?” he asks.“I don’t know what to say. I… I’m ashamed Mum feels that Charlie and I didn’t listen to her. She’s right of course. I was determined to make the sacrifice because I thought it was what I should do. But she is still my mother, and she deserves to have a say in it.”I look down at where he’s holding my hands. “But it’s not easy. It would be a huge change for her to move, and I know that change is one thing she really struggles with. When anything big happens, it always makes her unwell.”“That’s fair enough, but we’d make sure we did it in small steps so it didn’t become too overwhelming.” He lifts my hands and kisses my fingers. “Whateve
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I glance at Charlie, a little ashamed. She looks back at me, her lips twisting.“I don’t think it occurred to either of you to ask me what I want,” Mum says. “And every time I tried to talk about it, you shut me down.”I stare at her, horrified. Is that true? I suppose it is. She did try to say she wanted to find a solution that would mean neither of us would have to give up the men in our lives, but we both steamrollered over her, insisting we weren’t going to cave.“When I talked to Kip, though,” Mum continues, “he said, ‘What do you want?’ I was so touched I nearly cried.”I glance at him, but he’s looking at her, his lips curving up behind his fingers.Mum looks at me. “As I said, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But I’m not going to let either of you pass up on the chance of happiness with the man of your dreams for me. Alice!” She snaps as I open my mouth. “Please!”I close my mouth again, shocked at her sharp tone.“I know that over the years you’ve had to step up an
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AliceI’m absolutely shattered.Charlie’s revelation yesterday threw all three of us into a whirlwind of heightened emotions, and it’s been very difficult to stop them spinning us around.Mum went to bed early last night, exhausted from the whole thing, and the two of us stayed up until very late, checking on her from time to time, both frightened of leaving her alone.“We have to sort this,” Charlie told me at one point, long after the sun had set. “We can’t keep doing this to her.”“I know that,” I snapped. But I couldn’t see a way clear through the thick forest of our problems.In the end, both of us were so tired and irritable and upset that we decided to sleep on it and talk again the next day.I lay awake for about an hour, thinking about Kip, missing him, and feeling miserable, and fighting with myself because he’s my best friend, and I wanted to call him and talk it over with him, and I couldn’t. Eventually I crashed out, slept too long, and I’ve woken with a headache, grouchy
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I sigh. “Shit.”“Yeah. She was so happy, and I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. I kept thinking about the baby, and I knew I had to try and make a go of my marriage for the baby’s sake. So I stayed. I told Renée I couldn’t see her again. She texted me occasionally, but we didn’t meet up. I tried, I really did. But Chloe had morning sickness for the first few months, and after that she just didn’t want sex—she said it felt weird while she was pregnant. And then the baby was born, and even a few months after, she still wasn’t interested. I tried to be understanding, and accept she was tired and probably sore, but… I know it makes me a terrible person, but I just kept thinking about how Renée wanted me, and how good she made me feel… And then one day she contacted me again and asked to see me. And I’m only human, Kip. I was lonely, and I know it sounds pathetic and childish and makes me an arsehole, but I was angry with Chloe for not wanting me, and for not taking my needs into acco
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KipAfter my long phone call with Penny, I send a text to Sam, the pilot of the Knight Sky, then take my laptop out onto the deck and spend half an hour browsing and jotting down some notes until the doorbell goes. I answer it to find Craig standing there. To my relief, there’s no sign of Renée. I’m tempted to say, ‘So she let you out on your own, then?’ but I manage to restrain myself.“Jesus,” he says, staring at my eye, “what happened to you?”“Don’t ask,” I reply wryly. “Come in.” I stand back and let him pass, close the door, and follow him down the steps. “You want a coffee?”He shrugs. “Okay.”I take it as a sign that he’s planning to stay at least long enough to have a drink, and turn on the machine. “Thanks for coming,” I say as I start the espresso pouring. “I wasn’t sure you’d agree to it.” I glance at him. “Was Renée okay with you coming?” I’m genuinely curious, as I was convinced she’d arrive with him.He sits on one of the barstools and scratches at a mark on the counter.
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He puts his arm around her. “It’s amazing,” he says softly. “Thank you.” The last ounce of resentment has vanished from his eyes.“They’re lovely gifts,” Mum tells me. “Well done.”One of the babies—Liam, I think, because he’s wearing red—stirs in the cot, waving his tiny fists in the air.“Can I pick him up?” I ask, and Catie wipes her eyes and nods..“Of course.”I lift the baby out and walk beneath the umbrella so he doesn’t have the sun in his eyes.“Hey, little fella,” I murmur, and he looks up at me with his big blue eyes. He smells sweet, of milk and talcum powder, and when I stroke his cheek with a finger, he grabs it and tries to suck it. I chuckle and look at Saxon, who’s watching me with a smile.I feel a huge swell of relief. It’s the first step to putting things right with the people I love, and it feels damn good.I just hope I can do something similar with Craig and Alice.*I stay for another hour, drinking my coffee and chatting to my family. Then, just before midday,
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KipI read it several times, then send it.It’s time to head over to my parents’ house. Dad bought each of us a breathalyzer when we were younger so we could make sure we weren’t over the limit after a few drinks. I haven’t used it for a while as I don’t tend to drink at all when I’m driving, but I take it out of the cupboard and blow into it, relieved to find I’m well under.Taking the presents with me, I get into the Merc and head out into the sunny morning.When I pull up at the house, Saxon’s Aston is already there, gleaming in the sunshine. I pick up the parcels and make my way inside, my stomach fluttering. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the need to apologize for bad behavior.As I pass the kitchen I see Mum there, talking to Pamela as they load a tray with cups of coffee. They both look over as I stop and walk in. Pamela gives a wry smile, and Mum gives me a look that says, ‘What am I going to do with you?’“Morning,” I say, going up to Mum, leaving the parcels on the cou
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KipI vomit twice more in the night, but luckily Damon’s there to help me stumble to the bathroom, and to encourage me to drink more water. So when I eventually wake up for real, I feel a tad fragile, but not half as bad as I might have done if he hadn’t been there.I check the time—07:14. The sun is up, flooding the room with pale yellow light. The sky is such a light blue that it’s almost white.The bed next to me is empty, and I can’t hear Damon upstairs.Still no message or calls from Alice, but there are a few others waiting for me. The first is from Damon.Hey bro, I left around two a.m. once you stopped throwing up. Take the Panadol and drink the orange juice, then go apologize to Saxon and Catie and I’m sure you’ll feel better. DThe second is from my father.I’d like to see you here at eleven a.m., kiddo. Make sure you’re not over the limit. Dad xHe hasn’t called me kiddo for years. It’s obviously a reflection of my behavior last night.The third and fourth are from Saxon. The
