Billionaire’s Achilles’ Heel

Baking with Mike

Five hours later, Jessica walked out of the police department, furious. Mike’s exclusive black card had caused more problems than she thought were even possible. The moment she produced it, the shop security was called to apprehend her until the police arrived and arrested her for theft. No one believed her explanation that a billionaire would just hand her a card with unlimited funds and once the police noticed the Pellidon prison tattoo hidden under the rose on the back of her neck, nothing she said was believable. She eventually gave up explaining and just sat in the cell. Her team could not intervene without blowing her cover. She knew that her supervisor, Ryan would not dare show up at the police station, not with his long record and the side drug business. The guy was allergic to police. She was starting to think that she would spend the night in prison when the police officer came to inform her that Mr Spencer cleared everything up and she was free to go.

Stepping outside, it was starting to get dark, it was freezing and raining cats and dogs. She recognised Mikes sports car from a distance, the same one she crashed to that morning.

“Get in” he shouted, leaning over to the passenger side to open the door.

“Leave me alone!” she said angrily, stepping into the rain. This was all his fault, she would rather freeze and be drenched than get into his car.

“Come on Jess, it’s raining” he pleaded, driving slow next to her.

“ Leave me alone!” she shouted again, her eyes blazing.

“It’s late, there are no cabs around here at this time. Let me take you home” he pleaded.

“I am not going anywhere with you, leave me alone” she snapped, not caring that he was her boss.

“I did not know that they will arrest you” he explained sincerely.

“Sure you didn’t” she responded sarcastically.

“Jess I swear”

“You did not know that your card was exclusive? Only the President, you, your uncle and three other people in the country have it?” she asked, glaring at him. He must take her for a fool.

“I did, but I did not know that they would arrest you for that” he had never shared that card with anyone before and honestly had not anticipated that she would be arrested for it.

She shrugged her shoulders “Well, they did”

“I swear I came as soon as I found out” he said in ernest.

“That was five hours ago!”she exclaimed. Mike must think she naive and stupid.

“You did not call, I only found out two hours after they arrested you” he explained. He started worrying when she did not return but thought she must be buying a lot of stuff until he received the call from the police informing him that they arrested someone attempting to use his card.

“You are still three hours late” she accused. The café did not have a phone and she did not have his number. Even if she did, she would not have called because she thought he got her arrested on purpose to get back at her. She did slap, insult and bump his car after all.

“You are soaking wet, the rain is getting worse, please get in” Mike pleaded with her. The rain was really heavy, Jessica’s hair and clothes were sticking on her, making it hard for her to walk and the rain was making it hard for her to see clearly. He was also getting soaked from the open window.

“No!” she roared.

“I tried clearing things up but your record did not make things easy. They had to make sure that I was not releasing you because you had something on me,like blackmail or k********g” he explained. He had not planned on bringing her record up because he felt she should tell him herself by he needed her to understand her arrest was not intentional. He honestly had no idea how difficult it was to clear someone with the police before. He had eventually gotten his advocate friend involved to help him.

Jessica froze for a moment when he mentioned her record “Just go away”

His eyes warmed up. After reading her file, he was certain that she was arrested because she had a state lawyer who did not care “I don’t blame you for killing him and assaulting the prison warden, Jess. They deserved it ”

Jessica lifted her head, meeting his grey sympathetic eyes. That was her undercover alias, she should not really care if he understood her actions or not but she actually did and was touched by his sympathy.

“Please get in”

“Fine” she finally agreed already drenched and freezing.

Mike sighed with relief, closed his window and turned on the heater.

“I have to get the keys to my flat from the café first” she informed him, already shaking from the cold.

“Impossible” he said carelessly.

“What?”

“The company is locked at this time” he explained.

“You are the boss, you can just open so I can get my keys” she suggested.

“I don’t have keys to the company. The private security firm handles that. Getting them to open is an admin nightmare that would take until morning to sort out” he explained. It was the truth he was really grateful for at that moment.

“s**t” she cursed out loud. She had no real friends around to spend the night with. Ryan and Timothy were a definite no, she saw how they looked at her. She was just starting to know Leah but she did not have her number, nor did she know where she stayed. Even if she did, Leah would definitely not let her in after she found out that she slapped the boss. She had just started working and had no money to pay for a hotel or motel.

“You can stay at my place” he offered guessing her predicament. The police file on her showed that she grew up poor, recently moved to Palmville and had no bank funds.

“I’m not …”

“I won’t touch you, unless you want me to. I swear” he interjected before she completed her sentence.

“You do realise that I have a record, right?” she asked surprised by his offer.

“You were acquitted” he reminded her.

“You don’t know me, I could take off with your possessions”

“You had an unlimited card and only took stuff for the café” he responded. That’s what he discovered when he went to he shop she was attempting to use his card in.

Jessica looked at him, anger rising inside her but too cold to shout “You were testing me!” she said softly.

“Maybe” he had not figured out why he gave her that particular card not the company one. Was he trying to show off to the mean defiant girl or testing her?

“Next time I will” she threatened, glaring at him.

He chuckled “What makes you think there will be next time?”

“You are wealthy and naive” she snapped at him.

Raising his eyebrows, her tone not affecting him or maybe he felt he deserved it “How am I naive?”

“You did not know that someone like me would be arrested if found carrying your card” to Jessica, Mike was the typical rich man who grew up in wealth oblivious to the struggles and stigmas of growing up poor.

“You believe me?” he teased, driving into his driveway.

Jessica looked at him sharply. If he knew that she would be arrested then he did it on purpose.

“Just kidding, we are home” he said, getting off and opening the passenger door for her.

Jessica got off and looked around. They have been talking all the way, with the heavy rain making visibility poor she had no idea which side of town they were in. All she could see was the ridiculous massive three storey all white mansion in front of her. The place looked bigger than some hotels. She knew from her research that he stayed alone and wondered why he needed such a big home just for himself.

“Good evening, Sir. Evening Ma’am” a middle aged soft spoken man came out rushing to meet them.

“Evening Benny. This is Miss Jessica Mayers. She will be spending the night. Please show her to the guest room and get her dry clothes” Mike instructed walking inside.

“Certainly Sir. This way Ma’am” Benny responded politely.

Jessica followed quietly as Benny lead the way to the guest bedroom where she had a long hot shower changed into dry clothes Benny provided. She was grateful to find the fire on when she came out of the shower and immediately snuggled in front of it. The weather was really bad outside, it was the beginning of winter and Palmville was the coldest place in the whole of Asherway. She hated winter season and cold, her body did not tolerate it well. She declined the invitation to have supper with Mike. The images of him in her mind since their first encounter was making her uneasy. Now she was in his house, she would rather not be alone with him. It was safer if she starved than the unknown but Mike had no intentions of letting her do that. She heard a knock before her door swung open. She quickly looked away when her eyes landed on him. Mike looked so different and sexier, dressed in a casual grey track bottom and a long sleeve sweater. He had definitely also just taken a shower because she could smell his intoxicating lotion.

“I know that you have not eaten. I can’t possibly let you go to sleep starving. You can tell Benny what you want, he could arrange for it to be brought up here” he suggested. He could tell from the way she avoided his eye contact that she did not trust herself around him, a detail he was looking forward to exploring once she completely settled. The woman who caught his eye and filled his imagination for the past week was right there, he had not intentions to pass on the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about her.

“No need, I will come down” she responded quickly, getting on her feet. She did not want to be an inconvenience to his help staff.

“Great” he responded, leading the way to the his dining room very pleased with the turn of events.

“You run?” she asked when she noticed the portraits of him with rows of trophies and medals.

“Not as much anymore”

“Why not? You were obviously good at it” she asked. He still had the athletic body, she was curious to know why he stopped.

“I had to take over the family business, it takes most of my time”

“I see” Jessica nodded, disappointed. It was a pity that Mike would rather sell drugs and destroy lives than do the sport he actually excelled in.

“Are you okay?” he asked noticing her change of expression.

She nodded and followed him to the table which was prepared for two. Mike pulled out a chair for her. She could not help noticing his gentleman actions. Opening the car door and pulling out the chair for her seemed to be second nature to him. “Thank you” she responded, sitting down.

Cindy, Mike’s maid walked in with a tray of hot carrot soup which was apparently Mike’s favourite, followed by spaghetti bolognaise for a main course. The food was truly delicious, Jessica enjoyed every dish placed in front of her but declined dessert, unable to eat any more. She watched Mike indulge on a red velvet cake, which he could not stop telling her how delicious it was.

“Come on, have a piece” he pleaded with puppy eyes, waving the cake piece with the fork to her face.

“Mike” she called his name to stop him from being childish.

“Come on Jess” he pleaded.

Jessica could not deny him and finally caved in, opened her mouth and let him feed her the cake which to her irritation was mouth watering delicious.

“We could sell this at the café” she suggested, impressed.

“If you learn how to make it, you can because I don’t have the time”

“You baked it?” she asked in disbelief.

“Why do you sound surprised? You don’t think rich men can cook?” he asked, reading through her.

“Well, yes” she confessed. Who would learn how to cook if they had several maids and private chefs doing everything for them? she thought.

“I can cook and bake. I can pretty much take care of myself. The cake was my Mom’s recipe” he bragged.

Jessica was impressed “You would share it with me?”

“I will teach it to you if you ask nice” he teased, enjoying himself.

“Could you please teach me how to make it” she asked with puppy eyes guaranteed to pull his strings. She aught not to but could not help herself.

“Look at that, she knows the polite words” he teased, smiling at her.

She blushed, Mike knew his way around women.

“Gorgeous!” he exclaimed, taking her in.

“I think I should go to sleep now” she said, standing up. This was bound to get out of hand. Mike was a suspect she came undercover to nail. Anything intimate between them would just complicate things.

“Didn’t you want me to teach you how to make the cake?” he asked with his breathtaking smile,

“You mean right now?”

“I am free right now, unless you plan on coming back for it”

“Now is good” she said quickly. She was already here, she might as well learn because she had no intentions of ever stepping in this house again.

“Great, follow me” he said leading the way to the kitchen. Jessica watched him turn on the oven “Your oven must be at 130 degrees Celsius” he said with a husky voice. “Hot, steamy and ready” he added, seductively while he effortlessly took out the ingredients from the cupboards. To test the waters, he moved closer to her to open the cupboard above her. He was so close, Jessica held her breath as his cologne rushed into her nostrils, his sexy body stretching in front of her. This was a bad idea, she thought to herself. Mikes every move and every word was so sexy and intentionally pulling her heart strings. He had obviously baked this cake a multiple times before because he did not use any recipe book to prepare the batter until he poured it into baking tray and into the oven.

“Now we wait for twenty minutes, what do you suggest we do in that time?” he asked charmingly looking at her eyes.

Jessica swallowed, suddenly cornered as his head dropped, their lips meeting and got entangled into a passionate kiss. Skilfully picking her up and sitting her on the kitchen counter, her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist as he stood in front of her, his hands massaging her curly hair, his lips and tongue ravaging hers.

“You are my boss” Jessica said, breaking the kiss, breathless. Her predicament way more that that.

“Ryan is your supervisor, Julian is his boss” he responded, burying his head on her neck and kissing her.

Jessica gasped, her heart fluttered “You are my bosses boss” she cried. What was she thinking agreeing to sleepover and baking with the hottest man she’s ever laid her eyes on?

He laughed stepping away from her as the oven bell went off. “Now Miss Mayers, that’s how you make a red velvet cake” he said proudly taking it out of the oven.

Jessica took in the smell of freshly baked cake, impressed with his culinary skills “It’s great”

“Off course it is, we made it” he beamed, revealing his perfect set of teeth. “It makes me wonder what else would be perfect” he added seductively.

“Oh dear!” Jessica’s heart started pounding, her cheeks burning. “Good night, Mr Spencer” she said, fleeing away to the guest bedroom.