Boss Likes Curves: A Curvy Girl's Billionaire Read online

  Today one of the many multicolored scarves Cynthia loved was tied carelessly around her neck rather than as a headband, one of the only quirks she allowed herself to her professional suit.

  Sabrina used the excuse of coffee to speak with Cynthia. As she stirred half-and-half into her coffee, she turned to the other woman.

  “I have a favor to ask,” Sabrina said more bluntly than she’d have liked.

  “Sure, what can I do for you?” Cynthia asked with a smile.

  “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” she began slowly, still absently stirring her coffee. “But Gideon’s asked me to accompany him to a lot of events.”

  Cynthia’s eyes narrowed and her smile faltered, but she said in a pleased voice, “Has he?”

  “Yes.” Sabrina sighed. “And while I’ve been having a lot of fun, really—” She paused. A lot of fun, actually. Compelled by honesty she added in a softer tone, “A lot of the places he’s taken me have been pretty cool.”

  She cleared her throat and pushed aside any regrets she might have over this request. At asking Cynthia to find a stand-in for her when she should probably just speak with Gideon. But then wasn’t she a stand-in for the mysterious woman who’d dumped Gideon?

  “I’m exhausted,” Sabrina admitted and tried to pull in her defiant thoughts. “So I thought maybe you could help me find somebody else who’s willing to attend these things with Gideon in a purely platonic sense.”

  She really hadn’t needed to add in purely. Platonic would have worked just fine. Except the more she thought about it, the more Sabrina didn’t like the idea of anyone else on Gideon’s arm. But that jealousy alone drove her forward.

  Because she couldn’t have anything more with Gideon than what they already had and needed to distance herself before he truly broke her heart.

  Cynthia’s eyes had widened and her smile now looked frozen. Sabrina frowned at the woman as her right eye twitched. But then Cynthia cleared her throat and nodded. She reached up to fiddle with her scarf, her eyes fixed on the silk material for a long moment before meeting Sabrina’s gaze once more.

  When she did, Sabrina wondered if she’d imagined the shocked, stunned look on Cynthia’s face; she looked so calm and composed now.

  “He does seem to favor you as his companion,” Cynthia said, and it sounded so practical from her that Sabrina faltered. “Are you sure you want to give him up?”

  No. No, she was not. But she needed to for her own sanity. And to protect her heart.

  “I’m still Gideon’s friend,” Sabrina said sharply. Then she cleared her throat and said in a neutral voice, “But he seems to like to go out a lot. And I think having another…buddy he can go to all these events with will be a good thing. Especially since he doesn’t seem to want to go out on any real dates right now.”

  That strange look on Cynthia’s face returned, but when she spoke it was with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Gee, I never thought I’d be looking for a date for my boss’s billionaire boss.” She fiddled with her scarf a little more but watched Sabrina with a hawklike look that made her want to fidget.

  “But,” Cynthia continued, her eye still twitching, “there are a lot of women in the office who wouldn’t mind a crack at Mr. Marquez.”

  Sabrina’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t want anyone else to have a crack at Gideon. “This isn’t about setting him up with a new girlfriend,” she rushed to say. “This is only about finding a platonic business associate for him to escort to a couple events. I’ll still be available for the other events.”

  “Well,” Cynthia said with a look that pierced straight through Sabrina, “if you still plan to go with him to a few events, then I don’t see what the problem is. Why find someone else? Anybody we find, even if you really think everything will stay platonic, has the chance to become Mrs. Marquez.”

  Sabrina felt sick at that thought. “Um…” She swallowed and tried to think with her head. Not her heart. “I think he’s suffering.”

  “Suffering?” Cynthia said with disbelief, a little too loud for Sabrina’s tastes. “He doesn’t look like a man who’s suffering to me.”

  That last was blunt, and the eyebrow that rose halted the twitching of her eye.

  That image of the tall, slender woman with the perfect winning smile and curves in all the right places popped into her head. Sabrina ran a hand over her too-curvy hips and tried to fight the stab of jealousy that twisted through her.

  Gideon was bound to realize sooner or later that she wasn’t right for him. That she might be a great VP and the development side of Gideon Hotels had never been hotter, but she wasn’t right for him. Not for the out of the office business meetings. Not on his arm.

  Sabrina tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.

  But she wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “Maybe you’re right, Cynthia,” Sabrina conceded. “Maybe this was a silly idea.”

  She nodded decisively and turned back for her office.

  Odds:

  0-14 days—100:1

  15-30 days—50:1

  31-40 days—20:1

  41-50 days—15:1

  51-55 days—10:1

  56-60 days—8:1

  61-63 days—7:1

  64-69 days—6:1

  70-80 days—5:1

  81-90 days—4:1

  91-100 days—2:1

  100+ days—1:1

  Chapter Five

  Sabrina returned to her office, her cooling coffee in hand, and used every shred of willpower she had to push thoughts of Gideon with another woman from her imagination. Unfortunately, she had a very good imagination.

  “Hey.” Gideon poked his head through the doorway of her office without bothering to knock.

  “Just the man I wasn’t sure I wanted to see,” Sabrina said with a smile she had no hope of controlling.

  With one hand clenched at his heart, he affected an affronted look. “What? Why?”

  Sabrina leaned back in her chair but couldn’t stop her smile. “You wear me out, Gideon. When you’re at my door, I know there’s another event we’re going to go to.”

  A dark look crossed his face. Panicked, Sabrina thought that was just crazy. But then he offered his half-smile that made her insides curl.

  “We can do something else if you prefer,” he said in a low voice and crossed the distance to her desk. “How about dinner and a movie?”

  Sabrina didn’t know what to say. She looked up at him and tried to figure out if he’d meant it or was just teasing her.

  “I got tickets to that premier of the new action flick,” he said.

  Oh. It was a premier. Well, that made sense then, didn’t it? Not dinner and a movie in the traditional sense, and she’d been a fool to even hope for that for even a single heartbeat. But then she was a fool to think any time spent between she and Gideon was more than simply business.

  It was better that this thing between them was simply business after all.

  Sabrina swallowed, but before she could say a word, her private line rang. Shooting him an apologetic look, she held up a finger for him to wait and answered it.

  “Eliza, what’s wrong?” She hadn’t planned on the answer or the clear note of distress in her friend’s voice. Eliza had trust issues already, and her latest love interest hadn’t helped much.

  “All right, make some of the fabulous tea Granwood brought when he and Duncan moved next door. I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

  Sabrina hung up and briefly closed her eyes. Her day had turned into nothing but emotional ups and downs. She took a deep breath then looked up at the man responsible for all of her own ups and downs.

  “Everything okay with Eliza?” he asked, looking concerned.

  “No.” She shrugged. “She’s at home, upset. Men,” she added in what she hoped sounded like teasing.

  “Why don’t you go home to her,” he suggested.

  Surprised, she blinked up at him.

  “She could probably use a shoulder to cry on,” he
added quietly. “There’s nothing overly pressing today.”

  There was always something for her to do. And she’d been so tired lately with their late nights that she’d only half focused on work for the past few weeks. But he didn’t look concerned with her leaving early. In fact, he looked like he understood.

  Slowly, Sabrina nodded. “I should say no, but I’m going to take you up on that offer.” She gathered her things, shutting down her computer and shoving her day planner into her bag. “Thanks.”

  And maybe share a cup of that English tea with Eliza. She needed something to keep her awake during the movie.

  “Am I your hero now?” Gideon asked, his smile sizzling through her and burning away all thoughts of tiredness.

  She laughed. “You’re my ultimate super-winner-of-the-world champion.”

  “And don’t you forget it.” He winked.

  Slipping a spring coat on, she slung her purse over her shoulder. At the door, she turned. “What time is the movie?”

  “Eight,” Gideon said.

  “At the Ziegfeld?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” she confirmed with another smile. “Seven forty-five.”

  ****

  When Sabrina walked into the apartment, Audrey was also there. She hadn’t known Audrey was back from her touristy weekend with Duncan. Nonetheless, Sabrina was happy to see Audrey.

  Slipping off her shoes, she dropped her bags on the entry table and crossed to the couch. Sitting down on the other side of Eliza, she grabbed the spoon full of chocolate fudge ice cream and took a bite. She didn’t need to eat this, she thought as the first mouthful slid decadently down her throat. At this point, with all the food she and Gideon had eaten, she barely fit into the dresses Audrey had picked out for her.

  Or that stunning number from the Principessa Natalia collection.

  “What happened?” she asked, scooping another mouthful of ice cream.

  “I really liked this one,” Eliza said in a voice that was stronger and more forceful than it was sobbing and heartbroken. “He was smart and funny. We had sex in my office. I was starting to think I found my earl,” she added with a broken chuckle. “And wouldn’t you know it.”

  Eliza shook her head and set the ice cream on the coffee table. “Of all people on the face of this planet, Craig was the one who told me.” She snorted. “He proved to me the jerk was married. So who’s the jerk—married idiot or Craig?”

  “Craig isn’t a jerk,” Sabrina said. She rubbed her temple and resisted telling Eliza that her bad opinions about Craig weren’t all true. “He was only watching out for you.”

  “And wouldn’t you have rather known now that Mr. Office Sex was married?” Audrey asked and brought her feet up to the coffee table.

  Eliza sighed. “I guess. But why did it have to be Craig? He’s going to hold this over my head forever. When I see him with a little trollop, he’s going to say, ‘At least I didn’t go out with a married one.’”

  “There are worse things.” Audrey laughed.

  “Shut up,” Eliza said, but it was much lighter and possibly with a hint of laughter. “You have an earl.”

  Sabrina opened her mouth to comment, but Eliza whirled to face her. “And you.” Eliza poked her finger into her thigh. “You have a Gideon.”

  “I don’t have a Gideon,” Sabrina protested.

  Eliza’s disbelieving look spoke volumes. Sabrina would’ve protested, but Audrey laughed in agreement.

  “I don’t have a Gideon!” she said again. And damn if her voice didn’t rise. “I have a friend,” she added. “A buddy. Who apparently went through some horrible breakup and doesn’t want to talk about it.”

  Sabrina almost crossed her arms over her chest but stopped just before she could move. No need to look as well as sound petulant. “And that’s all.”

  “Have you ever considered there wasn’t a horrible breakup in his recent, or not-so-recent, past?” Audrey asked, all innocence and coolness. “When he gave me his credit card to buy you a bunch of dresses.” She leaned over and met Sabrina’s eyes. “Which, by the way, was really sweet.”

  Audrey flopped back on the couch, but Sabrina couldn’t move. It didn’t matter; Audrey wasn’t finished. “I asked him about his breakup, and he didn’t know what in hell I was talking about.”

  Stunned, all Sabrina managed to do was stare at her friend. Her brain couldn’t connect Audrey’s words with what she knew her relationship with Gideon was.

  “The only thing he wanted was to make you happy,” Audrey added.

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” she protested. It sounded weak, at best. “I’ve been doing him a favor when we go to all these—”

  “Opera, fashion shows, charity events to save everything he can think of to save,” Eliza ticked off. Then she looked at her hard. “Playland. I might not have known jerk-boy was married, but at least I knew we were dating. And you, my friend, have been dating.”

  Sabrina opened her mouth, snapped it closed, and tried again. The best she could do was squeak out a “What?”

  No. Sabrina shook her head. No! “No,” she said, her voice harsh and angry. She didn’t need her closest friends to imply things about her and Gideon that she knew weren’t true. And even if she wanted it to be true, Sabrina wasn’t sure it should be; the last thing she wanted was to affect her working relationship with Gideon.

  “No, we haven’t,” she stated more emphatically now and just as angry. With herself for wanting things she couldn’t have and with her friends for pushing when they should’ve known better. “He wouldn’t date a girl like me. He’s not interested in me romantically.”

  Audrey sighed and sat up straight, and the look on Eliza’s face didn’t bother to hide her own anger.

  “I thought the same thing about Duncan,” Audrey said, but there was less snap in her voice than Sabrina expected. “And look,” she said and wiggled her ring finger.

  Sabrina shot off the couch and turned to look at her friends. She’d already had this conversation with herself. Had already tried her best to convince herself that nothing more could come of the attraction she felt for Gideon than what had already transpired. She wanted him, but he’d never look twice at a woman like her.

  She wasn’t barely out of high school and a size double zero.

  She was smart and great at her job, and as a business escort, she made perfect sense on Gideon’s arm. But as a date? As a serious romantic interest? No. Absolutely not. And she knew that. That knowledge hurt and tore through her in ways she hadn’t realized it could until she started spending so much more time with Gideon.

  And while she indulged in the occasional fantasy, Sabrina was still a realist. She was simply Gideon’s friend.

  “I really don’t think that’s it,” she said hotly. The sharp knife of knowledge and jealousy twisted through her. “I’ve seen the kind of women Gideon dates.” Though it had been a while, she realized now. “They don’t look like me.”

  “You need to get past that,” Eliza said. She sounded much better than she had an hour ago on the phone. “Because there’s no doubt in my mind Gideon is that into you.”

  “You’re wrong, Eliza.” Sabrina shook her head and folded her arms over her ample chest. “And I didn’t come home to talk about me and Gideon. Or Gideon and me. In any capacity.”

  “Maybe you should start thinking about you and Gideon in a deeper capacity,” Audrey said from her end of the couch.

  Sabrina shrugged and turned. She didn’t need this. Didn’t need to hear any of what her friends were saying. “I need to change.”

  “Hot date?” Eliza asked too innocently.

  Sabrina ignored her friend and headed for her room. Tonight was not a date with Gideon. It was a movie premier. And dinner. Because of course they had to eat. That was a given. But it was no more than a show-up-and-be-seen event.

  Like all the others had been.

  Odds:

  0-14 days—100:1

  15-
30 days—50:1

  31-40 days—20:1

  41-50 days—15:1

  51-55 days—10:1

  56-60 days—8:1

  61-63 days—7:1

  64-69 days—6:1

  70-80 days—5:1

  81-90 days—4:1

  91-100 days—2:1

  100+ days—1:1

  Chapter Six

  Sabrina stood in front of Gideon’s desk and studied him carefully. She wasn’t worried about the papers in her hands; she’d discussed so many business deals with Gideon, it was second nature. She knew she could talk about the Napa Valley deal, or the Vermont project or any number of future ideas.

  No, what she used this meeting for was an excuse.

  Her Gideon fog had cleared a bit. Just enough to really hear what her friends had said to her.

  After her conversation, such as it was, with Audrey and Eliza, Sabrina seriously thought about what she and Gideon had been doing these last weeks. More like two months, and she couldn’t believe it’d been that long since he’d asked her to the opera.

  Two months of dating him?

  Her friends had to be wrong. They had to be. But what other explanation was there? Gideon never really had mentioned a bad breakup or another woman. He’d never spoken of the past or of exes; rather, they’d spoken of the future.

  And that was what had shocked her most as she’d sat through a movie premier she had no memory of and the dinner after, where she’d allowed herself to be caught up in the relaxed conversation she and Gideon always shared. She knew more about him and his likes, passions, hopes, and cares in this world than she’d ever thought she’d know.

  If that wasn’t the definition of dating, Sabrina didn’t know what was.

  Her mind only half on her words as she stood before him, she easily talked about the final land purchase from Rowan Haversby and her plans for developing the all-local hotel and winery.

  It wasn’t her true purpose in being here.

  Sabrina had a strategy and at the moment was waiting for Gideon to ask her out. It’d been two days, after all, since dinner and a movie, and in the past two months they’d gone out at least three times a week.