4 The Billionaire's Seduction All That He Requires by Olivia Thorne Page A

his head. “I said it before and I’ll say it again: you should become a politician. You’re really good at dodging questions.”
    “As of the last four days, I have too many scandalous sex acts in my past to be a viable candidate.”
    He squeezed my hand. “With more to come.”
    My heart – and other parts of me – fluttered a little.
    “But you’re still not answering my question. Have you thought about what you might do?”
    “I don’t think I can get paid for the things I love.”
    “And what’s that?”
    Again, I almost said, Having sex with you.
    But then the snide little voice in my head said, Oh, wait – you already HAVE been paid for that, haven’t you?
    It left a sour taste in my mouth.
    So I lied instead. “Watching reality TV.”
    Connor grunted. “Yeah, not gonna happen. So, next question: what do you know?”
    “What, like, for a job?”
    “Yes.”
    “Not much.”
    “There you go again.”
    “There I go again what?”
    “Not believing in yourself. Tearing yourself down instead of building yourself up.”
    “Okay, Mr. Hotshot – if I asked you that same question, what would you say?”
    “Everything.”
    “No, I mean, ‘what you know.’”
    “I know what you meant. And I’d say ‘everything.’”
    “Wow – somebody’s full of themselves.”
    He laughed. “Somebody’s got to be my best PR agent. Might as well be me.  Nobody else will believe in you until you believe in yourself.”
    “What if you don’t believe in yourself?”
    “Fake it till you make it.”
    “Well, you obviously believe in yourself.” I gave him a sideways look that might have dented other guys’ egos, but only amused Connor.
    “Wholeheartedly. One thousand percent.”
    “Was there ever a point where you didn’t?”
    “Yes.”
    I looked over at him. The honesty in his voice was disarming. “When?”
    “Walking out on my father was probably one of the defining moments of my life – maybe the defining moment, at least up until now. But after the adrenaline high wore off, I was pretty afraid. Actually, I was terrified. Getting disowned will do that to you. But I quickly realized that, even though I was alone and technically broke, it was more important than ever to present myself as confident, competent, and in control. I never would have gotten a single investor if I’d gone into those meetings saying, ‘I don’t know anything… poor little humble me…’”
    “Well, I don’t know anything.”
    He sighed, obvious annoyance in his voice – which annoyed me .
    “What did I do when I came to your office?” he asked.
    “Besides seducing me?”
    He grinned. “Yeah, besides that.”
    “And besides acting like a self-important jerk?”
    “Who you slept with.”
    I glared at him. “Technically, it’s whom. ”
    I’m not normally a grammar nerd. Only when somebody pisses me off.
    Which he had.
    He knew it – and loved it. “Technically or not, you still slept with me.”
    “Technically, now you’re acting like a self- satisfied jerk.”
    He laughed aloud. “Okay, besides that – what else did I do when I came to your office?”
    “You looked at some files.”
    “Why?”
    “You were looking for information.”
    “What information?”
    “About the buyout.”
    “What was I looking for?”
    “The files for PT & Associates, Teramore, Zaruder – ”
    “No – those are just data points. Why was I looking?”
    This time, I thought before I answered.
    “…you were looking to see if Klaus and the department were all that.”
    “Exactly. Because I had my doubts.”
    “And how does that involve me, other than I was the one who gave it up?”
    He smirked.
    I blushed a little. “Not that way.”
    “Well…” he said, as though to say, You kinda DID…
    I smacked him on the arm and he laughed.
    Then he grew serious again. “Remember when you and I talked after I saw the Teramore report on your computer screen? I found out everything I needed to know from 30 seconds of talking to