Catching Fire: Educating Ellie (Billionaire Romance Series Book 1) Read online

  “Of course.” Morgan offered one of his brilliant smiles to show that there were no hard feelings and this was just business.

  Morgan was great at closing a deal. He smiled as he thought of the girl at the diner. Yes, that would be a very lucrative deal. Her eyes and that smile? He felt like he’d been hit in the chest by both. Yet he’d had more pressing things to get to. Another deal to close. He would too. He once convinced a subsection of Homeland Security that they would be toast without his cyber-security. They signed up with a ten year contract. He could sell ice to Eskimos, given the chance. He hadn’t gotten to where he was by being wishy-washy, that was for sure.

  He put thoughts of seducing Ellie out of his mind for the moment so he could treat his two Japanese clients to a taste of American hospitality at one of the finest five star restaurants in all of Philadelphia. His knowledge of firewalls and cyber security impressed Yamato and his partner. And when it came time to seal the deal, Morgan dazzled them with an unbeatable price. All that was left was for him to forward them the contract, so they could electronically sign it. He reached into his pocket for his phone and realized it wasn’t there.

  He scowled.

  “Is something wrong, Mr. Hunt?” Yamato asked.

  Morgan checked his other pocket and said, “I seem to have left my phone somewhere.” He immediately retraced his steps in his mind and concluded that it must have fallen out in the burning building. It was probably toast by now, or wet and damaged beyond all repair. Aaarg! That phone had all of his most important contacts, business documents and notes. This came as a horrible realization, but he couldn’t let that botch up this major deal, so he played it off. “No worries, gentlemen. I’ll just have my secretary forward you the contract. We’ll be in business at the close of business today.” He sealed his promise with another brilliant smile and extended his hand, all the while making a mental note to get back to the scene of the fire and search for his phone.

  Yamato and Hitori could do little else but smile back and shake his hand—which was huge in comparison.

  Morgan saw his clients to the limousine his company had provided them, bowed deeply to them all and said goodbye. As soon as they were gone, he rushed back to the site of the fire to look for his phone and salvage what he could from it. Why didn’t he back it up? Being in the line of work he was in, this had been a huge oversight.

  When he arrived at the scene, the crowd from earlier had already dispersed. Ellie was gone, too. Somehow, he wished she had still been there, but how silly was that thought? He couldn’t expect her to wait for him to realize that he should have gotten her number, or something. Idiot! At least, he knew her name. If he really wanted to see her again, he could find her. But right now, he needed to find his phone.

  The diner was sealed off with yellow tape, but he went in any way to look. No luck. If he had dropped his phone there, it was long gone now.

  I’ll just have to get another one.

  Defeated, he slung his jacket over his shoulder and headed back to his car. The only thing he wanted to do now was to go back to his penthouse at the Hunt Hotel to shower—and think. Yes, he should have been focused on his lost phone and information, but all he could think about was seducing the sweet and luscious looking Ellie, the sexy girl he’d plucked from a fire.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ellie

  It sure felt like a longer than usual bus ride home from South Philadelphia up to the bad part of Philly. There’d been a man who’d sat next to her and he’d actually leered at her. She moved three seats down and the smell in that side of the bus almost made her retch. What a day. Why couldn’t the diner have caught fire after her shift was over? She might have at least been able to collect this morning’s tips and have enough to buy groceries for the week. No matter. At the end of the day, she’d still be out of a job. Her boss, Joanna, said it would be at least a week before the diner opened again, but probably longer because insurance companies liked to drag things out for some reason.

  Ellie got off the bus at her normal stop in North Philly. From there, she walked half a block to her tiny, run-down, red-brick apartment complex and up three flights of stairs to her one bedroom apartment at the end of the hall. She had lived here with her dad up until last year, when he died. He didn’t leave her much, in fact, most of what he left her were all of his unpaid medical bills. She couldn’t blame him, though. It wasn’t his fault, and he tried hard right up until his final days. No, she wouldn’t think about that right now. She couldn’t. Just concentrate on one dismal disaster at a time.

  Ellie unlocked the water stained door to her apartment and went inside. Morgan’s phone was in her jeans pocket. She pulled it out, still not sure how to get it back to him. After a long sobering ride on a bus full of a whole spectrum of personalities, none of which resembled Morgan in the slightest, into her poor and crime ridden urban neighborhood, reality had set in and told her to stop dreaming of any kind of possibilities with him. He was a nice guy—brave, handsome—but a well off businessman like him would never want anything to do with a poor girl from North Philly. Although, she definitely had her attributes, she was unrefined and used to noise and chaos—the complete opposite of him.

  The best thing she could do was to mail it back to the Hunt Group with an anonymous note detailing where the phone was found. He would get it back somehow, and she could go back to her unimportant, little life. It sure felt nice to dream, though. Going out with a good looking man who had charm to spare? She knew it was as far from reality as she could get.

  “Well, enough of that.”

  She set the phone down on the kitchen table along with the newspaper and mail, then decided to relax with a hot shower. The next fifteen minutes would probably be as close to a vacation as she would ever get before having to look for a job to tide her over until the diner was in working order again. She should take advantage of them.

  She stripped out of her still sooty diner uniform and tossed it in the hamper, then traipsed into her tiny bathroom. It looked pretty small, but she had the luxury of having a full length mirror hanging on the back of the bathroom door. She stood in front of it to appraise the smoky smudges that remained on her forehead, neck, and arms. Even her dark, brown hair looked darker than usual because of the charcoal streaks. This was the first time since the fire happened that she’d actually seen herself and she felt horrified.

  Oh, my god! She was rescued by a sexy billionaire and this was what she looked like? No wonder he was in such a hurry to get to his business meeting. She was only twenty-four but she may as well have been forty hiding behind all the smudges. Like a bag woman or something. She might as well have been pushing a grocery cart and making odd sounds like a dumbass.

  “Get it together, Ellie,” she said as she began rubbing smudges off, only to make them bigger. He wouldn’t have been interested even if you’d been in full makeup while wearing and evening gown. She rolled her eyes. So stupid to be upset about it at all. It certainly was a little late to worry about it now.

  To be fair, it wasn’t like she could do anything about her appearance after passing out in a burning building. And if she hadn’t gone in there, she might not have ever met the gorgeous Morgan Hunt. She had to take the good with the bad. This gave her even more reason to take the phone to him herself. Then he could get a good look at her true self, without the soot and smudges with her hair sticking out all over the place.

  Again, with the dreaming. Who was she kidding? He could have any girl he wanted and probably already did. Why would he even look at her? Then again, why would she want to be one in a long ass line of females he probably went through every day of the week? She batted her hand at her image in the mirror and stepped into the shower. Dumb, that’s what I am. A dreamer, her dad used to say.

  The water felt good as it warmed on her body and washed away the smoky smell. She let the water hit her face so she could rub the smudges off. After lathering up, she ran her hands down her throat and over her average, but fir
m breasts. Closing her eyes, she pictured Morgan in the shower with her. A very sexy man and probably used to getting his way. She would in reality, be defenseless against his charm. What exactly would he do to her?

  Would he kiss her? She ran her fingertips over her lips and recalled that he resuscitated her. Unfortunately, she’d been out cold and couldn’t remember, but perhaps he already had kissed her.

  Mmm. Just thinking about him made her weak in the knees. He’d looked so handsome in his Italian spun suit, this morning. She wondered what he looked like underneath. Probably built like a god—probably ripped and toned all over. She reached a little lower, between her thighs. What would he feel like inside of her? She squeezed her legs tight. It had been a long time—no, Ellie, she told herself. Stop this line of thinking. You are dreaming if you think he will ever think of you again.

  But dreaming didn’t hurt anyone. She put her hand back between her thighs and slipped a finger into her wet folds. Mmm. Morgan. He probably liked to have it his way. Maybe he liked to get rough, even. She liked the thought of this. Somehow, having a man who knew what he wanted and how to get it, always turned her on. Not that anyone knew about this little secret she held to herself. Yes, she could imagine his strong body on top of hers. She might try to resist, but he would overpower her. And he would be turned on, too. He might not be able to help himself. Mmm. She would have no choice but to let him have his way.

  Ellie closed her eyes to better picture the well built Morgan in the shower with her—the phone rang.

  Ellie stuck her head out from behind the shower curtain because it didn’t sound like her phone. After the second ring, she concluded that it was Morgan’s phone. She quickly turned the water off, wrapped a towel around herself, and rushed out to the kitchen table where she’d left it.

  It rang again, and she stared at it. She couldn’t spend all day weighing the pros and cons. After the third ring, and without thinking too much about it, she answered, “Hello?”

  “Hello. This is Loretta with the Hunt Group in New York. I need to confirm Mr. Hunt’s attendance to the New York Governor’s Ball for Wednesday next week.”

  Ellie froze. “Uhh.”

  “Hello?”

  “Yeah. Umm.”

  “Could you put Mr. Hunt on?”

  “I can’t,” she said, finally. “He’s not here.”

  “Well, aren’t you his administrative assistant?”

  “No,” she replied, then quickly added, “I found his phone. He dropped it when he rescued me this morning from a burning building. I haven’t had a chance to get it back to him.”

  “Oh, my,” Loretta replied. “I’m sure he’s a mess without it. I see on his calendar that he had a meeting with the Yamato Group this morning. You should return it as soon as possible.”

  “Of course,” Ellie agreed. “I intend to.”

  “Do you need the address to his penthouse?”

  “Well, umm…” This would be her chance to see him again! She needed to control her nervousness. “Yes, please.”

  Loretta continued, “He’s staying at the Hunt Hotel. The address is—”

  “Oh, I know where that is,” Ellie interrupted. “It’s a big, beautiful hotel in Center City, right?”

  “That sounds right.”

  “Okay, so, the Hunt Hotel penthouse?”

  “I’m sure you can just leave it at the front desk and someone will get it to him,” Loretta offered. “But, if you wanted to thank him for…rescuing you from a burning building, was it?”

  “Yeah. That’s what he did,” Ellie confirmed and rolled her eyes, regretting having mentioned that part.

  “Yes. Well, you are more than welcome to go up to deliver it yourself. I can give him a call and let him know that you are coming.”

  “No!” Ellie blurted out. “Please don’t do that. I’m not sure…”

  After a short pause Loretta asked, “Are you nervous, dear? He’s just a man. He puts his pants on one leg at a time like any other man. I’m sure he’d love to know that you appreciated his courage.”

  Ellie considered Loretta’s words and was thankful for the encouragement. Just a man? He’d looked a little more than that and his voice. She shook her head, as she again, got lost in the memory of him. “Just please don’t let him know that I found his phone. I promise I’ll take it to him first thing in the morning.”

  Loretta took a moment before responding, “How about this? I’ll notify him that his phone has been found so he can breathe easy, and know that it’s on its way, but I won’t mention that the young lady he rescued is the person who found it. Does that sound reasonable?”

  “That sounds very reasonable, yes. Thank you!” Ellie sighed in relief.

  Loretta wished her luck and said goodbye.

  Letting out a deep breath, she ended the call. What had she just agreed to? She felt both excited and terrified, but she did want to thank him properly. This was her chance. Maybe she could shine a little and make up for looking like a burnt dishrag when he’d first met her.

  Ellie laid Morgan’s phone back down on the table and returned to her shower to plan her outfit for tomorrow. She needed to look perfect when she saw this man, again.

  Morgan

  Morgan was lying back, relaxing in the hot tub. The non relaxing part was seeing her face. The girl he’d saved from a fire. So angelic, sweet and the look in her eyes. It made him feel—his suite phone rang. “Ugh.” He sighed with frustration, and lazily got out of the tub to answer. “Hello.”

  “Mr. Hunt?”

  “Yeah.”

  “This is Loretta from the Hunt Group here in New York. I just wanted to inform you that your phone has been located. Someone should be arriving there tomorrow morning to deliver it.”

  “Great! That’s awesome! Who found it?”

  “I’m not sure, sir. I just wanted to let you know that your phone is on its way. Also, sir, will you be attending the Governor’s Charity Ball in New York next Wednesday?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Should I RSVP one or will you be attending with a date?”

  “Uh.” Maybe he could take Ellie? If he could find her before then. “Put me down for two.”

  “I’ll update your calendar,” Loretta replied.

  “Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. This just made my day.” Morgan hung up the phone and made a victorious fist pump in the air. “Yes!” The first thing he would do when he got it was back it up on the Cloud, then onto his tablet and laptop. He could always replace the phone but it was the information on it that made it so valuable to him.

  He looked around at his overly large but empty suite—his cause for celebration interrupted by his desire to see Ellie again. Wouldn’t it be great if she were the one that found his phone?

  Hmm. Ellie. He remembered how fragile she felt in his arms. An overwhelming sense of ownership towards her kept bugging him since this morning, as if he alone could prevent her from breaking. She had just seemed so delicate. Her skin looked like porcelain that could at any moment shatter into a million pieces. Why did he feel this way about a girl he only knew for a few minutes? One he’d pulled out of a burning building was probably why. He’d thought she might be dead when he first got to her. It had to be this fact. Vulnerable, petite and smoke covered as she wasn’t breathing well when he first dragged her clear of that gaping hole where he’d found her.

  He shook his head. Yes, that was it. It made sense. He wasn’t having feelings for a girl he just met. That was so not happening. What was happening was the fact that he just needed to quench his desire for her. He should have gotten her number if he’d wanted to do that. He blamed it on his own minor smoke inhalation. Must have went right to his head because he knew when he saw her running back into a burning building he’d felt a panic and something tightened in his chest. The odd fact that he’d failed to ask her out during their ten minute conversation was yet another huge oversight.

  “Get it together, Morgan,” he said aloud.r />
  He stood in front of the dresser mirror and caught the image of his well-toned physique while he pondered the situation. Luckily, he wasn’t a quitter. A successful businessman with a slew of contacts. He would find her. He could call the owner of the diner. Surely, he could find this information. He or she could then connect him to a manager or supervisor that could get him Ellie’s number. Or he could go to his investigator and let him find her. Simple, right? And it wasn’t stalking because he was genuinely concerned about her and having been her rescuer, afforded him the right to know how she fared.

  “Yeah,” he said and nodded at the Morgan staring back at him in the mirror.

  She would have some time off. Maybe she would enjoy a weekend getaway with him. Tahiti was nice this time of year, and he hadn’t had a vacation in—he didn’t even remember how long. Yes. This would all work out fine.

  Unless she refused. He shook his head at Mirror Morgan. You just met her. Why would she go anywhere with you?

  Morgan straightened and headed to his bedroom. He was known in his company as the master at sealing a deal. He could do it. He would do it. As soon as he got his phone back, he would make some calls.

  Ellie and he would be having dinner tomorrow tonight on his private jet.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Early the next morning, Ellie splurged on a cab to the Hunt Hotel. She didn’t want to risk taking a bus and getting caught up in any number of dramas that regularly occurred on the bus in Philly. The most recent incident involved a drunken man attempting to hijack the bus she was on with a drumstick. The situation never got dangerous, but it did get out of hand enough for the bus driver to have to pull over and call the police to have the man removed. She arrived to work late that day and ended up having to work an extra shift to make up for missing the lunch rush. It would be just her luck to have a similar incident happen today of all days.

  The cab dropped her off right outside of the luxurious Hunt Hotel. A highly decorated man in uniform opened the cab door for her.