Page 5 of Interview with the Billionaire

- Seduce Me

Chapter 2: Countdown

Damien’s phone vibrated, and he checked the text, then frowned. “She’s here,” he said to Nikki, who was still in her robe at the table in the third floor kitchen.

“Here?” She glanced at the clock on the microwave. “She’s a full fifteen minutes early.”

“I could leave her in the drive, but I don’t think that Evelyn would approve of that first impression to someone who’s writing about us.”

“You’re the one who was a master of the universe in his twenties. I could take the kids away for the weekend. Leave you to the barrage of personal questions. She might have said family, but we both know this article is really about you.”

He heard the tease in her voice, but there was nothing teasing when he took her hands, then met her eyes.

“How could she possibly write about me, but not about you? You’re as much a part of me as my blood. As the air I breathe.”

He watched as her eyes went soft, then turned sharp with humor. “In other words, you don’t want to deal with this by yourself.”

“Not even in the slightest.”

“I guess I’ll stay, then.” She moved closer, her hands going around his waist as she tilted her head back for a kiss. “I’ll go finish getting dressed. Will you make sure Bree has the kids looking presentable? When’s Jackson’s crew coming?”

“In about an hour,” Damien said.

“Perfect. That’s about when Jamie said she and Ryan and Ollie would get here. We need to get Evelyn and Frank to come, too,” she added, referring to her once-estranged father, who just happened to be Evelyn’s new husband.

“Family day,” he said, and she grinned.

“Even if it’s for a reporter, it’s nice to have family under the roof.”

“It is,” he said. As far as he was concerned, Jamie and Ryan were definitely family. Ryan was as close to him as a brother, and Jamie and Nikki had been like sisters since childhood.

As for Ollie…

Damien had come a long way with the third in the Nikki-Jamie-Ollie musketeer troupe, and while he genuinely liked the guy now, he didn’t rank Ollie in their first circle of friends and family.

His wife did, though. And that meant Damien would, too. Even if Ollie was a sometimes-prick who used to be in love with Nikki, and might still be.

Then again, Damien could hardly blame him.

“Did I lose you?” Nikki’s forehead creased as she peered up at him.

“Just thinking about logistics,” he lied. “I thought we could let this reporter—Maggie—get her photos early, and then Jackson and Syl can whisk the kids away. I imagine Ryan’s crew will join them.”

She laughed. “Am I a bad person for being very, very jealous of them and the kids?”

“If you are, then so am I,” he admitted.

She released a dramatic sigh. “The price you pay for being so damn important. And I pay it just from loving you.”

He kissed her again, this time his hands sliding inside her robe. “Too steep?”

“Never, Mr. Stark,” she said, then moaned softly as his hands cupped her bare ass under the robe. “But if you want this interview to stay businesslike, you might want to stop that. Unless you want them to hold her at the gate for an hour.”

“I’m sure we could manage faster than that,” he said, making her laugh even as she backed away from him.

“I’ll take you up on that later, Mr. Stark. In the meantime,” she continued as the doorbell chimed, “you should probably go greet our guest. It’s almost time for the Damien Stark Show.”

Damien’s Journal