Free The Billionaire's Terms: Prison Or Passion by Elizabeth Lennox Page A

well and sold all of my furniture. Are you happy now? I’m completely penniless and dependent on you. What’s next Adam?”
He actually had the audacity to chuckle. “I told you last week that you only had to ask.”
     
“I’m not in the habit of begging for money,” she snapped back.
     
She heard the deep sigh. “Alicia, I’ll set you up with an allowance. But for now, meet me at this restaurant for lunch.”
     
She wrote down the address with the pen and paper he always kept beside the bed. “Fine. Why am I doing this?”
     
“Because I told you to,” he said.
     
Alicia shook her head. “Believe it or not, I don’t actually jump when you say jump,” she quipped.
     
“You do when I touch you in bed,” he said, his voice deep and husky. “In fact, I think there was quite a bit of jumping last night when I touched you…”
     
“Adam stop it,” she said, furious that her voice was breathy and her heartbeat had already accelerated.
     
“Stop what?” he chuckled.
     
“Stop what you were about to say. There’s no need to go into any details of what happened last night. It is over and done with,” she said, straining to sound businesslike.
     
“Ah, but that’s the thing, my dear. I’m definitely going to do it again so it isn’t really done with, now is it?” he said, his voice filled with amusement.
    “What’s lunch about?” she asked, changing the subject. “You’ll see. Just be here at noon.” He was laughing when he hung up the phone and she wished she could slam it into the receiver. The man simply loved embarrassing her, didn’t he?
    She pulled herself out of bed and got into the shower. Alicia wanted to be late meeting him but she arrived at the restaurant with five minutes to spare. She looked around, intimidated by the immaculate white linen table clothes and beautiful white and pale pink roses as the centerpiece for each table.
    Thankfully, Adam walked in right behind her so she didn’t have to worry about how to approach the Maitre’d in her serviceable but boring navy suit which was the only thing she had to wear besides the jeans she’d been wearing for the past four or five years.
They were seated immediately and the wine steward arrived with a bottle of white wine, displaying the label to Adam who immediately nodded his head.
     
“I’ll have the usual Jim,” Adam said when the waiter walked up.
     
“Very good, sir,” he said. “And for the lady?” he asked, turning to Alicia, eyebrows raised as he waited for her order.
     
“The lady will have the salmon,” Adam said.
    “She will?” Alicia asked, stepping into the conversation that had been starting around her. “Why will she have the salmon? She doesn’t like salmon,” Alicia asked, smiling hugely, feeling wonderful for some reason and more than ready to tease Adam who was trying to order for her.
    Adam looked across the table at her. Mockingly he bent his head and waved to the menu that had been placed at her elbow. “By all means, please tell us what you would prefer?” he said.
    Alicia quickly glanced through the menu at the lunch items. She felt uncomfortable, knowing that both the waiter and Adam were waiting. She quickly selected the first thing that sounded good. “I’ll have the strawberry salad,” she said, her mouth watering at the idea of the strawberries and blue cheese on a bed of greens described in the menu.
    The waiter bowed solicitously and moved away, allowing the two of them to glare at each other across the table. Alicia was in too good of a mood to continue with the anger contest and she was the first to smile. “Did you have a good morning?” she asked.
“No. How about you?”
     
Alicia shook her head. “No. This odious man called me up and interrupted my morning sleep in. Then he tried to embarrass me.”
     
Adam leaned his forearms onto the edge of the table and lifted his glass to his lips. “Did it work?” he finally said.
    Alicia laughed softly. “Nope. I