Free The Billionaire & The Barfly (Coming Home) by Adrianne James Page A

to her car.
    Once locked inside, she stared out the window through the waves of water that were flowing down the glass, and cried.
    How could she let herself get so caught up in a man again? How could she let his deception hurt her? How could she let him in so much so that she jeopardized the first, and probably last, chance she had at becoming more than Jenna’s assistant?
    That was it. She was done. Henry was a thing of the past , and she would pick herself up and move on just like every other time. He would not be the reason she stopped moving forward. If that girl and her mother couldn’t see that a career opportunity was better than a lump sum all at once, then they aren’t nearly as smart as they were made out to be.
    Aubrey wiped her eyes and turned her car on. With determination in her eyes, she left the parking lot and headed back to the office.
     
     
     
    ~*~
     
    Going straight to the office wasn’t her best idea. Soaking wet clothing are not the most comfortable things to wear while trying to research how best to win the Stines over. Aubrey was desperate to find something about Maximus to show to them to prove that money wasn’t everything. It had to be more than the obvious. Anyone in the gaming industry, or who was interested in it like Becca was, would know that Viola was the largest and oldest company around. They would already know the titles under their belts and the backing they received from other industries. But Maximus was this shiny new toy everyone wanted to check out and play with for the past few years, effectively cutting into Viola’s profits, cutting into all the other companies’ profits, too.
    Maybe Henry made a habit of seducing women with his ‘I’m not that kind of guy’ ways. Maybe he had a sordid past she could dig up. Maybe if she Googled his name…
    No. This wasn ’t about Henry. She was done with him. Done, done, done.
    But when she Googled Maximus industries, it became a little impossible to ignore him. His beautiful eyes stared back at her, picture after picture, article after article. The company was squeaky fucking clean.
    Maybe she had to look more into Henry Maximus. Not that she wanted to. She absolutely didn’t want to.
    Another quick search brought up his biography. Surely he had some kind of a sordid past.
    Only, he didn ’t. He grew up in her town, went to her high school, graduated the year before her. Holy shit, they went to school together.
    That was when she really began to search for anything she could find on Henry Maximus. Research for work completely forgotten, she was looking for high school photos. Surely , she would remember him. He was fucking hot as hell, and with those moves he had, every girl would have been talking about him. But then again, she thought, there is no way Henry was a jock. She pretty much stuck to the football team when it came to boyfriends. Yes, she was the stereotypical cheerleader. Hot, popular, and dated the football players.
    Thinking back on it, she kind of disgusted herself. Maybe if she tried harder then, actually paid attention to anything other than her friends or boyfriends , she wouldn’t have started her ‘grown-up’ life completely behind the curve.
    His senior picture popped up, or what they claimed to be his senior picture, and she recognized it immediately. Henry was the kid that they all teased. Well, she never teased him, but she didn ’t talk to him either. She just ignored him. She couldn’t bring herself to actually be that mean to someone, but she also couldn’t bring herself to jeopardize her standing and let anyone see her being nice to the outcasts, either. She wasn’t sure what was worse, doing the teasing or knowing its wrong and doing nothing about it.
    Could Henry have realized who she was to begin with? Was he trying to prove something? But why should it matter ? She didn’t want a relationship. She wanted a fun night, and she got it. But it kind of stung like a bitch to know she was some