Free A Billionaire Punishes Part 1 (Erotic Romance) by Nic Saint

Chapter 1
     
     
    “Hey, Erin. Check this out.”
    The voice belonged to Tamara, my co-worker
and best friend, and intruded on a perfectly good daydream I’d been
entertaining about my online cupcake store. Not that I had an
online cupcake store. But God willing, one day I would have. I
hoped. I guess that’s why they call it a daydream, right?
    I dragged myself over to Tamara’s cubicle
and followed her pointing finger. All I could see on the screen
were flowers. Lots of them. And since flowers were all I saw all
day anyway, I groaned.
    “Flowers,” I said. “Big deal.”
    She fixed me with those shiny eyes of hers.
“But this is not our site. This is the new kid in town. And he’s
kicking ass.”
    She pointed again, and I squinted at the
URL. “Um, heartsandflowers dot com. So? Everybody and their
mother-in-law have a flower site these days.”
    “Only this one is going through the roof.
They just started three months ago and already their business has
quintupled. Or sextupled. Or whatever. They’re selling more flowers
than we do now.”
    “Great,” I said, not interested. “At least
when Celeste goes belly-up, we know where to send our résumés.”
    “They say it’s run by one of the Carswells,”
Tamara continued, still sounding like an excited puppy.
    I frowned. “The Carswells? Who are those?
Some new band?”
    She punched me playfully on the arm. It
hurt. Tamara is a big woman compared to me—well, that isn’t saying
much, of course, since I’m pretty much a midget.
    “You’ve never heard of the Carswells?”
    “No,” I said defensively, rubbing the sore
spot. “Should I?”
    “Yes, you should,” she said emphatically.
“They’re only one of richest families in the country.”
    “So?” I still wasn’t interested. So what if
they were rich? Didn’t make much difference to me. I was still dirt
poor.
    “So? So imagine what happens if a Carswell
goes into the flower business. All the other competitors can pretty
much pack it in. Remember what happened to bookstores once Amazon
got up to speed?”
    “I still don’t see why I should care,” I
said. “So a new online flower retailer starts up. So he’s going
gangbusters. Yay for him. Or her. What do we care? We’ll still be
working our asses off listening to unreasonable customers ranting
and raging and giving us shit morning, noon and night.”
    Tamara leaned in, her eyes scanning left and
right for eavesdroppers. I gave her an eyeroll but leaned in
anyway, deciding to humor the poor sap.
    “What?” I said in a low voice.
    “I know someone who knows someone who works
for one of their suppliers,” she whispered. “She tells me Hearts
& Flowers treat their staff like royalty. Bigger paycheck,
better working hours, and their website and distribution are all
top of the line so practically no disgruntled customers.”
    “Sounds like a dream,” I said, thinking of
the way Celeste was running Flowers For You, the company we were
working for.
    “Doesn’t it?” she said brightly. “That’s why
I’ve applied for a job there.”
    “You did what?” I said, appalled. “You’re
leaving me in this… hell hole?”
    “No,” she added, her voice dropping to a
whisper once more. “I’ve applied for the both of us. Isn’t that
neat?” And she gave a little squeal of excitement.
    “Tamara!” I said, my mouth dropping open.
“You did not!”
    “I did too! And I suggest we make a pact
right now that it’s either the both of us or neither. Like a
package deal, you know what I mean?”
    I was still too busy staring at her,
stunned, to think of a reply.
    “I knew you would be thrilled,” she said.
“Of course, since I just sent the message last night, don’t expect
an answer immediately.”
    “I’m speechless,” I said, plunking my bony
tush down on her desk. “You just put me up for a job without even
asking?”
    She shrugged. “I know you hate it here as
much as I do, so it was a no-brainer, really. Now when