Locked In (Locked in Love) (Volume One): An Alpha Billionaire Romance by Myra Song Read Free Book Online Page B

fence.
     
    I’m the one who’s shocked. I know I didn’t make it in time.
     
    “Crisis averted, Sir,” Ben chuckles from behind me.
     
    I casually check my other systems. Nothing that could harm Elise is online. If I’d had taken a moment, I’d have seen it, but there hadn’t been a moment. I turn to face Ben.
     
    His blond hair is buzzed close. I’m tall, over six-three, but he’s tall . A mammoth at six foot six and two hundred fifty pounds of muscle. We found each other at boarding school, and then reconnected after he finished with the Army.
     
    Ben is the only person I trust in the world. He’s also the only person I wouldn’t kill for this kind of prank.
     
    “You son of a bitch,” I growl.
     
    He shrugs but his shoulders are still shaking with laughter. “After all you said about this girl last night, I just assumed you wouldn’t want her dead.”
     
    My gaze darkens and my fists clench. “I didn’t say anything except that she was coming over and to please inform me when she arrives.”
     
    “That’s more interest in a girl than you’ve shown, well, ever.”
     
    Glowering at him, I look back at the monitor. Sure enough, Elise is scaling the fence. The little minx is breaking into my property. Apparently she decided when she left the PD behind she also left the law behind.
     
    A tiny grin tugs at the corners of my mouth.
     
    “Are her things ready?”
     
    “You know they are. You checked three times this morning.”
     
    I slide the painting back in place. Picasso isn’t really my thing, but it impresses my guests.
     
    “You’re testing me, Ben.” It’s time to find Elise before she gets into too much trouble. I’m pissed off at Ben, but not enough to do anything about it. Let him poke his fun. He only does it because while I’m also his employer, I’m his friend. We look out for each other. “See to the police when they show up, please.”
     
    “Yessir.”
     
    Stalking through the halls of my large home, my hand rakes through my hair. Ben’s prank isn’t really a bad one. I just don’t like being called out, and I especially don’t like that I’m showing too much interest in the curvy private investigator.
     
    She’s in the garden. Slowing my stride, I’m able to watch her, sheltered by a column.
     
    Elise is in a similar uniform to what she wore yesterday. Her trench coat is open and wrinkled, a navy color that highlights the piercing blue of her eyes. Her brown hair is down, and it’s lighter than I thought. The sunlight catches it and it is closer to a champagne color, shimmering in soft waves down her back.
     
    Yesterday my fist was wrapped in that hair and now it itches to grab it again.
     
    She bends over to look at large, pink bloom. My eyebrow shoots up. The garden is one of those luxuries, like the Picasso, I have to impress guests. What she’s looking at, though, is its crown jewel.
     
    A camellia, the Middlemist Red. In my chest, my heart beats a little quicker. I don’t know if it is because I’m afraid she’ll recognize the flower, or if it is because bent over like that, I can see down the “v” of her shirt and she’s not wearing a bra.
     
    One of her large nipples peeks at me from this view and that’s it-- I need her. Now.
     
    I open the glass door that leads to this section of garden and greenhouse. Immediately Elise bolts up as if she were caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
     
    “Mr. Locke--”
     
    “Just Locke.” Mr. Locke was my father. The name had been important to him. I wanted to let him keep it.
     
    She huffs, her cheeks blooming the same deep crimson as the flowers she was just so enthralled with. “Locke. Nice place you have here.”
     
    It is a nice place. Over twenty thousand square feet, it’s considered modest for a man of my wealth. But I prefer multiple properties. I have places all over. It seemed silly and extravagant to build any larger than I already did, seeing as I’m not here all