Plush Book 2: A Billionaire Romance by KB Winters

this person.
    Although if they’d asked, I would probably deny it.
    Cooper slid into the driver’s seat and looked over at me before starting the car. “You good?”
    “No! Cooper, I’m not good .” I crossed my arms and looked away from him, staring out the window instead as he pulled away from the curb and started down the road. “Where are you taking me, anyways? This isn’t the right way back to my apartment.”
    “I realize that. We’re not going to your apartment.”
    I looked back to him, trying to read his face, but he was steely and staring ahead at the road. “Are you going to tell me anything?”
    “No.”
    “So, this is basically a kidnapping, then?”
    He laughed, but it was short and sounded strained. “No, it’s not. Here,” he said, digging in his pocket. “You want my phone? You can call the cops if you want.”
    I rolled my eyes and ignored him, looking back out the window as we merged onto the freeway, headed south. “You’re unbelievable.”
    “Allison, I had to get you out of that place. And I knew you weren’t going to listen to me and just hop in my car willingly. What else was I supposed to do?”
    “Why did you have to get me at all? I was doing just fine. I probably made half my rent money in ten minutes. I would have made the rest tomorrow night, but I have a feeling I won’t be welcomed back. You know, assuming I don’t end up murdered and dumped in the woods somewhere,” I said, watching as the city started to fade as we sped down the road.
    He laughed again and this time it was a genuine laugh, the melodic, deep sound taking the edge off my irritation just slightly. I uncrossed my arms. “Seriously, though, how did you even know I was there? It’s not like I broadcasted my whereabouts.”
    “I have my ways. It’s not really important.”
    Irritation prickled in the back of my mind and I wondered why he always had to be so cagey. Why couldn’t he just tell me what the hell was going on?
    “Well, if you have a team of super spies on retainer, you would be better off having them track down whoever sent those pictures to Rita instead of following me around town,” I said.
    “Trust me, there are people doing just that,” Cooper answered, without a trace of humor in his voice. “I want to find out just as much as you do. You might think that those photos only impacted your life, but think about it from my point of view. I’ve trusted Spotlight with almost all of my ad accounts over the years, and now, because of this scandal, I am no longer able to work with them and have to fight to get out of my existing contracts and find a new ad agency.”
    “What? They won’t work with you anymore?” I spun in my seat to watch him.
    “No, I refuse to work with them. They’re losing millions and millions in revenue over this whole thing. Rita is bending over backwards to get me to stay on as a client, but I find her unprofessional behavior to be repugnant and I won’t do business with her anymore.”
    I thought back to what Bryce had told me, about how he had received a demotion and was working as Rita’s bitch because of the fallout. No wonder. A new pang of guilt hit me but it was quickly overshadowed by the idea of Rita scrambling to kiss Cooper’s ass.
    A small victory.
    My mind was busy processing what Cooper had just told me and I missed which exit we had taken, but within minutes we were driving down another highway and then taking a sudden right turn down another street. I had no idea where we were. I hadn’t left LA at all since moving from Kansas, so I was completely disoriented. There were tall trees all along the road as we drove and one more turn took us up a small hill. As we neared the top, a huge house came into view.
    “Where are we?” I asked Cooper, breaking the silence that had settled between us.
    “Home,” he answered.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    “Home?” I repeated.
    Cooper pulled up to a huge black gate that blocked the driveway. He rolled down