Bill was enjoying himself, having a productive day that had spanned from the moment he had woken up next to his beautiful wife. He had to admit that life was pretty great for him at the moment ever since he had remarried his first love. His son was thriving, not surprising considering he was a Spencer after all. Katie, the woman who had given him this beautiful child he called his own, was the first woman to ever break through all his constructed walls to get to the man beneath. Or as far as she could, he supposed. With that thought, Bill stepped up from his chair to look out of his office window.

Thoughts like this randomly came to him from time to time. Perplexed with the concept of how his wife was perfect for him on the drawing board, but for him to her version of the perfect husband on the flip side; the attributes of himself that he had to hide to make this picture perfect life of a white picket fence real, all of it at times became too much for him. There was a reason he had been intrigued by Steffy Forrester. Steffy. He had all but forgotten about her after she had moved to Paris. But he would never forget how she had found the chink in his marital armor, a chink that when exposed to the air, had begun to rust and rust away. When he had ended it, he had tried to repair the chink. And for a time he thought he had, then had come Brooke Logan. Siren of men they still called her.

Brooke. Now she, he had loved. Seeing through constructed walls that Katie had been negligent to even bother notice, she had seen a glimpse of the man beneath, and helped him see what it could be like to show the other parts of him in a relationship. The parts that were as much a part of him as was his hands and legs. He had wanted to marry her, at times he couldn't help but have wandering ideas of what it would have been like to have had a as the woman behind Bill Spencer. However, wondering was all he would ever have, as she had done the same thing that Katie always had in the past. When it came to it, she had walked away. Granted, throwing little mister fashion pansy pants out of his helicopter had not been the most inspiring of his plans. It was rather disappointing really how that had played out. The end result was the same none the less. Brooke had left. Faced with yet again another Logan walking out of his life, he had begun to wonder what the point was. No woman would ever be able to accept him as he was to the core. The dominance, the controlling, the downright savagery that coursed through his blood. All he could do was camouflage it, portray what was expected of a husband in a marriage, of a fiance in an engagement, of a man from a woman.

Bill sighed, the view outside doing nothing to calm down his thoughts. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, and all that romantic nonsense was going around. Wasted emotions if you asked him. At least he could look forward to one thing, he did have his sons. Even though the first two had been making a hell lot of a mess of their lives. Fighting over Hope Logan. They could have found something better to do with their time, like bonding instead. At least now Liam had Ivy, and Wyatt, well, he would be out there soon enough. Being a Spencer wouldn't allow him to keep himself down for that long.

Enough with this musing, Bill thought to himself. Every second he spent staring outside, he made more than his fair share of six digits. But there was always more to be made. Thinking back to the interesting conversation he had had with Eric Forrester, Bill pondered on how to go about with the proposal he had been given. Something would come to him, it always did. Picking up the phone, he called Justin to get him in his office to discuss options. Of course his trusted adviser didn't pick up his phone, not surprising really, considering he was trying to get his ex-wife back. It seemed once on of the Logans sank their claws into you, well... Enough said. Deciding to go look for the bastard himself, Bill left his office after downing a protein bar. Walking the hallways of his building always felt odd to him. It was so much easier to just make everyone run around for him, and downright fun at times. He did love making them squirm in their feet with not knowing what he would do next. Suspense, always a good trait to encourage staff performance. Passing by Liam's office, he could swear he heard Ridge's voice. Intrigued by this, he sauntered over to the door, knowing it would be open as was Liam's way.

"I still stand by my stipulation. I want your father involved in no part of this," Ridge declared.

"And I am telling you that is going to be impossible. Do you realize who you are messing with here? Simply because you got him to push Brooke away do you think that makes him a simple walkover?" Liam rebutted

"He will have no part of this takeover, I don't care who he is or what he thinks he can do. It's either you help us on your own, or we don't do this at all"

There was a pause in the air, Ridge having delivered his ultimatum. Bill was wondering which way Liam would steer. The Spencer in Bill wanted him to take the opportunity, to go after what he wanted with that driving force of undertaking that was in his blood. The father in him, however, was not thrilled at the idea of what he would not necessarily consider a betrayal, but something that he would be slightly disappointed at for his son not telling him. Who was he kidding, he'd do the Spencer way, consequences be damned. Smiling, Bill remembered all the ruthless things he had done in his past. Some he regretted, some, some he couldn't help remember without a smirk appearing on his face.

"I'll do it," Liam sighed, a twinge of defeat in his voice, "We'll do it your way."

"Excellent..."

"Know one thing," Liam started, interrupting Ridge from what was no doubt some gloating poetic nonsensical 'we can rule Forrester' speech,

"He will find out," His son started, a conviction to his statement.

"You just better pray and hope against all odds that when he does, it's too late for him to do anything about it."

"Like hell he can do anything about it. He barely has any shares in the company and no matter if he found out, he wouldn't still have the majority shares to do anything about our takeover," Ridge assured Liam.

"You don't seem to understand the words coming out of my mouth. My father has shown you a played down version of the merciless bastard he can be. You have Brooke to thank for that," Liam continued

An unintelligible remark was made that Bill couldn't make out.

"She mellowed him down whilst letting be him. When you had your 'little' altercation, and trust me, it was 'little', he was feeling a little bit generous cause of the woman in his life. Now that she's gone..."

"He still has Katie, his wife" Ridge stated with anger now present in his tone

"Don't get me wrong. Katie is a wonderful wife and mother and he is lucky to have her in his life. But Katie doesn't tame the beast. With her it just lies dormant, throwing a bite out here and there, but always waiting for that perfect moment to strike and destroy."

The following silence in the room rolled over Bill and into him, fueling the barbarian in him. The evil smile that graced the corner of his mouth as the silence fueled reminded him of what he was capable off. No one really knew did they, he let it out in doses, when need be. It was always effective, who said his doses were anything but devastating

Having heard enough of what he already knew to be true, Bill walked away and resumed his search for Justin, passing by Wyatt's office that was a few doors down from his brother's. Once again voices drifted out of the room, but he had no desire to stop and eavesdrop again, he had people to do that for him. He did hear Ivy's voice though. Who cared what was going on in there anyway.

Ten minutes later, Bill had still not been able to contact Justin, and had given up the search. Ten minutes was even a stretch for him, patience in situations like this was wasted. His adviser would be in contact soon enough, giving him a bit more time to think about his course of action. Walking back into his office, Bill went over some contracts for new business holdings that would no doubt increase his vast holdings. One could never own enough of the world could they. A knock on the door brought him out of his musings. He didn't look up from his paperwork, not wanting to be disturbed at the present time. The intruder didn't get the memo apparently, considering he heard the door swing open a moment later. Sighing, Bill looked down at his paper trying to gather a patience he simply did not want to exercise at the moment.

Breathing in to help him relax, it hit him.

That scent hit him, smelling of jasmine and honey, it seeped into his lungs and absorbed into his blood stream.

The beast inside reared it's head higher. It hadn't done that in a while, usually content to make its presence known as it lounged within him. How he had missed its presence. Inhaling again, thescent further assailed his senses, and he found it took him a bit longer than usual to reorientate himself.

"Dollar Bill Spencer"

Her voice was like honey, still deep and seductive with that edge of flirty, and that sassy sassy undertone. How long had it been since he had heard it? It seemed like ages. It had been ages

Looking up, he looked at her, still as gorgeous ever, dressed in that style she always seemed to make her own. Smiling at her, he responded

"Well, isn't this a nice surprise. To what do I owe it?"

She laughed, the notes of it being intoned blended with a huskiness no one could ever mistake belonged to only her.

"I thought you'd be a little happier to see me?"

"I'm not saying that I'm not. I'm just wondering why?" he said, his hand coming to rest underneath his chin, as if he were contemplating.

"I thought I'd be the first to tell you."

"That you're back for good?"

"I should have known that you'd already know that," she said, a smile on her face, further lighting her up, showcasing her beauty.

"You know me," he stated

"Yes I do, well enough," she responded, moving closer and taking a seat on the chair opposite his desk.

"You always did, didn't you?"

"And I always will..."

Looking at each other, conversation ceased, followed by a silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but rather...

He couldn't put a finger on it, not yet, but the undertones of the silence, they had the beast perking his ears and flaring his nostrils inside Bill.

"Tell me, how much did you make off that article of Maya?" she asked.

"Enough to provide me with satisfaction putting her down a notch."

"I think it was more than just a single notch."

"Well now, that just makes it more enjoyable."

"Not concerned about the fallback from publishing that article?"

"Already handled," he stated, thinking of the fact that he had ordered his subsidiary company to start a fund for transgender awareness with his company as a major contributor. The online ratings were raving and hating him at the same time, For outing that lying skank, and for creating an avenue in which he showed that all he did was show that she was too ashamed to grab her status. He was still considering having his organisation approach her for the spokesperson position, just to ire her. She couldn't turn it down, she needed it, bad, and well he, he was being magnanimous after all.

"And your son?"

"Which one?"

She said nothing, waiting for him to add more.

"Liam needs to be a big boy, and take his training wheels off if he wants to run this company after I'm gone. There is always a way to come out on top. And Wyatt? Well, I never really forced him to go after that little girl now did he. All he had to do was get me the information, the methods however, were, shall we say, left up to interpretation."

Shaking her head she asked, "Will they ever talk to you again?"

"Of course they will. Once they both realize that I may plant the seed, but how they choose to let it grow is all up to the players of the game, in this case, Wyatt."

She laughed, responding, "You haven't changed one bit, even after all that's happened, Bill Spencer is still Bill Spencer."

"Thank you for the compliment"

"Only you would think of it as a compliment," she remarked.

"And only you would mean it as one," he responded, the truth of his statement showing on his face.

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"Do you want to tell me why you are?"

"No"

"I'm not going to pry it out of you, just like you're not going to tell me, because from the gleam in your eye, you want to hold that piece of information to yourself a little bit longer."

"Well, I do like playing the game"

"I know", he agreed.

She looked at him, and he couldn't help but remember all of it.

He didn't want to.

He had believed himself to have migrated from this state of feeling that was creeping up on him again. He couldn't help it, he wanted to, but every second that passed by did nothing but bring it all back. And sure enough, he could see the same reflected back in her eyes as she continued to stare at him.

Looking down, she smiled as she lifted herself from the chair. He stood as well, walking her to the door. Standing by the door, he turned to look at her and their eyes locked. That simmer of awareness came back a little bit stronger, despite how much he was trying to push it down. And the beast, the beast inside him was paying avid attention to the altercation occurring at that very moment.

No words were said as she raised her fingers to almost touch his cheek, but she stopped an inch from his face. It didn't matter, he could feel the heat of the proximity of her touch and the beast inside told him to lean into it. She waited, seeing if he would, but he resisted the urge, tamping the beast down. Her hand drifted down, inching towards his forearm instead, she looked down at it as it descended. He waited...

The burn entered his skin the moment she made contact, heating him through his shirtsleeve. It poured throughout him, passing the beast, making it raise its head faster this time. He looked down at her face, watching as it rose to meet his face once again, a smile on her face. Her eyes spoke to me, but I refused to heed them. I wouldn't, not again. Lifting herself, she gave him every opportunity to step back.

He didn't.

Her lips pressed against his cheek, causing another burn to find purchase on his skin, this one hotter, more stronger, and the beast purred. It actually purred. I felt the breath leave her as she kept the contact a second longer than what would be considered conventional. Not that she ever was. I could feel my grip tightening on the door of my office, my other hand beginning to curl into a fist.

She finally stepped back looking at me once more, embers in her eyes. Then she simply turned and walked away.

"See you Bill," she called over her shoulder as her hips swayed.

He could feel the imprint of her lips on his cheek, the feel of her fingers on his forearm still.

"No doubt I will,Steffy," he replied.

As she disappeared he couldn't help but think...

Shit! Not again!