The Billionaire Bachelor (Billionaire Bad Boys Book 1) (15 page)

“Oh!” She whipped her hair and glared over her shoulder at him.

Behind her, he ground his erection into a pair of matching black lace panties he considered tearing off with his teeth.

“Oh.” Her glare faded into a heavy-lidded gaze.

“Do you like this, Merina?” She did. He could see it. “What’s your pleasure?” Her bent over the desk, balanced on her elbows was definitely his pleasure, but he wanted their first time to be what she wanted as well.

“What do you think?” She backed her lush ass into his crotch and moved in an erotic sway.

The attraction between them was like flames spreading to the carpet and climbing the walls. He didn’t delay another second. He released her hips to remove his belt, a quick slide of leather through buckle. Halfway to his goal of freeing himself from his pants, he had an incredibly important, if not unfortunate thought. He swore, the word an incoherent growl.

“Condom?” Merina’s voice was filled with hope. But Reese couldn’t give her the answer they both wanted.

“Not until we find the bedroom.” He stepped away from her, propping his hands on his hips and regarding the ceiling. One deep breath turned into two as Merina stood and tugged on her clothes. She offered his shirt.

He snatched it, lowered his head, and kissed her, tasting her mouth and wishing they’d started this in a room where prophylactics were in reach.

When she opened her eyes, she was looking smug, if not a little proud at causing his massive lack of control.

“Vixen.” He smoothed his hand over her skirt, then gave her a slap on the ass. For a second they stood in a clinch smiling at each other like idiots. “Follow me.”

Several wrong turns later, Merina giggled from beside him. He stopped in a corridor and pressed her flat to the wall with his body. Much as he wanted to kiss her, he hovered inches from her tempting lips.

“Something funny?” he asked.

Her high heels dangled from her fingers. She reached up and pushed her hair from her face with her free hand.

“You mean besides you getting lost in your own house?” She grinned.

“Your mouth.”

Lips pursed, she purred, “What about my mouth?”

He leaned closer, closer until the only thing separating them was a breath. “I can think of better ways to put it to use.”

Her sharp exhale tickled his lower lip, but he forced himself to back away. “We’re close. Trust me.” He took her hand.

“You need a bloodhound,” she offered. The smart-ass.

“Merina.” His blood had gone from boiling to simmering, but his cock hadn’t received the memo. If she didn’t stop teasing him, he’d throw her down right here in the…Where the hell were they, anyway?

“You have two kitchens?”

“Apparently.” He blinked around at the smaller kitchen area, which, of course, he knew he had. Then he tightened his hold on Merina’s hand and dragged her with him, picking up the pace as her laughter echoed through another open, empty room.

The moment they passed a downstairs bedroom, the one overlooking the pool, he had his bearings. But those bearings had come with a memory of the last time he’d set foot in that room.

Five years ago…

“I’m not sleeping in the same house as you. You can fucking keep it!” Reese shouted as Gwyneth tossed her clothes from the closet to the bed. She was sobbing and part of him wanted
to go to her. He refused. He was the one whose world had been torn to shreds. He was the one who had been betrayed. It was Gwyneth who chose to take their four years together and throw them into the incinerator.

“You’re being unfair!” She pointed at him with a dress on a hanger.

“Me?” He stepped back into their shared bedroom, the one overlooking the pool because she liked to swim in the morning. “Hayes, Gwyneth?” His voice rose, but pain had eked into his tone. “You could have chosen anyone to fuck me over for, and you chose goddamn
Hayes Lerner
?”

Her lip trembled but he didn’t let himself care what she was feeling. He couldn’t. If he gave her an opening, she’d talk her way back into his life and he couldn’t afford to be this wrong. Not ever again. Whatever she was going through paled in comparison to the earthquake now splitting his entire being in two.

“Anyone!” His voice cracked and he forced down a lump of misery. He would not let her see him wounded. He would come back from this. When he did, she and Hayes could fuck in public for all he cared. The problem was that right now, he
did
care.

Later that night, when he escaped to Crane Hotel and the uppermost suite on the same floor as his office, he realized the mistake that had been made was his.

He’d watched his father after his mother died. Watched him wall up and move forward. Alex’s mind was on his business, his sights honed in on profits, numbers, and facts. Things that could be measured and quantified. Things that could be counted and delegated. Alex marched onward for a decade after losing Lunette, and in the process Reese had learned an invaluable lesson.

Women were not for keeps.

His mother’s death had left all her boys unprepared. Scrambling. When fifteen-year-old Reese would have collapsed under the weight of grief, when Eli, just a year younger, would have beat the shit out of every kid in school for fun, and when Tag, at the tender age of eleven would have hidden from the world instead of cashing in on his big personality, Alex had stepped up and done what his family needed.

He’d soldiered on. They didn’t call the man Big Crane for nothing. Yes, he was in charge, but it also took a big man to move past what would have put a lesser man in the grave alongside his wife.

Reese knew that lesson but temporarily forgot it over what amounted to a pair of great tits and a swish of strawberry hair. Gwyneth had made him forget his purpose. Forget his priorities. Heartbreak was his payment, and he’d earned every shattered piece. With it came the reinforcement of that long-ago learned lesson. Women weren’t for keeps. Women didn’t stay.

That night, he made a decision. Focus on building his future on something tangible, something that wouldn’t go anywhere. Crane Hotels. Alex would retire in the next five or ten years and the board would be looking to appoint one of his sons the new CEO. Big shoes to fill, but Reese had big feet. He was going to be the one, and he wouldn’t let a woman stand in his way.

Not ever again.

Merina’s aerated laughter cut into his thoughts the moment Reese opened a door and ushered them into the foyer.

“Thank God,” Merina said, dropping his hand. “I thought we’d end up in the garage next.”

He turned and found her smiling, her shirt buttoned wrong, the edge of her tattoo peeking out. She was tempting and made him want to bury his bad memories in every inch of her smooth skin. To forget what had happened long ago and take the reprieve.

But his body had grown cold at the memory that had assaulted him, and he wouldn’t be put in a position of explaining it to Merina.

Whiskey could be his bedmate tonight. It worked almost as well as sex to help him forget the past.

“You can find your way from here, I assume,” he muttered, taking a step away from her.

“I can.” She cocked her head inquisitively, sensing the change in him.

“Then do it.” Moonbeams sliced across the foyer, and he backed from the light into the shadow of the kitchen.

R
eese never came to their shared bedroom last night, so when Merina woke in the morning, it was to a strange room in a strange bed by herself. Which was pretty much par for the course since her marriage. But last night was especially odd.

She’d gone from stripping for him, to accepting his kisses, to nearly having sex on a desk, to…nothing. She’d peeled back another layer of her husband in that moonlit office. Heat had sizzled between them as per their usual, but this time he’d been almost…dare she say it?
Fun.

By the time he’d turned on her in the foyer, shooting her with a cold glare and snarling lip, she was completely confused. And the last thing she’d been willing to do was chase after him when he stomped into the kitchen. She’d instead watched his retreating figure wondering what had set him off.

Getting lost in the house had them laughing and bantering—it was more funny than frustrating, so she didn’t think that was what turned him. After that near-kiss in the corridor, she’d expected him to haul her upstairs over his shoulder and have his wicked way with her. Instead, he’d clicked like a switch. All over her one minute and disinterested the next.

No, not disinterested. There had been something else freezing the air between them. Something he hadn’t been willing to talk about. Something that had sent him running from her instead of to her.

She tried to tell herself she didn’t care as she dressed for work. Tried to convince herself that whatever had happened between them, it was for the best that they hadn’t acted on their desires. But the moment her heels clicked from the foyer to the kitchen, she’d gone from contemplative to enraged.

She spotted him the moment she entered the kitchen. Pressed suit, facial hair trimmed, tie in place. His profile was to her as he filled his mug with coffee.

“Well. Look who’s up,” she said coolly.

He turned and her heart dipped just a little. There was so much fatigue in his eyes, she almost felt bad for him. Had he slept at all? Then she remembered the shit he’d pulled last night and allowed her anger to take the driver’s seat. No matter what they should or shouldn’t be doing, his rejection and the way he’d shut her out stung.

“Good morning,” he replied, frowning.

What.

Ever.

“My bed was lonely. Care to share where you spent last night? Here at the table? On your yacht? Or did you…” She trailed off when he tipped his head subtly to the side. She heard the crinkle of a plastic bag and slowly turned to find Magda on the other side of the room, fresh trash bag in hand, cabinet door open. Merina hadn’t seen her there. And now someone else knew Reese hadn’t slept in the same bed as his wife last night.

“I’m sorry, darling,” he replied, coming to her. “I ended up working until almost four in the morning and slept in the office.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and tipped her chin. “You were so exhausted last night, I didn’t want to wake you.”

Her anger morphed into disappointment, which was less sharp but cut deeper. She’d washed in here on a wave of anger, ready to hash things out. Share what was really bothering her. He owed her his honesty behind closed doors. If she was expected to live here with him and pretend to be his blushing bride, the least he could do is treat her with respect.

He offered his coffee mug. “Cream?”

Apparently, her husband was content to carry on business as usual.

“Not today,” she answered, covering for the fact that Reese didn’t know how she took her coffee.

“Keeping me on my toes, I see,” he said, his voice annoyingly light.

How long had he stayed awake turning over whatever upset him? Or had he compartmentalized it completely and not think about it at all?

“Can I drop you at work?” he asked.

You can drop dead,
she thought, then bit her sharp tongue.

“I’d prefer to drive,” she said, not bothering to pretend for Magda’s sake.

“All right, then. See you tonight.” With a nod, he walked out to the garage, perfectly unaffected as he told her to “have a nice day.”

Mug in hand, Merina watched a sporty silver car she’d never seen speed out of the drive and out the open gate. Then she exchanged a glance with Magda and without bothering to speak to the older woman, turned on her heel and left the kitchen.

The next couple of weeks reminded Merina of the way she and Reese were when they’d first met. Cool and disconnected. The biggest difference was that now she shared a house with him. And a bedroom. Reese and Merina agreed that sleeping in the same room was paramount so as not to have a repeat of that morning in the kitchen and make Magda more suspicious. “I trust her,” he’d said, “but I do want to give her the benefit of plausible deniability.”

Reese ordered a couch for the bedroom to be delivered that very day, and since then had spent his nights on it getting the few hours he did sleep after he came in from the office.

Merina took the bed, though she didn’t sleep much more than he did now that she’d set up a work-from-home office in the room across from their bedroom. She still went to the Van Heusen to care for the day-to-day, but after hours were no longer spent in the bar with a cup of tea. Now she was expected to be here, where anyone who cared to wonder what she and Reese were up to would assume they were up to their eyes in each other.

Which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Rather than keep late hours in his office at the hotel, Reese worked from home at night so as not to raise suspicions with the board. The press hadn’t written anything new about their marriage, but Reese expected that to change after Alex Crane’s upcoming retirement party.

Over dinner Magda prepared—lemon risotto, salmon scaloppini with truffles, and a crisp white wine—he sat at the head of the table, Merina at his left elbow. Magda had already gone home, leaving them to their meal.

“Dad’s party will require a bit of acting,” he murmured, picking at his rice.

“On your part, you mean?” It was him who’d walked away from her and hadn’t pursued or so much as kissed her on the mouth since that night in the moonlight. The night she’d allowed him to strip her almost bare and bend her over the desk. Part of her felt embarrassed and angry that she’d let him that close, but another more dominant part still pulsed with rejection that he hadn’t sent her a sideways glance since.

“Both our parts,” he corrected. “Lately we’ve been distant. Understandable, seeing as how busy we’ve been.”

“Busy?” She let out a sharp laugh. “You tore me out of my clothes and left me by the stairs.” She pressed her lips together before she said too much. The last thing she needed was for him to know how she felt. In the race for control, she needed to hold on to as much as possible. Reese was a predator, and she refused to be the wounded, weaker prey.

“We agreed getting physical would be confusing,” he said, seeing right through her.

“Who agreed?” she asked, dropping her fork.

Reese sent her a blank look that pissed her right off. How inconvenient he had to live with a woman who demanded they have “real” feelings and “real” conversations. How silly of her, expecting to be treated like a human being.

“It’s not ideal, I admit,” he said while she silently fumed. “I can have the house staff reduce their hours so they’re here when we’re not. That way, we can— Where are you going?” he asked when she pushed away from the table.

“I’m tired,” she clipped, feeling a swell of emotion hit her like an anvil. She had to get out of here before he saw her cry. She darted from the dining room and ran up the stairs, trying to quell the tears that burned the backs of her eyes.

She was so damn lonely she couldn’t stand it. No more morning coffees with her mother, no more late-night chats when she returned home and found her father waiting by the television. She even missed talking to Arnold at the desk when she worked late at the Van Heusen. When she was at work, she was busy, and when she was out to dinner with Reese, she couldn’t completely be herself, and when she was here in the house, she was alone. Even with him in the same room, she felt utterly alone.

In the bedroom’s en suite, she stripped out of her work clothes and stepped into a hot shower, allowing the tears to come as she softly sobbed under the water. When she’d met Corbin, he was attentive and fun and always smiling. He was complimentary and, yes, completely and utterly immature. But he’d filled an emotional need she’d been trying to ignore since he split with everything she had in her bank account.

Since then, she’d stayed busy, occasionally dating and being she-woman, able to handle her job, work overtime, and date the occasional underwhelming prospect. But today, just weeks into her marriage, Merina was exceptionally fragile. She couldn’t be she-woman today. She just wanted to be a woman. She wanted to be vulnerable and open and emotional and unreasonable.

She wanted someone to hold her while she was all of those things.

But there was no one.

He gave Merina a few minutes before following in the direction she’d disappeared. When he reached their bedroom and heard the shower on, he started to retreat. Until he picked out another sound beneath the pounding water.

Crying.

Soft, tender sobs he could tell she was trying to hide. Trying to
stop
. And they absolutely froze him in his tracks.

He hadn’t taken her emotions into consideration since the night he ran from his past demons. He’d walled up, closed in, focused on work, and figured she was doing the same.

But Merina wasn’t like him. That was her most beautiful attribute. She was led by her heart, not her sense of duty and business. He’d held the Van Heusen over her head, but it was ultimately her caring nature that had made her say “I do.” He’d taken that good faith, and the real connection they’d forged, then frozen it solid.

Part of which pissed him off—he wasn’t good for her, good for anyone, and she should avoid getting involved with him any more than necessary. He’d lost control in that darkened office when he kissed her, but vowed not to go there again. He respected her enough to leave her alone. His chest crumpled as another soft sob came from the other room. Not the staged cries of his ex, who would have turned on the waterworks to gain sympathy or her way, but real, soul-rending sadness Merina was desperately trying to hide.

Maybe she didn’t want to be alone.

He hovered in the middle of the room, unsure what to do next. Indecision in general made him uncomfortable. Rarely did he not know the next step. Silently, he turned over his options. Leave her to herself or wait for her to come out. The latter would risk her lashing out, but he wasn’t that big of a dick that he didn’t realize this was his fault, at least in part.

The man in him who was used to delegating the messy emotions of his past relationships wanted the latter. He was embarrassingly bad at these sorts of things, and it showed. But the husband in him knew he’d hurt her and wanted her to be okay. That, he wouldn’t run away from.

Even though he had no idea what the fuck he’d say when she same out, he took off his suit jacket, rested it over the arm of the couch, sat, and waited. He didn’t have to wait long.

Within a few minutes, the water shut off, and a few minutes after that, Merina exited the bathroom, a white towel wrapped around her body. His eyes went to the tattoo peeking out over one covered breast, the arrow whose meaning he didn’t know. Her shoulders were beaded with water droplets from her damp hair, the golden hue darker because it was wet.

Her red-rimmed eyes went wide, surprised to see him, no doubt.

He felt a physical pain he didn’t know what to do with in the vicinity of his heart. In the minutes he sat here, he hadn’t thought of how to start the conversation. Turned out there was no need, because she spoke first.

“What are you doing up here?” Her anger snapped into place. He knew the diversion well, since he often used anger to mask his true feelings. She wanted him to believe that’s all this was, her being upset because he was an ass. His instincts told him this was deeper than that. More complicated than that.

Exactly what he’d been running from for two weeks—technically for five years. But Merina wasn’t Gwyneth, and if he thought for a second he could handle Merina the same way, he was a bigger idiot than she thought he was.

He didn’t answer, knowing his words wouldn’t be heard, so instead he followed her to her closet.

“Do you mind?” She spun on him, anger flashing in her eyes.

“We need to resolve this,” he started, but the words felt wrong. A second later he learned they were.

“Oh, did you come up here to renegotiate?” She opened a drawer and rifled through the pile of lace and silk panties. One hand holding the towel over her breasts, she shook black lace at him. “So we can impress your stupid board tomorrow?” Her cheeks reddened. “What if I don’t feel like playing dancing monkey to your organ? What if I decide to be my real, true self instead of the plastic me you insist on?”

“Are you forgetting the purpose of this marriage, Merina?” Also the wrong thing to say, but she’d lit his temper the second she’d issued the threat. Real or not, he didn’t care for her dangling her loyalty over his head. That crumpling feeling in his chest turned into a cave-in, the walls falling down around him.

“You endure me until I’m named CEO and receive the Van Heusen in return. Is it so hard?” He couldn’t lose CEO, not now that he’d come this far.

“It’s occurring to me I didn’t negotiate enough into my end of the deal, Crane. Enduring you is more difficult than I anticipated.”

The moment she spoke, her mouth froze open. He could see the hint of apology in the way she averted her gaze, but a second later, she pressed her lips together and elevated her chin. Committed to her path.

“Don’t worry about my feelings, Merina. I have none.” Again, her eyes slipped to the side. She was unaccustomed to being nasty. “Tell me again how hard your life is.” He lifted his arms to gesture around the massive master bedroom. “Your meals are made. You can sleep in any one of ten bedrooms. Your food is prepared by someone else, your messes cleaned for you. You have access to a
yacht
and a spending account to do with as you please.”