The Billionaire's Bride (Complete Collection) (9 page)

I halted her advance. After meeting Tia, touching another woman wouldn't mean anything.

She took a step back with Anna.

“Kiss her,” I said, grinning at Nicole, then to Anna. Their eyes went wide and their jaws dropped again. Their reaction struck me as somewhat amusing, like I had a button I could press to make them do that.

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” Anna said with a giggle. I waited. A fake giggle, but her enthusiasm wasn’t.

Nicole got into it right away. They both kissed in front of me, but I wasn’t done. I remained on the edge of the bed, watching the whole time as I instructed them to keep going. They didn’t need to be instructed for long. They eventually got the hint. I told them to keep going as I walked out to Anna eating Nicole out, both feverishly humping legs.

Above deck, Jayne lowered her book on how to succeed in business. She placed it on her lap and grinned at me as if to tell me I couldn’t run.

She was right.

Not even my sexual amusements cured me now. The whole experience had left me in a somber mood. My cock hadn’t budged a centimeter.

Sober, but needing to wait until the alcohol cleared my system, I waited near my jet ski on the side of the yacht. I would go for a long ride.

L
ucas sent
me texts that bordered on erotica...and then he shut up? It didn’t make any sense, but then again, the reason I found myself in this predicament in the first place was
because he didn’t make sense.
If he wanted me why not simply pick me as the winner and be done with his game?

...Unless he was ashamed of me.

I couldn’t blame him there. I wasn’t feeling too hot about myself, either. Who could feel sexy working the balloon game at Adventure Zone? I went full carny, dressed in a pinstripe suit, I waved and screamed for children to throw darts at balloons. “You’re not trying,” my manager said as he passed me by. Despite his comment, he remained pretty cool about it. He didn’t expect me to shout the entire time, but if I didn’t flail my arms every once in a while, I would be in trouble.

To top it off, on my break, a kid dropped ice cream on my shoe. Not on purpose. It toppled off his cone and splattered my sneaks bright blue. Work roughed them up, otherwise I’d be more disappointed. What next? The zoo called. It would help me unwind like it always did.

Yeah, no...that didn’t happen. At Kojo’s pen, I discovered my name plastered on a marble plaque “Tia Daniels.” Sure enough, that was my name. I searched for hidden cameras, but nobody looked suspicious. It all made sense once I looked down at the wooden frame littered with photographs that described Kojo’s new home, everything graciously donated by Tia Daniels.

Lucas.

I growled his name under my breath. I looked behind me again to check for stalkers. Only a tourist in a fanny pack popped his head out from his collar in my direction. If that was someone spying on me, they won.

I had nothing to do with this. Nothing at all.

The planned renovations sounded impressive. Kojo sauntered to my side like reading with me through the glass. The renovations included a lot more space. They would hire another worker specifically to help Kojo learn. A detailed drawing showed a lush jungle with a mountain scape behind it. Multiple levels would overlook the glass enclosure.

I teared up. My heartbeat picked up until it pounded in my chest. It was the sweetest gesture anyone had ever done for me.

He didn’t have to put my name on it, but I understood why Lucas did it. To lead me back to him.

Once again, the treat he left enticed me and I fell back into his trap.

I placed my hand on the glass. Kojo placed an oversized hand on it as well.

“I’m going to text him back. It might be the wrong choice, but I need to take the chance. What do you think, should I do it?”

Kojo snorted in response. She backed off. I pulled out my cell phone, but Kojo waved at me. She clapped her hand against her head and then thumped it down on her open palm. Husband. What? She pointed behind me and then asked again. Kojo wondered where my husband went…

That’s when I realized Kojo thought Lucas was my husband.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, girl. I’m only sending a text.”

M
y limo pulled
up to Lucas’s estate.

Dressed for a different date that never worked out, I wore a fancy navy dress that accentuated my curvy shape. Ironically, I stood Brandon up. I apologized to him over text and told him that I needed to stay inside tonight. As soon as I got home and settled, I would need to distance myself from him. Lucas was back...which meant Lucas and I would need to figure out a way to move forward.

I looked at the towering arches, the Italian architecture curling around to the beach-side sunset, and it didn’t look like anything I would ever be a part of, let alone share. Prepared to meet my billionaire, I let fantasies of being a billionaire’s bride dance at the fringes of my thoughts. I would get flashes of myself in a wedding dress with Lucas standing beside me, his confident smirk that said we would be together forever beaming down on me.

The driver opened my door, and I took a step out. It was a balmy night, the stuffy, hot air finally moving on. I gripped the sides of my navy blue dress nervously. My favorite dress fit my shape wonderfully. Glamorous yet sexy, it had a cut out back that I adored.

“Please, if you would let me introduce you,” the driver started.

“I’m fine. Thank you so much.”

He bowed slightly to me. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to introduce you to Mr. Moore?”

Was everyone around here helpless? “That won’t be necessary. Thank you,” I said as I strutted in my high heels to his grandiose abode. I almost forgot. Should I tip him? I rustled in my purse for a few dollars, but he already left by the time I did. Something told me the tip I would give him would be pitiful in comparison to his going rate anyway.

Once I entered, I knew right away the girls were up to something. In their finest with their hair and makeup on point, they congregated in the foyer. Only six were attendance. Either the rest were scattered about the mansion or Lucas let some go. Even with few left, the sight of them knotted my stomach. Couldn’t I be left alone with Lucas? Lucas was complicated enough.

Cara, arms outstretched, rushed to me. She gave me a great big hug that lifted my spirits. At least someone had my back.

“You’re back,” she screamed. “I thought we lost you.” She squeezed me in a much tighter embrace than I expected. While she suffocated me, I noticed the others glowering behind her. Jayne, in particular, had the sharpest daggers.

I thanked Cara and tried to walk ahead. It had gone eerily quiet as I approached the group, not moving out of my way.

“Excuse me.”

Squeezing my way through, I almost made it past them all, but Anna was dead last and giving me some major evil eye.

I did it. I made it through. Or so I thought…

“Don’t trip, sugar,” Anna said to me with my back turned.

I tried to take a few more steps. I hoped that her comment would glance off me, but I couldn’t let it go. I turned around. I’d been pushed too far by these bratty women.

“Excuse me? What did you say to me?”

The other girls around us became a blur. My rage took over. Somehow, I didn’t go right for her hair and drop her to the floor. My face twisted into a snarl—my nostrils flaring, my teeth shining like an angry pit bull ready to sink my teeth in.

Which should’ve been enough for her to back off. Nope. Anna must’ve been threatened by the others watching, otherwise I don’t think she would’ve done what she did next.

“I said watch your step,” Anna said, and then she sprung, shoving me back. My ankles twisted on each other and I tripped, my legs flailing, my dress flying.

My back hit with a chaotic slap that rocked my senses. Pain wasn’t my greatest concern. Some things you simply didn’t do. That was one of them.

I’d never fought in my life, but now I hopped back on my heels for battle.

We lunged. Like girl fights were apt to become, we became a cliché much too quickly as our claws reached for the first thing they could grab. Hair. The fight became a tug of war...whose hair would rip first? But I realized at once that I held all the power in this fight. Thrashing, pain radiating from my roots, my skull throbbing, I still overpowered her. Anna hadn’t been the one doing all the work on the farm.

Should’ve done it yourself, honey, rather than let the farm boys do it.

I screamed, grabbed a twisted rope of hair, and flung her back. She jerked but didn’t tumble. Her elbow flung up in defense and struck me between my eyes, immediately burning with tears. Taking a few steps back, hearing her cry out, I tipped and then used all of my forward momentum to fling her away.

Anna tumbled and struck the end table behind her. She knocked over a metal piece of modern art, twisted shapes that hardly resembled anything but was lovely to see her head bounce off. Standing with my claws at the ready, I watched her scramble from the ground.

Blood flowed from her forehead.

Did I do that?
My mind raced with chaotic ramblings...
Good. I'm a monster. I'm capable of doing that? There's no way I'm capable of that. I didn’t mean to hurt her that bad. But good. She deserved it.

Needless to say, none of my reasonings pleased me greatly.

I realized a moment later as the rest of the girls interfered that Anna’s forehead struck the metal art piece and that’s what caused the wound. Anna jumped and hollered for me to come back, but I said nothing, just watching her in a daze, like watching a movie that I had no part of while Cara and Nicole pushed me back.

“Does she want to keep fighting? If she wants to keep going, I’ll keep going. I didn’t mean to cut her, but if she wants to keep going—”

“Calm down,” Cara said, thankfully getting in my face. “No one is fighting. It’s over.”

They pressed me into the side hallway, the one that I saw the busty blond try to kiss Lucas in. It enraged me even more. Nicole and Cara held me steady as my fists clenched so tightly my nails could’ve popped off. I released some tension and found myself surprised at how much I shook.

Weakness flooded my system. My legs pleaded for a chair or else I would plummet to the floor. Nicole, who I didn’t expect to be helping me but I was glad to see, got in my face with her sharp features and her dark, manicured eyebrows— Mmm, that girl had eyebrow game, a good distraction. She told me to stop. They would take me to Lucas.

No, anything but that.

Lucas...now?

I tensed again, searching for my way out. They looked to one another like they had no idea what to do. Nicole shrugged at Cara. Cara sighed in response.

Frantic voices trailed away. Good. They’d gotten Anna far away from me. She better not come close again. I continued to shake.

“I can’t see him. Don’t make me see him.”

A mess, I patted my hair down where Anna had clung on. It wasn’t going to do the trick. My plan at that juncture was to head out the door and return home. How clearer could it be that I wasn’t supposed to be here? Within a minute of my return, I’d gotten into a fight. The first fight of my life.

“We need to see Lucas. Now. We need to tell him what happened.”

“Come on,” they said. They both took a hand and urged me onward. I followed them to the far corner of the west wing, where we stopped near a glass door. Inside, there was a rack of dumbbells and some black mats. It must’ve been where Lucas worked out. I figured he would be bare chested with some fit shorts outlining his massive, swinging cock. So hot. And I would be waiting for him...makeup running, a serious case of raccoon eyes, my hair a mess, just after assaulting someone.

Cara put a hand on the glass. I yanked it away.

“No, wait,” I said, desperate.

“Lucas has to know what happened.”

Nicole laughed. “I’m sure he wants to see you too.”

Tears sprang from my eyes. Who turned on the faucet? I poured into my hands and shuddered and collapsed on the wall. The girls each took a side of me to support.

“I’m not meant for this. I don’t belong here.” My breathing turned shallow and quick. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t hyperventilate for the first time in my life.

Nicole snapped her finger. I smirked a little despite my distress. She could snap?

“Quit it. You’re beautiful. And that man in there wants you. I’m sure of it. If that means I’m giving up, screw it. I don’t care. He’s crazy about you. You’re crazy about him. Now go fuck and make beautiful babies.”

I sniffled. Still, I shook my head. I had good reasons. Or so I thought.

“I don’t want to see him.”

A new voice emerged behind us. “Too late.”

Lucas overshadowed us. A towel draped over his shoulder, wearing gray shorts that clung to his muscular thighs, his hair a tousled, sweaty mess, he got my heart thundering against my chest at once. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn’t left.

Upon noticing my distress, he pushed past the two girls and slid a hand against my back. I slipped out of it and thrust my hand up to block his advance.

“What happened? Tell me.”

Nicole and Cara remained by my side. Lucas looked over his shoulder. “You girls can go. Thanks for bringing her to me.”

They left slowly while watching our interaction the entire time. Lucas brushed stray strands of hair back in place. His freshly calloused fingers ran across my soft cheeks, down to the tip of my jaw.

“Tell me what happened. I can’t help if I don’t know.”

I stiffened. Who said I needed his help? “I got into a fight with Anna. She shoved me. I got up. Then we fought.”

“She shoved you. She touched you?” The words somehow made it past his barred teeth. His neck muscles clenched like an angry bull’s. I looked downward, a smirk rising once I noticed his abs pumping in protest. The angrier he got, the more he wanted to protect me, and the sexier he became.

I could really string him along if I wanted to—Lucas fawning over me because I’d been crying was a guilty thought, but one I couldn’t ignore—except I was really in a bad way. The most responsible choice would be to leave Lucas again.

“Are you okay?” His fingers dug into my dress. Lucas’s dire eyes told me I was the calm one.

“I’m fine,” I said as I took a deep inhale. I reclined back on my heels.

Lucas’s signature scent entered my lungs. I expected to smell sweat. What I got was a staggering mix of beach, pine, and musk. Whatever cologne he put on added undertones of leather, reminding me of how he wanted to blindfold me and then wrap me up in intricate knots, then unwrap me like a present. In one swift instant, Lucas had turned my mood from disastrous to super horny.

“You said she pushed you. Why would she push you?”

I shied away. “She’s jealous. They see I’m spending more time with you. It has them at my back.”

He snagged his chin then paced before me, his huge cock swinging in his workout shorts. I kind of got a jealous nudge when he did that, like if he wore that in public I would have to throw a towel over him. His muscles flexed as his anger pulsated, rising and falling with his thoughts.

“I didn’t realize it was so bad. I apologize, Tia.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It kind of is,” he said, running his hands through his slicked, messy hair, all the strands falling in pace in one pussy pounding wave. Ugh, why did this guy have to be so hot? I’d just gotten into a fight and I was already over it, more into ogling him. It wasn’t right that my world revolved around him.